The way Pakistanis are expected to work has changed dramatically over the last ten years. Factors such as how time is managed, who does most of the work, how people are managed, increasing entrepreneurial activity, and what kind of work is typically done are part of the movement.

Remember, there are Pakistanis alive today who:

1. 63 years ago were born! This was when Pakistan became an independent nation,

2. others worked in the revolutionary era from 1947 to 1965,

3.  and then all of us from 1965 to 2010 and forward.

Traditionally, people repeated the same work movements with the same tools and the same products day after day. Managers used practices that motivated the people to work in this fashion. Workers thought nothing of 18 hour work days, seven days a week with sometimes just three meals a day and a room for their family to stay as the only pay.

Enter … education. More Pakistanis (even women) are more educated than their parents and grandparents. The Internet has influenced the web=surfing citizens also in a way that has made them more literate than ever before. There are over 20 million of the 181 million people in Pakistan who have registered a profile on Facebook (despite the Pakistani government ban on use of Facebook earlier in 2010) with a majority of them doing so, in 2010.

The working generation of Pakistan today is less likely to be a group who expects to be told exactly what to do and how to do it and when to do it. They realize work involves thinking, researching, doing, producing, and so on.

The changes that are taking place are LESS about being a bunch of lazy Pakis as some of my fellow citizens will say and MORE about the need for change in management and a recognition of talent, innovation, and how to channel it into a more successful Pakistan.

Read more about and listen to actual Pakistanis who are entrepreneurs, making a difference for good in the work world and for positive social change:
Nimra Archer and Pakistan Sustainable Network as well as Asif Farooki and Wastebusters

Mamoon Tariq Khan and Moonitin

Entrepreneurs.pk Showcase

Pakistan National Anthem

Be sure to vote for Rehan Allahwala (CEO of Techistan) at the Mashables 2010!

So, it’s true that no one gives a hoot (replace with any word that fits better) about you or us, your or our company, your or our country, your or our life when you or we are just one 24/7 commercial. It’s all NOISE! But, they are interested in what your customers and the industry in general think of you. Techistan reporters queried thousands of ITCN Asia 2010 participants such as Atiq Rehman, Executive Director at Ecommerce Gateway Pakistan and more. Visit http://www.itcnasia.com to register for the 2011 annual event of movers and shakers, ideas, innovations, services, and products in Internet protocol-based technologies and communications in Karachi, Pakistan.

We invite members of the Facebook Techistan community to share their opinions and vote which we should do.

Stick with the current template … Or go with this new template?

We ask that you think about and tell us which it should… especially regarding a comparison of the colors and the arrangement. You can share your response here in comments section, or in answer to our Facebook email to you, or on the Facebook wall of Techistan.

Engineering researchers at the University of Florida have developed a designer pill that can track whether patients are taking their medication on time and in a prescribed fashion. The pills which are affectionately coined “tattletale pills” consist of a standard white capsule that have been “coated with a label embossed with silvery lines.” The lines are actually nontoxic antennas that derive their color from the silver nanoparticles.

When a medical patient ingests the pill, it communicates using the antenna with an external device that the patient is wearing which in turn transmits the information to a cell phone or laptop. Through this communication, doctors and concerned family members can measure patient compliance with medication regiments.

What is interesting about this new pill is that no battery source is required for it to function. All necessary power is received from “imperceptible bursts of extremely low-voltage electricity” from the external device that the patient is wearing.

Though this medical technology is still in the development stage, one of the aims of the researchers is to eventually do away with the standalone external device and instead replace it with something that is small enough that it could fit into a watch that the patient would wear.

Read more about Tattletale Pill Tracks Prescription Medication Intake by Coolest Gadget Reviews

Source:http://www.coated.com/tattletale-pill-tracks-prescription-medication-intake/

KATHMANDU: Patients in rural Nepal will soon be able to consult specialist doctors over the Internet as part of an innovative scheme to improve health care in remote areas of the Himalayan country.

Over the next few weeks, the government will begin connecting 25 district hospitals, most of them located in the rugged and inaccessible Himalayas, to specialist consultants in the capital Kathmandu using satellite technology.

The 30-million-rupee (400,000-dollar) project is the first of its kind in Nepal, where millions of people live in small communities with no road connections and several days’ walk from the nearest hospital.

The scheme is the brainchild of doctor Mingmar Sherpa, who for 24 years ran the main hospital in the Everest region in eastern Nepal, where he experienced at first hand the difficulties faced by health practitioners in rural areas.

“Most people in Nepal live in remote villages where harsh weather conditions and geography make access to healthcare difficult,” said Sherpa, 56, now director of logistics at the health ministry in Kathmandu.

“It’s very hard to get specialists into those districts — mostly they want to remain in the city, or even go abroad to work. Even getting skilled birthing attendants to work in such places has proved a challenge,” he told AFP.

“So the health ministry decided it was worth trying telemedecine, which is already quite advanced in other South Asian countries such as India.”

Impoverished Nepal has made significant progress in health care in recent years, reducing maternal and child mortality rates and increasing life expectancy.

In 2007 the government endorsed health care as a basic human right in the constitution, introducing a policy of free treatment for the poorest and most vulnerable.

But development agencies say nearly one in four people in Nepal still has no access to even basic health care.

Sherpa came up with the idea of introducing telemedecine five years ago, but at that time, Internet connectivity in Nepal was still too weak for the scheme to work.

Now, under his supervision, the health ministry has set up high-speed Internet connections in 25 hospitals, using satellite technology to provide sufficient bandwidth for videoconferencing.

Local doctors will log their patients’ notes online along with any x-ray or ultrasound images and lab tests, ready to be examined by specialists in Kathmandu — a system known as “store and forward”.

Doctors at the Patan Hospital on the outskirts of the capital will devote two hours a day to patients in outlying areas under the plan, which will also allow rural health workers to receive training using videoconferencing.

Sherpa says the system will allow common diseases to be diagnosed much more quickly than at present, and enable post-operative patients to receive follow-up treatment without having to travel to the capital.

Under the scheme, doctors in Kathmandu will in turn be linked up with consultants know as “super-specialists” working in 12 hospitals across India to give them access to further medical expertise when needed.

The government is also setting up a toll-free telephone line offering health advice to people living long distances from the nearest doctor.

It is a major leap forward in a country where as little as 20 years ago, most people still relied on local shamans or witch doctors if they fell ill.

“Telemedecine sounds very technical, but it is really just using technology to treat patients, whether it be mobile phones or the Internet,” said Sherpa, who hopes the scheme will eventually extend nationwide.

“Once we are on the right track, we will start adding more districts and expanding into rural health posts. This is just the beginning.” -AFP

Source: http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/sci-tech/30-internet-connects-deepest-nepal-to-telemedics-so-03

MELBOURNE: Australia on Tuesday unveiled a prototype bionic eye designed to restore sight to those with failing vision which supporters hope could be the biggest breakthrough since the Braille alphabet.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, whose government committed 42 million dollars (almost 39 million US) to the project, said the device could be “one of the most important medical advances we see in our lifetime”.

“The bionic eye project will keep Australia at the forefront of bionic research and commercialisation and has the potential to restore sight to thousands of people in Australia and across the world,” he said.

The device, part of which is surgically implanted in the eye, is designed for patients suffering from degenerative vision loss caused by the genetic condition retinitis pigmentosa or age-related macular degeneration.

It consists of a miniature camera, mounted on glasses, that captures images and sends them to a processor the wearer keeps in their pocket.

The processor then transmits a signal wirelessly to a unit implanted in the eye which will directly stimulate surviving neurons in the retina, signalling an image to the brain.

Those using the bionic eye will not have perfect vision restored, but it is hoped they will be able to perceive points of light in their field of vision which the brain can then reconstruct into an image.

Research director of Bionic Vision Australia, the university and research institute partnership which has produced the prototype, Professor Anthony Burkitt said the device could change people’s lives.

“We anticipate that this retinal implant will provide users with increased mobility and independence, and that future versions of the implant will eventually allow recipients to recognise faces and read large print,” he said.

Kevin Murfitt, chairman of the country’s biggest service for the blind and visually impaired Vision Australia, said the bionic eye “will be the next big remarkable invention”.

“This is truly a revolution and will be the biggest thing in terms of blindness and low vision since Louis Braille invented the Braille alphabet over 200 years ago,” he told ABC radio.

The bionic eye is undergoing tests ahead of the first human implant in 2013. -AFP

Source:http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/sci-tech/30-australia-reveals-prototype-bionic-eye-so-01

KIEL: A German adventurer is preparing to sail the world in what he says is the world’s largest solar-powered boat.

The catamaran-style yacht sporting some 5,400 square feet (500 square meters) of solar panels was put into the water Wednesday in the northern German city of Kiel.

Skipper Raphael Domjan praised the ”groundbreaking” step toward what he says will be the first ever world tour by a solar-powered boat, scheduled to start in April 2011.

In the meantime, he is planning to extensively test the boat.

The boat, built by the Knierim Yachtbau shipyard, is nearly 102 feet long, almost 50 feet wide and stands 24-1/2 feet high (31 meters by 15 meters by 7.5 meters).

The boat was designed by PlanetSolar SA of Switzerland. -AP

Source:http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/sci-tech/06-german-adventurer-preparing-largest-solar-boat-rs-03

The Hyundai Equus slots above the Genesis sedan as the top-of-the-line offering of the brand with big, Lexus-like styling and the same 385 HP Tau V8 in its little brothers but at a price starting between $50 and $60K. Most of this was expected, but what caught press conference attendees off-guard was Hyundai revealing it’ll get an iPad tablet instead of an owner’s manual.

Hyundai’s newest luxury sedan, the Equus, was just revealed at the New York Auto Show with the announcement it’ll forgo the mostly ignored paper owner’s manual in favor of an iPad, allowing customers to make vehicle service appointments wirelessly.

The Hyundai Equus slots above the Genesis sedan as the top-of-the-line offering of the brand with big, Lexus-like styling and the same 385 HP Tau V8 in its little brothers but at a price starting between $50 and $60K. Most of this was expected, but what caught press conference attendees off-guard was Hyundai revealing it’ll get an iPad tablet instead of an owner’s manual.

No pictures yet as apparently no one at Hyundai is connected enough to get one (above is a rendering), but we’ve got confirmation it’ll be used to not only for entertainment but also to view information about the vehicle and share information when the vehicle launches later this Summer.

Source:http://jalopnik.com/5507349/hyundai-equus-to-ship-with-ipad-ditches-owners-manual

Time has a terrific profile of Steve Jobs and the iPad this week, in large part because they put it in the hands of ubercomedian/ubergeek Stephen Fry. It’s a portrait of a man whose life and work are intrinsically intertwined.

The hardest-hitting question of Fry’s hour-long interview—”Will you perhaps leave Apple on this high, a fitting end to your career here?”—elicited the response above. The iPad isn’t the last stop. It’s just another stepping stone towards whatever’s next. There’s no quitting for Jobs, because working is his life and his life is working.

The article’s also a fun read for Fry’s unabashed fandom. On how it felt to interview Jobs up close and personal for the first time:

“I have met five British Prime Ministers, two American Presidents, Nelson Mandela, Michael Jackson and the Queen. My hour with Steve Jobs certainly made me more nervous than any of those encounters.”

And, touchingly, a brief aside to pay tribute to Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy author Douglas Adams:

“One melancholy thought occurs as my fingers glide and flow over the surface of this astonishing object: Douglas Adams is not alive to see the closest thing to his Hitchhiker’s Guide that humankind has yet devised.”

Worth noting: Fry himself provided the voice of the Guide in the most recent (and sorely underrated!) film version.

The piece also delves into the back catalog of Apple history, including a moment when Jonathan Ive nearly quit the company:

[Jobs'] return to Apple in 1997, after it purchased NeXT, is now the stuff of legend. In the design department, Jobs saw the work of a young Briton called Jonathan Ive and asked for a meeting. Ive, underused and ignored for a year, turned up with a resignation letter tucked into the back pocket of his jeans. He left with instructions to unleash his talent.

Ive went on to design the the iMac, iPod, and iPhone. It’s a seminal moment in the company’s growth, and an anecdote that we hadn’t heard before.

The reason this is such a wonderful profile is that it feels like it’s coming from ourperspective. Or rather, our perspective plus a healthy dollop of wry British witticism. It communicates that sense of joy and discovery that we could stand a little more of. Read it.

Source:http://gizmodo.com/5507318/steve-jobs-is-just-getting-warmed-up

Mad Catz is going epic with their premium Cyborg line of peripherals. First that mouse, now, possibly, the most badass flight stick the world has seen (outside of an actual jet fighter’s cockpit).

Cyborg F.L.Y. 9—$100 this spring—is designed exclusively for the Xbox 360 (though I’d bet it’ll work on a PC, too). Beyond its aggressive appearance, the stick features more adjustments than most of us will ever use, including handle length, handle rake angle and head angle.

I admit to having no clue wtf the “handle rake” actually is as well as being too lazy to google it. But now that I know such a thing exists, I will settle for absolutely nothing less.

Seriously, I’m digging the Cyborg F.L.Y. 9. It’s like someone woke up at Mad Catz and realized, instead of just building the cheapest piece of shit controller that was humanly possible, they could just start upping the awesome quotient instead. [Store]