Windows 8, Touch Screen Revolution

Imagine what happens when Apple I-Phone, Android, Windows Smartphone and many more touch screen features are merged. Well, prepare yourself for Swipe, Slide, Zoom and many more interactive gadgets in Windows 8. Microsoft has planned to officially launch Windows 8 in October 2012, but beta version called ‘Consumer Preview’ has been launched in Feb 2012.

Microsoft has rework Windows as a “touch-first” operating system, meaning that its interface is simple and designed to be used in touch tablets similar to the iPad. Future laptops and PCs will likely have touchscreens as well. That’s just the direction things are headed. So Microsoft’s goal is to create one platform that can serve a keyboard and mouse just as well as a touchscreen.

Windows 8 will employ a new user interface based on Microsoft's Metro design language. The Metro environment will feature a new Tile-based Start Screen similar to the Windows Phone OS. Each tile will represent an application, and will be able to display relevant information such as the number of unread messages on the tile for an e-mail app or the current temperature on a weather application. Metro-style applications run in full-screen, and are able to share information.

 

 

Other Fetaures:

·        IE 10

·        Login / Sign in  using a Windows Live ID

·        Hybrid Boot will use "advanced hibernation functionality" on shutdown to allow faster startup times.

·        Windows To Go will allow Windows 8 to boot and run from a bootable USB device (such as a flash drive).

·        Two new recovery functions are included, ‘Refresh’ and ‘Reset’. Refresh restores all Windows files to their original state while keeping settings, files, and Metro-Style apps, while ‘Reset’ takes the computer back to factory default condition.

·        Native USB 3.0 support

·        New Windows Task Manager design

·        Xbox Live (Including Xbox Live Arcade)

Hardware requirements:

To use touch input features, touch enabled hardware will be required.

Minimum hardware requirements for Windows Consumer Preview
Architecture	x86 (32-bit)	x86-64 (64-bit)
Processor	1 GHz
Memory (RAM)	1 GB	2 GB
Graphics Card	DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver
HDD free space	16 GB	20 GB

A Tribute to Moin Akhter on his 1st Death Anniversary

Moin Akhter was a well known Pakistani TV artist who also performed on radio, film and stage.  He was known as a humorist, comedian, impersonator, and a host. He was also a play writer, singer, film director and a producer. Above all he was great human being, as disclosed by his close associates.

He was adored for providing humor for people of all ages, and with special emphasis on moral and social values. His attempts to avoid vulgarity in his humor and respect for religious ethics, rendered him a favorite amongst family audiences. Moin performed for many writers and performers, but his team with writer Anwer Maqssod was undoubtedly gave both world wide fame and liking.

He won several national and international awards including ‘Pride of Performance Pakistan’, ‘Honorary citizenship of Dallas’, listed in ‘Amazing Pakistani’, etc.

He died on 22 April 2011 in Karachi after suffering from a heart attack. He is survived by his wife, three daughters and two sons. Junaid Jamshed led his funeral prayer which was attended by thousands of people including Governor of Sindh. The world famous wax museum London’s Madame Tussauds has expressed its wish to include a statue of Moin Akhtar in their London museum and it will be the first of its kind for any Pakistani entertainer.

  

Largest Painting of the World turns out to be a Pakistani Flag

        On 23^rd March 2012, a group of Pakistani students have painted the Largest Painting of the World. The painting featuring mosaics of small pictures of the Pakistani culture and historical places, turns out to be a big Pakistani flag. The painting measuring 42,000 square feet was made on a canvas by a group of 1200 male and female students at Hockey Stadium Lahore on Friday. The organizers claimed to have set a new world record breaking previous record of 34,000 square feet painting created in Nigeria (2010), acclaimed by the Guinness World Records.

     The venue was National Hockey Stadium in Lahore and the world’s largest painting was accomplished in seven hours. The organizers claimed that the according to the rules of GWR, an architect appointed for the job measures the painting. Also as per GWR requirements international procedure had been followed and the aerial view of the artwork and videos were sent to the Guinness World Records and they had declared it a new record.

       It was the culmination of the “3^rd Annual Street Art Competition” which started on March 4, in Lahore. The event was an initiative by the Message Welfare Trust and supported by Master Paints and aptly titled “The Colors of Pakistan”, an effort to show the ‘softer side’ of the country and to bring the youth together to send a positive message of peace and solidarity with the global village.

English Cricketer Flintoff sets 14 Guinness World Records

English Cricket legend Andrew Flintoff completed an epic challenge of achieving 14 Guinness World Records in just 12 hours for BT Sport Relief campaign.

The lists of records that Flintoff achieved on Monday were in the following order:

1.      Fastest time to drink a hot chocolate (5.45 seconds)

2.      Most Facebook likes in one hour (52,719)

3.      Fastest 100 meters on a paddle boat (1 minute 58.62 seconds) – with fellow cricketer Steve Harmison

4.      Most kisses in 30 seconds (40) – broken live on air in the Loose Women studio

5.      Most peas eaten with a cocktail stick in 30 seconds (38)

6.      Most people popping party poppers (420) – broken in BT’s offices in Newgate Street

7.      Fastest time to hi-fi 20 people blindfolded (in 6.53 seconds) – also broken in BT’s offices in Newgate Street

8.      Most cricket deliveries faced in one minute (19) – helped by fellow sport star Gary Lineker and McFly’s very own Harry Judd

9.      Fastest three-point turn in a car (14.01 seconds)

10.  Fastest Zorb (Large ball made of transparent plastic )over 100 metres (26.59 seconds)

11.  Most hot dogs made in 1 minute (9), live on QVC

12.  Longest distance to throw a bulls eye in darts (5.05 metres)

13.  Most lemons caught while blindfolded in one minute (20)

14.  Most party poppers popped in one minute (52)

The 15^th unofficial record Flintoff broke was registering 14 world records in 12 hours.

Throughout his marathon 12 hour challenge, Flintoff also dropped in on a number of other TV shows in a bid to showcase his talents live to the nation and encourage them to support his efforts. This included Flintoff appearing on Loose Women TV show and taking delight in claiming record for the “most kisses given in 30 seconds” by hurriedly working his way down the lucky line up of 40 people.

Fellow cricketer Steve Harmison helped Flintoff set the record for Fastest 100m on a Pedalo and Most lemons caught in one minute while blindfolded, whilst sports broadcaster Gary Lineker and Harry Judd helped Flintoff achieve the Most cricket deliveries in one minute.

All Flintoff’s efforts were overseen by an adjudicator from Guinness World Records to ensure he got instant confirmation every time he broke or set a record.

BT announced that they are giving £200,000 to support Flintoff’s challenge. This is part of the £1million BT has committed to raise in support The BT Sport Relief challenges – a series of celebrity challenges sponsored by BT for Sport Relief 2012.

Humsafar Mania

Hum TV drama serial Humsafar, hit the Pakistani TV screens like a blast. The serial started un-notably, but as the story progressed, it started to attract audience of all ages, especially ladies. And when ladies had the control over remote, how come men stay ignorant of this festive hour.

The secret behind the huge success of drama besides others was the cast which includes mostly new but attractive actors like Fawad, Mahira and Naveen. These young man and women were already appearing in major advertisement campaigns. The dialogue delivery of all three whether in Urdu or English were spontaneous and catchy.

The TV serial’s second last episode (which was anticipated as the last) clocked the stunning figure of 7.5 TRP (TV Rating Point), the highest in the history of Pakistan television.

Some statistics about this drama serial on the Internet;

In the last 90 days, Google Analytics reported that “Humsafar” keyword topped search results with figures of 4,540,000.

There are more than 2 million uploads/ downloads of episodes and OST while more than 5 Million hits of Humsafar content.

      Over 135,000 fans/ subscribers while over 4 million Liked the page. To top it all approx 64
      million Liked, Linked, Tagged or placed Humasafar content.

Besides being a hit, it also has many flaws and loop holes. But as everything is fair in Love, so is the case of this serial.

Car Repair in Karachi

It is always good to know what options you have while looking for maintenance and repair of your car in a city like Karachi. As the size of this metropolis is expanding vertically & horizontally, several market places have emerges providing complete repair solutions. So next time, when looking for a specific repair work, identify any market place and easily find location, thanks to Google Maps.




View Car & Motorcycle Maintenance and Repair Locations, Karachi in a larger map

Rabi-ul-Awwal Wallpapers

What a better way to celebrate Rabi-ul-Awwal than to decorate  your desktop with these lovely wallpapers. Click on images to see actual view and download.