Anonymous Aims to Kill (Hack) Facebook on Nov 5th: ProPakistani

Anonymous Aims to Kill (Hack) Facebook on Nov 5th
UET Lahore Student Designs Solar Powered Vehicle
A look at Urdu Blogging
Twitter Photo Sharing is Now Available for All
To Tweet or Not to Tweet: Use of Social Media in Workplace [Infographic]

Anonymous Aims to Kill (Hack) Facebook on Nov 5th

Posted: 10 Aug 2011 05:53 AM PDT

Anonymous has announced its new target, operation facebook. In a YouTube video (showed at the end of the post), the hackivist group said that their new aim is to 'kill facebook' on 5^th of November, 2011.

The group said that keeping in view the privacy issues on Facebook; they have decided to completely destroy Facebook on 5^th of November which is called Guy Fawkes Day.

Just in case if you haven't heard of anonymous before, here's their Wikipedia link.

It merits mentioning here that Anonymous had started its own social networking platform called AnonPlus which is "a new social network where there is no fear…of censorship…of blackout…nor of holding back."

Though the network is hacked by Syrian hackers (still in their control) in response to the defacement of Syrian Ministry of Defense's website by Anonymous.

Below is the statement issued by Anonymous to launch operation Facebook:

Attention citizens of the world,

We wish to get your attention, hoping you heed the warnings as follows:
Your medium of communication you all so dearly adore will be destroyed. If you are a willing hacktivist or a guy who just wants to protect the freedom of information then join the cause and kill facebook for the sake of your own privacy.

Facebook has been selling information to government agencies and giving clandestine access to information security firms so that they can spy on people from all around the world. Some of these so-called whitehat infosec firms are working for authoritarian governments, such as those of Egypt and Syria.

Everything you do on Facebook stays on Facebook regardless of your “privacy” settings, and deleting your account is impossible, even if you “delete” your account, all your personal info stays on Facebook and can be recovered at any time. Changing the privacy settings to make your Facebook account more “private” is also a delusion. Facebook knows more about you than your family.

You cannot hide from the reality in which you, the people of the internet, live in. Facebook is the opposite of the Antisec cause. You are not safe from them nor from any government. One day you will look back on this and realise what we have done here is right, you will thank the rulers of the internet, we are not harming you but saving you.

The riots are underway. It is not a battle over the future of privacy and publicity. It is a battle for choice and informed consent. It’s unfolding because people are being raped, tickled, molested, and confused into doing things where they don’t understand the consequences. Facebook keeps saying that it gives users choices, but that is completely false. It gives users the illusion of and hides the details away from them “for their own good” while they then make millions off of you. When a service is “free,” it really means they’re making money off of you and your information.

Think for a while and prepare for a day that will go down in history. November 5 2011, #opfacebook . Engaged.

This is our world now. We exist without nationality, without religious bias. We have the right to not be surveilled, not be stalked, and not be used for profit. We have the right to not live as slaves.

We are anonymous
We are legion
We do not forgive
We do not forget
Expect us

While on the other hand, following tweets from Anon Group depict totally different point of view, claiming that this is just false hype and Anonymous has no such plans. Even if there are some individuals, they do not represent the whole anonymous.

anon tweet 1 thumb Anonymous Aims to Kill (Hack) Facebook on Nov 5th

anon tweet 2 thumb Anonymous Aims to Kill (Hack) Facebook on Nov 5th

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

UET Lahore Student Designs Solar Powered Vehicle

Posted: 10 Aug 2011 01:56 AM PDT

Student of Mechanical Engineering from University of Engineering & Technology, Pakistan has successfully built a solar powered vehicle – named Solaron.

This eco-friendly vehicle incorporates a battery that is charged by solar panels thereby producing energy without any exhaust. Battery drives a DC motor that is used to power the vehicle.

Vehicle is based on reverse trike configuration i.e. two front wheels and one rear wheel which is powered by motor whereas steering is done with the help of front wheels. (See video below for demonstration)

Farrukh Khan, the guy who made this vehicle, says that most of the parts used in this vehicle are from old bicycle, including tires and shock absorbers whereas framework is custom built, made from aluminum to make it weight effective.

130 pound (approximately 60Kg) vehicle is 7 ft. long and 3.5 ft. wide with a height of 4.5ft. Equipped with 40 watt photovoltaic canopy, that charges onboard 12v/80Ah dry cell battery and provides a shade for rider as well.

Vehicle has a top speed of 30 km per hour on smooth road. Note that this is a prototype which can further be enhanced to work on larger scale.

As per designer, the total cost of the project is approximately 47,000 rupees including all the components, such as solar panel, battery and motor. (Details available at designer's page)

It merits mentioning here that current head of Mechanical Engineering Department, Prof. Dr. Hameed Ullah Mughal is actively working on the implementation of solar energy in Pakistan and under his supervision, students have also developed other means of energy production using sun rays, one such project is Solar Concentrator.

A look at Urdu Blogging

Posted: 10 Aug 2011 01:55 AM PDT

Blogging is a favorite past time for many people here in Pakistan. WordPress and Blogger are amongst the most visited websites in the country.

Amongst these bloggers, many people treat their blogs as a personal journal; others try to cater to a wider audience in an effort to generate some money on the side while others want to share their experiences with the internet.

English is by far the most dominant language in which these blogs choose to communicate, which is understandable since it's the one of the most widely understood languages and easiest to manage.

However many people amongst us would prefer if that content were available in Urdu. The validity of that statement can be verified by the fact that for every person who reads an English newspaper, seven people read Urdu newspapers.

So to cater to that audience, many blogs have come into existence which provide all their content in Urdu. Such blogs are needed because firstly, Urdu is our national language and we need to promote it. Secondly, there is a large market for people who just aren't comfortable with or don't understand English.

The challenges for Urdu blogging are numerous. Firstly, you'd be providing for people who understand Urdu. For the rest of the world, your site is irrelevant and might even be in Chinese for all they care. Because of this, unless you are offering standout content, your website might get off to an extremely sluggish start which can discourage people who intend to generate revenue from it.

Another thing is that you'd have to have a good grip on Urdu if you want to start a blog in it, because nothing would kill you faster than going to the trouble of starting an Urdu blog and using incorrect grammar or expressions.

Writing in Urdu (with not much fluent keyboard styles) is another hurdle to be tackled. Indexing in search engine isn't possible, so one can't count on search engine traffic.

(A detailed article regarding the problems associated with Urdu Language on Internet can be found here)

The prospect for such blogs is good however. There are many examples of successful Urdu blogs such as Dufferistan, Cricnama, Abushamil to name a few – a detailed directory of Urdu blogs can be found here.

One only needs to analyze what they're getting right, and keep that stuff in mind when you're starting your own website/blog.

In the end what it really comes down to is this: Urdu is our national language. Unfortunately many people just lose touch once it ceases to be a compulsory subject.

That is worrisome because a language is supposed to represent the culture of a people. There is also an inferiority complex amongst students in schools, colleges and universities as well as among people in offices etc; anyone who can speak English is considered superior.

Already, our official language is English and if we choose it over Urdu when we go online too then it will just bring its demise closer. Steps need to be taken to ensure that it doesn't happen and providing content in our local language is the step that can be taken right away.

To read more, click: A look at Urdu Blogging
ProPakistani.PK

Twitter Photo Sharing is Now Available for All

Posted: 10 Aug 2011 01:54 AM PDT

Twitter today has rolled out its own photo uploading feature which allows users to directly upload a picture while tweeting. Twitter had announced this feature in June 2011, but now it is available to all members of Twitter.

There is a 3MB size limit on images though.

Pictures can be made available to twitter's search by adding hashtags with them. Also other users can comment on the pictures by simply replying to tweets. By the way you can flag pictures if you deem they illegal or sensitive in nature.

Note that this service is currently available for web users only and we still have to wait till Twitter incorporates this feature in its mobile version, which I believe is more crucial – especially in cases when you are live reporting from event.

Moreover it is said that Twitter will rollout support for photo galleries that will syndicate all photos uploaded by a user on Twitter and third-party photo sharing websites such as Twitpic, but no ETA on this so far.

Also note that all EXIF data is stripped from the photos after uploading on Twitter.

To Tweet or Not to Tweet: Use of Social Media in Workplace [Infographic]

Posted: 10 Aug 2011 01:07 AM PDT

Use of social media in the workplace is an important issue about which companies take a lot of measures.

On a general note, use of social media is strictly prohibited in workspace, especially Facebook and twitter. But still there is another school of thought who believes not to prohibit employees from being social in their working hours considering the fact that the generation raised on technology is more productive when allowed to use it at their own discretion.