This weekends box office result showed that Fast Five was no slouch. With an impressive opening weekend at the start of this month which was estimated to be 83.6$ million, with the actuals reported though, it was much high at about 86.2$ million. It has made about 19.5$ miilion this weekend and has finally streamed past the previous movie “Fast and Furious 4″, which made 70$ million in its opening weekend and about 363$ million in Worldwide gross.
As of yet, Fast and Furious 5 has made about 440.5$ million Worldwide in just 17 days. What’s more surprising is that movies which have a lot of sequels tend to flop unless they are either Twilight or Harry Potter movies. Fast Five proves that sequels still sell well if they are made decently. Check out its awesome soundtrack from here
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Fast Five is the highest grossing entry in the series
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Wondering When 3G will be introduced in Pakistan? Here’s your answer.
When I got my Nokia N70 back in 2007, I always wondered what was the point of the front facing camera. On the brochure I received with the cellphone, “Make video calls with your new Nokia N70″ was written in bright colorful letters. Below the colorful letters in very small bold letters, a disclaimer was written that the video call service requires 3G networks. At that point, I decided to contact Telenor Pakistan and ask them when will they be switching over to 3rd generation networks. I got a reply from a representative that currently there are no plans but it looks quite likely in the near future.
Fast forward 4 years later and Iam still wondering when will this “near future” come. I contacted Telenor Pakistan again and here is the exact reply I receive:
“Dear Mr. Lalani,
Thank you for writing to Telenor. With reference to your email hereunder, please be informed that currently Telenor Pakistan is not offering 3G services. However, as soon as there will be induction of the said technology to our network, same shall be advertised through mass media.
Meanwhile, we expect your kind understanding in this regard.
We always value the opinion and the feedback of our customers as it is critical to our success. It’s through communication like yours that we become aware of customer concerns and preferences.
We thank you for taking time to write to us and for providing us your valuable feedback.
Moreover, please feel free to contact us whenever you think we can be of any assistance. We shall be more than delighted to hear from you!
Best Regards, ”
——–
I have to hand it to Telenor. They replied to my query quite slickly, one small paragraph of an actual answer and the rest were just words reassuring me that they cared about me and my opinion.
Let’s now look at what 3rd generation networks or 3G actually is. In simple terms, it offers much higher data transfer speeds then EDGE or GPRS. It gives users the capability to do video calls between cellphones supporting 3G. It also lets users do Voice over internet protocol(VOIP) calls. What most people don’t know is that 3G has already been introduced in Pakistan and is currently provided by broadband providers such as PTCL. But these 3G networks are just limited to usage on computers through USB broadband.
While the rest of the world has already experienced the 3G wave and is now preparing its transition from 3rd generation to 4th generation networks, Cellular networks in Pakistan are stuck at 2nd generation networks. It comes to thought that if 3rd generation technology is already available and implemented through broadband providers here in Pakistan, then why don’t the cellular network providers introduce it here.
The answer is simple, It isn’t economically feasible. Only 6% or so of the population uses GPRS/EDGE. A huge investment is needed to upgrade the cellular infrastructure. The cellular companies would not be able to recover the mammoth cost due to the low number of consumers for 3G data transfers.Some developments did take place in 2005 when the Pakistan Telecom Authority had announced that they would be handing out 3G licenses to bidding cellular companies. But those developments never took place because the companies jointly refused to allow distribution of 3G licenses in Pakistan. Why? Because if 3G was introduced, the companies would go into huge losses due to consumers using VOIP calls and other data services at fixed rates to makes calls instead of voice calls, which constitute a large percentage of their earnings. Since then on, statements have been made by PTA to introduce 3G but all have been fruitless.
We can safely say that 3G isn’t going to be introduced in Pakistan for atleast another 4-5 years. Supposedly, even if it were announced today that 3G licenses have been bought by cellular companies, it would still take a long time for 3G to be properly implemented through out Pakistan.
Guess we will have to stick to using Skype to make video calls for now.
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Macbook Pro Specs Leaked Ahead Of Launch
The new Macbook Pro product line is set to be launched on Thursday 25th February which is also Steve Job’s 56th birthday.The changes are as follows:
- no more white MacBook (Apple goes back to two lines of 13″ inchers)
- 16 GB SSD mSATA drives on all models to store the system
- Core i3 and third USB port on the 13″ model
- Matte screen option on the higher-end 13″
- Option to replace the SuperDrive with a SSD on the 15 and 17″ models
- HD screens on all models : 1440×900 on the 13″, 1680×1050 on the 15″
- 200 to 300 grams lighter : 1.8 kg for the 13″, 2.3 kg for the 15″, 2.65 kg for the 17″
- Better battery life : 12 hours on the 13″, 10 hours on the 15″
- 8 GB of RAM on the 17″
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Facebook’s New Look: What Do You Think?
The Facebook developer conference (f8) held last week brought two major changes to our beloved Facebook. First is the Ticker which is located above the online friends for chat list while the second is a revamped Facebook profile dubbed Timeline.
The Ticker raised many eyebrows especially of users concerned with their privacy as the main function of the Ticker is to display public updates regarding everything your friends do. If you know how to properly utilize Facebook’s privacy options there’s nothing to worry about.
The Facebook Timeline which was the highlight of f8 is the newly revamped profile page and is only available to developers for now but you can very easily enable it using the guide here. The Timeline enables you and your friends to track your progress throughout Facebook since your profile was born.
Lastly Facebook has made our life easier by reducing the amount of annoying dialogue boxes we have to go through when we use our favorite apps, this helps make Facebook a much more seamless service.
So tell us guys, what do YOU think. Are these changes for you? or do you want the only Facebook back?
Stay tuned to TechDeville for everything Tech! Follow us on Twitter (@TechDeville) and like us at Facebook.
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Steve Jobs Resigns As Apple CEO Replaced By Tim Cook, Jobs Now Chairman
Shocking news from Apple’s offices in Cupertino today, Steve Jobs has stepped down from his post as Apple CEO and is replaced by Tim Cook. Jobs will now be serving as the Chairman. The company held him in high praises today and said:
Steve’s extraordinary vision and leadership saved Apple and guided it to its position as the world’s most innovative and valuable technology company.
And now a letter from Steve himself:
I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.
I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.
As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.
I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.
I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.
Steve
The full press release is below:
Steve Jobs Resigns as CEO of Apple
Tim Cook Named CEO and Jobs Elected Chairman of the Board
CUPERTINO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Apple’s Board of Directors today announced that Steve Jobs has resigned as Chief Executive Officer, and the Board has named Tim Cook, previously Apple’s Chief Operating Officer, as the company’s new CEO. Jobs has been elected Chairman of the Board and Cook will join the Board, effective immediately.
“Steve has made countless contributions to Apple’s success, and he has attracted and inspired Apple’s immensely creative employees and world class executive team. In his new role as Chairman of the Board, Steve will continue to serve Apple with his unique insights, creativity and inspiration.”
“Steve’s extraordinary vision and leadership saved Apple and guided it to its position as the world’s most innovative and valuable technology company,” said Art Levinson, Chairman of Genentech, on behalf of Apple’s Board. “Steve has made countless contributions to Apple’s success, and he has attracted and inspired Apple’s immensely creative employees and world class executive team. In his new role as Chairman of the Board, Steve will continue to serve Apple with his unique insights, creativity and inspiration.”“The Board has complete confidence that Tim is the right person to be our next CEO,” added Levinson. “Tim’s 13 years of service to Apple have been marked by outstanding performance, and he has demonstrated remarkable talent and sound judgment in everything he does.”
Jobs submitted his resignation to the Board today and strongly recommended that the Board implement its succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO.
As COO, Cook was previously responsible for all of the company’s worldwide sales and operations, including end-to-end management of Apple’s supply chain, sales activities, and service and support in all markets and countries. He also headed Apple’s Macintosh division and played a key role in the continued development of strategic reseller and supplier relationships, ensuring flexibility in response to an increasingly demanding marketplace.
Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.
Stay tuned to TechDeville for everything Tech! Follow us on Twitter (@TechDeville) and like us at Facebook.
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Macbook Pro Specs Leaked Ahead Of Launch
The new Macbook Pro product line is set to be launched on Thursday 25th February which is also Steve Job’s 56th birthday.The changes are as follows:
- no more white MacBook (Apple goes back to two lines of 13″ inchers)
- 16 GB SSD mSATA drives on all models to store the system
- Core i3 and third USB port on the 13″ model
- Matte screen option on the higher-end 13″
- Option to replace the SuperDrive with a SSD on the 15 and 17″ models
- HD screens on all models : 1440×900 on the 13″, 1680×1050 on the 15″
- 200 to 300 grams lighter : 1.8 kg for the 13″, 2.3 kg for the 15″, 2.65 kg for the 17″
- Better battery life : 12 hours on the 13″, 10 hours on the 15″
- 8 GB of RAM on the 17″
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Gigbeat – Android App Of The Day – 11/5/2011
Today’s App of the day is Gigbeat by developers Michael Novak and Guenther Beyer. Gigbeat enables you to stay up to date with concert schedules of your favorite artists, buy their tickets and know whats happening around you thanks to the app’s location based services.
Gigbeat scans your music library and Last.fm accounts to finds all the relevant information of your favorite artists. Gigabeat also syncs with your Songkick.com account to get you instant access to concerts happening near you.
Gigbeat is currently available for free over at the Android Market so if you’re a music junkie this is the perfect app for you.
Download: Android Market
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Samsung Galaxy S II and Galaxy Tab 2 Leaked on a Korean site?
People at Moveplayer spotted an article regarding the successor to Samsung Galaxy S on a Korean News site Paran. The article confirmed a 4.3 inch screen, 1 GHz Dual Core Processor, HSPA+, Bluetooth 3.0, and 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi and the mobile is to be powered with Android 2.3 Gingerbread. It also said that the handset shall weigh 116 g and will be 8.49 mm thick.The article also confirmed the specs Galaxy Tab successor about which we learnt yesterday. The tab will be powered with Android 3.0 Honeycomb and will feature 10.1 inch screen, 1 GHz Dual Core Processor,8 megapixel camera with “full HD” video recording, and dual surround sound speakers.
This year’s MWC is bound to bring a revolution in the mobile phones. Tune in later for more news on the topic!
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Hitachi Announces A 4.5-inch 720p IPS Display Panel!
Hitachi new IPS display for mobile phones could give Apple iPhone 4 a run for it’s money with 1280 x 720-pixel resolution at 329dpi density. Which is much higher than the iPhone 4′s 3.5-inch display with 960 x 640-pixel resolution at 326 ppi density. The Hitachi display also offers 500 nits of brightness and a 1,100:1 contrast ratio with from a LED backlight. Mass production is set to start in October which means that CES 2012 is gonna be full with phones with 720p eye candy displays. Hitachi is also expecting mobile phone companies to use the display for touchscreen and 3D-enabled handsets. SID attendees will be getting a peak at the display in May which could provide us with more information.
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HTC Gingerbread Tablet Coming this March?
There’s a rumor going on for quite sometime about a 7 inch HTC Tablet to be released this March with new HTC Sense. We have to rely on the rumors as HTC has made no official announcements. Chinese Economic Daily reports that the 7 inch Tablet will run Android 2.3 and will ship in the late Q1 2011. Some rumors state that the tablet shall be available this March. Let’s all hope that we get some news on this gorgeous looking tablet packed with one of the most fun UI on MWC.
