Suvastu Tech

Watching the two little lion cubs boisterously play with each other at a conservation centre outside of South Africa's capital Pretoria, it's hard to see anything out of the ordinary. But these cubs are unique. "These are the first ever lion cubs to be born by means of artificial insemination - the first such pair anywhere in the world," announced the University of Pretoria, whose scientists are researching the reproductive system of female African lions. The two cubs, a male and female, born on August 25 are healthy and normal, said Andre Ganswindt, the director of the University of Pretoria's mammal research institute. His team's breakthrough came after 18 months of intensive trials. "We collected sperm from a healthy lion," Ganswindt told AFP. Then when the lioness' hormone levels were found to be viable, she was inseminated artificially. "And luckily it was successful," said Ganswindt, adding tha...

PARIS: Facebook is at the centre of controversy yet again after admitting that up to 50 million accounts were breached by hackers. Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said engineers discovered the breach on Tuesday, and patched it on Thursday night. "We don’t know if any accounts were actually misused," Zuckerberg said. "We face constant attacks from people who want to take over accounts or steal information around the world." Facebook reset the 50 million breached accounts, meaning users will need to sign back in using passwords. It also reset "access tokens" for another 40 million accounts as a precautionary measure. Here is a roundup of the scandals dogging the social media giant. Cambridge Analytica  In Facebook’s telling, everything goes back to 2013 when Russian-American researcher Aleksandr Kogan creates a personality prediction test app, "thisisyourdigitallife", which is offered on the social network....

Workplace collaboration software firm Slack is actively preparing for a share offering in early 2019, which be the largest in the tech sector since Snap´s debut last year, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. Citing unnamed sources, the newspaper said Slack is aiming for an initial public offering (IPO) in the first half of the year that would value the California startup at well above the $7.1 billion it reached in its most recent funding round. The company declined to comment, with a spokesman saying "Slack does not comment on rumors or speculation." In August, the company raised $427 million to give it a valuation of some $7.1 billion, making it one of the most richly valued "unicorns," or startups with private funding worth at least $1 billion. Slack, which offers real-time messaging for the workplace, said in its announcement it has more than eight million daily active users and more than 70,000 "paid teams" that subscri...

SINGAPORE: An Indian game industry veteran has recounted his interaction with young Pakistani entrepreneurs at Google’s “Indie Games Accelerator” programme, saying he found them “polite, professional and absolutely driven”. Alok Kejriwal, CEO and Co-founder of Games2win, mentored a team of young Pakistani studio here in Singapore at Google’s Asia HQ during a session and was “honoured and surprised” by the “sweet” response from them. Alok Kejriwal, CEO and Co-founder of Games2win “Yesterday, the moment I sat down for my first mentoring session, I saw the Pakistan Flag. I was mentoring a team from Pakistan! The moment we looked at each, we burst into a smile and chatted in Hindi. (Their Hindi was so polished compared to my 'Mumbaiya' Hinglish). I came across folks that were so polite, professional and absolutely driven. They had an awesome game that IS destined to do well. I gave them my best...,” he stated in his LinkedIn post. The US tech giant ...

San Francisco: Facebook announced Friday that up to 50 million accounts were breached in a security flaw exploited by hackers. The large social network said it learned this week of the attack that allowed hackers to steal "access tokens," the equivalent of digital keys that enable them to access their accounts. "It´s clear that attackers exploited a vulnerability in Facebook´s code," vice president of product management Guy Rosen said in a blog post. "We´ve fixed the vulnerability and informed law enforcement." Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said engineers discovered the breach on Tuesday, and patched it on Thursday night. "We don´t know if any accounts were actually misused," Zuckerberg said. "This is a serious issue." As a precaution, Facebook is temporarily taking down the "view as" feature -- described as a privacy tool to let user see how their own profiles would look to othe...

WASHINGTON: Leading internet search engine Google will acknowledge that it has made "mistakes" on privacy issues in testimony an executive of the Alphabet Inc unit will deliver to a US Senate committee on Wednesday.  "We acknowledge that we have made mistakes in the past, from which we have learned, and improved our robust privacy program," Google chief privacy officer Keith Enright will say in written testimony before the Senate Commerce Committee. Google will testify alongside AT&T Inc, Amazon. com Inc, Apple Inc and other companies amid growing concerns about data privacy. Google's written testimony did not identify specific prior mistakes but the company has come under fire for privacy issues. In 2012, Google agreed to pay a then record $22.5 million civil penalty to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it misrepresented to Apple Safari Internet browser users that it would not place tracking "cookies" or serve t...

SAN FRANCISCO: Google unveiled changes Monday aimed at making the leading search engine more visual and intuitive to the point it can answer questions before being asked. Artificial intelligence and machine learning are core drivers of how Google will pursue its 20-year-old mission to organize the world´s information and make it accessible to anyone, search vice president Ben Gomes said at an event in San Francisco. The search engine focused strongly on mobile use and appeared to be growing more like Facebook, encouraging users to linger and explore topics, interests or stories with increasingly emphasis on photos and videos. Results will be increasingly personalized. "Search is not perfect, and we are under no illusions it is," Gomes said. "But, you have our commitment that we will make it better every day." He described the latest changes as shifting from answers to journeys, providing ways to target queries without knowing what words...

A man looks for celestial bodies through a telescope.—White Star file photo KARACHI: Pakistan’s Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco), which is often criticised by Pakistani scientific community for not being on par with its Indian or Chinese counterparts, sent two satellites in space from a launching facility in China this July. A surprise as it may be, one of the satellites launched the PakTES-1A, which was indigenously designed and developed by Pakistani engineers. Primarily aimed at remote sensing, the satellite is providing promising results, meeting or even exceeding expectations, a senior official of Suparco says. Talking about the development phase of the satellite, the official says that it was a tough task to complete it on time because the launch date had already been fixed and a delay of not even a day could be afforded. “The other satellite, PRSS-1, developed by China and Pakistan in collaboration, was due to launch on July 9, and PakT...

CEO Sibtain Jiwani banks on addressing information asymmetry to help consumers find the smartest choice. SmartChoice is a supermarket for financial products. Whether you want to decide which credit card is suitable for you or what insurance policy best fits your needs, this startup claims to be your one-stop shop. The way it works is you go to their website, select the financial product — currently includes credit cards, car loans, insurance, takaful plan, broadband — and select your filters. Let’s say you want a car loan, all you have to do is enter the vehicle model, installment tenure and down payment, and bam! The system will show you a list of plans which you can apply for directly through the website. Obviously you will have to fill in your identification, contact and income details after which a SmartChoice.pk agent will contact you for proof of income and other documents. Once all of this is done, they will forward the application to the bank that will then...

Apple on Friday released iPhone XS and XS Max. As the fans queued up for the launch in Singapore, Huawei offered them power banks for the iPhone XS that carried a message suggesting Apple phones don't have a long battery life. According to reports, as many as 200 power bans were handed out to iPhone fans in Singapore. “Here’s a power bank. You’ll need it. Courtesy of Huawei,” read the message on the front of the power banks. Recently launched iPhones-File photo As part of another promotion stunt, the Chinese manufacturer offered fruit juice and charging stations. The Huawei van carrying the fruit juices had "no traces of apple" written over them. According to CNET, the company said it handed out the power banks to “offer respite from the weather and grueling wait.”

Samsung on Thursday announced a three-camera smartphone: Samsung Galaxy A7 2018. The phone has become the second handset after Huawei's P20 Pro to feature a third-rear-facing camera lens, according to reports. The Galaxy A7 will be released in Asia and Europe this fall with US release date yet to be announced. Apple iPhone XS and XS Max go on sale Galaxy S10 Samsung also plans to launch Galaxy S10 early next year. It is being considered Samsung’s most exciting Galaxy phone in years. People are very excited about Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S10. The smartphone is expected to feature a new design that shrinks the bezels above and below the display to push Samsung closer to achieving the all-screen phone. It’s also expected to be the first Samsung phone with an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor embedded under the display. That means instead of fumbling around on the back of the phone, you’ll be able to unlock it simply by placing your f...

                         Apple has released iPhone XS and XS Max on Friday. They are Apple's latest great iPhones that went on sale. And if you are looking to sell or upgrade your old device the clock is ticking to get the top dollar. "Once Apple announces a new iPhone and it goes on pre-sale, the value of older model does drop pretty fast," says Bridget Carey, Senior Editor, CNET.                                                                  Three-camera Samsung Galaxy A7 (2018) announced One these shiny models are unveiled, previous generation phones can drop as much as $100 on the resale market. Expert say you can sell your older decides by using different websites "The longer you wait the less you are gonna get f...

Muharram is the first month of the Muslim calendar, but not one to celebrate — rather, it is a month of mourning, observed in particular by Shia worldwide. It commemorates the Battle of Karbala in 680 AD, where amongst many, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), Imam Hussain, was martyred and other family members were killed or subjected to humiliation. Worldwide, and in South Asia, Shias mourn these deaths even today through elaborate processions and gatherings. Sewak Ram, "A Muharram Scene", Patna, India c1807. One of the few paintings with an attribution, it is said to have been painted by Sewak Ram, a Hindu painter.—Victoria and Albert Museum Leading the procession is an alam. Following it is a shroud of the martyr, decorated and bloodstained. There is customary weeping as tragic stories from the battle are narrated. Then begins the matam — synchronised self-flagellation as elegies and songs penned in the memory of Imam Hussain an...