Blog

Chrome Cast Thumb HDMI device for your TV

 

Now you can stream YouTube, Netflix and other videos right on to your TV with this amazingly small thumb device called Chromecast. But wait, haven’t we heard of such devices before?

With Kickstart’s popular Pocket TV and a number of other Android thumb sized devices that run full Android OS on them, I think this is more of a response launch from Google. Instead of buying Google TV or other smart TV hardware, people were turning towards these other low cost alternatives when Google has decided to launch Chromecast. I myself use an amazing media box by Western Digital called WD-TV that has a 1 terabyte of storage for movies and it also streams all sorts of internet media.

(more…) “Chrome Cast Thumb HDMI device for your TV”

A look at Nokia Lumia 1020/EOS

These are exciting times for Nokia lovers. Nokia Lumia 1020 also known as Lumia EOS is a device that you have never witnessed before. The most attracting  feature of this device is its 41 mega pixel PureView camera with dual flash (both LED and a Xenon). A 41 mp camera in Nokia Lumia certainly makes it a best camera phone in the current world.

(more…) “A look at Nokia Lumia 1020/EOS”

The dilemma of Form-R for iOS developers in Pakistan

If you are an iOS developer based in Pakistan and use your iTunes connect account for selling paid apps, you must have seen this email from apple. From now onwards you have to fill this Form R and submit it every month to receive your payments. Every month, you heard it right EVERY MONTH.

Why Form R?

Actually it has something to do with State Bank of Pakistan or some similar authority not letting the payments directly land to the developers’ account. Barclays bank is Apple’s partner bank in the country and they distribute payments to all developers every month. To process these payments now, Barclays bank needs a filled Form R from all developers every month. Big pain?

How to fill Form-R?

While I was freaking out about it, this still doesn’t seem to be that bad at all. Here is the process you have to follow:

1. Log in to your iTunes Connect account and note your payment amount and payment date. You have to send this Form R within 2 weeks of this payment date.
2. Get hold of a copy of Form R. If you have not received it from Apple, you can download Form R from www.basitali.com/downloads/docs/PKFormR.pdf
3. Print form R and print it out.
4. Provide following addresses in “Sender” field on Form R

— Apple Inc., 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, CA 95014
— iTunes S.a.r.l, 31-33 rue Sainte Zithe, Luxembourg L-273, Luxembourg

5. Mention the amount you can see in iTunes Connect’s Payment section (done in step 1).
6. In the end provide your name, address, telephone number and email address in the beneficiary section. Make sure you include all this information so that Barclays bank can process your payment.
7. Sign the form
8. Put this form R in an envelop and Courier this to following address:
— Barclays Bank PLC, Pakistan, 13 – C, College Road, F- 7 Markaz, Islamabad
Hint: If you are being lazy and don’t wanna go drop it at a courier outlet, you can call Call Courier Service at 111-786-227 and they’ll come and pick the letter from you 😉

What is Form R?

As the title says, Form R is a declaration of foreign remittance receipt above Rs. 10,000 for purpose other than Export and family maintenance. Well, while it says Rs. 10,000 on the title, Apple tells us to make sure to fill the form for whatever amount is coming in. Moreover, while I could put iTunes payment under software export, the banks are actually going to differ with my opinion here. And I also like the year 1947 on the title of the form 🙂

I’m sure this is going to work out and if you follow this process every month, you’ll be receiving your payments on time every month. Please do share your experience with me whether you succeed or you have any issues. Drop me a line on @basitj.

 

Elections 2013 – Where to cast your vote?

Elections 2013 are here in Pakistan and we’re all ready to vote on 11th May. If you are not sure where’s the polling station in your area, this handy little website will help you find that out.

Please follow these 3 steps to find out the location of your polling station:

Step 1:Send your CNIC (Computerized ID Card) number to 8300 via SMS.Step 2: If you are registered with Election Commission of Pakistan as a voter, you will receive your details with a Block Code in SMS response.

Step 3: Go to this website http://whereismyballot.com and enter your Block Code to get the exact location of your polling station.
Hope this information is helpful for you. Happy voting!

Duddoo aur Dhobi – First step in the right direction

 

Like any other parent having a young child, my worries are beginning to rise as my son has  access to media, music, cartoons, games, entertainment and education that is either in a foreign language or it’s localized in an incorrect way. While it is great to access English, Spanish and French content, there has been a big gap when we talk about Urdu content, especially in interactive education, games, cartoons, stories and edu-tainment apps. No I do not like my son watching Hindi content, that is not Urdu beware. There have been several serious efforts like ToffeeTV to fill the gap but we need to speed up the efforts now.

(more…) “Duddoo aur Dhobi – First step in the right direction”

BlackBerry 10 – This better be good.

I’m intentionally writing this post today, BlackBerry 10 launch is just a few hours to go. BlackBerry Z10 is the first device on the given platform and there’s a fair bit of excitement around the RIM and BlackBerry neighborhoods. This has been pretty much down hill for RIM for quite some time and in my opinion this is their last chance to bounce back.

They better get this done right, and they are doing pretty much everything they can to bring back the lost glory to RIM and BlackBerry platform and devices but I’m afraid this may be too little too late. RIM has been missing back to back deadlines and eventually we reach a point where they cannot miss any more opportunities.

I’m sure RIM has been working hard to do a lot of things but here is my wish list of what RIM should do to make it right from here onwards:

* Launch at least 8 devices in 2013 positioned at different price, markets and user levels.
* Break free from networks, allow users to use BlackBerry without using BlackBerry package
* Push popular app makers to bring their apps to BlackBerry 10 ( like Skype 🙂  )
* Devise a mechanism to repel junk apps from their app store, they’ve already got quite a many out there already.
* Wake up and bite the reality, they are nowhere near the industry leaders, so they gotta grow slow and steady.
* Launch BlackBerry N10 as quickly as possible. The bigger chunk of existing BlackBerry fan club is qwerty users.

This list could get longer but it’s enough for now I guess.

In the end I wish luck to RIM and team BlackBerry and as a die hard BlackBerry fan/user/addict myself, I’d love to see RIM to do a real come back.