TechJuice Monthly Roundup: 21 stories you don’t want to miss

We are about to enter the hottest month of the year – June, literally. You may be dreading Monday morning, scorching heat, 9-5 office, exams, school or waiting for holidays to start, looking for internships, preparing a to-do list for the upcoming week, spending time with your friends & family and finally, watching the hit movie or reading your favorite book.

TechJuice does not want to disrupt your leisure-time, but we want you to remain updated with the current affairs before you get busy with your daily schedule again. Here is our monthly round-up of the top stories from the month of May. So, stay in your couch and start reading.

News

1. Our leading story for this month is on Axact. Axact came under fire when The New York Times released a report revealing the details about the company’s international fake degree dealings. The news instantly became the hot topic of discussion on media and it turned out that people had a lot to say about Axact’s shady business. Read the top responses on Twitter here. Well, after a week’s long of debate, blaming and denying, FIA dropped the scene as they discovered a secret room full of fake degrees at Axact’s Karachi headquarters and immediately arrested Shoaib Shaikh, CEO Axact. Watch what Shoaib had to say on the whole situation! Also, you would want to go through this timeline, which explains what happened in the past that eventually resulted into The New York Times report.
2. Facebook’s controversial project Internet.org was launched in Pakistan this month. Pakistan is the 7th country whose people will get access to a limited number of free applications through a mobile application of Internet.org which is available on Google play. Things got a bit ugly when Mark Zuckerberg, Founder of Facebook, posted an update about the launch of service with a not-so-cool picture and here is how Pakistanis responded to that. Anyways, after a strong backlash, Zuckerberg uploaded another picture to cool things off. Here is a list of applications available for free usage.
3. A team of developers at Microsoft have developed an age guessing tool, which is not really accurate and became a source of fun and mockery when people started uploading all sorts of pictures and sharing highly inaccurate age guesses on Twitter. TechJuice also tested a few pictures and here is what we found out.
4. We have been hearing a lot about Net Neutrality compromise in other countries and now we are seeing that Ufone is charging for WhatsApp calls. It means that people are going to look for other ways to stay in contact with their loved ones. Also, you should read this piece on why we think net neutrality is a much bigger issue than cyber crime.
5. Pakistan’s first ever animated movie, 3 Bahadur was released this month. The team behind the movie took a different approach for reaching the mass audience. They launched a smartphone game prior to the release of the movie. You can download the game from here.
6. Times Magazine named Nighat Daad, a criminal & family lawyer and digital rights activist, as the next generation leader in a 6-name list of some remarkable international women. Check out the details here.
7. In order to curb the ever increasing terrorism in the state, Islamabad police implemented a panic emergency attack system for schools, churches and media houses. We need such systems in other cities too!

Startups

1. Rozee.pk managed to raise 6.5 million dollars in series C venture funding for the third time in over 10 years. You can read all about the funding over here. We came across the above hilarious image on our timeline and decided to share it with you. Here’s to hoping that Rozee will overhaul their user interface now! We have our fingers crossed, Rozee.pk!
2. A young Pakistani Startup Interacta has got USD 220K in seed funding from Fatima Ventures, the startup was incubated at LUMS Center for Entrepreneurship.
3. Peshawar Digital Youth Summit 2015 happened last month with more than 200 speakers and 1000 attendees. The event can be called as one of the best one that we have seen in Pakistan. You can read our review and the details of the event here.
4. NetSol’s 3rd quarter report for the fiscal year 2015 is not so great, here is what we have discussed in what is the future of NetSol?
5. We recently got in touch with the Country Head of Kaymu in Pakistan to know more about the e-commerce platform and what’s going on behind the scenes.Here is a link to TechJuice’s conversation with him.
6. The digital media agency based out of Lahore, Bramerz, has acquired a Karachi based Digital Media Agency Dexteam in order to get strong footing in the business hub of the country Karachi and expanding their operations all over Asia.
7. A Pakistani hacker managed to hack one of the most popular music streaming startup in India – Gaana.com. He did this to reveal a vulnerability in the website which he, initially, tried to convey to the website manager. Read all about his little adventure here. In another news, a hacker managed to take over a plane through an in-flight entertainment system. How he managed to do that? Read here.

Education

1. From South-Asia, only one team – our Pakistani team – has managed to qualify for RoboCup 2015, how cool is that? RoboCup is an annual international robotics competition or more accurately a robot soccer world cup which is scheduled to be held in China this year from 17th to 23rd July 2015. Good luck, Team Pakistan! Check out the Pakistani Robotic Soccer team here.
2. A group of ambitious students designed a solar-powered ATM which will not only draw cash but also provide clean drinking water to users. Read all about this innovation here.
3. HEC has released a list of universities that haven’t been recognized officially, some of the names are truly shocking. You can check the list here. Also, HEC has officially announced top ranked universities in business, engineering and technology sector. Here is the link to that.
4. There is an ongoing trend about getting certifications at a very young age in Pakistan. e.g this 6-year-old boy now holds the crown for the youngest Microsoft Office Professional. We were watching cartoon network or playing with sand at that age. Ah, well! On the other hand, Habab Idrees becomes the 1st Pakistani to receive dual honor at Intel ISEF 2015 for his Multi-Purpose Smart Solar Device.

Opinions

1. Pakistan was highlighted for all the right and wrong reasons this month. On one hand, Pakistani men were ranked as one of the world’s sexiest species on Planet Earth, much to the dismay and shock of Pakistani women. Well, one of TechJuice authors set out on a mission to debunk the myth of so-called sexiest men list and Islamabad being the second most beautiful city with logic, common sense and some research. Read it here. Never trust Social Media, folks!
2. Well, there is a lot of hoo-haa going on about AXACT but don’t you dare ever think Pakistan’s tech industry is all about it. Here is a list of 20 reasons why Pakistan’s technology industry is much more than a fake degree scam.
3. TechJuice reviewed Huawei Ascend G7 this month and revealed first-hand experience with the mobile phone. We found out that being a budget smartphone, it was an all rounder with the ability to play high-end games and capture great photographs. Check out the full review here.

Share our monthly round up among your circle of friends and let us know your favorite story so far!