Category: Technology

As winter continues to intensify in Pakistan, the country is witnessing the winter solstice, the longest night of the year, today.  This is the longest night for the Northern Hemisphere region including Pakistan, a spokesperson of the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco) said in a statement.  Winter solstice falls annually on December 21 or 22, varying from country to country, and brings the longest night and shortest daylight hours when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted furthest away from the sun.  This astronomical event results in reduced daylight hours and…

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) will not block the virtual private networks (VPNs) despite having the capability to do so, the telecom regulator chief said on Monday. Addressing a launching ceremony of the PTA annual report 2024, its chairman Maj Gen (retd) Hafeez Ur Rehman said: “We had said earlier that we can block VPNs but we won’t do it.” Earlier, the regularity authority decided against blocking VPNs as the government extended the deadline for registering proxies beyond November 30. However, a new date has not been announced for the VPN…

As users across Pakistan continue to face internet hindrances, resulting in difficulties with browsing, as well as downloading and sharing media files, Sajjad Mustafa Syed, chairman of the Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA), has hinted at “possible surveillance” of social media platforms. “If a message is being delivered on WhatsApp but a picture is not, it is possible that monitoring is underway,” he said in a statement. Reports indicate that both WiFi and mobile data services were experiencing severe slowdowns, making it nearly impossible for users to send or receive…

ISLAMABAD: A crackdown is expected on Virtual Private Network (VPN) usage if the last date for its registration, which expires on Saturday (today), is not extended, Geo News quoted citing sources. At least 27,000 VPNs have been registered by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) so far. The sources said the telecommunication authority has stressed on importance of VPN registration for improving cybersecurity and ensuring national security as well as data protection. Stakeholders, including the IT industry and freelancers, have been pushing for an extension of the deadline for the registration.…

Meta’s platform WhatsApp announced that it was rolling out a message draft feature for iOS which will now be available for use over the coming weeks. The latest feature has been designed to assist user keep track of partially composed messages which makes it easier to revisit and complete them later, reported WABetaInfo. Users can finally reduce the time spent searching through conversations for unsent messages by flagging these incomplete messages directly in the chat list. According to the official change log on the App Store, the message drafts are now…

WASHINGTON: The US Federal Aviation Administration said on Friday it had approved the return to flight of the SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle after the agency reviewed and accepted the SpaceX-led investigation findings and corrective actions for the mishap that occurred on September 28. The FAA said on September 30 that SpaceX had to investigate why the second stage of its Falcon 9 malfunctioned after a Nasa astronaut mission, grounding the launch vehicle for the third time in three months. The malfunction caused the booster to fall into a region of…

Scientists may have solved a persisting mystery surrounding the ice giant Uranus and its weak radiation belts. The belts’ weakness is possibly connected to the planet’s curiously tilted and lopsided magnetic field. Moreover, the field could be causing “traffic jams” for particles whipping around the world, reported Space. Far before Voyager 2 left the solar system in 2018, the mystery dates back to the probe’s visit to Uranus in January 1986. Interestingly, Uranus’s magnetic field was found to be asymmetric and tilted roughly 60° away from its spin axis by the…