LAHORE – The Punjab University Institute of Business & Information Technology (IBIT), for the first time since its inception in 2001, has organised a successful job fair to provide employment opportunities to intelligent students under the leadership of Director Prof Dr Mansoor Sarwar.

As many as 18 national and multi-national companies dealing with advertisement, media, marketing management, information technology, human resource and finance set up their stalls which interviewed around 500 students and collected the CVs of successful candidates.  Sarwar said that the job fair had been organised to provide employment opportunities to intelligent students of the institution. He said that IBIT was providing facilities to the students being provided by the private sector. He said that we would continue to organize such activities in future for better future of our students.

The representative of the companies guided the participating students about their career and requirements of the market.

PUIBIT organises job fair

LAHORE – Punjab University Institute of Business & Information Technology (IBIT), for the first time since its inception in 2001, has organised a successful job fair to provide employment opportunities to intelligent students under the leadership of Director Prof Dr Mansoor Sarwar.
As many as 18 national and multi-national companies dealing with Advertisement, Media, Marketing Management, Information Technology, Human Resource and Finance set up their stalls which interviewed around 500 students and collected the CVs of successful candidates. Prof Dr Syed Mansoor Sarwar said that the job fair had been organised to provide employment opportunities to intelligent students of the institution. He said that IBIT was providing facilities to the students being provided by the private sector. He said such events would be organised in the future also.

US reaffirms commitment to children’s education

* Cameron Munter visits set of ‘Sim Sim Hamara’

Staff Report

LAHORE: US Ambassador Cameron Munter, his wife Dr Marilyn Wyatt and Consul General Nina Fite visited the ‘Sim Sim Hamara’ set at the Pakistan Children’s Television (PCTV) on Saturday to reaffirm the US government’s commitment to children’s education in Pakistan.

‘Sim Sim Hamara’ is a US government-funded joint project between Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop and the Sesame Street Workshop, New York.

Along with language and numerical skills, the educational programme promotes basic life skills, healthy habits, mutual respect and understanding, and a lifelong love for learning.

Topics on ‘Sim Sim Hamara’ include the importance of society, self belief, respect for elders, and inter-provincial harmony to promote tolerance and respect for different cultures and languages.

While at the studio, the ambassador and Dr Wyatt interacted with the children and puppets, including the world-famous Elmo. They also met with the ‘Sim Sim Hamara’ production team to discuss how the programme was supporting the educational system of Pakistan.

The ambassador noted that the US strongly believed that every child in Pakistan could enjoy a world of learning, diversity, and discovery through programmes like ‘Sim Sim Hamara’.

The show’s locally developed puppet stars include: Rani, a six-year-old schoolgirl with a keen interest in natural science and a love of reading; Munna, a five-year-old boy with big dreams and flair for math and numbers; Baily, a fluffy, angelic-looking, hardworking donkey who aspires to be a pop star; Elmo, a loveable, curious three-year-old monster with a desire to try and question everything; Baji, a colourful spirited woman with a passion for food, family, fun, tradition; and Haseen-o-Jameel, a crocodile who has a wonderful way with words, rhymes, and songs. Since its launch on December 10, 2011, PCTV has aired 18 ‘Sim Sim Hamara’ episodes on the national television.

The programmes have not only been appreciated by schoolchildren and teachers, but critics as well who have called ‘Sim Sim Hamara’ a mesmerising reflection of national culture, regional flavours, and a mix of urban and rural Pakistan.

US envoy, wife visit children TV studios

LAHORE – US Ambassador Cameron Munter and his wife Dr. Marilyn Wyatt visited Pakistan Children’s Television (PCTV) studios here on Saturday to reaffirm the US government’s commitment to the early childhood educational objectives for all Pakistani children.

Upon arrival the guests were received by PCTV Chief of Party Faizaan Peerzada, Director Production Usman Peerzada and Director Programs Sadaan Peerzada.

The aim of the visit was to strengthen the US government’s belief in investing in the future of Pakistan by supporting the educational system of Pakistan.

The Ambassador and his wife during their visit of the PCTV studios interacted with the production team of Sim Sim Hamara, the magnum opus of Pakistan Children’s Television, a USAID funded joint project of Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop and Sesame Street Workshop New York.

The dignitaries also had a collaborative session with school children and a lively interactive session with puppets of Sim Sim Hamara program during their visit at the venue.

Sim Sim Hamara is the Pakistani adaption of the engaging educational children’s program Sesame Street, created by Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop in collaboration with Sesame Workshop, New York, with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Along with language and numeracy skills, the educational show Sim Sim Hamara is promoting basic life skills, healthy habits, mutual respect and understanding, and a lifelong love for learning.

Sim Sim Hamara program has also taken up in its shows the topics like importance of society, self-belief, respect for elders and affection for Younger and inter-provincial harmony to inculcate the spirit of nationhood and respect for different culture and languages.

The show’s locally developed puppet stars include: Rani, a 6-year old school girl with a keen interest in natural science and a love of reading; Munna, a 5-year old boy with big dreams and a flair for maths and numbers; Baily, a fluffy, angelic looking, hardworking donkey who aspires to be a pop star; Elmo, a loveable, curious 3-year old monster with a desire to try and question everything; Baji, a colorful spirited woman with a passion for food, family, fun, tradition and Haseen-o-Jameel, crocodile who has a wonderful way with words, rhymes and songs and creates epic songs about beauty.

Since its launch on December 10, 2011, PCTV has so far created 18 shows of Sim Sim Hamara and have presented them through PTV.

The shows have not only been appreciated by school children, teachers and educationists but also by critics who say ‘Sim Sim Hamara is a mesmerizing reflection of national cultures, regional flavors and a mix of urban and rural Pakistan.’

Danish Technical University to be set up near Ring Road

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said that a suitable site has been selected on the Lahore Ring Road for setting up the most modern information technology university of Pakistan. 

Addressing the inaugural ceremony of the website of a computer company CAR4U regarding traffic management, Shahbaz said that the Punjab government was setting up the Danish Technical University to provide international standard computer education to Pakistani youth.

He said the university was being established with the collaboration of Turkey’s Middle East Technical University, and its first campus would be set up at the Arfa Software Technology Park.

“This university will set new educational standards in Pakistan with regard to providing education of international level in computer and other science subjects,” he said.

“The Punjab Cabinet has already given approval in principle to the establishment of this university while the formal approval will be sought in the next cabinet meeting.”

The CM said that availability of computer technology experts would help the country improve the infrastructure of governance.

“Similarly, these experts, by designing modern software with the help of software houses, will be helpful in earning foreign exchange for the country,” he said.

Lauding the website designed by Sakib Berjess Tahir for providing guidance in traffic management, he said that Pakistani youth were talented and would put the country on the road to progress and prosperity by ridding it of problems. pr

Results for BSc nursing exam out

LAHORE: The University of Health Sciences (UHS) has announced the results of BSc Nursing Annual Examination 2011 (final professional) on Saturday. In the BSc nursing four-year programme, a total of 136 candidates from four affiliated nursing institutes appeared in the exams, of which 112 passed. In Post RN two-year programme, a total of 72 candidates from three affiliated nursing colleges appeared in the exam, of which 61 passed. staff report

Dilapidated school poses threat to students

RAWALPINDI: Dilapidated building of Government Elementary School Anwarul Islam for Girls at Kamalabad is posing serious threat to the students’ lives.

A building costing Rs 1,400,000 was built in Dhok Sayyadan in the name of this school, but it was handed over to another school and this school is still functioning in a ruined building. online

Arrest of student’s killers sought PESHAWAR,

April 28: Scores of Chitrali students on Saturday took out a rally in the capital city against local police over ‘poor’ investigation into the killing of a student from their area.

Led by Rizwanuz Zaman of Chitral Students Welfare Organisation (CSWO), protesters converged on Sher Shah Suri Road to the protest Zahid Hussain’s killing and poor police investigation into it.

Holding banners and placards inscribed with calls for early arrest of and punishment to killers, they urged the provincial government and the Peshawar high court to step in and ensure the early doing of the needful. Mr Rizwan told reporters that police had arrested Misal Khan over the killing but the court ordered his release on bail due to their poor investigation.

He urged the provincial police chief to order strict action against inefficient police officials probing the case and form a team of experienced and competent officials to look into the killing afresh.

KARACHI – AHAN – Aik Hunar Aik Nagar – organised an exhibition to display rural handmade products of Pakistan at the London High Commission for Pakistan, United Kingdom.
The event ‘Handmade Pakistan Exhibition’ marked the first occasion when AHAN exhibited handicrafts from Pakistan under its brand name “Handmade by AHAN” in UK.
The products on display at the exhibition represented a small segment of the vast range of handmade products ranging from regional hand embroidery, Ajrak, patch work (Rilli), accessories (apparels, home decor), lacquer art, silver jewellery and leather.
This was the first time that AHAN, a public limited company operating as subsidiary of Pakistan
Industrial Development Corporation under the Production Ministry, displayed the rural crafts of Pakistan in UK with the hope of opening further avenues for export of such products, benefiting the poor rural artisans and craft persons in the country.
The exhibition was extremely successful with dozens of visitors turning up to buy and inquire about the unique products and the stunning handiworks. Amongst the most appreciated products were embroidered truck-art cushions from Balochistan, Sindhi Ajraks and Rillis, beaded jewellery from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and lacquer items from Sillanwali.

PU Contest
Lahore: A Punjab University (PU) student grabbed first position in the Inter-University Photojournalism Competition and Exhibition, 2011, held at the Government College University (GCU) on Thursday. The exhibition, organised by the GCU’s Young Journalists Society (YJS) on the theme of “unprivileged professions”, highlighted the miseries of people attached with unprivileged professions in our society. The news

Is Apple cutting the MacBook’s throat with the iPad?

The question — whether the company’s tablet cannibalizes sales of its own portable computing line — is ultimately impossible to answer, or at least quantify: One can’t look into a counter-factual crystal ball to view an alternate universe without the iPad.

But Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, believes that the iPad does block sales of at least some Apple personal computers.

“I think there was some cannibalization from iPad,” Cook acknowledged earlier this week during his company’s quarterly earnings call with Wall Street.

Cook offered that view while answering a question about the poorer-than-expected sales of Apple’s laptops, which were up just 2% over the same period the year before — in line with the computer industry’s overall average increase, according to IDC.

The 2% year-over-year increase in unit sales was significantly lower than Apple’s laptop line usually garners: In the first quarter of 2011, for example. Apple sold 53% more notebooks than it did the year before.

The post-New Year’s Day drop-off was also larger this year than last. In the first quarter of 2012, Apple sold 900,000 fewer MacBooks than it did the quarter immediately prior; the first-quarter 2011 decline was only 156,000.

Cook has regularly admitted the iPad’s cannibalization impact, but has never speculated about how many Macs have not been sold because of the tablet.

“There is cannibalization clearly of the Mac by the iPad,” Cook said in the January 2012 earnings call. “But we continue to believe there is much more cannibalization of Windows PCs by the iPad and there’s many more of them to cannibalize. And so we love that trend.”

Analysts don’t know how significant iPad cannibalization is, either, although — like Cook — they suspect it’s happening. “If there is cannibalization by the iPad, you would definitely expect it to be in notebooks,” Ezra Gottheil of Technology Business Research said in an interview earlier this week.

And the relatively puny growth rate last quarter of Apple’s laptop sales could be caused by something completely different.

Both Gottheil and Brian White of Topeka Capital Markets noted that the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air are both due for a refresh, which may have kept informed buyers from purchasing the current models.

“The [current] Macs are long in the tooth,” said Gottheil. “And with expected refreshes, there might be some pent-up demand as people wait for the new.”

Apple may have hinted that a refresh of the Mac is in the cards, and sooner rather than later, when Oppenheimer reported that inventories at the end of March were sufficient for 3-to-4 weeks of sales, less than the company’s target range of 4-to-5 weeks.

Like most technology companies, Apple draws down stocks as it prepares to launch new models.

Only one thing seems certain: Apple does not plan to merge the two — iPad and MacBook — into a single device to eliminate cannibalization of the latter by the former.

Cook made that clear earlier this week when he took swings at so-called convergent devices, hybrids that blend the functionality of a tablet with the power and keyboard of a notebook.

“Anything can be forced to converge,” Cook said. “You can converge a toaster and a refrigerator, but those things are probably not going to be pleasing to the user. “We’re not going to that party. Others might. Others might from a defensive point of view. But we’re going to play in both [computers and tablets].”

Apple's Tim Cook

Cook was likely aiming his words at the expected devices that partners of rival Microsoft, including Intel, have been touting for Windows 8, the operating system most figure will launch this fall.

White pooh-poohed the idea that Apple would merge the iPad and, say, the MacBook Air, its lightest-weight and thinnest laptop.

“I agree with what Tim [Cook] said,” White answered during an interview this week. “While there is some overlap [between tablets and notebooks] I think they’re really two different worlds. I don’t think people will ever abandon the notebook altogether.”

Other analysts have been more skeptical of Cook’s comments, and saw them as a preemptive strike against a form factor Apple actually fears.

White didn’t buy it.

“[Windows] notebook makers have had problems with tablets, they’re nowhere with tablets,” said White. “So of course they’ll try to make it look like they’re converging tablets and notebooks. They have everything to lose by not having a tablet and everything to gain if they can convince people [these hybrids] are tablets.

“That’s why they want them to converge,” White said.

Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld. Follow Gregg on Twitter at @gkeizer, on Google+ or subscribe to Gregg’s RSS feed. His email address is gkeizer@computerworld.com.

(pcworld.com)

Rangers move back from KU
Karachi: Pakistan Rangers deployed at the campus of Karachi University (KU) have moved back from the security of the Karachi University due to the alleged uncooperative attitude of the KU administration, It has been learned here on Thursday.

The high-ups of the Rangers have informed the KU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui through an official letter about their decision, a source in the KU administration said. The KU administration was given recommended security by the high-up of Rangers just after the KU bomb blast, occurred on December 28, 2010, he said. Some political forces in the campus, including some teachers, employees and student groups, are not interested in the proper arrangements of security at the campus.

“As per the recommendations, made by Rangers to improve the situation in the campus, chancellor/VC are persuaded to take stern action against faculty members found indulging in religious and political biases,” the official said.

He said that action against few faculty members may be initiated, while unions and religious groups should be banned to eliminate pressures on KU administration. Political role of students’ organizations should be reduced.

“Rangers should be given clear role by the KU administration. Construction of KU boundary wall and installations of CCTV cameras are also the part of these recommendations. KU administration is not cooperating with the rangers,” he said. It is pertinent to mention here that KU Vice Chancellor has showed serious concern over the law and order situation in the campus. The nation