In the past years the Pakistani blogosphere has seen a tremendous boom specially with the increase in the number of bloggers popping out, the initial start of bloggers comes mostly in the form of a quick set up of blog on sites like blogger,wordpress etc but with the passage of time the ones who take it seriously and love the passion of blogging just for the fun of it shift to there personal domain and hosted blogs that run mostly on platforms like movabletype and wordpress. Wordpress happens to be the most popularly used interface just because of its great features, enhancements and that it is open source. But you have to have a good catchy domain (doesn’t really matters IMO if its a personal blog) and off course a reliable webhosting solution.

I speak for reliable hosting since am personally hosted on a server based in Pakistan, but truly speaking am never satisfied with its performance, there have always been problems with it one way or the other, even currently i have to use a proxy to log on into my admin panel since the entire server and sites hosted with it won’t open on the ISP am using. Not only me but in the past many of my friends from other parts of the country would end up saying my blog won’t load, so if you want your blog to be accessible to all the readers make sure you make the right choice for a webhost, after which you can hire a blog designer for a unique blog design,necessary adjustments and than continue on adding plug-ins and tools to be updated, but the first priority in the start should always be a good webhost, quality content is than the other step.
I know its a heck of a job at choosing a good host but there are plenty of review sites on the web that’ll give you reviews from the users, other than that there are regional hosting directories with many links to hosting websites, i personally recommend web hosting choice ( a website that will help you find the correct if not the best host for your site based on your requirements such as setup fee, disk space, monthly cost and bandwidth etc ), using this you will have economical price to pay.

In,Pakistan due to the very rare number of credit card users and the less know how of getting domains and hosting many good bloggers remain stuck with free blog hosts like blogger, but than again when the political issues arise, specially the last year blockage of Blogger and its sub domains in Pakistan many bloggers faced problems, so its always good to have your own domain and a reliable hosting.

And yeah, don’t host your sites on the server my blog is on, am going to move it sooner to a new hosting;) *secret*.

I have a hell lot of tool bars and add-ons installed onto my web browser Firefox making it too complicated to look on the first impression but when i give it a detailed look it has all that i need. So we were talking about stumbling, how often do you stumble? or in short do use Stumbleupon?

First lets get to what stumbling is, in a normal definition we can say that just randomly visiting a website through some way, but in the context i am speaking stumbling is stumbling across a wordpress blog, youtube video, a flash website, an Onion news,a wiki article or a MySpace band’s page etc using Stumbleupon. If you are not aware of it try stumbleupon’s website and install the toolbar and put in the settings, i am sure that it is very helpful to kill time when you are up and there’s nothing to do over the internet.I have found thousands of good sites and resources using the stumble tool bar and it helps me alot.Just like for instance if i showed interest in electronics when filling out my profile at StumbleUpon and with the tool bar installed i press stumble a page, it brought me into a website say for instance Testfreaks.com a website that contains electronic gadgets from iPods,Phones,MP3 players to receivers, TVs and cameras nearly everything, so it means StumbleUpon was intelligent enough to bring me to a site with my interests. So will you stumble?:P

Oh and if you think i referred you to stumbling, please stumble this article to help your friend’s stumble too:)

Fatmeed Foundation held a Blood Collection camp at the Institute of Management Sciences Peshawar (my uni) today, the idea was from the Social Welfare society in the institute that invited them to hold a free camp. Not all but many students including me gave blood to the only organization in Pakistan that has been saving lives of thousands of people. Other than that i was tempted to give blood today since i have a very rare blood type (i.e O-Negative) and other than that i heard someone say that it improves the skin and wipes out all the pimples off your face in case you get to recover the blood quick, and offcourse Sawaab is another bonus so why stand back?. So i finally am one of the Donor’s.

The other thing i was worried about prior to giving the blood was the apparatus used by them but well it was all clean and sealed stuff, other than the bare hands of the nurse, the Vaporizers and the Herbal Grinders (donno what were they for) all the equipment was sealed new and as clean as one can imagine, and the one thing was the needle didn’t hurt much at all. I hope i get the donated blood re-developed so that it comes into use by some needy person, I wish no one gets to need it but well its life and it is needed.~ So donate to Fatmeed and save a life, afterall who knows you need it tomorrow!

For some of you who happen to read my blog are probably aware of what Orkut is since you come from regions where Orkut like sites are probably most popular than ever, am addicted to it too anyways. Orkut was launched probably 4 years back if am not wrong as a better alternative to Hi5 with its slow loading and poor features and navigation as well as a nearly competitor to the biggy MySpace. Since its launch Orkut has been in the beta phase and still in the beta phase despite the fact that in the past 2 years not much development has been done in its enhancement though it was acquired by Google the year it was made. How it was made is another story, but from what i heard was that a guy named Orkut (His profile is there on Orkut ) and a student at Stanford did the source code of this wonderful social networking website which after being loved by Google as another tool to enhance there web-empire was acquired by it, since than it has grown wonderfully well in the South American countries of Brazil that demographically is the biggest user of it and Souther Asian Countries of Pakistan and India are also among the top 10 users of Orkut. Orkut is as double as popular as the other rival Facebook (another social networking website with extra advanced features) but Orkut’s dominance in the countries is increasing because of the ease of its use. Not to forget MySpace and Facebook are a bit less user friendly despite the fact that Myspace has triple traffic (as per Alexa where Orkut is 8 and MySpace is 6th) and features as much as orkut has but its mainly because of its age and secondly because of the users that mostly are from European countries where average user has basic knowledge at least to modify and customize his/her profile with HTML.

When it comes to career selection probably an average Pakistani child in the mid school would start with a Pilot,Doctor,Army Officer etcetera forgetting the fact that if every individual is a Doctor than who would the patient be? Well that was just an idiot comparison with the brain of a child but anyways if one seriously thinks of what is the future going to be? It becomes a mystery which needs a quick decision and an effective one before its too late to decide to catch any career train. I grew up in an environment where a certain TV drama about Pakistan Army (Alpha Bravo Charlie) made me fell in love with choosing Armed forces as my future career and goal for life, but since my haste to become an officer and going through the Army selection process with a very un-mature mind at that time lead to nothing else but a disaster for my career when both my attempts in ISSB went failed although being re-interviewed in both the attempts but the Psychologists won’t find me fit Psychologically so i was not allowed to be a part of my passion cum future. Sad as i could be but that’s not going to work so i did nothing but chose Business as my future, currently i am studying as a bachelor’s student in IMS Peshawar enrolled in the 4th semester but i am really concerned about my future. My Plans are to go for MBA with majors and specialization in Marketing (i already posted about it here ) but is the current university i am enrolled in enough to hit me to the top notch executives? Am i getting really a high quality education? Well in my city atleast our campus graduates are rocking but that is not my goal, my goals are high! I want to be a 9 - 5 employee with not much load of work on shoulders but working in a good environment where you feel like working less but working effective and productive (Telecom Industry i think is the best option these days), apart from Job an online empire of some websites is also what i would dream to have, this needs some real hard work but will i be able to? I hope i do. Other than that for future pimping the best options a normal Pakistani university student opts for is an international degree   ( http://www.gibbsnj.edu/about.asp ), although i won’t agree to it since many Pakistani institutions are also top-notch but getting in there is a problem for an average student and since i am an average student, an international degree from either of UK, US, Canada,Australia etcetera will always be my priority and it would be an icing on the cake if get a decent scholarship. So the Future and Career are planned for…in my part atleast. Have you done your part?
P.S: This post is to serve as a moral booster if in the future hurdles block my way;) Wish me luck and the best of it;)

The American Idol was a popular show that gained so much fame in the past that it went far by continents to Australian Idol,Swedish Idol and so much so much that it finally arrived Asia in the form of Indian Idol. The reason behind American Idol’s so much fame is that not many of us (in Pakistan mostly) are able to get subscription’s of channel’s that bring other interactive and exclusive shows. For instance my satellite subscription allows me to watch only American Idol among the Reality TV Fantasy League and not other shows like America’s got talent (the show that gave a Pakistani individual based in USA,Kashif Memon great fame after he made it to the top 20 with his extraordinary performance).

Ok since i was here talking about the best and worst of American Idol, i just get it to watch on AAG TV daily in the morning when its time for me to sleep and others to wake up but thats another story, the best are really worth appraisal but the worst are probably the worst you could ever get to see, for instance there was this one guy upon interviewing him it was found out that he has never seen a single show of American Idol and he just walked in for the fun of it when he came into the audition room, my goodness he sucked more than hell with his truly irritating voice but wait , he wasn’t just singing “he was causing pollution, yeah Noise pollution as i would call it”, many other stories of the worst in the auditions like a girl who would not walk out of the room unless she said she was given the “Ticket to Hollywood”, damn these American’s just can’t admit there voices suck!!!

On the other hand when it comes to the best, yes there were a few ones that were really awesome, for instance a young girl of 17 who when asked to sing could probably sing “mimic” every singer that she was asked to sing a song of, than there was a young Indian who truly impressed me with his mesmerizing voice! Yes this show rocks!

P.S: If you want to see The best and worst of American Idol if in Pakistan with a normal cable subscription, tune into AAG TV daily in the morning from 10-11 AM.

Ever since the new Apple iPhone is released the endless marketing campaign has started all over the Television Media now and every Channel from BBC,CNN,Business Plus,CNBC and all the channels my cable network could grab are showing free reviews, reports and comments and sales for the new Apple iPhone. Means how good it is to be a Technology giant once you are up and running and there you go, you get free reviews and marketing from the Channels that are shown in nearly 90% of the Countries worldwide.The new Apple iPhone on the other hand is really a gem to watch,an extraordinary phone,with a built in iPod or mp3 players , an extraordinary camera with great video capturing features and internet through high speed EDGE technology, etcetera so much and lot more all into this one peace of production from Apple.

Coming back to the marketing of the phone, it all started last year when it was in the news that Apple is going to launch a revolutionary phone with extraordinary features, just than people and Apple brand loyal customers badly started waiting for the release, blogs blogging madly about the new phone and how is it going to be,new websites being created, and nearly all over the blogosphere and webosphere was nothing else but the Apple iPhone, and now the TV channels are doing the rest.

I am not sure of the number but it was around 5 million units have been sold just with the release,the price set for the 4 Gb unit is $499 and that of 8 Gb is $599. Thats probably low as compared to Nokia’s N95 phones but its still comparatively high though Apple brand loyal customers are ready to pay even double the price of this cos Apple inc is what they trust in. I am not sure when is it going to be available in Pakistan but i am really looking forward for its arrival in Pakistan and see if my budget lets me have this one since i really need to have a new and more than just a Phone now;).

I am home for my summer vacations, and the more i get bored here with no friends around the more i enjoy being home since there is plenty to eat and any time. By anytime i mean i can have access to food at anytime of the night as well since i am an all nighter and am awake all night. The more i am thin the more i feel hungry and eat , the refrigerator is juts a 5 steps away from me and the kitchen 10 steps so all i need is a little effort to go and get something ready when the tummy starts aching and demands food. I have many options like spaghetti,macaroni,pasta,etc but you need skills too like for instance you need spaghetti recipes for getting it instant ready, so does pasta and macaroni require, however instant foods have solved this problem but the tastes are not so nourishing.

So what is to be done for someone like me who really gets hungry at night?Well what i think is that if you are not much into the chinese food go for the fast food, although they are not as fast to prepare when you are making them yourself. So grab few bread pieces and put on a chicken spread layer and eat with salad, or make French fries and eat it like a curry with bread, or make an egg burger or egg sandwich… These are probably the only few things i can make, i just need some more suggestions cos like everyone i need variety.

Speaking of Law here in the country is like talking about a movie, you get emotional for some time and than the other very moment you are the one breaking the law. This has been the problem ever since our beloved country got independence in the 1947, people not obeying the law, no rules and regulations and even if there are some they are not followed. Anyways, how ever its a rough 60 years since we are independent but our Law department is the same as was 60-70 years back, you have lawyers either to deal murder cases, stealth ,robbery and corruption and similar cases, very less often will you find lawyers or agency working out the matters of railroad accident (s).

This came to my mind all the way as i see daily there are hundreds of accidents on the rail and road ways , people die and mostly the culprits skip away and if they don’t than they are either rich enough to shut the mouth of those who suffered. In our country there should be a separate department in the Law for dealing such cases that should support those who suffered, help them in the medication of there loved ones who got injured and than file cases against those responsible, even the Non Government Organizations can play a vital role in this regard.

As i mentioned earlier that i am on my trip to Azad Jammu and Kashmir where communication is simply impossible because there are no telephone lines but i am using the internet from an NGO’s office known as Islamic Relief which office is located right below the resort where we are living, this is a great NGO and equipped with state of the art technology,satellite internet and hardware inventory for effective performance of there labour as well as machinery.

Keeping in mind that they are in a very remote area and any negligence in there machinery,labour,equipment and computers can lead to disasters they use all the technologies that are beneficial not only for there workers but for the ease of the workers.

I specially thank to them for letting me use internet here since there was no other mode of communication to contact my family.