MRP - Yet another achievement by NADRA

Govt. of Pakistan has recently introduced Machine Readable Passports (MRP) in an effort to curb the problems of illegal passports and rehabilitate the immigration infra-structure of the country.

The Project was developed in-house at R&D department of NADRA, Where NADRA developed first-ever machine of its own kind by bringing together the state of the art technologies. Only few nations in the world have closer features in their passports.

The new passport contains a chip and incorporates technologies such as Biometrics, Digital Printing, Recognition Techniques, Image Communication, Water Fugitives, Watermark Security features and real-time integration of the passport with NADRA's National Data Warehouse and Border Security Control.

No doubt it is a well job done by NADRA but Govt. would have to put real effort in order to utilize these MRP's to their full potential.

M Tabraiz Feham

NADRA - http://www.nadra.gov.pk/

My Letter on PakPositive.com

My letter published on http://www.pakpositive.com/

http://pakpositive.blogspot.com/2004/03/letters...

The letter contains nice Karachi pictures that I posted from my GreatestCities.com's Karachi Journal:

M Tabraiz Feham's Karachi Journal
http://www.greatestcities.com/users/tabraiz_feham...

I gathered these picture from different search engines in order to have a good collection of Karachi Picture online. Wherever possible I have tried to write down the actaul resource of the pictures. Some of these picture can be copyrighted and may not be allowed for commercial use.

M Tabraiz Feham

Going Digital - "From Atoms to Bits"

We are getting digital day by day, more and more, Chips and microprocessors are becomming parts of our diurnal life. The new reseaerch and studies suggest that it would be possible very soon to incorporate Chips in to our bodies. i am quoting a piece of writing here by by James M. Pethokoukis - USA, that describes this scenario indepth.

"Chip components are getting smaller. By the end of this decade, it will be possible to build simple identifier, memory, and processing chips, sensors, and short-range communication devices, all smaller than human skin cells, which are about 10 microns across. We could print or blast these chips in significant numbers into the upper layers of the skin ... .Semiconductor circuits can already be printed today using inkjet printers, so we could imagine some of the circuits being painlessly printed onto our hands in a corner shop... . Medical sensors could be implanted that could monitor our blood chemistry 24-/7 and keep in touch with hospital computers via our phones. These computers could remotely control drug dispensers and thus keep our condition under constant check ... . Cellphones, MP3 players, electronic diaries, and other consumer electronics could be printed ointo our wrists, with full keyboards. These could remain almost invisible until we touch them, when they could light up ... . The circuitry itself would be made of dispersed groups of invisibly small devices, so we may show no more than a very slight colour change in that area of skin before the device is switched on ... . Having a TV printed onto the back of our hands might be quite appealing. It will certainly make some very interesting body-adornment possibilities. We could even see some real Teletubbies!"

I was reading a book on E-Innovation by Bob Cotton - published by Capstone Publishing, the book basically discusses how E-Innovation is taking place and changing our everyday life. I would love to share a quote from the book -

"The change from atoms to bits is irrevocable and unstoppable. Why now? Because the change is also exponential - small differences today have suddenly shocking consequences tomorrow."
Nicholas Negroponte (1995)

M Tabraiz Feham

Making Google a Habit - I eat food, I drink water, I sleep and I "google"

Google has certainly become a very important part of my everyday life. I really wouldn't have been what I am, without Google. beside the most comprehensive search all over the world, I do news the Google way, I do images the Google way, i do spell the Google way, i do blog the Google way, sometimes I do assess and decide the Google way and much much much more. Google is penetrating so much in my life that after sometime life would be very hard without Google. They say by 2020 everyone on this planet would be searching the internet at least 7 times a day. And by 2007 Google plans to go Lunar and search the entire planet with an extending plan of searching the universe 00Oo0o00000000ooooo0o0o0o0o00000 can't believe ???????? they are hiring, have a look at this

http://www.google.com/jobs/lunar_job.html

Well as another habit of digging the Google's website every now and then i came
across another of Google's new great service that is "Google Print". Google has now started scanning the books and are allowing them to be searched, each and every page. This is just the start and Google is now asking publishers to submit books for free scanning. Google now would also search these books as you enter any search term, thus opening yet another horizon to web search. If interested then have a look at the links below. Or search Google for "Google Print" :)

http://print.google.com/

https://print.google.com/publisher/

M Tabraiz Feham

Distractive writing

This is with reference to the letter published “Objective writing” (October 3, 2004 - www.dawn.com), in which the writer abreast of Asfhaq Ahmed made some comments about Qudrat-ul-Allah Shahab as well, about his character and his mysticism in which case I completely disagree with him.

This has to be very clear that Mr Qudrat-ul-Allah Shahab was a govt. servant, a govt. servant who took charge when Govt. of Pakistan used Babool's prickles to hold the papers together. It was his duty to serve all those presidents and it is on record that he disagreed and raised his voice over the issues that were somehow against Pakistan . It is because of some people like Mr Shahab that Paksitan was still able to survive all those crisis. Mr Shahab's loyalty, sincerity and faithfulness to the country is unquestionable.

As far as the writer's comments about Mr Shahab's mysticism are concerned again I would disagree, because in “Shahab Nama” he never claimed or presented himself as a “Sufi” or Mystic. In just the last chapter of his more than thousand pages autobiography, he wrote about those mysterious letters that he used to receive during his job, and described how those letters guided him to take the right decisions for Pakistan . He never claimed, but other people specially Mumtaz Mufti in his “Alakh Nagri” claims that he really was something in himself.

Despite being a computer science student I couldn't stop myself to write and clarify that if we as a nation can not pay the deserved tribute to those who best served the country, then we must also not disgrace them by any means. One should take a look at the history and be responsible before making any such comments. Otherwise sometimes “Objective writing” becomes “Distractive writing”.

M Tabraiz Feham

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Originial Article
URL : http://www.dawn.com/2004/10/03/letted.htm#10

Objective writing

I refer to recent columns on the distinguished writer Ashfaq Ahmed. Two points have been made. One, that he had a lot of talent in story writing and radio and TV plays. This is very true and full credit would always be given to him, and his work shall always remain a part of our literary history. However, the other point is somewhat debatable. It is about his mysticism.

He remained very close to Gen Ziaul Haq for a long time. What Zia has done to the country and its people is well-known. How could a person who compromised with authority be presented as a 'sufi'? An intellectual has the social obligation to stand up to evil.

The same happened in the case of Qudratullah Shahab. In his autobiography, he has presented himself as a 'sufi' and his admirers who write about him do the same. This is after Mr Shahab had served Ghulam Mohammad, Iskandar Mirza and Ayub Khan who all destroyed the country.

It is my request to our intellectuals to write to be objective.

FAROOQ MIRZA

Via email

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