Women's Access To Mobile Phones Increasing in Afghanistan

As of late 2012, 80 per cent of women in Afghanistan have regular or occasional access to mobile phones, found the Unites States Agency for International Development (USAID).

In a report released yesterday, USAID surveyed over 2000 women in Afghanistan about their access to mobile phones and the constraints they face. The study found that since 2002, when the first mobile telephone service license was issues in the country, mobile technology has grown rapidly. Almost 48 per cent of the women respondents own their own mobile phones, while another 32 per cent have occasional access to phones.

Strikingly, 67 per cent of the women who own a mobile phone acquired it in the last two years. Women under the age of 25 are the fastest growing group in this sector – 64 per cent of those who acquired a phone in the past year are under the age of 25.

Access to mobile phones is already increasing the economic and social opportunities available to women. Twenty-five per cent of the respondents who own a mobile phone use it to access services such as education, health care and income-generating opportunities.

More than 84 per cent of respondents view mobile phones as a necessity, not a luxury, and 86 per cent of women mobile phone owners believe that increased connectivity enhances women’s lives, making them more secure, better equipped to cope with emergencies, more independent, and more social.

The report revealed some key insights for mobile service providers in Afghanistan. For example, only 71 per cent of women said they are able to read an SMS. According to UNESCO, only one in five women in Afghanistan is literate. This unveils a large market for voice-based applications and services, such as interactive voice response systems, text-to-voice services, and call centres.

While 94 per cent of those who do not own mobile phones are not intimidated by the new technology, the biggest barriers to mobile ownership for women were lack of permission from family members, and the high costs associated with mobile phones. While basic feature phones cost between US$29 and $48 in Afghanistan, offering attractive packages such as installment payments or discounted rates can help reduce the digital divide between men and women.

The Afghanistan government, along with international agencies such as USAID, are accelerating the use of mobile money in the country, improving transparency in payments and expanding financial inclusion. Increased mobile access among women will bring them into this fold, and increase entrepreneurship and other commercial opportunities available to them.

Microsoft Officially Replaced Hotmail with Outlook

The software giant has completed the transition from Hotmail to the new Outlook.com. As a result, the latter now boasts over 400 million accounts overall. The representatives of the company point out that the new Outlook email application has a number of different features from Hotmail. For example, it offers two-factor authentication, an updated calendar and app, as well as integration with cloud service called Skydrive and Skype.

Experts admit that most Hotmail users won’t notice any difference, so you can continue using your account as long as you want. You can also claim an Outlook email address whenever you like. Microsoft mentioned that Hotmail had over 300 million active accounts before its closure. Thus, upgrading had meant communicating with millions of people, upgrading all the mailboxes and also making sure that everyone’s details like mail, calendar, contacts, folders, and personal preferences were all preserved during the upgrade. This process was done live and as fast as in 6 weeks.

Industry observers remind that Hotmail was one of the first Internet-based email services, created by Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith in July 1996 as “HoTMaiL”. Three years later Microsoft acquired the Internet email service for about $400 million to rebrand it as “MSN Hotmail”. Finally, Outlook.com was launched three months ago, based around the company’s Metro design language. Apparently, the service closely mimics the interface of Microsoft Outlook. Now we can officially say goodbye to Hotmail, which already doesn’t exist.

Microsoft Started Open War against Google

Microsoft has finally started a nasty marketing war directly against the search giant and ended any pretence of niceness between the companies. Microsoft has released a series of attack ads in the United States that have upped the ante considerably in its trade war against Google which commenced 5 months ago.

The advertisements that have emerged on the Internet, on TV and in print demonstrate that Google is more interested in increasing profits than protecting its users’ privacy. This ad campaign was developed by a former political operative Mark Penn, a corporate strategist. He is known as a former pollster for President Bill Clinton and campaign strategist for Hillary Clinton’s unsuccessful bid for president 5 years ago.

In the advertisements, Microsoft vilifies Google for sharing personal data collected about people purchasing Android applications. That’s a step up from earlier adverts that skewered Google’s long-running practice of electronically scanning the contents of everyone’s Gmail accounts in order to help sell adverts.

Microsoft points out that the company had a better alternative which doesn’t do such kind of nefarious things. Negative advertising isn’t widely seen in Europe and it’s just the underdog who needs to use it. However, it also stresses how the search engine has evolved from an endearing Internet start-up to a scary entity that takes a too close look at personal information. The software giant can get away with its adverts since Google has already been caught a few times and copped regulatory fines and other settlements across the world.

Ironically enough, it’s now Google who is facing complaints about its practices being anti-competitive. At the same time, Microsoft is depicted as fighting for a freer market. A few days ago, a group of companies led by the software giant explained that it has asked European authorities to investigate whether Google is acting unfairly by giving away its OS to mobile device manufacturers on the condition that its own apps like YouTube and Google Maps are installed and prominently displayed. The most interesting part that it’s exactly what Microsoft was accused of in its browser anti-trust cases earlier.

Thus far, the search giant processes about 2/3 of search requests in the United States and handles an even larger percentage of queries in Europe. In the meanwhile, Google’s market value has rocketed from almost $25 billion at the time of its IPO to $255 billion.

Best Romantic Good Morning Quotes

"When you wake up in the morning, kiss your loved one on the forehead and wish them a good day."

"I went to sleep last night with a smile because I knew I'd be dreaming of you ... but I woke up this morning with a smile because you weren't a dream."

"You have found true love the day you realize that you want to wake up beside your boyfriend/girlfriend, every morning, even though you have your differences."

"I could say that you complete me...but that would be a lie, because every morning when I wake I long for you more than the day before."

"You have no idea how good it feels to wake up every morning knowing you are mine and I am yours."

"I want you around in the morning and I want to know you're legally required to be there."

"Like the sunshine in the morning, may this brighten your day, and remind you that you're thought of in a very warm way."

"Being in love with you makes every morning worth getting up for."

"Come let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves."

"You are the first thing to enter my mind in the morning and the last thing to leave my heart at night."

"Morning is a wonderful blessing, either sunny or stormy. It stands for hope ... giving us another start of what we call Life."

"A morning greeting does not only mean 'Good Morning,' it has a silent, loving message saying, 'I think of you when I wake up.'"

"Love is not needing a snooze button on your alarm clock, because when it goes off for the first time in the morning, the thoughts of your loved one makes it impossible to fall back asleep."

"As I awaken each morning, my dreams of you fade as thoughts of you flood my mind with sensual assault."

"When I wake up in the morning, I think of you. When I go to sleep at night, I think of you. And for all those hours in-between, I think of us."

"When I wake up, turn over, and see you lying next me, I can't help but smile; it will be a good day simply because I started it with you."

"Even in a total eclipse of the sun, you brighten my life."

15 Things to 'Give up'

This is indeed a brilliant article and needs to be read again and again ...

Here is a list of 15 things, which, if you give up on them, will make your life a lot easier and you'll feel much, much happier. We hold on to so many things that cause us a great deal of pain, stress and suffering and instead of letting them all go and allowing ourselves to be stress-free and happy, we cling on to them.

Well, not anymore. Starting today, we will give up on all those things that no longer serve us, and we will embrace change. Ready? Here we go!

1. Give up your need to always be right. There are so many of us who can't stand the idea of being wrong wanting to always be right even at the risk of ending great relationships or causing a great deal of stress and pain for us and for others. It's just not worth it. Whenever you feel the 'urgent' need to jump into a fight over who is right and who is wrong, ask yourself this question from Dr. Wayne Dyer: 'Would I rather be right, or would I rather be kind?' What difference will that make? Is your ego really that big?

2. Give up your need for control. Be willing to give up your need to always control everything that happens to you and around you situations, events, people, etc. Whether they are loved ones, co-workers, or just strangers you meet on the street just allow them to be. Allow everything and everyone to be just as they are and you will see how much better will that make you feel.

'By letting it go, it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try. The world is beyond winning.' Lao Tzu

3. Give up on blame. Give up on your need to blame others for what you have or don't have, for what you feel or don't feel. Stop giving your powers away and start taking responsibility for your life.

4. Give up your self-defeating self-talk. Oh my. How many people are hurting themselves because of their negative, polluted and repetitive self-defeating mindset? Don't believe everything that your mind is telling you especially if it's negative and self-defeating. You are better than that.

'The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly, however, it becomes very destructive.' Eckhart Tolle

5. Give up your limiting beliefs about what you can or cannot do, about what is possible or impossible. From now on, you are no longer going to allow your limiting beliefs to keep you stuck in the wrong place. Spread your wings and fly!

'A belief is not an idea held by the mind, it is an idea that holds the mind.' Elly Roselle

Minimize Your Fear

The Wooden Bowl

The Tao of Forgiveness

The Falcon

A HERO who deserves all respect

6. Give up complaining. Give up your constant need to complain about those many, many, many things people, situations and events that make you unhappy, sad and depressed. Nobody can make you unhappy, no situation can make you sad or miserable unless you allow it to. It's not the situation that triggers those feelings in you, but how you choose to look at it. Never underestimate the power of positive thinking.

7. Give up the luxury of criticism. Give up your need to criticize things, events or people that are different than you. We are all different, yet we are all the same. We all want to be happy, we all want to love and be loved and we all want to be understood. We all want something, and something is wished by us all.

8. Give up your need to impress others. Stop trying so hard to be something that you're not just to make others like you. It doesn't work this way. The moment you stop trying so hard to be something that you're not, the moment you take of all your masks, the moment you accept and embrace the real you, you will find people will be drawn to you, effortlessly.

9. Give up your resistance to change. Change is good. Change will help you move from A to B. Change will help you make improvements in your life and also the lives of those around you. Follow your bliss, embrace change don't resist it.

'Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls.' Joseph Campbell

10. Give up labels. Stop labeling the things, people or events that you don't understand as being weird or different and try opening your mind, little by little. Minds only work when open.The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don't know anything about.'

11. Give up on your fears. Fear is just an illusion, it doesn't exist you created it. It's all in your mind. Correct the inside and the outside will fall into place.

'The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself.' Franklin D. Roosevelt

12. Give up your excuses. A lot of times we limit ourselves because of the many excuses we use. Instead of growing and working on improving ourselves and our lives, we get stuck and lie to ourselves, using all kind of excuses excuses that 99.9% of the time, are not even real.

13. Give up the past. I know, I know. This one's hard. Especially when the past looks so much better than the present and the future looks so frightening. But, you have to take into consideration the fact that the present moment is all you have and all you will ever have. The past you are now longing for the past that you are now dreaming about was ignored by you when it was present. Stop deluding yourself. Be present in everything you do and enjoy life. After all, life is a journey not a destination. Have a clear vision for the future, prepare yourself, but always be present in the now.

14. Give up attachment. This is a concept that, for most of us, is so hard to grasp and I have to tell you that it was for me too (it still is), but it's not impossible. You get better and better at it with time and practice. The moment you detach yourself from all things (and that doesn't mean you give up your love for them because love and attachment have nothing to do with one another. Attachment comes from a place of fear, while love well, real love is pure, kind, and selfless; where there is love there can't be fear, and because of that, attachment and love cannot co-exist) you become so peaceful, so tolerant, so kind, and so serene. You will get to a place where you will be able to understand all things without even trying. A state beyond words.

15. Give up living your life to other people's expectations. Way too many people are living a life that is not theirs to live. They live their lives according to what others think is best for them; they live their lives according to what their parents think is best for them; to what their friends, their enemies and their teachers, their government and the media think is best for them. They ignore their inner voice, that inner calling. They are so busy with pleasing everybody, with living up to other people's expectations, that they lose control over their lives. They forget what makes them happy, what they want, what they need and eventually, they forget about themselves. You have one life this one right now you must live it, own it, and especially don't let other people's opinions distract you from your path.

Some Great Photography

Google Will Make Talking Shoes

The search giant wants developers to design a concept for a set of talking shoes. Google has released a video of what it wants, which went viral with some of the Italian media which announced that the company had already invented a set of talking shoes.

In reality, it was just an advertising experiment, where the company teamed up with Art, Copy & Code in order to develop “a series of experiments to re-imagine advertising”. A few days ago the partners decided to make a set of talking shoes. At this point the reality gets a bit tricky to handle – indeed, if you look at a lot of the copy penned over the weekend, you can mistakenly think that the shoes have already been made.

One of the prototypes is the sneakers (Adidas high-tops), which work with an accelerometer, gyroscope and Bluetooth and also have built-in speakers inside both tongues of the shoes. The search engine claimed that by connecting a pair of sneakers to the Internet, it was creating unique opportunities between physical objects and digital ad spaces.

In fact, every move made by the user generates information which is captured by an accelerometer, gyroscope and pressure sensors. This information then is pushed to a web app on the user’s mobile device and results in real-time into funny and motivating commentary. Such commentary is then pushed to banners and social media, creating innovative and attracting content in the digital world from something happening live in the physical world.

That is an undoubtedly interesting idea – just imagine your feet talking to Google and serving up advertising. Perhaps, soon we’ll live in a world where Google tells us that we get no chance of scoring unless we change our socks, and recommends the nearest place to buy some. On the other hand, that is the price of staying instep with fashion.

By: www.extratorrent.com

First Tablet for Women is Introduced

One of the tablet-making outfits came to a conclusion that there are huge amounts of cash to be made by patronizing women. The company has carried out a research to find out “what women want” and introduced “the first tablet specifically for ladies”.

The device dubbed ePad Femme is 8-inches and is pre-loaded with yoga, grocery shopping and cooking apps. It even has a clothing size converter app. The company believes that it’s the sort of thing that modern women are interested in – no business issues, no relationships… All women of today seem to be housewives.

The device has received a marketing push this past February as “the perfect Valentine’s Day gift”. Well, there might be some women who are looking forward to replicating the life of their grandparents, but we doubt there are many. The device runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with a light pink screen saver (apparently, pink is blondes’ favorite color).

The company claims that its new device makes a perfect gadget for women who might experience difficulties in downloading such apps and it is a quick reference. In the meanwhile, the tablet carries a 1.5GHz processor, 16GB of internal storage, and an SD card slot – hopefully, housewives will be able to understand what any of this means.

The company also insists that the intent of the ePad Femme tablet wasn’t sexist. After all, the gamers have their gaming tablets that are geared to a specific interest, right? As for the ePad Femme, its price is as low as $190, which is far less than the iPad and about the same as a Nexus 7. Thus far, the company has sold only about 7,000 units, which doesn’t make it a great seller. Taking into account all the specifics, the market observers are not surprised.

By: www.extratorrent.com