P@SHA launches Relief Drive for IDPs – Help us help the people of Swat!

All I have been hearing the past few days have been things like “this is the second or third worst crisis in the world” – as if it is  a competition, as if it matters whether it is the worst or not. What we should be focusing on are the hundreds of thousands of  innocent people – men, women and children – who have had to leave their homes, their villages, everything they hold dear, out of fear – simply to save their lives and the lives of their families. These people need our help. They need food, medicines, clothing, clean drinking water, bandages, fans, tents, medical assistance, etc. Let us do what we can for them.

kids who need help

P@SHA has already started a fund to which some of our members have contributed. We are now appealing to companies, to universities, to countrymen and women across the country to donate what they can.

We will purchase the items that are needed and send them through trusted organizations to the affected people. Please contact the P@SHA secretariat at 92-21-5418121 if you wish to donate.

Time is of the essence. Let us take action now! Our countrymen, countrywomen and the innocent children need our help. Let us not be found wanting. Let us show the same spirit that we showed during the 2005 earthquake. Donate money, tents, medicine or if you are a medical professional, your time and skill is what is needed.

There are organizations that are there on the ground offering assistance. Keep up with what is happening by joining the campaign to save the people of Swat. Teabreak.pk is providing a platform where live updates are available so that people are aware of what is going on and so there is no duplication of efforts.

Atif Mumtaz (co-Founder of Brightspyre.com) is part of the UM-Healthcare Trust. Atif’s tele-healthcare team in rural Mardan is offering medical assistance, medicines and food to those who are pouring in from Buner and other parts of NWFP. They have also been registering the refugees who pass through rural Mardan but the computers they have are not sufficient. They need 3 or 4 more computer systems to speed up the registration process. If you have extra PCs lying around, do contact the secretariat by email or phone us at +92-21-5418121.

UM Healthcare hospital in rural Mardan is located at the border of Buner District – they have seen a huge influx of refugees in that area these past few weeks. In fact, they have estimated close to 100,000 refugees in a 10KM radius of their facility.

In this hour of the need for refugees they need your support as they are running desperately short on medical supplies. No international non-profit is operating in that area and thus their limited resources are under a lot of stress.

http://www.umtrust.org

The list of required items include:http://tinyurl.com/qjxgh2

Samir Feroze says:

While the aid agencies and organizations like UM Trust are doing a great job of distributing the supplies, we are trying to do our bit by assisting with the collection of supplies. We have started to mark the Collection points on a map of Pakistan so that people can easily go to their nearest collection points and drop off the supplies.

Please add collection points to the map at http://www.yello.pk (just click the links on the main banner) and encourage people you know to use this information and drop supplies off at the Collection points.

Contribute in any way you can. If you respond to the P@SHA appeal, send money and required items to us. Otherwise, drop off goods at any of the collection points or donate to any of the reputable and active organisations. We need to help. It doesn’t matter who the help is channeled through.

D’Cards is way up there amongst the Social Networking apps on the App Store

When Khurram Samad, CEO of GeniTeam, emailed me to say that they had developed a Greeting card application for the iPhone and Android, I was delighted. I have been missing Apple’s icards like crazy and anything that gives me an opportunity to send cards from my Mac or iPhone is worth exploring.

And when Khurram told me that the application is already Number 32 amongst the top paid Social Networking applications on the App Store, I was even more excited.

It is called D’Cards (pronounced The Cards) and allows you to send personalized greeting cards containing voice messages to family and friends. Cards that are sent can be viewed on the web, on the iPhone, Android and Storm.

There are a variety of cards available for different occasions and from different artists. It is only for 99 cents so why not download it and try it? Khurram sent me a promo code so I could try it for free but I decided that if I don’t pay for it, then how can I claim to be doing my bit to support the Pakistan IT industry? So I downloaded it from the App store.

I think the GeniApps team is a little surprised at the burgeoning success of this basic idea. Where more “killer ideas” struggled, this one seems to be taking off and will probably bring in long term revenues as they add on more cards into the upgraded versions.

A little bird tells me that there is a very exciting new app that the team is working on that is more or less complete. They only need to fine-tune it a bit in accordance with feedback from Apple before it’s launched.

This is really becoming an exciting space that is providing opportunities for young companies from Pakistan. Personally I am watching it with a great deal of interest.

Tintash releases new iPhone application

It is called Fishing Frenzy and it is a brand new game developed by Tintash Pvt Ltd.. It is available on the Apple App Store.

The graphics are gorgeous, the interface very user-friendly. I am not into fishing but even I loved it. The game is simple – catch as many of the absolutely gorgeous variety of fish available in the river, and earn points before the buzzer goes off. And don’t forget to watch out for the monsters! (yeah the monsters! Aren’t there always monsters?)

There are 12 levels to the game to challenge even the most seasoned fishing enthusiasts.

This is of course not the first application that Tintash have made for the iPhone and I hope it won’t be the last. I need to interview CEO Murad Ali and CTO Mannan Amin for “In the Line of Wire” next time I am in Lahore. It would be great to learn about what goes into the development of a game like this, and to meet the designers and developers.

Well done guys! I absolutely love the game. And of course what excites me more is that it is Technology Made in Pakistan. Keep it up.