GPRS Vs 3G Tecnology

Article By Iqra Amjad
General packet radio switching (GPRS) is a Mobile Data Service available to users of Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and IS-136 mobile phones. General Packet Radio Service data transfer is typically charged per megabyte of transferred data, while data communication via traditional circuit switching is billed per minute of connection time, independent of whether the user has actually transferred data or has been in an idle state.
GPRS can be used for services such as Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) access, Short Message Service (SMS), Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), and for Internet communication services such as email and World Wide Web access. GPRS is packet-switched, which means that multiple users share the same transmission channel, only transmitting when they have data to send. Thus the total available bandwidth can be immediately dedicated to those users who are actually sending at any given moment, providing higher use where users only send or receive data intermittently.
Web browsing, receiving e-mails as they arrive and instant messaging are examples of uses that require intermittent data transfers, which benefit from sharing the available  bandwidth. Like GPRS, 3G is also a wireless communication service. 3G is an ITU specification for the third generation (analog cellular was the first generation, digital PCS the second) of mobile communications technology. 3G promises increased bandwidth, up to 384 Kbps when a device is stationary or moving at pedestrian speed, 128 Kbps in a car, and 2 Mbps in fixed applications. 3G will work over wireless air interfaces such as GSM, TDMA, and CDMA.
It gives you ‘always-on’ continuous connection to the Internet via your Tablet PC or Notebook and Mobile. 3Gstands for third generation wireless, that’s nearly seven times as fast as a standard dial-up connection. You can enjoy your mobile online activities, at work or play, at faster speeds than ever before.3G allows for higher call volumes and supports multimedia data applications such as video and photograph.
Video calling facility is with 3G you can now actually see the person on the other side! As long as both people have a 3G phone you no longer have to imagine what they look like and you can see them face-to-face via your cell phone’s screen.
Obtaining information and news with 3G technology it is possible to access any site on the Internet by using your phone as a modem with your laptop. You can use your favorite search engines to find information on the weather, the daily news, stocks and shares, or practically any other information you require to ensure that you are continually on top of things. If you have left your office and forgotten to send an important e-mail, you are now able to quickly and efficiently perform this function directly by using your cell phone.
The speed and quality of 3G really contributes to enhancing the quality of film over mobile devices. One is now able to view film trailers, reviews, and interviews, download ring tones, wall papers and enter competitions all by means of your cell phone.
With the incredible sound and video quality of your 3G phone you can view highlights from your favorite matches and you’ll always have access to the latest scores. You can download songs, music videos and interviews, compose your own ring tone through your cell phone as requirement.
3G is an exciting new technology that is being incorporated into mobile devices across the globe. Users are now able to make person-to-person calls, download data and do a variety of other tasks they never imagined possible all via their 3G cell phones.
[The writer is a scholar in Communication Sciences at Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi]

Kadhafi calls for jihad against Switzerland over minaret ban

It is against unbelieving and apostate Switzerland that jihad ought to be proclaimed by all means, Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi said 

BENGAZI: Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi turned up the heat in his country's dispute with Switzerland on Thursday, calling for jihad against it over a ban adopted last year on the construction of minarets, reports AFP. “It is against unbelieving and apostate Switzerland that jihad (holy war) ought to be proclaimed by all means,” Kadhafi said in a speech in the Mediterranean coastal city of Bengazi to mark the birthday of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed.
“Jihad against Switzerland, against Zionism, against foreign aggression is not terrorism,” Kadhafi said.
“Any Muslim around the world who has dealings with Switzerland is an infidel (and is) against Islam, against Mohammed, against God, against the Koran,” the leader told a crowd of thousands in a speech broadcast live on television.
In a November 29 referendum, Swiss voters approved by a margin of 57.5 percent a ban on the construction in their country of minarets, the towers that are a signature part of mosques.
Relations between Libya and Switzerland have been strained since July 2008 when Kadhafi's son Hannibal and his wife were arrested and briefly held in Geneva after two domestic workers complained he had mistreated them.
The row escalated when Libya swiftly detained and confiscated the passports of two Swiss businessmen, Rashid Hamdani and Max Goeldi. It deepened again last year when a tentative deal between the two countries fell apart.
Both men were convicted of overstaying their visas and of engaging in illegal business activities. Hamdani's conviction was overturned in January, and he has now returned home, while Goeldi surrendered to authorities this week and is now serving a reduced sentence of four months.
Adoption of the minaret ban was opposed by the Swiss government, the bulk of Switzerland's political parties and the economic establishment and was an unexpected outcome.
The move drew widespread criticism, with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay calling the ban “deeply discriminatory, deeply divisive and a thoroughly unfortunate step for Switzerland to take.”
The Swiss government sought to assure the country's 400,000 Muslims, who are mainly of Balkan and Turkish origin, that the outcome was “not a rejection of the Muslim community, religion or culture.”
Switzerland has around 200 mosques, with just four minarets among them.

US expands arms sales to both Pakistan and India

The Obama administration is expanding weapons sales to India and Pakistan to forge “closer ties with each country”.

WASHINGTON: The Obama administration is sharply expanding American weapons sales to both India and Pakistan in a bid to forge “closer ties with each country”, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
The newspaper noted that although the US had stayed out of the Indo-Pak rift, it was pursuing deals with both to strengthen its relationship and create business for American defence firms.

The US has made billions of dollars in weapons deals with India, which is in the midst of a five-year, $50 billion push to modernise its military. At the same time, American military aid to Pakistan would nearly double next year, the leading financial daily noted.

This would allow Islamabad to acquire more US-made helicopters, night-vision goggles and other military equipment.

The paper said that Pakistan had sought a nuclear deal with the US on the lines of the Indo-US atomic pact.

During a late January trip to Islamabad, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said the US would for the first time give Pakistan a dozen surveillance drones, a longstanding Pakistani request.

The newspaper noted that India and Pakistan have each been irked when the US made big-ticket weapons sales or transfers to the other. India lobbied against recent US legislation giving Pakistan billions of dollars in new non-military aid; the measure passed.

A top Pakistani diplomat warned last week that a two-year-old civilian nuclear deal between the US and India could threaten Pakistan’s national security by making it easier for India to covertly build more nuclear weapons.

Washington’s relationships with the two nations were very different, the Journal said, noting: “India, which is wealthier and larger than its neighbour, pays for weapons purchases with its own funds.

“Pakistan, by contrast, uses American grants to fund most of its arms purchases.”

A new US counter-insurgency assistance fund for Pakistan is slated to increase from $700 million in fiscal year 2010 to $1.2 billion in fiscal year 2011.

“For 2010 and 2011, India could well be the most important market in the world for defence contractors looking to make foreign military sales,” Tom Captain, the vice-chairman of Deloitte LLP’s aerospace and defence practice told WSJ.

The Obama administration is trying to persuade New Delhi to buy American jet fighters.