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What you need to know about SLT ADSL broadband quota increase

January 19, 2014

2 min read

At the beginning of the year, SLT gave their broadband users a new year gift with additional quota (both peak and off peak) for their broadband packages. However many users were saying that the increase in quota is only for the off peak hours. The problem stems down to the fact that even though SLT had peak and offpeak quotas in 2013, they were never applied. For example, the user who had a quota of 20GB peak and 5GB off peak, had the ability to use all 25GB at peak times. So effectively the total quota is the peak quota. Now with that context lets take a look at the below comparison of packages after the quota increase.

SLT ADSL broadband data packages

From the above table it is clear that the earlier total quota is now the peak quota while there is additional off peak quota. So practically yes it seems there is only an increase in the off-peak quota. However theoretically there is an increase in both quotas, just that the off-peak wasn’t applied earlier.

Bottom line is that SLT ADSL users can experience more quota in the off-peak hours. Being off-peak should not be too much of a problem as most users would schedule their downloads at that time. However it may not be too much use for corporate connections and internet cafes.

For more information on SLT ADSL broadband click here.

Messaging and Social App Usage Triple in 2013

January 18, 2014

TechWire

Apps, Infographic

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1 min read

In the era of smartphones and tabs, app usage is rising rapidly. According to data by Flurry analytics, the overall app usage has increased by 115% . That means the usage has more than doubled. The category of apps with the most growth is the messaging and social apps. You would kind of expect it, considering the fact that 2013 was the year that facebook offered snapchat a whopping 3 billion dollars for acquisition. But then again tripling the usage in a single year is quite high. Maybe one can relate it to the fact that people are more and more moving away from traditional SMS, to chat apps. Even in SL the rise of apps such as whatsapp is steady.

The utility/productivity apps is the category with the second highest growth, showing that people are starting to rely on their smartphones to be organized. Take a look at the other growth rates of app categories in the below infographic by statista.

Highest growing apps in 2013

2013 with WSO2 – Infographic

December 31, 2013

TechWire

Infographic, SW

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1 min read

WSO2 founded by Dr Sanjeewa Weerawaran in 2005, has progressed in leaps and bounds in the past 8 years. Providing clients with an open source middleware platform, WSO2 has attracted some big clients such as eBay, and has won several awards as well.

2013 has been quite a year for WSO2, from providing services to Boeing and Deutsche Telekom, to extending its footprint to the mobile domain. As we have embarked on the new year, lets take a look at the impressive achievements of WSO2 in 2013 through the below infographic.

2013 with WSO2---infographic

Sri Lanka Cyber Games 2013 – Let the games begin!

December 11, 2013

TechWire

Events, Games

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1 min read

Its the marquee event all gamers are waiting for, Sri Lanka Cyber games 2013. The Kandy qualifiers are already done and dusted while the finals are just around the corner on the 13th, 14th and 15th of December. SLCG is being organized by gamer.lk the team who has kept gaming alive and growing in Sri Lanka. The event which is being held at BMICH, will hold competions for 10 games listed below.

Call of Duty 4

Counter Strike 1.6

DOTA 2

Halo 4

Fifa 2011

League of Legends

Mortal Kombat 9

Tekken Tag Tournament 2

Trackman nations Forever

NFS Most Wanted

So make it to the BMICH this weekend to witness some intense gaming, and some great deals on gaming equipment. May the best gamer win.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz-fUVoItek

TweetupSL 4 – An evening of tweeps and tweets

December 10, 2013

TechWire

Events, Social Media

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2 min read

It’s the most wonderful time of the year for tweeps, when TweetupSL arrives. This year’s edition took place at the Mercantile Cricket Association grounds last Saturday with hundreds of tweeps gathering for the much anticipated occasion. This was the first time TweetupSL took place outdoors giving a relaxed atmosphere for everyone to mingle about.

Soon after registration everyone got in to their dialog sponsored T shirts with the various #OMG #FTW #Epic #WTF hash tags. The event commenced with cutting the cake and a very entertaining flash Mob. Check it out below.(Video credits to Aqeel Dave)

There were numerous games for tweeps from musical chairs to balloon dancing to noodle racing. A quiz on TweetupSL history was held by the Readme team with scrumptious gifts for the winners courtesy of Coco Veranda.

The TweetupSL awards took place towards the end, with 39 tweeps receiving awards according to the tallied votes on tweetupsl.org. The category winners for the awards are as follows.(drumroll)

Miss.Tweep of the year – @AyshMarQ

Mr.Tweep of the year – @dodan123

Twitterholic of the year – @GayanMW

Tech Tweep of the year – @gazly

Sportaholic of the year – @takashiG

Twitter News Breaker of the year – @rangaba

Instagramoholic of the year – @HalikAzeez

Most Helpful Tweep of the year – @AnfasJM

Most Controversial Tweep of the year – @NotJagath

Funniest Tweep of the year – @Rathgamaya

Diplo Tweep of the year – @NisansaDds

Foodie Tweep of the year – @PhuckYou_

Hashtagoholic of the year – @nHiRanZ

During these various activities, tweeps were able to meetup with old buddies and also got to meet up their virtually acquired friends in real life. ‘Cos in twitter its not just about keeping touch with your existing friends, its about making new connections with people who you can enjoy a conversation with. That’s what makes twitter qualitatively the number one social media in Sri Lanka.

Kudos to the organizing team for putting countless hours and immense effort into making TweetupSL 4, an event worth tweeting all week long.

Below are few moments captured at the event.

Motorolla Moto G – A smart phone for the masses

December 3, 2013

TechWire

Gadgets

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2 min read

Ever since the time of the stylish Motorolla Razr flip phone, Motorolla haven’t had much popularity down here in Sri Lanka. Even though they have launched many Androids, they have mostly been tied up with an operator in the U.S. so they are rarely seen here. However with the acquisition by Google, Motorolla is now moving to the unlocked model.

One of the notable releases recently was the Motorolla Moto G smart phone. Even though the Nexus 5 is taking most of the Android thunder, Moto G might end up being a bigger success. Simply put, the Moto G provides premier smart phone features at an amazing price of $179! It is apparent that Google has a clear target on the entry level smart phone market which in the coming years would probably have the most smart phone sales.

Motorolla Moto G Android

Lets take look at the specifications this little dynamite offers.

Operating System – Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean)

Display – 4.5 inches 1280 x 720 329 ppi

Processor – Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor with 1.2 GHz quad-core CPU

Capacity – 8GB, 16GB

Dimensions – Height 129.9 mm Width 65.9 mm Depth 6.0-11.6 mm (curve)

Weight – 143 grams

RAM – 1GB

Battery – lithium-ion, 2070 mAh

Camera – 5MP Rear, 1.3 MP Rear

$179 dollars with taxes would come up to about 30,000+ rupees. At that price getting a quad core processor, with 4.5 inch display is a good bargain. The only 4.5 inch display android phones available for a cheaper price would be the Micromax phones or the Dialog K45. Also even though the $179 dollar model provides only 8GB storage, for $199 one could get a 16GB model which for most would be a better buy. The reviews for the Moto G have been mainly positive with the storage and camera being the main negative points. The battery it seems is sufficient to last you a day.

For the price range the Moto G seems to be holding a good value for the buck. With Moto G and future releases in the line, it is quite possible that Motorolla will make a name again in our market.

Note : The Moto G is available for order through the Kapruka Global shop for 33,000 rupees. Check it out here.

Get Ready for TweetupSL 4!!

November 28, 2013

TechWire

Events

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1 min read

The 4th edition of TweetupSL where Sri Lankan tweeps, meet in flesh and blood will take place on the 7th of December at the MCA. For registration the tweeps needs a minimum of 500 tweets, 50 followers and should be at least 6 months from the creation of the account. Visit www.tweetupsl.org and register today.

The voting for the top tweeps is available on the site, where you can enter the handles of your nominations. The categories are as shown below. We here that @PresRajapaksa is in the running for Mr. Tweep.

All attendees would be contributing to the worthy cause ‘water with a difference’ through the Rs. 100 ticket. Also Needy Readers would be present, so bring your books for donation.

For updates on the event, follow @tweetupsl

Dialog launches Guru.lk : Trilingual E-Learning platform

November 24, 2013

TechWire

Web

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2 min read

E-Learning is quite big around the world, but no so much in Sri Lanka. However local mobile Telcos are leading the way with launching their own educational online platforms. Dialog Axiata, launched their first educational platform eteacher around 2 years back, which they have now revamped and relaunched as Guru.lk.

On first look it is much better than the predecessor with a visually cleaner layout. Courses are listed with price, rating and subscriber numbers. From the available courses it can be seen that Guru.lk is placed primarily as an online tuition provider.

Dialog Guru.lk

Currently it hosts O/L subject courses, revision and past paper modules. We expect that the variety of courses would expand in 2014. The course prices range from Rs 100 -175 monthly charge, which is quite reasonable and affordable to students. Users also have the option to pay the course fees in daily or weekly installments.(However once you have enrolled you are committed to pay for the month).

Payment methods include mobile, eZcash and Credit card. Since credit card penetration is low in Sri Lanka, having mobile payment methods is a must for platforms such as this.(mobile payments is the only type of payment you can use if installments are used)

Guru.lk payment

So if you are an O/L student, check guru.lk out and see. Might be the difference.

For a step by step guide on registration click here.

Code Ultimatum 2013 – IdeaMart Hackathon

November 21, 2013

TechWire

Events

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1 min read

Ideamart, the developer community of Dialog Axiata, announces their inaugural annual hackathon: Code Ultimatum. This the first instance where Ideamart is opening up the competition to the public. Applicants first need to submit a small video clip of their proposed idea to the Ideamart team. Ideas are set to be on open category and could range from corporate apps to educational apps to games. Importantly atleast one of the Ideamart APIs needs to be used in the development. Teams can consist of 5 members and the teams with the top 10 ideas would be chosen for the hackathon. Cash prizes and other benefits await the winners.

“This is a great opportunity for developers to showcase their talent, learn on the mobile business line, and also generate some money as well. We are expecting some great apps to come out of this the competition, and we hope to give marketing support to such applications”

– Roshanth Gardiarachchi, Ideamart Team

This is the second hackathon which is conducted by Ideamart. The first hackathon was held at the University of Moratuwa and resulted in some cool apps like TaxiBuddy and MegaMind.

For more information on ideamart and its APIs visit www.ideamart.lk

Code Ultimatum flyer

99X TECHNOLOGY SWEEPS UP TWO AWARDS AT NBQSA 2013

November 13, 2013

TechWire

1 Comment

2 min read

Being one of the top players in the Sri Lankan ICT industry, 99X Technology obtained two awards at the recently concluded National Best Quality ICT Awards (NBQSA).

The two awards are as follows

–WAG : Web Accessibility Guide – Bronze Award, R&D Category

–ALMUR : Merit Award, Tools and Infrastructure Applications

NBQSA Awards

WAG it seems is a toolset which is aimed to make surfing the internet that much easier to the visually handicapped. This provides assistance to users with total blindness, low vision and colour applications. It additionally enables the visually impaired people to apply accessibility corrections. It is wonderful to see projects such as WAG being implemented, where technology is used for the betterment of society. Kudos to the project team!

The ALMUR is a product which facilitates binary decision making using fuzzy loging on cases expressed in approximate human terms. A typical question asked from ALMUR would be: ‘If the student’s Math grade is high, English grade is low and Geography grade is somewhat high, should we pass the student?’

ALMUR libraries are currently being used by ‘Norge-serien’ and ‘Boating Norway’ iOS apps for fuzzy logic based decision making.

“Research and development is fundamental to our strategy, keeping in line with our aim to constantly innovate. Hence, the award signifies our commitment towards reaching this goal”

– 99X Technology Co-Founder and CEO Mano Sekaram on his company’s achievements at the NBQSA Awards.

99x project team