A very innovative project by Coca cola, finally they did something better then there brrrRR commercial which is quite annoying. Any how apart from critics while browsing the tv i stumbled upon an episode of coke studio featuring ‘Ali Azmat’ and ‘Rahat Fateh Ali Khan’ singing Balaman [download here] a semi classical song mixed with the modern feel with guitars and immediately fell in love with the song. I am not a big fan of classical music but i guess with age this taste develops which is bad as it seems and feels like growing old which is one thing we really want to avoid.

Being into web i searched on the coke studio and for a moment was impressed with the website they had build although they used wordpress for there core system but no doubt a very nice job done and some body did work on details for it.

Thanks to them all of us who missed the performance on tv can download the songs in mp3, and can even watch the videos on YouTube. There are four episodes expected from them and first one has been released on there website from where you can download the songs or view the videos check them out

Those who still have no idea what coke studio:

Coke Studio is a journey into the heart of a recording studio where you will be able to experience the magic of live music being performed by some of the most talented musicians and artists of Pakistan.Born out of a dream to merge tradition with modern, consistency with change, we have embarked on a journey to create a first hand experience for you to witness live studio sessions – something very few people have witnessed before as studio recording sessions are a secretive process normally only reserved for producers and musicians to witness and experience.

coke studio

Sometimes, once a while I do receive e-mails or questions from friends as to “How to become a freelancer in Pakistan”. For the last 3-4 years i have been a freelancer, and my freelance carrier have been quite exciting and successful, I got the chance to work on some of very big projects, designed products for clients and made extremely good connections with some of very successful people from the silicon valley.

During this journey i focused my work to work only for international clients & companies. Usually my target market was USA / UK & very few projects from Canada as well. If I take sneak peek back in time I did even build a website for a renowned celebrity from Hollywood.

Freelancing is just like another carrier, you work hard, you grow with time learn allot and of course you do make good money sometimes. But one thing that you need to remember is it’s not a piece of cake, the only benefit of freelancing is that you are your own boss.

Starting freelance can be quite easy or very difficult to do, it’s a sort of setting up your own business and you have to be a designer, a developers, a business developers, a marketer and a manager of your own self. You have to manage your time, learn, market and sell project to clients. If you have made up your mind to do so then yes you can read below as to how to proceed further.

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NoteRecently i read a very interesting article on 37signals blog on workplace experiment. 37signals an Innovative company focusing on building products for the web invests into it employees and works on finding ways to improve work productivity. Its not 37signals that invests into it but as we all know Google is famous for its Google Plex, free food policy and 10% of time for creative ideas. Investing on employees is on rule that every CEO & co founder of the company knows about it. Its a basic theory that the success of a company is depending on its workforce and its the investment in People thats build big companies.

Though this rule has been around since ages but unfortunately very few make any effort to follow it. Some might say big companies with big cash flow can afford such luxuries but is it all money that matters. Generally if I compare to our local market in Pakistan there is hardly any company that invests in such regards. Most believe in giving health insurance, annual bonus and paid leaves as an innovative way of investing into there employees. Even with that people do switch jobs , such things do support employees financially but it does not add up into any way of adding efficient & creative working environments. 90% people still hate there Job and Monday is a nightmare to them & of course all companies want overtime from there employees.

Keeping weekend as there core motivation for all of us as every Monday in our mind we calculate till Friday 37signals decided to make 4 days of work week rather then 5 days i.e. Monday – Thursday and of course increased working hours to probably 11 hours a day which means that being a programmer the longer you code the more work gets done rather then breaking it into less hours on code and then next day first reading through what you had done previously and then start again.

The feedback from 37signal ” Three-day weekends mean people come back extra refreshed on Monday. Three-day weekends mean people come back happier on Monday. Three-day weekends mean people actually work harder and more efficiently during the four-day work week”.

On the other Hand Yahoo introduced resting room during the day if you are working long hours you can take a nap at the rest room which in some people thought is abusive as humans are treated as machines but a 30 minute nap in the after noon scientifically freshens you up. These are a few things that wont add huge cash costs to the company but will definitely improve productivity and employees motivation to work.

On our end companies in Pakistan focus on finding ways to increase work hours, trying best to make employees work late hours (5 of my close friends state that if they try to get out of office on time there boss’s face swells and there are bad looks)… and if i talk in terms of work hours and analyze the productivity time between an 8 hours shift i would say people only work 4 productive hours during an 8 hours shift and rest is gone in drain on lunch / facebook/ orkut / newspapers and many such activities.

This is a huge topic which need research and continuous innovation the way the people work, how to make work environment enjoyable rather then cubical torture rooms …. make them color full & casual like Google and of course such stuff do reflect what the company comes out with ..

You Might Want to check out

• Cool Work Places
• 10 Super Cool Work Places

The industry that is going to growing rapidly in Pakistan is Information Technology this is the information i got while roaming the internet & stumbled upon a very interesting news posted by Telecom Pk stating a report by Worlbank that states that Pakistan is a golden place for investment in Information Technology. Finally years of handwork seems like might pay off.

A recent World Bank report has declared Pakistan as one of the top favourable economies in the world. The “Doing Business 2008″ report states that Pakistan is in second place compared to other South Asian countries in terms of certain economic indicators, such as: ease of doing business, dealing with licenses, and protecting investors.

Pakistan is quickly emerging as a powerhouse in the region, partly due to its fast paced IT industry. The government’s policies towards foreign investors have also contributed in helping the country stand out. These include 100 per cent foreign equity ownership, 100 per cent repatriation of profits for foreign investors and tax exemption for the sector till 2013.

Though it is a fact Govt. and the current environment clearly shows how Information Technology is going to boost. We are sitting on a dot com bubble (though i restrain from using the word bubble as they usually burst) but it is a fact the Information technology is going to boom. Many hurdles in the past for such boom in IT has been removed there is vast amount of office space available at least in Lahore, high speed Internet available in few call with comparatively good customer service, finding technical staff is quite easy as well but finding quality/efficient staff is a little difficult to. …. no doubt a positive news and a positive change in our era …

PS: If any outside investors looking to setup an IT operation in Pakistan get in touch with me i can consult and help setup everything :)

Finally Go4B (World Call cable internet) opens its eyes looks around and decide to reduce the internet Tariff to a very compatitve package plans so here is what Go4b – (Worldcall Broadband) is offering:

Go4B (Woldcall Cable Internet)  New Internet Tariff 2008

• 1MB         – Unlimited – Rs.25 00
• 512kbps  – Unlimited – Rs.1200
• 256kbps  – Unlimited – Rs.1000
• 128kbps  – Unlimited – Rs.600/

I have used Wateen, WOL DSL & PTCL if i compare to the service provided by Go4b – (Worldcall Broadband) with all the others then i would simply vote for Go4b – (Worldcall Broadband) and question will be why  so here is a comparative analysis that might help you before you sign up for an internet connection.

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