Pervez Musharraf resigns as Pakistani President

Pervez Musharraf announced today that he was resigning as a President of Pakistan to avoid an impeachment battle that would harm the nation’s interests.

Mr Musharraf made the announcement during a lengthy and at times emotional televised address in which he said that he was leaving office knowing that whatever he has done "was for the people and for the country".

"After consultations with legal advisers and close political supporters and on their advice, I’m taking the decision of resigning,"

the former general said.

"My resignation will go to the speaker of the National Assembly today."

Until he confirmed his resignation towards the end, however, much of his defiant speech was spent denying that any of the impeachment charges against him could stand and angrily defending his time in power.

"Not a single charge in the impeachment can stand against me,"

he said.

"No charge can be proved against me because I never did anything for myself, it was all for Pakistan."

Mr Musharraf dominated Pakistan for years after seizing power in a 1999 military coup, making the country a key strategic ally of the United States by supporting the war on terror.

But his popularity at home sank over the years. Many Pakistanis blame rising violence in their country on his alliance with the United States, and his reputation suffered further last year 2007 when he ousted dozens of judges and imposed emergency rule.

He has been increasingly isolated since a parliamentary election last February elected a coalition government opposed to him.

The government, led by the party of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, said earlier this month that it planned to impeach Mr Musharraf for violating the constitution and other alleged crimes, in what was seen as a clear attempt to force him from office.

Officials from Saudi Arabia, as well as the United States and Britain, have been involved in negotiations aimed at ending the damaging confrontation between President and Goverment.

Five Ways to Extend Battery Life on Subnotebooks

Whether you end up with an Asus Eee PC, MSI Wind, or Acer Aspire One, the vast majority of these subnotebooks suffer from less than stellar battery life. Realistically, the whole purpose of these small form factor laptops was that they were supposed to be ultra portable. They were supposed to be light and compact enough that you would have no problem tossing it into your backpack or messenger bag, carrying out the web-surfing machine with you everywhere that you go. It's almost self-defeating when you are constantly looking for a wall outlet.

For this reason, I have compiled five tips for extending the battery life on your favorite netbook. It shouldn't matter if you buy a HP Mini-Note, Dell Inspiron Mini, or whatever other small laptop, because these tips will still apply. Heck, even if you are bouncing around town with a larger notebook, it wouldn't be a bad idea to pay attention too.

1. Dim That Display As Far As You Can Handle

All laptops give you the ability to set the brightness level of the notebook, so it's a really good idea to make use of that. Yes, you may need to crank up the brightness to get a reasonable level of visibility under high-light conditions, but if you're sitting in a coffee shop or working out of the library, it's not necessary to have the brightness jacked to the max. This is a huge burden on the battery. It's probably not the best idea for your eyes either. Dim that display and conserve some battery.

2. Turn Off Any Radios or Devices You Don't Need

Depending on the model that you get, many of these subnotebooks come with additional radios that you may not be using all the time. Given their Internet-minded functionality, there's a good chance that you'll have the Wi-Fi on all the time, but do you really need Bluetooth? Furthermore, any USB devices that you have connected to the Eee PC or MSI Wind, for example, will be a power draw. If you can help it, avoid using external mice and other peripherals if possible. This is especially true of running higher-draw devices like USB scanners, webcams, and portable hard drives.

3. Carry An Extra Battery or Two

This will cost you a little bit of money, but real road warriors will probably want to grab an extra battery or two. This is especially true of the netbooks that only come with a three-cell battery. Let's face it. Two hours of life just doesn't cut it. Poke around on eBay and other sources to see if you can find inexpensive third-party batteries. Just be sure to buy from a reputable seller and keep an eye on the mAh rating.


4. Make Use of a Car Charging Accessory

I invested about $15 on a Black & Decker power inverter for my car. In effect, it translates the power coming out of the cigarette jack into what appears to be a standard wall outlet. You don't need to break the bank with a high-wattage converter. The converter that I got only outputs 100 watts and that's usually enough for most small consumer electronics. If you've got a cell phone, iPod, or some other device, it can make use of this charger as well. Keep that battery topped up while on the road!

5. Hack and Mod Your Way to Greatness

If all else fails and no one wants to come to your rescue, then you might want to take matters into your own hands. One modder decided to create his own 9-cell battery for the MSI Wind. If the math holds up, that would provide six hours of web surfing on a single charge. Asus is also promising a version of the Eee that will provide "all day power". That's a waiting game though.

MotorolaTETRA system to be used at Beijing Olympics

Motorola, Inc. announced an agreement with the Beijing Police Bureau to provide its 350MHz TETRA digital trunked radio communications system to support the security needs of the Olympic Games. Beijing is the first city in China to implement a 350MHz TETRA digital trunked radio communication system.

Under the agreement, Motorola will provide the Beijing Police Bureau with a comprehensive TETRA digital trunked radio communication solution that includes 30 base stations, switches, terminals, and additional products and services. The Bureau's plans to establish a new wireless communication system alongside with its existing wireless network was based on a stringent assessment findings conducted to strengthen, safeguard, and to ensure the complete success of the Olympic Games. As this project involves Olympic Games security tasks, the system is strictly required to provide efficient and reliable support for the Olympic Games.

As the pioneer and global leader in the digital trunked radio communication industry, Motorola has strong capabilities to provide a complete line of products for 350MHz TETRA digital trunked systems, including base stations, switches, terminals and other related accessories. Over the years, Motorola has established several long-term relationships serving many Chinese local entities within the sector and is very experienced in China's public safety industry. Motorola is a trusted partner and reputable in the industry for providing its customers with a range of customized solutions that include single cluster stations, multi-slot packet data processing, and mobile base stations, among other products and services.

The communications' department of the Beijing Police Bureau stated,

"It is important to use high-quality communications solutions and services to ensure we dispatch effective and reliable radio communications solutions during the Olympic Games. I am pleased that Motorola is able to meet all our needs as it has tremendous experience and sophisticated communications capabilities."

"We are delighted to collaborate with the Beijing Police Bureau to provide wireless communication systems and solutions to enhance the Olympics' security. Motorola has been supporting the needs of mission critical users for Olympics dispatch radio communications since 1972. We provide the most advanced products and services and are highly experienced in digital trunked radio communications for the public security sector worldwide, meeting the stringent needs required by the Beijing Police for a secure Olympics event. We would like to take this opportunity to wish the Beijing Police Bureau a successful mission in handling their security assignments during the Olympic Games. It is our hope for Beijing to succeed in this global event,"

said Mr. Chew Hock Siong, General Manager, Government & Public Safety, Enterprise Mobile Solutions, Motorola (China) Electronics Ltd.

As an industry leader, Motorola initiated and strongly advocates the TETRA digital trunked radio communications standard. Motorola has served customers in China's public security sector for many years. As early as March 2001, Motorola implemented the first 800MHz TETRA digital trunked radio command and communication system on a full IP platform for the Shanghai Metropolitan Police Bureau. With the support of Motorola's TETRA digital trunked system, the Shanghai Police carried out safe and successful law enforcement for the 2007 Special Olympics World Games, garnering subsequent praise by China's Ministry of Public Security. In January 2008, Motorola signed a contact with Beijing Central Station of Exit and Entry Frontier Inspection to provide a 350MHz TETRA digital trunked system to support radio communications for exit and entry inspection at the Beijing International Airport.

Mobile-TV equipped TD-SCDMA handsets delivered to China Mobile

Lenovo Mobile and Spreadtrum jointly presented Lenovo Mobile's TD900, the new digital mobile-TV equipped TD-SCDMA handsets, to China Mobile. The TD900's design is based on Spreadtrum's TD-SCDMA platform and mobile-TV solution. Officials attending the press conference included Mr. Xinsheng Zhang, Deputy Director General, Science and Technology Department, MIIT, Mr. Bo Zhao, Deputy Director General, Electronics and Information Technology Products Department, MIIT, Mr. Xiaojie Wang, Director General, Science and Technology Bureau, the State Administration of Radio Film and Television ("SARFT"), and officials from the Ministry of Science and Technology and from China Mobile.

This batch of mobile-TV equipped TD900 will be distributed to the Beijing Olympics volunteers and staff members. Lenovo Mobile is expected to deliver more TD900 handsets to China Mobile before the Beijing Olympic Games. With the Beijing Olympics approaching, China has become the focus of the world. Currently, China Mobile is increasing its testing of the mobile-TV function while preparing its third round of public bidding for the purchase of TD-SCDMA handsets. Lenovo Mobile and Spreadtrum's distribution of the first batch of mobile-TV TD900 handsets to China Mobile at the earliest opportunity shows the two parties' strong joint efforts and determination to serve the Beijing Olympics.

Lenovo Mobile's TD900 is one of Lenovo Mobile's "new vision" model series released in July 2008. TD900 is a tablet phone; it supports TD-SCDMA/GSM dual mode and 3G applications such as video phone, mobile-TV, auto-roaming, auto-switching and high speed download. As the first batch of mobile-TV equipped TD handsets, several radio programs and approximately eight TV channels including CCTV1, CCTV Olympics and CCTV News, are provided free and with good signal reception and smooth video display. The combination of TD-SCDMA and CMMB, both of which are China owned standards, offers a wonderful solution to serve the Beijing Olympic Games.

The TD900 deploys Spreadtrum's solutions for TD-SCDMA and CMMB standards. As the only wireless baseband solution provider in the industry for the innovative technologies of TD-SCDMA and CMMB, Spreadtrum developed successfully the TD-SCDMA digital mobile-TV application. Spreadtrum's chip solution offers mobile-TV play, simultaneous transmitting and receiving of communication signals without interference, and a good experience with the TV services of the TD-SCDMA digital mobile.

"It is our pleasure to jointly present with Spreadtrum the TD900, the innovative mobile-TV equipped TD handset, to China Mobile. TD900 is designed to address the needs of the mainstream market and is developed independently and to bring us the latest digital mobile TV experience. Being the national industry leader, Lenovo Mobile will make its best efforts to unite the industry's strengths and advance the development of China's 3G technology,"

said by Mr. Yan Lv, President and CEO of Lenovo Mobile.

Dr. Ping Wu, President and CEO of Spreadtrum said,

"We are pleased that Spreadtrum and Lenovo Mobile were able to jointly deliver the digital mobile-TV equipped TD-SCDMA handsets to China Mobile. Spreadtrum has pursued independent innovation and has supported China's self-developed standards for many years. We hope to maintain a strong cooperative relationship with Lenovo Mobile to drive together the next level of development in China's communications industry."

According to a recent forecast from China Mobile, the second phase of the TD-SCDMA network infrastructure will be completed by early next year, when all provincial capitals and select cities will have network coverage by then. With the successful kick-off of the third round of public bidding for the purchase of TD-SCDMA handsets by China Mobile and the mobile-TV TD handsets in the market, it is believed that a new "vision" awaits.