Science and technology

ISLAMABAD: The globally renowned founder of crypto exchange Binance, Changpeng Zhao, widely known as CZ, has been appointed as the strategic advisor to the Pakistan Crypto Council. The formal announcement was made during a high-level meeting held in Islamabad, attended by Zhao and representatives of the Pakistan Crypto Council. The session was chaired by Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb. The chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), the State Bank of Pakistan governor, and secretaries from the Law and IT ministries were also present in the meeting. Speaking on the occasion, Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb described the development as a historic moment for Pakistan, stating, “We are sending a clear message to the world that Pakistan is ready for innovation.” He further added, “With CZ’s involvement, we are accelerating our vision to transform Pakistan into a regional powerhouse through Web3, digital finan...

Nintendo America boss has hinted at a revision of the price of Switch 2 gaming console in the US after President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on imports from several countries. The company announced delaying the preorders for the upcoming gaming console on Friday after Trump announced tariffs on imports from several countries. “Preorders for Nintendo Switch 2 in the US will not start April 9, 2025, in order to assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions,” the company said in a statement. While Nintendo Switch 2 has been priced at $449, fans of the gaming console feared that the company might go for a hike after Donald Trump’s recent announcements. Nintendo of America President Doug Bowser has now addressed the company’s plans for the gaming console and the headwinds it faces. “The $449 for the individual SKU [Nintendo Switch 2] and then the $499 for the hardware SKU plus Mario Kart World. Those were made based on previous tariffs, and there was no im...

A major YouTube update is rolling out, packed with new tools that make it easier than ever to create eye-catching Shorts. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned content maker, this YouTube update is designed to help you stand out in the ever-growing world of short-form video. The first big improvement in this YouTube update is a redesigned video editing screen within the app. It gives users more control to trim, rearrange, and adjust clips. You can also add music, timed text and preview your Short before posting, making the editing process quicker and smoother through this YouTube update. Another standout feature in this YouTube update is automatic beat-synching. Just choose a song, and the app will match your clips to the rhythm, saving you the trouble of lining things up manually and helping your video flow better with music. Read More: Could THIS update be a game changer for YouTube channels? The YouTube update also expands its library of Shorts templates. You can now use...

META-owned WhatsApp is set to roll out a new feature aimed at limiting chat sharing and enhancing user privacy in communication. Scheduled for release in a future update, this feature will be part of WhatsApp Beta for Android version 2.25.10.14, available on the Google Play Store. The popular Meta-owned messaging platform’s advanced chat privacy feature will allow users to prevent their phone media from automatically saving to the device’s gallery. While this functionality was previously available for disappearing chats, WhatsApp is now extending it to users who opt to activate the new advanced chat privacy option in the future. The feature will introduce a set of privacy protections, including restrictions on exporting entire chat histories. This means WhatsApp will be able to block the export of chat histories involving users who have enabled this privacy setting. The move aims to safeguard private conversations and prevent unauthorized data transfers, further strengthening use...

Meta Platforms (META.O), on Saturday released the latest version of its large language model (LLM) Llama, called the Llama 4 Scout and Llama 4 Maverick. Meta said Llama is a multimodal AI system. Multimodal systems are capable of processing and integrating various types of data including text, video, images and audio, and can convert content across these formats Meta said in a statement that the Llama 4 Scout and Llama 4 Maverick are its “most advanced models yet” and “the best in their class for multimodality.” Meta added that Llama 4 Maverick and Llama 4 Scout will be open source software. It also said it was previewing Llama 4 Behemoth, which it called “one of the smartest LLMs in the world and our most powerful yet to serve as a teacher for our new models.” Big technology firms have been investing aggressively in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure following the success of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which altered the tech landscape and drove investment into machine learning. R...

Nintendo has delayed the preorders for its upcoming Switch 2 gaming console after US President Donald Trump hit several countries with sweeping tariffs. In a statement on Friday, the Kyoto-based company said that it was delaying preorders in the US to assess the impact of tariffs . “Preorders for Nintendo Switch 2 in the US will not start April 9, 2025, in order to assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions,” the company said in a statement. The company, however, asserted that the gaming console was still on track for a June 5 release. “Nintendo will update timing at a later date. The launch date of June 5, 2025, is unchanged,” as per the statement. Nintendo Switch 2 was revealed last month, with a price tag of $450. The company also announced several games, including a new game in the Mario Kart franchise called Mario Kart World, and a new Donkey Kong game called Donkey Kong Bananaza. Read more: Nintendo Switch 2 to have three-phase launch plan from ...