Apple approves 'only gay social app for ages 12 and up'

A Distinc.tt scene.

(Credit: Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)

Do you feel that the gay community is all too often symbolized by shiny torsos with a body fat percentage below 3?

Do you sense that when you think of gay apps, the first that comes to mind is Grindr?

But what about gay taste? What about the gay sense of style?

This isn't the stuff of mere legend. The fine urban studies theorist Richard Florida has offered that cities thrive when they attract a dynamic gay population.

Some very clever Harvard types (are there any other kind?) believe that, when it comes to apps, the gay community hasn't offered the full bloom of its most tasteful side.

So they've created Distinc.tt. This, they claim, is "the only gay social app approved by theiTunes store for 12-year-olds and older."

Before you mount your high, sweaty horse and exert a moral gallop over the idea, might I say that this app doesn't have sex at its core?

Instead, and I'm quoting the company now, Distinc.tt "uses real-time collective knowledge to connect trendsetting crowds and travelers to the places and people that best reflect their distinct interests."

Implicit in this rococo marketing speak is the notion that gay people know where it's at before, you know, other sorts of people do.

How do I know this? Well, I can read press releases.

Here's an extract: "With an emphasis on good taste, Distinc.tt is sleekly designed to easily lead users to the right event, restaurant, party, or vacation spot for the moment or upcoming calendar, where their friends are or plan to go soon."

Just as Google tells you there are "right" ads and "wrong" ones, so here you can have access to the "right" events, rather than quiz night at your local Uzbek potato vodka bar.

In the iTunes store, Distinc.tt has a charming way of describing itself: "Finally, an LGBT app that you can bring home to Mom!"

"Mom, look! Here's how I found out where the very crunchiest baguettes are at!"

Indeed, Distinc.tt describes itself as "clean, social, and fun."

CEO Michael Belkin told me that this is very different from, say, Grindr: "If you go on Grindr, people change their headline sometimes to 'Visiting tonight, does anyone know the best place to go out?'"

Belkin says he's launching Distinc.tt because he became "disgusted by the tasteless torsos and imagery on gay social sites and apps."

He wants "the good-taste part of the gay stereotype to gain traction with advertisers and cross the mainstream divide."

Taste and art are often intertwined like long-lost lovers, one of whom has flown in from the Andes and the other from Boise. The art here is that Distinc.tt claims it has a proprietary algorithm that ranks places and events for "hotness."In this, he has some very famous and tasteful investors -- old PayPal pals Peter Thiel and Keith Rabois, to name but two.

I suspect that you and I (and the hamsters pushing the algorithmic wheel at Distinc.tt) already have our own idea of hotness. Sometimes, though, we're at a loss as to where to find it.

Please remember, we're talking Harvard people here. So don't be surprised that they claim this is "the only app that combines social networking, event ticketing, attendee visibility, location-based services, and hot-spot locating with predictability and in real time."

That's the lovely thing about techies. They do adore predictability.

After all this information, you're probably feeling a need for hotness coming on. What is surely cool, however, about this initiative is that it promises to be your "well-connected, in-the-know, VIP gay friend."

We all need one of those, don't we? Otherwise, we'd all still be eating at Outback.

An app you can bring home to mom.

(Credit: Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)

Meet the concept iPhone Air and iPhone 6C

A video mockup of two theoretical Apple products shows us what could be, but probably never will be.

(Credit: Screenshot by Roger Cheng/CNET)

Here's a new concept video for the next iPhone that takes thinness to an extreme.

The video from Set Solution offers its take on a theoretical "iPhone Air," and another envisions an iPhone 6C (the C here stands for curve, not color).

The videos offer some beautiful renderings, particularly of the imagined iPhone Air, which it posits would be 1.5 millimeters thin at the top and 3 millimeters thick at the bottom, weigh 70 grams, and feature an edge-to-edge glass display.

The iPhone 6C concept features a number of different colors like the iPhone 5C, but a pronounced curve on the screen similar to that of the LG G Flex, though the back is flat. Some of these videos have been floating around for a while, but are worth a look.

While the videos are impressive, they are no way based in reality, and perhaps a little too good to be true. They also aren't the first concept videos to take a crack at an iPhone Air.

We'll see if Apple comes out with something that looks like the products in these videos -- or perhaps something that looks even better.

How Samsung can click with its phone-camera move

The electronics giant is shifting its camera operations to its wireless division and is getting a lot more dangerous.

The Galaxy S4 Zoom features a stronger camera than the Galaxy S4.

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

Samsung's latest shakeup will make for a tighter union of smartphones and cameras. That's bad news for everyone else.

The Korean electronics giant, which reorganizes its businesses annually, this week told Korean media outlets that it plans to fold its camera operations into its wireless business. That will allow it to "integrate the technical know-how of the two business divisions" to differentiate its smartphones. It also will allow Samsung to use insight gleaned from its successful phone push to boost its position in the camera market.

We've contacted Samsung for information and will update the report when we know more.

Samsung is already dominant in the smartphone business, but could widen its substantial lead even further by addressing a key feature that many consumers care about: The quality of the camera. Rivals such as Nokia have made a lot of noise about the camera tech found in their phones, and it appears Samsung is moving to follow suit.

In a crowded smartphone market, all companies are looking for some "wow factor" that makes customers crave their products. For many phone vendors, the camera has become that factor. Device makers have integrated image sensors that can rival traditional digital cameras, and loaded dozens of nifty settings that can edit and alter photos.

Nokia, in particular, is one company that touts the photo-shooting features of its devices. It was one of the first companies to start incorporating higher quality cameras in its mobile phones, and it bought a Swedish mobile imaging company called Scalado last year. Its Lumia 1020smartphone packs a 41-megapixel camera and software tweaks that make it "one of the most artistically able smartphone cameras we've tested," CNET said in its review earlier this year.

But smartphone cameras have also been a big focus for Samsung. The Galaxy S4, unveiled earlier this year, came with a full suite of camera shooting modes, and the company later introduced a version of the device, the Galaxy S4 Zoom, that's specifically targeted at people who want a phone on par with a point-and-shoot camera. Last year, Samsung introduced theGalaxy Camera, a digital camera that has its own cellular connection.

Smartphones, meanwhile, continue to eat into sales of digital cameras, with more users opting to take photos with their mobile devices rather than carry a separate gadget. Sales of point-and-shoot cameras should fall about 30 percent to 40 percent this year, according to IDC.Samsung's position in the digital camera market -- including with the Galaxy Camera -- isn't as strong as its ranking in mobile devices. The company has introduced innovative features for its cameras, but it continues to struggle. In 2012, the company held 12 percent market share of the camera market, putting it in fourth place, according to a report from Samsung earlier this year.

"It's a make or break time when the [camera] market is really being impacted by phone usage," said IDC analyst Chris Chute.

For Samsung, merging its smartphone and camera businesses is a smart move. The company's operations are generally closed off from each other. By bringing them closer together, both sides get better insight into future developments and ways the technologies can work together. Samsung can make products that are better integrated and that include features not found on Nokia Lumias and other devices. And all of that can give it an edge over its biggest rivals.

In addition, Samsung can now devote its resources to improving cameras for the growing mobile market rather than the dying digital camera market.

Now the company just has to pull it off.

Dell Venue 11 Pro: The anti-iPad

Dell Venue 11 Pro tablet with keyboard.

(Credit: James Martin/CNET)

My first impression of the Dell Venue 11 Pro is positive. It's very different from the iPad Air but that's OK.

The Venue 11 has a gorgeous 10.8-inch -- an unusual size -- 1,920x1,080 IPS display, and the model I'm using is powered by a quad-core Intel Atom Z3770 "Bay Trail" processor with 2GB of memory.

And Dell bundles Microsoft Office Home and Student 2013 with the $500 tablet (64GB version).

I've been using it for about a week and the 64-bit Bay Trail processor feels fast running the 32-bit version of Windows 8.1. (Note that 64-bit Windows 8 for Atom won't arrive until the first quarter of 2014.)

I haven't seen any lag in anything I've done. But I should qualify that by saying it's been limited, so far, to lots of Web browsing and video.

Speed (Bay Trail model): The Venue 11 posted Geekbench scores that were lower than the iPad Air on single-core performance but higher than the Air on multicore. (See the notes attached to the YouTube video below to see the exact scores).

I won't dive into productivity -- which would involve more traditional Windows desktop performance metrics -- with Microsoft Office until the Dell Tablet Keyboard arrives. I was expecting to post my first impressions after using the keyboard, but shipment has been delayed (and I got tired of waiting).

In fact, the model I'm using is the only model with Intel's Bay Trail processor. The other two models use Intel's higher-performance "Haswell" Core i3 and Core i5 power-efficient Y series processors.Tablet or laptop? Which brings me to the un-iPad aspect of the Venue 11. It's bigger, thicker, and heavier than the iPad Air (which I also use). But that's not surprising, because it's really been designed as a hybrid tablet-laptop, aka a 2-in-1, not a standalone tablet.

Those Haswell processors put it into laptop performance territory, so expect performance that's better than the scores posted by the Bay Trail model.

Surface Pro 2 or Venue 11 Pro? In this respect, the Venue 11 is not unlike the Surface Pro 2 -- which also squeezes a Haswell processor into a tablet design. And that appears to be Dell's target market: businesspeople who need a tablet that can also serve as a lightweight laptop.

Note that it's thinner and lighter than the 10.6-inch Surface Pro 2. The Venue 11 Bay Trail model is 0.4-inches thick and 1.68 pounds compared with the Surface Pro 2, which is 0.53 inches thick and 2 pounds. (The Venue 11 Haswell model is 0.48 inches thick and 1.75 pounds).

And the similarity doesn't end with the processor. Dell offers two keyboards for the Venue 11. One is the "Dell Tablet Keyboard -- Mobile," which integrates a battery, extending battery life. The other is the Surface-like "Dell Tablet Keyboard -- Slim," which is a cover and a keyboard.

Battery life: Battery life has been good. Using it on and off during the day (let's say roughly a couple of hours every day), the charge lasted for more than four days -- and that's without manually shutting it down, just leaving it "on" in standby mode.

Wrap-up: As a first impression (this is not a full review -- CNET will be posting one later), it has promise as a decent hybrid and has the potential to replace my 4-year-old Dell Adamo laptop.

And that's the reason I'm trying out the Venue 11. Microsoft and Intel are pushing detachables (in which the keyboard can be detached, yielding a standalone tablet) big time as an answer to tablets like the iPad Air.

The thinking is, you won't need both an iPad Air and a MacBook if you have one device like the Venue 11 Pro.

But I'm going to need a lot of convincing, because on most days, I do switch between iPads and a MacBook, and so far I haven't found a better alternative. (The Adamo is used less often because of its age).

I tried the original Surface Pro for two months then sold it. It just didn't cut it as tablet; it was a decent -- but not a great -- laptop.

I will update this post next week when the Dell keyboard is finally expected to arrive. At that time I will also put down my iPads and MacBook and see if Dell's (and Microsoft's and Intel's) 2-in-1 vision is practical.

Despite having a bigger display than the Surface Pro 2, the Venue 11 Pro is thinner and lighter than Microsoft's tablet.

Pakistanis get Ready, this time you will be counted

ISLAMABAD – Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has approved a summary sent by the Election Commission of Pakistan to conduct a fresh population census across the country, which will now be presented at the next meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CCI).

The summary discloses that the premier has finally given his nod to place the matter before the upcoming meeting of the CCI to carry out the process with the consent of all provinces as early as possible, according to a private TV channel claiming to have a copy of the summary.

Pakistan has not conducted the census since 1998, which stands outdated after 15 years because the population in on the increase at a rate of 2.3 per cent per annum.

After several delays, the exercise was scheduled to be completed by end of 2011, but the process has yet to commence. The house listing exercise, which precedes the main census, was completed in April of 2011. The process was also marred by glitches and subsequent postponements, however.

The summary states that the delimitation of constituencies of the national and provincial assemblies for the next general elections can only be undertaken after a fresh census.

The distribution of funds between the federation and the provinces are made through National Finance Commission, which also uses census figures.

“Since the election of 2002, no fresh census was conducted, therefore, on the eve of general elections 2008 and 2013, the Election Commission only re-described the constituencies where new districts, tehsils/talukas or administrative units were created by the provincial governments,” the summary reads.

“At present, the ECP understands that a summary was moved to the prime minister in 2010 for conducting census by March 2011; however, the Council of Common Interest has yet to grant approval for the conduct of population census,” a senior official said.

After the approval of the summary by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the matter has now to be passed by the CCI before the population census exercise may finally begin.

A CCI meeting is expected to be called as early as January in which the summary is likely to be tabled.

Are we in the Matrix? Science looks for signs we're not real

We might not be as human as we'd like to think.

(Credit: Flickr/Tim Scribbles)

Over the years, some science fiction has popularized the notion that our world might not be what it seems -- that we might all be living in the Matrix (to use perhaps the most well-known version of the concept).

In the past decade, philosophers and physicists have started to take the idea a bit more seriously, led by philosopher Nick Bostrom, who first published his paper "Are You Living in a Computer Simulation?" in Philosophical Quarterly in 2003. Basically, Bostrom argues that the exponential growth of computing power seems to indicate that one day we'll be able to create a digital simulation of our entire universe. There's also no reason to think multiple simulations wouldn't be created once the capability is there.

So...we're either living in the only real universe just on the verge of being able to create a simulation of its historical self, or we're in one of what could be a multitude of computer simulations. When we look at it this way, it would almost seem that the existential odds are against our actually existing.

But how do we test the hypothesis? If our world is fake, where are the edges? Where are the metaphorical cliffs no one seems able to climb, the borders we never cross? And, even more compelling, where is that threshold that Jim Carrey crosses at the end of "The Truman Show" to enter the "world" beyond the simulation?

For the past year, researchers at the University of Washington led by physics professor Martin Savage have been promoting a possible solution. They think they might know where to look to find the tells or limitations that could indicate we're not real.Turns out we might be able to begin to answer these questions with the help of science -- or at least the simulated science that defines the constraints of a world in which we're all numerical representations of living things, if that turns out to be the case.

The basic idea is to look at the very limited simulations of the smallest building blocks of our universe that computers in our world are able to create today, and then search for a tell or "signature" that seems to be present in both the world we live in and the most humble simulations we've done so far.

"If you make the simulations big enough, something like our universe should emerge," Savage said in a release. "Then it would be a matter of looking for a 'signature' in our universe that has an analog in the current small-scale simulations."

How do you spot a simulation from inside
In case your brain is already starting to hurt, let's recap. We already know a little something about simulating the universe because we've begun to pursue it ourselves. So far, we can reliably simulate electromagnetism and what's known as the "strong force" (no, not that Force, but well, kinda) that binds subatomic particles like quarks together. As computing power grows exponentially, we'll be able to simulate atoms and molecules and theoretically even organisms and the entire universe.

Assuming that all computer simulations today and in the future have to operate off a finite amount of computing resources, they would need to cheat a little when drawing up a comprehensive universe. Specifically, with finite computing resources it should be impossible to simulate what the scientists call "continuum space time" and infinite volume (let's avoid the crash course in physics and just stipulate that these are things that are part of our universe that would require infinite resources to simulate).

Operating under this limitation, a simulation would need to substitute an algorithm or some other similar technology for these elements that can't be fully simulated. This is the kind of "cheat" I'm talking about that would leave the "signatures" that Savage and his team hope to search for.

The telltale sign we're not real
So where's the signature that will tell us that our universe began with a gentle keystroke rather than a big bang?

There's a whole lot of physics and detail behind the possible answer to that question (much of which you can find here), but essentially Savage and his team think it could show up in our world as a limitation in ultra-high-energy cosmic rays.

The final word is that if we're in a computer simulation, these cosmic rays would actually reflect the structure that the simulation is built upon (Savage and company imagine it to be like the lattice structure that supercomputers currently use to create the aforementioned simulations we're already working on).

Problem is that these cosmic rays are rare and it could take some time to collect enough data to begin peeling back the paint of our universe to see if the walls have been constructed from ones and zeros rather than actual wood.

We are not digital slaves
Even if our world turns out to be more science fiction than science fact, there is a bit of good news. The researchers say it's not likely that we're the digital slaves of some dark overlord a la the Matrix, or being manipulated by some unseen producers as in "The Truman Show."

The idea is that once you turn on a simulation with all the building blocks and forces of nature at play, something similar to our world should eventually emerge. And then simulations within that simulation will be turned on, and then... Sheesh, I need to lie down; and I don't care if it's on a bed of down or digits.

Serving the best in BarBQ, not just tonight but for the last 25 years

Khalifa Sher Muhammad looks after the Afghan dishes in the menu and was one of the first employees at the restaurant. PHOTO: AYESHA MIR/EXPRESS

KARACHI: 

When Benazir Bhutto won the 1988 elections and moved from 70 Clifton to Bilawal House, it worked out wonderfully for the Sardar family and their restaurant, BarBQ Tonight.

People who used to flock to Bilawal House to catch a glimpse of the newly-wed prime minister would have a meal at the restaurant and then they just had to keep coming back for more bihari boti and naan.

Sardar Qayyum, one of the six Sardar brothers who started the business, laughs as he recalls how barren the area used to be. “When we told our friends that we were going to open up a restaurant in Boat Basin, they thought we were crazy,” he said. “There was nothing here at the time. It was just a couple of apartments and you could see the oil tankers on their way to Shirin Jinnah Colony.”

The 55-year-old’s hearty laughter could be heard across the second floor of BarBQ Tonight. He was happy and it showed. After all, his baby [the restaurant] turned 25 this year.

He remembers the first day they opened as if it was yesterday. “All I wanted to do that day was run away,” he said. “There were too many orders and the chefs couldn’t cook fast enough. There was a guy who wanted a breast piece tikka and we only had leg pieces left. It was a riot.”

Humble beginnings

The eldest Sardar brother, Rahim, graduated from the Institute of Business Administration in 1979 and left for Kuwait in 1981. When he returned in 1986, the family bought a commercial property off Boat Basin. “It was my elder brother’s idea, he took the initiative,” said Qayyum. “The restaurant was in business by the first week of November in 1988. Honestly, I was quite nervous about it. The area was too deserted. We used to wonder who would come to eat in this jungle.”

Initially the crowd was thin but it grew. At that time the restaurant was very simple. “We had a lot of tube lights back then and could only seat about 50 people inside,” he said. “We had a deal with the city government for 10 years. We paid about Rs150,000 for using the footpaths and parking, when it was revoked in around 2000, we decided to use the property and rebuild the structure.” Qayyum added that the rooftop seating arrangement was not on the plan as the family was quite against it but now, it is one of their most popular spots.

Deciding upon what kind of cuisine they wanted to serve was not difficult. “Everyone in our family loves food, especially Lebanese and Afghan,” said Qayyum. “We wanted to do something that was local and delicious. We knew a barbeque restaurant would work well but we had no idea it would be so successful.” He added that their game plan was to open a restaurant on a fast food format – quick, clean and reasonably priced with minimum wastage.

A concept that clicked

The logo and name of the restaurant was the brain child of Javed Wahidna, the owner of an advertising company and good friend of the family.

For Qayyum, nothing would have been possible without the family and their support. He remembers the days when the brothers would pull 16-hour shifts – taking orders, getting supplies, picking or dropping the staff and making sure everything was being done right. He also remembers how his mother used to join them every evening for dinner at 7pm at the restaurant. Qayyum still has dinner at the restaurant and is now joined by members of the family quite frequently. Many of his nieces and nephews are also actively participating in the family business.

“We are very content. This is our baby and it has grown beyond our expectations,” he said. “We try very hard to maintain our standard as we never want to hear our customers to say ‘It is just not the same anymore’.”

Regular customers also became part of the BBQ family, which has expanded across the globe. Today, the Sardar family has 12 outlets and franchises across the world, including Nairobi and Dubai, and are planning to expand to the US and UK.

Masterchef

Since the brothers did not know how to cook what they were going to sell, they decided to eat at every single restaurant in the city to find chefs. “We got someone from Shezan and Kebabish,” said Qayyum. “We just knew what we wanted our food to taste like, we couldn’t really train anyone. When we got our Afghan chef, Khalifa Sher Khan, other restaurant owners said that he’ll leave you since he’s too short-tempered – but he’s still with us.” Another person who has stuck around since the beginning is Ali Zaman, Qayyum’s right hand man. “Ali’s father used to work for us as a chowkidar. He came to us one day and said give my son a job. At that time he was hardly 14 years or so,” he said. “We kept him to wash dishes and he used to stand on two crates just to reach the sink but he was a quick learner and soon moved on to the management side.”

BBQ Tonight’s most popular dishes include Reshmi Kebabs, Malai Tikka, Chicken Ginger, Chicken Bihari and Trifle. The Sardar family’s favourites include mixed vegetables, whole wheat naan, Chicken Bihari, Mutton Ribs and daal.

Turning 25

For the restaurant’s 25th birthday, the family has decided to invite all their customers, friends and family over for a meal on Sunday. “Originally the birthday is in November but we didn’t celebrate because it was Muharram. So on December 15, we just want to show our customers that we care,” said Qayyum. “It’s a way of giving thanks for their years of love.”

Bet you didn’t know

- Sardar Qayyum and his ancestors moved to pre-Partition India in 1887 from Afgshanistan. They have been living in Karachi since

- BBQ Tonight was the first restaurant in the city to introduce valet parking

- The family used to own Star Video outlets in the city

- Qayyum and his brothers used to go to the fisheries and meat market to buy their daily stock in their station wagon. Qayyum says when he used to come home and hug his children, the first thing they’d say was, “Daddy you smell.” They still buy meat from a butcher who sits behind City Court, Nanak Wara area

- The family matriarch, Qayyum’s mother used to have dinner at BBQ Tonight every night at 7:30pm till she passed away

- If any dish is ordered less than 50 times a day, it is removed from the menu

- There have 12 branches and franchises across the world, including Malaysia, Singapore and Nairobi. They are planning to set-up in the US and UK too

BBQ Tonight’s oldest employees

- Muhammad Iqbal has been manning the tandoor since 1989. He loves eating American steaks at the restaurant

- Badshah Khan is BBQ Tonight’s Seekh Kebab extraordinaire. He has been working with the brothers since 1987

- Khalifa Sher Muhammad, 55, looks after the Afghan dishes in the menu. He was one of their first employees and used to work at Kebabish on Boat Basin when the brothers were doing their preliminary research. His favourite dishes are Afghani Tikka, Mixed Grill and Reshmi Kebabs

- Ali Zaman joined BBQ Tonight when he was just 14. His father used to work at the restaurant and asked the brothers to hire his son as a dish washer. Zaman worked his way up quickly and is now Qayyum’s right hand man

- Mohammad Altaf has been working at BBQ Tonight since 1989 and is now a supervisor

- Tahir Ali joined BBQ Tonight in 1990 as a waiter and is now in management