Open Expo 2009 Videos

This is a great collection of speeches about open-source software. These geeks can't stop talking about Linux and freedom of technology.

check it out: Open Expo 2009




Don't mind his Red Hat, pun intended.

Kuwait Minstry of Communications Blocks VoIP

It is understandable if the ministry block suspicious and x-rated websites and domains but it is reaally unacceptable to block major voice over IP providers like Skype and Fring.

Where I work I subscribed to a VoIP provider (which I will not name) and we are saving a lot of money on international calls and SMS. However there is no guarantee that the ministry of communications will block this provider as well. Therefore we don't buy annual VoIP packages, which should save us more money.

The only reason the government is doing this is to prevent illegal VoIP resellers inside Kuwait. You know, these places where Asians line up to call home for half the price of regular international calls.

The only way out of this dilema is to open up international calling and landline services to private companies, like every other nation in the world does. Saudi Arabia just launched a private landline company and mobile carriers over there carry their own international calls and their own competitive rates.

Open up international calls and unblock Skype and let us be open to new technologies, please.

Finally a google.com.kw

Google finally realized that Kuwait has internet and therefore launched a localized "Kuwaiti" version of its most common sites. I know for sure that this is the most expensive domain name google has ever rented. According to the ministry of information, .kw domains cost exactly 200 KD a month. Yeb, that's more than 20 times the cost of .com (or even .ae) domains.

Google creates local domains and servers in most countries to save money on international bandwidth usage. I don't know if they will break even with local domains as expensive as this.

Anyway check out www.google.com.kw.

BlackBerry Storm Trashed by New York Times

The New York Times just reviewed BlackBerry Storm and they think its awful. The main complaints are the missing keyboard and the need to press the whole screen to click or type. Imagine a device with one huge button that is the screen. They say it is easier to "click the screen" if you press on the edges of the phone but becomes very hard you need to click in the center.

I personally hate (not dislike, hate) all BlackBerries but don't take my word for it. Check out the NYT article.

Update:
This NYT story stirred a storm in the tech blogsphere. Check it out at Techmeme.

Folding Touchscreen

Can't wait to fold your iPhone and put it in your pocket and can't because OLED screens will not pend? Well, now they can!

Samsung has done it. And they have this (very shaky and blurry) video to prove it.



I'm waiting for official Samsung video/ad and waiting for the rest of OLED manufacturers to copy them.

Why Mainstream Users Won't Switch to Firefox

Straight to the answer: Because it does not LOOK exactly like Internet Explorer. And that includes good and bad interface "design."

For example, my brother wont switch simply because there is no Favorite star-shaped icon in the top-left of Firefox! Of all the features of Firefox and all the lacking of features in IE, the yellow star was the selling point for him!

Mozilla keeps on adding features and features to enhance its browser's speed and security and interface, thinking that this will attract more people to switch from IE, while actual "mainstream" users are just waiting for something as trivial as a button in a location they are used to.

Of course end-users can configure Firefox the way they want. But, lets face it, they wont.

What I suggest to solve this problem is to introduce a special Mozilla-made IE theme for Firefox that, unlike the current IE theme, not only copies the colors and buttons of IE but also copies everything in the IE interface. also introduce with it a new blue Firefox icon and name it "Firefox Internet Browser" as apposed to Mozilla Firefox which means nothing to the uninitiated.

This theme changes things that can't be changed with regular themes, thats why i called it a "special" theme. And no, i wont make it, so save your breath.

What do you think Mozilla?

Google is set to buy Valve

Someone cited some source that Google is set to buy Valve (famouse for Counter-Strike, Half-Life, and Steam platform). In other news, cows will fly!!

I think it makes sense for Google to buy Valve for its Steam platform, however I don't think it is a good deal for me as a gamer. Google are surely going to advertise inside steam games. Its how Google get their money. They will turn the focus at valve from developing better games and download service to developing better advertising model.

I would be more interested in playing innovative games than playing regular games with innovative advertising inside them.

Source

Ubiquity for Firefox

The Mozilla guys are at it again. Check out this experimental extension to Firefox.





More information in Mozilla Labs

PS3 Wireless Keyboard. I want one!

Take a look at this keyboard attachment to the PS3's wireless controller. It will make it much easier to make fun of the people you kill in Call of Duty 4 or Resistance 2.

That's a day-1 buy for me.

More info at PS3fanboy

Wireless Hacking, The Nice Way.

I happened to stay at a Four Points hotel where they offered free wireless internet in the lobby. However, you have to pay extra to use the in-room internet. They provided an access point inside each room. However, I couldn't pick up the lobby's signal from my room. Which let me to think outside the box. If I only had a bigger wifi antenna!

I connected the access point inside my room to my laptop using an ethernet cable and reconfigured it to work as a wireless client. Its now converted to work as a huge external-powered antenna (compared to my laptop's internal antenna). And now i can pick up the signal from lobby. Free internet!!

Blackberry not as good as Nokia

Blackberry fans i challenge you. Please come forward and proof what I'm saying is wrong.

Nokia E71 is better than ANY blackberry mobile phone, For the following reasons:

• Both check your email with the same efficiency but Nokia E71 downloads email faster.
• Nokia E71 also lets you get your Gmail and Yahoo mail the same way you get your work email.
• Nokia E71 opens more attachment types.
• Blackberry in Kuwait does not have 3G.
• Nokia's Symbian OS has a massive software catalog.
• E71 is lighter than blackberry.
• The web browser in Blackberry is pathetic and extremely basic. It will never load a page as complex as yahoo.com. Try the browser on E71 to see the difference.
• Blackberry's clickwheel is annoying.
• 3.2 megapixel camera with flash? Yup only in Nokia.
• E71 has a very fast processor and large internal memory with memory cards support up to 8GB.
• Wifi, GPS, Bluetooth 2.0, "normal" headphones jack, USB, you name it, its in Nokia E71.

Just show me one feature in Blackberry that is not in the E71. Open challenge, guys. Bring it on!!

Warhammer Online Gameplay Video, Its Done.

This video shows the latest build of the game, shown at E3. Its clear the amount of polish and interface tweaks they have done in the past few months. There are more videos over at French website Jeuxonline.

The game is done. End-game dungeons, 20 classes, 7 races, 2 HUGE capital cities. RvR battles, Public Quests, open grouping. Its all there.

Release date is set for later this year. I'm guessing early November, to give them a chance to iron out more bugs before the Christmas holiday.

256 Players in MAG FPS, How?

Sony just announced a new game for the Playstation 3 called MAG (Massive Action Game). it supports FPS action for up to 256 players per server. How can they fit 256 players in one (1) server? How can you avoid the lag and still provide a fast paced action first-person shooter? How is that even possible?

Easy.. most FPS games offer 32-player multilayer. So to increase that number to 256, you divide the players into 32 teams of 8 players. now each team (or squad) of players communicate directly with their leader who relays that communication to the main server. Same thing happens when the server talks to the player, through the squad leader. Therefore, the server will only communicate with 32 players but manages to run a smooth game for up to 256.

This is very smart coming from Sony, and I'd like to see how they'll implement it in the game.

Internet Speak, Shorthands, and Acronyms

These are some common shorthands and acronyms used in the web, email, and instant messengers like MSN. I quoted this list from Answers.com. This is most useful reference for when you receive such acronyms in an online conversation.

AFAIK As far as I know.
AFK Away from keyboard.
ATM At the moment.
AWGTHTGTTA Are we going to have to go through this again.
AYT Are you there.
BBL Be back later.
BFN Bye for now.
BRB Be right back.
BTDT Been there, done that.
BTW By the way.
CUL See you later.
DETI Don't even think it.
DQMOT Don't quote me on this.
EBCAK Error between chair and keyboard.
EBKAC Error between keyboard and chair.
F2F Face to face.
FOAF Friend of a friend.
FWIW For what it's worth.
FYI For your information.
GAL Get a life.
GD&R Grinning, ducking and running.
GMTA Great minds think alike.
HB Hurry back.
HHOK Ha, ha, only kidding.
IANAL I am not a laywer, but...
IAW In accordance with.
IMCO In my considered opinion.
IMHO In my humble opinion.
IMO In my opinion.
IOW In other words.
JK Just kidding.
JOOTT Just one of those things.
KK Okay, all right.
LMAO Laughing my a** off.
LOL Lots of luck.
LYLAS Love ya like a sister.
MWA A kiss (the sound of "mwa.")
MYOB Mind your own business.
N2M Not too much.
NIH Not invented/invited here.
OIC Oh, I see.
OTOH On the other hand.
OTP On the phone.
PAL Parents are listening.
PEBCAK Problem exists between chair and keyboard.
PEBKAC Problem exists between keyboard and chair.
PIR Parents in room.
PLBCAK Problem lies between chair and keyboard.
PLBKAC Problem lies between keyboard and chair.
PMJI Pardon my jumping in.
PTG&LI Playing the game and loving it.
RL Real life.
ROFL Rolling on the floor laughing.
STFU Shut the f*** up!
SUP What's up?
TANSTAAFL There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.
TIA Thanks in advance.
TTFN Ta, ta for now (goodbye).
TTT Thought that too.
TTYL Talk to you later.
TU Thank you.
TY Thank you.
WFM Works for me.
YT You there?

ASUS B51, Now That's One Tough Laptop

The rugged ASUS B51 notebook computer can survive being run over by a car! Now that is the way these things aught to be built. Other laptop makers, please observe and copy.