My Email To PC Gamer Magazine

Dear Future Publishing and PC Gamer,

Why don't you implement auto downloads of new digital magazines? Why do I have to keep the magazine app open for it to download? I have to keep touching the screen every few minutes to prevent the iPad screen from locking and therefore stopping the download process (ten minutes later)

Apple has given you the ability to auto download new issues on newsstand without opening the app. Please make use of it. Apple's example was "wake up in the morning to find your new issue waiting for you."

It usually takes me a few retries for every subscription to fully download the latest issue. It would be great if the new issue just shows up "waiting for me" every month.

Please implement auto download, I'm sure it's just a few lines of code to add this feature your platform. And I'm also sure it's going to make ALL your digital subscribers happy too.

If you might think that some subscribers might not like auto downloads, then make it optional in the app settings. It is a win-win situation.

I know this is a very long email but the issue is very important (no pun intended.)

Thanks,
Loyal Reader

Sent from my iPad

Updated Look at Kuwait Browser Market Share

Good news. Compared to the last time I checked, Internet Explorer usage is declining and Chrome usage is dramatically increasing. I'm guessing that by end of 2013 Chrome will finally be the leading browser in Kuwait.

Source: StatCounter Global Stats - Browser Market Share

Microsoft Surface Pro at Kuwait's Infoconnect

I went by the Microsoft booth at Infoconnect expo and got some hands-on time with the Surface pro. It is thin and light. Keyboard is very thin but thick enough to protect the screen. The Indian salesman at the Microsoft booth claimed the battery life is 6 to 8 hours. I believe it won't reach 5 hours in the best case.

The device will cost 199 Kuwait Dinars (around 700 US Dollars) with the keyboard. And it is already available (unofficially and with a higher price tag) at xcite and eureka stores all around Kuwait.

I also purchased a full version Windows 8 for 25 KD ($88) and was offered the Windows 8 pro upgrade for 19 KD but declined. I believe 6 KD difference is worth it to go for full version. The salesman also gave me anti-virus software for free (which I threw away almost immediately).

3 ways to transfer Playstation 3 save games

Im trying to move my saves to my new PS3 and found these easy methods:

Data Transfer Utility using an ethernet cable between the two PS3s to move everything from one PS3 to the other. This will pave over one PS3 with the data from another PS3. There is no merging of data.

Saved Data Utility lets you use a USB thumb drive to manually copy game saves to a USB drive and to other PS3s. The only drawback is that you can't copy game saves that are copy-protected. Not all game saves are copy-protected. Saved Data Utility also lets you use the PlayStation Network Online Storage that does let you copy copy-protected data. That requires a paid PlayStation Plus subscription.

Backup Utility will make a full system backup onto an external USB hard drive, but it will only restore copy-protected data onto the same console. If you restore onto a different console, everything but the copy-protected data will copy over

I think I'll manually copy my saves, hoping that none are copy-protected.

The iPad mini "mini review"

The ipad mini arrived. In kuwait you can get one from x-cite alghanim. They sell it online for 119 kd and in the store for 139. And they only sell the 16 GB wifi model.

The iPad mini is really thin and light. It feels good in the hand and is really snappy and fast. The screen is great except for the pixilation of really small text.

I recommend it for those of you who always carry your ipad with you. Its portable like a phone and usable like the 9.7 inch ipad.

Windows 8 pro is here

I just bought a hard copy of Windows 8 pro for $69 from Dubai international airport on my way back to kuwait. I'll try it out on a virtual machine in my office, if i like it I'll upgrade my office PC, if not, I'll upgrade my home PC.

I'll post my review here.

Oh and by the way, this blog is officially back. I'll post on a weekly basis, give or take a week or two..

Google I/O Keynote Day 2 Video

The video of keynote of Google io day 2, is here.

Download from two internet connections in one computer

With the recently-introduced download cap in Kuwait, I had to figure out a different method of downloading my files. Now I use my Viva 3G mifi card as a second internet line, in addition to the home DSL (at the same time).
I looked everywhere for a reasonably easy way to download from both sources without buying additional hardware or messing with complicates configuration files and/or scripts. I simply use a virtual machine and forward to it the entire 3G card connection.

On your Ubuntu (or windows) computer, set up a virtual Ubuntu machine with bare minimum software and select the 3G as the network source. Now share one of the computer folders with the virtual machine and start downloading on both connections simultaneously.
If you're having any problems with this method let me know in the comments section below this post.

New Web Sites

Everyone who reads my blog knows about my passion for automated websites and content aggregators. I've been busy lately throwing darts on a board to see what sticks out there. I created Tomotiki.com as my test chamber. And many projects were created on that domain. Of those tries and misses, 3 web sites have made it with enough daily page loads to break-even.

My new websites:

• Kuwait Blogs
• Cooking & Food Blogs
• Ubuntu News & Blogs

Feel free to spread the word and visit them according to your interests.

As always, I'm always listening for feedback and suggestions.

Kuwait Web Browser Market Share

It is with my deepest regret and pain that I announce the web browser market share in Kuwait.

Source: StatCounter Global Stats - Browser Market Share

As you can see, Internet Explorer is dominating Kuwait, a sign of complete computer illiteracy in my opinion. In comparison, IE is the second most popular web browser in Europe.

I am hugely disappointed but I will continue to spread the word about better web browsers, like Firefox, Chrome, and Safari.

Take care of your passwords

It is actually good to hear the latest breach of Gawker.com database and the release of millions of user information including passwords. It is always good to remind everyone to change their passwords, especially easy ones. And here I'll explain why it's not a good idea to have easy passwords and will give you some tips to help you create strong passwords.

To begin with, I'll explain how a server stores user passwords in a database. Let's say a user goes to hotmail.com and creates a new email with the password "password". The server will most likely encrypt the password and stores it in a database. Let's say the encrypted password is "£K%Ggh", so this strange word will be stored next to his email address. The next time the guy wants to check his email, he'll enter his username and password and the server will encrypt the password again and checks the encrypted word with the one stored in the database. If they match, the server will allow him access to his email.
Let's say the same user creates a commenting account in Gawker.com and uses the same email and password. Gawker will use another encryption scheme to generate their own encrypted word and store it in their own database. Let's say Gawker's word is "G?juu&".
Now if a hacker gets access to Gawker's database and encryption scheme, he can guess easy passwords like "password", "qwerty", "123456" and he'll see the encrypted word for each of them and then he'll search the database for users who have that word as a password and get their associated emails. He then uses the same password on their email accounts (hotmail in our example) and most likely the hacker will gain access to the user's email. And the same thing can happen to Twitter and Facebook accounts as well.

That's what happened today. And to add insult to injury, Gawker hackers released the whole database on the Internet. Allowing everyone access to the database.

In this particular case, if the password is hard to guess, the user will be better protected. So if the password was "pa$$word" or "Passw0rD" it will be a lot harder to guess. I'll give recommendations for better passwords later.

So, what you can do to protect your online account and what lessons we learned from today's event?

First, change all your passwords immediately  even if you are not registered in Gawker or it's sister websites. Second, don't use the same password for different accounts. Third, use special characters in your passwords (other than letters and numbers). Forth, use an app on your mobile phone to store your passwords in case you forget them.

Finally, how to choose a good password:
-Add a mix of these symbols: ¥$€><~|\_.,?!'&£/-@
-Mix upper and lower case letters with numbers
-Replace letters with similar symbols: "password" can be "P@$$w0Rd"

-Intentionally misspell words
-Use a mix of birthdays, occasions, acrynoms, site names, symbols: "20!12!1978" "&face~book&"

Just be creative with your password to prevent anyone from gaining access to your personal information. And good luck out there.

The State of Twitter in Kuwait

It is amazin how Twitter adoption in Kuwait is accelerating. It was about three years ago when i last searched for tweets near Kuwait. I found less than 100 tweets spanning 24 hours. Now, everyone and their mom is tweeting. When you search for tweets near Kuwait you'll find 100 tweets every 5 minutes and more at times.

The good thing about twitter, in my opinion, is that it's not restricted for one thing. It is there for you to use it how you please. And there is absolutely no wrong way to use twitter.

Personally, I use twitter to write about interesting stuff that I read online, report news that are important to me, talk about funny things I come across, and chat with friends. That's my contribution to twitter. However, I consume more than I contribute. I follow all sorts of technology celebrities and Kuwaitis who have the same interests as me, mainly technology and games. I also follow my friends. And use Flipboard to see the links posted by the people I'm following.
But this post is about my observation of Kuwaiti tweeps (people who use twitter) and their behavior. I think they are divided into three categories. The ones who use it to chat only, influenced by blackberry maybe? The ones who use it to post jokes and funny pictures, blackberry influence too? And the ones who have no sense of privacy and broadcast every single thing they are doing, basically an open invitation to stalkers. And any combination of these three categories. And the confused newbies.

Again, this is twitter and there is no wrong way to use it. Just be careful and know that all your tweets are public and bad people may read your tweets and know that you are "at the avenues mall pinkberry at the table near the door and just went to the bathroom alone." Or you "left the Porsche doors open at 360 parking level 2 ." Just don't do that, people.

I'm constantly monitoring the adoption of new technology in Kuwait and will try to take another look at twitter in Kuwait in about 3 years from now and see what changes.

Happy twittering.

iTunes Running Natively in Ubuntu Linux

We all know that iTunes is available for Windows and Mac only. So for Linux users, you have to have a workaround to run iTunes and sync your iPhones, iPads, and iPods.

Here is how to run iTunes by its own in Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid:

1. Install the closed sourced VirtualBox
2. Create a Windows XP virtual machine
3. Install iTunes and VirtualBox Guest additions
4. Add iTunes to startup programs
   
5. Run the virtual machine in "seamless mode"
6. Now every time you want to run iTunes, run the virtual machine.

Ubuntu, The Mute Operating System!!

So far I installed Ubuntu on more laptops than I can count and about half of them needed extra effort in order to make the sound work. Why are they spending time and mony on things like software center and cloud computing without first perfecting the most basic functions of the computer? How can I recommend Ubuntu to the average user without fear of spendings hours in the forums configuring ALSA? Why Ubuntu does not ship with the latest ALSA version? Why is it not easy to upgrade to the latest ALSA version?

It kills me everytime i see a friend with a slow Windows computer, filled with adware and Useless IE tool bars, yet I cant recommend Ubuntu for them. Something will come up; sound may not work, external display won't work, keyboard volume control wont work. And i'll get the usuall request to go back to Windows.

Having said that, Ubuntu is by far my OS of choice and I can't imagin a Linux world without it. I wish that Mark Shuttelworth would just stop wasting time on (ugly) themes and backgrounds and button locations and pour some man-hours and/or funding on the basic functions of the computer, like sound and preferals. Recently I had no problems with wifi and printing but there are problems with graphics, sound, keyboards with Fn key compinations and trackpads with scrolling. These problems seem so basic and ignorable but i have seen them be the reason why users wanted to go back to windows.

I understand that Canonical, people who make Ubuntu, are good people who helped move Linux to the mainstream but i truly believe my suggestions will improve Ubuntu and will encourage us to recommend it for more and more users.

Update:

Here is how I got the sound working under these new Sony Vaio laptops (VPCEB15FG and VPCEB15FX)

1. Update ALSA to the latest version from this PPA (apt-get install linux-alsa-driver-modules-'uname -r')
2. Remove sudo password prompt (dangerous)
3. Install hda-verb
4. Add this line to the startup programs: sudo hda-verb /dev/snd/hwC0D0 0x19 SET_PIN_WIDGET_CONTROL 0x22

Jim Zemlin & The State of Linux

Jim Zemlin of the Linux Foundation speaks to an invitation-only audience about the current state of Linux. Watch closely when he shows a video of a Steve Jobs keynote.