To Blog or not to Blog

Anti-smoking

2006-08-21T11:13:00.000+03:00

Will you stop smoking :-) ?

[source]

فارس قديم

2006-08-20T15:43:00.000+03:00

I liked his blog, I don't know how he can find the time to write :-).

P.S.
I just read this nice quote:

Those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its shortness.
-- Jean de la Bruyere

Salah Jaheen blog

2006-07-02T17:16:00.000+03:00

Very nice blog, although it has not been updated from long time.
I enjoyed it very much, and I hope it will be updated soon and more frequently

http://salah-jaheen.blogspot.com/

My new blog:
http://blog.simpleio.net

Minesweeper google puzzle solutions

2006-06-18T17:18:00.000+03:00

you can find it here

http://blog.simpleio.net/2006/06/18/wei-hwa-google-puzzle-challenge-4-google-minesweeper/

Alaa in Google Blogoscoped

2006-06-13T23:11:00.000+03:00

Google Blogoscoped has a post about Alaa, and the Googlebomb:

Googlebomb Campaign for Egypt Blogger
From Wikipedia:

<
On Sunday, May 7, 2006, Abd El-Fatah was arrested during a peaceful protest which spoke out on behalf of an independent Egyptian judiciary. His arrest, along with that of several other bloggers and democracy activists, spurred a protest by others around the world, some of whom created a new blog, “Free Alaa”, devoted to calling for his release from jail.>>

In the meantime, a Googlebomb campaign has been started to associate the word “Egypt” with the Free Alaa blog, so that people wanting to learn about Egypt hear of this case.

[Via Seth Finkelstein.]

[original link]

also check my new blog:

http://blog.simpleio.net

Wei-hwa google distance puzzle

2006-06-10T12:18:00.000+03:00

Moving to wordpress

2006-05-21T17:42:00.000+03:00

I'm thinking about moving to wordpress, I'm now adding some posts there

new URL http://abdelhalim.wordpress.com

Auto Ads: Toyota Human touch

2006-05-21T15:48:00.000+03:00

Very nice ad, interesting idea also:

http://www.ne-o.co.uk/toyota.html

I like auto ads.

2006-04-12T16:49:00.000+02:00

Here's a long list of books that won the National Book Awards, I listed only the fiction part, I might start reading some of them soon.

Fiction

1950	Nelson Algren	The Man with the Golden Arm
1951	William Faulkner	The Collected Stories of William Faulkner
1952	James Jones	From Here to Eternity
1953	Ralph Ellison	Invisible Man
1954	Saul Bellow	The Adventures of Augie March
1955	William Faulkner	A Fable
1956	John O'Hara	Ten North Frederick
1957	Wright Morris	The Field of Vision
1958	John Cheever	The Wapshot Chronicle
1959	Bernard Malamud	The Magic Barrel
1960	Philip Roth	Goodbye, Columbus
1961	Conrad Richter	The Waters of Kronos
1962	Walker Percy	The Moviegoer
1963	J. F. Powers	Morte D'Urban
1964	John Updike	The Centaur
1965	Saul Bellow	Herzog
1966	Katherine Anne Porter	The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter
1967	Bernard Malamud	The Fixer
1968	Thornton Wilder	The Eighth Day
1969	Jerzy Kosinski	Steps
1970	Joyce Carol Oates	Them
1971	Saul Bellow	Mr. Sammler's Planet
1972	Flannery O'Connor	The Complete Stories of Flannery O'Connor
1973	John Barth	Chimera
1973	John Williams	Augustus
1974	Thomas Pynchon	Gravity's Rainbow
1974	Isaac Bashevis Singer	A Crown of Feathers and Other Stories
1975	Robert Stone	Dog Soldiers
1975	Thomas Williams	The Hair of Harold Roux
1976	William Gaddis	JR
1977	Wallace Stegner	The Spectator Bird
1978	Mary Lee Settle	Blood Ties
1979	Tim O'Brien	Going After Cacciato
1980 Hardcover	William Styron	Sophie's Choice
1980 Paperback	John Irving	The World According to Garp
1981 Hardcover	Wright Morris	Plains Song
1981 Paperback	John Cheever	The Stories of John Cheever
1982 Hardcover	John Updike	Rabbit is Rich
1982 Paperback	William Maxwell	So Long, See You Tomorrow
1983 Hardcover	Alice Walker	The Color Purple
1983 Paperback	Eudora Welty	Collected Stories of Eudora Welty
1984	Ellen Gilchrist	Victory Over Japan: A Book of Stories
1985	Don DeLillo	White Noise
1986	E.L. Doctorow	World's Fair
1987	Larry Heinemann	Paco's Story
1988	Pete Dexter	Paris Trout
1989	John Casey	Spartina
1990	Charles Johnson	Middle Passage
1991	Norman Rush	Mating
1992	Cormac McCarthy	All the Pretty Horses
1993	E. Annie Proulx	The Shipping News
1994	William Gaddis	A Frolic of His Own
1995	Philip Roth	Sabbath's Theater
1996	Andrea Barrett	Ship Fever and Other Stories
1997	Charles Frazier	Cold Mountain
1998	Alice McDermott	Charming Billy
1999	Ha Jin	Waiting
2000	Susan Sontag	In America
2001	Jonathan Franzen	The Corrections
2002	Julia Glass	Three Junes
2003	Shirley Hazzard	The Great Fire
2004	Lily Tuck	The News from Paraguay
2005	William Vollmann	Europe Central

[Wikipedia Entry]

Most realistic Computer animation

2006-03-19T12:54:00.000+02:00

http://www.1st-ave-machine.com/

2005-10-26T20:59:00.000+02:00

"The _no time for testing_ death spiral"

An arrow between nodes means that an increase in the first node implies an increase in the second node. An arrow with a circle means that an increase in the first node implies a decrease in the second node.

What happens when the stress level rises?
What happens when automated testing increases?

-(more or less) Kent Beck, Test Driven Development

[Original Post]

For Dilbert lovers: Dilbert blog

2005-10-26T18:50:00.000+02:00

http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/

Free movies online

2005-10-26T18:15:00.000+02:00

If you like classic movie, and caroons (me), you'll like watchMovies
Watch Free Movies Online.
No Downloading or Registration Required.

[link]

Nice blog

2005-10-25T22:28:00.000+02:00

Another nice blog :-)

http://shokeir.blogspot.com/

I want it that way

2005-10-25T17:52:00.000+02:00

Funny video.

It shows the effect of western on the world, I don't like that

iPod Nano vs. Sandisk Sansa e130

2005-10-14T18:38:00.000+02:00

Per Mohamed Hussein request Here's some photos for the iP od Nano with the Sandisk Sansa e130

Note that the CD that appears in the photo is a small CD, not the normal size :-).

life

2005-10-14T18:25:00.000+02:00

It is not length of life, but depth of life.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

success formula

2005-10-14T18:19:00.000+02:00

If A equals success, then the formula is: A = X + Y + Z, X is work. Y is play. Z is keep your mouth shut.

Albert Einstein

google Reader

2005-10-07T21:17:00.000+02:00

Completely out of nowhere, Google has launched Google Reader, a web-based news aggregator. As one would expect, Reader is full of AJAX goodness and is more than a little bit reminiscent Gmail. Right at the top of the screen is a box where you can search for new feeds, which I presume is powered by the same data that drives Google Blog Search, and you can tag your feeds (though, like in Gmail, Google calls them "Labels") and star individual posts a la Gmail. A web-based RSS reader is an obvious move for Google, given the integrated RSS reader in Google Personalized Home and Gmail's Web Clips, but I would have expected Google to integrate Google Reader directly into Gmail.

via [downloadSquad]

GmailThis

2005-10-07T18:09:00.000+02:00

GmailThis! is an easy way to make a Gmail email without visiting mail.google.com. Once you add the GmailThis! link to your browser's toolbar, emailing will be a snap. Or rather, a click. Clicking GmailThis! creates a mini-interface to Gmail prepopulated with a link to the web page you are visiting, as well as any text you have highlighted on that page. Add additional text if you wish and then email or save as draft from within GmailThis!

[link]

First Atomic Clock Wristwatch

2005-10-04T23:14:00.000+02:00

http://www.leapsecond.com/pages/atomic-bill/

no comment :-)

Google Office?

2005-10-04T07:23:00.000+02:00

Google and Sun Microsystems will hold a press conference on Tuesday at which they're expected to announce a collaboration to bring StarOffice productivity applications to Google users.

What do you expect next ?
[link]

Windows Application replacements

2005-10-03T23:22:00.000+02:00

Tom's hardware has published a list of appliactions that can be used to replace the windows default applications, I've been using some of them for sometime, and I like them.

The good news is that there's hope for improving your Windows experience. There are many alternatives to these and other default Windows apps - many of them open source and freeware - that can help you pep up your Windows installation and boost your productivity, making life with Windows more bearable.

[link]

lovely blog

2005-09-29T23:53:00.000+02:00

http://khobz.blogspot.com/

although not technical, I liked this blog.

WiFi router choice

2005-09-29T23:37:00.000+02:00

Some links:

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,12308267
http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/reviews/AP/
http://www.practicallynetworked.com/list.asp?p=1
http://ibg.networkcomputing.com/ibg/Guide/?guide_id=4504

I'm still in the reading phase, but most probably I'll get linksys WRT54G

Workspot: remote linux desktop on a server

2005-09-27T22:34:00.000+03:00

From the FAQ section:

What is a Workspot?

It's a personal GNU/Linux account on our servers, with a full graphical desktop which you can log into from, and view through, a web browser.

The magic is a Java applet, an AES encrypted, graphical connection to a Linux desktop. It works through every Java-enabled browser, and through most corporate firewalls. It works through fast native clients too, available on Linux, Unix, Windows & Macs. Transfer files easily to your Workspot, with the secure WebDAV protocol, available on all platforms.

[screenshots]

[link]

Save Windows Activation Files Before Reinstall

2005-09-27T22:22:00.000+03:00

Like any windows machine at some point you’ll need to format your hard drive and reinstall Windows XP. If you didn’t prepare for that you’ll need to reactivate your Windows XP.

Now if you do not want all the hassle of reactivation you can save your old activation files and use them in your clean system (as long as you didn’t make any hardware changes).

Follow these steps.

Backup your activation files:

1. Open Windows explorer and navigate to C:\Windows\System32
2. Copy the files Wpa.dbl and Wpa.bak to another media floppy, CD-R or another hard drive (if you have more than one installed)

Now you can reformat your drive and reinstall Windows XP.

At the end of the installation, when Windows asks you to activate your product, decline and do not activate.

Restore your activation files

1. Restart your system, and as your system boots up press F8 to access the boot options (Windows Advanced Options)
2. From the menu options select to start Windows in safe mode
3. After Windows loads in safe mode, open Windows explorer and navigate back to C:\Windows\System32
4. If you find the files Wpa.dbl and Wpa.bak in this folder, rename the files to something like Wpa.dbl.backup and Wps.bak.backup
5. Copy your original Wpa.dbl and Wpa.bak from the CD or floppy back to C:\Windows\System32
6. Restart Windows (minimal)
You should now have a clean and activated Windows XP

source [link]

Free AMD Tools Help Developers Build, Tune 32-Bit, 64-Bit Code

2005-09-23T00:13:00.000+03:00

Advanced Micro Devices offers a number of tools to help you write more efficient software—advanced math libraries, a code profiler, and a hardware simulator. They're all free. Alan Zeichick takes a whirlwind tour of the AMD Core Math Library, AMD CodeAnalyst profiler, and SimNow hardware simulator.

via [DevX]

GoogleTV ?

2005-09-22T19:31:00.000+03:00

Adam Lasnik discovered a Google-posted ad for product manager of GoogleTV. That’s one way to announce a new business initiative: post an ad as if the company division has existed for years, and wait for the bloggers to find it. Anyway, the job description makes me think Google is really looking for Steve Perlman, inventor of WebTV.

Speculation is wide open on this one, because there is no indication of where GoogleTV will insert itself. A WebTV-like set-top box? A transformation of Google Video, which is already a misnamed GoogleTV? An advertising service driving a wedge between networks and traditional agencies? A buyout of TiVo? AdSense for Networks?

via [The Search Engine Marketing Weblog]

new Yahoo! mail

2005-09-14T20:06:00.000+03:00

a new update to Yahoo! mail interface is in Beta now, but to join beta tester, you have to be a user in the U.S.

Join Beta Testers

via: [unofficial Yahoo! Weblog]

update1: screen shots

STACKOPOLIS: "The most addictive game since Tetris

2005-08-01T12:50:00.000+03:00

Another flash based game [link]

BASH Tutorial

2005-07-31T17:57:00.000+03:00

What is the Bash Shell?
The GNU Bourne-Again SHell (BASH) incorporates
features from the C Shell (csh) and the Korn Shell (ksh) and conforms to the
POSTIX 2 shell specifications. It provides a Command Line Interface (CLI) for
working on *nix systems and is the most common shell used on Linux systems.
Useful bash features will be the subject of the rest of this document.

[continue reading]

Open Source Scalable Vector Graphics Editor

2005-07-27T14:10:00.000+03:00

Inkscape is an open source drawing tool with capabilities similar to Illustrator, Freehand, and CorelDraw that uses the W3C standard scalable vector graphics format (SVG). Some supported SVG features include basic shapes, paths, text, markers, clones, alpha blending, transforms, gradients, and grouping. In addition, Inkscape supports Creative Commons meta-data, node-editing, layers, complex path operations, text-on-path, and SVG XML editing. It also imports several formats like EPS, Postscript, JPEG, PNG, BMP, and TIFF and exports PNG as well as multiple vector-based formats.

Inkscape's main motivation is to provide the Open Source community with a fully W3C compliant XML, SVG, and CSS2 drawing tool. Additional planned work includes conversion of the codebase from C/Gtk to C++/Gtkmm, emphasizing a lightweight core with powerful features added through an extension mechanism, and the establishment of a friendly, open, community-oriented development process.

Boot Fedora Linux Faster: How I Modified Fedora To Boot In Under 25 Seconds

2005-07-27T14:01:00.000+03:00

for Linux users who want faster boot time, here's a link to explain how to reduce the boot time to less than 25 sec. on Fedora 4 distribution.

Science Toys: Make it at home

2005-07-26T17:53:00.000+03:00

Scicnce toys is a site to explain how to make toys at home with common household materials, often in only a few minutes, that demonstrate fascinating scientific principles.

Gizmo is a Free Phone for Your Computer

2005-07-26T17:10:00.000+03:00

Skype is cool, I gotta admit … but it ain’t open source, & that’s kind of troubling. You don’t know what Skype is going to do with their network, & any time they decide to exert controls, users are out of luck. Fortunately, there’s a neat new open source competitor that might be worth a look: Gizmo. Gizmo users can call other Gizmo users for free, and they can also call landlines & cells cheaply (starting at $0.018 per minute). In addition, landlines & cells can call Gizmo users at regular phone numbers for about $5/month. Best of all, Gizmo is based on the SIP open standard, & they’ve committed to connecting to other open VOIP systems as well. The software is currently available for Mac OS X & Windows XP/2k, with Linux versions coming soon. Sounds cool!

via: [ Opensource Weblog ]

Related links:

- Skype vs. Gizmo UI? Hah! No comparison
- Is Gizmo Project a Skype Killer?
- Project Gizmo challenges Skype

Update 1: It looks like opensource weblog mentioned that Gizmo is open source, and that is not true, Gizmo is just a free appliaction that uses an open standard for VoIP, and not open source application, Thanks Alaa for the comment.

Skinning Gmail with a Custom Stylesheet

2005-07-26T16:49:00.000+03:00

Short Version

Install the URLid Mozilla/Firefox extension.
Download this CSS file.
Locate your profile folder and the chrome folder within that.
Copy the downloaded CSS file to the chrome folder and rename it to userContent.css (if you already have such a file, you will have to merge the two).
Restart Firefox.
Visit Gmail.

Very nice hack, if you are bored from your Gmail Interface

[Origianl Article]

Create Free PDFs

2005-07-26T14:34:00.000+03:00

PrimoPDF is a free utility that allows you to print to PDF format from any Windows program.

via: [ Download Squad ]

MSN VirtualEarth

2005-07-26T14:21:00.000+03:00

Microsoft Has launched its maps site, called VirtualEarth, in Beta mode of course.

it looks like the resuolution of Egypt still is not good, but we have google maps until MS finishs its work.

Feedshake

2005-07-26T13:58:00.000+03:00

Feedshake tool helps you to generate new feeds by merging, sorting and filtering existing online RSS feeds. This service doesn't require any subscription nor e-mail adress.

[link]

Chinese Language (cont.)

2005-07-26T13:34:00.000+03:00

if my old post about learning chinese language was interesting (I doubt that:-) ), Here's some followup: I found another site that may help in chinese resurants, it will help understanding Restaurant signs and restaurant menus.

[link]

This should be more interesting if you like the chinese food.

Yahoo! Widgets

2005-07-26T10:26:00.000+03:00

Yahoo! has bought a small company called Konfabulator, that makes desktop widgets for both windows and Macs.

You can browse the widget gallery here, including such exotic and frivolous information nodules as Simpsons quotes, an eBay feedback meter, and a desktop metronome.

The great news is that Konfabulator anounced that they are now free. and Yahoo! now has a site for widgets

via [Engadget]

Bowden's Hobby Circuits

2005-07-25T18:15:00.000+03:00

Bowden's Hobby Circuits

A small collection of electronic circuits for the hobbyist or student. Site includes over 100 circuit diagrams, links to related sites, commercial kits and projects, newsgroups and educational areas.

[link]

I just hope that the site remains up, It contains really nice circuits.

Avoider game

2005-07-25T14:48:00.000+03:00

nice flash game. You have to keep your mouse pointer safe as long as you can !!!

[link]

Why FreeBSD

2005-07-25T12:36:00.000+03:00

The FreeBSD operating system is the unknown giant among free operating systems. Starting out from the 386BSD project, it is an extremely fast UNIX®-like operating system mostly for the Intel® chip and its clones. In many ways, FreeBSD has always been the operating system that GNU/Linux®-based operating systems should have been. It runs on out-of-date Intel machines and 64-bit AMD chips, and it serves terabytes of files a day on some of the largest file servers on earth.

[more]

Dollars Shirts

2005-07-25T12:25:00.000+03:00

if you have some extra dollars, and you'd like to make some shirts out of it, then here's a site that explain how to do that. I think Egyptian Pounds will work, although the shirt will be cheaper :-)

[link]

email address image generator

2005-07-21T14:45:00.000+03:00

a nice site that takes your email address and generates an image for it, it contains a list of the major email providers (Gmail, Yahoo!, Hotmail, ...).

The generated image looks nice, and it will help you if you don't want automated spiders to read your mail, and sell it to spammers, but take care, they might spam you :-)

[link]

gOFFICE: Browser based Word processor

2005-07-21T08:40:00.000+03:00

I found a link for a browser based word processor and office suite, In my opinion the future will be for web-based applications (as gmail, and here goffice), where the license can be controlled in a tightly way.

Google Hacking Explained

2005-07-19T19:24:00.000+03:00

I found a tutorial to explain the security risks associated with common internet search engines.

In the past few years, Google has come to be the most popular search engine in the world, so much so that many consider it the only one worth using. For this reason this tutorial will focus on Google, however it can be safely assumed that most of what is said here applies to other similar engines as well.

[link]

Java news reader RSSOwl

2005-07-19T15:27:00.000+03:00

RSSOwl is another reader for RSS, open-source, cross-platform, and rolled in a yummy Java crust.

via [Download Squad]

BMW adds super-vision to night driving

2005-07-19T14:21:00.000+03:00

BMW claims that its new 7 Series is the first production car to feature a far infra-red night vision system, used in conjunction with the new high-beam "assist" function to make night driving safer.

[link]
[Engadget]

$100 laptop

2005-07-19T14:08:00.000+03:00

The MIT Media Lab is launching a new research initiative to develop a $100 laptop—a technology that could revolutionize how we educate the world's children. The $100 Laptop Project (HDLP) was announced by Nicholas Negroponte, Lab chairman and co-founder, at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland in January 2005.

What is the $100 Laptop, really?
The $100 Laptop will be a Linux-based, full-color, full-screen laptop, which initially is achieved either by rear projecting the image on a flat screen or by using electronic ink (developed at the MIT Media Lab). In addition, it will be rugged, use innovative power (including wind-up), be WiFi- and cell phone-enabled, and have USB ports galore. Its current specifications are: 500MHz, 1GB, 1 Megapixel. The cost of materials for each laptop is estimated to be approximately $90, which includes the display, as well as the processor and memory, and allows for $10 for contingency or profit.

Why not a desktop?
Desktops are cheaper, but mobility is important, especially with regard to taking the computer home at night. Recent work with schools in Maine has shown the huge value of using a laptop across all of one's studies, as well as for play. Bringing the laptop home engages the family. In one Cambodian village where we have been working, there is no electricity, thus the laptop is, among other things, the brightest light source in the home.

[link]

Potter book beats US sales record

2005-07-18T17:05:00.000+03:00

The new Harry Potter book has sold 6.9 million copies in the US in its first 24 hours, beating the record held by the previous Potter release.

This means more than 250,000 copies per hour accoring to BBC.

US sales of the sixth Harry Potter book have generated more than $100m (£57m) in revenue across the weekend - more than the combined box office sales of hit films, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Wedding Crashers.

via [BBC]

lucky J.K. Rowling :-) [offical site][forbes]

my-google blogger templates

2005-07-18T15:57:00.000+03:00

blogger-templates is a site hosted on blogspot that contains free blogger templates (as you may already guessed ), I really liked my-google one very much.

Are you using the right blogging tool?

2005-07-18T15:15:00.000+03:00

To complete my previous post, I found another article about blogging tools, now should I switch to blogsome? Can I get any recommendations?

mounting iso image file to a local directory on linux

2005-07-18T14:03:00.000+03:00

To mount the ISO image file.iso to the mount point /mnt/file use this command:

mount -o loop -t iso9660 file.iso /mnt/file

blog software comparison chart

2005-07-18T10:48:00.000+03:00

It looks like blogger is far behind in this comparison, I wonder if there's a better free blogging option for me.
Did they mentioned MSN spaces, and Yahoo! 360 ?

Optimus keyboard

2005-07-18T10:38:00.000+03:00

[link]

An Automatic Computer Science Paper Generator

2005-07-18T10:01:00.000+03:00

An Automatic CS Paper Generator

very funny idea, to generate random computer science paper, and it really contains real scientific terms.

Links July, 17 2005

2005-07-17T15:50:00.000+03:00

- Great Hackers
- Photoshop tricks
- Dictionary of Algorithms and Data Structures
- RSS and Atom compared

unrelated links :-)

Harry Potter launch

2005-07-16T11:29:00.000+03:00

Fans around the world are finally getting their hands on the sixth Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

via [BBC]

Updated Yahoo Desktop Search

2005-07-14T15:00:00.000+03:00

There's an update for YDS that includes support for Thunderbird

via [Yahoo! Search blog]

Gmail and BT

2005-07-13T12:04:00.000+03:00

Scott Villarosa's Blog included a post on Using Gmail to find downloads on BitTorrent:
I have copied it here:

Microsoft's Outlook 2003 gives users the ability to use Search Folders. Essentially this feature allows users to scan their incoming email using specific criteria they provide. Simply a handy feature without question. I thought I'd borrow from this idea, though, and hook up Gmail to filter out some specific downloads I regularly track on various BitTorrent websites. So here we go.
First, find a few good RSS feeds for BitTorrent downloads. I'm using a feed each from Mininova.org, Rokanova.org, and NewTorrents.info.

Next, go and visit the free RSS-to-email service RssFwd and subscribe to your chosen feed(s).

Lastly, log on to your Gmail account and create the appropriate label(s) and filter(s). For example, create a filter based on items that you usually would search for via these websites and their feeds. The image example I've provided shows a simple filter I set up to search for all instances of musical artists that I like. I then have opted to apply a label titled 'Downloads' to these items when filtered.

Hopefully with this information you can get Gmail really working for you. I mean why bother, for example, searching through literally hundreds of potential download items when Gmail can do all the sorting? And of course you'll hardly run out of storage space either. Joy!

One final step might be to subscribe to your Gmail account's incoming 'Downloads' mail feed in your favourite news aggregator. There are many to choose from.

Very nice article, and this is what should be the inovation of "google" users :-).

Firefox 1.0.5 released

2005-07-13T10:39:00.000+03:00

Firefox 1.0.5 has been released [Download]

Firefox 1.0.5 is a security update that is part of our ongoing program to provide a safe Internet experience for our customers. We recommend that all users upgrade to this latest version.

[release notes]

New Potter book leaks in Canada

2005-07-12T20:03:00.000+03:00

The latest (6th) Harry Potter book (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) is scheduled to be released July 16, but a store near Vancouver briefly put the book on sale last week.

via: [CNN]

digg

2005-07-12T19:56:00.000+03:00

What's Digg? Digg is a technology news website that combines social bookmarking, blogging, RSS, and non-hierarchical editorial control. With digg, users submit stories for review, but rather than allowing an editor to decide which stories go on the homepage, the users do.

via: [Download squad]

Linux vs. Windows, embedded this time

2005-07-12T13:11:00.000+03:00

Linux versus Windows isn't just servers and desktops anymore. Smart devices are showing up all over the place, and the embedded arena features fighting just as intense. The Great Gadget Smack-Down aims to sort it out once and for all, and find out which embedded OS is best [more].

This is an article published on LinuxDevices , it looks very interesting specially the device counts:

Cool devices, by embedded OS -- Round Three Scorecard

Device Category	Windows Embedded	Embedded Linux
PDAs, handhelds	103 devices	40 devices
Mobile phones	36 devices	22 devices
VoIP phones/devices	13 devices	14 devices
Robots	(included in other)	11 devices
Audio/video devices	20 devices	60 devices
Thin client devices	37 devices	26 devices
Tablets/webpads	36 devices	13 devices
Gateways, servers, APs	(included in other)	73 devices
Other	45 devices	54 devices
TOTAL:	290 devices	313 devices

And the winner is...?

via: [Engadget]

Hotmail new interface

2005-07-12T11:51:00.000+03:00

Microsoft is testing a new hotmail interface, I hope this one will be lighter than the current one, as the current interface doesn't always load successfully in my home PC.

via [Beta news]

Photography Plugins

2005-07-12T10:02:00.000+03:00

Photography plugins to enhance digital photos, unfortunatly it's not free.

Occasional XSLT for Experienced Software Developers

2005-07-11T14:53:00.000+03:00

Although using XSLT to process XML is increasingly common, most developers still use it only occasionally—and often treat it as just another procedural language. But that's not the best way to use XSLT. Learn how to simplify and improve your XSLT processing using event-driven and declarative techniques.

source [devX]

Obsolete computer gallery

2005-07-11T14:38:00.000+03:00

http://members.aol.com/chrzahn/

via [Boing Boing]

It reminds me with the site Apple History, but Apple History (as the name indicates) is specific to Apple only, and have a larger collection.

Google Maps Mania

2005-07-11T11:04:00.000+03:00

I found a blog devoted to google maps, and tools developed by google maps API [link].

via [Boing Boing]

I like google maps, and I wish they develop it more, bringing higher resolution images for the world.
Does anybody have any idea about their roadmap ?

iPod Family

2005-07-08T11:17:00.000+03:00

People *love* Apple Computer's iPod, pinkbeltrage Created a photo album for the iPod family, and She wrote:

Mr. and Ms. iPod share the pictures of their new arrival, little Shuffle.
Herethey are taking him out for a walk around the iBook in his new pram..."

The photos is hosted on Flickr

via: [TUAW]

and for other readers who don't like iPods, here's a blog called iHateYouriPod

Rambus unveils 8GHz XDR 2

2005-07-07T16:56:00.000+03:00

the Register

Rambus is pitching XDR 2 at graphics applications as the successor to today's GDDR chips. Rambus claims ownership of key components of GDDR and is currently suing five memory makers which it alleges have infringed its intellectual property rights.

The new version of XDR is available for licensing immediately, the company said, but it won't be until 2007 at the earliest before XDR 2 appears in shipping product.

XDR 1 has already been adopted by Sony for incorporation into the PlayStation 3. Samsung began shipping 256Mb XDR DRAM chips earlier this year. Memory maker Elpida has also licensed XDR. ®

and another link on The inquirer

Chinese language

2005-07-07T15:36:00.000+03:00

Do you want to try something new, what about learning Chinese, BBC have an online course Real Chinese.

Previously I registered in Chinese course here in Cairo, but that was in My Preparatory year in Faculty of engineering, and the Chinese course was conflicting with some labs in my college, so I stopped after only 2 sessions.

reset cached nicknames in Outlook

2005-07-07T11:46:00.000+03:00

today looks like a great day for blogging :-)

Here's a Microsoft KB article to reset the nickname and the automatic completion caches in Outlook.

c++ future

2005-07-07T11:27:00.000+03:00

two interesting links:

C++0x Standard Library wishlist
Language wish list

Also, Bjarne Stroustrup [homepage] [wikipedia] posted "The design of C++0x" article in C/C++ Users Journal. May 2005

Links: July 07, 2005

2005-07-07T10:31:00.000+03:00

- SWT on Swing
- Eclipse Plugin Central
- SWT on Swing and vice-versa

Eclipse 3.1 download Challenge

2005-07-07T10:16:00.000+03:00

Eclipse made a challenge to reach 1 million download of eclipse 3.1 in less than 60 days:

It took roughly 60 days for us to ship 1 million copies of 3.0.2. We feel we can do better than this for 3.1. For every day less than 60 that it takes for us to reach our 1 millionth download, willing members of the Eclipse community will donate either time or money (as appropriate) to a charity of their choosing. For instance, if it takes us 20 days to reach 1 million then those pledging will donate 40 times (60 days less 20) whatever they've pledged.

If you like eclipse, you may consider supporting this challenge by downloading eclipse 3.1

Adding my blog to egybloggers

2005-07-06T12:22:00.000+03:00

I have added my blog "To Blog or not To Blog" to egybloggers in the Techonlogy category
I don't know if Alaa and Manal aggregator will pick it automatically or not, We will see soon.

blogs written by employees of google or yahoo

2005-07-03T14:04:00.000+03:00

blogs written by employees of google or yahoo [link]

list of egyptian blogs

2005-06-27T11:13:00.000+03:00

FireFox Tweaking

2005-06-20T21:18:00.000+03:00

http://www.tweakguides.com/Firefox_8.html

Logitech new mouse

2005-06-02T14:33:00.000+03:00

According to engadget :

Logitech is coming out with a cordless notebook mouse that has the distinction of being able to run for up to a year on two AA batteries.

I hope we can see come cellular phones and PDAs that can run up to a year without recharging.

JVMs

2005-05-30T17:59:00.000+03:00

Interesting post about different JVMs (Java Virtual Machine) [link]

It mentions the following open source java projects:
http://www.kaffe.org/
http://www.gnu.org/software/classpath/classpath.html
http://jikes.sourceforge.net/
http://jikesrvm.sourceforge.net/

The auther was motivated by the Apache Harmony project

SystemC channel/Interface

2005-05-29T17:13:00.000+03:00

SystemC interface is an abstract class that inherits from sc_interface and provides only pure virtual declarations of methods referenced by SystemC channels and ports. No implementations or data are provided in a SystemC interface

SystemC channel is a class that implements one or more SystemC interface classes and inherits from either sc_channel or sc_prim_channel. A channel implements all the methods of the inherited interface classes.

SystemC port is a class templated with and inheriting from a SystemC interface. Ports allow access of channels across module boundaries.

from
SystemC: from the ground up.

Sites of Interest

2005-05-26T15:12:00.000+03:00

http://www.fark.com/
http://www.hacknot.info/hacknot/action/home

Photo Hosting:
http://www.flickr.com/

Entry level DSLRs

2005-05-18T11:42:00.000+03:00

I'll start collecting some reviews for the available DSLs (affordable ones) in my blog, my current list:

Nikon:
D70
D70s
D50

Canon:
Canon EOS 350D / Digital Rebel XT
Canon EOS 300D / Digital Rebel
Canon EOS 20D (not entry level)

If you have other recommendation, please let me know.

Perfect design

2005-05-17T12:20:00.000+03:00

"You know you've achieved perfection in design, not when you have nothing more to add, but when you have nothing more to take away" - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Quick Online Tips: Absolutely Del.icio.us - Complete Tool Collection

2005-04-13T15:35:00.000+02:00

I found this site very interesting, it contains a long list for tools to use del.icio.us online bookmarking tool, I think I may copy some of them later.
Quick Online Tips: Absolutely Del.icio.us - Complete Tool Collection

new STB

2005-03-29T13:17:00.000+02:00

I'm looking for a new STB, and I'll try to collect the links and other stuff related to this here:

Dreambox STBs
Fortecstar STBs
http://www.dsn.eu.com/

Card Splitter
Matrix Cam

Forums:

http://www.rdi-sat.com/
http://www.satellites.co.uk

STBs lists:

http://sat-receiver-world.com/index.html

Receivers Software:

http://www.setedit.de

and a very interesting arabic site that contains alot of information and links:
http://itsal.shobiklobik.com/sat/index.asp

300 Free Truetype Fonts You Should Have.

2005-03-27T10:38:00.000+02:00

Very nice collection of true type fonts Essential Fonts For Designers | 300 Free Truetype Fonts You Should Have

I think there's no download all option.

Types of Interviews

2005-03-20T21:41:00.000+02:00

a nice list for the types of interviews Types of Interviews

Mind Tools

2005-03-20T21:40:00.000+02:00

I have found a very interesting site about softskills, its name is mindtools, and it really contains mindtools. The site talks about different areas like:

* Time Management
* Stress Management
* Memory Improvement
* Information Skills
* Practical Creativity
* Problem Solving
* Decision Making
* Project Planning & Management
* Communication Skills

http://www.mindtools.com

I should review it sometime again.

Another site for commnication skills:
link

iPodLinux

2005-02-28T16:47:00.000+02:00

Very interesting project, it's a trial to port Linux onto the iPod, and it seems they successfully do some porting, with simple user interface "podzilla".
Main Page - WikiPodLinux

SOAP Introduction

2005-02-24T16:01:00.000+02:00

What about reading a littlebit about SOAP.

SOAP is:
SOAP stands for Simple Object Access Protocol.
SOAP is a communication protocal
SOAP is for communication between applications.
SOAP is a format for sending messages.
SOAP is designed to communicate via Internet.
SOAP is platform independent.
SOAP is language independent.
SOAP is based on XML
SOAP is simple and extensible
SOAP allows you to get around firewalls.
SOAP is going to be a W3C standard.

from w3scools

Google Guide: Help with Searching

2005-02-24T15:16:00.000+02:00

Do you like google, do you want to use google in a better way, then you may be interested in reading this guide:
Google Guide: Help with Searching

I didn't read all of it, but it looks cool.

Java Class Loading

2005-02-22T19:42:00.000+02:00

- Internals of Java Class Loading
- The basics of Java class loaders

FontEditor

2005-02-22T15:25:00.000+02:00

a very nice feature if you have time to create your own font
FontEditor

I didn't complete it to the end, but it seems it generates a ttf file at the end.

list of sites to be reviewed

2005-02-20T22:15:00.000+02:00

- http://anon.inf.tu-dresden.de/index_en.html
- http://zabkat.com/x2lite.htm
- http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/download.htm