Computer Idee

Today, when I got home, I found this big letter stuffed in our mailbox. It was torn on the edges as if someone tried to peek in. I wasn't expecting anything, and the technical magazines I usually get come in transparent covers so I didn't know what this was. When I opened it, I found a really great surprise. It was "Computer Idee", the number one computer magazine in Holland, yep that place they also call The Netherlands, and it was in Dutch. Hmmm, so why was I so happy about it, especially that I don't understand one word of...

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100 Dollar Laptops

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology says it will launch a $100 Linux-based laptop prototype this November to help schools in developing countries adopt electronic learning. The machines will also be targeted at schools in advanced countries that want to greatly boost the number of children who own their own laptop. MIT expects commercial versions of the machine to start appearing at the end of next year. MIT plans to unveil its prototype at the World Summit on the Information Society on 17 November in Tunis, Tunisia. The 500MHz laptop will run a stripped-down version of the Linux operating system....

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Esquire wikis article on Wikipedia

Esquire magazine writer A.J. Jacobs used an interesting and innovative approach to write an article about the freely distributable and freely editable online encyclopedia Wikipedia: He posted a crummy, error-laden draft of the story to the site and let the community of members work on it and fix it. Jacobs wrote on the page introducing the experiment. Esquire "would print the 'before' and 'after' versions of the articles. So here's your chance to make this article a real one. All improvements welcome." According to the Wikipedia page for Jacobs' story, the article was edited 224 times in the first 24...

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Trackback Spam

If there's anything I hate more than email spam and comment spam, then it must be trackback spam! I'm getting bucket loads of trackback spam these days. Just this morning I found around 40 linking to a bunch of porn, beastiality, fetish, gambling sites and what not. The problem is that after the problem I had with my blog last August, MT-Blacklist, the plugin that I use to take care of comment and trackback spam, just stopped working efficiently on trackbacks because of some irregularities in the database that I only got to sort out this morning. But still, even...

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Communication...

When I was younger, back when I was a teenager, I remember I used to write a lot of letters to my cousins in France and my friends all around the world. It was the most natural thing to just sit with a pen and paper for an hour writing a letter that would turn out 2 to 3 pages long. Then came the internet and email, and suddenly I couldn't even force myself to write one letter anymore. Either people upgraded their means of communication and started using email with me, or we'd be disconnected. When I was in...

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MideastWire

While there are now more than 500 Arabic and Persian news outlets reporting stories from and about the Middle East, there is currently no affordable means for English speakers to gain access to much of this content. As a result, the overwhelming majority of English speaking businesspersons, students, journalists and others who have an interest in the affairs of the region are largely unaware of what the Middle East media is covering and how they are covering these stories. Mideastwire.com, is a new news website, that aims to close this gap by offering a daily email newsletter of concise, translated...

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10 Most Expensive Cars in the World

Forbes ranked 2005’s 10 most expensive street-legal production cars in the world, and here they are in order of price: 1. Saleen S7 Twin Turbo — $670,384 (Europe) 2. Pagani Zonda C12S 7.3 Convertible — $598,025 (Global) 3. Koenigsegg CCR — $562,659 (Global) 4. Koenigsegg CC8S — $522,120 (Global) 5. Porsche Carrera GT — $484,151 (Europe) 6. Maybach 62 — $457,991 (Europe) 7. Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren — $456,526 (Europe) 8. Maybach 57 — $389,226 (Europe) 9. Rolls-Royce Phantom — $328,750 (Global) 10. Spyker C8 Double 12 S — $325,560 (Global) [Via: 2:48AM, AutoBlog]...

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Taysir Alluni Sentenced to 7 Years in Jail

A Spanish judge sentenced Al-Jazeera's correspondent Taysir Alluni to seven years in prison for what they called "collaborating with al-Qaida". Alluni, who has insisted on his innocence throughout Europe's biggest al-Qaida trial, interviewed the group's leader Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan weeks after the 11 September 2001 attacks in the United States. Accused of acting as a financial courier to the group while in Afghanistan, Alluni, who had faced a maximum nine-year term, said in testimony he was only doing his job as a journalist. A spokesman for the Arab Human Rights Committee confirmed that heavy political pressures were imposed...

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Annual Meeting of Women Drivers

loooool... This is just hilarious... [Via: Je Blog, Women Drivers]...

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An Islamist threat like the Nazis?!!

In the September 19th edition of The Washington Times, an article by Tony Blankley, the editorial page editor of, and a weekly columnist for, The Washington Times, claims that the threat of Islam is like that of the Nazis. He writes: The threat of the radical Islamists taking over Europe is every bit as great to the United States as was the threat of the Nazis taking over Europe in the 1940s. Beyond the growing number of Muslims committed to terrorism is the threat from the Islamic diaspora's growing cultural and religious assertiveness -- particularly in largely secular Europe,...

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Tunisian Handicrafts

I really admire handicrafts and think they're marvellous works of art. I remember when I was a kid, after school, I'd go to my grandmother's house where I'd have lunch then go for my Arabic lessons. After I was done with my Arabic lessons, I'd just go wandering around discovering new places in the city. One of the places I discovered and loved passing by every now and then was a little workshop where a number of men would be sitting on stools working on these beautiful copper plates. With a small hammer and chisel, they tapped away, carving all...

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President Bush Drinking Again

Faced with the biggest crisis of his political life, President Bush has hit the bottle again, The National Enquirer reveals. Bush, who said he quit drinking the morning after his 40th birthday, has started boozing amid the Katrina catastrophe. Bush is under the worst pressure of his two terms in office and his popularity is near an all-time low. The handling of the Katrina crisis and troop losses in Iraq have fueled public discontent and pushed Bush back to drink. A Washington source said: "The sad fact is that he has been sneaking drinks for weeks now. Laura may have...

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Soccer World Cup Qualifier Tickets Online in Tunisia

Next month, October 8th, will witness one of the hottest soccer games of the year which is the match between Tunisia and Morocco, where both teams will be fighting for the qualification to the World Cup 2006. Tunisia needs one point to qualify, so a draw is fine. Morocco on the other hand need to win to qualify. Tickets still aren't on sale for now at the regular outlets, but 10000 tickets were released for sale online on the site of the Tunisian Football Federation, using the Tunisian Post's e-Dinar solution, and they all dissapeared in a few hours. The...

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links for 2005-09-23

Netvibes An Ajax based customizable homepage. Really cool. (tags: ajax customized personalized homepage) Google Made Opera Browser Free Apparently Google played a role in making it possible to offer Opera for free. (tags: google opera deal browser free) Comparison of BitTorrent clients Comparison of general and technical information for a number of BitTorrent clients. (tags: bittorrent client comparison) What Should I Read Next? A great tool for bookworms that suggests what book to read next. (tags: reading books suggestion) The Lazy Way to Success: Finding Your Calling Interesting post about finding success doing what you're passionate about. (tags: success...

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Bahrain Ends Israel Trade Boycott

Bahrain took the decision to end the boycott of Israeli goods because it is one of the conditions of the free trade agreement with the United States. Bahrain, which hosts the base of the US Navy's 5th Fleet, signed the free trade deal with the United States last year, becoming the first Gulf state to do so. The move makes Bahrain the first of the six Arab states of the Gulf to abolish its trade boycott of Israel, although others, such as Qatar and Oman, have taken limited steps in that direction. The repeal coincides with signs of a thaw...

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Handbook for Bloggers & Cyber-Dissidents

Reporters Without Borders released a Handbook For Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents yesterday (in English, French, Chinese, Arabic and Persian). Click here to download the full booklet. The Handbook for Bloggers is for people who want to be serious participants in the emergent online global conversation: How to set up a quality, credible blog. How to get it noticed. And.. if you’re in a country where there government might not like what you're saying, how to avoid getting in trouble when you by-pass the information gatekeepers and talk directly to the world. As Julien writes in his introduction to the booklet: Blogging...

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Airliner Fakes Emergency For Soccer Game

A chartered jet carrying 289 Gambian soccer fans pretended it needed to make an emergency landing so they could watch their team compete in the FIFA Under 17 World Championships. The plane, claiming to be low on fuel, landed Tuesday near the stadium in Peru's northern coast city of Piura. The Air Rum plane, which she said was chartered by Gambian President Yahya Jammeh, should have made its approach to the capital, Lima, but instead flew directly to Piura, entering Peruvian air space "without permission." The passengers were permitted to attend African team's 3-1 victory over Qatar on Tuesday night,...

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Thai House

A couple of days ago after finishing work, I wanted to grab some take-away dinner before going home, and a friend from work suggested I check out "Thai House", a Thai restaurant in Ariana I obviously didn't know about. I didn't go for it that day because I was feeling a bit lazy and Ariana was out of my way. Anyway, today after work, my wife and I headed there directly. It's a small take-away restaurant in Al Kahina street (It seems they've recently changed the name though) in New Ariana. It has a really interesting menu with stuff that...

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Future Arab SuperStar 3

A year has passed since the 2004 season of SuperStar, the Arab version of "Pop Idol", which is known as "American Idol" in the US. Last year's winner was Libyan Ayman El Aatar, whose debut single called "Ahebbak" was released a few weeks ago. Now, the new season of SuperStar will start airing on Lebanese Future TV this Sunday, 25th of September. What they'll be doing in the first episodes is airing a selection of the thousands of auditions, which is really funny, and showing the people who made it through to the second stage. I can't wait for the...

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Dentist, Finally...

Today, I finally went to a dentist... And what a small world it is; It turns out his older brother used to work in the Tunisian embassy in Jordan and I know him very well. He took a look at my teeth and told me there was a lot of work to be done, as if I didn't know that already. In fact, I could've told him what each tooth needed, but well, I'm paying him for that, so no need to help him out. He said it seemed like I really liked sweets and that I must've been to...

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Opera Browser Goes Free

Opera, one of the coolest browsers out there after Firefox, has finally gone free. With version 8.5 of the Opera browser, which was released today, the company removed banner ads from its free edition. Previously, Opera customers had to pay, or find a pirated serial number or crack, to eliminate the ads. This move comes to try and position Opera as a better competitor to the other browsers in the market, although I think it's just a bit late. They should have done this some time ago before Firefox came out and became popular, that way they would have become...

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Fantastic Four

Last night, I finally got to watch the "Fantastic Four" movie. As frequent readers of my blog already know, I'm a big fan of superhero movies, so I just couldn't let this one pass by me unwatched. The reviews I read about the movie weren't that good and so I wasn't expecting much really, but well it exceeded my expectations, and it didn't turn out as bad as I expected. I never read the Fantastic Four comics nor watched the animated series, I was always more of a Spiderman and Superman guy, so it was cool getting to know them...

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Hong Kong Chinese Restaurant

On our wedding anniversary, we decided to treat ourselves to a dinner at the Hong Kong Chinese Restaurant in dowtown Tunis, in the Belvedere area. We passed in front of it many times before but never actually went and tried it out. It's a small nice cosy place, decorated with a lot of chinese paintings, lanterns, fans, writings, ...etc.; No chinese people though, unless they're back in the kitchen somewhere. The food was pretty good, although their "sweet and sour" was a bit light, lacking the beautiful sting that it should have, but all in all, it was a...

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Roman Ruins Found With Google Earth

Using satellite images from Google Maps and Google Earth, an Italian computer programmer has stumbled upon the remains of an ancient villa. Luca Mori was studying maps of the region around his town of Sorbolo, near Parma, when he noticed a prominent, oval, shaded form more than 500 metres long. It was the meander of an ancient river, visible because former watercourses absorb different amounts of moisture from the air than their surroundings do. His eye was caught by unusual 'rectangular shadows' nearby. Curious, he analysed the image further, and concluded that the lines must represent a buried structure of...

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Meebo, An Ajax-based Instant Messenger

I just came across Meebo, which is a browser-based IM client built using Ajax. Meebo is sort of like Trillian, but inside the browser window. It integrates a user’s accounts from AIM, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, and ICQ into a single buddy list that is automatically populated upon signing into the Meebo web site. It's still in alpha phase, but through my testing of it, everything seemed to work pretty well. it's really promising. I love how Ajax is making web development exciting all over again, how it's opening new doors for usability and making the browser a more powerful...

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G.W. Bush's Bathroom Break

U.S. President George W. Bush writes a note to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a Security Council meeting at the 2005 World Summit and 60th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York September 14, 2005. World leaders are exploring ways to revitalize the United Nations at a summit on Wednesday but their blueprint falls short of Secretary-General Kofi Annan's vision of freedom from want, persecution and war. This is real, and yes you read it right, it says: I think I may need a bathroom break? Is this possible... Of course you can Mr. Bush, after...

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Gillette Unveils 5-bladed Razor

Gillette has unveiled a new line of razors with five blades and a lubricating strip on both the front and back. The razor, known as the Fusion, has blades spaced 30 percent closer than Gillette's current MACH3Turbo system. It also has a single blade on the back of the cartridge for shaving sideburns or trimming under the nose. The Fusion will also be available in a power version and features a micro-chip that regulates the voltage and blade action. Other high-tech features include a low battery indicator light and a safety switch that shuts the razor down after eight minutes...

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L'étranger

Last night I finished reading "L'étranger" by Albert Camus. Thanks to my dear friend Saqf for giving me this book too. I haven't read in French for a very long time. The last time I did, I started reading "The Lord of the Rings" and then stopped halfway through the first chapter because it just didn't feel right. In books, like movies, I think it's best to always read or watch it in its original language; A lot of things are always lost in translation. Anyway this was a really good read. I really like the style in which it...

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Three Years Of Bliss

Today is our third marriage anniversary. It's amazing how time flies by yet seems so slow at the same time. I mean it's already three years since we got married, yet it feels like the wedding day was yesterday; It's only three years of marriage, yet it feels like we've been together for a lifetime. To my sweet and lovely wife: "Love", as a word, doesn't even come close to describing how much feelings I have for you. Thank you for making my life as beautiful and complete as you have....

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Sometimes It's Better...

Sometimes it's better to just walk away... Sometimes it's better to just reply with silence... Sometimes it's better to just be the bigger man... Sometimes it's better to just turn a blind eye... Sometimes it's better to just ignore... Sometimes it's better to just be... And sometimes it isn't......

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eBay Buys Skype

eBay will be acquiring Skype, the global Internet communications company, for approximately $2.6 billion in up-front cash and eBay stock. It will make a further payout of up to $1.5 billion if certain financial targets are met. I'm not too sure what to think about this. Everyone seems to be jumping on the messaging and VoIP bandwagon with or without a goal nowadays. The press release says a lot about how great a combination the two companies are although I honestly can't see how. Ok, there could be an integration between eBay's auction services and the Skype messenger allowing people...

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The Simpsons in Arabic

A few days ago while watching MBC, they were showing some of the stuff they'll be airing in Ramadhan, which is just around the corner now, and to my surprise an Arabic version of "The Simpsons" is in the schedule. It will be called "Al Shamshoon" and dubbed in the Egyptian Accent. Mohamed Heneidi will be lending his voice to Homer (Omar in the Arabic version), Hanan Turk to Bart and Lisa, and Rojeena to Marge. The Arabized, or should I say Egyptianized, versions of animations that I've seen before were pretty decent and sometimes funny, but I'm not so...

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Bye & Good Luck Zizou

Zizou from Djerba will be leaving to study in the AUB in Lebanon this week, and so today some of us got together at Montmartre café in Menzah 6 to have a cup of coffee together and bid him farewell. It felt like a mini meetup with some of the regular faces present: Mouse Hunter and a friend of his, Troubadour, Tom, Myself and Zizou. We basically started by talking about Zizou's going to Lebanon, and then we branched out into a bunch of other topics. We stayed for a couple of hours and then I had to go home...

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Robot Sex Dolls

German inventor and aircraft mechanic Michael Harriman from Nuremberg claims that he has created the world's most sophisticated robot sex doll. The sex androids have "hearts" that beat harder during sex, breathe harder and have internal heaters to raise the body temperature - but their feet stay cold "just like in real life". The dolls sold under the Andy brand name are on offer for US$7,350 each for the basic model, with extra charges for adaptations like extra large breasts. The model can also be made to move by remote control, wiggling her hips under the bedclothes and making other...

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The Gate of the Sun

Today we watched a French produced Arabic movie called Bab El Shams (La Porte du Soleil, The Gate of the Sun). It's based on the novel by Elias Khoury and directed by Yousry Nasrallah. The movie tells a number of people's intertwined stories, and through their stories tells the story of Palestine and the Palestinian people. The whole story is told pretty objectively and touches on all sides. It starts when Palestine was under British colonization, when the whole Zionist-state idea started coming into place, and shows how the Palestinian people suffered and were thrown out of their homes...

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Over the Border of Tunisia

"Over the Border of Tunisia", a series of Oud concerts, that look at the oud from three different angles, will take place starting from October 30 in Amsterdam. The event will start on October 30th with the concert of Rabih Abou-Khalil, which is entitled "Jazz Ballads from the East". In his contemporary jazz and non-Western quintet, the oud is the leading instrument in the concert. On December 11th, Hesperion XXI's concert entitled "the Lost Paradise", the oud is played as an accompanying and ensemble instrument, along with a few improvised solos based on manuscripts from the 13th century. And on...

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Harry Potter Books Go Digital

J.K. Rowling has made all six Potter novels available for audio downloads. The digital audiobooks are being released by the Random House Audio Trade Group. They can be purchased through Apple's iTunes store, for prices ranging from $32.95 for a single book to $249 for the whole series, which, according to Random House, includes a "full color digital booklet" and "previously unreleased readings" by Rowling. Rowling's fantasy series, most recently "Harry Potter and Half-Blood Prince," has sold more than 200 million copies worldwide in print editions and more than 5 million as audiobooks, narrated by Grammy winner Jim Dale. But...

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Blogmania in the Maghreb

Afrique Magazine has a feature article by the name "Blogmania Au Maghreb" talking about blogging in the Maghreb countries (Tunisia, Algeria, Morroco, Libya & Mauritania). The article highlights the Tunisian bloggers as the pioneers in the region, which I think is really cool. A number of blogs from across the region are mentioned, among them mine (Wow!), as well as Adib, Dasdous, Etta, Geronimo, Manal, Lady M, Alger Intime and more. It's a shame that some of the very important and pioneering blogs from the region were left out. The article didn't really go too deep into the world of...

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My Traveller Wish

One of my ultimate wishes would be to get to work on something like those travel shows they put on TV; getting to travel to a new country every week, discovering new places, seeing new people, knowing new cultures, tasting new types of food, learning of different customs and traditions... and then reviewing them for the whole world. That's something I would totally love to do, something that would make me really really happy. I've always loved travel and found it very enriching. I think I am a more understanding person because of all the travel I've done and the...

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links for 2005-09-08

Latte Art A really cool flickr photoset of artistic lattes. (tags: latte art photography photo cool) Top Ten Digital Photography Tips Ten tips on how to shoot better photos using a digital camera. (tags: digital camera photography tips) Imagination Prompt Generator Writing Inspiration at the Press of a Button. (tags: writing imagination prompt generator) Hilarious Domain Name Mispronouncings This is really cool. Never thought of it this way before. (tags: domain name mispronounciation funny humor) OpenWengo Open source VoIP software with video too. (tags: opensource openwengo voip software video chat) AtomChip The world's first wireless super notebook computer. (tags:...

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The Rockr iTunes Phone

Apple and Motorola today unveiled their long expected iPod phone, under the name Rockr. This phone was developed by Apple and Motorola, and Cingular Wireless will be the exclusive U.S. carrier of the telephone. The Rokr, which will be available starting this weekend, can hold about 100 songs. It has a color display for viewing album art and features built-in dual-stereo speakers, as well as stereo headphones that also serve as a mobile headset with microphones. The phone will automatically pause the song when you get a call and songs are transferred to the phone through a USB cable. Apple...

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Yahoo! Helped Jail Chinese Journalist

According to Reporters Sans Frontieres (Reporters Without Borders), Information supplied by Yahoo! helped Chinese journalist Shi Tao get 10 years in prison. Shi, a former journalist for the financial publication Contemporary Business News, was sentenced in April to 10 years in prison for illegally providing state secrets to foreigners. It shows that Yahoo! Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd provided China’s state security authorities with details that helped to identify and convict him. It reveals that the company provided the Chinese investigating organs with detailed information that apparently enabled them to link Shi’s personal e-mail account (on the Chinese Yahoo! service at...

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The Da Vinci Code

I finished reading "The Da Vinci Code" a couple of nights ago, and well it was a really good read. I've been wanting to read this book for over 2 years actually. I wanted to buy it from Jordan last year, but it was sold out, and when I found it in Tunisia it was in French, and this year when I went to Jordan it was banned! So, I had to find a way to order it online and that's what I did. Back to the book. I really enjoyed reading it; it sucked me in and I found...

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