I love my iPod video. I have tons of songs, some pictures, and many files backed up. Another great feature is that I can use the iPod as a portable image tank to store my pictures from my Nikon D50 directly without a PC. An average picture is about 3Mb, so 40-50Gb should be enough for a few days photo shoot. But What I do not like is that i had to use iTunes to manage my music collection. And with iTunes, you can't just sync on any PC. I had some luck with some older programs that were able to "publish" my music collection from iPod to any PC, but the program could not add MP3's to my iPod.
I did not add much MP3's for some time, until I got some new CD's.
Then I came across floola. A great, Windows, Linux and Mac iTunes full replacement where you can add and fully manage your iPod music collection. It is still in Beta, but seems to be stable enough.
Are you doing anything else for iPod sync? Or are you using other Mp3 players?
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Friday, June 01, 2007
It's about the Director - Eragon
I missed Eragon on the big screen, and just bought the Special Edition DVD yesterday. My wife read the first two books and loved them. I myself did not read the book, but had an idea on some of the ideas behind it. Lord of the Rings and Star Wars heavily influenced the writer. Both stories and movies are one of my favorites.
So, I just had to watch it. I knew the reviews were not that good. And I knew there is no way it would even come close to LOTR. So I did not have that much high expectations.
We saw the movie, and from the very first five minutes we started complaining. The movie is sooo awfully bad and very very disappointing.
The main character doesn't know how to act. The only okayish acting was by John Malkovich and it was only for 23 seconds. You feel major parts of the story missing for no apparent reason. And then when we watched the deleted scenes, I realized that some very important characters of the story were completely taken out. The director was literally yawning when taking about some parts of the movie. Some cool ideas were not done just because of time or budget constraints, and the director says that on many occasions.
The only acceptable parts were some scenes with Saphira the dragon. And that is only because CG came a long way from the times of Jurassic Park and Toy Story, and mostly that CG was done by ILM, who have very high standards.
I would fully blame this disaster of a movie on the director. And maybe just to a very a small extent on the Studio for choosing the director and what apparently was a lot of cost trimmings.
Shame on you Fox for generating such an insulting movie to the Inheritance Trilogy fans.
I just feel sorry for Christopher Paolini. He writes this very good very popular trilogy, and gets a slap on the face with having it rendered in this movie...
So, I just had to watch it. I knew the reviews were not that good. And I knew there is no way it would even come close to LOTR. So I did not have that much high expectations.
We saw the movie, and from the very first five minutes we started complaining. The movie is sooo awfully bad and very very disappointing.
The main character doesn't know how to act. The only okayish acting was by John Malkovich and it was only for 23 seconds. You feel major parts of the story missing for no apparent reason. And then when we watched the deleted scenes, I realized that some very important characters of the story were completely taken out. The director was literally yawning when taking about some parts of the movie. Some cool ideas were not done just because of time or budget constraints, and the director says that on many occasions.
The only acceptable parts were some scenes with Saphira the dragon. And that is only because CG came a long way from the times of Jurassic Park and Toy Story, and mostly that CG was done by ILM, who have very high standards.
I would fully blame this disaster of a movie on the director. And maybe just to a very a small extent on the Studio for choosing the director and what apparently was a lot of cost trimmings.
Shame on you Fox for generating such an insulting movie to the Inheritance Trilogy fans.
I just feel sorry for Christopher Paolini. He writes this very good very popular trilogy, and gets a slap on the face with having it rendered in this movie...
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Ubuntu on Dell
This is a bit too late for me. I already have Ubuntu on my Dell Inspiron Laptop. However this is a good step nonetheless.
My as well as my wife's experience with Vista is awful. The latest bad Vista news has been that the HP All-In-One scanner, copier, printer just refuses to work, or the printer completely disappearing from the PC 's Setup Printers. We had to completely re-install the printer.
The same printer and scanner works without a hitch in Ubuntu. No need for any special installations either. And it is a Network Connection too.
Plus Vista is slow and bloated. Actually Ubuntu takes shorter time fully booting that Vista takes time resuming from Hibernation!
The only reason I occasionally need to switch to Vista is because some web-sites are still IE only, and do not display at all in Firefox. I'll check Opera on Ubuntu.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Short Circuit
In case you do not know, here is the Wikipedia explanation:
So, why am I bringing this up? I've been noticing that short circuits do not just happen for electrons and electrical currents. People behave like electrical current and they look for the "path of least resistance" in many occasions. You'll probably notice this in many situations.
Why do people ask someone (A) for something instead of asking somebody else (B), who may be more suitable for the job? Because asking (A) is easier.
Why do some people double park and block others instead of looking for that other park, just a few meters away? It's nearer to the door, and a shorter path.
Why do many people not even bother reading the error message and call you, or even claim the system is totally useless when something wrong happens? Or they may simply click Cancel / Ok, or any random button instead of reading the message and doing what it tells them?
You get the picture...
So, beware of short circuits, and keep in mind that most people, like electrical current will look for a short circuit to make things easy for them.
A short circuit is an accidental low-resistance connection between two nodes of an electrical circuit that are meant to be at different voltages.This is similar to a secret shortcut that was never meant to be used, but it exists, and therefore will be used instead of the long, usually intended and designed path that was designed.
So, why am I bringing this up? I've been noticing that short circuits do not just happen for electrons and electrical currents. People behave like electrical current and they look for the "path of least resistance" in many occasions. You'll probably notice this in many situations.
Why do people ask someone (A) for something instead of asking somebody else (B), who may be more suitable for the job? Because asking (A) is easier.
Why do some people double park and block others instead of looking for that other park, just a few meters away? It's nearer to the door, and a shorter path.
Why do many people not even bother reading the error message and call you, or even claim the system is totally useless when something wrong happens? Or they may simply click Cancel / Ok, or any random button instead of reading the message and doing what it tells them?
You get the picture...
So, beware of short circuits, and keep in mind that most people, like electrical current will look for a short circuit to make things easy for them.
Monday, April 02, 2007
April Fools top ten
Well' I haven't heard much of these for some time, but I remember having fun in some of the old days with surprise exams, and things like that.
One of the best I heard was about the Pearl roundabout when I was in college. One civil engineer student told another civil engineer student that the pearl in the pearl roundabout fell due to the very strong wind. The guy actually went to see it!
From television revealing that spaghetti grows on trees to advertisements for the left-handed burger, the tradition of April Fool's Day stories in the media has a weird and wonderful history.
Here are 10 of the top April Fool's Day pranks ever pulled off, as judged by the San Diego-based Museum of Hoaxes for their notoriety, absurdity, and number of people duped.
-- In 1957, a BBC television show announced that thanks to a mild winter and the virtual elimination of the spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop. Footage of Swiss farmers pulling strands of spaghetti from trees prompted a barrage of calls from people wanting to know how to grow their own spaghetti at home.
-- In 1985, Sports Illustrated magazine published a story that a rookie baseball pitcher who could reportedly throw a ball at 270 kilometers per hour (168 miles per hour) was set to join the New York Mets. Finch was said to have mastered his skill -- pitching significantly faster than anyone else has ever managed -- in a Tibetan monastery. Mets fans' celebrations were short-lived.
-- Sweden in 1962 had only one television channel, which broadcast in black and white. The station's technical expert appeared on the news to announce that thanks to a newly developed technology, viewers could convert their existing sets to receive color pictures by pulling a nylon stocking over the screen. In fact, they had to wait until 1970.
-- In 1996, American fast-food chain Taco Bell announced that it had bought Philadelphia's Liberty Bell, a historic symbol of American independence, from the federal government and was renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell.
Outraged citizens called to express their anger before Taco Bell revealed the hoax. Then-White House press secretary Mike McCurry was asked about the sale and said the Lincoln Memorial in Washington had also been sold and was to be renamed the Ford Lincoln Mercury Memorial after the automotive giant.
-- In 1977, British newspaper The Guardian published a seven-page supplement for the 10th anniversary of San Serriffe, a small republic located in the Indian Ocean consisting of several semicolon-shaped islands. A series of articles described the geography and culture of the two main islands, named Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse.
-- In 1992, US National Public Radio announced that Richard Nixon was running for president again. His new campaign slogan was, "I didn't do anything wrong, and I won't do it again." They even had clips of Nixon announcing his candidacy. Listeners flooded the show with calls expressing their outrage. Nixon's voice actually turned out to be that of impersonator Rich Little.
-- In 1998, a newsletter titled New Mexicans for Science and Reason carried an article that the state of Alabama had voted to change the value of pi from 3.14159 to the "Biblical value" of 3.0.
-- Burger King, another American fast-food chain, published a full-page advertisement in USA Today in 1998 announcing the introduction of the "Left-Handed Whopper," specially designed for the 32 million left-handed Americans. According to the advertisement, the new burger included the same ingredients as the original, but the condiments were rotated 180 degrees. The chain said it received thousands of requests for the new burger, as well as orders for the original "right-handed" version.
-- Discover Magazine announced in 1995 that a highly respected biologist, Aprile Pazzo (Italian for April Fool), had discovered a new species in Antarctica: the hotheaded naked ice borer. The creatures were described as having bony plates on their heads that became burning hot, allowing the animals to bore through ice at high speed -- a technique they used to hunt penguins.
-- Noted British astronomer Patrick Moore announced on the radio in 1976 that at 9:47 am, a once-in-a-lifetime astronomical event, in which Pluto would pass behind Jupiter, would cause a gravitational alignment that would reduce the Earth's gravity. Moore told listeners that if they jumped in the air at the exact moment of the planetary alignment, they would experience a floating sensation. Hundreds of people called in to report feeling the sensation.
What about you? Anything funny?
One of the best I heard was about the Pearl roundabout when I was in college. One civil engineer student told another civil engineer student that the pearl in the pearl roundabout fell due to the very strong wind. The guy actually went to see it!
From television revealing that spaghetti grows on trees to advertisements for the left-handed burger, the tradition of April Fool's Day stories in the media has a weird and wonderful history.
Here are 10 of the top April Fool's Day pranks ever pulled off, as judged by the San Diego-based Museum of Hoaxes for their notoriety, absurdity, and number of people duped.
-- In 1957, a BBC television show announced that thanks to a mild winter and the virtual elimination of the spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop. Footage of Swiss farmers pulling strands of spaghetti from trees prompted a barrage of calls from people wanting to know how to grow their own spaghetti at home.
-- In 1985, Sports Illustrated magazine published a story that a rookie baseball pitcher who could reportedly throw a ball at 270 kilometers per hour (168 miles per hour) was set to join the New York Mets. Finch was said to have mastered his skill -- pitching significantly faster than anyone else has ever managed -- in a Tibetan monastery. Mets fans' celebrations were short-lived.
-- Sweden in 1962 had only one television channel, which broadcast in black and white. The station's technical expert appeared on the news to announce that thanks to a newly developed technology, viewers could convert their existing sets to receive color pictures by pulling a nylon stocking over the screen. In fact, they had to wait until 1970.
-- In 1996, American fast-food chain Taco Bell announced that it had bought Philadelphia's Liberty Bell, a historic symbol of American independence, from the federal government and was renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell.
Outraged citizens called to express their anger before Taco Bell revealed the hoax. Then-White House press secretary Mike McCurry was asked about the sale and said the Lincoln Memorial in Washington had also been sold and was to be renamed the Ford Lincoln Mercury Memorial after the automotive giant.
-- In 1977, British newspaper The Guardian published a seven-page supplement for the 10th anniversary of San Serriffe, a small republic located in the Indian Ocean consisting of several semicolon-shaped islands. A series of articles described the geography and culture of the two main islands, named Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse.
-- In 1992, US National Public Radio announced that Richard Nixon was running for president again. His new campaign slogan was, "I didn't do anything wrong, and I won't do it again." They even had clips of Nixon announcing his candidacy. Listeners flooded the show with calls expressing their outrage. Nixon's voice actually turned out to be that of impersonator Rich Little.
-- In 1998, a newsletter titled New Mexicans for Science and Reason carried an article that the state of Alabama had voted to change the value of pi from 3.14159 to the "Biblical value" of 3.0.
-- Burger King, another American fast-food chain, published a full-page advertisement in USA Today in 1998 announcing the introduction of the "Left-Handed Whopper," specially designed for the 32 million left-handed Americans. According to the advertisement, the new burger included the same ingredients as the original, but the condiments were rotated 180 degrees. The chain said it received thousands of requests for the new burger, as well as orders for the original "right-handed" version.
-- Discover Magazine announced in 1995 that a highly respected biologist, Aprile Pazzo (Italian for April Fool), had discovered a new species in Antarctica: the hotheaded naked ice borer. The creatures were described as having bony plates on their heads that became burning hot, allowing the animals to bore through ice at high speed -- a technique they used to hunt penguins.
-- Noted British astronomer Patrick Moore announced on the radio in 1976 that at 9:47 am, a once-in-a-lifetime astronomical event, in which Pluto would pass behind Jupiter, would cause a gravitational alignment that would reduce the Earth's gravity. Moore told listeners that if they jumped in the air at the exact moment of the planetary alignment, they would experience a floating sensation. Hundreds of people called in to report feeling the sensation.
What about you? Anything funny?
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Dear Mr President
كان الرئيس في زيارة لمدرسة ثانوية وفي نهاية الزيارة طلب منه الناظر أن يتكرم بعمل لقاء مفتوح مع الطلبه على غرار مع يحدث مع شباب الجامعات . ووافق الرئيس .. وبدأ اللقاء
- قام أحد الطلاب وقال:
سيادة الرئيس .. ابنكم الطالب محمود عبدالغفار .. عندي ثلاثة أسئلة أرجو أن يتسع صدر سعادتكم للإجابة عليها
الريس قال له : اتفضل.
سيدي الرئيس..
سؤالي الأول: لماذا تأثر القطاع الخاص بالحالة الإقتصادية تأثراً سلبياً بينما شركات ابنكم الله يحفظه تزداد أرباحها في نفس الظروف؟
سؤالي الثاني: لماذا تصرون على الاحتفاظ بالوزير فلان وأنتم تعلمون جيداً بأنه ليس الشخص المناسب لتولي الوزارة؟؟
سؤالي الثالث: هل حقاً سيتولى ابنكم رئاسة الدولة بعد عمركم المديد أن شاء الله؟
الريس قال له: اتفضل .. شكراً.
وفي اللحظه دي رن جرس الفسحه فالريس بقلبه الكبير قال لهم: اطلعوا دلوقتي اقضوا فسحتكم ونكمل بعد الفسحه إن شاء الله.
بعد الفسحه طالب تاني قام وقف وقال: سيدي الرئيس .. ابنكم الطالب سعيد متولي .. عندي خمسة أسئلة أرجو أن يتسع صدر سعادتكم للإجابة عليها.
الريس قال له: اتفضل.
سيدي الرئيس..
سؤالي الأول: لماذا تأثر القطاع الخاص بالحالة الإقتصادية تأثراً سلبياً بينما شركات ابنكم الله يحفظه تزداد أرباحها في نفس الظروف؟
سؤالي الثاني: لماذا تصرون على الإحتفاظ بالوزير فلان وأنتم تعلمون جيداً بأنه ليس الشخص المناسب لتولي الوزاره؟
سؤالي الثالث: هل حقاً سيتولى ابنكم رئاسة الدولة بعد عمركم المديد إن شاء الله؟
سؤالي الرابع: لماذا دق جرس الفسحه قبل موعدها بساعة ونصف؟
سؤالي الخامس: أين زميلنا محمود عبدالغفار ؟؟؟؟؟!!!!
Sunday, December 10, 2006
The Parable of the two Programmers
I got this from a colleague, and it is a very good read. It happens a lot too:
Once upon a time, unbeknownst to each other, the "Automated Accounting Applications Association" and the "Consolidated Computerized Capital Corporation" decided that they needed the identical program to perform a certain service.
Automated hired a programmer-analyst, Alan, to solve their problem.
Meanwhile, Consolidated decided to ask a newly hired entry-level programmer, Charles, to tackle the job, to see if he was as good as he pretended.
Alan, having had experience in difficult programming projects, decided to use the PQR structured design methodology. With this in mind he asked his department manager to assign another three programmers as a programming team. Then the team went to work, churning out preliminary reports and problem analyses.
Back at Consolidated, Charles spent some time thinking about the problem. His fellow employees noticed that Charles often sat with his feet on the desk, drinking coffee. He was occasionally seen at his computer terminal, but his office mate could tell from the rhythmic striking of keys that he was actually playing Space Invaders.
By now, the team at Automated was starting to write code. The programmers were spending about half their time writing and compiling code, and the rest of their time in conference, discussing the interfaces between the various modules.
His office mate noticed that Charles had finally given up on Space Invaders. Instead he now divided his time between drinking coffee with his feet on the table, and scribbling on little scraps of paper. His scribbling didn't seem to be Tic Tac Toe, but it didn't exactly make much sense, either.
Two months have gone by. The team at Automated finally releases an implementation timetable. In another two months they will have a test version of the program. Then a two month period of testing and enhancing should yield a completed version.
The manager of Charles has by now tired of seeing him goof off. He decides to confront him. But as he walks into Charles's office, he is surprised to see Charles busy entering code at his terminal. He decides to postpone the confron- tation, so makes some small talk then leaves. However, he begins to keep a closer watch on Charles, so that when the opportunity presents itself he can confront him. Not looking forward to an unpleasant conversation, he is pleased to notice that Charles seems to be busy most of the time. He has even been see to delay his lunch, and to stay after work two or three days a week.
At the end of three months, Charles announces he has completed the project. He submits a 500 line program. The program appears to be clearly written, and when tested it does everything required in the specifications. In fact it even has a few additional convenience features which might significantly improve the usability of the program. The program is put into test, and, except for one quickly corrected oversight, performs well.
The team at Automated has by now completed two of the four major modules required for their program. These modules are now undergoing testing while the other modules are completed.
After another three weeks, Alan announces that the preliminary version is ready one week ahead of schedule. He supplies a list of the deficiencies that he expects to correct. The program is placed under test. The users find a number of bugs and deficiencies, other than those listed. As Alan explains, this is no surprise. After all this is a preliminary version in which bugs were expected.
After about two more months, the team has completed its production version of the program. It consists of about 2,500 lines of code. When tested it seems to satisfy most of the original specifications. It has omitted one or two features, and is very fussy about the format of its input data. However the company decides to install the program. They can always train their data-entry staff to enter data in the strict format required. The program is handed over to some maintenance programmers to eventually incorporate the missing features.
Sequel:
At first Charles's supervisor was impressed. But as he read through the source code, he realized that the project was really much simpler than he had originally though. It now seemed apparent that this was not much of a challenge even for a beginning programmer.
Charles did produce about 5 lines of code per day. This is perhaps a little above average. However, considering the simplicity of the program, it was nothing exceptional. Also his supervisor remembered his two months of goofing off.
At his next salary review Charles was given a raise which was about half the inflation over the period. He was not given a promotion. After about a year he became discouraged and left Consolidated.
At Automated, Alan was complimented for completing his project on schedule. His supervisor looked over the program. With a few minutes of thumbing through he saw that the company standards about structured programming were being observed. He quickly gave up attempting to read the program however; it seemed quite incomprehensible. He realized by now that the project was really much more complex than he had originally assumed, and he congratulated Alan again on his achievement.
The team had produced over 3 lines of code per programmer per day. This was about average, but, considering the complexity of the problem, could be considered to be exceptional. Alan was given a hefty pay raise, and promoted to Systems Analyst as a reward for his achievement.
Once upon a time, unbeknownst to each other, the "Automated Accounting Applications Association" and the "Consolidated Computerized Capital Corporation" decided that they needed the identical program to perform a certain service.
Automated hired a programmer-analyst, Alan, to solve their problem.
Meanwhile, Consolidated decided to ask a newly hired entry-level programmer, Charles, to tackle the job, to see if he was as good as he pretended.
Alan, having had experience in difficult programming projects, decided to use the PQR structured design methodology. With this in mind he asked his department manager to assign another three programmers as a programming team. Then the team went to work, churning out preliminary reports and problem analyses.
Back at Consolidated, Charles spent some time thinking about the problem. His fellow employees noticed that Charles often sat with his feet on the desk, drinking coffee. He was occasionally seen at his computer terminal, but his office mate could tell from the rhythmic striking of keys that he was actually playing Space Invaders.
By now, the team at Automated was starting to write code. The programmers were spending about half their time writing and compiling code, and the rest of their time in conference, discussing the interfaces between the various modules.
His office mate noticed that Charles had finally given up on Space Invaders. Instead he now divided his time between drinking coffee with his feet on the table, and scribbling on little scraps of paper. His scribbling didn't seem to be Tic Tac Toe, but it didn't exactly make much sense, either.
Two months have gone by. The team at Automated finally releases an implementation timetable. In another two months they will have a test version of the program. Then a two month period of testing and enhancing should yield a completed version.
The manager of Charles has by now tired of seeing him goof off. He decides to confront him. But as he walks into Charles's office, he is surprised to see Charles busy entering code at his terminal. He decides to postpone the confron- tation, so makes some small talk then leaves. However, he begins to keep a closer watch on Charles, so that when the opportunity presents itself he can confront him. Not looking forward to an unpleasant conversation, he is pleased to notice that Charles seems to be busy most of the time. He has even been see to delay his lunch, and to stay after work two or three days a week.
At the end of three months, Charles announces he has completed the project. He submits a 500 line program. The program appears to be clearly written, and when tested it does everything required in the specifications. In fact it even has a few additional convenience features which might significantly improve the usability of the program. The program is put into test, and, except for one quickly corrected oversight, performs well.
The team at Automated has by now completed two of the four major modules required for their program. These modules are now undergoing testing while the other modules are completed.
After another three weeks, Alan announces that the preliminary version is ready one week ahead of schedule. He supplies a list of the deficiencies that he expects to correct. The program is placed under test. The users find a number of bugs and deficiencies, other than those listed. As Alan explains, this is no surprise. After all this is a preliminary version in which bugs were expected.
After about two more months, the team has completed its production version of the program. It consists of about 2,500 lines of code. When tested it seems to satisfy most of the original specifications. It has omitted one or two features, and is very fussy about the format of its input data. However the company decides to install the program. They can always train their data-entry staff to enter data in the strict format required. The program is handed over to some maintenance programmers to eventually incorporate the missing features.
Sequel:
At first Charles's supervisor was impressed. But as he read through the source code, he realized that the project was really much simpler than he had originally though. It now seemed apparent that this was not much of a challenge even for a beginning programmer.
Charles did produce about 5 lines of code per day. This is perhaps a little above average. However, considering the simplicity of the program, it was nothing exceptional. Also his supervisor remembered his two months of goofing off.
At his next salary review Charles was given a raise which was about half the inflation over the period. He was not given a promotion. After about a year he became discouraged and left Consolidated.
At Automated, Alan was complimented for completing his project on schedule. His supervisor looked over the program. With a few minutes of thumbing through he saw that the company standards about structured programming were being observed. He quickly gave up attempting to read the program however; it seemed quite incomprehensible. He realized by now that the project was really much more complex than he had originally assumed, and he congratulated Alan again on his achievement.
The team had produced over 3 lines of code per programmer per day. This was about average, but, considering the complexity of the problem, could be considered to be exceptional. Alan was given a hefty pay raise, and promoted to Systems Analyst as a reward for his achievement.
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