Anything I can find I'll try to blog about it, be it GIS, mapping, programming, graphics, CAD, networking, gadgets, music, both in English and Arabic.
Technically everything tech-related and tech-unrelated.
"The Downtown Eastside is the oldest neighbourhood in Vancouver; it is also the most run-down.
It is striking that the history of the Downtown Eastside began in destruction and disappearance. In 1886, soon after the city was incorporated, the Great Vancouver Fire swept down on the neighbourhood and razed almost all of it to the ground. The video installation Fire with Fire recalls this troubled period of Vancouver’s history. It also alludes to the neighbourhood’s present conditions by reminding us that many lives have been consumed there, worn down by years of homelessness, drug use, street prostitution, and violence."
The main point here is how the artist thought of the fire itself as part of the history of the neighborhood. It was created using 3 blu-ray players and 3 projectors.
An interesting article on how to visualize the SQL Server 2008 new spatial data types (geometry and geography) through the Reporting Services Map Control and the ESRI MapIt product.
"Hand From Above encourages us to question our normal routine when we often find ourselves rushing from one destination to another. Inspired by Land of the Giants and Goliath, we are reminded of mythical stories by mischievously unleashing a giant hand from the BBC Big Screen. Passers by will be playfully transformed. What if humans weren’t on top of the food chain?
Unsuspecting pedestrians will be tickled, stretched, flicked or removed entirely in real-time by a giant deity."
I love the idea of thinking that there is some entity that will eat pedestrians in real-time in from of them :-D
Autodesk has recently unveiled a new product for the cloud, AutoCAD WS, a free-of-charge online DWG viewer and editor that is Web-based and powered by Adobe Flash, it also allows the editing of Apple iOS devices
A very promising web application that can fill a gap in (very) light editing and online viewing of AutoCAD DWG files through the cloud.
Urban Cursor is a GPS enabled object designed to facilitate social interaction and play in public space.
The object, which is shaped as an oversized 3-dimensional computer cursor (pointer), was placed on a square in Figueres, Catalunya during the cultural festival Ingràvid.
For me ... this is a very smart way to have a space identity ... and the link between the computer world to the space where the object is hosted is very pleasant.
أستقوفتني السنة دي كثافة ما كتب في المنتديات والمواقع الإجتماعية زي الفيس بوك والتويتر عن إنتخابات مجلس الشعب في مصر هذا العام ... ومن أبرز إللي قريته:
بكرة المجزرة يامصريين هههههههههه. اللي قرفان من ريحة الانتخابات يروح يبطل صوته .. علم على أسماء كل المرشحين وبكدة يكون صوتك باطل بدل ما يعلموا هما ع اللي عايزينه آخر اليوم بحماية بلطجية الحزب البلطجي قصدي الوطني .. على فكرة مواليد من 82 ل 92 بالرقم القومي
- ده أحد الأصدقاء صبيحة الإنتخابات بيفكر يحل المشكلة بشكل موضعي ... زي إنه ياخد مسكن بدل ما يروح للدكتور
اللهم أجعل تدبيرهم تدميرهم
- وده فوض أمره لله
Ma tente5bene ya mama awam ya mama ... Da elwatany haya5odny bel tazweer ya mama :D
- وده ضرب خالص ولقي إن الهيس هوا الحل
YA RAB MORASHA7E EL WATANY YET3ADLO WE TB2A 2OR3A :D
- وده رجع للماضي القديم لما كان بيلعب كولو بامية في حوش المدرسة
هوبا هوبا هوبا .. تامر تحت القبة. هههههههههههه والله مانا عارف دة مجلس شعب ولا سوق خضار
- وده نفس صاحبي إللي كان بيتكلم علي المجزرة فوق ... بس واضح إن التزوير نجحه هوا بالغلط بدل مرشح الوطني ... والملاحظ إنه لسه بيضحك
بكل حب وصفاء وسناء ودعاء ورجاء مبروك للحزب الوطنى :) أكتســــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــاح
- ياااااه .. كلمة إكتساح دي ما سمعتهاش من أيام الـ 99% بتاعة عبد الناصر الله يرحمه ويرحم إللي زورهاله ساعتها
ليه الوزراء يبقى ليهم حق الترشح في مجلس الشعب أصلا؟ وكمان يكسبوا؟ هو ينفع واحد يبقى ممثل للحكومة وممثل للشعب في نفس الوقت؟ يعني يغني ويرد على نفسه؟ المفروض بقي يسموا مجلس الشعب الجديد ده بعد نجاح كل الوزراء في الانتخابات مجلس الوزراء
- وده حد فكر يسأل سؤال بجد ... وده وقته يا دكتور ... علي رأي جيم كاري It's showtime
هذا وبعد ماشهدته مصرنا الحبيبة من تزوير معتاد لانتخابات شكليه لا يسعني في هذه الظروف الا ان اقول ....يا خونه انا ماشي
- خدني معاك
ياخبر أسود . انا نفسي أسأل الناس دي سؤال واحد ... انت تعرف ربنا ياعم الحاج؟؟؟ تسمع عنه؟؟؟
- وده تعليقاً علي فيديو مصورين فيه التزوير في قلب اللجنة .. بس عجبتني كلمة تسمع عنه دي
ازاي ممكن حد يستحمل انه يمارس تمثيلية 40 سنة ؟...بجد ...بتخدعوا مين ؟
- ده واحد صاحبي مش فاهم ... أنا بانصحه يروح أي إجتماع في الحزب الوطني وهوا يفهم
شيء مضحك الناس اللي بتتكلم عن مقاطعة الأنتخابات مع العلم ان معظم الشعب المصري لا يمتلك بطاقة أنتخابية أصلاً
- وده حد محترم جدا قرر يفكر بجد ... أحب أقوله هاتتعب
اللي رايح ينتخب يتصل بأي حد كان مزعله ويصالحه وقبل ما ينزل يبوس على إيد أبوه وأمه ثم يتوكل على الله
I Am The City was recorded on May 8 1982. It remained unreleased until it was included on the compilation album "More Abba Gold" in May 1993.
This was one of 7 songs Abba recorded during 1982 for their possible next album after The Visitors, believed likely to be called Opus 10.
The 7 songs were Should I Laugh Or Cry (Sep 1981), You Owe Me One, I Am The City, Just Like That (all May 1982), Cassandra, Under Attack and The Day Before You Came (all August 1982).
However the group unofficially retired at the end of 1982, and the unfinished album was never completed. The unreleased songs eventually appeared as bonus tracks on The Visitors album or on compilation albums.
There has been no definitive reason given for the group's retirement in December 1982. However there is no doubt that the two divorces had taken its toll on the group. Their hearts were no longer in it. During their career they had often said "Abba will carry on as long as we enjoy working together. The day that we are tired of it, we'll stop."
The group's break-up was further hastened by Benny and Bjorn's collaboration with Tim Rice in early 1983 to write songs for the new musical project Chess. The four Swedes were no longer looking in the same direction, it was time to go their separate ways.
This is an unofficial promotional video made in 2007 for this song.
Lyrics:
Coming through a cloud, you're looking at me from above
And I'm a revelation, spreading out before your eyes
And you find me beautiful and irresistible
A giant creature that forever seems to grow in size,
And you feel a strange attraction,
Ooh, ooh the air is vibrant and electrified,
Welcome to me, here I am my arms are open wide
Somewhere in the middle of the never ending noise,
There is a pulse, a steady rhythm of a heart that beats
And a million voices blend into a single voice,
And you can hear it in the clamor of the crowded streets,
People come and take their chances,
Ooh, ooh, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose a lot
Come make your own contribution to this melting pot
I'm the street you walk, the language you talk
I am the city, the skyline is me and the energy
I am the city, the famous hotels
And the cocktail bars, and the funny smells
And the turmoil of cars, and the people
The air that you're breathing is me,
Yes I am the city, you let me be
People feed me with their lives, I am a hungry soul
And they all worship me, and pay their homage day and night
Everyday I hear a lot of tired, shuffling feet
But come tonight they will be dancing in the neon light,
Dazzled by the crazy magic,
Ooh, ooh, they're grabbing pieces of the fatted calf
And in the wind if you listen hard, you'll hear me laugh
I'm the street you walk, the language you talk
I am the city, the skyline is me and the energy
I am the city, the famous hotels
And the cocktail bars, and the funny smells
And the turmoil of cars, and the people
The parks and the squares that you see,
All the sounds that you hear,
And the air that you're breathing is me,
Yes I am the city, you let me be
I am the city, you let me be, I am the city
The famous hotels and the cocktail bars,
And the funny smells and the turmoil of cars,
And the people, the air that you're breathing is me
Coming through a cloud, you're looking at me from above
And I'm a revelation, spreading out before your eyes
I'm the street you walk, the language you talk
I am the city yes, I am the city, you let me be
And you find me beautiful and irresistible,
A giant creature that forever seems to grow in size,
The skyline is me and the energy,
I am the city you let me be
Somewhere in the middle of the never ending noise,
There is a pulse, a steady rhythm of a heart that beats
I'm the street you walk, the language you talk
I am the city, yes I am the city, you let me be
And a million voices blend into a single voice,
And you can hear it in the clamor of the crowded streets,
The skyline is me, and the energy
I am the city you let me be.
والله أنا شايف إن المفروض إنها تدخل المجلس فعلاً ... فإنه الصراحة دلوقتي لا يليق بحد إنه يدخل المكان ده غير الرقاصات وولاد الش## ... مشيها ولاد الشعب ... بس بجد أنا جي في بالي السيدة الفاضلة فيفي عبده لما كانت واقفة علي خشبة المسرح وقالت جملتها الخالدة.
في ظل أزمة الإخوان الجديدة في الإنتخابات (وهما الصراحة كل إنتخاباتهم أزمات) ... فأنا باقترح إنهم يغيروا الشعار بتاعهم من "الإسلام هوا الحل" لـ "إللي بالي بالك هوا الحل" .... جايز يعرفوا يخلصوا من حوارات الحكومة ويركزوا بقا في عمل أجندة للإخوان يعرفوا يقنعوا بيها المحترمين إللي في البلد، بدل ما مامفيش حد عارف هما عايزين إيه أصلاً !!!!
It has been long time since my last post ... I'll try to get back on track ... I've got lots of stuff but no time to blog about.
I've been married, working now for a software company selling ARCHIBUS solutions, joined my company's Autodesk A/E/C team, and trying to learn ESRI ArcGIS Server.
ESRI has just released ArcGIS 10 ... the biggest large scale upgrade in the ArcGIS line since 2002 when it released the first ArcGIS Desktop product.
"ArcGIS is a complete system that enables you to solve your most challenging issues," said Damian Spangrud, ArcGIS product manager. "This release provides greater ease of use, more powerful analysis tools, additional Web GIS applications, and new mobile platforms. It also promotes collaboration via an online system for using, sharing, and organizing geographic content."
Those intrigued by the "GodMode" in Windows 7 may be interested to know that there are many other similar shortcuts hidden within the operating system.
Intended for developers as a shortcut to various internal settings, such features have been around since Vista and even before, according to the head of Microsoft's Windows division, who tells CNET that the so-calledGodMode settings folder uncovered by bloggers is just one of many undocumented developer features included in Windows.
In an e-mail interview, Steven Sinofsky, Windows division president, said several similar undocumented features provide direct access to all kinds of settings, from choosing a location to managing power settings to identifying biometric sensors.
As with the all-encompassing GodMode uncovered by bloggers, these other settings can be accessed directly by creating a new folder with any name (GodMode or otherwise) and then including a certain text string. Sinofsky noted more than a dozen strings create particular settings folders, in addition to the overarching GodMode folder option.
In the last few years we have seen the trend of BIM (Building Information Modeling) where a building is represented using real-world entities instead of a bunch of lines.
This trend is now making a shift in the way architects present their ideas and interact with their models (using software like Autodesk Revit, ArchiCAD and Vectorworks instead of AutoCAD and Bentley Microstation).
BIM would be a great answer for Architects.
But more recently a new term was coined, CIM or the City Information model, which aims to transform the urban planners way of handling their plans just like architects.
Some little known applications has started to explore the concept of modeling the whole urban environment and how much information can we extract from such model, in essence how the model would reveal relationships previously little known to the planner or very complex to map such relationships.
CityCAD CityCAD from the British Holistic City Software aims to become the city planners main tool (where they previously relied on GIS systems, AutoCAD drawings or even paper maps and census tables).
See CityCAD Software: Stop Masterplanning! (from The Pop-Up City) and Visualizing and Analyzing Plans with CityCAD (from Planetizen).
CityCAD as a software is more into the space and green planning paradigm, and is currently less into the social, socioeconomic and demographic aspects of the city, but quite frankly these are very complex subjects that need much more research on how to model them and how to turn such issues into solvable questions that a model (and the dataset that we feed into that model) can answer.
CityEngine CityEngine from Procedural is more into visualizing the 3D city than assisting in the city planning tasks, but a city-optimized visualization tool is very beneficial to urban planners and would bring the city planners some part of the technology that they always wanted, that to visualize the city's current state to better understand it visually, and to visualize the post-plan state that represents their work (to analyze the plan visually).
See New York City In 2259 (from The Pop-Up City).
Some very irrelative point I like about CityEngine is that it uses the Eclipse RCP Platform (which I like but have nothing to do with the software itself).
Other attempts
Maybe one of the older attempts is the The Open Planning Project, it tries to use the Open Source model to create a community of contributers to create an open solution for city planning.
But this list is very incomplete and doesn't touch on the positive aspects of using a systematic way on handling city planning tasks verses the negative impacts using a limited mindset system to solve a very open-ended problem, and the subject needs many more posts other than this one.
Today Adobe started shipping its flagship product, the Adobe Creative Suite 5 (or CS5) that contains new versions of all of its multimedia applications, let's all welcome CS5.
For all of you who was asking why GMail was using a flat Labels structure instead of the folders structure used universally before, I personally like the labels way of organizing emails and how I can tag a message with multiple labels.
But I was having a hard time using it in Outlook (as connecting my Outlook to my GMail account through IMAP creates a very ugly Label names if I want to manage my email as I usually do inside Outlook), but earlier this month GMail Labs introduced a new Lab, the Nested Labels.
This allows me to use Nested labels to see my labels in the same way I see them in Outlook, it's a great feature for some users who prefers the folders hierarchy way of organizing emails or who need access their GMail accounts through Outlook IMAP access.
يا فرحتي .. 88% من الأسر المصرية مافيهاش حد بيقرأ أصلا ... ده مش معناه إن 22% من الشعب بيقرأ ... ده معناه علي أفضل التقديرات إن فيه بتاع 7~12% من الشعب هوا إللي بيقرب لكتاب.
من النسبة دي بقا فيه 33% بس منهم بيقرأ كتب علمية ... يعني إحنا عندنا نسبة 1% بس تقريبا إللي ليها في قراءة الكتب العلمية ... ده معناه إن من وسط الناس إللي بتشتغل (20% من الناس تقريبا علي قوة العمل) فيه 5% منهم بس بيدور علي إنه يطور نفسه في شغله أو يفهم هوا أصلا بيشتغل في إيه.
يا فرحتي بيكي يا مصر و بالشعب إللي فاكر نفسه له لازمة في عالم بيتكلم في الثانية الواحدة و ثمنها.
التقي المواطن (محدود الدخل) ( المرأة العاملة ) فتزوجا وأنجبا (الطالب المتوسط) الذي تأتي الامتحانات عادة في مستواه، نجح الطالب المتوسط وأنهي تعليمه وأصبح (رجل الشارع).
شكراً لراتب باشا علي اللينك (ماشي كده يا عم !! ... خلاص التصييتة إللي كنت مزنوق فيها؟ ... ماتجييش تقولي ما باكتبش إسمك ... مش فاهم أنا !! ... و هي المدونة بتاعتي الـ Guest Book بتاع الهيلتون؟).
This interesting article gives some stats about the Linux kernel, the largest Open Source project ever, it gives some idea about how dynamic such a project is actually (a more detailed version is here also).
كل إللي أقدر أقوله .... إحنا ضيعنا كتير قوي من الوقت ... يعني الشاب ده كمان 10 سنين هايبقي معاه 15 شهادة و بيدرب بقاله 3 أو 4 سنين و ألفله كتابين ثلاثة في ويندوز 9 (علي وقته) ... ما علينا.
I browsed the CCIEs worldwide list and found some interesting numbers, it sheds some light on the distribution of the top networking talent in the field geographically.
First the totals (last updated 2/5/2010):
Total of Worldwide CCIEs
20864
Total of Routing and Switching CCIEs
17774
Total of Security CCIEs
2393
Total of Service Provider CCIEs
1752
Total of Storage Networking CCIEs
150
Total of Voice CCIEs
1180
Total of Wireless CCIEs
20
Then the country-by country numbers:
USA
5494
P.R. China
3619
Japan
1142
United Kingdom
1052
Korea
1033
Naturally, USA is the largest country to have certified CCIEs (being that it is the home country of Cisco and the largest market for its products), but the interesting number is that Asia holds the largest number of CCIEs collectively (given the population numbers), the really surprising omission in this list is India (which comes in the seventh place), it gives it a more realistic perspective of top tech-related talent distribution in developed countries (with China holding about 5 times the CCIEs compared to India).
Then the Arab World
Saudi Arabia
193
United Arab Emirates
169
Egypt
110
Israel
65
Kuwait
47
Qatar
34
Jordan
33
Lebanon
28
Bahrain
13
Oman
10
Algeria
6
Morocco
6
Tunisia
4
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
2
Palestinian Territory
2
Yemen
2
Here we find that Saudi Arabia holds the largest number of CCIEs, followed by UAE then Egypt, this shows that Egypt (unlike public press from the Government) is not the largest pool of high-tech talent in the Middle East (and its not Israel either, shown here for comparison purposes), but Saudi Arabia and UAE, this might not be true in all of the high-tech segments, but it indicates that the efforts excreted by the Governmental initiatives in Egypt are not that effective in creating a pool of high-end expertise in the field. Egypt is not even the largest country in Africa to hold CCIEs, South Africa (with 122 CCIEs) is higher in this list.
The long-rumored Apple tablet has been released.
A 9.7 inches LED Multi-touch screen (1024x768 pixel with 132 ppi) with 1.5 pounds and 0.5 inch thin body, and 10 hours battery life.
It has a custom 1 GHz processor designed by Apple, Wi-Fi 802.11n connectivity, optional 3G modem, built-in speaker; and 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB of flash storage.
The iPad uses the same OS as the iPhone but with higher resolution, it means that iPhone Apps are supported.
Many great accessories specifically designed for iPad will be available.
Earlier today, Oracle held an event to outline the road-map of acquisition of Sun Microsystems and the transformation from a software-only company (the third largest already) into a complete systems provider (integrated hardware and software solutions provider) that control each and every part of its ecosystem.
The event talked about many technologies that is affected by the acquisition, like:
Java
JavaFX is the highlight of presentation layer technologies.
Will continue to address Desktop (SE), Enterprise (EE) and Mobile (ME) platforms, and will try to converge the APIs between SE and ME and use JavaFX as the common presentation technology.
Application Server/Java EE
GlassFish will join WebLogic as the Application Server platform for Oracle (positioning it for the Developers and the Open Source community while position WebLogic for the enterprise and mission-critical installations)
GlassFish will continue to be the reference implementation, based on Open Source model, with commercial support for it, parts of it will be ported to WebLogic, most probably it will form the foundation for newer WebLogic releases and powers its Java EE-certified core.
Web Center will be the strategic Portal solution (against Sun GlassFish Web Space)
The JRockit JVM will be positioned on the same support level as the reference HotSpot JVM, most probably is that more interactions between the core-JVM and the JRockit in the upcoming years.
Developer Tools
Oracle JDeveloper will continue to become the premier IDE for Oracle and Java Enterprise Applications (for Database and Java EE based Applications, SOA, and ADF-based applications)
Oracle Pack for Eclipse will continue to be developed to provides integration between Eclipse and Oracle, but no major new offerings (which was expected)
NetBeans will continue to be an Open Source offering, and stay as very wide covering as it is now (for covering the complete Java portfolio) and support for NetBeans Platform will continue.
Support for Hudson, Oracle Team Productivity Center, maven, Subversion, BugZilla, and many other ALM tools to be shared among JDeveloper and NetBeans
The Matisse Visual Forms Editor from NetBeans will be integrated in JDeveloper
SOA & Application Server Adapters will be shared from JDeveloper to NetBeans
Operating Systems
Continue support and development in Solaris and Unbreakable Linux
Higher integration between the Oracle Database and Solaris ZFS
Virtualization
Virtual Box will be continued to be developed and integrated with Oracle VM (to use the same Oracle Virtual Machine template format)
Solaris Logical Domains (LDom) will become Oracle VM for SPARC and managed through Oracle VM management consoles
Oracle VM for x86 will add support for Solaris
Continued support for Solaris Containers and Dynamic Domains (on M Series Servers)
Next version of Oracle VM will include Virtual Iron technology with better APIs and management console
Sun VDI Broker will be continued to be development (including Secure Global Desktop)
Oracle VM Storage Connect and ASM will continue to be used for Storage Virtualization
Open Storage systems will be used for Storage at the hardware and low-level functions
Management
Oracle Enterprise Manager (For managing Database, Middleware, and Applications) and Sun Ops Center (for managing Hardware, OS and Virtualization) will be support for the short-term
Higher connectivity between Enterprise Manager and Ops Center will be developed in the mid-term to allow shared alerts and events, and allow some data to cross applications (12-18 months)
In the long-term, the Enterprise Manager will consume the functionality of Ops Center and become the unified management console of all the Oracle products
