WOW is all i can say about this.
I’ve just come across this digital painting of a girl on deviantArt, and i just can’t believe it, it’s amazing, and so damn real.
The artist who did this should totally enter the Miss Digital World contest, it’s so real and the girl is a true babe.
WOW…
Make sure you check it out…
So, what once was code-named Royale at Macromedia has finally become Flex, and it’s in it’s Beta phase.
I’ve been reading some whitepapers and articles about this, and i’m really excited about it and can’t wait to play around with it, i’ve even applied for the beta program, i hope i get chosen.
Basically Flex is a Rich Internet Application Server that does almost everything the same as any other application server would, but generates swf flash files in the end.
It has a special markup language called MXML which is very XML-like, reminding me of ASP.NET and ColdFusion, but even easier, i’ve taken a quick look and i already feel like i’ve got a good grip on it.
It’s interface will be event driven using ActionScript 2, and it will be able to use WebServices, HTTPService and RemoteObject to access data.
Flex actually runs on a Java Application Server for the time being, but there will also be a version that runs on Microsoft .NET.
I think it’s great that developers will be able to produce rich user interfaced applications a lot easier now using Flex, and i hope that it works out great and grows into something big.
I think the main criteria that will make or break it is whether it’s fast or slow, if it’s going to mean minutes and minutes of loading time, then it will certainly fail.
An idea i have is that maybe Macromedia could have all the basic stuff such as the textboxes, buttons, …etc in Flash Player so that all the application would do is return certain tags for the player to interpret and display, instead of making it part of the returning swf. In short, something like the browser, where the load is thrown onto the user’s machine not on the server resulting in bigger files to download.
Yesterday, as i was looking around for any interesting magazines to buy, i came across hi, the Arabic-language American-backed magazine targeted at the Arab youth mainly and Arab brains generally in an effort by the American government to brainwash us and promote the US to us.
Anyway, the first thing that struck me was how cheap it was, it only costs 1 Tunisian Dinar (70 US cents), which kind of makes it the cheapest magazine i know of, but the paper is high quality thick glossy paper, the kind of paper other people usually use for just the cover. It’s also got a good amount of content, so it’s quite a thick magazine.
So i’m thinking that they’re actually losing money making this magazine, and that they never planned on making money out of it, it’s more of a long term investment, in which the final revenue is a generation of brainwashed Arabs.
Anyway, i bought it out of curiosity to know what’s in it and how the content is formulated.
And well, it covers a lot of stuff from music to fashion to sports to technology to anything that would interest their target readers. And in between all that, and in the articles themselves, and at the bottoms of the pages, and in their replies to their readers’ messages, it’s basically a bunch of US promoting messages and ideas making the US sound like a one big happy perfect tender loving country.
The one thing that seems to escape these people’s minds is that nowadays there’s a television or at least a radio in every home, and that by simply turning it on and listening to the news their whole effort will get flushed away by news of the US and it’s tyranny throughout the world.
I think Arab readers should buy the magazine anyway, as it’s dirt cheap and has some nice content, but they should be careful about the messages they’re getting out of it.
In short, here’s my prescription: Read it, then make sure you listen to the news just after finishing it 😛
Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, launched a stinging attack on President George Bush last night, denouncing him as the “greatest threat to life on this planet that we’ve most probably ever seen”.
Now that’s one good way of putting it 😛
You can read the full article here.
Was just reading some articles on useit.com, when i came across one about response times, which is quite interesting.
Anyway, it’s also funny when you see how only a few people consider response times when they’re developping stuff these days.
Here are the 3 important response time limits:
– 0.1 second is about the limit for having the user feel that the system is reacting instantaneously, meaning that no special feedback is necessary except to display the result.
– 1.0 second is about the limit for the user’s flow of thought to stay uninterrupted, even though the user will notice the delay. Normally, no special feedback is necessary during delays of more than 0.1 but less than 1.0 second, but the user does lose the feeling of operating directly on the data.
– 10 seconds is about the limit for keeping the user’s attention focused on the dialogue. For longer delays, users will want to perform other tasks while waiting for the computer to finish, so they should be given feedback indicating when the computer expects to be done. Feedback during the delay is especially important if the response time is likely to be highly variable, since users will then not know what to expect.
So, how’re you doing on those 3 limits ? lol…
You can read more here.
Yesterday as i was googling around for the names of people i know, i stumbled across the website for the Amman Filmmakers Cooperative, and to my amazement, i found a number of the short films were by people i know really well 🙂
I downloaded the films they made and i truly enjoyed them.
Here is a list of the films by the people i know, with a little review and an insight on who the person is 🙂
Books : by Ahmad Humeid
This is about Books@Caf
Well, it seems our upstairs neighbours and us are basically never gonna be friends, lol…
After the satellite dish installation a while back, and the sleepless nights we passed because of their obsession with high volume, it seems they got bored of the dish and got a helicopter pad installed in their balcony instead.
Helicopter pad ??
Well yeah that’s how it sounds like, ALL NIGHT LONG !!!!
I dunno what the hell it is: a helicopter, a bad ass AC, or some hell of an engine, i just know it’s very darn noisy, and it’s been screwing up our sleep since the weekend.
We’re thinking of writing them a letter to ask them to keep it down, but what the hell am i gonna write when i don’t even know what the hell it is that is causing the noise ?
Maybe something like: “Find another place to park your damn helicopter !” or “Don’t bring your noisy mechanical sex toys home with you !”
We went to the Kram Ramadan Fair this last saturday and at the doorway of the fair we found a familiar face to anyone who has ever visited the Kram Fair, we found Habib (i think that’s his name).
Habib is a handicapped artist & painter, who i think gives the best example of how someone can overcome their handicaps and problems and succeed no matter what.
He sits there on his wheelchair, struggling to paint with his feet, pouring all of his feelings and emotions into the canvas lying in front of him, producing visual masterpieces portraying cities, towns and places in Tunisia.
I’ve always been fascinated by him, his strong will, his charisma and his art work.
This past saturday, i decided not to just look up to him in admiration, i decided to try and help him succeed and be part of it all. So i bought one of his paintings, one portraying the beautiful city of Sidi Bou Said (I’ll try to scan it and post it here someday), and i decided to write about him here and urge other people who read this post and who are in Tunisia to go to the Kram Fair and buy another one of his paintings.
It only costs 5 Tunisian Dinars, so it’s nothing to you, but it really means the whole world to him 🙂
So please be generous and kind and make this great guy’s day 🙂
So 15,000 police are deployed in London as part of an unprecedented security operation surrounding U.S. President George W. Bush’s four-day state visit as massive protests are planned.
On 20th Nov, demonstrators even plan to topple a statue of George Bush from a pedestal in Trafalgar Square.
And we’ve all heard about how the US asked for special permission to use mini-guns against the protestors, which are guns that are fired from a tank and can kill dozens of people at a time.
But, come on, isn’t that a bit weird though ? Tanks, Guns, Blocked streets, and a massive security force ?
Aren’t the US & UK supposed to be 2 friendly allied nations who have a very special relationship ?
And aren’t they supposed to be democratic countries, meaning that whatever they do or did must have been by the approval of the people of both countries ?
So, why are the people so mad about the war ? and why are they so against Bush ?
Obviously because they were lied to, and because they were thrown into a war they didn’t want to fight.
Not only that, but these so-called leaders still go on lying to the people, putting more lives in danger, throwing more tax-payers’ money away.
Just like the UK, i think the US people should stand up too. After all, it’s mostly their money and their children who are being thrown away.
In fact, i think that everyone in the world should stand up and “Stop Bush !”.
Because this is not just a US internal affair, it’s far more dangerous.
The US is the one and only power in this world, and the choice of it’s president not only affects the US but the whole world too, and the lives of each and every one of us.
Saw 2 movies this weekend: “Magnolia” & Disney’s “Treasure Planet”.
I’ll just give a quick short review of both.
Magnolia:
I liked the style in which this movie was shot. And it seemed very interesting to me how the story proceeded and developed, and how it switched between the characters, building links between them as it went along, and i was excited waiting for some sort of climax at the end, which is something i didn’t get.
I loved the part when all the characters were singing along to the same song, it’s my favourite moment in it all.
Anyway, now that i think of it, it’s quite a good movie after all. I just wish the story was a bit stronger to back the great direction.
Treasure Planet:
Hmmm, well now i know why this didn’t do that well. It doesn’t have enough of that Disney magic that we all got used to.
The Animation is great as usual, and the blending of 2D with 3D was great, but the story as it had become and the feelings weren’t strong enough to entirely carry the movie.
Anyway, as an animation fan, i liked it anyways, but it still doesn’t rank among my faves.
I think i heard that Disney have created a “Treasure Planet” ride in DisneyWorld, now that would be great, a lot better than the movie i think.
