Month: April 2004

GMail

Yahoo! oops I mean Yippee or whatever other expression of joy 😛 Maybe even Gooooooooogle 😛

I finally got myself a GMail account.

It turns out my wife who uses blogger for her blog has been getting this message inviting her to join GMail for a couple of days whenever she logs in to her blogger account. Anyway as she’s not really interested she just ignored it.
She just told me about it a few minutes ago, and well I jumped on the occasion and created an email account there.
My email address is: meddah[AT]gmail.com.

I still need some time to discover and try all the features it has that I’ve read about here and there on the net, but it looks cool and I like it’s speed (not necessarily in page loading, but in the whole experience) and the fact that we don’t have to go to the server and back upon every click.

GMail lets you use search to find emails you want, so it drops the concept of folders and classification of emails that other providers have.
Maybe the most important and cool feature of GMail is the discussion based approach to email, in which emails are grouped by discussions and a discussion is pushed up in your inbox when you get a new email in it. It changes the way you look at and use email. I think it’ll be great.

I’m also redirecting an email account I have that receives 99.9% SPAM emails and only 0.1% good emails to it to test it’s anti-spam capabilities 😛

I will most probably write about GMail again soon when I test it more to give my opinion and share what I think of it.

Clear Play

A new technology called Clear Play for DVD Players will enable people to play any movie they desire without any worries about censoring any undesired scenes involving sex or violence, drugs, drinking or even bad language.

It costs 70 US Dollars and skips all undesired scenes and mutes undesired savage language.

How nice…
This is an indirect way of turning new hollywood movies into old style silent short films.
Come on, I mean with all the sex, violence and bad language in today’s movies, basically nothing would be left if all that were cut out?!

But what’s interesting is how this will work from a technological point of view.
How will these players recognize these scenes and the language in them?
I don’t believe a player can actually do it efficiently on it’s own. Children will still get a few lifetime shocks every now and then.

I think that for something like this to truly work, DVDs should provide help by using some way of marking the scenes that should be cut out or the language that should be silenced.
This can be as easy as throwing an xml file on the DVD with the scene start and end time marked, and whether it should be skipped or silenced.

Anyway, I’m interested in knowing how they’re doing it.
If anyone has any idea, please share.

[Via AquaCool]

Child Auction

A German woman and a male friend face prosecution for human trafficking after they put the woman’s daughter up for auction on the Internet at a starting price of one euro ($1.18).

A photograph of the 8-year-old child was posted by the man, from the Bavarian town of Traunstein, who later told police he had placed the offer to test the online auction system.

Three people made offers for the child and the bidding price reached 25.50 euros before the item was removed after between three to four hours by the company’s security.

This is just sick.
The thought of a mom auctioning her daughter on the internet is revolting.
What is this world coming to?
Next thing you’ll know we’ll have Gay Marriage! Oh we already do?
Well, whatever!

Outlandish: Walou

A friend of mine at work just let me hear Outlandish’s new song “Walou”, and I have to say: I just love it!

It’s a really cool song, with real nice beats and an infectuous tune.
The style reminds me a bit of Craig David and uptempo R’N’B.

I’ll be trying to get the song myself soon, and am sure I’ll be hearing a lot of it.

I talked about Outlandish before when they released a cover of “Aicha”.
They are a group from Denmark, with roots from Morocco, Pakistan & Honduras.

I wish them the best of luck in their careers, they’re on a great track, I think.

Quote of the Day

“There is no surprise in Sharon’s plans. He at least has remained consistent. The wonder is that George W. Bush should rip up his own “road map,” undo 37 years of American policy, and go along with a plan that leaves the Palestinians no hope for a viable state of their own. It is not only morally wrong; it dooms Palestinians and Israelis to generations more of conflict and endangers America’s entire position in the Middle East. Friends are betrayed and moderates marginalized. Democracy and a better life will not come to the region if the Palestinians are excluded from it.”

H.D.S. Greenway

World Owes Israel’s Sharon a ‘Thank You’

President Bush on Wednesday rejected international condemnation of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and said world leaders owed him a “thank you” for his plans for the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

In “my judgment, the whole world should have said, ‘Thank you, Ariel. Now we have a chance to begin the construction of a peaceful Palestinian state,”‘ Bush added.

“Responsibility is hard. It’s hard to be responsible for promoting freedom and peace when you’re used to something else. If you don’t have the aspirations of the people firmly embedded in your soul, it’s hard to take a gamble for peace,” Bush said.

Like a democratic Iraq, Bush said, he believes “a free Palestinian state will be a major change agent for world peace.”

Hmmm…
George, george, george…
What are we gonna do with you?
At first you were simply dumb, now you’re dumb and your jokes are lame!
So please put a sock in it, will ya!

[More: Reuters]
[Via: Je Blog]

Vanunu: “Inspect Israeli nukes”

Released Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu has called for the country’s Dimona nuclear reactor to be opened for world inspection.

Vanunu, who walked out of the Shikma prison in the Israeli town of Ashkelon on Wednesday, where he was imprisoned for 18 years, said Western leaders such as US President George Bush, Tony Blair, Gerhard Schroeder and Vladimir Putin should “speak up” on Israel’s nuclear secrets.

“Israel doesn’t need nuclear weapons, especially now that all of the Middle East is free from nuclear arms. My message today to all the world is open the Dimona reactor for inspections,” he said.

Vanunu was jailed in 1986, reportedly for treason, after disclosing information to Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper which led analysts to conclude Israel had produced more than 100 nuclear warheads.

On another note, Vanunu reiterated that “I don’t think we need a Jewish state” and added “the Jewish state needs to solve its problems with the Palestinians”.

Hmmm, knock knock IAEA and UN Security Council, anybody home?
Or are you too busy inspecting and sanctioning countries that the US tells you to?

[Source: Al Jazeera]

Environment Friendly Nukes

Concerned for the health of people being killed by nuclear bombs and the well-being of the environment, the EPA has ordered new, less-toxic, rockets to be installed on ICBMs.
So at least, you can be sure that you’ll die healthy and in a clean environment when nukes start flying around.

“In order to comply with EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) regulations, and at a cost of about $5.2 million per ICBM, the rocket motors on 500 Minuteman III missiles will be replaced with new ones. These rockets will emit less toxic chemicals when used.”

“EPA regulations do not apply in foreign countries, so no changes are being made to reduce the harmful environmental effects of the nuclear warheads.”

Whatever!

[via Boing Boing, eclecticism]