Category: Web, Tech & Design

So, it seems Microsoft’s Passport is going down big time.

The whole idea didn’t really catch on from the beginning and only Microsoft-owned sites and a handful of close partners jumped on board. And after a bunch of high profile technical glitches and huge privacy concerns it just went sour.

I just read on Anil Dash’s blog that Monster.com sent out an email last week saying that they were discontinuing the option to sign in using Passport.
And it seems that eBay has taken the same step too.

Microsoft itself hasn’t been talking about Passport anymore, and their directory of sites using passport is gone. It’s like they know it’s a lost cause now.

Oh well, I’m sure Passport will still be around for things like msn messenger and other basic stuff, but gone are the days when it was hailed as the big web authentication service, our passport online.

So, I’ve got 6 Gmail invites to give away, and who better to give them to than you guys here 🙂

So, if you’re interested in getting a fast and cool 1GB email account, just leave me a comment here with the email address you want me to send the invitation to.

If your comment is lucky enough to be among the first 6, you’ll receive your Gmail invite asap.

A virus purporting to show images of Osama bin Laden’s suicide popped up on the Internet on Friday, designed to entice recipients to open a file that unleashes malicious software code, security experts said.

The virus was attached to a message that was posted on over 30,000 Usenet newsgroups and is not being spread via e-mail yet.

The fake bin Laden suicide file, when opened, unleashes a Trojan horse that makes it possible for attackers to take over infected personal computers running Microsoft’s Windows operating system.

[Source: Wired]

After being a loyal SharpReader user for quite a while now and using it as my default feed reader, yesterday I stumbled across another one called RSS Bandit.

I installed it, ran it, and loved it. In only a few seconds it lured me in and it became my default feed reader.

It’s really a neat piece of software.

It’s written in C# too, and it’s open source.
I’ve downloaded the source code and am thinking of doing some customization in it if I actually find time to, mainly in the looks because the rest is going fine.
Anyway, if I do get around to it, maybe I’ll make it available for you guys to download as the official Subzero Blue Feed Reader 😛

Update (29/07/04):
I’ve switched back to SharpReader. It’s simpler, lighter and well I just got used to it 😛

So Google have acquired Picasa, the digital photo software maker, and now they’re offering their product for free.

I just downloaded it and man does this look like some sweet piece of software to import, organize, edit and do loads of cool stuff with your photos in.
It’s really cool and a must for everyone.

Check it out here.

Don’t you just love Google more and more with every move they make.

I’ve known Maktoob ever since they were first born into this world as a little startup that offered a heavy java applet based free arabic email service out of a villa near the 2nd circle in Amman / Jordan.

As the Internet boom reached the Arab world, Maktoob grew and they started venturing into other fields slowly but steadily unlike others.

They started by growing their site into a portal and creating a number of other big services inlcuding an auctions site Mazad Maktoob which was very interesting and maybe the only arab auctions site that worked.

They later launched CashU a prepaid Internet shopping cards service which did really well and made the internet more usable and international services more accessible for the everyday person.

Anyway, after that, I kind of lost track of what they were doing and where they got to in their business.

So today, I thought I’d check them out and see whatever happened to them.

It seems they’re still advancing at the same steady pace. Their email service now offers 1GB of email space, Mazad Maktoob is still going on quite well, they’ve launched a match-making site called Mabrook and they have a bouquet of other smaller but interesting services.

I’m not sure about how financially successful they are, but they’ve managed to keep the company going this long.

This post is not an advertisement for Maktoob and I’m certainly not getting paid for it, although I wish I could be 😛
I just thought it would be interesting to pick a web company every now and then and trace it’s steps and how successful or unsuccessful it has been.

If you have a web startup or company you would like me to write about and you’re willing to pay, then just let me know 😉

So the long-awaited PHP5 is finally out. I can’t wait to play around with this baby when I find time for it.

Some of the key features of PHP 5 include:

• A better Zend Engine II
• Better XML support focused around the excellent libxml2 library.
• SimpleXML extension for easily accessing and manipulating XML as PHP objects.
• A brand new built-in SOAP extension for interoperability with Web Services.
• SQLite has been bundled with PHP. (After all MySQL sold out and went commercial on them)
• Streams have been greatly improved, including the ability to access low-level socket operations on streams.

Obviously, like all other programming languages, PHP is moving more and more towards the whole web services model and making it easier to use PHP for such stuff.

[More: PHP.net]

Now if this doesn’t make you want an iPod and a BMW even more, I don’t know what can 😛

Apple and BMW have developed an integrated adapter that allows people to plugin their iPods and control them through the existing car audio system and multi-function steering wheel, giving you access to your whole library of mp3s stored on your iPod while you’re driving your cool BMW.

Now, this is beautiful…

Check out the site: iPod Your BMW.

Microsoft announced that it will boost storage limits in its Hotmail Web e-mail service from 2 megabytes to 250MB and its paid e-mail service, which costs $19.95 a year, from 10MB to 2 gigabytes. The changes will begin in early July.

Another thank you to Google for shaking up the free webmail market.

Just came across a post on Why You Should Dump Internet Explorer.

The main reasons stated are the security problems IE has and it’s non-compliancy with web standards. And I totally agree with those reasons.

But I would also like to add slow speed and lack of new features as problems I have with IE.

Tabbed browsing, fast page loading, popup blocking, skinning, extensions and more. These are all things that are very necessary in a modern browser.
IE simply doesn’t provide that.

IE is great for developers who want to get something working and who want to have extra possibilities that other browsers don’t provide. I used to love IE for that when I was in development.
But as a user, IE turns me off now. And I only use it when I really have to (Windows Update, certain websites, …etc).

My main browsers these days are: Opera and Firefox, with Opera dominating at work and Firefox dominating at home.

Outlook still rules as my email application though. There still is nothing out there yet that makes me want to change.