Muslims Boycotting Danish Products Over Offensive Cartoons Showing Prophet Mohammed (Peace Been Upon Him)
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Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador to Denmark last week in protest of the Danish government's position on the publication of 12 caricatures of the Muslim prophet published in a Danish newspaper. Also Libya said yesterday it had decided to shut down its embassy in Denmark to protest against the Danish government’s silence about newspaper cartoons offensive to Islam. Egypt as well is considering recalling its Copenhagen envoy, Danish media quoted Egypt's ambassador for saying.
The 12 cartoons were published by Jyllands-Posten in September. One showed him wearing a turban shaped as a bomb.
Denmark's Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has refused to apologise, defending the right of free speech and saying he could not influence the media, but he condemned attempts "to demonise people because of religious beliefs".
Many ordinary Saudis have started boycotting Danish products and across the Gulf. Several supermarkets pulled Scandinavian foods off the shelves after consumers complained. In UAE, all the co-ops supermarkets started yesterday boycotting 25 Danish products.
It is so outrageous to see some people so disrespectful to others' beliefs and religions. What kind of freedom is it to show the prophet of Islam and mankind in such a shameful way? This is only a sign of disrespect, dishonor and lack of manners. And not apologizing for this huge crime is even a bigger crime. I say the Denmark government deserved this huge and justified reaction from the Muslim and Arab world.
EMC Symmetrix DMX-3: World's First Petabyte Storage System
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Thursday January 26th, 2006: EMC announced that it became the first company to launch a storage array that will hold a full petabyte of data, EMC Symmetrix DMX-3, easily the largest array that EMC manufactures.
The Symmetrix DMX-3 feature a new 500GB drive which means that 2,400 drives must be assembled to get to a petabyte of total capacity. The new, entry-level version of the DMX-3 only requires two cabinets and 96 drives for its 480 TB of capacity, but even so will cost a cool $250,000 (£140,000). This suggests that a fully-packed, nine-cabinet DMX-3 (the picture above) boasting a petabyte of storage could cost up to $4 million!
Maktoob.com has launched a new website, souq.com, to provide a medium for private sales in the region. The site is designed to allow buyers and sellers to deal without having to to go to international auction sites like eBay.
I truly wish the best of luck to this new online auction. I might try it to sell something just for the sake of experiencing it. I've been using eBay for a while and I can say it doesn't work well for businesses in the Middle East.
At present, the site is only available to users in the UAE and Jordan. However, the firm has plans to expand further. “In the UAE we see ourselves growing extremely fast and our next target is Saudi Arabia”, said Yasir Khan, UAE country manager of Souq.com.
Garmin Releases MapSource City Navigator™ Middle East v3
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I loved v2 and I found it very useful/ I've been waiting for the new version of Garmin MapSource City Navigator Middle East for a very long time. The level of detail in the map of UAE was acceptable, but needs constant update since the country is developing very rapidly. I was so excited to find out that version 3 is finally released ... unfortunately I got disappointed for 2 reasons:
The first reason is that the UAE maps are not updated much. For example, I was looking for a new bridge built in Abu Dhabi, but I couldn't find it in the new version. According to Garmin website, the special about v3 is that it contains more updates on the map of Saudi Arabia ... I think that's about it.
The second reason is the high price! The retail price is ($549.99)!!! I currently own the v2 of the CNME, and I was hoping to purchase only the update CD to upgrade to v3. Looks like Garmin got so greedy and offered only the full version for sale.
Version 3 features include:
Now with expanded coverage of Saudi Arabia
Updated points of interest such as: food and drink, lodging, border crossings, petrol stations, hospitals and more.
Contains detailed maps of select cities and towns in the Middle East — with this purchase, you'll have access to the entire CD-ROM coverage
Contains motorways, national and regional thoroughfares and local roads
Contains turn restrictions and speed categories
Will automatically create point-to-point routes in MapSource and on your compatible Garmin GPS
Update (June 20th, 2006): I just found out that Garmin is offering an update CD for this new version for (US $250) ... still too much!
LiTraCon™ offers the phenomena of light transmitting concrete in form of a widely applicable new building material. LiTraCon™ is a combiantion of optical fibres and fine concrete and can be produced as prefabricated building blocks and panels. Because of their small size the fibres blend into concrete becoming a component of the material like small pieces of aggregate. In this manner, the result is not only having two materials - glass in concrete - mixed, but a third, new material which is homogeneous in its inner structure and on its main surfaces as well.
The glass fibres lead light by points between the two sides. Because of their parallel position the light-information on the brighter side of such a wall appears unchanged on the darker side. Propably the most interesting form of this phenomenon is the sharp display of shadows on the opposing side of the wall. Moreover, the colour of the light remains the same too.
LiTraCon™ was invented by Hungarian architect Áron Losonczi in 2001. “In theory, a wall structure built out of the light-transmitting concrete can be a couple of meters thick as the fibers work without any loss in light up to 20 m,” explained Losonczi. “Load-bearing structures can also be built from the blocks as glass fibers do not have a negative effect on the well-known high compressive strength of concrete. The blocks can be produced in various sizes with embedded heat isolation too.”
The smallest animal with a backbone known to science, a fish from the carp family, has been discovered in the peat swamps of Indonesia. Females grow no bigger than 7.9mm (0.31in) and the male measures up to 10.3mm.
Biologists discovered the fish during an expedition to explore remote forest swamps on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, where the peat water is a hundred times more acidic than rainwater.
Scientists had thought that little if anything could survive in such peat swamps but have been astonished to discover several species of small fish including the latest specimen, named Paedocypris progenetica.
Sperm Whale Ambergris Worth More Than Gold ... Literally!
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Leon Wright and his wife took home a 14.75kg lump of ambergris, found in the innards of sperm whales and used in perfumes after it has been vomited up. Sought after because of its rarity, ambergris can float on the ocean for years before washing ashore. Worth up to (US $20 per gram), Mr Wright's find on a South Australian beach could net his family US$295,000 (£165,300).
Mythologised for thousands of years, ambergris has been referred to as "floating gold" by scientists and scavengers who long for a windfall amid the surf.
Initially, ambergris is a soft, foul-smelling waste matter that floats on the ocean. But years of exposure to the sun and the salt water of the ocean transform the waste into a smooth, exotic lump of compact rock that boasts a waxy feel and a sweet, alluring smell.
The current value for gold is (US $17.93 per gram).
Internet search giant Google Inc. will block politically sensitive terms on its new China site, bowing to conditions set by Beijing in return for access to the world's number-two Internet market.
The voluntary concessions laid out yesterday by Google, which is launching a China-based search site as it officially enters the market, would parallel similar self-censorship already practiced there by most multinationals and domestic players.
Homegrown giants like Sohu.com Inc. and Baidu.com Inc., along with China sites operated by Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft , all routinely block searches on politically sensitive terms such as the Falun Gong spiritual movement and Taiwan independence.
"In order to operate from China, we have removed some content from the search results available on Google.cn in response to local law, regulation or policy," Andrew McLaughlin, Google's senior policy counsel, said in a statement.
Many would not agree with me when I say that I support Google in this case 100%! Internet search should follow countries' local laws, regulations and policies. I wish other countries have the same will and firmness in demanding that Google should follow their local laws. Some countries don't like porn sites to appear in the search results of their citizens ... I don't see why shouldn't Google comply with some governments' demands of censoring such results. What do you think?
The popular Swiss Army penknife, which some would say has attained almost cult status, is now available with USB stick in the rubyRED and retroALOX versions with a 2 GB storage capacity. This is in addition to the normal tools such as scissors, knife, nail file with screw driver and, in the rubyRED version, also LED light and ballpoint pen. For ease of handling and when traveling by air, the USB storage device can simply be detached.
The new 2GB version is available from February. The recommended retail price including VAT is € 192.00 for the rubyRED and € 186.00 for the retroALOX.
Now this is what I call a true anti-smoking campaign! Thanks to the Noisy American, I just found out about what I believe is the best and most effective way to warn smokers and those who think about trying smoking about the danger of those cigarettes.
It is not enough to make warnings in words ... pictures can say better than 1000s of words. The pictures above are taken for cigarette packs selling in Thailand and Singapore. This is so brave from the Thai & Singaporean governments and I wish other world countries will follow ... and I'm talking about the pictures warnings.
Cybernet unveiled its new space-saving PC, the ZPC-9000 at the 2006 CES. The ZPC-9000 is actually just keyboard-sized - it's that compact.
Processors up to Pentium 4 HT 3.2 GHz and 2GB of DDR 400MHz memory are offered. You also get Gigabit LAN, a 7-in-1 card reader (a must these days), 2 button touchpad which looks decent and a CD-RW/DVD drive.
The entire PC is fit inside a 104-key keyboard. It not only saves space, but also saves power utilizing only 120W power supply (as compared to 240-300W of desktops). Thanks to the removable hard drive and locking mechanism, you enjoy benefits of added security as well.
It was a nice experiment indeed and I'm still thinking about switching to WordPress. WordPress is a free publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. After more than a year of working with (Blogger), I just got tired of the lack of features and service they offer. I decided to try something else. I heard so much about WordPress ... so why don't I give it a try? The thing that surprised me is that they made a downloadable package of WordPress that you can download and install very easily in your host server. To run WordPress your host just needs a couple of things:
They recommend Apache or Litespeed as the most robust and featureful server for running WordPress, but any server that supports PHP and MySQL will do.
By installing WordPress in your server, all your comments and blogs are saved in your server and everything can be done without the need to go back to WordPress site.
Some of the special features I found interesting in WordPress is the ability to categorize your blogs, the ability to categorize your blog users to (Administrators, Editors, Contributors, Authors, & Subscribers). Also there are so many designed themes you can choose from for your blog. You can find additional themes for your site in the WordPress theme directory. With WordPress you can manage your links and categorize them and even rate them! And if a program or web site you use allows you to export your links or subscriptions as OPML you may import them easily to WordPress. You have more management and search controls on your blog comments.
Available in WordPress also is the Plugin Management. Plugins extend and expand the functionality of WordPress. Once a plugin is installed, you may activate it or deactivate it. You can find additional plugins for your site in the WordPress plugin directory.
In my opinion, the best feature in WordPress is the search feature. You can search your blogs so fast and with amazing accurate results. It is definitely much better than (Blogger) search for sure.
Finally if you have posts or comments in another system WordPress can import them into your current blog. Currently you can import from (Blogger), (Movable Type Blog), (RSS feed), & (Textpattern Blog).
Click at the link above to see how Fahad Inc. blog looks like in WordPress.
Test Flights For World Record Landing Attempt: Wingsuit: Minus Parachute!
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Pioneer B.A.S.E. jumper Jeb Corliss and Go Fast!® - sponsored test pilot Luigi Cani, have paved the way for a world record landing attempt of a wing-suit—minus a parachute. Jeb and Luigi teamed up to gauge speeds and gather data to safely land Jeb’s wing-suit. Testing was critical, as no one has ever survived a landing attempt without a parachute. Jeb flew in free fall donning a parachute alongside Luigi, who was at the controls of the world’s smallest and fastest parachute—known as the ICARUS VX-39. The two were able to gather data using (Garmin GPSMAP 60CS) attached to Luigi that tracked exact forward speeds, exact fall rate and glide angles needed for a safe landing.
After two days of test piloting, Jeb Corliss said landing the wing-suit was possible as early as next year. “We found there is a definite and reasonable speed for a landing attempt sometime next summer. We’re now developing four different types of technologies to land safely—it’s very important to land with zero injuries,” said Corliss after analyzing data from the test flight.
Belkin CableFree USB Hub Enables Instant Wireless Connectivity of USB Devices
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Belkin announces its new CableFree USB Hub, the industry’s first USB Hub that does not require a cable to connect to the computer. This Hub allows people to place their laptop anywhere in the room while still maintaining wireless access to their USB devices, such as printers, scanners, hard drives, and MP3 players. This is the first UWB-enabled product to be introduced in the U.S. market. The CableFree USB Hub’s wireless functionality is enabled by Freescale Semiconductor’s Ultra-Wideband technology.
Beginning in early spring 2006, Belkin will offer a four-port hub that will enable immediate high-speed wireless connectivity for any USB device without requiring software. The CableFree USB Hub gives desktop computer users the freedom to place their USB devices anywhere in the room without running long cables. Laptop users gain the freedom to roam wirelessly with their laptop around the room while still maintaining access to their stationary USB devices.
The simple and effective tool for blocking access to a computers USB port!
With this neat little device, system administrators can physically prevent users from connecting Pen Drives, MP3 Players and other USB Mass Storage Devices to their computers to copy data, introduce viruses etc.
The USB Port Lock is made up of a combined ‘key’ and ‘lock’ assembly which plugs into the USB port. To use, simply plug the ‘keylock’ into the port and release the latch - the lock remains in place! Plug the key back into the lock to remove. Easy!
NASA's New Horizons: First Mission To Pluto Lifts Off
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NASA's New Horizons spacecraft on its way to Pluto
Spacecraft separation! The Atlas V launch vehicle has done its job, placing the New Horizons spacecraft on a journey to the edge of the solar system. Liftoff occurred at 2:00:00 p.m. EST (26 minutes ago) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. New Horizons is now headed for a distant rendezvous with the mysterious planet Pluto almost a decade from now.
The third time was the charm for New Horizons. Two consecutive launch attempts earlier in the week were foiled by high winds at the launch site and a power outage at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., which operates the spacecraft now that the mission is underway.
As the first spacecraft to visit Pluto and its moon Charon, New Horizons looks to unlock one of the solar system's last, great planetary secrets. After launch aboard an Atlas V, the New Horizons spacecraft will cross the entire span of the solar system and conduct flyby studies of Pluto and its moon, Charon, in 2015. The seven science instruments on the piano-sized probe will shed light on the bodies' surface properties, geology, interior makeup and atmospheres.
The first 13 months of the mission include spacecraft and instrument checkouts, instrument calibrations and trajectory correction maneuvers. There will also be rehearsals for an encounter with Jupiter in spring 2007, in which the giant planet will provide a slingshot-like gravity boost that could save New Horizons up to three years of flight time. This encounter will be followed by an approximately 8-year interplanetary cruise to Pluto.
Feds After Google Search Records In Porn Probe
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The Bush administration, seeking to revive an online pornography law struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court, has subpoenaed Google Inc. for details on what its users have been looking for through its popular search engine.
Google has refused to comply with the subpoena, issued last year, for a broad range of material from its databases, including a request for 1 million random Web addresses and records of all Google searches from any one-week period, lawyers for the U.S. Justice Department said in papers filed yesterday in federal court in San Jose.
The government contends it needs the data to determine how often pornography shows up in online searches as part of an effort to revive an Internet child protection law that was struck down two years ago by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Mountain View-based company said it opposes releasing the information because it would violate the privacy rights of its users and would reveal company trade secrets.
The CoolIT USB Beverage Chiller is the only way to keep your drink cold while you’re at your computer. And it looks cool on any desktop!
The next must-have computer accessory is here. With the USB Beverage Chiller at your side, you can keep your beverage chilled and stay at your computer longer.
Just seconds after plugging the chiller into your computer’s USB port (no external outlet needed), the coldplate chills to 45 degrees Fahrenheit, the perfect temperature for keeping your beverage chilled.
Plugs into your computer’s USB port
Coldplate chills to 45˚F
Keeps your beverage cold
Is this a "Must Have" PC accessory or what? What do you think?
