November 18, 2005
Links of 18 Nov. 2005
For real-time collaboration look at wiki and blog. Business Week article predicts the ratio of e-waste to legitimate email to drop from 12% to 8%
Google the largest XML database
Posted at 10:39 AM | Comments (0)
November 03, 2005
Dick Cheney I don’t know anymore
New Yorker profile of Scowcroft is now available on-line
I have always contended Bush senior's re-election failure of 1992 was a tragedy for Middle East. Bernard Lewis has wielded too much power over US administration policy over the last 20 years and the following quote from the above article is most revealing:
Scowcroft suggested that the White House was taking the wrong advice, and listening to a severely limited circle. He singled out the Princeton Middle East scholar Bernard Lewis, who was consulted by Vice-President Cheney and others after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. Lewis, Scowcroft said, fed a feeling in the White House that the United States must assert itself. “It’s that idea that we’ve got to hit somebody hard,” Scowcroft said. “And Bernard Lewis says, ‘I believe that one of the things you’ve got to do to Arabs is hit them between the eyes with a big stick. They respect power.’ ” Cheney, in particular, Scowcroft thinks, accepted Lewis’s view of Middle East politics. “The real anomaly in the Administration is Cheney,” Scowcroft said. “I consider Cheney a good friend—I’ve known him for thirty years. But Dick Cheney I don’t know anymore.”
Posted at 11:31 AM | Comments (0)
November 01, 2005
The latest buzz is Ruby on Rails
A few years ago I switched to scripting languages and I haven't looked
back since. I always wondered of why Java has become so popular (did
anybody buy the motto write once run anywhere). I dabbled with Python and TCL and by popular demand I started looking at PHP which I still don't understand why it has also become so in.
Programming problems still plague my life and the search for the next product making
everything easier still a life long goal. So I am going to try Ruby on
Rails and will keep a log on how things are moving in the next couple of
weeks.
Posted at 02:34 PM | Comments (0)
October 21, 2005
Is Flock worthwhile?
I just download Flock. It looks pretty and is easy to update del.icio.us and my blog.
Posted at 11:38 PM | Comments (0)
June 26, 2005
ROI on Google
Bill Burnam has analyzed VC ROI on Google. How does 34000% sound to you?
Posted at 11:20 AM | Comments (0)
June 22, 2005
Interesting article on search results
David Sifry and Tristan Louis have both written interesting articles on the quality of search engine's statistical information. Bottom line After the first 1000 the other thousands and millions results are not available at Google. Link
Posted at 01:41 PM | Comments (0)
Intersting article on search results
David Sifry and Tristan Louis have both written interesting articles on the quality of search engine's statistical information. Bottom line After the first 1000 the other thousands and millions results are not available at Google. Link
Posted at 01:37 PM | Comments (0)
May 21, 2005
George Galloway and falling standards of Washington
Favorite quote
"I know that standards have slipped over the last few years in Washington but for a lawyer you are remarkably cavalier with any idea of justice."
The most entertaining event of past week was the live coverage of George Galloway's testimony in the senate. In the same chamber from where Joe McCarthy harranged the world, Galloway turned the tables around on the senators and called their documents schoolboy howlers. Check the BBC and Political Affairs for quotes. Video excerpts in Quick time format. And the best from the land of freedom where the official Senate website declines to publish the testimony.
Of course all is not rosy. There must be something if your name appears with Charles Pasqua (notorious corrupt French politician) and a bunch of Russian mafia members. Read Christopher Hitchens profile.
Posted at 09:31 AM | Comments (0)
May 10, 2005
Why Firefox?
A friend asked me why don't I use Safari, isn't good enough for browsing. Well Firefox is a reincarnation of Netscape which takes us to the age of Aquarius. The thing is Firefox is more than a browser, with use of extensions it can become a powerful tool for all your web surfing needs.
Continue reading "Why Firefox?"
Posted at 05:19 PM | Comments (1)
Need proof against petty discouragements
The secong time in a year I got stuck with the flying saucer. Several reinstalls later my Powerbook is going back to Apple.
From The riddle of the sands by Erskine Childers
"The main issue was not seriously in question, for I had signed on in the Dulcibella (read Apple Mac for me) for good or ill; but in doing so I had outrun myself, and still wanted an outlook, a mood suited to the enterprise, proof against petty discouragements."
For more see My log book entry
Posted at 11:45 AM | Comments (0)
April 30, 2005
QuickSilver - A new way of interacting with the computer
There is a lot buzz around QuickSilver. I don't know how to best describe what it does, but once installed I can do a search and the system launches an application within its context.
Lets say I am looking for person with an entry in address book, email, itunes, or a recent web search.
By invoking QuickSilver with space-command and typing in my search criteria, QuickSilver then will give me an option to launch an application to see the address, send an email, play an itunes playlist, or go to the previously searched url.
Posted at 12:42 PM | Comments (0)
April 25, 2005
Do we need structure to find our data
I have been using Google mail for the past few months and right know I am seriously thinking of using it as my main mail-box (if interested and want to receive an invitation send me an email at hazigh@gmail.com). I am now using del.icio.us for storing my bookmarks on the web. Also giving a whirl to flickr for storing my pictures. The common thread to all these sites is tagging and search capabilities. They have done away with folders and I can tag to my heart?~@~Ys content my emails, bookmarks, and pictures. Further with del.icio.us and flickr I can share my stuff with family, freinds and why not strangers (as Scott McNealy said you have zero privacy anyway, "Get over it"). With the advent of Desktop search (Google, Copernic and soon to be released Exalead), which I believe is going to be the next must have killer app, I don?~@~Yt have to worry about where on the hard disk the file is being stored. This is the view expounded by Sergey Brin (no structure) of Google, which is in contrast with Tim Berners-lee wanting to wrap everything in a tight structure. As usual we are all stuck in the middle nd Exalead search may be a middle ground solution after all in our daily life with live with implicit structured tags. More on Exalead in a few days.
Posted at 12:37 PM | Comments (0)
April 22, 2005
Showing tags
Showing the number of occurrences of a tag by changing its size is definitely cool. Check out Flicker and O'Reilly
Posted at 12:36 PM | Comments (0)
April 21, 2005
Ben du or Benedikuto XVI
The new pope has chose his name after Benedict XV and St. Benedict. His name is Benoît in France, Benedikt in Germany, Benedetto inn
Italy, Benedykta in Poland, Bento in Portugal, Benedicto in Spain, Benedikuto in Japan, and Ben du in mandarin.
Posted at 12:35 PM | Comments (0)
April 16, 2005
Blog redux
Around 1999 I started a blog similar to Jorn Barger's Robot Wisdom which by the way is back after a long absence. After awhile the pressure of posting something everyday got to me (it was before RSS and feed subscriptions) and stopped. I am starting a new one, let's see how far I am going with this one.
Posted at 09:45 AM | Comments (0)