anyone?

Anyone remembers this one?

OLPC

I know many won't care about such a project. But still it's a good idea. Our aim is to give it a try early 2008 to raise funds for the project. The project is aimed in providing One Laptop Per Child between 6 and 14 in one atoll (for a start). Here is a previous post on the same topic.


It might sound crazy and unrealistic, but we don't see a harm in trying. Aim of this post is to get anyone who is interested on-board the project.

Maldives Slip dress

Thats the name they gave that dress. What more to say?

from www.whatcelebswear.com

Great graphics don't make great games

I recently got the Wii Sports for the Nintendo Wii. I never thought the experience will be this good, it an amazing game.

Wii Sports offers five distinct sports experiences, each using the Wii Remote controller to provide a natural, intuitive and realistic feel. To play a Wii Sports game, all you need to do is pick up a controller and get ready for the pitch, serve or that right hook.

There is a collection of sports games includes golf, boxing, tennis, baseball and bowling. Best part is its physical activity. I enjoy tennis and boxing the most. I think its kinda exercise as well :) and its a fun game to play with the family, my youngest sister is my biggest competition.

The little guys on the screen don't even have arms. But it's hilarious, and it shows off the power of the motion-sensitive Wii controller to put you right in the game, sweating and yelling and trying crazy spins and lunges and angles.

One thing I realized was for console games graphics is not the key, its the playability and the gamer experience that counts. At least that applies for me. Its no surprise that Wii Sports has won a lot of attention and has been considered one of the best games of the year.



Maybe I like Wii better cos I am not really good with pressing buttons as fast as you could to win a game. Wii really provides the gamer a totally different user experience.

Future of interconnectivity?

We all take it for granted that we are all connected. We don't care how, but when things go wrong we really get frustrated. Example if our internet gets slow, the voice quality drops, etc. I guess the magic word here is interconnectivity. Till now we have different ways for different services for interconnectivity. Example your internet goes through something else, your voice on different channels and maybe stuff like MMS/GPRS (GRX interconnect which lets you interchange MMS and enable GPRS roaming, maybe even IM) on others. So its really not really the ideal way if you look at the whole things. On top of all this some connectivities are just exclusive to Mobile Network Operators, etc thus restricting openness into these networks.

If we look at the whole thing and apply the case to todays world, its obvious IP is the solution. Why not over conventional IP via the internet? Well I guess the problem here is quality of service. Initially the internet was not designed to be commercial; it was just designed to be used by US defense department and a few universities. This resulted in not so ideal design. Some might disagree with me on this, but thats the reality. Some times the quality of the internet we experience is really not what we are promised by the ISP's and what we pay for. This has been kinda accepted by almost everyone, without complains.

IP based services on the mobiles is the future. No question about it. It can deliver voice, images , rich content to innovative messaging solutions. To enable all this while ensuring quality of service and which is commercially feasible and manageable IP Interconnectivity the the proposed solution. IPI is the new proposed solution by worlds GSM association. This is presently at a development and a trial level. A few carriers and operators are active in making this a reality. Few trial runs have already been conducted since OCT 2007. Mostly its just voice which is being currently being trailed on and from what I was presented today, its really promising. The IPI will carry everything and anything. The beauty of it is IPI will ensure that the needed quality of service is maintained between each IPX, meaning it will enable end to end QoS for all IP Services enabling consistent and predictable service delivery between end customers. IPI is designed to maintain different levels of QoS for different services. Example services like SMS, emails, etc can be at a different QoS level and other more demanding services like Voice, Video and other content can be maintained at other higher levels. This promised the end customers the expected quality of service ensuring a rich user experience.

On top of the user experience, there are other many advantages to the operators. Such as a more secure network, a sustainable commercial model, universal interoperability (not just limiting the network to MNO's, but even ISP's and ASP's can connect in) and other advantages like being highly efficient and scalable. Its just at the infant stage as of today but what I can tell you is this is the future, this is what will enable us to go for the real "eat all you can" model. And yeah it was also interesting for me to find out that on IPI I guess voice is delivered via SIP-I (after all its IP based anyway). So again, its almost clear that IPI will replace GRX, or rather its gonna enhance the current GRX over IPI. The other biggest advantage I see is that if I am not mistaken, it makes things so simpler for interconnectivity where once you are connected to one IPX you are connected to the all the rest of the operators who are connected to that IPX.

Even though I am not into switching, its kinda interesting to follow up on this which gives you a better idea on where the industry is heading and forecast somethings.

Club Penguin

A few months back my son asked me if I can buy him membership for a game portal called club penguin, I was kinda shocked cos; he was just 7 and here here is asking me to purchase an online membership. I mean when we were seven what were we doing? Anyway after about 3 months; I find him and my youngest sister and their cousin gang really into this game.



What I knew or kinda figured out that it was flash based and little penguin's are in the game. Its like a small virtual world; where they can have their own pets; own igloo and even earn money by playing games (score points) and buy stuff for the igloo and bla bla. Was a cool thing for the kids. To my surprise I find that this company now has even been bought over by Disney for $700 Million. Amazing. Seems they have have 700,000 paid subscribers (I paid $29.95 for six months for my son as well, and I am sure I'd have to renew that too).

That Apple

Ok, here is a controversial story of Adam and Eve. I am not interested in the religious aspect of it at this moment. What I would like to point out is that, we are talking of heaven here; I mean if we refer to the time before they ate that apple. So there was it; "Heaven", what more can I tell you. Everything you needed was there; or at least it should be.... but Eve; she had to greed for this "apple" (or the forbidden fruit). I don't understand it. Just this apple. Again we are talking about heaven and the human population of just 2; meaning they had the whole place for themselves as well. :) However Eve was not happy, she somehow had to convince Adam to bring her this fruit and eat it. Thats it. The rest is up to you to conclude and apply.

Now don't plan to kill me, I am just thinking out loud. One thing, which comes to my mind is they were in heaven and yet they did break rules or they wanted more? So for all the people who work so hard to go to paradise, I hope the same won't happen to them. ooops. After all, still we are talking about humans here.

How to add a facebook badge to your blog

Simple thingy but thought I'd make a post on it. Firstly this assumes you have a facebook account and have a blog .

A badge is a customizable clip of your Facebook profile that you can share on other web sites like blogs, personal web pages, or forums. You can choose what information to show on your badge. The badge will be automatically updated and visible to anyone you want, even non-Facebook users.

So moving on; easiest way is log in to your facebook account and go to your profile scroll down and just click on the "Create a Profile Badge". On this page, select the "Create Badge" option or just visit http://www.facebook.com/editbadge.php . Next Create a VERTICAL, JAVASCRIPT format badge and click SAVE.

Once you get to the next page copy the outputted HTML code and go to your blogger template. Just append the code into your template. Thats all.

Leopard

The new Mac OS X, Leopard is almost here. Just a few more hours to go. Already the current OS X version is amazing, with the new OS I am sure it will give generate more hype for Mac's.


Its good for Microsoft too, since they have another OS to copy the features and feel from. So its a good news for everyone, even the windows users.

Dialog Introduces MMS Morphing

MMS is boring, people hardly use it. However it can be used as a very good tool for value added services. Examples like mobile emails, etc. Recently Dialog GSM of SriLanka has introduced another value added service called MMS Morphing in partnership with ORG Telecom.

Dialog also introduced Color SMS along with the new service.

Jazz the Bulbul

I usually don't comment on music; but when I hear something good I appreciate it. I don't find the Maldivian singers good (least not most of them), but this song by Fathimath Lubaina Rasheed is too good to be ignored. The tribute to the song "Bulbul ehee dheynuhey" sung in a jazz feel is a good start to Maldivian Jazz. I love jazz and always wondered when Maldivians will come up with good jazz, this song did make me happy.

Wii want to play!

Its almost 22 years after (1985) I had my very first Nintendo game console. It was a Nintendo NES, I loved the games Super Mario and contra. They were my favorites back then. Geee! and today; again I've got down another Nintendo, the difference is last Nintendo I had was given to me by my dad, this I got it for my son.

When I heard about the new Nintendo Wii, I got really excited from the day one. Unlike most I am not a very big fan of Play Stations. Most would say and did say, why not a PS3? Well I think a Wii is much better; thats my view. Its more creative and innovative; the games are much exciting and its value for money. Sure PS3 may have better graphics and superior hardware; but come on, I personally don't care much about Blu-Ray so Why should I spend THREE TIMES AS MUCH on the PS3?. I want something completely different and fun to play. Sure Sony has implemented the idea of the new Nintendo controller but I guess the experience we have with Wii can't just be copied. But thats yet to be seen for me. I might give it a try too. Its been really long since I've tried console games; but I guess as time allows I'd give it another shot (damn! I was never good with games).

GSM Mobile Watch Phone

The concept of Mobile Watch Phone was around for long and even recently we have seen a few as well. Like the M300 and M500. They were really impressive products but this new one is amazing.

The M600 or the IMOBILE's Flying C1000 is a tiny phone with a touchscreen, Bluetooth support, 60MB of RAM, a video / audio player, a mini USB jack.


Here is the specs a supplier sent me

Modes: GSM 900/1800/1900
Net weight: 35 g
Dimensions: 2.3"*1.80"*0.65"(61mm*43mm*17.1mm)
Battery: Li-ion battery 450mAh
Standby : 100--130 H (Depends on local network)
Talk: 2-3 H (Depends on local network)
Phone Type: Watch mobile phone
Display: 1.3" Touch screen
Support :Bluetooth,mp3,midi,wav,wma
Languages: English, Chinese
Ringtone: MP3, 64 Polyphonic tone MIDI
Support: SMS/MMS
Main function: WAP, GPRS, MP3/MP4/Multimedia
Other Applications: Alarm,Stop Watch,Calendar and Games
Color: White and black

You can use the bluetooth headset so it won't be odd for others when u talk to your watch. Holy geekiness; I need this. Best part is its cheap too. Only about USD 300 to Male'

ok, thats not it. If that was cool. Check this one out.


I have not got details much and the price, but here is the specs.

Brand Name : Hyundai
Model No : W100
Network : Tri Band (GSM850/1800/1900) or 900/1800/1900GSM/GPRS
Weight : 50g
Colours : White, Black with Silicon Strap
Talk Time : 3.5 hours
Standby Time : 80 hours
Display Type : TFT, 1.33" color touch-screen
Display Size : 128 x 160 pixels
Camera : 2.0 Megapixels, VGA Camera
Ringtones : MP3/AAC
Messaging : SMS/EMS/MMS/WAP
Others : Support MP4, Video Play and Recording Memory: up to 1GB Micro-SD Card Slot Bluetooth 1.2.1 (A2DP) Web Cam Function USB: Data Transfer and Recharging Micro SD Card Reader

hmmmmm!

my music, my taste!

nop, not CRBT. Presently its last.fm for me. Its the source of music for me now.

Using a unique music recommendation system known as "Audioscrobbler", Last.fm builds a detailed profile of each user's musical taste by recording details of all the songs the user listens to, either on the streamed radio stations or on the user's computer or portable music device. This information is transferred to Last.fm's database ("Scrobbled") via a plugin installed into the user's music player. The profile data is displayed on a personal web page. The site offers numerous social networking features and can recommend and play artists similar to the user's favourites.

A History making IDD rate

1.99 MRf, for any country; any time. This is the cheapest IDD rates ever promoted in the Maldives. Point being that compatition has really made things better for the people. Fair compatition will still make things even much better, not just in the telecoms field but any.

iPhone fever

Seems everyone is after an iPhone these days. Some got em already; some dream about it and others are desperate to own one. ebay is the place to get em I guess. Its confirmed that some people even have spend 15,000 MRf for an iPhone too. I guess a reasonable price will be 6500 for a 4gb and around 8,000 for a 8gb at present. Price will drop for sure.

Its become so popular that there are even iPhone closes now. Like from China, the CECT P168. The CECT P168 looks really like the iPhone, even the wallpaper has been copied. The CECT P168 has a 3.5-inch QVGA LCD touchscreen, a 2 Megapixel camera (actual resolution: 1.3 Megapixel). It has integrated music player, video player, dictionary.


The CECT P168 has two SIM card slot, unfortunately you can’t use the two SIMs at the same time but have to switch between them.



And this is damn cheap!!!

work off work

The momentum is on. Been really occupied with work lately. Had only almost only two weeks to launch new products for the Ramazaan, which included coming up with ideas and making them a reality. Anyway; it was good, managed to get 3 services up for the Ramazan. I never thought I could manage them in such a short time and get the teams to develop and get the needed communication done. The good news for me is, its all done locally and by just a handful of guys.

Now what I need is to find some time to get back to my own development works. Its been too long since I've worked on any coding. I really want to experimenting with Ruby on Rails, but I guess I have not spend enough time to get anything real done. Manage to get a small setup done at home to work on. Applied for Focus Infocom for Internet and still counting, almost 2 weeks now and no connection still. Presently I am using GPRS/EGDE/UMTS at home, which is good. I get incredible speeds, but then I its too expensive to be used as a 24/7 thingy. I think moving to male' was a good move :)

Blog revamp

Just removed the blog feeds function. Wanna go back to the old style of blogging which I enjoyed a few years back. Kinda want this blog to be more a personal log like thingy.

Been away from blogging since I've been too busy lately with work and other stuff. There are new stuff that I am experimenting around with wanna make logs of them here as I get time.

Moved back to male' after almost 2 years, so hope I can be more social and can take up new projects outside normal office work.

What do we get?

We have been debating and fighting over political issues; like what kinda of system we will have, the injustice, etc. Hardly we talk about the social benefits we the people should have and get. Hardly this question is ever asked by anyone or answered. Mostly its just "Golhaaboa". All focus is given on that word.

I think now it might be the right time for one to question things like social welfare and other related issues. Starting from things like how the state taxes the people, be it a flat tax, regressive tax or a progressive tax system, and should the higher earners be taxed to a greater extent? The amount of taxation is also crucial, as lower tax rates can be more business friendly, generating jobs and reducing unemployment, whereas higher taxes can be used to fund public services, state pensions and unemployment benefits.

Other key issues like how the state implements benefits for the unemployed, pensions, maternity leave and disabilities. Other issues like should services such as health care can be almost entirely state funded at one extreme, private insurance-based on the other, or somewhere in between? Another element can be public transport and education. I guess education is a key element which needs real attention.

One of the great challenges of sustainable development is to combine society's desires for economic prosperity and social security. For decades economists and politicians have debated how to reconcile the undoubted power of markets with the reassuring protections of social insurance. Presently we the Maldivians hardly demand anything from the governments till today social benefits provided by the state is seen something more like "sarukaaruge haasa inaayah" or "raees ge hey yofulhukan". Question is will it remain the same; even after the so called political reforms. What will the people gain after all these flights and struggle? At the end will all the benefits end up in bank accounts of the parliamentarians or the president and a few privileged, like it has been.

I feel these are not questions that should be left out or ignored saying I don't want to be political, etc. These are basic rights of everyone to know about them and to have those rights.

4th August 2007

My conclusion from the event on 4th August 2007 is simply 'NO hope'. I waited there for long with a friend; after the end of the saga. I talked to a lot of people there; friends and just fellow country men. I realized that only about 5% of the people I talked to cared about what system we will have in Maldives. I feel this is mainly because they do not have the information on the effects such a system will have on them and the future of their children.

Everyone knew the names of the 'Nizaams' (Systems). Most very strongly knew the system they were standing up for. The no.1 reason on both sides was the party which the individual supports; supports a particular system or just standing up against the system which the other party supports. Some has very clearly stated this. I can fully understand their arguments on one aspect but I wonder; if they are really doing the right thing? We can't really blame the individuals on these views. We have not had a very good or any kinda proper political system to date and people are not aware of these or educated on these issues. Every one talks political; go to a caffe or even inside homes; people talk about the injustice, corruptions and other issues; but hardly people talk about what we need as far as a positive change is concerned. The solution I feel is not electing a particular party; or over throwing another. I agree it matters to certain level; but there are other more important priorities first; like implementing a system; which reduces corruption, dictatorship and what will more likely work in Maldives where people will have a better life as humans.

The planned debate ended up in a big drama; after the end there was more drama. Conclusions where being made same old words were being said; people where enjoying the drama. It was a sad thing to see; I felt bad to know that most people did not care at all. Back early 1990's the biggest entertainment was a show held very often in male' called 'galaxy' now the name of the show is changed to 'politics'. Point being for most this is just a pass time and a matter of entertainment for the rest its about power and 'my group'.

To conclude; I simply felt there is no good future politically for Maldives in a near future. Things will remain very much the same or will get worse; I know most will stand up against me on this statement but this is my view. My biggest fear is the 2008 elections; I don't want to see blood shed or a civil flights. It will be our brothers and sisters who will loose I know some are looking forward to this drama; but I don't support it. I am totally against this, but I know this might be inevitable.

First the people, then Maumoon. Please!

We all know that MDP has been having a major fight against Maumoon since it was formed. This has lead to some very good reforms. I use to think the flight was for the people. The talks was so; and some of the action too. We all have to admit the fact that the change we see today; should mostly be credited to MDP and the individuals who supported this change.

Today; I am very disappointed on MDP. For the current referendum where we get the chance to decide which system is best; it looks like MDP is not putting its priorities for what is best for people. Rather it seems MDP is trying to test its popularity among the people by supporting against Maumoon. Not considering what is right and wrong. I feel this should not be the case. The people are mislead now, by the actions of MDP. Most of us has trusted MDP for this change and will continue to, but when they are wrong it is also our responsibility to voice out our concerns. It should not be 'eylhi haa batha kah riha' be it Maumoon or even MDP.

MDP has voiced comments like "because Gayoom is supporting Presidential System"; when asked why they are supporting a parliamentarian system. I feel this should not be the reason. Also there is comments by some of MDP supporters like "if qayoom and his supporters loose it shows that MDP is stronger than all 3 parties put together..". This is not an election, its a vote we decide on the system we will be adopting. I think the vote for who will get be the president or for the parliament is yet to come , but this is not that time now. Other such comments by supporters been things like "THIS REFERENDUM is the only FORECAST for us on the 2008 elections. if we want this dictator to be overthrown we need to make sure that the barulamaanee (MDP) wins."

So I guess we need to understand that this is not the time for elections or a test vote. This is more serious then that; and more important. The leaders will fall; the people will die off soon, but the system that we decide on is highly like to stay for a long time. So which is most important; fight against Maumoon or to support which is good for the future of the people? Is it your own personal choice; mine is very clear, in this vote; I will stand up for which system is best for the people of the Maldives, regardless of what system Maumoon or MDP supports. This is not about them at all.

MDP singing a new song now

Since the start of the current political reform process, MDP has been advocating towards a presidential system in Maldives. Clearly shouting out for separation of powers in the country. Now the song has changed. Why? I think MDP should be very clear why they took this stand. So in future any thing that MDP stands up for might change for the "benefit of the party"? These are all questions that should be answered without excuses.

following is from http://www.minivannews.com/news/news.php?id=1397

MDP is willing to accept the reform package proposed by President Gayoom in June 2004 provided that it includes a clear set of outcomes with a mutually agreed timetable.

MDP requests the government to open multi party talks on the reform package and to follow an inclusive process for further developing the reform agenda. We expect such an agenda to include critical milestones such as creation of an independent media, an independent election commission, a revision of electoral laws, constitutional amendments on multi party system and separation of powers, and a provision for early elections. All these reforms must conform to internationally acceptable standards and should not be subject to arbitrary executive interpretations.

Constitutional reform must result in the separation of powers, especially clear separation of the Judiciary from the Executive. Similarly, judicial and penal system reforms are urgently needed to conform to the Constitution and international practice.

More links

Anni on Why Maldives Needs Separation of Powers

Separation of Powers in Maldives

Democracy in the Maldives: Fact or Fiction?

Maldives situation `worsening'

All of the above links states clearly that MDP took a stand for separtion of powers in Maldives.

I Vote for Separation of Powers.

A lot of hype and debates recently on what system we should vote for. As far as I am concerned I will vote for a system which will have separation of powers; as in a presidential system. I would not want one party to dominate almost everything about the system. I would not want to place cabinet ministers in the parliament. I would want to be able to vote for the leader of the nation and I would want that leader to have 2 terms of 4 years or just one term of 5 years. I want a system where the minority party has a say in the governance and legislation. I want a system where the people as a nation has the power to choose; not the people of a particular party only.

And I strongly don't want to go for a system blindly; just cos some people tell me this is the only way to get rid of a dictator. I feel this is not about choosing a leader its about a choice we make about the future of our nation. Its not about a personnel flight that the parties been having for the last two or three years. Its about making a choice; which will be the best system for Maldives; not UK , India or Japan. We are talking about Maldives here and its future. Its not an election where we get to choose who gets to lead. If thats the impression some are having; I ask and request them to wake up. This is about selecting a system. So choose after thinking and researching. Choose what you feel is best for you. Not because I or DRP or MDP says so. You make your choice. That is your right. Don't let others influence you because they have other objectives to achieve.

As a moral and social obligation the parties must educate the people on the systems. Which has not happened. Mostly what we have seen so far; was just parties trying to promote which systems they want to go for. Never educating the people of the advantages and disadvantages of both the systems. Its sad to know the people we trusted and thought were the heroes of our nation has turned out to be just immoral 'business men' only.

If you still need further readings below are some links that might help.

PRESIDENTIAL VS. PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEMS OF GOVERNMENT

Governing Systems and Executive-Legislative Relations(Presidential, Parliamentary and Hybrid Systems)

Last days of the Old Republic

Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith, helped the Emperor hunt down and exterminate the Jedi Knights during the last days of the Old Republic and the opening moments of the Empire. Later, he was sent to help Governor Tarkin develop the original Death Star battle station. Once the Rebellion demonstrated that it posed a significant threat to the New Order, Lord Vader was put in charge of the Imperial fleet assigned to find and destroy the Alliance leaders.

Neo is the one: the first freed phone.

Since early this year I have been waiting for openmoko, the first world open source phone. Its out and looks promising. I guess its not the ideal phone for most average users, but I guess this is what I would go for. Maybe the iphone is nice to have, but lets see.

Heaven

... and there was... he/she .. always was, is, will be.. ok. then comes haven, maybe angels, satan, then adam and eve. then the apple tree. don't know when earth was created, before or after those events? ... anyway banished to earth.. then religion, then more conflicting religion, then flights, killing more killing and flights.. then the end? ok not the end in real... finally haven or hell (when was it created, no idea of time lines). based on the selection and luck and some other factors we daa, end up in haven or hell.. or .. or hell, then haven.. then.. back to there was... is, and will be.. its as simple as that, so which part is confusing ?

Good artists create... Great artists steal.

"Well, Steve, I think there's more than one way of looking at it. I think it's more like we both had this rich neighbor named Xerox and I broke into his house to steal the TV set and found out that you had already stolen it." -- by Bill Gates.

Read the full article
Movie titled pirates of the silicon valley

3.141592653589793

3.141592653589793 is close to pi

CD

No log, but I just realized that my CD also spins like the rest of the world.

The Sea

Captain's Log, Stardate 23847.7232. "You see the sea, to see the sea, but all you see is the sea". End Log.

His Noodliness

Captain's Log, Stardate 2020.0139. Same day, while cruising through the vast empty space. I had encounters with the his noodly appendage (also known as the Flying Spaghetti Monster!) and has been touched by his noodliness. Now I am a Pastafarian. End Log.

Rain

Captain's Log, Stardate 2020.0139. I just realized that it does not rain in space. End Log.

Sholey

Captain's Log, Stardate 0101.0240. There is nothing more exciting (maybe its Basanti) then watching sholay on the viewscreen for i am as old as sholey. End Log.

Black Box

Captain's Log, Stardate 0904.0106. New black box just arrived on dock. Setting shields up, red alert. Course 399 mark 4 warp 9. End Log.

Today

Captain's Log, Stardate 1255.112. Today i woke up and found myself in a bed. End log.

Slog

Captain's Log, Stardate 5201.534. it has been 800 years and I am now master of this vessel.

OS cocktail

Lately since I moved from IT, I've been on Windows as I do no longer need to do any direct development work or alike. Presently my main job is to research on mobile services and products, design and implement them (along with the technical teams, but no technical work on my side). More or less its project management kinda work, so Windows is the obvious choice plus its company policy that all be under the Windows domain and I should not be an exception.

After almost 4 months of Windows at work experience, here is what I have to say. Nothing like MS Word, Excel and Visio. I guess this is the reason why Microsoft is still making money. Its not the OS. Never try anything (software) you do not trust. Just keep the usual stuff in your machine. With Windows you should always know that you are on Windows and at any time, anything can go wrong. Save and backup work as often as you can. This has helped me to keep away from problems and get the job done.

Anyway being a unix guy still inside forced to use Windows. So some how, secretly I managed to get Cygwin installed on my machine. Having it installed makes you always feel at home, you have all the usual unix tools available on Windows. If you are a developer, I guess Cygwin is the ideal tool. Its a good experience now, Mac OS and Linux at home, and Windows at work. Each fits in where it should.

digg or reddit

Not long ago, digg came in; before that slashdot dominated the geek news arena. I guess might not be too long before even that might change. I feel reddit is better now, its more up to date. Digg also is lately under allegations that the editors influence the stories. This is seen to be true to a certain level, but still the popularity of digg remains the same.

Dhiraagu Cyber Cafe'

I guess its no more, but whats impressive is the gang of people who came out from there. Anyone agrees or not, today the internet domain and the a lot of other technology sector is powered by these individuals. Example the two local ISP's. Even if we look at blogging itself for Maldives, was started from the same place. It was mostly play, but that platform gave a lot of individuals a common ground to share knowledge and experience a lot of stuff.

The point to be taken is, this sort of platforms gives birth to a lot of good stuff. Its unfortunate that there are no such places now. It was fortunate back then, such a place existed. A lot of people saw it as a waste of time, but if you ask the same question today, the answer might be very different. People who learned to setup a server and manage the cafe's traffic, are the people who manage your internet today. Its not just the physical place. The key factors which contributed to this, might have been the available resources, and the group of individuals who had the same common interest. Sharing knowledge and trying out new stuff (which was deemed useless and kiddy) has resulted in a lot of good. We've experienced guys who started off configuring BNC's and bots now working as developers and writing commercial applications. Guys who were gamers now web masters and system administrators.

If we can still create such a forum and a place today, the results might be a lot more impressive. Maldives has so much talent, but hardly these guys are identified, developed, guided and given opportunities. Mainly cos there is no funding and we fail to see the advantage of such a medium. Anyway.. just a thought...

IT education in Maldives

I've always thought that the education system here in Maldives, is only targeted to produce quantity not quality. You just give them sheets with questions and answers and ask them to memorize them. Its does not matter if they understand them or not, as long as they are able to answer those questions; thats what we currently define as good education. The paper qualification is what the parents and the society expects, not the skills, talent or the knowledge that students have. Its a very difficult topic and will be out of the context of my main interest.

I've had experience a few years back teaching computing for school kids. It was a good experience and one I enjoyed. The syllabus back then encouraged students to develop really good IT skills in a wide area. The basics was covered with some good practicals. Programming was a must, as it should be since the subject was computing.

The problem back then was, the lack of good teachers (the government employed cheap labor and no proper planning was there) and hardware and other resources. These were just some of the problems, then around the year 2000, Min. of Education decided to lower the standards (the result was good politically, as more students would manage to pass and some manage to get outstanding results). The new syllabus was really weak compared to the older one. It is not the right type of foundation for IT. This has been proven over the last few years. The same trend has been moving on, even at the higher education level. Even at the FMC (I think its faculty of management and computing) there is no proper standards. The main objective is to provide students with paper qualification not to improve and develop the skills of the students. At the foundation level Visual Basic is the primary language. This alone shows level of quality in the program. To sum up, the fact that we have such a hard time employing skilled IT professionals alone proves the above points. The fact that Indians and Sri Lankan companies are employed to develop our applications and design and maintain our networks and hardware are more then enough proof. Its sad to know that this is the case, and no proper action is taken or this is ever talked about. But then over the last few years I also have come to accept that these won't change any time sooner. There simply is no awareness at all. Anyway the most profitable business in the country presently is politics and the leaders (ultimately the business men) are too busy doing business rather then focusing on issues such as education, health or future of our economy.

"Anyway who gives a damn?, do you?" :)

Related references.
Maldives and FLOSS
Schools across Japan may switch to Linux

Microsoft oPhone Prank?

While Apples iPhone is gonna be out next month, the news is that Microsoft is coming up with there version of a phone called the 'oPhone' or do they call it 'oFone'?. There is a video about it saying how incredible it is going to be and people are going to say “O” when they see the phone. Good Prank, I guess. Anyway here is the video.

Darth Vader on the way to lead the republic?

Everyone knows Darth Vader, if you are a Star Wars fan. So where does he fit into? A bad guy (Sith) or a true Jedi? Its controversial. Some feel he joined the dark side, for good causes others feel he joined the dark side for his own hunger of power (its said, Wader's motivation was originally a need to restore order rather than take power). The other view is; is the dark side really wrong?

Fear leads to anger.

Anger leads to hate.

Hatred leads to power.

Power leads to victory.

Let your anger flow through you.

Your hate will make you strong.

True power is only achieved through testing the limits of one's anger, passing through unscathed.

Rage channeled through anger is unstoppable.

The dark side of the Force offers unimaginable power.

The dark side is stronger than the light.

The weak deserve their fate.

–tenets of Sith philosophy

If you come to think about it, Qasim Ibrahim's story is no different. There is an interesting post at Mohamed Nasheeds Blog which made me really wonder and think into the history of past few years. I think Mr. Qasim is on his way becoming the maybe the next president of Maldives. Its highly possible. Today seems he is elected Chair of Peoples Special Majlis. No surprise though. My view on the results is either the army will take over the country or Mr. Qasim will be the next president. Sorry MDP (You guys don't stand a chance, from how you have displayed so far). Its interesting to note the following from Nasheeds blog.

Qasim Ibrahim who signed the first application to form a political party by the name of Maldivian Democratic Party, who suffered detention and charges for treason after the 12, 13 August 2004, and released in a Tsunami amnesty, had since then joined the Government, as Minister of Finance and Treasury, and signed up for DRP and has become its duly elected Vice Leader – and finally, today, even the Chair of the People’s Special Majlis. - source http://www.mnasheed.com/

Second Life

Nop, no need to die to get there. Just download the client and sign in.

Second Life is a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by a total of 6,085,300 people from around the globe.

More Second Life Pictures at http://www.flickr.com/groups/secondlife/pool/

• From the moment you enter the World you'll discover a vast digital continent, teeming with people, entertainment, experiences and opportunity. Once you've explored a bit, perhaps you'll find a perfect parcel of land to build your house or business.
  
  
• You'll also be surrounded by the Creations of your fellow residents. Because residents retain the rights to their digital creations, they can buy, sell and trade with other residents.
  
  
• The Marketplace currently supports millions of US dollars in monthly transactions. This commerce is handled with the in-world unit-of-trade, the Linden dollar, which can be converted to US dollars at several thriving online Linden Dollar exchanges.

Second Life is considered to be the best Virtual World developed. Though the concept is more like an online game, it does not actually reflect that model totally. In Second Life, you can buy and even build stuff, but for me the idea of spending money on virtual stuff did not click very much. You could even buy or sell land or build a house or run a business there. The idea is not so bad, after all you have some 6,086,003 users. Anyway... I got bored very quickly with SL. The objective is mostly to buy and sell stuff... or be bored. Maybe not, just give it a try and see, some people might like it.

Thaana on Mac OS X

Update (14/March/2017): Since many ask for the keyboard layout here is a link (download)


First download and install the Thaana unicode fonts.

In my case I always prefer "Thaana Unicode Akeh", which is a free font developed by MITF and considered to be the first Unicode thaana font.

Next you will need to download Ukelele, which is a Unicode Keyboard Layout editor for Mac OS X. Get the application installed and execute it. Its very straightforward to be used. Character Palette can be a lot of use when editing the keyboard layout.

You might refer to MSCT for reference when creating the layout.

After you are done creating the layout, save the file as thaana.keylayout. Then move it to Keyboard Layouts folder within /Library or ~/Library; then they are enabled via the Input tab of the International module within System Preferences. If you don't have the Keyboard Layouts folder under the Library, create it.

Thats all, the keyboard layout is complete and ready to be used.

If you already have the layout with you, just follow the step above and you are good to go. Since there is no layout that I could find on the web which was downloadable , thought I'd include those steps too. Anyway...

The end result is ..... but before that make sure you change your keyboard layout... if all went well you should get the thaana layout. Click on it, and you are ready ... Happy?

(Note: click on the images for an enlarged view)

Windows for just $3

Makes me wonder, why they would even attempt to sell Windows for just $3. The reason might be obvious, simply Microsoft is plagued by nightly fever dreams of thousands of kids in developing countries running Linux? The package will include the basic Windows XP Starter Edition, Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 and other as-yet-unnamed educational software applications. The $3 Windows pack will be available later this year, and it will be sold exclusively to governments.

This might be an attempt to get Windows running on the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) project. The OLPC XO Children's Machine has its own specially-developed Linux-based platform called Sugar. The XO project has embraced open-source ideals, and is touting OSS's advantage as a teaching tool. According to the OLPC camp, if kids get a Linux-based machine they'll be more likely to hack it and learn how to write code. Also, wiki-based textbooks will give the kids more incentive to write.

My question is why would anyone choose the $3 Windows , which will be so much limited in features (example no network printing, etc) and chunked down to Linux? So it comes down to Free, flexible/powerful Linux and $3 Windows edition. The new estimated cost of the OLPC is $175.

Other related project include the Classmate PC by intel.

the coconut song

Ubuntu 7.04 Out!

Ubuntu 7.04 is released today, and available for download.

Don't know if it will bring any major changes, most of the comments on the forums point out the same. Hope to upgrade the Ubuntu at home, when I get back; will find out then. I still feel Fedora is better.

Who is the killer?

Seems we have a killer or force of killers who are killing, "god haters" and "drug addicts" in and just out of jail. The last episode a guy was found dead in the harbour (previous "koafaa" came down from the sky in jail). According to official sources, he was set free from police on 13th. Amazingly this guy managed to be invisible since then and appeared dead in the harbour. Its a good thing he was found, if he was not then we know what would be the case. Yes, obviously the police will be the direct pin point. So he had to be found. Some of the reports and views say if police was really the culprit, why will he even be "found". Yes, I agree. Why will he be even found if they were behind it? He won't. Thats the basic logic. I think that logic is not so hard to figure out, even for the police and MDP. I guess its a good thing he was found, if not we won't have faith in police anymore :P Yes, we would be scared for our friends and family if they were ever taken to police?

As for MDP, we know how they are. They are always looking for an excuse to anger the people and over throw the government. I think they are also too desperate to come to power. I don't think that should be the objective. There are better ways to deal with these things in a more mature way. Just by saying "golaaboa faibaa" is not solving any problems. MDP surely lacks good leadership, and people like former AG and Zaki (ex minister) are not the right people to be trusted. Its a different story that Abu Sufiyaan converted to Islam and contributed immensely to Islam but Munavar and Zaki are not those "Abu's". Under the ex AG there has been so much unjust done, and I am not ready to accept him. As for Zaki, I don't think I should say anything more.

Point being neither of the parties are doing any good to the people. The whole objective is to rule over the country and gateway to more money. Getting fed up of these fights and killings now. We need a change, and the changes we are witnessing is not set in the right directions. I mean talk about MDP, they brought out people like Mavotaa Shareef and Karnel Nasheed as MDP leaders. Come on guys, were you joking or what? No hope at all. I'd rather call MDP, DVP (Dhivehi Viyafaariveringe Party) so for me there is DRP and DVP. The whole objective of both, "money "and "power", the people come after (for the sake of votes).

The people we pay from our tax; and to whom we trust our lives with is the other story. More than trust presently we fear the police and army. Why? I don't know, maybe obvious reasons. No need to go into details but the fact is the public view is not what it should be. Maybe they lack the "good" and "honest" leadership too. Who are there to "protect and serve the Maldivians" not just to "protect and serve , blank blank". I know I'd be attacked back for saying this, but won't be anything new to me. Its just my view, and I think no one can take that freedom away from me, unless I am too found missing, then DEAD! Next, some will tell me "who cares about politics". Its no longer politics, its about peoples lives and our kids future in this country, if you ask me not to care about it...or ignore them, then what should we care about? Least we can do is voice out our concerns and views.

Now back to the original question. "Who is the killer". You and me. We are killing our own people. Each of us should be responsible for these killings, agree or not.

SMS alerts from Google Calender

Its really a nifty feature, now we can receive SMS alerts from Google Calender. Its a nice feature, and its really cool since it even works for a small country such a Maldives. Presently this feature only works for Wataniya subscribers. You can even import the calender from your outlook or iCal into Google Calender as well.

You can set up an appointment and Google will send you a reminder alert before the appointment or you can set birthday reminders, etc. Here is a tutorial on GoogleTutor

What happened to FoxPro?

FoxPro formally known as FoxBase, now Visual FoxPro use to be a very famous database programming language. From late 1980's to late 1990's Fox was one of the dominant database tools for the PC market. Same applied for Maldives. Even today we find some of Fox based applications in use here in Maldives.

So what happened to this tool? My obvious guess is Microsoft killed it. Most of you might not agree with me, but thats my view. I think FoxPro would have done far better if it was not bought over by Microsoft from Fox Software. Though I won't say it would still have dominated like it used to. The reason for the bought over of Fox was obvious. Borland and Microsoft were competing for the development tool market back in early 1990's. Borland bought Ashton Tate (and, therefore, dBase) this resulted in Microsoft buying over Fox Software (taking FoxPro under Microsoft). Microsoft already had Access and VB under them, and continued to promote Access more then FoxPro until today (After all FoxPro was the step son). At that time it was rumored that Microsoft made this move cos they wanted Rushmore engine (which was the power behind FoxPro). Till today FoxPro lives, but not as famous as it use to. It use to be part of Visual Studio, but now taken off it too. Access still is part of Microsoft Office and continues to be popular database tool.

Maybe one reason it failed was, It was too complex for end users, but not robust and powerful enough for real programmers (compared to the other databases that developers can choose from). What ever the causes were or is, FoxPro was a major application development tool in the early days of computing of Maldives, it should be respected for that. I don't know how many more FoxPro developers are still there in Maldives (still continue to use it)? I guess I can still think of one guy, one of the best FoxPro guys I've known.

So it went from Fox to VB, now we are evolving to the web based application days. I wonder what tools will be the most dominant. But obviously the flat database days are over and SQL Servers are here to stay.

300 USD and a ticket.

I was watching TVM while having dinner. I don't know which program it is, it was on since 10:15 tonight. It was a panel of people talking about health issues in Maldives. To my shock, one gentle man who had gray hair (not sure who he is), my guess is he is from the ministry of health. This guy was trying to say, the Maldivian health authorities are far better then our neighbors. He is saying that others are very commercial where else we are not? daaa! yeah? I did not know that.

The next point that kept bluffing about is comparing health services today and 27 years ago. What the fuck? What is the point here? it is obvious , things should improve with time. The question here is has it improved to the level it should have? The moment we are sick, we spend all our earnings and go to India or Singapore depending on the financial capabilities of the individuals. And yet they try to tell us, its good. I know the guys there try and do their best, but there is so much for improvements. I guess the equipment is one weak area. If we can raise money for brand new Volkswagen's for police, layout state of the art fiber network just to watch the traffic and etc. Why can't we afford to spend more money on our health services? Even if they took it like a business, still I feel its more then feasible to spend (invest). Even if we get the best of the doctors, its not enough. We need to invest on our health sector and make it a priority then it is now. Not in anyway saying its bad, but I am saying its not as good as it could have been.

Maybe there is hidden agenda behind it, right now if a poor guy is sick they can apply for 300 USD and the ticket from the Presidential welfare fund? This is very common, why? The end result is good, the government help us, they even give us the money to send us to India for medicals. Yaahoo! lets keep voting for them. Now I leave it up to you to do the calculations.

Processing

I have been experimenting around with processing over the week end. Its an amazing language, just the type of language for artists. This is also the type of language that makes me think, if I gave better attention to math classes and had a more creative mind.

Processing is an open source programming language and environment for people who want to program images, animation, and sound. It is used by students, artists, designers, architects, researchers, and hobbyists for learning, prototyping, and production. It is created to teach fundamentals of computer programming within a visual context and to serve as a software sketchbook and professional production tool. Processing is developed by artists and designers as an alternative to proprietary software tools in the same domain.

Here is screen shot of todays trial and errors.

Oppression

There is times when I am really frustrated, angry and even depressed. I guess its part of being a human. Its good to open up and share things or express your views. Though some people don't like it when it's expressed, I guess its your own freedom to express your view in a limit (meaning you can't over do it too, since you should respect others too). Anyway there is always no easy justification. Blogging maybe the new means to express personnel view and share things. There is always two sides to things, but just cos of minor bad points it should not be stopped. A few years back people hid under anonymous names and under the umbrella of one name, expressed their views. Negative or positive. Those days have been changing slowly. But yes we still do get those anonymous cowered commenting and publishing things. It can't be stopped too, they are also a group of people with their own views and justifications. Anyway I would say now its more open, and its more valued when you express your view WITH YOUR OWN REAL NAME, maybe in your own blog or someone else's. I know a few will stand up against this statement and will comment under anonymous names, I do understand that, and thats the reason why anonymous commenting is allowed too. I like it when it happens, we all should take these positively. This helps us to better understand others and also give others a chance to criticizes us. It should never be discouraged. But its always much better if you are open and come out of the shadows , unless YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO HIDE.

Anyway I do feel like dumping a lot of things at times, as i have said before. I wish thats always possible, some times we are bound by NDA's (non discloser agreements), morals and ethics (how ever we may define it). Now I know they say one mans meat is another mans poison too. So the views always differ, thats again understood. I wanna say out somethings tonight too, but I am bound by some things. Anyway its nothing really political even though the title may give such an impression. Any hows, while I was listing to this song by Ben Harper, it was something close to what was going in my mind. "Oppression"

Oppression
you pray on us when we sleep
oppression
you chase after the tired the poor the weak
oppression
you know you mean only harm
oppression
you reach out with your long arm

but oppression
I won't let you near me
oppression
you shall learn to fear me

oppression
you seek population control
oppression
to divide and to conquer is your goal
oppression
I swear that hatred is your home
oppression
you just won't leave bad enough alone

but oppression
I won't let you near me
oppression
you shall learn to fear me

oppression
I don't see how you sleep
oppression
for your bleeding conscience I weep
oppression
you may have the dollar on your side
but oppression
from the gospel truth you cannot hide
and
oppression
I won't let you near me
oppression
you shall learn to fear me
oppression
I won't let you near me
oppression
you shall fear me

American Idiot an Indian Idol?

I don't really watch the show, but seems there is a new thing happening in the American Idiots show. Sounds a lot of racist Americans don't like this kid named Sanjaya (half Indian, American), who is still in the show. I totally agree with those guys, who think he should be out. Well they had this fear even before that the Indians will take over American idiot. For this reason they had a plan; the plan was to have another show for the Indians, "The Indian Idiot". Seems this did not stop the invasion, and Sanjaya is backed up by the high-tech Indians and have come up with a way to keep him on the show.

I say, lets leave this American Idiot title and make Sanjaya "The American President". Yes, Sanjaya for 2008. Anyway here is a little diagram to show the connectivity of both shows.

I am a PC, I am a Mac and I am Linux

Recently Apple, started a new ad campaign on TV and on its web site. It was really a nice concept and entertaining. Here is a link to it on youtube. I can tell you its a must see.

Now Novell decides to put a little spin to the ads. Here is the Linux version of the ads. Both the ads are very entertaining and educative. ;)

Death of Slashdot?

Ok! the question; is Slashdot dead or dying?. Not so sure, but honestly speaking for me it is. I visit digg almost everyday, but hardly I even visit slashdot once a week now. It use to be like everyday, but thats changed. Has digg taken over slashdot?

I first posted about this in Jan 2006, since then its almost more then a year. Well I don't know about the rest of the world, but I think digg has finally taken over. Reasons? Maybe many, not just one or two.

Magnificent shot !!!

Before I start, I would like to apologize to anyone who might get offended. Flickr, we all know about it, its one of the best portals to share photos. Amazing place with so much content. We find so much talent there. Even Maldivians, loads of them. Namely I like works by photographers like Ahmed Zahid.

I don't know if its me , or my limited exploration of flickr that brings me to conclude this. The comments really suck, or its just how artists comment. Its always "Amazing", "Beautiful", "WOW" and "Magnificent" . Or maybe there is others? I love the people there. They always encourage you or fill you with positive comments. Which is damn good, I mean it. I really do. But as there is good art, is there not bad art too? Or maybe not. Art is just art? I won't know.

A few years back, there was this painting which we saw. There was a comment, "haadha eyhen kahalaey". I did not know what that meant. I was not an artist or am, so for me it was just a painting. Anyhow the comment struck me. Later I asked the person who commented, what it meant. According to him thats how you comment art. Like "hmmmm", "its so different", "its unique" , "not all will see this", etc.

vakaruge hits digg main page

http://www.vakaruge.com was on digg's main page tonight with this post.

The Browser War

Started with Netscape and MSIE (MicroSoft Internet Explorer) about 10 years ago. Today here I am looking at stats of my weB LOG. Took the last 100 entries and guess what Firefox is leading. I assume mostly fellow bloggers are the people who read my blog. Next assumption is these people are frequent users of the internet, I mean not like our grand parents and them. No offense. Anyway to cut the chase I think IE has lost the war. Despite the fact that IE comes with the dominant OS (Windows) still most prefer Firefox or an alternative?

Maybe I might not be very right here, since I am concluding this based on my logs

Portuguese and Maldives?

Don't flatter yourself by thinking that we were ever ruled by Portuguese. I am not a historian but I refuse to believe that Portuguese ruled over Maldives for 15 years or so. According to the lessons at school, they even raped our woman, etc. hmmm! where did that white DNA go? I mean raping woman for 15 years and no results or after effects? maybe they were infertile or something?

So the bad guy, Andiri Andirin was suppose to be a black/brown guy? Hmmm! I thought the Portuguese were white skinned? so next you'd tell me it was one of the black Portuguese guys? come on! He was also called Kalhu Mohamed (dark Mohamed). "Mohamed" why? There is a theory that he was actually Maldivian born. Also it was said that the rule of 15 years, was under the name of Hassan IX (the Christian convert king of Maldives). So is it not likely that the fleet was from India (Gova) led by Maldivians? Not really Portuguese. There is no official record of Portuguese ruling over Maldives in any of the official documents of Portuguese.

As always we just want to make belief and change history and hide the dark chapters of the Maldivian History. The next funny part is up until 1950's there was a street named Andiri Andirin magu. There was no such street named after the "hero" savior Mohamed Thakurufaan, until the 1990's.

Sometimes I feel that this Thakurufaan's were pirates . I mean the boat they sailed was called "kalhu oh fuhmi", The black pearl of Maldives and caption Jack Sparrow. We never know. Even the recent history that happened in my life time has been altered, so why can't these events as well. At school we were forced to study the history events like "rannamaari" and when we were kids we were told stories like "foolhu dhigu handi".. But yeah, nice and entertaining stories. Thanks.

Change?

Past few years, I've worked on Linux as my desktop OS (operating system) at work and home. Now things has changed. Nothing was planned. My work changed, I no longer work for an IT department. As of now I work for a marketing team dealing with products and services. Which is kinda exciting and different. Anyway point is, I took the chance to step outside the circle in which I have been for so long. If you ask me, I'd tell you its good, very good (now that goes to my current team). I do miss the old gang, I had the opportunity to work with some of the best.

So coming back to the point, "Linux". At work now I use Windows, why? One reason being that I won't be allowed to install Linux. Thats how it should be too. Every place has standards (or at least they should). I don't need to develop, run services or do any system administration work. So thats the reason. Right now its mostly just word processing, presentations, visio diagrams, emails, and maybe browse for research purposes. So Windows is ok, not that I like it (I don't even have a choice). I do feel very limited at time with Windows, maybe since I am used to Linux. But working with it, is again a good experience. To understand how things really work rather than assumptions or observations. The lack of tools is a major problem. When I want to work with maybe lists and files, etc its just Excel. I don't think working with VB based macro's is as much fun as lets say, awk, sed or perl. Doing some things becomes too complex. But I am trying to adjust as needed. Again, this is not by choice. Its sometimes like forced labour.

With the same wave of change, at home too I've switched to full time Mac OS X. Been like almost 3 months now. I love it. Apples; you just fall in love with them. Yes, I have better user experience than Windows in terms of GUI (graphics user interface) and I've got the good old UNIX tools and power. So its more like an all in one box. I would say one can customize a Linux desktop to get a close feel of Mac OS, but I guess it won't be like the real thing. Mac's are too damn sexy, its the best how I can put it. After all sex is sex, but its a different thing when you have sex with Angelina Jolie. Anyway what I can tell you is some people think mac's are for pro's or for designers. Which is totally NOT right. Its "THE" true "human OS", designed for "humans". Getting things done is easy; only condition is "know how to read English and click". You don't need to click 20 times and do "fill in the blanks", score 100% in multiple choice questions, restart the machine 3 times before you can setup GPRS via Bluetooth, share internet or setup a web server. Its just a few seconds, before you can get even those done. For the applications; I have MS Word, and the rest of them like FireFox or Photoshop. Its just amazing .

So again, what about Linux? What about it? I still have my passion for Linux and have a Linux box at home too. I guess its a better development platform and a good server environment. The desktop is rapidly improving and its impressive. But maybe my usage of Linux has declined over the past few months. Basically reason being the change of field maybe, and that I am on kinda break from it all (what ever that means). But that did not stop me, I tried but... anyway I've started another blog (http://mvlinux.blogspot.com/) too; just about Linux as main focus. Objective being a sort of a log to keep track of evolution of Linux here in this country plus kind of a help for others (I hope, maybe..). You can say maybe because of "guilt". hehe. Whatever you consider.

UK - Pixels , Russia - Millimeters

Most of us remember the Million Dollar Homepage, The UK guy who sold pixels on his web site to go to university. But a million dollars, hmmmm? Anyways lucky smart guy. Well I found a Russian version of the concept, this time a girl is trying out here luck. The difference is not pixels, but millimeters and on her body. So you pay her for the ads that you want to put on her body, costing is per millimeter. The name of the site is I Sell Body

Crazy?

Maldives Ice Skiing Association

Come on. Why not? No offense but , we do have a Maldives Racing Association too.

8 Things Employers Need to Know About Geeks and Intelligent People

I read this post a couple of days back, and really liked it. Again tonight I came across it, and just had to post it here. There was no way, I just had to do it. :)

#1. Let them work when they want
Geeks work almost every moment they are awake. They are online before they go to the office. They are home working after the office closes. They work weekends. They are even sometimes working in their dreams. Employers should understand this and more importantly appreciate it. Don’t force geeks to work 8 - 5 if there is no real need other than “company morale.” Meetings are one thing (, so is socializing with coworkers, but a relaxed office schedule will do wonders for the contentment levels of your employed geeks.

#2. Let them work where they want
Geeks prefer to have a couch around to nap on if they are tired. Some like no windows, others want to stare out into a city or landscape. At home, geek’s offices are usually more lived in, more comfortable and enjoyable than anywhere else in the world. This is because they love what they do, and they do it so much of the time they need to be comfortable where they do it.

#3. Let them control their lighting
There is nothing more annoying than working in bright crappy fluorescent lighting if you prefer to work in the dark, or vice versa. Geeks usually have sensitive eyes from staring at CRT monitors for too long. The last thing you want is your geeks to have headaches. Most geeks aren’t very pleasant to work with when they have headaches.

#4. Let them wear headphones
Geeks are experts in the arts of “focus.” Focusing takes removing all unnecessary distractions from your environment and creating a state where nothing else is going on but what they are working on. The harder the problem they are trying to solve or the more creative they have to be, the more they need to focus. Headphones, or simply a lack of ringing phones and talking sales people allow geeks to focus much easier.

#5. Do not expect them to wear a suit
Geeks find arbitrary activities that lack real and meaningful purpose, a waste of time and energy. This includes attire. Most companies today are aware of this and even practice casual dress so as to make everyone more comfortable, but geeks are a special case. “Suits” (the kind of person) usually represent a business man who lacks most things other than a nice smile and great negotiation skills.

#6. Do not make them participate in company events (unless you are sure it is geek-friendly)
Most geeks will not be jumping up and down with joy to attend a company party to celebrate the local football team, unless of course there is beer, and they can hang around and talk to each other about geeky things. Keep this in mind when planning company events. Geeks like to have fun, just not the same kind of fun as your typical non-geek.

#7. Do not hold a lot of arbitrary meetings that could have otherwise been handled through email or IM
This one is important. Like I said, geeks need to focus to be happy and able to focus. Nothing is more of an interruption than someone walking into their space unexpectedly and saying “hey do you have a minute?” The answer is usually going to be a disgruntled “Sure.” The truth is geeks are fine with attending planned meetings (and will happily be there if the meeting is really a necessary one for them to attend in person), but are usually most happy communicating through email and IM. These forms of communication are most appealing to geeks because they do not interrupt you, and polite geeks will even respond with a quick “hold on a sec, I’m in the middle of something.” Email and IM are recorded, searchable records of conversations. They are efficient and to the point. This also makes geeks happy. Geeks can discuss anything through email and IM and will usually be more willing and thorough with their response. Face to face meetings are important, geeks know that, but I would guess that 90% of conversations and meetings held face to face, would be more efficient and end with happier people, if they were held in a recordable, written, virtual space.

#8. Do not make them do anything other than work
This one isn’t completely accurate all the time. Geeks are team players, but they are also easily insulted by being given a task below their level of expertise or outside of the scope of their position. They’ll do it, but they won’t be totally happy. This includes: answering phones, taking out trash, going shopping for company supplies, and “filling in” for a sales person.

So there you have it! Employers, take note!

bye bye

Guess everything has to end for good, like it has a start. I was home alone and thought of doing something, then thought why not try and stop somethings as well. So I guess blogging is a good thing to stop. So this will be my last post on this blog. I am happy I inspired one or two to blog, so this was not totally a waste. Anyway bye bye world.

-end-

an old song

Sleeping Satellite
by Tasmin Archer
album: Great Expectations (1992)

I blame you for the moonlit sky
and the dream that died
with the eagles' flight
I blame you for the moonlit nights
when I wonder why
are the seas still dry?
don't blame this sleeping satellite

Did we fly to the moon too soon
did we squander the chance
in the rush of the race
the reason we chase is lost in romance
and still we try
to justify the waste
for a taste of man's greatest adventure

I blame you for the moonlit sky
and the dream that died
with the eagles' flight
blame you for the moonlit nights
when I wonder why
are the seas still dry?
don't blame this sleeping satellite

have we lost what it takes to advance?
have we peaked too soon?
if the world is so green
then why does it scream under a blue moon
we wonder why
If the earth's sacrificed
for the price of it's greatest treasure

I blame you for the moonlit sky
and the dream that died
with the eagles' flight
blame you for the moonlit nights
when I wonder why
are the seas still dry?
don't blame this sleeping satellite

and when we shoot for the stars
what a giant step
have we got what it takes
to carry the weight of this concept
or pass it by like a shot in the dark
miss the mark with a sense of adventure

I blame you for the moonlit sky
and the dream that died
with the eagles' flight
blame you for the moonlit nights
when I wonder why
are the seas still dry?
don't blame this sleeping satellite

F.U.D concerning FOSS

We all have Fear Uncertainty and Doubt (F.U.D) over things. I've heard and read so much about F.U.D when it comes to Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). Recently I personally witness it happen.

A company needed an application to handle some aspect of File Management and Storage, So there was two major proposals. One was an open source solution based on Java and web. The other was a typical M$ client server based solution. The M$ solution was not at all appropriate. It lacked a lot of functions and feachers. The solution was needed for a network which was M$ based, and both solutions lacked the Active Directory (LDAP) integrations. The open source solution lacked the "drag and drop" stuff, but besides that it was perfect. It was true value for money. But the M$ thingy was a big blow. Mainly because it was not designed to be a solutions for this specific problem. But of course we had loads of other good solutions which were proposed. These solutions had really good integration with the Windows clients as well. Which was a good plus point. The only problem I saw was it was not compatible for Linux and Mac's. But that was not a big problem, since it was me and maybe one more guy who would use anything besides Windows. I knew I'd find a way even if it was implemented. If it was ever implemented. But when it came down to the price factor. Wooo, it was so damn expensive (both M$ solution and the new one).

You had to pay a few thousand USD annually. So I was wondering WHY would anyone want to pay so much just for simple drag and drop and LDAP or Active Directory Integration. They can pay me half the price for the license and I'd have it implemented on the Open Source solution. If they paid me, that is. :)

So at the end, it was decided to look into the price and make a good choice. Well, to choose which do you have to pay the least. So it really does not matter if a solution provided you the right solution. Its about UI and ease of use. Thats what I figured out today. A lot of people are scared when it comes to FOSS stuff. They are not so conferable with it, its understandable. I guess the FOSS community is slowly improving on this, and I hope I'd experience a different day other then this. Where people will be more confident with FOSS solutions. Here we are talking about technical guys, network guys and IT managers.

Then I wonder, if UI and ease of use is what these guys look for; what about the Mac's ?. Its much user friendly then Windows and performance is good too. But still F.U.D comes into play. So This not only applies with FOSS. Its mostly true for anything besides Windows (for most people). I don't know how Microsoft has achieved this world domination. But it sure works. Windows is not close to being good compared to most other alternatives. But yet they get the market. This applies in terms of looks , ease of use, functionality, security and cost too. How do they do it? Amazing...

Anyway I did not felt like commenting; it was more a learning experience for me. I still do remember the day when people joked about things like Linux. But today those same people use it to host their company web sites. Those same peoples networks are protect and connectivity is given using it. Recently like almost 2 years back, I was asked to remove a Linux box as a firewall (because he felt Linux was not secure). Only to replace it with a set top box which ran Linux too as an OS and same tools. Only difference is the looks. The new one had a GUI. The person who instructed me to remove it and got the new one does not know its the same damn thing. But well; who are we to comment. The people who make the decisions should always be respected, regardless of what they know and don't.

Coming back to the FOSS applications, I feel that too will slowly catch up. Apache and few others have. Others might soon follow, so I won't be surprised. I hear there is gonna be a trade fair soon. Best part is I also hear that Microsoft will be one of the participants. I guess the objective is to promote Windows Vista in Maldives. Anyone in for FREE distribution of Linux distro's like new Ubuntu at the fair ? Why ? Just to make aware to people that there is alternatives, just the same. Or even better and they are for FREE.

Hulhumale' Services SUCKS

I've been living in Hulhumale' for almost a year or more. The good side of this place is its much quite than male'. Few people compared to male' and not much vehicles. Yeap! thats about it. And yeah hardly the police stops you and bothers you.

Rest of the things about this place SUCKS. YES! SUCKS. MTCC ferry service SUCKS. There is a ferry every 30 minutes, getting on one is like fighting a war. Its overcrowded and at times you'd be left behind. The bus service of cartunes SUCKS BIG TIME. They are still using a mini bus,probably donated by Maldivian Air Taxi.BY the way you need to race to get on the bus too. It hardly runs and can only accommodate less then 40 or so people. Each ferry carries about close to 80 people. To get to Hulhumale' it takes about 25 minutes. Thats another major problem. Unless you have a DRP meeting, then you get FREE ferry service and some speed boats. I hope they keep a meeting every day. I like DRP for these kinda reasons. :)

Please note that the people who live in Hulhumale' PAY for the LAND. Unlike most people in Male' and Vilingili (land owners). For the flats too, people PAY. Its not FREE. They recently gave out new flats and raw houses. It was some thing anyone should go and check out. Its made to Tokyo standards(only size wise). Now figure it out on your own. Best is to come and have a look (from the inside). But yeah its good, for people who don't have anything better. Not much choice, we all need shelter. Its a good business too. You go into a LOTTERY. Yes a LOTTERY, if you win you get a flat or a land. Once you get it, pay a minimum rent of about 2000 or 4000. Then rent it out to some unfortunate people for double or more the price. Good Business too. I call it a Lucky LOTTERY. HIT the JACKPOT and you can't be more lucky.

Food! yamee! the food here SUCKS. No good restaurants or cafe's. Thats ok, but not even good FOOD to buy. Only vegetable we would get is half rotten carrots and some beans (maybe a little better then that).There is STO, the place SUCKS big time too. They have one full block of shop taken for them, its worse than a small local shop (most local shops are much better). I don't know why they have taken the whole block. Lets see, the BANK (BML) is good. So far, the service is good too. Thats a plus point.

Another big problem is if you have to go to the airport early morning with luggage, forget it. You would not get a cab. The bus won't let you in with the luggage. On top of that, while Hulhumale' is connected via land to the airport you have to go to Male' then take another ferry to airport. Convenient ey?. If you come on a late night flight and miss the 0130 ferry then you can sleep at the ferry terminal, cause no ferry service is there after that.Come on you people who impose these rules, you try this one day and tell me how it feels before you try to defend your asses. And how frustrating it gets.

Oh yeah, the Health service. I don't think I even want to talk about it. Last I went there, even the ECG machine was broken. If you want to die here, get admitted. Good point is its FREE.

For those who want to move here, my advice stay out of it. You'd get depressed and frustrated. The place has a good potential but very badly managed. Maybe when the election is near there might be improvements. Anyway lets see, meanwhile I am hunting for an apartment in Male' (One room place) If anyone can help, will be great.