Cuil, New Promising Search Engine.
Every year brings a bunch of new companies and websites that try taking on the search engine market. But this year there seems to be a worthy competitor entering the game called Cuil. It was developed by ex Google employees who have been making a lot of claims of how great the search engine is. It is considered the “Cuil” way of searching. But what is really surprising of this new search engine is all the media buzz that it has been getting. I took a quick look at it and it seems fine. Nothing revolutionary in it yet. But with all this buzz it is definitely something to keep an eye on for the next year. Let me remind you that it only has a few days since its release…
Update: On a new note TechCrunch recently reported of a new service called Yuil from Yahoo Execs. It is reported to show better results than the much criticized Cuil.
Yasser
Customize Your Gmail.
GMail Theme
I was reading Tinta Fantasma where they found a website named Globex Designs for customizing your GMail account. It works with Firefox and Flock only. It seems to load a specific CSS for your GMail and changes the “theme” of your email. In order for it to work you need a plugin named Stylish for Firefox. I’m surprised that Google didn’t come up with the idea of letting users customize their user accounts. It seems like I might have to try this Flock application that I keep reading about…
Yasser
Will Google Be The Internet ?
Everyone has always praised Google of its accomplishments, of how it is one of the best things that happened to the internet, it was defined as the true competitor to Microsoft. But as Google keeps rising people start debating is the best thing over or the worst nightmare ever? It was recent in the news that Google just indexed 1 Trillion Pages. Lets face it, if we don’t know something most of us ask Google. A few years after Google Search success came GMail also changing the whole e-mail market, they keep raising the bar.
On “latest” events they have joined the online software market competing with companies like Zoho, specifically in the online Office Products. Among many other things there is also the Google Groups for people to gather and discuss topics and what not. There are very few things that Google hasn’t done yet, they are all over the market from making websites to the amazing maps. With all this control over the internet market we should start wondering what that means for everyone else? If they control the searches and what can we find in the internet then it is obvious that there products will always be first in the list. It is a scary thought that they are becoming “the internet”. Are we in the era of a new monopoly? I’m not saying that Google is evil. I love Google, I use plenty of their services. But if Google would be able to become “The Social Network” then will there really be a need for all the other websites? Little will be left.
Yasser
Concepts Every Software Engineer Should Know.
As a student I’m always looking for things to learn and what am I still missing. I know college teaches you a lot of things but reality is that it doesn’t teach you everything. I just came across this great list of things Software Engineers should know and in my case I would also say Computer Scientist need to know too. Out of the top 10 I have covered a few in some length and already know what they mean. Others I have explored by myself. What I am really looking forward to learning and practicing is parallel computing and cloud computing. How to distribute process to work faster. And for now my favorite yet difficult topic has been algorithms. I also have a great love for security but that’s a whole new topic for me.
Yasser
One Hundred Push Ups Challenge.
I have recently joined the new buzz of the internet, the one hundred push ups challenge. It is a simple guide/schedule to accomplish doing 100 push ups in 6 weeks. It is the summer and I have a lot more of free time so I decided to try it. Besides we all need to get in better health always, unless you are an athlete. I am already capable of doing about 40 push ups so I do have a certain advantage and might be able to reach the challenge in a bit less. I think everyone should try it, it only takes up 5min or less of your time a day. Also to the new healthy way of living that I am trying…I am going to start jogging every other morning which has been one of the things that I have never accomplished but would like to do.
I don’t have a diet but I do watch how greasy things are that I eat and at what time I eat them. I don’t drink as much soda as I used to, thus, I already have an advantage. After a week or more of jogging I am going to start doing crunches to try and get the complete “fit” package. I will give an update of my hundred push up challenge in one or two weeks hopefully. I think I am capable of doing it…
Update: I’m still going at this. I’m about to start week 3 on Saturday and it definitely started getting tougher. If I can accomplish to do 70-100 push ups consecutively, that will be enough for me.
Yasser
NaS – Untitled/Nigger
NaS recently released his 9th album which is Untitled. For all of you who don’t know, NaS was going to name the album nigger but because of some media and some boycotts that would of happened, he decided to leave the album Untitled. This is guaranteed the most controversial album of the year and past few years. The lyrics are very blunt directed to very specific corporations and people. It is NaS at his best, speaking the truth about everything, like everyone else should. Besides being controversial with the word nigger it also dives into politics mentioning Obama and Bush. I love this album and it’s lyrics. This is a flashback to real hip hop, talking about politics N.W.A. style and tell your point of view. Not the hip hop that talks about how much money they have and how cool they are.
Some people say that NaS should of forgotten about the media and released the album under the title nigger. But I think NaS made the right choice. Avoiding the boycott he could get more people to listen to the album and read the lyrics and understand them which is the main goal behind the album. If you haven’t heard the album go out and buy it, download it or just read the lyrics online. NaS is the truth.
Yasser
Wanted.
I just came back from watching what should be the number one movie of this summer, so far, Wanted. Ever since the first trailer where they started curving bullets I had been interested in watching this movie. The movie didn’t disappoint me. It was everything I was expecting and more. If the writers of Matrix would of thought of some of these ideas then there would of been almost no space for innovation. Angelina Jolie did a great job doing what she does best, playing a character that can kick ass and has an attitude. I love how they used slow motion to make everything suspenseful, it wasn’t just bullets flying around but every bullet was extremely important.
Even with all the shooting they made sure to include small fight scenes. One of them reminded me a lot of Gangs Of New York when the butcher fights the kid but everything is foggy and he keeps getting slashed without seeing where the attack is coming from. This movie is great and fully recommend it to everyone. I’m very glad Michael Bay didn’t direct this because we all know where that would of led….
Yasser
I’m Mobile.
I have finally made my wordpress up to date with new technology. I was reading through some popular and suggested plugins and found WordPress Mobile Edition. It is a plugin/theme that makes your blog/website readable for people using mobile devices and PDA. Meaning that now people can access the website from their mobile devices in a simple format. I never knew it would be this easy to do it but it seems pretty cool. I have yet to try it since I don’t have any mobile devices with internet access (no my blackberry doesn’t have internet access). If anyone has a mobile device and wants to try out the website then let me know how it works.
Yasser
Wall-E.
I finally managed to get some time and make it to the movies to see Wall-E. When you go to see it make sure you arrive early enough to see the mini movie before the actual movie because it is pretty funny. The whole movie was full with emotions, wall-e is a robot that can feel and express almost any emotions to others. I must admit that it isn’t as funny as I thought it would be but none the less it was still a great movie. Pixar did it again delivering what might soon become another classic animated movie. Go watch it, it is very fun to see.
Behind the great movie there is a very common idea of the future. It reminded me of the horrible movie Idiocracy that I was forced to watch. It seems that most people think that because of technology and people getting used to getting as comfortable as possible we will eventually get so lazy that we won’t be able to do much and gain tons of weight. In some way I do agree with this idea and some could argue that it is already happening. We could either blame the fast food or we could say that the reason people are so over weight in these years is because they’re so comfortable with everything. People spend so much time in front of a T.V. or have cool new gadgets that makes life easier and at the same time making you more lazy.
I believe people need to find a way to learn how to use technology but at the same time keep in mind that for every gadget that prevents you from doing “extra work” it also means that now you will be burning less calories a day. And because of this you should find a new way to burn those calories, either by going to the gym or doing some other activity. In the end it is all about doing simple things that add up to small work that help you burn calories.
Yasser
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