Finally, a way to sync files easily

https://www.foldershare.com/

A friend of mine brought my attention to this product, which Microsoft has bought very recently (November 2006). This very nice website service will allow you sync folders between multiple computers over the internet seemlessly. It also allows a group of people to share documents easily.

Finally, a solution for the file-sync nightmare. Now if they can just make windows home networks easier to setup (without using a login server)!

Some Interesting new Technologies

Interesting news to share:

1- Solar Cells' efficiency is up to from 28% to 40% and the cost is lowered considerably (i.e. 40% of the light that falls onto the cell is turned into electrical energy)
http://www.eetimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=196602149

2- A breakthrough in nano-tubes manipulation techniques. Nano-tubes are expected to become the main material of choice for making almost any product - from blood-cell-size robots to computers to finger-tip size cameras to car bodies.
http://www.physorg.com/news84116089.html

3- Pocket Projector: a laser technology that would allow embedding a whole projector inside a cell phone.
http://www.technologyreview.com/BizTech/17860/

4- A new record was set for Machine Translation Quality (using the BLEU test http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilingual_evaluation_understudy). This goes to Meaningful Machines, a score of .65. I have to admit that the advancements in this field will still take a while to materialize in realistic usable products.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.12/translate_pr.html

AlJazeera on Gramin's Nobel Prize

Aljazeera LOVES controversy!
The way they presented today's news item about Mohammad Yunus's nobel prize (founder of the Gramin bank) was so weird.

1- They were asking the question "why Mohammad Yunus?". They interviewed a Bangladeshi reporter saying that there are many pioneers in poor community banking field in Bangladesh. He said that Yunus won because he makes the most noise and pays a lot of attention to foreign relations and the public image.

2- The Aljazeera anchor asked an Egyptian expert with these words "How come he won a Nobel prize by giving few dollars to few poor people?"

3- The Egyptian expert said that Mohammad Yunus was not a pioneer, and that Egyptians have pioneered micro-loans in the 1950s from the Nahhas-Pasha days.

4- The Egyptian expert said that Gramin became famous because they gave loans to women who were able to make goods that ended up being exported to foreign countries. Otherwise, it's not that special.

5- They interviewed Mohammad Yunus... BUT, out of the whole interview, they showed ONLY ONE SENTENCE. This is how they presented it:
"In the 3rd largest muslim country in the world, Mohammad Yuus chose to create a bank that is based on Interest. Mohammad Yunus: Islam does not say explicitly that Interest as a whole is Haram; it's a controversial issue and many scholars say that some of it is halal."

6- They also said that the "televised happy reception of Yunus by the poor residents at one of the villages" is "most likely a well-orchestrated PR show"

7- They ended the report by asking "Is Mohammad Yunus using the Gramin conglomerate's reputation and influence to run for presidency?"

That was it!

ya akhi... some times, I just wonder how these Aljazeera people think. Why to present the story in such a manner!?
Even if there are question marks about this guy's Nobel Prize, present a balanced story, present the apparent positive light of it (A MUSLIM GUY winning a Nobel Prize for work in a Muslim Country!! this is huge), and THEN, present the doubts and the questions.

oh..

I need a new Camera.. what should I get?

This cry for a new Camera is not the usual geek-instinct to upgrade (as Joe, my programming professor, used to say "You mean they make'em bigger?" - he ended up buying a jeep from the Swiss Army that is made in 1950 and has a mere 40km on it!)

No, my need for a new camera is for ... Layan, the little angel of my life. I was very disappointed the other day when I found out that almost all the in-door pictures of her were below par. My warrior, the Pentax Optio 555, while usually great, did not cut it this time.

Here's an example of the noise I get for in-door pictures (people taken out):
Do you see how the wall is grainy? With low light, any 'smooth colors' look grainy - even people's faces or clothes.

This drove me crazy. I don't have this problem with outdoor pictures. My camera does very well there (and it seems that until one has children, most of one's photos are outdoors):


So, with this great reason in mind, I start drafting my requirements for a new camera:
1- Should be able to handle low-light situations gracefully (no flash or ambient flash - I hate flash pics)
2- Should be able to take the 'portrait' shots - where only the person's face is in focus, and everything in the background is nicely fuzzed out.
3- Should be quick - important to capture those invaluable children's face impressions.
4- Image stabilization is possible: shaky images are rather common, especially in low-light indoor situations. A camera with Image stabilization feature - I hope - should help.

With these requirements in mind, what should I get?
After looking through http://www.dpreview.com - which is a great site, I found few interesting options:
1- Canon S3 IS: the S1, 2, & 3, are Canon's family of consumer long-zoom cameras (~10X). My uncle has one, and it's very nice. It has image stabilization (thus, the IS in the name). It's quick (2.5 images per second). It's big (downside, but not very important for now). The low light (high ISO) quality is so-so (check the test here).

2- I'm also thinking about the super compact Canon SD700 IS. It's super compact, and fast with ~2 frames per seconds. The IS seems to work nicely (IS test). The noise, however, it not impressive (test).

3- While reading about the SD700 IS, I read about it's competition, the Fujifilm Finepix F30, as one of the most impressive consumer noise-reduction cameras. They even compare it to the SLR Nikon D50 at ISO800, the the fuji does pretty well (test here). It's fast ~2.2 fps (it seems all new compact cameras are fast). However, the review concludes that the Fuji F30 is really good in low-light, but so-so with out-doors pictures. And this camera does not have Image stabilization.

4- My fourth option is to get a Digital SLR system (single lens reflex camera). Those cameras are bulky, expensive, require additional time to fix images, but... supposedly, they produce the best quality pictures possible.

Between these 4 options... I will start my investigation. As some know. I take a very long time to make such 'electronics' decisions. I expect I won't make a final purchase until the end of the year (1-2 months from now).

I will try to blog as I go. If you know of a good camera, please send your recommendations.

Dignified Exercise!

"There must be some kind of movement I can do standing up, with the dignity of a human being,"

http://www.shovelglove.com/

How to Make and Use a Shovelglove

Take a sledgehammer and wrap an old sweater around it. This is your "shovelglove." Every week day morning, set a timer for 14 minutes. Use the shovelglove to perform shoveling, butter churning, and wood chopping motions until the timer goes off. Stop. Rest on weekends and holidays.

I do 50 shoveling motions, 50 right then 50 left; 15 to 20 butter churns, right then left; 20 woods chops in both directions; and then 5-8 curl like movements for which I haven't thought of a good name yet. Then I repeat the cycle until the timer goes off.