End of Web 2.0 - the blog edition

Taking the Samsung Galaxy SII out for a spin (vs iPhone 4)

2011-07-13T23:49:00.004+02:00

(Disclaimer #1: I received the Samsung Galaxy S II on loan for six weeks from Samsung, as part of their test and marketing campaign at TRND.COM.

Disclaimer #2: I am an iPhone 4 user since July 2010, after getting a taste for iOS on an iPad. By now I have heavily invested into the IOS ecosystem with a large number of apps and some accessories. So anything I say may be influenced coming from that background – I will therefore compare each focus item of the Samsung with Apple’s iPhone 4 to give you my perspective.

I had the chance to try out my first Android phone, the current top of the line Samsung Galaxy S II (i9100) thanks to TRND.
And I have to say I am really impressed with what I saw and experienced with this Samsung phone.

I am not going to recite all the technical details (you can get them here German or English) but just the important bullet points:

Android OS 2.3.3
Dual Core CPU 1.2GHz
4.3 inch screen “Super AMOLED Plus”
16GB/32GB Ram onboard AND a microSD Slot (for up to 32GB additional storage)
1GB OS internal Ram
Size 125x66mm and only 8,5mm thin
Camera 8MGpx (back) & 2MGpx (front)
Quad band GSM, 3G/HSPA+ and FM-Radio
HDMI (TV-out) & micro-USB (for charging and PC connection)

Hardware (general build and feel): Extremely lightweight, very nicely balanced. The handset size seems very good (perfect for a man's hand although my wife also likes it very much), actually hides its actual size due to its thinness and weight.

Materials used have a good haptic touch, although it feels slightly less expensive then the iPhone 4 (probably because it uses more plastic and less glass/ metal).

The back cover is slightly difficult to remove because it initially feels flimsier then it actually is but unproblematic once you get used to it and no problem at all if you need to insert a microSD card, replace the SIM or change the battery.

A very high quality in-ear headset is included which I massively prefer instead of the Apple headsets – but this may be a personal decision.

Comparison conclusion: In all the Samsung is on par with the iPhone 4, each has it’s own merits. (1:1)

Screen: Large (4.3”), very crisp and sharp display, great colors (better then the iPhone4 Retina display in this regard but also a bit darker).

The screen (using an enhanced AMOLED technology which Samsung coined “Super AMOLED Plus” is probably the best stand-out feature of the Samsung and puts it over the top of all current smartphones.

Comparison conclusion: In all slightly better then the iPhone 4 due to size and colors. (2:1)

Operating System: Uses Andoid 2.3.3 (named Gingerbread), the most current smartphone version of Google’s Android OS. With many great and useful Android features (notification), but others like Apple are catching up fast to we need continued progress. And this is good for the consumer!

I had no crashes or reboots using the Samsung during the last four weeks, only once the Facebook app needed to be restarted but I guess that was the app itself and not the OS.

Comparison conclusion: Probably just as good as IOS 4, I prefer the Apple although this may very much depend on the personal preference so I will call it a draw. (3:2)

Samsung OS Add-ins: Samsung added its own refinement (“TouchWiz 4.0”) on top of Gingerbread to enhance the experience.

I loved the fast access to settings like turning on/off Bluetooth, GPS, WiFi etc and some scalable widgets seems useful.

I am not too sure about the hubs concept – I personally rather like to use specific or native apps for specific media types.

Samsung also included a DLNA compliant server application, which enables the phone to wirelessly “send” pictures, videos and music from the handset to a number of devices like modern TVs, Playstation 3, Xbox360 or even to a Windows 7 PC.
I personally like the optional Swype keyboard which Samsung provides - this enables you to type words without lifting your fingers. After using it once on the Galaxy, I missed such a feature on the iPhone.
The Samsung also has a remote management feature ("Samsung Dive"), which enables finding or disabling the phone if it lost, similar to the "Find my iPhone" service of Apple.
Samsung provides an own software suite for Windows and OSX PCs called Samsung KIES, which even enables a wireless sync to the PC. Media management of KIES is good but not as good as Apple's iTunes. There are a few sellers for Android music (most prominently Amazon) but Video content does not seem to be available anywhere.

Comparison conclusion: Better then IOS 4, although this may really depend on the personal preference, especially if do not like to "bring your own media". (4:3)

Speed: The Samsung has a 1.2GHz dual core processor and it shows in general responsiveness - I never had the feeling of lag while using the touchscreen or apps. Of course measuring and comparing speed within apps is difficult (for example Angry Birds game seemed slower - lower FPS - then on the iPhone4) but the web load rendering on WiFi and 3G is noticeably faster then the current iPhone generation. Also a reloading of web pages was rarely required, possibly also be a due to increased memory (1GB RAM). The problem with speed within graphic intense games may be a general issue with Android OS, not anything Samsung can directly improve.

Comparison conclusion: Slight preference of Samsung, but YMMV because this may depend on the apps used. Will probably be no difference for most users. (5:4)

Battery: My own requirements are that any phone should last at least 36-40 hours with my normal usage pattern. 40 hours would be perfect. Take a fully charged phone from the bedside, use it normally during the day and only require charging again the evening of the NEXT day, when you go to sleep. This way you know you'll have enough power if (i) you could not charge it daily and (ii) required more usage then normally (e.g. on a trip when you need to use GPS and 3G more frequently then usual).

Until now the only current generation smartphone capable of that was the iPhone4. Now the Samsung got this right, it gets me through a whole day and a half. Although my iPhone (even with it's almost year old battery) is slightly better, above the 10% charge around the 40 hour mark with own usage, I did not get the chance to "condition" the Samsung battery as I regularly do with my iPhone. So your mileage may vary. And of course you can carry a swappable replacement Samsung battery (reasonable cheap - around 20€ on Amazon), which is not possible for an iPhone at all.

Comparison conclusion: Very slightly prefer the iPhone, but the Samsung would be ahead if I took a spare battery into account. (5:5)

Camera: Until now I believed the best smartphone camera was on the iPhone4 but Samsung definitely beat Apple’s phone. Each and every picture I took (outdoor, indoor, low-light) was better on the Samsung Galaxy S II, even if I compare the front cameras of both phones. And the HD video capabilities also seem to better then Apples top model. I only miss a build in HDR functionality (even the pseudo HDR Apple delivers would have been good) but this can be remedied using a number of camera apps from the Android market. And a dedicated camera button would have been great but the

Comparison conclusion: Samsung first, iPhone4 is clearly only second best, and other phones have al lot of catching up to do. (6:5)

Connectivity: It has all the current features (3G/HSPA+, WiFi, FM-Radio, HDMI & USB) but what really is a standout feature for me personally is the Bluetooth rSAP support (Remote SIM Access Protocol) as part of its package of Bluetooth protocols. This enables my build-in car phone to connect to the Samsung, something no iPhone and barely any other smartphone can do!

The Galaxy S II version for the German market does not have 4G but it would be useless anyway with its current rollout status here.

Comparison conclusion: Samsung wins, at least with FM Radio & HDM, even if people do not care about rSAP Bluetooth as I do. (7:5)

Future OS Upgrade Path: Not known, currently has 2.3.3 (Gingerbread), any newer version (e.g. Ice-cream Sandwich) will depend on (a) your phone provider (b) Samsung and (c) Google. But most manufactures promised to update at least for 18months and then there is always the rooting community.

Comparison conclusion: Here Apple has set a benchmark to beat (firmware support up to 3 years), Samsung has to prove it can deliver on its promise. (7:6)

Price: The price may depends of the type of contract you have with your provider but if I take the unlocked and no contract version into account, the Samsung is very reasonable and much better then its direct competitor. The street price (e.g. Amazon) six weeks after it’s launch is around 500 EUR, an iPhone 4 still costs at least 629 EUR one year after it’s launch.

But do not forget that the one time cost of a mobile is usually nothing compared to the total you are paying monthly for the 2-year contract.

Comparison conclusion: The Samsung Galaxy S II is the better deal (“more bang for the buck”), with or without a contract. (8:6)

Final Conclusion: Definitely the best Android mobile phone, wins or is at least on par with all the key factors. My (subjective) comparison would give it an 8:6 lead against an iPhone 4.

The Samsung Galaxy S2 has no real weakness, very much unlike most its competitors.

And I would have probably switched to this Samsung without hesitation but at the moment I would need to justify the loss of all the investment I made to the Apple ecosystem (apps, accessories, media).

But for any “new comer”, current Android users as well as many iPhone users it should be a no-brainer to choose the Samsung Galaxy S II.

What Samsung should improve?

Documentation: There was not much, especially more info about Samsung’s own apps and pointers towards the KIES Windows/Mac software would have been great.
Branding: Is it calledSamsung Galaxy S II or Samsung Galaxy S2 or Samsung i9100? Just own your brand and decide on ONE name with one spelling, worldwide! Especially do not allow the carriers/providers to change the name (as it is often done in the US).
Camera: An external hardware shutter button would be nice, as would be build-in additional camera app features (like HDR or filters).
Updates: Apples keeps it iPhones up-to-date with new Firmware for about 30month (at least that what they did with the first two generations). It would be a very good sign for the consumers if Samsung did the same or at least provide updates to the customers for more then the 18 month they recently announced together with Google. After all a contract is usually 24 months for the end customers so this timeframe should be covered!

Past mobile experience (i.e. you can skip that part)

I will never forget my first mobile phone, a Motorola StarTEK . From there I moved from Nokia (8210) to Ericsson (T68) to Siemens (SX1), a Nokia again (E61) and settled for Blackberry (8800 and Bold 9000) until mid 2010.

The last word: Funny

Superman seen with eyes of an economist

2009-09-02T22:57:00.001+02:00

You thought it was unrealistic that a man could fly? Wait until you read this good example why you should not think about economy (not even in these days) while watching a superhero movie:

Most readers will understand the sense in which it would be "wasting" Michael Jordan's skills if he were an accountant or even a social worker. In the same way, the economist watching Superman worries that it is almost certainly "wasteful" if the Man of Steel spends his time flying around looking for petty thieves, not to mention kittens caught in trees.
...
To best exploit his amazing potential, Superman should hire an agent (or even a team of agents) who is fully briefed on the Kryptonian's various powers, and then works around the clock finding potential employers. If the world of the Superman movies really existed, I would find some way of contacting him and make him the following offer: "Mr. El, if you let me be your agent, I can guarantee you $100 billion in pretax earnings the first year, or else I work for free. If we do meet the target, though, all I ask is a measly .01 percent commission on everything you earn above it."

If he took me up on this offer, I am quite confident that I'd be rich. Consider payload delivery: In 1990 Arabsat Consortium paid the Chinese government $25 million to launch a satellite into orbit, and this was considered an unfairly low price in Western countries. Because of the reduced risk (Superman won't explode on the launch pad) and scheduling convenience (he can do it tomorrow if you really need it done quickly), Superman could easily charge this amount. Since he was able to deliver the Eiffel Tower elevator (containing the nuclear bomb) into space in less than sixty seconds, Superman could leisurely put a dozen satellites into orbit per hour. At that rate (and assuming a forty-hour work week and two weeks vacation per year), Superman could earn $600 billion annually.

Some people ruin everything ;-)

Now where's my Windows 7 theme song?

2009-08-31T01:09:00.008+02:00

Just a short one:

I have been enjoying Windows 7 for some time now but there is one thing I do miss from the Vista era (and no, I do not mean the "Ultimate Extras"):

Microsoft, where is the new Windows 7 theme song like we got with Vista? In 2007 Microsoft India commissioned an official Vista pop song for it's launch, called "Wow is now!" And it's still available for download: Enjoy!!

Micorsoft India via Softpedia

Blackberry Spyware

2009-08-31T00:51:00.009+02:00

Some time ago I said a few things about Blackberry security and how people / governments / organizations try to break it.
The main theme behind was that if properly configured no 3rd party can get into blackberry messages (at least not from with in the network - email routed through the internet as well as SMS are obviously something else). Frustrating for governments in today’s environment security theater environment...

But of course there are ways around this, especially if the network providers and governments collude, and social engineering is used to trick the users:
Etisalat, the leading mobile phone service provider in den United Arab Emirates recently distributed a patch to about 145.000 of their customers which was supposed increase performance.

But after all customers experienced no performance increase but a run down of fully charged batteries within a hour, Nigel Gourlay, a programmer from Doha analysed the patch and found it to be the culprit: Using this "patch" the provider was able to log all messages sent out using the Blackberry. This trojan / spyware patch, written in cleartext Java, is supposed to be from SS8, a California based company claiming to be the market leader in electronic observation. And the battery did run out because the spyware on the blackberry tried to register with the control server but the server itself failed due to the sheer number of requesting handsets. So this application tried again and again to contact the server.

RIM (Research In Motion), the manufacturer of Blackberry, put out a statement confirming S88 involvement and provided an uninstall routine of this "Lawful Interception" application.
Etisalat-Manager Abdulla Hashim still claimed in an interview with the economic journal Arabian Business that the spyware patch was to increase the reception performance. No word from Etisalat that RIM and all other security researchers identified the patch as to what it actually was.

But the real punch line is: As a follow up to my prior post the Economic Times reported that software from SS8 was tested in India for their interception purposes but disregarded by the government due to the number of limitations and error-proneness.

Additional reading (in German):
http://www.heise.de/ct/Blackberry-Spyware-Reporter-ohne-Grenzen-verlangen-Aufklaerung--/news/meldung/143016

Googles Latest Invention

2008-09-10T16:33:00.005+02:00

Funny! And true...

(c) http://www.geekandpoke.com

Data security at companies who should know better

2008-09-04T22:37:00.015+02:00

Some reference hyperlinks are in German (sorry)

A German news & investigative TV show (ZDF Wiso) broke a story in which they stated that more than 56.000 very valuable login credentials were stolen and are now available for potential buyers on "Chinese servers".

The interesting part of this story is that these login credentials (email accounts and passwords) were stolen from the German job applicant site of PwC (Pricewaterhouse Coopers), a "big four" auditing and professional consulting services firm. Incidentally PwC also offers IT Security consulting as one of their key services...

The data of potential PwC job applicants may be very valuable in the wrong hands due to the expected economic and social profile of the users (highly educated and skilled professionals with good income level). Hopefully they did not use the same credentials for popular eBusiness sites like Amazon, Ebay or Paypal.

PwC stated in a press release that their job applicant site was actually outsourced and their own security with all employee and client data was never at a risk. PwC closed down the applicant site after they were informed by the TV journalist. In the meantime the ZDF Wiso editorial office send warning emails to all compromised users informing them of the issue. PwC themselves also informed these users of the happening, but only a full day after Wiso's initial email.

A PwC spokesman also stated that the passwords were stored in clear text because it was an older system and "any encryption would have been hacked anyway to get to the data".

But for me there are still a few questions:

Why was the security concept of the outsourcer not audited by the experts at PwC before using this service? Especially an auditing company should know that checking facts is better than just believing some bold claims, may it be about financial data or security...

Why was the login password stored in clear text instead of using an hash? A good hash can be used to verify an entered password but never provides the ability to reverse engineer the password. Which means if the hash gets stolen it's useless. But apparently the PwC spokesman is not a very technical guy and was not briefed correctly by their experts - otherwise he would not have made some bold claims about encryption hacking in this scenario...

Pricewaterhouse Coopers will most probably not make such a mistake again, but the interesting thing would be to know how secure other similar companies and organizations are? Or does this not matter anyway with all the data and not encrypted laptops lost or stolen left and right?

A virus in space

2008-08-27T16:40:00.010+02:00

So the International Space Station got a virus (actually technically a worm). And according to NASA spokesman Kelly Humphries not for the first time.

This time a few on-board laptops on board the ISS where infected with a worm that steals credentials for online games. Apparently no harm done since these machines are not directly online - but this makes the fact even more troublesome how they got infected in the first place. The best guess would be USB thumb drives or copied CD's which all may not have been scanned before being taken by the Astronauts.
Anyone care to give NASA, it's Russian (RKA) and European (ESA) counterparts a free copy of a current Anti-Virus software since they seem to be using Windows and most of the laptops used do may not be equipped with AV software?

What I personally found interesting is the type of malware: A worm specialized on getting gamer account information - could any of the Astronauts have been bored on board and brought a game or two into space? Not that there is anything wrong with this - after all people like Sergei Krikalev spent more time in space than a lot of us in colleague classes...And who would not love to play a round of Space Invaders on the ISS (forget about any current generation consoles - the ISS would probably not be able to meet the power demand of a PS3 or a Xbox360).

Easy iTunes Ratings Backup

2008-08-12T14:36:00.008+02:00

Some People may rant about iPod and iTunes but I really like this combination. Especially the iTunes part of this duo because of it's good MP3 management features.

I do not feel the need for a fancy media player on my PC, I'll rather use iTunes, even if it looks a lot like a spreadsheet.

As probably many other people my age I do have a diverse music collection, featuring a lot of different songs from several periods and artists. And not just the latest fad on a high rotation playlist.

I use the iTunes rating system to manage my music library, giving 5 Stars to 1 Star ratings to organize my music:

5 Star -My hands down favorite songs I would not live without (currently about 100 of my 5000+ songs)
4 Star - Very good songs I would need on a flash based player
3-Star - Good Songs I do not need to hear everyday
2-Star - Songs I don't care much about but either are important music milestones or nice to hear once in a year
1-Star - Songs I need to delete from my collection
Unrated - Songs I need to rate according to the above scheme.

To rate my music I use a smart playlist called "unrated songs". When I'm on a trip I'll often access this playlist from my iPod and rate songs as they play. The idea is that I'll eventually rate all songs and then delete the 1 star songs out of my library.

Anyway, coming back to the title of this post: Beside using the iTunes rating I also store my ratings in the comment field within the MP3 (ID3) tags. For that I rate the music as usual and then use a smartlist which checks for all star rated songs not having a comment containing the word "star". Then I can easily insert the rating in the iTunes comment field (i.e. a five star rated gets the comment "5-Star"). This way I don't care if I loose the iTunes rating (or actually the XML file where it is contained) or my playlists - the ID3 tags do contain the rating itself so I can apply the iTunes rating again whenever I need it.

Since I lost my ratings once before, I'll rather store them within the MP3 itself.

By the way, for people wanting to export the iTunes playlists to other media players, there is always Eric Daugherty's fine app iTunes Export. And the great MusicBridge by James Willis if you want to copy/sync your meta data from iTunes to Windows Media Player (or the other way around), including transferring iTunes Ratings to WMP ratings.

take care,

Kashif-

BlackBerry Security and government backdoors

2008-07-31T23:51:00.010+02:00

There has been some controversy regarding RIM's BlackBerry security and giving away a backdoor key to governments.

An article in the Times of India stated that RIM has agreed to hand over / allow India's Department of Telecom to intercept all incoming and outgoing data from a BlackBerry.

There has been a (non-public) denial by RIM regarding this issue, which basically states that RIM can't give a secret key to anyone even if it wanted to, other than this they can not disclose any information about confidential talks with governments.

Well, basically both seem to be correct - here's how: If you read the Times of India article closely you will notice the sentence "...Canada-based Research In Motion (RIM) may allow the Indian government to intercept non-corporate emails sent over BlackBerrys." - and the keyword here is non-corporate!

RIM has basically two architecture models for BlackBerrys:

1) Enterprise/Corporate where and end-to-end encryption is applied and the BlackBerry Enterprise Servers to whom the corporate BlackBerrys talk to are located and operated directly the the company using it. In this case RIM does not know the encryption key which is set by the corporation itself - ergo it can not hand it over to anyone else (at least using the presumption that there is not other hidden backdoor in the RIM Enterprise servers or Blackberrys - the French government does believe in this possibility). Both even in this case only communication with the same corporate environment would be secure - mails to the rest of the world would have to pass to the "normal", unsecured Internet and may be intercepted as any other Internet email.

2) Non-Enterprise which uses BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) hosted/operated by the telco service provider of the local country. And the BIS server does not use any special encryption technique as all these emails are stored in a webmail account (like Hotmail, Gmail etc.) and could be ready by government given appropriate access. Sounds worse than it is because all received and send mail by these non-Enterprise users are routed through the unsecured Internet anyway, making the eavesdropping trivial (although governments get even an easier access if the directly "wiretap" the consumer BlackBerry server).

So do I trust RIM and their Enterprise Blackberry security? Maybe, at least as much as I would trust any proprietary, closed source system like Skype.

But then I always believed in the good of man (and government). Not that this will stop me from getting some tickets for the new X-Files movie...

Update 2008-08-11: Most of the journalists publishing news articles, InformationWeek and India Times beside others, obviously did not take the time to properly read the RIM whitepapers on Blackberry security.

Real Kryptonite discovered - Superman goes into hiding

2008-07-31T21:32:00.015+02:00

Something very noteworthy I read some time ago in BBC News: The fictional mineral Kryptonite, known to every kid on the planet as the Achilles' heel of Superman, has been discovered in the real world.

At least sort of: Jadarite, a new mineral found 2007 in Serbia with the chemical formula "sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide" coincidentally does have almost the same formula as the Kryptonite described in the 2006 movie "Superman Returns" (only missing fluorine and more obviously the color green).

Although Superman's Kryptonite was first described in the unpublished comic "K-Metal from Krypton" by Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel and originally illustrated by the Joe Shuster Studio in 1940, it's first a public appearance was in 1943 on the Superman radio series with an official introduction in published comics even later in 1949.

As for the Kryptonite discovery, it is unknown if Lex Luthor did visit Serbia in 2007. But the Natural History Museum, where some of the mineral is on display, promised appropriate security.

Mineral Image (c) Natural History Museum

Comic Image (c) DC Comics

The weakest link

2008-03-26T10:40:00.004+01:00

I recently found a small post on Bruce Schneier's excellent Security blog entitled "The weakest link" - I believe that title describes the picture better than any additional 1000 words...

I am not even going to say anything about "security to show" or how this easily-circumvented security (which is even more hilarious with all the tracks in the snow) can be applied to other areas...

By the way, here's a Google Maps link - the place is an university campus in Bielefeld, Germany.

take care,

Kashif-

Numbers

2007-05-08T23:05:00.000+02:00

On May 1st I found some pretty numbers floating around on the internet:
09 f9 11 02 9d 74 e3 5b d8 41 56 c5 63 56 88 c0
I am not sure about their meaning but maybe you can look them up in Google or somewhere...

Why I switched... back!

2007-01-03T11:44:00.000+01:00

Before I start I have to write a disclaimer for all the fanatic Apple fanboys (who don't think of themselves that way) that I am not an evil anti-Apple or a Mac-hater and I did not sell my soul to the Windows devil. Although I think Bill G. is a good Samaritan (see last years Time Magazine's "Man of the Year" cover) and a VERY good business man, not Satan himself. And I have an iPod (4G), use iTunes for Windows as my main Audio Library and currently do not see any reason to change to a Zune or PlaysForSure.

I used to have an Apple Mac iBook (an 12" with 1,2GHz PPC, 100GB HDD and 1,25GB RAM). I used it for a long time as my main computer at home. It was a nice notebook. But more than often it felt more like a toy than a real PC to me - no offense, really, just my feelings. And somehow I think Windows and IBM compatible PC's have a better usability - at least for me.

But why did I switch back to the Windows world?

1) Mouse - I am not even going to start talking about the rationality of a one-button mouse on a notebook. I know it is possible to emulate the second button and the two fingered scrolling isn't a bad idea. But Steve, come on, accept one or two good notions from PC engineers and at least use a second mouse button for the coming Powerbooks just like you did with the Mighty Mouse. And even then I believe Apple will never accept and use what I personally believe to be the best mouse solution ever: the (IBM/Lenovo) Thinkpad Pointing Stick.

2) OSX User Account Security - I know OSX is reasonably secure. But I still thought it is a good idea to take away the admin rights to my daily use user account (and use a separate admin account whenever needed). Bad idea, because a surprisingly amount of applications (most of then 3rd Party) where apparently never tested or developed for non-admin users...
Starting with installation (sometimes no chance to enter the admin account/password or not being able to select the app path) or a flat out denial to run the app. I know it can be fixed easily with a bit of testing and the original Apple apps do not show this issue. But even then, anyone who has ever reduced his OSX account to a non-admin user, will never again complain about the Windows Vista UAP (User Account Protection) - Apple Security is even bigger pain!

3) 3rd party drivers - I have several fine appliances like a webcam, a multi-function scanner/fax/laser printer or an inkjet printer. All good working, never failed me in my PC life. But switching to a MAC changed the happy life with a lot of third party driver problems.
My portable webcam (originally bought for my IBM Thinkpad) from Logitech) was reasonable good. But try getting it to run with iChat or any other IM for OSX (like Yahoo or Skype) was completely useless since neither Logitech nor Apple provide any useful drivers. Yes, I know, there's always macam as freeware driver package, but why has Apple or Logitech make it so hard?
I have a nice Lexmark inkjet printer (which I rarely use for color prints) and OSX had some drivers for that printer (GIMP printer drivers). But they were not even half as good as the original Windows drivers - no easy way to default to b/w print only, no information about ink level and the print quality was really undesirable compared to the Windows versions.
My biggest problem was a Samsung multi function scanner/printer/fax. The scanner part was provided for MacOS with Samsung Twain drivers, but what should I then do to actually scan something? OSX does not have any build in application which provides the counterpart for the twain driver. The Samsung manual advised to install Adobe Photoshop. Or switch to Windows, since a scanning and OCR application was provided by Samsung...

4) A real live example. You have cupboard with a few drawers. Two of the drawers have a few things in them, you take one of the drawers and throw everything what is inside into the other one. Hwat would you expect? That the second drawer now contains all the stuff from both drawers or only the things from the first, with the rest gone? Live thought us to expect the former. But not on OSX. Dragging one folder which contains files into another folder which also contains (some different) files deletes the contents of the receiving folder. Go figure. Appearantly OSX never heard of the idea of MERGING folders! Or doesn't even give a choice. Unfortunately I learned the hard way, by loosing some of my files which made me which I had stayed in Windows (which of course merges files and folders and if necessary asks about replacing and renaming).

5) And don't let me start about games on OSX... Good thing I had my XBox for a regular fix. Or my Windows Thinkpad to play Half-Life 2.

6) iPhoto is good. But Picasa (free photo management software from Google) is MUCH better. But only available for Windows (although they published a binary for Linux recently). Maybe just a personal preference but Picasa beats iPhoto hands down.

7) Safari is a nice and good browser. But not as good as Firefox, Camino or IE 7 – even if passed the acid test. I do not care, I used Camino (based on Mozilla code) on OSX because I just want a good web experience. I do not read HTML source code regularly visiting any site and check if it’s CSS confirms to any standards…

8) Why does Apple try to force users a specific way or working with PC's. For example I like my MP3 and JPG's in exactly the location and format I put them in (i.e. MP3 in flat format, JPG sorted in specific folders). I would like to continue using my own folder organization. But iTunes and iPhoto on OSX almost forces the user to change (I know, it is possible to keep the data but you almost have to force the apps to accept it...).

Anyway, I am back now on a Windows PC, loved my Media Center 2005 Edition, installed Vista recently and am surprised how much I like it. OSX was good to play with. But at least for the time being I am staying in the Windows world.

take care
Kashif-

FON interview

2006-12-13T14:25:00.000+01:00

My email interview regarding FON just was published on the official FON blog (German site).

Being a FONero and feeling good about it!

2006-12-10T20:41:00.000+01:00

A few month ago I read a post at heise.de ( a German IT news website ) about a company called FON, who where giving away WiFi Hotspot and WLAN router for free in exchange of a promise.

Interested in the offer (hey, it said FREE as in free beer), I visited the FON website, read the fine print (wasn't that much anyway), gave the promise and registered.

Only two short weeks after that I received a very small white router which looked like designed by Apple (and incidentally is only slightly larger than the original iPod) and brought it online with only a few clicks. And that was all, I had a fully functional and safe Hotspot for me and every other person looking for one.

But what is a FON, the router and the promise actually?

The easiest explanation is to quote the FON site: "FON is the largest WiFi community in the world. Our members share their wireless Internet access at home and, in return, enjoy free WiFi wherever they find another Fonero’s Access Point."

And the "La Fonera" router is a small package which provides two wireless networks: an open FON social channel and another private channel with good security. Just plug in the La Fonera into your already existing broadband modem or router and get going (with a secure WPA connection already set up and a personal password consisting of the La Fonera router serial number).

And the promise I gave is to let my FON router running 24/7 to enable other FONeros the use of my hotspot.

The big advantage (beside having a good, warm feeling in the gut) is, that now that I am a FONero I can use any other FON hotspot worldwide for free!

Here is a link to my FON (a nice map provided by FON and Google maps): location & map

So what about you? Want to join the currently 185.000 FONeras and FONeros (app. 28.000 within Germany - member numbers from the FON website early December)? Go to the FON site and join the revolution (well, sort of, of course they want to make some money, after all Skype/eBay and Google are some of the FON investors - but the idea is good enough to be supported!). Hope to see you soon on the FON maps!

take care,
Kashif-

Don't Download This Song...Or This One...!

2006-09-21T22:25:00.000+02:00

Once in a while there comes a song you love instantly and would love to download from your favorite P2P site. But of course you don't! The honest guy you are, you go into you next CD store or to Amazon get and buy it.
Or you follow the link and download this song... (not that you care but for legal reasons I have to include that the download is officially authorized by the artist Weird Al Yankovic - but even that does not make the song less wonderful!)

And while you are at it, try out the other song from Weird Al: "You're Pitiful" - it's a parody of James Blunt's "You're Beautiful" which had the blessing of the original artist but was vetoed by Blunt's label.

And since you are here, check out the Weird Al Video at YouTube:

take care,
Kashif-

Zombies Invade San Francisco!

2006-08-20T11:55:00.000+02:00

In a related news to yesterdays post, Zombies were seen on bright daylight in San Francisco!

Now it is really time to prepare against Zombies...!

read more digg story

The Zombie Preparedness Kit

2006-08-19T23:59:00.000+02:00

There are a few things every self respecting man needs at his home. And this is definitely one of them. Together with the necessary manual (The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead - ISBN 1400049628 - check it out at Amazon, I'll be waiting here) it may help to keep you and your family save from zombie attacks.

read more digg story

How To Totally Fake Being A Geek

2006-08-09T00:34:00.000+02:00

Yes, some people think I was a geek once. And some people still believe I am. And sometimes I wish I really was a geek.
Anyway, I found a absolutely hilarious post on Digg, about "faking" being a geek. Only a true geek could come up with something like this... Just read the clip about programming languages taken out from the post (and he has tips about every other aspect of geek life):

---> Programming: Learn not only the names of these programming languages, but the order in which I present them: Basic, Cobol, Pascal, Ada, C, Java, Lisp, Perl, Python, Ruby, Assembler. These are listed in order of "least cool" to "most cool". Now you know what to do. Whenever the person you're talking to name-drops any language on this list, simply pick the next one and assert that this is what YOU prefer. What to do if you meet an assembler programmer? Act like any other geek: impressed! Bug them to teach you how to write a tic-tac-toe game that uses artificial intelligence in assembler. Stand and pretend to absorb their explanation in one shot. Shake your head in marvel and mutter, "And all that time, I was trying to do it the hard way!" <---

read more digg story

Friends Don't Let Friends Fly Drunk

2006-07-02T19:12:00.000+02:00

I found a little gem on YouTube, a Star Wars Public Service Announcement from 1979. Enjoy.

I wonder if George Lucas forgot about that message when he was writing Jar Jar Binks in 1999...

Anyway, there is another one of the gems, a Star Wars PSA about smoking and whooping cough (featuring C3PO & R2D2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYfdDB770Hg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmblMdeuzpQ

Interlac - back from the past

2006-04-05T14:52:00.000+02:00

What I forgot to mention in my prior post:

The actual reason I created the Wikipedia entry was that Michael from Legion of Super-Heroes Blog: Interlac left a comment on my blog - it gave me a motivational shot. Thank you Michael!

By the way, on his Blog you can find the use of Interlac beside the usual suspects from DC Comics. In at least two Marvel issues ("Iron Man" #278, pages 13/14 and "Adventures in Reading, starring the Amazing Spider-Man" #1) Interlac did appear...

Take care, Kashif-

Interlac - now even in Wikipedia

2006-04-05T12:37:00.000+02:00

Finally I got around creating a Wikipedia entry about Interlac. It is still very much a stub, but hey, go and edit it yourself. That's what Wikipedia is about, anyway!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interlac

But while you are here and reading this, why not try out my original Interlac font (from way long ago in 1994) - they work for Windows, Mac OSX and Linux:

Interlac TrueType solid version:
http://khusain.googlepages.com/ilac_tts.zip

Interlac TrueType hollow version:
http://khusain.googlepages.com/ilac_tth.zip

The hollow Interlac font even includes all early 90's Legionnaire symbols

take care, Kashif-

Fighting the Frizzies at eleven

2006-03-30T20:00:00.000+02:00

What does "Fighting the Frizzies at eleven" actually mean? Well, it an obscure reference to a pop culture item. Sort of. But let start at the beginning:

In 1977 a small, independent and insignificant movie called Star Wars opened to the public. And it become what we today call a blockbuster.

In 1978 TV execs thought they should take this idea and make something for the small screen. The Star Wars Holiday Special was born (don't ask, read for yourself in Wikipedia if you dare).

One of the oddest amusing moments connected with one particular broadcast of the Holiday Special was a bumper segment from WCBS-TV 2 in New York that said simply "Fighting the Frizzies... at eleven." The "Frizzies" were, of course, a truly 70s hair phenomenon coined for shampoo advertising: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP4H4jV1Spo

Funny thing is that this particular Fighting the Frizzies bumper was parodied on an episode of South Park in 1999 in a very obscure reference to the Star Wars Holiday Special during "Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics". Only someone who had seen a copy of the Holiday Special from this particular broadcast could have possibly gotten the reference!

City of Tuttle, Oklahoma, USA: Welcome to the Internet

2006-03-28T17:35:00.000+02:00

Jerry Taylor, the city manager of Tuttle, Oklahoma, threatened to call the FBI because the believed his Website was hacked by CentOS.

What he presumed to be job of a villainous hacker was actually the Apache webserver default configuration page...

I was unsure if to post this item here, since I sincerely do not want to be gloating (the German term "Schadenfreude" would be more fitting) about once computer literacy. But the whole affair does not have much to do with IT knowledge but common sense and taking a second to read and think.

Take a look yourself in a "The Register" news item.

And if you really want to digg into the story, read the original CentOS log containing the whole correspondence...

iPod Advertisement From Space?

2006-03-26T19:44:00.000+02:00

Sometimes, people go to some lengths for advertisement. And some people go even further. Did Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, heard about the story that people may start painting ads on rooftops for google earth and tried that on even larger scale?

Click here for direct Google Maps link

Whatever this construction is, it does look a lot like Apple's flagship iPod product.

But you may ask who on Earth could actually use an iPod this size? Well, take a look here (long cable though...) iPod User

OS X vs. Windows security

2006-03-06T17:21:00.000+01:00

I read a nice Story on Digg today. How an OSX Server could be hacked reasonably fast using some unpublished exploits.

Yes, I believe that's quite possible. Of course the Apple pro/contra bashing started in the digg comments. As much as I like Apple (no, really, I do love my iBook) - but few Apple fans forget that Apple is just a normal computer company run by normal humans. They make mistakes and judgment errors just like anyone else.

Compare OSX to a nice and clean house build on a small Midwestern town in contrast to Windows being a building in New York.

Sure, in OSX you may not have to lock your front door and the ground build on is more stabile. Whereas using Windows you defiantly have to lock your door (and buy a few additional door locks if you can) and the base may be hollowed and cracky with all the pipes, subways etc.

But what happens if more people come to live in the small town? It will grow larger, getting a few crocks and robbers with the good people, and also getting some problems with all the infrastructure demands. Just remember, nothing is forever. Use a system you like/need to use and try to be as secure as necessary.

It won't hurt to lock the door even in a small town....

take care,
Kashif -

I switched... some pains and gains

2006-03-01T18:04:00.001+01:00

Yes, I confess: I switched.

I am have now been using an Apple iBook G4 12" since October 2005. At least for all my private needs.

The switch wasn't easy, since I have been using Windows since version 1.0* and personally owned an IBM compatible PC since 1994. And loved working with an IBM Thinkpad T42 at work.

But still, I risked a switch. And I have to say, it didn't hurt. Not much anyway. The following may sound like I don't like the Mac - which is not true. I try not to be biased. I like my iBook very much, but at the moment I can't say for sure if I will stay with Apple & Mac OSX forever.

At first I was intrigued by the sleek design of Hardware and OS, the simple method of installing software (seemingly drag & drop) and pre-installed software. And I love sites like Macupdate or Versiontracker.
And just go anywhere, people will look at the notebook and at least smile. Or even ask, what this nice thing is. But I soon stopped explaining differences of MacOS and Windows to people who do not know hat a different hardware platform or operating system is...

Some of my pains (in loose order):

Of course I knew that a second mouse button is missing (can be solved with free 3rd party software but still not as good as real "hardware" button) - but I never thought how much it is actually used in daily life. A second mouse button wasn't invented by Microsoft, so Apple please give us one on the notebooks.
But why is maintenance such a hidden pain (runs theoretically automatically, but only during night hours my iBook is definitely not turned on)? And why aren't the permissions not always fixed? Now I use applejack, works like a charm. But has to be started manually.
And why is the firewall not turned on by default?
And what did Apple think of not printing special characters on the keyboard? It's one thing that I have to use a slightly different layout at work and at home but it really is such a pain remembering essential key combinations to get a backslash on the screen. I do not want to drag a cheat card with me - I want the letters printed directly on my keyboard! Although that may not even help - ask anyone who pressed Apple-Q a few too many times while trying to type an @.
But the BIGGEST PAIN, something I only discovered after four months of Mac usage: OSX does NOT merge folders but replaces them!!! If I did not have backups of a lot of personal things on my office notebook I would have been lost. Apple, please, I understand that both options (Merge or Replace) may be valid and correct, but why choose an option which lets to file loss? And is different than 90% computer users on the other side are used to? Isn't that dangerous?

Anyway, I will continue using my iBook - and may well switch to a new intel iBook when it's out. Because I don't give up that easily... Not on something that good looking and working!

take care, Kashif -

* long time ago, on a Siemens 286 with 16MHz and Hercules b/w graphics, circa 1987 - without a mouse

Interlac - get it here! Completely free & almost useless!

2006-03-01T15:47:00.000+01:00

Interlac...

...and Legion of Super-Heroes.

...and Superman

A long story - I had wonderful times reading comics and writing about them. In the early 90's I was very active on the comic fan front, writing at least half a dozen "critique" letters a week to the publishers about their latest comics (using the alias of "Blue Panther").

Beside getting a lot of fan mail published and even receiving a "Baldy Award" for one of the them (they were "awarded" in Superman comics for a special and negative or positive outstanding fan letter each week), I received the invitation to join an APA (for an explanation about APA's, look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_press_association).

APA-247 was a Legion of Super-Heroes centric publication, based in England with a few foreign contributors (beside me from Germany we had a Canadian and American member at that time).

Anyway, APA-247 is a long story (hopefully I will be able to visit it here in my blog) but for my APA page contributions I created an Interlac computer font. First created on my trusty Amiga 500 Computer, later done on my first PC (a blazing 486 DX2-66) with help of Corel Draw and a lot of work.

On the PC I created two versions of the Interlac font and published these as freeware on the trusty old CompuServe Comic forum in 1992. It had some hefty downloads for that time and somehow survived there alone until I decided to create my own real web page in 1996. Having no real content to fill my page, I used these fonts to give them to the WorldWideWeb (the pages are still active and looks more awful then ever - but bare with me, I did not change them since 1996 – and awful colors and small animated GIF’s had been usual at that time: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/khusain ).

Finally I got around creating a new web page, this time trying out the new Google Page Creator - and surprisingly it doesn't look half bad (due to Google templates, what else). So have a look ( http://khusain.googlepages.com/ ), maybe you'll find something interesting to do with the Interlac font. If you do, please let me know!

Until next time, I think I'll write an Interlac Wikipedia article in the meantime (if nobody else does that before me...).

Take care, Kashif-

Finally a new web page, thanks to Google Pages

2006-03-01T15:45:00.000+01:00

Finally I did something again on my web page. Well, I did not exactly change anything on my original web page (which is lying dormant since it's creation circa 1996) but I created a new one. On the brand new Google Pages:

http://khusain.googlepages.com/ - go, have a look. 'I'll be waiting here...

The Google Page Creator App is a great Web 2.0 example how easy things like this should be - Google maybe not the first on the block with this (just as they weren't with search, mail etc.), but they presented a prime solution. Easy and logical. Just what you need to create a reasonable good looking web page. O.k., I know, the hardest task is to create content anyway... :-)

Need a link to Google Pages to create your own content? There you are: http://pages.google.com/

And by the way, here is a link to my old website. I did not update the site ever since it in 1996. Creating But before visiting it, please remember one thing: Animated GIF's and strange colors were all the rage at that time... http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/khusain/

End of Web - the Blog edition

2006-03-01T15:35:00.000+01:00

Welcome. I thought since I have a new web page (down at Google pages http://khusain.googlepages.com ), why not make a new blog about it!

Welcome again. Stay as long as you like!