Archive for December, 2007
We have to admit something in the start, that it is pretty sad that we are about to enter 2008 and we still do not have a proper text-to-speech application. In this world full of technological advancements, still the text-to-speech is not advancing to reach to a normal human voice. All what we get is a very edgy robotic voice, the quality varies between different applications, but they all have one thing in common, that it does not sound real.
That being said, there are some websites who provide text-to-speech services, different kind of services, also those have variations in quality. PediaPhon is one of those kind of web applications, it lets you listen to Wikipedia articles, simply search for any topic and listen, it offers you three options:
- Generate an MP3 file and download it and listen to it on your PC or portable player.
- Listen online streaming using Windows Media Player.
- Listen online using JAVA.
This is a very interesting, useful application, but the voice being used just does not help it. I tried it on couple of different topics and I couldn’t keep listening for more than half a minute.
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December 28th, 2007
Ofcourse we all know that AVG provides a full featured AntiVirus suite for free, but they also have a pro version where there is a broader scanning options and scheduling scans more than once a day, and many other features.
Computeractive is giving away free licensed copies, AVG 7.5 Professional is usually sold for $29.95, now you can get it for free until the 18th of January 2008.
But it seems that it is difficult to get the Computeractive download link to work, but CyberNet have provided 2 mirror links, one hosted on Rapidshare and the other on Megaupload, the program is supposed to automatically provide you the serial while the installation.
For residents of the UAE I recommend using the Megaupload link, Rapidshare just does not work well in the UAE.
[Via CyberNet]
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December 27th, 2007
I am counting the minutes waiting for the new season of LOST which will start 31st of January 2007, sadly there will only be 8 episodes because of the writers strike, which is still going on.
The promo is amazing, I watched it again and again and again, yes I am one of those LOST addicted, the show is just amazing and it is so bad that we will have to wait another year to see the next episodes in another season.
Click Here to watch the new High Quality Promo.
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December 26th, 2007
Ok, I know I have advised everybody not to install Firefox 3 Beta 2 as a replacement to the latest stable version, because this is just a beta and it is buggy. But I did start using it, and to be honest although a lot of the extensions dont work with it yet, and it does have a problem or two but I still did not mind and kept using it.
The only thing that annoys me is the new address bar, i know it is useful, but it is big and just irritating 
CyberNet has a really fast way to get your old classic address bar…
- Start Firefox.
- In the Address Bar type “about:config” and press Enter.
- Right-Click and select New->Boolean.
- A box requesting the Preference Name will popup and you should enter “browser.urlbar.richResults ” (without the quotes). Press OK to continue.
- Select “False” from the box and press OK again.
- Restart Firefox
[Via CyberNet]
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December 25th, 2007
While I was searching around for different stuff for facebook, I found a website that makes it easy to create FaceBook applications, and yes you guessed it, no need to know programming!, Although I knew couple of other websites that has sort of this kind of service, but it does not come as simple and straightforward as this.
Dapper is not only for creating facebook applications, nope, it has a number of other uses, but I will fully review it soon in a new post. Dapper basically allows you to create facebook applications by using content from the web. So I wanted to try it out, I created this new application that now around 40 people use it in facebook, it is “Amr Adeeb Videos” application.
Pretty simple, I made this application search on youtube for the latest videos for Amr Adeeb, he is a famous Arab talk show host in Egypt, anyway it was simple, I made the settings, created the application, went to Facebook and submitted my new application.
The application basically shows you 3 clickable titles of the latest 3 videos on youtube for Amr Adeeb, you can see more links by clicking the “See All” link to see more videos.
The applications is very small and simple, and the way it was done is also simple. If you want to add “Amr Adeeb Videos” application, just Click Here.
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December 24th, 2007
Khairy Ramadan, a very well known Egyptian journalist, until last week he was a co-host of “Cairo Today” or “Alqahera Alyaum” talk show, although lately was a co-host he started by just presenting the journalism segment were he reads the next day’s newspapers with a guest who is usually either a journalist, a poet, a writer or even sometimes an actor.
“Alqahera Alyaum” originally had two co-hosts, Amr Adeeb and Nirvana. Nirvana was fired from the show because of public demand. She was too much defensive of the Egyptian government, in each and every situation. Anyway, later Amr was in sort of a problem, who would be co-hosting with him?, but in the end the chair of the second host was not fixed on one person, and we started seeing a pattern, although a lot of actors and actresses started co-hosting, there are few names that recurred a lot. It was Ezzat Abu 3of, Ahmed Mousa and Khairy Ramadan.
The program usually have a one hour intro, where Amr and the co-host that day will discuss current news and current happenings in Cairo and Egypt in general. The most strongest intro’s were when Amr and Khairy were together, because both of them are journalists and loose they were more fun to watch.
Now I come to the main issue, Khairy Ramadan got a very interesting offer, “Assaa” or “Assa3a” channel offered him to co-host a new show which is sort of a clone of “Cairo Today”, actually there are enough clones already, Mehwer channel has “90 Minutes” and Dream Channel has “Al3ashera Masa’an” or “10 O’clock”, and the official Egyptian satellite channel has “Elbeit Baitak”, but still it seems each and every channel want to have a piece of the pie. Anyway, the program is called “Sa3a B Sa3a” “Hour by Hour”, the other co-host will be Mai Elsherbeeny, who left “90 Minutes” from Mehwer channel.
So Khairy will be a solid part of the program, I don’t think khairy left for the money, Orbit would have paid him what he wants, I am sure of it, but he left because of the chance of being part of something he has more control in and can better contribute to, which is his right, everybody should grab the chance for a better thing in his life, but I will really miss the kind of chemistry that was between him and Amr.
Mei Elsherbeny was ok in “90 Minutes”, but not great thou, I am not sure was that because of her co-host there Mo3taz Eldemerdash?!, I wish khairy will get the best out of her, and I advise him to keep using the tone he had on “Cairo Today”, that is speaking simple Arabic, and not choosing so big and difficult words which most writers prefer to use, because most of your audience are either not educated or had middle education, and with those kind of programs you would want to reach to everybody.
I had a chance to have a very tiny chat with Khairy in his group in FaceBook, he said that he left Orbit in a very professional friendly way and he has no issues with either the program’s administration nor with Amr Adeeb, which is good to hear, he said that his new show in “Assaa” channel is not totally a clone of those kind of shows like “Cairo Today”, he said that parts of it is actually like that, but a lot of parts are new and original.
In the end all what I have to say is good luck in the new show.
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December 24th, 2007
I know it is not a major news or anything, but there are only two presenters in Dubai TV that I think their shows are actually useful, the first is ofcourse “Qalam Rassas” presented by the genius legendary journalist Hamdi Qandeel, and the second is “Ahl Elmarefa” which is presented by the highly educated, poet, writer and journalist Barween Habeeb.
She was taping two new episodes today, and while taping one of them she fell unconscious and they had to call the ambulance, who came and dealt with the situation. I think it was exhaustion and low blood sugar.
After a little amount of time she just came back and continued recording the episode, she just cant stop working.
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December 24th, 2007
AC Milan started the game in a powerful vibe, Pirlo scored one of his typical goals, from a free kick in the 18th minute, which made the illusion that Inter is in deep trouble, and they were.
The game went on to see both sides battling it until Cruz scored on the 36th minute of the match, in the second half and in the 63rd minute Cambiasso scored the second Inter Milan goal, Milan did not do much after that and sort of gave up, except for couple of tries here and there.
Highlights and more after the jump…
Putting the league calculations aside, any time Ac Milan and Inter Milan play each other it is like a separate championship, and Inter Milan was for sure the happy side. Even more happy because now Inter stands firmly on top of the Italian league table 7 points clear from Roma.
I can simply say that the Italian League is over for this season, clubs will be playing now for the second place, it will take something so special and unusual to make Inter loose their place in the table, I just wish Inter would focus now on the Champions Lague.
Here are the highlights:
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December 24th, 2007
On the 36th minute of the first half, Baptista gives the ultimate gift for Real Madrid manager, administration, players and fans. An amazing pass from Ruud Van Nistelrooy met with right-footed shot by Baptista to go through from the edge of the area to shock Victor Valdes, Frank Rijkaard, and the Barcelona fans.
What Barca fans say, and the Video Highlights after the jump…..
Real madrid played well, they effectively prevented Barca from attacking, Iker Casillas made couple of fantastic saves, but the defense line also should be congratulated on a very good display.
Barca just seemed so tired even before the match started, Ronaldinho and Eto’o just were not in it 100%, Ronaldinho tried and tried but still didnt seem in form. The only Barca player that I can say that was good was Iniesta.
Every Barca fan I have spoken to since yesterday keeps saying the same thing “Barca lost because Messi was injured”, if that is your way of thinking, and that is how you see it. Great, keep kidding yourself like that, maybe you will be able to sleep in the night
Here are the highlights:
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December 24th, 2007
Just around a month after releasing Firefox 3 Beta 1, here comes Beta 2. Just like the first time, this is just beta, so only use if you don’t mind unstable browser and incompatible extensions.
One major improvement every Firefox user was looking for in this release is a solution for memory leaks and the huge memory footprint, and guess what, at last more than 300 memory leaks has been fixed, 11 improvements of the memory footprint and a new XPCOM cycle collector which should eliminate many more memory leaks.
Other new features include new download manager which allows you to easily locate the downloaded file and display where the file came from. A new autocomplete function in the location bar allows you to just type part of the title or tag or the address of a page to see matches from your history or your bookmarks. A new Smart Bookmarks folder allows you to have a look at the most pages you visited or the latest bookmarked pages or latest tagged.
In general Firefox 3 is just looking better and better with every beta release, to have a look on all the latest changes in Beta 2, you can read the Release Notes.
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December 20th, 2007
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