tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26525325216188474602024-02-19T08:11:55.898+03:00The LeafTech, Music, Arts, Health and Other Assorted Randomness!Walidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03063919840751800142noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2652532521618847460.post-17712190800239448612009-09-19T19:14:00.000+03:002009-09-20T00:05:19.684+03:00PS3 Media Server ConfigurationPS3 Media Server is a DLNA compliant Upnp Media Server for the Playstation 3, written in Java, with the purpose of streaming or transcoding any kind of media files, with minimum configuration. It's backed up with the powerful Mplayer/FFmpeg packages. With PS3 Media Server, you can stream your favorite video, audio directly to your PS3. No need for a DVI/HDMI cable, all what you need is a connection (Wireless or wired) between your PS3 and your PC.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Current features</span><br /><ul><li>Ready to launch and play. No codec packs to install. No folder configuration and pre-parsing or this kind of annoying thing. All your folders are directly browsed by the PS3, there's an automatic refresh also. </li><li>Real-time video transcoding of MKV/FLV/OGM/AVI, etc. </li><li>Direct streaming of DTS / DTS-HD core to the receiver </li><li>Remux H264/MPEG2 video and all audio tracks to AC3/DTS/LPCM in real time with tsMuxer when H264 is PS3/Level4.1 compliant </li><li>Full seeking support when transcoding </li><li>DVD ISOs images / VIDEO_TS Folder transcoder </li><li>OGG/FLAC/MPC/APE audio transcoding </li><li>Thumbnail generation for Videos </li><li>You can choose with a virtual folder system your audio/subtitle language on the PS3! </li><li>Simple streaming of formats PS3 natively supports: MP3/JPG/PNG/GIF/TIFF, all kind of videos (AVI, MP4, TS, M2TS, MPEG) </li><li>Display camera RAWs thumbnails (Canon / Nikon, etc.) </li><li>ZIP/RAR files as browsable folders </li><li>Support for pictures based feeds, such as Flickr and Picasaweb </li><li>Internet TV / Web Radio support with VLC, MEncoder or MPlayer </li><li>Podcasts audio/ Video feeds support </li><li>Basic Xbox360 support </li><li>FLAC 96kHz/24bits/5.1 support </li><li>Windows Only: DVR-MS remuxer and AviSynth alternative transcoder support </li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Step 1 - Enabling UPnP on your Access Point / Router<br /></span>First of all, you need to make sure that UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) is allowed on your Access Point / Router. To do so, login o your Access Point / Router and enable UPnP. In my case, I am using a 3COM device:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6sfXgiHP23Bj5ouP1eUWYs_16UdaJ1Et71nX7VwOszlRVO6EuK8KmNjJa7QlXrfGa7c4MdvTUJ2uyrTtyWqUmsRMPumfrDgGUgH1H3FkaPvO6gbfBrPqmu7OIMqN2fulD4AYQAqnSEHjI/s1600-h/1.PNG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 209px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6sfXgiHP23Bj5ouP1eUWYs_16UdaJ1Et71nX7VwOszlRVO6EuK8KmNjJa7QlXrfGa7c4MdvTUJ2uyrTtyWqUmsRMPumfrDgGUgH1H3FkaPvO6gbfBrPqmu7OIMqN2fulD4AYQAqnSEHjI/s400/1.PNG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383215937086315378" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Step 2 - Enabling UPnP on your Windows XP box</span><br />Now, you need to make sure UPNP network discovery is enabled on your computer. On Windows XP, it's a service called "SSDP Network Discovery", on Vista, it's just called "Network Discovery".<br /><br />Open the <i>Add/Remove Programs</i> control panel, and then click on <i>Add/Remove Windows Components</i> in the sidebar. Scroll down and find <i>Networking Services</i>, highlight it, and then click <i>Details</i>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.bitwiseim.com/wiki/images/9/9d/UPnP-WindowsComponents_XP.png"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 503px; height: 233px;" src="http://www.bitwiseim.com/wiki/images/9/9d/UPnP-WindowsComponents_XP.png" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />In the Networking Services window, ensure that the <i>Internet Gateway Device</i> and <i>UPnP User Interface</i> options are checked. If they are not, check them to enable them, as shown below, and then close out back to the control panel.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.bitwiseim.com/wiki/images/4/45/UPnP-NetworkingServices_XP.png"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 449px; height: 188px;" src="http://www.bitwiseim.com/wiki/images/4/45/UPnP-NetworkingServices_XP.png" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />Next, in the control panel, open the <i>Administrative Tools</i> and then open <i>Services</i>. Scroll down until you find the <i>SSDP Discovery Interface</i>. If the Status is not <i>Started</i>, double-click on <i>SSDP Discovery Interface</i> to open the service properties. Change the startup type to <i>Automatic</i>, then close the properties. Now, right-click on <i>SSDP Discovery Services</i>, and choose <i>Start</i> from the popup menu. The SSDP Discovery Service will then be running and start each time you boot.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.bitwiseim.com/wiki/images/0/04/UPnP-Services_XP.png"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 705px; height: 150px;" src="http://www.bitwiseim.com/wiki/images/0/04/UPnP-Services_XP.png" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />After enabling UPnP and starting the SSDP Discovery Service, it may take up to 15 so 20 minutes for your router to be discovered and appear in your <i>Network Connections</i> and <i>My Network Places</i>. The Internet Gateway device must be available in your <i>Network Connections</i> control panel, as shown here:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.bitwiseim.com/wiki/images/7/73/UPnP-NetworkConnections_XP.png"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 635px; height: 250px;" src="http://www.bitwiseim.com/wiki/images/7/73/UPnP-NetworkConnections_XP.png" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><p>In addition, your router must be available in <i>My Network Places</i>, as shown here: (your specific model may vary)<br /></p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.bitwiseim.com/wiki/images/a/ad/UPnP-NetworkPlaces_XP.png"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 635px; height: 190px;" src="http://www.bitwiseim.com/wiki/images/a/ad/UPnP-NetworkPlaces_XP.png" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p>You're all set now, UPnP is configured on both your PC and on your Access Point / Router. For Windows Vista, please check <a href="http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/02/12/turn-on-and-enable-upnp-or-network-discovery-in-windows-vista/">here</a>.<br /></p><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Step 3 - Installing the latest JAVA Runtime Environment (JRE)<br /></span><span><span>PMS is based on Java, therefore you need the latest JRE to be installed on your PC (there's a big chance that it's already installed on your machine).<br />You can get it from: </span></span><a href="http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp">http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp</a><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Step 4 - Get and Install PS3 Media Server<br /></span><span><span>Get it from:<br /></span></span> <a href="http://code.google.com/p/ps3mediaserver/downloads/list"><span style=";font-family:";font-size:12pt;" ></span>http://code.google.com/p/ps3mediaserver/downloads/list</a><br /><br />And go ahead and install it on you Windows box.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Step 5 - Configuring your local Firewall (ESET Smart Security in my case)<br /></span><span><span>You need to allow UPnP and allow communication between your PC and your PS3. To do so, open the ESET menu and click on Advanced Personal Firewall Setup.<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3g3hy0ccV75uh7kKLARIYFuAtCEwXH1sunJs3I8JSPJMajZr1SJptXtu9tAE0tmxu81ge4M6ELQC9bt7PKJBLF1275dxStYD59ZwG4PFJMGSiVtwXd1HNLS_c7QPLPSI84LFlov4H797i/s1600-h/eset.PNG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 290px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3g3hy0ccV75uh7kKLARIYFuAtCEwXH1sunJs3I8JSPJMajZr1SJptXtu9tAE0tmxu81ge4M6ELQC9bt7PKJBLF1275dxStYD59ZwG4PFJMGSiVtwXd1HNLS_c7QPLPSI84LFlov4H797i/s400/eset.PNG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383218168074078290" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />Go to "Personal Firewall" node, then to "IDS and advanced options". Select all the nodes under "Allowed Services":<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgopFa56YidR5gm6bxFoW2H7l9UwAxRZBut1dswL7RBHCYSwF9QNYZdgTPHU1wQzqIj-MfH6V0IWcJYYd0JK1Ol7rr7qZW6NaId1J2J3LSrmOz6qPbDGHN031z_O-nTvLeWB7naDjWQO4-P/s1600-h/1.2.PNG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 255px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgopFa56YidR5gm6bxFoW2H7l9UwAxRZBut1dswL7RBHCYSwF9QNYZdgTPHU1wQzqIj-MfH6V0IWcJYYd0JK1Ol7rr7qZW6NaId1J2J3LSrmOz6qPbDGHN031z_O-nTvLeWB7naDjWQO4-P/s400/1.2.PNG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383218689170277730" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Now, go to the "Personal Firewall" node itself and select "Automatic mode with exceptions (user defined)".<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitShZjZXfaE36klg0353E6MMkTvkm3XzHlsMWpSlj15Ie9YyHCgURjfaMs7a8nSIagXDCX0mg4zU1I4_nmtO6gFNkAD9nd6cW7yOQb8RL1-6YJKj26XsDVgdctgkWvCZxj_mlTO3ZZcZj0/s1600-h/1.5.PNG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 255px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitShZjZXfaE36klg0353E6MMkTvkm3XzHlsMWpSlj15Ie9YyHCgURjfaMs7a8nSIagXDCX0mg4zU1I4_nmtO6gFNkAD9nd6cW7yOQb8RL1-6YJKj26XsDVgdctgkWvCZxj_mlTO3ZZcZj0/s400/1.5.PNG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383219048845107794" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Finally, you need to add a rule to allow the communication between the PS3 Media Server and your PS3. To do so, go to "Rules and Zones" under "Personal Firewall" and click on Setup:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZxo1bUyWbpSfV5bzuohOrE1h6JtUE8QL7n6_xw8nlAxZJDjtcbsRQpH_u-WrvRIRC4f6SXbMyu0rYoEdZxjYDIqxl2ghxYkwqzxxto6MJr6tN_OWSmX7De-4WhWRCIFBWAeiodo83Y2vK/s1600-h/eset2.PNG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 255px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZxo1bUyWbpSfV5bzuohOrE1h6JtUE8QL7n6_xw8nlAxZJDjtcbsRQpH_u-WrvRIRC4f6SXbMyu0rYoEdZxjYDIqxl2ghxYkwqzxxto6MJr6tN_OWSmX7De-4WhWRCIFBWAeiodo83Y2vK/s400/eset2.PNG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383220067350601378" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Now, click on New to define a new rule:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2kLw4WcS1sMjMhqPYqfiPX71t6xmxsgcZGTFPoViS7ZlUqCFl8Tj-fon_bEcJGfTnal5dZgEwtndIfUUjmZE9rR_gYrwHvZYVdkpZ70wdFXnsXERP3idaZ_BlrVMy-cyDG1MgDgIgtSoy/s1600-h/eset3.PNG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 273px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2kLw4WcS1sMjMhqPYqfiPX71t6xmxsgcZGTFPoViS7ZlUqCFl8Tj-fon_bEcJGfTnal5dZgEwtndIfUUjmZE9rR_gYrwHvZYVdkpZ70wdFXnsXERP3idaZ_BlrVMy-cyDG1MgDgIgtSoy/s400/eset3.PNG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383220400348228898" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />And define your rule as follows:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqkyCgyzZYXhNUmCfl1h8-YrlNCBjUKQknT8JTqkzif79ZYZWhoXnqjA9LHeQzr7wX-sNPVOx7h5FFzxYAis_fLPYMQyXQls9-oKlTXDgDDkD0ubc1pag_Qt-4i09d16xEB6o6Oda4-MJJ/s1600-h/rule1.PNG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 384px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqkyCgyzZYXhNUmCfl1h8-YrlNCBjUKQknT8JTqkzif79ZYZWhoXnqjA9LHeQzr7wX-sNPVOx7h5FFzxYAis_fLPYMQyXQls9-oKlTXDgDDkD0ubc1pag_Qt-4i09d16xEB6o6Oda4-MJJ/s400/rule1.PNG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383238256624144338" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOgaxAQZxpm9MGwx5KjT2qtalZct8LEUl61OCYR8993tHXfunWk78BV_cSWvHhuXXoY6kXFE6So99NxtFJqqnJkHrn4o_2yxVsnqTQnmux-gVM8z7Da8Z55cdLKHx4Wc0l6no-wHvlWcLR/s1600-h/rule2.PNG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 384px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOgaxAQZxpm9MGwx5KjT2qtalZct8LEUl61OCYR8993tHXfunWk78BV_cSWvHhuXXoY6kXFE6So99NxtFJqqnJkHrn4o_2yxVsnqTQnmux-gVM8z7Da8Z55cdLKHx4Wc0l6no-wHvlWcLR/s400/rule2.PNG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383238316170912898" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7ozQdX1uLHy3RL8KRMa8GpKq2n5UqOUOSQYnySTx4UzGyOwO2ZB9uKU3At60oh4db1ZiM_Sj0EHMud14CFx0PxuHTgsDlP1UMidyrxvcyiVE8E4vcmOzw4oKtLgojyewX0OcS2HzpBq8e/s1600-h/rule3.PNG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 384px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7ozQdX1uLHy3RL8KRMa8GpKq2n5UqOUOSQYnySTx4UzGyOwO2ZB9uKU3At60oh4db1ZiM_Sj0EHMud14CFx0PxuHTgsDlP1UMidyrxvcyiVE8E4vcmOzw4oKtLgojyewX0OcS2HzpBq8e/s400/rule3.PNG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383238369126211250" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />Where 192.168.1.3 is the IP address of your PS3. Note that this rule will only open TCP port 5001 on your PC for communication between your PS3 and your PC.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Step 6 - Connect!<br /></span><span><span>Start Media Server and wait for the PS3 to connect to it. You will get something like:<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkUaCX8z1KmyrSlUdD50hEHgkEm0KRaKOBtmF3qxBUc_vRodHKyQW9ENSRSXY3MOA8gBWpHsmvYzTR5W5n7b_HlhC53UQbT5ZNdJjtZ7rEY9RmTKTT9ZRKcyP1YahPQZd2qSWLhL1K4xGW/s1600-h/MS0.PNG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkUaCX8z1KmyrSlUdD50hEHgkEm0KRaKOBtmF3qxBUc_vRodHKyQW9ENSRSXY3MOA8gBWpHsmvYzTR5W5n7b_HlhC53UQbT5ZNdJjtZ7rEY9RmTKTT9ZRKcyP1YahPQZd2qSWLhL1K4xGW/s400/MS0.PNG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383222497153654914" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Now, in the PS3 menu, you can see your Media Server under Movies, Photos and Audio. You can browse your PC hard drive and play any movie (MKV, AVi...) as well as any Audio. You can also browse your favorite photos on the PS3.<br /><br />For more info, visit the official <a href="http://code.google.com/p/ps3mediaserver/">PS3 Media Server page</a>, you can also check out their forum <a href="http://ps3mediaserver.org/forum/index.php">here</a>.<br /><br />Enjoy!<br /><span><span><br /><br /><br /></span></span>Walidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03063919840751800142noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2652532521618847460.post-92163181788092783452009-05-18T12:23:00.000+03:002009-05-18T12:26:49.951+03:00Linux anyone?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2031/2428594983_fe30642b19_o.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2031/2428594983_fe30642b19_o.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>Walidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03063919840751800142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2652532521618847460.post-86220031800890171602009-04-16T13:05:00.000+03:002009-04-16T13:17:01.299+03:00The Crisis of Credit VisualizedI've come across this great video that explains the latest sub-prime mortgage credit crisis.<br /><br />Credit for Jonathan Jarvis's hard work:<br /><br />http://www.crisisofcredit.com/<br />http://www.jonathanjarvis.com/<br /><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Q0zEXdDO5JU&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Q0zEXdDO5JU&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/iYhDkZjKBEw&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/iYhDkZjKBEw&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Walidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03063919840751800142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2652532521618847460.post-52198279626844269832009-04-06T20:58:00.000+03:002009-04-06T21:03:27.353+03:00Altiris Software Virtualization Solution (SVS)<table class="tborder" id="post922989" style="border-top: 0px none;" width="100%" align="center" border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="1"><tbody><tr valign="top"><td class="alt1" id="td_post_922989" valign="top" height="100%">Greetings techy geeks,<br /><br />I recently discovered this new beast and I thought of sharing it with all of you here!<br /><br />Altiris Software Virtualization Solution (SVS) from Symantec is one of the best concepts I've come through in IT. SVS is a software virtualization application which allows you to instantly install, uninstall, activate, deactivate, or reset applications and to completely avoid conflicts between applications, DLL conflicts, registry changes...etc.<br /><br /><br /><img src="http://4sysops.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/altiris-svs.png" alt="" border="0" /><br /><br /><br />Altiris SVS works by capturing all changes made during installation of a particular application into managed units called Virtual Software Packages (VSP), which acts as a layer on top of the operating system. Each layer which different application can be loaded independently and with protected access to OS, making any defective or poorly written programs unable to damage the system. In fact, any problematic or troubled software application installed under SVS supervision can just be uninstalled or deactivated easily by turning off, disabling or deleting the layer.<br /><br /><br />How does it work?<br /><br />Let's say I want to install iTunes, which would take a lot of resources and kind of mess my registry and add a lot of DLL. To do so, I first start Altiris SVS and create a new Application layer which I name: iTunes. I will then hit next and point SVS to the EXE of this application. SVS will automatically run the executable and catch ALL changes made to my PC: new files, new folders, registry change, DLL... These changes will be placed in the layer I have created.<br /><br />This layer is now active, in bold. I can now right click on that layer and deactivate it, this will simply "undo" and "delete" everything about iTunes (you will notice the shortcut disappears on the Desktop). I can later activate it and whooops, here it is again! I can make this layer starts automatically when the PC starts, hence making iTunes start automatically, or I can leave it deactivated and activate it once I need it.<br /><br /><br />The added advantage of Altiris Software Virtualization Solution is users can install and use two similar, conflicting or can’t co-exists software of different version into two separate VSP layers, and loads anyone of them alternately as and when needed. SVS can also wipe out a problem program, reset a program to its just-installed state. For example, the user can keep an essential production program in place while also testing a beta of the next version. Even more, the user can transfer an installed program to another SVS-equipped computer simply by transferring the layer. So I can install Firefox 3.1 beta on top of my Firefox 3.0.7, because I have it in a layer that I can deactivate and activate the .1 layer instead!<br /><br />Try it by yourself! Start with simple programs like Winzip and see the difference!<br /><br />This version is the same as the regular commercial product shipped by Altiris, minus the server-side components for centralized management. It is Free for personal use, you will need to get the license from the link below.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.svsdownloads.com/download.php?filename=svs/SVS_21_Personal.zip" target="_blank">Download Here</a><br />License: <a href="http://www.altiris.com/Download/svsPersonal.aspx" target="_blank">SVS Personal Use EULA - Altiris, Inc.</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/worlds-greatest-svs-demo" target="_blank">The World's Greatest SVS Demo | Symantec Connect</a><br /><a href="http://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/how-create-application-layer-using-svs" target="_blank">How to Create an Application Layer using SVS | Symantec Connect</a><br /><a href="http://www.symantec.com/connect/downloads/svs-application-capturing-tutorial-english-italian" target="_blank">SVS Application Capturing Tutorial (in English & Italian) | Symantec Connect</a><br /><a href="http://www.altiris.com/upload/multimedia/svsdemo/" target="_blank">Altiris Demo Player</a><br /><br /><br />Cheers!</td></tr></tbody></table>Walidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03063919840751800142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2652532521618847460.post-63958915075686663382008-11-18T10:39:00.000+03:002008-11-18T16:51:35.383+03:00The latest economic crisis explained<img src="http://www.counterfeitchic.com/entryimages/wall_bull1.jpg" /><br /><br />You are all aware of the latest economic crisis that resulted in the bankruptcy of many major financial institutions like Lehman Brothers and many other.. But do you know what triggered it? Why the world is suffering? <br /><br />Well, back in 2007 and mainly in 2008, I've been listening and reading about this "economic crisis" everywhere! On the news, on the radio.. everywhere! I became very curious and I decided to dig deeper and try to understand this crisis! I have very little background in economy, many terms were very new to me, but in the end here's what I gathered regarding the subprime mortgage crisis that triggered today's worldwide economic crisis. <br /><br />By the way, Thais bull above is the Charging Bull (sometimes called the Wall Street Bull or the Bowling Green Bull) is a 3,200 kg (7,000 pound) bronze sculpture by Arturo Di Modica that sits in Bowling Green park near Wall Street in New York City. The sculpture depicts a bull, the symbol of aggressive financial optimism and prosperity (quite a , leaning back on its haunches and with its head lowered as if ready to charge. The sculpture, one of the city's most photographed artworks, has become a tourist destination in the Financial District. It has also come to be an unofficial symbol of the Financial District itself, and it often appears in the local news media to punctuate stories about optimism in the financial market.<br /><br />Bow, back to our crisis! This crisis is shaping up to be the worst economic crisis since the market crash in the 1930s, and it is having a profound effect on the economy of the rest of the world. This crisis began reaching critical mass in 2007, with 2008 seeing the collapse of large firms like Bear Stearns and the federal takeover of the Federal National Mortgage Association and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, known as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, respectively, among other major events like The Fed’s emergency bailout loan to AIG and Merrill Lynch agreeing to sell itself to Bank of America.<br /><br />There are, of course, different perspectives as to what caused the recent economic crisis but most will look towards the subprime mortgages when discussing the recent collapse of some the world’s largest financial giants.<br /><br /><br /><b><u>The traditional Home Loan process:</u></b><br /><br />First, let me explain the home loan or mortgage process in general. Many of you know how the home loan system works: a couple who want to buy a home for let's say 300,000 USD but who cannot afford it, would go to a good bank to ask for home loans. There, the couple would meet with a representative who would take a look at their credit history, job history, and current financial situation. The bank representative would help the couple understand the mortgage price finances and ultimately decide whether or not he thought the couple could afford the house and pay the monthly principal and interest on the mortgage. Based on all this, the bank agrees to offer the couple a mortgage of 250,000 USD that should be paid back monthly over 30 years.<br /><br />Once the couple obtained the mortgage from the bank, they could buy the house and begin paying off their 30-year loan in monthly amounts to that bank (which would profit from the interest). Everyone is happy here, the couple are like: "mmmm, we have to pay 1500 USD every month for 30 years, but at least we got our dream house! If we can't afford to pay our monthly amount, we'll sell our house for a higher price because prices are increasing!". The bank will get almost double of these 250,000 USD through the upcoming 30 year: "The more mortgages we give, the more money we get back. That's good business!"<br /><br /><br /><br /><b><u>A new Home Loan process - Mortgage-backed securities (MBS):</u></b><br /><br />Traditionally, banks have financed their mortgage lending through the deposits they receive from their customers. This has limited the amount of mortgage lending they could do.<br /><br />But in recent years, banks have moved to a new model where they sell on the mortgages to Wall Street firms: the big investment houses like Bear Stearns or Merrill Lynch, Fannie May & Freddie Mac and so forth and he receives a huge amount of money for selling this loan. These are called Mortgage-backed securities (MBS). In other words, let's say that a bank received 100 mortgage applications, traditionally, this was hard to accept all these applications. But now with this new model, the bank can sell these mortgages to huge investement firms in the form of packages called Mortgage-backed securities (MBS).<br /><br />The bank would turn and use that money to finance another mortgage to a different customer, and turn around and sell that to Fannie Mae as well. Now the original customer is sending his monthly payments to Fannie Mae; it is the exact same mortgage, just now owned by a huge national banking institution. Fannie Mae effectively enabled the local bank to finance countless extra loans by giving a percentage of that 30 year profit immediately, leading to better profits for everyone and more loans for the American people.<br /><br />These Wall street firms, buyers of mortgage-backed securities, take security in the knowledge that the value of the bond doesn't just rest on the creditworthiness of one borrower, but on the collective creditworthiness of a group of borrowers and on the increasing value of homes in general.<br /><br />After acquiring many MBS, Fannie Mae looked real good on paper. They owned lots of mortgages that they would be collecting on for years to come, but as we'll see, all the wealth was just paper. It was all imaginary.<br /><br />According to The Bond Market Association, gross U.S. issuance of agency mortgage-backed security (MBS) was:<ul><li>2005: $967 billion</li><li>2004: $1,019 billion</li><li>2003: $2,131 billion</li><li>2002: $1,444 billion</li><li>2001: $1,093 billion</li></ul><br />with a total of <b>$6.1 Trillion</b> in the first quarter of 2006! This is the largest single part of the whole $27 trillion US bond market.<br /><br /><br /><br /><b><u>Root of the Crisis:</u></b><br /><br />In 1994, President Clinton had the good intention of raising home ownership over the United States. For this reason, he sponsored the revision of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) regulations, which required banks to increase mortgage lending to low- and moderate-income families. The banks complied and increased their lending to these families by 80%, more than twice any other group. In this case, low-income families can now easily get a mortrage without checking their credit history, job history and financial situation!<br /><br />Moreover, "anxious to boost the U.S. economy out of its dot-com-bust doldrums, Alan Greenspan and the Federal Reserve Bank lowered interest rates to rock bottom in 2001. The resulting flood of cheap money encouraged borrowing at every level of the U.S. and world economies. Whether you wanted to buy a house or a multibillion-dollar conglomerate, lenders were your best friends, falling over themselves to offer you whatever amount of capital you desired -- and charging low, low rates of interest. Cheap money led to a growing complacency about risk. If you ran into trouble, you could just refinance your house, or borrow a few billion more dollars today to pay off the billions you might owe tomorrow." (<a href="http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2007/08/17/wall_street_panic/index.html" target="_blank">Panic on Wall Street | Salon Technology</a>)<br /><br />Everyone is pleased and happy until now!<br /><br /><br /><br /><b><u>The Subprime Mortgage</u></b><br /><br /><b><i>Cleveland, Ohio - 2002</i></b><br />Alice and Bob are a married couple with 2 children, they live in Cleveland, Ohio: a poor, working class city, hit hard by the decline of manufacturing and sharply divided along racial lines. The couple currently live in a humble rented house in the suburban of Cleveland. One day Alice thinks: "hmmm, why don't we get a mortgage and get ourselves a home!? We can get a mortgage now because of the CRA and the low interest rates!" Alice goes to Bob and tells him about that. Bob panics: "What! Can we afford this?" Alice replied: "Of course we can, banks are now offering mortgages for anyone, including low-income families like ours!" Needless to say, Alice convinces Bob to get a mortrage to get a home.<br /><br />Alice and Bob went to a bank that offers home mortgages, they meet the bank representative and show poor credit histories and weak documentation of income. The bank representatives meets with the bank manager, who thinks: "hmmmm, I have a lot of cash from Fannie Mae's mortgage-backed securities, money is flowing because the Federal Reserve Bank lowered the interest rate, and selling mortgages is an easier investment tool compared to buying stocks. I can give them a mortgage and then sell it as Mortgage-backed securities, I don't have to worry if they will pay back, this will be none of my business after I sell their mortgage!"<br /><br />The bank representative comes back and surprisingly states: "hmmmm, you are a low-income family, but hey, I can put you in this home with no money down. I can even give you 110% of the amount you are asking. Your loan will have a rate of 3.5% for the first year. All you have to do is refinance (when you refinance your mortgage, you are paying off your current mortgage by taking out a new home loan) within a year with the extra money you are getting. No problem, home prices are increasing, you might even sell the house and make MORE money. Everybody is building new houses all over the place, they are popping up like mushrooms and people are buying right and left. Prices are going up, now is a good time to buy. Oh and one more thing, this type of mortgage is called the subprime mortgage." A sub-prime mortgage describes a “risky loan” on the part of the bank to someone who doesn’t meet normal lending standards. To compensate the bank for taking that risk, sub-prime mortgages are characterized by high interest rates and lots of profit for the bank if the mortgage is successfully paid off. However, since these subprime loans were at higher risk of default than prime loans, over the life of the loan the interest rates were higher, and so the cost of the loan to the borrower was structured to rise significantly over the life of the loan. Further, these borrowers who were likely fairly unsophisticated loan consumers, were enticed to buy a loan by an artificially low upfront monthly payment that did not represent a realistic monthly cost in the long run. The subprime mortrage and the flow or cash has made it much easier to fund additional borrowing, but it has also led to abuses as banks no longer have the incentive to check carefully the mortgages they issue.<br /><br />Bob thinks about it and figures it's risk free, no money down, in fact he is getting paid to buy a house and he takes the deal since home prices ARE going up!<br /><br />That night, Alice and Bob celebrated in a fancy restaurant, they are going to move to their new home soon! The bank representative got another bonus for selling yet another subprime loan.<br /><br /><br /><br /><b><u>What went terribly wrong?</u></b><br /><br />As the economy grew, the Fed began raising the interest rates from 1% in 2003 to 5.25% in 2006. This increase in interest rates had the effect of shrinking the money supply because it made borrowing money more expensive. This caused economic growth to slow and real estate value growth to slow or stop. Another result of increasing interest rates was that the subprime mortgage monthly cost to borrowers went up increasing the number of defaults, which means that the yearly amount got even higher. Moreover, there are too many homes on the market which also contributed to the real estate value to shrink.<br /><br />Alice and Bob moved to their new home, during the first 2 years, they successfully paid their loan percentage. In the third year, due to the increase in the interest rate set by the Federal Reserve Bank and due to the nature of the The subprime mortgage that increases dramatically in 2 or 3 years, Bob can no longer pay his loan percentage, he can't refinance and he can not sell his new home because its price has dropped (thousands of homes are now available because many other loaners have dropped their homes: the supply has increased tremendously) so he is also forced drop his home. Imagine this happening to millions of families, each with its own subprime mortgage: a wave of repossessions (people failing to pay their yearly loan percentage, therefore their home is now returned to the bank, or to the owner of the Mortgage-backed securities) blighted neighborhoods across the nation.<br /><br />But wait! The the increase in cash flow, the mortgage-backed securities and the greed of some financial institutions allowed anyone to get a mortgage by 2004. ANYONE, including low-income families! Now, imagine what happened to Alice and Bob and multiply this by millions of families. What do ou get? You guessed it, these financial institutions lost most of their cash and instead got millions of homes with decreasing prices.<br /><br /><br /><br /><b><u>In brief:</u></b><br /><br />To summarize things, the causes of the latest economic crisis is mainly due to the The failure of the subprime mortgage. The subprime mortgage failure was due to a chain reaction:<br /><ol style="list-style-type: decimal;"><li>The decrease of the interest rate by the Federal Reserve Bank back in 2001, which allowed an increased money flow, which in return encouraged borrowing at every level of the U.S. and world economies.<br /></li><li>Mortgage-backed securities allowed banks to sell their mortrages, therefore more mortrages can take place now.<br /></li><li>1 + 2 = Good money is flowing + mortgage-backed securities = banks can issue as many mortgages as they want and they no longer have the incentive to check carefully the mortgages they issue. This means that middle- and low-income families can now get mortgages, in fact, it was possible for almost anyone to get a mortgage by 2004. And this was just irresponsible lending.<br /></li><li>Middle- and low-income families cannot pay their yearly amount, cannot refinance and cannot sell their homes (lower cost) due to the increase in the interest rate set by the Federal Reserve Bank and due to the nature of the The subprime mortgage that increases dramatically in 2 or 3 years (Families entered the later stages of their mortgage agreement and payments began to rise)<br /></li><li>More homes are foreclosing and therefore more homes are available because many people cannot pay their due amount<br /></li><li>Price of homes continue dropping dramatically because of the increase of supply and because the mortgage banks are selling houses at floor prices<br /></li><li>More families cannot afford paying their due amount and at the same time cannt sell their homes<br /></li><li>The whole chain is affected:<ul><li>Families cannot pay their annual due amounts</li><li>Homes are foreclosing</li><li>Banks are losing money (no more income from their customers)</li><li>Wall street companies owning the majority of the Mortgage-backed securities are losing billions of Dollars due to these Mortgage-backed securities!</li></ul></li><li>The crisis goes global, and affects most of the markets in the world</li></ol><br />Now another problem is happening. All the money that was suppose to go for new buildings and development, or pension funds that earn income.. has dried up. The same buildings that drives the American economy has come to a grinding halt.<br /><br />All of the workers that had been getting paid are being laid off or finding there is nothing to build and now THEY are having problems making payments.<br /><br />As a result over one hundred subprime mortgage lenders have failed or are filing for bankruptcy. New Century Financial Corporation, previously the nation's second biggest subprime lender is one of them. This adds to the problem. Even the companies that foreclose house's are going bankrupt. Over $6 TRILLION in mortgage's have gone belly up - BLINK - disappeared!<br /><br />Of course with the HUGE banks having problems with money this trickles down to the smaller banks and this is why the Fed want to spend $700 billion of your money to help the Financial sector out of their mess and buy all of these bad loans and stabilize things.<br /><br /><br /><br />Reference:<br /><a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2186801/" target="_blank">What are mortgage-backed securities, anyway? - By Chris Wilson - Slate Magazine</a><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortgage-backed_security" target="_blank">Mortgage-backed security - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</a><br /><a href="http://publicenemiescolumbus.blogspot.com/2008/09/subprime-crisis-101.html" target="_blank">Public Enemies - Columbus: SubPrime Crisis 101</a><br /><a href="http://nyulocal.com/opinion/2008/09/19/economic-crisis-101/" target="_blank">Economic Crisis 101 | NYU Local</a><br /><a href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,352198,00.html" target="_blank">FOXNews.com - Mike Baker: Subprime Crisis Explained - Opinion</a><br /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7073131.stm" target="_blank">BBC NEWS | Business | The US sub-prime crisis in graphics</a><br /><a href="http://www.bestwaytoinvest.com/subprime-meltdown" target="_blank">The Subprime Meltdown- An Explanation</a><br /><a href="http://www.bestwaytoinvest.com/the-subprime-crisis-part-2-recent-events" target="_blank">The Subprime Crisis Part II- Recent Events</a><br /><a href="http://www.informedtrades.com/2699-simple-explanation-subprime-crisis-part-1-a.html" target="_blank">A Simple Explanation of the Subprime Crisis Part 1 - InformedTrades</a><br /><a href="http://www.informedtrades.com/2956-simple-explanation-subprime-crisis-part-2-a.html" target="_blank">A Simple Explanation of the Subprime Crisis Part 2 - InformedTrades</a><br /><a href="http://www.informedtrades.com/3078-subprime-crisis-explained-simply-part-3-a.html" target="_blank">Subprime Crisis Explained Simply Part 3 - InformedTrades</a><br /><a href="http://www.thinkhard.org/2007/09/a-really-simp-1.html" target="_blank">Notes from the Panopticon: A really simple explanation of the sub-prime mortgage crisis</a><br /><a href="http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2007/08/17/wall_street_panic/index.html" target="_blank">Panic on Wall Street | Salon Technology</a><br /><a href="http://financialindependent.blogspot.com/2008/01/simple-way-to-explain-subprime-crisis.html" target="_blank">Simple Way to Explain Subprime Crisis</a><br /><a href="http://www.freemoneyfinance.com/2008/05/how-the-subprim.html" target="_blank">Free Money Finance: How the Subprime Lending Meltdown Happened</a><br /><a href="http://www.forextvblog.com/2007/08/23/sub-prime-crisis-%E2%80%93-what-is-it-and-why-it-made-the-us-market-to-crash/" target="_blank">Sub Prime Crisis – what is it? And why it made the US market to crash? | Forex Trading TV Video Blog</a><br /><a href="http://nyulocal.com/opinion/2008/09/19/economic-crisis-101/" target="_blank">Economic Crisis 101 | NYU Local</a>Walidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03063919840751800142noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2652532521618847460.post-43296264566847399302008-11-03T16:37:00.000+03:002008-11-21T01:35:44.378+03:00RSS Feeds<img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/43/Feed-icon.svg/128px-Feed-icon.svg.png" alt="" border="0" /><br /><br /><br />Ever wondered what does this icon, that appear on almost every website, mean? Today, I will be talking about RSS feeds, acronym for: Really Simple Syndication!<br /><br /><b>Some fact first! </b><br />Today Billions of websites are interconnected and this number is growing every day. Among these, thousands are really interesting and I bet you are interested in more than one hundred!<br /><br />This is what I first do when I am online: check my gmail (that gathers all my email addresses into one single account, I will be talking about this later on), check some news pages, mainly tayyar.org, annahar, BBC, Reuters.. Get to know the latest sports scores, the latest scores and sports updates (mainly how many interceptions did Joe Flacco throw on Sunday), read some very interesting Tech new at Ars Technica, Digg, Slashdot, Gizmodo and many others. I would also take a look at my "Astronomy picture of the day" and check what's new at Scientific American. Finally, I would check "too", Sergey Brin's personal blog (which, btw, was not updated since it was launched on September 18)!<br /><br /><br /><b>The problem:</b><br />mmm, you are wondering now.. How long will this take, especially with the slow connection. What if most of these pages that I usually visit were not updated at all? That means that I would be wasting my time checking them out! To make things worse, sometimes I visit a pages, wait for it to load and find out that only 1 subject interests me in that page. More time was wasted here.<br /><br /><br /><b>A better way!</b><br />Today we are going to talk about a new and efficient way to keep up with all the stuff that's happening on the internet.<br /><br />2 ways that you can keep up with whats happening on the net:<br /><br />1- Old way: You login to your PC and start checking if there are any updates on your favorites pages. You will check every page by itself, some might have been updated, but others. Every time you look for something time that its not there, you have wasted some valuable times.<br /><br />2- New way: Have your favorite parts of the Web come to you, not the other way! No need to go out and check for updates all the time. No need for bookmarks! So, in other words, you can keep up with all the updates to your favorite pages without having to check the site every day to see "what's new." New pages and updates to old ones are sent to you through RSS.<br /><br /><br /><b>How do you get started with RSS Feeds? </b><br />Easy! Get yourself an RSS reader! This is special software that reads the RSS feeds... You can go with a Desktop-based or Web-based RSS reader.<br /><br /><br /><b>Desktop-based RSS readers</b><br />This is an application that needs to be installed on your PC. You can add RSS Feeds addresses into this program, and updates will be delivered to you as soon as they are published. Some desktop-based RSS readers include:<br /><br />Windows:<br /><a href="http://www.newsgator.com/individuals/feeddemon/" target="_blank">NewGator FeedDemon</a><br /><a href="http://www.feedreader.com/" target="_blank">FeedReader</a><br /><a href="http://www.rssreader.com/" target="_blank">RssReader</a><br /><br /><img src="http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr122/walid97/MISC/FD.png" alt="" border="0" /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.newsgator.com/individuals/feeddemon/" target="_blank"><img alt="Download FeedDemon RSS Reader" src="http://www.bradsoft.com/feeddemon/banners/fdbtn1.gif" border="0" /></a><br />FeedDemon is the most advanced one of these 3. You can easily add feeds, change the view, customize the fonts, hit the "Panic Button" when the unread articles reach a huge number...etc. The most important feature of FeedDemon is the ability to synchronize 2 or more : for example, I have FeedDemon installed on my office laptop and on my home desktop and I am synching these 2. So, the same feeds appear on both machines, I don't have to re-subscribe to the same feeds again on the desktop PC. Moreover, if I read an article in a feed on one machine, it will be marked as read on the other. Same if I delete articles. NewGator also offers a web-based RSS reader (next section), which means that you can also read your feeds online if you cannot access your machine where FedDemon is installed: just login to <a href="http://www.newsgator.com/" target="_blank">NewsGator</a> and there you go, you have a web-based reader. This tool is really useful!<br /><br />FeedReader and RssReader are lighter, more basic readers without many features. On Mac, you can use <a href="http://ranchero.com/netnewswire/" target="_blank">NetNewsWire</a>.<br /><br /><br /><b>Web-based Feed readers:</b><br />An alternative to desktop-based RSS readers is web-based readers. You can easily sign-up for one of these web-based readers and start adding your favorite feeds to it. The advantage of this is that you don't need to install any tool on your PC and it's accessible anywhere, anytime. Another advantage is the social experience. Many of the web-based RSS readers allow users to rate a particular news post or tag a post so that it is more meaningful to other users. As a result, users of online feed readers can benefit from their peers and have a sense of the most relevant items.<br /><br />Now, to the other side of these web-based readers! The main disadvantage is its slowness and lack of customization and its . I find it more appealing to get my RSS feeds in a dedicated application on my computer, rather to check them on the web.<br /><br />Some web-based Feed readers:<br /><a href="http://www.bloglines.com/" target="_blank">Bloglines</a><br /><a href="http://www.google.com/reader/" target="_blank">Google Reader</a><br /><br /><br />To conclude on RSS Readers, well, it all depends on your preference. If you are more into social networking and find it better to use the web to get your RSS feeds, then web-based readers are yours. On the other hand, if you want to customize your RSS reading experience and make it faster, go with the desktop-based readers. NewsGator FeedDemon combines these 2, therefore it's highly recommended.<br /><br /><br /><b>Subscribing to your favorite websites offering RSS Feeds</b><br />Here are most of the RSS Feeds icons that you can find on the web. If a webpage supports RSS Feeds, then you will probably encounter one of these icons. To get the RSS Feed address, click the icon in use.<br /><br /><img src="http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr122/walid97/MISC/rss-icon-collection.gif" alt="" border="0" /><br /><br /><br />You cal also find a small orange RSS Feed icon on the address bar. Similar to the regular RSS icon, to get the RSS Feed address, click on that icon.:<br /><img src="http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr122/walid97/MISC/bar.png" alt="" border="0" /><br /><br />You will then get the address of the RSS Feed in question:<br /><img src="http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr122/walid97/MISC/bar2.png" alt="" border="0" /><br /><br /><br />Copy this address, open your RSS reader (I am using FeedDemon), and click on "Subscribe":<br /><br /><img src="http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr122/walid97/MISC/sub0.png" alt="" border="0" /><br /><br /><br />Enter the address of your RSS Feed:<br /><br /><img src="http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr122/walid97/MISC/sub.png" alt="" border="0" /><br /><br /><br />Voila, you're done!<br /><br /><br /><b>Partial Versus Full RSS Feeds</b><br />I think that RSS is one of greatest tools that facilitates the way you browse the net. With so many sites in your bookmarks, it would take quite a bit of time to go through and check whether or not our favorite sites have been updated. RSS allows the site to tell us when it’s changed, which in my opinion is the ideal solution. What’s even greater is that the content is also provided with this notification.<br /><br />Content? mmmm, some RSS Feeds display the FULL content of the update in question, and some other only display partial content, or a small summary of the update in question.<br /><br />In the case of FULL content, you can read the FULL article in the RSS reader and you don't need to click on a link and open that article in your browser.<br /><br /><img src="http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr122/walid97/MISC/full.png" alt="" border="0" /><br /><br /><br />In the case of partial RSS Feed, you will need to click on the link provided in the update in order to read the full article.<br /><br /><img src="http://i476.photobucket.com/albums/rr122/walid97/MISC/part.png" alt="" border="0" /><br /><br />Each of these 2 approaches has its positive and negative points. You will surely encounter both.<br /><br />That's it for now! Yalla, get your favorite RSS reader and start collecting your most interesting RSS Feeds.<br /><br />Enjoy!Walidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03063919840751800142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2652532521618847460.post-82862913441750026332008-10-26T15:44:00.000+03:002008-10-26T15:45:55.497+03:00The Machine is Us/ing Us<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/NLlGopyXT_g&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/NLlGopyXT_g&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><br />Brilliant. This is absolute brilliance!<br />Made me think about this for awhile.<br />This video and concept is truly inspiring!<br /><br />This video was made by Dr. Michael Wesch from Kansas State University. Visit his Digital Ethnography Kansas State University page. Worth reading, believe me.<br /><br />These are higher quality versions available for download:<br /><br />Windows Media File (55 MB):<br />http://www.mediafire.com/?2wnmpy2ibz1<br /><br />Quicktime File (96 MB):<br />http://www.mediafire.com/?axhbjnmw4yn<br /><br />Mojiti Version (for comments, translations, etc.):<br />http://mojiti.com/kan/2743/5984<br /><br /><br />Enjoy!Walidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03063919840751800142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2652532521618847460.post-58825986425400822582008-08-02T11:56:00.000+03:002008-10-26T15:44:20.261+03:00Web 2.0<span style="font-size:100%;">Many of us heard the term Web 2.0. What is Web 1.0? and what about Web 2.0?<br /><br />"Web 1.0 is a retronym which refers to the state of the World Wide Web, and website design style before the Web 2.0 phenomenon, and included most websites in the period between 1994 and 2004." -Wikipedia<br /><br />There is a vast difference between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. With Web 1.0, the webmaster is responsible of the burden of updating his website to keep his visitots informed and engaged.<br /><br />Today internet users are looking for more than information, they're searching for an experience. New technology is transforming the way people use the World Wide Web.<br /><br />Web 2.0 is a marketing term. It's a different way of building applications. The applications are relatively small they can run on any device, PC or mobile phone. They are very fast and customizable.<br /><br />With Web 2.0, the webmaster shares the responsibility with his internet audience for keeping the website informative and engaging. The website is transforming from a simple static HTML place to store information to a dynamic place where people regularly gather and interact.<br /><br />This concept have led to the development and evolution of web-based communities and hosted services, such as web forum, social-networking sites, social-bookmarking sites, wikis, blogs, podcasts.. etc.<br /><br />Here's a list of some Web 2.0 applications:<br /><br /><br /><b>Start Pages</b><br /><br /><img src="http://www.seomoz.org/user_files/web20/logos/791.jpg" alt="" border="0" /><br />Get your daily fix of the web with <a href="http://www.google.com/ig" target="_blank">iGoogle</a>. Customizable with a variety of widgets, Google's start page can include regular features such as weather reports as well as fun stuff like Beer of the Day.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.seomoz.org/user_files/web20/logos/749.jpg" alt="" border="0" /><br />Customize your <a href="http://www.netvibes.com/" target="_blank">Netvibes </a>start page with the RSS feeds and widgets of your choice. Keep up with the weather, your favorite blogs, what's going on with your social networks and the latest news stories.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.seomoz.org/user_files/web20/logos/751.jpg" alt="" border="0" /><br />With a neat interface, <a href="http://www.pageflakes.com/" target="_blank">Pageflakes </a>lets you check your email, the weather, upcoming evnts, news and more on both its standard and customizable start pages.<br /><br /><br /><b>Social Communities</b><br /><br /><img src="http://www.seomoz.org/user_files/web20/logos/678.jpg" alt="" border="0" /><br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> attempts to bring all the features of social networking - messaging, photos, chat, groups, events and games - together into one web service. Find old friends, colleagues and new acquaintances and never lose touch again.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.seomoz.org/user_files/web20/logos/677.jpg" alt="" border="0" /><br />With <a href="http://www.twitter.com/" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, you can microblog your day, keep up with your friends and track the happenings at big events. Send and receive messages from your mobile phone, IM client or desktop application and never again be out of the loop!<br /><br /><img src="http://www.claudiobrenna.com/images/linkedin.gif" alt="" border="0" /><br /><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/" target="_blank">Linkedin </a>is like Facebook for business professionals: Build yourself a business network to give you credibility in job searches and hiring, or use LinkedIn to reconnect or keep in touch with important business connections.<br /><br /><br /><b>Social Bookmarking Sites</b><br /><br /><img src="http://www.seomoz.org/user_files/web20/logos/621.jpg" alt="" border="0" /><br /><a href="http://www.digg.com/" target="_blank">Digg</a> is all about user powered content. Everything is submitted and voted on by the digg community. Share, discover, bookmark, and promote stuff that's important to you!<br /><br /><img src="http://www.seomoz.org/user_files/web20/logos/758.jpg" alt="" border="0" /><br /><a href="http://del.icio.us/" target="_blank">del.icio.us</a> is a social bookmarks manager. Using bookmarklets, you can add bookmarks to your list and categorize them<br /><br /><img src="http://www.seomoz.org/user_files/web20/logos/759.jpg" alt="" border="0" /><br /><a href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/" target="_blank">StumbleUpon</a> uses thumbs up and down ratings to form collaborative opinions on website quality. When you stumble, you will only see pages which friends and like–minded stumblers have liked<br /><br /><img src="http://www.seomoz.org/user_files/web20/logos/622.jpg" alt="" border="0" /><br /><a href="http://www.reddit.com/" target="_blank">Reddit </a>is a source for what's new and popular online. reddit learns what you like as you vote on existing links or submit your own!<br /><br /><img src="http://www.seomoz.org/user_files/web20/logos/760.jpg" alt="" border="0" /><br /><a href="http://www.furl.net/" target="_blank">Furl</a> lets you store your favorite online finds and let others discover the cool stuff you've bookmarked. Comment on the content you find and read what other users are saying about your bookmarks.<br /><br /><br /><b>Photos and Digital Images</b><br /><br /><img src="http://www.seomoz.org/user_files/web20/logos/709.jpg" alt="" border="0" /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/" target="_blank">Flickr</a> is both a great place to store your photographs and to search for high-quality images.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.seomoz.org/user_files/web20/logos/711.jpg" alt="" border="0" /><br /><a href="http://picasa.google.com/" target="_blank">Picassa </a>is Google's photo sharing service. It comes with excellent software for editing your pictures. Easy, fast uploads make Picasa fun and simple to use.<br /><br /><br /><b>Collaborative Writing and Word Processing</b><br /><br /><img src="http://www.seomoz.org/user_files/web20/logos/763.jpg" alt="" border="0" /><br /><a href="http://docs.google.com/" target="_blank">Google Docs and Spreadsheets</a> lets you create, store and share documents within your Google accountwith Google's free online document management feature.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.seomoz.org/user_files/web20/logos/764.jpg" alt="" border="0" /><br /><a href="http://www.writeboard.com/" target="_blank">Writeboard</a> lets users edit documents while still being able to access earlier versions of the same text. Subscribe to RSS feeds of documents' changes and share documents with as many people as you like.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.seomoz.org/user_files/web20/logos/765.jpg" alt="" border="0" /><br /><a href="http://www.thinkfree.com/" target="_blank">Thinkfree</a> brings the functionality and features of a desktop office application to the Internet, from content creation to storage and collaboration.<br /><br /><br /><b>Food and Cooking</b><br /><br /><img src="http://www.seomoz.org/user_files/web20/logos/713.jpg" alt="" border="0" /><br /><a href="http://www.imcooked.com/" target="_blank">Imcooked </a>is an entire site dedicated to food, Im Cooked lets members share recipes, make friends, watch cooking videos and learn more about culinary arts without the frills that often come with gourmet food television shows and websites.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.seomoz.org/user_files/web20/logos/715.jpg" alt="" border="0" /><br />With <a href="http://ifoods.tv/site" target="_blank">ifoods</a>, you can connect with fellow cooks from across the world, or just browse iFoods' collection of recipes, food-related discussions and blog posts. Enter competitions and prove yourself to be a superior chef!<br /><br /><br />In the future, I will be talking about Web 2.0 applications.<br /><br />Cheers!</span>Walidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03063919840751800142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2652532521618847460.post-34238116014472057022008-08-01T23:53:00.001+03:002008-10-26T15:54:23.961+03:00Ankh: Everlsating Life<!-- google_ad_section_start --><span style="font-size:100%;"><img src="http://www.sighcographics.com/imgs/ankh_noborder.gif" alt="" border="0" /><br /><br /><br />Possibly one of the most widely recognized symbols, sacred to the ancient Egyptians. In Egyptian hieroglyphics this symbol stands for life or living, and forms part of the Egyptian words such as 'health' and 'happiness'.<br /><br />The Ankh is held by most Egyptian Gods. It is associated with Isis (eternal mother and High Priestess) and Osiris in the Early Dynastic Period. The loop of the ankh is considered to be the feminine, while the T shape is considered to be the masculine.. These two sacred units then come together and form life. Because of its powerful appeal, the Ankh was used in various religious and cultural rituals involving royalty. In the Treasures of Tutankhumun, the Ankh was a major artifact found in the tomb. The circle symbolizes eternal life and the cross below it represents the material plane. The Ankh is called the "Crux Ansata," it is of Egyptian origin and can be traced to the Early Dynastic Period, appearing frequently in artwork of various material and in relief, depicting the Gods.<br /><br />It is usually held to the nose of the deceased king by the Gods to represent the breath of life given in the after-world. The Ankh also resembles a key and is considered the key to eternal life after death. Its influence was felt in every dynastic period and survives as an icon possessing mystical power throughout the Coptic Christian era. The Ankh possessed by each God had power associated with that God. The Ankh of the God Anubis (shown in the picture to the right) is related to the protection of the dead, that of Sekmet, War, Hapi related to the living waters of the Nile and Amen, the spirit God, the breath of life.</span>Walidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03063919840751800142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2652532521618847460.post-32274616820250777422008-08-01T23:51:00.001+03:002008-10-26T15:56:55.074+03:00StargazingAstronomy geeks, this post is for you!<br /><br />Stargazing is a hobby whose participants enjoy studying celestial objects. It is usually associated with viewing the night sky when most celestial objects and events are visible.<br /><br />"In January, Venus, the “evening star,” is beginning to emerge low in the southwest after sunset. Each week it’s getting a bit easier to see in the twilight. After darkness falls, the winter constellation Orion strides high in the southeast. Orange Aldebaran, the eye of Taurus, the bull, shines above him. Far below Orion (and perhaps a bit to the left) sparkles brilliant Sirius, the Dog Star. Later in the evening, yellow Saturn rises in the east, with dimmer Regulus beneath it."<br /><br />Check out <a href="http://stardate.org/nightsky/" target="_blank"><b>this site</b></a> for your guide of Stargazing!<br /><br /><br /><br />There is also this great page: <a href="http://www.fourmilab.ch/yoursky/" target="_blank">http://www.fourmilab.ch/yoursky/</a><br />It contains:<br /><ul><li><b>The Sky Map</b> that shows the entire sky as viewed from a given location at a specified time and date. A stereographic projection is used, as is the convention for printed star maps.<br /></li><li><b>Horizon Views</b>, showing the stars above the horizon as seen from a specified observing site at a given date and time. The viewing direction (azimuth) may be set to cardinal points on the compass or arbitrarily by entering a value in degrees.<br /></li><li><b>The Virtual Telescope</b> which is a sample virtual telescope image Your Sky's Virtual Telescope is your Humble Soft Telescope of the Web. Controls allow you to set time and date, aiming point, orbital elements to track an asteroid or comet, and a variety of viewing options. You can compose a request with custom settings and save the results in your browser's hotlist or bookmark table, allowing direct access to the virtual telescope with all the controls preset to your own preferences.</li></ul><br /><br />Also, check out <a href="http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/brightest_stars_030715-1.html" target="_blank"> <b>The 10 brightest stars</b></a>.Walidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03063919840751800142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2652532521618847460.post-11703782525947966352008-08-01T23:46:00.000+03:002008-08-02T00:00:59.104+03:00Electronic Music GuideElectronic music is music created using electronic devices. These devices are low-power systems and use components such as transistors and integrated circuits. Examples of an electronic instrument are samplers, theremins, synthesizers, and a computers.<br /><br /><b><u>Electronic Instruments:</u></b><br /><ul><li><b>Synthesizer </b>is an "electronic musical instrument designed to produce electronically generated sound, using techniques such as additive, subtractive, FM, physical modeling synthesis, phase distortion, or Scanned synthesis. Synthesizers create sounds through direct manipulation of electrical voltages (as in analog synthesizers), mathematical manipulation of discrete values using computers (as in software synthesizers), or by a combination of both methods. In the final stage of the synthesizer, electrical voltages generated by the synthesizer cause vibrations in the diaphragms of loudspeakers, headphones, etc. This synthesized sound is contrasted with recording of natural sound, where the mechanical energy of a sound wave is transformed into a signal which will then be converted back to mechanical energy on playback (though sampling synthesizers significantly blur this distinction). Synthesizers typically have a keyboard which provides the human interface to the instrument and are often thought of as keyboard instruments. However, a synthesizer's human interface does not necessarily have to be a keyboard, nor does a synthesizer strictly need to be playable by a human. Different fingerboard synthesizer or ribbon controlled synthesizers have also been developed."<br /></li><li><b>Sampler </b>is an "electronic music instrument closely related to a synthesizer. Instead of generating sounds from scratch, however, a sampler starts with multiple recordings (or “samples”) of different sounds, and then plays each back based on how the instrument is configured. Because these samples are usually stored in RAM, the information can be quickly accessed. Unlike traditional digital audio playback, each sample is associated with a set of synthesis parameters, and can thus be modified in many different ways. Most samplers have polyphonic capabilities: they are able to play more than one note at the same time. Many are also multitimbral: they can play back different sounds at the same time."</li></ul><br /><b><u>Electronic Music genres:</u></b> (Popular tracks are included at the end of each sub-genre (artist - track) )<br /><ol style="list-style-type: decimal;"><li><b>Trance:</b> Trance is the most emotional genre. It can make you cry, make you shout, make you cheer, and make you celebrate absolutely nothing of substance except pure, ecstatic bliss. This is interesting, when at one time it was very repetitive and hypnotic (hence its label 'trance').<br /><ul><li>Progressive: The term "progressive" typically refers to the structure of a track which occur incrementally. An exception is progressive trance. The term Progressive trance usually refers to a type of trance music that features a less prominent lead melody and focuses more on the atmosphere.<br />Sasha - Xpander<br />Lost Tribe - Gamemaster<br />Marc Norman - Touchdown<br /></li><li>Dark: Darker, more "evil-sounding" Trance.<br />Fascinated - Totally Fascinated<br />De Niro - Mind of man<br /></li><li>Melodic: Less loops, very melodic.<br />BT - Flaming June<br /></li><li>Uplifting (Anthem): A combination of Progressive and Melodic Trance. It's the most popular dance music in the world, it's euphoric and the most emotional Trance.<br />Rank1 - Airwave<br />Paul Van Dyk - For an Angel<br />Vincent de Moor - Fly Away<br />Tiesto - Adagio for Strings<br /></li><li>Tech: More techy, less melodic, more loops, very similar to House music.<br />Timo Maas - Riding on a Storm<br />Breeder - The Chain<br /></li><li>Vocal: Trance music accompanied with some vocals.<br />Tiesto - Silence (Tiesto's In Search of sunrise remix)<br />Planet Perfecto - Bullet in the Gun<br /></li><li>Psychedelic or Goa: Psychedelic Trance removes the hindu/middle-eastern influences and melodies and full-on blasts you with great sounds...teleport zappers, star trek tweeps, nintendo twerps, theremin squeels, feedback hums and radio antennae frequency squelches. This is the futuristic sci-fi Trance.<br />Infected Mushroom - Acid Killer<br />Hallucinogen - Twisted (Album)<br /></li></ul></li><li><b>Techno:</b> Techno is a form of electronic dance music that became prominent in Detroit, Michigan during the mid-1980s with influences from Chicago House, electro, New Wave, Funk and futuristic fiction themes that were prevalent and relative to modern culture during the end of the Cold War in industrial America at that time. Following the initial success of Detroit Techno as a musical culture — at the very least on a regional level — an expanded and related subset of genres in the 1990s emerged globally. The term "techno", which derives from "technology", is often used (many would say misused) to refer to all forms of electronic music. Music journalists and fans of the genre, however, are generally more selective in their use of the term, being careful not to conflate it with related but distinct genres (i.e. house, trance)<br /><br /><ul><li>Detroit Techno: Detroit techno is an early style of techno music originating from Detroit, Michigan, USA in the mid-1980s. A distinguishing trait of Detroit techno is the use of analog synthesizers and early drum machines, notably the roland TR-909 for its production or, in later releases, the use of digital emulation to create the characteristic sounds of those machines.<br />Jeff Mills - The bells<br />Carl Craig - Dreamland</li></ul></li><li><b>House:</b> House is the most soulful genre. It's also the simplest, the oldest, the warmest, and where electronic music is concerned, easily the most human-sounding, making it one of the most popular, commanding the most producers, artists, labels, DJs, fans, and subgenres.<br /><ul><li>Progressive: In the case of progressive house, the term "progressive" can also refer to the style's open mindedness to bring in new elements to the genre. These elements can be a variety of sounds, such as a guitar loop, computer generated noises, or other elements typical of other genres.<br /></li><li>Tribal: Just like its name, it's the Loop-based House.<br />Kao - Pressure<br />Papacha - Sentossa</li></ul></li><li><b>Drum n Bass:</b> Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated to DnB or drum n bass) is a type of electronic dance music also known as jungle. Emerging in the early 1990s, the genre is characterised by fast tempo broken beat drums (generally between 160 & 180 beats per minute) with heavy, often intricate basslines. Today, drum and bass is still considered an underground musical style, but its currents of influence run throughout popular music and culture.<br /></li><li><b>Experimental</b> Experimental music is any music that challenges the commonly accepted notions of what music is!! This type of music uses "extended techniques" which are methods of performing on a musical instrument that are unique, innovative, and sometimes regarded as improper. For example, ordinary instruments modified in their tuning or sound-producing characteristics. For example, guitar strings can have a weight attached at a certain point, changing their harmonic characteristics! Strings on a piano can be manipulated directly instead of being played the orthodox, keyboard-based way (an innovation of Henry Cowell's known as "string piano"), a dozen or more piano keys may be depressed simultaneously with the forearm to produce a tone cluster (another technique popularized by Cowell), or the tuning pegs on a guitar can be rotated while a note sounds (called a "tuner glissando"). It also uses an incorporation of instruments, tunings, rhythms or scales from non-Western musical traditions, sound sources other than conventional musical instruments such as trash cans, telephone ringers, and doors slamming.<br />Aphex Twin - I care because you do (Album)<br />Aphex Twin - Richard D. James Album (Album)<br />Autechre - Confield (Album)<br /></li><li><b>Chill out:</b>Chill out (sometimes chillout), a term derived from a slang injunction to relax, emerged in the early and mid-1990s as a catch-all term for various styles of relatively mellow, slow-tempo music made by contemporary producers in the electronic music scene. A number of compilations with "Chill Out" in their titles were released in the mid-1990s and beyond, helping to establish the genre as being very closely related to downtempo and trip hop but also incorporating, especially in the early 2000s, slower varieties of house music, nu-jazz, and lounge music.<br />The Buddha Bar series of albums.<br /></li></ol><br /><b><u>Electronic Music artists:</u></b><br /><ol style="list-style-type: decimal;"><li><b>Trance</b><ul><li>Tiesto</li><li>Armin van Buuren</li><li>Paul Van Dyk</li><li>Paul Oakenfold</li><li>Above and Beyond</li><li>Ferry Corsten</li><li>Signum</li><li>Ronski Speed</li></ul></li><li><b>House</b><ul><li>Sasha</li><li>John Digweed</li><li>Steve Lawler (Tribal)</li><li>Deep Dish</li><li>Saeed & Palash (Tribal)</li><li>Deep Dish</li><li>Danny Howells</li><li>Nick Warren</li><li>Dani Tenaglia</li><li>Satoshi Tomiie</li></ul></li><li><b>Chill out</b><ul><li>Claude Challe</li><li>Aria</li><li>La Roca</li><li>Gotan Project</li><li>David Visan</li><li>Dies Irae</li></ul></li></ol>Walidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03063919840751800142noreply@blogger.com0