tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20954108333213618212024-03-13T05:38:09.579+03:00DotsisxRita El Khouryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793234713903361327noreply@blogger.comBlogger149125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095410833321361821.post-11642151493119552852008-07-24T12:05:00.001+03:002008-07-24T12:05:52.540+03:00House renovation or the reason why i've been silent<br /><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><br /><p><a href='http://media.shozu.com/cache/portal/media/79d902/117440571'><img src='http://media.shozu.com/cache/portal/media/79d902/117440571_journal'/></a><br/>Oh the dust and the mud and the dust... Pipes done, electricity too. We're moving on, but not fast enough :(<p align='right'><a target='_blank' href='http://www.shozu.com/portal/?utm_source=upload&utm_medium=graphic&utm_campaign=upload_graphic/'><img border='0' alt='Posted by ShoZu' src='http://www.shozu.com/resources/messages/logo_blog.gif'/></a></p></p><br /></div><br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">http://dotsisx.blogspot.com</div>Rita El Khouryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793234713903361327noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095410833321361821.post-76010387780332010072008-06-23T23:17:00.001+03:002008-06-23T23:17:45.868+03:00LTEN - Derbakkeh playing<br /><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><br /><p><a href='http://media.shozu.com/cache/portal/media/79d902/100663379'><img src='http://media.shozu.com/cache/portal/media/79d902/100663379_journal'/></a><br/>2 of my friends playing on a lebanese instrument called derbakkeh. They never played it before but made a good rhythm and a nice video.<p align='right'><a target='_blank' href='http://www.shozu.com/portal/?utm_source=upload&utm_medium=graphic&utm_campaign=upload_graphic/'><img border='0' alt='Posted by ShoZu' src='http://www.shozu.com/resources/messages/logo_blog.gif'/></a></p></p><br /></div><br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">http://dotsisx.blogspot.com</div>Rita El Khouryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793234713903361327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095410833321361821.post-17224274281202066862008-06-22T22:49:00.001+03:002008-06-22T22:49:42.901+03:00LTEN - Annoubin Valley<br /><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><br /><p><a href='http://media.shozu.com/cache/portal/media/79d902/100663377'><img src='http://media.shozu.com/cache/portal/media/79d902/100663377_journal'/></a><br/>Picture taken from the moving bus while going down the tight road through Annoubin Valley. Only one car can pass at a time.<p align='right'><a target='_blank' href='http://www.shozu.com/portal/?utm_source=upload&utm_medium=graphic&utm_campaign=upload_graphic/'><img border='0' alt='Posted by ShoZu' src='http://www.shozu.com/resources/messages/logo_blog.gif'/></a></p></p><br /></div><br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">http://dotsisx.blogspot.com</div>Rita El Khouryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793234713903361327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095410833321361821.post-26121509993584748372008-06-19T17:22:00.001+03:002008-06-19T17:22:40.526+03:00LTEN - The Tarnib Society<br /><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><br /><p><a href='http://media.shozu.com/cache/portal/media/79d902/100663355'><img src='http://media.shozu.com/cache/portal/media/79d902/100663355_journal'/></a><br/>Parents & friends playing Tarnib (cards) on the balcony. Great social times.<p align='right'><a target='_blank' href='http://www.shozu.com/portal/?utm_source=upload&utm_medium=graphic&utm_campaign=upload_graphic/'><img border='0' alt='Posted by ShoZu' src='http://www.shozu.com/resources/messages/logo_blog.gif'/></a></p></p><br /></div><br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">http://dotsisx.blogspot.com</div>Rita El Khouryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793234713903361327noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095410833321361821.post-29035192068500940102008-06-16T22:04:00.001+03:002008-06-16T22:04:15.715+03:00LTEN - Red Flower<br /><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><br /><p><a href='http://media.shozu.com/cache/portal/media/79d902/100663333'><img src='http://media.shozu.com/cache/portal/media/79d902/100663333_journal'/></a><br/>Awesome flower. Pic taken from outside my Kleiat house.<p align='right'><a target='_blank' href='http://www.shozu.com/portal/?utm_source=upload&utm_medium=graphic&utm_campaign=upload_graphic/'><img border='0' alt='Posted by ShoZu' src='http://www.shozu.com/resources/messages/logo_blog.gif'/></a></p></p><br /></div><br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">http://dotsisx.blogspot.com</div>Rita El Khouryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793234713903361327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095410833321361821.post-88613092477940102722008-06-15T22:18:00.001+03:002008-06-15T22:18:29.757+03:00LTEN - My Aunt Wears A Nokia Slipper<br /><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><br /><p><a href='http://media.shozu.com/cache/portal/media/79d902/100663331'><img src='http://media.shozu.com/cache/portal/media/79d902/100663331_journal'/></a><br/>First, I thought I was seeing "Nokia" everywhere and needed help, turns out i saw right. Is this genuine? No idea, but it sure made me laugh!<p align='right'><a target='_blank' href='http://www.shozu.com/portal/?utm_source=upload&utm_medium=graphic&utm_campaign=upload_graphic/'><img border='0' alt='Posted by ShoZu' src='http://www.shozu.com/resources/messages/logo_blog.gif'/></a></p></p><br /></div><br /><div class="blogger-post-footer">http://dotsisx.blogspot.com</div>Rita El Khouryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793234713903361327noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095410833321361821.post-35997668395687347192008-06-15T22:06:00.002+03:002008-06-15T22:12:29.934+03:00Introducing 3 New Post Series<div align="justify">After reassuring you that Dotsisx ain't dead, I want to introduce to you 3 new series that you will often see here on Dotsisx.<br /><br />First one is "<span style="font-weight: bold;">Lebanon through the eyes of an Nseries</span>" or shortly <span style="font-weight: bold;">LTEN</span>. It will be a rather daily image upload via ShoZu with a maximum of one line of comment. It's part due to the fact that I won the N82, and part due to the truth that I will be leaving this awesome country in a couple of months, and I want to keep a memory of every day I spend here from now on, and also part due to the fact that very little is known about my country. The picture may be about people, landscapes, food, habits, places... I will just take it one day at a time, and knock myself out.<br /><br />Second series is no less interesting and is called "<span style="font-weight: bold;">Nseries, the x in your pocket</span>", where x represents all the gadgets that an S60-based Nseries can or has replaced (check <a href="http://dotsisx.blogspot.com/2008/01/math-la-n95-8gb.html">my post about the N95 8gb</a> for a little idea of what gadgets it can replace). Basically I will cover the hows and whats of every usage, concentrating on how to enhance it and make the most of it.<br /><br />Third, I decided to have each week two posts entitled "<span style="font-weight: bold;">This Week's Recaps</span>", one of them regarding the most interesting news Symbian-wise, and the other tech-wise.<br /><br />All of these are part of bringing Dotsisx back to life and to the front. I know I don't have a huge readership here, but you have been loyal for an incredibly long time and I thank you for that.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">http://dotsisx.blogspot.com</div>Rita El Khouryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793234713903361327noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095410833321361821.post-82292874230779321832008-06-10T16:25:00.002+03:002008-06-10T16:30:50.299+03:00I'm Back, But I Was Never Away<div align="justify">Hello to all my dedicated readers, and a big big sorry for the lack of updates here on Dotsisx but to those of you who were following my statuses on Jaiku (hint that big pink widget on the left column) or who were keeping up with Symbian-Guru, you would've noticed that I've been swamped and that I stopped blogging for a long while.<br /><br />Long story short, my thesis about "Biotechnologies and their use in therapeutics" was finished, I even did the oral presentation last friday and grabbed a very honorable mention, not bad eh? My HUGE list of finals is done, so is my training at the hospital. Basically I am officially done with Pharmacy, and I should receive my diploma around the 4th of July (wink to you americans). <br /><br /><div align="center"><a href='http://media.shozu.com/cache/portal/media/79d902/100663299'><img src='http://media.shozu.com/cache/portal/media/79d902/100663299_journal'/></a><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">"Proud to be a pill counting, prescription dispensing, pregnancy testing, Pharmacist"</span></div><br /><br />Now it's onto the next step, I am finalizing the procedures in the French embassy, and waiting for an official acceptance from the university and dorm (the lab is done) so I can move around september and hit my Master2 year in genetics and biotechnology. <br /><br />Other than that, we FINALLY have a President, yup yup yup, and after agreeing to disagree for 3 years, the politicians decided to hug each other one day out of the blue, and I hope it's finally over. No more bombings, killings, wars, conflicts, heck we want peace!<br /><br />Gadget-wise, I have been trialling the E61i and the Nokia BH-604 for a couple of days now, you can read my impressions on S-G. I also won an N82, yes WON, in the Show Your S60 Smarts Contest. I am so proud because I honestly submitted the video at the last day, at midnight, and because the message I tried to pass is the one dearest to my heart, that S60 is open and that you can make whatever you want of it, and adapt it to your everyday needs and life, be it in work or entertainment.<br /><br />In short, life is SWEET at the moment. Now if only I can find someone coming from the USA to Lebanon to grab me a Macbook and an iPod Touch, I'd be in heaven (they cost 1.4 the original price here!)</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">http://dotsisx.blogspot.com</div>Rita El Khouryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793234713903361327noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095410833321361821.post-73231721721344157202008-04-28T12:51:00.002+03:002008-04-28T13:05:47.772+03:00Pics From Jordan<div align="justify">After weeks of <a href="http://dotsisx.blogspot.com/2008/03/open-letter-to-nokia-buy-atlas.html">struggling with Share on Ovi</a> and many other responsabilities, I managed to get 196 pictures of my trip to Jordan up on Flickr and Share on Ovi. Flickr doesn't give me an immediate option to embed a slideshow of my channels to a blog, something totally stupid, whereas Share on Ovi has the option placed somewhere where you can't miss it. Plus they give 3 layout options: ticker, slideshow and Grid. It's small but meaningful things like this that <a href="http://www.symbian-guru.com/welcome/2008/04/5-more-reasons-to-love-share-on-ovi-share-online.html">make me love Share on Ovi so much</a>, and prefer it to Flickr. So here they are, my pictures from Jordan.<br /><br />Day 1 - Leaving Lebanon, through Syria and to Jordan. Madaba church, Mount Nebo and Amman.<br /><div align="center"><embed src="http://www.twango.com/tools/twidgets/ticker.swf?feed=khouryrt.jordan1" width="500" height="100" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></div><br /><br />Day 2 - Leaving Amman to Petra, then Ram Valley and night in Aqaba.<br /><div align="center"><embed src="http://www.twango.com/tools/twidgets/ticker.swf?feed=khouryrt.jordan2" width="500" height="100" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></div><br /><br />Day 3 - Boat trip in Aqaba, then off to the Dead Sea, Jordan river to see the Baptism site, and night in Amman's Kanabaya lounge.<br /><div align="center"><embed src="http://www.twango.com/tools/twidgets/ticker.swf?feed=khouryrt.jordan3" width="500" height="100" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></div><br /><br />Day 4 - Off to Jarach, then back to Lebanon.<br /><div align="center"><embed src="http://www.twango.com/tools/twidgets/ticker.swf?feed=khouryrt.jordan4" width="500" height="100" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></div><br /><br />Enjoy!</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">http://dotsisx.blogspot.com</div>Rita El Khouryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793234713903361327noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095410833321361821.post-48840737420928065532008-04-25T08:59:00.003+03:002008-04-25T09:27:10.673+03:00Mobiles & Medicine - The Sum Of All Elements<div align="justify"><span style="font-style: italic;">Today, I continue my series of comparisons between the medical and the mobile fields. I had <a href="http://dotsisx.blogspot.com/2008/04/mobiles-medicine-everything-is-under.html">previously talked</a> about the fact that not everything is under control in both worlds, and that no matter how perfect an object is built, something at some point can and will go wrong.</span><br /><br />I just returned from a Medical Ethics exam today, and one of the questions asked was related to a statement made by Pope Benedict XVI about the biomedical sciences. The exam was in French, but basically what the Pope meant to say was that biomedical sciences should be used for the good of humanity, because if they didn't have the benefit of the human kind as a goal, they would be cold and heartless science. We were asked to reflect on this opinion as pharmacists, as well as give examples of how biomedical sciences can at some point hurt humanity or a human.<br /><br />In my paper, starting my thinking process from the "cold and heartless science" affirmation, i set out to compare medicine with arithmetics. I didn't go into details there, but I will here. Our constant tendency, in the medical field is to take book sentences and research results wholeheartedly. When we are presented with "disease x" we always tend to give "cure a" because it's written somewhere, and we sure don't know better than those illustrate scientists. When we are presented with "disease y" we will give "cure b", for the same reason. The tricky part comes when we have "disease x + disease y" in the same person. What do we do? First, we try to find research about those 2 diseases occuring together, the reasons behind it, as well as that "written somewhere" treatment scheme. If this search result comes out blank, we're left to pray that we're going to make the right decision. Sometimes, we will give "cure a + cure b" after making sure that both medicines aren't incompatible ; other times we will give "cure a or cure b" if we know for a certain reason that curing one disease will help the other ; and some other times, we will go totally blunt and give "cure c" which is something that might work on both, not quite ideally, but it does.<br /><br />See, medicine is a lot more complicated than simple math, two illnesses together can be equal to the sum of each one individually, but it can be more or less than that sum, it can also be an indication of a totally different illness. If I have chronic dyspnea, it might be asthma or COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). If I have oedema, it might be renal failure. If I have both, we could treat them separately but we should investigate an underlying heart failure that didn't manifest itself. This is explained by the complexity of the human body, that I wrote about in my first post of the series, but it can also be explained by another arithmetics comparison.<br /><br />How do you define a Human Being? Is it a mix of flesh, bones, muscles, nerves, blood, liquids? No. We are more than the sum of all of our elements. Now we may not know exactly what is the other abstract entity that adds up to the body in the equation. Some will call it the soul, others the spirit, others what we refer to as the heart, others will also add society or religion and what it teaches us, others will say that unconscious acts has got a piece of the cake, too, and many many more. For what it's worth, I believe it's all of that and a little bit more too. The physical dimension of the human, which is the body, is just the smallest entity in the equation. We might be perfectly healthy, yet feel pain or sick ; we might also be deep down into some disease and yet feel perfectly fit. Why? Simply, because we're more than just organs!<br /><br /><br />Now let's go back to the mobile field. One thing we notice, that is too darn obvious, is that a mobile is not "alive". Does that mean that it misses that sum of abstract elements that we added to the body? Well, I've never seen a mobile move by itself, so there goes your answer. When something goes wrong in one piece of the equipment, it will show up, because there's nothing there governing the process and trying to conceal it. A whole mobile device is equal to the sum of its elements, and that's why it doesn't play on you those tricky games that the body does.<br /><br />This is what seriously differentiates health sciences from engineering sciences: the predictability factor. When there's a problem in the fuse in some piece of electronics, you know that changing it will solve the problem, it's predictable. When there's a health problem in a patient, you might give the perfect cure, the one you have used for years to treat this same disease, yet a couple of patients will not respond or will respond in a different manner, it's unpredictable. This has been the aim of the whole genetics field so far, to find patterns that will help making health evolutions more predictable in humans. The "oh, you have gene X, then you are likely to have disease Y around age Z" as well as the "oh, you have gene A, then you will respond in manner B to treatment C" seem to be what we are looking for, making things as predictable with the human body as they are with any other piece of equipment we have. We will succeed in removing a lot of variables in the equation, but will we even be close to remove them all? No. Because we're more than the sum of our elements.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">http://dotsisx.blogspot.com</div>Rita El Khouryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793234713903361327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095410833321361821.post-28290438478227430022008-04-02T12:41:00.006+03:002008-04-02T21:04:57.399+03:00Mobiles & Medicine - Everything Is Under Control<div align="justify">One of the first things you learn when you go deeper into medicine studies is how incredibly tight and organized everything is inside the human body. It's not just the hormone that stimulates a function, but it's also the mediator that induces the hormone's secretion, and the peptide that causes the mediator to act, and the enzyme that activates the peptide, and the gene promoter that causes the enzyme to be produced. It's also the other hormone that stimulates an opposite function to the first one, and ... well we can go as far as life itself to explain some of these things. <br /><br />The other thing you learn is how much control is behind every one of the smallest reactions inside your body. The simplest of examples is that if you eat anything that contains sugars after fasting, your pancreas will produce insulin so that your liver starts stocking the sugar instead of releasing it into the bloodstream, but also so that your muscles, brain and other organs start using this sugar. Each of these is an incredibly long list of reactions, with many others running in the background, and all being regulated by the smallest details.<br /><br />In short, after contemplating the human body's function, you always come out with one conclusion: it's incredible how the smallest of things get added up, in an everlasting series of cycles and processes, to make a perfectly functioning entity. Everything is regulated, be it upwards or downwards, and even the tiniest piece has its place in the puzzle. In the end, it all comes down to one final goal: Life.<br /><br /><br />I have always wondered about the analogies between medicine and mobiles, two domains which take the vast majority of my time. Why have I come to love both of them, even though, on the surface there is no resemblance whatsoever between them? Then I came to the observation of the details. I guess I am fascinated by the amount of organization and regulation that governs in both instances.<br /><br />Take for example the sheer act of taking a picture with your handset. Visibly, you're only opening the camera lens cover and pressing a button. You then view the picture, press back, and close the camera shutter. This is all the interaction it takes from your side. Now think about all every process that happens in the background during these 5 to 10 seconds: the lens cover clicking into place when opened so that it launches the camera application, the amount of genius going behind the fact that what's in front of your lens is projected on the screen, the capturing moment with each pixel being memorized and put in its right place on the screen, and then being saved with a thousand others on that incredibly small MicroSD card you could swallow without noticing, followed by the camera application shutting down the moment the lens cover is closed back. Think of all the 0 and 1 in the background, the electricity circulating on the boards, in the most complicated circuits, the coding scripts being executed. Think of the relations between everything that happens and that you can't see with your eyes compared to the small amount that finally pops on the screen.<br /><br />Fascinating!<br /><br />I know that the comparison between medicine and mobiles doesn't stand a chance now. But as years go by, these small devices, barely the size of our hand palms are getting more complex, more detailed, with more and more processes of the smallest importance running in every millisecond.<br /><br />Over the years, engineers and scientists have thrived to reach the level of perfection and togetherness that is seen in the human body. Why do you think the most enticing of all gadgets are robots? Why do you think that each time a new development in the robot-world is made, we stand in front of it in astonishment? Why do you think movies like AI (Artificial Intelligence) were made? Two reasons. First, is that deep inside, the final aim of an engineer (and Human for that matter) is perfection, and the most detailed model of perfection is us. Second is because we have long wanted to explain how we truly function, because our biggest mystery lies within us. <br /><br /><br />Is there any doubt that in 10 years, mobiles will become even more developed than they are now? No. Is there any doubt that in 20 years a mobile prototype will have learned to regulate itself, to control itself, to clean itself figuratively (software-wise) and literally (hardware-wise)? No. Is there any doubt that in 30 years mobiles will be made from live particles, that can interact with the environment? No (look at the Nokia Morph Concept).<br /><br />One question remains, is there any doubt that no matter how far into the future we delve, anything built by us will have flaws, bugs, problems, issues? No. It's not a matter of belief or not, it's a matter of facts. <br /><br />Let's go back to medicine for a while and take the human body, our model of perfect function, as an example. It doesn't matter how well everything is built and regulated, something at some point can and will go wrong. <br /><br />Most of the time, the body knows and corrects the error, because it's "intelligent" and it has learned to distinguish the error and to correct it. As an example, I will take the process of cell duplication. Our cells multiply all the time, to regenerate newer and younger ones, leaving the others to die. During this transformation process, a letter in our genetic language (which is made of 4 letters, ATCG, that's all) may be misread and mis-copied: It's not a simple xerox process! The body has its way of knowing the original copy from the new one it just made, and hence can and will correct the mistake.<br /><br />But one in every million times, the body won't notice the mistake, and we will end up with something called a "mutation". If this happens in the germinal cells (read: ovule or sperm cells), the error will be transmitted to the next generation. Sometimes, this will just lead to a different eye color, or skin structure, but sometimes it affects a very delicate function and causes an illness. And that's how genetic diseases are <span style="font-style:italic;">born</span> (in a very simplistic explanation).<br /><br /><br />So, is everything under control? No. Even in the most complex structures known to us, everything isn't under control. Archaic changes and modifications of a template always occur. A gadget, handset, piece of electronics,..., might be amazingly functioning now, but no one could assure you that it wouldn't stop in the next second. Bugs, as we call them now, are and will always be an issue we face, be it with our mobiles or within our body. So we'd better accept the facts as they are, than keep moaning about it for the next millenium.<br /><br />Some people might explain this by the tendency of the universe to chaos. See, the Earth and our existence are a huge exception to the theory that everything tends naturally to go to chaos, and that organization is by itself a state of chaos. I don't know how I would explain it, because no, I am not looking for the answer to everything. Life would be dull if I knew it all, wouldn't it?</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">http://dotsisx.blogspot.com</div>Rita El Khouryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793234713903361327noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095410833321361821.post-48793966159675024712008-03-26T22:27:00.006+03:002008-03-27T10:54:13.777+03:00An Open Letter To Nokia : Buy An Atlas!<div align="justify">It has been building up inside for months now, but today, I simply can't hold it any longer. Nokia, you need to open up your Atlas or your World Map and start looking more closely at it. Head to the east shore of the Mediterranean sea, right below Turkey and right on top of Israel, there, you will find a small area, called Lebanon.<br /><br /><div align="center"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Nrn5rXExdjg/R-qrYnn1tMI/AAAAAAAAAUI/JLHzMl4c814/s1600-h/Lebanon.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Nrn5rXExdjg/R-qrYnn1tMI/AAAAAAAAAUI/JLHzMl4c814/s400/Lebanon.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5182142760684467394" border="0" /></a></div><br />This is where 4 million people live, and this is a country you have been neglecting or forgetting or not noticing for years now. No we are not Europe, we are not the States, we don't fatten your pockets every year with billions of dollars. But if there was a study of your marketshare here, if you could find one, then you would be astonished by the numbers. We have been loyal, very loyal to you, Finnish company, we swear by your built quality, we ravish over your designs, we have thousands of phone shops that have one of your devices in their logo or on their displays, we carry your devices religiously, we always ask about Nokias, and it's not unless there's a bigger motive that we buy another brand. Yet, you don't seem to notice that we exist.<br /><br />Let's start from the beginning, Nokia. <span style="font-weight: bold;">If I buy a new device, when I first fire it up, it asks me to input my country</span>. My country, as far as I can tell, is Lebanon. I type L, and there I have it: Latvia, Liberia, Lithuania and Sri Lanka. <span style="font-weight: bold;">No Lebanon</span>. No Lebanon! Are you kidding me? In order to have my time set right, I have to choose Egypt as a country. I have nothing against Egypt, but I am Lebanese!<br /><br />Second problem. I recently got to try your <span style="font-weight: bold;">Download! application</span>. I admit, it's not the brightest thing I have seen, but it has some good potential. I guess I was too optimistic thinking I might just find half of the content that other countries have, with the same device. Oh how wrong I was. Just a couple of links, nothing special. <span style="font-weight: bold;">I look at screenshots for other countries, and then look at my N95 and think "if only they filled one screen"(ie 12 icons). No they don't</span>.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Edit: Another problem I have been facing is with Nokia Maps. When I first got the N95 8GB to trial, I searched the Maps website and saw that Lebanon wasn't amongst the countries supported for voice navigation. No problem I said, I don't need it, I just want to see the roads. Well, what do you think I found? Ah, one road. ONE freaking road in ALL of Lebanon! Would I ever be able to tell my friends that my device has GPS? NO! Because they would want to see it in action, and to tell you the truth, I don't think we can take a lot of action out of ONE road!</span><br /><br />Third problem is the one that pushed me off the edge today. You know <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.twango.com/">Share on Ovi</a>, the new sharing service that Nokia just launched as a part of their Ovi bundle. The day it was launched, I clicked through the website, I got a <span style="font-weight: bold;">"This service is not yet available in this region"</span> message. I thought it still wasn't launched worldwide and held my breath. As the days passed, I kept checking to find the same message every single time. I filed an email to the Ovi product manager, and received a reply that there were social limitations that were preventing the launch of Ovi in the region. I thought "crap, here we go again, the <span style="font-style: italic;">Arab</span> sticker is once more on our forehead!". A couple of days later, I clicked by mistake on some link that led me to Share on Ovi, and this time, the page loaded. I was ecstatic and created my own account, without uploading any picture. Two days later, I opened my account to get some picture uploading and there it was, the white screen of death, staring me in the eyes, again: "This service is not yet available in this region".<br />From then on, it was a one-day on, several-days off catch up game with the service. I only got to upload 4 or 5 pictures, just to see how it works. That's until a couple of weeks ago, when the service just went unavailable for the longest time. I gave up, I honestly did.<br />Then came <span style="font-weight: bold;">my trip to Jordan</span>. After coming back, I thought that Flickr would be a nice idea for uploading, but I needed a backup plan. So I tried Share on Ovi and yesterday, I was in heaven. I uploaded about a 100 pictures (from Day1 and Day2) using Shozu to both my Flickr and my Share on Ovi accounts. I was using both of them for the first time, and to tell you the truth, <span style="font-weight: bold;">I found Share on Ovi to be a MUCH better solution</span>. It gave me the choice to upload via email to a specific channel, it kept the picture in its original size, it gave me an organizing possibility right from my images pages, it allowed me to upload endless file types, it had a very very visible embedding link (with options to embed one image or a whole channel)... well it was Apple'esque. Yeah, you read that right, it had the simplicity of an Apple product. And <span style="font-weight: bold;">for once, I was totally totally in love with a product from Nokia</span>. <span style="font-weight: bold;">I couldn't find anything wrong with it</span>, from tutorials, to usability, to learning curve, everything was well thought. <span style="font-weight: bold;">I had a glimpse at the future of Ovi, and I knew great times were ahead.</span><br /><br />Being this pleased with the service, and being that I have enrolled in the <span style="font-weight: bold;">S60 Ambassador program</span> (with Share on Ovi being the first mission), I thought I would share the pictures I took with my friends from the trip. <span style="font-weight: bold;">I sent them all links to my channels on Share on Ovi</span> (and not Flickr). It was almost midnight, and I think none of them managed to catch it by then, since we were all still worn out from the trip.<br />I woke up today, and launched Share on Ovi again, to create my "Jordan Trip - Day 3" channel and start uploading, to get spanked in the face by the "This service is not yet available in this region" message, again! And a couple of hours later, the SMS's started arriving <span style="font-weight: bold;">"we can't see the pictures on the link you sent us, what's the problem?"</span>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">What do you expect me to answer, Nokia? Huh, what do you want me to say? That you simply don't give a damn about us? That you are teasing us Lebanese with a one day service every now and then? How do you expect me to explain to people the philosophy behind Share on Ovi for the Ambassador program? How do you expect me to endorse that T-Shirt you are sending to everyone, if I know that if someone memorizes the site and visits it from my country, there's a 95% chance he/she will find himself/herself with a "not available" screen? And you know I love you, you know I will always support you, you know <a href="http://www.symbian-guru.com/welcome/tag/n95-8gb-lebanon-ambassador">I have already been your Ambassador in Lebanon</a>, I don't need a T-Shirt or a keyring to prove that. You know I will keep on typing www.twango.com every single day, and I will sigh every day I get the terrible message, and make good use of the day when I find my home page open. I will, I swear I will. But I don't guarantee other people will. They are loyal, but they are not stupid. They know when they are being laughed at!</span><br /><br />Nokia, look at us, and don't forget us like the rest of the world has. Don't forget there's a small country called Lebanon, with 4 million people who have been faithful to you, for years. Don't forget that we are here: we don't have a president, our country is on the verge of disappearance, so it would make us a little bit glad if for once, someone, just someone noticed that we, as a country, exist.<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">http://dotsisx.blogspot.com</div>Rita El Khouryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793234713903361327noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095410833321361821.post-75864604460090954702008-03-19T21:33:00.004+03:002008-03-19T21:53:36.452+03:00Picture Of The Day<div align="justify">I have previously asked you whether I should get an N81 8GB or a P1i. Well I ended up buying the N95-1. I also got the N93i to trial from WOMWorld and I am excited about using them both.<br /><br />I am headed to Jordan tomorrow at midnight. It's a 4 day trip, with a bunch of friends, by bus (Jordan is very close to Lebanon) and we're going to exciting places like Petra, the Jordan river, and Amman. I will be using the N95 and the N93i mainly, will be looking for WiFi spots everywhere to upload pictures and keep in touch.<br /><br />Anyway, here is a picture I took today. I took it with the N95, aimed at the N93i reflective cover, and tried to align the O in Nokia as much as I can. The picture is cropped and the resolution is changed, but you get the idea ;)</div><br /><div align="center"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Nrn5rXExdjg/R-FgSXn1tLI/AAAAAAAAAUA/2ukF1KsJ9ds/s1600-h/N93i+and+N95.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Nrn5rXExdjg/R-FgSXn1tLI/AAAAAAAAAUA/2ukF1KsJ9ds/s400/N93i+and+N95.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5179526915147805874" border="0" /></a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">http://dotsisx.blogspot.com</div>Rita El Khouryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793234713903361327noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095410833321361821.post-73795662562276800632008-03-01T14:53:00.003+03:002008-03-01T15:17:39.652+03:00P1i Or N81? You Choose!<div align="justify">In one of the weirdest steps ever, I am putting my destiny (not that much) in your hands. I was looking for a second-hand Nokia N81 8GB when I stumbled upon a second-hand <a href="http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/products/mobilephones/overview/p1i">Sony-Ericsson P1i</a>. I tried to weigh the pros and cons of each device, and ended up even more confused.<br /><br /><u>Nokia N81 8gb</u><br />- It's S60 3rd and I am used to it<br />- I know all applications that I can install and where to get them<br />- Has 8gb of internal memory, can serve as a great music player replacement<br />- Has 3.5mm plug so can be used on any headset or earphone<br />- Has dedicated music keys<br />- Supports Ngage, and allows me to get on the action<br />- Has dedicated gaming keys<br />- Should cost about 250$<br />BUT<br />- Has only 2MP camera<br />- Build quality isn't impressive<br />- I can't find one right now :s<br /><br /><u>Sony-Ericsson P1i</u><br />- Is a new platform, Symbian UIQ3 so promises to be interesting<br />- Is available now<br />- Has touchscreen, should be great for accessing links in eBooks and web browser<br />- Has 3.2MP camera<br />- Build-quality is AWESOME, feels rock solid<br />- Has the Track ID system (record a part of a song, and it tells you the name)<br />- I can get it for 1 month and re-sell it without losing much money because SE phones don't drop prices quickly.<br />BUT<br />- Only 512MB memory card, and it's Sony's proprietary MemoryStick Micro so I won't buy a memory for it (it's not worth it)<br />- Has proprietary music plug, no 3.5mm plug<br />- Costs 360$<br /><br />So, what do you think I should get? There's a poll on the left column, please vote :D I am placing my future month or so in your hands :D The poll will go for about 10-15 days I think</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">http://dotsisx.blogspot.com</div>Rita El Khouryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793234713903361327noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095410833321361821.post-38648542802835738762008-02-24T20:45:00.005+03:002008-02-24T21:16:01.182+03:00Lost Without The N810<div align="justify">Yes that header pretty much describes my situation. The N810 has been a life saver for me. As a student, an intern, a blogger, a writer, a gadget-lover, I pretty much have zero free seconds during the course of a day: there's always something to do. Since the N810 arrived, I've had a series of derangements in my daily schedule: between the laptop charger that went dead for a week, the frequent electricity blackouts and the courses re-scheduling that left me at uni for hours with nothing to do, you can pretty much see how my usually organized life became a mess in no time. <br /><br />You can not think of how many times I thanked God that the N810 was here to save me from these situations. But most importantly, <span style="font-weight: bold;">the N810 has been invaluable for me in one particular aspect: my thesis</span>.<br /><br />I am preparing a thesis for my pharmacy diploma this year. It's about the applications of biotechnologies in the medical sciences field. This involves a LOT of information checking, web surfing, writing, analyzing and the likes. But the most important aspect of it is article reading. We usually have one source for our articles: <a mce_href="http://www.pubmed.com" href="http://www.pubmed.com/">Pubmed</a>, and 99% if not 100% of all articles are found in pdf format.<br /><br />Now normally, I would be stuck in front of my computer endlessly; normally, I would be totting my laptop around everywhere I go to keep working on the thesis. Not when the N810 is around. I am capable of putting a huge amount of books in pdf format, as well as all my articles (and saved web pages) on one device, and carrying it with me. I can read while lying in bed, while waiting for my bread to toast or while boiling my milk in the morning.<br /><br />One particular thing I have been highly enjoying though, is <span style="font-weight: bold;">going walking</span>. Sports were an essential part of my life, until I got tendinitis and my schedules became hectic. Enter the N810. Ever since I got it and found out that there was a built-in PDF reader in it, I knew that I would use it to bring back exercise into my life. I now go in the morning and do slow'ish (my foot still hurts) but steady walks of around 3 hours, while reading my medical articles. <span style="font-weight: bold;">PDF Reader in full screen mode</span> on the 4.13" beauty is nothing short of the desktop Adobe experience. The <span style="font-weight: bold;">transflective screen</span> makes it also a lot easier to use the device outside when it's sunny. Plus it's small and light and easy to carry on, especially by <span style="font-weight: bold;">using the built-in stand to hold the device</span>, something I found myself doing unconsciously just to find that <a href="http://tabletblog.com/2008/02/re-acclimating-to-n810-plus-more.html">ThoughtFix thought of it too.</a><br /><br />I also use the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Notes program to write down excerpts and thoughts</span> following each article, which I then send to my PC, open and copy paste into my thesis.doc file. If I need some explanation of a medical term, I open <span style="font-weight: bold;">Garnet VM</span> and use <a href="http://www.tablet-guru.com/2008/02/21/how-to-full-mobipocket-on-the-tablet/">my medical dictionaries in Mobipocket</a> to check it out.<br /><br />If that's not productive mobility, I don't know what is!</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">http://dotsisx.blogspot.com</div>Rita El Khouryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793234713903361327noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095410833321361821.post-57819803513224061752008-02-21T18:48:00.002+03:002008-02-23T00:24:24.604+03:00Why Ebooks DRM Isn't Likely To Die<div align="justify">I was downloading the other day my medical ebooks on the tablet, after I <a href="http://www.tablet-guru.com/2008/02/21/how-to-full-mobipocket-on-the-tablet/">managed to make Mobipocket work</a>, when it hit me. <span style="font-weight: bold;">DRM is such a PIA!</span> I am not accustomed to music DRM because I find my music <span style="font-style: italic;">elsewhere</span>. Here, there is a shop that sells 4GB DVDs full with MP3s for 2$, there are the shops that sell audio CDs for 1$, or the <span style="font-style: italic;">Syrians</span> on the street who sell CDs full of MP3s for a little more than 1$, and if not, there's always Limewire and eMule (yes sue me)!<br /><br />But when it came to getting medical ebooks of quality, like the ones sold on Mobipocket, I couldn't find them anywhere, seemed like their DRM is <span style="font-style: italic;">uncrackable</span> or still <span style="font-style: italic;">uncracked</span> , or maybe cracked but not known by the medical community. Point is that I had to buy them, something I did without much grunting, because I knew I was getting value for my money. And later, I was glad because most of them had a dictionary layout allowing me to type a word in order to find what it is (drugs, diseases, organs, symptoms,...)<br /><br />It isn't until later that I realized how much of a PIA DRM is. Everytime I get a new device, I have to get the Mobireader for it, get my device ID, go to the Mobi website, register this device and DOWNLOAD all of my ebooks AGAIN! Just so that they work on the new device! And that is seriously a joy killer because I got to trial a couple of mobiles lately and I had to do everything from scratch for each one.<br /><br /><br />That got me to thinking. <span style="font-weight: bold;">The trend with music is all about going DRM-less or DRM-free</span>, a service that even the mighty "close-garden" strategist Apple got into with iTunes. Suffice it to say that music DRM is starting to vanish, slowly but steadily and not so painfully. The big and small labels might have put all of their effort into defending themselves against crackers and leechers and whatnot, you could always launch your P2P or Torrent download and get whatever song that you wanted. <span style="font-weight: bold;">With ebooks, the trend is the opposite</span>.<br /><br />The fact is that music is ubiquitous, whereas books aren't. You can listen to music while you drive, you can't read a book while you drive. You can listen to music while you jog, run, go grocery shopping, walk to the bus, work, clean the house... you can't read a book while doing any of those (under normal circumstances). Meaning that the target of music is each and everyone, whereas the target of books/ebooks is a select one. All of this to say that <span style="font-weight: bold;">the bigger the target, the more there is likely a cracker/leecher purchasing the material</span>. That's why there is more music available online for free, if you know where to look for it, and that's why you have to look for hours before finding an ebook. This is the reason why music records stopped feeling like getting money from MP3 sales is necessary for them.<br /><br />It's true that ebooks are becoming more and more mainstream, probably stealing the thunder from regular books, a trend that has been noticed and promoted by the Amazon Kindle. The sales of the device are rocketing for an ebook reader and that should be something we are thankful for and not reluctant towards. Why? <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Kindle might as well become the iPod of ebooks</span>, it could bring ebooks to the masses so hard that instead of providing more revenue to publishers on the short run, it will help people realize that DRM sucks on the long-run and drive them to find and if not create ways to avoid it. But what I believe is that, even so, publishers won't go DRM-free. Why?<br /><br />The fact that Music Records accepted to remove DRM isn't as much driven by the frequent leeches as much as it is by the fact that <span style="font-weight: bold;">they can get their money <span style="font-style: italic;">elsewhere</span></span>: concert tickets, events, artist swag stores, putting the artist in a certain publicity for another product and cutting shares, ... , they can find payment in more places than one. Plus with the recent rise of blogs and what everyone is calling web2.0 as well as independent records, every little artist can get famous within minutes. It takes a well-placed and linked YouTube video and there you are, no need for high-quality camcorders either because the YouTube codes will hammer it. Meaning that <span style="font-weight: bold;">record labels are no longer the referee in this game, but more of a goalkeeper</span>: still essential for many games, but some teams can go a whole match without needing one.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The problem with ebooks is that there is no </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">elsewhere</span>. Probably 99% of authors get their money from their books, nowhere else. It's <span style="font-weight: bold;">only with great franchises</span> like Harry Potter and Lord Of The Rings that publishers can go <span style="font-style: italic;">elsewhere</span> for the money: swag stores, movie rights, and the likes. But the grand majority of books won't have this possibility and will only remain a "book" and that is why publishers will never allow DRM to die on ebooks, not in the near future at least.<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">http://dotsisx.blogspot.com</div>Rita El Khouryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793234713903361327noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095410833321361821.post-54569592176479136162008-02-20T00:29:00.003+03:002008-02-20T01:47:39.769+03:00Dotsisx Changes Direction<div align="justify"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.a-better-sign.com/SIGN4.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.a-better-sign.com/SIGN4.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>I previously announced in my last post that Dotsisx will be changing direction. It's not as drastic as it seems, oh well on second thought, it is. Don't worry I am not leaving the mobile community.<br /><br /><u>The reasons behind this decision are mainly 3</u>:<br />First one is the tag line I have right now "Everything S60 3rd Edition and More". We all know that Dotsisx was never about "everything" S60, but more about "some things" S60. This is due to the fact that I never was good with news and I always hated reporting them. Mainly, when I *read* the same story for 30 times in my RSS, I am so sick of it, I don't want to see the title again, let alone, write it myself.<br />Second is the fact that being now that I write on <a href="http://www.symbian-guru.com/">Symbian-Guru</a> (and <a href="http://www.tablet-guru.com/">Tablet-Guru</a>), I find it odd that everytime I have a post idea, I have to pick one blog and go for it. I also hate copy/pasting the same thing on two different blogs.<br />Third, and main reason, is that when I started blogging, I did it because I wanted to bring my special touch to the community. As months went by, I lost my initial eagerness to achieve this. I want to have this back.<br /><br /><u>So, what is that new direction I'm talking about?</u><br />Basically it will be summed up by the new tag line "Dotsisx - On Life, Mobiles And S60" (new banner coming tomorrow). This means that Dotsisx will be more focused on daily life integration with S60 and on ways to improve that integration and make the most of it. This also means that I will post general things about the mobile industry. But most importantly this means that I will focus on the use of S60 in the life sciences field, as well as the new technologies: nanotechnologies and biotechnologies, and how they will be used in life and mobile devices.<br /><br /><u>The risks</u><br />I know I will see my RSS subscriptions figures diminish by the dozens the moment that I publish this post, but this is a risk I am willing to take. I also know that this is a new commitment from me, to a different domain than the one I have been comfortable in for the past year, most importantly because I will have to look for genuine content every time I post. This is why I will post less in quantity, but try to improve the quality.<br /><br /><u>Why did I choose this specific direction?</u><br />Because I figured that I am one of the rare bloggers that are implicated in the life sciences field, because I am passionate about Life, because mobiles are here to help us "live" better, because if I want to bring a special touch I should choose a domain that I know, because new technologies are all "hip" these days and it would nice to get to know them together.<br /><br /><u>Where to get S60 3rd information if not here?</u><br />First off, I have embedded on this page to the left, the most recent posts from <a href="http://www.symbian-guru.com/">Symbian-Guru</a> and <a href="http://www.tablet-guru.com/">Tablet-Guru</a>. If you're a strict fan of my work (1 get a life, 2 who are you?) you can also see the names of the authors: the ones tagged Dotsisx are the ones I wrote. You can also check <a href="http://www.intomobile.com/">IntoMobile</a> which generally have all mobile-related news as well as <a href="http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/">AllAboutSymbian</a> which mostly focus on Symbian. There's also on the left column my Bookmarks and my OPML file (all my RSS subscription links) if you really want to check a lot of site.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">http://dotsisx.blogspot.com</div>Rita El Khouryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793234713903361327noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095410833321361821.post-78789486664813767532008-02-16T23:55:00.002+03:002008-02-17T00:02:07.436+03:00Back!Hello all! I'm sorry for not posting for the last week but my laptop charger issue became worse and I had some problems with the repair company. Anyway this was solved today. But guess on what I wrote this post? A Nokia? Yeah you're close. An N95? Oh no I'm still stuck with my 3250. But I got an <a href="http://www.nseries.com/index.html#l=products,n810">N810</a> from the awesome guys at WOMWorld and I finally get to see what a Nokia Internet Tablet is. And yeah baby I am liking it! The full coverage will be online on <a href="http://www.tablet-guru.com/">Tablet-Guru</a> so be sure to check it soon.<br /><br />I also have an announcement to make over here at Dotsisx, it's about a change of blog direction (no I am not leaving the Symbian world) or probably a focus on a specific aspect. I am still pondering the exact way to shift things so expect some explanations in the week to come.<br /><br />Oh and I have decided to get an N81, but I can only afford a second-hand one so the search has just started :p Now if you'll excuse me I'll go see what the internet radio on the tablet can really do :)<div class="blogger-post-footer">http://dotsisx.blogspot.com</div>Rita El Khouryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793234713903361327noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095410833321361821.post-18354653552236027462008-02-11T11:55:00.000+03:002008-02-11T12:04:06.729+03:00Take Your Seats<div align="justify">The WOMWorld virtual event is about to start in 20 minutes so if you want to grab it click on the banner below and make sure to have Flash 9 installed. If you don't, you can <a href="http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash">get it here</a>.</div><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://www.womworld.com/nseries/takeyourseats/rita_el_khoury" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.womworld.com/mobileworldcongress.jpg" /></a></div><br /><br /><div align="justify">I know I have previously said that I will be covering the announcements here, but my laptop charger is dying and I don't even know if I'll be able to watch the virtual event. For all the juicy details, head on to <a href="http://www.symbian-guru.com/">Symbian-Guru</a>. Ricky will cover everything there and there will also be some thoughts from yours truly, so it is a safer bet than hanging here on Dotsisx...<br /><br />I am having them take my laptop and charger tonight so I don't know for how long I'll be missing. I had to happen during Mobile World Congress!</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">http://dotsisx.blogspot.com</div>Rita El Khouryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793234713903361327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095410833321361821.post-32687506346618874592008-02-10T23:38:00.000+03:002008-02-10T23:43:28.930+03:00N81 8GB - Final Words & BOSE<div align="justify">The N81 8GB Special Edition with Bose Quiet Comort 3 headphones has been here for 2 weeks now and I am a little reluctant towards the thought of having to pack it up tonight. I didn't want to just review the device, because many people have done so in the past months, and I couldn't basically add a thing to the extensive posts that were made. I tried to have a practical approach to it and it was all covered on <a href="http://www.symbian-guru.com">Symbian-Guru</a>.<br /><br />The N81 8GB must be one of the most controversial devices Nokia has released in the last months. While many have hated the cheap plastic finish and the 2MP cam, many have also liked the overall style and the dedicated gaming keys of the device. I belong to both categories, but the latter is more prevalent for me and given that I can't go on anymore with Symbian blogging having a Nokia 3250, the N81 8GB seems like the next logical step. It's one of the best and cheapest phones right now on the market (around 250$ for a second-hand one), it has N-Gage, WiFi, ultimate music capabilities and no need to pay more for an external memory card. I am seriously thinking about getting one, but holding a little back to see what comes from Nokia in the next days (MWC and all).<br /><br />In all cases, packing this baby up tonight will hurt like crazy, because even if I end up getting the N81, I will never have the Bose QC3 headphones again, and believe me, this by itself is a major problematic. I have found the Bose QC3 coupled with the N81 to be utterly useful in 4 scenarios.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">1 - Studying partner</span> : I had a couple of finals this week. Being a study-hater and having more than one distraction available, I couldn't get myself started. Eventually, one day before the exam, I opened the books and decided I'd study with tunes. I wired the QC3 to the N81 on the lowest volume and I can't express how great of an experience that was. I didn't sleep (something I usually do after reading some pages), I didn't feel distracted, and time flew by without me wining about the hundreds of paragraphs to memorize. I gotta admit that the Bose would be a nice partner, especially in May-June when I have my Probatoires exams (12 exams of all the major topics we have covered in Pharmacy during the last 3 years).<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">2 - Ultimate Bus Trip companion</span> : the N81 came with me on a bus trip we had to Benta Pharmaceutical Industries this Friday. With street noises and on-bus conversation topics being more than one reason that would've made other headphones crazy, the noise cancelling QC3 shone. Just clip them on, close your eyes and it's like no one is around you!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">3 - Politics Escapology</span> : my mother needed the pc and internet connection one day. While being installed in my room, she turned the TV on and chose some political talk-show. I hate those! Basically, it's a lot of trash and it ends up with everyone sticking to their beliefs, and the viewer having learnt nothing new. In order to avoid listening to that crap, I got my lethal mix: Bose + N81 and there I was, on some other planet.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">4 - Sleeping lullaby</span> : For the past week that I have had the Bose, I have enjoyed going to sleep listening to them many many days. I'd partially wake up a couple of minutes later, take them off, and dive right back into my dreams.<br /><br />Along with random music listening, you understand now why I will miss the Bose QC3. Ah *snif* *noisy breath* </div><div class="blogger-post-footer">http://dotsisx.blogspot.com</div>Rita El Khouryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793234713903361327noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095410833321361821.post-9233175385641312802008-02-09T23:28:00.000+03:002008-02-10T01:05:00.517+03:00Microsoft Wants Windows Mobile On Nokias - LMAO!<div align="justify">Two days ago, the news started circulating all over the web: <a href="http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/16510/1055/">according to iTWire</a>, Microsoft is in discussion with Nokia to have it add Windows Mobile-powered devices to its portfolio. While this news would have made perfect sense for me a year ago, and probably made me a little bit glad, it comes now as the most surprisingly hilarious news I have read in days. Not that I believe it's ever impossible, but it does have a funny ring to it.<br /><br />I believe <span style="font-weight: bold;">Nokia has invested a lot </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">in the Symbian platform (S60 and S40)</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">, be it in expertize, research, </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">development, </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">hardware, education, marketing, and many more areas</span>. I believe it has finally reached that place with S60 where it's been finally recognized worldwide as the powerful OS that it is, where people have finally understood and embraced the S60 way of life, and it has gained the amazing market-share that makes it the <span style="font-weight: bold;">global decision-maker</span>. For these reasons and more, I believe Microsoft will likely have to do a little more than "urge" for Nokia to change strategies. And I am not talking about whole portfolio switch, even a new line of Windows Mobile devices added to the huge Nokia product line is far from becoming a reality.<br /><br />Another point to make is that WM's current market-share is 6% globally, according to the same iTWire article. Is Nokia likely to plunge into a 6% market? No. Nokia is more likely to eat that market, with Symbian. Because if it decided to venture in the WM arena, not only will it have to buy a license to use it and rethink its whole hardware design and function to fit the platform (touchscreen or not), but also it will have to invest in developing, improving, personalizing the platform, because that's what it did with Symbian: get the Symbian 9.1 OS and build S60 3rd on top of it. <span style="font-weight: bold;">That's a lot of money to compete with giants like Asus, HTC, iMate, HP, Samsung and Motorolla for a bite in a 6% market-share.</span><br /><br />And that goes without mentioning the vast array of services that Nokia have recently launched or will launch in the near future. Ovi, N-gage, Maps, Music Store, MOSH, all are based and solidly built on S60. Nokia is no longer the hardware company, it is the <span style="font-weight: bold;">software company</span> (<a href="http://mobileopportunity.blogspot.com/2008/01/nokia-os-company.html">recent acquisition of Trolltech</a>) and even more the <span style="font-weight: bold;">services company</span>. These services have been engineered to work for S60 (and not S40 for example) for a reason. It's a commitment, on behalf of Nokia to the S60 platform. It's also a statement that hardware is no longer the main purpose, but services are. A company's benefit from hardware come from the device sale itself, whereas a company's benefit from services last for years after the device has been purchased.<br /><br />The 6% WM market-share denotes that <span style="font-weight: bold;">Windows Mobile is not a very popular platform worldwide, and there has to be reasons behind this</span>. Fortunately enough, through the course of this year, I've seen those reasons myself and that's why, after having wished to see WM on a Nokia a year ago, I am now in a place where I'm repulsed by this thought. I am not saying that WM is a piece of crap, on the contrary <a href="http://www.symbian-guru.com/welcome/2008/01/10-things-s60-needs-to-learn-from-wm.html">it has a lesson or two that it can teach S60</a>, but I would pick S60 over it in a blink.<br /><br />If the news provided by the iTWire article should prove anything, it is that Windows Mobile is desperately looking for a safety net. With the recent success of Apple's iPhone, the near release of Google's Android, RIM's (Blackberry) massive US popularity, Linux sneaking on some devices (Nseries Internet Tablets) and the Symbian worldwide domination; WM and PalmOS are the black sheep. If Microsoft has learned a thing or two from the Windows PC market, it is that facelifts (read: Vista) do not necessarily please everyone. WM6 is a little bit more than a facelift to WM5, but core functionality remained the same. And it isn't putting a platform on more devices that will make it popular, but fixing and improving the platform itself.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">I believe that we're now in a time frame where Nokia is a leader not a follower, and a global trend-setter, and if only for this reason, we're not likely to see a Windows Mobile powered Nokia device in the near future. </span>Of course times can change and I can be wrong...</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">http://dotsisx.blogspot.com</div>Rita El Khouryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793234713903361327noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095410833321361821.post-47773209979437416542008-02-09T00:47:00.000+03:002008-02-09T01:03:45.830+03:00Catch The WOMWorld Virtual Event Here!<div align="justify">Remember a couple of hours ago I said that <a href="http://dotsisx.blogspot.com/2008/02/mobile-world-congress.html">I was attending the WOMWorld Virtual Event</a>? Well, Now you can attend it with me. Just click on the banner below and be sure to have Flash 9 installed. If you don't, you can <a href="http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash">get it here</a>.</div><br /><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://www.womworld.com/nseries/takeyourseats/rita_el_khoury" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.womworld.com/mobileworldcongress.jpg" /></a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">http://dotsisx.blogspot.com</div>Rita El Khouryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793234713903361327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095410833321361821.post-51396303383784245862008-02-08T22:18:00.000+03:002008-02-08T22:39:01.099+03:00Mobile World Congress<div align="justify">The guys at Nseries WOMWorld were nice enough to invite me to Barcelona for the <a href="http://www.mobileworldcongress.com/">Mobile World Congress</a>, one of the biggest mobile-related shows, previously known as 3GSM. While attending MWC has been my year-long wish, I had to pass the invitation because of exams (that's why I have been away this week) and an unstable Lebanese situation.<br /><br />But a couple of days ago, I learned that I was invited to the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Virtual Launch event</span>, a nice way by Nokia and Nseries to make sure bloggers who aren't there can catch the launch and participate in a Q&A session with Nokia execs. It goes without saying: hats off, Nseries!<br /><br />I'll try to report the announcement asap here and also tell you guys what happens in the virtual event. Expect things to get started on Monday February the 11th, around 11am here (9am GMT) so stay tuned!<br /><br />Now off to the juicy part. What do I think will be unveiled in MWC?<br /><br />Knowing Nokia's past at 3GSM we can cross fingers for some Nseries, Eseries and other new devices. The best bets so far would be the E71 and E66. As far as Nseries go, rumors have been circulating around the N78 and the N96. Both are supposed to have S60 3rd Edition FP2, and this isn't expected until the second-half of the year so I am skeptic as to whether we will get them now. It goes without saying that it would make much sense to release the FP2 now and not in Q3 because S60 Touch should be around in Q4 and Nokia would want to keep various UIs well spaced and differentiated. Personal opinion. Talking about Touch UI, S60 should do some demonstrations and I hope they give us something to chew on for a while.<br /><br />When it comes to services, I believe :<br />- Nokia will shed some more lights on Ovi (ready availability? don't think so).<br />- There may be newer regional Music Stores but don't take it from me.<br />- We might also get that Nokia music player for the desktop that some bloggers have been raving about.<br />- Comes With Music might go all forgotten.<br />- <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/%7Er/IntoMobile/%7E3/216282249/brief-anssi-vanjoki-to-keynote-the-2008-game-developers-conference.html">N-gage should be left to the Game Developers Conference Mobile</a> on February 18 and 19.<br />- We should also get all that internet services and connecting people talk, that is always there. Gotta admit it though, Nokia devices are the ones that offer the most versatility in was you can connect and interact with the world.<br /><br />What do you think will be brought in front of the curtains by the Finnish giant? Agree or disagree with me?<br /><br />I have to admit that I'm really annoyed that I'm not there, having a blast in an environment where I feel comfy. Put me with a couple of mobiles around me, and you'll always see me laugh. I guess there's always a next time.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">http://dotsisx.blogspot.com</div>Rita El Khouryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793234713903361327noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095410833321361821.post-84714688638012981382008-01-30T22:58:00.000+03:002008-02-02T21:20:45.155+03:00N81 - The Perfect Storm Companion<div align="justify">Today was the stormiest day I have seen in years (or in my entire life) here in Beirut. My hospital training was done at noon, and my 2:30 pm course was delayed to 4:30, so I had pretty much 4 hours to kill. <span style="font-style: italic;">Freakin Excitin! </span>Being that my laptop wasn't with me, I went to the hospital library, the only place where you can get some free computers and a decent WiFi connection. I fired YouTube (<span style="font-style: italic;">that's what health specialists do in the hospital libraries :p)</span>. That's when I noticed something was wrong, the page didn't load fully and I got some sort of javascript and flash missing message (very hip computers).<br /><br />That was it for me. 4 hours of emptiness I thought. Not really. I had the N81, the good loyal companion. Took it out of my pocket, took the <span style="font-weight: bold;">Bose headphones</span> out of my bag, connected and <span style="font-weight: bold;">pressed play</span>. There I was. Better.<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span></span></span> Much better. Then I fired <span style="font-weight: bold;">OfficeSuite</span> and used it to <span style="font-weight: bold;">write down a post</span> to be posted later on. That was one hour. 3 more to go.<br /><br />With music still on, I fired up the <span style="font-weight: bold;">gallery</span> and saw the pictures I had taken of my <span style="font-weight: bold;">patient's file for one of the </span><a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://dotsisx.blogspot.com/2008/01/ber-cool-quick-run.html">case study</a><span style="font-weight: bold;"> reports</span> I am due to finish this Friday. Using the N81's screen, it took me a while to zoom/browse through every picture, but it was still doable and I was able to skim through the patient's admission reason, his lab results, medications, medical history,... and the likes. While reading the case (ie browsing through the pictures), I had to check some medical facts, so I launched <span style="font-weight: bold;">mobireader</span> and used the Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine (a 9Mb ebook equivalent of a 2-3kg weighing book) as well as the A2Z drug facts and Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, to get my information. Notice, I was in a <span style="font-style: italic;">hospital's library</span>, full of medical books, yet the N81 did it for me: I stayed lazily on my chair and enjoyed the power in my hand.<br /><br />Now that got me through another 80-90 minutes, so I had still an hour and a half to kill. Thinking what else I could do (with <span style="font-style: italic;">Europe - The Final Countdown</span> playing on the Bose). I remembered there was WiFi around and decided to <span style="font-weight: bold;">check my email</span>, catch on some <span style="font-weight: bold;">RSS</span> and do some testing with <span style="font-weight: bold;">emTube and MobiTubia</span>. Being done with the first 2 in less than 20 minutes, I opened emTube and started looking for Jeff Dunham, he never fails to make me laugh. I <a href="http://dotsisx.blogspot.com/2008/01/i-will-never-sing-jingle-bells-ordinary.html">stumbled upon Achmed's Jingle Bombss video</a>, and that was a 10 minutes or replay, replay, replay, till I almost dropped on the floor from laughter. I decided to save the video, to later show it to my friend, another huge fan of Achmed.<br /><br />That's when I noticed <span style="font-weight: bold;">the 4 hours were done, and I hadn't felt bored for one second!</span> Amazing! I packed my stuff and headed outside to see it was <span style="font-weight: bold;">SNOWING</span>! In Beirut! Snowing! And I didn't have an umbrella! <span style="font-style: italic;">Too bad the N81 didn't serve as an emergency umbrella... that's when you notice your do-it-all gadget still lacks some functionality... </span>A friend of mine was nice enough to share hers with me, and dropped me next to my car.<br /><br />You'd think it ended here? Well no! It was snowing in Beirut, and I had to take some <span style="font-weight: bold;">pictures and videos</span>. N81 to the rescue! Here are some quick snaps and a video I took while driving, 30 minutes after the storm stopped. You can still see some snow on the sides of the streets.</div><br /><br /><div align="center"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Nrn5rXExdjg/R6Dlq4VHfsI/AAAAAAAAAQs/E_BeyMiAtOc/s1600-h/Image022.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Nrn5rXExdjg/R6Dlq4VHfsI/AAAAAAAAAQs/E_BeyMiAtOc/s320/Image022.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5161377697804811970" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Nrn5rXExdjg/R6DlsYVHftI/AAAAAAAAAQ0/QDTAFoWUDY4/s1600-h/Image025.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Nrn5rXExdjg/R6DlsYVHftI/AAAAAAAAAQ0/QDTAFoWUDY4/s320/Image025.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5161377723574615762" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Nrn5rXExdjg/R6Dls4VHfuI/AAAAAAAAAQ8/E_9nFeG9OYA/s1600-h/Image021.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Nrn5rXExdjg/R6Dls4VHfuI/AAAAAAAAAQ8/E_9nFeG9OYA/s320/Image021.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5161377732164550370" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Nrn5rXExdjg/R6Dlv4VHfvI/AAAAAAAAARE/2zT9q8mcyqI/s1600-h/Image031.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Nrn5rXExdjg/R6Dlv4VHfvI/AAAAAAAAARE/2zT9q8mcyqI/s320/Image031.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5161377783704157938" /></a><br /><br /><script type="text/javascript" src="http://blip.tv/scripts/pokkariPlayer.js?ver=2007111701"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://blip.tv/syndication/write_player?skin=js&posts_id=648398&source=3&autoplay=true&file_type=flv&player_width=&player_height="></script> <div id="blip_movie_content_648398"> <a rel="enclosure" href="http://blip.tv/file/get/Khouryrt-DrivingInTheSnowyStreetsOfBeirut611.mp4" onclick="play_blip_movie_648398(); return false;"><img title="Click to play" alt="Video thumbnail. Click to play" src="http://blip.tv/file/get/Khouryrt-DrivingInTheSnowyStreetsOfBeirut611.mp4.jpg" border="0" title="Click To Play" /></a> <br /> <a rel="enclosure" href="http://blip.tv/file/get/Khouryrt-DrivingInTheSnowyStreetsOfBeirut611.mp4" onclick="play_blip_movie_648398(); return false;">Click To Play</a> </div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">http://dotsisx.blogspot.com</div>Rita El Khouryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793234713903361327noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2095410833321361821.post-23797040492498196522008-01-30T19:15:00.001+03:002008-01-30T19:28:49.426+03:00I Will Never Sing Jingle Bells The Ordinary Way Again!<div align="justify">I was at the hospital today for 4 empty hours of stormy weather. Thank God there was some WiFi in the library, so I got to try <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.emtube.yoyo.pl%2F&ei=E6OgR_7cNYO6nQOkw8mPDQ&usg=AFQjCNHdpQIjJwzUJEC6nUejC0iDtqpJHg&sig2=1KMqhD-JiSNLhOQdyADrIQ">emTube</a> and <a href="http://www.mobitubia.com/">Mobitubia</a>. I was first firing up emTube, thinking what type of video I would look for, when I remembered that the best videos I had seen on youtube were those of <a href="http://www.jeffdunham.com/">Jeff Dunham</a>. If you don't know him, just search for his videos. He's an AMAZING ventriloquist, one like you've never seen and I have pretty much memorized all his scenes so far (favorite characters: Peanut and Achmed).<br /><br />So I searched for Jeff Dunham and found a new video I hadn't seen before, called <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wskT6YfVB6E">Achmed's Jingle Bombs</a> and you bet I watched it. Took it a couple of minutes to load on the hospital's WiFi and I was ready to roll. All I can say is that I had the Bose on, and being that those are noise-canceling, I was laughing too hard to even notice it, in the library! Well, enough words, here you go: (btw if you don't know the first video by Achmed, watch it <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uwOL4rB-go">here</a> so you can follow this one better :p)<br /><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/wskT6YfVB6E&rel=1"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wskT6YfVB6E&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object><br /><b>Ok, Now I'll never sing Jingle Bells the ordinary way, again!</b></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">http://dotsisx.blogspot.com</div>Rita El Khouryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13793234713903361327noreply@blogger.com2