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2018 Samsung TVs Unveiled in NY Event

March 8th, 2018 No comments

In yesterday’s Samsung 2018 First Look Event, new lineup of 2018 TVs were unveiled and I’m very exited of some its features including Ambient Mode, Bixy and SmartThings integration – though I would prefer Google Assistant, and One Invisible Connection which feeds the TV with A/V and power but this time it’s even thinner.

Unfortunately their TVs don’t support Dolby Vision.

Samsung TVs 2018 - Ambient Mode

Ambient Mode is one of the features coming with 2018 TVs from Samsung

More info at Techradar.com

Categories: Tech market, Technology Tags:

BarCamp Kuwait 2010

October 5th, 2010 No comments

The first ever BarCamp in Kuwait.

BarCamp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from attendees, usually centered around design & technology topics.

For registration and more information check out the official BarCamp Kuwait 2010 website.

Windows Phone 7 – A deal breaker or just another desperate attempt?

September 18th, 2010 No comments

windowsphone-everything-top-1 
It’s been a nightmare for Microsoft in the last few years with their mobile operating system, Windows Mobile. The real battle began back in 2007 when iPhone was released to public and despite the popularity of Windows Mobile, Steve Jobs (CEO, Apple) has outwitted Steve Ballmer (CEO, Microsoft) and Windows Mobile has started to lose ground quickly. iPhone was taking the lead and outselled Windows Mobile almost immediately.

 

Just a year later (2008 A.D.) another bomb shell was dropped on the smartphone arena with the release of Google’s Android operating system and the intensity of the battle begun to rise. Google was working hard on improving Android as updates were being released more frequent on Android than iPhone. By the first quarter of 2010, the tide of war has shifted towards Android and for the first time it managed to outsell iPhone. By June of the same year, iPhone 4 went public but it failed to gain popularity like its predecessor.

 

But wait! Microsoft was holding ground under radio-silence and planning to counter-attack with the latest technologies their engineers have managed to develop. The preemptive strike has begun when Microsoft unveiled Windows Phone 7 in Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and technologist around the globe got excited about this upcoming revolutionary mobile operating system. Some went as far as saying that that’s a deal breaker!

 

The mobile OS battle is not a fight between evil and good, like republic and separatist, Jedi and the Sith Lord, Batman and Joker. People will not go and choose sides; it’s more like a survival of the fittest were people will pick up the best smartphone out there, and the one that sell the most is the winner. So I’m quite convinced that all three companies have worked hard and squeezed their juicy expertise at best, although I’m having my doubts about Apple as they tend to release new iPhones and other products but not with the latest technologies – yes, the press exaggerates all the time with “latest technology”!

 

Without further ado, let’s compare the three mobile operating systems:

 

iPhone OS 4.0

Android 2.2

Windows Phone 7

Multitouch

Yes

Yes

Yes

Multitasking

Yes + Push

Yes

Yes but not third-party applications + Push

Copy Paste

Yes

Yes

No (Initially)

Keyboard

Virtual

Virtual + Physical

Virtual + Physical

Music Store

Yes, iTunes

Third party

Yes, Zune

Music Streaming

Third-party apps

Yes

Yes

Navigation

Third-party

Google Maps

Bing

Games

Tons on the App Store

Not as good as iPhone

Xbox Live

Gamers Social Network

Yes

No

Yes

Office Suite

Yes

Yes

Yes

Flash

No

Yes

No (Initially)

Silverlight

No

Yes

Yes

Customization Home Screen

Yes, third-party

Yes

Yes

Applications

170,000 +

50,000 +

Not launched yet

User friendliness

2nd best

3rd best

Best

Sync Game Online

No

No

Yes

 

windows phone 7 xboxOkay, so that’s a raw  comparison between the three players. We could dive deeper and see how Windows Phone 7 can be integrated to your Xbox set or your PC, and how with some upcoming games you can play it in your Xbox 360 and then go out and continue the game in your Windows Phone 7 device from the same point where you left the game on the Xbox 360.  And the list of features goes on…

 

But hey! Windows Phone 7 is still not out there yet, and if you’ve seen the developer framework capabilities you’d be amazed with what you can do with it. Microsoft is releasing an OS with amazing capabilities and an awesome developer tools for the developers’ community to make great applications and shine as a rock star.

 

There are still some issues remaining, as iPhone and Android has already gained solid ground, Microsoft will have to convince consumers to ditch their current technologies and immigrate to Windows Phone 7.

 

“Microsoft has a challenge in getting phone vendors to support Windows Phone 7,” said Jack Gold, the principal of J. Gold Associates, to the IT Business Edge. “Motorola is not going to do it. HP just bought Palm and the webOS, and it is very unlikely they will do it. HTC probably will make a few, but they are going down the Android path very quickly. Samsung may do Windows Phone 7, but how much effort will they put into it?”

 

Microsoft has managed to create a revolutionary simple “hub” centric interface and will definitely change the way people use smartphones as various technologies integration was achieved to some degree. Whether it will succeed or not we do not know. Only few days left until the release of the first Windows Phone 7 based device, and the decision is all up to the consumers to go for iPhone’s boring interface, Android’s openness, or the easiness of WP7. But of course, Microsoft wouldn’t want Captain Jack Sparrow (1) to repeat his own words to Windows Phone 7 “Up is down. That’s just maddingly unhelpful. Why are these things never clear?!”

 

 

 

 

 

This article will be published on next the issue of Al-Islamia Magazine.

– The writing style is intentional, to make it funny and inviting for youth readers.

TechED Middle East Website

December 6th, 2009 No comments

As mentioned before, TechED is coming to the Middle East and now the public website is live for registration for $595 US for early registration which is $230 cheaper than the standard fee.

That’s around 170KD which I think is still expensive. There should be a student registration with cheap registration fee or maybe make it free since Microsoft are marketing their products after all!

Microsoft New Efficiency Launch Roadshow

October 20th, 2009 No comments

Among other G.C.C. countries, Microsoft is launching a tech demo event, or a roadshow, in Kuwait for new technologies from Microsoft such as Windows 7 and Exchange Server 2010. The event will take place at 17th  November, 2009 from 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM in Salmiya’s Salwa Alsubah stage.

You better register now before they run out of seats. There is also a quiz to win a laptop or an XBox 360.

TechED Dubai

October 19th, 2009 No comments

This time I might have the chance to get into TechED since Microsoft have decided to do one in Dubai.

Microsoft’s premier technical education and networking conference is coming to the Middle East.
Connect one-on-one with Microsoft insiders and IT peers, get your toughest questions answered and hear
expert advice – right from the source, right in your region.

TechED Dubai Logo

The conference will start at 1st of March in Dubai World Trade Centre and for 3 days.

I’ve always wanted to attend one of these events to get into the community and talk about programming and technologies with others especially about those exciting new technologies from Microsoft.

Fore more information, check out the official website.

Microsoft Security Essentials

October 17th, 2009 No comments

After ditching OneCare, Microsoft has released its new free security package called Security Essentials software to offer protection against malicious programs such as viruses and spyware.

According to Microsoft, it is design to run quietly without affect the system performance much like what many other security applications that users complain about. I haven’t tested it yet and I don’t think I will do it soon since I’ve already installed Avast free edition and I don’t feel like formatting my PC anytime soon. However, since it is made by Microsoft itself, it should integrate well with Windows but you have to have a genuine copy of Windows XP (SP2 or 3), Windows Vista or Windows 7 to work. It is also compatible with Windows XP mode in Windows 7.

For more information about it, check out this blog post from The Windows Blog.

Singularity Global Web Conference

July 18th, 2008 No comments

It has been sometime now we have been waiting for this announcement. Tickets for the web based conference, Singularity 2008, is now available for sale for $99 USD.

Aral Balkan has been working hard to make this project happen and it is finally happening. This conference is a web-based, means you can attend the conference from your PC without the need to travel.

Adobe Dreamweaver CS4

June 7th, 2008 No comments

For all fancy web developers in the globe, Adobe has announced Dreamweaver CS4 beta which is now available for public testing. If you are a Dreamweaver fan or you are a programmer geek race then you might want to grab this software.

Meet Dreamweaver CS4 beta

Intel's CEO in Q&A Session in Kuwait

April 12th, 2008 No comments

Dr. Craig R. Barret, Intel’s CEO, has visited Kuwait University last Thursday April 10th, 2008. He was hosted in a Q&A session arranged by CS Club and Computer Science Department in Kuwait University.

In his talk he focused in how to establish a good education system that can be compared to education systems around the world, not only in the Middle-East. Three characteristics have to be available to create an excellent education system which are: smart people, smart ideas, and good universities to provide a good environment for smart people to look for smart ideas.

Smart ideas can be found when doing basic researches, not in developing ideas. Companies like Intel spends millions of dollars in developing, however, Intel cooperates with universities to conduct basic researches. Stanford University in Silicon Valley is a good example of a university that spends millions in basic research. Intel spends 6 billion dollars in research yearly, but only 200 million in basic research.

We do not need a huge research budget to create a good idea, what we need is passion, training, and good universities.

Dr. Craig Barret will continue his trip to visiting Dubai, Saudi Arabia, and Abu Dhabi. His goal on the trip is to see what’s happening in the ground with his own eyes and visit some technology professionals in universities in the Middle-East.

The session was so informative, and I am so happy to attend it. I also have to say that not even 1 instructor from our department, computer engineering, was there, how pathetic! That’s not like it wasn’t expected. However, a faculty member from electrical engineering has been sighted there!

I’m also glad that some of my friends had shown up.

Categories: Field Visit, Others, Tech market Tags: