Saleh Blog

A security enhancement was added to Flash Player sometime ago that disables getURL to function properly in Actionscript 2.0 of Adobe Flash. This could be an issue for some as in my situation when I created a banner for MET to celebrate the independence & liberation day of Kuwait.

The issue occurs if you are targeting a different domain than the current domain where the SWF/HTML file is hosted. I’ve also heard reports that it can occur if the SWF and HTML file are located at different location even if at the same domain host. I haven’t tested the latter so I can’t confirm or deny it.

Anyhow, to resolve this issue, all you have to do is change the allowScriptAccess attribute on the <object> tag to have the value “always”. You also have to add <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /> or edit it to match it if it’s already there.

So at the end, your code has to look like this:

<object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=10,0,0,0" width="955" height="88" id="SWFID" align="middle">
<param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" />
<param name="allowFullScreen" value="false" />
<param name="movie" value="FILE.SWF" /><param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff" /> <embed src="FILE.SWF" quality="high" bgcolor="#ffffff" width="955" height="88" name="SWFID" align="middle" allowScriptAccess="always" allowFullScreen="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer" />
</object>

This issue is explained in more detail at the official knowledge base of Adobe here and here.

My first WordPress plugin goes public. I’ve developed it for a research group in Kuwait University. Check out the WP Academic People List page for more information about this plugin. This plugin was built in a way that you can customize it for school alumni website.

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.

I got this by an email from a friend. It’s a forum post in Arabic but it’s hilarious.

Read more…

 
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:

Okay, 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.

Intel i7 Processor Architecture Seminar

The Intel i7 seminar was another successful even conducted by the chapter at May 18th, 2009 in building 20kh in Khaldiya. The seminar was presented by Naeem Hamami from Intel talking about the i7 architecture which was not yet released yet that time. He also talked about the market availability of the i7 processor and ended the session with Q&A and some prizes were given away at the end.

Attendance was moderate with about two scores of attendees. The feedback I received from Intel is that the computer engineering students were smart and most of the questions asked during the session were technical questions that needed a specialized engineer to answer their questions.

Entertainment Day

It’s an open day with lots of entertaining activities throughout the day at March 5th, 2009. Here’s a list of some of the activities we had:

• Playstation 3 football competition for guys
• Missing words competition
• Wii game for the gals
• Barbeque lunch
• Pottery Trappings
• Table Tennis
• Movie night with popcorn
• Live football match

Hundreds of students participated in some way to the event. The most excited activity was the pottery trappings were many gals participated. The picture on the left shows potteries that were completed.

The last activity was the movie show Bolt in building 20kh. Popcorns and soft drinks were handed out to the audience. Some students brought their families which was awesomely the first time families interacted with us.

After the movie, we handed out prizes for the winners of our activities and competitions.

I’ve got interviewed by Microsoft Feed recently and the interview is now online at Microsoft Feed. The interview is basically about my experience as a Microsoft Student Partner in Kuwait University.

The following settings are needed to use the Mifi 2352 (unlocked) for your Zain 3.5G data plan:

APN: hspps
Username: hspps
Password: hspps
Authentication Type: PAP

That’s for the Zain mobile carrier of Kuwait.

Microsoft are doing Visual Studio 2010 launch in Kuwait and then premiering the movie Robin Hood. That’s two days before the movie launch in Kuwait cinemas.

Location: Cinescape 360, 360 Mall
Date: May 18th, 2010

Agenda:
01:45 PM – 02:00 PM | Registration
02:30 PM – 05:15 PM | Presentations
05:15 PM – 05:30 PM | Break 
05:30 PM – 07:20 PM | "Robin Hood Movie"

Register and book your seat here.

[UPDATE: the competition has been postpond to September.]

For the first time, the ACM’s International Collegiate Programming Contest is coming to Kuwait by the American University of Kuwait. The contest will be held by May 1st, 2010. The opening ceremony and the practice session will be held two days earlier. More information will be revealed soon.

This contest is a good opportunity for students to prepare for the regional contest ACM ACPC formally known as (ACM ICPC ANARC).

Check the PDF for the “Call for Participation” letter: Q8CPC Call for Participation.