The lights dim and the crowds cheer as 4 brave bloggers enter the boxing arena. Every Planet Citizen anxiously awaiting and speculating the result of the battle. I should warn you ladies and gentlemen the scene is gory and not for the timid; contestants will fight till the last blogger is standing.

Roba Assi vs Lina Ejeilat [Click here to watch the fight]
On the left side; we have our challenger for the title Roba Assi on the right side Lina Ejeilat. The bell rings, and the fighters approach; Lina takes a Jab at Roba. Roba quickly maneuvers out of the way and put an end to the battle with a quick knockout! 1-2-3 … that has got to go down as the shortest boxing match in history! The referee tries to stop Roba as she tries to spray paint Lina with her pink signature.

Roba Assi vs Jameed [Click here to watch the fight]
Enter the Karaki Stallion…. Roba be prepared you’re about to face one of the toughest opponents of your career… Jameed dances around Roba looking for an opening and lands a punch that knocks her to the floor. Roba quickly gets up and confuses her opponent with art terminology, and surprises him with a direct hit that knocks him down.

For the final match Roba is going to face our defending champion
Roba Assi vs Ahmad Humeid [Click here to watch the fight]
Eager to win, Roba quickly approaches Ahmad and lays a punch, only to be blocked by a wave of sound generated from his iPod Shuffle. Artsy words do not confuse our champion. Nor do quick punches. Ahmad smiles victoriously at the lame attempts of his challenger; his music shield impenetrable, and his punches unblocked. Roba falls down on the ground and pulls out a can of turpentine and sprays the chemical of happiness around Ahmad. He falls laughing on the floor and breaks the Shuffle; and suddenly the music stops and the crowd gasp. The referee is counting, Ahmad is still laughing… 3-2-1 we have a winner ladies and gentlemen.

More Interesting Battles:
- Microsoft vs Linux
- Microsoft vs God
- Bill Gates vs Linus Torvalds
- Britney Spears vs Shakira
- Oprah vs Dr. Phil
- Work vs Holiday

Note:
This is a twisted and bizarre post about GoogleFight. Bloggers were selected randomly; I didn’t enlist myself because I’m too cool and cannot be arsed; sore losers and angry crowds can direct their hate mail to the comments segment.

I finally know why my browser kept closing on me last night! God Damn it! Those sneaky bastards have definately crossed the line! It’s one thing to try to hijack a strangers computer and siphon credit card numbers… But damn it! Now you have to go and bother innocent internet users while their enjoying porn?! Come on!

Security experts today issued a warning after detecting a malicious Trojan horse which tries to interrupt the surfing of adult websites by displaying messages from the Koran. The Yusufali-A Trojan monitors users’ surfing habits by examining the title bar of the active window. If the Trojan finds a key word such as ‘teen’, ‘xxx’, ’sex’ or ‘penis’, it minimises the window so that the user cannot see its content and displays a message from the Koran instead.

Hey at least it doesn’t pull up some Christian Fanatics Website complete with the “I’ve healed you my son, step off your wheel chair videos” right? No offence This is the virus to get if you’re worried about your kids surfing habits.

Read More

Tags: [Religious Virus] [Virus] [Trojan] [Yusufali-A] [Yusufali] [Porn]

From Wengo comes WengoPhone (WP) an open source Voice over IP aletrantive to Skype. Although lacking in several areas in my opinion especially GUI wise, WP brings the ability to make and receive SIP calls, send SMS as well as video conferencing.

I’m not going to debate whether open-source code is good or bad for you. I’m perfectly fine with a closed-source code solution provided that it follows industry standards. What makes VoIP potentially disruptive to the communication industry as we know it today, is the existence of SIP (Session Initiation Protocol). SIP allows different VoIP services to interoperate over the internet directly without ever hitting the traditional phone network (PSTN). Simply providing the kind of interoperability and interconnectivity we have come to expect from the Internet.

So what’s the big deal? Skype and several other VoIP services DO NOT ALLOW their users to call anyone outside their service over the internet. For example, if you’re a Voiceglo user you cannot call a Skype user without hitting PSTN. If that didn’t paint a crystal clear picture it might be useful to think of Skype as an island excluded from the rest of the world.

WengoPhone on the other hand is an Open-Standards Platform, which means that you’re able to call and receive calls from users that are not using the same software. The media has not yet grasped the significance of this, and still report about VoIP in the same old terms; still considering the traditional PSTN as the only means to interconnect.

OpenWengo is currently available for Windows Only, and with Linux, OSX and WinCE clients in the work.

Related

• [Microsoft Ventures inVoIP]
• [Intel takes a stake at Skype]
• [Ahmad Humeid's Project Gizmo: An “open standards” Skype replacement?]
• [OpenWengo Developer Resources / Wiki]
• [PhoneGiam]

Tags: [Softphone] [VoIP] [Skype] [OpenWengo] [SIP] [Session Initiation Protocol] [Voice over IP]

I can’t wait to lay my hand on one of these (Note: this is a mock up, not the actual product)

Click here to enlarge

Tags [Apple] [iPod] [iTunes] [Nano] [Rocker] [Motorolla] [ROKR]

Why wait till Wednesday to know what products Apple has in store for you?

- Cingular will announce an iTunes compatible phone called the “Rocker” or “ROKR”
- A new Flash memory based 2GB iPod called “Nano” will be launched. It’s a mesh between the iPod Mini and the Shuffle, estimated price is $199 USD. Click here for a photo of Nano.
- No video iPod will be launched.

[Digg this story]
Tags [Apple] [iPod] [iTunes] [Nano] [Rocker] [Motorolla] [ROKR]

Yazan Malakha takes Linspire FIVE-O for a spin

If you’ve missed it, the people at Linspire (Previously Lindows) are giving away free digital download version of their latest operating system, a $49 USD value, for a limited time. After countless attempts to register on their website; I finally managed to download and install the much-hyped-about Linspire 5.0 (For some reason or another their Linux based servers has difficulties coping with 250 concurrent users, what a bummer).

Downloading frustration aside, I was actually impressed by how lucid and unbelievably simple their installation is. The CD offers 2 options, a live feature which allows you to run the operating system directly off your CD Drive. And an installer option similar to the one you’d find on Windows XP CD, it took approximately 10 minutes to install the software on VMWare, and less than 2 minutes to configure it, although booting was unusually slow for a Linux system. Hardware support was trouble-free: all my peripherals (except for the webcam and satellite card) were detected and worked without a hitch, in both VMWare and Native mode.

Now before I go on, I should point out that I’m all about Gnome; I’ve used KDE in its early stages, but never long enough to form an opinion. What struck me upon booting the system was the resemblance this system bears to Windows XP! Aside from using Windows XP naming conventions like (“My Computer”, “My Documents”, “My Music” and so on); everything has been copied or mimicked. The login screen almost looks identical, the green start menu button, bookmarks in the file explorer, some of the icons are a complete knock-off. It also starts off with an audio tutorial demonstrating all of the OS features.

On the other hand the system does have a close resemblance to Mac OS. The curvy look of windows, the circular shaped minimize/maximize buttons, the inclusion of multimedia programs such as Lphoto and Lmusic (iPhoto and iTunes anyone?), not to mention the Load Screen, which reminded me of OS 8/9 days. I should mention that it comes with instant messaging software and open office, making the system ready for an average user.

One of the most impressive features was CNR, which stands for Click-N-Run; it takes exactly one click to install an application, again quite similar to Mac (a click and a drag). They offer a CNR library that spans hundreds of Linux programs that provide alternatives to just about any Windows application you’ll ever need.

So what impact can Linspire cause in a world full of Linux Distros? Can Linspire live up to it’s goal of delivering a system that won’t make Linux users wish they had paid their Windows tax? I think so, although I think there’s still room for improvement. The clean interface, simple installation, and resemblance to windows, makes switching to linux a breeze, even for the novice user.

No more will Linux be reserved for the technically-advantaged. At a fraction of the cost of Windows XP; you get an operating system that includes all the tools you need to perform any type of computer work. In a simple and user-friendly interface. Perfect for a newbie or a bargain-hunter.

Some Screen Shots

Tags: [Linux] [Linspire] [Freespire] [Windows] [MacOS] [OSx86] [Lindows]

So far there has been 8 maybe 9 sorry attempts to make me laugh; none of which resulted in a popped spleen (not even a smirk in some cases). It’s quite obvious Jordanian Grumpiness has taken over the best of you; there’s still enough room to prove me wrong though. So feel free to drop a comment here.

Notes:
- Winner will be announced on Friday 9th September 2005
- If sorry arse comments are to continue, the best four will be polled for a winner.
- Anonymous entries will be disregarded, if you’re a non blogger, leave your name or email address.
- Prize is a $25 USD gift certificate at any place where a Jordanian-Issued Credit Card is accepted.
- May the funniest (wo)man win.

Good Luck

Tags [Contest]