The First Arabic Country Code Top Level Domain of Egypt “.مصر” Posted by Adel Mubarak , Tuesday, May 11, 2010 at 11:38 AM, in Labels: DotMasr

http://وزارة-الاتصالات.مصر

Three Egyptian companies have been selected, to be granted a domain name registration license, namely: TE Data, InTouch (owner of Link) and Vodafone Data. This step will enable all users to register domain names in Arabic through any of the selected companies.

Moreover, NTRA will be also granting the Egyptian Universities Network (EUN) a license to provide governmental, academic and educational entities Arabic domain name registration services under the Arabic ccTLD of Egypt.

These steps are expected to boost Arabic content on the Internet and create new market opportunities. It is also expected that this will allow new user segments to overcome the current language barrier and maximize their benefit from Internet services.

Google BigTable !! Posted by Adel Mubarak , Wednesday, May 5, 2010 at 12:42 AM, in Labels: Google

BigTable is a compressed, high performance, and proprietary database system built on Google File System (GFS), Chubby Lock Service, and a few other Google programs; it is currently not distributed or used outside of Google, although Google offers access to it as part of their Google App Engine.

BigTable development began in 2004 and is now used by a number of Google applications, such as MapReduce, which is often used for generating and modifying data stored in BigTable,Google Reader, Google Maps, Google Book Search, "My Search History", Google Earth, Blogger.com, Google Code hosting, Orkut, YouTube, and Gmail. Google's reasons for developing its own database include scalability, and better control of performance characteristics.

BigTable is a fast and extremely large-scale DBMS. However, it departs from the typical convention of a fixed number of columns, instead described by the authors as "a sparse, distributed multi-dimensional sorted map", sharing characteristics of both row-oriented and column-oriented databases. BigTable is designed to scale into the petabyte range across "hundreds or thousands of machines, and to make it easy to add more machines [to] the system and automatically start taking advantage of those resources without any reconfiguration".

Each table has multiple dimensions (one of which is a field for time, allowing for versioning and garbage collection). Tables are optimized for GFS by being split into multiple tablets - segments of the table as split along a row chosen such that the tablet will be ~200 megabytes in size. When sizes threaten to grow beyond a specified limit, the tablets are compressed using the algorithm BMDiff (referenced in ) and the secret algorithm Zippy, which is described as a less space-optimal variation of LZO but more efficient in terms of computing time. The locations in the GFS of tablets are recorded as database entries in multiple special tablets, which are called "META1" tablets. META1 tablets are found by querying the single "META0" tablet, which typically resides on a server of its own since it is often queried by clients as to the location of the "META1" tablet which itself has the answer to the question of where the actual data is located. Like GFS's master server, the META0 server is not generally a bottleneck since the processor time and bandwidth necessary to discover and transmit META1 locations is minimal and clients aggressively cache locations to minimize queries.

Open Source Convention "OSCON 2010" Posted by Adel Mubarak , Wednesday, April 28, 2010 at 11:39 PM, in Labels: FOSS

There is big change in technology and society, and open source is making it happen. Cloud computing is transforming our toolkit, from NoSQL to systems management. Mobile services are growing exponentially, set alight by Android and iPhone. New languages and APIs are flourishing. Developers must adapt to a rapidly evolving platform, which open source is the key to managing and steering.

Rapid change presents opportunity as well as challenges. Open source isn't just about being cost-effective, it's leading in innovation. You can change the game in your business, your community, or even the world.

• Explore the benefits and challenges of building scalable applications for the cloud
• Use open source to target Android, iPhone and other mobile platforms
• Understand how and when to use NoSQL databases
• Learn best practice from experts in Python, Java, Ruby, Perl, PHP and JavaScript
• Use open source effectively as part of your business strategy
• Learn how to foster contribution and adoption of your open source projects

At OSCON, hundreds of sessions covering open source languages and platforms, practical tutorials that go deep into technical skill and best practices, inspirational keynote presentations, an Expo Hall featuring dozens of the latest projects and products, fun networking events and activities, and the best "hallway track" around.

• https://en.oreilly.com/oscon2010/public/register

Microsoft, Plug & Pray Technology Posted by Adel Mubarak , at 10:27 PM, in Labels: Comics

Running Internet Explorer on Linux Posted by Adel Mubarak , Thursday, February 18, 2010 at 1:52 PM, in Labels: Linux Kernel, OpenSource

Now, this is tricky. When you have a number of powerful alternatives for Microsoft Internet Explorer in Ubuntu Linux, why do you need IE in Ubuntu anyway. Firefox 3.5 is already the best web browser in the world. The thing is, most of those who want IE installed in their linux laptops/pc's are either web developers and the rest are those who just got stuck in an 'IE only website'. There is a easy hack though. Lets take a look.

• First of all you need to get the latest version of wine. Do the following depending on the version of Ubuntu.

For Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic

• Open Terminal and copy-paste the following line into Terminal(Give password when prompted).

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-wine/ppa

• For Ubuntu versions before Ubuntu 9.10, this is little bit trickier. First you have to get the gpg key and later you to add the wine ppa repo to your sources.list.

• Don't worry, let me make it simple for you. Copy-paste the following line to Terminal to add the gpg key.

wget -q http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt/387EE263.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -

• Now, add PPA Repo depending on the version of Ubuntu you use. For that, simply copy paste the command into Terminal.

For Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty

sudo wget http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt/sources.list.d/jaunty.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/winehq.list

For Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid

sudo wget http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt/sources.list.d/intrepid.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/winehq.list

For Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy

sudo wget http://wine.budgetdedicated.com/apt/sources.list.d/hardy.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/winehq.list

Install the latest version of Wine

• Now, install the latest version of wine in ubuntu.

sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install wine cabextract

• Done. Cabextract is a dependency you need to install.

Now Download and Install IEs4linux package

• Download latest IEs4Linux Package.

• Now, unzip the downloaded tar.gz file. (Right click > Extract here).

• Open the extracted folder and double click 'ies4linux' file.

• Choose the 'Run' OR 'Run in Terminal' option.

• Following window will pop up.

• Choose the options you want and that is it.

• Don't ever expect IEs4linux to work as your regular browser. Even the original IE doesn't stand a chance in front of Firefox, Chromium, Google Chrome or Opera ;-)

The Arabic Domain Name "dot masr" Posted by Adel Mubarak , Sunday, February 7, 2010 at 8:02 PM, in Labels: DotMasr

for more information:
http://www.dotmasr.eg

UNESCO Fights Brain Drain With Computing Gain Posted by Adel Mubarak , Thursday, January 7, 2010 at 4:38 PM, in Labels: FOSS, ICT4D

Ouagadougou, Dec 24, 2009 (SciDev.Net/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) -- UNESCO is expanding a scheme that aims to slow the brain drain of African and Arab researchers by giving them access to global scientific networks and computing power.

The 'Brain Gain Initiative', set up in partnership with computer firm Hewlett-Packard, enables researchers to collaborate with experts around the world through grid and cloud computing and so boost loyalty to the local science and technology effort.

Grid computing combines the processing power of several computers across a network to work on a single scientific problem, while cloud computing allows researchers to access the latest web applications and databases.

In Burkina Faso, two projects at the University of Ouagadougou will benefit from the scheme: modelling the movement of pollutants in the drainage basin of the Sourou river, led by Blaise Some; and the implementation of a high-performance computing grid, led by Oumarou Sie.

Sie told SciDev.Net that his project would allow local researchers to share resources with their counterparts anywhere in the world, while also giving them power to perform calculations that their own computers cannot do.

Previously, such calculations had to be conducted abroad, but now Sie's laboratory, and others receiving funding, can be more independent, he said.

The laboratories overseeing these projects will each receive about US$25,000 worth of computer equipment as well as US$20,000 of operational funds, said Sie.

The scheme builds on a successful pilot in five universities from 2006-09, and will involve 15 more universities in the Middle East and Africa.

"The Brain Gain Initiative has a direct link with lasting development," said Some.

Training for participants on how to use and maintain the equipment took place in South Africa this month (14-18 December) and a UNESCO spokesperson said that partnership agreements were being prepared, with schedules to be signed at the end of January 2010.

UNESCO and Hewlett-Packard say they plan to include 100 more universities in the scheme by the end of 2011, with help from additional partners.