Thursday, December 06, 2007
Mommy, Why is There a Server in the House?
Microsoft recently commissioned a children’s book titled “Mommy, Why is There a Server in the House?” to help parents explain to their children everything about their new stay-at-home Windows Home Server, a.k.a HP EX475 MediaSmart Home Server. You have to admit it’s a really great marketing campaign! People usually describe servers as a stack of some ugly hardware in a storage room of every company and NOT something lying around at home. So, Microsoft brought up this new technique of bring it home in a very “home-friendly” manner. They even put together a series of short videos of a “techie” going into a house and interviewing everyone in the household about the “new member” of the family - the server. There are two videos out, and they are very funny! You can watch them here.
The whole idea is: it’s not less of a server now that it’s a stay-at-home server, by getting Windows’ stay-at-home server you will improve your home network security and capabilities. Some of the highlight features are that you can connect your Xbox to it and access videos and audio files stored in the server and play them on your TV (just like the Apple TV). With a few clicks, you can also set it to automatically backup files on the computers connected to it on the local network (wired or wirelessly). This release allows you to connect up to 10 users and 1 guest account.
Microsoft really knows how to reach out to non-tech savvy people, bringing them the latest technology in a simple way. I know I am going to get something with that last statement, but hey, Microsoft is in every house and that should say something. Here’s a preview of the book:
The book will be published and sold on Amazon in the near future.
Currently, the server is available in 500GB HD but I was expecting a lot more than that! It costs around $700. A 1TB is not yet in-stock but should be very soon - now that will probably be enough for some families. Of course expanding the capacity of the HD is possible and it can be reach up to 9TB - which is a relief. The storage appears as one large volume, so whenever you add a drive it will expand the same drive, no partitioning allowed. One downside, you can NOT load a program on the HP MediaSmart Server and share it among multiple PCs, which is a bummer. Maybe there will be a work-around hack for this…
You can check out the flash interactive video available here to see how the server can be used in your entire house, room by room.
(2) Comments | Filed under: Tech | Microsoft |
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Islamic Urban Art in the UK
Graphic artist Muhammad Ali, born and raised in Birmingham, UK, has some amazing work done under the name AerosolArabic. He has done a few T-shirts and hoodies that are sold for a very reasonable price on islamicdesignhouse.com. If Muhammad is not on tour, he usually gives some workshops for kids at schools to encourage them to make professional meaningful graffiti art with style.
I think it’s amazing to see some Islamic art on walls around the world that are done professionally. It would be great to see the walls in Kuwait turn out something like this, rather than the scribbles kids are writing. The picture below is in the UK, you can see a lot more at the gallery in his website.
(9) Comments | Filed under: Design |
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
To all the coffee addicted programmers
This is a very funny example of a flowcharts, they are used in many fields but I use them when I want to design a program. Every coffee addict is going to love this:
I can’t really remember where the source of the image, so if anyones knows, lets give her/him some credit!
If you are into flowcharts and you’re looking for a really good software to use, you have got to check out and try this incredible software: SmartDraw.
(2) Comments | Filed under: Tech | Reviews |
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Boing-Boing! limited edition hoodie
Found this limited edition Boing Boing hoodie at GAMA-GO! It’s gorgeous and costs $120 Dollars. They also ship internationally for an extra 25 bucks. It’s pricey, but thats how designer Emily Glaubinger makes her living. This piece of art was a originally a sketch by a Boing-Boing pal Tim Biskup and it was brought to us to wear by Emily Glaubinger! Thank you Emily!
(1) Comments | Filed under: Design |
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Adopting Gabby
A few weeks ago we went over to pick up Gabby from Farragoes and Princesita. It was great meeting them, they are a wonderful couple. Gabby, the cat, is so cute and adorable! It was late and my brothers stayed up waiting at home to greet our new pet! It’s been a while since we last had a cat, so everyone was so excited.
When I told my youngest brother that the cat’s name is Gabby, he immediately asked me: “From what movie?”. So when I explained that pets are not always named after characters in movies, he just decided to call her “Duma” from a movie of the same title. He says Gabby looks like Duma, so that’s that.
(8) Comments | Filed under: Blogging |
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Tech Drive in Kuwait
A good friend of mine is collecting some used but in still in good condition desktop computers, laptops and mobile phones to give away to hardworking students in Kuwait that can’t really afford them.
Now, since we buy these products every once in a while, we tend to have outdated computers & gadgets that for some people, are not-so-outdated. So, lets help out and support these students!
If you have anything you can give, please send an email to: techdrive08(at)yahoo[dot]com
(4) Comments | Filed under: Blogging | Kuwait |
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
The IT Room
I’ve been a fan of the first season of The IT Crowd which is a hilarious British sitcom about two IT guys, Moss and Roy, who work in the basement of a huge company. Their manager, Jen, is a woman who is clueless about computers but has plans to improve their social lives. I was very much disappointed and did not like the second season of IT Crowd - but I do recommend watching the first season.
Now there’s this new show, “The IT Room”, which is rumored to be based on the UK’s version of “The Office”. This show will “air” on the Internet on November 11, and you can subscribe now to get the episodes via iTunes. The trailers look promising, so I hope it will be a fun show for the geeks!
Official Site: theitroom.com
UPDATE - November 12, 2007: I just saw the first “webisode” and it was alright, pretty short and the story wasn’t so great. What’s nice about this show is that they have the proper tools and staff to make really good shows, but they don’t really have the stories.. Hmm, writers’ strike? Anyway, if you have a good IT story, send it over to them and even though you won’t get any money for it, it would be really cool to get your webisode! You can check their blog for funny stories written by some geeky subscribers.
(3) Comments | Filed under: Blogging |