On the top left corner, there is the ubuntu logo icon that shows a new dash, which is both a search tool to find the application and a filtter to narrow the displayed applications. At first it looks cool but the bad thing is that it takes some time to see the result! Plus, the results may popup some files you don’t want to search for! So is it a search tool to help you quickly find the installed application or to search for files!

The bottom line, I didn’t see the simplicty they talked about! I was trying to convience myself to get used to it but found it buggy and useless! I don’t care about the stylish interface at all! I want to have a fast access to my applications in a simple way. Basically, I want to get things done!

What did I do to get red of Unity?

I switiched back to the classic user interface when I looged into the desktop session! In addition, I was thinking about Gnome 3, and I asked myself why not give it a try since I didn’t like ubuntu’s decision to use Unity which made Gnome as a second class citizen! But boy, I wish I had read this post! I added the Gnome3 to the sources.list and did exactly like most bloggers suggest. Adding Gnome PPA to the resources.list and then update and upgrade the distrubtion. Please don’t try it!

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gnome3-team/gnome3
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get install gnome-shell

Some people like it becuase it looks novice friendly since many folks like it when it was shipped on netbooks! Yet, the general impression is not the same when it was choosen to be the default shell inteface on desktops. It’s buggy and many people, including me, swithced back to the classic interface. Plus, many people moved to a different linux distributioin! So why has Canonical decided to make a huge change in six months! I don’t know!

I know that I have neglected you for long time. And this was something I haven’t thought about! I was trying to convince myself that I had too many things to do, much more important than you! Several weeks went by, then months! The long time passed, the easier it was to forget you. I’m not trying to list the excuses for neglecting you because I know that no excuses would be accepted by you!So what have I been up to?

Well, I’m in my second year as a MS student at the university of Colorado at Boulder. It has been really fun but I’m very busy with school work. I spend most of my spare time reading books and attending several events about topics I’m interested in. Plus, I have been involved in volunteer opportunities with great friends. So that’s how busy I was. I also underwent significant knee surgery in the Summer and need six months of recovery!

On the other hand, I feel like Twitter was the real reason for all of this! It is meant to be a micro-blogging platform for lazy bloggers like me. Twitter has turned me out into a lazy blogger and made me suffer of writer’s block. The 140 characters I write from my phone is much more fruitful and easier than writing even a one paragraph post! Plus, I’ve found a great deal of value in it that I couldn’t find in any social networking service.

It’d be a good idea to balance between writing short and long posts. Short posts should go on Twitter while long posts should be posted on my blog. That makes perfect sense to me!

So let’s discuss what I’m going to do with you. I’ll be working on your template. I want you to look simpler than you are! I’ll be blogging about things I’m working on and anything that may catch my attention. It’s an attempt to stop neglecting you!

So please forgive me and let’s hope this will never happen again.

Sincerely,
Khalid Alharbi

One thing that  irritates me a lot is when I try to access a website  from my Linux laptop and get a message that says “Sorry, you can’t access this website because it doesn’t support your operating system.” The worst of this is when I try to access a network that is restricted for only Windows and Mac users! This happens to me every time I try to access the wireless network of the University of Denver (DU) and get the message that indicates that the network only supports Windows and Mac systems. You can’t connect to DU’s wireless network unless you are using either Windows or Mac! The only way I can connect is via an Ethernet cable! And this is why I bring one with me whenever I go to the library! I complained to the department of  technology services but no one seems to care!

Back to my first point, websites that are designed to be platform dependent. I’m not talking about paltry websites, I’m talking about websites that millions users rely upon, Yahoo Mail! When you try to access your yahoo mail from a Linux machine, you will get an odd message that states that the website hasn’t been tested under your operating system! I can access my Yahoo mail but that message will appear, and I have to click on the continue anyway link. I haven’t found any convincing reason for making a website operating system dependent. It is a pity that web developers create operating system dependent websites. Basically, whenever I encounter a website that is not compatible with my system, I don’t use it. I’m free to use the operating system I like, and no one else can force me to use Mac or Windows. In the case of Yahoo, that message has been around for long time, and Yahoo Mail hasn’t been tested under Linux yet?!

Websites shouldn’t be platform dependent. If you don’t want to loose visitors, you have to design your website correctly according to web standards. The accessibility of your website is the essence of web development. Website accessibility goes above and beyond simply creating an accessible website from any platform and device, it involves designing an accessible website for all people of all abilities and disabilities. It should be obvious for any web developer that the hardware and the operating system requirements are not as important as web standards. Thus, you have to design your website correctly; otherwise, you will continue to loose visitors.

Ironically, both Yahoo and DU use Linux operating systems on their servers. Yahoo uses BSD for its mail, and DU uses Solaris on its servers. They should be ashamed of themselves! If you don’t support this operating system why did you use it.  Gone are the days when Linux is only used for servers. Linux is used on a wide variety of devices, ranging from super computers to cell phones. Plus, the popularity of Linux on desktop computers has been increasing over the years.

As an open source advocate, it annoys me to see a university that doesn’t support open source projects, which are basically an investment in education and the mind. It is a pity that the alert message on Yahoo mail website hasn’t been removed, and this reflects Yahoo’s lack of web developers who create accessible websites.

Since then, I was trying to find a sticker to hide the windows logo of the super key. I did some intensive googling to find a sticker and finally I found the one I was looking for. Set of four “powered by Ubuntu” stickers and four Ubuntu logo key stickers for free! The company that provides these stickers is called System 76, and it’s located in the city I live in, Denver. All what I did was mailing a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE), and it took me about a week to receive them. I sticked them on my laptop, and here are the pictures.

You can get four stickers of both “powered by Ubuntu” and super/windows key at the cost of self addressed stamped envelope. click here for further information.

Now that I sticked these stickers on my laptop, I feel as if my laptop says proudly “I’m running Ubuntu Linux!”

I thank System 76 for providing these stickers for free!! And I highly appreciate its support to the open source community.

I had been using Skype via Fring on my Android for a long time before Skype has blocked its access on Fring. This was a very nasty move to Android users and a snap on our faces. For me it was just an example of the meanness of Skype!! Right now, there is no Skype client for Android phones except for Verizon customers. On its official blog, Fring asserts that Skype has done this to muzzle the competition, and they call Skype people “cowards”!! On the other hand, Skype claims that it hasn’t blocked the Skype access on Fring. Skype returns the reason for this problem to Fring’s misuse of its API that has damaged its reputation!! I can’t believe that Skype’s excuse that it hasn’t blocked the access on Fring. In addition, I think that Skype’s decision has underlined the idea that Skype is going to be a supporter of the monopoly industry of cell phones.

Anyway, Android developers should try to find a solution for this trouble or create their own VoIP ( Voice over IP) client. Therefore, I tried to find an alternative for my best friend Fring and here it is. Nimbuzz is my new friend. I just tested it for a couple of minutes and it seems to be working fine, except it lacks the video calling feature. You can download it from Android Market for free.

In fact, I have been trying to find an open source alternative for Skype because I hate Skype much these days. I don’t  know why Google isn’t able to do much to solve this problem in its platform. I was very optimistic after I had heard the news that Google has acquired Gizmo5. However, we haven’t seen a monumental change after this deal. We know that Google does all that it can to improve the Android platform, but features such as video calling is what most of us look for. Therefore, Google needs to do a lot of work to improve its Google voice and wipe Skype out. Otherwise, Google voice won’t compete in the soft-phones market. Please if you have any alternative client for Skype, or an alternative for Skype itself, tell me about it by adding your comment here.

A year ago, it was like other routine day. Waking up at dawn, checking readers’ comments on my website, reading RSS feeds, checking my to-do list before going to work, and finally, checking my email. In the meantime, I had remembered that I had to upload the project of the programming with Java, the course that I taught its lab last year, since I promised my students I would do that. Suddenly, as usual, the Internet connection was down. It was an ADSL connection, the curse that continued for three years in my life. Immediately, I picked up the phone and called the customer service of my Internet Service Provider (ISP). Unfortunately, the phone line was busy. It was a common sign that meant a serious problem on my ISP. Since I had no more time to wait until I had mercy from my ISP to fix the damned connection, I decided to go to my university early and work there. Unfortunately, the same thing that happened in my home continued at my work. There was no Internet connection on my university. I hated the moment that I used the Internet to do all my work.

Internet connectivity is a worldwide problem, but in Saudi Arabia the situation is getting worse day by day. 27.1% of the populations are Internet users , and they connect to the Internet using different kinds of broadband connections. The majority of them are DSL users. In order to have a DSL connection, you have to subscribe into two companies, and therein lies the problem. There is only one choice for the telephone company, and many choices for the ISPs. This is posing a couple of problems for the DSL users. Frequent disconnect of the Internet connection, decline in the Internet connection speed, and the lack of technical support are all a few examples of the problems of DSL uses in Saudi Arabia. For example, if you have a problem with your DSL connection, you will find yourself in a very long endless game with the two companies because each of them hurls the problem into the other. There are many causes for these troubles. The first reason is there is no competition for the telecom company that provides the DSL line. Therefore, this is a kind of telecommunication monopoly that gives the company control over the Internet users. Another cause is the lack of the telecommunication infrastructure which leads to slowing down the Internet connection and ceasing the increasing of Internet users. Moreover, the farther you live from DSLAM (DSL Access Multiplexer), the DSL connection gets weaker and weaker. All of these main reasons have negative implications on the businesses and economics. For instance, this will slow down the investment on the Internet services such as e-commerce. In addition to the negative effects on the economics, this affects the education process because most universities in the kingdom use the Internet on their education process. Reliable Internet connection is particularly important in the distance education context. Therefore, universities and other educational organizations need to be aware that despite the importance of distance education system, the completely inadequate Internet connection can make the successful of this system impossible to achieve.

The first suitable solution for this problem is using the cable modem. While the DSL Internet connection uses telephone lines to transmit data, cable modem uses coaxial cable used by cable TV providers. This type of connection has become popular in many countries around the world, for its inexpensive price and speed make it one of the most convenient connections available now. Although the cable modem is faster than DSL connection, its speed isn’t stable because it is a shared bandwidth connection. In other words, when your area has a high Internet usage, the speed and the performance will be affected by the other users in your area. Therefore, it depends on how many people are connected in your area. Another problem is the upstream bandwidth of this connection is low and sometimes it prevents you from uploading images or videos. In Saudi Arabia, there is no infrastructure for this connection, and we don’t have any company that provides such service. In addition to the fact that there is no cable TV at all in Saudi Arabia, the increasing of Internet users will affect the speed of this connection. Furthermore, the increasing of the Internet services that require high downstream and upstream connection make it an impractical solution. Therefore, it is imperative to use a high speed connection without affecting the others to meet these services and the new services that will be invented in the next years. As a result, creating a new infrastructure for this type with its limitations would be a waste of time and money in an insufficient solution. To sum up, we shouldn’t accept such a temporary solution, for it won’t solve the problem in the long run.

Another solution is using the WiMax technology, an acronym for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, which is a wireless networking technology that is being developed to cover large areas up to a range of thirty miles and provide data-transfer speeds up to 1 gigabits per second. The WiMax technology consists of two parts. The WiMax tower and the WiMax receiver. The WiMax tower is similar to the cell phone tower and can cover more than 3,000 square miles. The WiMax receiver could be a small box or a built-in card in computers. WiMax technology has allowed us to use a high speed wireless broadband connection rather than using a wired access. Furthermore, unlike the Wi-Fi connection that provides a limited range, WiMax provides a broad coverage like the cell phones with large WiMax hotspots. Despite the advantages of this technology and the hype surrounding WiMax that has begun since the WiMax was introduced by three majors operators in Saudi Arabia, WiMax couldn’t be the best alternative for DSL connection for several reasons. One reason is that WiMax, like the Cable modem connection, is a shared bandwidth, so the performance will be deteriorated in the case of many users in one area. Therefore, this returns us to the main problem of Cable Modem. A second problem is that bad weather conditions could significantly affect the performance of the WiMax. For example, any weather conditions such as rain or sand storms could interrupt the WiMax’ signals. The third reason is that the WiMax’ signals could be affected by the other wireless signals. For example, the radio frequency interference (RFI) that is caused by radio and TV transmitters or any other equipment that generates radio frequency signals causes interference for the WiMax’ signals. In addition to the RFI, the electrical interference that is caused by computers and large equipment devices also causes signal interference. In some cases, the effects of interference shut the wireless connection completely down and makes it unusable. Therefore, all of these reasons make us look to the WiMax solution as an unreliable and an unstable Internet access solution.

The best solution to solve the Internet connectivity and replace the DSL connection is Fiber-to-the-home Internet connection that uses fiber-optic network. Fiber-optic technology uses glass or transparent plastic threads (fibers) as a light transmitting media to transmit data. Fiber-optic communication technology has revolutionized the telecommunication industry and has become the fastest and most reliable Internet connection for its advantages over other types of Internet connection. Fiber-optic cables have a much greater bandwidth than any transmission medium. This allows Fiber-optic cables to carry vast amounts of data. In addition to the high bandwidth capacity, the fiber optics network is the fastest Internet connection to date. Furthermore, unlike any wireless connection that has the interference problem, fiber-optic network is less susceptible to interference. Fiber-optic network is the fastest, most reliable, and an extended solution for the future changes. Therefore, in the future, almost all communication technologies will run fiber-optics.

However, as with any other Internet connection, there are a few of drawbacks for this connection. The main disadvantage of fiber-optic network is that the installation of fiber-optic cables is expensive to install. In addition, they are more fragile than wire. Even though, the cabling costs are still expensive, as with other any new technology, its price will decrease year after year. Nevertheless, it is a cost effective technology and in spite of these disadvantages, its advantages eliminate all of these drawbacks. Moreover, the scientific researchers will improve the research to support this effective solution. When we create a fiber-optic network and make it available to everyone, we offer the most reliable and fastest connection that allows us to do all of our work with this very efficient solution. With the fiber-optic network, I can do all my work online in less time and without any decline in the connection speed. Furthermore, I can get a stable and reliable connection that makes me forget not only the trouble that I had in my home and university but also the nightmare of the DSL connection.

Finally, I got the ticket for TEDx at the university of Denver after I had been waiting for three months. I can’t believe that I will be there on the next Thursday. My dream is about a day to become a real. TEDx events is a TED-like conference but it is an independent TED event. I’m very excited about attending this event where the world’s thinkers and innovators share their thoughts and their wonderful inventions in one place. Once I had heard that there is a TED conference at DU, I registered on the event website by filling the registration form and telling them about myself. Lately, they have sent my badge to my Email and unfortunately they told me that they only have a seat for me in the live-streaming room. However, I’m still so glad because I’ve known many friends who are willing to pay any amount just to attend this event. The event will be held  tomorrow from 13:00 – 17:30 (22:00 -02 in Saudi Arabia), and it will streamed live in this website for free. Even though I’m not satisfied with their idea that taking photos or videos are not allowed for anyone in this event, I will be relaxed with putting technology away because it is a time for reconnect myself with the power of ideas. At the reception, they are going to show the LifeSaver bottles that were invented by Michael Pritchard. His bottles make sewer water or any dirty water drinkable in seconds!

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to spread the new ideas in three fields Technology, Entertainment, and Design. I have been watching TED lectures since I was in the last year in university. It is too hard for me to describe the impact of TED lectures on my life. They have made a change on the way how I think. Moreover, TED lectures have expanded my knowledge, opened my mind, and they have taught me a very important thing which is the purpose of the science is to serve the humanity not to get a job promotion as what happens in my country.

I’m looking forward to attending this conference. and I wish at one day I would be invited to speak at the TED conference!!

The Internet was officially made available in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1997. It has a strong impact on Saudi’s behavior and on their daily life. Moreover, the Internet is becoming an integral part of the Saudi society, education, and economy. As with any other technology, the Internet has its own advantages and disadvantages. Not only can the Internet change people’s life styles either positively or negatively, but it also may change the country’s politics or even shock the political stability as what happened in the 2009 Iranian presidential elections when the political protests moved online. Therefore, the Saudi government has tried all forms of Internet censorship to protect both itself and its citizens against harmful information. Internet censorship is control, filter, or suppression of the publishing or accessing of information on the Internet.

In Saudi Arabia, Internet censorship is similar to other kinds of media censorship; TV, radio, newspaper, or books censorship. However, because the publishing of information through the Internet is faster than through other kinds of media, the government has created new departments to filter the content of the Internet. For example, it has established a new administration named Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) which is primary charged for filtering the illegal and harmful content and regulating the services that are provided by ISPs (Internet Services Providers). Although there are many international organizations which trying to stop Internet censorship in Saudi Arabia such as the reporters without borders that ranked Saudi Arabia in its list of the thirteen enemies of the Internet, this hasn’t stopped the government from filtering the content of the Internet. The Saudi government has real and important reasons for censoring the Internet which may have positive and negative effects on its citizens.

The increasing of the pornographic industry on the Internet forces the Saudi government to block and forbid the access of pornographic websites. Most parents today are worried about their children when they have unrestricted access to the Internet. There are 4.2 million pornography websites (12% of total websites), and any computer-literate child with unrestricted access can view these sites. Due to the increasing number of these websites and the new ways that are being used to publish their contents, the CITC uses new technologies to block these websites. Unfortunately, this won’t block all of these websites, and the problem is still hard to control. Internet pornography has negative effects on people’s life. Furthermore, many studies proved that pornographic websites makes people a physically interactive society. According to experts, the effects of pornography are progressive and addictive for not only kids but also many people. The Saudi government has established a new set of laws to criminalize the sexual exploitation through any kind of technology including the Internet. The content of these global websites not only involves adult pornography but also child pornography. According to a National Children’s Homes report, the number of Internet child pornography images has increased 1500% since 1988. Furthermore, 20% of all Internet pornography involves children, and more than 20,000 images of child pornography are posted on the Internet every week. Therefore, controlling the Internet is not a practical solution to protect children from these websites, but it can only restrict and limits the risks of these websites. These make us understand the danger on our kids and requires not only from the Saudi government but also from the human rights organizations to work together to protect children against sexual exploitation. Today, my government and other nonprofit organizations communities have started to teach children in school and inform the public in media about the potential risks and problems of viewing these websites.

Another important reason for Internet censorship is protecting the national security from the different kinds of threats. One of these threats is terrorism. After the global war on terror that was launched by the United States after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Saudi government has strongly supported this campaign. As a result, it blocks all websites that belong to terrorist organizations or advocate hostility or aggregation toward others.  Moreover, it arrests the owner of any terrorist website or any web writer who advocates or supports the ideas of any terrorist groups.  The second threat is the opposition websites. The government denies the access to any opposition political website. Moreover, it may arrest any person who tries to access these websites. The third threat is the financial threats. Most of the financial transactions are being used on the Internet by all of Saudi banks. Therefore, the government is working to make these transactions more secure and safe. For example, it blocks all fraud websites that usually asks a bank customer to update his/her information from a website similar to the original bank website. Stealing of personal information is a very annoying problem in the Internet financial transaction. So, if the government doesn’t block or do anything for these websites, this will weaken the national economic.

Although Internet censorship has significant advantages in ethics and security, it limits the freedom of speech in Saudi Arabia. Blogs pose problems to the Saudi censors. In 2005, they blocked blogger, the free blog publisher tool, and denied users inside the country from accessing their blogs. Moreover, the government arrested many bloggers who criticize it or any member of the royal family. For example, Fouad Alfarhan, who is considered by many Saudi Bloggers as the dean of Saudi bloggers for being the first blogger who writes using his real name, was arrested in December 2007. The Saudi interior ministry didn’t give any further information for the media or reasons for arresting him. The Saudi news media including the newspapers didn’t report the arrest, but more than three hundred bloggers supported him and created a new website to help him. A feeling of sadness and depression has spread over the Saudi blogs. After the increasing of pressure from the human rights organization and on the global media, the authorities decided to release him after four months in jail. Alfarhan, who created his blog to criticize the corruption and call for political reform, has stopped writing on his blog. This is the negative effect of the Internet censorship because it killed the freedom in the country.

In addition to killing the freedom of expression in the country, Internet censorship would limit the information’s flow in the country. For example, there are many web services that are being blocked due to the new ways that might be used to access any blocked website. TinyUrl, which is a web service that allows you to short any long URL, is one of those web services that has been blocked by the CITC. Moreover, because of the increasing of the online or non-printed media, the government tries to control this media as the same way that it has done with the newspapers. To explain that, the ministry of media announced early that it will establish a new project to control those new media. This not only will prevent the free flow of ideas or information but also will control people. In addition, when the government hides something from people, they will become extra curious about it. Therefore, censoring the Internet will make people think negatively of the Internet and prevent them from getting the advantages of using the Internet.

However, the CITC has established a new service on its website that allows Internet users to request to block or unblock any websites. In addition, unlike the Chinese government, which is considered as the world’s most advanced country in Internet controlling, that disguises its Internet blocking to technical problems instead of telling its Internet users that certain websites are blocked so most of them won’t notice it, the Saudi government doesn’t hide its Internet censorship to the public, for it clearly tells its Internet users that certain websites are banned. Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean that people can change the decision of the Saudi censor because there is no law that might force the Saudi censors to go with the decision of most people. Moreover, no compensation will be given for anyone whose website was blocked by mistake !!

All in all, the main reasons of Internet censorship in Saudi Arabia are pornography, security, and opposite political ideas. Some of these reasons are reasonable for Saudis and some not. It may help the children or women from the sexual exploitation and keeps the ethical values of Saudis. In addition, it may protect the national security from the different types of threats that threat the country. However, the misuse of censoring the Internet is killing the freedom in Saudi Arabia.

This is the photo of the computer books shelves in Penrose Library at Denver University. I consider this place as my best place at Denver, and I love it so much. By the way, I remember that I took this photo when I was reading Hello Android book.

This is a great advantage of sharing photos on Flickr for it makes others see your photos and getting a great recognition from them. However, I’m really surprised because I don’t consider this photo as one of my best shots at all, and I’m just an amateur photographer.

UPDATE May 17,2010: This photo has been published on the eleventh edition of Schmap Denver Guide  you can simply see it by checking this link

Finally, I’m officially here !!

I struggled with what would be the first official post, and then I realized it’s just like talking about myself into a crowd of people I have never met them. Therefore, I’ll introduce both myself and my blog to you shortly. It seems the polite thing to do, am I right?!

First of all, I’m Khalid Alharbi from Saudi Arabia. I used to work as a teaching assistant at the department of information technology at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. However, now I’m overseas preparing for a master degree in computer science at the United States.

I’m interested in web development, Software programming, Operating systems, and technology news. However, this blog is not only about these interests, but It is primarily about me and my perspectives, so I may write about other things interest to me. Hopefully this will be helpful for you.

I’ve started this blog not only to dictate some of the most wonderful memories in my new life at USA , but also to share ideas with others to increase my knowledge. Moreover, I’m trying to change the prevalent negative stereotypes about Saudis presented on media. I hope you enjoy reading my blog, and I encourage you to share ideas with me, so your comments are welcomed.