Don't Say Geek! Say Syntux!

Big companies like Amazon, Apple and Sony are fighting for the best device to deliver digital books and I’m loving that as it will only increase get consumer more features for less but yet content is everything I care about.

I’m a book geek, I don’t mind reading on iPhone, my Mac Book or buy an eReader as long as I can get the content I’m interested in.

Kindle is more than a device

Kindle seems to have advantage over any current competitor or even the rumored one, Apple tablet. The advantages as I see them are in the large collection of books that amazon have plus the new publishers program, add to that the Soft Kindle on Windows, iPhone and Mac (Coming soon). Basically you should look at Kindle as a service accessible everywhere unlike any other devices that are just devices.

We don’t know much about the rumored Apple tablet but the competition would be to get more out of those who fancy getting an eReader rather than using the Soft ones.

I like the idea of getting a device but I also want the luxarious ability to resume whatever I started reading using the eReader on my MacBook too, would that be offered by the rumored Apple tablet or Amazon Kindle when they release the soft Kindle for Mac?

Another thing, I would love to see integration between Questia.com and Kindle or Apple tablet. It’s going to be sad to buy Kindle or Apple tablet without being able to access my favorite library on Questia.

The world’s largest online collection of complete books, journals and articles, searchable by word, phrase, title, author, or subject.

Hope the war will end soon for the consumer benefit and hope to see Questia part of the benefits.

Tags: amazon kindle, apple tablet, macbook, consumer benefit, favorite library, ereader, mac book, digital books, iphone, collection of books, competitor, publishers, sony, magazine, newspaper, journals

1. I’m not sure why people queue to buy iPhone but not to buy Kindle and I’m not sure why Kindle cannot be sold or shipped to anyone outside U.S
2. Eagle eye is scary to be true
3. Berkeley classes podcasts are just amazing, are there any other university doing the same?
4. We are preparing for Ubuntu Week at Jordan University, special thanks to IEEE Jordan for the invitation
5. Ubuntu Podcast is getting better
6. There is no proven scientific way to run away from politics while in Middle East
7. Philosophy & Political books are the best
8. Finally we have 8MB ADSL in Jordan
9. Budgeting my budget to renew my ACM, PHP|Arch, PyMag and hoping for Economist subscription plus allocating $500 for books
10. I believe I’m back

Tags: jordan university, iphone, eagle eye, podcast, berkeley, philosophy, Ubuntu Week, IEEE, kindle, amazon, books, iphone

I have always been jealous of RoR but I did not to switch and kill my passion to PHP at the same time there was no PHP framework that satisfy my needs to RAD so I stopped looking until recently I was introduce to Symfony Framework but didn’t had the time to dig much into it as I’m not full time programmer anymore but I kept an eye on it and kept digging it as a Todo.

Couple of days ago I got The Definitive Guide to Symfony and unlike many other technical books it’s authored by the author of the framework and the framework documenter which is a great plus when buying a technical book.

If you are not used to MVC frameworks then you should understand that learning curve in Symfony is a pain that worth going through and it will heal any pain you used to get when developing without a framework, nevertheless the guide book makes it way easier, the book is well written in an easy language

I will keep you update as I’m reading the book.

Tags: time programmer, learning curve, easy language, ror, definitive guide, technical books, couple of days, full time, passion, symfony

Don’t ever delay your orders; there is no mean of grouping your packages to save shipping cost especially if something like this would happen

Now, I’m not going to order that book.

Tags: Amazon, order, price, increased , shipping cost, amazon

The Unambiguous Information Society

Communicating your message unambiguously means it can only be understood one way. Whether speaking or writing, do your best to strive for clarity. Before you speak or write, examine the message closely for any ambiguities or potential holes that could lead to a misread. Obviously, you will not always have the luxury of self-examination before you speak or write, and in these instances repetition is the way to distil or parse the message to its essence. Repeat yourself, or ask repeatedly for clarification, until both parties get the point.

Distilling technical minutiae into clear, unequivocal language is a challenge for everyone on the team. Look at the following.

PROJECT MANAGER: Does the system only check user name and password for authentication?
DEVELOPER: E-mail is the unique identifier for authentication in the system.
PROJECT MANAGER: What about user name and password?
DEVELOPER: Yes. Those, too.
PROJECT MANAGER: So user name, password, and e-mail are all used for authentication?
DEVELOPER: No. Only e-mail.
PROJECT MANAGER: So a user can put in the wrong user name and password but use an e-mail address the system recognizes and get in?
DEVELOPER: Yes and no. A user can have multiple identities but only one e-mail address.
PROJECT MANAGER: So what you are saying is a user could enter any old user name and password along with an e-mail address the system will recognize and get in. Right?
DEVELOPER: Yes, the user can enter any login they want, but if the e-mail address is not in the database, they won’t get in. If the e-mail addresses match but not the user name or password, they will get a message saying the login is incorrect.
PROJECT MANAGER: So, then, they can’t get in?
DEVELOPER: They could if they enter a user name and password that matches what is stored in their profile.
PROJECT MANAGER: So, then, what you are saying is user name and password are not the only fields being checked for authentication?

DEVELOPER: Well, actually, yes, but technically, no.

PROJECT MANAGER: I’m going to shoot myself now. Care to join me?
DEVELOPER: Not today, thanks.

Source: Real Web Project Management: Case Studies and Best Practices from the Trenches by Thomas J. Shelford, Gregory A. Remillard

Tags: e mail address, mail project, unequivocal language, communicating your message, self examination, minutiae, ambiguities, red flag, information society, repetition, stakeholders, clarification, questions and answers, clarity, authentication, team members, instances, holes