Time and Time Again

When I started reading blogs I had a short list of blogs to check on every once in a while. Few months later, and the list is longer and the time needed is much more than I have. What to do? Turn to feeds reader.

As I’m using different PCs at different places at different times, I thought a web-based feeds reader would be perfect. So, I started using Kinja, from the nanopublishing pioneers Gawker Media. It has a cool design, but it has a major problem. It is not supported by most of the blogs I read. It is a shame that Kinja can’t read the more popular forms of feeds.

I gave up Kinja. I started using Feedster. Unlike Kinja, it supports the popular feeds, but it has a poor design, and it may refuse the addition of new feeds with no obvious reasons. I decided to give up all the web-based feed readers and turn to something else.

I read that Firefox 0.9.3+ could run as a newsreader. I already have 0.9.2 and I was not intending to update it until the release of version 1.0. Because Firefox has a weird problem. Whenever you update the browser, you have to reinstall all the extensions and themes, which is something boring and time-consuming.

As I had no more choices, I clicked to Google to look for a free feeds reader. And as usual, Google has the answer. FeedReader is an open-source lightweight feeds reader, and it’s free. However, I liked the way of Kinja that shows the latest posts of different blogs at the same page.

I’m now waiting for the release of Firefox 1.0 at November to try out its newsreader. If I did not like it, I think I’ll stick to FeedReader.

Behind the Curtains

It has been more than two weeks since I watched TV for the last time. Before that, I was watching some promotions on MBC for a new series called The Road to Kabul starting in Ramadan. I was not so interested until I read this week that MBC, in addition to four other channels, stopped the show.

MBC said the reason was that the producer of the series, Qatar TV, refused to deliver the rest of the episodes to MBC. Qatar TV told the press that the work at the series was not completely finished. However, Talal Awamleh, the executive producer said the complete series was delivered to Qatar TV.

Nobody knows the exact reasons for such a decision by Qatar TV, and they did not made any statement about it. Talal Awamleh told the press he received some threats from some unknown groups through the internet, but he did not take any of them seriously.

The Road to Kabul is about the Afghani jihad against the Soviets, and the role of Arabs in that war. Who do you think is behind this? Is it Taliban fans in Arab World, or some Arab governments? Or is it somebody else? What do you think?

Tech News

While all rumors were talking about a GBrowser, Google rolled out a preliminary version of its new desktop search tool. Microsoft should be afraid, they should be really afraid.

In other anti-Microsoft news, my very favourite Firefox will be taken to major U.S. newspapers by its fans. Firefox fans will be buying a full page advert in the New York Times for the launch of Firefox 1.0 in November.

No Italian Jeans!

It seems that jeans have enemies also in Europe. An Italian headmaster tried to ban clothes that reveal “navels, bare bottoms, thongs and underpants”.

Mr Bernardini, 61, said he had lost patience with the fashion for baggy, low-hanging jeans for boys, and trousers that revealed girls’ midriffs.

I don’t care! I still love my good jeans and every other kind of jeans!