za3tar

The anticipated Apple iPhone 3G was released this Monday. This new version of the iPhone can operate on 3G networks and includes GPS capabilities. Other than that, nothing is new with the device itself. Steve Jobs keynote speech also revelead the Apple AppStore and a group of apps built on the previously released iPhone SDK. This new iPhone software update will be available to all iPhone devices, and is not only restricted to the new generation iPhone 3Gs.

Although these new introductions seem exciting, fine, and dandy; I can’t help but feel cheated somehow. You see, except for the multitouch screen, the iPhone’s features pale in comparison to other contending phones. Nokia’s N95 and N96 come at the equivalent price of the current iPhones (the non 3G), and they yet include much better software and hardware capabilities. The iPhone 2 MegaPixel camera falls short compared to the Nokia’s 5 MegaPixel camera phones for the same price. Not to mention that the iPhone still can not capture videos, perform zooming, or offer flash photography .. all of which are standard on other contending phones for the same or even lesser price.

Another problem with the old iPhones was the immaturity of its software. The iPhone’s web browser, media player, and photo viewer are fine .. but other than that the phone’s software sucks. The calendar software is a joke, the software frequently crashes, and you can not even resend, edit, or draft SMS messages (all of which my very old mobile phone was mastering). However, i am optimistic that with the release of the SDK we will start seeing better software running on the iPhone. However, it is shocking that Apple thought it would be more fitting to include a scientific calculator in their software update before even fixing the SMS app!! Heck, the phone doesn’t even distinguish between dialed and received calls !!

The iPhone’s recent price drop also digruntles me. Don’t get me wrong, i am glad it is finally getting cheaper. But if you think about it, Apple added 3G and GPS communicators, and didn’t change the phone’s processor power. The material cost certainly did not  get cheaper of the past few months, and still Apple was able to cut the price in half. I guess what i am trying to say is that not only was the original iPhone over priced, it was grossly over priced. As a person who spent a quarter of his college stipend to buy an iPhone, i feel cheated that practically the same phone was offered for half the price just a couple of months later! I understand that electronics get cheaper with time, but this is clearly just too much!

I was rather disappointed with these WWDC revelations. I guess this reminded me with “old Apple” behavior, where they would announce a small set of features that are subpar compared to the current state of alternatives, and brag about them. Come on Apple, please fix the SMS features in your phone, please give us a real camera that can truly stand its ground against Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, and fix the many annoying bugs and stupid limitations of the iPhone. How come i used to be able to upload any music file to my very old phone and turn it into my ringtone and i can not do that with the iPhone. I understand you want to charge people money .. but come on .. $2 for a ringtone ?!! this is too much. I know there are hacks to bypass some these limitations, but i choose to maintain the integrity of my phone, and i should not be punished because of that.

Certainly Apple is great at over-hyping products and creating market buzz. They can really take an ordinary item and market it successfully as the next best thing on earth. I honestly believe that if they choose to market monkey feces, they could make iFeces and that would be the next big hit world wide. I really wish i had this ability .. it would make me a millionaire . However, for now, i am disgruntled and i do feel cheated. And whatever chance there was of me making my next computer a Mac has just vanished. I guess i will stick in my free world.

I can’t take it anymore. As much as i would like to ignore it and move on with my life, it still surrounds me. It is worse than a nightmare because it never ends. You can not wake up. When you wake up you’re dead. I haven’t been able to focus in months. It is haunting my mind. It is haunting my life. … but am I any different ?

When i started this blog i promised myself to minimize the amount of “political” or Palestinian-conflict related articles here so that i can give people an insight into the life of an ordinary Palestinian sampled out of the millions of us. I swear i have 4 articles in my draft folder none of which are about politics. But as much as i try to move past it .. my identity is the world’s inconvenient truth.

It is frustrating. It is depressing. But who am i to complain; i am living a good life, i can eat, i can sleep, i am temporarily studying in the united states, and i am not living the stark reality of occupation (at least on a daily basis). I have it made. But i am still suffocating inside.

Where ever i go, what ever i do, what ever i read or see .. my people are being ignored. Our life and death are meaningless. Our plight and suffering is silenced .. worse yet, turned against us. We are unseen, unheard, and untold of. Like someone wrapped a blanket around your head so you can no longer see or hear, then told you the world is as i tell you .. it looks as i describe, and it sounds as i claim.

We are never mentioned in the media (especially u.s media) except as causers of trouble, and the ones at fault. Everything is our fault. On the news, and in the movies. On the internet, and on the street. We are epitomized as all that is wrong and evil in this world. … “Everything that remotely resembles us should be shunned and abolished”. They tell me we do not want peace. They have the nerve to say that our culture instills hatred of others in us. They speak on our behalf, then judge us, then prosecute us. ….. All is told that if it weren’t for us, there won’t be conflict in the region. If it weren’t for us and our savage ways, there would be peace. I just watched an “unbiased” “debate” about the Israeli-Palestinian, and that was its conclusion. It concluded that our culture is a culture of terror; that our occupation is not an occupation but an act of self-defense; that we have been offered the means to good life; that we have been offered statehood but we rejected it. What nerve!

I am half a world away from home, and i am still surrounded by this. I can’t escape it … it is all around me. I am suffocating inside.

I seem unwelcomed in this world….

I am one Palestinian too many.

I am one Arab too many.

To all who is out there .. i am sorry my life is such an inconvenience… i am sorry my identity is such an inconvenience.

First of all, Thank You, each and every one of you.

Thank you for your wonderful contributions to the Blog About Palestine Day event. Thank you for leading by example, and raising awareness about Palestine, the Palestinians, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and many other things.  Grassroots initiatives like this exemplify how we can truly do something amazing when we work together.

Unfortunately, the timing of this event coincided with my final exams schedule. So, i was only able to read very few of the contributed articles. I have just finished my last final exam, and have only one remaining project writeup to submit. I anticipate to be done either tonight or tomorrow morning.

As soon as i finish, i will resume reading the entries and compile a harvest list of all that articles that were written.

Until then,

Have you ever felt the *NEED* and the *WANT* for an adrenaline rush ? If so, what do you do satisfy that desire ? I am really interested in what you have to say.

As for me, i usually try to satisfy that by playing a contact sport, or going to a relatively empty highway and driving fast (hopefully without getting a speeding ticket). Unfortunately, due to the “nice” weather i’ve been seeing here so far, my first option is virtually impossible. On top of that, since i relocated, the only “highways” near me are one-lane streets that make their way through woods, and i *really* don’t want to risk hitting a deer (thus rendering my car virtually useless).

Argh, the only excitement i’ve been exhibiting lately is either by writing an exquisite piece of code (sad, i know), or by making some nice progress on my research. Ahhh, that could be considered pathetic. So there is some excitement, i am working on a nice little interface enhancement for blog aggregators like qwaider planet, as well as another really exciting web application. But still, an extra boost of adrenaline couldn’t hurt (at least i think so).

I haven’t posted for a while, although i have had many posts panning out in my mind. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a direct link from one’s brain to his/her blog? … talk about a true brain dump :-).

Anyways, the last period was nice. I got to witness the first (of hopefully many) light rain shower of the season, some really dense fog, and how everybody in Amman magically turns into a good driver on the first droplet of rain…. I was in a taxi ride on the Madeena Street, nobody was speeding or racing, cars were around 10 meters apart instead of the usual 5.2cm distance…. Everything and everybody seemed relaxed, maybe even enjoying the rain.

This last period was hectic too. At a crossroad in my life, i have to make a decision choosing between work and grad school (at least for one semester). Actually, it is a bit more complicated. I know i want to do (/will be doing?) both simultaneously. However i have to choose which gets higher priority in the next 7 months. No decision has been made yet.

On the other hand, i have been busy building a coupe of web applications for work. One of them is a truly revolutionary (web 2.0-type) idea that has quite a great potential (…unfortunately i can’t say more yet). There is also this other just-for-fun website idea that has been in mind for a while now, today i finally decided to act on it. So expect a nice new website really soon .

I guess that’s it for now. I will try to translate some of those mind blog posts into actual text now.