HI, I` M  MUHMMED WAQAS ALI   i am a student of  PHD ,  I really don’t remember.  Destined to be the only child in the family, I was obviously on the road to greatness in a family which has a long and storied history with a couple of famous people on the tree....perhaps the most famous  - the great frontier showman, "Buffalo Bill" Cody - being on a branch which is so long that I’m sure none of the people on that branch know of my existence, but I claim old Bill as an ancestor just the same.  Also among my ancestors is a Templar Knight and another who was Master of the Horse for King Henry VII.  For those who don’t know, the Master of the Horse provided entertainment for the king, so given Henry’s love of women, he may have been one of the more famous pimps in history.  Naturally, I had to try and live up to the expectations that came from being in  such a family. 
     It was at a rather young age I discovered two things which were to become very important parts of my life and which really, helped preserve my sanity during a very trying youth - baseball and cricket and bedminten and footboll,and  rock and roll, that old time rock and roll, not the garbage that came along after the disco era.  A lot of this was detailed in an earlier answer to a question several months ago and in two paragraphs, I can't really go into it, so let's just say the '60's were a period of college, baseball, college, rock and roll, hippiedom (and all that implies),i to take a teaching job at  punjab College information technology of cemmerce where I stayed until 2008 at which time there was an opening at the University of  PCIT which I latched on to,  although, I still teach part-time at punjab College information technology  .  Having never remarried - there's not too many women who could put up with me! - I'm perfectly content with the way things are although it would be nice to find a "special person" to share some things with such as concerts, plays, movies etc. since I'm very self-conscious about doing them alone (ever see the Steve Martin movie, "The Lonely Guy?"), but that's what books, dvds and fantasy baseball are for.  And, my immediate plans are to outlive my great-great-grandfather who lived to be 108 - I've got a lot of living left to do!!!

I make user interfaces and experiences. I am 8,368 days old. You should follow me on twitter here. You can learn more about me in my about article and

Posted by timothy on Sunday January 31, @03:20PM
from the drive-by-wire dept.

cyclocommuter writes with an excerpt from a brief WSJ story on increasing electronic control of car components: "The gas pedal system used Toyota Motor Co.'s recall crisis was born from a movement in the auto industry to rely more on electronics to carry out a vehicle's most critical functions. The intricacy of such systems, which replace hoses and hydraulic fluid with computer chips and electrical sensors, has been a focus as Toyota struggled to find the cause for sudden acceleration of vehicles that led the company to halt sales of eight models this week."

Posted by timothy on Sunday January 31, @06:00AM
from the maxwell-smart-elocution dept.

aliebrah writes "Lord Avebury tabled a parliamentary question in the UK regarding the security of Internet Explorer and whether the UK government would reconsider its use. He got an answer from the UK Home Office that's unlikely to please most Slashdot readers. The UK government contends that 'there is no evidence that moving from the latest fully patched versions of Internet Explorer to other browsers will make users more secure.'"

Posted by kdawson on Friday January 29, @03:12PM
from the triple-word-score dept.

andylim writes "recombu.com is running an interesting piece about how Apple has created a 'Jumanji (board game) platform.' The 9.7-inch multi-touch screen is perfect for playing board games at home, and you could use Wi-Fi or 3G to play against other people when you're on your own. What would be really interesting is if you could pair the iPad with iPhones, 'Imagine a Scrabble iPad game that used iPhones as letter holders. You could hold up your iPhone so that no one else could see your letters and when you were ready to make a word on the Scrabble iPad board, you could slide them on to the board by flicking the word tiles off your iPhone.' Now that would be cool."

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday February 02, @11:47AM
from the keeping-up-with-the-jobses dept.

MojoKid writes "With all of the iPad buzz stirring up the tech world over the past couple of weeks, Chrome OS has almost been forgotten. Though Google has yet to officially release the netbook-centric operating system to the public, the company continues to keep details flowing about their forthcoming lightweight operating system. In their own response to all the recent tablet fanfare, Google decided to release some teaser shots and a demo video of the Chrome OS running on a concept tablet device. The Chromium team suggests that a screen of 5" to 10" is optimal for enjoying Chrome OS and of course tablets, netbooks and MIDs all fit that size class rather well. Couple a streamlined Google-based OS with NVIDIA's Tegra 2 processor in a design like this and the iPad could have serious competition."

CWmike writes with a warning that free preview copies of Windows 7 in the wild will start nagging users to pay up in a couple of weeks until ultimately shutting down the PC altogether in a month. "Microsoft unveiled the schedule for Windows 7 Release Candidate's retirement in May 2009, when it issued the early look to the public. At the time, it said Windows 7 RC would expire June 1, 2010. Before that date, however, users are to receive warnings of the impending end. Starting on Feb. 15, Windows 7 RC will display notices every few hours that the machine will periodically shut down beginning on March 1. As of March 1, PCs running Windows 7 RC will automatically shut down every two hours. Those shutdowns will come without warning."

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday February 02, @05:19AM
from the stand-and-deliver dept.

An anonymous reader writes "It is now compulsory for people selected for a full body scan to take part, or they will not be allowed to fly from Heathrow or Manchester airports. There is no optional pat down. Also, a rule which meant that people under 18 were not allowed to participate in the body scanner trial has been overturned by the government. There is no mention of blurring out the genitals, however reports a few years back said X-ray backscatter devices aren't effective unless the genitals of people going through them are visible."

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday February 02, @09:37AM
from the methinks-the-kindle-doth-protest-too-much dept.

CuteSteveJobs writes with a followup to news we discussed on Saturday of a disagreement between Amazon and Macmillan Publishers over ebook pricing: "Amazon has thrown in the towel and announced it will now sell books at Macmillan's increased prices; up to $14.99 from $9.99. Said Amazon in a statement: 'We will have to capitulate and accept Macmillan's terms because Macmillan has a monopoly over their own titles, and we will want to offer them to you even at prices we believe are needlessly high for e-books.' Macmillan has sensed Apple's iBooks opens the way for higher prices. Perhaps the question should be: do we even need publishers like Macmillian? Publishers have long managed to keep their old business model chugging along nicely despite the Internet; Academics are still forced to give up copyright (PDF) of their work in exchange for publication. Textbook publishers have a history of unethical practices like frequent edition changes, unjustifiable price increases and bribing teachers. For that matter, why do the RIAA's members still control the music business? Why do these dinosaur publishing businesses still manage to thrive despite the Internet?"