safdar mustafa’s blog

My colleagues and friends will testify to how much i'm fond of muppets. Elmo was always a personal favourite back in the days.

Coolest thing about Sesame Street is that they always manage to maintain their appeal somehow. Watch this video and see how easy it is to create a monster. Ingenious!

Read the Mashable post also that discusses how the app is built for iPhone/iPod Touch and aimed at kids.

Would you buy your kid an iPhone or even let them play with yours?

Nokia, a bit late to the game on making thier maps finally free, although a nice stunt I must admit publicity wise.

Being able to send a text and seeing it posted on a huge arrow sign hanging from a crane in central London is quite interesting, I wonder though if there was a Nokia team sitting somewhere moderating all the spammers and kids posting rude messages :-)

I guess if you're a happy iPhone user like myself and looking to switch to the Nexus One, you'll probably want to consult a comparison chart like this one.

Although a comparison of features will be useful, ultimately I feel most iPhone users will simply be looking for something that is amazingly user friendly. Certainly the iPhone's UI or user interface is something that places the iPhone a few notches above the rest.

Being limited to strict formats did wonders for the sonnet and haiku.  One wonders where this highly impractical word-limit will lead as the future unfolds.

Here are the top 7 in the 2009 list:

1. Twitter — The ability to encapsulate human thought in 140 characters

2. Obama — The word stem transforms into scores of new words like ObamaCare

3. H1N1 — The formal (and politically correct) name for Swine Flu

4. Stimulus — The $800 billion aid package meant to help mend the US economy

5. Vampire — Vampires are very much en vogue, now the symbol of unrequited love

6. 2.0 — The 2.0 suffix is attached to the next generation of everything

7. Deficit — Lessons from history are dire warnings here

I would have thought the Middle East would be the first region to produce something like this but I guess the Dubai Debt news we've been seeing recently puts these kind of projects on the back burner.

For someone to even attempt something crazy like this shows how much the iPhone stands out from it's competitors. I can't imagine someone doing the same on a Nokia N95 or and LG.

"The man behind the bedazzler was Stuart Hughes. First he covered it in 22 cts gold plating, then slapped on a total of 190 diamonds – 136 on the front, 53 flawless diamonds on the logo, and one big ol’ 7.1 cts diamond replacing the home button."

WIFI was apparently temporarily banned in Beijing when the first batch were manufactured, so the next batch should get WIFI back.

I wonder how popular these expensive WIFI'less devices will prove to be. You can buy an unlocked 3GS with WIFI for 20% cheaper. We have to also bear in mind the huge population of China, so even a fraction of the user base could potentially mean massive sales figures for Apple and China Unicom.

For reasons of shooting video i've always preferred the Nokia N95 over the iPhone for obvious reasons. But watching this video totally changes the perspective on what's possible on the iPhone (albeit by hacking at this point in time).

Yet another development that makes the iPhone a step closer to being the one device that's all you ever need in your daily routine.

An interesting quote from TechCrunch:
"...none of these workarounds have been authorized or otherwise approved by Apple, but to see the quality and the possibilities with the iPhone 3GS really makes you think — what if Apple did approve this?"

What got my attention about the new DROID handset from Motorola aside from the 5MP camera with dual-LED flash and 16GB of memory was the fact that it does DVD-quality video capture and playback (720x480).

Technology has moved very quickly. I recall not so long ago the days of testing the broadcast quality recordings of the Nokia N95. Exciting possibilities for capturing news events on mobile.

A nice concise interview from the Guardian of Wadah Khanfar, who is still amongst the most powerful arabs in the world.

When asked "What is your greatest hope for the next 10 years?"

he replied "To see journalism liberate itself from the chains of political influence and commercialism, and to see freedom of expression become sacred without any suppression by governments or authorities."

Click on the picture above to read the full Q&A.