Quote of the Day

Sometimes things become possible if we want them bad enough.
- T.S. Eliot

Muslims and Science

One of the lights of Islamic ethics that enlightened mankind's path was scientific approach. Pre-Islamic Arab and some of societies of Middle East had never been any relation with the universal matters and how nature came to existence or how it is working.

But this state altered with the Qur'anic revelation, for God orders people to research into the origins of the heavens and Earth:

[People with intelligence are] those who remember God, standing, sitting, and lying on their sides, and reflect on the creation of the heavens and Earth [saying]: "Our Lord, You have not created this for nothing. Glory be to You! So safeguard us from the punishment of the Fire." (Qur'an, 3:191).

This consciousness is the start of the scientific rise of Islamic civilization, and it then set out a scientific process that nobody ever seen before it in human history. Its origin was Baghdad, capital of the Abbasid Empire and the Islamic world.

Scientists, intellectuals, researchers, and other scholarly personalities from all over the Muslim world came together in Baghdad's well-known Dar al-Hikmah - House of Wisdom - to explore the mysteries of Almighty’s universe. This knowingness that Muslim intellectuals and scientists gained by following the Qur'an's morality enabled history's most swift advancement in scientific knowledge until that time.

Open-mindedness, a wisdom Muslims are given by the Qur'an, gave them an ability to study and then develop more the scientific achievements of other societies and nations without bias. Muslim scientific records were full of observations, experimentations, calculations, and research on different topics and studies. In the schools of science, females were given the right to get the same education as males and perform their own role in scientific research.

Way towards becoming a prolific writer - tips on writing

Some highly useful tips on improving your writing:

• The one-lined rule which I can tell you about successful and effective writing and that can help you in becoming a prolific writer is "always focus on your reader "
• If you try and write something just because someone wants you to but your heart is not in it, your words will sound flat and the reader will tell.
• Writing should not only be a source of income, but it is supposed to be fun!
• Enliven your writing and keep your reader engaged by using verbs that portray action, rather than "is", "has", and other similarly lethargic verbs.
• Don’t' confuse your readers and never loose momentum in your writing.
• Keep a writing log of how much time you spend writing and share with others like your spouse, friends, colleagues or even with children. It will act as a accountability measure in your writing.
• Make it sure, that in your writing piece, each of your sentence is a consequence of the preceding one.
• Your writing must move in the direction of being more conversational. For this, read it aloud to lend more inviting tone and remove bumps in the logical flow of your argument.

Kindle 3 - Released

We will today unbox Amazon Kindle 3. This is the newest version with the 3G wireless connectivity. Lets do it.

Kindle 3 is not a Smartphone but it has Smartphone touch. When you buy a kindle book, you can look at your kindle device; your Apple iPhone, Apple IOS device, your Android phone, your PC or Mac. It's a very cross-platform technology.

Remember the first generation of kindle, it was so ugly; since then Kindle has evolved tremendously; it is lighter and thinner than ever . The contrast on the screen is much better and the battery life is just insane.

I also really compare the size of the Kindle with the iPad.Lot of people, including myself, find the iPad to be a poor reading device, for many reasons.

1. The glare is horrible while reading outdoor.
2. The pixel density is not high enough to read the text that is very short. Reading on iPad for a long period of time can cause eye strain.
3. And number 3, of course, the iPad is very heavy relative to the Kindle. So, holding in your hand for an hour can make your hand really tired.

Whereas kindle is extremely light weight, especially the new generation.

Lenovo G550 - Review

So, today we will talk about Lenovo G550. this comes with Pentium Duo-Core; 2.O T4200 Processor, with 2-Gigabytes of DDR 3 RAM. One of the core features of this laptop has larger display; 15.6" LED screen.

It has full sized keyboard with number pad at right. The track pad is at the left side. It is not as accurate as compared to other laptops I have used in the past. It has webcam.It is very professional looking. So, its price is comparable to other laptops such as Dell Studio.

This is not a Thinkpad; this is not an Idealpad by Lenovo. It is an Entry Level product. You are not getting a Thinkpad, so there are lots of feature differences and even the construction and material that are used to put that laptop together.

The top lid is plastic, cheap; and there is texture at top with large "LENOVO" logo. At the front side you will see the speaker grills one right and left; WiFi switch, audio in and out, and then memory card slot.

And when we turn to the side, there is ventilation, internet, Video, HTMI, and two USB ports; I am very happy to see that there is not 56K modem included. In today's age, if you still need modem to get online then you should think about yourself. So, on other side you have another USB port, DVD burner, and power.

The keyboard is not a Thinkpad keyboard; the moment you hit the key; it springs back immediately. It does feel cheaper; like exterior plastic, the interior plastic also feels cheap.

The good thing is it's seamless trackpad. The edges are not completely separated from rest of the home plastic. The reason to like is that after a long use lot of dust get stuck in gap around trackpad.

Performance wise it is good. I give it four out of five stars; the reason is it’s cheap material.

Lenovo ThinkPad T410 - Review

I am not sure it is a successor to the T400, but it is a T-line of Lenovo laptops. If you look at, you will see lot of similarities with T400 and it is vastly different than T400 as well. Lets go over the laptop and we will discuss differences in this laptop.

Dimension wise it is exactly same like T400 but the difference, however, is the battery part that is sticking out. Look at the side, you will see that the Optical Drive has been moved from the left side to the right side. The wireless ON/OFF switch has been moved to the side. There is just a headphone jack but no mic jack and there is an inclusion of eSATA port.

On the left hand side, the Ethernet jack is there and modem jack has been moved to the back. There is one display port and three USB ports. That was the exterior.

 

 

What is the immediate difference when you use that laptop that track pad has a texture. As you glide your finger over, you will see the difference. I don't say it is rubbery but it has different texture.

Actually, over years of use the track pad gets shinny and it changes; I think this finish right here will prevent it from happening. The finger print reader is moved closer to the track pad.

 

 

The huge difference between Lenovo and Apple laptops is the inclusion of stickers on the left side. Apple gives laptop very streamlined and very clean appearance. It is very high performance machines; it runs very cool; it does not get hot. The famous IBM Lenovo keyboard is still there but the design at the top has been changed slightly.

If you ask me, I will say that I like old T400 design better. The speaker grill is little bit more pronounced now on both sides. Another difference between T400 and other T series in general is that hinges are now even; before the left hinge was bigger and right hinge was much smaller. Another difference is that the side bezels are now symmetrical. With T410, you will also expect a webcam. The webcam area also has a LED light.

Overall, I am very pleased how this machine is designed as well and how it functions. But when I compare with T400, I am not sure; I can say that one is better than the other. Obviously, this unit has Core i5 and i7; therefore the memory controller embedded into the CPU, so it eliminates the performance bottom that was existing in the Dual-Core processor. So that is one huge advantage. The WiFi coverage is super and performance, again, overall is excellent. So, out of 5 stars, T410 gets 4.5.

Lenovo Thinkpad T510 – External Look and Features

We will check out Lenovo ThinkPad T510, which is a new 15" ThinkPad laptop. It has a wide screen. The construction is pretty solid; it shows no flexes at all. It is made of nice plastic finish. It comes with 9 cell battery. It is not pretty good as you can see, because it sacks out of the case. You can replace it with 6 cell battery.

 

On the back there is modem port and a USB port, which is in yellow as Lenovo decided to distinguish it's port. It is powered, it means you can charge any device like your mobile. On the other side there is power connector and heat ventilation opening.

There is indication point to show you that if the battery is charging or if the laptop is in the sleep state.

On the left side again, there is another part of the heat sink, heat ventilation, which is big than the one I showed you before. When you will use this laptop, you will see it doesn't make noise at all. It is really quite.

Besides it, there is display port to connect external monitor through HMI cable. There are two USB ports, eSATA port to connect to an external storage at faster rate than normal USB ports and switch to turn on or off the wireless connections.

On the front we have nothing but the release of the lid. On the other side, we have card slot, a reader for memory card, an audio connector that gives both input and output, a DVD burner and an ethernet connector.

  

This laptop has configuration of Corei7, 620N processor, dual-core. It has 4GB RAM. You can see the comparison with the Apple Mac Book 13"; this was just to show you the size difference.