Author Archives: Yabood

Battery Energy Drink

Yabood | January 15, 2012 - 8:12 pm

I have history with this drink. The first time I had Battery Energy Drink was about 5 or 6 years ago back in Baghdad. The can was/still so different and interesting, so I thought I should try it instead of drinking the usual, which was Coke at the time. Long story short, I loved it. I become addicted to it. I used to drink 2 – 4 cans a day.. I then moved to the U.S. over 3 years ago, and couldn’t find it anywhere. Today however, and thanks to Amazon, I can have all the Battery I need to “keep me going”. If you like energy drinks, I suggest you try this one. Its so good that I stopped drinking energy drinks all together when Battery wasn’t available.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Adding a Secondary Hard Drive to a Macbook Pro

Yabood | September 25, 2011 - 11:07 pm

Update: Jan 15, 2012.  Sorry folks, this post is useless now.  My VPS went down, and I lost all the media.  

A few months ago, I tripped, fell, landed on my head, and decided to buy a Macbook Pro.  I bought the 15″ model with the 2.2 i7, 8GB of RAM, and a 128GB SSD.  I also got the Hi-Res antiglare display.  Without going into too much detail, I hated the software, loved the hardware.  OS X just wasn’t for me.   Anyway, having only 128GB of storage on what now is my primary workstation was very limiting.  I found myself out of disk space way before I finished installing what I needed.  Granted, I had dual boot, but that was a must in my case.  I decided to look into buying a larger SSD, but the sky high prices quickly forced me into changing my mind.  I started looking for alternatives, and stumbled upon this website.  They had exactly what I needed, an optical bay kit, and a USB powered external enclosure for the optical drive.  I placed an order with them, and another one with newegg for a 1TB Spinpoint Hard Drive.  The stuff was delivered a week later, and I was ready for more storage.  Here’s how I did it:

You can download all the images above along with a few more that I haven’t posted in high resolution from HERE.

Posted in Techieat | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Writing Arabic in Photoshop

Yabood | August 27, 2011 - 11:10 pm

اكتب عربيWriting Arabic in Photoshop was always a huge problem for me.  It forced me into looking for other alternatives that support the Arabic language.  The ones that are worth mentioning are GIMP and Pixelmator.  However, while both had a decent Arabic support, they fell short in almost everything else, so I was back to square one.  See the thing is, there’s  a Photoshop version that Supports Arabic perfectly.  Its called “Photoshop ME” for Middle East and is sold by Winsoft, not Adobe.  The problem with this version though, is the fact that its a lot more expensive.  Not to mention that their license agreement for the student edition/discount prevents you from using it in a commercial context, where Adobe doesn’t.  Long story short, I needed Photoshop to start working on my new project, and decided to go ahead and purchase the Creative Suite – Web Premium (Student Edition) from Adobe, knowing that I won’t be able to use it for any Arabic related stuff.

After a while, I needed to make some graphics with Arabic text, so I started looking for a solution again.  Only this time I stumbled on this page that saved my life, and allowed me to use my current Photoshop version to write Arabic.  I just download the template that’s posted on the page, fired up Photoshop, and started writing Arabic.   Below are the instructions on how to use the template, I copied it from their website:

Open the template in Photoshop CS4. Select the existing text on the type layer of the template and replace it with the Arabic you want. Using this template, you can now cut, copy, and paste between applications without destroying your text flow.

I am now using the template with Photoshop CS 5.1, and everything is working properly.  Thank you Adobe!

P.S.  If the page is not available for whatever reason, you can download the template from HERE.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Arabizing Thematic

Yabood | June 14, 2010 - 12:36 am

Thematic is a free, open-source, highly extensible, search-engine optimized WordPress Theme Framework featuring 13 widget-ready areas, grid-based layout samples, styling for popular plugins, and a whole community behind it. It’s perfect for beginner bloggers and WordPress development professionals (ThemeShaper).

I found Thematic while I was looking for a Theme Framwork for the new website that I’m working on.  Thematic is available in many languages, except those that are RTL like the Arabic language.  No Arabic support was bad news for me, as I needed Arabic.  However, I liked Thematic enough so I decided to localize it myself.

Below is the download link to the latest copy of the Arabic language files.  I will try to keep it up-to-date as much as possible, so make sure you check this page when there is a new release of Thematic.

Download for Thematic 0.9.6.2 (100% done).

To install the Arabic language files, simply upload the ar.po and ar.mo to your Thematic languages directory, and make sure you modify your wp-config.php file, if your default language is not Arabic.

define (‘WPLANG’, ‘ar’);

Please report any misspellings or translation errors..

Posted in Projects | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

HTC Droid Incredible Modem Drivers for Windows 7 x64

Yabood | June 6, 2010 - 6:58 pm

HTC Droid Incredible

Finding the HTC Droid Incredible Modem Driver for Windows 7 x64, was a pain in the ass.  So I thought I should post a download link here.

Posted in Techieat | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments

WordPress 3 Official Release Live Demo

Yabood | April 5, 2010 - 10:53 am

Update: The demo site is running WordPress 3 Official Release now..  The credentials below are still valid..

Update: The demo site is running WordPress 3 RC3 now..  The credentials below are still valid..

Live demo is still available on the same link, go here.  WordPress 3 RC1 RC3 can be downloaded form here.

WordPress 3 Beta 1 was made available for public on April 3, 2010.

Live demo is available here.

Use the credentials below to login:

usr: admin

pwd: Wordpre$$3

The database will be restored to its original state every night at 11:00PM, meaning any posts or changes you make to the demo site will be deleted.  Meanwhile, don’t change the credentials so other users can use it.

Want to download it? Click here.

Open for discussion..

Posted in Techieat | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

How to download Skype mobile on your Blackberry

Yabood | March 26, 2010 - 10:23 pm

For those of you who are having a hard time downloading Skype on Blackberry, here’s how you do it:

On your Blackberry browser, go to http://mobile.vzw.com WITHOUT the “www” then click on the green icon that says Get Apps.  Now you should see a list of Apps, scroll down to number 15 and download Skype.

The official supported Blackberry devices are:  Tour 9630,  Storm-2 9550, Storm 9530, 8830, Curve 8530, and Curve 8330.  Please leave a comment if you can run it on other devices..

Posted in Techieat | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments

Skype mobile for Verizon Wireless

Yabood | March 25, 2010 - 11:17 am

Skype mobile is not available for your phone

Skype mobile was officially released today for Verizon Wireless customers.  According to Skype’s official website, you can use Skype mobile with Blackberry (Tour 9630,  Storm2 9550, Storm 9530, 8830, Curve 8530, and Curve 8330) or Android (Motorola DROID, HTC DROID ERIS, and Motorola Devour).   I went to their website to download it on my Blackberry Storm 9530 running v5.0.0.328 on Verizon, I had to provide my phone number to get the download link via SMS, which seemed to be the only available way.   A minute later I received the following SMS “Click this link to download Skype: http://www.skype.com/m?phone=<phonenumber>.  Or type skype.com/m into your phone’s browser”.  Oh thanks for telling me that I can download it without giving you my phone number!  Anyway, I opened the URL and…… SuRpRiSE “skype mobile is not available for your phone”.  WTF I thought my phone is supported?  Yes and no..  Apparently they have a problem with the download page and everyone is getting the “skype mobile is not available for your phone” message, see this page.  So my  phone is supported, its just that I can’t download the damn thing!  Your shit is weak Skype!

Posted in Techieat | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

46.2-862 Reckless Driving in VA

Yabood | November 3, 2009 - 2:08 am

About a month ago, I got a reckless driving ticket (46.2-862) here in VA.  I was heading to South Carolina to meetup with a friend of mine who just arrived from Baghdad.  I was doing 85 mph on a 65 mph highway, which automatically translates into reckless driving for two reasons.  One, I was doing 20 mph above the speed limit.  Two, I was above 80 mph.  Anyway, I knew it was a big deal, cause my buddy Adam had told me about it multiple times, and yet I managed to get one.  I figured I should look online and see what’s so scary about this reckless driving thing.

What I’ve learned online was shocking and really scared me.  This whole thing with the reckless driving being a class one misdemeanor, really bothered me for two straight weeks.  Apparently, a reckless driving ticket in VA means, a class one misdemeanor which is a permanent criminal record and six points on my driving record.  It also means that I have to disclose it every time I apply for a job, or deal with the immigration office or even the insurance company, so that made me take it very very seriously.  After reading online for days, I decided to get a lawyer from a place close to the court where I was suppose to go for a trial.  I found one online, with one positive review and that was good enough for me.  I called him and explained the situation, then he asked me a few questions about my driving record and whether I had any other speeding or reckless driving tickets.  After talking to the lawyer for ten minutes or so, I decided to hire him.

Today was my trial day, and the lawyer was able to reduce the charge to improper driving (46.2-869), which was an excellent outcome, since it translates into 3 points instead of 6 and no criminal record.  The lawyer charged me $350, which I paid upfront when I hired him over the phone, and the court fee was $71 plus $200 for the reduced ticket itself.  Now to me, paying $621 to make a criminal record go away, is a pretty sweet deal.

So here’s my advise to you, if you got a reckless driving ticket, don’t ignore it, and don’t act like its not a big deal because it is.  Don’t cheap out and get a lawyer, a good lawyer will save your ass like he saved mine, plus you won’t have to show up in court, which was a major inconvenience in my case since my court was four hours away from where I live.

I hope you found this information helpful, and please don’t hesitate to leave a comment if you have any questions..

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 13 Comments

Email of the year!

Yabood | October 5, 2009 - 7:26 pm

*** DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS E-MAIL ***

The last processing action taken on your case

Receipt Number: ****************

Application Type: I485 , APPLICATION TO REGISTER PERMANENT RESIDENCE OR TO ADJUST STATUS

Current Status: Notice mailed welcoming the new permanent resident.

On<date>, we mailed you a notice that we had registered this customer’s new permanent resident status. Please follow any instructions on the notice. Your new permanent resident card should be mailed within 60 days following this registration or after you complete any ADIT processing referred to in the welcome notice, whichever is later. If you move before receiving your card, please call our customer service center at 1-800-375-5283.

If you have questions or concerns about your application or the case status results listed above, or if you have not received a decision from USCIS within the current processing time listed*, please contact USCIS Customer Service at (800) 375-5283.

*Current processing times can be found on the USCIS website at www.uscis.gov under Check My Case Status and Check Processing Times.
*** Please do not respond to this e-mail message.

Sincerely,

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)

FuCKiNg SwEEt!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 3 Comments