I’d like to donate to Firefox but… :(

I really love Mozilla Firefox!

It’s my default browser since its launch date…

But it seems that these days it needs users’ donations to keep itself alive.

I’d really like to donate to Mozilla for its Firefox but unfortunately our banks are restricted by America 🙁 So the banks are not connected to the world and we cannot pay directly and easily!

I’m sure a lot of Iranians love Firefox as well, and they would like to donate to it but this problem is a huge obstacle for them.

I want to say America, not only restrict us but it’s people and companies.

I wish we could help Mozilla and other nice companies.

Why Yahoo! and Gmail should never ever release a user ID to others?

I don’t know whether you noticed that In 2013 Yahoo announced that deactivated Yahoo IDs will be released… Yahoo asked people to register for their dreamed IDs…

I registered for aftabgardan[@]yahoo and fortunately after some time, Yahoo alerted me that I’m able to sign up for that ID.

I registered it for myself and now I am the owner of that ID.

Yesterday, I received a newsletter from a university, so I noticed that previous owner has an account in that website… I tried to reset his/her password by typing my new email in “I forgot my password” section and I could reset the password and log in to his/her account!!!!!

It is a really terrible idea!!

I’m really afraid of the future!! If after some time, for example google free up my accounts, do you know what happens!? All of the websites in which I’ve registered could be under control of the next owner of my account!

It is the reason which I can be sure that Yahoo and Gmail should never ever free up a deactivated account… At least I hope it never happen again in the history of email!!!

a suggestion for goo.gl

Today I was mailing this URL to one of my students:

https://www.google.com/search?num=50&client=firefox-a&hs=gHy&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&channel=sb&q=speech+recognition+%D8%A8%D9%87&oq=speech+recognition+%D8%A8%D9%87&gs_l=serp.3..30i10.16489.18609.0.18802.11.11.0.0.0.0.207.969.5j3j1.9.0….0…1c.1.45.serp..9.2.175.DAEn3quu3IA

It’s a Google search result…

Isn’t it too long?

I think Google could add a button to top of result pages and let users click on it to get a short URL of that page via goo.gl service directly.

For example that long URL could be converted to this:

http://goo.gl/8N4dqQ

I’m sure Google will add this feature someday…

Usability: Why iPhone is for Admins and Managers?

In my opinion, iPhone could be the best choice for administrators and managers. Why? Because of its fantastic design!

Look: many of managers spend most of their time in meetings. imagine you have forgotten to silent your device and someone calls you and it starts to ring. OK, no problem, you can silent it just with a press of your finger! even, no need to take your hand in your pocket! you can press Silence button from over of your pants! Or you can single click on On/Off button to silent the device or double click to reject the call!

I’ve never seen this action in any other cell phone!

Or if your device is not with you and you can not silent it, the iPhone speakers are not like crazy Sony Ericson or Samsong devices which trouble people when they start to ring! iPhone speakers play in a medium tone, neither low not loud, and it is what is expected form a high-class manager.

These are really helpful, specially for me as Muslim who spends some times in Mosques with his iPhone in his pocket…

Another fantastic hidden behavior I discovered today, is this:

You can add many emails to your Mail Accounts and send email from any of them. iOS 7 monitors your behavior and intelligently learns what to do in your next email sending… for example imagine you have 2 mail accounts: x@gmail.com and y@gmail.com [one for home and another for work]

if you send an email to z@gmail.com with your y@gmail.com account, next time you type or choose z@gmail.com to send a new mail, iOS automatically chooses your y@gmail.com as the sender!! no need to choose yourself! it does that for you…

These examples are part of a hot topic called “Usability”. Your application or device should reach the users to their goal at the minimum amount of time and learn users’ behavior and put them into action...

Have you discovered any hidden tips like these? Share them with us…

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Update: I wish Gmail add this feature to its Compose window. When we type an email in TO field, FROM field could be automatically chosen from my email accounts based upon my previous actions…

Attachment problem in mail compose

One of the most common problems I as a none-English language have with Compose in mail boxes is: I forget to attach the file(s) I’ve mentioned in the context of the post!

for example I write (in Persian): Dear customer, download the attachment and replace it with the old file on your website… and tomorrow, the customer replies: You have forgotten to attach the file!

The best solution for this problem is that Gmail and Yahoo, translate the word “Attach” and “Attachment” and their derived words to all languages in world and they check the mail context before sending it. If the user has typed any of these words in any language and they have forgotten to attach anything, the system should alert them to check whether they want to attach any file…

I hope Gmail and Yahoo read this post and pay attention to it. 🙂

Online Will

Last night I thought of my death:
If I possibly die tonight, what happens to my websites?
Maybe a month later, they would be expired and no one can access their data and all of my articles will be dead too! Because no one knows my passwords and the way they should manage my websites.

I thought of a solution for this problem and finally found a good solution:
Everybody checks his/her mail box (Yahoo or Gmail) regularly. For example, I check my box almost every day. OK it can mean that if I do not check it for (for example) two weeks, maybe I’m dead.
So, Gmail or Yahoo can add a new feature to their mail settings to let users write an “Online Will” and define how long after their last visit and to whom it should be sent!
I can write all of my essential data (like passwords and CPanel addresses and how hosts and domains should be renewed) and send them to one of my closest friends’ email (or my brother’s) and he/she can act as I’ve told in that Will.

I hope Gmail reads this post and add this fantastic feature 🙂

How Quran is nothing but loss after loss for the unjust!?

Have you ever read this Aya of Quran?

وَنُنَزِّلُ مِنَ الْقُرْ‌آنِ مَا هُوَ شِفَاءٌ وَرَ‌حْمَةٌ لِّلْمُؤْمِنِينَ ۙ وَلَا يَزِيدُ الظَّالِمِينَ إِلَّا خَسَارً‌ا

Persian Translation:
و ما از قرآن آنچه را برای مؤمنان مایه درمان ورحمت است، نازل می کنیم وستمکاران را جز خسران نمی افزاید.

English Translation: And We send down in the Qur’an that which is a cure for the Muslims, and a mercy – and it increases only ruin for the unjust! (Al-Isra – 82)

It is one of the most important Miracles of Quran!

Have you ever seen a Text which is Mercy for someone and at the same time it is Ruin for someone else?

Its mystery is in how people look at it. Unjust People normally have spiteful view! so they look for the Verses which they can deny the accuracy of Quran and as you know: “We see what we really want to see!” When they face to beautiful and moral verses like the following verses they have to close their eyes:

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(9-12 Al-Hujuraat)

إِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ إِخْوَةٌ فَأَصْلِحُوا بَيْنَ أَخَوَيْكُمْ ۚ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُونَ
The Believers are but a single Brotherhood: So make peace and reconciliation between your two (contending) brothers; and fear Allah, that ye may receive Mercy.
﴿١٠﴾
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا يَسْخَرْ قَوْمٌ مِّن قَوْمٍ عَسَىٰ أَن يَكُونُوا خَيْرًا مِّنْهُمْ وَلَا نِسَاءٌ مِّن نِّسَاءٍ عَسَىٰ أَن يَكُنَّ خَيْرًا مِّنْهُنَّ ۖ وَلَا تَلْمِزُوا أَنفُسَكُمْ وَلَا تَنَابَزُوا بِالْأَلْقَابِ ۖ بِئْسَ الِاسْمُ الْفُسُوقُ بَعْدَ الْإِيمَانِ ۚ وَمَن لَّمْ يَتُبْ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الظَّالِمُونَ
O ye who believe! Let not some men among you laugh at others: It may be that the (latter) are better than the (former): Nor let some women laugh at others: It may be that the (latter are better than the (former): Nor defame nor be sarcastic to each other, nor call each other by (offensive) nicknames: Ill-seeming is a name connoting wickedness, (to be used of one) after he has believed: And those who do not desist are (indeed) doing wrong.
﴿١١﴾
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اجْتَنِبُوا كَثِيرًا مِّنَ الظَّنِّ إِنَّ بَعْضَ الظَّنِّ إِثْمٌ ۖ وَلَا تَجَسَّسُوا وَلَا يَغْتَب بَّعْضُكُم بَعْضًا ۚ أَيُحِبُّ أَحَدُكُمْ أَن يَأْكُلَ لَحْمَ أَخِيهِ مَيْتًا فَكَرِهْتُمُوهُ ۚ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ تَوَّابٌ رَّحِيمٌ
O ye who believe! Avoid suspicion as much (as possible): for suspicion in some cases is a sin: And spy not on each other behind their backs. Would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? Nay, ye would abhor it…But fear Allah: For Allah is Oft-Returning, Most Merciful.
﴿١٢﴾
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ وَأُنثَىٰ وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَائِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوا ۚ إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ
O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise (each other). Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things).

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Quran is full of these verses but some people like that American priest,Terry Jones see some special verses which needs to be explained and because they do not search about it, they do not understand the main meaning of them and finally set fire to the Quran!
Do you know why?
Quran answers you:

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُ‌وا سَوَاءٌ عَلَيْهِمْ أَأَنذَرْ‌تَهُمْ أَمْ لَمْ تُنذِرْ‌هُمْ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ ﴿٦﴾ خَتَمَ اللَّـهُ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِهِمْ وَعَلَىٰ سَمْعِهِمْ ۖ وَعَلَىٰ أَبْصَارِ‌هِمْ غِشَاوَةٌ ۖ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ ٧

As for those who have rejected (these things), it is all the same to them whether you warn them or do not warn them: they are not going to believe. (6) Allah has sealed up their hearts and ears and a covering has fallen over their eyes, and they have incurred the severest punishment. (7)

But believers of Quran look at it carefully and without any spite!
They see the beauty of Quran. (even as a normal text not the message of GOD)

they try their best to discover fantastic things of Quran like this:

Object Oriented Programming in Quran!

If they see something strange they change their view and they find out that from that view, yes, Quran is correct and it is a mercy for them.

Anyway, reading and understanding Quran needs one thing and it is: a Clean Eye! (an eye without any spite) 😉

Wish you success,
Hamid Reza Niroomand

Object Oriented Programming in Quran!

If you are a student or a graduated of Computer Science, you may have or may have had a course called “Object Oriented Programming (OOP)” or “Advanced Programming”. If you’d like to describe what OOP is, what will you say? I personally use this example in my classes:
Assume that today our GOD wants to create a new human. Will He redefine the concept of all properties and operations of human? Will He frequently redefine the concept of, for example, “eye”, “ear”, “heart” and so forth? Will He redefine the concept of “Crying”, “Seeing”, “Walking”, etc?
Definitely if He did so, He would waste a lot of time, and according to our beliefs, negative adjectives like “Time Wasting” does not have any way to our GOD.
It seems that GOD has a template or model which all of these body parts and their functions have been defined in. This template is flexible like kids Play Dough so GOD can make changes He prefers while he is creating a new human. (For example He can make the eyes and ears smaller or larger, etc.)
When GOD wants to create a new human, there is no need to redefine the concepts of eyes or ears or the way they act…
The only thing He has to do is to choose some values like the color of eyes or the size of ears and put all of them (plus the Adam’s essence) in that template and the new human is ready!
OK, now in Object Oriented Programming we say:
Assume that a programmer is designing a program for a University. (University Management System). Will he define all properties and operations of each student separately and repeatedly? For example will he frequently define the concept of “First Name”, “Last Name”, “Father’s Name” and so forth? Will he say, “OK, “First Name” is string, its max-length is 50 characters, “Birth date” is DATE, its format is YYYY-MM-DD”, etc? Will he define the concept of “Add Student” and “Edit Student” for each student and in each part of the program separately?
Defiantly if he does so, he will waste a lot of time, but a good programmer does not waste the time!
It is better to create a Template and define all students’ properties and operations in it. This template should be flexible so that the programmer can change some parts while he is creating a new student. (For example in the previous example, GOD should be able to change the operation of eyes to create some blind or poor eyesight people, and now the programmer should be able to change some functions of “Add Student” for the students of different levels)
When the programmer wants to create a new student, there is no need to redefine the concept of “First Name”, “Last Name”, “Birth date” and “Add Student”, “Edit Student”, etc. The only thing he needs to do is to get some values for the properties (like “Hamid Reza” for “First Name” and “Niroomand” for “Last Name”, etc) and put all of them in the template and the new student is ready!
In OOP, that Template is called a CLASS. Those body parts like eyes and ears are called Property Names. Their values like “blue” or “big” are called Property Values. Their operations and functions are called Method and the flexibility of a class is called Overriding.
Anyway, I hope you have gotten the concept of Object Oriented Programming, otherwise you may need to review your OOP textbook :).
My aim in this post was to tell a story.
Every time that I say these concepts to my students in OOP classes, I wonder, “Does GOD really has a Class and Template for human?”
At our local mosque, people read a page of Quran every night. Two nights ago, when the reciter was reading the first Aya of Nesaa Sura, I became really surprised! My eyes were like thisShocked
Have a look at this Aya:
O mankind! Reverence your Guardian-Lord, who created you from one living entity
In English Translation نَّفْسٍ وَاحِدَةٍ has been translated as “One living entity” or “Single Soul” or “One being” but now, we programmers know that GOD is speaking to us! He means “I’ve used Object Oriented Programming in creating humans!”
Yes, GOD is an Excellent Programmer! 🙂
Wish you success.
Hamid Reza Niroomand

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This is an English version of this post:

تشریح مبحث شیئ گرایی در برنامه نویسی با استفاده از قرآن

Internet still needs some improvements!

It’s about 4 hours that I’m looking for a couple of drivers for an Apple MacBook Pro laptop (for windows 7).

It is really funny that I finally couldn’t even understand whether these drivers has been presented by the manufacturers or not!!

I explored more than 20 websites which I referred by Google but each one has its own method to catch money not to handle my problem 🙁

More funny than that is that the manufacturers’ websites (specially Broadcom and AMD websites) are like a puzzle!! You have to click this link, then that link, again another link and finally nothing!! Instead they could print a Serial Number or Code on the product or a digital code on the heart of the product (which is visible to the OS) then they could put a clear link called “Download Driver” then they ask that serial number or code or part of the product name then suggest some download links… (Or clearly answer: There is no driver for the OS you’re looking for)

They must consider the customers! We don’t have that much technical information about their product model or exact name, etc.

On the other hand, Google should manage its results on a better way! It could put more reliable websites on the top of the results page, but now, unfortunately some “Spam Link algorithms” have caused some spam websites be upper than others 🙁

I personally prefer WolframAlpha because of its fantastic management of data, I’m sure that Google finally has to do so!

Anyway, seems that we have a long way to reach to a fast Internet! (Not fast in speed but the way you could find exactly what you want)

Hope we see that world 🙂

Why I deleted my Facebook Account?

I deleted my Facebook account specially after President Obama in his Nowruz Speech referred to Facebook as a weapon against Iran.

Of course another reason for that is: believe it or not, Facebook is not designed according to our culture and beliefs, so you could see a lot of photos or videos that are not recommended for Shia Muslims and specially a Young Shia Muslim.

For example one day I saw a photo of one of my female classmates that I couldn’t believe she does not believe in Hijab.

One day I received an email from one of my students who said:

Dear Professor! you always recommend us not to use VPN or Proxy to bypass Filtered websites because they are full of sins and may cause you to fall into Satan’s trap, so why you yourself has two accounts in Facebook? (One for myself and one for my website)

He was right and I didn’t know what to say 🙁

Of course I created my accounts when Facebook was at the beginning of his road and our government hadn’t blocked that and I didn’t log in to my account after it was filtered.

But maybe the main reason for which I decided to delete my accounts today, is that after Obama’s speech, Facebook increased its Email Alerts to tempt Iranian’s youth to be active in Facebook. I received more than 10 emails through these three days!

I’m sure Facebook does that just for Iranian users who are not active!

Therefore, before I fall into the trap of Satan, I went to this address and I deleted both of my accounts:

http://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=delete_account

😉