NerdyFace.com

I have started a new blog! I'll be posting all technical subjects, tutorials and reviews on nerdyface.com while this blog remains to be a personal one and a profile of my work.

please visit and let me know what you think.

Being in the middle east, we get automatically directed to Google.ae services (Google UAE) which means Arabic interfaces in most Google products.

I’ve been asked how to change the language back into English a million times, and to be honest, it think Google made a terrible mistake here.

The problem:

Here’s a screenshot of Blogger.com login screen. as someone who doesn’t read Arabic, you are completely clueless on how to change the language. why? Because the button that’s supposed to say “Language” says “اللغة” instead.

Yes, it’s in Arabic, The language from which you’re trying to switch.

Next, let’s assume you manage to find the button, here’s where the link takes you:

It’s a page that lists all the languages IN ARABIC and the native script, go ahead and select one.

To save you the trouble of finding the “Save Settings” button, I’ve added an arrow pointing it out. You will now get the English interface.

The same applies to the Google home page and search results. Here’s what I got when I used the Firefox search box:

Again, you’ll need to find the link to the “Language tools” page which is also linked in Arabic as “أدوات اللغة”

Now clicking on that link, takes you to probably one of the worst pages in web usability history. Here’s what you’d see":

This is a list of languages, ironically titled “Use Google in YOUR Language”. Again the list is in Arabic, but with NO TRANSLATION this time. (I’ve highlighted English here)

Conclusion:

I know that developers at Google UAE must have worked hard on this, but keeping in mind that less than half of the residents of the UAE actually read Arabic, they should have performed thorough testing on those pages for those who don’t read Arabic.

I’m hoping they realise this mistake soon and have it fixed, meanwhile you’ll have to ask for help from your Arab friend

Verizon Wireless and Motorola are teaming up again to release what seems to be my new favourite thing!

Motorola R2D2 is the new version of the famous Moto Droid II, customized with a theme from the legendary Star Wars series.

The phone comes with pre-installed home screens, wallpapers, soundboards, apps and widgets with a star wars theme. It has the same specifications of a Droid II, featuring a TI OMAP 1 GHz processor, Android 2.2 Froyo, 8 GB internal memory, 8 GB microSD card, aGPS, qwerty keyboard, 5 MP Camera and DVD quality video recording.

 

Motorola Droid R2D2 will be released on September 30th 2010, I’m hoping to get one of those as soon as it’s released!

I started working on a new painting (the one on the left) and ran out of space on canvas so i added another.
I'm not sure whether or not this is normal but my problem is not knowing when or where to stop. I've ruined some work before because i kept adding new elements until it ended up a big crowded mess.
Hope you find this one interesting, again i used oil pastels on cotton canvas.

I started drawing lately, never thought i could do this before but i guess it’s never too late to give it a try and i’m quite pleased with the results :)
I used oil pastels on a cotton stretched canvas.
Hey at least it’s more decoration for my apartment walls!