Google Language tool provides translation between different languages and is widely used all over the world. Few of my Turkish and Egyptian friends frequently use google language tools and they are not satisfied with the translation. Sometimes translations are wrong or does not fully depict the words or even convey the meaning. The most important reason for bad translation is the beauty/semantics in each language which are impossible to translate. This tool translates major languages of the world except one. It is a national language of the country which has very high profile IT industry.

Urdu the national language of Pakistan and the 5th world most widely spoken language [according to SIL (1999)].  George Weber’s wrote an article about the world’s 10 most influential Languages, and Urdu was rated 10th.

Also according to him Urdu is 4th most spoken language in the world with 4.7 percent of world population.

According to wikipedia countries with large numbers of native Urdu speakers are[source]:

I see these facts and I wonder why google language tool does not have urdu translation facility.

Apart from google there are various other websites which provide Urdu to English and vice versa translation but only to single word [other words they have English<->Urdu dictionary]. I would like to appreciate  http://www.urduword.com/ and http://www.hamariweb.com/ for providing best translation and other language services. Also google labs for providing Roman Urdu tool. But the need for sentence/phrases translations is still there and very few people are working on it.

Hats off to the guys from http://www.paktranslations.com/ who are putting lots of efforts and had initiated a first step towards urdu language tool. Currently they are in beta phase so only English to Urdu translation of sentences and  websites are facilitated by them. They are continuously working and making lots of improvement in their tool. Their tool is not accurate but something is better than nothing.

The facts that Urdu is spoken all around the world, it is under top 5 most spoken language, 10th most  influential language, and have lots of quality literature are clearly shouting Urdu should be included in Google language tool.

I would like to hear your comments what do you think why google has not included urdu in language tool.

As the time passes the new requirements arise because of the emerging technologies. In early days we had platform dependent software systems. A decade ago people started thinking to make platform independent software systems. The interoperability, reusability, and other issues drove the software community to come up with the service-oriented architecture (SOA) paradigm.

The SOA vision is to maximize the software asset reusability and it also addresses the challenges of tightly coupled software and advocates an architecture that relies on the loose coupling of assets. On the financial front, it tackles budgeting and return-on-investment issues. But what about software diversity, the integration and collaboration issues.

It is not impossible properly bridging new and old software technologies but it not easy task as well. If we treat all our software assets equally in terms of their analysis, design, and architectural value propositions, than we might understand their collaborative contribution to our environment without being too concerned about their underlying languages and implementation detail. We can also name these assets services and conceive of them as services oriented entities because they are built on similar SOA strategies and principles.

Service-oriented modeling mechanism enables us to conceive software products that we have been constructing, acquiring, and integrating previously as service oriented constituents. It does not matter if these entities are legacy applications written in languages such as COBOL, Java, C++, C#, or diverse empowering platforms and middleware. They should all take part in an SOA modeling framework. Most important, they should be treated equally in the face of analysis, design, and architectural initiatives, and should simply be recognized as services.

Service oriented modeling is a software development practice that employs modeling disciplines and language to provide strategic and tactical solutions to enterprise problems. This anthropomorphic modeling paradigm advocates a holistic view of the analysis, design, and architecture of all organizational software entities, conceiving them as service-oriented assets, namely services. The language used in it does not restrict itself to any specific programming language paradigm, constrained by language structure barriers, or limited to a language syntax. As a result of this universal language, the modeling process becomes more accessible to both the business and technology communities. This SOA modeling approach is well suited to provide tactical, short-term solutions to enterprise concerns, yet it furnishes strategic remedies to persistent organizational problems.

[source: Michael Bell, “Service Oriented Modeling: Service Analysis, Design and Architecture” 2008]

I made a presentation on the same topic in the university and wanted to share it.

I was searching for waterproof camera and found a very interesting article. Ofcourse If you are using SLR then I would recommend the waterproof kit[kind of plastic bag] for you. If you like photography and like to buy new waterproof camera then you must check out this comparison. [source:http://www.popphoto.com/Features/The-5-Best-Waterproof-Compact-Cameras]

1. Canon PowerShot D10
$330 street, 12.1MP; 3X optical zoom; waterproof to 33 feet
Canon’s first foray into waterproof digital compacts looks like a cross between a Digital ELPH and a diving bell. With a waterproof rating down to 33 feet, it’s among the deepest divers in this category, but its 2.5-inch LCD and optically stabilized 35–105mm (equivalent) f/2.8–4.9 zoom lens aren’t at the front of this pack. Like the other cameras here, the D10 is freeze- and shockproof, in this case surviving temperatures down to 14 degrees Fahrenheit and falls of up to 4 feet.
www.powershot.com

2. Fujifilm Finepix Z33WP
$200 street, 10MP; 3X optical zoom; waterproof to 10 feet
Borrowing design cues from Fuji’s teen-targeted Z30, this underwater shooter is one of the tiniest and most stylish, as well as the most affordable. Its 2.7-inch LCD is as large as they come on this type of compact. But it’s waterproof only to 10 feet, and its 10MP and 35–105mm (equivalent) f/3.7–4.2 optical zoom aren’t groundbreaking.
www.fujifilmusa.com

3. Olympus Stylus Tough 8000
$400 street, 12MP; 3.6X optical zoom; waterproof to 33 feet
Olympus offers some of the most rugged compact cameras you can get, and its latest fits the mold. You can shoot down to 33 feet underwater, drop the camera from up to 6.6 feet, and use it in temperatures down to 14 degrees Fahrenheit. Plus, its metal construction can withstand up to 220 pounds of pressure. Sensorshift image stabilization combats hand shake, and the zoom, while not league-leading, spans an equivalent 28–102mm f/3.5–5.1.
www.stylustough.com

4. Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS1
$400 street, 12.1MP; 4.6X optical zoom; waterproof to 10 feet
Panasonic has stepped up to the pool in a strong way with its first waterproof digital camera. Its optically stabilized 28–128mm (equivalent) f/3.3–5.9 zoom offers a nice balance of wide angle for underwater and midrange tele for land-based adventures. At 12.1MP, it affords plenty of resolution, and it has an ample 2.7-inch LCD. While we wish it could go deeper than 10 feet, its 720p video recording should make playing in the backyard pool more fun than ever.
www.panasonic.com

5. Pentax Optio W60
$250 street, 10MP; 5X optical zoom; waterproof to 13 feet
Pentax was one of the first to offer dunkable digital cameras with its WP series years ago, and now it’s a major force. This model has plenty of room to the left of the lens to hold onto, and we like the 720p video recording, though we’d rather have a faster rate than its 15 frames per second. Its Super Macro mode should be a boon below the surface, letting you focus as close as 0.4 inches from the front of the 28–140mm (equivalent) f/3.5–5.5 lens.
www.pentaximaging.com

Scrum and Lean are the methodologies used in agile software development. Scrum focuses on self organizing team and provides the framework for software development where as lean focuses more on process and optimization of process. They both aim on improving software development capabilities but their approach are different.

Some people might think that comparing scrum and lean is like “Apples to oranges” which is not true; if we look at different aspects of these methodologies we can compare them easily. Mathis compared these two methodologies on the basis of procedures, teams and responsibility, values, engineering practices, knowledge building and Iterations / Sprints / Timeboxes. This comparison can help in understanding when to adopt  Scrum methodology or Learn. For me it depends upon the need of the organization and its nature of projects. In some cases where quick results are needed scrum is more useful but when it comes to product improvement lean is a suitable choice. It’s a common practice to combine scrum and lean by extending scrum framework and using the lean principles in organizations so that they can enjoy the benefits of both methodologies.

Following is my presentation, which talks about the similarities and differences between these two methodologies, I hope you will find it interesting.

Its been more than 6 months since I am having spam friend request in my msn messenger. Each day I get two or three friend request which always contains “@yahoo.com” and if added, they  send spam messages. I tried blocking them all, set permission on my live profile and also tried accepting their friend request. But nothing seems to work, I cannot avoid them. I am still searching the way to stop these requests, but no matter what my course of action is its all in vain.

They are so annoying that I am thinking to leave msn messenger.  But at the same time I searching to resolve this problem. If anyone is going under the same situation or have successfully conquered then please do share your thoughts.

Here is the link which promises to stop the spam, but its not effective.

http://www.pcmech.com/article/three-ways-to-stop-instant-messenger-spam/