Minggu, 06 Februari 2011

Why I Believe in Thin Film

Dana Blankenhorn


When most people think of solar energy, they see flat panels on a
roof.


They don't think about thin film. They don't see it.


This is one of the many advantages of CIGS and other thin
film solar technologies
. So what if its efficiency is half that of
a panel? It conforms to the shape of the place where it lays.


Thin film can also be productized in ways no panel can. It can be
turned into something retailers can sell or bloggers will drool over. Try doing that with a panel.


With the exception of the 800-pound Gorilla First
Solar Inc (FSLR)
, it's true
that we're still measuring the annual supply from these manufacturers
in megawatts, figures utility companies can't (and often don't want to)
hear, except as window-dressing or a source of subsidies.
But changing that equation is as simple as getting the right product
into mass production. (Skeptics should listen again to the words of
former DEC CEO Ken Olsen. 'There is
no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home
.')


Personally I think I've seen the future and it's thin.


Copper indium gallium (di)selenide is also not the only possible formula for a thin film. Sharp
(SHCAY.PK)
is looking at amorphous silicon, despite Applied
Materials' (AMAT)
failure with it.
Maybe they will succeed, and maybe they'll fail too. The search for new
materials will go on. (Like the man told Dustin Hoffman in The
Graduate, 'One word. Plastics.')


There is a ton of competition in this space. Analysts at Greentech
Media recently wrote a list of just CIGS thin film companies for a
story on one of them. Want to hear it? Solar Frontier, Q-Cells
(QCLSF.PK)
, Solyndra,
SoloPower, MiaSolé, Wuerth Solar, Stion, GSP, Nanosolar. They can't all be wrong, can they?


And is that an exhaustive list? Far from it. Venture capitalists are
funding more all the time, often on the promise of greater efficiency.
While analysts at Greentech Media are very positive about companies
like AQT Solar
that can get into production fast and cheap, or SoloPower, with its claims of UL Labs approval,
it's clear to me that this is the first mile of a corporate marathon.


Put it this way. How many PC makers from the late 1970s can you
name? (Other than Apple.) In terms of this market, I don't even think
we're at 1977 yet.


There are just so many directions in which improvement can happen
with thin films. Efficiency, production cost, durability, materials
cost, etc. It's true that the total power being supplied by CIGS right
now looks pathetic next to standard panels, but the advantages are just
too obvious.


That's why companies like Dow Chemical and (now) Intel
are putting cash into the space. Dow likes the idea of solar systems
that go on with the roof, that in fact are the roof. Intel likes Sulfurcell, a German company that claims (as
others do) that thin films can be as efficient as panels.


The way to look at this is not through the eyes of current
production, or short-term profits. It's about the technologies behind
the curtain, the new materials and techniques that can get that to
market. A good venture capitalist will invest in 10 plays knowing only
three will ever bring him any return, but in hopes that 1 of those
three will be huge. That's the right attitude to have.


What does it mean when every roof, every wall, every tent
and bleach blanket can be delivering solar power to its owner?
Remember, electronics and many electrical devices are requiring
less-and-less power every year.


More to the point, what does it mean to an industry that depends on
long-term contracts for construction of panel systems if the wall can
deliver just as much power for the cost of wallpapering? Or painting?
That's a silly question today, but one that the people in this business
should probably start thinking about.


Dana
Blankenhorn
first
covered the energy industries in 1978 with the
Houston Business Journal. He returned last month after a short 29 year
hiatus because it's the best business story of our time. In between he
covered PCs, the Internet, e-commerce, open source, the Internet of
Things and Moore's Law. It's the application of the last to harvesting
the energy all around us he's most excited about. He lives in Atlanta.

How to SSH into your XenServer from Mac and Windows



Sometimes it comes in handy to manage your XenServer via command line. Maybe you just want to perform some of the xsconsole functions. Here are some options:



From a Mac:



1. Navigate to Applications > Utilities > Terminal

2. use the ssh command to get to your XenServer. lets try an example where we are connecting with teh default root account on a host called xenserver-phx01 and password is MyPassword1



ssh -l root xenserver-phx01


You can aso specify a port if you were to change the default ssh port from the default of 22



ssh -l root xenserver-phx01 -p 8080





Here is a screen shot of the mac terminal accessing a XenServer







of course you can also run the xsconsole to get the Text UI:







The same commands apply to a connection from a linux machine.




Here are some screen shots from a windows machine using putty.










If you have many machines to administer among difference connection types Felix Deimel from mRemote.org (merged with VisionApp) has a cool tool called mRemote that you can use as well.







You can use the configuration console to enter the address, port username etc for connection.








Happy SSH'ing!

rat








How to Activate License code and download the Citrix Ready Demo Licenses.



This document will help Citrix Ready Partners understand How to Activate License code and download the Citrix Ready Demo Licenses they are entitled to.


Please follow the steps below to download the License.






Step1: Login into MyCitrix - Choose a Toolbox - Select Partner Use License











Step2: From the Current Tool, Choose Partner Demo Licenses and click on Get Software











Step3: Choose the appropriate Citrix Product to download the Demo License.











Step4: For example choose XenDesktop, copy the Serial Number (License Access Code)






FYI -XenDesktop Platinum Edition includes XenApp Platinum/Enterprise Edition Demo License











Step5: Click on Choose a Toolbox - Activate System/Manage Assets











Step6: From the drop down, select Activate/Allocate and the paste the License Access Code and click on Continue











Step7: Select I Cannot find my reseller and click on continue.











Step8: Choose your contact information and click on submit.











Step9: Verify your contact information and click on Submit.











Step10: Click on Continue.











Step11: Enter the Quantity and enter the Hostname of the License Server and click Allocate.




Please refer FAQ for more information



Please refer to the Citrix Ready Program Benefits under the number of licenses allocated for all 3 Levels under Citrix Ready Program.












Step12: Confirm the allocation and click on Confirm.











Step13: Click to download the license file.














If you need any more information, Please don't hesitate to write to citrixready@citrix.com



Virtually Everything You Need to Set Up and Use VDI for Free



With XenDesktop 5 Express, you can create a virtual desktop (VDI) production environment for up to 10 users or an evaluation environment as a POC ...for free! The XenDesktop Express download includes everything you need plus a tutorial video that walks you through the installation process. (You could also use XenDesktop with Microsoft Hyper-V or VMware vSphere as the virtualization layer, but we recommend the included XenServer 5.6).



Then when you're comfortable with your XenDesktop environment on a LAN, you can try it out on a WAN for free with Citrix Access Gateway VPX 5.0.1 Express.



Here's what you need...



Product Download



Download XenDesktop 5 Express edition from: http://www.citrix.com/tryxendesktop



This download (filename: XD5_Express.zip) includes:



  • XenDesktop5.iso - XenDesktop Controller & Virtual Desktop Agent

  • XenServer 5.6.0-install-cd.iso - XenServer 5.6 virtualization infrastructure

  • XenCenter.ja.msi - Install for XenCenter Japanese language version

  • XenDesktop_Express_Edition_License.lic - 10 user XenDesktop license

  • XenDesktop5_Express_Edition_Tutorial.wmv - Step-by-step guidance for a XenDesktop setup







Licenses



Included in the XenDesktop Express download zip:

(Note: Product offers a 30 day grace period until license is applied.)



  • XenDesktop 5 Express License file - Covers Controller, Virtual Desktops, and XenServer

  • XenServer License - License using XenDesktop Controller's licensing feature (refer to tutorial video)







Sample Configuration



One or more servers capable of supporting the following:



  • Windows 2008 or Windows 2008 R2 servers




-- Desktop controller, 2 GB quad core

-- Optional server for other pieces (IIS SQL, Web Interface*, Active Directory, etc.)



*Note: Web Interface could be included on the Desktop Controller instead.



  • Windows 7 virtual desktops (VDAs), at least 1GB and 1 core each VM







Documentation






More documentation can be found here.





General Info






Phase 2: Access Gateway



Once you're comfortable with your XenDesktop environment on a LAN, it's time to try it out on a WAN ...for free. Citrix Access Gateway VPX is a virtual machine based solution for remote access to your XenDesktop environment. Access Gateway VPX configured in 'Express mode,' will allow a max of 5 users for 1 year. Here are links to the resources:





Hope you find this information helpful. If you've tried this yourself or there are other resources that you've found useful, please share!





Laura Whalen

Citrix Systems, Inc.

Follow me on Twitter



When a tree falls



...unobserved, in a remote forest, does it make a sound?'. You can of course argue this till you're blue in the face, but I like the simple empirical approach: 'No. Sound is a human experience of vibration, so no humans means no sound'.



Yesterday another redwood crashed to the ground without a sound. Nobody was paying attention to it. The news: the double whammy announcements by OpenStack.org of the Bexar release of OpenStack, and the simultaneous announcement by Cisco that it would embrace and contribute to the development of OpenStack.

It is difficult to understate the significance of OpenStack, and Cisco's participation, to all prospective operators and users of cloud infrastructure. On behalf of the community, I want to recognize the help of Michael Enescu, CTO for Open Source Initiatives and Lew Tucker, CTO for Enterprise Cloud at Cisco, who have championed OpenStack at Cisco. Also, Canonical has announced that it is joining the OpenStack community, which is a substantial shift from its earlier embrace of Eucalyptus, and a very welcome addition of a high calibre engineering team to the OpenStack effort.



With its announcement Cisco has embraced a both a technology base and a process for delivery of an open, interoperable and compatible cloud framework. Building on the contributions of a community of over 50 vendors and about 150 developers, OpenStack is delivering open source cloud infrastructure that operates at provider scale, and guarantees openness, portability and compatibility. It supports all major hypervisors, including XenServer Hyper-V, KVM and (courtesy of Citrix) VMware ESXi. So, if your application vendor were foolish enough to insist that they would only support the app virtualized on ESX, you could still build a free cloud, and run the workload on ESXi.



OpenStack allows you to build a scalable service-provider class cloud of your own, featuring compute, block and object storage, and in future, a wide variety of value-added services from a rich ISV ecosystem that can use it. To be clear: Every ISV solution built to use the Margherita Pizza model of cloud infrastructure will also be able to deliver value on an OpenStack cloud. OpenStack is already making headlines in the service provider segment. With the help of our friends at CloudScaling, Internap has announced the first production deployment of a service based on the massively scalable OpenStack object store.



Cisco's announcement signals clearly that OpenStack has emerged as the industry's leading, collaboratively developed alternative to proprietary, closed cloud solutions. Figures released at the announcement event yesterday are indicative: About 150 contributors from over 50 member organizations contributed to the Bexar release. The rate of feature delivery is incredible, and the ISV ecosystem around OpenStack is growing fast. For example, Gazzang is now offering security for data in the cloud.



Anso Labs, a boutique code foundry that collaborated with NASA to deliver the original Nebula compute cloud that has evolved into OpenStack Nova has also been very active in the community. At a meeting at the Hilton Santa Clara last night, over 200 attendees got a first peek at the latest open source tools and APIs from Anso, and got to hear Chris Kemp, CTO of NASA, describe their use of the technology to build clouds for the NASA scientists. Gordon Mangione from Citrix articulated our strategy for the delivery of OpenStack clouds to the enterprise and service provider segment.





‘Mubarak, Mubarak, What Have You Done?’

Yasmine El Rashidi









Chris Hondros/Getty Images


Protesters gather on the front line between anti- and pro-Mubarak factions on the edge of Tahrir Square as an Egyptian Army tank stands by, Cairo, February 3, 2011








On Tuesday, February 1, we headed to Tahrir Square for the “million man” march with some apprehension. After a week of growing protests, the military, which had arrived on Friday, had increased its presence in downtown Cairo, and the perimeter of the square was now completely barricaded with concrete blocks and metal barriers. Just two narrow entryways had been left—each manned by a dozen soldiers and just as many civilian volunteers. Despite the soldiers’ promise not to use force, many of us who entered the square wondered if they would trap us inside, and then, perhaps even shoot. By 4 PM however—well after the 3 PM curfew set by the military—we knew no harm would come, and the protest turned into something of a festival.


The army and the protesters worked together to weed out infiltrators trying to stir up trouble, and the crowd began chanting about the people and army being one. Estimates of the turnout varied, from one million to three. There was barely an empty square foot in the entire square and adjoining streets; people sang, played cards, shared meals, and later in the evening, began to talk of holding a soccer tournament, together with the army. One Al Jazeera correspondent compared it to a rock concert. People spoke of feeling pride at being Egyptian, some of them for the first time in their lives.


There were still a few thousand people in Tahrir Square early Wednesday morning—mostly men, who had remained following Tuesday’s march. I had gone home Tuesday night after spending the day there, and my plan now was simply to drop by early to get a feel for the “morning after.” When I arrived at the square, I was checked thoroughly by four soldiers and five civilian volunteers—three men and two veiled women. They searched my bag, gave me a pat down to insure I was not carrying a weapon, and asked for my ID. Eventually I was waved in, with a stern warning that any form of violence or incitement would not be tolerated.


Many were still sleeping when I got there, just after 8 AM: some on the grass with blankets over them; others in blue nylon camping tents. A few were at the foot of the sand-colored army tanks that had been stationed around the square and were now covered with anti-Mubarak graffiti. In scattered corners, hundreds of others were having breakfast and had already resumed chanting for Mubarak to leave—taking turns at loudspeakers to come up with inventive new slogans. In one corner, by a metro stop that has been closed for a week now, a gathering of 400 protesters recited poetry—their own, against the current regime. “Mubarak, Mubarak,” one of them repeated, “what have you done, look at the country, where art thou?”


Intermittently, two young men who referred to themselves as “The Organizing Committee”—self-appointed civilians who had already spent several nights in the square would take the mike, and with husky voices, tired from days of chanting, call on the crowds to make this ninth day of protest another peaceful one. No fighting, no arguing, and no tension—even if provoked. “We are here as one. We are having a good time. We are well fed and we are united—young, old, Christian, Muslim, men, women. We are simply Egyptians, and we want to show the world what the Egyptian people are all about—peace and unity.”


People were clapping, beating on drums, and singing along to rhyming anti-Mubarak jokes and refrains. (One dark one was about having to flee the country: “Egyptair, Egyptair, business is good, Mubarak’s staying, so we all need flights.”) A few portable radios were on, tuned to the news or playing popular Egyptian songs. Men and women were entering the square with bags filled with food—breadsticks, packets of wafer biscuits, cartons of mango and guava juice. I recognized one of the women, a historian and collector, carrying bottles of Nestle water. Nearby, two young boys selling biscuits were arguing about how to divide their profits. A man nudged my shoulder, noticing my camera. Pointing to the picture of Mubarak strapped around his neck and marked with a red X, he took off his shoe, placed it on the president’s head, and asked me to photograph him.









Yasmine El Rashidi


An anti-Mubarak demonstrator








One man called on the president to step down soon: “Please, my arm is aching from holding up this sign,” he said.


I circled Tahrir for awhile, chatting with protesters who in some cases had been there for three or four days. “If Mubarak does not leave, I will die on Tahrir’s soil,” one man shouted in my ear, wagging his finger, then pointing up to the circling military helicopter overhead, waving it to go away. “Take Mubarak with you, take Mubarak with you,” the crowds shouted as it circled lower and closer, observing them.


No one was satisfied with Mubarak’s address to the nation the night before, in which he’d promised not to run in the September presidential elections, and the general sentiment was that it was too little too late. Those gathered were already planning ahead for more nights in Tahrir, and for this week’s Friday prayer, discussing who would lead the sermon in the square and where exactly that imam—or civilian—would stand. Mubarak had said in his speech that he would die on Egyptian soil; many of the people I talked to said they were prepared to die in Tahrir Square if he didn’t yield.


When I left mid-morning, I began to sense that the day might take a turn for the worse. As I passed two army tanks that were blocking one of the roads I saw a shrieking woman in a purple veil take on a group of thirty protesters. “You are ruining our country,” she yelled. “We had peace for thirty years, and in one week you have brought us to war. Mubarak is good. Mubarak is the best.” From a distance, the Organizing Committee called for the argument to be broken up. A young man in a green ‘Brazil’ hoodie and black jeans jumped to the cause, taking the woman’s arm and asking her to calm down. He escorted her out of the square, and a human shield formed to prevent her from charging in again. “What is happening,” someone’s voice echoed through a loud speaker, “is that NDP people”—i.e. from Mubarak’s party—“are trying to infiltrate the crowds and cause conflict. We will not allow that. We respect everyone’s opinions, but for those who are pro-Mubarak, there are hundreds of other squares around the city for you to occupy—this one though, is ours.” The voice then called on a group of two hundred men to block a far passage into the square where pro-Mubarak protesters were rumoured to be approaching.


I turned around, and noticed the speaker point up to the monolithic building—the government’s administrative center known as the mugamma—to his left. He asked the crowd to follow his finger, directed up at a corner of the roof. “YOU!” he shouted. “Yes you, in the dark glasses who we have seen every day spy on us from above. You can go back and report to the president that we are not going anywhere, until he does.” The crowd roared in applause. The mugamma has been closed for days now, shielded by the military, patrolled by soldiers.


As I exited Tahrir, I noticed the pro-Mubarak crowds beginning to gather. Two hundred of them stood at one of the main entry passages chanting against the opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei, calling him a traitor and spy. They heckled protesters entering the square in a similar way, trying to provoke a confrontation. After lingering a little, they followed me down the Corniche in the direction of a rally, past the charred remains of the NDP headquarters, which had been burned over the weekend, past rows of tanks and soldiers, and on to the State TV and Radio building, where several hundred more pro-Mubarak protesters were already congregated, blasting the national anthem. There were some women among them—one in a wheelchair, fuming, at what had become of the city—but mainly men: some teachers, some white-collar employees, and scores of lower-middle class men in their twenties.


My notebook gave me away, and they surrounded me—dozens of them—roughly demanding that I take notes and report their accusations against the Tahrir protesters. I was pushed and shoved and someone spit in my face. Some of those around me seemed to have switched sides, moved by the president’s Tuesday speech. “Please write,” one man in his forties ordered me in broken English, tapping his finger forcefully on my notebook. “Mubarak, I am sorry. Please, forgive me. I am sorry.” Others wanted me to document their conspiracy theories: In particular, that the Muslim Brotherhood is funded by Iran, and that ElBaradei, who is known to have a villa in Austria and thought to have made a relative fortune from his IAEA post, pays anti-Mubarak protesters LE50 (about $9) a day to stay in the square. “And they get free KFC,” one urged me to add. “And it’s LE200 not LE50.”


The pro-Mubarak crowd seemed tense, on the verge of rioting. Among them, I also spotted a dozen uniformed police—the same ones who had vanished from the streets after Friday’s protests—now cheering, dancing, being carried on people’s shoulders wielding pro-Mubarak signs. One of them looked wearily at me as I pointed my camera up at him. He seemed to direct a soldier to me, who checked my journalist’s card and gave me the ‘OK’ to go ahead with my work.









Yasmine El Rashidi


Pro-Mubarak demonstrators hoisting policemen on their shoulders








I managed to move away from the crowd, and as I walked home, I called a friend who hadn’t yet been to the square that morning—Elijah Zarwan of the International Crisis Group—telling him it felt like clashes were imminent. Newscasters on State TV, perhaps knowingly, had already issued warnings that violence could erupt and urged citizens to stay home.


At 11:46 AM the government restored Internet access—it had been blocked for six days, since midnight on Thursday—and warnings about violence were circulating there too—on Facebook posts and Twitter feeds. We had all heard that pro-Mubarak protesters and thugs had been on the streets the night before, and an unofficial photocopied flyer had been circulating urging protesters to return home and accept Mubarak’s concessions. It appeared to be a warning—I was not sure from whom. Things seemed on the brink.


I had not been home for long before the first rocks were thrown in Tahrir Square around 2:30 PM. A friend called me immediately, reporting that he had been struck in the back by one. I got a cab and rushed back toward the square, hopping out amid thousands of pro-Mubarak protesters on one of the bridges that lead into it. There were children and families, but mainly tough-looking young men, shouting at their adversaries—some insults, some pro-Mubarak slogans, and many calls for them to get lost. The bridge was packed and from either side of it I could see hundreds, and then thousands, of pro-regime demonstrators marching in from different directions. There were reported to be thousands more approaching the city. In their midst, again, were police, chanting along. Some soldiers stood nearby, in a human chain, casually watching the protesters approach.









Yasmine El Rashidi


Pro-Mubarak demonstrators massing on a bridge near Tahrir Square








I hurried through the masses of people until I reached the Egyptian Museum, which faces Tahrir Square. There, some ten thousand pro-Mubarak protesters had gathered, and I noticed many of them were carrying thick, long, wooden sticks. I tried to push further toward the screaming I could hear coming from deeper in the square itself. I could also see smoke that looked much like the fumes of the tear gas the security forces had fired on us days before. In a split second things seemed to turn. The pro-Mubarak crowd in front of me lunged toward the protesters inside the square, hurling stones, picking up debris from the ground and throwing it into the air. I ran to the side of the bridge by the museum, just missing a horse that came galloping out from the crowds with a big man in his twenties. About a dozen more horses hurtled out. I also heard someone shout “camel.” It was a tactic we had never seen before.


Someone screamed at me to get out of the way. The barricades the army had put up ahead of Tuesday’s march seemed to have been cleared, and now the soldiers, who had been friendly with the protesters over the weekend, simply watched the pro-Mubarak demonstrators attack. I could hear piercing shrieks coming from further in the square. Pieces of metal and other debris seemed to be falling from the sky. Something seemed to be exploding, and I guessed it was shells of tear gas—it was a familiar sound. On the bridge above me, thousands of people had gathered to watch, standing on railings and shoulders. Men began to exit the crowds with their hands on their heads, covered in blood. People rushed in with tissues and water.


A man stared at me and asked where I was from, why I had a camera, what I was doing with a notebook. “Those filthy foreigners and their reports,” he said. I had heard that journalists were being harassed, and I quelled the instinct to panic. I lingered at the bottom of the bridge and called a friend who had been on the “anti-Mubarak” side of the square. He said there was still fighting and that he was stuck right in the center, unable to move. I wanted to tweet about the situation, and reached into my pocket for my phone. I had no chance—a round of gunfire went off just a few feet away. And then more. Successive shots. It sounded close—and as if someone in the pro-Mubarak crowd was aiming at the anti-Mubarak side of the square. People started to scream and run. A man pushed me forward, urging me to go up the bridge. A little boy tripped beside me, and his father grabbed him by his middle and fled.


I managed to get away, and found myself back near the State TV building, once again surrounded by pro-Mubarak demonstrators who had stationed themselves beneath Al Jazeera’s Cairo bureau next door, and were chanting messages up to its reporters. I raced through the crowd, apprehensive that they too might be armed. My speed may have given me away, and a group of young men pointed at me and started to shout “Spy! Traitor! Spy!” I panicked, and tried to disappear into the thick of the crowd, emerging a few minutes later with an Egyptian flag hoisted high—my “cover” bought for $2 from a young boy. Others in the crowd were holding flags, and it seemed to keep me safe. As I walked up another bridge, I passed trucks carrying gangs of thugs— the same type we had seen in the protests last week—being off-loaded onto the street. They had pro-Mubarak banners and were armed with wooden and metal sticks. I caught a glimpse of a knife stuck in the back of one man’s trousers. They saw my flag, and waved me on.


By Wednesday evening, many of my friends were among thousands stuck in Tahrir, which was still surrounded by pro-Mubarak armed men. Egypt’s Minister of Health had reported that five hundred people were injured and one killed in Wednesday’s afternoon violence—a figure he updated Thursday to eight deaths and 900 injuries. A friend—who saw it from an apartment overlooking the square—told me a fire had broken out on top of the Egyptian Museum. Activists were posting Facebook updates by the second, when possible identifying those hurt or detained, and making urgent pleas for help—for medical supplies and to transport injured protesters to hospitals. I heard that a journalist I knew had been severely wounded. The defence ministry was urging people to go home, and there were reports that armed men were circling Tahrir and fanning out across the city. In my neighborhood, the civilian patrols who have manned our streets for the past week (using passwords, changed daily, to admit residents) had been warned that the night would be rough.


At around 1 AM Thursday morning, there were reports of new gunfire and explosions in Tahrir. There was also shouting near my house, and someone was roaring into a loud speaker in the distance—I couldn’t make out what. I could hear explosions somewhere in the distance—perhaps across the river. A rumor spread that thugs would storm Tahrir at dawn. There were already flames in the square, and pro-Mubarak men were hurling Molotov cocktails and glass at protesters from a bridge. Reports of protesters who had gone missing—“kidnapped”—began to come in on social networking sites. Some activists and civilian volunteer patrols had managed to detain thugs and hand them over to the military. An activist tweeted, “We find that every thug arrested has ‘Police’ written on his ID. Those are the only pro-Mubarak protesters” Several confiscated police IDs were posted on the internet.


My father, who lives in another central Cairo neighborhood, called me early Thursday morning, warning of the escalating violence downtown. A friend of his who tried to make her way over one of the bridges to Tahrir around 6 AM had been stopped by armed thugs and warned to turn back if she cared for her life. I also learned that the 72-year-old father of a friend of mine had been hit by a stolen car filled with thugs in the middle of the night as he patrolled the streets with other civilians, and is now in an ICU. Reports of armed men around downtown were streaming in every minute.


Asked what it would do to quell the violence, the government only said, “we will invite, and re-invite, opposition parties to the negotiating table for discussions.” On State TV, which seemed to be broadcasting events from a parallel universe, the pro-Mubarak protesters were being depicted as “pro stability.” I got news that the deputy head of the Egyptian state channel Nile TV had resigned half way through the day—unable, she said, to feed the government’s lies. There was much talk, meanwhile, about who was behind the pro-regime mayhem. Even though some people attribute it broadly to the “government,” many believe it has perhaps been orchestrated by former minister of the interior Habib El Adly and leading members of the ruling National Democratic Party—in particular businessmen, who have benefited greatly from the regime. Among the NDP strongmen often mentioned is Ahmad Ezz, who is suspected by many of having manipulated and financed the rigged parliamentary elections in November. There had also been hired thugs out during those elections and the NDP is known to have unleashed hundreds of them to ensure victory.









Yasmine El Rashidi


The charred headquarters of the ruling NDP party








Many people I am in touch with have been trying to get food and medical supplies into Tahrir since early Thursday morning, but most routes in are now blocked by thugs. “Everywhere I turn I find men with knives and guns,” a friend who was heading there by car with supplies told me at 9 AM. On Facebook, friends and activists are posting feeds: “5 of my journalist friends have been beaten and had their equipment confiscated. The pro-mubarak thugs are targeting journalists.” And another: “Friend was trying to deliver medical supplies, they smashed his car and he had to turn & run away #Jan25”. As gunshots and machine-gun fire are reported across the city, hospital workers describe overwhelming numbers of people coming in with concussions, internal bleedings, and third-degree burns. One activist tweets, “We’ve lost 10 Egyptians in the first gulf war in ‘91 and 307 in our war with Mubarak. #egypt.”


Aida Seif El Dawla, the human rights activist who runs the downtown El Nadim Centre for victims of violence, has been posting news of kidnappings, injuries, and deaths. At 12:16 PM she writes, “Watching Mubarak’s terrorism first hand from the window. Officer supervising the violence.” At 4 PM a friend called from downtown. He was out of breath and panicking—he had just seen a group of thugs drag a foreign-looking man down the street, beating him, accusing him of being an Israeli spy.


Later in the day Aida Seif tweets: “Tomorrow, Anger Friday. Demonstrations all over Egypt chanting Mubarak OUT!”

Macworld Expo 2011: The video roundup


At this year's Macworld Expo, team TUAW put the pedal to the metal: three full days of live-streamed interviews, product demos and plenty of special guests. We welcomed the main man of Expo, Paul Kent, and discovered iPad and iPhone apps we were eager to share. We chatted with journalists galore, CEOs aplenty -- and the occasional kissing bandit. All the video segments after day one are linked below; enjoy!


Jammit


Percipo


BusyMac


Cows vs. Aliens


IDG's Paul Kent


Rogue Amoeba


Mac OS Ken


Kelly and Doc Rock


Apparent's Socialite


Ars Technica's Chris Foresman


The iGrill


Read on for more...

Continue reading Macworld Expo 2011: The video roundup

Macworld Expo 2011: The video roundup originally appeared on TUAW on Thu, 03 Feb 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.