Nakheel Harbour & Tower will be home to over 80,000 people and a workplace for 40,000 more. According to Nakheel, the precinct minimises car use and maximises train, bus and water transportation. The development will cover an area over 270 hectares and include another 40 towers ranging in height from 20 floors to 90 floors (over 300 meters). The final height of Nakheel’s proposed tower (former Al Burj, Tall Tower) is a secret, as is the price. The company would only say it will be more than 1 km tall. The tower and harbour project will take more than 10 years to complete. O’Donnell, CEO of Nakheel, has confirmed that the foundation work has already begun.
Nakheel Tower (~1140m) designed by Woods Bagot. (photo by Nakheel)
Massive schemes are announced as Cityscape 2008 - the largest business-to-business real estate investment and development event in the world - is proceeding. Two other projects with centerpiece skyscrapers are worth mentioning due to their proposed heights: 1 Dubai, part of Jumeirah Gardens (by Meraas Development) and Anara Tower (by Tameer):
1 Dubai (850m) is a mega-structure consisting of three linked towers of staggered heights, with mosaic-like glass and aluminium-mesh cladding, designed by Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill. (photo by Meraas)
Anara Tower (700m) designed by Atkins. (photo by docc)
As stock prices collapsed around the world today amid growing fears that the credit crisis would trigger a global recession, it is interesting to see how many projects will be cancelled due to lack of financing.
It is done. There are still some minor bugs to iron out (like the status error) and I’ll update this post with some background as soon as I’m finished.
Back again. Major revamp to this weblog is still to be implemented. One important aspect is to add social media parts and I did minor testing with K2 using three columns, but I was not satisfied with the result. As I’m not willing to put too much effort on the theme itself, I searched for other solutions and found a good candidate. But more of that later.
For the last few days I have been migrating my photos to Flickr. The work is still in progress, but I found a wonderful small program called Blow Up. It uses Flickr public API and some flash to present Flickr photosets in a great-looking, fullscreen display.
View albums by typing a valid flickr username here.
You can try with my flicker feed at photos.kuusanmaki.com. This address works also for me as a quick link if there is a need to present my photos. The gallery might take a while to load, but it is great and intuitive!
Just had an inspiring conversation with one friend of mine. I mentioned a documentary about skyscraper history I saw few weeks ago and want to share it now.
It is about technological innovations, seven major leaps which made Burj Dubai possible. As for now, Burj Dubai is under construction and standing 637 meter high. The structure is generally believed to top out at 818 meters, but Emaar is keeping the final height a secret. An interesting article was released in Wired Magazine, where Bill Baker (the head structural engineer at SOM) tells interesting facts of the engineering process.
Burj Dubai crane shot.
But back to the documentary: Channel 5’s Big, Bigger, Biggest - The Building of Burj Dubai (April 2008). Seven key inventions (elevator, materials, etc.) are presented with seven landmark buildings and clarifying animations. Many documentaries are so-so, but htis one is really worth watching. Thanks for UKHolidaydude for sharing this. Here is the first part:
Interesting weeks ahead. Or at least for the ones who are following this blog; might include only me. However, I have planned some major changes. I just updated my backup platform and moved to Time Capsule and while I’m waiting Apple to release new notebooks to replace my MacBook (2.0Ghz, 2GB RAM, 250GB HDD, Mac OS X 10.5.2), wait to see the following noteworthy changes:
Wordpress 2.5 - First of all, I’ll update to the just released Wordpress 2.5 (hopefully 2.5.1 is out by then issuing some minor problems which are always present in first releases). I have had some spam problems lately which I hope this update will also address. New theme may be applied too, but I have to make some further comparisons. Wait to see a more interactive design including comments, photos and links.
Flickr - I’m planning to move my photos to flickr after all. Now as flickr just enabled short videos and has an adequate RSS support (iPhoto subscriptions are possible, but not for full resolution images), it is the best service at the moment.
Posts - There will be more posts in Finnish as I noticed I’m writing mostly in English, excluding some short emails and sms. I hope to get back on track with weekly updates too. I know, I have said this before, but now as my graduation is getting closer it might be possible…
Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.
Steve Jobs, chief executive officer and co-founder of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, gave this speech at the Stanford University’s 114th Commencement in 2005. This is an old speech but somehow I have missed watching it. It’s well spent 13 minutes if you haven’t either:
Jobs at Stanford University in 2005.
Jobs amazes once again with his fascinating performance. He also summarize quite well a few points I have been thinking about lately. Well, I’m in the stage of graduating (unlike Jobs back then) from HSE and believe I have a great future ahead. We will see. The Whole Earth Catalog “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish” back cover can be found from here and the text of the speech is also available. Below is another quote; one which I’m definitely trying to pursue.
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
Nokia unveiled Morph, joint nanotechnology concept developed by Nokia Research Center and the University of Cambridge, on Monday 25th. From Nokia’s press release:
“Morph is a concept that demonstrates how future mobile devices might be stretchable and flexible, allowing the user to transform their mobile device into radically different shapes. It demonstrates the ultimate functionality that nanotechnology might be capable of delivering: flexible materials, transparent electronics and self-cleaning surfaces.”
I find these kinds of releases stirring; they push us to think a few moments outside the box. It is also amazing to see what is the human capable of creating.
Morph in wrist mode. (image from Nokia)
The same device in open mode. (image from Nokia)
We have some of these technologies already in use like self-cleaning windows (wiper-free windshields are on their way) and researchers are reporting about further advancements like clothes that clean themselves. What is the next big thing?
Possibilities with design and user interfaces with Morph are endless. Devices become context aware and part of us. These are steps to some stage of transhumanism, which is actually one topic I’m going to cover before summer. Let’s finish with a video demonstrating the Morph concept:
Welcome to year 2008. Starting today, I’m trying to catch up and be back to the normal once a week pace. First posts will cover some gadget recommendations and software tips.
Let’s start with handsets. Below you’ll find four great phones from which the last three qualifies as smartphones. All the devices are stylish and perfect for everyday use - depending on one’s needs. I have personally tested all the four and can recommend them. Click on phone model for technical specifications and prices are for unlocked devices in Finland including VAT (22 %).
As Mac market share is rising and Leopard released, I decided to write a comprehensive list of all the apps I’m using (in addition to the ones which came installed).
Moving to a new operating system comes always with some broken apps (like Onyx, Carbon Copy Cloner) and some hacks are not needed anymore. Also using old file formats might become impossible or do you have any idea with which software to play MODs and other old music files? PlayerPro used to be the one, but it isn’t distributed anymore (fortunately I have a version installed).
Back to the topic. New Macs have almost all the software a basic user needs (like iLife) so the above list is not long, but it helps making your Mac even more compatible and connected. And what’s best, all the software mentioned below is free expect the Shareware part.
Soikko on suomen kielen oikoluku- ja tavutusohjelma (aivan ehdoton asennus, kaikessa mitä koneella kirjoitat on tämän jälkeen oikoluku).
Windows Media Components for QuickTime - you can play Windows Media files (.wma and .wmv) directly in QuickTime Player and view Windows Media content on the Internet using a Web browser.
Perian adds native support for many popular video formats for QuickTime.
Xiph QuickTime Components is a set of QuickTime plug-ins that allow iTunes, and other QuickTime-based applications, to play ogg vorbis files.
Senuti is simple application that allows you to transfer songs from your iPod to your computer.
Facebook Exporter for iPhoto is a free plugin for iPhoto that enables you to export photos directly to your Facebook account.
WireTap you can record the discrete audio output of any application, as well as all system audio, or record audio input from any microphone, line-in, or audio input hardware.
EyeTV software, together with compatible hardware, turns your Mac into both a TV and a Digital Video Recorder (DVR).
Just read at Mashable that Google is planning to add IMAP support to GMail and some accounts might have it already enabled. Well, I decided to give it a shot, and wow, the result was:
GMail gets IMAP integration meaning better features especially with email clients. Finally I can delete mails from client and read status get synced.
Update: In order to ensure Trashed, Sent, Drafts, and Junk mail messages are sorted properly between Apple Mail and Gmail’s webmail interface, a few more steps are needed: “How-to: Proper Gmail IMAP for iPhone & Apple Mail”. Basically you should “merge” Google Labels with corresponding Apple Mail folders:
Once your Gmail IMAP account is added to Mail, you’ll notice your [Gmail account] in the left sidebar.
1. Highlight “[Gmail] Sent Mail” in the sidebar and select “Mailbox” (menu bar) > “Use This Mailbox For” > “Sent”.
2. Highlight “[Gmail] Drafts” in the sidebar and select “Mailbox” (menu bar) > “Use This Mailbox For” > “Drafts”
3. Highlight “[Gmail] Trash” in the sidebar and select “Mailbox” (menu bar) > “Use This Mailbox For” > “Trash”
4. Highlight “[Gmail] Spam” in the sidebar and select “Mailbox” (menu bar) > “Use This Mailbox For” > “Junk”
It is done. There are still some minor bugs to iron out (like the status error) and I’ll update this post with some background as soon as I’m finished.
Back again. Major revamp to this weblog is still to be implemented. One important aspect is to add social media parts and I did minor testing with K2 using three columns, but I was not satisfied with the result. As I’m not willing to put too much effort on the theme itself, I searched for [...]
Just had an inspiring conversation with one friend of mine. I mentioned a documentary about skyscraper history I saw few weeks ago and want to share it now.
It is about technological innovations, seven major leaps which made Burj Dubai possible. As for now, Burj Dubai is under construction and standing 637 meter high. The structure [...]
