FouadJeryes.com

Technoliberty: The Evolution of Revolution

FJ — Tue, 17 May 2011 21:10:03 +0000

“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. “ – Albert Einstein

It would be foolish of me to negate Dr. Einstein’s claim here, I can’t predict the future. The assertion that all humanity would revisit the Stone Age pending an Atomic war can be valid, but on the other side of the coin I am inclined to argue that the third edition of the World War is taking place right under our noses – and it’s a whole new ballgame. In fact, YOU very well may be leading it.

As we progress further into the Digital Age we become accustomed to new and more “active” technologies. Almost every single device we use today provides us with an invaluable opportunity to channel our voices back into the world. The days of “passive” media are in rapid decay and the rise of the human say, vote and opinion at the most granular levels live on.

Galvanized by the power of social media, this is a battle for a tremendous power, a privilege that was a luxury to only a select few, and a volatile authority that took years to establish; this is a war for influence. The tools are all within our reach – from online posts and their comments to SMS, tweets, facebook posts, and beyond. The introduction of these technologies has leveled the world’s playing field, and we can turn into dynamic leaders in our own right across multiple fields simultaneously if we chose to do so. Depending on the complexities of hierarchy amongst social graphs, what is being created here are 21st century communities that can double as armies – or though it may seem.

What we don’t always realize is that technology is the classic double-edged sword. In a large sense, technology is absolutely agnostic towards its outcomes. For the overwhelming majority of cases, the concept of the “garbage in – garbage out” applies to that of “happiness in – happiness out” as well. Thus when proficiently employed, technology can only disproportionately enhance the existing power structure as it stands.

The events in Egypt have awakened much hope to its people. The popular notion is that advances in information technology have already given voice to the marginalized —that dictatorial control can be extorted from the hands of wicked elites as soon as the power to be heard is devolved upon the burdened populations.

Protesters can use technology to unite, dissent, and organize; however, oppressive regimes can similarly leverage the exact same technologies for surveillance, tracking, and locating. This type of advantage has been in the hands of governments for decades. It seems as though that these regimes, when not spent by the blazes of revolution, generally lean toward relative stability. During those times of constancy, their direct ability to gather information on the masses through the use of technology is absolutely colossal. In fact, it is unparalleled against anything the general public has access to.

This raises a fishy point in my book. Going back to the press, I am astounded by the confidence I read and the assumption that the majority of opinion makers, seem distrustful and wary of the technologies we consume throughout the workday and at the comfort of our households. The type of individuals who worry about not getting hired by a future employer because of an inappropriate photo posted on Facebook, don’t seem to fathom the appalling potential of social networking technology in the hands of tyrannical regimes, or even governments in general.

Now do you remember the opposite side of the equation? The one where technology can be used to organize, unite and voice your opinions and objections to the world? – I didn’t think so. The cold hard truth is that there is a switch to deactivate the infrastructure by which these channels function. Are our Tweets and Facebook messages worth much in the name of revolution when the plug has been pulled by state controlled service providers? Fire will be fought with fire in the form of revolutionary technologies, they have the upper hand. Hopefully it’ll be used to protect freedom.

As a diehard technologist, it aches to say that in the grand scheme of things I must be a realist and observe that there are but two forces in the mix; information and revolution. Sadly, the technology I hold within the palm of my hand is nothing but a modest, frail, and highly mortal tool. For the leaders involved, we can quote Winston Churchill that in war you can only be killed once, but in politics, many times. This will be ugly for them and will leave a heightened mark in the books of history, but this war will be won by the men and women who are willing to bear its terrific burdens, and not digitally.

“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. “ – Albert Einstein
It would be foolish of me to negate Dr. Einstein’s claim here, I can’t predict the future. The assertion that all humanity would revisit the Stone Age pending an Atomic war can be valid, but on the other side of the coin I am inclined to argue that the third edition of the World War is taking place right under our noses – and it’s a whole new ballgame. In fact, YOU very well may be leading it.
As we progress further into the Digital Age we become accustomed to new and more “active” technologies. Almost every single device we use today provides us with an invaluable opportunity to channel our voices back into the world. The days of “passive” media are in rapid decay and the rise of the human say, vote and opinion at the most granular levels live on.
Galvanized by the power of social media, this is a battle for a tremendous power, a privilege that was a luxury to only a select few, and a volatile authority that took years to establish; this is a war for influence. The tools are all within our reach – from online posts and their comments to SMS, tweets, facebook posts, and beyond. The introduction of these technologies has leveled the world’s playing field, and we can turn into dynamic leaders in our own right across multiple fields simultaneously if we chose to do so. Depending on the complexities of hierarchy amongst social graphs, what is being created here are 21st century communities that can double as armies – or though it may seem.
What we don’t always realize is that technology is the classic double-edged sword. In a large sense, technology is absolutely agnostic towards its outcomes. For the overwhelming majority of cases, the concept of the “garbage in – garbage out” applies to that of “happiness in – happiness out” as well. Thus when proficiently employed, technology can only disproportionately enhance the existing power structure as it stands.
The events in Egypt have awakened much hope to its people. The popular notion is that advances in information technology have already given voice to the marginalized —that dictatorial control can be extorted from the hands of wicked elites as soon as the power to be heard is devolved upon the burdened populations.
Protesters can use technology to unite, dissent, and organize; however, oppressive regimes can similarly leverage the exact same technologies for surveillance, tracking, and locating. This type of advantage has been in the hands of governments for decades. It seems as though that these regimes, when not spent by the blazes of revolution, generally lean toward relative stability. During those times of constancy, their direct ability to gather information on the masses through the use of technology is absolutely colossal. In fact, it is unparalleled against anything the general public has access to.
This raises a fishy point in my book. Going back to the press, I am astounded by the confidence I read and the assumption that the majority of opinion makers, seem distrustful and wary of the technologies we consume throughout the workday and at the comfort of our households. The type of individuals who worry about not getting hired by a future employer because of an inappropriate photo posted on Facebook, don’t seem to fathom the appalling potential of social networking technology in the hands of tyrannical regimes, or even governments in general.
Now do you remember the opposite side of the equation? The one where technology can be used to organize, unite and voice your opinions and objections to the world? – I didn’t think so. The cold hard truth is that there is a switch to deactivate the infrastructure by which these channels function. Are our Tweets and Facebook messages worth much in the name of revolution when the plug has been pulled by state controlled service providers? Fire will be fought with fire in the form of revolutionary technologies, they have the upper hand. Hopefully it’ll be used to protect freedom.
As a diehard technologist, it aches to say that in the grand scheme of things I must be a realist and observe that there are but two forces in the mix; information and revolution. Sadly, the technology I hold within the palm of my hand is nothing but a modest, frail, and highly mortal tool. For the leaders involved, we can quote Winston Churchill that in war you can only be killed once, but in politics, many times. This will be ugly for them and will leave a heightened mark in the books of history, but this war will be won by the men and women who are willing to bear its terrific burdens, and not digitally.

Rise of the Group-Buying Clones

FJ — Tue, 17 May 2011 21:07:06 +0000

We live in exciting times; companies are experiencing astronomical growth rates and international expansion like never before. It’s been reported that Groupon is setting up shop in the MENA region as well, so although clone group-buying is unlikely in my opinion, perhaps the right deal is just around the corner and an acquisition would take place. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the group-buying concept, it’s easy: Each day all the site subscribers are emailed a stupendous deal. It could be discounts on food, entertainment, places to stay, things to buy and so on. Although you may buy into a deal, it only becomes effective if a minimum amount of people buy it as well, otherwise it’ll be cancelled (which creates an immediate urge to share the deal with friends and family over the social web). From a business standpoint, higher sales volumes enable vendors to afford offering cheaper prices, and the website retains a percentage of every sale made – brilliant! In fact, it’s so brilliant that even Arabs are pulling out their credit cards and buying. Perhaps social commerce is our way into the e-commerce world after all.

Just to give you an idea of the number of startups in MENA whom have delved into the area, the Next Web Middle East has nicely wrapped up the lot of startups in the area and have identified which regions they operate in.

From what we’ve seen in the group-buying game, if these companies move quick they end up doing quite well on their own. Not being acquired by Groupon may not be the worst thing in the world, but the billion dollar question remains: Will this grow into a winner takes all market?

Frankly, I don’t think so. At least not in the same sense that auctions were years ago when eBay came in and took that market. In the case of social commerce today, there are no real technological edges and absolutely nothing standing in the way of a local vendor from using multiple platforms to showcase their offers. The Arab world is notorious for adopting brand names from outside of the region and relationships do matter (between site and its users from one end & between site and its clients from the other), but will the majority of buyers not care about where they buy their deals online as long as they are good? That is a game that is yet to be uncovered.

I would expect a winner-takes-most scenario for this model within the respective regions of the world, and also on a global level. I say this because when any of the group buying businesses enters into a new market, there is a network effect that is very valuable. They usually start from scratch but make full use of an investment in its platform, which is partly the reason why a company like Groupon is able to raise so much capital and is racing to get into new cities before competition. The question is really whether fast followers will be able to grow mini-sites with a larger player firmly intact in their city. In fact, I would hope to see some innovation take place on the smaller and more agile companies’ parts – dropping dead would be the easy way out of that world. I just hope the Arabs behind them don’t give in that easily.

As far as my research takes me, the group buying model has to be one of the biggest shakeups to hit the e-commerce industry. Ever since its launch in 2008, Groupon has taken the techno-sphere by storm. In but a couple of years, this simple business has grown to a staggering valuation that IPO this spring to the tune $15 Billion. If you haven’t noticed already, that is absolutely nuts! What is not surprising beyond this picture is the fact that everyone and their mothers have been taking a stab at building their very own group-buying site, especially in the Middle East. The culture of “let’s open a falafel shop right next to his falafel shop” is rather popular in our neck of the wood, but is there a real play for all these clones today?
We live in exciting times; companies are experiencing astronomical growth rates and international expansion like never before. It’s been reported that Groupon is setting up shop in the MENA region as well, so although clone group-buying is unlikely in my opinion, perhaps the right deal is just around the corner and an acquisition would take place. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the group-buying concept, it’s easy: Each day all the site subscribers are emailed a stupendous deal. It could be discounts on food, entertainment, places to stay, things to buy and so on. Although you may buy into a deal, it only becomes effective if a minimum amount of people buy it as well, otherwise it’ll be cancelled (which creates an immediate urge to share the deal with friends and family over the social web). From a business standpoint, higher sales volumes enable vendors to afford offering cheaper prices, and the website retains a percentage of every sale made – brilliant! In fact, it’s so brilliant that even Arabs are pulling out their credit cards and buying. Perhaps social commerce is our way into the e-commerce world after all.
Just to give you an idea of the number of startups in MENA whom have delved into the area, the Next Web Middle East has nicely wrapped up the lot of startups in the area and have identified which regions they operate in.
From what we’ve seen in the group-buying game, if these companies move quick they end up doing quite well on their own. Not being acquired by Groupon may not be the worst thing in the world, but the billion dollar question remains: Will this grow into a winner takes all market?
Frankly, I don’t think so. At least not in the same sense that auctions were years ago when eBay came in and took that market. In the case of social commerce today, there are no real technological edges and absolutely nothing standing in the way of a local vendor from using multiple platforms to showcase their offers. The Arab world is notorious for adopting brand names from outside of the region and relationships do matter (between site and its users from one end & between site and its clients from the other), but will the majority of buyers not care about where they buy their deals online as long as they are good? That is a game that is yet to be uncovered.
I would expect a winner-takes-most scenario for this model within the respective regions of the world, and also on a global level. I say this because when any of the group buying businesses enters into a new market, there is a network effect that is very valuable. They usually start from scratch but make full use of an investment in its platform, which is partly the reason why a company like Groupon is able to raise so much capital and is racing to get into new cities before competition. The question is really whether fast followers will be able to grow mini-sites with a larger player firmly intact in their city. In fact, I would hope to see some innovation take place on the smaller and more agile companies’ parts – dropping dead would be the easy way out of that world. I just hope the Arabs behind them don’t give in that easily.

Perhaps the Tablets Have Turned?

FJ — Tue, 17 May 2011 21:01:07 +0000

I’ve been “in bed”/”in the loo”/”on the couch”/”in the office” with the Samsung Galaxy Tab for some time now. At first I really didn’t know what to think, I was kind of against the whole tablet thing for a while. Back when the Apple iPad hit the market, I had mixed feelings. It seemed cool but the lack of a proper operating system turned me off. What would I do with a big iPod? I strongly believed that between my laptop and my iPhone there was absolutely no place for another device in my life – I was already in a deadly love triangle and it would just be another device that I would have to lug around. I was wrong…tablets are damn cool.

To put it modestly, I believe that the Galaxy Tab is the first post-iPad tablet device that actually counts, because it is the only tablet on the market today that aims to be legitimate competition. It’s a pretty ballsy move on Samsung’s part and the device does aspire to break a lot of ground. Operated by a customized version of the iOS’s strongest contender, Google’s Android v2.2, I think the tab is a symbol of what the next generation could bring on. In the short term it is about half the size of anything out there today and our only chance to get a feel for a 7-inch tablet. If you haven’t noticed yet, a lot is riding on the Tab’s back already.

With tablets, I am inclined to believe that size is everything. It is directly what enables good reading, browsing, sharing and typing to be better on a tablet versus a phone, even if the exact same software was on both. Surprisingly, the majority of Android apps do scale beautifully for the Galaxy Tab; you get Twitter, Facebook and even Angry Birds right out the App Market. Sadly this isn’t the case with the iFamily. The Galaxy Tab wins here because it is simply small enough to accommodate apps that are blown up a little and have them fundamentally work. On the other side of the coin, this also suggests that there is no added benefit to using the Tab over a smaller phone. It’s not big enough and web browsing lacks its grandness – even with flash enabled. I can’t imagine having a social magazine app (like FlipBoard for iPad) as it would just be congested on the display. In terms of media playability, I do enjoy watching videos on the Tab – it’s far better than a phone screen, but for the most part – bigger is better.

As awesome as it may be, the seven inch Tab is no silver bullet. It’s tough to avoid feeling awkward when using the Tab as a phone (especially if your Bluetooth ear piece’s battery had just died). Perhaps holding up a device the size of my face is not the most ridiculous thing I have done in my life, but let’s be reasonable here. Sound quality is great, but the conversation goes everywhere. Holding up the Galaxy Tab for photos draws attention as well. Typing on the Tab isn’t the most convenient thing in the world either. As you would with most phones, you’d still have to thumb type but your fingers have to stretch further in landscape mode and the type entry space engulfs the screen altogether. The small problems of phones today are only amplified a more here, but they are all ones that you can live with or possibly neglect altogether depending on your taste in tech.

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab is surely a representation of the company’s stellar intentions and strong attempts to sit at the mainstream Tablet table. It feels sturdy, dense and well assembled; some may say that it is the best constructed device by Samsung ever. The screen is impressive; the 7-inch display packs a dense 1024×600 pixel resolution which makes everything from reading to watching videos a very pleasant experience. The colors are nicely saturated as well, but I am truly awe-struck by the Tab’s battery life. The device provided me with around five full hours of constant and consistent usage over 3G with rich media content playing through and a 2 minute video call test. The battery life can always be extended further with the Android notification shade build into the OS to practically turn stuff on and off (Bluetooth, Wi-FI, GPS…etc.) battery guzzling services.

The Tab has every single feature you wish for in a tablet; perhaps too many at this point in time. However, I had hoped that the Samsung Galaxy Tab packed an even greater punch than it does today. Typically the whole point of Samsung’s approach was to bring together the best of two worlds; the tablet & phone domains. I found that both meet in the Tab, but they sadly do not measure up to their full potential. Despite of that, the Samsung Galaxy Tab does win one race in my mind: “The run for the average tablet seeker.”

Disclaimer: As of recent, I have been chosen as a MENA Samsung Galaxy Tab Ambassador and have tested out the device for over 2 weeks. The following is my personal unbiased evaluation of the product. More importantly, this is my first product review…ever!
I’ve been “in bed”/”in the loo”/”on the couch”/”in the office” with the Samsung Galaxy Tab for some time now. At first I really didn’t know what to think, I was kind of against the whole tablet thing for a while. Back when the Apple iPad hit the market, I had mixed feelings. It seemed cool but the lack of a proper operating system turned me off. What would I do with a big iPod? I strongly believed that between my laptop and my iPhone there was absolutely no place for another device in my life – I was already in a deadly love triangle and it would just be another device that I would have to lug around. I was wrong…tablets are damn cool.
To put it modestly, I believe that the Galaxy Tab is the first post-iPad tablet device that actually counts, because it is the only tablet on the market today that aims to be legitimate competition. It’s a pretty ballsy move on Samsung’s part and the device does aspire to break a lot of ground. Operated by a customized version of the iOS’s strongest contender, Google’s Android v2.2, I think the tab is a symbol of what the next generation could bring on. In the short term it is about half the size of anything out there today and our only chance to get a feel for a 7-inch tablet. If you haven’t noticed yet, a lot is riding on the Tab’s back already.
With tablets, I am inclined to believe that size is everything. It is directly what enables good reading, browsing, sharing and typing to be better on a tablet versus a phone, even if the exact same software was on both. Surprisingly, the majority of Android apps do scale beautifully for the Galaxy Tab; you get Twitter, Facebook and even Angry Birds right out the App Market. Sadly this isn’t the case with the iFamily. The Galaxy Tab wins here because it is simply small enough to accommodate apps that are blown up a little and have them fundamentally work. On the other side of the coin, this also suggests that there is no added benefit to using the Tab over a smaller phone. It’s not big enough and web browsing lacks its grandness – even with flash enabled. I can’t imagine having a social magazine app (like FlipBoard for iPad) as it would just be congested on the display. In terms of media playability, I do enjoy watching videos on the Tab – it’s far better than a phone screen, but for the most part – bigger is better.
As awesome as it may be, the seven inch Tab is no silver bullet. It’s tough to avoid feeling awkward when using the Tab as a phone (especially if your Bluetooth ear piece’s battery had just died). Perhaps holding up a device the size of my face is not the most ridiculous thing I have done in my life, but let’s be reasonable here. Sound quality is great, but the conversation goes everywhere. Holding up the Galaxy Tab for photos draws attention as well. Typing on the Tab isn’t the most convenient thing in the world either. As you would with most phones, you’d still have to thumb type but your fingers have to stretch further in landscape mode and the type entry space engulfs the screen altogether. The small problems of phones today are only amplified a more here, but they are all ones that you can live with or possibly neglect altogether depending on your taste in tech.
Samsung’s Galaxy Tab is surely a representation of the company’s stellar intentions and strong attempts to sit at the mainstream Tablet table. It feels sturdy, dense and well assembled; some may say that it is the best constructed device by Samsung ever. The screen is impressive; the 7-inch display packs a dense 1024×600 pixel resolution which makes everything from reading to watching videos a very pleasant experience. The colors are nicely saturated as well, but I am truly awe-struck by the Tab’s battery life. The device provided me with around five full hours of constant and consistent usage over 3G with rich media content playing through and a 2 minute video call test. The battery life can always be extended further with the Android notification shade build into the OS to practically turn stuff on and off (Bluetooth, Wi-FI, GPS…etc.) battery guzzling services.
The Tab has every single feature you wish for in a tablet; perhaps too many at this point in time. However, I had hoped that the Samsung Galaxy Tab packed an even greater punch than it does today. Typically the whole point of Samsung’s approach was to bring together the best of two worlds; the tablet & phone domains. I found that both meet in the Tab, but they sadly do not measure up to their full potential. Despite of that, the Samsung Galaxy Tab does win one race in my mind: “The run for the average tablet seeker.”

I’VE GOT the POWER…of “Yalla” That Is!

FJ — Tue, 17 May 2011 20:57:53 +0000

Did an idea that is so simple really do so much? Of course it did.

What do you think you get when you bring 300 capable young Arabs together over a challenge? – Some damn cool tech Startups! It’s been two weeks already, andYallaStartup Weekend’s liveliness is still pumping through our veins. It’s apparent on the web, in our daily discussions, and across a number of media outlets. We came in, let go of who we were, and began working towards what we might be; Entrepreneurs at large. We all delivered over those two days – some even regarded that weekend to be the best of their lives!

As an organization that seeks to advance early stage entrepreneurship in the MENA region, YallaStartup (Directed by Habib Haddad, Sami Shalabi, Elie Khoury, & Amir Kabbara) is a genuine initiative that is living up to its name and purpose. The recurring theme over the weekend was the “Power of Yalla!”; a movement to emphasize action and execution over yak and speculation. It is one that invokes change, and a desire to succeed. Coming out of the weekend, it was just confirmed that at least 4 weekend participants had quit their jobs and 1 had dropped out of college to work on their ideas fulltime. For our part of the world, this is absolutely radical – but it is a healthy transformation that we should be proud of. They have the“Yalla!”. Perhaps those individuals needed an opportunity like Startup Weekend for them to prove to themselves that they could do it. We are finally assuming risk and are embarking on more exciting journeys – let’s incite it.

The weekend provided its participants with mentorship, sessions with accomplished entrepreneurs and investors amongst many others. Personally, the most important thing the weekend did for its partakers was simply provide a “Deadline”. Discipline and focus are two of the most important traits an entrepreneur can have, and we had to have those if we were going to finish by Sunday. My team, comprised of Wa’el Farhan, Dina Abu Khader, Waleed Tuffaha, Ibrahim Abu Dhaim, and Ahmad Abdel-Yaman, had locked ourselves in a room and began coding away against time. We built a prototype for a unique product that we believe will play a significant role in the world of digital storage.

Capsu.ly (http://Capsu.ly ) is the world’s first infinite and free community based digital storage system. It relies on a distributed methodology where users share their local storage capacities securely and make their files available forever. On a more technical front, each user would download the Capsu.ly client and assign the size of his/her “Capsule” (a magical location on your disk that can be of any size and will hold your data indefinitely) and begin uploading files to it. Each file is sliced into chunks , then replicated many times over, and encrypted before being distributed across the community. Whatever happens to your files, you now have the power to retrieve them! Check out this cool video for a brief overview:

Hard work always pays off, and we built a working model of our idea in less than 48 hours and emerged as winners, both figuratively and literally. Some of us gained exposure, others gained a team or new friends, but we all certainly acquired another step in the right direction. That is priceless.

In geeky terms, we can say that the “Power of Yalla!” is a StarWars like force inside of all of us. In blunt speak, the critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It’s as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer. So Yalla, get on with what you are meant to do!

(P.S.: Capsu.ly is competing for the Global Startup Battle Wild Card & needs your vote! Visit http://globalstartupbattle.com/wildcard/ to help us out!) –Thanks in advance!

Did an idea that is so simple really do so much? Of course it did.
What do you think you get when you bring 300 capable young Arabs together over a challenge? – Some damn cool tech Startups! It’s been two weeks already, andYallaStartup Weekend’s liveliness is still pumping through our veins. It’s apparent on the web, in our daily discussions, and across a number of media outlets. We came in, let go of who we were, and began working towards what we might be; Entrepreneurs at large. We all delivered over those two days – some even regarded that weekend to be the best of their lives!
As an organization that seeks to advance early stage entrepreneurship in the MENA region, YallaStartup (Directed by Habib Haddad, Sami Shalabi, Elie Khoury, & Amir Kabbara) is a genuine initiative that is living up to its name and purpose. The recurring theme over the weekend was the “Power of Yalla!”; a movement to emphasize action and execution over yak and speculation. It is one that invokes change, and a desire to succeed. Coming out of the weekend, it was just confirmed that at least 4 weekend participants had quit their jobs and 1 had dropped out of college to work on their ideas fulltime. For our part of the world, this is absolutely radical – but it is a healthy transformation that we should be proud of. They have the“Yalla!”. Perhaps those individuals needed an opportunity like Startup Weekend for them to prove to themselves that they could do it. We are finally assuming risk and are embarking on more exciting journeys – let’s incite it.
The weekend provided its participants with mentorship, sessions with accomplished entrepreneurs and investors amongst many others. Personally, the most important thing the weekend did for its partakers was simply provide a “Deadline”. Discipline and focus are two of the most important traits an entrepreneur can have, and we had to have those if we were going to finish by Sunday. My team, comprised of Wa’el Farhan, Dina Abu Khader, Waleed Tuffaha, Ibrahim Abu Dhaim, and Ahmad Abdel-Yaman, had locked ourselves in a room and began coding away against time. We built a prototype for a unique product that we believe will play a significant role in the world of digital storage.
Capsu.ly (http://Capsu.ly ) is the world’s first infinite and free community based digital storage system. It relies on a distributed methodology where users share their local storage capacities securely and make their files available forever. On a more technical front, each user would download the Capsu.ly client and assign the size of his/her “Capsule” (a magical location on your disk that can be of any size and will hold your data indefinitely) and begin uploading files to it. Each file is sliced into chunks , then replicated many times over, and encrypted before being distributed across the community. Whatever happens to your files, you now have the power to retrieve them! Check out this cool video for a brief overview:
Hard work always pays off, and we built a working model of our idea in less than 48 hours and emerged as winners, both figuratively and literally. Some of us gained exposure, others gained a team or new friends, but we all certainly acquired another step in the right direction. That is priceless.
In geeky terms, we can say that the “Power of Yalla!” is a StarWars like force inside of all of us. In blunt speak, the critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It’s as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer. So Yalla, get on with what you are meant to do!
(P.S.: Capsu.ly is competing for the Global Startup Battle Wild Card & needs your vote! Visit http://globalstartupbattle.com/wildcard/ to help us out!) –Thanks in advance!

The Interface-Off

FJ — Tue, 17 May 2011 20:53:35 +0000

Observing design over time, it’s safe to say that it shouldn’t be taken lightly. It creates culture, which in turn shape our values and determine the future. It may be complex, but good design can be described as “clear thinking” made visual and intelligence made visible, and it covers so much more than the aesthetic. Design is usability, information architecture and accessibility. With my personal projects, I believe in user-interface (UI) simplicity and cleanliness – or what I like to call the “Don’t make them think approach”. It’s always a safer bet to launch with a design that is visually self-explanatory. The twitter (especially the original) interface is the epitome of this in my opinion, and you see many more following such a trend today. It’s effective because you can steer your users to wherever you want them to go, they can’t get lost on your page, and they know exactly where everything is. The most successful sites today provide just one service, or a few more. The users don’t have to think and just flow right in. Additionally, this would open doors to adding more complex design elements or usability later on the product’s life, design matures just as anything else – i.e. the new twitter.

What have Arabic sites been up to on the UI front though? There isn’t much to the history of the Arabic internet as a whole, but it is a tale of Forums and their trusty companions:

Yes…EMOTICONS. Don’t you just adore those little badges of joy! I just love those popping hearts circulating all over my screen…(Is my tone sarcastic enough there?) The truth is that the Arabization of the vBulletin’s admin panel (a forum publishing suite), users from the region dashed to put up their own discussion board websites. The majority of the estimated 0.5% of the Arabic internet content is locked up in forums for that very reason. The usage on these forums is absolutely massive, the numbers are in the millions as well, but is this due to the fact that forums are the most abundant or available outlets for Arab users or do we really relate to them as a culture? If international trends migrate over and prove to apply to the Arab world (which is becoming very likely), then we are destined to be liberated from the current model sometime soon. Take a look at these examples:

This can’t be the most aesthetically pleasing thing you’ve ever seen over the web, but it has become standard to some extent. Amazingly, the relatively basic Arab user actually finds his way around all the clutter and puzzling menus across these sites, the dead links don’t seem to bother either. To me this is a bit out of the norm, but what would happen if one of these forums were to upgrade its UI one day? Generally speaking, most people don’t adapt to change very easily and few sites have the pull to retain users, no matter what the alterations are; Facebook is one of those sites. Surely you remember when facebook plugged in some major UI changes some 9 months ago, people hated it so much that they began to petition against it. Some even threatened to deactivate their accounts for a day in protest. Yet do you hear any more of that today? Nope. People get used to it and move on because they are far too occupied with its activity feeds than with its design. They need it, and the same doesn’t apply to the forums of the world. If an Arab user rebels, he will probably take a stand and not come back.

A philosophy that we carefully follow at d1g.com, is to transition our population of users towards a more functional and obvious UI design. The look and feel of our site today is part of a larger strategy that sets us apart from the usual suspects in the market. As we continually study the behavior of Arab users, we become more ready to provide the masses with the types of services that they are looking for over the Arab internet. It is critical that we mold our environment to be “just right” and fit the fashion of the principal market we address. We are holding back on the design front to a large extent, but shocking users with something that is out of this world will only remain as “something that is out of their world” – we understand that would rather blow them away on the product and service side.

Clearly, it is cluttered but we believe that design is never finished until somebody is using your product. As one of the fastest growing online destinations in the region, our numbers suggest just that.

Despite all the denseness and crowdedness of Arabic web design today, we must conclude that “good” design can only be defined by appropriateness to audience, goals, and its effectiveness, not by its adherence to Swiss design or the number of awards it wins – those are different “standards”. Weighing against what I am personally used to, Arabs are more familiar with bad design than good design. We are, in effect, conditioned to prefer bad design, because that is what the majority of us live with. This is quite alright because we’re growing and developing, but our mindset as Arab nations must learn to become more malleable and adaptive to change. The old will always be more re-assuring to us, but the new should never be threatening. In the end, perhaps face-off isn’t between modern and old design, but between design itself and those who use it.

For the web, design is where art and science break even. It is one of the most difficult and exacting pieces to every project. Good design will enable a great product to achieve its maximum potential, and technology over technique will produce an emotionless product.The stakes are high as a user punches in a destined URL for the very first time, if a design is not up to (his/her) standards, there is little-to-no room for making a good second impression. Now before we delve a bit deeper on the subject, allow me to halt and warn you that I am no professional designer by any means. Like you, I am merely a user who believes in good taste and has an eye for functionality at best – well, according to my own “standards” of course. Standards are funny things though – they’re subjective, and everyone has a few benchmarks of their own. We can’t design for everybody. Let alone that it would probably be impossible to do, but you’d probably make everyone unhappy. Like anywhere, Arabia has grown to have its own design styles and that rubs off to websites in the region, but is it “good” design?
Observing design over time, it’s safe to say that it shouldn’t be taken lightly. It creates culture, which in turn shape our values and determine the future. It may be complex, but good design can be described as “clear thinking” made visual and intelligence made visible, and it covers so much more than the aesthetic. Design is usability, information architecture and accessibility. With my personal projects, I believe in user-interface (UI) simplicity and cleanliness – or what I like to call the “Don’t make them think approach”. It’s always a safer bet to launch with a design that is visually self-explanatory. The twitter (especially the original) interface is the epitome of this in my opinion, and you see many more following such a trend today. It’s effective because you can steer your users to wherever you want them to go, they can’t get lost on your page, and they know exactly where everything is. The most successful sites today provide just one service, or a few more. The users don’t have to think and just flow right in. Additionally, this would open doors to adding more complex design elements or usability later on the product’s life, design matures just as anything else – i.e. the new twitter.
What have Arabic sites been up to on the UI front though? There isn’t much to the history of the Arabic internet as a whole, but it is a tale of Forums and their trusty companions:
Yes…EMOTICONS. Don’t you just adore those little badges of joy! I just love those popping hearts circulating all over my screen…(Is my tone sarcastic enough there?) The truth is that the Arabization of the vBulletin’s admin panel (a forum publishing suite), users from the region dashed to put up their own discussion board websites. The majority of the estimated 0.5% of the Arabic internet content is locked up in forums for that very reason. The usage on these forums is absolutely massive, the numbers are in the millions as well, but is this due to the fact that forums are the most abundant or available outlets for Arab users or do we really relate to them as a culture? If international trends migrate over and prove to apply to the Arab world (which is becoming very likely), then we are destined to be liberated from the current model sometime soon. Take a look at these examples:
This can’t be the most aesthetically pleasing thing you’ve ever seen over the web, but it has become standard to some extent. Amazingly, the relatively basic Arab user actually finds his way around all the clutter and puzzling menus across these sites, the dead links don’t seem to bother either. To me this is a bit out of the norm, but what would happen if one of these forums were to upgrade its UI one day? Generally speaking, most people don’t adapt to change very easily and few sites have the pull to retain users, no matter what the alterations are; Facebook is one of those sites. Surely you remember when facebook plugged in some major UI changes some 9 months ago, people hated it so much that they began to petition against it. Some even threatened to deactivate their accounts for a day in protest. Yet do you hear any more of that today? Nope. People get used to it and move on because they are far too occupied with its activity feeds than with its design. They need it, and the same doesn’t apply to the forums of the world. If an Arab user rebels, he will probably take a stand and not come back.
A philosophy that we carefully follow at d1g.com, is to transition our population of users towards a more functional and obvious UI design. The look and feel of our site today is part of a larger strategy that sets us apart from the usual suspects in the market. As we continually study the behavior of Arab users, we become more ready to provide the masses with the types of services that they are looking for over the Arab internet. It is critical that we mold our environment to be “just right” and fit the fashion of the principal market we address. We are holding back on the design front to a large extent, but shocking users with something that is out of this world will only remain as “something that is out of their world” – we understand that would rather blow them away on the product and service side.
Clearly, it is cluttered but we believe that design is never finished until somebody is using your product. As one of the fastest growing online destinations in the region, our numbers suggest just that.
Despite all the denseness and crowdedness of Arabic web design today, we must conclude that “good” design can only be defined by appropriateness to audience, goals, and its effectiveness, not by its adherence to Swiss design or the number of awards it wins – those are different “standards”. Weighing against what I am personally used to, Arabs are more familiar with bad design than good design. We are, in effect, conditioned to prefer bad design, because that is what the majority of us live with. This is quite alright because we’re growing and developing, but our mindset as Arab nations must learn to become more malleable and adaptive to change. The old will always be more re-assuring to us, but the new should never be threatening. In the end, perhaps face-off isn’t between modern and old design, but between design itself and those who use it.

SHOW ME THE MONEY ARABIA!

FJ — Tue, 17 May 2011 20:51:40 +0000

For a developing market such as ours, these numbers sound pretty promising, but are not exclusive to online consumer purchasing as they include things such as bills and payments for services. Theoretically, this would probably mean that a good chunk of that $192M spent over the last 12 months in Jordan came from its booming tech sector as a product of all the transactions going out to vendors through the web.

Now let’s weigh matters against some global facts:

According to reports, global e-commerce spending is expected to top some $13 Trillion by the year 2012, meaning that the MENA region’s online spending footprint accounts for less than 1% of global e-commerce spending – suddenly things don’t look as sexy as they used to. The challenges we face in our corner of the world are many, but are we working hard enough to address them? Let’s take a look:

Culture of Paying Online:Do you remember the very first time you paid for something online? Do you remember the jitters and doubts you had as you punched in your credit card number? I surely do…but that was over ten years ago and time healed all the hesitations I had. It’s important to govern and promote e-commerce sites and make sure they comply with industry security standards. That would probably be the first step towards a heartening tipping point, but in our markets it only takes a few incidents to ruin everything for everyone (for a while). People tend to overreact to incidents as such, especially in emerging areas that don’t understand this space very well. Personally, I believe time can only mend this and users will reach a level of comfort with purchasing online sooner or later – when the time comes it’ll be sweet. Whether they will grow to also feel safer buying items online, that is a bit less likely (even on a global level).

Payment Methods: Hmm… Allow me to count the ways; Credit Card, Money Transfer, pre-paid card, Paypal and more. There is no shortage of channels to get your money to whatever vendor you are buying from and payment gateways are all over the place, but did you know that one of the top reasons why online merchants lose business today is because they do not provide a wide enough range of payment methods to their users? Moreover, 50% of all online shoppers said that if their “preferred” payment method was not available on a site they would be inclined to cancel their purchase. 40% of shoppers also added that they were far more comfortable buying from a site with a wide range of payment methods versus just one.

Despite the fact that a significant portion of the population does not deal with plastic money in MENA, it’s probably the most obvious way for people to pay online. If you have one, then it’s just in your pocket – make the payment and move along. Money transfers take longer, pre-paid cards have added security benefits but involve having to buy the card itself, and PayPal is nowhere to be found. WHERE ARE YOU PAYPAL?!? Come to Arabia, it’s nice and warm here.

Convenience: Let’s face it, things in the Arab world are rather convenient. Cities and communities are smaller, close knit, and everything is right around the corner or just a few minutes away. Unlike the United States where miles are involved in getting to the mall or grocery store (even then you’ll probably cover a few miles on foot walking down the aisles of their colossal depots), everything is within reach in the Arab world – at least for the most part.

Lack of Incentive:Would you like FREE Shipping with that? How about a discount? I really wonder if e-commerce sites in the Arab world are providing anything other than just a delivery service. Maybe some of us are a bit lazy and enjoy the luxury of making purchases through the internet, there’s nothing wrong with that, but it won’t bring a critical mass to your online business anytime soon. More needs to be done on a number of fronts, from customer service to preferred customer treatment. Take Zappos.com for example, they covered all these areas extremely well but became the champions of customer service. That’s what brought people back to them. How about GoNabit.com (or any other of the million group buying clones around the world), it’s doing great because people see the incentive behind their heavily discounted deals. The bottom line is that most online businesses can afford to experiment in the short-term and gain in the long run or over volume purchases.

There are many points worth mentioning and opinions vary widely but in conclusion, I believe that there is far more that we could do as entrepreneurs, business people and governments to “relatively” shoot things through the roof for commerce in general. Having grown up and lived in the United States, I noticed how the American calendar was full of holidays and celebrations – even some were completely made up! There was something to look forward to every month of the year whether it was Halloween, Thanksgiving, President’s day, Christmas…and the list goes on. I was astonished by the way they made such commotion, noise and excitement around those occasions, even to the extent that made the fake ones part of their culture. Most of all, I was dumbfounded to see how they tied and molded them into nationwide sales extravaganzas that lived on and off-line. Let Amazon tell you about their server load over the holiday season or on Black Friday (the Friday following thanksgiving). The exhilaration will get you into the store or on the site, and then you’re hit with impulse discounts and additional savings as well. On both sides of the equation it’s like being in heaven, the consumers are saving and the merchants are turning over their inventory – it’s a super incentive that requires investment and collaboration. We have a bunch of exciting events in our part of the world, but perhaps all we need is a little….”Fuss”.

What’s that you say? So you don’t want to pay…alright we get the picture! Although there may be slow growth within the Arabian e-commerce market, it’s yet another interesting puzzle waiting to be cracked. Here are some figures to set the stage for you:
For a developing market such as ours, these numbers sound pretty promising, but are not exclusive to online consumer purchasing as they include things such as bills and payments for services. Theoretically, this would probably mean that a good chunk of that $192M spent over the last 12 months in Jordan came from its booming tech sector as a product of all the transactions going out to vendors through the web.Now let’s weigh matters against some global facts:
According to reports, global e-commerce spending is expected to top some $13 Trillion by the year 2012, meaning that the MENA region’s online spending footprint accounts for less than 1% of global e-commerce spending – suddenly things don’t look as sexy as they used to. The challenges we face in our corner of the world are many, but are we working hard enough to address them? Let’s take a look:

Culture of Paying Online:Do you remember the very first time you paid for something online? Do you remember the jitters and doubts you had as you punched in your credit card number? I surely do…but that was over ten years ago and time healed all the hesitations I had. It’s important to govern and promote e-commerce sites and make sure they comply with industry security standards. That would probably be the first step towards a heartening tipping point, but in our markets it only takes a few incidents to ruin everything for everyone (for a while). People tend to overreact to incidents as such, especially in emerging areas that don’t understand this space very well. Personally, I believe time can only mend this and users will reach a level of comfort with purchasing online sooner or later – when the time comes it’ll be sweet. Whether they will grow to also feel safer buying items online, that is a bit less likely (even on a global level).
Payment Methods: Hmm… Allow me to count the ways; Credit Card, Money Transfer, pre-paid card, Paypal and more. There is no shortage of channels to get your money to whatever vendor you are buying from and payment gateways are all over the place, but did you know that one of the top reasons why online merchants lose business today is because they do not provide a wide enough range of payment methods to their users? Moreover, 50% of all online shoppers said that if their “preferred” payment method was not available on a site they would be inclined to cancel their purchase. 40% of shoppers also added that they were far more comfortable buying from a site with a wide range of payment methods versus just one.

This is true for the U.S. as well, 67% of online shoppers use credit cards, while 36% use debit cards for their transactions. In parts of Europe, pre-paid cards have a major market share, but in Germany we find that Males use credit for over 40% of online purchases, whereas females use direct debit with an overwhelming majority. In a place like Shanghai, 43% of users preferred to use money transfers over anything else online.
Despite the fact that a significant portion of the population does not deal with plastic money in MENA, it’s probably the most obvious way for people to pay online. If you have one, then it’s just in your pocket – make the payment and move along. Money transfers take longer, pre-paid cards have added security benefits but involve having to buy the card itself, and PayPal is nowhere to be found. WHERE ARE YOU PAYPAL?!? Come to Arabia, it’s nice and warm here.

Convenience: Let’s face it, things in the Arab world are rather convenient. Cities and communities are smaller, close knit, and everything is right around the corner or just a few minutes away. Unlike the United States where miles are involved in getting to the mall or grocery store (even then you’ll probably cover a few miles on foot walking down the aisles of their colossal depots), everything is within reach in the Arab world – at least for the most part.
Lack of Incentive:Would you like FREE Shipping with that? How about a discount? I really wonder if e-commerce sites in the Arab world are providing anything other than just a delivery service. Maybe some of us are a bit lazy and enjoy the luxury of making purchases through the internet, there’s nothing wrong with that, but it won’t bring a critical mass to your online business anytime soon. More needs to be done on a number of fronts, from customer service to preferred customer treatment. Take Zappos.com for example, they covered all these areas extremely well but became the champions of customer service. That’s what brought people back to them. How about GoNabit.com (or any other of the million group buying clones around the world), it’s doing great because people see the incentive behind their heavily discounted deals. The bottom line is that most online businesses can afford to experiment in the short-term and gain in the long run or over volume purchases.

Arabian Videology: The Online Motion Picture

FJ — Tue, 17 May 2011 20:46:50 +0000

Considering that the internet in the Arab world is safely 10 years younger than the web of the west, as a product, online video can seamlessly be placed in the shoes of search back in the early days. Figuratively meaning: it is an integral part of cyber-sphere that is just praying for a solid business model to come and save the day. Advertising may be one stream, subscriptions would be another and content licensing is a third, but why haven’t we seen a champion in the field just yet?

Now before we get all sentimental here, let’s realize that video hasn’t been a hopeless case with advertisers in the past. Regional properties such as d1g.com’s Clibbatand Ikbis have done rather well and grown many folds since launch, but the cost of streaming anything that is anywhere near 80TB worth of data every month comes at a hefty price tag that is definitely not being covered by video advertising campaigns – especially not in the Arab world. From TV trends we find that there is a direct relationship between the increase of channels and the increase of consumption. The problem is that advertising will not grow fast enough to feed all the mouths of the players in the video business. Hypothetically, as “consumer touch points” multiply, the number of people that each piece of content reaches is smaller at broadcast, but can grow with time. Enter the double edged sword – revenues online will be less than its TV counterpart for popular events, but the content owner will be capable of drawing more revenue over the course of the piece’s shelf life. Technically speaking, all video matter on the web can build a following and possibly gain an enduring revenue stream, but since there is no vetting process in the mix – the lowest common denominator can be nil. Not to mention that most consumed content is “crap” and cannot be monetized due to the fact that advertisers do not want to associate their brands with it. Putting this into context, a site like YouTube would probably only be able to monetize about 5% of its videos … So much for that idea!

Over the past few years, we’ve established that Arab users are hungry for rich media content over the web, and the mainstream opportunity for video is still just around the corner. To put matters into perspective here, an elaborate study conducted by Cisco in 2009 suggests that 90% of all consumer IP traffic will be video by the year 2013 with a compound annual growth rate of 131%. In drilling this down by region, we find that the Middle East and North Africa is projected to experience the highest growth rates in the world over the next three years with Latin American and Central Eastern Europe tagging closely behind.

877,000 Terabytes of data in 2013 is no joke, exceptionally when considering that 35% of users in the Arab world are tapping in with a 512 kbps connection! A study conducted by d1g.com around the state of video in the region teaches us that Arabs highly demand two types of content; miscellaneous videos (30%) and Movies (29%). Both of which are sadly can’t be monetized today, due to “crap” and copyright issues.

On the other hand, are users willing to pay for these videos that they want so bad? You probably guessed it…The overwhelming majority (54%) of Arab users are not willing to pay for the content they so happily and readily consume. Observations on the graph below suggest that less than half of Arabs would actually pay some amount for video online, but we all know that all the bells and whistles would have to be included to make the sale (HD video, premium & super premium programming…etc.).

Now, for the million dollar question: Is all the hassle worth the opportunity?

Naturally, getting paid for content is ideal but indicators sadly tell us that consumers will never pay for it online today – perhaps for a while too. What is left is syndication (getting other companies to pay for the content), but the Arab media space is far too young to see that model pass over to the internet as well. Perhaps for profit, web video is a bit of a discouraging case today. Despite all the difficulties, we need to realize that feeding relevant on demand video into the eyes of the Arab world is extremely important for our users, culture and growth of the web eco-system. For the sites themselves, video drives awesome traffic and usage generally spills over into other services, but the real prospect lies in providing Arabs with an open stage to share their interests and thoughts amongst themselves and with the rest of the world. The internet has brought around some unique possibilities for us to broaden our horizons. Ones that allow users to capture interest and “pull” for content instead of the “push” they’ve been so used to. It is a chance to make decisions and choose to be influenced, inspired and enthused by what we seek to see. Today, that alone is priceless and good things might as well be monetized later.

The secret is out my friends…welcome to our new disjointed world of media. It is one where fewer humans watch TV and more teenagers spend every waking minute connected to the internet. Lifeless are the days when more than 30% of households would watch prime time television; typically meaning that an advertisement slot during that period would potentially reach “everyone”. According to Nielsen, prime time reach is barely 5% today and we are officially turning to new mediums that feed our need for video, but are definitely not the TV set. This fragmentation coupled with social media’s loyal and powerful user gains are placing online video at the forefront of the web. Nevertheless, we remain in transition and the condition of video content in the world is still quite the plight – Yet, even more so in our corner of the planet.
Considering that the internet in the Arab world is safely 10 years younger than the web of the west, as a product, online video can seamlessly be placed in the shoes of search back in the early days. Figuratively meaning: it is an integral part of cyber-sphere that is just praying for a solid business model to come and save the day. Advertising may be one stream, subscriptions would be another and content licensing is a third, but why haven’t we seen a champion in the field just yet?
Now before we get all sentimental here, let’s realize that video hasn’t been a hopeless case with advertisers in the past. Regional properties such as d1g.com’s Clibbatand Ikbis have done rather well and grown many folds since launch, but the cost of streaming anything that is anywhere near 80TB worth of data every month comes at a hefty price tag that is definitely not being covered by video advertising campaigns – especially not in the Arab world. From TV trends we find that there is a direct relationship between the increase of channels and the increase of consumption. The problem is that advertising will not grow fast enough to feed all the mouths of the players in the video business. Hypothetically, as “consumer touch points” multiply, the number of people that each piece of content reaches is smaller at broadcast, but can grow with time. Enter the double edged sword – revenues online will be less than its TV counterpart for popular events, but the content owner will be capable of drawing more revenue over the course of the piece’s shelf life. Technically speaking, all video matter on the web can build a following and possibly gain an enduring revenue stream, but since there is no vetting process in the mix – the lowest common denominator can be nil. Not to mention that most consumed content is “crap” and cannot be monetized due to the fact that advertisers do not want to associate their brands with it. Putting this into context, a site like YouTube would probably only be able to monetize about 5% of its videos … So much for that idea!
Over the past few years, we’ve established that Arab users are hungry for rich media content over the web, and the mainstream opportunity for video is still just around the corner. To put matters into perspective here, an elaborate study conducted by Cisco in 2009 suggests that 90% of all consumer IP traffic will be video by the year 2013 with a compound annual growth rate of 131%. In drilling this down by region, we find that the Middle East and North Africa is projected to experience the highest growth rates in the world over the next three years with Latin American and Central Eastern Europe tagging closely behind.
877,000 Terabytes of data in 2013 is no joke, exceptionally when considering that 35% of users in the Arab world are tapping in with a 512 kbps connection! A study conducted by d1g.com around the state of video in the region teaches us that Arabs highly demand two types of content; miscellaneous videos (30%) and Movies (29%). Both of which are sadly can’t be monetized today, due to “crap” and copyright issues.
On the other hand, are users willing to pay for these videos that they want so bad? You probably guessed it…The overwhelming majority (54%) of Arab users are not willing to pay for the content they so happily and readily consume. Observations on the graph below suggest that less than half of Arabs would actually pay some amount for video online, but we all know that all the bells and whistles would have to be included to make the sale (HD video, premium & super premium programming…etc.).
Now, for the million dollar question: Is all the hassle worth the opportunity?
Naturally, getting paid for content is ideal but indicators sadly tell us that consumers will never pay for it online today – perhaps for a while too. What is left is syndication (getting other companies to pay for the content), but the Arab media space is far too young to see that model pass over to the internet as well. Perhaps for profit, web video is a bit of a discouraging case today. Despite all the difficulties, we need to realize that feeding relevant on demand video into the eyes of the Arab world is extremely important for our users, culture and growth of the web eco-system. For the sites themselves, video drives awesome traffic and usage generally spills over into other services, but the real prospect lies in providing Arabs with an open stage to share their interests and thoughts amongst themselves and with the rest of the world. The internet has brought around some unique possibilities for us to broaden our horizons. Ones that allow users to capture interest and “pull” for content instead of the “push” they’ve been so used to. It is a chance to make decisions and choose to be influenced, inspired and enthused by what we seek to see. Today, that alone is priceless and good things might as well be monetized later.

Hello world!

FJ — Tue, 17 May 2011 11:52:50 +0000

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!