Month: May 2006
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Innovation at the WEF Workspace
I just emerged from the WEFs Workspace session on innovation. The Workspace is a neat WEF space full of whiteboards, colored pens, video cameras and screens. It is, in short an intensive brainstorms space. After a briefing by the chief moderator (HP’s Joseph Hanania) the participants in this session got to choose a number of…
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Easy’s Stelios call for investment in tourism and liberalization of the airline business in the Middle East
Stelios Haji-Ioannou, founder of the Easy brand (EasyJet, etc) has just addressed the plenary session of the WEF, saying that travel and tourism can be an absorber of a lot of labour in the region. The investment in the sector can range from large international companies but also home-grown medium and small companies (everything from…
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Blogging form the WEF, Sharm el Sheikh
I just arrived at the Sharm el Sheik International conference center, an impressive new facility which is now filling up with the conference’s participants. Security in Sharm is very tight. Police and roadblocks all over the place. Baggage checks and scans, etc. Today at 14,00 the WEF will start in earnest, with an address from…
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Today’s discovery: GPRS roaming works in Sharm el Sheikh
On my top-10-things-I-hate-list is definitely overprices internet access in hotels. In the Sharm El Sheikh Intercontinental a day’s worth of access costs 32 US$. An hour’s access costs 11 US$. This is just crazy. So I decided to try my luck. Knowing there is GPRS available in Shram El Sheikh (which apparently is also the…
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Me and toot at the WEF
I am sitting in the Queen Alia airport departure hall waiting for my flight to Sharm el Shiekh, where I will be attending the World Economic Forum on the Middle East. I’ve been invited to be on the panel on youth and technology, as co-founder of Toot. The panel will discuss the effects of technologies…
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The intel-based MacBook is out in BLACK (O, and in white too)
After a 1 week delay (according to the rumors) the new intel MacBook is out. Very impressive! Apple killed the 12” and 14” iBooks and instead opted of a 13.3 ” widescreen size for it’s new consumer oriented MacBook. The bright wide screen along with Apple’s bundled remote and its Front Row media viewing application…
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SYNTAX Seeks Super-Designer!
We’re looking for people who can THINK. We’re looking for people with IDEAS. Someone who can turn ideas into visual form. Someone who believes that design will save the world. A designer who take typography seriously. A designer who know the tools. Someone who will help us brand innovative ventures in Jordan, Kuwait, Dubai, the…
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Talk more with Olivoice
If you live in the US and Canada (Europe too?) and have family and friends in the good old Arab world (or the ‘Blaad’ as Arab Americans like to say ) or the wider world, then you have to check out Olivoice, a new kind of telecom which has just launched today! And that’s not…
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Smoke in a public area and get fined JD 1000
Now that would be cool! I would like to see the look on the face of one of those middle aged men in suits being fined JD 1000 or being led to prison (preferably by a Jordanian police woman) for smoking at the baggage belt of the Queen Alia Airport. I am sure I will…
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Always the sun: Jordan should become a renewable energy leader!
At least there is a good side effect for the rise in petrol prices in Jordan. People and institutions are starting to think about sources of renewable energy: solar, wind and geothermal. Of course, our streets are becoming ever more crowded with Hummers and other gas guzzlers, which is not exactly a sign of energy…
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Kick-starting tech entrepreneurship at Princess Sumaya University
Today’s paper’s highlighted the award ceremony at PSUT for the winning tech business plans of the Princess Sumaya National Entrepreneurship Competition. [from the Jordan Times] Her Majesty Queen Rania on Sunday honoured the six winners of the Princess Sumaya National Entrepreneurship Competition (PSNEC). The Queen also laid the foundation stone for the Queen Rania Centre…
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Google Trends: Amman, Dubai, Kuwait
[From Subzeroblue] Subzero Blue: New Stuff From Google: Google Trends: This gives users access to compare the popularity of certain topics and search terms on Google. The user can enter up to five topics and see how often they’ve been searched for on Google over time. Google Trends also displays how frequently these topics have…