Category: 2003-2014 Archive
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2015
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IKEA finally arrives in Jordan. But how cheap/expensive is it?
The mighty IKEA is here. Certainly one of my favorite brands. Part of my and my wife’s childhoods in Germany. The number 1 shopping destination whenever I went to Dubai in my late 20s and throughout my 30s. And, as with everything in Jordan, IKEA is 10 years late for us. OK, I am exaggerating…
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Jordan was made almost 100 years ago, now we need to make Jordanians
“The Jordanian Spring in the continuation of Jordan’s founding story (or why doesn’t Jordan’s status as a “modern country”, translate into proper urban and town living for its citizens, better-serviced cities and a generally better lifestyle for all of us?)” What is all of this about? Below is a translation from Arabic that I attempted…
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iOS7′s design: European minimalism triumphing over American quirkiness and fun?
Yesterday I had my first chance to use iOS7. I played with it for an hour on an iPad (actually my mother’s iPad which my younger brother has used to check out the iOS 7 beta releases). Before showing it to me, he showed it to my 10 year old son, who certainly can be…
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Nokia’s Lumia 920: a respectable presence, maybe even a comeback
Marko loves his Nokia’s devices. And he talks like a craftsman. But can this object mark Nokia’s comeback? Around a month ago I was given the Nokia Lumia 920 to review. I am expecting a call any moment now from the Nokia PR agency wanting their phone back. And I have to say: I am…
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The 80′s refusing to leave: Shmeisani and the death of Ammani human-scale urban modernity
Occasional visits to my dentist in Shmeisani sometimes end with a walk retracing the footsteps of my teenage days in Amman, spent studying for exams or getting introduced to newspapers like The Guardian at Abdulhameed Shoman public library, meeting computer geek friends upstairs in the computer lab in same building, eating Shawerma at a corner…
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Why Facebook is more important than Google now
If Google would disappear off the face of the earth tomorrow: I will use Bing for search. I will use my Yahoo Mail or Outlook.com for email. My company email also depends on GMail but I guess we can just revert to hosting our mailboxes with our web host YouTube will certainly be missed but…
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Once upon a time HM King Abdullah II commented on a blog
It was just four years ago that HM King Abdullah II commented on The Black Iris, the well known Jordanian blog. You can see His Majesty’s comment here. In that comment the King said: “We are a country of freedom, tolerance, diversity and openness, and everyone has the right to express their thoughts – no…
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More from IFA and the future of TV: dual viewer screens, the war of 3D glasses and magic remotes
My previous post from my trip to the IFA consumer electronics show was all about OLED and 4K and what LG, who invited me to the show, were promising consumers for the years ahead in the field of TV. But I also wanted to share some of the other stuff I saw and give you…
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55″ OLED TVs and 84″ 4K screens: the next evolutions of TV are here
Trips to the local electronic superstores in Amman will be a frustrating experience for me in the coming few years. Why? Because I seen the future of TV screens at the Berlin’s IFA consumer electronic expo. That future is big, it’s high resolution, it’s 3D and it’s smart. LG invited me to the IFA consumer…
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The best of IFA 2012: Jordan’s tech reporters uncover the show’s best kept secret
Forget about 84″ screens with 4K resolution.. Forget about OLED and true blacks. Forget about 3D with active glasses, passive glasses and no glasses. Forget about tablets, smartphones and super thin laptops. You can even forget about wall mounting brackets.. Don’t believe the hype from all those electronics companies. Because your brave tech reporters from…
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Why am I joining the Jordan Internet Blackout
For the past decade and a half, a large part of my belief in Jordan as a homeland has been based on the fact that we had a free uncensored internet (yes I know about the Arabtimes.com exception, but let’s just agree that the net in Jordan was largely free and uncensored). What does the…