Category: 2003-2014 Archive
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What’s GAM’s problem with the spring?
We have been blessed with good rain in Amman this year. Spring is all around us. Amman’s empty plots of land (and there’s many of those) are full of green life. Flowers, grasses, butterflies and bees are creating little heavens where usually you see urban rubbish. The scene above is what I see everyday as…
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ArabNet 2010, Day 1: the Arab web industry emerges
Photos stolen from Andfaraway With a ballroom full of participants during all sessions, buzzing networking activity during coffee breaks, inspiring talks from both older web hands and young ones, startup demos from all over the region, not to mention very active tweeting and live blogging, we can say that day 1 of the ArabNet conference…
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ArabNet: Ten years late, the Arab web industry gets its conference
Here is one of my favorite anecdotes about the Arab web industry: the web advertising spending of the whole Arab region, including the rich Gulf region and Saudi Arabia is less than the revenue of a single niche web marketing agency (which you never heard of) in Seattle where one of my friends works. Now…
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On physical junk, mental junk and the joys spring cleaning
We’re SYNTAX. And we create junk. Celebrating 12 years of junk production. And 10 years of accumulating it in one office. We’re spring cleaning. Read more in the SYNTAX:CONTEXT blog.
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NewThink Theater: Infecting Jordan with the virus of positive action [with VIDEO]
Here’s something that keeps Jordan interesting: there is always someone or some group initiating something. Regional politics might be depressing. Local politics too. The economy is not doing great. There are setbacks, deterioration, and the “I don’t care” attitude all around us. But at the same time, someone is launching a new initiative.. startup.. band..…
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Counterparts – Ammani House 28 in transition
Photo: Dina Haddadin House 28 on the corner of Rainbow Street is in a state of flux. The old landlady and her old, bed-ridden husband have passed away. It seems like yesterday she was showing Ahmad Sabbagh and me through the apartment under the main house. That apartment became what I called the “SYNTAX house”.…
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The iPad is so 2010. Say “hello?” to the ePad..
Read these related posts on 360east: After the dust settled.. some iPad questions Say Happy New 2010 on Amman’s 1st Cricle tomorrow Apps from Arabia 360east goes to Mobile World Congress 2010 Open City: Refuge urbanism in Amman, Cairo, Beirut, Istanbul
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The NYTimess writes about Amman (and my fellow bloggers and tweeps complain)
I really love my fellow Ammani bloggers and tweeps. I really think that they are one of the best things that happened to us in the last ten years. I love that many of them have give a voice to Amman’s urban issues and urban activism. But sometimes they have me shaking my head with…
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Who can revolutionize Arabic music? A bunch of people from Finland and their friends, perhaps?
I really wish I had a time machine in my basement. Here is what I would do: pay a visit to Cairo in the 1950s or 1960s. Here is one time destination I would travel to: 24 February 1966, Cairo. I would key-in time and place on the machine’s touch screen and seconds later would…
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VIDEO: Zaha Hadid announced as winner to design new art and culture center in Amman
Zaha Hadid was officially announced as the final winner of the long standing competition to design the King Abdullah II House for Art and culture in Amman. Mayor Omar Maani made the announcement in a special ceremony held a couple of days ago where he hosted Hadid and a group of dignitaries, cultural officials and…
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SYNTAX wins Jordan’s best website prize at the Jordan Web Awards
Check this out: the sweat and tears (almost) that the SYNTAX (and Spring) team poured into the Amman Centennial website paid off in a new way. It was a nice surprise that we won the Jordan Web Awards best site of 2009 prize. But there’s a catch: the trophy was so damn heavy, my arm…
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How to swear in Arabic, using web and tech jargon!
This video, the product of the “sick minds” at Kharabeesh was first shown at the Jordan Web Awards a couple of days ago. It was one of the highlights of the evening! So watch or I will RSS your face!