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Al Jazeera Launches First Creative Commons Video Footage Repository

January 14, 2009January 14, 2009 MMM 1 Comment

Last night, Al Jazeera Network launched the world’s first online repository of broadcast quality video footage released under the ‘Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution’ license. Select Al Jazeera video footage – at this time footage of the War on Gaza – will be available for free to be downloaded, shared, remixed, subtitled and eventually rebroadcasted by users and TV stations across the world with acknowledgement to Al Jazeera.

The repository is available online at http://cc.aljazeera.net, and through it Al Jazeera will release its exclusive Arabic and English coverage produced by the Network’s correspondents and crews in the Gaza Strip, that should make it a key resource for anyone producing content on the current situation especially with the scarcity of news footage available.

This step makes Al Jazeera the first news organization to release its footage under the ‘Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution’ license which allows for commercial and non-commercial use.

Mohamed Nanabhay who headed New Media at Al Jazeera and launched the project stated, “As one of the only international broadcasters in Gaza, our coverage of the war has been unsurpassed. The launch of Al Jazeera’s Creative Commons Repository means that our Gaza footage will be made available under the most permissive Creative Commons license (CC-BY). With the flexibility of the license we expect to introduce our outstanding coverage to an even wider audience across the world. This means that news outlets, filmmakers and bloggers will be able to easily share, remix and reuse our footage.”

Lawrence Lessig, the founder of the Creative Commons organization and Professor of Law at Stanford University, stated, “Al Jazeera is teaching an important lesson about how free speech gets built and supported. By providing a free resource for the world, the network is encouraging wider debate, and a richer understanding”.

Joichi Ito, CEO of Creative Commons and a world renowned Web 2.0 entrepreneur, added, “Video news footage is an essential part of modern journalism. Providing material under a Creative Commons license to allow commercial and amateur use is an enormous contribution to the global dialog around important events. Al Jazeera has set the example and the standard that we hope others will follow”.

TigerFish Network Aims To compete With Google and Yahoo

January 10, 2009January 10, 2009 MMM 12 Comments

H2O New Media, the UAE based social media agency, recently released a bit more details about its TigerFish Network, previously covered here.

The TigerFish Network, is promoted as the first Middle East based social media advertising network, which will allow advertisers to target their online marketing strategy based on user profiles and user defined preferences. This advertising network will be offered to H2O New Media customers and publishers, giving them an opportunity to generate revenues from their online publications and social media websites.

The TigerFish Network will be implemented across all social communities owned and operated by H2O New Media and those of its customers.

H2O New Media hopes TigerFish will enable it to strongly compete with companies like Google and Yahoo, hoping that by being a local online advertising network that crosses different social media channels, they can provide a higher rate of return for publishers in the region, offering them targeted regional advertising based on users profiles.

“In 2009, the focus for TigerFish Network will be to expand our advertising sales team and recruit local publishers into the network. Our aim is to work with existing social media platforms in the UAE and into migrating them from Google on to TigerFish Network. We foresee significant workload in this transition however our relationships with media and PR agencies in this market is expected to boost the launch of this platform. We will compete directly with Google for a share of the UAE’s online advertising market as we are leaders of social media development and we provide a holistic and consultative service to clients and users” said Mr. Steve Vaile, CEO and Founder, H2O New Media.

The TigerFish Network is scheduled to open business by mid January 2009. The product is currently implemented on a number of social media platforms with a reach of over 300,000 unique users per month across a mix of platforms.

H2O New Media To Launch ‘Tiger Fish’ Social Media Advertising Platform

December 30, 2008December 30, 2008 MMM 9 Comments

Dubai-based H2O New Media announced plans to launch the region’s first dedicated social media advertising platform next month, allowing advertisers to target users based on their online community profile.

The platform, called Tiger Fish, is planned to offer advertising services similar in concept to those provided by Facebook and MySpace.

“The Middle East is the second-fastest growing market for social media behind Africa,” Steve Vaile, the chief executive and founder of H2O New Media, told The National. “I think the region needs its own online advertising platform, which is why we have been developing the Tiger Fish network. It will allow advertisers to target the users who want to view their ads.”

Although Tiger Fish claims to have access to more than 300,000 locally based consumers on both English and Arabic content platforms, Mr Vaile said the focus would be mostly on those who speak English. The new platform would offer businesses that previously would have taken products from the US or Europe the opportunity to have local support and consultancy. “There’s a lot that goes into an application like this.”

There isn’t much more detail out there about Tiger Fish yet, but my understanding is that it’s based around the different social media communities H2O New Media has built, leveraging the database of different user profiles in this network of online community services to offer advertisers the chance to target specific segments more precisely.

Hijri Calendar Now Available Through Google Calendar

December 25, 2008December 25, 2008 MMM 2 Comments

Google just recently announced the availability of the Hijri Calendar in English and Arabic in their Google Calendar tool.

Google Calendar is a tool that simplifies keeping track of events, special occasions, and appointments — whether they’re on your own agenda or on the calendars of contacts who opt to share their schedules with you. Now users that prefer to use the Hijri Calendar can add this feature.

“Launching the Google Hijri Calendar showcases our effort to focus on the needs of users locally. Calendar is a great tool for organizing your life,” said Wael Ghonim, Marketing Manager. “It’s another of our efforts to provide users with fast, easy-to-use applications that help to simplify your life in a way that is locally relevant for users who want Hijri Calendar dates.”

To add the Hijri Calendar you need to sign in to your Google Account and go to your calendar. Once there click on settings. Under the General tab you can scroll down to Alternate Calendars and select the Hijri calendar of your choice.

There are three types of Hijri calendars available: Standard, Kuwaiti and Saudi Hijri calendars.

# Google Calendar

Royal Jordanian First Middle Eastern Airline To Offer OnAir Mobile & Internet Services

December 23, 2008December 23, 2008 MMM 2 Comments

Royal Jordanian and OnAir signed an agreement whereby RJ, a oneworld member, will provide passengers with OnAir’s in-flight Internet and mobile phone services, including email, SMS and voice calls, making it the first airline in the Middle East to offer such facility.

President/CEO Samer Majali, who signed the agreement with OnAir CEO Benois Debains, said that the OnAir service will enable Royal Jordanian passengers to use their mobile phones and BlackBerry-type devices to send and receive text messages and emails, and to make and receive mobile phone calls in flight, as well as to use their laptops to access Internet.

He indicated that the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) granted airworthiness certification to OnAir, testifying that neither Mobile OnAir system nor multiple mobiles cause harmful interference to any of the aircraft’s avionics systems.

Majali pointed out that phase one of the agreement stipulates installing the system by the Airbus company in two Airbus A319 that will be joining the fleet in February and March next year. The second phase of the agreement includes implementing the Mobile OnAir Service on the airline’s single-aisle A320 family, installed with a standalone GSM/GPRS system at the end of 2009.

Passengers will be able to use their own mobile phones during flights, above 3,000 meters, whereas during take offs and landings, the service will not be operative.

Majali added: “Mobile OnAir will allow unlimited text messages and emails to be sent, and will allow up to 11 simultaneous voice calls. A central feature of the service is the crew’s ability to turn it off at any time, or switch it to “silent” – text and email only – mode, enabling the airline to customize the services to passengers’ preferences. For example, airlines could turn off the voice element, or even the whole service, during quiet times.”

He also said that the Mobile OnAir Service is one important move that will pave the way for airline mobile self-care services. This will allow the passenger to check the flight status, do his check in, view his itineraries and manage bookings, such as changing flights, selecting seats, requesting upgrades, booking bags and selecting meals. Additionally, it offers passengers information about their destination. “Royal Jordanian is at the forefront of e-travel. This includes providing passengers with the ability to plan trips, book online, issue e-tickets, make online seat reservations and use self check-in kiosks at the airport. We are now pleased to offer the latest technology: on board communications services, enabling our passengers to carry on with their travel planning, as well as to communicate with their colleagues, friends and families, in exactly the same way they can on the ground,” commented Majali.

OnAir signed roaming agreements with the world’s mobile operators, among which three Jordanian mobile operators: Zain, Orange and Umniah. The service is invoiced by the passenger’s home mobile operator at international roaming rates

OnAir was incorporated in February 2005 and is owned by Airbus, the aircraft manufacturer with the most modern and comprehensive product line on the market, and SITA, the world-leading provider of air transport focused applications, communications and IT infrastructure.

Abu Dhabi Authority For Culture And Heritage To Launch Online Poetry Encyclopaedia

December 20, 2008December 20, 2008 MMM

The Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) has announced that it will soon launch a website that serves as the latest issue of the poetry encyclopaedia, to coincide with the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, held on March 2009.

The fourth edition of the encyclopaedia, whose publishing rights are owned by ADACH, will include: 2,693 poetry collections (which mount to 2,890,301 verses or 138,641 poems). In addition, it will have 1,081 books on scientific, literary and historical heritage.

Many of the original poetry collections have been provided with huge additional content. For example, the third edition Ahmed Shawqi’s collection had 376 poems (11,724 verses), while the fourth edition includes 776 poems (16,517 verses).

Work on the poetry encyclopaedia began in 1997 and the National Library launched the first edition in 1998, which included nearly 180,000 verses of 88 poets, in addition to the Arabic dictionary ‘Lisan Al Arab’ (the Arab tongue) of Ibn Mandhour.

Jumaa Al Qubaisi, Director of the National Library, said ADACH was keen that the poetry encyclopaedia, in its new look, remains committed to the high refined taste of its Arab readers, in its collections of selected Arab poets – old and new. The poetry encyclopaedia did not set as a pre-condition of only including previously published poetry collections as its editors believe that many glorious poets, whose poems can be found in different places, did not have their poetry collections published, while not every poet whose work has been fully published means that his/her work is of a valuable significance.

There are books that deal with the poetry of some of the Arab tribes, the poetry of a certain country or region, the poems of people belonging to certain religion or sect, as well as ones focused on female poets only.

The encyclopaedia also provides a search engine to help researchers.

The fourth edition of the poetry encyclopaedia will be available online for all visitors of the ADACH website.

Undersea Cable Damages Disrupt Internet & Communication Services

December 20, 2008December 20, 2008 MMM 2 Comments

Damage to three major undersea cables located in the Mediterranean between Sicily and Tunisia seriously disrupted more than half of internet and phone services between Europe, the Middle East and Asia on Friday, with India, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates the worst affected.

France Telecom said initial estimates show 82 percent of service to India was disrupted, while 73 percent of service to Qatar and 68 percent to the UAE was affected. Around 50 percent of service to Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt was also disrupted.

The causes of the cut remain unclear. A ship set off in the early hours of Saturday morning to fix the lines, but it could take until Dec. 31 for normal service to be restored.

The cables are jointly owned by several dozen different countries. One of the cables is 40,000 km long and links 33 different countries while a second is 20,000 km long and serves 14 states.

In January of this year, similar damages to five cables in the Mediterranean, north of Alexandria Egypt, and in the Arabian Gulf, caused major disruptions to internet and communication services around the Middle East and Asia.

Nokia Music Store Officially Goes Live In The UAE

December 3, 2008December 3, 2008 MMM

As planned and previously announced here, Nokia went live with their Music Store in the United Arab Emirates a couple of days ago, the first in the Middle East and twelfth globally.

The online store can be accessed at http://music.nokia.ae, and boasts a comprehensive catalog from four main international labels – Universal, Sony BMG, Warner and EMI – as well as Arab label Rotana and content aggregator Qanawat.

Once subscribers set up an account on the site, they can access the Nokia Music Store via their computer using the freely downloadable Nokia Music for PC software, which allows users to manage their music, create playlists and synchronise their music library with their Nokia device. Users can also access the software directly from compatible devices, and listen to a 30 second clip of any track on the store before buying it.

Individual tracks, irrespective of language or genre, will cost AED 3 and complete albums will be priced at AED 30. Additionally, subscribers can also enjoy unlimited PC streaming of the entire online catalog at a competitive price of just AED 20 per month.

Fresh tracks and albums will be added periodically, with specially compiled playlists, specific to the region, to help music fans discover more.

The UAE was selected for its high internet penetration and statistics showing that an important percentage of the target audience is comfortable shopping online.

Purchased songs are Windows Media DRM protected, with no limits on the number of transfers for a song, but with a maximum of 10 CDs to be burnt.

# music.nokia.ae

MIT Arab Business Plan Competition 2008

November 24, 2008November 24, 2008 MMM 4 Comments

The MIT Arab Business Plan Competition is a competition designed to encourage all entrepreneurs in the Arab world to start their own company and, ultimately, create a nest of leading firms in the Arab world. It also brings to the Arab world all the MIT expertise in entrepreneurship and in running such competitions.

The equivalent of the MIT Arab Business Plan Competition in Boston is called the MIT 100K Entrepreneurship Competition and has created a number of leading firms and thousands of jobs.

Teams interested in joining the competition must register through the competition’s website. Registrations opened on November 10th, 2008. Users are required to fill the online application form consisting of 16 questions that summarize their business idea and the means of implementing it.
The deadline for submitting the applications is Thursday, January 8, 2009 at 23:59, Beirut time.

The competition is open to all Arab nationals with a business idea, with the only requirement being to be part of a team, with each team comprising of minimum 3 individuals, of which at least 2 should be citizens of the Arab world. The business concept put forward by the team should also be implemented in a country within the Arab world.

The winner of the competition will receive prize money of USD 50,000. The check will be issued in the name of the company. The members of the winning team will also be given the opportunity to attend the MIT Global Startup Workshop (GSW).

The first and second runner-ups will receive a check of USD 10,000 and USD 5000 respectively.

Besides the financial reward, the winning teams will be provided with coaching/mentoring from the members and network of the MIT Enterprise Forum who will also help the winners get their businesses up and explore further funding opportunities by introducing them to business development centers, financing institutions, and similar organizations.

All entrepreneurs interested can go to the competition’s website and Apply Now.

# MIT Arab Business Plan Competition