Egypt – Page 3 – StartUpArabia

Carlog.com, Egyptian Web 2.0 Automotive Portal

July 1, 2009July 1, 2009 MMM

Carlog.com is an online automotive portal, that aims to offer its users a complete and comprehensive web experience that enables them to manage all tasks related to their car and speed up all related processes for buying, selling or simply maintaining a car.

Through the portal, users can add and list their cars in the system and keep track of their maintenance history, having the service remind them of upcoming maintenance tasks they have to do for their car.

The site also enables people to search for cars to buy, or on the other hand, create ads to sell their own cars; making it an online marketplace for cars as well. Car dealerships can also use the service to list their available cars for sale on this online marketplace.

The interface was designed to be easy to use and to make it as simple as possible for online users to learn and manage everything throughout their car ownership lifecycle through various applications designed to satisfy the user’s current and future automotive needs.

Carlog.com was founded by Omar Soudodi, who previously founded now-defunct Accelarabia.com, and developed by Egyptian web company eSpace. The site has a dedicated management team from various backgrounds, such as investment banking, technology, marketing, and product development.

Carlog.com was launched at the 14th International African Arabian Exhibition for Vehicles, buses, and Automobile spare parts, Automech 2009; and were one of the participating demos in DemoCamp Cairo last month.

The portal is currently only targeted at users in Egypt only, and is in English, with an Arabic version following soon.

DemoCamp Cairo – June 14th 2009 – The Agenda

June 11, 2009June 11, 2009 MMM

As previously announced, the first DemoCamp Cairo will be taking place at the Cairo International Convention & Exhibition Center (Mycerinos Auditorium) on June 14th 2009 at 6PM.

The following six demos will be taking place at the event:

Exorcist: A puzzle game for the iPhone and iPod Touch by Vimov.
TVOSZ: An Egyptian video sharing service that was previously reviewed here.
Smatx: An online resource for IT people to find and share news and information.
Baralbait: A location based social networking service that enables people to check-in and pinpoint their locations to get to see nearby friends and places to go.
RFIDINREGION: A new site that is dedicated to RFID related technologies and news.
Carlog: A portal to buy and sell cars online.

The format will be the same as the previous events, with the presenters giving 10 minute presentations of their work, with 5 minutes for Q&A.

The presenters will also be available to answer any further questions, receive feedback and share some thoughts after the event.

Attendance is free, and everyone is welcome to join in. Attendees will also be getting free gift coupons from Logta.

Startups and web applications presented at DemoCamp Cairo, and that haven’t already been covered, will be reviewed here on StartUpArabia over the upcoming days.

DemoCamp Cairo, Cairo International Convention & Exhibition Center, June 14th 2009

June 3, 2009June 3, 2009 MMM 13 Comments

The first DemoCamp Cairo; a launch event for new products, technologies and companies; will be taking place at the Cairo International Convention & Exhibition Center (Mycerinos Auditorium) on June 14th 2009 at 6PM.

A few interesting demos are already lined up for the event, but there are still openings for a couple more; So, if you’re going to be in Cairo around that date, and you are working on an interesting new web application that you would like to present, then just send an email to: info@democampme.org or leave a comment on the blog post announcing the event.

The ideas behind submitted startups have to be rather fresh ones, not things that are already overused, and priority is obviously given to newer startups.

The full list of startups that will be presenting at the event will be announced next week.

Attendance is free, and everyone is welcome to join in.

Startups and web applications presented at DemoCamp Cairo will also be reviewed here on StartUpArabia as usual.

Damrej, A New Local Thematic Web Search Engine

April 13, 2009April 13, 2009 MMM 2 Comments

Damrej is a newly launched thematic search engine developed to make it easier for users to look for different items they want to buy online, special offers, cars, properties, jobs and more.

Damrej takes a local approach, and has been launched for Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Libya and Egypt for the time being; with versions for the UAE and other countries to follow soon.

The services’ robots crawl different websites from the country building its indexes of shopping catalogs, jobs, real estate offers, cars and other types of classified ads; making them all searchable from one central point. The results provide some collected details about the item and point to the original website where the item or offer can be found.

Some merchants or classifieds services also provide an updated feed directly to Damrej to make it even easier to index their content and provide through the search engine.

Users can search by theme, narrow their search by using theme-specific filters, and get results from one or all online services depending on their choice. Related offers are also served up next to the items found through the search.

Investing In Technology Forum, Cairo, Egypt – May 12-14th 2009

April 3, 2009April 3, 2009 MMM

The Arab Science and Technology Foundation (ASTF), a Pan-Arab NGO with the mission of promoting and supporting Science, Technology and Entrepreneurship as a tool of economic development in the MENA region, has announced its 6th Investing in Technology Forum to be held this year in Cairo, Egypt on May 12th -14th, 2009 under the Patronage of H.E. Dr. Ahmed Nazif, Prime Minister of Egypt.

Organized in cooperation with ITIDA and Nile University, the forum is a networking opportunity for entrepreneurs, researchers, investors, regional corporate CEOs, and all technology leaders in the region who will get together to share experiences, develop relationships and explore business opportunities.

The Forum falls into ASTF efforts to bridge the gap between those who generate technology and those who generates businesses and investments, with the ultimate aim of creating strong, innovative and competitive knowledge-based businesses that can add value, generate jobs and create wealth.

The Forum is targeted at an audience of investment and business professionals; multinational corporations; leading regional corporations in technology innovation; venture capital funds, private equity funds, and investment banks; angel investors and business angel groups; technology leaders in the Arab region; incubators and technology parks; universities and research centers; NGOs and Gov. organizations; as well as technology startups and SMEs.

Filaty Arab File Sharing Service Launches Mobile Version

March 22, 2009March 22, 2009 MMM

Filaty, the Arab direct file sharing service, which was previously reviewed here, has just launched a mobile version of its service, making it possible for users to upload and share files directly from their mobile phones and devices.

By introducing this service, Filaty hopes to make it easier for people to use the service from anywhere, helping to grow usage of the service and extend their user base.

Users can upload photos and files of up to 100MB through a light, quick interface; and have the link sent to their email address or the email addresses of the friends they want to share with.

The mobile version is available at: http://m.filaty.com (filaty.mobi and filaty.com/mobile work as well.)

On another note, Filaty is now also one of the upload options available in Mrrha, the file mirroring service, previously reviewed here.

eSpace Integrating Yamli Transliteration Technology In Popular Online Text Editors

November 9, 2008November 9, 2008 MMM 4 Comments

eSpace, the Egyptian software company behind services like meOwns and weNear, has been a supporter of the advancement of Arabic content on the web, through contributing to Wikimania2008 in Egypt and other various activities, in their attempt to realize the true potential of one of the World’s most spoken languages.

The company is currently taking another step to try to promote and simplify the use of the Arabic language on the internet, and that is by integrating Yamli‘s award-winning transliteration technology, that enables users to type Arabic using Latin characters by converting their words in real time into Arabic text, as a rich text formatting option in a number of the most prominent and popular online text editors, such as FCKeditor, TinyMice editor, as well as in popular forum software like VBulletin and PHPBB.

By bringing Yamli’s technology directly into the tools people are using to write on the web, publishing Arabic language content becomes even easier and more straight-forward, eliminating the fuss of having to keep going back and forth between the Yamli website and whatever other website or tool is being used to write and publish content.

It’s great to see Arab startups and companies working with each other’s technologies and tools to advance a common goal like promoting Arabic content on the web. I certainly wish we see more efforts like this in the future.

Mrrha, A New Arabic File Mirroring Service

November 5, 2008November 5, 2008 MMM 14 Comments

Mrrha is a new simple Arabic service that was just launched a few minutes ago from Egypt, and that aims to make the process of uploading files to the internet for sharing purposes and mirroring them on the most famous file uploading services a lot easier and faster.

The service allows users to upload a file and mirror it directly to five popular uploading sites of choice, from a list of twelve most famous ones, saving them time and effort, and cutting down by five the necessary time to upload the file to all these services.

Mrrha depends on a parallel uploading mechanism to make this possible, which means that the file will be uploaded to Mrrha and sent to the other uploading sites at the same time, meaning that the user won’t have to wait until it’s uploaded to each site.

The name is basically, an adaptation of the English word “Mirror” to Arabic, making it into a verb form; and so “Mrrha” basically means “Mirror it”, which refers to the process of re-uploading the file to other services.

The service is in Arabic only for the time being, and is mainly targeted at the Arabic market. An English version will be released soon though.

# Mrrha

OpenCoffee Club Cairo Inaugural Meetup (08/11/2008)

September 13, 2008September 13, 2008 MMM 2 Comments

The first OpenCoffee Club meetup to be held in Cairo is being organized for November 8th 2008, between 10AM and 12PM, at Starbucks Heliopolis.

OpenCoffee Club (OCC) meetups are organized all over the world, and they aim to bring entrepreneurs, investors, startups, journalists, and other web and technology enthusiasts together in a totally informal setting and free format to share ideas and thoughts, to obtain new contacts, talk about/create future opportunities, …etc.

As with other meetup events of this kind, the key aspect of OCC is having a regular place and a regular time. OCC Cairo meetups are planned for the second and last Saturdays of every month at Starbucks Heliopolis from 10am to 12pm.

Anyone interested in entrepreneurship, startups, innovative ideas and business connections can drop in, hang out and connect with other like-minded people around a cup of coffee.

For more details about the event, you can check out the event page on Upcoming: OpenCoffee Club Cairo Inaugural Meetup.