Sharing – Page 3 – StartUpArabia

Minixr, A New Microblogging And Lifestreaming Platform

November 25, 2008November 25, 2008 MMM 3 Comments

Minixr is a new Microblogging and lifestreaming platform launched from Algeria.

The service enables users to post and share their status updates, links, different types of files (videos, photos, audio) and events with their friends through the website.

Basic social networking features, enabling users to find and follow their friends, building their own personal network on the service are of course integrated.

On the other hand Minixr also offers the ability to automatically pull user activity on a number of other websites (Digg, Last.fm, Delicious, Flickr, YouTube, …etc) and centralize them on the user’s timeline for all followers to see.

If compared to international services, Minixr looks pretty much like a mix of Pownce and FriendFeed.

Minixr also offers users the possibility to send status updates through their mobile phones, or through IM (Google Talk, Jabber, AIM).

The service mainly targets young adults, between the ages of 20-35, from Francophone countries and the Middle East. The revenue model is planned to be solely advertising based.

The service is currently in Beta, with the official launch slated for sometime in January 2009.

The interface is pretty simple and uses pretty much the same format as other microblogging services out there. It is available in French only at the time being, but other languages will be added soon.

# Minixr

3alaRasi, A Portal For Comedy Entertainment Content

November 23, 2008November 23, 2008 MMM 3 Comments

3alaRasi is a Jordanian entertainment portal that features a mix of funny cartoons, caricatures, articles, videos, photos and audio.

The portal’s content comes both from in-house productions, as well as content generated and submitted by the site’s users.

The site integrates all the regular sharing and social networking features that allow users to create their profiles, connect with their friends, and share all supported kinds of content with them.

In addition to all the kinds of content mentioned above, users can also upload and share games in Flash and Shockwave format.

The cartoons and animations currently produced by the 3alaRasi team are currently inspired by the Jordanian (Awad Abu Shifa, Jaber Kawanes, 7awa) and Palestinian (Falla7) society and culture, but there are plans to expand and add Egyptian and Gulf inspired characters and content soon.

The site’s interface is currently in English only, although an Arabic version should be expected soon.

3alaRasi also distribute their content through a number of mobile channels in Jordan and the GCC, and are looking to expand to other countries in the region.

Other distribution channels have been through Jordanian radio station Mazaj FM airing Audio clips from 3alaRasi, as well as Nourmina TV which aired 3alaRasi cartoon episodes in Ramadan. A new deal with Jordanian daily Addustour, will also see a daily cartoon from 3alaRasi cartoonist Omar Abdallat published in the newspaper.

3alaRasi was launched by ERUM Creative Productions L.L.C, which was founded by Amer M. AbuLaila, Omar Abdallat, Rajai Qawas, and Fahd Oweidat.

# 3alaRasi

Mecca.com Releases More Features And New Design

November 17, 2008November 17, 2008 MMM 11 Comments

Mecca.com, the Muslim community portal, that also integrates a social networking and user generated content platform, has just rolled out a new look, unveiling a new logo and a re-design for their whole website.

The new design is more colorful and looks more hip; it also feels better organized, optimizing the use of screen real estate.

This new design, comes just a short while after Mecca.com rolling out their new Videos section, where members can upload and share their videos with friends. As with other online video sharing services, friends have the ability to comment, rate, edit, and share videos with other users.

Mecca.com had also enhanced their Photo sharing feature by improving the user interface, and adding the possibility to import photos from Facebook and Flickr.

# Mecca.com

Wikeez, A New Social Entertainment Platform

November 6, 2008November 6, 2008 MMM 12 Comments

Wikeez, is a new Lebanon-based startup, focusing on user generated content around entertainment topics, which was founded by Kuv Capital with a seed investment of US$250,000.

Wikeez aims to allow people to publish and exchange on their favorite subjects centered on entertainment topics (tv shows, movies, celebrities, music and sports).

Each topic is fragmented into 3 tiers:

Top Stories: Information on the subject; latest news, Bio,…
Blog Stories: content produced by Wikeez members
Micro Stories: reactions shared by Wikeez members

Wikeez will also enable people to create their own blogs, fan clubs, get the latest news centered on their passions, as well as socialize with other fans.

The site is still in alpha, with a beta version coming pretty soon.

The company is currently looking to recruit in Lebanon; You can check out their open job vacancies on the StartUpArabia Job Board.

Update: Wikeez is offering invites to their alpha version to all StartUpArabia readers; if you’re interested, just send an email to: invite@wikeez.com.

# Wikeez

Whizle, Simple Tool To Create & Share Guides, Tutorials & Plans

September 8, 2008September 8, 2008 MMM

Whizle is a new Dubai-based service, which has been in stealth mode for a while now, ironing out the little details here and there. It is a simple tool that aims to make creating guides and plans and then sharing them easy and straight-forward.

Making a guide or tutorial with Whizle is really simple: In creating a whizle, after inputting the title and purpose of the whizle, you go through a number of steps, these steps are made up of actions that you get to detail and resources that can be either uploaded files or some dynamic content from the web, like a video from YouTube or a photo from Flickr for example.

The service provides two interfaces to create whizles and setup their details; one an interactive app called the whizlebuilder, and one a simple interface. Both come with WYSIWYG editors to help format inputted text.

A little bookmarking tool called ‘Whizmark‘ is made available too, that can be added to your browser’s toolbar, to make it easier to directly post resources to Whizles you are working on.

Work is currently underway on a viewer that will allow users to easily embed their Whizles into their websites or blogs in order to share them with their readers.

The service is available in English only for the time being, and should come in very handy for anyone looking to create a simpleand easy guide, tutorial or plan.

# Whizle

Google Launches Knol In Arabic As One Of The First Languages Worldwide

August 26, 2008August 26, 2008 MMM

Google has just launched their service Knol in Arabic, as one of the first languages supported by the language worldwide. Knol is a new service from Google that in some way competes with Wikipedia, it is a free tool encouraging people to write articles about the things they know about most, and that they’re considered experts on.

So whatever their area of expertise, the service lets users write, share and participate in a community of information and knowledge.

Arabic is one of the first languages that Knol is launching globally, showcasing the importance of the Arabic market to Google.

Mohammad Gawdat, Managing Director for Emerging Markets explained: “The Arab region is a high priority for us at Google and we are excited to provide more tools in local language such as Blogger and now Knol.”

For more information and to start writing on your subject of expertise in Arabic or English, or explore existing knols (articles and posts), all you have to do is visit the website at: knol.google.com

‘The internet is huge, but still a lot of expert knowledge remains untapped,’ said Ahmed Gaballah, spokesman for Google. ‘Knol provides a way for people to share their expertise with others–and get credit for their contribution. In the same way that books have authors’ names right on the cover, knols have authors’ names–and links to their other articles–right there on the page.’

Knols are a great way to tackle the lack of Arabic content on the internet. ‘We are delighted that beyond providing a forum for Arabic speakers to share their knowledge, readers can now access information they are searching for that they otherwise could not get in Arabic,’ Gaballah stated.

Knols allow authors to include references, link to additional information, and interact with readers. And readers can easily submit comments, rate, or write a review of a knol.