Mohamed Al Rehaili – StartUpArabia

Even though there is an Arabic micro-blogging service called Watwet that is very similar to Twitter in functionality, a lot of Arab users have chosen to use Twitter instead, maybe because it has mostly become the international poster child for micro-blogging, or because most of their friends already use it and it’s just easier to follow the crowd. Anyway, many of these users choose to tweet in Arabic, but as the Twitter interface is in English, thus left-to-right, Arabic script which is right-to-left gets quite annoying to read through the English interface.

So Mohamed Al Rehaili, with the help of a number of other Arab bloggers and friends, launched an Arabic interface for Twitter that can be accessed at: Artwitter.com

Artwitter.com uses the functions provided by the Twitter API, to bring its main friend timeline, replies and posting functionalities through a simple right-to-left Arabic interface, without storing any user data on its server.

The site is still in early beta, and it’s still not possible to view a certain user’s timeline or search for tweets, but I’m guessing these functionalities will be implemented soon enough, especially if the service finds success between Arab Twitter users.

# Artwitter.com

Mafgod, is a really simple service from Saudi Arabia, with the aim of helping people find their lost or stolen items.

For the time being, the service is only available for users in Saudi Arabia, and only for lost or stolen mobile phones. Expansion to other types of goods and other countries should be part of future plans.

The way it works right now for mobile phones is really simple; users can sign up freely to the service, and input details about their mobile phones and include their phone’s serial number; creating an online database of mobile phones and their owners.

Owners can specify when and where they lost their mobile phone, as well as if they’ll be giving away a cash prize to whoever finds it and returns it to them.

When a mobile phone is lost and someone finds it, or when it is stolen and someone is offered to buy it, the person can go online to the website and search for that phone using its serial number to find the original owner and contact them to arrange returning it to them.

Owners can choose whether they want their identities to be public or not, and if they want to meet the person returning the phone or prefer that it be done through Mafgod; and the same goes for the person who finds the phone.

The interface is available in Arabic only for the time being, and is as simple and straightforward as the concept of the website itself. A mobile version is also available on mobile.mafgod.com

Mafgod was founded in Saudi Arabia by Mohamed Al Rehaili and officially launched in September 2006.
A patent covering the service’s owner property protection database concept was registered with the King Abdulaziz City for Science & Technology.

Tag: Mohamed Al Rehaili

Artwitter.com; An Arabic Interface For Twitter

Mafgod, A Service To Find Your Lost Or Stolen Items