Digital Oman

60 Seconds - Information Overload

2011-10-11T22:23:00.000-07:00

"TAKE CONTROL of your real LIFE"

(click for a larger image)

694,445 searched on Google
6,600+ pictures uploaded on Flickr
600 videos uploaded on YouTube videos
695,000 status updates on Facebook
70 New domains registrations
168,000,000+ emails sent
320 new accounts and 98,000 tweets on Twitter
13,000 iPhone app downloads
20,000 new posts on tumbler
1700 downloads of FireFox
50 downloads of Wordpress
100 accounts created on LinkedIn
40 new Questions on YahooAnswers
100+ questions on Answers
1 new definition is added on UrbanDictionary
1,200+ new ads are created on Craigslist
370,000+ minutes of voice calls on Skype
13,000+ hours of music streaming on Pandora
1,600+ reads are made on Scribd

Source: www.go-gulf.com

Good bye Steve Jobs! Lives touched by You will rock on.

2011-10-06T17:42:00.001-07:00

FINAL FUNERAL RITES: STEVE JOBS

His Mortal remains will be laid in state at His Residence in Palo Alto, California on the 8th Of October 2011

Burial Service: The iTrinity Chapel Ministries, Palo Alto; The body will be cremated in his residence.

After Church Service, there will be a reception at his residence.

Rest In Peace dear Steve Jobs! You lived very well.

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RIP Steve Jobs

2011-10-05T17:48:00.001-07:00

I promise to "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish" Steve, I promise.

Watch his 2005 Stanford Speech - http://bit.ly/hCvPdG

Apple iPod iMac iTouch iPhone iTune iPad NeXT Pixar. . . . . . iMiss You Steve iGrieve!

Steve Job; the legend who dented this Universe in his own beautiful way!

Apple's statement says: "Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple."

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Music notes for Google Doodle - Play Guitar on your Keyboard - Les Paul's anniversary

2011-06-09T06:12:00.000-07:00

Everyone can play guitar right from your keyboard at www.google.com today.

As @neerajsaxena tweeted: The whole world seems to be strumming today, thanks to the Doodle! Thank you Google for making my surroundings musical, no strings attached!

Here are a few songs for you to play:
- Go to www.google.com
- Click on small keyboard image till it shows in Red colour
- Now remember the tunes & adjust timings between the notes as given below

_____________________
Via @saffrontrail From @wwtang Happy Birthday with #googledoodle guitar version: Play this '5565 887 5565 998 5550 8876 4408 998' I tried, it worked. Have fun!

_____________________
Via @CruciFire From @vikas_m: DJDJDJDJDJDJ, GLGLGLGLGLGL, DJDJDJ KDK JDJ, GLG PGP LGL KFK and repeat. System of Down's Toxicity

_____________________
From @MusicAloud varaveena (carnatic) without the gamakas. :)
335 5 658 8 98665 65332 35686 65332 33653 55321
333323535 5 33656 658 8 609988 686665 356865
653321 123 3 32532 12132121 1

______________________
From @SangitaSri Play DoReMi: - asdsdsd - sdffdsf - dfgdgdg - fghhgfh - gasdfgh - hsdfghj - jdfghjk - kjhgfds...
______________________
From @complicateur #googledoodle The opening line of Pani vizhum alone is possible: qqqqqqqq qert rtre
______________________
Via @keshav61 From @complicateur #googledoodle O Butterfly: Q W E WEW QWQ U QWQ WEW WETY YUUY YUUY YTY TRT R EW(together) RW ER(together)
______________________
Via @NameFieldmt From @krishnahok ASDDDDDDDDDDDSDF for the first line of India's national anthem Jana Gana Mana.

_______________________
Via @mestrazulas From @rubbaan: Star Wars theme on #googledoodle - EEE Q T E Q T E UUU I YR T E

_______________________
Via @neokenji01 From @ratm: (123 *press together*)x3 (678)x3 (123)x3 (678)x3 (123)x3 (678)x3 (123)x3 878783 - Killing In The Name intro

Apple - Annual WWDC 2011 Summary

2011-06-06T22:59:00.001-07:00

Apple held its annual Worldwide Developer Conference WWDC 2011 on 6th June.
Steve Jobs presented 3major products: OS X (Lion) ---- iOS5 --- iCloud
Watch full video of the WWDC Keynote address via The Next Web.
A collection of highly relevant summary articles online from the best arouces is listed - they are better than me trying to sum up :-)

Everything you need to know about the new iOS5

OS X (Lion) for only $29 - Features

Apple Moves The Digital Hub From The Mac To iCloud

iOS 5: Tweet everywhere

iCloud - mails, contacts, calendar, docs, iBooks, music, photographs

eG8 Forum – The Internet: Accelerating Growth

2011-05-27T23:00:00.000-07:00

For the very 1st time, eG8 Forum brought together movers and shakers from the Internet technolgy world, government, non-profit foundations and media organisations to discuss the current status of the Internet and its social and cultural impact. View video of Interview by Reuters on eG8 here.

When and where and agenda
eG8 Summit was held in Paris, France on the 24th & 25th May 2011. Check the full event schedule and speakers list here.

Aim of the Summit

eG8 Forum in Paris sought to bring together leaders from the political and Internet worlds to think about the future of the networked society. Main discussions involved around the importance of the role that the Internet now plays in our personal as well as our professional lives, and the opportunities but also the challenges that the network represents for our societies, our economies and our cultures.

Elite speakers

Some of the elite panelists and speakers in this event include:
Nicolas Sarkozy, Marc Zuckerberg (Facebook), Eric Schmidt of Google, Jimmy Wales (Wikipedia), Craig Mundie (Microsoft), Rupert Murdoch (News Corp), Andrew Mason (Groupon), Klaus Schwab (World Economic Forum), Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook), Yuri Milner (Digital Sky Technologies), John Donahoe (ebay), Sunil Bharti Mittal (Bharti Airtel), Mitchell Baker (Mozilla Foundation), etc.

They were joined by eminent academics Yochai Benkler, Jeff Jarvis (Hippocratic Oath for the Internet), and Larry Lessig (Harvard law school). Refer here for full list of speakers during the plenary sessions of eG8. Video of the eG8 Forum plenary sessions of both Day 1 and Day 2 are available on Youtube.

Opening note from Nicolas Sarkozy

The Internet's multilateral dynamic, and the driving role that the private sector and civil society play in its development, have led me to invite the major stake- holders of this ecosystem to Paris, so that the meeting of Heads of State can benefit from their vision. The content of your exchanges will be conveyed to the Heads of State and governments of the G8. A new phenomenon requires a new method of consultation, one that recognizes the legitimacy and the responsibility of the actors concerned: hence the idea of this e-G8 Forum”, said Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France. For more info watch this video of President Sarkozy at the eG8 Summit.

Event Partners

The eG8 was partnered by leading technology firms: Orange, Vivendi, Free, Google, Capgemini, Ebay, Microsoft, Huawei, Alcatel-Lucent, HP, Eutelsat Communications, Thomson Reuters, and Publicis Groupe.

Selected highlights

Keynote presentation by James Manyika and Matthieu Pé́lissié on 'Internet Matters'.
• Report from McKinsey Global Institute on 'Internet Matter: The Net’s sweeping impact on growth, jobs and prosperity (PDF)'.
• Many organizations concerned with human rights, liberties and civil society online have released a statement to the eG8 and G8 that advocates “expanding internet access for all, combating digital censorship and surveillance, limiting online intermediary liability, and upholding principles of net neutrality.
• When asked about government regulation, Eric Schmidt of Google said that technology moves so fast that governments really shouldn't try to regulate it because it will change too fast, and any problem will be solved by technology. "We'll move much faster than any government”.
• The eG8 shows online innovation and freedom of expression still need strong defenders according to Alex Howard of O’reilly. Read his detailed account on copyright, innovation and freedom of expression here.

What is your online personality?

2011-05-09T04:10:00.000-07:00

Users are getting the hang of being on social media platforms such as Facebook, Youtube, MySpace, Tumblr, LinkedIn, Twitter, Orkut, Friendstr, Hubbo, etc. It is time we mature from treating these as public chat forums to one more meaningful and worthy of belonging to by our valuable presence.

Here are certain roles that one can take for an online Avatar, to add value to the exploding online proliferation and populace. Each role highlights a specific focus of purpose and some of these can be combined in varying ratios to suit one’s preference.

Grooming one’s online personality also creates clear personal brand values and established you presence as a domain champion much sought after online. Over time period, these skills acquired may also lead to lucrative business prospects or even job offers.

A. Authentic news source
This personality is well read and keeps live track of events happening around in one specific domain or in an overall manner. Sources have to authentic and personal reflections and viewpoints may induce interactivity within your network.

B. Local expert
Almost anyone can be a local expert for if they have lived there for a while. Information shared by such experts may range from news about local events, useful contact leads, shopping venues and offers, food / restaurant recommendations, etc.

C. Role model
This character cannot be defined clearly but it is a personality which most readers or users look forward to emulate. Success of these role models may come from the mature opinions they share to the comfort they bring about through their discussions and the inspiration and support they give to others.

D. Motivator or mentor
Such people normally share lot of motivational quotations and inspirational news. They are instant source of positive energy and a must in everyone’s online networking contacts basket.

E. Technical or social help desk

Most often well-versed user of products or gadgets and professional in technical fields play this role well. They are often up-to-date about technology products and by experience they could also help I troubleshooting technical problems for others.

F. Community welfare
Social consciousness is a must in every human being but some are more inclined to be vociferous about such social initiatives and news. They are happy and caring souls who rope-in support for fund-raiser or awareness campaigns for social causes.

G. Social media coach
This character is an experienced user of the social media platform not just in a technical sense but also in the sense of understanding the dynamics of users and content and viral marketing that goes on here. Most often they are compassionate people to network with and learn to rope in your social media strategy.

H. Lifestyle Guru
Anyone indulging in the finesse of life with a taste can become a lifestyle guru online. With news about latest fashions, trends, promotions and teaser campaigns, they entice the user to become a compulsive shopper. Unlike marketing media, these people are genuine and can make personalized recommendation and so they are better received in public.

On the whole life is an experience and each one of us sees only a facet of it in prismatic vision. So being one’s true self in good etiquette is the secret mantra of successful online presence. Making oneself useful either in real world or online is by connecting with others and sharing your insights. So choose your online personality accordingly and create a valuable presence.

Art and science of effective passwords

2011-01-09T21:46:00.000-08:00

In our digital life style, most often our privacy and secrecy are protected with username and password (including PIN as in the case of card-based transactions).

On an average over ten different passwords have to memorized for purposes such as internet account, office and personal emails, online social media platforms, financial and utility accounts transactions online, membership logins, etc.

Life was easy until we considered that having a password was enough once and for all. Unfortunately this scene has changes. We are at the risk of financial or reputation loss and might also suffer losing our own identity if our private details are exposed to the wrong people.

Often we use simple password that include abbreviations of our name or initials along with details from our date of birth – a mere 5 to 6 characters long. Many times people find using the default password or ‘password’ as the password itself more convenient. Imagine how simple and how dangerous if this case applies to your online banking website of email account.

Now often we come across so many “Don’t Do” about secure password. Never user names or usernames or ‘123’ or ‘test’ or petname or child’s name being some of these. Seldom there is help in the form of how to coin safe passwords and manage them efficiently. Here is some useful information in this direction.

Make sure whatever you do, that you can remember the password without having to write it down. The best password is simple yet difficult to crack.

The length and range and the case of characters in your password determine how difficult it is to guess. So use symbols, numbers, a mix of upper and lower case letters. For example letter ‘a’ can be replaced with ‘@’, ‘s’ can be replaces with ‘$’ etc.

One method of coining a good password is to use a sentence that one can easily remember. For example “My Favourite Movie Is Casablanca” or “The Best Place I have Seen So far Is Bali”. Take the 1st letter of each word, insert your symbol say ‘#’ between each 3 letter and use your number say ‘3’ after every 5th letter. A password like ‘Tbp#ih3$#$fi#5B’ is almost impossible to guess.

Another easy technique could be to use two totally un-related words and connect both those words with symbols and numbers while mixing up lower and uppercase letters. Again passwords like ‘ nOvember!=dEcem ber’ or ‘funny<$nail>Flower’ are also very good passwords.

Use of words from foreign language can be very handy to make good password using English characters. This brings a new range of complexity into your password as the sentence delivered in your native language can’t be guess that easily. Example ‘Guruk@Aashirva@d’ is simple based on a Hindi phrase with symbols missed for the 1st and last occurrence of the letter ‘a’.

Whatever password you may create can be useless if you do not change is over a period of time. Good level of security suggests change after every 30 or 45 days. Systems can be automated to ‘expire a password’ after this number of days.

Re-use of old password must also be limited. It is safe to keep this limit as 10/12 minimum, for the list of passwords before they can be reused again.

Length of the password must certainly be longer than 8 characters but about 14 characters or more is recommended for sensitive applications.

As conclusion we can say that no password un-crackable and what we are trying our best is only to make it more difficult to crack in terms of effort and time. Simple and obvious errors like post-it notes with passwords stuck under keyboards must be avoided.

Sharing the password with someone is same as broadcasting your password publicly; this is no longer a secret. The worst password is the one you forgot while the best password is simple yet cannot be guessed easily.

Brave new world with technology

2011-01-09T21:34:00.000-08:00

In line with the radical changes, as presented by Aldous Huxley in his novel ‘Brave New World’, in fact surpassing those p jections is where technology has brought in a change in society. An ordinary citizen has access to information like never before, which make him enjoy his comforts better.

Tools of technology like the Internet and the Mobile have given him the power of choice, a true choice in the matter how he wishes to be served with pertinent information. A couple of days of technology-weaning call best explain to us the extent to which we rely on them.

With the innovations in technology leading to price reduction with increased new features it is now possible for a common man to afford access to technology and gadgets. Now comes managing the overflow of information out there and gaining the skill to filter that is relevant to one’s purpose of lifestyle. The culture of the brave new world is one that of strive for success and happiness.

And then one day it dawns to us: "All of a sudden, we've lost a lot of control," he said. "We can't turn off our internet; we can't turn off our smartphones; we can't turn off our computers" as told by the pioneer Steve Wozniak.

Digital Oman suggests here a few means of accessing information from the digital world on a periodic basis in a controlled manner and to manage their flow to digest it. As per the brave new world theory, harnessing technology through a means that best suits one is fostering a powerful and complete reliance of access to pertinent information.

Book marks

The most common means is to use the ‘Favorites feature’ just like book marks in a common web browser. We come across several interesting articles of interest when we try to search for something else. The best means at hand is to save the weblink as favourite and revisit regularly at the end of the day.

Google reader

An alternative tool is to use a free tool called Google reader. You can find this tool under ‘More’ options in Google window. Then one can click on ‘Add a subscription’. For example enter ‘technology’ to find feed in that discipline; then choose your feed subscriptions. Now daily alerts in the field of technology will be waiting in your Google reader for you to read at your leisure.
Yet another interesting feature of this tool is that if your friends on Google email also have a similar reader setup that is public, then you can read their favourite reads also marked from their reader lists.

News Feeds

RSS standing for Really Simple Syndication is another manner in which news as well as website updates are pushed into our subscriptions. Also called as ‘News Feeds’ enable you to get the latest headlines and video in one place, as soon as its published, without having to visit the websites you have taken the feed from. Most email clients have a feature to import such regular feeds into the separate ‘InBox’.

Twitter

The micro-blogging platform twitter is rich with media and corporate presence so that once you follow these ‘Usenames’, to receive small snippets of news and links appear in your timeline in under 140 characters. If this lead interests you then you can click on the link to read further.
While the above list is not exhaustive, it certainly is a good way to organise information that is found in plenty online and organise it in such a manner that you can access it anytime you are free to process the contents of the information.

Would like to hear more from you as to how you manage your digital brave new world. Do comment.

Mobile phone settings - MMS, Internet - Omantel & Nawras

2010-08-13T22:11:00.001-07:00

This is an essential list compiled and thought of sharing these here with you. Hope to keep it updated. Kindly give you comments if you need any other such settings.

Internet settings (iPhone - Nawras)

Go to Settings > General > Network > Cellular Data NetworkEnter Cellular

Data Apn : isp.nawras.com.om

Username : testTest : test

Internet settings (iPhone - Oman Mobile)

Goto > > > Apn : taif

Username : taif

Password : taif

Internet settings - Blackberry - Nawras

Go to Options > Advanced >

TCPAPN : isp.nawras.com.om

username : testpassword : test

MMS settings - Nawras

APN : mms.nawras.com.om

MMSC : 10.128.240.16/servlets/mms

MMS Proxy : 10.128.240.19:8080

All other fields blank

MMS settings - Oman Mobile

APN : mms

Username: mms

Password: mms

Mmsc: http://mmsc.omanmobile.om:10021/mmsc

Proxy: 192.168.203.035:8080

All other fields blank

Text Message Center Number

Go to Menu > messages > settings > text message > message centre

OmanMobile (+968 99300610)

Internet settings - Google Nexus One - Nawras

Go to seetings >Mobile networks > Access Point Names> Data

APNName: Nawras Internet (can be any name)

APN: isp.nawras.com.om

APN Type: default

User Name: test

Password: test

APN Type: defaultLeave other fields empty

MMS settings - Google Nexus One - Nawras

MMS APNName: nawras

MMS (Can be any name)

APN: mms.nawras.com.om

Proxy: 10.128.240.19Port: 8080

username: test

password: test

MMSC: http://10.128.240.16/servlets/mms

MMS proxy: 10.128.240.19MMS port: 8080

Authentication Type : None

APN type: mms

Leave other fields as such

Travel made easy with Technology

2010-07-18T22:28:00.000-07:00

A vacation to a new land that one has never travelled before but still manage to travelextensively, networking with like-minded people all the while and seeing and enjoy places thatare local highlights is now very much possible thanks to technology.

For the benefit of travelers, it is my earnest intention to make travel more exciting with tool andwebsites that tell you much more than what a local friend could do to give you good value fortravel expenses.

Planning your trip

With broad indications about the country you are to visit, try to locate the place or city in http://www.wikipedia.com/ to see the historic backdrop of the place and the important places to seein that city. If this is to your liking then the place can be marked for you travel. Being informedabout a place enables tourists to appreciate the cultural and historic backdrop of a any localeand enjoy visiting places of significance.

Maps and directions

With the city of interest marked, visit http://www.googlemaps.com/ or install the GoogleEarthapplication in your system (GoogleMaps & GoogleEarth mobile versions are also availablefor free) next. Searching for the city of your choice, do look up at nearby places of interest. Inorder to see an estimate of time to travel between any two places, you can use GoogleMaps.

But http://www.mapquest.com/ is strongly recommended for ease of use if you know the two exactplaces, because in reality the travel time estimates were found to be fairly accurate withallowances for local traffic conditions. Once the distance and time to travel between two placesis marked in Mapquest, it is possible to print and even email detailed route plans and directionsof travel.

Buying a GPS (Global Positioning System) device with local maps to the area you are to travelis a must and this is very handy to get your directions either in the interlaced downtown areaor in the interstate highways. Visit http://www.garmin.com/ for a range of devices and their features.One can pick up any hotel or fast-food restaurant address of the location in order to exactly getdirection into downtown with your GPS.

Neighborhood highlights

Using location sensitive software such as http://www.foursquare.com/, enable travelers to timestamptheir travels into electronic diary of the journey. This software also enables you to view tips leftat places by other travelers and also shout out that you are in a particular area and would like tofind friends in a new place. Most of the restaurant referrals and items are worth exploring and inreturn, you can also leave you useful tips about the places you visit or even give you commentsabout the restaurants you experimented with.

Networking on the go

A mobile phone with Internet connection can do wonders during a travel as you can takepictures and share it with friends and family almost instantly. For example at http://www.twitter.com/ orhttp://www.facebook.com/ status messages can let others know of your journey highlights along withpictures.Sending tweets asking for local tips and must-do activities receive active responses fromfollowers on twitter and several people who either live there are have been there are ready tohelp you with directions or advices. They are so personalized and timely that you find themvaluable while on your journey.

Communities on Twitter have informal gatherings during weekends all around the world andfinding about the schedule of one such in the city you visit can get chances to meet and networkwith the local twitter users.

Digital Forensics – art of eJames Bonds

2010-06-09T04:28:00.000-07:00

Most of us have come across USB failures and hard disks failures that leave us in a frustrated state. May be it is our precious office data or memorable pictures and videos that are physically still there but unable to be accessed for unknown reasons.

We hope that our precious data held as 0 and 1s can just be recovered somehow. Another similar situation is that systems recovered from cyber criminal may be damaged badly but even little data recovered from them can be helpful in pinning down the criminal with the act of crime.

Accidental or intentional file deletions also create the need for tools and systems to recover the deleted data. It may be necessary to audit employee’s activities with systems by capturing some deeper sets of data from logs and analyse them for traces of activities, time stamps and user identities.

In research scenarios reverse engineering of systems and their outputs help computer engineers understand how these systems works and what could or what did go wrong in the processing. Security experts often require technical peek-ins and tweaks to make decisions about the level of penetrations and the possibility of criminals having access to critical data.

In all the above situations, a specialised field termed ‘Digital Forensics’ rules the game. Technically digital forensic is a newly sprouted branch of ‘forensics’ aiming to demystify and produce legally valid evidential data.

Law enforcement official use several tools and techniques to produce enough evidences from electronic sources such as computer systems or digital storage media. They can also generate audit trails of electronic activities involved in cases like telephone call made within criminal networks, internet surfing or chat data concerning terror attacks, or online surveillance of suspected individuals.

The basic process of digital processes begins with getting hold of the computer system or digital media under concern. Then the original is preserved while mirror-replicate is created to examine the data it holds. This is mostly called imaging – an important process which retains the original artefact intact while its copy is examined. After initial examination comes thorough analysis of details all the while creating an investigation trail. Based on this examination and the results a thorough report is prepared.

Due to the sophisticated nature of digital forensics several tools are available to enable the investigations. For example: Forensic Tool Kit by Access data, EnCase by Guidance Software, ProDiscover, Scalpel, Sleuth Kit to name a few. But the highlight of this article is the Open Source SANS Investigative Forensic Toolkit (SIFT) which can be freely downloaded at http://computer-forensics2.sans.org/community/siftkit/

Some companies specialised in this field offer ‘Forensics in a Box’ solutions. Such solutions include setting up of an entire facility including the following:

Set-Up of hardware, software and other accessories
Implementation of hardware assembly, software installation and configuration
Development of policies and procedures and related knowledge transfer
Training in the use of hardware and software
Technical support and development of tools

Considering the proliferations cyber crimes and the importance of digital lifestyle prevailing, it is very important for law enforcement agencies to gain expertise in digital forensics. At commercial level, such setups could offer sophisticated data-recovery services.

Consumer rules your digital brand

2010-05-18T23:25:00.000-07:00

Just as the brand managers and marketers mastered the art of brewing value brands with a scientific understanding of consumers’ needs and wants, the world flipped into a new community all together with the advent of technology. The digital era has redefined lifestyle, content as well as communication off all consumers and businesses so radically that there has to be a new insight into branding in the digital era.

Yester years

Brand creation and management is an art and a science that creates added perceived value to both organisations and consumers alike. Tradition media such as the print, outdoor, television, billboards, and radio have their unique way of reaching to target segments and there is a high level of maturity in using these media to create the required impression about a brand in a consumer’s mind. Most of the brand images were created and pushed on to the public through these promotional channels fairly well understood by brand managers.

Consumer power

Companies can now reach out to millions of other users worldwide instantly and they play a significant part in creating a brand image. Salesmen are often outwitted by clients who have done thorough Internet research. Customers prefer personalised communications and are able to make highly informed decisions better than before. Clients with no time for consumer traditional media, surf the net, exchange emails, read blogs and watch video online. The social media is pure ‘customer play’ where reputation and referrals are based on client relationships.

Moving forward

Branding in the digital era can no longer be an afterthought. Once brand guidelines have been compiled with the client heavily involved, plans need to in place based on the local digital scenario and applicable dimensions of digital channels and their potential impact. A good brand strategy must include brand engagement in the digital environment considering the power of the democratic digital media.

Know where they are

The consumers are now living a second life in the digital world and they use their simple mobile phones as port keys. Even while working or holidaying, they constantly engage in conversations through digital channels and they have merged into virtual groups that constantly hang around in the online environment having intimate conversations.

Understanding the consumer

Once the target market segment is identified, it is necessary to understand their digital lifestyle. Then representative groups can be created both in the real as well as virtual world. It is increasingly important for organisations to have a presence online and engage in sincere conversations with these groups to build brand loyalty. There is a need to be visible but provide only a platform to engage in interactions.

Creating websites, blogs and accounts on social media like the youtube, facebook, myspace are examples of these. Dialogues can be initiated either to create brand interest or to address negative comments. Giving useful and relevant information free can be rewarding. Recognise brand advocates in such virtual groups, recognise and reward them while do not risk replicating the entire real world branding online too.

Digital Media

Electronic media or digital channels as they are normally called are quite different from the traditional media. For example publishing your printed brochures online may not work as effectively as a mini-banner advertisement selected relevantly and placed less intrusively while consumer checks his emails or while he does a key-word search in Google.

Online social media including blogs, micro-blogs, forums, social networks, groups within social networks, bookmarking sites, image and video sites are full of your current as well as potential clients and they are gladly engaged in communicating forth right opinions and sharing their brand experiences. They no longer buy-in your brand images as such; they want to prove it through their ideas, opinions and their experiences. Here is where online content will make a positive difference.

With more customers researching or reviewing your products and services online than ever before, online branding nowadays needs a strategy and budget of its own. The Internet has not only made searches easier, but the content returned is richer and it is even possible for instant comparisons and user reviews. So any brand marketing must have search strategy built-in to its core. Careful choice on online activists can create useful brand ambassadors who endorse your products or services purely based on their personal experiences.

Brand Consultation

The brand discovery process results in getting to the essence of the brand and laying the foundations for its successful communications through strategic focus, differentiation, relevance and simplicity. This exercise begins digital branding, working closely with brand consultants on having a review of the current brand perception across samples of customer segments. With this base, a new brand position can be formulated as brand guidelines.

Brand guidelines may include a revival of the current brand or even rebranding exercise altogether. The various elements that comprise of your brand identity must be charted out strategically and a formal consensus can be reached with the senior management who will eventually approve and fund the exercise.

Customers form integral part of this consultation to understand where a brand is currently poised, where and how it must proceed now on. In return for little or even nothing most customers are willingly vociferous on their opinions and experiences. One needs to sift out the credible ones and lend an ear to their voices.

Being a common member on online media like forums and social networking sites avoiding sales pitch, along with subscriptions to blog feeds is an integral part of digital branding. It is paramount to enthuse your online community with authentic & relevant information willingly.

Social media maturity makes more sense now than ever

2010-05-16T11:50:00.000-07:00

Any technology that facilitates networking and communications in a cost-effective manner is well poised for success. This has been proved in the case of social media such as Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, etc.

But what exactly happens after you claim your space in the social media varies largely. For example, you create your account and find your network of friends who are on the same platform be it Facebook or Twitter. And then depending on the intensity of activity, the quantum of information and interactions fill the digital space.

Now this article is about what exactly happens right after this. How strong is this network, how it sustain mutual interests, how it continues to enrich the once empty platform attracting new and existing members.

Zooming on to one platform in the micro-blogging arena, let us consider twitter for example. The reason for choosing twitter is that it is limited in scope, functionality and resource requirements far less than other platforms. Even common mobile applications on non-Smartphone are capable of handling the 140 character text features of Twitter.

Moving on to the social interactions that take place within this platform, twitter users post small text messages to the maximum size of 140 chars which can be read by his network of followers. Interestingly within these 140 characters there can be web links embedded. Now this enables web-articles, blog-posts, Youtube videos and even pictures from photo-archives to be pointed to via a tweet post through URL links.

Twitter users vary in using the platform as a public chat-medium, treating it as their cryptic diary and logging in their experiences and opinions. Due to real-time nature of the medium, sometime these users turn out to be citizen journalists if they happen to be amidst the thick of happening.

Twitter giants or the so called power-users with a large number of followers have been able to sustain the interests of the followers by specializing their tweet posts with interesting content. Such content may range from news-worthy leads, motivating quotes, creative micro-poetry like the Haiku, how-to-do techniques, sports commentaries, funny one-liners, etc.

It is not just a place for content seekers and providers, but also a place for creative people who are looking for their own first audience. Graphic and multimedia artists, creative poets and writers are able to inform their network of friends about their latest creative endeavours. It is also possible how their creativity receives candid responses and sometimes professionals in specific fields offer tips to enhance design or storyline or blog-post.

From experience in interacting with younger age group users as well as accomplished professionals, it is a personal experience to come across amateur art-works and hobby compositions for review. It is indeed a wide spectrum of art and creativity that gets nourished by the presence of a group of followers one networks mostly online.

Few successful leads identified as potential works are being spotted by talent-hunters and from then the scope of real-world interactions and professional opportunities expand from then on.

A few things you can utilise Twitter for:
· Get early updates on news
· Be informed about events and programs
· Get to discuss with professionals and celebrities
· Organise real life events for networking
· Get product or service recommendations
· Get better customer service from brands online
· Exchange personalised review of books, movies, music, etc
· Network with professional groups with common areas of interest
· Submit your art work, poetry, website, website, blog post, article for review
· Organise campaigns for charitable or social causes
· Learn and practice vocabulary in a new language
· Get ideas for marketing online through power users
· Can generate sales-leads and improve brand image
· Any many more.

iReview iPad iPhone OS4.0

2010-04-14T00:29:00.000-07:00

An Apple a day is making news almost every day and it’s time to review Apple iPad and iPhone OS 4.0 with Digital Oman. The recent release of Apple iPad – a cool gadget touting a 9.7-inch backlit-LED display with a multi-touch interface has enticed many. Since I saw Steve Jobs launch video http://bit.ly/95TkGf in Jan2010, we have been waiting to experience the ipad and just a day after its US release, we got lucky to use the iPad thanks to Nawras - Oman.

If you’re mainly a web surfer, note maker, social media enthusiast, emailer, and play around with photographs, videos, books, periodicals, news and music - then iPad could replace your laptop / netbook! But then,.... for the rest Read on :-)

The iPad is LARGE (24.3 cm × 19 cm x 1.3 cm) in comparison to our iTouch and iPhone but felt incredibly thin and light. Holding it within a palm was possible and typing with on-screen keyboard was incredibly easy but soon we realised that we were using the device more in landscape orientation. It had some basic native apps although we missed the iWorks that could have muscled more of iPad’s interface and power.

Exploring

After a while tilting, tapping, and turning the iPad— excitement wanes; wondering what will I actually do with iPad. With Apple App Stores being the only source for all native as well as Apple approved 3rd party apps; personally I am never happy about being restricted to what I use my own iPad for. Perhaps if I were a basic gamer on a couch, it would be nice to live with my iPad for longer entertaining hours or read a couple of e-books considering the modest price.

Having connected the iPad to the WiFi network, watching our home made video, hitherto watched on my phone was certainly quite an experience and native audio was loud enough for over 1mt. Tweeted live and check a few mail services and other social networking sites. But then considering its size, iPad is not going to replace either my iTouch or the iPhone even if it can be paired via Bluetooth headset to place phone calls over Wi-Fi or 3G using a VoIP application.

What’s next

Watching video and playing games gets handier but then I’m wondering how to increase my productivity beyond giving eye-catching presentations on the iPad and making it fare better than a geek-gadget for the elite, but that’s just me.

It’s a fact that the true excitement of the new iPad is going to trickle when developers create applications, using its screen size & simple multi-touch interface that excites even a 2.5yr old child http://bit.ly/aoWDDU. It’s only a matter of time, until both user and developers will amaze even Apple as to how this user-friendly handy device can be used.

Publishing scenarios

The publishing industry may utilise the opportunity to find new readers for e-books through the iPad / iPhone community and entice them with embedded multimedia. Amazon unveiling its all-new Kindle e-book app for Apple iPad and prominent newspapers like the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, etc. offer their Internet versions for the iPad. While few eyebrows raise, the ultimate question remains – “are people willing to continue to pay for content that may be available for free from other sources, all for the new iPad-user experience”.

Missing ones

Even without a multi-tasking capability, camera, USB port, wired-data port , wireless sync, or support for flash while 1024x768 pixel resolution down-converting HD content to 720p, the sale of 450,000 iPads in its very 1st week has proven the need for such devices in the market. The missing features are merely niche areas for Apple’s competitors to focus on. Perhaps HP Slate might be the one for me, until 2nd generation ipads are available in local market; only time will tell.

We recommend reading a few functional as well as usability issues identified at http://tinyurl.com/ya6hl4s and a comprehensive list of Positives and Negatives of the iPad at http://tnw.to/15xMc

iPhone OS 4.0

Market dynamics will be more redefined with the release of Apple’s new iPhone Operating System – OS 4.0 software spurring Web OS in an over-arching manner. As more and more power and applications including location-sensitive and motion-sensitive ones are leading to higher demand for smart phones than even personal computers.

Just this week, Apple also released its iPhone OS 4.0 which excited me much more than the iPad for the way it is going to redefine market dynamics from now on. Out of over 1500 new APIs released for developers, here are a few highlights:

· Multitasking - (memory contents saved & restored when application is resumed in most cases)
· Folders to organize apps
· Unified inbox messaging
· iBooks also for the iPhone
· Social network for gaming
· Mobile advertising with iAds

The iPhone OS 4 will be available for the iPhone (along with iPhone 3GS, third gen iPod Touch will only be capable of multitasking) this summer, in the fall for the iPad.

In my opinion, the iAd platform intended to give developers a means to profit from their programs is the next best thing to revolutionise online advertising with over 4 billion iPhone apps and 3.5million iPad app downloads till date.

Something deep in me keeps asking - this OS 4.0 needs an all new device: what would that be?! Will it be mine?!

Apple iPad in Oman - First Experience

2010-04-06T11:26:00.000-07:00

YES! Apple iPAD in Oman - A delight to get a first hand feel of it (thanks to - posing for pics)

Thanks to Nawras, it is possible to experience the Apple iPad at their Qurum City Centre Outlet. Couple of more units available at their other stores - but not for sale - only user experience. The tech-savvy company arranged a special order to let its customers experience Nawras products and services through this innovative gadget released on the 3rd April 2010 - only in the US markets.

Oman Information Technology Society Launched

2010-04-03T23:28:00.000-07:00

Oman Information Technology Society is officially approved and its 1st General Assembly meeting was held on 3rd April 2010 at the Conference Hall in the Ministry of National Economy.

As per the bylaws, it will be managed by a governing Board of Directors not less than five and not more than twelve members, and be a two-year renewable term.

At a meeting of the Governing Council , the President , the Vice-president , Coordinator and the Finance Secretary were elected and this board conducted its first successful meeting with the following agenda:

Welcome speech by Coordinator - Mr. Fahad Mohammed Macki
Opening speech by President - Dr. Salim Al Ruzaiqi
Introduction to OITS - Mission, Structure & By-Laws - Mr. Yaqoob Al Bulushi
Procedures for membership - Shaikh Saif bin Hilal bin Sultan Al Hosni
Question & Answer Session
Vote of thanks by Coordinator - Mr. Fahad Mohammed Macki

OITS - Logo

For designing the official logo of the society an open competition was announced throught the Omani Fine Arts Society with a deadline of 10th April 2010.

The winning entry along with the formal website for OITS will be launched at COMEX 2010 (to begin on 26th April 2010).

For further details contact info@oits.org.om

1st OmanTwestival - Overwhelming Success (All photo video links)

2010-03-26T16:24:00.000-07:00

1st OMAN Twestival - Held on the Arabian Sea - Along with over 200 cities worldwide on 25th March 2010
Few Records made
1. 1st Twestival for Oman
2. Only Twestival across 200 cities worldwide to celebrate it on the sea (not on land J
3. Largest Twestival poster measuring 10mt X 6mt
4. Event organised by voluntary team in flat 5days

Date - On the 25th March 2010 (http://muscat.twestival.com/)

Place -On board of 'Hormuz' ferry - World's fastest catamaran
Sponsors - National Ferries Company - OmanAir - Omantel - MENACOM / Wunderman - Microsoft

Photography - @Esskaywe (Sunil K Vaidya) @45vvA7h (Aswath Sridhar) @orphicpixel

Gifts Galore

2 X-box Game Consoles

8 USM Modems

2 Overhight Hotel stay vouchers for two

2 Dinner vouchers for two

50 Hayyak - Prepaid Connections

Picture Links

Full Album on Picasa (By Official Photographers Sunil K Vaidya & Aswath Sridhar) http://bit.ly/cvL2RE
Video & Photos by @KishorCariappa http://tinyurl.com/yz454ha
By @veekay53 Uploaded by @ladynamic http://bit.ly/9EaVB4
By @traiblazr http://bit.ly/9xiY98
By @orphicpixel http://bit.ly/d0Nqel
By @Esskaywe http://bit.ly/933BLj
By @hamidsofi http://bit.ly/aIKxmt
By @sanrachh http://bit.ly/9daTaH
By @makorani http://tinyurl.com/yfqs4ju
By @ragumuthu http://bit.ly/d2Gftn

By @Arun4 http://bit.ly/94CEmH

Live Video
By @Blue_Chi http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/5700805
By @Blue_Chi http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/5700860
By Aswath Sridhar (@45vvA7h) http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/5701753
By @KishorCariappa http://bit.ly/bnJcb4

Media coverage
Al Watan 28 Mar 2010

Zawya 28 Mar 2010 http://bit.ly/dyNDg3
Times Of Oman 27Mar 2010 http://tinyurl.com/ygwnht5
Oman Tribune 27 Mar 2010 Muscat Daily 27 Mar 2010
Gulf News 26Mar 201o http://tinyurl.com/ylp26zz

Blog Posts
Twestival Website http://bit.ly/buVvX0

By OrphicPixel http://bit.ly/a9Sarz
By OmanAir http://bit.ly/bhGfSZ
By KishorCariappa http://bit.ly/cmSOTc
By Shweta Ashar @Shweman http://bit.ly/ciMt2O
By Sunaina @asunaina http://bit.ly/cZSeoT
By Ahmed Al Shagra http://bit.ly/cSEr5j

By Rekha Baala http://tinyurl.com/ygbslwq

Continuously Updated as new links flow in! Please visit again.

>--------------------------------------------------------------------------<

Thanks to the team, sponsors & the volunteers

OmanTwestival - spirit of global community

2010-03-20T13:58:00.000-07:00

On the 25th March 2010, when over 200 cities around the world join hands to celebrate Twestival (Twitter Community Festival) OmanTwestival is to be held here in Muscat http://muscat.twestival.com/
When - 25th March 2010 Thu (5pm - 8pm) Report at the Port Qaboos by 4.30 pm Sharp - Gates closed by 5.30 pm - Ferry Sails by 6 pm Sharp

Where - On board of 'Hormuz' ferry - World's fastest catamaran

What to bring - Mobile phone, laptop, Camera (free WiFi provided on board)

Sponsors - National Ferries Company & OmanAir & Omantel

Location Map: Port Qaboos at Corniche

What's in for OmanTwestival 2010?

In flat 5 days, Muscat is preparing to host this event. Lots of surprises await twitter users attending #OmanTwestival, including entertainment & gifts at perhaps the only Twestival Venue on sea.

Charity Round - Open Your Heart & Open your Wallet for Charity - Collection
SNK Boys Break Dance
Fun competition
Traditional 'Oud' Music
Oud & Guitar Medley
2 Short Films made by Omani nationals - submitted at Gulf Intl. Film Festival

What is a Twestival?

Twestival - a community gathering of the members of the twitter community (http://www.twestival.com/) – an event held on the same day of the year across several cities of the world synchronised in the real world.

Quote : "Organizing online and gathering offline allows Twestival to harness the incredible communication power of Twitter to propel participation in real events around the world."
-Amanda Rose, Founder of Twestival

What is the purpose of Twestival 2010?Twestival 2010 supports the cause 'Education' through ‘Concern Worldwide’ a non-governmental, international, humanitarian organization that reaches to out-of-school children such as girls, orphans, street children, working children, children affected by conﬂict, children affected by HIV and AIDS, and children with disabilities. Concern’s education programs currently reach over 700,000 people in 25 countries across the regions of Africa, Asia, & the caribbean.

Who supports the Twestival?

Among numourous volunteers and several corporates supporting Twestival, PayPal the official global sponsor for Twestival has waived processing fees for ‘Concern Worldwide’ for the duration of Twestival. Twestival extends its online reach with TwestivalFM, where high-profile artists and musicians around the world donate their songs to download for donations. eBay supports Twestival, by hosting ‘Auction140’, a global online auction of celebrity-donated items and celebrities including Paris Hilton, Queen Rania of Jordan are supporting. An iPhone application for live donations and results widgets will enable real-time donations at local events. Twestival also has partnered with Ustream to live stream the day’s events, starting in New Zealand and ending in Hawaii.

TWESTIVAL - a global festival synchronized Offline

2010-03-16T13:17:00.000-07:00

Twestival 2010 rallies for social cause of "Education”

On March 25, 2010, in more than 175 cities around the world, thousands of people will demonstrate social media's power for social good through the second annual Twestival.

Organizing online and gathering offline allows Twestival to harness the incredible communication power of Twitter to propel participation in real events around the world.

- Amanda Rose, Founder of Twestival

About Twestival

A Twestival is a community gathering of the members of the twitter community – an event held on the same day of the year across several cities of the world. Well beyond a gathering, this global event generates funds through voluntary contributions for a common social cause. This post has drawn more inputs from the twestival website at www.twestival.com and wish to attribute credits here.

Harnessing Synergic Strength

Twitter community of various cities around the world have signed up to host a ‘Twestival’ in their respective locales, in real life to rally around for the cause of Education by hosting local events to have fun and create awareness.

Every single tweet (a post on twitter under 140 characters length) has a purpose and when torrents of tweets by several users join hands to strengthen social media for a social cause – 2010 being for education. It is about the social networking community connecting by little tweets connecting and working together to a difference to the lives several unfortunate communities around the world.

Concern Worldwide

All proceeds generated from the 2010 Twestival will support education and be donated to Concern Worldwide, a non-governmental, international, humanitarian organization that since 1968 has dedicated itself to reducing suffering and eliminating poverty.

“An estimated 72 million children worldwide are not enrolled in school,” said Tom Arnold, CEO of Concern Worldwide. “Concern is committed to reaching those left behind, giving them access to learning and the chance to break out of the cycle of poverty.
Twestival Global is revolutionizing the way concerned citizens all over the world connect to benefit the poorest among us. We are thrilled to have been chosen, and we’re rolling up our sleeves to make the most of this extraordinary opportunity.”

Logistics of event

Free volunteering champions from cities that have signing up for twestival, invest their energies and efforts to rope in other community members to organize a gala night offline. When open invites are posted online attendees willingly sign up to attend an event in their neighbourhood and also offer their services & expertise voluntarily.

Twestival 2009 for 'Water'

The first global Twestival was held on 12^th February 2009 across over 202 cities with the cause of providing clean water. It managed to raise over US$ 250K for ‘Charity – Water’ to provide more than 55 wells in Uganda, Ethiopia and India having a direct impact for over 17,000 people. Watch the videos of the first Twestival well drilled in the village of Mai Nabri, Ethiopia. Visit http://www.charitywater.org/twestival/to see how the funds were utilized for the needy.

Twestival 2010 for 'Education'

In 2010, the twestival supports ‘Concern’ - a non-governmental, international, humanitarian organization that reaches to out-of-school children such as girls, orphans, street children, working children, children affected by conﬂict, children affected by HIV and AIDS, and children with disabilities.

Concern’s education programs currently reach over 700,000 people in 25 countries across the regions of Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. Readers can follow @concern on Twitter to get a glimpse of their staff tweeting from around the world.

Support Unlimited

Organisers of the Twestival are provided with multimedia and other branded promotional material for free download and use in the awareness sessions. In addition Citrix Inc. has offered their web conferencing software – GoToMeeting, to facilitate organizers to hold online meetings.

Education is a global issue and by giving our support to a nearby Twestival or by checking www.twestival.com to see how to get involved.

PayPal the official global sponsor for Twestival has waived processing fees for ‘Concern Worldwide’ for the duration of Twestival.
Twestival extends its online reach with TwestivalFM, allowing high-profile artists and musicians around the world to donate their songs to download for donations.
eBay supports Twestival, by hosting ‘Auction140’, a global online auction of celebrity-donated items and experiences on eBay that will feature a live Twitter stream for the first time.
An iPhone application for live donations and results widgets will enable real-time donations at local events. Twestival also has partnered with Ustream to live stream the day’s events, starting in New Zealand and ending in Hawaii.
Dubai Twestival
Our nearest neighbor Dubai is holding Twestival for the 2nd time this year with abundant support from both corporate and individuals who are striving to make it a grand success. Follow up details and register to attend this DubaiTwestival on the 25th March 2010 by registering at www.dubai.twestival.com.

The future of privacy

2010-03-15T02:22:00.000-07:00

Most of us have no idea how much others can find about us, our personal lives, hobbies, interest or profession.

This post is an introspective view of certain technologies that have made it possible to find our electronic foot prints in the modern times. Protecting one’s anonymity is a game that one can never win completely once and for all.

Even to those skeptics who claim that they have taken all possible measures to protect their privacy by not indulging in social networking online and limiting their communications to close circle of family and friends, it might be a rude shock to know how simple it is easy to track them electronically.

Mobile tracking

Consider the common mobile phone, which is an electronic device just meant to make and receive calls. Let us not even introduce the mini-computer like abilities that modern phones are capable of at this point. It is almost impossible to purchase a new mobile connection without revealing other personal identity information connected to their real life.

Once these details are provided to the mobile-service provider, it is possible to track every conversation and all exchange of calls with contacts. Several national and political scandals have come to limelight just because of this traceability of telephone calls.

Card-based footprints

Those who have the habit of swiping cards at hotels and shopping malls, are little aware that their shopping habits and preferred brands and services are traceable. Many retailers retain this information in a database and comb this often to prepare your profile and later target promotions and specific marketing communications customised for you.

Even the fast food center near your house knows your exact location and your favourite item. Some companies have gone to the extent of gathering geo-positioning data from your mobile phone calls and precisely tell us where you are ordering from. Data brokers with weak systems have been targeted by hackers and in the end result it is the customer’s who pay the price for privacy violations.

Camera conscious

Consider choosing a personal visit to a shopping mall or a restaurant to avoid being tracked electronically. The myriads of globes handing on the roof could be live cameras recording your moves, and storing them is large data drives. At any point these videos could be played back, zooming close at your face enough to recognise that it is the real you.

If masking our telephone calls is difficult then covering up your online activity is almost impossible. All Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are required to maintain records about their users and dish them out completely when requirement by law-enforcement agencies.
In social media sites like the facebook and twitter, it’s certainly nice to share information and photographs and even mobile contacts. But all these platforms are public platforms and the chances that they could be technically compromised makes your data there sensitive.

Archived anonymous

Those tech geeks who pride themselves in the use of anonymiser software to erase their online trails have little to celebrate. Technically anonymisers must be tracking and archiving your website visits. For law enforcement purposes they may be forced to reveal these data. It could also be possible that decoy anonymisers are planted by government agencies to trap people who use these and frame cases with valid proof. It’s only possible that your own ISP may not have to online voyages, but this is electronically archived in some server out there.

Profiling through data

As citizens, immigrants or even as visitors, the extent of surveillance we undergo is quite sizeable. The data so far collected about is resides as digital data somewhere. It is up to technologies such as search engines, semantic webs, geo-positioning systems and data-mining software to make meaningful relations between these disparate data about you and me from various sources and eventually create a complete profile about us that we are even conscious of.

Imagine how much Google knows about you, from the way you search, the emails you exchange, the documents you place in their clouds, the blogs you maintain with blogger, your customised news profile, the videos you watch on youtube and the places you have traversed on Google maps. Haven’t we told Google enough about us, that scares us about their intrusion into our privacy circles if ever required?

Change is inevitable

Let us consider adoption of technology as a generation of change and find ways to adapt our lives with these interventions. Privacy is now more of a relative matter where the naïve and innocent are victimised without remedy for protection. We are aware of people whose email accounts have been hacked in causing embarrassment and a permanent haunt for all the resulting exposure of mails and contacts.

It a natural phenomena that the more we network and communicate, either with or without technology, we tend to share our personal details of varying degree. Rethinking privacy, it is now for us draw a new line, one beyond which, privacy violation affects us personally, emotionally or economically. In a digital lifestyle, the electronic trail we leave behind certainly a prime factor to be considered in this direction.

Perhaps in the era where identification and authorisation happen through biometric more naturally and automatically (for example holding a door handle can authenticate and authorise you for entry) then there will be no need to panic about privacy.

This post is meant to be more of thought provoking than to chastise privacy protection measures through products or policies, emphasising on our readiness to taken actions. Your view points are welcome by emails or tweets.

Richard Stallman speaks on Free Software in Oman

2010-03-09T09:19:00.000-08:00

Richard Mathew Stallman (aka RMS) the father of the free software movement is in Muscat - Oman, giving talks at the Free Software Symposium organised by the Information Technology Authority of Oman.

Digital Oman highlights this legendary personality, his philosophy and crusades in the software industry.

Richard Stallman is a legendary figure in the computing world, and his presence in Oman is only indicative of the energy that lies within this country to take up challenges in using ‘free software’, study its source-code, change and even publish this modified version’.

Dr. Richard Stallman was born to Daniel Stallman and Alice Lippman and he showed exceptional skills in the logic of mathematics since the tender age of 8.

After graduating from Harvard and experiencing MIT, he moved on to work at the MIT Artificial Intelligence centre where his quest for freedom in using software started.

He began his free software activism by launching the GNU (GNU is Not Unix) Project in 1983 and set up his Free Software Foundation (FSF) in 1985. The main goal of GNU (http://www.blogger.com/www.gnu.org) was to develop a free Operating System that was compatible to work with Unix - a exclusive portable OS of that time.

All efforts from the GNU team were successful when Linus Torvalds released his ‘Linux’ operating system kernel free in 1995 under the General Public License (GPL). FSF is a non-profit corporation organisation that employs free software programmers and provides a legal infrastructure for the free software movement.

Most software bought from vendors is licensed only for use of the executable version. However ‘free software’ is not only provided free but it’s also distributed along with the source code of the software in a human-readable form. Quoting Stallman, “My work on free software is motivated by an idealistic goal: spreading freedom and cooperation”.

He believes that our copy of a free program is our property, and that we are free to use it in all the ethical ways, unlike proprietary software which holds monopoly in terms of support ranging from bug-fixes to functional enhancements and extensions.

“Software users should have the freedom to ‘share it with their neighbour’ and to be able to study and make changes to the software that they use”, he adds.

Activists like Jim Warren, editor of Dr. Dobb's Journal support his point of view by stating that, “When software is free, or so inexpensive that it's easier to pay for it than to duplicate it, then it won't be 'stolen'”.

The original intention of free software to share knowledge and promote development for all assures the following four actions:

• freedom to use the work

• freedom to study the work

• freedom to copy and share the work with others,

• freedom to modify the work and

• freedom to distribute modified and therefore derivative works

In software, it requires that the source code of the derived work is made available along with the software. In reality, it is not always is the case that derivative works are also distributed under the same free licence scheme and this can itself be considered unethical.

To quote an example of the above, the GNU manifesto states as follows: ‘GNU is not in the public domain. Everyone will be permitted to modify and redistribute GNU, but no distributor will be allowed to restrict its further redistribution. That is to say, proprietary modifications will not be allowed. I want to make sure that all versions of GNU remain free.’

Dr. Stallman has won The Association for Computing Machinery's Grace Murray Hopper Award "For pioneering works in the development of the extensible editor EMACS (Editing Macros)" in 1990, Electronic Frontier Foundation's Pioneer award in 1998 and several other honorary doctorates from universities across the world.

The book ‘Free as in Freedom’ - Richard Stallman's Crusade for Free Software’ written by Sam Williams and published by O’Reilly publications is available as a free open book online at http://oreilly.com/openbook/freedom/index.html.

Creative Commons Licensing (http://www.blogger.com/www.creativecomons.org) intends to support free use combined with free right to distribute with or without changes, while placing additional restrictive conditions. GPL is an of CCL scheme. As additional knowledge in this context reader’s can read the full text of this GPL licence at http://tinyurl.com/y78muw.

Global Fusion Music Concert - A class apart

2010-03-07T10:16:00.000-08:00

A scintillating muscial concert, the "Global Fusion" was hosted in Muscat by Sarasin Alpen & Alpen Capital on the 4th March 2010 at the Barr Al Jissa Resort & Spa, Muscat.

An impressive evening of music medley – with an exotic combo of Indian, Iranian and American flavours unfurled uniquely enthralling the audience. For someone drenched into technology all through, this concert was indeed a transcending experience of human skill and creativity.

Lead by renowned George Brookes and accompanied by gifted dancer Isha Sharvani, legnedary artists kept the audience mesmerized in trance with their foot tapping music:

Vikku Vinayakram (India)
Hilal AL Bulushi (Oman)
Zoldan Lantose (Hungary)
Steve Smith (US)
Niladari Kumar (India)
Larry Coryell (US)
Sivamani (India)
Ensemble Shanbehzadeh (Iran)
Kai Eckhandt

String instruments like violin, guitar and the zitar blended smoothly with wind instruments such as the bag piper and saxaphone, striking chord to the lighting rthyms of drums and a range of other percussion instruments.

Throughout the show the hospitality and the natural ambience exposed and altogether dimension of events that were ever held in Muscat. Kudos to the entire team, that strived to reach this level of professional execution of this musical concert for their privileged customers and patrons.

Global Fusion 2010 has set a mark par excellence in musical concerts here in Oman. My special mention of thanks to Mr. Atul Rao, Ms. Shivani and Ms. Afreen.

Twitter as social media — How to do it right!

2010-02-23T21:54:00.000-08:00

The word social media is buzzing around the town, both online and offline. Simply put, the social media is a platform where the providers and the recipients engage with each other. This is slightly contrary to traditional media where organisations and individuals chose to only talk to their customers or users and expect them to receive and endorse it.

Thanks to technologies like blogs, facebook, Twitter, Google buzz, etc, social media has evolved more powerfully on the Internet. Here not just celebrities or authorities, but also the voice of a common man echoes. Other members of this community who are at the receiving end are also able to voice out their views and be heard.

Not just tech geeks and celebrities, but cats, squirrels, dogs, and even gadgets (@Toaster @OfficeChair @HacklabToilet @PiMPY3WASH) use social media such as Twitter, and now it is has become more compelling for brands to ‘be there’ in such social media and engage with their customers.

Let’s take ‘Twitter’ as a sample social media for our discussions today, as I use it more as a constant source of information and interactions in real-time. It takes less than five minutes to Twitter: sign up with username, password and e-mail address. But it’s a bigger game after that.

Here are few tips and guidelines for those who joined Twitter and are finding it confusing. The power of Twitter lies in your network: people who follow you on Twitter, others whose accounts you follow and those who (RT) Repeat Tweets — your posts to their network of friends online.

Here are few things to get you started.

Locate people you know in real life on Twitter and follow them — most often they will also follow you backv Wish them and reply just as courteously as you would in real life.

Although limited by 140 characters, your tweets must be readable — along with spelling and grammar, clarity of communication is important.

Etiquette and diplomacy are vital when you have only 140 characters to communicate and what you say is available for the open public to readv As much as possible keep you tweet text length under 120 characters. This makes it easy for others to repeat your posts along with your username without much editing work.

If you make mistakes, do not hesitate to apologise and say a simple ‘Sorry’ — Tweet friends are more understanding than you can imagine and nobody is perfect.

Read full timeline (appears when you click on a username) of a user to understand their style, context and areas of interest. You can get to know about them when you read their profile or the blog/website link that appears in their profile.

Several abbreviations and words with numbers used on Twitter are taken off from the chat lingo, so check their meaning in case of doubt.

Be ready to dedicate a little more time in the initial stage to read other’s tweets. It gives you a fair idea what is going on within this little community and they share their posts in their own unique style.

If you see links in a post, they lead you to photographs or video or even website links — this may take some more time to load and read. You can mark such tweets as favourites and revisit them later when you are free to view.

It is a matter of respect to reply to tweets directly addressed to you — They appear when you click ‘Mentions’ link.v Also use the search box wisely — type words of interest say news, hobby, technical buzz words etc — the results are tweets on this topic. If you like any of these tweets, you can repeat tweet them with attribution (RT via their username)

Before you RT other Tweets make certain the links are working and information is fairly authentic. Try not to spread false rumours and bad information through your account.

Corporates that Twitter their offers and new updates from blogs or website are treated much like any other marketing campaign. But when it is humane and lighter, customer relationship only gets stronger.

One wise tip: Take a second to re-read your tweet before clicking that ‘Update’ status button. “Am I sending to the right person the right message using the right words”, ask yourselves.

When over 50 million Tweets flood twitter every single day, make certain you add your value there or at the least make someone smile with your Tweet.

While the above can only serve as a guideline, practical experience cannot be replaced. So see you all on Twitter and follow me @SangitaSri and happy tweeting on social media.

Tour of Oman - ProCycle Race Update

2010-02-14T11:49:00.000-08:00

Tour of Oman - 1st Edition of the Annual Bicycling race of Oman organised by the Muscat Municipality kicked off its 1st stage today (14th Feb 2010). Technologies such as GPS, Live Streaming, Twitter, Facebook, Website, etc were effectively used for this event for global reach.

Jimmy Casper of France won the first stage of the 2010 Tour of Oman with Boasson Hagen of Norway following second. This first edition will run between the 14-19th February in 6 different stages has 16 of the 20 teams participating in the Tour de France - a well-known international Annual Cycling race.
RESULTS - Stage1

1. Jimmy Casper (France) Saur-Sojasun 61km (In 1hr -22min - 22secs)

2. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway) Team Sky

3. Kenny De Haes (Belgium) Omega Pharma-Lotto

4. Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin-Transitions

5. Francesco Chicchi (Italy) Liquigas-Doimo

6. Michael Van Stayen (Belgium) Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator

7. Danilo Napolitano (Italy) Katusha

8. Bernhard Eisel (Australia) HTC-Columbia

9. Andreas Stauff (Germany) Quick Step

10. Lucas Sebastien Haedo (Argentina) Saxo Bank

This six-day event covering a distance of 521kms, will have a separate segment each day, that will test the test the abilities and stamina of the participants in different types of terrains in Oman.

Live action with 128 pro-cyclist - in 16 teams over 6 stages - amidst thousands of spectators to cheer.

Get more details about all the segments, participating teams, route maps, detailed time , schedules, photographs, etc visit http://www.tourofoman.om/

View of Muttrah Corniche route of Stage 1 with large screen live display of the entire race - 16 loops between the Riyam roundabout and the Samak roundabout.

Shashi Tharoor enthrals Oman Twitter Community

2010-02-05T21:24:00.000-08:00

(Pictures © Muscat Daily, Apex Press & Publishing - Thanks to Letha Jose)

Dr. Tharoor's Tweet feedback about his 1st Oman MeetUp

"SangitaSri Thx for assembling the Oman tweeters. Good group, strong discussion, lovely gift! Much appreciated #TharoorMuscatMeetup "

Oman Twitter community makes an international record for hosting the 1st Twitter Meet of Dr. Shashi Tharoor outside India held on 5 February 2010 at the Indian Embassy Muscat - Oman in the august presence of HE Anil Wadhwa, Ambassador of India in Oman.

Thank you your excellencey for having readily provided the venue and special mention of thanks to the counsellor, social secretary, attaché-admin and other well wishers at the embassy of India.
Quoting Yahoo News “Dr. Tharoor is the only politician in the world, outside the US, whose tweets are tracked by so many and a top twitter official , is scheduled to meet Tharoor soon to get his inputs on how public figures can use it to keep in touch with followers and get their grievances redressed.”

Event

About 45 people including representatives of the twitter community and social media enthusiasts attended this event where Dr. Tharoor signed a 2 meters long poster saying "Keep tweeting; let us keep in touch in 140 characters" addressing tweeps of Oman. This poster had user names and profile pictures of about 120 twitters of Oman.

Dr. Tharoor was warmly received by Sangeetha Sridhar (@SangitaSri) with a gift pack of books about the Sultanate of Oman - Digital Strategy, Social Media and Branding she had authored/contributed. He showed keen interest in the digital scenario of Oman and appreciated receiving these titles.

Highlighting the fact that this is the 1st Tweet Meet attended by Shashi Tharoor outside India, plotting Oman at an International level in the social media, Sangeetha mentioned that Dr. Tharoor's presence has honoured the Twitter community of Oman and brought more attention to social media like Twitter. She also thanked the media for their excellent and enthusiastic support to this event.

Cooperative endeavour

Omani twitter users @BaderHinai and @AmjadAlHinai who designed twitter poster with over 120 Oman twitter names and profile pictures with Syed Faisal (@lasiaf) collecting signatures, presented this poster to Dr.Tharoor. He also signed a similar poster for Oman Twitter Community saying “Keep tweeting; let’s keep in touch in 140 chars”.

This was followed by a one-on-one Question Answers session. Dr. Tharoor elaborately and candidly answered questions asked by Rajiv Ahuja (@alkara), Ahamed Shanavaz (@shanavaza), Aswath Sridhar (45vvA7h), Rekha Balakrishnan (rekhabaala), Sunaina Ahluwalia (@asunaina) and Lovesh Vashist (@lv_1).

Responses were spontaneous, enlightening, humorous and highly engaging, reflecting the wisdom and views of @ShashiTharoor. All through the event Omani twitters @FatmaNoor and @BaderHinai were tweeting live about the event with pictures.

Quoting Twitter’s co-founder and Creative Director Biz Stone, “We’re always excited to hear about the new ways in which the world of communication is changing thanks to the clever new uses of Twitter by different folks in all areas of the world, including politicians like Tharoor….We’ve seen many politicians begin to use Twitter for campaigns, get feedback and share news because it gives them a direct line to their audience”.

Summary of Q & A Session

Dr. Shashi Tharoor suggested more politicians to engage in such platforms to connect to the community and communicate in real-time in replying to Rajiv Ahuja (@alkara). He thanked his tech-savvy colleague who motivated him to use such social media technologies in responding to Ahmed Shanavaz’s (@shanavaza) question.

Replying to Aswath Sridhar (45vvA7h) - a student, he advised selective and discretionary use of online media such as twitter and to avoid posting anything public that would embarrass their parents or cause themselves to regret at a later point in time.

He acknowledged the sensitivity of indulging in real-time communications and the possibility of misinterpretations due to brevity of twitter posts in just under 140characters in his response to Rekha Balakrishnan (@rekhabaala). He added that he would continue to read most of the twitter posts addressed to him and reply when he is free and use this as a powerful tool to with the public.

He also mentioned that he is personally tweeting at @ShashiTharoor and not active on any other social media such as Facebook or Orkut, which in reality could be overwhelmingly time consuming. He shared anecdotes on how real-time tweets have helped him in to reach wider network of people instantly and also how the mainstream media is extracting this from twitter to other regular formats.

Read Sunaina Aluwalia (@asunaina) instantaneous and interesting blog post about his response to her question regarding it how ‘Tweeters’ could deal with the real/potential backlash that follows deliberate or accidental misinterpretation of a Tweet – He said, “All one had to do was to be prepared to take the good with the bad and handle the consequences appropriately”.

In answering a question on how to utilize the energy of non-English speaking masses in India through social media for better governance by Lovesh Vashist (@lv_1) Dr. Tharoor acknowledged this digital and linguistic gap due to such technologies specially for Indian native scripts and hoped for technical solutions in the near future.

Hospitality Gesture

Examining the memento presented, Dr. Tharoor enquired with curiosity the significance of the trinkets embedded and their relevance to the culture of Oman. He displayed profound understanding and appreciation of the culture and heritage of Oman. A group photo session with the entire twitter community ended the “Tharoor Muscat Meet UP”.

Outstanding Persona

Dr.Shashi Tharoor, Indian Minister of State for External Affairs and a member of the Indian Parliament. Formerly he was the Senior Adviser to the Secretary-General of United Nations, as well as former UN Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information. He is on an official state visit as an invited guest of the Government of Oman during 4-7th February 2010.

He found time to attend this Twitter Meet amidst his hectic schedules. After his consent this meetUp was organised in just 3days through online registration http://twtvite.com/xpgh4c with short deadlines so as to get the attendees approved for security clearance. Regular TweetMeet attendees were also registered via emails sent within similar deadlines. Final embassy invites were sent to approved list of attendees.

@ShashiTharoor is a celebrity politician and undoubtedly the most popular twitter of India with an impressive number of 644,100 Followers and precious 2917 tweets. He is the first Indian celebrity to cross the milestone of more than 100,000 followers on Twitter (Now he has over 644,100 Followers). For more information kindly visit his personal website at http://tharoor.in/ and view his twitter account at www.twitter.com/ShashiTharoor

Sincere thanks to all well wishers and many other twitters who wishes us well from around the globe for this “Tharoor Muscat MeetUp”.

Related Media News

Oman TweetMeet with Dr.Shashi Tharoor - Exclusive

2010-02-02T22:18:00.000-08:00

Program

DATE - 5th FEB 2010 (Friday)
TIME - Sharp 7pm
VENUE - Indian Embassy Auditorium
DRESS CODE - Formal / National
DINNER - Hosted by HE Anil Wadhwa, Indian Ambassador to the Sultanate of Oman.

For queries kindly contact Sangeetha Sridhar on sendsangita@gmail.com and follow @SangitaSri on Twitter.

----------REGISTRATION CLOSED (Registered List sent to Delhi for security clearance) ----------

Kindly Note

All registered twitter users from the final list will be invited directly by the Indian Embassy.
Please print you invite and bring it along for entry (MUST)
No cameras allowed (Photography has been arranged & pictures will be shared later)
PUNCTUALITY is important - TweetMeet start exactly at 7.oopm (Please arrive early for security procedures)
Due to timelimit only 5 questions will be selected (by his Office) to be answered by @ShashiTharoor

Agenda (7 - 7.30pm)

Brief Welcome with a Memento
Signing of Twitter Poster by @ShashiTharoor
Question & Answer sessions (Please speak in English as a matter of respect to all other tweeps)
Group Photo Session
Speech & Dinner at the Embassy Lawns (After 7.30pm)

Media Updates

Brief of @ShashiTharoor

Dr. Shashi Tharoor is currently thre Indian Minister of State for External Affairs and a member of the Indian Parliament.
Formerly he was the Senior Adviser to the Secretary-General of United Nations, as well as former UN Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information.
He is on an official state visit as an invited guest of the Government of Oman during 4-7th February 2010.

Twitter and @ShashiTharoor

A celebrity and popular twitter @ShashiTharoor 641,416 Followers, Included in 3755 lists with precious 2905 tweets
@ShashiTharoor is the first Indian celebrity to cross the milestone of more than 1,00,000 followers on Twitter (Now he has over 6,41,416 Followers)
Twitter founder Biz Stone is to meet @ShashiTharoor soon with the intent of analysing this as a successful case study of effective use of the new medium. (YahooNews)
@ShashiTharoor was named “Global Leader of Tomorrow” by World Economic Forum Davos, Switzerland
For more information kindly visit his personal website at http://tharoor.in/

Attendees
Only Twitter Usernames have been posted to protect their privacy.

@ShashiTharoor
@sangitasri
@baderhinai
@AmjadAlHinai
@lasiaf
@lv_1
@rekhabaala
@ShruthiBalan
@varun_kv
@deepsweets
@footlooseinoman
@asunaina
@MeraAfsana
@bluice4
@devageeth
@rastapopaulose
@Shanavaz
@45vvA7h
@MayaRao
@SLK_ME
@alkara
@moviestudio
@nashkid
@maithams
@23jacob
@conceptoo
@padmajamenon
@shafeekmk
@muscati
@trailblazr
@arun4
@jadeja_mp
@lynettesaimon

Confirmed - Oman Twitter Community to meet Dr. Shashi Tharoor

2010-01-31T11:50:00.000-08:00

The Twitter Community of Oman hosts an exclusive TweetMeet for Dr. Shashi Tharoor www.twitter.com/ShashiTharoor.

DATE - 5th FEB 2010 (Friday)
TIME - Sharp 7pm
VENUE - Indian Embassy Auditorium

DRESS CODE - Formal / National
DINNER - Hosted by HE Anil Wadhwa, Indian Ambassador to the Sultanate of Oman.

For further details, contact Sangeetha Sridhar on sendsangita@gmail.com and follow @SangitaSri on Twitter.

Dr. Shashi Tharoor is currently thre Indian Minister of State for External Affairs and a member of the Indian Parliament. Formerly he was the Senior Adviser to the Secretary-General of United Nations, as well as former UN Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information. He is on an official state visit as an invited guest of the Government of Oman during 4-7th February 2010.

Personality highlights

A celebrity and popular twitter @ShashiTharoor 639,430 Followers, Included in 3698 lists with precious 2883 tweets
@ShashiTharoor is the first Indian celebrity to cross the milestone of more than 1,00,000 followers on Twitter (Now he has over 6,39,430 Followers)
@ShashiTharoor was named “Global Leader of Tomorrow” by World Economic Forum Davos, Switzerland
In 2009 @ShashiTharoor accepted the prestigious Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, India’s highest honour awarded to non-resident Indians
@ShashiTharoor is the Author of 4 fiction (including 'The Great Indian Novel') and 6 non-fiction books and 2 Illustrated books
"The Great Indian Novel" by @ShashiTharoor won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for the Best Book Of The Year in Eurasian Region - 1991
In 2009 @ShashiTharoor was awarded the Zakir Hussain Memorial "Pride of India" Award and the Hakim Khan Sur Award for National Integration by the Maharana of Udaipur

For more information about the versatile personality of Dr. Shashi Tharoor as an Author, peace-keeper, refugee worker, human rights activist and now is the Indian Minister of State for External Affairs and a member of the Indian Parliament from the Thiruvananthapuram constituency in Kerala, kindly visit his website at http://tharoor.in/

----------REGISTRATION CLOSED------(30 tweeps registered & list sent for security clearance) ----------

Super Spy Gadgets - A reality

2010-01-06T01:55:00.000-08:00

Beyond the James Bond movie fantasies, teachnology has leaped in functional and physical dimensions to create certain impressive gadgets to empower any common man and make him/her a Super Spy.

Here are a few such gadgets - normal accessories & common fittings.

Status quo and the future of privacy

2009-12-29T22:55:00.003-08:00

Most of us have no idea how much others can find about us, our personal lives, hobbies, interest or profession. The week is an introspective view of certain technologies that have made it possible to find our electronic foot prints in the modern times. Protecting one’s anonymity is a game that one can never win completely once and for all.

Even to those skeptics who claim that they have taken all possible measures to protect their privacy by not indulging in social networking online and limiting their communications to close circle of family and friends, it might be a rude shock to know how simple it is easy to track them electronically.

Mobile tracking

Consider the common mobile phone, which is an electronic device just meant to make and receive calls. Let us not even introduce the mini-computer like abilities that modern phones are capable of at this point. It is almost impossible to purchase a new mobile connection without revealing other personal identity information connected to their real life.

Once these details are provided to the mobile-service provider, it is possible to track every conversation and all exchange of calls with contacts. Several national and political scandals have come to limelight just because of this traceability of telephone calls.

Card-based footprints

Those who have the habit of swiping cards at hotels and shopping malls, are little aware that their shopping habits and preferred brands and services are traceable. Many retailers retain this information in a database and comb this often to prepare your profile and later target promotions and specific marketing communications customised for you.

Even the fast food center near your house knows your exact location and your favourite item. Some companies have gone to the extent of gathering geo-positioning data from your mobile phone calls and precisely tell us where you are ordering from. Data brokers with weak systems have been targeted by hackers and in the end result it is the customer’s who pay the price for privacy violations.

Camera conscious

Consider choosing a personal visit to a shopping mall or a restaurant to avoid being tracked electronically. The myriads of globes handing on the roof could be live cameras recording your moves, and storing them is large data drives. At any point these videos could be played back, zooming close at your face enough to recognise that it is the real you.

If masking our telephone calls is difficult then covering up your online activity is almost impossible. All Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are required to maintain records about their users and dish them out completely when requirement by law-enforcement agencies.

In social media sites like the facebook and twitter, it’s certainly nice to share information and photographs and even mobile contacts. But all these platforms are public platforms and the chances that they could be technically compromised makes your data there sensitive.

Archived anonymous

Those tech geeks who pride themselves in the use of anonymiser software to erase their online trails have little to celebrate. Technically anonymisers must be tracking and archiving your website visits. For law enforcement purposes they may be forced to reveal these data. It could also be possible that decoy anonymisers are planted by government agencies to trap people who use these and frame cases with valid proof. It’s only possible that your own ISP may not have to online voyages, but this is electronically archived in some server out there.

Profiling through data

As citizens, immigrants or even as visitors, the extent of surveillance we undergo is quite sizeable. The data so far collected about is resides as digital data somewhere. It is up to technologies such as search engines, semantic webs, geo-positioning systems and data-mining software to make meaningful relations between these disparate data about you and me from various sources and eventually create a complete profile about us that we are even conscious of.

Imagine how much Google knows about you, from the way you search, the emails you exchange, the documents you place in their clouds, the blogs you maintain with blogger, your customised news profile, the videos you watch on youtube and the places you have traversed on Google maps. Haven’t we told Google enough about us, that scares us about their intrusion into our privacy circles if ever required?

Change is inevitable

Let us consider adoption of technology as a generation of change and find ways to adapt our lives with these interventions. Privacy is now more of a relative matter where the naïve and innocent are victimised without remedy for protection. We are aware of people whose email accounts have been hacked in causing embarrassment and a permanent haunt for all the resulting exposure of mails and contacts.

It a natural phenomena that the more we network and communicate, either with or without technology, we tend to share our personal details of varying degree. Rethinking privacy, it is now for us draw a new line, one beyond which, privacy violation affects us personally, emotionally or economically.

In a digital lifestyle, the electronic trail we leave behind certainly a prime factor to be considered in this direction. Perhaps in the era where identification and authorisation happen through biometric more naturally and automatically (for example holding a door handle can authenticate and authorise you for entry) then there will be no need to panic about privacy.

This article is meant to be more of thought provoking than to chastise privacy protection measures through products or policies, emphasising on our readiness to taken actions. Your view points are welcome through comments.

Making of the Avatar – Technology milestones

2009-12-22T08:05:00.000-08:00

The recently released movie ‘Avatar’ has left its viewers spell-bound by the visualization and rendering of a remote world populated by natives who live in harmony with the bio-luminescent natural world around them. Avatar is a major technological milestone in the marvel of film-making technology.

Is there a reason why the ‘Avatar’ is touted as the greatest Sci-Fi films of all time in 3D, and there also must exist an understanding of the estimated production budget of 237million $ in making it. Most viewers have exclaimed at Pandora’s landscape and its diverse life-forms both plants and animals species. The technological mix of real actors and computer-generated images has been brilliantly executed that we hardly seem to notice a difference.

Through Digital Oman, let us explore the sophistication in film making that has made it possible to present the ‘Avatar, leaving us in complete obscurity of what is real versus what is generated and how it has been achieved.

Characterizations
The humans colonize the virgin land of Pandora, ironically in the search of a rare material called the ‘Unobtainium’. Here they wage a war against the local inhabitants called the Na’vi, who have exceptional sensory skills in understanding the ecological balance of their extraordinary world and its animal and plant species.

Through a genetic program that combines the DNA of the humanoids and that of the Na’vi, hybrid humanoids called the ‘Avatar’ are reared to penetrate into the Na’vi community and learn their secrets. The Na’vi and the Avatar are computer generated 3dimensional characters, 3meters tall with bio-luminescent blue skin and incredible strength and acumen.

CGI characters
Both the Na’vi and the Avatars are computer-generated imagery (CGI) that is digitally manipulated by originals artists who portray their characters in a studio environment. In addition 3D computer graphics software are used to simulate the imaginary landscapes of the land of Pandora.

The Na’vi and the Avatars characters created with CGI were seamlessly integrated, along with real actors in studio settings into live action scenes. The primitive version of this setting was achieved through stop-motion animation where character-models were moved frame-by-frame and individually photographed to show the illusion of continuous motion.

Digital 3D technology
While hitherto cameras did exist to make 3-D films, the making of the Avatar has resulted in the invention of an agile 3-D camera system for 3 dimensional cinematography. James Cameron the director of the ‘Avatar’ used his own Reality Camera System that employs two high-definition cameras in a single camera body to create depth perception in 3-D.

This camera rig is significantly lighter and the two camera lenses can dynamically converge on a focal point with the help of a computer, which is crucial for sweeping camera moves and action sequences.

While the movie’s 2-D version can be seen even in an ordinary theatre the 3D version requires special 3D projection facilities and the audience are also required to wear polarized glasses for viewing in 3D. Those who wish to understand the complete process of making a3-D films from camera to projection and viewing can read more about it at http://tinyurl.com/yly4jgk.

3-D Animation
The models of the Avatar and the Na’vi are sculpted in varying levels of details just like a puppet with several movable joints and parts. These joints or movable part may even be finer facial muscles that cause a smile or smirk and not just bendable hands and legs.

Now these joints or movable parts can be managed through various controllers manually or those driven by computer software that feeds in motion inputs. Now 3D animation combines computer generated images along with these models and programmed movement to create live action.

For example the talking lion of the movie ‘Chronicles of Narnia’ had over 740 controllers just for facial expressions. Similarly the 2005 version of the King Kong Gorilla owed its realistic human-like expressions, to these inputs taken from the real expressions of the actor Andy Serkis.
Well if 3D is going to be the future of movies, now the question comes as to how to generate these animation inputs that have to be very realistic. The answer lies in the ‘performance capture’ technology.

Performance capture
The CGI characters need to act and behave like real actors and this has been made possible by the ‘performance capture’ technology. Through this technique, inputs taken from real human actions of ‘Sam Worthington’ and ‘Zoe Saldanha’ in the studio settings are fed as input for computer animations of ‘Jake Sully’ and ‘Neytiri’ respectively.

Motion capture is a technique by which live actions of real actors are recorded to be the inputs that control and manipulate a digital 3D character model. When it goes beyond simple hand, legs, head and body movements to capture subtle facial expressions and finger gestures, then this is called as total performance capture.

Imagine Sam’s fearful expression being shown on his avatar, when he encounters Pandora’s wild life and Zoe’s gentle touch of her pet – ikran the Banshee, captured as Gigabytes of data per second of action through their skull caps and leotards covered in sensors.

Sam and Zoe work in an empty studio amidst grids so that their performance could be recorded by sensor-based digital capture systems. Later they are replayed on to the models of Jake and Neytiri. Read more from the director’s interview with the BusinessWeek at http://tinyurl.com/ypfh82.

Pandora the mythical Utopia
Pandora is a distant moon civilized by the Na’vi amid its exotic luminescent living forms. Knowing very well that 3ft and hanging mountains can’t be real, it is impossible to dissect what could be real from sets and what is animated in the entire movie. The studio shoots are done in a 16K Sq.ft film set with a green paint on its inside walls.

While most actions takes place in this set-up Pandora, the action scenes are shot amidst a computer-generated lush jungle environment in New Zealand with real actors, robotic animals and plant species. James Cameron’s stereoscopic cameras that each use a pair of lenses built to mimic human eyes capture images with a sense of depth. The mix happens later in digital studios where shoots are merged and appropriate sound effects are added.

Key message
Despite the splendid visuals and simple screen-play, James Cameron - the writer-director-producer of Avatar has a key message in general: ‘Pandora as a world that harbors treasures and resources almost beyond price and just as the original Pandora’s Box wrought devastation on those who would use it for their own gain, so too this world may destroy not just the Na’vi’s home, but ours as well’.

Technology changes word meanings

2009-12-14T21:21:00.000-08:00

Who said technology is just for geeks? For all the rest of us who love having some fun, there is so much of humour in technical jargon that sometimes crosses the thin-line to be even called weird. This week under Digital Oman, lets get light-hearted with the mood of the good weather and have fun knowing some technical jargon that we have confronted and mastered.

The fundamental favourite potato chips have been adapted into technology terminology for the basic unit of processing element in computers. Compressed silicone cylinders are slices it to thin wafers, and etched with intricate circuitry to work as the fundamental technical component that processes all inputs fed into computers. A set of such ‘chips’ are combined to form the elaborate integrated circuit-board or the IC, hence the name IC Chip. You can now ‘boot’ (kick) not just people if warranted but also computers, meaning you power it on and start loading the operating system software.

There are several terms that have been used casually, encoded by the software sector which has stayed on to mean entirely different things in the context of technology. For example a ‘Window’ was something that gives us a glimpse of the outer world from inside your office or home. But today it signifies the technology industry’s leading product developed by the Microsoft. Windows consists of a desktop client and server versions of software which bundle several utility and productivity tools as a suite.

The age old A is for ‘Apple’ - the fruit, and now it’s for Apple - a company that has made several products including laptops, desktop computers and the adorable iPhones under this single famous name with elegance and style which come at a special price. A ‘cell’ as a biological unit of living organism is now the ‘box’ where a column and a row intersect, in a spreadsheet. Again ‘memory’ is made up of chips that temporarily hold data or instructions in a computer.

A ‘Zombie’ which sounds almost like an African tribe is technically speaking, a computer that has been taken over by hacker and using special software he/she can remotely use the computer even for malicious purposes. The infecting software creates a ‘back-door’ (not the door at the back of a building) for the hacker who then injects malicious software through this open door, right into a zombie computer. Currently millions of home / office computers have been turned into zombies by powerful hackers. Famous websites like the Yahoo and the Amazon were once taken down by data or instruction floods sent from such a network of zombie computers.

Even the youngest child we come across, would recognise the ‘Mickey’ as the mouse is Disney’s cartoon series and he is the funniest mouse on earth. Most of us who know that a ‘mouse’ could also be the small input device we work with to operate our computer, wouldn’t know the fact that a unit of our mouse movement in called a Mickey.

Honey pot is something we normally dig-in to add a dash of honey to our favourite breakfast cereals. But in the weird world of technology a ‘honeypot’ is a decoy computer, (with seemingly important files) in a network that is connected to the Internet to allure hackers. Such honeypots play an important role in enhancing the security within a computer network, by giving a better understanding of how malware and hackers leech on to potentially useful files by gaining access through unlawful means.

A blob in the common world meant a giant drop of any odd liquid or gooey flesh, but in the world of technology it has a completely different meaning. A ‘blob’ is a binary large object which is a sizeable chunk of binary data collected and stored as a single entity in a database management system.

A mash-up is a food delicacy prepared with boiled potatoes, butter and cream. But in the world of software applications, a mash-up is a new breed of web-based applications that combines two entirely different web-services to create a new, potentially more useful service for users. For example, a ‘mash-up’ of Google maps and weather data can give a realistic image forecast of current weather of a given location. To make it more useful, a geo-sensitive mobile devices that can connect to the Internet can be set with the ‘push’ technology (Yes ‘push’ as in push data) to receive live weather alerts.

Anyone heard of the ‘id10t’ error? Few of us in the technology world know that this is a code name for errors caused by an in-experienced user (or simply ‘idiot’) who doesn’t know that he is actually the cause of the error. Such terms are normally coined at technical support environments which later spread to wider use.

Squat is simply a very good exercise prescribed to strengthen one’s thigh and calf muscles. But in the cyber world a ‘Cyber-Squat’ is a legal offense where by a user register a website name of a famous person or an organisation first and then negotiates a price for giving it away to the rightful person.

The innocent looking abbreviation ‘SLP’ normally used in SMS or chat messages to indicate ‘sleep’, morphs in the world of technology into a complex communication protocol called the ‘Service Location Protocol’.

A packet is what we know to cover products and make it more attractive and safe enough to be transported. But in technical terms any data traffic in a network is split into uniform sized chunks with its own header and trailers labels and each of these chunks is termed a ‘packet’. Even the Internet routes a set of such packets randomly to its destination where they are correctly assembled and decoded into a coherent message.

A sparc may sound like a unit of fire, but it is indeed the name of a processor series that was developed by the SUN Microsystems, based on a ‘Scalable Processor Architecture’ model. A ‘web’ is not only that which is spun by spiders but it is also the mesh of computers that span the globe, exchanging information and enabling communications. The adventure of riding a wave, in the Internet parlance means ‘surf’ or browse the Internet.

A ‘bridge’ is built normally over a water-body to enable traffic across and interestingly in network terminology, a bridge is device which connects multiple network segments at the innermost data layers. ‘Overflow’ doesn’t happen only in the case of liquids but it can also happen when there is no longer enough memory to hold the data that is sent in.

A’ tag’ that normally labels instructions or the price of items has also entered the world to technology. It is now used by web-developers to created itemised contents for the web-pages with relevant key-words that help search engines like Google or Bing to bring out the relevant pages when these key-words are searched for.

‘Triggers’ are not just found in guns but they are also liberally found in software modules that fire off or activate other pieces of code when certain programmed condition occur. Even when code errors occur programmed triggers spark off generating error codes.

One would normally expect a handle, to mean the ones encountered in a vessel of a door or a piece of equipment. In technical jargon, a ‘handle’ is a screen name used in online chat rooms or other social media so as to protect one’s identity and yet give a unique name. Usually hackers are known to have creative handles such as ‘darkWater’, ‘LockerGnome’, ‘rootSucker’, etc.

RAM and DOS which could be normally be names of people in a particular community, double up as ‘Random Access Memory’ and ‘Disk Operating System’ in the digital realms. Biological virus cause illness to living beings, while rogue software ‘virus’ infect and take down even powerful computers that are not adequately protected. Similarly a ‘bug’ is an insect in the real world while it means an error in software programming parlance or a technical flaw in a hardware solution.

‘Twitter’ – a sound that birds make is now a social networking website and a conference among this community of members is called a ‘chirp’ - another bird call. The scary ‘trolls’ online are infamous online chat users who introduce disturbing links, mimic other users’ posts and profiles even engage on verbal wars with others online members.

As time moves on we come across new terms and old words with new meanings and learn to adapt to their new meaning by repeated use. It only takes a good weather day to sit back relaxed and think retrospectively as to how these common words once meant something so simple in our lives, have been very much complicated by technology. Until we meet again, boot your windows, run your mouse and keep surfing the web.

Google Wave Primer 101

2009-11-25T01:51:00.000-08:00

This week let us try to understand Google Wave – a new collaborative tool from Google Inc., that has opened door for developers to extend its capabilities encouraging the open-source community. The wave is collaborative communication platform that can be used by several users involved in a single project or creating a document in real-time. Users, who have an invite, must find other users in your network who are also on wave and include them into your wave contacts list.

Google wave is a powerful conversational tool, once you have your community of friends on it and there is a common task to be accomplished interactively. It is possible to combine emails, wikis, web chat, and project management into one platform to serve a community of users who interact using rich media.
According to Google, ‘GoogleWave is: … an online tool for real-time communication and collaboration. A wave can be both a conversation and a document where people can discuss and work together using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.’

Wave users
Google wave is a community tool and hence for it to be a live experience you need a bunch of wave users who connect with you. Wave users who can currently wave belong to four different categories: Those who signed up very early via a request form, those with a developer preview of wave, Google Apps paid users and others who were invited by someone already using Wave.
In its beta test, GoogleWave was released only to selected developers. Subsequently a preview release from Google was initially offered to 100,000 users. Only those invited directly by Google have the option to recommend invite other users of their choice to join the wave. The GoogleWave code is open source, to foster innovation and adoption amongst developers and those who have developer’s access to wave can read the design guidelines and developer’s guide at http://code.google.com/apis/wave/ and request their access to sandbox.

Joining the Wave
Login to your wave link and by default your Google account identity will also be your identity at the googlewave.com. Wave needs installation of Chrome web browser or the Chrome browser plug-in to support other web browsers. After launching the Wave, start experimenting with the ‘Contacts’ panel, find your googlewave friends and add them to your contacts. For instance search and include me with my google wave id mentioned at the end of this article.

In the ‘Inbox’ panel, there are a set of waves that you are invited to by default. The first recommended wave is the one about your own profile. Click on it to enter edit mode, update details and your profile picture so this is what your friends see when they include you into their contact list. Another wave by Dr. Wave includes embedded video to give a preview of the basic features of wave and orients new users to various parts of the user interface.

Just by clicking on a ‘New Wave’ you create your first wave. Then add any one user from your contact into your new wave by clicking on the ‘+’ sign. If that user is live online then a ‘green dot’ appears on their profile. You then click on the + sign to invite your GoogleWave contacts to join your wave.

User Interface
A wave is like a thread of conversations including all embedded elements, users and files. Here are some common terms to familiarise with the Wave interface. The main screen is made of four panels: Navigation, Inbox, Contacts and Wave. Each of these can be reduced and docked right on top are by clicking on the ‘Minimise’ button on the panel box.

Navigation panel includes items such as the inbox, sent items, settings, trash, search and folder options. The ‘inbox panel’ shows all waves you are part of including the one you create or the ones you are invited to. If you do not wish to be interrupted by certain waves, and instead want to concentrate on few, then you can ‘Mute’ the other waves. The ‘contacts panel’ can be used to search for known googlewave contacts, so you could add them to your list. The ‘Wave panel’ shows components of the currently selected wave and also has other control button to play the current wave (just as if replay option) or even start a new wave.

Jargon buster
Like every new technology, Google wave has a set of jargon that one must understand to begin with. The smallest unit of element in a wave conversation is called a ‘Blip’. It’s like a single line of a chat conversation or a single post in the facebook or twitter. Any user invited into a wave can post a blip. They can also respond to blips of other users with other blips. A group of such blips about a single issue within a topic is called a ‘wavelet’. A group of wavelets then make a single ‘wave’. Each blip can include text, links, calendar, image, file, video, map or poll. Each wave or wavelet or blip can be played, copied, edited or even deleted. Look out for control buttons that appear, once you select a particular ‘blip’.

Blips can also be considered as part of a document if the wave is used for developing one, in a collaborative manner. So the members now become co-authors and so can edit their blip content and even keep some of their blips unpublished (until ready). Because all conversations are shared, Wave could also be considered as a type of Wiki because anyone within the team can add and edit information to a conversation.

Blips can be tagged with keywords which will work like labels or meta-tags. One can search through waves by these keywords, activity, history, contacts, and also use wild card characters in search just as in Google search commands. Each blip can also have an extension: which works like an application within the wave environment. They can play within wave and help you to enrich your interactivity.

There are two types of extensions: Gadgets and Robots. Robots are automated interactive elements which can also bring in information from other sources outside Google platforms. Gadgets are like applications built on Google platform: for example a GoogleMap is an extension allowing location maps to be embedded into blips. What makes wave much more exciting is that the entire Wave or its sections could be embedded on any website or blog as a plug-in.

Using wave for events
Consider using a wave to organise a MeetUp party treating it as a unified thread on communication for this purpose. One user initiates a wave and invites user audience into the wave to discuss the plans. There can be wavelets for menu, venue, volunteers, attendees, sponsors, etc. Members can comment on any of the discussions in the wave and all users can view these replies and respond with suggestion in real-time. They could post blips with several elements including polls, maps, documents, links, video, etc to make relevant updates.

The menu wavelet has a set is items that are put together by a set user blips. As for the venue, there could be a Google map embedded into a blip showing the exact location. Attendees’ wavelet may consist of a poll, where people signup and all others can see the status instantly. Each member invited into the wave can comment or rewrite any blip and also post their blip.
For example the exact location or route to a meeting point and certain decisions based on opinion of the members can be collected in a transparent manner using the poll. As the wave works in real-time, and live transmits as users type, participants on a wave can have faster conversations, see edits and interact with extensions in real-time.

In case of editing a document wave, a group of people can communicate and collaborate on a single communication platform - adding, editing and deleting text, images and video simultaneously making it live, shared-document. Interestingly all changes are recorded and they can be relayed by any team member at any time. This playback lets anyone rewind the wave to see who said what and when and how the entire wave worked towards the final version.

Potential for greater impact
Although the potentials for utilizing this platform for productivity are limitless, the success of its adoption will be at its best when businesses create potential applications of this on their platform and tailor it for their internal communications.

The wave is just in its nascent stages and by opening doors for developers to create applications through API interfaces, this product will eventually mature to a comprehensive application. Just like any other interactive networking technology, the power of the wave can only be felt when a large part of the community uses the product. What Google wave users want out of this tool is stability, speed and a friendly user interface. For those who want to experience wave with me, include me as your contact (Sendsangita@googlewave.com) and then we can wave together.

Muscat MeetUp - 2nd Edition

2009-11-17T01:11:00.000-08:00

Date: 18th November 2009 (Wednesday)

Place: Copper Chimney Restaurent behind the Central Bank of Oman, Opp Ominvest Building

Time: 8pm onwards

Occasion: Oman National Day - Surprise Quiz Session!

Fee: 3.5 OMR per head

TwitterTag: #MuscatMeetUp

Location MAP Menu

Attendees

alucard187, Amioh, arun4, baderhinai, blue_chi , bluice4, conceptoo, justnimit, lasiaf, lovesh_1, maithams, Makorani, Muawiyah1983, muscati, padmajamenon, raideraid, rekhabaala, sangitasridhar, ShruthiBalan, Shweman, varun_kv, otheroman, deepsweets, almadanianlas, asunaina, GazelleR, otheroman (+1), fatmanoor, NasserALOmairi , julieraj123, AsiaNasib

Special thanks
Finance & Registration - Faisal & Bader & Maithams
Quiz - Blu_chi, Varun and Sangeetha

Picures
PadmajaMenon's pictures
Maithams's pictures

Roundup – 1st MuscatTweetMeet

2009-10-11T07:27:00.000-07:00

To begin with, despite the name Twestival this gathering was a meetUp of several twitter users of Oman held for the very first time in this magnitude.

In its true spirit #muscattwestival had no VIP, no stage, no speeches, no marketing but just loads of fun. All twitter-tweets regarding this event appear under hash tags #muscattwestival.

In an optimistic note, the turn out and the enthusiasm of OmanTweeters for this meetUp was so high that Muscat could organise a twestival by 2010 coinciding with the global event for a charitable cause.

Invites
#muscattwestival was just a casual gathering nevertheless still me, muscati and kishorcariappa took the lead to coordinate. An online invite was posted at Twtvite to maintain a transparent score-board of attendees: anyone can see who confirmed and who would try to make it for the gathering. The venue at Barista café - Al Masa Mall was exclusively reserved for the event from 7pm-8pm on the 8th of October 2009.

The date, place and time were decided by all tweeps in a democratic manner through tweets and responses. Daily updates of confirmations were posted in Digital Oman blog and tweets from me. shafeekmk blogged about #muscattwestival encouraging his readers to attend but just couldn’t make it to the event.

In addition blue_chi posted about the event in his

blog. shweman managed to enjoy the second half of the meetUp and was glad she could make it. marypaulose and bluice4 caught up with commitments in the last minute and sent their regrets for not attending. omanair marked social media history in Oman by becoming the 1st corporate twitter user to attend the #muscattwestival.

Branding
Just as muscati and kishorcariappa suggested Initially #muscattwestival started as a casual meet but due to its significance as the first kick-off in Oman and the number of confirmed attendees, sort of a logo was created by my son 45vvA7h. The simple design included a twitter bird image with a blue speech-bubble saying Tweet Meet Oman in white letters. I got this image screen-printed as a simple banner and also arranged for stickers to be pasted onto raffle gifts that pooled in the last minute.

Event agenda
The only agenda of #muscattwestival was to have no-agenda. Yes, it was meant to be a casual meetUp over coffee for socialising with fellow-tweeps and networking. However, it was necessary to know who had attended the meetUp and put a face to the tweep names. Raffle took 1/3rd of the scheduled time of 2hrs as several contributions came in the last minute. Tweeps took turn choosing the winners and over 20 gifts including gift vouchers, books, flash memories etc were distributed. But from 7pm to 8pm the tweeps had free time to network exclusively.

Sponsors
Officially no upfront fee was collected but in order to motivate tweeps to attend I came up with the idea of gift bags for all participants. eOman (where I work) instantly gave away 25 eOman gift hampers containing T-shirt, cap, car shade, mug and a pen in support of this event. They also donated flash memories which went for the raffle box. Later rekhabaala courteously added exclusive cook books published by UMS – Al M’ara for all tweeps.

As a last minute surprise omanair attended the #muscattwestival along with cartons of T-shirts, caps and key chains. The goodies-bag was open for any tweep’s contributions, say in the form of their corporate gifts.

muscati and kishorcariappa donated gift coupons from borders and centre point respectively. TI3GIB all the way from UK, gave away his copy of ‘Lost Symbol’ by Dan Brown through Makorani. Tweeps 7shr and raideraid from Nawras brought a few more caps, T-shirts and the Omani blogger team members gifted key chains bearing their new logo. Barista our free-venue sponsor also gave away discount coupons for the tweeps.

Registration

Full of vigor, padmajamenon meticulously managed registrations helped generously by varun__kv. They had tough time matching twitter ids to names to the real people who turned up. It was fun to watch them interrogating almost everyone except me verifying their eligibility but alas landed up registering everyone who turned up for #muscattwestival even without prior online confirmations in the true spirit of the event.

Raffle baffle
kishorcariappa and arun4 started the raffle uncertain of the proceedings but later got more confident and involved most tweeps around into the process. Fumbling with the gifts, I forgot to drop my slip into the raffle bowl while Alucard187 was the only tweep chosen to pick a winner and in all sincerity picked his own name winning the gift. Tweeps giving and receiving the gifts became instant celebrities smiling wide, for several cameras in front of them clicking incessantly.

Live tweets
Although the venue was Wi-Fi enabled, tweeps were so excited about the event that not much of action was fed into twitter live. Exceptionally Maithams, sbtm77 and raideraid managed to live tweet during the event. One of Maithams live-tweet reads “Just finished the raffle at #muscattwestival. Now ordering coffee 4 a nice sit down talk”.

Photography
Although posing for photos was a concern for many tweeps early on, later during the event almost everyone caught on with the spirit of having group snaps. More than 6 cameras went clickety-click all the while but blue_chi’s group snap set in timer mode perhaps captured almost all attendees in one single shot.

Here are a couple of links where tweeps have posted #muscattwestival photographs:

Blue_Chi article in GlobalVoices

Blue_Chi Photos on FaceBook
Maitham's photos
Makorani's photos
Muawiyah's photos
Sangeetha’s photos

Update:

Oman makes its entry into the Arab Social media world thanks to spotonpr. Here is a tweet by them about our event: Bookmarked your MuscatTweetMeet story & will soon appear here . :)

1st MuscatTweetMeet - Just 1 more day 2go!

2009-10-07T06:15:00.000-07:00

1day b4 D-Day - Over 30 tweeps attending and 7 more may join us!

Entry still open for all tweeps! Pl. confirm at http://twtvite.com/1tcxup/1 with Twitter Login.

No agenda - No marketing - No stages or speeches - Just pure socialising fun!

Lot of gifts pooled by tweeps - Don't miss your lot!

Register to enter Raffle Draw & collect yr Barista discount coupons.

Generous donors kindly drop your gifts in to raffle kitty box - they will be customised :)

Chance to have yourself photographed with Birdie :)

1st Muscat Tweet Meet

2009-10-01T21:15:00.000-07:00

Who is coming to 1st Muscat TweetMeet? Only 3 more days 2 go!
About 25 TWEEPS confirmed to attend and another 8 more likely....................

Don't Miss: Surprise goodies on 1st come 1st serve basis!

Laptops and netbooks make waves

2009-09-15T23:23:00.000-07:00

Use of laptops and notebook computers is on the rise mainly due to their mobility and ease of use. In addition the presence of Wi-Fi wireless networks access even in the malls and coffee shops has attracted laptop-touting customers to surf the net and exchange mails while sipping their coffee. Laptops aka Notebooks have matured in terms of capabilities and specifications to execute most common functionalities normally performed by their desktop counterparts.

From a different perspective these mobile devices are eco-friendly in terms of power consumption and they are also good space savers be it at office or home. As an estimate, a normal laptop uses 20-90 watts when compared to 100-800 watts required by desktops.
According to iSuppli Corporation, Notebook PC shipments rose almost 40 percent in the Q3 2008 compared to the same period of 2007 to reach 38.6 million units.

This is the first time that sale of laptops has exceeded that of personal computers. On the other side, desktop PC shipments declined by 1.3 percent for the same period to 38.5 million units. Although this was predicted by industry experts, it was not about to materialize until 2011. Almost 4yrs ahead, it has come true, demonstrating the rising trend towards such smaller computing devices.

A laptop is basically a miniature personal computer capable of being placed on the lap of an individual making it more personal and a better fit for mobility. IBM’s SCAMP project (Special Computer APL Machine Portable), demonstrated in 1973, resulted in the IBM 5100 as the first commercially available portable computer, officially released in September 1975. These were such small enough to be portable with their CRT screens and did not have a battery. IBM 5100 was soon followed by the Epson HX20 and a few other models from Tandy/RadioShack and HP. This Epson model had LCD screen, rechargeable battery and an integrated printer alone weighing 1.6 Kgs.

NASA pioneered the research for laptops for special military ground operations and developed the first laptop with flip screen and keyboard like the modern laptops in 1982. Constant enhancements have been made to laptop designs to include touchpad, track-point buttons and biometric key pad along with the functional keys in the keyboard. Similarly improved screen resolutions, inclusion of speakers and web-cameras, better battery life, high-capacity hard drives and floppy/CD/DVD drive attachments have added on to the muscle power of modern day laptops.

Although older laptops were usually heavier, the current laptops weigh a mere 1.4 to 5.4 Kgs. Modern laptops can have a docking station to provide instant supply of power and extended connectivity with a wide range and types of ports built-in to the dock for attaching peripheral devices. Few later models feature touch-screen display along with handwriting recognition or graphics drawing capability.

Netbooks

A netbook is a smaller version of a laptop and incidentally they are also priced cheaper. While most people buy netbooks to surf the web and work with email, they can also perform other functions such as word processing, spreadsheet work and the like.

Netbooks come in different screen size: the 7 inches ones with a screens, and it’s important to think about how big a screen you need. The smallest netbook has a 7 inches display screen at a resolution of 800 x 480. Its keyboards are merely 80 percent of normal laptop screens and way too small for many to be used comfortably.

Next come the netbooks with 8.9 inches screens at a resolution of 1024 x 600. The largest netbook screens are 10.2 inches and they also run at 1024 x 600 resolutions. Based on their basic purpose the netbook’s battery life can be as short as 2 hours but the users find this quite adequate for their quick net-related work. Netbook applications are designed to start up quickly, load documents quickly, and use low amounts of storage and RAM. The choice of the operating system comes to focus here as this decides which one can perform better on minimal hardware configurations.

Be it a laptop or a netbook, it is a personal matter of choice. While the use laptops have been widely accepted when compared to netbooks, it is a matter of time while the netbooks tout DVD drives and longer battery life before being much in demand.

Twittering social media expands!

2009-06-24T00:01:00.001-07:00

The new social media tool that has witnessed a high rate of penetration is also attracting new ways of branding and marketing. According to the Time magazine ‘Twitter is on its way to becoming the next killer app’ and according an independent estimate, its growth rate is 1382%.

Twitter, the micro-blogging platform is a free networking website where people answer one simple question: What are you doing now. The popularity of this tool in a social and commercial context has even called for a conference on this theme. The 140 Characters Conference, a two-day conference exploring topics related to Twitter in New York, scheduled in June this year.

What it twitter

Twitter is a social networking website where one can register free and connects to other similar tweeters. It is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers called posts or tweets. Interestingly you can post any number tweets each day but each tweet must be only 140 characters long. Twitter is a free micro-blogging service more like the online counterpart of SMS communications.

Jack Dorsey was inspired by implementations of instant messaging and developed twitter in 2006. Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone and Evan Williams co-founded the company Obvious which later spun off Twitter Incorporations with Evan being the CEO. Making twitter accessible through mobile phones is a main reason behind its explosive adoption.

All your tweets can be read by anyone in your network and they can even reply back to your tweets. A word or phrase can be prefixed with a #, for e.g. #travel to hashtag twitter messages. These tags are useful to surf up in searches based a key words. A nice way to start is to watch a video about Twitter at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o. Once you register, find who else from your family and friends are on twitter (other than the author of course). Many sites like thewww.twitterImage.com provide twitter background images to begin creating your branded page.

According Nielsen Online, over 10 million users are on Twitter as of Feb2009 with about 5-9 thousand new accounts being opened every day. Out of these over 70% are active and the remaining are relatively new or unengaged users. Interestingly 70% of Twitter users joined in 2008 and the network is constantly widening. Although on an average each user has about 70 followers, only 35% of twitter users have less than 10 followers revealing that it is very closely and widely networked community.

Tweeting software

It is possible to post tweets via the http://www.twitter.com/ website or use mobile phone clients such as TweetDeck or PocketTweets . Twitter also provides easy-to-learn APIs for developers to build their own applications for twitter. The Google desktop widget also sports a Twitter gadget. Tweets can be displayed on most blogs and websites using plugin code. Being sleek and simple twittering is everyone’s cup of tea both to read and to post.

An application named StreamGraph shows the latest 1000 tweets which contain the search word typed into the text box at the top. You can also enter a Twitter ID preceded by the '@' symbol to see the latest tweets from that user. Newbie on twitter are recommended to read the Twitter dictionary at http://twictionary.pbworks.com/ to understand tweet culture and learn the language of this micro-community.

What you can with twitter

Now with just 140 words, the users of the twitter community have managed to keep in touch on the go and have managed to use it more innovatively too. You can respond to your friend’s tweets in real time and all this is visible to users who follow your account.

Users can also search for other twitter users from the same community or with a common interest and follow them. Users can also be blocked and this happens when spammers use twitter accounts to widen their distribution. According to a review, web interfaced applications of twitter are more popular with 48.1% of user using it. This is followed by desktop clients of 21.8% and mobile interface users of about 17.9%.

Twitter as a personalised communication platform continues to inspire business community andn the new solution named Twibs is a basically a directory of businesses using Twitter to communicate with consumers, peers, and tastemakers. The transformation of branding and marketing using this social media cannot be ignored by businesses who are looking at online media with budget constraints. Twibs is currently tracking roughly 4,500 brands on Twitter as well as associated promotions that they're running within the popular micro community.

Who uses twitter

Twitter universe includes not only common users but also business organisations, marketers, colleges / universities, broadcasters, news services, radio stations, weather bureaus and even some government organisations. Professionals like writers, photographers, musicians, music groups and some celebrities have also been bitten by the twitter bug.

Celebrity clones, fakers and minor celebrities seem more active on this platform for obvious reasons. The government of US, UK and Australia use twitter while celebrities like Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, 10 DowningStreet, Shashi Tharoor, Neil Diamond, Demi Moore, Queen Rania are also on twitter. In Oman, several bloggers use twitter and the community is fast expanding with blackberry users who tweet via mobile clients.
Interesting applications

Deskptop clients such as Tweetdeck feature twitter functionality right on the desktop. It helps to upload pics to Twitpic and shortens your URLs (via bit.ly). Through blip.fm which is like Twitter for music, and you can share tracks with other users in real time.

Twitvid enables video sharing (upto 1GB or 20 mins) while Filetwt does the same for file sharing (up to 20 MB) with your friends. Twazzup let you query tweets and Tweetstats provides like, how often do you actually tweet, how often do you @reply, trends of individual accounts etc. and puts them into visual charts and graphs for better understanding.

Spy master is a twitter-based online social game, where you use your twitter account to sign up. All fellow spies in this game are your twitterers. Twitter notifications are the real keys to the game. For doing all of these various tasks, you get in-game fake money, points to level-up to become a better spymaster. On failing in assassination attempts or other tasks, you can get injured and lose money. The activities within the spymaster can set up to automatically tweet out when you do them. This game can get people addicted, annoyed or be overwhelmed.

TweetChannels

Twitter users can set up channels and members of this channels cann send tweets which will aggregate under the channel. Thematic channels have some interesting contents as users of these cahnnels have creative as well as a wider range of tweets of interest. Find your favourite channels and join the same or create one for your networked community. TweetChannel is another simple example of how something simple is creating or leading to increasingly complex behaviour.

TweetUp is an offline meeting of people who have met and organized on Twitter, and they’re a great way to both find local Twitter users. It’s time for readers to start tweeting and let’s meet at a Tweetup and take Twitter-based networking to the next level.

Demystifying CAPTCHA & RECAPTCHA

2009-06-09T03:26:00.000-07:00

Human Interaction Proof: Captcha and reCaptcha

A common joke about the Internet goes on like this: “Anything can be anyone on the Internet” or like “On the Internet, Nobody Knows You're a Dog”. These seemingly humorous but realistic views are based on the fact that anyone can have an online identity that they wish to have, far apart from reality. An average aged man can pretend to be a teen interested in online games and enter a chat room where teens engage in candid conversations.

The same applies to obtaining profiles in social networking website and email addresses. There is no need to declare one’s real world identity and there are no verifications to whatever details are submitted.

Anonymity online

This has been used by Spammers who create false accounts top to send spam emails and some programmed software-bots can indulge in visits to increase site traffic artificially. Hackers may also tempt you with free malware to encourage you to download these and share your contacts.

Spam emails are operated software programs that login automatically without any human intervention and these accounts are increasingly misused. The only means to avert this situation is to restrict based on human interaction which requires a confirmed proof that it is a human sitting at the keyboard interacting.

Gotcha a Captcha

In order to avoid such automatic login by spurious methods, a simple text-based solution is commonly used. This system called the CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing Test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) displays specific set of a meaning less word rendered in a skewed graphic style as an image.

The most common form of CAPTCHA is an image of several distorted letters. The visitor identifies and types the correct series of letters in the form. If these letters match the ones in the distorted image, then the visitor has passed the test and proceeds to the requested service page. For visually impaired users, there are alternative versions that use audio versions of Captcha.

This method has been quite successful in eliminating malware programs in signing into thousands of accounts automatically. Certain techniques used to create CAPTCHA are complex, and so software is less likely to identify the characters or remove any background noise created purposefully.

Server-side programming

For those webmasters or web-developers who wish only legitimate humans to enter their login forms, scripts are available for download and they need to be installed in their web server. Once properly placed these scripts will activate the code and generate a Captcha before proceeding with the rendering of the web page or form. Only when the user correctly identifies the Captcha, the server presents the requested web form for further action in the website.

It is important for a webmaster to test his Captcha generating software in his server system randomly as the graphic rendered sometimes has too much noise or distortion that even humans find it difficult to decipher. Yet another common problem is that normally Captcha images come is smaller sizes and magnifying them is not possible. This makes it difficult for readers with short vision ailments.

Techniques such as overlapping characters or free-style connected characters are used to make Captcha harder to crack using software. Use of shades, background prints and other resizing distortion techniques are also sometimes implemented.

In the recent times, malwares are floating around the net misusing the Captcha. On infected machines they pop-up text saying something like “if you don't solve this captcha within three minutes then your machine will shut down” and reader are warned not to respond to such messages; just close the pop-up message box.

Microsoft’s Asirra

Microsoft has its own version of Captcha called the Asirra which implements HIP (Human Interactive Proof) using pets. ASIRRA stands for (Animal Species Image Recognition for Restricting Access) where images of animals are displayed and users are required to identify the species. To prevent brute-force attack on repeated images, Microsoft has partnered with a website (www.petfinder.com) for homeless pets containing over 2million images of pet animals. Here randomly selected animal pictures are presented to identify the species. Log on to http://tinyurl.com/ltch5w to test Asirra in your website.

Project Gutenberg

While the Captcha project aims to test humans and computers apart, scientific research at the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), USA uses this simple human effort in recognising letters in totally different context. Some of you readers would remember reading about project Gutenberg http://www.gutenberg.org/.

Project Gutenberg aims to produce free electronic books through digitisation of old books by tens of thousands of volunteers. Thousand of books and newspapers are being scanned using robotic devices and using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software, their electronic text-based versions have been created. Currently this project site at has a collection of over 28,000 free books as per their Online Book Catalogue and a grand total of over 100,000 titles available through Project Gutenberg Partners, Affiliates and Resources.

CMU’s ReCaptcha

For the newer books, the OCR technique is about 90% accurate, but this drops to as low as 60% for older texts, which often contain fonts that are blurry and less uniform. Again robotic suction cups flip pages for scanning and this sometimes induces letter distortions.

CMU’s ReCaptcha project takes words from old books and newspapers that optical character reading software has marked as unreadable by computers. By deciphering these words, users are helping to complete the conversion of old texts to digital form. As millions of Captcha are correctly recognised by real humans worldwide, valuable knowledge is being created for free exchange worldwide.

ReCaptcha for your websites

CMU’s ReCaptcha can also help digitize the text of books while protecting websites from bots attempting to access restricted areas. Recaptcha supplies subscribing websites with images of words that optical character recognition (OCR) software has been unable to read. The subscribing websites (whose purposes are generally unrelated to the book digitization project) present these images for humans to decipher as CAPTCHA words, as part of their normal validation procedures.

They then return the results to the ten-second increments, millions of hours of a most precious resource: human brain cycles. service, which sends the results to the digitization projects. This provides about the equivalent of 160 books per day, or 12,000 man-hours per day of free labour for a valuable cause to the global community.

ReCaptcha is acclaimed to deliver over 30 million images every day and currently in the process of digitizing text from the Internet Archive and the archives of the New York Times. Apart from free mail-service sites, even social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and StumbleUpon support this project.

For users who wish to protect their email addresses from being captured by spammers, a mail ID hide ReCaptcha comes to rescue. Using this utility your sent emails are encrypted and shielded with a Mailhide API key. Anyone wishing to see your mail Id is challenged with a Captcha which can be only solved by humans and not automated programs of spammers. For more details log on to http://mailhide.recaptcha.net/. This is the miracle of harvesting in ten-second increments, millions of hours of a most precious resource: human brain cycles and using for a more worthy cause.

What a COVER!

2009-06-03T02:19:00.000-07:00

What makes the cover of the New Yorker magazine dated 1st June 2009 so very special?

This cover image is drawn using 'Brushes' software entirely on the iPhone: of course using his fingers!!!

Jorge Colombo did this fete standing outside Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum in Times Square, Newyork.

Here is also a video how he used his finger to get the touches. Another interesting application 'Brushes Viewer' enables one to record the entire drawing process as seen in this video. iLove... iPhone ........ now iDraw!

Summer splash - Google Wave

2009-05-31T00:40:00.000-07:00

Thanks 'TimesMan' for this hot tip! Heard of the Google Wave?

A whole new wave to aggregate content and network community and ride the communication waves: This new product from the Google stable after 2yrs of secret brewing is out for developers to taste.

According to the developers, "A "wave" is equal parts conversation and document, where people can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more".

Google Wave keynote presentation

11th Commandment for Google Fraternity:

There shall be one more addiction: to aggregate Contacts, Mails, Feeds, Chats, Pictures all in a single platform!!! {{:-)

Read more about the wave on their blog!

Hot Technologies for Digital Lifestyle - Part 1

2009-05-12T22:36:00.000-07:00

Digital Lifestyle has transcended beyond the phones, television and computers and has entered our daily lifestyle gadgets and applications. These are extracts from my guest speech this weekend for ISACA (Information System Audit and Control Association).

Some of you might look at these technologies with awe, while other skeptics might scorn....but experiments across the world will go on driven by human curiosity and creativity! As I always quote "Technology is a double edged sword: Learn to balance it".

GPS-enabled inhaler

•Asthma inhaler with built-in GPS tracking
•It features Assisted GPS, a GSM modem, integral antennas, an embedded microprocessor, and an internal rechargeable lithium ion battery.
•Reports data from anywhere in the U.S. to the research center using 3G GPRS
•Track possible danger zones that trigger asthma attacks

Tech fashion

•Vibe necklace picks up a variety of biometric signals that can be picked up by other wearers of the necklace

•Wireless, stick-on sensors as part of jewelry in the second picture

•Touch her to reveal her Tattoos, the longer and warmer, the more bold is her tattoo!

Women empowerment in a Digital Society

2009-03-21T03:56:00.000-07:00

A Digital Society is one which is economically strengthened with digital products, technologies, solutions and capabilities, nurtured by a thick matrix of digital technologies for communication and collaboration.

This society laden with tools and devices to break the barriers of distance and time has given a panacea to women who seek to reach out and utilize their knowledge and skills without compromising their privacy and security.

Information and Communication Technologies have benefitted women in many ways. Vast archives of information available on the Internet are now at a click’s reach and in some countries at very affordable prices. The number of IT professionals and users has been growing over the years, and increasingly women have taken serious interest in IT-enabled services. It is more common to see women working in banks, airline reservation systems, call centers, software development centers, etc.

One of the Millennium Development Goals of the UN is to promote gender equality and empower women. This can be achieved by increasing literacy rate among women especially through primary and secondary education. This target also addresses issues related to empowerment of women in rural areas and increase job opportunities for women who are more commonly found to be trapped in insecure and low-paid positions. Progress in achieving these goals varies largely between different regions and technology can serve as an effective facilitator in achieving this target. Technology can spread the cause of education wider through modern communication means and it can get engagingly interactive through multimedia.

In the academic scenario of Oman, the enrolment of girls is equally balanced in computing and information technology related higher education programs. The acumen of women in logic can be effectively applied to computing profession and more specifically software and system development. There are quite a few pioneering IT teachers / lecturers as well as programmers and operators in Oman. Yet the numbers significantly low. Women are as well suited as men, and on some aspects more suited, to work in the new organizational and IT environment where the emphasis is on building relationships and on seeing different connections between people and technology. In countries like Singapore where the government’s focus is on using IT for national development, over 55% of the workers in the IT sector are women. This is indicative of the potentials of women in technology as a national skilled work force contributing actively economically and socially.

The next few decades will see a large number of women on the Internet, creating content as well as exchanging expertise. Women power is yet to be tapped in this context and several educational institutions and training centers have a key role to play in this direction. The government of Oman in its part has recognized this as a focus group and is putting in plans targeting women for IT training as well as provision of computing equipments with a subsidy.

There are efforts taken through the Omani Woman’s Association, to empower Omani women with hands on skill in IT through formal training. The Women in Technology (WIT) program organised by the Omani Women’s Association - Muscat (OWAM) for MENA region, funded by the US Department of State and managed by IIE through the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), aims to promote economic reforms and the empowerment of women in the region. WIT program aims to train 10,000 women by 2010 and induct them into mainstream workforce.

The program delivers IT training through Microsoft's Unlimited Potential (UP) curriculum along with Professional Development workshops to improve women’s standard of living and quality of life by building their knowledge and skills and to eliminate illiteracy in information technology (IT). Microsoft's Unlimited Potential (UP) curriculum is designed to narrow the digital divide and aid global workforce development by providing access and training opportunities for communities underserved by technology including women.

The WIT program project centers of OWAM at Muscat, Musanna, Sohar, Ibra, Ibri, Taqa, Salalah, Rustaq, Saham, Buraimi and Khaburah are equipped with computers, some of which have been donated through the Microsoft Authorised Refurbishment program and about 40,000 RO worth Microsoft software has been donated to the OWAM. Through cooperative efforts, about 1350 Omani women have commendably been certified as IT literates through the WIT program in just 2yrs. The WIT program gives preference to young unemployed graduates and members of low-income families and includes scholarships to deserving students.

Omani women have been pursuing higher levels of IT literacy through formal training programs offered at educational centers and through private study. Many of them own prestigious vendor certifications and are placed in highly specialized technical positions. But there is much more to invest in terms of faith, time and resources to bring the true potential of women in the field of technology. Women in general are creative and with the imaginative mind can engage successfully in the field of web design, graphics and multimedia as well as education technology. Very limited opportunities are currently available in such exclusive studies or vocational training and they are also unaffordable for many.

As the saying goes, ‘when we educate a girl, we educate her whole family' is a clue to the realization of the Digital Society of Oman.

The Art & Science of Emails - Continued

2009-03-21T03:53:00.000-07:00

Most corporate communications have shifted to the electronic highway and emails are fast replacing the traditional snail mails and faxes. Digital Oman explains the art of science of email communications in an effort to maximise efficiency without having unforeseen encounters with those at the receiving end.

Last week we touched upon the importance of simplicity of email addresses as well as the content of the emails. The etiquette of when to ‘Cc’ (Courtesy Copy), ‘Bcc’ (Blind Copy) and when not to was also discussed briefly. This week lets talk about de-cluttering and re-structuring content.

Cut the clutter

Email can never be heard and so avoid using pun / abbreviations that you expect your receiver to understand readily. Even if there is no instant solution, it is a courtesy to acknowledge the email and agree on a reasonable time to respond. Hold on to your emotions and stressful life style but avoid emotionally charged statements and stick to the facts. Do not add a smily J as punctuation if you don’t mean fun. Instead of piling up emails, it is interesting to respond in a timely manner and gain positive reputation.

Fonts and size

Most email clients have a default font size and style which can be customised. Use it well and set your signature as a template with appropriate contact details to avoid typing it each time. Again use font colours, bold and italics with discretion only if absolutely necessary. Adding a background banners loads the size of the email and so this can be avoided. Instead a small image say the corporate logo, can be added to the signature template.

Effective responses

Compose your response only after re-reading the entire thread in your incoming email and sometimes related responses from others as well. This way you can seal several issues concerned with a single response. Sort the inbox by title when addressing a message with a lot of responses. It is also possible to slot out email sorting time so that it doesn’t interrupt normal work.

Detach attachment

As a god practice save your attachment in the hard disk and delete it from the email and now you have a very thin email sitting in your inbox. This way you can store your emails and still keep a lean mail box. While forwarding emails, think twice about keeping the original attachment or altering it. The same applies for forwarded mail subject lines. Certainly no one likes to see FW: FW: FW:………… trails.

Security alert

Never record any personal or login information in your emails as they are transmitted without encryption and may land up in the wrong hands. Under no circumstances, open any unexpected attachment from unknown sender. Curb cyber world traffic by not forwarding any chain mails or spam emails. The same applies to hoax emails, which might cause misunderstanding or panic.

Never click on a link in a spam or hoax email or respond from your email address. This way, you are inadvertently signing into the spam mail generator’s mailing list. Just delete the spam emails and don’t even bother to ‘Unsubscribe’. For those spam emails not filtered by your server, add the email address to ‘block sender’ list.

Greeting vs. marketing

Emails sent as greetings on special occasions or as congratulatory notes must never carry any marketing message in it. The prudent customer is aware of the business proposition mixing up in the message and doesn’t take it as a well-intended greet. An employee on leaving a company sends a general email from a new email address wishing all business contacts good luck and leaving a very nice thanks note along with the key message the he/she has moved on to a new job. This is indeed a good idea to keep the contact lists alive. Use of words ‘thanks’, ‘please’, ‘enjoy’, ‘appreciate’ are known to have that magical touch of willing support. Again review your emails whether they deserve the ‘High Priority’ or ‘Low Priority’ flags being set along with appropriately.

Summarise

Often business meetings tend to be lengthy testing people’s attention spans. In such cases all points agreed for action in the meeting can be effectively summarised with expected date of action in a simple follow-up email to all attendees. This could also be used for the next meeting call as a check list of progress.

Hidden cues

To address a person correctly, see how they sign their email and use the same name; do not create your own abbreviations or friendly version to avoid annoying the receiver. Email etiquette applies not only to your clients but your colleagues as well. Even if you boiling with rage, tone down and send a ‘gentle reminder’ calling for immediate action.

Confirmations

Most often we are left clueless whether our email has reached its destination. Many a times these emails may sit in the inbox or the Spam filter without being read by the receiver while we awaits responses. To save us from these hazels there are a few automated setting like the ‘Delivery receipt’ and ‘read receipt’.

For example when you compose your email in the Microsoft Outlook, click on Message Option and activate these settings requesting a confirmation for delivery/read. So once the activity is completed, a confirmation message is displayed automatically in your email client window. Interestingly the replies to this particular email message can also be redirected to another alternative email address.

Emailing culture is here to stay and grow and being literate in this aspect helps to maintain good relationships utilising the swiftness of email communications. If readers have any pleasant or even unpleasant email experiences, you are welcome to share them with me. Etiquette is an ever evolving practice and the art of refining this culture can be mastered over time with a little bit of effort.

The art and science of email

2009-02-25T00:13:00.000-08:00

The knowledge era includes exchange of communications through electronic media including the telephones, Internet, Emails, Instant messaging systems and video/voice conferences. Personal and corporate communications are increasingly shifting from the fax mode to the email mode and many individuals have been drawn into the email-culture without induction or formal training.

In result, unforeseen incidents create a recoil effect without the offender realising his mistakes and the resulting damage spoils relationships not only between individuals but also their organisations. Digital Oman walks through the art and science of email communications bringing out the various etiquettes involved.

It’s your choice
In no way can emails replace a face-to-face communication, if the task on hand is to communicate clearly and get the receiver’s acknowledgment. So if you choose to email, then reconsider your choice or complement your email with a supplementary follow-up phone call later.

Email address
To begin with email address can be friendly and easily memorable. In the excitement of associating every name and location details, some email addresses are as complicated as the passwords are meant to be. The idea is ‘Keep it Simple and Short’. It is possible to group certain emails, to avoid selecting or typing the address individually. Grouping could be based on close family, friends, colleagues or even department staff. To avoid sending the email accidentally before completing / reviewing it, enter the address after you have satisfactorily read through the email.

Copying
Considering the flood of text on the digital highway, trim your emails in length and certainly avoid trailing messages in the case of forwarded emails. In a corporate scenario, this is more important because the trail of email messages at the end reveal the inside story and internal discussions to the recipient who may be your client.

Again when you receive an email copied to others, use your discretion to click ‘Reply to All’ only when you think others need to know of your email response. If you want someone to be aware of the discrete email exchanges then use the ‘Bcc’ option (Blind copy) instead of carrying a whole bunch of addresses in the ‘To’ or the ‘Cc’ section (Courtesy copy). In general parlance ‘To’ address indicates action while the ‘Cc’ denotes for information. In case you receive an email not meant for you reply back courteously to the sender that you received it by mistake and it is needless to copy anyone one else in this message.

Subject line
The subject can be effectively used to highlight the context or even the purpose or main intent of action. When replying to emails, do not alter the subject as most email clients archive them into threads based on this line. Indicate action response required for the email. For example it could Info (meaning for information), review, approve, attend, request, invite, etc. The priority setting as ‘High’ or ‘Low’ can be combined for timely responses.

Tone
Creativity is for arts and linguistic articulacy is for literature and so email as an effective communication can be written in simple straightforward language. Do run a spell check before you click the ‘send’ button or else you will miss reading some unintended jokes made by your very own spelling mistakes. When you email a friend, if it on business then do include a formal salutation, greeting and a note of thanks. Use of capital letters indicates shouting and so avoid using them.

In case you need to catch the reader’s attention on certain text use highlight, bold or underline aesthetically. Even change of fonts colours can be useful to retain the info in the reader’s mind say for example in an email invite, date, place and time can be shown in a different font colour / size.

Auto-responder
Most email services have a auto-response setting to respond to your inbox messages. While it is not necessary to respond to every incoming email with a received-confirmation, planning vacations and long-absence certainly means indicating this with an auto-responder message.

Matter matters
The content of the email must be succinct and preferably on only a single main issue. If there are different messages, then choose to send them in different emails with an appropriate subject line. Emails need not be essays and longer emails are normally postponed for action later due to people’s psychology. Grammar and spellings must be followed and email clients can be set to automatic ‘spell check’ mode before sending an email.

In general the main subject content could be kept within 60% of the right side window frame to avoid scrolling (when Preview pane is activated). So take up one matter and express it in a couple of lines including expected action from the receiver. Use bullet list if there are several issues for action or response. Numbering these can make it easy for people to respond based the action items and in replies you can also use highlights.

According to research reading from screen is more difficult than reading from paper and so structure your content into short paragraphs with spaces in between. Some details can be listed out or tabulated.

Simpler user Interface to technology

2009-02-16T23:42:00.001-08:00

Had the keyboard not been as simple as the typewriter, very few elite scientists would be using the computers even now. The basic phones have their power packed applications which are activated through very few buttons and a minimal keyboard.

So ‘User Interface; defines how simple the system is easy to use and this in turn creates the momentum for the use this technology.

In a knowledge society, access to information and the tools required to manipulate it are made available to all. People who access this information are capable of putting to good use in an appropriate manner. In order for many people to use a technology, it must meet the demand and skill levels of a very average user.

The media used to process knowledge has gone way beyond the pen and paper era. Modern machines can receive their inputs through human-friendly interactive interfaces. When it comes to such interfaces, usability is the key feature to focus and this also combined with ‘ergonomic’ – the human factors engineering of how people using technology to do their work can be affected. Ergonomics stemming from the Greek word ‘ergon’ meaning work, and ‘nomoi’ meaning natural laws), is the science of refining the design of products / technologies to optimize them for human use.

As more and more computer related work load human lives, the products like the mouse, keyboards and even computer desks and tables are used for extended periods of time unlike before. Any of these products if not designed ergonomically, people using them can suffer from stress, musculoskeletal disorders or even injuries. This is the reason behind screens that can be tilted and chairs that can be angled to suit the user’s physical profile. Let us see how advancements in devices like mouse and keyboards to make them more ergonomic – the human factor.

Take the example of the time feature in the video recorders. Most VCRs display the time 12.00 blinking non-stop, revealing the fact that the system to set it to current time is often so complicated that the user chooses to ignore the setting and live with the blinks.

In a similar manner website of product literature or even devices if not designed with adequate consideration to human factor, they well not serve their purpose. In essence usability of a device means the following:
- how quick and effortlessly it is learnable
- how efficient it is in getting the work done
- how memorable is the process of using it
- how error-free it is in its interface
- how satisfied does the user feel after using it intuitively

Any system socially acceptable, physically and psychologically usable, develop widespread acceptance and increased usage. The innovative multi-touch screens just as in the Apple iPhone / iTouch and the Microsoft Surface - tabletop system are truly changing our old habits of mouse and keyboard clicks to more natural interactive experience with gestures, touch, grab and swipe. The question of affordable reach can be answered only as time goes on.

As the site of the week on the topic of usable interfaces, let us visit a website which you can navigate by just moving your mouse to the position but not necessarily clicking it. Try to use the flash website of the Institute of Interactive Research website at http://www.dontclick.it/ where you never have to click your mouse to browse as an experimental project. Don’t just stop at the home page; enter the experimental site and give you valuable feedback. Enjoy the mouse boot camps and the mouse movement recorder.

The next level of interactivity between humans and computer can become only more natural through natural language speech recognition engines and thought-activated menu of commands. Until then lets play with the mice, clickety-click our keyboards also practice healthy computing.

Smart world of Cards!

2009-02-09T21:33:00.000-08:00

Just check your wallets to count how many plastic cards you carry ....................................I did a random check for a different purpose and that prompted me to write this.

One of the vital signs of a digital society is the de-materialisation of several components like text, music, photographs, stock and even money. The thought of carrying money loaded in to a simple plastic card and being able to swipe it at hotels, shopping malls, traffic booths, clinics, fuel-stations, phone kiosks, and of course the ATMs is perhaps the height of comfort.

Applications

Due to the fact that they are durable and less expensive, plastic cards have found their way in several applications such as phone cards, fuel cards, insurance policy validity cards, clinic registration cards, prepaid-parking fee cards, driving license, loyalty cards, identity cards and mostly importantly in bank credit/debit cards. These cards may embed a hologram to avoid counterfeiting as well build brand identity.

History of patents

In 1968, Jurgen Dethloff and Helmet Grotrupp of Germany filed a patent for using plastic as a carrier for microchips. In 1970, the Japanese inventor, Kunitake Arimura, applied for a similar patent and subsequently the cards were introduced in Japan. In 1974, Roland Moreno of France registered his smart card patent in France, and sometime during the mid-1980s, the French banks began to use them as retail debit cards and eventually rail and road transport systems started their applications.

Security

In order to increase the misuse of these cards special readers are associated with them. But card-skimming devices can be bought off-the-shelf leading to unprecedented violation of privacy and fraud. Banks normally use credit / debit cards to effect transactions at ATMs or at Point-of-Sale terminals. Such operations require authorisation of PIN (Personal Identity Number) and/or signature verification. Until today most such cards use only a half-inch magnetic stripe to store this data that needs to be verified with online connectivity with the back-end systems of the banking institution. However the smart cards due to the presence of the IC chips are certainly safer for cash value transactions.

Smart cards

Smart cards are chip-based plastic cards with a basic processor and memory modules in an integrated electronic circuit. In addition they are capable of strong encryption using the crypto-processor module. Their 100 bytes to 128 Kilobytes memory can store the private key signature of the card holder.
On the whole the use of smart cards provides three-fold security that is appropriate for electronic fund transfer operations:
• Something that the user knows (Personal Identity Number – PIN)
• Something the user has (physical possession of the smart card)
• Something the user is (personal biometric sample say finger-prints)

As in the case of our National Identity cards issued by the Directorate general of Civil Status (http://www.civilstatus.gov.om/), which are capable of holding cash and serving as e-wallets, the facility depends on the payment gateway agreement among the banks and the secure application that has been placed within the smart chip.

In order to load electronic cash into his smart card, the user has to either the compatible ATM or other access device capable of loading currency value issued by authorized banking institution. As and when this value depletes due to subsequent swiping for shopping activities, the value can be topped-up again.

Smart card structure

With strong security options the Smart cards technology seems to sound the death knell for the magnetic strip cards. The magnetic strip-cards are now replaced with Integrated-Chip based (ICC) smart cards. These chips carry their own Chip Operating Systems (COS) software such as MPCOS, MultOS, JavaCard, CyberFlex and StarCOS.

The ICC card that is capable of storing electronic money like a wallet is called a Stored Value Card (SVC). Chip cards can perform various duties such as pocket change, paper money, debit and credit cards, means of identification, access, or even payment. A smart card can be a simple memory-only or a microchip embedded one with a wireless antenna as well.

Memory Card, Processor-chip card, Crypto-processor card and Contact-less card are the basic types of Smart cards. The first three types of smart cards take the form of either ‘contact-based’ card which are to be read by a card reader or contact-less cards that use radio frequency signals to operate.

Use of Smart Cards

OmanOil, Shell and Al Maha fuel cards, telephone cards, executive card, etc are all chip-based cards. These are all pre-paid value cards. But truly speaking Oman Arab Bank’s smart card is the first smart card in use in Oman. The Muscat Municipality, ministry of manpower, ministry of civil services, many other shopping centres, restaurants and clinics, accept it as a means of payment.

In the case telecom cards, the initial subscription for a service uses a plastic card embedded with chip section that is the actual Subscriber’s Identity Module (SIM). The user detached this from the card and places it inside the mobile phone to validate his connectivity. The rest of PIN numbers and PUK (Personal Unblocking Key) numbers remain printed for verification on the plastic cards. Recharge cards normally have a secretly printed activation code under a thin coat of paint that is scratched off to reveal the code.

In a digital society where most transactions and interaction for authentication are automated through machines, the presence of cards, more specifically smart cards is only expected to grow. Only innovative organisations and government bodies can strategically incorporate more than one application and we are left with few cards to carry in our wallets.

Design of Oman's Airports of the Future

2009-02-06T21:27:00.000-08:00

Here is a preview of Oman’s Airports of the future designs as published by COWI - a leading northern European consulting group.

Muscat International Airport can be expanded to accommodate 48 million passengers annually.

Both Muscat and Salalah International Airports will be built with landing facilities that can handle the Airbus A380, the world’s largest passenger airplane.

Designers have made sure the airports have room to accommodate the large welcoming parties common in Oman.

The detailed design studies include a high-tech automated baggage system.

The airports’ exteriors are inspired by traditional Omani architecture, but inside, the architecture reflects contemporary trends.

Automated walkways whisk passengers to their gate at Muscat International Airport.

National Ferries Company Website Up

2009-01-31T22:47:00.000-08:00

The National Ferries Company Website has an update at http://www.nfcoman.com/.

Although the website seems to be currently under construction, the temporary homepage gives essential contact, schedules and tariff information. I notice a small concession for Khasab-residents one-way fare. Interesting!

They have a toll free number 800 72000 and email contact reservation@nfcoman.com which I remember being published in various media earlier.

We might have to wait a while to book online, but I found the folks very supportive and informative on my direct interactions for a sun-set cruise. Thanks.

WWW.BrandOman Website Homepage Up!

2009-01-29T21:14:00.000-08:00

Yes! www.brandoman.om is up and running.

Currently it seems to be the curtain raiser home page for the full website that is to come. Never the less the official info. describing the logo is available both in English and Arabic. A mailing list is open for email registration of updates.

Two press items are available for download:

Text of HH. Sayyid Faisal bin Turki Al Said's (CEO of Oman Brand Management Unit - OBMG) speech available for download.
Another pdf titled 'Oman Launches New Brand Mark' gives a well expresses the rationale behind the development of the national brand.

Text of the Confirmation email upon registration:

Dear Sangeetha

Thank you very much for registering with the Oman Brand Management Unit website.

As we begin the work of branding Oman, we must draw on the common spirit that brought us together for the launch of the brand mark at the Al Bustan Palace Hotel on Sunday 25 January. Indeed, we're counting on your continued support to take Oman on and up.

Over the coming weeks we will be posting news on brandoman.om about how we intend to take Oman forward and how you can play your part in this exciting initiative.

Given the current global economic climate, we face many challenges. However, we face them as one nation and as we have seen before, there are no limits to what Oman can achieve when we stand together.

Join us on our journey.

Thank you for all your support.

With best regards
Faisal bin Turki Al Said
CEO
Oman Brand Management Unit

Brand Oman Launched - Update!

2009-01-25T11:34:00.001-08:00

What is your view about this New Brand Oman Logo?

Hints about the Logo from my tablemate who had an exclusive media preview:

The symbol incorporates the name Oman, calligraphically rendered in Arabic

The extreme right arc symbolises the 'ship' befitting maritime glory of Oman

The center arc denotes the silhouette of the majestic 'mountains' of Oman

The bottom arc depicts the rich 'marine environment' of Oman

The left extreme curly arc represents the smoke of Omani 'frankincense'

Branding excercise undertaken by Landor Associates.

Official Explanation for the Logo from OBMU:

" Taking its inspiration from the wonderful diversity that is Oman –amongst other things, Arabic calligraphy, our marine environment and magnificent landscape, local textiles, Oman’s historic leadership in trade and pioneering role in exploration and of course, frankincense, which has been at the core of our culture and economy for generations. Expertly crafted, the brand mark draws on a rich and vibrant colour palette which reflects Oman’s natural bounty.

More specifically, and looking at the brand from right to left, the first colour, dawn purple, represents the dhow; Musandum aquamarine green is inspired by Oman’s rich marine environment and the turtle in particular; sky blue is taken from the silhouettes of the mountains; and the Salalah green is the essence of frankincense.

The four part of the brand mark were drawn in an organic fashion to demonstrate continuous natural growth. The typography in both Arabic and English were designed in a contemporary manner using soft cornered San Serif, creating a contrast with the symbol and providing a firm base beneath it. This contrast is intended to project an image of strength, continuous growth and a solid link with Oman’s rich history”. – HH Highness Sayyid faisal Al Said (Times of oman).

________________________________________________

Just back from the launch event (logo launched by HH Sayyid Haitham bin Tariq Al Said - who said 'the lauch of the Logo is just the beginning of this very important task') and here is a Picstory of the launch....

Once at the Majan Ballroom (Al Bustan) entrance, one could guess the colours have something with the Logo theme...and so did the entire lighting inside the hall...

Walk through a green laser light curtain to wait for a while and network, still similar colours in the ambience...

A very crisp welcome note, a short piece of entertainment (Ribbon dance performance) and then OBMU CEO (HH Sayyid Faisal bin Turki Al Said) delivers his speech on the need for branding, strategic approach towards branding Oman, salient values reflected to build the country's brand (read his earlier interview about the new brand here)...

A short visual shows highlights of Oman - from landscape, heritage, bio-diversity, marine life, etc.

Then the Logo sketch emerges as outline...slowly the colours fill in...

Here is the New Brand Oman Logo - English

Here is the New Brand Oman Logo - Arabic

Dinner is served as The Royal Symphony Orchestra begins to play - Starts with Titanic theme music....

Views and reviews exchanged around the table (seated at the same table with Rajiv)

Branding begins -----The dessert plate...

The performers bid farewell... (Gift bag was short of stock - missed the logo literature inside)

Aftert thought!

If this logo is the basis for the nation's identity, I wonder how the other sector would base their logo on this one?

For example, run your thoughts on how Oman's brand-focus sectors - Tourism, Business, Education, and ICT sectors would face this logo challenge?

In a lighter mood! Tech Joke!

2009-01-24T20:39:00.000-08:00

Dear Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from *Boyfriend 5.0* to *Husband 1.0* and I noticed a
distinct slowdown in the overall system performance, particularly in the
flower and jewellery applications, which operated flawlessly under
*Boyfriend 5.0.*

In addition, *Husband 1.0* uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as
*Romance 9.5 *and *Personal Attention 6.5,* and then installed undesirable
programs such as *NEWS 5.0*, *MONEY 3.0* and *CRICKET 4.1.

Conversation 8.0* no longer runs, and *Housecleaning 2.6* simply crashes the
system. Please note that I have tried running *Nagging 5.3 *to fix these problems,
but to no avail. What can I do?

Signed,
Desperate

* ----------------------------------------------------------- *

DEAR DESPERATE,

First, keep in mind, *Boyfriend 5.0* is an Entertainment Package,
while *Husband 1.0* is an operating system.

Please enter command: *ithoughtyoulovedme.html*and try to download *Tears
6.2* and do not forget to install the *Guilt 3.0* update.
If that application works as designed, *Husband1.0* should then
automatically run the applications *Jewellery 2.0* and *Flowers 3.5. *

However, remember, over use of the above application can cause
*Husband 1.0*to default to
*Silence 2.5,* *Happy Hour 7.0* or *Beer 6.1.*
Please note that *Beer 6.1* is a very bad program that will download
the *Farting
and Snoring Loudly Beta. *

Whatever you do, *DO NOT* under any circumstances install *Mother-In-Law 1.0
*(it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of
all your system resources.)

In addition, please do not attempt to reinstall the *Boyfriend 5.0* program.
These are unsupported applications and will crash *Husband 1.0.*

In summary, *Husband 1.0* is a great program, but it does have limited
memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying
additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend:
*Cooking 3.0* and *Hot Looks 7.7. *

Good Luck Babe! *

Tech Support*

Tought Tech Challenges 4 Obama

2009-01-23T22:20:00.001-08:00

"Outdated operating systems and hardware: Computers were running six-year-old versions of Windows. Laptops are scarce.................."

Yes! It is about the Whitehouse..... Read the full news here.

On a different note, Obama gets his Blackberry - a Spy-proofed one, making history as the first sitting President to use e-mail. Interestingly his conversations could become part of the National Archives. Read news here.

MuBarack Obama! Sworn in 2 times!

2009-01-21T02:40:00.000-08:00

Why did he stutter while taking the Oath?

Because Chief Justice of the United States Mr. John Roberts misread the oath!!! Many even think it could be conspiracy.......

He indeed took oath for the second time again at 7.35pm the same day, perfect this time. Read new here.

The correct version which president Obama expected: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Here is a Trivia about him:

• He says his worst habit is constantly checking his BlackBerry
• He uses an Apple Mac laptop

• He has insisted on a computer at his office desk (the 1st President to do so)

• He and Michelle made $4.2 million (£2.7 million) last year, with much coming from sales of his books

• He became the first African-American president of what prestigious Harvard publication - Harvard Law Review in 1991

• He worked in a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop as a teenager and now can't stand ice cream (Can it be True!)

• He is the first member of Congress since John F. Kennedy to become President
• He is the 27th lawyer to become President (So you got to be a good public speaker!)

Picture Courtesy ?!?! PL. let me know. Tks.

Technology Outlook for 2009 – IT spending

2009-01-16T23:03:00.000-08:00

According to a leading research firm Forrester, 2009 may not have a healthy IT spending and this is expected to continue until the financial recovery happens. But most predictions expect a revival in IT spending in early 2010 that may carry on into 2011 as well.

However marketing budget cuts in several industries may divert attention for a better reach through more economic electronic channels like websites and blogs.

Technology Outlook for 2009 – A new window

2009-01-16T23:01:00.000-08:00

The next iteration of the Windows operating system, Windows 7 (codenamed Vienna) currently in its beta version is expected to be launched by Microsoft late 2009 (or even early 2010).

Most people consider this version to be what Windows Vista must have been but not. Apart from the new version of Media Center and the Internet Explorer, the new Windows touts highlights of improved security, reliability, networking and user experience and major enhancements at the kernel level.

Developers can download Windows 7 Developer Guide at http://snipurl.com/9sqxs.

Technology Outlook for 2009 - Apples are addictive

2009-01-16T22:57:00.000-08:00

Apples products like the iPod, Macbook Thin Air and the iPhone 3G will continue to keep the company’s financial position stable or even better.

A sign of competition with better battery life may only tempt very few customers while Apple fancy continues to rule the markets. The multi-touch feature made famous by the iPhone / iTouch will now be incorporated into several consumer electronic devices.

However Microsoft's surface computer will take some more time to reach the masses. This year, the lucky ones could get to visit the Apple stores and some can even buy their own iPhone 3G.

Technology Outlook for 2009 – Gaming gets realistic

2009-01-16T22:50:00.000-08:00

The consumer electronic industry currently dominated by entertainment devices will consider the gaming sector more seriously as revenues from this sector continue to soar. The games are also getting more artificially intelligent in adapting to the players styles and renew their scene / character rendering.

Some titles from the gaming consoles can tests waters in the mobile games. A Wii-mote can certainly make a living room livelier than the dismal stock market update telecasts. Games will be gorier and sublimely horror-packed deep game play for serious impact, challenging the current rating systems.

Casual gamers will face serious budget cuts and this will affect the market sales. But this can be compensated by ad-sponsoring (watch the Mountain Dew Halo 3 game fuel advert) for games and in-game advertising (Mazda RX-8 launch in Sony's Gran Turismo 3 and Frito-Lay ads in Nintendo games).

Technology Outlook for 2009 - Smart phones

2009-01-16T22:45:00.000-08:00

The smart phones that extend the capability of mobile phones will see higher penetration as their prices slash and more and more users are adept in using them as part of their personal / professional life.

In a move to grab a share of the business smart phones market, Microsoft might target Blackberry from the Research In Motion group. According a research report, by 2015, smart phones will represent about 65 percent of all mobile phones sold globally.

Thanks to Wii like interfaces, we will see a new genre of soft gamers coming from older age-groups as the mobile games market is poised for growth.

Technology Outlook for 2009 - Mashup mode

2009-01-16T22:44:00.001-08:00

Mashup mode

MashUps have a huge potential in the world of web technology where many corporate websites as well as social networks making some of their data available through the use of programming interfaces and RSS feeds.

This hottest Web 2.0 innovation is a hybrid web-integration application that aggregates information from different sources serving a new purpose. A good example would be location, contact and advertisement information of hotels and restaurants integrated into Google maps.

I recommend viewing http://iguide.travel/ and http://radioclouds.com/ to feel the utility value of mashups. Developers can try their wits with free mashup editors like the Yahoo pipes, Microsoft Popfly, Mozilla Ubiquity or even the Google Mashup Editor.

Technology Outlook for 2009 – Green campaigns

2009-01-16T22:42:00.000-08:00

Eco-friendly computing or simply green computing will continue to be the buzz word prompting ‘Green solutions’ from various angles including vendor-claimed power-management features.

They can be implemented through computer farming techniques where several low-end machines networked together provide large as well as flexible computing power. Data centres designed to conserve energy and electronic recycling programs will gain more support from the go green initiatives.

Not to miss President-elect Obama’s pledge to spend $150 billion over five years in green technology here.

Outlook for 2009 – Oman’s milestones

2009-01-16T22:30:00.000-08:00

Enthused by the strong vision of His Majesty to harness technology, more and more government websites will spruce up their online contents and start to provide electronic forms and e-services. The Oman’s government’s gateway e-services portal is expected to be launched this year along with new projects for training Omani national in various IT skills.

Private sector will seriously consider online media as a delivery channel and with the payment gateway being available; e-commerce will emerge as a new genre in the country. 2009 could even be the year of portal / website launches and those already existing will launch refreshed versions with dynamic backend systems. So web and graphics designers, web programmers may be in good demand but for the rest of the technology sales and marketing staff, the going gets tough.

Measures to increase computer and Internet penetration will see light in the New Year and this could include wider broadband connectivity through various modern technologies including VSAT. Mobile commerce will become a reality as it will be the niche point for competition in this sector. While price reduction may not be as much as expected, improvements in quality can be a reality due to competition.

Technology highlights of 2008 - Notebookmania

2009-01-06T22:09:00.000-08:00

The world is suddenly taken over by a notebookmania and the sales figures are shooting higher as prices are more affordable. For the first time in history since the launch of MITS Altair 8800 in 1975, laptops sale has exceeded desktops in the third quarter of 2008.

According to a report by the EETimes, notebook PC shipments rose almost 40 percent in the quarter compared to the same period in 2007 to hit 38.6 million units. Desktop PC shipments declined by 1.3 percent for the same period to 38.5 million units.

The notebooks are more affordable and feature-laden than before and the spread of wireless networks could also be one of the reasons for this. Several corporate have moved to a completely mobile office but for centralised support services and even educational institutions are tempting students with academic pricing offers. Laptops sale at Comex in Oman also followed the similar trend and those models within the price range of 250 – 500 sold like hot cakes.

Technology highlights of 2008 - Apple innovations

2009-01-06T22:08:00.000-08:00

Apple began its 2008, by taking out the MacBook Air ultra-thin notebook from a manila envelope at its launch. Since then despite sceptism in worldwide stock markets, Apple has managed to remain steady simply based on innovative products. The next year awaits iPhone 3G and overdue iTV.

iPod music players has managed to span from the Classic, to Nano, Shuffle and Touch version creating a strong brand-addiction among youth and adults alike. Anyone not finished shopping can still consider one of these.

Going with this the iTune online store touts a humongous base of about titles. iTunes 8, released in 2008 manages playing and organizing digital music and video files in both the iPods and the iPhones. The visualiser effects in the latest iTunes are simply my personal favourites.

Technology highlights of 2008 - Open source Android

2009-01-06T22:07:00.001-08:00

Innovative Google championed the Open Handset Alliance (OHA) as a business alliance of 34 members including mobile handset makers, application developers, some mobile carriers and chip makers in late 2007 to develop open standards for mobile devices.

Android is the first free, open source, and fully customizable mobile platform developed by OHA. Android offers a full stack: an operating system, middleware, and key mobile applications. It also contains a rich set of APIs that allows third-party developers to develop great applications.

HTC’s T-Mobile G1 (aka HTC Dream) came out in Oct 2008 as the first commercially available phone running Android. Developers can access the source code at http://source.android.com/download and Android SDK can be downloaded at http://code.google.com/android.

Technology highlights of 2008 - ICANN Generic TLDs

2009-01-06T22:05:00.000-08:00

Anything placed on the Internet can only be reached by its web address and the TLDs are main part of this addressing scheme. Introduction of new generic domain names by the ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), will see its first applications during mid 2009. Currently only 21 top level domains (TLDs) like.com, .net, .gov, etc exist but this is to change in a big way.

It has a significant impact in the virtual geographical expansion of the Internet and will see new business models emerge. According to this proposal it will now be possible have unlimited list of generic domain names, including brands like .eoman or .brandoman, as well as broader groups like .phone, .pc, .shop, .car, .author .blog etc.

Expansion in the characters used beyond the currently accepted 37 Roman characters will have a profound impact on the future of Internet in emerging markets like Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Russia.

People are free to apply for any domain name, but they will have to show that they have a business background and the technical ability to run a registry and this has huge costs involved. More details on this at http://preview.tinyurl.com/6hacwf.

Technology highlights of 2008 - Chrome the newbie

2009-01-06T22:00:00.000-08:00

Chrome was releases by Google not just as a web browser but a modern platform for web pages and applications. With web browsers serving more purposes like chatting, emailing, searching, reading, shopping, banking and social networking than just web browsing, Chrome with its clean-start-focus gained easy adoption. It is only a matter of time to fix the glitches and add the features and this happens rapidly in a open-source environment.

With people spending more and more time online in a web browser, and doing all sort of things, Chrome in its development starting from the basic of new world requirements is certainly fast. Even the scripts in web pages are enhanced by the new JavaScript Engine resulting in faster responses. Chrome as an open source project, has used components from Apple’s Webkit and Mozilla’s Firefox to drive speed. You can download this free browser at http://www.google.com/chrome?hl=en

Technology highlights of 2008 - Virtualisation

2009-01-06T21:59:00.000-08:00

This has been the buzz word of the year, touching various platforms, hardware and applications although it has been in existence since 1960 during the mainframe era. In simple terms, it enables abstraction of any of the computing resources that can dynamically share each other across multiple environments and even remotely in a virtual infrastructure.

Operating System virtualisation enables multiple platforms in a single hosting environment. Application virtualization, hosts individual applications in different or even remote hardware/software and they are made accessible through a simpler interface from a range of devices including conventional desktops and smart phones.

By virtualisation there is high availability of resources, and the resource complexity is hidden for practical purposes. Performance is greatly enhanced with memory and storage virtualisation and so there is better utilisation, increased security, and improved disaster recovery facilities.

To learn more watch a virtualisation concept video from SUN Microsystems at http://preview.tinyurl.com/8wxdde.

Technology highlights of 2008 - Oman

2009-01-06T21:29:00.000-08:00

Driven by a strong vision of His Majesty reiterated in his Majlis speech this year, Oman is expediting its ICT uptake by way of public service delivery through electronic channels and several human resource skill development programs in the IT sector were undertaken all through 2008.

The Sultanate of Oman expands its telecom sector by opening of its fixed line services for Nawras and inviting three new players into the mobile services market. These moves increase competition and hopefully result in improved services at reduced costs.

The first set of Electronic Transaction laws of the country were issued to provide a framework regulatory environment in the country to promote both e-government and e-commerce.

Oman’s ePayment gateway was launched for enabling both public and private sector members to receive payments made through the Internet.

ICT Usage Survey

2009-01-04T00:21:00.000-08:00

Oman launches its very first suvey on ICT in Business sector. This survey is based on the UN's core indicators for ICT and aims to collect data about computing resources and their usage for business purposes in Oman. It also will analyse Omani / Expat presence in the ICT field classified based on gender.

The results are expected at the end of the Q1 perhaps. Plans for Omanisation, training and human resource development will be based on this data perhaps.

Have you filled the Blogging in Oman Survey???

Creative Financial Crisis Branding

2008-12-29T12:24:00.000-08:00

Financial Crisis --- Even on the AGCC Agenda! How about some fun on Corporate Crisis Branding I found online...take time to enjoy the relativity and creativity.

Wonder what your comments could be.

Deserves BailOut packages.......... 2009 could be Good Year perhaps!
Even Ford could Fail.....YES IT CAN

NIKE's swoosh put to test!

Lethal Lightening stikes .... Truly Down ..Jones...

Direct hit on DELL...FELL

3-1 = 2 Hmmmmm..What's next?

Yahooo......(View imagining a fade out audio effect!)

Out of Ink!

Do I see light @ the end of the tunnel? I wish I can!
Buy from U or Buy U out!

Ferrari.... fouling foal

Fiasco even @ Cisco Nokia can do it all....even disconnect

IS anyone spared.........
My favourite (I think its animated as well)

Social Media Tsunami

2008-12-27T04:37:00.000-08:00

I never knew this until now!.....But this is a Tsunami of some kind and many of us are part of it too.

• There are more than 4,000,000 articles posted on Wikipedia

• Youtube currently hosts more than 100,000,000 videos

• The web features more than 200,000,000 blogs

• There are 1.5 million residents in Second Life

• 73% of active internet users have read blogs

• 45% of internet users have started blogs

• 39% of internet users subscribe to RSS feeds

• 57% of them have joined a social network

• 55% have uploaded photos

• 83% have watched video clips

Alternate Route - AGCC

2008-12-26T22:21:00.000-08:00

With ROP blocking certain routes for the AGCC meet, they also have charted this alterantive route plan. Hope it of help to some! There is also a Parking Restriction notice from the ROP starting from 28th night onwards.

Oman enters WSA 2009 competition

2008-12-22T20:39:00.000-08:00

Oman supports the UN - World Summit Award 2009

Oman is a landing destination of the prestigious World Summit Award Road show and Digital Oman brings you an update on this global award as well its role in bridging the digital divide by encouraging good digital content and quality applications online.

UN declaration

The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), held in Geneva in 2003 and Tunis in 2005, linked Information and Communication Technology (ICT) with human development and called on Member States to build a global “inclusive, people-centred and development-oriented information society” through the sharing of information and knowledge. In line with this mission an International digital content competition was organised under the title ‘World Summit Awards’ (WSA).

The Award

WSA is a worldwide initiative run by a non-profit group to select and promote the world's best e-Content and innovative ICT applications. WSA was started in 2003 in the framework of the United Nations' World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) as a contribution of the Austrian Government to make a global effort to bridge the digital divide and close the content gap. Over 100 countries are actively involved in this award and around 700 nominations were made for the WSA 2007.

The WSA has been held every two years in 2003, 2005 and 2007 and the current session of the WSA 2009 is on. The two-year duration permits holding content-focused national and international conferences with exhibitions and the WSA road shows to promote the winning entries wider.

Award organisers

The activities of WSA and its global networking are coordinated by the WSA Office at the International Center for New Media (ICNM). ICNM is an independent non-profit organisation chartered in Austria. It aims to promote innovation and creativity in multimedia and Internet by means of best practice selection and showcasing. ICNM projects are supported by the public funding and private sector sponsorship and include the EUROPRIX Multimedia Awards and the Austrian State Prize for Multimedia & e-Business.

Workshop

In preparation for public sector entries for this award, a two-day workshop on eContent was organised by the Information Technology Authority’s (ITA). This was conducted by Mr. Jak Boumans, Deputy Chair of the Board of Directors - World Summit Award. One of the sessions included private sector experts where wining entries for the WSA 2007 were showcased and the selection criteria were presented. The winning WSA entries can be viewed online at http://www.wsis-award.org/winners/winners.wbp. Efforts for recognising excellence in harnessing IT at the national level are underway and they are lead by Fatma Al Riyami, Quality Specialist at ITA.

WSA direction

WSA works to strengthen entrepreneurship within content industries and to bring about economic and cultural development through the creative use of ICTs. It supports the UN Millennium Development Goals of ending poverty, hunger and disease, saving the environment and giving a fair share to women. Projects that support these UN goals are considered more favourably.

WSA is an invitation project and a global activity for all who share the understanding of the crucial importance of excellent e-Content creation within the information society. Partners in over 160 UN member states are actively involved in WSA. Currently

Focus on Content

The award focuses on quality digital content as the proliferation of Information and Communication Technologies has an economic and social impact worldwide. Digital technologies enable pictures, text and multimedia data are sent and received faster, more target-orientated, anywhere around the globe.

At the same time, there is need to recognise good contents and quality applications out of the information tsunami online. This quality ensures that they can be reached effortlessly and have a profound impact on larger sections of the community. So the award recognises of those who design and develop quality content with creative imagination and sound technical know how. A focus on technology at the expense of content clearly results in content gap which also increases the digital divide between those who can benefit from online content/services and those cannot.

National nominations

e-Content products or ICT applications enter into the WSA through national level e-content contests. The national winners can then be nominated for the international WSA in the eight categories that have established based on the social impact in every-day life of world citizen. People from everywhere and every walk of life must have affordable access to quality e-Contents and applications in Health, politics, business, science, education, culture, and entertainment to improve their knowledge as well as life style.

The official categories for nominations are as follows:

e-Government & Institutions (content or applications providing public administration related services)
e-Health & Environment (client-centric solutions for health care where stakeholders collaborate, utilising ICT)
e-Learning & Education (Serving the needs of learners to acquire knowledge and skills for a complex and globalizing world)
e-Entertainment & Games (digitized entertainment products and services with interactive platforms)
e-Culture & Heritage (content or applications that preserve or present cultural heritage using technology)
e-Science & Technology (solutions that foster global collaboration in key areas of science)
e-Business & Commerce (content or applications that support optimization of business processes, creation of new business models in e-commerce and m-commerce, business to business, business to consumers, internet security and other related areas )
e-Inclusion & Participation (solutions that support integration of the global information society; bringing least developed countries / communities into the knowledge society or reducing ‘digital divides’ between technology-empowered and technology-excluded communities)

Timeline

Currently the fourth World Summit Award is open for registrations until January 15, 2009. Nominations must be made through a national focal point and they cannot be entered by the content owners directly through the WSA website.

After finalising the registrations and validating them during January and February, a 7-day expert jury meeting will be held. This jury panel will evaluate all nominated projects and filter their final selection of the top five WSA winners in each category and so at this stage about 40 entries will be considered. In exceptional cases this jury can select projects in any category to be recognised as WSA Special Mentions and Jury Distinctions.

In June 2009, a WSA Conference showcasing the cultural diversity and creativity in e-Content will be held with the final nominees. A grand gala award ceremony following this will award the final winners of each category.

Regulations

The award considers only real products and not drafts, demonstrations or unfinished projects. A product can enter the competition only in one category and the producer nominating it must the copyright of all pictures, sounds, contents etc. related to the production of his project. All software used must be licensed.

The interface of the products can be in any of the United Nations official languages. All producer and project information must however be in English. In case of multiple submissions by the same organisation, company or team, each product requires a separate registration.

All products to take part in the WSA selection process must be sent by mail by the producers / national experts / contest organisers to the WSA Office in Salzburg, Austria, and arrive no later than 31 January 2009.

With Oman being one of the top 5 winners of the e-Inclusion category in the WSA 2007 for the ‘Higher Education Admission System’ (http://www.heac.gov.om/heac_en/), we hope to have many more laurels for the country’s effort in harnessing technology through its projects in e-government, education, health, culture and eInclusion categories at the forthcoming WSA 2009. For more details visit http://www.wsis-award.org/.

Busy - Working on World Summit Award 2009

2008-12-17T23:26:00.000-08:00

Nice to have a holiday break - even if it means spending time to clear digital / electronic clutter and successful only about 40%. A few lost & found experiences are worth sharing on YoutTube. This week will see more uploads - Just look out for 'Sangeetha Oman' in Youtube.

After hols comes the excitement of having World Summit Award (UN - WSIS) Deputy Chaiman in Oman - Mr. Jak Boumans. Glad that they have accepted me into Expert Nominee Panel and I will work with a national expert to nominate entries for 2009 edition from Oman for this International UN award based on Quality Content (unlike a few others I have come across - needless to name).

It was nice playing host - driving him around town and being an informative tour guide for he is an active blogger too (Dutch national, currently living in Salzburg - Austria).

Currently working with Landor Associates for re-branding / re-positioning eOman brand. All suggestions are welcome.