Sorry Philips, I don't like your webcams

Sorry Philips, I love your brand, you make great electronics, but not webcams.
My young brother went to Malaysia to study and train for a Commercial Pilot License, so I decided to buy a webcam to chat with him every now and then.
Having worked with PC Magazine as a reviewer 4 years ago, I know I always have to read reviews before buying any electronics. For some reason, I didn’t this time. I thought to my self it’s only a webcam! I went to the mall like an average shopper, looked around, saw a lot of interesting Logitechs, but they were either cheap or crazy expensive. (10 dollars, or 130 dollars!). I wanted something midrange, and found a good looking Philips, the SPC630NC.
I used it for 2 hours, then returned it. Thank you Geant for giving me a refund.
Why didn’t I like it? .

• Although the Camera is mid level (around 40 dollars), the video quality is bad. It’s really bad. I thought I have good lighting in my house, but still, the picture (1.3 pixels) was poor and dim
• The “face tracking” feature offered by the webcam is extremely poor. I moved around trying to see if it will still detect my face, it zoomed onto my chest many times and just got stuck there
• It doesn’t work with Google chat, neither on Gtalk nor the web-based one
• It offered a feature that “replaces your background”. Unfortunately, this feature doesn’t work well. I was barely visible.

Some companies decide to make things, just for the heck of it. Just to be there. They don’t really invest in quality, they simply hire and OEM to make the product for them. It’s like HP and their stone age iPaqs.
I think I’m going to wait a little bit, and get a high-end Logitech webcam. I reviewed those before, they are literally perfect.

Impressive High Tech, Impressive Marketing

A friend of mine is interested in continuing his education, he called me for a quick chat and I recommended the University Of Wollongong, a renowned university in Australia that has a campus here in Dubai (this is where I got my Master).

I got on the website to collect some information for my friend, and as I entered the website and started browsing, a window popped up. This window was a customer service representative chatting with me, asking me if I found every thing I need on the website. I never experienced something like that before, it was fascinating. The idea of having a team 24/7 monitoring visitors on a website and offering real-time help is unprecedented. I had a chat with Nate, the university agent, and he was more than great. It’s amazing how little things like that can make a difference. When you enter a shop in a mall, it’s very normal to get approached by a sales person, why not have this online?

Great work UOW. Keep it up.

Nate, thank you for your help, you were amazing.

Yahoo! acquires Maktoob for peanuts

Google bought Applied Semantics for 102 million dollars in 2003, they took GrandCentral (VoIP company) for 45 million, they acquired Current Communications Group for 100 million dollars in 2005, Postini for 325 million dollars, their share in AOL for 1 billion dollars, FeedBurner for 100 million in 2007, YouTube for 1.6 billion, DoubleClick for 3.1 billion, they even recently bought a bloody video compression company (On2) for 106 million dollars.
well, I know absolutely nothing about acquisitions, I do not understand stocks, and I use my iPhone to track my eating habits, but I do know for fact that the only proper Arabic portal is not worth 85 million dollars … it’s worth waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more. I mean some villas in UAE were sold for this amount of money.
Look at the numbers, they said it, putting UAE aside, internet penetration in the region is low, BUT, the number of internet users grew by almost a 1000% in the middle east in the past 10 years. There is a lot of potential here. Yahoo! didn’t disclose the amount it paid to buy Maktoob, but every one is saying it’s between 85 and 100 million dollars. I hope to GOD this is not true.
I’d like to think of Maktoob as a young beautiful woman who saved her self for a a long time waiting for “the one”, and then, got RAPED!
But you know, maybe I shouldn’t blame Maktoob for selling itself so cheap. I think it’s the fault of stupid Arab investors who prefer to put their money in music TV channels rather than in a proper company like Maktoob.
Google is way ahead of Maktoob now, but if Yahoo really invests in Maktoob, the new Yakhtoob! will not be an easy meal for Google. I tried to get a statement from Google about this, but they didn’t have anything to say.
Anyways, young Arab startups, do your thing, do it smart, you still have a chance to get acquired.

Everybody Loves Raymond

8 months ago, I bought the full series of Everybody Loves Raymond. It’s a show I watched before many times, this didn’t stop me from watching all episodes again back to back. 9 seasons. 213 episodes, each one is funnier than the other. Some one asked me once why do I love this show, I love it because it’s very real. I love it because it reminds me of values, family, love, modesty, honesty, it’s very real. The Barones are every where, you find them in the west, in the east, regardless of your religion or your culture or ethnicity, If you are not a Barone, your neighbors are.

I was very upset when I watched the last episode. I lived the show for 8 months, and before for 10 years, I watched the last episode knowing I’m saying good bye to good comedy. This is over, Frasier is over, Friends is over. I don’t think there will ever be something as good as those.

Check out this series official website, it’s really good. they got quizzes, images, videos, games, history, quotes, bios and a lot goodies.

Google Code Jam 2009

If you are a computer scientist with excellent programming skills, this is the marathon you should not miss.
Google Code Jam is an annual contest where programmers from around the world compete for reputation. There are prizes starting with 10,000 dollars for top winners, but I think the invaluable prize is the experience and exposure participants will get.
You can code in the language of your choice, participants will be solving complex algorithms. The quicker an algorithm is solved and the more efficient the solution is, the higher the programmers’ rank will be.
Top 500 will be sent to compete in Google offices around the world, then the top 100 will get to fly to geeks’ heaven: Google’s office in Mountain View California.
For more information, I recommend you visit their website. There you can register, find FAQs and even practice.
You can also get more information from the competition’s twitter account or its Facebook Fan Page.

Forgive me sweetheart, it was only a booty call

You know how much I love you, how much you mean to me. I have never ever imagined I would cheat on you love. You are always there for me when I’m lonely, you made me laugh, cry, you kept my life busy. It was a mistake gorgeous. Her glamour fooled me, I was in the mall, all the lighting blinded me. It was a moment of weakness. I thought why not try something different, something new. I looked at her for 5 minutes thinking about you before I made my move. I’m not going to lie, I was very excited about her when we were going back to my apartment, her shiny body and popularity made me forget how important the inside is. I opened the door, threw her on the bed and gently got her ready for me, the minute I plugged it in I realized I made the biggest mistake of my life. I now know for sure that you are on another level, that you will be my one and only love.

I really don’t see what people see in the Playstation 3. I’ve always believed that the Xbox 360 was years ahead. Now I know that I was always right. I bought the PS3 because I needed a bluray player, I thought I can spend 150$ extra and get another console. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’m going to enjoy it. Horrible horrible horrible loading times. I went on Gamespot to check the “Top Games” for PS3, there are some good titles but much less than the Xbox 360. I blogged before about why the 360 kicks the PS3’s ass, you can read my blog post here, but I’m more than happy to summarize it for you again:

1-The PS3 is slow. It’s not my opinion, it’s a fact.

2-The PS3 doesn’t have as much titles as the Xbox 360, it also doesn’t have as much high rated titles as the Xbox 360.

3-Expensive. add to that, who the hell sells a HD console without an HDMI cable?!!

4- Online gaming on PS3 might be free, but you have no idea how much more stuff you get on the Xbox Marketplace.

I just wasted 600 dollars to play 3 games.

Another Googly Surprise - Google Palestine!

Now this is brilliant! labeled "Google Palestinian Territories", a Palestinian domain, I think it's the most interesting announcement I heard in a long time!

Internet users in Palestine will have access to www.google.ps , a domain which helps them get more "relevant" search results.

It's really nice to see a multinational giant like Google recognizing Palestinians' right to have customized products like any other people. The palastinian state hasn't been very stable lately, but this doesn't mean the people shouldn't have access like everyone else.

Good work Google. Keep it up.

here is a blog post by Google in Arabic & English announcing this.

Evil Moscow

I just love it how American media sometimes magnify things.

I just read a story on MSNBC (one of my favorite TV channels) titled “Russian attack subs patrol off U.S. coast”. The story starts with the previous scary line, but ends with:

"We have been monitoring them during transit and recognize the right of all nations to exercise freedom of navigation in international waters according to international law."

I mean if you really come to think about it, there is no story actually. Americans patrol international waters all the time, they even patrol national waters of other nations. China is patrolling international waters as well, the UK is, even poor New Zealand.

I really don’t know why this specific “incident raises eyebrows”. Russia is far from an “aggressive military agenda”. They are just enjoying their rights as a nation. I think such media articles actually contribute to increasing the tension.

“Officials said they became aware of the most recent submarine activity off the East Coast early on through intelligence sources and were not notified by Moscow in advance of the patrols”

Why on earth would Russia notify the US in advance? You just said they are in international waters.

I love Americans, God is my witness I'm not being sarcastic.

Clothing Bank for Africa

On the 23rd of July, I saw a huge box near my house in Discovery Gardens in Dubai with a label that says “Clothing Bank”. I was immediately impressed, as a human, I’m a big supporter of helping the needy.

As I was walking to my building today I noticed that there was no reference to donations anywhere on the box, instead, it said “Recycle Reuse”. I freaked out to be honest because I had put my clothes in the box last week assuming they are going for donations, not recycling.

I called the number on the box (A company called: Liberties Textiles):

Me: “Hello”

Clothing Bank: “Hi”

Me: “I saw your number on the clothing bank, I have a question please, are those clothes going for donations or recycling?”

Clothing Bank: “They are for Africa sir”

Me: “so they are going to be donated?”

Clothing Bank: “Yes sir”

Me: “Why does it not say on the box that the clothes are going for donation? it says recycling”

Clothing Bank: “Yes Sir, they are going for donations in Africa. by recycling we mean donations.”

Me: “!!! are you sure?”

Clothing Bank: “Yes sir.”

Me: “Ok thank you.”

Clothing Bank: “Where did you get my number from?”

Me: “I got it off the box!”

Clothing Bank: “Yes Sir, but which area?”

Me: “Discovery Gardens”

Clothing Bank: “Thank you sir. we also have boxes in International City.”

Me: “Great. Thanks.”

I never heard of the company that is running the campaign, but I’m going to have to believe that those people are legit as it says on the box that the initiative is supported by big companies like Emaar, EMARAT and Nakheel.

I deeply congratulate “Liberties Textiles” for this initiative. There are similar boxes all over discovery gardens and international city. I urge you to put your unwanted clothes in those boxes. Never throw your clothes, especially if they are in a good state. There are always people who would love to have them.

Happy Employees

Today we had an all employees meeting in the resort, maybe 2000 of our employees showed up. There was bartenders, cooks, housekeepers, lifeguards, managers, directors, security officers, and Alan Leibman, the President of Atlantis, The Palm.

I really have never seen a president like Alan, or attended a meeting like this. Employees were all gathered in the big ballroom, and Alan was walking between us thanking every one for a great quarter we had. What really impressed me was the way Alan was running the meeting, he was very engaging. As he was walking around, he’d call for a specific person to know where that person is sitting, Alan then walks up to that person, takes money out of his pocket, gives it to the employee in front of every one and thank him for something he did. Cleaners, receptionists and chefs got very surprised as they never thought Alan knows anything about them. There was happy faces all over the ballroom, beautiful.

He also asked us all to check under our seats for something, there were envelops with telephone cards hidden under random chairs, he asked those who got lucky to use the card to call their family and tell them they are doing great. Simple, but creative. If he had distributed some cards by hand, I’m sure no one would have been impressed.

Not all presidents of companies employing thousands of people do that. A manager made a mistake a week before the meeting, instead of blaming it on others or trying to get out of it he went to the president’s office and apologized directly. Alan today told the story and gave him two free tickets back home in appreciation to his honesty and sense of responsibility. Not every one has the heart to take responsibility for a mistake, especially when dealing with the most senior person in a company, but not all managers make employees feel this confident and this comfortable. Alan today asked a new joiner what he does, the new employee replied “I’m just a waiter Sir”, Alan replied “What do you mean you’re just a waiter? You are as important to us as every one else”.

Recognition is extremely vital to maintaining and improving employees productivity. When an employee as simple as a cleaner knows that his exceptional dedication and hard work are being reported to the CEO, he will definitely maintain that and inspire others to do the same.

I really think that managers in general need to be more creative in the way they thank their employees, creating a unique and exciting culture in a company makes a huge difference.

There are many companies out there who work hard to keep their employees happy, but there are many more who take their employees for granted. They get very busy focusing on the business, they forget the only thing that is actually keeping the business together.