Leadership Basecamp

If you are a personal development geek or you want to meet Stephen Covey - the author of the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People - you can attend Cairo Leadership Basecamp.

The event will be held on 8th and 9th March in City Stars.

For more information, check here:
http://www.awarenessweb.com/

Nokia & Firmware Update Stupidity!

So I own a Nokia S60 cell phone, and since I bought it Nokia announced more than one firmware update. So naturally I wanted to get the latest updates on my phone, which for some reason I couldn’t …

So I did some digging and found out that these updated are not available for everyone yet! So I waited hoping that in a few weeks the updates will be available for me. Well, it’s been three month now and the updates are still not available!!!

Not only that, but yet another new update became available which is necessary to get the free navigation license and I still couldn’t update my phone! So at the end I had to trick Nokia updater to think that I have a device with a Europe product ID in order to get the new updates.

So my question is: Why in the world are our devises limited to an old firmware when more than one update became available over the last few months for all the devises in Europe?!


Answer: Stupidity!!


If you have the same problem and don’t wish to wait any longer, you can find the steps to trick the Nokia updater here: http://thesymbianblog.com/2009/07/02/how-to-change-the-product-code-on-a-n97-nokia-5800/

And the Europe product IDs here: http://www.ipmart-forum.com/archive/index.php/t-334603.html

Sherlock Holmes: Starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law

So I went to watched “Sherlock Holmes” this weekend and I LOVED it!

First, the movie is sophisticated and refined yet funny! Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law both did a great performance as “Sherlock Holmes” and his “Dr. Watson”. I loved the relationship they had in the movie and how they were best friends, trusted partners and best of all “Brothers” even if not by blood.

Second, the villain … Mark Strong or “Lord Blackwood” is not the stupid, mentally challenged kind. The guy is a master of deception, more like a magician … armed with advanced science and expensive tricks.

And last but not least, “The ultimate weapon” as it was called in the movie … and I’m sure every communications and electronics engineer out there will find it amusing!

“The ultimate weapon” is ….… A transmitter-Receiver device!
And at end of the movie “Sherlock Holmes” told “Watson” that the device was the future!

Driving in Cairo streets … is an art of WAR!!!

If you are one of the millions of people who are fortunate enough to drive in the streets of Cairo, then you already know how much fun it is. You already know how empty the streets are every morning. You already know how there is hardly any traffic all day long and how well the streets are designed and mapped. But what really makes Cairo streets so special are its drivers, driving in Cairo is an art … an art that requires certain, distinctive and unique set of skills.
These skills include but are not limited to:

1) Becoming a mind reader

You have to learn how to read gestures and to know the streets layout by heart … so the next time the car in front of you slows down all of a sudden for no good reason, you can scan your brain for the layout of the current road you’re using and you’ll know that the reason that car is slowing down is that there is an exit nearby.

2) Know that there are NO rules

The first most common mistake instructors do when they teach people how to drive is making them think there are actually rules for driving. When we are taught how to drive, we are told that we should signal right to go right and left to go left, we are told that the right lane is the slow one and the left lane is the fast one, we are told we should drive between the lane lines – and not on them –, and that we need to look at our side mirrors before changing lanes. Not mention tons of other rules that NO ONE ACTUALLY FOLLOWS. As a matter a fact people in Cairo are deliberately breaking these rules. It’s more like a game … the more rules you break the more points you get and the winner is the one with the highest score at the end of the day.

3) Expecting The Unexpected

A lady who is brushing her little boy’s hair, a guy who is reading the morning paper, a young lady studying for her upcoming exam and a young man talking on his cell phone are all familiar sceneries we all see every day but not only at train stations and bus stops but also inside the cars driving by us … the people who are doing these thing are not the ones in the back seat of the car, Nop … they are the drivers themselves. Yes, the guy who is reading the morning paper is reading it while driving, the lady who is brushing her little boy’s hair is doing it while driving and the young lady studying for her upcoming exam is again studying while driving … There is also the everyday joy of watching soda cans and empty water bottles flying from the car in front of you and smashing into your windshield. All of these actions should be expected.

So the next time you see a truck driver coming to a complete stop on the high way while driving in the left lane, shifting gear to reveres and going backwards for about 30 M – on the high way – again while driving in the left lane, crossing the street with his truck – on the high way – just because he missed his exit … the next time you see that, don’t be surprised; you are after all in Cairo!

4) Always Assuming The Worst

Always assume that each and every car on the streets is a potential threat … and I mean each and every car. The car parked near you, the car in front of you, the car behind you, the car beside you and even the car that is 500 meters away from you. You need to pay attention at all times and think of all possibilities because when you are driving in Cairo streets ANYTHING is possible.


5) Never Showing Your Intentions

Hiding your intentions is one of the best ways to ensure the successes of your mission. If you let the drivers around you know that you plan to change your current lane and go left - for example -, there is a good chance they will cut you off. However, if you wait for the right moment and forced your way in, they will have very little time to react and your mission will succeed. To put it simple, it’s all about strategy and secrecy.

MBA in Egypt: Self Study Approach

If you are like me with very tight life schedule and almost zero minutes to attend classes, here is the solution :):

There is a self study MBA provided by Edinburgh business school with the support of the American University in Cairo. You can choose either to attend classes in the AUC or to take it as a self study or mix between classes and self study. The only main difference is the cost.

You can start the MBA whenever you want and you can apply via the School website or the AUC in Cairo. All you need is your current certificate papers to send them to the Scottish university. You have to pass 9 courses to hold a general MBA degree and 11 courses to gain the specialized MBA.

According to the university site, it is recommended to spend about 200 self study hours for each course. This means in the best situation, you cannot handle more than 2 subjects per semester.

Currently, for Egypt, according to the website, a single self study course will cost 400 English Pounds and exam fees is 100 English Pounds per exam attempt. In the AUC, the course will cost you 800$ and the exam costs the same.

Here are some quick notes:

• The MBA is available in both English and Arabic languages. Also in some courses, you can download copies for the same book in the two languages.
• Online questions and answers are available from day one.
• You can interact directly with the university professors via the university board.
• Exams are hold in the British Council in Cairo.
• You can download a pdf copy for the course  material.

Mobinil new unlimited mobile internet offer ... Sucks

Mobinil is the first Mobile operator to offer unlimited (don't belevie them) Mobile data in Egypt for pre and post paid customers. The pricing is 20 L.E./month for unlimited data taking into considerations the fair usage policy!
So what is the fair usage policy? it is only 110 MB!!! only 110 MB is considered as unlimited connection!!!!

After finishing this great 110 MB, you should enjoy the internet with lower speed but this speed is not declared on their website.
The offer is a big failure for anyone except if you are using your phone for instant messaging and emails. This 110 MB can be consumed in a single day if you owns an iPhone.

Mobinil should be sued for the usage of the word unlimited in their offers or may be they should be sued for stupidness of their offers.

In the day Google announced Buzz, Iran blocked Gmail

As a second hit for Iranian people, "Iran’s telecommunications agency announced what it described as a permanent suspension of Google Inc.’s email services, saying instead that a national email service for Iranian citizens would soon be rolled out. It wasn’t clear late Wednesday what effect the order had on Google’s email services in Iran.”"


Not sure about the current status of Gmail users who just discovered that they cannot access their Gmail accounts!!!! Also with the bad history of Iranian government regarding human rights and privacy, I am not sure if their announced mail service will succeed or not.

If you had unlimited resources, what is the one thing you would want to do?!

Well, according to the radio show I listen to … “Travel around the world!” was the no. 1 answer, and why not when many enjoy visiting famous monuments and museums, experiencing different cultures and making new friendships. But planning a trip can be a real pain if you don’t know where to start!

So, let’s give you a head start:

1) Decide where you want to go and what you want to do once you are there!
It’s a big world out there and there is something for everyone. So wither you want to go site seeing, ice skiing, shopping, or just relaxing and chilling on the beach … you will find a place that is perfect for you. All you need to do is look, and a great place to that is http://www.lonelyplanet.com .
The site has a rich description for every country and its major cities. You can also find info about the weather and when it’s best to go there, transportation, entertainment, the best sights, and the different activities you can do. So do your homework and read!

2) Find and book a hotel
A good hotel doesn’t necessarily mean a “five starts” one. There are a lot of other points to conceder:

• Internet accesses: Wither or not it’s available inside the rooms and how much it costs?
• Transportation: Is there any buses, trains or underground stations nearby?
• Airport transportation: Does the hotel offer transfers to and from the airport?
• Your points of interests: How far is the hotel from the places you wish to visit?
• Tourist disks and currency exchange: It will make your life so much easier if your hotel offers these two services.
• Accepted credit cards: Is your credit card accepted by this hotel?
• Users’ rating: Read other people reviews and comments about the hotel and how they rate it.

There are a lot of websites where you can find such info and make your reservation, but my personal favorite is http://ebooking.com/. The best thing about it is you don’t need to pay a deposit at booking. So if you need to change the dates later or cancel the reservation all together, you won’t lose your money!

3) Book a plane ticket
Plane tickets prices go up and down like stocks in a stock market! In general, the rule is “the earlier you book the better”, so try your best to book early and since you are still planning your trip try the “My dates are flexible” option, it can save you a lot of money!

Unless you have a personal preference for a certain airline I recommend using one of the following search engines to compare ticket prices:

• http://www.kayak.com/
• http://www.expedia.com/

Once you’ve found a price that’s OK with you, proceed to the airline’s site to book your e-ticket and you’re set!

4) Get a travel insurance
You may think you don’t need travel insurance, but trust me … YOU DO!
You will find dozens of reasons on the web to why you should always have one. So the real question is where to get it?
Well, lots of places offer travel insurance with different benefits … For me I like to go with http://www.worldnomads.com/. The best thing about it is you can buy, extend and claim online and it covers overseas medical, evacuation and baggage. So now you can rest assure and enjoy your long planned trip!

Symbian is Open Source, so What?

Nokia - at last -  released the Symbian OS3.0 source code for all phone manufacturers after two years from acquiring Symbian. The director of the Symbian Foundation, claims that the new, open Symbian has an advantage over Android as Symbian is fully open, he says, while “about a third of the Android code base is open and nothing more. And what is open is a collection of middleware. Everything else is closed or proprietary.”
Though the public availability of the source code, it seems that there is no much interest for the newly opened OS. Symbian is facing very aggressive competition with Android and iPhone. Even Nokia is competing herself with the Maemo operating system that is used in the N900 phone. Also the very low penetration rate for Nokia in United States make Nokia's situation the worst.

Can Nokia keep its current position in the phone market? Who knows?

Google new Arabic search features: Football Schedule and Text Prediction

With all the hype about football recently, Google announced the availability of football games schedule via search in Egypt, Saudia and Morocco search sites. The results should appear like the "World Time" feature in English Versions. These are the results for El-Ahly and Al-Zamalek in Egypt:

An other hidden feature - and not announced -  in Google Arabic Search is the conversion between English letters to the corresponding Arabic letters in keyboard - happens when you forget to switch the keyboard language before typing in the search box. This is illustrated in the following snapshot:

With more arabic products from Google and the arabization of many of its current products (Like chrome and AdWords), Google shows its interest in gaining the main ground in arabic market. Is it going to work? We will see.

Via Google Arabia Blog