100,000 followers and 27,000 tweets make Sultan Al-Qassemi (@sultanalqassemi) one of the most influential tweeters in the Arab world. A native of the Emirates, he enjoys a great freedom of expression and, more importantly, uses it in service of...
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Winch 5
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"Accelerating" Innovation in Lebanon
I have no idea how many innovators there in Lebanon fiddling around in their mountain garages with dreams of dethroning Facebook, Google and Twitter. But I'm sure they can find all the resources they need in Beirut's startup accelerators.Since...
Read moreArchimedes' children and their wager
The first steps of my world tour of ICT and innovation helped me realize that geeks, entrepreneurs (social or not) and activists often gather in communal spaces, and that they have multiple things in common.The raison d'être for these...
Read moreSenegal Osiris
Did social media influence Senegal's presidential election?Senegal is one of West Africa's leaders in telecom infrastructure. But, with an internet penetration rate of barely 16%, you have to wonder if online information resources and social...
Read moreBeirut's Innovative Flyers
What do you do when you're three young Lebanese convinced that your city's streets are being disfigured by people throwing garbage anywhere they want?Yesterday: protest, complain, get mad, leave.Today: Make a Facebook page. And when you see that...
Read moreCan Turkey's "Sour Dictionary" be reproduced elsewhere?
According to professor Ozgür Uçkan of Istanbul Bigli University, "Turkey's major contribution to the internet," goes by the ironic name of "Sour Dictionary," or Ekşi Sözlük. The site has 36,000 authors, and over 10 million entries gathered into...
Read moreInnovation according to PK Gulati, Dubai
PK Gulati is an Indian investor in Dubai, where I met him. Here's his definition of innovation....
Read moreIstanbul, Valentine's Day, Facebook and Fortune Cookies
I took this picture on Sunday in the cafe chain Kitchenette, in Istanbul, the biggest city in the Muslim nation of Turkey.Thirty six hours before Catholics' Saint Valentine's, customers were invited to send a love note to the company's Facebook...
Read moreJOURNAL – A dinner for two dreams
So my daughter suggested that I spend some time on a beach in Mexico to get myself out of the hole she knew I was stuck in. To which I stupidly replied that I wouldn't survive the relaxation. When we got back to the house, we said goodbye, glowing...
Read moreJournal - Winch5 turns one
The Winch5 project was born exactly a year ago, at the end of January 2011. After being away from my family for a few months, I had come back to Berkeley, where my future ex-wife and my daughter, Yara, were.Always generous, her mother had left for...
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