Laith Zraikat

Venture is a new Jordanian business magazine. It is by the same creative people behind JO Magazine. The content and style seem very promising, and it stands to achieve the same outstanding sucess witnesses by its sister "JO".

This is an interview we did with Venture magazine in its June issue. To Qais, Jibril ,and the rest of the team; Thanks guys, we really enjoyed it.

I had bought a new digital camera from Amazon.com early this month. It was a really sweet deal, especially for someone living in Jordan.

Today I was browsing Amazon again looking for some camera accessories and stumbled upon the same camera which I bought. I was pissed to see the price had been reduced by $60. It felt I did the wrong thing by buying it then and that I should have waited –I haven’t taken that many pictures with it anyway.

It occurred to me that I should return it and I was seriously considering it. But then I thought I’d call them up and see what they have to say about it.

I explained to the customer care lady that I bought an item less than 3 weeks ago and that its now $60 cheaper. She checked to verify that what I was saying was true, and then said "Very well sir, your credit card will be credited with the amount in 3-4 business days. Is that the only item or would you like to report more items?" ....I didn’t even have to tell her I wanted a refund, in fact I didn’t think I would get one.

Now the sweet deal got even sweeter with $60 shaved off. I sat and thought for a minute…Did this just happen that easily? Without having to ship the item or go through a series of questioning and disgruntled comments?

I guess people in the US take these things for granted, and us mortals in Jordan can only dream and wish we could get a genuine smiling face when we go shopping. Maybe it is supposed to be a dream… but then that would make USA the land of dreams…

Given all the political issues in the region, I can't say I love USA, so I'll just love Amazon.com instead.

I take a taxi to work most of the time, so I have to put up with a lot of inconveniences like loud music, hearing the driver go on an on about his problems, and often times, hearing him curse at other drivers and then telling me how he is way above this job and that he's doing it as part time while he's on vacation in Jordan from his real job in "Amreeka" (USA).

All that is a part of life and it can actually be amusing sometimes. However, one inconvenience is totally not acceptable to me; Smoking.

Smoking is the kind of habit that everyone agrees is harmful to those doing it and to people around them. Health, hygiene, money, .etc it's bad for everything.

Today I took a taxi to the office, and as soon as I got in, the driver took out a cigarette and was about to light it. I asked him politely if he can postpone it will I got out –my ride is no more than 5-7 minutes on a work day depending on traffic- and today being a weekend, it meant he'd have to wait less than 5 minutes .The  guy smiled and started to mumble. We had already started moving and this conversation took place:

Taxi:
"well, I already took it out…"

LZ:
"My ride is very short. You'll only have to wait 5 minutes.

T:
"I'm trying to quit and I take only a few cigarettes a day at specific times."

LZ:
"If you're trying to quit, then you should be happy I'm asking you not to smoke."

T:
"No, this way my schedule gets messed up and I smoke more."

LZ:
"Ok then I don’t mind getting out right here if you still insist on smoking it."

T:
"I really set my mind on smoking it now so it will be hard not to."

I paid him 25 piasters for the ride and got out. It took me a minute to catch another taxi. On the way I started thinking… How can a man who is in his 40's behave that way? If only for the sake of preserving his dignity, he should have forced himself not to smoke.

Normally I don't look down at people whom are not as fortunate in life –Mostly taxi drivers are looked down at in Jordan- because the reasons may not be something that they can control. But this guy, I could totally understand why he will never amount to anything more than what he is right now.

I look at smoking as a form of slavery which is fooling people into thinking that it will give them something positive. Just like hundreds of years ago the African people were promised a better life in the new world, not knowing they would be sold as slaves once they go there.

Those slaves were forced to work in exchange for nothing. Their actions and behavior were subject to their masters' wishes. Even their lives could be ended if their master wished.

Being forced to give your life's earnings to the tobacco companies, restricting your freedom, not having enough control and needing expert assistance in order to break free of tobacco addiction, and having your life and the lives of people around you at the mercy of your toxic habit,… all these add up to a form of slavery.
 
Slavery of the body has been abolished in almost all parts of the world, but it the slavery of the mind which we must abolish now.

We have laws that ban smoking in public places and in public transportation, but they are not applied. I hope there comes a time when tobacco trading is outlawed altogether… maybe not soon, but it has to start somewhere.

Finally, in the words of  Mr. T: "I pity the fool"
 

I don't like writing about politics, but I do –however- write about mind boggling stupidity when I see it because it simply drives me nuts.

First of all let me say that it is because of scum like Mohammad Abu Fares that the people of this country –Jordan- have stopped believing that there is hope in having a parliament which truly represents their cause.

Instead of working day and night for the poor Jordanian people and addressing issues like rise of living costs, crappy roads, corrupt officials, and the ethical downhill that is dragging our society down a bottomless pit, this idiot thinks he has done his duty towards his country and now has some free time to try and change the way 5 million people think.

This unknown and his pack of hooligans are just a sorry bunch of attention seekers who did not have enough intelligence to pick a smarter way to rise into the ranks of the "known".

It is a disgrace to all Muslims that those idiots and their masters continue to abuse the name of Islam. They should not be allowed to continue doing so, and if the people put them where they are today, then the people should be able to throw them into the dumpsters of history where they belong.

I have one question for those boys: Do you think your children are proud of what you did? Ask them and see if their eyes can convince you.

Finally, I guess this is what we call "Natural Selection" where the weak and stupid eventually never last long.

p.s. I loved Batir's message to Abu Fares.

More about their stupidity:

• Jordanians Protest And More Rantings On The IAF
• BoyCott the IAF
• WANTED. Muhammed Abu-Fares, Ibrahim Al-Mashwakhy, Ja'far Al-Howraney and Ali Abu Al-Sukkar
  

It didn't come as a surprise to me, nor -I think- to Arab free email services like Maktoob and Gawab. In today's evolving web, and amidst the heightened competition to dominate the next age of computing, this was bound to happen.

GMail caused quite a stir in the webmail market when it came out, both because of the experience it provided and its 1GB storage. Knee-jerk reactions rippled across the web with everyone raising their storage limits to 1GB. Some actually thought it would be "innovative" to offer 2GB… It was really funny to watch. I hope the brainstorming meetings they held in order to come up with these solutions did not take more than 10 minutes.

The reactions of Arabic email providers reveals an alarming fact; That Arab users don't use them because they provide better value, nor even because they are in Arabic (which is worse).

Arab web companies have always lived in their own comfort zone feeling they have enough barriers to entry that prevent foreign services from taking a bite out of their market share. This feeling in turn provided no motivation to innovate, take risks or push the limits of creativity. The niche which was once an advantage has turned into a wall blocking the exit rather than the entrance, thus putting them always on the defense.

Is there hope, or is it too late?

Arabic e-mail services have been virtually dormant for the past few years with Maktoob sitting too comfortably at the very top and Gawab –for a reason I can’t understand- not competing fiercely to snatch a larger piece of the market.

Just recently –two weeks ago- Gawab released a major update to their service, all focused on enhancing user experience. Gawab's "answer" to the competition was SPA "Single Page Application", which is an extreme expression for what is known and "AJAX" not as fancy sounding.

Now really, AJAX is a nice buzz word, but it is no silver bullet. Incorporating AJAX into your apps will not help you beat the competition. GMail used AJAX and now everyone is doing it, so I can hardly call this an achievement. We expected more from Gawab, being the smaller player they are expected to have more motivation to innovate.

Maktoob have just started releasing a their own facelift after many years of having a somewhat fragmented look due to the large nature of their network which was amplified by several web site acquisitions they made over the past two years. I hope these changes are a reflection of a change of mentality on the inside and that it will soon reflect on aspects other than just the user interface.

Google's entry into Arabic email is a wakeup call for everyone involved in the Arabic web scene, and I hope this time, the answer won’t simply be "A Bigger Gun".

I am auctioning my Sony 7.2MP digital cam because I am upgrading to a more professional one with better zoom and more manual functions. I've had a lot of fun with this one. took about 2200 pictures since I got it.

To participate, just add a comment to this post with your bidding price. Please include a valid e-mail address. Serious buyers only please!

Specs:

• 7.2 Mega Pixel
• 2" LCD
• Carl Zeiss lens
• 1* 32MB memory stick
• 1* 256MB memory stick Pro
• 3x Optical & 2x digital zoom
• check this link for more info.

Reserve price: 319 JOD

Auction ends: Thursday 8th of June

Other Info:

• The cam is in EXCELLENT condition.
• No scratches at all.
• All software, manuals, cable, battery & charger included. Original packageing.
• Case included.
  
• Auction only applicable to buyers from Jordan.

Shipping:

It is the responsibility of the winning bidder to pick up the item once the auction has ended. I will contact the winner to arrange pickup.

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