By this post I’m not pretending to feel how it’s like to be subjected first-hand to injustice due to a religion or faith. But upon hearing and watching all the news of Park51, (twitter updates) the so-called Ground Zero Mosque, I find myself thankful for the basic human rights I’m enjoying at the moment: the freedom to practice my religion without shame or fear. Something, sadly, our Muslim counterparts in the most “developed” parts of the world are being robbed of.

Park51 Rendition

Patriotism is good, extreme patriotism, or jingoism, is not necessarily a bad thing. But when ideas stretch out to their extreme, and xenophobic supremacist ideologies lead to the utter refusal to rationalize, that is when a situation becomes serious, or even scary. And it all becomes even more absurd, and very hypocritical, when people’s rights are well acknowledged but are taken away from them.

Perhaps the location of the mosque isn’t the most ideal (although, mind you, it’s not really at Ground Zero!), and could be interpreted by the dim-wits as provocative, except project Park51 helped expose an often belittled and overlooked truth: Islamophobia is very real and it’s a growing trend.

But instead of being cynical, adding more fuel to the fire and encouraging spiteful acts, couldn’t those visionary objectors, mainly republicans, think of it as a mean to bridge the ever increasing gap between our faiths? Why couldn’t they look at it as a platform, of close proximity, for constructive interfaith and religious dialogue? Why not view it as a middle ground to understand the true meaning of Islam, as it should be portrayed, rather than in the eyes of the Bin Ladens of the world? Of course, that takes us back to the above-mentioned point of the utter unwillingness to rationalize, such as the lovely gentleman below, who seems to have “learnt everything about Islam from 9/11″! This goes to show how willing some people are to have a constructive dialogue.

But it doesn’t stop here. A new subcategory has emerged, which could befittingly be described as Muslim Islamophobes. Here is a good example that Bill O’Reilly,  of course, loved interviewing. Those are Muslims who are afraid that practicing their religion freely might be interpreted as insensitive or even provoke anger and hatred, so they prefer not to be vocal about it.

Yes, sadly, this is what it has come to. Not just muslims, but people who might even look like Muslims are being harassed (like this poor dude minding his own business only to be mistaken for a Muslim during a Ground Zero rally. You could imagine what would have happened to him if he weren’t quick to emphasize: “I’m not even a Muslim, MOFO’s!”).

Luckily, there are lots of voices of reason out there, that are one way or another trying to talk some sense into the people, resentful of  the sentiment that only applies to the uncultured segment of the society, which sadly form the majority (probably the same people who think Obama is Muslim). Those are puppets, easily steered by the prejudgemental and rogue politicians, who adore nothing more than these controversies that make them come across as responsible and caring citizens, looking after the well-being of their fellow Americans.

Two time Piltzer Prize winner, Nicholas Kristof, wrote:

Why do so many Republicans find strip clubs appropriate for the ground zero neighborhood but object to a house of worship? Are lap dances more sanctified than an earnest effort to promote peace?

Dick Cavett, sensibly, said:

Maybe we shouldn’t have Christian churches in the South wherever the Ku Klux Klan operated because years ago proclaimed white Christians lynched blacks. How close to Hickam Field, at Pearl Harbor, should a Shinto shrine be allowed? I wonder how many of our young people — notorious, we are told, for their ignorance of American history — would be surprised that Japanese-Americans had lives and livelihoods destroyed when they were rounded up during World War II? Should all World War II service memorials, therefore, be moved away from the sites of these internment camps? Where does one draw the line?

What the ignorant, such as he who idiotically compares an Islamic Community Center to “putting a Nazi sign next to the Holocaust Museum“, fails to realize is that all this is exactly the aftermath extremists are happy to see and have been working so hard to achieve: stirring hatred among faiths that leads to provoking violence. If more Americans hate Muslims, alienate, bully and subject them to inequality, the natural progress of events is a great deal of frustration, that God forbid, could lead to further acts of violence and retaliation.

Finally … I can’t help but imagine that somewhere … in a cave … a long-bearded man is sitting in a lotus position … smirking … full of pride … that his evil plan is finally coming to fruition.

Why am I ending this relationship?

First off, let me say, I love the Android OS and I will always think highly of it. I’ve been advocating it for the past three years now, and have even successfully converted several of my friends to the Android cult … but, well, enough is enough.

As an early Android adopter (having bought HTC’s G1 a week after T-Mobile launched it), I eventually got fed up of waiting for several important elements which Google has been turning a blind eye on since day one. And in this day and age of fast software development, three years is more than enough leeway for any company to listen and action your customers’ feedback, let alone one of the top three largest software companies in the world.

And as competition in the smartphone category grows fiercer every day, a lot of the Android’s unique features simply seize to be special anymore, and the lack of support to a certain segment of your users, a large segment for that matter (there are more than half a million Blackberry users in the UAE alone!) becomes a problem, eventually forcing your supporters to look at other options.

This particularly applies to the Middle East (and perhaps other parts of the world). In any case, here’s my main reasons, which won’t come as a surprise to Android users:

Lack of Arabic support:

Since its inception, Android has not been supporting Arabic. Ignoring a large segment of your main stakeholders, your users, is today’s business age’s cardinal sin. It’s simple integration of a language we’re talking about here: enable your users to read and write in their local language. Something all mobile companies have been doing for decades, so it can’t be rocket science! To me, this translates to a lack of respect for your Middle Eastern client base.

There has been, however, efforts exerted, individually, by vendors such as Motorola, HTC, and others, to include Arabic in their Android devices, and they have been successful in doing so. But that is restricted to their mobiles and can’t be applied on other Android phones. Plus, if you managed to download and install the Arabic software on your device, what happens when Google releases a new update? You can’t do anything but sit and wait for the vendor to release the new update with Arabic support.

Android Market:

The Android Market, the equivalent of Apple’s App Store, is not available for users in the Middle East. It’s simple non-existent. If you’re one of the lucky ones who bought their mobiles from other parts of the world, like I did, you would have access to the Market. But even then, you won’t have access to the paid, or protected, apps, which doesn’t leave you with a lot of options. The lack of an official Market has introduced SlideME, a half-decent alternative, but not as good or comprehensive as the Market.

Feeling more frustrated than the users are the app developers. These guys are the people who are keeping operating systems in the game (here’s Microsoft’s CEO, Steve Ballmer, literally sweating to stress, in his crazy Steve Ballmerish way, how important developers, developers, developers, developers, are). Those frustrated developers have wonderful products that users in several regions like ours (13 out of 46 countries to be exact) aren’t benefiting of, which ultimately means less revenue for the developers.

And you’d think Google would have a smart explanation for that, but it doesn’t. Users the world over filed complaints, filled online forums with inquiries and even started online petitions, and still there’s no market! The only way to fully access the market is to root your device (just like jailbreaking for iPhone), which is a procedure  users shouldn’t have to do to be able to get the most out of their devices.

OS instability:

Google’s OTA (over the air) updates are great, only if they really work. See, Google has no clear and consistent method of sending its OTA updates, and users receive them in no specific order, leaving many with a serious case of update-envy.

Vendor control:

Android is an open-source OS, so companies can, and do, tweak the original code in an effort to make it unique to their brands. There is no streamlined strategy between the OS developer and the vendors. For example Motorola introduced MotoBlur, HTC has its HTC Sense, and Sony Ericsson has rendered its Android devices beyond recognition.

This means that even if Google rolled out a new update, not all users will get the latest version of the software because it’s the vendor that ultimately decides when to send their users the latest update, after having to check whether it’s compatible with their phones or not. Fair enough, but that can get really frustrating when you’re a Sony Ericsson Android user stuck at the obsolete Android 1.6 version when everybody else is on 2.1 or 2.2. This also poses a difficult challenge to the already frustrated app developers, as they have to cater their apps to every single Android device out there.

It breaks my heart to say it, but, so long Android! I know I will miss you dearly, but I can’t go on with this one-sided relationship. Therefore, we must go our separate ways, for now.

I might come back when you get your act together and start respecting your Middle East fan base, but for now, I’m hooking up with an iPhone 4!

I was on a business trip to Japan recently. It doesn’t really warrant a blog post as the whole trip was too short (just four days and hence the title), but here’s a typical Japanese anecdote I brought along.

It was the next day we arrived. We were supposed to leave the hotel at 8:30 in the morning. Maki, our sweet Japanese tour guide lady/PR representative, walks up to me with a big grin on her face, and the following conversation takes place:

Maki: “Who-sane san! Good news!”, she said cheerfully.

Who-sane: “Oh, what is it, Maki san?”

Maki: “The traffic is light today, Who-sane san. We reach our destination earlier. So we don’t have to leave the hotel at 8:30.”

Who-sane: “That’s great! So what time do we leave?!”

Maki: “We leave at 8:33!”

Who-sane: “……..&^#!@**%$… …..!!”

Maki: “Who-sane san?”

Who-sane: “Well, errrr … that’s errrr good news, Maki san! Now we’ll leave at 8:33 instead of 8:30!!”

Maki: “Yessss!!!”

I LOL’d.

Anyway, here are some photos and a video I took in Japan. It was my first attempt at creating/editing a video, so please spare me the giggles

Hotel in Osaka

Slippers at metal detectors for travelers in case they have to take their shoes off!

]]> http://www.who-sane.com/2010/07/the-japanese-job/feed/ 2 http://www.who-sane.com/2010/07/new-old-spice/ http://www.who-sane.com/2010/07/new-old-spice/#comments Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:35:47 +0000 Who-sane http://www.who-sane.com/?p=42 I’ve always associated Old Spice with, well, old people. I remember when I was a kid I used to love the smell of Old Spice, whenever my dad used it.

The brand still existed as I grew up, and I always saw its famous logo and unmistakable bottle at stores, but I would never use it. Why would I want to associate myself with a old man’s cologne? I wanted something a “new” spice.

Of course, as years passed by, that became a problem. And the younger generations, who have always associated the Old Spice scent with their fathers and grandfathers, have now become the older generation themselves. Therefore, Old Spice needed a new strategy, freshness, hot out-of-the-box ideas. Something that shouts “modern”, that would make women ask their men to go and buy it. And that’s exactly what the brand has been doing: detaching itself from the “old man’s cologne” formula that’s been stuck to them, willingly of course, since 1934.

They’ve had considerable success with their commercials, but never really generated as much positive feed and never had a commercial as discussed  as they did when Isaiah Mustafa, the Old Spice Man, came to town.

With Mustafa, Old Spice completely shifted its focus to address women, more so than men, probably knowing it’s the woman who, in most cases, has the final call when it comes to men’s colognes. Here are some of the really funny and cool ads:

Questions

The Man Your Man Could Smell Like

Did You Know

Now there’s no doubt these new Old Spice commercials are witty and hilarious, but that’s not unique in this context. What’s unique, however, is that the company didn’t just shoot a few Isaiah Mustafa “Does Your Man Smell Like Me?” themed-advertisements, roll them out, add the positive results to its inventory of successes and call it a day. It went on to maximize the mass appeal the ad had generated among the masses, built on its great success and made sure it utilizes Isaiah Mustafa’s charm as much as possible.

It combined the best of both worlds, advertising and social media, making it one of the best, if not the best, social media campaign thus far. Old Spice Man started engaging with celebrities (sending flowers to some), journalists, regular users, on twitter, facebook, YouTube, Reddit, and even people who asked questions on Yahoo! He even proposed to a girl on behalf of someone else! LOL!

Here are some of my favorite Old Spice Man ads, but you can watch them all on the Old Spice YouTube channel:

And just in case you were wondering how they did it, here is a clip with the art director and the copywriter from the agency that created the Old Spice Man commercial:

Bottom line is: this is viral marketing and social media at its best that has definitely reinvented a brand and introduced it in a completely new and different form. Bravo Old Spice!

Look at that cute octopus!

Oh wait, it’s a … dolphin!

Octopus?

My brother got me this bumper sticker as a gift and a joke of course.

!وظفك؟

I LOL’d!

To make more sense for non-Arabic speakers, the phrase ‘What the f**k’ (pronounced ‘Wath-tha-fuk’) translates to “Did he hire you?”

It comes from a joke that came out several years ago, where a dim-witted fellow (Dim-wit) walks out of a building where he was being interviewed for a job, as an angry dude (Angry-dude) walks in.

Dim-wit accidentally bumps into Angry dude. Angry-dude, being the angry dude that he is, cries out “God damnit!“. Dim-wit, thinking Angry-dude is saying “Gaddamit?”, (“Did you apply?” in Arabic) replies “Ah wallah Gaddamit!” (Yes, I applied!).

Baffled by Dim-wit’s idiotic response, Angry-dude bellows: “What the F**K!“. Now Dim-wit, thinking Angry-dude asked him “Did he hire you?”, responds: “La wallah ma wathafni, Allah yikhrib baito!” (No, he didn’t hire me. That jerk!)

So if you ever see a car roaming the streets of Dubai with the infamous ‘Did he hire you?‘ bumper sticker on, do say hello, it’s probably me.

And yes, of course, it’s from Jordan!

Uruguay's Luis Suarez

For going down in history as the man who robbed Ghana of the chance of winning the world cup, and for breaking the heart of the entire African nation.

In the Ghana vs. Uruguay quarterfinal match, one of best matches of the World Cup 2010, Mr. Suarez decided to play goalkeeper right at the last minute of the extra time by deliberately stopping a guaranteed goal for Ghana with his hands.

Luis Suarez Swats the ball

As the pressure and tension were immense, Asamoah Gyan, very unfortunately, missed the penalty shot.

Now shit happens, and it could always be worse (it could’ve been the final match), but what infuriated me the most is that the Uruguayans considered this to be an act of heroism. “Taking one for the team”, the Uruguayan coach said.

The BS doesn’t stop here, Oscar Tabarez, adds:

“You are telling me the player had to let the ball go in? Is that football? I think you’re missing something really important here.
“I think you call it cheating when you try to score a goal with the hand, to take advantage when the referee cannot see that.
“We are missing something really important. When you are naive, you don’t win football games.
“Suarez put himself in front of the whole country and because of that Uruguay is in the semi-finals.”

What Tabarez is basically saying, it’s not cheating if you’re doing when you really have to. The ends justify the means.

I hope no one takes his words seriously or we’ll be seeing more sleazy acts of “heroism” and “taking one for the team”.

Now off to see some Germans getting their behinds kicked by the Ar-kh-antina!

I happily obliged and this was the result:

Why I love Android

I’ve always been a big fan of Google. My fascination has nothing to do with the fact that they can kill you or me. But it’s mainly because I always thought of them as a “good company” that does no evil, and “good things” are what they’ve been doing for the past 12 years.

But this is not the reason why I like the Android operating system (OS).

My relationship with Android started in October 2008 when T-Mobile launched the G1 (the first Android-powered mobile, manufactured by HTC). I feel the need to highlight that I am no smartphone newbie, and the Android is not the first smartphone I’ve ever owned. In fact, prior to my first Android phone, I had an iPhone, and a Windows Mobile device before that.

First of all, the Android is an open-source OS, and that’s why some of the world’s biggest mobile manufacturers are venturing into the Android OS: Motorola, HTC, Sony Ericsson, Acer, Dell, Samsung, and many more.

Unlike other mobile operating systems, you can choose your Android handset from your favorite mobile vendor depending on your hardware requirements. In my case, I opted for the Motorola Milestone, aka the Droid, because of its superior features and outstanding hardware; this is my third Android phone. But I’ll only be talking about the software bit here.

One of the main reasons I really like Android is its ability to multi-task. Multi-tasking you say? Yes! And it’s not just on the pre-installed Google apps.

See, for example, I could be listening to my music on my Milestone, while playing a game of Archipelago – all this is out of working hours, of course – when I receive an email notification and as I’m replying to that email, I get distracted by a tweet notification. That reminds me to add that the notification mechanism on the Android is superior to any other mobile OS that I’ve tried. So I check the tweet – which is most likely from Guy Kawasaki – then I simply hit back and continue composing the email, all while listening to music and my game still on pause.

That was just a quick example of the multi-tasking you can do with Android. Of course, all that multi-tasking consumes more battery, but at least I’d like to have that option. I also like having the option of expanding my memory as I see fit, which I’m currently content with the pre-packaged 16 GBs that comes with the Motorola Milestone.

Next, Android’s user interface is just brilliant. It’s highly customizable and very user-friendly. You don’t have to scroll through dozens of pages to get to your desired app. Simply, a long press on the app’s icon and you can drag it on to your desktop. You have three home panels, i.e. desktops (5, 7 and 9 home panels on the Android 2.1) which you can customize to your preference. You can create different folders on your desktops and even add some widgets here and there, which could really make your life much easier.

You can set up a Facebook or Twitter widget on your desktop, for instance, which will feed the widget with your friends’ latest updates. This eliminates the need to even open the app to know what’s going on. You simply look at the widget on your desktop. Set up a news or weather widget on your home screen and stay updated with the latest breaking news or weather reports, right off your screen. Neat, eh?

Another reason I like Android is that it excels in contact-syncing. The moment I add or update a contact, or modify a calendar event, my phone immediately synchronizes it with my Gmail contacts and calendar. And if you’re like me, a heavy Gmail user, then Android is the OS you want to be considering for your next mobile.

Another important reason to consider the switch is Google’s active approach to constantly updating its OS. Only a few months after launching the G1, Google launched Android 1.5. Less than four months later, it launched 1.6 (the Donut) and a month after that came the Eclair 2.0. A few months ago it launched the latest Eclair 2.1, (and very recently, Google has announced the Froyo 2.2) see the pattern here? Updates are sent over-the-air, getting rid of the need to connect your device to a computer.

The one thing I probably don’t like about Android is its lack of Arabic support. However, it’s the almighty Google, so I can see that flaw being solved in the near future, especially now that Motorola has officially launched the Milestone in the region.

What was strange though, is that as the officer was handing me the ticket, he apologized for “ruining my day”!

WHAT?!

YES! He actually smiled and said: “سامحنا عالمخالفة عكرنا مزاجك”. (Sorry about the ticket, it must’ve ruined mood).

He wasn’t being sarcastic, mind you. He actually meant it!

I mean, this is not the first time I get ticket, but it was certainly the first time a police officer apologizes to me. Because did he really have to? No! Do they teach them to be apologize to traffic violators at the Police Academy? I seriously doubt it!

I’m sure he did not apologize for giving me a ticket, that’s his job after all, but surely something occurred to him; perhaps he thought: “here I am, giving this man in a suite, who’s obviously doing something related to his work, a ticket, which definitely screwed up his entire day!”

I took the ticket, thanked him and drove off, wearing both my seat built and a big smile on my face.

In my mind, I thanked him for the effort he took to not ruin my mood. Although in his situation, and his authority, standing under the sun for hours every day, I can imagine it’s not difficult to act obnoxiously.

Thank you Mr. Police Man, thank you!