Archive for the ‘Tools’ Category
Yamli Releases Enterprise Version Of Arabic Query Expander
Mohamed Marwen Meddah | August 22, 2010 – 2:43 pm |
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Yamli, the company that brought us products like the Smart Arabic Keyboard and Yamli Arabic Search, is releasing an enterprise version of the technology being used for Yamli Arabic Search in the form of a product they’re calling Arabic Query Expander.
The new service provides a solution for search and data normalization problems when it comes to the Arabic language, by analyzing and identifying all the English and Arabic script variations of an Arabic word, increasing the probability to find matches for searches.
Yamli gives examples like the name “Mohamed Mansour” having at least 80 ways of spelling it, “Mohamed Saleh Abdallah” having 7000 variations, “Jumeirah” having 51 spellings, and the song “Habibi Ya Nor El Ein” having 1207 spelling variations; to make the case for the utility of this tool and how much it can help in solving this problem.
DuShare: A Simple P2P Direct File Transfer Service
Mohamed Marwen Meddah | August 17, 2010 – 10:53 am | View Comments
duShare is a simple P2P direct file transfer service that aims to make the act of sending files between people as easy and effective as possible.
The service enables users to send files of unlimited size to one another though the system, and without having to go through uploading the file to a central server in the process. File transfers are handled through a peer to peer, secure direct transfer connection between the sender and the receiver.
Also as connections are direct between users and don’t go through any central server, files and chats aren’t monitored or viewed by duShare, which gives users a bit of extra privacy.
Dakwak: A Tool For Website Localization Into 60+ Languages
Mohamed Marwen Meddah | July 27, 2010 – 11:12 am | View Comments
Dakwak is a new startup that was recently launched from Jordan that aims to provide a solution for website localization into 60+ languages.
The site makes it easy for webmasters to integrate Dakwak’s localization and translation service right into their sites; instantly providing their visitors access to content in the language they’re most comfortable reading in.
All it takes is a bit of javascript code that needs to be integrated into the site pages, and to flag the content that needs to be localized/translated; and the rest is taken care of by Dakwak.
The service automatically detects the country a visitor is connecting from based on their IP address, and changes the language of the content to the visitor’s language, switching all the text without breaking the design of the page; unless the visitor chooses to switch back to the base language.
Fear of Sharing Data, an obstacle to integrated start-ups
Saleh Esmaeili | July 1, 2010 – 10:43 am | View Comments
In the world of Mashed-up data where we get around platforms and devices seamlessly and access data from everywhere do you think we should fear sharing data anymore? Skimming through a great list of start-ups will easily get your attention that our most successful start-ups and entrepreneurs in Arabia are those who could integrate with the analogue world, offline frameworks, and the real world business/individual needs.
One of the projects that caught my attention at the 2nd Democamp in Dubai was Loomni. Apart from the energetic founder’s enthusiasm & positive aggressiveness at the time of presenting, it got my attention to one very important notion, it isn’t a let’s-go-online kind of project and it is connected to our offline life. Despite its poor branding and non-introducing website it is one of those projects that fills a need, a gap, and it serves. Getting over Loomni, you’d often see start-ups in Arabia hanging around those projects that are not connected to the offline world. Or, it’s often a Web Developer’s other hobby gone online if not an Arabized one.
Video: Twtrtales Collaborative Story Writing Through Tweets At DemoCamp Dubai
Mohamed Marwen Meddah | June 30, 2010 – 2:20 pm | View Comments
Twtrtales is a new project that was launched out of the UAE, which aims to enable collaborative story writing through tweets.
Users would basically get to start a new hashtag for a story, and then they’d start contributing to writing the story one tweet at a time by appending that hashtag. On the site, readers would be able to say whether they like a specific contribution or not, and through that decide what goes into the story and what doesn’t.
So in essence, it’s a new kind of publishing platform that hopes to unite tweeters/writers of all kinds, to create and tell stories, which could be general stories or written for a specific cause.
Skype Confirms Plan For Regional Headquarters In Bahrain
Mohamed Marwen Meddah | June 28, 2010 – 10:48 pm | View Comments
Skype, the internet telephony company has confirmed it will be setting up its Middle East headquarters in Bahraini capital Manama, to better target internet users in the Middle East and Africa.
Skype said Bahrain’s liberal and advanced ICT infrastructure and policies and its geographic position providing unparalleled access to the Gulf’s trillion dollar market were key reasons for establishing a regional office in the kingdom.
Skype, which allows users to make voice and video calls over the internet for free or at a fraction of the usual price, is actually illegal in a number of Gulf countries like the UAE, Kuwait and Oman, to protect telcos’ lucrative monopoly over international calls.
Video: The Question Company Presents SMS Based Q&A Service At DemoCamp Dubai
Mohamed Marwen Meddah | June 26, 2010 – 11:58 am | View Comments
The Question Company is a UAE based company that provides a question and answer sms-based service, that enables users in the UAE to sms any question to them and get an answer back in a few minutes time.
The guidelines to use the service are really simple, you basically just think of a question, text it to the number 4644 and then wait for them to send you the reply back. The target on their side is to have replies sent out in less than 10 minutes, and they say their current average is 6.55 minutes.
The service is available for both Etisalat and Du subscribers and costs 3 Dirhams per question, answering all types of questions, but refraining from providing any legal, financial or medical advice.
Video: O-Minds Presents FlashFirebug At DemoCamp Dubai
Mohamed Marwen Meddah | June 24, 2010 – 3:27 pm | View Comments
O-Minds is a Jordan-based IT company with a focus on open source and web development. They’re active participants in the Drupal community, and work on advanced Adobe Flash development.
Ashraf Amayreh from O-Minds was the first startup person to present at the DemoCamp Dubai event that was held on June 23rd at Dubai Knowledge Village’s Auditorium, and the main focus of the demo and presentation was a tool called FlashFirebug that the company built to help Web and Flash developers.
FlashFirebug is inspired from the highly popular Firebug add-on for Firefox that enables developers to go under the hood of their web pages and debug them straight from the browser; However Firebug hits a wall when it comes to Flash, and that’s where FlashFirebug comes in.
Tweet To Email, Share Your Tweets With Your Friends Via Email
Mohamed Marwen Meddah | June 14, 2010 – 12:59 pm | View Comments
Tweet to Email is a service that was recently launched from the UAE, that aims to make it easy for twitter users to share tweets of their choice directly with groups of their friends, who aren’t on twitter yet, through one of the oldest and most established sharing mediums online: email.
The concept is very simple and the tool is as simple and easy to use; the user signs up to Tweet to Email, inputting their twitter username while doing it, and then they get to create groups in which they can add their friends and contacts who they want to share with.
They get to choose a hash tag for each group they create (currently pre-defined and limited to five options), and when tweeting they can use that hash tag in their tweets if they want it sent to the people in that group, directly to their email inboxes.
Loomni, A Knowledge Sharing & Educational Platform
Mohamed Marwen Meddah | June 8, 2010 – 1:00 pm | View Comments
Loomni is a new service that’s being launched today for the region that promises to reshape and transform continuing education, making it more accessible and affordable to everyone.
The problem Loomni is trying to solve is that of education outside of public schools and universities being out of reach for most people as it takes the form of limited, relatively long and expensive courses offered up by training institutions.
The idea of the startup is to fill the existing gap and provide learning opportunities for people who can’t afford expensive courses, nor have the time to spend locked up for long hours in a training venue somewhere. It aims to do this by providing focused practical courses delivered in 90 minutes, at a fraction of the price available in the market.
To be able to provide these lower prices, Loomni goes after another profile of instructors, mainly experts on certain fields who can share their knowledge and experience, educating people about their areas of expertise, but also helping market themselves and their services along the way.
