Shoot 4 The Moon,: passion

Milan... The city of mediapreneurs!

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:41:00 GMT

Media gurus, government officials and promising entrepreneurs were gathering last Wednesday at the Milan Chamber of Commerce to discuss the future of media and mechanisms to better support technopreneurs (technology entrepreneurs). The event was organized by PROMOS in cooperation with Creative Commons, "Meet The Media Guru" and the local government of Lombardy.

Over the full-day event, I was glad to speak at the same panel with peers from the Arab World: Abdullatif Al Sayegh -the CEO of Arab Media Group one of the powerful player in the scene of Arab media, and Mohammad Abdullah -the Executive Director of Dubai Media City. I also was glad to speak to Antonio Ferrari -the World-class journalist who interviewed leaders across the world including H.M. King Abdullah few days right before the recent visit of the Pop to Jordan. I was also glad to meet Roberto Ronza -the Senior Advisor of the Lombardy Region in Italy.

For Melan, media business occupies a huge space of the landscape of the local economy and plays a great role in promoting it as the city fashion, history, art and business opportunities.

During the panel discussion, statistics about traditional media in the Arab world and future of the Media after the rise of Media 2.0 (social web) were presented. As part of discussion interesting ideas were raise, like the how policians and celebrities are adapting with the new media? and how new media will affect the positioning of traditional media instead of replacing it? (Taking for example, the status of radio and cinema after the widespread of TV) Also, how the growth and spread of new media is dependent on the development of infrastructure (internet speed and cost of bandwidth, availability of supporting devices and enabling technologies.. etc.)

During my talk, I focused on Innovation as the primary competitive advantage in the 21st century -while price and quality were the most dominant competitive advantages of businesses in previous centuries- and I moved to speak about the progress of the Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship in nurturing innovation by establishing a specialized training Institute in the domain of systematic Innovation.

Speaking about Innovation, I presented two success stories from Jordan: Ketab Technologies and Kindisoft and how these entrepreneurs managed to gain remarkable market access and achieve rapid growth and recognition of world class companies such as Google and Disney.

In the afternoon session, there were one-to-one pre-scheduled meetings where I get the chance to meet a representatives from FBF -an international network branding company and candidate for one of Oskar Awards. I was pleased to talk to two exceptional entrepreneurs Fuse Creative Lab and Lorri who have successfully developed amazing interactive surface solutions using gesture recognition technologies, which can really achieve better performance than Windows Surface and Xbox technologies and can be applied for so many other applications.

I will be writing a special post about them soon. But for now, I can keep leave you with this interesting appetizer that demonstrates one of their solutions!

iSi / eMotion Control 2.1 from fuse creativelab on Vimeo.

Joi Ito (Creative Commons) & Habib Haddad (Yamli) speaking at the Entrepreneurs Week!

Sun, 17 May 2009 09:10:00 GMT

It gives me a great pleasure to invite you to join the world-class speakers at The Entrepreneurs Week!

During this week, the Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship and other distinguished partners are opening an interactive discussion with outstanding international speakers who are going to talk about several important topics in Entrepreneurship, Business and Management.

Among the speakers are Joi Ito; a Japanese entrepreneur, venture capitalist and board member of numerous for-profit and not-for-profit boards. He has a background in Hollywood motion pictures, Japanese television production and online media. His recent focus is investing in early stage internet companies such as Flickr, Twitter, Last.fm, Six Apart and Technorati. Ito is the CEO of Creative Commons.

We also lucky to have Habib Haddad the entrepreneur behind Yamli.com, and drives its vision of empowering the Arabic language and users on the web. His responsibilities span from product strategy and design to business development. The World Economic Forum recently recognized Habib as a Young Global Leader for 2009.

Yesterday's Seminar about Blue Ocean Strategy was very interesting since the speaker Mohammad Ajlouni -the Managing Director of Middle East Defense Systems - one of the rare 48 Blue Ocean Certified Practitioners world wide.

The program of The Entrepreneurs Week:

Date	Time	Topic	Speaker
16/5	5pm	BlueOcean Strategy: How to transform a new business idea into a winning strategy	Mohammad Ajlouni Managing Director, MDS
17/5	5pm	Identifying your Strengths as an Entrepreneur	Ronald Evans CEO, SIMA International
18/5	5pm	Idea to Reality	Habib Haddad Co-Founder, Yamli.com
19/5	6pm	Innovation in Open Networks - Perspectives from an Internet entrepreneur and venture capitalist	Joi Ito CEO, Creative Commons
20/5	5pm	Cross-cultural business issues as companies expand internationally	Doug Christgau Director, Cross-Cultural Development
20/5	5pm	The current U.S. and world financial market situation.	Larry Hutchins Certified Financial Planner, Wachovia
21/5	5pm	Insights into family-owned companies in regards to economic and human resource issues.	John Carmon President, Carmon Community Funeral Homes

Please feel free to attend all -or at least part of- these seminars. because such experts will not be available -and free of charge- again in Jordan until the upcoming Entreprenuers Week! :)

I lost my finger :(

Sat, 28 Feb 2009 22:46:00 GMT

I'm sorry, but this is what a delicious dish of fish may cost you!

For more details you may visit my wife's blog!

Blogging right from the TOP!

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 12:29:00 GMT

On my way to Beirut, to speak in a public event about Creative Commons and its impact on the Internet Community, I took this few nice photos:

I wish I can just stand on the top of this wing! It would much more interesting to fly this way, ain't it?

What a small meal !!! I know the trip to Beirut is short (1 hour) but this does not mean to cut down the breakfast !? (Royal Jordanian should reconsider this!)

Snowy mountains from the top... don't we miss snow in Jordan these days! :-(

Want to see more of Lebanon? stay tuned here during the upcoming few days!

How to listen and TALK to people in Gaza ?!

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 13:45:00 GMT

During the last 2 weeks since the beginning of the strike on Gaza. We've all seen millions of angry people across the world holding banners condemning the 'genocide' in Gaza and chanting anti-Israeli slogans on several TV channels and other media channels as well.

I'm sure that protesting is really a supportive action, in addition to in-kind and financial donations and other common means of support. But, I'm writing now to suggest another effective powerful way to support people in Gaza morally, and make feel them how much we do sympathize with them; it is basically to call them!?

Yes, you can really support people at Gaza by calling them and telling them how much we are proud of their persistence, braveness and resistance against this inhuman barbarian strike on Gaza. I've tried it and I can tell you how they would love to listen to us and find a listening ear from you as well.

To call a random number in Gaza, all you need to do is to dial:

+970828 XXXXX (add a random number composed of 5 digits)
+970820 XXXXX
+970821 XXXXX

Example: +97082812345

P.S. I will record one of my calls and post it her to share with you this experience. Please try it yourself, NOW!

Mahmoud; the Gentle Baby :)

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 14:28:00 GMT

It is my pleasure to introduce our little son to you:

Name: Mahmoud M. Khawaja
Date of Birth: 21st of Nov. 2008
Martial status: Single!!
Hobbies: sleeping, imagination and discovering the new world around :)
Occupation: jobless ?!
Dreams: Endless....

To know more about his "predicted" character, personality and style, I invite you to read this interesting post. :)

The Art of Online Advertising!

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 13:39:00 GMT

It is a pleasure to invite you to this special seminar co-organized by Google and the Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship.

This information is free of charge. For further information and registration, please send an email to: google@qrce.org

To Jood on her 1st birthday!

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 19:07:00 GMT

If you missed the first letter written to Jood (before she came to life), you can find it here.

Our little sweetie,

Hard to believe, but true, you have blown out your 1st birthday candle last week :)

A year full adventure and amazing funny moments has passed leaving special memories that will live inside us forever. So be ready to trigger your memory back when you grow up!

The love of a parent is something impossible to understand until you become a parent yourself. You were the naughtiest baby around who attracted the eyes and hearts of everyone and made them all fall in love with your innocence, intelligence, cheerfulness, playfulness, energy, curiosity and cuteness.

During the times we were travelling, you were the most beautiful thing to discover! We still remember how you were making new friends everywhere we go with your charming smile –whatever their language, skin color or age.

If there is one thing that I want you to know even at this young age, it is to know that every moment in life counts - each is beautiful in its own way, whether happy, painful, joyous or awful. Treasure the wonderful moments in life, and learn to grow by living through those that are not.

You are developing in so many ways, sweet baby, and each day I catch another glimpse of something new that makes me say with swelling heart, "This is another aspect of Jood!" we are so privileged to love and care for you. We are so excited to get to know more and more of Jood.

They used to say that everyone inherits the qualities related to his/her particular name. That is very true in your case; especially when you insist on feeding everyone around you before you start eating!

I cannot look upon you without thinking of how Allah gave us the tremendous blessing of being your parents.

Our hope for you is to grow to know, love, and change the world in your own way!

With Love,

Mama & Papa!

Jood ... a four-month-old fetus

one-week-old baby..

3-month-old little lady!

7-month-old naughty girl!

almost 1-year-old swimming in Wild Wadi - Dubai

إبدأ مشروعك.. تقدم لتتميز

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 10:25:00 GMT

الآن أصبح لديك فرصة أكبر لتحقيق حلمك بإنشاء شركتك الخاصة. في عامها الثالث، أتاحت جائزة الملكة رانيا الوطنية للريادة المجال لكل الرياديين – سواء كانوا طلبة جامعيين أو أشخاص طموحين من عامة المجتمع – للمشاركة في المسابقة والتنافس على جوائز يقدر مجموعها بـ 70.000 دولار أمريكي. فإذا كانت لديك فكرة مشروع في أي من مجالات العلوم والتكنولوجيا، لا تتردد بتقديم فكرتك لمركز الملكة رانيا للريادة من خلال الموقع الإلكتروني www.qrce.org لتبدأ خطواتك الأولى نحو النجاح!

تتميز الجائزة هذا العام بمساهمة شركة Google
العالمية في دعم جائزة إضافية تقدم لأفضل خطة عمل لمشروع على الانترنت، بالإضافة إلى الجائزة التي يقدمها مركز الملك عبد الله الثاني للتصميم والتطوير لأفضل خطة أعمال في مجال الأمن والحماية.

إذا لم تتمكن من مشاهدة العرض التعريفي لجائزة الملكة رانيا للريادة خلال الحملة التعريفية للجائزة في الجامعات والأماكن العامة (النقابات، غرف الصناعة والتجارة...) فيسرني دعوتكم لمشاهدة الفيديو الخاص بالعرض بالصوت والصورة

إذا كانت هذه المرة الأولى التي تسمع بها عن الجائزة فأدعوك لزيارة موقع مركز الملكة رانيا للريادة للتعرف على دور الجائزة في تحويل الإبداع والثروة الفكرية إلى قيمة اقتصادية عالية من خلال تشجيع أصحاب الأفكار والريادية على تحويل أفكارهم إلى منتجات وخدمات مميزة في السوق العالمي

ملاحظة إذا وصلتك هذه المقالة بالبريد الإلكتروني فيجب عليك زيارة الموقع حتى تتمكن من مشاهدة الفيديو

Jood is responding to NLP!

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 22:52:00 GMT

Since few years, I’ve been reading about the impact of applying Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) in my daily life and how it can REALLY affect our lives POSITIVELY. If you do not know what NLP is, simply it is an interpersonal communication model and an alternative approach to psychotherapy based on the subjective study of language, communication and personal change. (Definition from Wikipedia)

I used to utilize and apply what I have learned on myself and my small family, but I never realized that a 6-month-old baby like my little daughter “Jood” could respond to NLP at this early age.

The story started when Jood was rejecting the nose cleaner suction syringe as soon as her mom tries to put it inside her nose to clean it. Jood used to cry, move her head irritantingly and “fight” with all her mighty to stop her mom from placing it inside her nose.

We wanted Jood to accept the nose cleaner, thus, we started using it as a toy; we used it to pamper her by pointing the cleaner on her cheeks -not nose- and make her laugh and enjoy the soft air coming out of it. She started to feel that this toy may bring her joy and fun, too!

The good news is that Jood’s attitude toward using nose cleaner to clean her nose has changed tremendously after doing that exercise for 2-3 days, and now Jood fully accepts the cleaner with a smile on her face :)

So I would like to urge parents and parents-to-be to consider NLP as a smooth effective way in changing the attitudes of their children positively. It worked on animals, so why it wouldn't work on your kids!?