Year: 2007

The Long Tail (Chris Anderson)

A couple of days ago, I finished reading Chris Anderson’s book “The Long Tail“, which explains and advocates why the future of business is selling less of more.

Chris Anderson, who is editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine, wrote an article called “The Long Tail” in Wired that became so popular and famous, he started a blog about it and then expanded it into a book.

In short the phrase “The Long Tail” is to describe certain business and economic models where products that are in low demand or have low sales volume can collectively make up a market share that rivals or exceeds the relatively few current bestsellers and blockbusters, if the store or distribution channel is large enough and the necessary filters are available to drive people to find these products. Examples of companies using such a model are Amazon, Netflix, iTunes and Google.

The book and the concept are very interesting, and with the evolution of the internet it’s easier than ever to cater to all tastes and provide all products: general best-sellers and niche products, increasing the scope of products available for sale, and obviously the opportunities to make more revenue.

If you’re selling products, marketing them or just interested in business: I recommend you read the article as well as the book; they’re really interesting and provide several examples and rich insight into how the business world and markets are changing.

Back In Tunisia, Back To Work…

I flew back to Tunisia yesterday… Alone; Eman and Adam will be staying another week in Jordan… And the same group of old people that were going to Omra on my flight to Jordan came back to Tunisia with me, what luck!

I’m back at work this morning with a ton of emails to go through, a bunch of stuff to do and some necessary meetings to get back on track and rolling again…

The last day of a vacation and the first day at work after it have to be the hardest and yuckiest days that can ever be… You know the vacation is over, yet you don’t want it to be, and you know you have to be back at work, yet you’re not quite ready to be…

My stay in Jordan was quite hectic this time and I didn’t get to meet as many people as I wished, nor go to as many places as I planned. I hope I’ll get to go back again soon and do all the things I wanted to do.
One thing I did do though is eat; I had every meal I wanted to eat, ending the food marathon with Msakhan, a great Palestinian delicacy. It’s a wonder how I didn’t gain any weight.
Another post will follow soon with some of my other thoughts from this trip to Jordan.

The Search (John Battelle)

I finally got around to reading John Battelle’s book “The Search“, which is about how Google and its rivals rewrote the rules of business and transformed our culture.

I heard a lot about this book, it’s a really interesting topic, and I also enjoy reading John’s searchblog quite often, so obviously it’s been on my reading list for quite a while.

I really enjoyed reading this book, and I went through it so quickly; It’s very well written and it handles the topic of search, its history, its players (mainly revolving around Google and its history though), how much it affects us and business, the future and the ideas search could evolve into so well.

As someone who witnessed the rise of the internet, the dot-com boom then bust and its later renaissance, it was a pleasure to read the history of search and remember all the companies that played a role in making it what it is today.

The company stories included give a lot of insight into the mindsets of the entrepreneurs behind them and their approaches to pushing their businesses forward and making them successful.

I recommend this book to everyone interested in search, it’s a really good read that covers the topic from all its sides.

300

A friend of mine and I went to see 300 at the cinema yesterday. I’ve heard many mixed reviews about this movie, a lot of people loved it, and many others said it was a waste of time, void of meaning or purpose.
Curiosity pushed me to go and see it for myself and then build my own opinion on whether it’s a good or bad movie.

I didn’t go in expecting much, which is good, because I generally get a good surprise with the movie turning out better than I expected; The same held in this case.

I have to say that I ended up enjoying the movie; it’s no great epic and it’ll be forgotten in no time, but still it’s an entertaining piece of action cinema. There’s no deep story behind the movie, it’s no actor’s movie, and it crams in so many clich

Seven Pillars of Middle East (Un)Reality

I just came across one of the most absurd articles I’ve read in a while, by a certain Kenneth Levin, a clinical instructor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, a Princeton-trained historian, a commentator on Israeli politics and an author of a book I’m sure is full of more nonsense called “The Oslo Syndrome: Delusions of a People Under Siege”.

The article lists some so-called seven pillars of Middle East reality that he thinks stand in the way of peace with Israel.

Here are the seven points and what I think of each one:

Arab leaders have no interest in genuine peace with Israel
This can’t be more wrong; the Arab leaders wouldn’t want anything more than to have the whole Israel-Palestine problem solved, a peace established, the ability to move on and leave the whole thing behind them. In fact, a number of the Arab regimes, if not most of them, already have secret ties with Israel, and are just waiting for the chance to make them public and announce normalization. Plus more and more of these Arab regimes are coming to think that the only way to help solve the Palestinian problem is by building ties with Israel. All this might be against the will of their people, but the leaders and regimes would do anything to move on and put this problem behind them.

Israeli-Arab peace will come on the Arabs’ timetable
Israeli-Arab peace will come on both side’s timetables, just like any other peace agreement, and the proof is that the Arab leaders have proposed peace and normalization deals with Israel several times that ended up in the bin because Israel wasn’t willing to move from its side. If anyone, it’s Israel that’s setting its timetable, not the Arabs.

All minorities living within the Arab world are under siege
This is very very wrong, and a trip to any country in the Arab world where a religious minority exists can show that; Jews in countries like Tunisia and Morocco, Christians in countries like Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon, and the list continues; These people enjoy all their rights and freedoms, and live in peace alongside Muslims.

Continue reading Seven Pillars of Middle East (Un)Reality

One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)

As usual, I’m using the extra free time I get on vacation to catch up on some reading. I just finished the book “One Hundred Years Of Solutide” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the winner of the Nobel Prize of Literature.

The book tells the story of the rise and fall, birth and death of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendía family and its unforgettable men and women, their times, their struggles, their curse and damnation – the solitude that would finally destroy them and the universe that they created and inhabited.

This is one of the best works of fiction I have read in a long time, it feels so real and true, no matter how unreal some events seem, it’s as if the writer is telling the true history of a real town; I totally agree with the people who call Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s style as magical realism, it totally sums up the feeling you get when reading it.

I really recommend this book to everyone who is into a good story well told, that will bring the characters and places alive in your imagination, and give them a life of their own.

If you’re interested in reading this book, you can buy it here.

Live Earth Concerts Line-Up

Madonna will be heading the star-studded line up for the Live Earth concert at the new Wembley Stadium to highlight the threat of climate change.

Other star performers for the London leg of the global gig are: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Razorlight, Keane, Snow Patrol, Genesis, Foo Fighters, Beastie Boys and the Black Eyes Peas.

Headliners for the U.S. concert at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., include Bon Jovi, Dave Matthews Band, Kanye West, Rihanna, John Mayer, Smashing Pumpkins and Fall Out Boy.

Other shows will take place in Shanghai, China; Johannesburg, South Africa; Sydney, Australia; Tokyo; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The “Live Earth” concerts will be taking place on July 7th across seven continents to mobilize action to stop global warming.

The concerts are forming part of a global publicity drive on the issue, tagged SOS – Save Our Selves – headed by former US vice president Al Gore.

Proceeds from the concerts will create a foundation to combat climate change led by The Alliance for Climate Protection, currently chaired by Mr Gore.

[Source: Sky News, Mercury News]

The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)

I finished reading “The Lovely Bones” by Alice Sebold last night. I came across this book a number of times throughout the past years, and I thought it would be an interesting read, so it’s been on my to-read list for a while, the only thing that made me get around to reading it faster is that Peter Jackson is currently working on making a movie based on this book, and so I wanted to read the book before the movie was released.

The novel tells the story of Susie, a murdered 14 year old girl who recalls what happened to her from Heaven, and follows how the incident affects her family and those around her, as well as the different connections that are built between them.

I liked the approach to this book and how the narrator is the murdered girl, looking down from heaven and telling the events as she sees them in detail.

Another idea I really liked in this book is the concept of heaven described in it: Heaven isn’t a place that is the same for everyone, it’s a place that is personalized for every person according to their ever-changing dreams, wishes and imaginations.

I can pretty much see how the movie will turn out and I can’t wait to see it and see the different choices Peter Jackson will make while bringing it to film.

There are places where it feels a bit stretched out and you might start to lose some interest, but it quickly tries to catch up, and it’s a pretty good and interesting read all in all.

If you’re interested in checking it out, you can buy it here.

Israel’s Oppressive Apartheid Regime

“We enthusiastically chose to become a colonial society, ignoring international treaties, expropriating lands, transferring settlers from Israel to the occupied territories, engaging in theft and finding justification for all these activities. Passionately desiring to keep the occupied territories, we developed two judicial systems: one – progressive, liberal – in Israel; and the other – cruel, injurious – in the occupied territories. In effect, we established an apartheid regime in the occupied territories immediately following their capture. That oppressive regime exists to this day.”

— Michael Ben-Yair (Israeli’s Attorney-General 1993-1996), The War’s Seventh Day; Ha’aretz, 3 March 2002.

[Via: Lawrence Of Cyberia]

Universal Red Blood Cells

An international team of academic and industry scientists has come up with a feasible way of making universal red blood cells that are stripped of their blood type. The hope is that it can be developed into a viable way of relieving blood bank shortages.

Compatibility of blood group is a bit complicated and depends on who is giving and who is receiving. If a person receives blood of a type that is not compatible with their own, there is a risk their immune system will attack it, destroying the red blood cells, producing kidney failure, and the person could die.

People with blood type “O” are considered universal donors, able to give blood to people from all other blood types, but it’s only normal that blood banks and hospitals sometimes run short of this type of blood, plus it’s not always easy to find blood of the needed type, so it’s great that this new discovery has come along to avoid this problem and help save more people’s lives.

The team’s next step is to start clinical trials to test the method’s treatment safety and efficiency. I hope all goes well and that this method is spread all over the world to save life.

[Source: Medical News Today]