HeyU!

Skype workarounds, VOIP wars - they are all in cyberspace. HeyU is another proposition which involves paying a company for the download of the latest skype exe file, and so if you have an account, you could operate skype. But it is not as simple as this, especially with certain partitions being blocked, which really limit what can be done with voice encription and decription.

More here and here.

Clinton aides had hand in Dubai deal

It sounds like a title that involves Bill, but nay, don't assume too quickly. Hilary had hands in Dubai deals. It is interesting that she could be denouncing the Ports deal in public, but have her finger in similar pies. Business is business and politics is politics, but when you mix them, conflicts occur.

Clinton aides had hand in Dubai deal

Catholic Cartoons

The People of the Book seem to be edging further away in their direction towards God. The Jews and the Muslims are in conflict in the Middle East. The Jews don't recognise Jesus and the Christians. And now the Pope says something which really he shouldn't have said. Whether it was in or out of context, whether someone else said it or it was his true feelings, the Pope is a respected leader, which ever religion he comes from. To say what he said, only causes friction and problems that could escalate past the depths reached by the Danish cartoon controversy. Why? Because this time, it wasn't a Danish cartoonist - it was the Pope.

Sour milk

I'm sure this will be thrown out. It has all been cleaned up.

Dubai Ruler Sued in U.S. over Enslaving Small Boys

Las Vegas in the Arabian Desert

And another one...

Dubai has sold its soul to globalization like few cities have. A glittering capitalist fantasyland has taken shape at the heart of the Arab world. It's a center of international trade, a holiday paradise and a carnival rolled into one.

Las Vegas in the Arabian Desert

Abu Dhabi Submission Wrestling

One of the most random things you will ever see in Abu Dhabi

Emirates Vs Emirates

Emirates Airlines sponsors a host of teams to increase its brand awareness. Today we face that odd situation of Emirates V Emirates in the game of Arsenal V Hamburg in the Champions League but because FIFA don't allow the same sponsors on both teams, Arsenal will be sponsored by....Dubai. Yes, for one night only, Arsenal will have "Dubai" on their shirts. Shame Thierry Henry is out with an injury. However, Champions League advertising is pretty damn good publicity, especially with an Arsenal team who have the spotlight shining bright on them. I suppose those shirts will go for a few dirhams if auctioned on ebay or souk.

Ridiculous Room Rates

According to the Ernst and Young Middle East Benchmark Survey, occupancy is reducing, room rates are increasing, which probably mean that revpar has probably increased. While Dubai has always been pricey, during recent years, Abu Dhabi is now increasing with gusto. Here are the numbers courtesy of the unlinkable Emirates Today:

Weyak

The brand spanking new portal from etisalat, weyak.ae, looks to be a mish mash of services for the "community". In intiatives like this, sometimes I just don't understand the logic behind some areas. For example, a jokes section is not really ground breaking, and above all there doesn't seem to be much in terms of new content for a portal. There seems to be a reliance on users creaing the content themselves. Personally, I don't like it. The worrying thing is that they are offering blogs (but with low level functionality) - does this mean the end for other blog providers, like blogger and wordpress?

Official Inflation......4%

I think I'll take the unofficial view that it will be above 4%.

Save.ae

What is the proposition of save.ae? They say: 'you click we deliver', but are they trying to provide an aternative to spinneys or carrefour? The issues I have is with the the product. The lesson of the dot com era was that to really be in with a chance you had to be bricks and clicks. Although some did exist as solo dot coms, many died away. We need to look at the tech boom that seems to be taking place in the UAE in the same way. For example, I know the product from Spinneys. I can feel the melon in my hand, and I know if they had the same dot com version, that it is likely that it would be of good quality. At present, I dont know what save.ae is, apart from a short domain name. Good luck to them. I hope they prove me wrong, but in the disparate world of the UAE where the suppliers are many, and the net savvy consumers are few, it may be difficult.

Diamonds are Dubai

Here is an interesting fact for you:

Gemstones and jewelry were at the top of Dubai's re-exports, accounting for 33 percent of the total, or about $3.63 billion.

As I have mentioned before, Dubai has continued to stick to its trading roots of yesteryear and maximise revenue slices through super efficient trade roots.

Dubai: Diamonds, Jewelry Top 1H Imports, Exports

The hub of sustainable energy

Masdar looks to be true to its word, and is succeeding. Earlier this year Mubadala talked of such iinitiatives and has now launched a fund, Masdar, to attract sustainable energy technologies to Abu Dhabi. According to The Times, the big guns are backing Abu Dhabi in centralising this crucial worlwide initiative. Aside, within this same arena, the Irish look to be making significant progress.

Abu Dhabi sheikhs seek green pastures