Two sites sprung out at me this week as being top dog. One is the new site from TED, which sets the standard for where video should go. The other is the super expensive (rumoured spend on mag and site is in the hundreds of millions of dollars) portfolio.com. It just so happened that there is an excellent article that centres on Sheikh Mo and his love of horses. It's more revealing than the usual piece you get and it is well worth reading:




“I’m a horseman, so I know what horses can and cannot do,” he says. “Hunting taught me patience. And to enjoy it while you are waiting.”

The Sheik Who Would Be King of Horse Racing
Portfolio.com
Ted

The take up of trends that demonstrate the wealth of the individual is rife in the UAE, be it the new Cayenne or allsinging Nokia. And if things are not available to the mass market, it makes it even more important to get a hold of the item. I present you with two items that I believe will be the want of society in the coming months, maybe a small market, but there will be a few who want to have these items, just to say that they had them:

The first e-ink watch



Seiko designed a bracelet style watch using the high contrast e-ink technology. If the futuristic watch is set to its 'efficiency' mode, the display is informative and easy to read. If, however, the watch is set to its 'mystery' mode, the panel expresses the time in a more imaginative, evocative style.

Philips/Swarovski crystal-clad USB drives



Partnering with Swarovski, the duo is loosing the Active Crystals collection of 1GB USB drives (and sparklin' headphones, too) onto the fashion-conscience set

These are certainly niche, and probably target Vertu lovers and those who have aspire to pre-order their car at the factory rather than the showroom.

Internet trends come in leaps and bounds. Some fizzle out and some stay, at least for a time. What has been hotting up recently is microblogging, and specifically a product called twitter. What's the premise here? You have 140 characters to update your status at any one time. You can do this online or by sending an sms to a specific phone number. It them can text those in your network or those who have chosen to watch your status or "thoughts". The applications could be huge if conceptually it can be converted from idea to monetisation. Anything from marketing to advertising to discount codes etc. It hasn't reached critical mass yet in the US, but is growing at a phenomenal rate, and soon it won't just be tech nerds who 'twitter'. Either that or it's all froth and another fad to pass through time.

But the question at this stage in the technology is whether it would work in Dubai or Abu Dhabi? An interesting thought. It is no secret that the concept of mobile is more status in the Gulf Arab states than in some places in the world. (Aside, on one occasion I was with someone who had 4 mobiles with him - Why he just didn't just divert the calls to one, I don't know) I wondered whether the concept of mobile is just to do with receiving calls and looking important or is it really about being in the know. I haven't quite come to a conclusion. Is being in the know what it is all about or does one need to know the gossip? These are two different ideas but depending on the use of this "service", could be covered by twitter.

There are all sorts of hurdles before twitter would be available as mass microblogging in the UAE. But the ability to inform people real time of your status or thoughts is probably something too scarey for the TRA to consider. That said, would it work anywhere where there is censorship? Twitter would become twatter, not in real time and the very essence of why it is so appealing to the technerd crowd at present would be lost in its formal application by the duopoly powers of etisalat and du. In any case, this is all some time off, as markets collide and twitter looks to devise a business model that can be applied to markets where you pay to receive and pay to send sms.

Even five years ago, mention Abu Dhabi, out of context and you would get murmurs of misunderstanding, questioning eyebrow raises and glances of disapproval. Over recent months, Abu Dhabi has slowly taken prominence and column inches amongst the international press, and the confusion has started to turn to an understanding of what Abu Dhabi could be. The closer we get to some semblance of property completion, probably within 3 years, the more Abu Dhabi will become a household name that one can talk of in the same way that one talked of Dubai, Shanghai or Mumbai not so long ago. Today's special report in the FT is the beginning of seeding the potential of Abu Dhabi to those who need to know, and this seeding will promote further conversation in the months and years to come.

Special Coverage of Abu Dhabi in the FT

Let's face it. The speculative gains to be be made in Dubai's property market are probably a far cry from what could be earned elsewhere. Much of the talk focuses on places such as Bulgaria and the like, but there is an argument saying that this is also old news. So where can one make that extra buck from investing. Readers to this blog will suspect that I will put my money on Abu Dhabi. However, I don't think there will be much speculative potential. I think the investment in Abu Dhabi will keep its value simply for the nature of the aims of the Emirate. But for me, the next place to put your money down is neither in Dubai, nor Abu Dhabi, nor RAK, nor Sharjah. The next big thing in real estate, if you can call it "real" estate is in second life. For those of you not yet in the know, this is a virtual world where money is transacting, and people look to have a second life doing other things, being an alter ego. But it is not a game, and it should be taken seriously. This video will give you an overview of its potential:



There are similarities to be drawn with Dubai. Jest with them as you see fit. But those of you with a creative bone within you and can conceptualize life elsewhere, consider putting some money in a land in second life. I have a feeling it is about to go big time.

Second Life

Second Life: Real Money in a Virtual World
Making a Living in Second Life

Human Rights Watch are back on the case, and rightly so. Significant changes in the Labour Law happen infrequently and this is the time to bring concerns to the table, for the greater good of what is required for the country and the people who are helping to build the country, whether they be Local or Expat, black, white, brown, yellow, purple or green.

According to the report, the labour law fails to meet international standards of protection for the 700,000 construction labourers, mainly from the Indian subcontinent, who are building UAE landmarks such as the world’s tallest tower in Dubai. And the UAE have come back critiquing the report, saying that it does not accurately reflect either the progress that has been made in addressing the issues at hand or the seriousness with which the government is dealing with these issues.

Let's look at this objectively. No government, that has so much to do with the West, would want to be seen to be doing nothing. My opinion is that there is a conflict between getting the right labour at the right cost, versus producing groundbreaking buildings under budget. And while the UAE is reactively looking at the issues that are faced, the recommendations put forward by the HRW are to do with being proactive so that workers are protected at the outset so that injustive doesn't need to be remedied.

The UAE has made significant strides in dealing with the issues that seem to constantly plague the press, most recently this last weekend just gone. And Sheikh Mohammed has got personally involved in getting it rights. Hundreds of companies have been suspended for non payment of wages, and hundreds more have been prevented from doing more wrings, through prevention of work permits. This is a huge step in itself. The change in mentality is lead right from the top.

All this is good. However, the HRW has some good points. I urge you to read these an look at them in context. My main issue, well noted by HRW, concerns unionisation. Promises that these would be in place were stated by the government, and yet no mention in the Labour Law. That sort of disregard screams of all talk and no action. If I were sitting at the desk of the law drafter, I would be seriously considering taking each of the recommendations on board and applying them in this next labour law with some stiff penalties attached. And then I would elect a task force to make sure that these recommendations were adhered to. But, that's just me.

Human Rights Watch’s Comments and Recommendations

Chris Anderson may be mildly amused that one might apply the theory of the Long Tail in such a way, but however you look at it, it rings true. Equate hype to demand and property to product and you have some familiar ground. There will always be a certain amount of hype for ground breaking buildings such as the Burj, Palm, and the World etc. The hype for property in such locations will always be in the short tail, just for their very nature. Similar amounts of hype are tantamount to what one might call supernormal hype for the normal - such demand exists for Emaar type properties that came to market at a time when Dubai was as hot as a Paris Hilton catchphrase. While these properties were adequate, the demand for them was of ridiculous levels, for reasons such as lack of supply, exponential growth, and speculation frenzy. Nevertheless, these all sit within the short tail.

And then you get the rest. The normal. The copycats. The late to market. All of these. So long as there is an advert in the Gulf News Freehold section talking of the next big thing, hype will join hands with the latest craze. How do you judge an off plan development? Wait until it is built. The further we go into time, the further we go down the trail. But that trail exists.

The Long Tail of Dubai Property Hype is fed by the people of Dubai.

Those unphased by real speculation and looking to make some money invest in other emerging countries, where there is still a dollar to be made by understanding the long tail hype of property demand.