Newspapers in the Googlespace

Good news—for now—that Google is pushing major newspapers to open up their vaults | IslamOnline.com

With no fanfare the New York Times pulled the plug on its TimesSelect program this last September. Through TimesSelect, launched in October 2005, the Times started charging readers (who were not  subscribers to the print edition) for access to some sections of the online edition,fparticularly that of opinion columns. Clearly, the objective was to capitalize on the New York Times’ fame as one of the world’s best news papers to generate revenues through its online presence.

That was a fair thing to do. Why did the Times shut it down then?

The way the Times explained the closure implies it probably had to. In a short note, the Times cited “significant alterations in the online landscape” over the period TimesSelect was in operation that made it in the best interest of the New York Times readers and “brand” to grant full online access to all readers. Most important among those alterations was the fact that “[r]eaders increasingly find news through search, as well as through social networks, blogs and other online sources.”

The Rise of Middle East Technology Parks

The rapid growth of technology parks in the Arab world has so far created more expectations than outcomes, reports Waleed Al-Shobakky | SciDev.Net

Over the past few years, technology parks have been sprouting up all over the region: from Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia in the north, to Kuwait, Oman and Qatar in the east.

Recognising that their natural resources, particularly oil, are being fast depleted, and looking to emulate the success stories of technology parks in Asia, Europe and North America in creating jobs and successful businesses, countries like Turkey and the United Arab Emirates have constructed as many as seven or eight parks. But as the ranks swell, the question remains: will technology parks be able to prove their worth?

A Broader Cautionary Tale in the Skype Outage

Now that the dust has settled and the uproar has faded, what can we learn from the mid-August Skype outage? (Hint: A unipolar operating system world may have unforeseen weaknesses, and Microsoft is perhaps the least to blame.)  | IslamOnline.net

First, what happened? Skype, the most widely used Internet phone service (free to use from PC to PC) went black on August 16, 2007.

Now almost a household name, Skype is not merely a “chat” service for teens with plenty of time to spare. Over the past few years, Skype-in and Skype-out services that afford calls to regular land-line and mobile phones at much lower rates have already lured many businesses away from traditional telecoms.

The two-day service collapse affected thousands of businesses. Not surprisingly, the outage invited outrage.

Bridging the Medical Research Gulf

What price excellence? Qatar’s Sidra Medical and Research Centre has $7.9 billion to build a world class institution. But is money enough to bridge the gap? | ScienceBusiness.net

Of the six Gulf States, Qatar ranks second to last in size. But in investment in science and research, by contrast, the small emirate has recently become second to none -even outspending its much larger Middle Eastern neighbours, including Syria, Egypt, Turkey and Iran.   

Qatar’s newest research initiative embodies one of the tiny state’s grandest ambitions yet. Sidra, a 382-bed medical and research facility with a whopping $7.9-billion endowment, is being set up in partnership with the Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar (WCMC-Q) to be a regional hub of high-quality healthcare, education and research.

A Tale of Two Sheikdoms

With their oil billions, the Arabian Gulf states are on a spending spree in science and technology – inviting Western universities and technology companies to set up classrooms and laboratories. But will the investments pay off?  | ScienceBusiness.net  

A close look at two of the biggest science spenders shows contrasting strategies for technology
development. Dubai, one of the seven United Arab Emirates, is a pioneer of diversification from oil into science—drawing 19 universities so far to its “Knowledge Village,” to set up profit-seeking satellite campuses for science, technology and business. 

Nearby Qatar, by contrast, is a newcomer to the field and is taking a long-term strategy, spending heavily to bankroll labs and classrooms with the help of selected Western academics.

Qatar’s Science Revolution

Qatar is building an education, science and technology infrastructure at record speed — but not  without friction, reports Waleed Al-Shobakky | SciDev.Net

Qatar is experiencing a near revolution in science aimed at catapulting the oil-wealthy emirate into the 21st century.

Last November, Qatar’s emir, Hammad bin Khalifa Al-Thani pledged to allocate 2.8 per cent of Qatar’s gross domestic product (GDP) to science research.

The pledge signifies a serious, long-term commitment to science of about US$1.5 billion a year — highly unusual in a region where science and research budgets are almost non-existent.

Web 2.0 Can Benefit the Poor

New web applications can benefit the world's poor, argue Waleed al-Shobakky and Jack Imsdahl | Science and Development Network

The term 'Web 2.0' captures the transition of the worldwide web from flat websites offering static information to a new computing platform independent of earlier shackles.

The applications available include web-based word processors and spreadsheets such as gOffice or ThinkFree, online calendars like Kiko and backup services such as that provided by Mozy. Most of these also offer free storage space, acting as a kind of virtual hard disk for saving files.