What a Year!

Wow, what a year...

I can sit and bore you with paragraph upon paragraph of what's gone down through the year, but let me try and summarize it in one line:

Tons of traveling, HalaBahrain got crazy popular, New Tahoe and pimped it out, launched a whole company and ran it (UrFilez Bahrain), riding a camel infront of the Pyramids, villa on the water at the Maldives, put together a bunch of large shows, brought musicians in Bahrain to popularity, launched an album for DJ Outlaw, and a ton more stuff that I can't even remember any more...

2010 is gonna be crazier.. Keep watching this space; HalaBahrain is up for a huge re-make, BahrainTalent is going to be completely re-done and pushed out, get ready for ammaro Productions (audio & video), and get ready for Arabia Underground... That's just the beginning...

(On a separate thought, imagine if you wake up tomorrow and it's the first of January 2011? Where did 2010 go? Imagine losing a whole year. Whoa, trippy. Ok ignore me i'm being silly).

Happy New Year everyone! See you in Oh Ten!

Logo Fever!

Wow, it seems like logo fever is taking over the country! So after last week's new BTV logo (which we came to the conclusion represented nothing, really), Batelco have come to the scene with their own brand new identity!

Come to think of it, didn't Batelco change their logo just a few years back, when Zain (back then MTC Vodafone) came onto the scene? So why are they changing it again? Here are some quotes from Batelco Chief Executive:

Combining the English "B" with its Arabic equivalent, the aim is to make the company identifiable with all cultures

Aha, all cultures? I don't see the Indian and Chinese culture in there. And in fact, I don't even see Arabic culture; sure there's an Arabic letter ب in there somewhere but mixing it in with the B makes it look like this:


Don't see it? Okay look closer:


Hmm. New spelling needed then, Batelcow? No seriously, what's up with all the logo changes? Changing a logo doesn't mean your company moves up in the World. Batelco's service isn't necessarily bad, it's not great though, and it's the internal issues that need to be fixed, not the external view of the company. Anyway, here are the older logos:

2003:


Prior to 2003:


Funnily enough, the oldest one still seems the most relevant to a telecom. Hmm. Anyway, this means we've had 3 logos over the span of less than a decade. What we should be doing is look at the big global companies around the world and follow their examples! So, have those big companies been changing their logos as often? Let's see some examples:

Coca Cola:

1885:


2009:


Hmm. So essentially Coca-Cola has had the same logo for over 100 years, only changing the font a teeny tiny bit to make it look fresh and more modern. Hmm. Doesn't look like we're following that example. Let's look at another:

Nike:

1971:


1981:


1991:


2001:


Hmm. Guess we got it all wrong then...

The Hurricane of Destruction

I've got a pretty good idea on viewership statistics for Bahrain TV; they're probably around 7 people (4 of who are the channel operators and producers who have to check the channel for errors etc).

I don't know why the station is still alive really; it was considered pretty advanced back in the 80's, in comparison to the other countries in the region (ie, Kuwait, UAE, etc)... Yup, and it managed to stay in the 80's and on the same level, while all the countries around us moved forward. Not good.

Now we've got advanced programming from Kuwait, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Saudi, MBC, etc etc, but Bahrain TV is still... Well comic to say the least. Whether the quality of the TV shows (which look like they've been filmed with a mobile phone camera), to the bad scripts and fake acting, or the website that's been "under construction" for the past two years.

Anyway; so a few days ago I heard that BTV decided to change their logo. Yup, their logo! How about you guys change your frickin' employees who have been running the station for the past 40 years? As if changing the logo is going to push up views - Random scenario: Hey Ahmed, can you change the channel to BTV? I heard they have a new logo, let's sit and watch that for a few hours.

Emm... No.

But seriously, Ministry of Info (the guys who run Bahrain TV and Radio), get your act together! We're supposed to be displaying world-class productions through our various media; TV is one obvious portal to the world. I can cite specific examples of why our TV channel is so bad, but I would rather not spread that sort of embarrassment to our country online.

Maybe you (Bahrain) should make me the next head of TV & Radio. No seriously, come on, i'll turn this whole thing around. But anyway, for your enjoyment, the old and new logos:

Old:

Nice and simple, obvious and to the point. Nice portrayal of red and white symbolizing the colors of our flag, with the B looking like some sort of butterfly or whatever, possibly symbolizing how we've let the opportunity of creating a top-notch TV channel fly away :?

New:


No idea in the hell what this is. Sources claim this is supposed to be some sort of calligraphy saying "Bahrain" in Arabic but i've been staring at the thing for the past 20 minutes and I still can't see where half the Arabic letters are. It looks more like a hurricane symbolizing the total destruction we've managed to let the Ministry of Information do to our media channels.


Way to go BTV. Love the new logo. I'm soooo gonna keep the channel on all the time just so I can catch this beautiful graphical piece of art wherever I go.

38

To the country thats built miracles out of the emptiness of the desert, thats caught the eyes of the world, the country that has achieved what they said was impossible, a country that makes us proud to stand up & say I'M ARAB. Happy National Day UAE!



Just a few short words to mark the 38th national day of the United Arab Emirates. Given I've lived a good 5 years there, went to college, took my first job, setting up an office there now, and much more.. It's still one amazing place.

Whether its the astounding world class developments of Dubai, or the serenity of a walk across the Buhairah in Sharjah, the magnificent achievements of Abu Dhabi, or any of the other states. You are truly an inspiration.

Some may try to stain the name, especially with the financial problems of last week; but again, that is the state of the whole world. Sooner rather than later will the UAE be back and bringing glory once again to its people and to all Arabs.

Happy 38th, UAE.




Sent via BlackBerry® from Batelco

Spreading a Rumor

I drive on Sitra Bridge almost every day; it's old, always overcrowded, and definitely falling apart. It wasn't that unbelievable to get a broadcast Blackberry message saying the bridge actually collapsed, although I usually wait to confirm news before I spread it.

Apparently the news wasn't true since I was zooming down the bridge 30 minutes after I got that message, but still, the news (rumor) was all over Blackberry messages, Facebook, and even my not-so-connected-to-technology-aunt heard about it, and it literally spread within the day.

So how fast does it take to spread a rumor? Let's find out. Talking to my cousin who asked me whether the Sitra Bridge collapsing thing was true, we decided to set up another rumor and see how long it takes to spread. The rumor is pretty silly, actually, but it's fun to see how viral it gets. Here's what I came up with (Since we're spreading it through blackberry, it might as well be a blackberry news item) ;

Guys, BB Messenger will become subscription only! "Nov 18, 2009; John Adams, president of RIM, the company that provides the Blackberry, has noted regret about closing some of the companies services at the end of the year: "The global crunch has been harsh on our company especially past the second quarter, and unfortunately we will be dropping some of the more expensive services we currently offer for free." The first service to be dropped at the beginning of 2010 is the popular Blackberry Messenger service, which will be restricted to paying subscribers. Packages are targeted towards business subscribers with corporate packages beginning at $200 per month for every 10 units. (CNN.com)

Pushed out and sent to about 50 people on my list, and I asked my cousin to let me know when he gets the message forwarded to him from other people; that was at exactly 11:02pm. Within 1 minute two people had replied complaining about RIM and their service, and one person asking me if it was true or not. Within 5 minutes I got 3 broadcast messages, 2 other people asking me about whether it was true, one person who told me they had googled it and found nothing, and one person warning me to not send stupid forward messages again. I told the people who replied that I actually made it up as a test and to keep track and let me know if they receive any broadcast messages or replies.

By the tenth minute I had feedback from my trackers of over 20 broadcast messages sent back to them from various people, comments like "RIM should sort out their server before asking for more money", "Great i'll get back control of my life again" Hey guys you wanna get together and put the money for a subscription" and more. By half an hour judging from the people I know who had forwarded it, I estimated approx 600 people had received the message (and that's not including people I know only, who knows how many people I don't know forwarded it on).

Ridiculous.

I'm trying to keep track but it's starting to get hectic so i'll just quit. It's pretty funny how people decide to spread rumors without checking them for any credibility. Tons of rubbish out there, from the "please forward as hotmail is tracking active accounts and will delete if you don't forward", to "dunnowho will pay $1 for every person you forward this to" to everything else. Some fall close to home, obviously; I just got another message about Bershka in Kuwait having spy cameras hidden in the changing rooms and you should watch out.

People are sheep. Funky.