:: Hikmah @ Ekhwan.Com :: » Media

Youth is the gift of nature, but age is a work of art

Juzar Noorani — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 04:34:33 +0000

It has just been a few months since the launch of Google’s Social Media Service, the widely talked about Google+ and just a few days since its launch of Brand Pages.

Google has tried and tried again to plunge into the social media business to get a scope of it highly lucrative and viral reach but has withdrawn most of its products after the much enthusiasm with which it was launched was never met. Google Wave was withdrawn from the product line and so is Buzz being turned down in a few weeks time.

Google does have to understand that FaceBook has already done its trial and error thing and understands the user’s needs from its age and learn from the trends set by such a successful venture, from its pros and cons, rather then build from scratch and then keep people waiting for the most needed features yet to come. The wait turning tiring and the enthusiasm fading out.

What Google simply lacks is its integrity with existing social networking media. Google+ would have rocked if it were to have feeds from twitter and facebook, from multiple accounts off-course. Better and tighter privacy options and since Google+ does not allow profile pages for Businesses and in turn has launched pages, they should have focused on allowing people to reserve their brands in the URL rather then having to ask then to remember some funky digits.

I recently plunged into the pages thing to get pages reserved for the organizations I am associated with and then kept wondering as to how I could add other contributors and admins to those pages on Google+. At the end of the day I realized they are still working on it. Its quite simple, can’t they learn from FaceBook that this is supposed to be a basic function for a page that represents an organization or a business entity or does Google+ seem to have a single employee, LOL.

The entire game about so many people running into, what I would call, an immature network, is the mere fact that googleplus accounts tend to get listed on google’s search engine faster then a facebook one, but what about other search engines like Bing. Let’s face it Google is still number one and synonymous when it comes to Search Engines.

It needs a lot of patience to educate people on new tools and time is scarce when it comes to the speed of the Internet, so lets wait and watch what how rapidly Google+ makes its way to into the Social Media.

As for the short URL I did manage to get an easy to remember URL for all my Google+ pages as well as my profile.

http://gplus.to/ekhwan
http://gplus.to/attalim
http://gplus.to/hitechuae

Google Apps Transition

Juzar Noorani — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 05:28:46 +0000

Google Apps has announced that all the google services will now be available for google apps users just like any other google account. Everything works fine and data is also not lost if suppose you already had a sign-in to any other google services with your google app email. The problems is not the data it is the association of a google id or account to the data. That is, once the google app account is transitioned and someone signs in to, for example, webmaster tools central or analytics, they will be prompted to transition their existing data to another NEW gmail or google account OR a third party email account. The most weird thing I faced was that for each service I had to enter a new email address because existing google accounts were not allowed.

The steps are really making it hard for some people to remember multiple accounts and use them for different purposes and making the task of transition harder. I think google should find a solution to this as most of our attalim.net users have been transitioned except a few due to conflict. The weird thing about the whole game is that each google tool has its own way of looking at things, feedburner is different, adsense and adwords both work differently when it comes to account sign-in and so does webmaster tools central and analytics, while blogger has its own way around as well.

There is a lot of reading and helping tutorial on google but it took me almost an hour to figure out my problem with the adwords account, even then it was only solved by a support request to google and I must say they are fast.

Sharjah International Book Fair

Juzar Noorani — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 10:41:38 +0000

The SIBF is one event that I wait the entire year to happen. It is a place where one can feed his or her intellectual appetite with vast and diverse collection of titles both new and old. There is much to write about on an even as massive and full of words as this one. For now it would be just enough two write about the opening ceremony of this book fair by the Ruler of Sharjah himself. His Highness Sheikh Sultan al-Qasimi a person well learned and well versed with both contemporary knowledge as well as classical is a author of several books himself.

His Highness, the ruler is always present on this spectacular event each year and finds time for it from his busy schedule which indeed reflects his love for education and imparting of knowledge. Personally I have been very lucky and fortunate to be present during the opening and visit of the Ruler. Its his humble self that any person, be it a citizen or an expat, can extend his greetings to the scholarly personality as well as accompany him as he scrolls past the hundreds of stalls erected by the participants from all over the world. His Highness Dr. Shiekh Sultan al-Qasimi, signed the English copy of his book (Sard al-Zatt) as well as the new book (Hadeeth al-Zakirah).

It was an overwhelming occasion as he skimmed through the booths, surfing through the titles exhibited on each stalls.

Personally I find great pleasure even window shopping at such a beautiful place and time passes by in such a way hours just seem to be minutes and there is never enough time to inspect each section of personal interest even let alone adventuring into a new field of growing knowledge.

Being a fan of this yearly event in Sharjah, there are a few critical points at mind do need to be considered by the organisers. On this very first day there were no carry bags with the publishers at the booths provided by the organisers nor were there any invoice books, no trolleys and so on. Buying the books was hard on the first day though its better later on. But the situation is the same year after year on the first day.

Once again all the applaud to this event for the sake of the love of knowledge and books.

Internet and Duplication of Content

Juzar Noorani — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 05:27:20 +0000

The age we live in has made itself known as the Information Age, where information flow is more rapid and readily available on the click of a button and a blink of an eye. I think it is far more advance and superior to the Atomic power or even our adventures to the outer space. In fact the Information age brings the universe closer to us through gadgets like the Google Earth and many others.

Although we might be in the age where Education and Knowledge is freely available everywhere there is a jungle of unknown out there, and people can be misled or get lost in the junk of duplication and sometimes even blunders and Urban legends. We often see these useless junk mails forwarded to us in the form of making us aware, just to find out later that it was a prank and there is no reality attached to it.

Having lived in the virtual world for years, in the form of a passion and a profession, spending hours on the Internet daily, it is often felt that the flow of Information over the Internet needs to be controlled. But then if it is really controlled then we would forfeit the freedom and right to information as well as expression.

However, there is one thing that is often bothering when I surf the internet that people just for some odd and unknown reason to copy and paste material from one site to the other. The copy paste business or adventure just leads to the expansion in the number of pages the internet has rather then real information.

Recently I came across a community site, which is much bothered with its PR than the flow of information due to is commercial aspect, that, it has announced the launch of articles on historical events and dates according to the Hijri Calender. The website Zeninfosys, has installed Drupal to take care of its copy/paste business from another authentic website of the community mazaraat.com

Looking at the above scenario, one can see no reason for such work and nor does it have any importance other then adding more pages to the internet. It is not only the breach of intellectual rights which at times some authors or owners do not bother about but it does make a difference.

The reason for such acts of plagiarism can only be traced back to commercial benefits where a person might look-up for PR and visitor hits. Certainly the internet has grown to be a larger media version then the Television nowadays with people spending more time in front of their PCs rather then the TV screen.

On the other hand if anyone just wants to enter the internet world and be known the better and more sincere way would be to put forward original words. Content and Information can never be original unless one is a mass researcher but the words in which they are presented can be unique and the way its felt by the reader can be a standout form for each person has a different style of writing or conveying the information that might be useful in the internet jungle.

Apart from that “Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person who you originally are”, is a nice quote to fit the topic.

Twitter Jungle

Juzar Noorani — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 19:19:00 +0000

Recently I came across a write-up in Gizmo “In Twitter No One Can Hear You Scream” which I tweeted as usual. Most of the time I feel twitter is non-sense and a waste of time but not if you know how to use twitter to your benefits. Its a great tool that can spread the word about blog posts, maybe short thoughts to the people who follow you and want to know what you are up to.

I use twitter to mark some of the wonderful pieces of information that I read around and at time just stumble on while surfing the internet. To save the good information one can simply tweet it and/or mark it favorite and it can be found in the time line later. Twitter can be used to share and jot down immediately great ideas that pop-up at anytime and any place.

Another great thing about twitter is its sms notification service. I use it to keep in touch with my immediate family and keep them updated of what I AM exactly doing. Though sometimes my son does get annoyed by the number of sms/tweets I send him, he sure likes reading it.

Though most of my tweets are really those 71% mentioned above I find it useful for myself. After all one can know what the Big B is doing when he tweets at least.

Ever since I have added my twitter to the facebook account it has saved my a lot of time updating my facebook friends with new blog posts at least.

Twitter has done great wonders in several ways and those who master its use and are looking for some serious business can benefit from everything that the little tweety has to offer.

We have seen companies offer serious support to their customers on a regular basis using twitter and others post important and vital announcements to their followers who do really look forward to such information. Looking at the age of information and the way the internet has changed our perspective of getting the information we need, its not only twitter that is a jungle but every piece of existing data is. One just needs to learn how to use the available data and resources to suit our best needs. That is the reason why we are humans and not monkeys of the jungle.

The thing about Ads

Juzar Noorani — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 08:11:23 +0000

Basically advertisement really means to promote and draw attention to your product. A more ethical way to say it would be to raise awareness. Ads that work within these bounds are only valuable the rest is just wasting money on junk and crap.

There are these multinationals that sponsor large events to get a piece of public attention drawn by the media and spend a hefty amount of money on campaigns. Does it really work is the question. Say if Pepsi was to sponsor a huge international sporting event and roll their sleeves on promotional offers would that even matter to the Coke lover? It might hike Pepsi sales during the event but would it effect the loyalty of people towards other brands?

There are 2 things that are involved when sales are closed. The first thing is that, which draws the customer’s attention and the second, which makes him or her loyal and keep them returning back.

A cool blonde might be just enough to draw the prospect into a sales lead and close the deal but what makes them loyal is customer support. The kind of treatment one gives to the customer. Its like the old saying that goes, “treat a lady like a queen and she becomes surf”.

Advertisement for the sake of getting the glorified attention of the media begets the most needed attention to draw your clients so why not use it to raise the awareness of the support and services that the customers experience at your sales counter and from the customer support department. Using the media to promote the word of mouth of a customer is something that will endorse the brand. A brand recommended by commoners and not celebrities. Get a webcam and capture your customers’ testimonials and promote them as you go.

Its not the sales lead that makes a company grow and stand rather its the customer loyalty and demand that keeps it going and that is what exactly what kept us going as well. Customers are real people who make us stand apart from the competition.

Our bounce back after deciding on a closure was stopped not by customers, rather our friends.

Copyright association with Names

Juzar Noorani — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 06:45:01 +0000

Identity theft is a very common issue in today’s digital world where people can easily take the advantage of replicable usernames and other digital signatures to represent another entity. This at times can prove to be life threatening in certain cases.

But what if there is no identity theft. What if there do exist people with similar names and surnames or even full names. There are these sites that provide digital signatures but it does not always work everywhere on the internet. How can one secure their identity particularly if a person is associated with several NAMES and BRANDS.

Recently I had to deal with a submission made by me on ezinearticles.com which was rejected by saying that I did not have exclusive rights to it. The reason why I was supposed to NOT have exclusive rights to a content was that the article Ramadan and Fasting was also posted on the hikmah.ekhwan.com blog under the name of Juzar Sh Yusuf bhai while the article submission was made under the name of Juzar Noorani

The way ezinearticles verifies the actual author of the article is weird and illogical. A same person can have a short name, a full name and even several brand names that belong to him not just associated.

While looking for a possible answer to the problem aroused by my experience with ezinearticles it did make me think and do some research of my own. There are several resources that can help with the entire issue of copyright and brand protection or whatever you might call it. The Creative Commons license is the best of all that needs to be published on your site or associated with your work. Another freebie is myfreecopyright.com which is an amazing service which provides unique digital fingerprints for blogs, podcasts, websites and even files. Another free tool which might be of interest is ud.com which provides a search on the availability of the names you would like to associate with on most common social media.

There might be several free tools out there that can help people deal with such issues and if anyone knows of such tools please feel free to leave a comment.

Are we Humans!

Juzar Noorani — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 20:51:17 +0000

The article by Khalaf Ahmed al-Habtoor “Enough Free Propaganda..” is a gem. Every word of it is true and while everyone chooses if they want to be “hurt” or not we are human beings after all. We have the right to choose between right and wrong and we have been given a divine gift to select between various paths in every aspect of life. We are definitely social and therefore have rules and laws in place. But what if, behind the veil of the law, a person can act like a lunatic?

A person has the right to burn his own property, money whatever and the law secures him to do that. Can a mother kill a child after giving birth to it, if she has failed abortion? Abortion is alright then why not killing the new born?

Personally I feel both are nor right and many people feel that but what is law? The thoughts of a few men put together who think they know better then other humans? Then maybe after a few year or a decade or a hundred someone might turn-up and amend it? Whats logical to a person is insane to the other, whats important to a group is rubbish to others. Some people try to uphold the right and freedom to do anything they want just because they are insecure, that maybe they land up in a similar position some day. The blame game starts and say that if such a right is implemented and an insane person carries out insane things people tend to hurt themselves, its their choice and those who are hurt are maybe insecure or whatever.

The people who think they follow logical thinking, play with words and claim that though they also feel insanity to be insane but would rather support logic. What logic is that? Humans manipulate every bit of logic and just walk around in an inhuman manner. Where is our tolerance and where do we stand is the question.

Burning of “Quran”, where is the world headed?

Juzar Noorani — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:24:04 +0000

A gulfnews article published today brings great concern to me personally being a practicing and faithful Muslim but it further brings about concern that why does not any country in the world have stringent laws against defamation of religious texts. In these many years I have lived in India, I was there during the Babri Masjid riots and though there was a lot of blood shed I haven’t heard of anyone burning the Quran or the Gita. Houses were burnt down and people were killed and what not inhumane acts of violence were carried out by people, I use this word with caution, as I believe religion leads to salvation and therefore cannot preach violence and hatred. People are hurt by people and not religion.

It is the misconceptions of people that lead to such violence while the religious texts are always sacred and divine. They preach love and harmony even where there is a mention of war. It has deep meanings which are misunderstood by many or misinterpreted for the mass by many for personal gains. The police if they have to fire and kill in an encounter are not murderers. They are protecting the peaceful lives of people.

The article that led me to write this blog entry after many days has many aspects that need to be looked into and discusses. The first and foremost are the different concerns cited by the US officials regarding the threat to the US troops by the disgraceful and disrespectful act. Further more the concern about the harm that would cause to the administration and the triggering of the insurgents are also worth noting. All concerns are political crap and none of them even point to the gravity of this act. Any religious book is sacred and should be regarded as equal to the constitution of a country where if anyone who commits an act towards it would be regarded as non-patriotic.

None have raised concerns over the sentiments of American Muslims and another billions of people who have nothing to do with al-Qaida. al-Qaida or its similar types claim to be Muslims but does that make them Muslim and followers of the Quran. A dissident holding an American passport if does an act against the country would not be an American even though he has a passport and claims to be one. The nation would hold him as a foe rather then a child.

The political concerns expressed by the US officials are not only worrying but they point to a true fact that there are motives other then peace and harmony in policies governing deployment of troops and military might. Unjust and unlawful people of the likes of al-Qaida kill the innocent in the name religion and what not while the people who are trying to uphold the law are doing the same in the name of “War on Terror”.

People around the world need to understand that tolerance will bring growth to peace and harmony while hate will bread fear and hate. Acts such as these are from not learned and civilized people but from the ignorant and misinformed.

Wake up America, the statue of liberty points to the liberty of being human not lawless animals.

Ekhwan Group Dot Com

Juzar Noorani — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 00:30:13 +0000

Ramadan is always a time when we Muslims free ourselves from the worldly hassles of life and simply look into spirituality and religious affairs. Its the time to nourish our souls of with pure worship and faith in the Lord our creator.

The past month has been really busy for me with most of my time spent as the Masjid and a part to and fro to my home from the Masjid. A little rest and some spare time with the family. Ekhwan has been in the hosting business since many years now with a few large companies that have trusted us for the many years we have been in business, dophinheattransfer.com and ezwaretechnologies being the most oldest of them all.

Saying that Ekhwan has become a brand in the hosting business that many prefer for the truthful and sincere service and advise we offer to our clients. Our aim has always been to help our clients get the most out of their business.

The reason for all the above introduction is a disclaimer that recently came into my notice. A website called ekhwan group dot com. I have separated the words and spelt out the dot so as not to link to it. This website is NOT a part of Ekhwan and we are not associated to this website or company in any way, even if it is legitimate which we are not aware of.

Just a second note. I have much to write about and will continue as soon as I am back from the spiritual journey, fully revived.

:: Hikmah @ Ekhwan.Com :: » Media

Youth is the gift of nature, but age is a work of art

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