The ‘world’s most luxurious’ hotel has introduced its personalised range of the 24-carat gold devices to guests upon check-in, to be returned upon check-out, and priced – according to The Guardian – at Dh37,600 (£6,715). Engraved especially with the hotel’s logo, guests will use the device as a “virtual concierge” and access both information and a selection of hotel services.

“Our exclusive Burj Al Arab 24-carat gold iPads epitomise Jumeirah’s philosophy of ‘stay different’ and further enhances our guests’ experience during their stay”, says Heinrich Morio, Burj Al Arab’s general manager. “We have also recently introduced iMacs inside all of our suites to ensure that we offer thoroughly modern guest experiences and keep up with hospitality industry trends.”

Interestingly, the gold iPad – described by Burj Al Arab as the “ultimate in luxury accessories” – is a way of differentiating itself from the competition. Hold on, let’s make sure we didn’t read that incorrectly. Excuse us while we silently count the hundreds of other factors that – without the need for a gold iPad or other needlessly embellished objects – make it stand out.

For one, despite the Burj Al Arab officially falling under the five-star category, it’s frequently thought of – and constantly referred to – as the world’s only seven-star hotel. And, in case you hadn’t noticed, it’s been designed to mimic a ship’s sail. Never mind the fact that it is the world’s fourth-tallest hotel and stands on a 280-metre artificial island, and caters to the elite members of society.

While Kipp sees this gold iPad as the epitome of luxury offering in Dubai, we must admit it isn’t necessarily always about maintaining an opulent lifestyle for the guests. After all, it isn’t the first time a customised version of the iPad was introduced by the hotel. Back in October 2012, it premiered its exclusive 24-carat rose gold iPad as part of its Pinking Burj Al Arab campaign in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Do you believe imposing the minimum wage here is unfair to employers? Apparently, at a Federal National Council (FNC) session this week, an FNC member will argue that it is, in fact, unfair for Emiratis to have to abide by this minimum wage. According to The National, Hamad Al Rahoomi intends to ask Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, the UAE’s Foreign Minister, whether embassies should be allowed to ‘proactively ensure these minimums are upheld’.

Al Rahoomi says that many nationals have complained to him about this, saying maids should not be receiving a 100 per cent raise when they’re not doing any more work.

“This has been the situation for years. So we are surprised. If the two parties are happy, why change it?” asks Al Rahoomi. “This is taking advantage of UAE nationals,” he adds. “Some have started to draw up side contracts with maids to avoid minimum wages.”

As many of you probably know, minimum wages for domestic workers and maids have already been implemented in the United Arab Emirates. In November this year, more than 100 recruitment agencies have signed agreements with the Philippine Association of Manpower Agencies to abide by a Dhs1,469-a-month minimum pay.

A similar agreement applies for Indian staff at Dhs1,100, Dhs800 for Indonesia, Dhs825 for Sri Lanka and Dhs750 for Bangladesh. Nepal – which has had a particularly difficult history with worker abuse in the region (particularly Saudi Arabia) – has banned women under 30 from working in the Arabian Gulf and requires at least Dhs900 a month for those above 30.

You’ll have to excuse Kipp, but after years of everyone getting away with paying domestic workers practically nothing, the idea that a minimum wage – which still, in my opinion, remains shockingly low  – is ‘taking advantage’ of anyone, is impalpable.

After it was revealed that Abercrombie & Fitch refuses to make clothes in larger sizes, hires only ‘beautiful’ people and – shockingly enough – would rather burn or discard their old clothes than donate them to the poor or homeless, it’s safe to say the company faced widespread criticism.

There are no XL or XXL sizes and its largest trousers for women are size 10 (US measurements), according to the Huffington Post.  In 2006, A&F’s CEO Mike Jeffries told The Salon: “Are we exclusionary? Absolutely. A lot of people don’t belong, and they can’t belong.”

Instead of rushing to the nearest social media network to moan about it like any person would, writer Greg Karber took matters into his own hands and decided it was time for payback. He took to the streets of Los Angeles – more particularly, ‘Skid Row’ – and handed out donated A&F clothes to the homeless and the unfortunate, in an attempt to ‘remake’ the brand’s image.

His video, which has since been uploaded to YouTube and watched over 3.7 million times, has received extremely positive feedback, and was responsible for the birth of a now popular Twitter trend called #FitchTheHomeless.

Karber also urged everyone watching to get involved – emphasising on the point that clothes should be for everyone and not just for the ‘cool kids’.

Fifty-nine-year-old Michael Fay forged papers, a pilot’s licence and medical records to land himself a job at Libya’s Afriqiyah Airways – and succeeded. He lasted approximately eight months, during which he operated Airbus A320 aircrafts, before he was exposed by another pilot on an internet forum and arrested in February 2011.

Fay illegally flew passengers into Gatwick Airport in Britain on eight separate occasions and has recently failed to turn up at Winchester Crown Court when he was due to be sentenced on May 3. In his absence, he was handed a three-year imprisonment.

Afriqiyah Airways said that they are currently investigating the matter and will treat the investigation with the ‘utmost seriousness it deserves’.

“As a major national carrier, we place great emphasis on the safety and integrity of our crews and aircraft,” said an airline spokesperson. “We understand that his engagement with us may have been arranged through a third-party broker who should have vetted his documentation and credentials before recommending him as a contractor with Afriqiyah Airways.”

Do you remember Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can? Although the film is now over a decade old, Kipp fondly remembers the hauntingly talented performance of DiCaprio as a convincing con artist – or rather, a 19-year-old kid who mastered the intellect, conversational wizardry and mannerisms of a masterful con artist.

While it is based on a true story, it was still difficult to grasp that anyone could ever fool an entire organization into believing he was a qualified and licenced pilot. As it turns out, even in this day and age, it’s more than possible.

*Photo Credit

Instead, what they’ve done – aside from wow us –  is allocate a ‘Watcher Team’ with the sole purpose of stealing the vehicles of irresponsible drivers. As part of a public awareness campaign to promote sensible thought, they patrol ‘busy spots’ and look for unattended cars to make a quick getaway in.

Picture this. You’re in a hurry and you feel your stress levels rising. You’ve only just managed to escape the nightmare of bumper-to-bumper traffic and you need a quick stop at the bank or a pharmacy. Your car is left outside; unattended and the engine is running. You tell yourself you’re only going to be a few minutes. You walk back outside and your car’s gone. You start to panic, thinking it really is stolen – and the police stay away long enough to ensure that you do – before they decide to return it to you.

Oh, and the extra fun part? It’s all recorded. The team purposely leaves a camera behind to capture your reaction. The educational part of the campaign is a strong message. Do not leave your car unattended and for the love of practical jokes, switch that engine off.

According to Gulf Today, the department is trying to educate people that a policeman cannot possibly protect every single vehicle on the road – especially those unattended.

I have spent the last nine months of my life developing a website that would encourage adults in the United Arab Emirates to learn something new. Along the way, I’ve encountered many naysayers who would respond to my idea with: “adults can’t learn the same way children do. It’s much harder past a certain age.”

There are a myriad of scientific reports out there that will substantiate this claim, and others that refute it. As a gut feeling, I have never believed it to be true.

Then last week, I found my answer while taking a photography course. The course was officially targeted at adults, but somehow two young brothers managed to nab seats in the class. I sat next to the 11-year-old brother for the majority of the course and was fascinated by his reactions to the material. Totally uninhibited, he snapped pictures, tried new things, and above all bombarded the instructor with questions. He was desperate to learn this new skill and didn’t care what he looked like while doing it.

His pictures put the rest of us to shame and I realised that while I don’t know if children are physically more capable learners than adults, I am convinced they definitely have a better mindset to learn. When the instructor would ask questions in the class, the adults would shift around nervously in their seats, none wanting to give the answer even if they knew it.

This little boy was the antithesis and was nearly jumping off his seat to answer what he knew, and even what he didn’t know.

As children, we are curious and eager to learn by nature. Somewhere along the line, we become more inhibited and stifle our curiosity in order to maintain appearances. So yes, I agree with the naysayers that children do learn better than the average adult, but only because of their mindset. In my opinion, we should actually take a few tips from them in order to become lifelong learners:

Ask questions: There is no such thing as a stupid question. If you don’t know something, ask.

Do not be afraid to fail: This is the most crippling fear in adults that is not prevalent amongst children. They seem to understand that they will not perfect something from the first attempt, but as adults, this notion actually prevents us from venturing into something new.

Enjoy the process: A child’s main objective is always to have fun. Focus less on perfecting the skill and more on the pleasure of actually learning it, and you’ll find that you reach your destination faster than you had expected.

Maya Itani is a passionate advocate of lifelong learning and co-founded The Curve (thecurve-me.com), an online marketplace for adult classes in Dubai. 

What has all this taught me?

First, I now believe that we value what we pay for more than what we don’t. Advice that is given freely is, unfortunately, seen as worthless.

Secondly, in a business-to-business relationship (such as client and management consultant), the client is more often looking for a problem to be solved than advice as to how to solve the problem for himself.

Thirdly, unless the client (individual or organisation) specifically asks for advice, the chances that he will accept and act on it are quite low (“between slim and nil” as one client put it to me when I was much younger and keen to change the world).

Is there a more general message here for people in advisory positions?

Let’s suppose we have dealt with the three points raised above – the client is prepared to pay; he wants advice; and wants to solve the problem. What is the key to being a successful adviser?

Professionalism – the one word that sums it all up. To be professional involves, on the one hand, being competent, and competence is a mixture of technical expertise (as an adviser, you have to have some solutions in your kitbag, and more importantly, you have to have diagnostic skills to work out the nature of the problem, in order to select the right solution) and professional qualifications (to reassure the client that your technical expertise is supported by external accreditation).

On the other hand, being a professional involves ‘bedside manner’ (the client wants to feel listened to, appreciated and recognised as an individual with a unique problem, even if the adviser has seen the same problem a hundred times before) and experience (no client wants to be an adviser’s first client).

So, the equation for professionalism is (technical expertise + professional qualifications) x (bedside manner + experience). Through the astute application of these attributes, the adviser can build a trust-based relationship, allowing him to help the client to solve the problem…professionally.

In 2011, workplace expert Lynda Gratton concisely expressed her views in the Financial Times; stipulating that worker loyalty had been “killed off through shortening contracts, outsourcing, automation and multiple careers”.

Others disagree, suggesting that while it may not truly be on the verge of extinction, it could merely play out differently in corporate environments. In either case, loyalty implies ‘sticking by’ something or someone even if it goes against your own self-interest. And until today, Kipp was relatively content with that definition, but it seems that a New York City real estate company was not.

Rapid Realty has put forward a strange (to say the least) proposition to its 800 employees; tattoo the company logo on your body and you’ll be rewarded with a 15 per cent pay increase.

Owner Anthony Lolli tells CBS New York that the idea to present this offer to the rest of the staff came when one of the employees decided to, of his own accord, stamp himself with the company logo. “He calls me up, he says ‘Hey Anthony, I’m getting the logo on me.’ I show up at the shop and I’m like ‘this is cool, how can I repay you?’” Lolli said.

Surprisingly, 40 employees have already, and rather enthusiastically, agreed and permanently inked themselves. There were no guidelines about the size or location of the tattoo so while one employee Brooke Koropatnick had it done behind her ear; others chose an arm or a leg.

Call us crazy if you will, but Kipp still prefers a world where working the extra hour or two and occasionally making a weekend presence at the office translated into loyalty. Where going the extra mile; performing duties outside of your job description and helping others meant that you were a valuable asset to an organisation.

Would you ever, in your wildest dreams, get a tattoo of your company logo for a salary hike?

The last couple of weeks have been hectic. With Desado still in its infant age, we have already received an overwhelmingly positive response from our customer base in the UAE.

In terms of the designs we are offering our members, the increase in sales and staff, we are overall growing exponentially. Like with an actual child though, mishaps occur (lots of tiny ones), but with a bit of training and education (and lots and lots of internal meetings), processes improve on a daily basis.

As if perfecting the site, our offerings, marketing efforts etc. were not enough; we have set ourselves an even bigger task to accomplish. We are finalising the last necessary steps to launch across the entire GCC, while simultaneously creating an Arabic version of the site to cater to the language preference of the majority of our new target audience.

Under the microscope that means improving and adjusting the base version, while at the same time translating all the required content, setting up the IT and logistics, as well as sourcing products relevant to each of the markets we are targeting. As we are very much aware, KSA is not Kuwait and Kuwait is not Qatar and, well you get the point.

Different people, different product preferences, finding the right mix is the real challenge here.

If you zoom in even further, it means even more internal meetings and last, but definitely not least, just the right amount of boost and drive, for everyone to be motivated and on track.

It is amazing to see your own venture expand, same as seeing your child grow up. There is a high level of stress involved, but the rewards are worth every effort.

Being a successful entrepreneur revolves around a certain mindset. Apart from having a very clear idea about the business model and a strong analytical & strategic thinking; you have to be a people’s person at the same time. Start-ups are crazy, stressful and time-intensive. Sometimes, you need to take a step back from looking at the business as your brainchild and acknowledge the bigger picture; a start-up only works with a great team of people involved and managing these people with a social intelligence is of the essence.

You have to get over the challenges that you come across on a daily basis and make decisions or find solutions that sometimes seem out of the ordinary. Being a rather relaxed personality definitely helps, because the worst thing that can happen, is when the head of the game in fact loses his head in the process.

What have I learned in the last few weeks? Well for one, that children grow up fast and become more and more independent, with the right amount of positive parenting. Also, the step from crib to playground might seem hard at first, but let’s face it, the playground is the much more fun place to romp around.

By Muhammad Chbib, Founder of ecommerce site Desado.com and ex-CEO of Sukar.

This is understandable, considering that it is reflexive behavior in an attempt to restore a state of health as we understand it, and as we have been accustomed to, at the first sign that what we have for so long taken for granted is at risk of being taken away from us. We do it while wearing one or more hats; as an individual, the head of a family, as an employee, the head of an organisation, a member of government or an entrepreneur.

We get so engrossed in playing catch-up that we lose sight of the fact that the landscape has changed and a new set of principles has taken hold of our existence.

To continue down this path is to refuse to accept that unless at least some of our behaviour changes, we are headed down a dangerous crevasse from which we are unlikely to emerge unscathed – if at all. It sounds rather dramatic, but what is at play all around us is no less so. The trouble is that we are so engrossed in halting the slide, in catching up, or steadying whatever is so quickly spinning out of control that we seem not to consider, let alone accept, that some of the changes are our new realities, and that if they are not here to stay, they need to at least run their respective courses before further change – more positive change, one would hope – is brought about.

Baruch Spinoza, one of the 17th century’s great rationalist philosophers, said: “Do not weep; do not wax indignant. Understand.” Applying this lesson has recently made me ease off, very reluctantly I hasten to add, on expressing my displeasure with the rapid ascent of greed, the entrenchment of blind procurement practices, and the global arrival of the age of the squeeze, where everyone and everything gets squeezed by those above and those in a position to squeeze.

Recognising that the new reality leads us to appreciate that at a time of little, or no, growth it is understandable that investors and shareholders, often this means the average Joe who has invested money in the financial markets, are squeezing corporations for higher returns. This beautiful application of trickle-down economics makes its way from the very top of the ladder, passing through my CEO, and his CEO, all the way to people like me, and you. Along the way, procurement – representing businesses – does its job and applies the pressure to extract more value and efficiency.

More specifically, the northern emirate of Ras Al Khaimah – in response to complaints filed by local families – has posted warning signs advising the public against wearing revealing swimwear.

The violators will not be arrested or face any particular charges, but will be asked to leave the beach and possibly receive a hefty fine as well – after a second warning.

According to a supporting report by The National, the signs – posted by the police and municipality – read: “All coast goers should commit to public morality and modest clothing”, followed by an illustration of a man in tight swimming trunks, a woman in bikini and a cross over both images.

Captain Khaled Al Naqbi, of RAK Police, advised the public to “use common sense” and “just be modest”.

Obviously, this subject doesn’t simply reflect a mere warning sign on a public beach in RAK; it is a sneak peak of what’s yet to come. The issue of dressing modestly in the UAE has long captivated the public – particularly on public and social forums. Currently, you’re allowed to wear a bikini on beaches in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, but don’t be surprised if there comes at a time when it is forbidden.

Throughout all shopping malls and certain public areas, in both emirates, there are countless signs urging visitors to dress humbly and respectively. Groups on Twitter and Facebook (such as @UAEDressCode) were set up to both educate the public and raise awareness among residents and tourists that a little sensitivity with how much skin you reveal is in order. We all remember that ridiculous woman who, after an argument with an Arab woman criticising her indecency, stripped down to her bikini in the mall in 2010.

In fact, news of this ‘unofficial ban’ has once again ignited a flame of interest in the matter, rehashing an equally relevant news article from earlier this year. Visitors to Dubai Zoo were asked to wear respectable clothing – meaning that knees and shoulders should be covered – and that scarves, if necessary, can be provided at the door. In January 2013, signs were also posted across the zoo.

At the time, Ahmad Abdul Karim, Director of Public Parks and Horticulture Department, Dubai Municipality, emphasised that this move isn’t a newly implemented rule, but simply shines the spotlight on existing laws in parks as well.

According to various reports, such community bans have been greeted with enthusiasm and support – but the issue may still lie with the lack of awareness about the matter. A few days after the signs in the emirate’s public beaches were posted, the head of public relations and moral guidance for RAK Police clarified that revealing swimwear is not ‘officially outlawed’ but strongly discouraged because of cultural sensitivities.

“We respect the rights for people. We follow UAE law,” said Maj Marwan Al Mansoori. “Our campaign is not about catching people. We just want to tell people about our culture and our community.”

Us, guys, always cry foul, especially when we’re on the receiving end of a decision such as this. But the need to have privacy when on the beach is natural, especially in the Gulf. The mix of cultures often means that there will be people on the beach who may make others very uncomfortable (how many of you who have experienced ‘the stare’ while on one of Dubai’s beaches). In every country around the Gulf there are private beaches, compounds and secluded spots which offer people the choice to bathe in privacy.

What drew my attention is the additional segregation at the beaches. Both Al Mamzar and Jumeirah Beach Park will have sections demarcated for nationals which will be separate from those parts of the beach reserved for female tourists.

The notion of a beach segregated by nationality worries me. I’ve lived across the Gulf, including in Saudi Arabia, and while the concept of foreigners-only beach compounds is familiar to me, I’ve never heard of a female beach which is segregated based on nationality. The National’s journalist notes that the reason for such a decision is two-fold. Firstly, there’s the swimwear worn by tourists. And, secondly, there’s the differing needs of each group. To quote Ahmad Abdul Kareem, the director of the parks and horticulture department from the article itself.

“We decided to classify our beaches according to needs of different visitors. Tourists want to swim, but local women come with friends, children, bring their own food and enjoy the day.”

For me, this is more than competing interests. It’s not simply about whether Dubai wants to be a global tourism hub or preserve its traditions and culture. This is about how Dubai’s various groups want to interact and live together. Will we come to a point where different nationalities live their lives based on their own norms and customs, and in essence separate themselves from the rest of society? And what is best, to educate and integrate, or segregate and ignore the other?

The question comes down to this – how can the Emirate foster a community spirit that embraces all and helps us to teach one another how best to respect and celebrate our differences? Is segregating a beach by nationality preferable to education and is ignorance the preferred option. As I’m not allowed in to the beach on women’s day I won’t be able to raise my voice and say I think there’s a better solution for Dubai’s female-only beaches. I hope others won’t stick their heads in the sand, but rather ask what can we do to make the places in which we live a more understanding, inclusive society? I, for one, think the beach is a great place to start.

A British national with Arabic roots, Alex has spent ten years in the Gulf and has lived in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and the United Arab Emirates. Alex lost his heart to journalism years ago, but he has worked with a range of multinational companies in the technology, energy and financial sector to develop marketing and communications approach to the region. He’s currently based in Dubai but calls Bahrain home.

That’s not to say I haven’t experienced moments of serenity, it is just that those moments tend to occur when I am in my apartment, curtains drawn and ear plugs on. Sometimes the thought of going on vacation fills me with a sense of calm, but in Dubai there is nothing that comes close to instilling a ‘peaceful, easy feeling’.

But for some, even in a city where traffic accidents are an everyday occurrence, where the landscape changes daily and online re-registration forms call for ‘re-registration’ in person, there is room for an oasis of calm.

Take, for example, Argentine football legend Diego Maradona. He recently opened up to The National about how the city has become a source of peace: “My life was like Formula One in the past, going at full throttle, but I am now experiencing this wonderful tranquility,” he says. “Living here among Arabs has changed a lot of my ideas and beliefs, and this has been a very important experience in my life.”

This ‘wonderful tranquility’ has nothing to do with being prematurely dismissed from a two-year contract as manager of Al Wasl FC, after failing to get to the finals, we presume.

Try, as I might, between the relentless hazard lights and piercing horns that adorn Sheikh Zayed Road in rush hour, I haven’t quite been able to channel my inner tranquility, like Diego.

When Epicurious, an international food and cookery website, made the dreadful error of believing it could somehow successfully (and sensitively) combine a heartfelt sentiment for victims, while promoting its latest scone recipe, we wondered how an established company could be responsible for an enormous ‘smack my head’ moment for more than 385,000 of its followers.

If done properly, with both respect and sensitivity, it can even be rather engaging and positive for both the brand and its followers. In fact, brands need to capitalise on things to stay ahead. It’s the smart thing to do – especially if you want to end up with hundreds of thousands of active followers on any social media network.

However, Epicurious got this one very wrong, sending two tweets 30 minutes apart, with painfully awkward content; an embarrassing excuse of a tribute, if I do say so myself.

“Boston, our hearts are with you. Here’s a bowl of breakfast energy we could all use to start today (link),” posted the New York-based website.

Thirty minutes later, they were out with another genius line. “In honour of Boston and New England, may we suggest: whole-grain cranberry scones!”

It goes without saying; they certainly felt the wrath of social media. A single response that encapsulates the crowd’s sentiment would likely be Michelle Kelleher’s. ”Talk about jumping on a horrendous bandwagon. Despicable carry on from Epicurious in extremely poor taste,” she wrote.

To make matters worse – because brands can still recover from similar blunders – the company began frantically apologising to several of its aggravated followers, using a feeble template of an apology. Feeble, because it prominently used the word ‘seemed’ which suggests that the perception of the readers is to blame and not the brand. Did Hallmark run out of cards?

“We truly regret that our earlier food tweets seemed insensitive. Our hearts and prayers are with the people of Boston,” said Epicurious. Well done. Kipp has only one thing to say about that, and it would seem that tens (if not hundreds) of its followers (and followers’ friends) agree.

Something has hit the fan and you’re swirling in a storm of a blunder. As a brand, do not shy away from responsibility and attempt to cast the blame elsewhere. The posts did not merely ‘seem’ insensitive or offensive, they were.

If you’ve heard those words once, you’ve heard them a hundred times. It is common sense, really – everyone knows that driving requires the kind of attention that does not allow for multi-tasking, especially when one of those tasks involves typing out a message on your smart phone.

Still, many are guilty of this modern-day affliction. I’d love to be the righteous exemption from the rule, but I can’t. Truth be told, I don’t drive very often and when I do, I limit my texting to times when I am stuck in traffic—but I still do it. I wish I could say: “Yes, I do message while driving, but only in times of emergencies.”  But, alas, there have been times when I have grabbed my phone mid-driving, just to text three letters: ‘bye.’ Silly as it sounds, I do it – and I know I am not alone.

So, why do we do it when we know it could prove fatal – and what will it take to get us to stop?

Parents of a 22-year-old who died while texting his friend are hoping that a screen shot of his last unfinished text will be an eerie reminder of the fate that awaits those who text while at the wheel.

“Sounds good my man, seeya soon, ill tw … ,” were the last words Alexander Heit typed before he drifted into oncoming traffic in Colarado, US. He died after the crash on April 3rd.

“In a split second you could ruin your future, injure or kill others, and tear a hole in the heart of everyone who loves you” said the boy’s mother Sharon Heit in a statement.

Have a look at the photograph again. Here’s hoping it will result with one less death due to texting and driving.

We have been avoiding Dubai’s toll gates for years and the two new additions mean we now have six of them to negotiate.

It doesn’t matter that the RTA – once again –  has done this to cut congestion on the roads. All that matters is cost. A decision has to be made; do we drive through the gates and pay the four, eight or 16 dirhams a day, or do we find an alternative route?

RTA’s chairman, Mattar Al Tayer, says that reducing road congestion is just one piece of the puzzle. There’s a bigger scheme behind it. “People will be more encouraged to use public transport and, accordingly, contribute to realising RTA’s strategic objective of raising the number of trips made by public transport to 20 per cent by 2020,” he said.

He adds that he expects approximately 1,500 vehicles to be diverted from Al Ittihad and Beirut Roads to the Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road and Bypass Road.

Today, Emirates247 reports of several commuters ‘ecstatic and beaming with joy over the unusual smooth flow of traffic,’ and the general sentiment is that they’re more than happy to pay the additional charges if it means an end to congestion. “If traffic in airport tunnel flows like today, it’s worth paying Salik,” Harsha Sripad tweets.

Conversely, if you quickly browse through the public feedback on social forums – and the word Salik has been conveniently trending on Twitter in the UAE – you’ll see that satisfied motorists are only one side of the story. There are many more that report the lack of effect the toll gates have had and, more particularly, motorists’ unwillingness to dish out their money using them.

Will you pay more if it means a congestion-free journey to work or map out some new co-ordinates? Let us know. . .

As you all know, Mark Zuckerberg (CEO) had us all holding our breath last week for a major announcement. We all suspected – despite his many efforts to deny it – a Facebook phone. Failing that, we thought we’d be getting an alternative operating system. No such luck.

What we got, instead, was Facebook Home, a layer-like feature that is to Android’s operating system what icing is to cake – or at least that’s what it’s meant to be. Essentially it takes over your phone and creates an entirely different experience for you that’s wholly based around your friends’ lives. You can read more about it here, but this ‘layer’ has already been released on April 12 and HTC First comes pre-loaded with it.

In a nutshell, if ever there was a Facebook monopoly, this would be the first step.

From my own observations, I can’t say this feature has been particularly well-received so far, but that could be because everything that’s been said about it was based on sentiment and not actual experience. Still, for something to be popular, users must be able to imagine themselves enjoying it and integrating it into their daily lives. A lot of it is conceptual. Practicality and efficiency come later.

It’s also interesting to see how it’s marketed itself so far. In the short span of just over a week, it has already released its fourth advertisement for ‘Home’ – all of which paint the same picture of an overly absorbed user mesmerised by the world his friends live in, paying little attention to everything else. The more recent one features Zuckerberg in Facebook’s office and a screaming goat, so it’s substantially funnier than the rest.

We might be fond of the social network – as more than a billion people evidently are – but do we really want our entire smartphone experience to be Facebook-centric? That’s almost as ridiculous as having a cheeseburger (assuming you like cheeseburgers) for every meal of every day.

Obviously, as much as I was hoping I wouldn’t receive it, it didn’t shock me because I knew it would be my turn – eventually. But, like many others, I let human nature and the urge to procrastinate get the better of me. I still haven’t done it.

For those of us in third batch of Etisalat’s ‘My Number, My Identity’ campaign – we have less than five days before our Sim cards are permanently disconnected. The campaign – mandated by the UAE’s Telecommunications authority (TRA) – requires all users to ‘re-register’ their sim cards at an Etisalat branch.

The final deadline is April 16 and the UAE-based telecom provider has already cut 1.3 million mobile lines ‘since SMS notifications were sent out across its three phases, which started in 2012′. And they will continue to disconnect users who’ve received the notification and not registered.

Kippers, if any of you were planning to call their bluff, I suggest you don’t. This looks serious. Users can start the procedure online by filling out a digital form on Etisalat.ae – but you’d still have to complete the process at a physical outlet. Don’t even get Kipp started on how strange that sounds, but the company says it’s for the staff to authenticate our details, so they’re not giving us much to argue with.

What’s more, a reader pointed out to me that this ‘re-registration’ isn’t just a one-time thing. If you look at Etisalat’s website here, you’ll notice that it clearly states that ‘the registered and re-registered mobile numbers will stay active as long as the ID is valid. Once the ID expires, you have to re-register mobile numbers again’.

The campaign as a whole, according to the TRA,  is intended to ‘ultimately protect subscribers from misuse or confidentiality infringement’. The process, on average, should take approximately two to three minutes – but Kipp has been hearing a variety of mixed reviews involving ‘long queues’ and a thing or two about ‘slow staff’.

Oh well, we’ll be the judge of that. See you all out there, and just remember, Kipp doesn’t take too kindly to queue-jumpers.

Well, as AP reports, an unknown number of culprits in ‘ran off’ with 5.5 tonnes of Nutella chocolate-hazelnut spread in the town of Bad Hersfeld, Germany over the weekend. If they’re ever caught and tried in court, Kipp can only strongly recommend (and hope) the judge pose the same questions to them. Although, as the German news agency dpa reports, the same gang has previously stolen ‘a load’ of energy drinks from the same location. Maybe there’s a bigger scheme behind it.

Seriously though, this news begs an endless number of questions. The first being: are they insane? Obviously, Kipp doesn’t condone theft (stay in school kids) but if you – for some unknown reason – absolutely had to, wouldn’t you be better off with something a little less heavy on the hips? We kid, of course.

The funny bit of this story is that Nutella’s chocolate spread doesn’t really have a steady resale value as one might think. It turns out that even if they were somehow able to sell it to someone living under a rock, they’d only get about $21,000 for the whole sticky lot. Worth it?

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority announced that the Telecommunications Law and the TRA’s VoIP regulatory policy allows only the Licensees (i.e. “etisalat” and “du”) to provide telecommunications services in the UAE including VOIP services. This policy has not been amended.

As to what the licensees have done in unblocking Skype’s website www.skype.com in the UAE, this action does not change the position of the TRA or amend the policy as this service is considered a Regulated Activity, therefore, it must be provided by a licensee. Should the service be provided through a partnership with a third party, both Licensees must seek approval to  provide such service after fulfilling the regulatory and technical requirements of the TRA, which has not happened in the case of Skype. VOIP services through Skype are still unauthorized.

Previous story on Etisalat below:

Looking out for something meaningful or newsworthy on Twitter can easily be compared to rummaging through piles and piles of old clothes at a garage sale (yard sale). You might find something worth clinging on to, but you have to patiently filter out all the worthless junk first. Quite often, though, an entire story can be based on a Twitter post or ‘tweet’.

For instance, the word ‘skype’ has recently been trending on the social network. The trend coincides with Etisalat’s announcement that the application is now officially unblocked and accessible to all residents in the United Arab Emirates.

Etisalat hasn’t released an official statement, but instead made casual social media posts last week to confirm the news.

Here’s a screen shot but we can’t seem to find the original post anymore. We suspect that the telecom operator wasn’t too ecstatic about promoting Skype’s accessibility to their customers because, in essence, it would be promoting competition.

It appears the original posts were deleted but fear not, Emirates247 reports that the telecom operator confirmed to them on Twitter that “it’s now accessible to all Etisalat users : – )”. Yes, there was a smiley face.

Of course, Kipp suspects the smile wasn’t entirely wholehearted, because it’s a well-known fact that allowing Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) in the country translates to a loss of revenue for the telecom operator.

On the other hand, du (the UAE’s second telecom operator) hasn’t even confirmed this news through a tweet, let alone an actual statement. In fact, there’s been confusion among residents about whether Skype is indeed legally accessible as far as du is concerned. Both its website and application have been unblocked on du’s network and yet, at the end of March, the telecom provider – despite users being able to download skype – has denied officially allowing access.

When Kipp contacted du over Twitter – because that appears to be the norm now – their response was: “We’ll have more info on that for you soon.”

To wrap up, we’ve had Skype blocked once with an official confirmation and unblocked once with no confirmation (du). Now we have an unblocked access with a confirmation and still the same unblocked access with no confirmation. My head hurts.

1) Conformity suppresses independent thought
The requirement to conform to a given set of behaviours encapsulates those behaviours as essentially sacrosanct. The very nature of conformity is that it is beyond question, because questioning it is in itself non-conformist. How many times have you heard, ‘Don’t ask questions, just do it.’ – shortened by Nike to a cunning call to brand-conformity. Conformity is comforting because you can be lazy and just settle into that nice rut. So much easier to do than break out and ask quite why we all jump off the cliff because it seems, well, sort of counter-intuitive.

2) Conformity is a bully
The first thing those with a vested interest in conformity (often, although not always those higher up a given food chain than you) will do is use it to beat you around the head. It’s marvellously self-fulfilling. ‘I don’t see anyone else around here questioning it. It’s the way we do things around here, so you’d better knuckle under before there’s trouble.’ Stop thinking, stop questioning, just put on your grey drone suit and join the rest of us in the chain gang.

3) Conformity is a liar
There’s a wonderful scene in the novel Watership Down, in which the little group of travelling rabbits the book is set around come across a foreign warren. The rabbits talk in the book, which does involve a certain degree of willing suspension of disbelief but there we go. The foreign rabbits are incredibly well fed, fat, sleek and behave in a more ‘sophisticated’ manner, including doing odd things like dancing. But the word ‘snare’ must never be uttered in the warren on pain of death. It turns out the local farmer is feeding the rabbits, whose warren is a police state, and snaring them. Conformity, see?

4) Conformity is not community
You’ll often hear calls for conformity dressed up as a requirement for ‘the good of us all’. The idea is simple: if you conform, we all benefit. But if you should wander, poke around in cupboards and in any other way refuse to adopt a set of accepted behaviours, you’re somehow threatening the fabric of society itself. The truth is, any community that requires conformity as a rule for inclusion is inherently flawed and will fail in the face of a community that is both inclusive and diverse. When I talk about communities, by the way, I don’t mean neighbourhoods or clubs. I mean any group of people gathered around a task.

5) Conformity hates diversity
My own little foray into experimenting with communities, GeekFest, excited me principally because of its diversity and inclusiveness. But where individuality is subsumed to the need to conform, diversity goes out of the window and insularity comes with its bags packed for a nice, long stay. Insular communities start to rely on their insularity to maintain cohesiveness and so is born racism and other forms of intolerance.

Here is my list of five tell tale signs that your job is ruining your life; some of which are all too familiar to me. I guess the old adage is true: hindsight is 20/20. If reading this also resonates with you, then it may be time to step back a little and question whether your job has become your life rather than what you do for a living.

You brag about time spent at the office

Underneath the moaning about long hours, workaholics shroud a hidden pride about the amount of hours they spend at the office. Strangely, they treat it as a competition among colleagues. For the most part, it’s one sided – who would want to be the winner of that game?

You can’t leave emails unanswered

In the age of the smart phone, the majority of us are guilty of this. Being connected is often unavoidable, but having the willpower to not read or reply to emails is imperative to guarding your days away from the office. You can never recharge if you never disconnect.

You see your colleagues more than your family

While this is often inevitable, if you find you are arriving home every night after your kids have already gone to bed then some major adjustments to your work ethic definitely should be made. Life is fleeting, and missing first words and first steps is never a price that should be paid to ensure projects are executed.

You skip or reschedule major life events for work commitments

I know people who changed their wedding date because they couldn’t leave work. Can you imagine rescheduling one of the most important milestones of your life to finish reports and make Power Point presentations? I’m sure many of you actually can, and that many of you actually have.

You don’t remember the last time you tried something for the first time

This realisation is what actually what led me to leave the corporate world in search of something that forced me to continuously learn different things. In a career we develop tunnel vision and focus all our energy into being good at one thing – our job. Employees who step out of this mindset and seek new experiences outside of the office not only lead more interesting lives, but are also more balanced than those who only receive mental stimulation from their jobs.

Maya Itani is a former brand manager at a multinational consumer goods company. She left the industry to co-found The Curve (thecurve-me.com), an online marketplace for adult classes in Dubai. She is still struggling to write a bio that doesn’t include her job title. 

The coffee must have been exceptionally well brewed, as Canadians no longer have to pay for entry into the United Arab Emirates. Additionally, the visa requirements – set in 2010 after Canada refused to give local airlines more landing rights – will be scrapped and the old visa regime will be restored, possibly in a matter of months.

Baird is currently on a tour of the Middle East (hence the meeting), and both parties have agreed to let bygones be bygones and work to ‘formalise the decision in the next few months’.

“The details will follow from Zayed Al Nahyan’s formal announcement, that we return to the previous visa regime that pre-existed the challenging time in our relationship,” Baird told a teleconference from Abu Dhabi.

They also agreed to strengthen co-operation on police, corrections and border matters, including training opportunities. Last September, both nations also signed a nuclear cooperation agreement.

In the early days of 2011, Canadians were being charged $1,000 for a six-month multiple entrance visa. If they wanted a three-month or a one-month stay, they had to pay $500 and $250 respectively.

Although both ministers have agreed to “facilitate travel requirements to increase business, tourism and joint prosperity”, there are still a couple of questions left unanswered.

Will Canadians ever get a visa on arrival? When will Emirates Airlines and Etihad Airways have their landing rights extended – possibly to Montreal or Calgary? According to Gulf News, Baird hasn’t discussed this matter with Emirati officials yet, but only time will tell and perhaps more coffee will be consumed. Or maybe a sandwich and bagel combo.

Photo Source*

Saudi Arabia has always been the most conservative Gulf state and that epithet can also be applied to the country’s media. All of the Kingdom’s chief editors are placed in their posts by Royal appointment only and, by and large, all of the country’s newspapers are owned by the Royal Family.

This is in contrast to the UAE where many of the country’s newspapers are owned by prominent local families (for example Al-Rostamani, Al Tayer and Al Majid for Gulf News, Al Galadari and Khaleej Times). There are exceptions to this, such as the Abu Dhabi government-owned newspaper The National, and minority government shares in other papers such as the Khaleej Times.

Generally speaking, the newspaper owner base is more diverse in the UAE. And that, along with a more open environment, encourages more media debate when compared to Saudi.

Today’s media landscape in both countries would do little to justify the above. Buoyed by debate online, particularly on social media, and tentative steps to reform the country’s government, Saudi media has become bolder in its tackling of issues such as the nationalization of jobs, consumer rights, and government services. Even taboos such as land ownership have gained recent attention in both the Arabic and English media. This drive hasn’t gone unnoticed by the Kingdom’s government, and one editor (of Al-Sharq) was fired for his paper’s aggressive criticism of officials.

Turning our gaze back to the UAE, and the drive to take on topics of the day just doesn’t feel as pressing. There’s the inches devoted to the real estate market, news on Salik, and other issues which may affect the reader. But there’s less critical thinking, less of the why and more of the what. In other words, it feels as if the UAE’s media is tamer than it used to be.

This may be a shock to many, and I’m sure that there are Kipp readers out there who will vehemently disagree with my thoughts. But it’s astounding to consider that Saudi’s media scene may have become more vibrant than the UAE’s. That’s exciting for Saudi Arabia and for those who hope to see a transformation in the country’s society. But it’s also worrying for the UAE, a country that has always prided itself on being a business and social hub that thrives on connecting others to the Middle East. If the media here isn’t what it once used to be, could the UAE possibly lose its competitive edge in other areas?

A British national with Arabic roots, Alex Malouf has spent ten years in the Gulf and has lived in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and the United Arab Emirates. Alex lost his heart to journalism years ago, but he has worked with a range of multinational companies in the technology, energy and financial sector to develop their marketing and communications approach to the region. He’s currently based in Dubai, but can often be found at Dubai International Airport flying back home to Bahrain or some other (hopefully exotic) destination.

Consider the following scenario. Laurie Finkelstein Reader, Head of the team at real estate firm Keller Williams Partners Realty in the US, had a lucky feeling earlier this week, deciding to set up a Powerball syndicate in the office. While all of the twelve employees at the firm pitched in $20, Jennifer Maldonado, who had joined the company as an administrative assistant only two weeks ago, opted out. Despite being offered the cash on loan for the ticket, Maldonado refused: “I hadn’t received a paycheck and I was watching my pennies.”

So imagine her surprise when she came into the office to find everybody in an uproar over winning the $1 million lottery prize? After tax deduction, the lump sum stood at roughly $833,333. While plans for new houses and cars dominated the conversation after the win, the team also considered Maldonado. Here is where it gets interesting. After much discussion, the team has decided to put aside some of their winnings so that Maldonado can share in the jackpot.

“It’s about sharing the happiness. As a team we put together a fat pile of money. If we do the right thing and always care about other people, the right thing will happen to us” says team leader, Reader.

Though the team has not revealed how much they will put aside for Maldonado, the actual amount is beside the point. The consideration and desire to go out of the way to make every employee (even someone who has been on the team for two weeks alone) feel like part of the team, can only translate into better dynamics and loyalty. How refreshing it is to see such civility in the corporate world where means stepping over your closest team members just to get ahead is justified.

Companies that go out of their way to pit employees against each other and to create a sense of animosity, stand to take a page out of Reader’s book.

In recent history, a few companies launched their brands with branding intentions, but used advertising to serve the branding process, while a few others replicated a successful brand to gain market share or to directly compete with the leader in the category.

It’s phenomenal how so many ignore the right steps to branding, but are fast enough to claim titles and words while the exercise is still under process. Few brands in our region have spent enormous amounts of money on advertising to claim the branding stage. I’m not undermining advertising as a tool, but I’m assessing the right steps of the process. I respect the advertising industry as a communication wheel, but not as the holistic approach to branding, in which many FMCGs and other retailers are deriving.

Advertising should deliver the communication value of the brand, sending the right message to the right target audience or segment of the audience. I find PR (Public Relations) to be the most genuine tool to assist branding in delivering its communication value. Public Relations seems to be far more genuine in claims than advertising. Over the years or decades advertising was not wisely used by clients and most advertising agencies gave in to serve the client’s demands just because of the bottom line benefits, namely money, when the client demanded to advertise that a product is quality.

A lot of agencies submitted to the request in the long term and hurt the industry as whole, rather than the agency.

Such actions have hurt the industry today. The general public fail to have advertising as RTB (Reason to Believe) because whatever is advertised usually fails to meet the brand experience. For example, any given airline uses advertising to claim that it is the ultimate in service, but during the experience, the customer may think differently, thus putting advertising as an industry under the fire of “liars”.

Could the public today claim that advertised products are somewhat true and genuine, but mostly a lie? Well, to find out, do your research and you can find that in most cases what I have addressed could likely be true. I know that there are phenomenal communication agencies, but a few that ran after the buck ruined it for the most.

Do you want the good news or the bad news first? Kipp’s inclined to agree with the latter, so let us start with that.

Speaking at a conference hosted by the Higher Colleges of Technology’s Festival of Thinkers series, Simon Williams, the chief economist at HSBC for the Middle East said: “the current good times the Gulf region is experiencing could come to an end in three years.”

Claiming budget deficits will become apparent by 2016, Williams argued: “For the oil states this is a magnificent time. I hope all of you are enjoying it and making money, because it doesn’t get much better. We are passing through a phase of super-abundance and a period of time when governments can spend aggressively and continue to add to their stocks of savings. Those rising levels of public spending are part of a finite economic cycle that will come to a close when spending comes up against that revenue ceiling.”

Ominous words, if you ask Kipp, but not wholly unfounded—his time frames may seem more severe, but Williams is far from the first economist to articulate such sentiments. On the other hand, consider the rosy up-beat claims of the Commercial Manager of recruitment firm BAC Middle East, Cliff Single who says Dubai is back in the game.

“Generally speaking, the business sector here has a lot more momentum and growth than a lot of other parts of the world. Even though more Emiratis are coming into the private sector, it is still growing, so there’s still opportunities for everyone” says Single.

So is this as good as it is going to get? Are the next few years going to be the penultimate of success that the UAE and other Gulf countries will be able to achieve, in terms of public spending and employment opportunities? Given the planned trajectory in line with Doha’s 2022 or Dubai’s World Expo 2020 aspirations, such cynicism seems premature if not downright pessimistic.

Let us know what you think below.

“The spring edition is especially timely as it falls during the school holidays when we see an influx of regional tourists, with their families, who seek out the latest consumer electronics in Dubai” said Hemesh Chandavarkar, Director – Consumer Cluster, Exhibitions and Events Management at Dubai World Trade Centre.

Yet it isn’t only the timing coinciding with the GITEX and holidays which make the second edition of the exhibition a good idea. The Emirates has also seen a significant increase in its population of early adopters. In fact just last week, HE Hisham Abdullah Al Shirawi, Chairman, Economic Zones World, the parent company of Jafza, had said the electronics and IT companies have increased exponentially: “In the past ten years the number of electronics and IT companies in Jebel Ali Free Zone has seen four-fold growth rising from 280 in 2003 to 1,121 in 2012.”

In the past, Kipp has frowned upon having one too many shopping festival – but having a Spring edition of GITEX seems a lot less like overkill and more like adapting to the times. With the frequency of new releases of smart phones, tablets and other consumer electronics, it is safe to say the exhibition will be provide a good platform for tech brands who want an opportunity to offer special releases and offers to its loyal fan base here in the UAE.

In today’s world, it is no secret that most of us lead two lives that are quite closely interconnected. One is our real day-to-day life, which still relies on human interaction, verbal speech and body language, and the other is our online world; which has none of the above.

In the same way we lead these two lives, we have developed two different reputations; one is our real life  and the other, which many usually refer to as their “social reputation”.

Social reputation lives on the idea that a group of people perceive you in a certain way. It relies on forming or building a perception (true or false) and getting people to buy into that perception. The main issue in today’s world is that the people that would stand and support that perception on the social media front would not necessarily know if that perception is true or not.

After all, they are relying on what you tell them and what you show them. Let me tell you how that is misleading and how it will cause the social platforms’ content to be unreliable in the future.

Just like LinkedIn endorsements, the social reputation is formed when you are able to make a number of people believe that you are someone or possess a number of skills (this might actually be the person you are, but unfortunately many people abuse this liberty and use it to their advantage). As we know today, most employers take to the social platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn to gauge whether the potential employee is “socially certified” or not.

The challenge that most employees end up facing is hiring someone on the basis of social reputation; if a certain amount of people claim that this person is this, then he/she must be that.

In this decade, this phenomena has grown vastly that most people now are aware that possessing a social reputation of some sort will help them in their career advancements. The challenge that most companies face is to filter out the social reputation or rather connect the real reputation to the social reputation and see if they match.

When Sarah isn’t busy meeting clients and deadlines with Prototype, shes got her detective cap on; finding new social networks as well as testing out new features and spreading the word along the way. You can reach her at sarah@prototype.ae.

You shouldn’t believe everything you read on the Internet. And, more importantly, you shouldn’t be influenced by it. And nothing could prove this more than the following:

This weekend, Ayesha Al Khoori, an Emirati columnist working for The National newspaper, penned a column discussing the possible lowering of the driving age  here in the UAE – and the repercussions that a change like that could potentially bring. Let’s just say that the usual things, such as warning people to wear seatbelts,  the horror of reckless driving and ‘braking when there’s a dead cat on the road’ were given limited attention.

Rather, the majority of her column was used to share how the drama of speeding is what she needs to ‘keep her going’.

To be fair, she starts her column fairly reasonably, discussing how lowering the driving age in the country may have a positive effect on some, but reinforce the bad behaviour of others. Suddenly, the column takes a drastic turn and she begins to do what I – and others would agree on Twitter – can only describe as condoning speeding and reckless driving.

Apparently, once her niece and nephew ask her to speed up, she simply can’t resist. What was a national newspaper thinking? How any sub-editor and/or editor allowed this to be published is anyone’s guess.

Here’s just some choice bits from her column:

“I began driving long before I got my licence, as did many young people I know. If I could go back in time and drive legally as a teenager, I would go crazy and speed my way across every road and through every junction until my tank ran dry. Of course, others might react differently.

I still make mistakes, the proof of which is that I get more than five tickets a month (last year I accumulated Dh10,000, this year Dh3,000 and yes, I know that’s a lot), but I’m experienced in handling a car at speed.

When I got my first car, an old BMW, I would never exceed 80kph or 100kph and I would never drive after dark. Now, when I’m on the roads of Abu Dhabi, you could say I fly at all times! I try to not go over 160kph, but 180kph isn’t unheard of.

I drive fast because I love it. I feel liberated and excited; in a boring life the thrill of fast driving provides the drama I need to keep me going. My nieces and nephews think I’m a great driver, and ask me to go as fast as I can. I am always in control though. I would never want to hurt them, so I must be careful and responsible even when I’m speeding.”

Kipp took to the streets of the almighty Twitter to make sure we weren’t the only ones:

“Clearly this article was not proof-read by a grown up before publication. These views reflect poorly on both the author and publication.” – Andy Turner, Dubai

“I’m honestly disgusted. Not so much at her attitude, as this is all too common on the roads, BUT that it has been allowed to be published. She’s clearly breaking laws, endangering lives and then a newspaper purporting to care about safety thinks it’s ok to allow it through.” – Lesley Cully, Founder of Buckle Up in The Back, UAE.

“This blog post from The National is an odd one. Not sure they should be glorifying speeding.” – Daniel, Dubai.

“I am sorry Ayesha, how is speeding being responsible or in control? Its a machine and anything can happen.” – Mita Ray, Dubai.

“That article is all kinds of stupid. The arrogance of the writer is beyond unbelievable.” – Muhammed Ali, Dubai.

“I am confused, is this writer for speeding or against reducing the legal driving age?” – Badmaash Daaku.

We can only hope that Al Khoori plans to ‘make a U-turn’ (a safe one, respecting the laws of the road, that is) and return next week with a more responsible outlook.

Earlier this year, residents of the UAE were told they could expect this efficiency to be exponentially increased due to the introduction of the smart gate – a new system which would users scanners to verify computer-readable passports with facial recognition.

Speaking at the India Club, General Mohammad Ahmed Al Marri, Director-General of the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs said:  “The directorate, in response to the increasing number of passengers (using the Dubai International Airport is fixing smart e-gates to ease passengers’ suffering, provide faster, easier and more accurate and secure services, and cope with the latest and ever-changing technologies.”

Proposed to be launched on 1^st of January, the smart gate was to reduce the check-in and check-out time at immigration to a mere 18 seconds.

Having flown into Terminal 3 twice since the beginning of this year, I would say the entire procedure has being anything but smart. For one thing, there are two counters reserved for residents of the UAE – something signage fails to indicate. Unaware of this special consideration when I flew back in to Dubai in February, I ended up behind a pack of excited tourists and nervous workers. It took me an entire one and a half hour just to get out of immigration – a delay that was a source of much frustration, especially since I was off a 45-minute flight from Doha.

The second time around, I vowed to be proactive. I quickly found out about the two counters at the end reserved for residents. Considerably shorter than the rest, these queues got me congratulating myself on out-smarting the ‘smart’ system. What a fool I was.

Unlike all the other counters – these special come equipped with Minority-Report-style special scanners which scan ones passport and face. If it seems simple enough, well then you clearly haven’t lived in Dubai for as long as I have. Not only was there absolute confusion about the process or how the computers worked, but there was no clear direction between the men behind the desks and the ones on the floor.

It took me nearly 40 minutes to get to the top of the line and when it was my turn to scan my passport, I realized what the fuss was all about. While the passport scanner was able to quickly pick up my details (which are already on the system) – the facial scanner failed to identify me. Perhaps it was far too optimistic to assume the scanner would be able to detect and verify my face, after all I do stand at a mighty 4’11”—but I noticed nobody else was getting through.

In retrospect, users have to have their face scanned into the database prior (something I haven’t done and am still unaware how to do). That being said, surely the onus falls on the authorities regulating the line to direct the users into the right line.

So, of course, then I had to get away from the independent sleek glass doors which encapsulate the scanner areas and reclaim my spot on the line for the manual check-which took all of 50 seconds. So sure, the good ol’ ink stamp may be a far cry from the sophistication of the futuristic ‘smart’ gate, but if it means a lesser waiting time, well, I will take it any day.

Provocative, you say? Why, yes it is. As with any global report of this scale, the findings are bound to ignite a wave of protests around the world. And when I say world, I mean Twitter. Nobody wants to hear about their country being dubbed ‘unfriendly’ when they’ve experienced the extremely heart-warming moments that prove otherwise. But I have a message for all you would-be offended folk out there. Don’t take it too seriously. No report can ever keep everyone happy.

After all, regardless of the criteria used to rank these countries – which according to CNN is ‘based on the extent to which they are putting in place the factors and policies to make it attractive to develop the travel and tourism sector’ – it still remains a highly subjective exercise. On the face of it, a country can appear extremely friendly and hospitable, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything.

Would you believe your neighbours to be warmhearted welcoming people just because they’ve bothered to have a welcome mat on the front doorstep? Trust me, they’re not. And Kipp found that out the hard way the day we had to borrow some salt and a plunger.

For instance, when it comes to hospitality (not customer service, don’t kill me!) in the United Arab Emirates, let’s face it; the reputation here is pretty darn good. Assuming everything is smooth sailing with hotel bookings, visas and various other reservations, you’ll probably have the time of your life.

And yet, the UAE still earned the 15^th friendliest country on that list. It just goes to show that this exercise truly is subjective. Yes it focuses on the attitude of the population towards foreign visitors (aka tourists) but considering the population here is predominantly an expatriate one – the results don’t make much sense. If they’re referring to the general population (including us) then why on earth would most of us display a negative attitude towards visitors – when all we are is nothing more than extended tourists?

Who earned the first place? Iceland.

To see the top 10 from each category, click here. To read the entire report by WEF, click here.

Seriously? Is this how as a parent looking for a place for her 18-month-old is spoken to?

For the record, when I was pregnant, I was busy working full time and learning how to be a new mum in a new country where I have no relatives as a support group.  I was not sitting around twiddling my thumbs thinking of what to do each second of the day.

So which part of the equation did I get wrong? I always thought that schools were there to set an example and provide children with an education to allow them to live in a society where they care for people around them, where they can adapt very easily and where they can build strong relationships. 
If that is the attitude the schools are projecting as their first contact to parents, what are they going to teach my daughter? How to be rude on the phone?

Now, as the founder of Souqalmal.com, which has now diversified in the comparison of UAE schools and nurseries, I wanted to bring up this topic of admissions within our next roundtable discussion to be held on March 26 between parents and schools.  The biggest hurdle of this event was to get schools to attend.

For many it was harder to get through to the principal’s PA than that of Harvard business School (trust me, I tried yesterday and got through first time).

“If we are interested we will let you know, if not, you will not hear from us”

“You must understand we get thousands of invitation every day and I need to filter and decide which ones the principal will look into”

Just shocking.

The experience has made me worry about my little girl being in an environment where the basic sense of politeness does not exist. Are these “institutions of learning” dedicated to the education of our future generations or are they businesses who fill up the order book and then stop caring?

In a world where corporations try to be increasingly customer-focused, it seems that some of the major schools in the UAE are doing the opposite.

It’s not all bad, though. Of course there are many schools that succeed in providing a very different experience. We will have the pleasure of hosting four different schools who projected the level of approachability, openness and engagement that one would wish for from an educational institution. They were a pleasure to interact with and they accepted to be part of the discussion on admissions process – already a sign of commitment and transparency towards parents.  Those are Jumeirah Primary School, the GEMS group, the Taaleem group and Horizon School Dubai.

This promises to be a very interesting debate… and hopefully provides a good platform to start addressing some of the broader issues and show the ‘right way’ forward.

Ambareen Musa is the founder and CEO of Souqalmal.com. Having moved to the Middle East in 2008, Ambareen worked as a consultant for Bain & Company – Middle East and focused on the financial services sector, before joining MasterCard Middle East and Africa to set up their consulting arm, before leaving two years later to become the founder of Souqalmal.com in 2011.

The offense lands a commuter with a 200 dirham fine – both for those travelling with a silver card and those who ‘cheat’ by paying their fare with the silver, and show the gold one when inspectors ask for them.

We must admit something, Kippers. We are slightly relieved to be reading this bit of news. Perhaps it’s for selfish reasons, but don’t judge us just yet. In December, Kipp wrote an affirmation on the daily experience of travelling on the metro’s Gold Class cabin, based purely and primarily on our own encounters, of course.

We talked about how we’ve hardly ever seen cabin attendants asking commuters for proof of a valid Nol Card, let alone actually be allowed to carry magnetic card readers to find fraudsters as inspectors do. We talked about how the attendants both need and deserve more power and authority.

And as you would expect with any review based on personal experiences, Kipp received the words of supporters and critics. And the critics – as always – make for much more invigorating discussion.

Describing himself as ‘an avid reader of Kipp Report’, here is an excerpt of what Prasanth wrote:

How does the author assume that the majority in the Gold Class are travelling without having paid the required fare? I hope he is not doing any profiling to come to this assumption!

The guys in RTA & Serco are not fools either. If, like he claims, the inspectors had caught a large number of people doing this when they do their checks, I am sure that they would definitely have been checking more frequently and vigorously.

Indeed. Kipp must confess that after having read Prasanth’s comment, we did slightly doubt ourselves on whether our own daily experience was perhaps too narrow  a scope to be used in a column or review. We began to think, perhaps he’s right. If the RTA did catch a large number of people doing this, surely they would have ‘definitely started checking more frequently and vigorously’. Wouldn’t they?

More than one thousand two hundred fines issued in the past two months alone, particularly when inspectors carry out arguably rare and random inspections? Sounds like a substantial number to me.

Only accepting food handouts from their fellow students to get by, the group spent their first night outside on Sunday, March 10, and will continue to live under these rough conditions until Friday morning, March 15.

All of the proceeds will be donated to Dubai’s Women and Children Foundation.

It all began in snowy Canada, at the campus of Alberta School of Business in 2005, when Frank Callele co-founded Five Days For The Homeless – an initiative involving a group of students living ‘homeless’ to raise both money and awareness for charity.

Fast forward eight years and we find the flame behind the initiative has far from died out.

Callele now lives in Dubai and says he’s ‘under no illusions just how difficult a task the students face,’ but adds how much good it will do them and the homeless people they’ve never met. He stresses that normally by the third day, your body starts to get worn out, and if you don’t sleep properly, you’ll become physically and mentally fatigued.

Kareem Fahmy, Issam Kassabieh, Tiwa Ompe, Javan Wada, Shabbir Furniturewala, Mussaddiq Hassan and Ahmed Qarjouli are the seven students taking ‘a stand’.

Speaking to Kipp Report, Ahmed Qarjouli says he really hopes to achieve their goal of collecting 13,000 dirhams, as well as raising awareness about the homeless around the world – emphasising that ‘yes, they do exist’. “Some of the students on campus knew about our initiative, because it was communicated through the university, but some had no idea and were quite shocked in the beginning,” he says. “I think they thought we were all joking around,” he laughs.

Jordanian Ahmed Qarjouli, thinks it will be difficult for other reasons:  “We are very spoiled here, so I think some people will break down,” he said.

The initiative is mutually organised by the university and students as well, but Spencer Semple, communications manager at CUD, tells Kipp the students ‘really deserve all of the credit’.

He added that the students have received support, solidarity and food handouts from both students and the faculty.

In each of these situations, we make some calculation (not necessarily on a piece of paper) about the rewards associated with a course of action (higher income, more exciting holiday, shorter, faster journey) and the risks we are running (loss of income, personal injury or fatal accident). These calculations are guided by our judgement, based on previous experiences (ours and others’) of the likely success or failure of the different course of action available to us.

Without risk, there is no reward – we know this. Our lives contain an element of risk anyway, some of it out of our control (climate change, financial system collapse etc.) but our choices in life are guided by our judgement the risk-reward equation.

Saving and investing are no different from other activities we undertake. There are no ‘No Risk’ options (i.e. choices that enable you to achieve your goals that carry a guarantee that you won’t lose some or all of your money), but you can find options that run on a scale of low risk to high risk. The first question to ask, of course, is how much risk do you need to run to achieve your goals, and, basically, you can say that the higher the return you require on your money to achieve your goals, the more risk you have to run to achieve it.

However, once this question has been asked and answered, you can say putting your money under your bed will guarantee no gain in value, but the most obvious risk you run is the erosion of value through inflation (and you could be burgled, of course). At the other end of the scale, you could bet your money on a slot machine or a horse, where the rewards are great (you could double your money in a few minutes) but the risk is high (you could lose it all in the same time).

Estimating risk has situational components – crossing the road in the traffic might depend on how fast the traffic is moving and how fast you can run, whether you have done it before, and what you know about traffic accidents. Investment risk is no different.

Ask yourself the following questions…

How much of your money are you prepared to lose (or are able to lose) while searching for higher returns?

Do you think it would be better to put all of your money in one investment (or one type of investment) or spread it over several?

Do you have the right information to make the investment decision?

How do you rate your experience as an investor – expert, experienced, regular, novice or none-at-all?

How do you deal with uncertainty? (Higher risk investments tend to fluctuate in value more than lower risk ones. If you go for a high-risk high-return approach, you may have to tolerate ups and downs).

Most importantly, what sort of person are you? Are you the sort of person who looks for the rush of excitement or do you prefer safety and security?

Understanding risk and your own appetite for risk are key factors in being able to make investment decisions in line with your own personality, values, goals and pocket. If you talk to a financial adviser, he or she will be able to help you draw your own ‘risk profile’ and advise you on the sort of portfolio you should establish to meet your goals within your risk appetite.

It doesn’t matter whether you have $100 or $100,000 to invest, getting the right advice is critical to your financial well-being.

Peter Ellen is Operations Director at Nexus Insurance Brokers www.nexusadvice.com and has extensive experience in the area of sales management and leadership, sales and sales management development and operations management. He has worked in the industry for 28 years in senior management positions and as a consultant, working with regulators, product providers and distributors. To contact Peter for advice with any insurance and investment advice please email him at peter.ellen@nexusadvice.com

The RTA is currently in the middle of its second phase of ‘increasing signage’ on the metro by plastering conspicuous signs on the ground of the platform itself. As Emirates 247 reports, the signs will soon be displayed in all Red and Green Line locations in the emirate.

Kipp can only assume that this second ‘phase of awareness’ was prompted by the lack of effectiveness of its predecessor.

“This is all part of a larger project and increasing signage on the Dubai Metro,” says Ramadan Abdullah,  Director of the Rail Operation Department of RTA. “With these signs we aim to organise the flow of commuters in a better way.”

That’s the fancy way of saying, we’ve put them up because some commuters clearly need more obvious reminders on the etiquette of allowing people to exit an area before they barge in. Or is that just Kipp talking? If you stare straight ahead, smaller yet similar signs (from the RTA’s first phase) are glued onto the glass doors. If you’re prone to staring on the ground while you wait then they’re there too. You can’t miss them.

Back in 2009, the authority released a list of violations that would merit a fine if committed on the train or platform. And assuming the list hasn’t been updated, Kipp counts 27 different fines including a 300 dirham one for sleeping, a 200 dirham for smoking and another 200 dirham for selling goods or commodities on the train.

Frankly, as a regular commuter on the metro, we’ve never seen anyone caught for selling goods, smoking or even sleeping. The most common violation that I’ve witnessed has been chewing gum. The point is, while increasing signage may help guide – or rather ‘remind’ – some commuters to behave in a safe and decent manner, perhaps implementing stricter consequences for pushy and violent behaviour, and less on bubble gum would do everyone some good.

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Ikea’s famous almond cakes usually contain chocolate, butterscotch and well…almonds. But a new and disturbing ingredient has just been discovered: faecal matter.

The Swedish furniture chain was forced to withdraw its cakes from 23 countries, including China and the United Arab Emirates, after traces of Coliform bacteria were found in them. Coliform is most commonly found in soil, vegetation, water and in the faeces of humans and warm-blooded animals. This discovery comes approximately one week after the furniture giant’s meatballs were withdrawn for having horse meat mixed in with the beef.

The Shanghai quarantine bureau in China has destroyed almost two tonnes of its chocolate almond cake after discovering excessive levels of the bacteria.

When Kipp wrote about the ‘horse meat scandal’ plaguing Europe, we were – much like other regional media outlets – able to explore the subject as a distant observer. Sure, many expatriates living in the UAE have relatives or friends in Europe, but it still felt almost like a detached reality. The kind where we tell ourselves that ‘it won’t happen to us,’ but that’s certainly not the case anymore.

Kipp had tried to contact Ikea in Dubai for a statement, but we are yet to have a response. However, an Ikea spokeswoman did tell AFP that “there is no health risk associated with consuming this product. But since the product does not comply with strict standards we have withdrawn concerned batches.” Are you serious?

We don’t know how you feel about it Kippers, but if reasonable standards of hygiene and quality are being branded ‘strict’ for not allowing waste-infested cakes to be sold to customers then we don’t know what the world has come to.

The default instinct is to start with our jobs: “Hi, my name is Maya, and I work in marketing.” A straightforward way to begin, but for most of us the problem is that the introduction ends there.

Ask anyone in the UAE to introduce themselves, and the standard response is a career summary. I am no different, and as I found myself continuously trying to grasp at a definition of who I am to answer this simple question, I kept coming up with nothing more than what I do. My job title had become my badge in life.

I starting wishing I could introduce myself as a saxophonist. Or a sailor. Or anything remotely unrelated to my job. But I couldn’t, because the years I had spent laying a foundation for my career were years I had forgotten about everything else I loved outside of marketing. Volleyball. Writing. Acting. All hobbies that had been a major part of my life prior to my first job. All things I had thrown out the window because I was convinced that my energy should be spent on being one thing: a marketer. That was who I was. That was all I should be.

I didn’t learn anymore. Well, at least not outside of brand tonalities and consumer insights. I didn’t learn for me, I didn’t learn for the pure pleasure of trying something new. I needed to be an expert at one thing and one thing only. Who wants to be a jack of all trades after all, especially if those trades don’t actually make you any money?

I do. I want to be mediocre at many interesting things. I’m tired of being one dimensional. I’m tired of introducing myself with my job title.

My new outlook can aptly be summarized by a quote from Thomas Huxley, an English biologist, who said, “Try to learn something about everything, and everything about something.”

In today’s society we’ve managed to excel at the latter, but totally ignore the former. Ask yourself this: when was the last time you tried something for the first time? For so many of us, the sad answer is “I don’t remember.”

Maya Itani is a former brand manager at a multinational consumer goods company. She left the industry to co-found The Curve (thecurve-me.com), an online marketplace for adult classes in Dubai. She is still struggling to write a bio that doesn’t include her job title. 

When the fast-food chain (or quick service chain, as they prefer to call it) fulfills its promise of displaying nutrition information on all of its packaging, won’t it discourage its customers from stepping into a McDonald’s restaurant again?

Let’s face facts: the fast-food lovers among us are well aware how unhealthy those delicious fatty, double-patty burgers are. And with those calories staring right at you as you try to enjoy your ‘guilty treat’, how malleable do you reckon your conscience will be? And more to the point, do we really want to know the amount of calories, fat, sodium, sugar and cholesterol we’re consuming with every bite of fast food? If we did, surely we wouldn’t be eating it as often, would we? You’ll be hard pushed to find a regular ‘calorie-counter’ stuffing his face at a McDonald’s, unless, of course, it was his bi-monthly treat. He’d more likely be in the sushi place next door inhaling ‘dangerous’ amounts of pure protein.

It’s completely understandable why McDonald’s Arabia would want to be more informative and transparent – what with the global sentiment about the food industry being particularly negative – but this nutritional information doesn’t tell us about the actual contents of the food, just its substances. Yes, we do want to know if there’s donkey meat mashed in with our potatoes, but not the calorie count of a single chip.

McDonald’s isn’t new to healthy living. Back in 2004 introduced a variety of salads, fresh juices and apple bites to its menu. Who eats a salad at McDonald’s anyway? Until a year ago, Kipp thought those were just plastic ornaments to help brighten the place up. . .

Yet we digress. Back to the conference, where one of the audience members asked Abdulghani about the rationale behind the new scheme, to which he said: “We believe in presenting all of the information to our customers so they can make their own informed choices.”

And that they are. With Abdulghani revealing how the majority of customers still can’t get enough of burgers and fries.

If a group of people set a record for something that no one cares about, is it still a record?

As Kipp is based in the record-crazy city of Dubai, this is far from a new area of speculation. After all, this is a city that set the record for having the largest chair, bicycle, abaya and magazine. What value could there ever be in constructing a chair which measures 7.56 metres high or a magazine that measures 1.8 metres by 1.19 metres wide? If no human could ever sit on a chair so big or read a magazine so large (without significant discomfort) does it qualify anything other than a namesake record? And what significance does being the holder of namesake record really have?

These are far from new objections to the trend, but the reason we bring the issue up is because of a recent report of possibly the most ridiculous record a group of people have attempted to set. According to Gulf News, members of vehicle rearview mirror manufacturer, MSSL MidEast, attempted to set the following world records:

Largest number of people wearing paper hats at the same time

Longest chain of people high-fiving each other

Largest number of people participating in a hopping race

Largest number of people participating in a barefoot race

The records, which were attempted at the Sharjah Airport International Free Zone, are yet to be validated by the Guinness World Record. If the company is successful, it will not be the first time it holds a Guinness World Record title. The company is part of the Samvardhana Motherson Group, which currently holds records for the largest number of people polishing shoes at the same time, largest number of people opening bottles simultaneously, the longest balloon chain and longest contra line.

We’ll admit to not being particularly interested in MSSL MidEast’s latest record-breaking attempts. Creating the largest number of people high-five-ing each other or wearing paper hats at the same time? Really?

But we will continue to wonder why anyone with a shred of intelligence would ever consider wearing a paper hat or opening a bottle as an act worthy of documentation let alone recognition. We could understand if the arbitrary record held some greater lesson in team building or a form of training, but it is a bit of a stretch trying to equate higher sales targets with a large number of paper hats.

This transformation of the internet has significant implications for brands. The extent of user interaction is revolutionising the way brands perceive the internet and also how they interact with fans. Brands know they need to get on to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest and the like, but a question that still needs to be answered is: what should brands do once they have a considerable social media presence?

There are multiple possible answers to the question, but for the purposes of this article I am more concerned with one particular aspect which is feedback. For some reason, I found myself on Etihad’s YouTube page, and as I looked at an ad the company had posted more than nine months ago, I was very surprised to see that not only is the brand  still receiving comments, but it is also still responding to comments.

Comments on the internet are a tricky subject. While the potential that the comment section holds for most brands is vast, it is one that is very rarely realised. For starters, the prevalence of trolls poses a significant challenge to the possibility of an intelligent exchange with a brand. But should this be the reason brands cut themselves off?

Conventional wisdom would suggest being selective with choosing one’s battles, but then there is the question of choosing the right medium for such battles. Facebook and Twitter, the more traditional channels of interaction maybe a better source to answer such questions, which could make one wonder whether comments on Youtube should be answered. Also, the massive influx of YouTube comments may mean your response is lost in a sea of SPAM and vulgarity.

Of course, if you do chose to reply to a comment, there is the question of sincerity. Providing a generic ‘we have forwarded your concern to customer service’ type response, may do more harm than good. Which makes us think if you are choosing a staff member to be the social face of your organisation, you need to empower them with the ability to make decisions which can affect their customers.

But even after all of this, does it make sense to respond to users on YouTube? While we think that the question is subjective to the comment, we would be interested in hearing your response.

A meteor exploded over Russia, injuring over 1,000 people in the city of Chelyabinsk; which scientists have described as the largest meteor explosion within the Earth’s atmosphere since 1908. And all around the world we held our breath as we waited to hear the fate of the Oscars – and Kipp isn’t just talking about the Academy Awards. Yes, the Pistorius story certainly has taken the world (and Twitter) by storm. Kipp does have a few favourite puns, but we wouldn’t want you to shoot the messenger, now would we?

The point is, it’s a busy world out there. And we know how easy it is to get caught up in our own lives; which is why we’ve made you a short list of some of the most popular articles on Kipp Report this month. Go on, have a read. No really, you’re missing out, just ask the others.

Another Guinness Record out of Dubai – Nissan does it again by not only breaking yet another world record, but having an entirely new category created for it.

HSBC asks Syrians to shut accounts – Kipp becomes suspicious after reading some Twitter posts. Our fears were confirmed when we received a statement from HSBC Middle East implying that customers from ‘sanctioned’ countries will have to be ‘reviewed’ and may not bank with them anymore.

You’ve heard it straight from the horse’s mouth – With the horse-meat scandal taking over Europe’s attention span, Kipp speaks to Burger King Middle East for some comforting reassurance.

The Ultimate Showdown: Blackberry Z10 versus Samsung’s SIII – with Blackberry (no longer RIM) trying to reclaim their share of the market with a new phone and operating system, Kipp pins it up against the SIII to see whether it can hold its ground.

Top 5 shocking resignations of the business world – The pope’s resignation prompted us to look at some of the most shocking resignations the business world has ever seen.

LinkedIn pulls off clever publicity stunt – When the site’s users began to receive identical congratulatory notifications, Kipp knew something was up.

The worst Valentine’s Day promotion in Dubai – We all expect to have our e-mail inbox clogged up with tacky promotions on this day but one of them stood out above the rest.

The Dubai Eye Ferris Wheel – The Emirate certainly isn’t going around in circles but it’s planning something big and round.

Dubai Schools Afraid of Valentine’s – News reports indicated that some schools may be closing on February 14 to prevent public displays of affection on campus grounds. Was it true?

Brands do the Harlem Shake – It’s not just people or free-spirited companies that can do it. Some brands quickly jumped on the bandwagon to capitalise on the hype of this chaotic dance.

How do you get 30,000 followers in an hour – Kipp talks about Burger King and Jeep being hacked on Twitter and why being digitally infiltrated can also be a blessing.

Your boss fine with you working from home? – We comment on Marissa Mayer’s (CEO of Yahoo) decision to ban her employees from working from home. Return to the stone age?

LinkedIn but feeling left out – Why the new trend of ‘I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine’ endorsements may take its toll on the social network’s credibility.

Forbes reported of a recent study conducted by research consultancy Ponemon Institute on behalf of 3M, which found women were likely to be more perseverant and hardworking when given an assignment. The study was actually designed to better understand the effect of 3M’s privacy filters, but in the process revealed a thing or two about the working tendencies of women.

Ponemon Institute studied 274 subjects who worked in a variety of fields including health care, financial services and consumer products. The sample was considerably balanced: 53 percent female and 47 male.

Here is what they found: “during a ten-minute experimental trial, female subjects worked 2.5 minutes compared to 2.1 minutes for male subjects without a privacy filter installed and 4.9 minutes versus 4.3 minutes for male subjects with a privacy filter installed. When given the opportunity to walk away during an experimental waiting period, 38 percent of female workers walked away, compared to 52 percent of male workers.”

So there you go. Substantial and scientific proof that not only are women the fairer sex, they are also the more hard-working.

Cue: the cold shoulder.

You may think it is a petty and even unhealthy attitude to adopt, but recent research has found people tend to perform tasks better when they ignore somebody who is obnoxious.

“It’s depleting to force yourself to have difficult conversations when all you want to do is ignore the person. Ostracism can serve the regulatory goal of allowing people to conserve resources” says Kristin Sommer, Associate Professor of Psychology at Baruch College, City University of New York.

The researchers asked 120 people to either ignore or engage in conversation with an actor. After they interacted with the person in charge, they were taken to a different room where they were asked to carry out a concentration-heavy assignment.

The findings were published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships found that: “participants performed worse on this task after ignoring – versus conversing with – a likable person. But in the obnoxious condition, the opposite was true: performance was significantly better when people had used the silent treatment on the offensive speaker.”

It isn’t exactly ground breaking stuff, after all the science behind this experiment confirms what we all know: if a dog barks at you, should you bark back? If a person is beyond redemption choosing to save your energy can not only help you maintain your inner peace, but it can also increase your productivity.

In fact, before I began typing this I considered making a colourful little slideshow of retailers, food chains and suppliers that have – so far – been contaminated and subsequently shamed by their lack of attentiveness. The only problem we’re facing is that there’s a new name added to the list almost every other day so we might as well just watch that list grow; with a big bucket of horse-flavoured popcorn.

Just when you thought the public were getting over the Findus Lasagne sham, Tesco’s frozen burgers and Silvercrest, the likes of Nestle, Iceland and Burger King joined the ranks. Today’s latest: Ikea and their now infamous meatballs.

Inspectors detected horse DNA in one-kilogram packs of the retailer’s meatballs in the Czech Republic. Three quarters of a tonne’s worth have been stopped from reaching the country but naturally, inspectors were unable to confirm whether the meatballs had reached other parts of Europe. The furniture giant said it stopped the deliver out of “potential worries among our customers” and stores in the UK have taken them ‘off the shelves’.

Where will this scandal end, do you think? More importantly, is it our job to worry about it? According to a report by The Guardian, an environment secretary by the name of Owen Paterson is just one of many ministers across the European Union fighting for speedier action against inadequate (clearly) food labeling. They’re having a big meeting about it soon and working on releasing a European Commission report on tougher rules. Of course, The Guardian says that’s not expected until the end of 2013.

I suppose we should let the politicians fight it out but what we can do in the mean time is really reflect and revise what we should and shouldn’t be eating and raising awareness so retailers can pull their socks up and adopt a better screening process. We know it can’t be easy, like finding a needle in a hay stack; but the lack of transparency in the food industry needs to be addressed. The alternative is that we all come to terms with eating horse meat.

For those of you reading this in the Middle East, you have a lot less to worry about. You should still reflect on your diet and whether you’re making the right choices but as far as we’ve been told; your diet is quite horse-free. Unless you’ve chosen to willingly eat horse, of course.

Colette Shannon, Communications Manager at Spinneys (Fine Fare Foods) told Kipp they’re committed to the health and well being of their customers and only sell safe, quality food.

“We source our beef as fresh chilled from family farms in Australia and New Zealand, which is 100% traceable. Our buying team visit and inspect the farms regularly and the farms are certified to the highest food safety and quality standards in their respective countries,” she said.

Burger King Middle East also told us something similar, so it’s looking pretty good for us so far.

Alright, Kippers we better be galloping off now.

As many of you may have recently noticed, LinkedIn has introduced a relatively new feature which allows you to add your own skills in the form of short keywords and your 1^st level contacts can endorse you for those skills.

When LinkedIn Endorsements were first rolled out, I genuinely added skills that I believed I exercise on a daily basis, but to my surprise, I started receiving public endorsements from contacts I have neither worked nor ever interacted with.

At first it was flattering. I’d log into LinkedIn everyday and check my notifications to see my contacts endorsing me on skills I exercise regularly; but it did not take long for that flattery to turn into frustration as it became almost like a game of ‘I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine’. I started receiving messages from those same contacts with a short “hello, I have endorsed you, please endorse me too.”

In my world, if I were to endorse or recommend someone for a skill or quality they possess, it would only happen if I genuinely believed or experienced that the person actually has those qualities. Let’s not forget an important point here; when you recommend someone, your credibility is immediately on the line.

Let’s take endorsements and apply them to a real life scenario to better understand how a person’s credibility can be affected. If a friend or contact of yours wanted to go to a hair salon in Dubai and asked you personally which stylist is reliable? Would you run a quick search on Google and give them whatever ranked first or would you take the time to think about your recommendation before replying?

LinkedIn’s endorsements should not be any different. The social platform has had a clear objective and has stuck to it for many years: ‘connecting professionals’.

Let’s look briefly at how LinkedIn operates:

LinkedIn, to date, is the social platform you would visit to connect with professionals, generate leads, search for potential employees and look for a job.

Users (employees or employers) create their profile on LinkedIn which would list their education level, their work experience, interests and some background information.Most users have a basic profile; which is mainly open to the public allowing users to easily connect with each other.

Recommendations are an important feature as it would include what a person thinks of you professionally; this is very different from endorsements because you have to include where you worked with that person, what they have done for you and it links straight back to your own profile. So the amount of fluff that is included in recommendations is minimal.

If you are to endorse anyone, they should be worth that endorsement, not just because you want them to endorse you back.

When Sarah isn’t busy meeting clients and deadlines with Prototype, shes got her detective cap on and finding new social networks as well as testing out new features and spreading the word along the way. You can reach her at sarah@prototype.ae.

It was announced that the Korean sensation will be performing at My Music X’s Festival in March. According to the press release the Dubai-based event company sent out during their press conference, he was scheduled to appear on the 28th of March as part of a line-up of approximately 30 artists.

Naturally, the news went viral. Frankly, most of the other artists were relatively ignored in terms of media coverage and Psy was the main point of focus. The media ran with it like they’ve never run before. Print, Online, Radio, you name it. And considering that it has become the most popular video in the world on YouTube, Kipp finds it safe to assume that people were excited.

About a day and 130 Twitter characters later, the unthinkable happened and it all seemed to go wrong. At approximately 10pm last night (Dubai time), the Korean artist posted a public tweet to his followers. ‘To fans in Dubai there is some wrong information being reported. I will NOT be in Dubai March 28 but look forward to coming soon~!’

Word of this travelled quickly through social media, prompting Kipp to contact My Music X to clarify the matter. We were told that there was in fact an incident of miscommunication – but that it wasn’t between them and the media, but rather between Psy and his Agents.

“My Music X is aware of a tweet from Korea this morning in relation to the proposed appearance of PSY at our My Music X Festival next month. Our team is currently making inquiries into the situation and will update the public as soon as the circumstances are clearer.”

Don’t fret Dubai, if you really love him, you should let him go. Or better yet, wait for him to come to you. Also, as My Music X says, they are working on the matter, so there’s still hope. Just don’t be too disappointed if you aren’t able to cut loose with the horse dance any time soon.

A simple question, but there is no simple answer. And yet ‘going viral’ is something that branding agencies and creative houses all around the world promise to deliver to their clients. Consider the example of Gangam Style and the Harlem Shake, creating content for the purpose of virality should be formulaic, but it very rarely is.

Is it relatability? Is it interactivity? Or is it out-of-the-world-whacky-but-intelligent creativity? Or is it just a silly dance?

Well, whatever it is, Heineken has managed to capture the concept with their recently uploaded video called The Candidate.

Overwhelmed with 1,734 applicants for a role within the Champion’s League department, the Dutch beer brand sought to use crowd-sourcing to find the perfect candidate by using unconventional methods.

Instead of asking the usual questions of ‘what is your biggest weakness and why do you want to work at our company’, the company put people on the spot, from the interviewer faking a medical emergency to seeing the interviewee’s reaction to a man jumping from the building. Every interview was recorded, of course.

Heineken then opened up the decision of who to hire by uploading videos of the top three candidates which the marketing department could vote on. The winner, and new recruit, was announced at the Juventus Stadium.

Talk about hitting the jackpot with a double whammy: viral content meets social media interaction. Over everything else, the video boosts Heineken’s image as an unconventional youthful brand and provides an impetus for job seekers.

Since it was uploaded yesterday, the video has garnered just under 50,000 views. It may not compete with Gangam Style for number of hits, but it certainly will set a new precedent for brands trying to cash in on the social media wave.