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Jar of Dots – videos

The Jar of Dots this time comes with a different format.  Sometimes we loose interest in reading. To break the routine and to add a bit of a “squeeze of lime” to the posts, the Jar of Dots is a jar filled with “videos”  today.  Several videos are awaiting for your to click on them.  I warn you, this post might take few days till you are done with. But i hope at the end of the journey, you would be inspired, educated and interested for more.

Plug your headsets .. and enjoy.

The Day in Ramadan he left us:

If i’d count the number of times i’ve started writing this paragraph and deleted it, i would have filled a room with trashed papers.  I have no words to describe this first video, for the occasion itself is still painful to remember even after 6 years.

Every 19th of Ramadan, we remember our loss as nation.  Many people wrote articles, and books and stood behind podiums and gave their best speeches, but never did i hear a speech or read an article as honest as the video below.  His Highness Dr. Sultan Al Qassimi was awarded the Cultural Personality of last year by Sheikh Zayed Book Award.  He stood there, saying the most heart-whelming speech ever about the day we lost Sheikh Zayed, the 19th of Ramadan of 2004.

p.s. it is in Arabic, and no English translation would do it justice. But…

I Have A Dream:

On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC, on August 28th 1963, a sentence changed history: “I have a dream”

Martin Luther King Jr’s Speech “I have a dream” is regarded as one of the historical speeches. And yesterday, it marked 47 years since he marched, stood there in front of more than 200,000 American and said “I have a Dream”:

This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

The Monk & The Monkey

from Brendan Carroll

A determined young boy, Ragu, is sent by his master on his final quest to become a monk. A seemingly simple task becomes an unexpected challenge for Ragu as he discovers the real value of his quest.

© 2010 Brendan Carroll & Francesco Giroldini.

A lovely animation, and an sweet inspiring story.

Click here to view from your iPhone/iPad

The Monk & The Monkey

Masr

from Javier Morgade

When i saw this video, i remembered the sounds of the streets in Egypt, the smell of diesel and burnt clay, the sounds of car horns, and people talking and others yelling.  It took me to the real experience i had in Cairo – Masr as the Egyptians refer to it – It took me those narrow unpaved neighborhoods and very very poor yet happy families.. it took me to that house that served us red tea in a very humid cramped room. The real Masr ..

Click here to view from iPad/iPhone

Masr from Javier Morgade on Vimeo.


Smarties Campaign

I loved this Nestlé Australia Smarties campaign called “The 8 Colors of Fun” is targeted to children & parents by pairing a child, an adult & a color to create an artistic piece inspired by the children let it be a song, artwork, or even a story book.

The campaign is online at Facebook and YouTube.  The Smarties Facebook page includes a downloadable how-to guide with instructions for a color-related DIY art project for children.

Sal Khan: Bill Gate’s favorite teacher

When we say that “education has no borders” we mean it.  Sal Khan, a Harvard MBA student sits in his cubicle at home, with his two screens and invests heavily on youtube tutorial videos in teaching students about anything from mathematics to biology

“This guy is amazing,” Bill Gates wrote. “It is awesome how much he has done with very little in the way of resources.” Gates and his 11-year-old son, Rory, began soaking up videos, from algebra to biology. Then, several weeks ago, at the Aspen Ideas Festival in front of 2,000 people, Gates gave the 33-year-old Khan a shout-out that any entrepreneur would kill for. Ruminating on what he called the “mind-blowing misallocation” of resources away from education, Gates touted the “unbelievable” 10- to 15-minute Khan Academy tutorials “I’ve been using with my kids.” With admiration and surprise, the world’s second-richest person noted that Khan “was a hedge fund guy making lots of money.”

source

  • Playlist: 1630
  • Watched on an average of 70,000 times a day
  • Started in late 2006
  • The Khan Academy Received 18 million (and counting) page views worldwide
  • He reaches out to 200,000 students monthly

www.khanAcademy.org

Delia Smith: French Onion Soup – BBC

She is a Britsh Cook, Television presenter and the UK’s best-selling cookery author, with more than 21 million copies sold.

Smith was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) 2009 Birthday Honours, “in recognition of … [her] contribution to television cookery and recipe writing”. source

This video was released on January 25, 1980 - authentic and original

p.s. the recipe includes white wine which you can substitue with “Water, chicken broth, vegetable broth, white grape juice, ginger ale, white grape juice.”

Teaching Humanitarian Engineering:

There is a trend in Universities nowadays to offer degrees that have not been offered ever before.  Many of them have a societal/sustainability/huminatarian focus.

Stanford’s Entrepreneurial Design for Extreme Affordability program focuses on teaching its students how to design elegant, inexpensive solutions to help people in developing countries. Two of its successful projects are cheap—solar LEDs to replace kerosene lamps and low-cost baby incubators for low birth weight babies

While Colorado School of Mines has offered a new degree called Humintarian Engineering.

The video below explains in details

iPhone applications that fit your style – or find it

The New York Times compiled a list of several iPhone applications which are supposed to either “fit your style or find it”.  There are applications such as

Elle Shopping Guide, Lustr, Ask a Stylist or Lucky at Your Service and many others. You’d find them here

You would need to check if those websites will work outside the US, but in all cases, it is an extra tip to keep you up to date with the latest styles & trends.

Khawater Season 6:

In its 6th season, Ahmed Alshugairi talks about Islam in his “neoclassical” method.  Nowadays, it is important to understand concepts rather than just taking them for granted.  1+1 has to equal a number.  And this what in my humble opinion i find Khawater is good at.

Being a person who tends to research many topics,  every episode of Khawater reminds of a “wikipedia” but filmed and with an Islamic touch. (which is a good thing btw) The majority of the youth find it touching, inspiring and life changing.

I’ll leave you with an episode which is translated into English -.  I can sum it into one line: Total Quality Management in Health Care System

Gear up for Ramadan .. with Apps

It is one month, if you think of it as an investment fund, then it is one that guarantees 100% return on investment – and even more -

And if you think of it as a rehab month, then this is the time to enroll into one of the most spiritual rehab months in your whole year.

To some, it is more like new year’s resolution… setting objectives and change methodologies … strategies .. but they fall under one goal.. getting the best out of this month and becoming a better Muslim.

And because we are always “on the go..” or at work, basically: JUST BUSY.. nevertheless, we are never busy to answer our calls, reply to our blackberry messages, check our emails, and send our daily tweets from our mobiles and smart gadgets, i decided that this month’s Ramadan post would be about the applications you can have on your mobiles that will help you and me become a better Muslim.  Being an iPhone person, i found a lot of iPhone applications and tried to get as much sources for Blackberry and Android users… so enjoy and inshallah this month would be the month all our deeds will be accepted and our sins will be forgiven.. at least we shall work hard enough to make it happen ..

p.s. most of the links here are recommended by people from my twitter timeline…

QamarDeen:

QD-about-telted

QD-main-shot

QamarDeen is an Islamic behavior tracking app

The intention is that this app will be an effective tool in helping you create and maintain better and more consistent Islamic behaviors.

Features

  • Record how you prayed each of the five daily prayers
  • Keep track of how much Quran you read every day
  • Record when you give any type of charity
  • Keep track of your fasts throughout the year
  • Rotate the device to enter graph mode
  • Visualize your progress over time
  • Analyze and improve your Islamic behaviors

Price: Free
Category: Productivity
Languages: English, Arabic
Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, & iPad

Personally – i use it and it is awesome.. Highly recommended

Qamardeen Website

Download from iTunes

Supplications – Dua for every occasion

supplications

supplications

Features

  • Most extensive collection of Duas
  • Search for any Dua instantly in English or Arabic
  • Email a Dua to anyone instantly or copy and paste a dua into an SMS message or note
  • Bookmark your favorite Duas for easy access

Price: $1.99
Category: Reference

Language: English
Requirements: compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, & iPad

Supplication website

Download from iTunes

Guidance App:

guidancetouch

guided

Guidance, the premier prayer time app for the iPhone, offers the easiest to use prayer times, push notification adhans, Qibla compass (for the iPhone 3GS) , Qibla Map, Masjid Locator and much more!

Price: $2.99
iOS 4.0 Tested
Languages: English, Arabic, French
Requirements: Compatile with iPhone, iPod touch & iPad

Guidance Website

Download from iTunes

iPray lite & Pro:

Features:

★Prayer times for any city round the globe with Push alert for Fajr (local alert will be supported with official release of OS 4.0)

★ Find and save cities using the powerful built-in database (will work even when there is no internet available). Supports more than 80,000 cities round the globe

★ Displays prayer times for: Fajr, Ishraaq, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, Isha and Qiyam-ul-lail (Last 1/3rd of the night; Tahajjud Prayer)

★ Tap on the time column to display time left to next prayer

★ Qibla direction for selected cities with Sun’s current position in the sky. Find Qibla from wherever you are. NOTE: Lite version does not support Magnetic compass and/or GPS.

★ Islamic Events

★ Multiple Hijri and Prayer Time Calculation method adjustments

★ A unique user experience

Try the full version of iPray for a more richer set of features and options.

iPray lite – Free
languages: English, Arabic
Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, & iPad

iPray
price: $3.99
Languages: English, Arabic
Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch & iPad

iPray website

iPray lite on itunes

iPray on iTunes

iQuran:

* Full Quran with Translation: Potrait and Landscape (Landscape only in Surah Fatiha)

* Translation: Shakir (English)

* Innovative Index Screen: Navigate to bookmarks, chapters, hezb and juzz (para) all from the same screen

* Two selectable themes

* Verse by verse recitation: Sheikh Husary

* Repeat functions in recitation mode

* 5 Bookmarks & Notes

* Audio Bookmark to show you the last heard verse

* Fast Scrolling: Swipe your finger on the left verse column in Surah View to jump to a particular verse quickly

* Full-Text searching of the Quran in English translation

Price: Free

Category: reference
Language: English
Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, & iPad

iQuran website

iQuran on iTunes

Quran Reader:

quran

Features

  • High resolution pages in the original Uthmani format
  • Read in landscape or portrait mode
  • Full text search in English and Arabic
  • English translation
  • Intuitive paging with no loading time
  • Complete user interface localization in English, Arabic and French.
  • Create or delete bookmarks for any page
  • Rotate the device to enter landscape mode to zoom in and read pages in detail
  • Rotation lock button
  • Jump to page option
  • Jump to Hizb option
  • Page slider in the Quran browser
  • French Quran translation
  • The screen no longer dims while the app is running


Price: $2.99
Language: English, Arabic, French
Compatibe with iPhone, iPod touch, iPad

Quran Reader website

Quran Reader on iTune

Quran Reader HD for iPad:

An amazing interface for iPad users. Very detailed focus

Features:

* Verse-by-verse Recitation *
Use the audio feature to listen to the beautiful recitation of Sheikh Abdelbasit Abdelsamad. If you’re interested in memorization you can set it to automatically repeat each verse as it goes. Quran Reader will highlight each verse as you listen to the recitation, letting you follow along and improve your reading skills.

* Tafseer & Translation *
Increase your knowledge by studying the translation and tafseer accompanying each verse. Simply tap and hold on a verse to access the menu where you can bring up the translation or the Tafseer to allow you to fully understand and appreciate a verse. Quran Reader HD offers English or French translations and Tafseer in English (Tafseer Al-Jalalayn) and Arabic (Tafseer Al-Moyassar).

* Notes & Bookmarks *
Connect with the power of the message by using the notes feature to record your thoughts about a verse. You can also bookmark a page to quickly access it later or mark your progress as you read through the Quran.

* Beautiful Interface *
The intuitive interface is easy to use and lets you engage with the Quran. Turn the pages like a real book, and simply touch to drop the bookmark and save your place. Tap and hold on an ayah to highlight it and bring up the menu for that ayah where you can choose from a myriad of options. Quran Reader HD brings the amazing experience of the iPad to the Holy Quran.

Download from iTunes

The developers website

Bandar.Raffah – for details in Arabic

*Highly recommended if you have an iPad

Hadeeth Lite & Pro:

hadeeth

hadeth

Features:

Provide the following collection:
•Mowatta Malik.

Browsing:
•Browse each collection in book, chapter and Hadeeth order.
•Text is selectable and could be copied and pasted in other applications.
•Histroical biography of each collection author.

Bookmarks:
•Bookmark each Hadeeth, ability to write comments along with each bookmark.
•Edit and delete bookmarks.

Searching:
•Full text search is supported for one or more collection or the whole set.
•Each search term is saved for later use and could be deleted.
•Easy to navigate search results back and forth.
•Ability to add bookmarks from within search results.
•Search terms are highlighted within text for maximum readability.

Random Browsing:
•Randomly selected Hadeeth by the system is offered, a great and entertaining way to learn about Prophet’s Sayings.
Theme support:
•Several themes are available and could be managed directly from the iPhone setting application.

Hadeeth Lite:

Price: Free
Language: Arabic
Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, & iPad

Hadeeth Pro:

Price: $9.99
Language: Arabic
Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch & iPad

Hadeeth Website

Tafsir:

tafseerFirst ever Complete Quranic Commentary(Tafsir) on the Iphone/Ipad !

tafseeer

Price: $5.99
Category: Books
Language: English
Compatible with iPad, requires iPhone OS 3.2 +

Tafsir on iTunes

Hisn Al Muslim:

hesn

The application is based on “Hisn AlMuslim” reference book and contains around 130 title with more than 250 zekr included.

You can browse, search and copy the content with this easy-to-use application.

Price: Free

Category: Reference
Language: Arabic
Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch

Hisn Al Muslim website

Hisn Al Muslim on iTunes

Quran Majeed:

quranmajeed

Latest Quran Majeed software for iPhone and iPad Features:

  • Complete Quran Arabic text
  • Option to display side by side English translation
  • Beautiful Uthmanic script font
  • Complete audio recitations of famous Qaris
  • Portrait and landscape mode
  • Scalable font sizes
  • Sura and Juz index
  • High quality audio recitation with ayah highlighting sync with auto scrolling
  • Pinch/zoom feature for changing font size
  • Fast audio playback through optimised download method
  • Quran Majeed Lite version has complete scalable Quran Text in Uthmanic font with all diacritical marks. English translation by Pickthal is also included. Quran Majeed is compatible with both iPhone and iPad in all orientations. It supports pinch/zoom feature for changing font size. English translation appears side by side. Lite version comes with Quran recitation of Sheikh Sudais As Shuraym.

    Full version offers complete recitation of Quran Majeed by famous reciters [Sheikh Abdul Basit, Sheikh As Sudays & As Shraym, Sheikh Mishari Rashid, Sheikh Saad Al Ghamdi, Sheikh Ahmed Ajmi, Sheikh Al Huzaifi]. Full version users will also find useful many more feature upgrades.

    Complete Arabic text and English translation has been proof-read by a Muslim scholar (’alim).

    Compatible for both iPad, iPhone & iPod touh

    Athkar:

    athkar
    athkar2
    athkaripad
    Read Daily Athkar on this simple/useful FREE App. Multiple sections of Athkar, such as: Morning Athakr, Evening Athkar, Athkar before sleeping and travel Athkar.
    Price: Free
    Category: Reference
    Language: English
    Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch

    Mesbah:

    msba7
    Mesbah allows you to count your prayers seemingly and easily by counting your “touches” as you pray.

    The App is unique as it calculates how many “Hasanat” you are collecting.

    mesba71
    Price: free
    Category: Reference
    Language: English
    Compatible wih iPhone, iPod touch & iPad

    iSubha

    1. Comes preset with the most known Islamic praises, ready to be used out of the box

    2. Provides the facility of adding custom phrases for Tasbeeh

    3. A detailed Subha view where tapping on the screen counts as a single Tasbeeh. A counter along with a session timer is displayed.

    4. You may pause or resume any session at any time

    5. Idle time detection auto-pauses Subha view if not used for a configured amount of time

    6. Full history view of all counts, times and tasbeehs performed. The history/log view can be configured with a Password.

    7. Two customizable themes, along with a special Night theme that switches on automatically between 2:00am and 6:00am.

    8. Fully customizable interface with configurable sounds and animations

    9. Tip: Shake in Subha view to cycle between available themes
    Category: Utilities
    Language: English
    Price: $1.99
    Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch & iPad

    Blackberry Users:

    Guided Ways:

    they also have

    From the Blackberry website:

    $3.99
    Free
    Supports all devices
    $2.99

    Android Users:

    Additional links

    Event Planner: 001

    And probably the last too..

    No introductions, just go straight to the point.  Remember the following next time you “organize” an event:

    Plan: Key to success

    “He who fails to plan, plans to fail”

    Points you need to focus on, define clearly and tick as a priority:

    Objective of the event
    Audience targeted
    Message to be sent
    Date of the Event
    Appropriate Venue [...]

    Salem bin Suhail

    Some people are not known, except after their death .. history only marks them as heroes and so they shall always be remembered.
    Salem Suhail, was born in RAK in the 50s in a small village called al hdebah الحدبة in al menai’i منطقة المنيعي area that was known to be for Ras Al Khaima prior [...]

    Jar of Dots – 8

    Every dot is special in its shape, color and texture. But the fun is a “jar-full” of dots.. enjoy

    Oil Spill info:
    The Mexican Gulf oil spill is one of the most alarming oil spills that has ever happened. Not only is it large, it is also very difficult to contain and stop. This is an interactive [...]

    Ellen pokes fun at Apple then .. APOLOGIZES

    As Engadget mentioned in their post:
    After watching this video, we’ve come to one conclusion: Apple needs to learn how to take a joke.