Definition of sapiosexuality :

(sā-pē-ō-sĕk-shü-ăl'ĭ-tē)

1. (n.) A behavior of becoming attracted to or aroused by intelligence and its use.

Origins: From the Latin root sapien, wise or intelligent, and Latin sexualis, relating to the sexes.

Example: Me? I don't care too much about the looks. I want an incisive, inquisitive, insightful, irreverent mind. I want someone for whom philosophical discussion is foreplay. I want someone who sometimes makes me go ouch due to their wit and evil sense of humor. I want someone that I can reach out and touch randomly. I want someone I can cuddle with. I decided this all means that I am sapiosexual.

Most of the news sources which I have read about the post published by Google's Eric Schmidt on his Google+ profile about the advantages of converting to Android, no body highlighted the way Shmidt slammed Microsoft when he mentioned "Like the people who moved from PCs to Macs and never switched back, you will switch from iPhone to Android and never switch back". 

He also recommended using Chrome over Safari, as it's "safer and better in so many ways" as he described it.

Here's the post as he wrote it : 

Eric’s Guide: Converting to Android from iPhone

Many of my iPhone friends are converting to Android.  The latest high-end phones from Samsung (Galaxy S4), Motorola (Verizon Droid Ultra) and the Nexus 5 (for AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile) have better screens, are faster, and have a much more intuitive interface.  They are a great Christmas present to an iPhone user!

Here are the steps I recommend to make this switch.  Like the people who moved from PCs to Macs and never switched back, you will switch from iPhone to Android and never switch back as everything will be in the cloud, backed up, and there are so many choices for you.  80% of the world, in the latest surveys, agrees on Android.

1. Set up the Android phone
a) Power on, connect to WiFi, login with your personal Gmail account, and download in the Google Play Store all the applications you normally use (for example, Instagram).
b) Make sure the software on the Android phone is updated to the latest version (i.e. 4.3 or 4.4). You should get a notification if there are software updates.
c) If you are using AT&T, download the Visual Voicemail app from the Play Store.
d) You can add additional Gmail accounts now or later.

At this point, you should see all your Gmail, and be able to use any apps and they should work well.  Be sure to verify this.

2. Update your iPhone or iPad
a) Power on, connect to WiFi, make sure your Gmail is logged in, and upgrade all of the iPhone software to the latest iPhone software release (typically iOS 7+).
b) Check that you are using iCloud to back up contacts.  Go to iCloud (in Settings) and enable that for contacts (“on”).  If not using iCloud, go ahead and sign up for it.  (The latest Mavericks requires the use of iCloud for Mac users if you want to transfer contacts.)
c) For your personal Gmail account, in Settings/Mail, turn on sync for contacts.  In the latest iOS, this should sync your Gmail contacts and iPhone contacts.
d) In Settings/Messages, turn “off” iMessage, as that messenger is an iPhone-to-iPhone messenger and if its on your iPhone friends texts won’t make it to Android.  Your iPhone will still use SMS messaging to reach your friends if you use the iPhone after this change.
e) Make sure your iPhone is fully synced to the Mac iTunes.  Your photos and music should all be backed up on your Mac when this is done. Go ahead and verify that on the Mac and the iPhone.

At this point you should see all your Gmail, have your apps, and have your contacts in the Android phone.  If the contacts are not in the Android phone, manually download the contacts as follows on your Mac:
a) Go to apple.com/icloud, login with your Apple ID, and click on contacts
b) In the lower-left corner, click on the wheel, and “select all” the contacts and “export” the vCard into a vCard file (in Downloads).
c) In a browser, go to gmail.com, click on the Mail button and select “Contacts”.  You should see a list of your Gmail contacts.  Import the vCard file into Gmail/contacts using the “Import contacts” command and it should have manually added your contacts.  Delete any duplicates or use the “More / Find & merge duplicates” function.

At this point you have your Gmail, apps and contacts on the new phone.  Also verify this.

3. On your Mac, connect your music to Google:
Download Google Music Manager onto the Mac, and run it.  Music Manager will upload your iTunes music to the cloud.  The standard version is free and handles most iTunes libraries.  You will need to sign up for Google Wallet and give your credit card information, but it’s free.  Be sure the music is going to your personal Gmail account above. See https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/1075570

With the above complete, you should have your Gmail, apps, contacts, and music all moved over.  Verify this on the Android phone

4. Take the SIM out of the iPhone and insert it into Android.  You may need an adapter (from nano-SIM to micro-SIM), but then reboot the Android and you are all set !  For texting either use the Messenger app in earlier releases or the “Hangouts” app in Android 4.4.

Comments and additions welcome ! Eric

PS. Photos on your iPhone
If you have pictures on your iPhone, you will have to first copy them over to the Mac and then sync the iPhone with iTunes.  See http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4083   

It’s probably easiest to backup your iPhone photos to the Mac, but not copy the old photos to the Android phone.  New photos you take on the Android phone will automatically be backed up to your photos in the Gmail account (iAuto-Upload is normally enabled) so no action is required.  If the old photos are important, send them to Gmail and download into the Android phone or upload them to Google+.

PPS.  Some general advice

Be sure to use Chrome, not Safari; its safer and better in so many ways.  And it’s free.
https://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/browser/

Be sure to use two-factor authentication for your Gmail and Google accounts.  Makes it very hard for someone to break into your Gmail.  Also free.
https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/180744?hl=en

من إعداد المايسترو ثائر …
بطبق الملضوم حجزلنا تذكرة ذهاب وعودة للقامشلي  

Mashable

Facebook hit all the right numbers during its most recent earnings call last month.

Revenue was up. Profit was higher than any quarter in company history. And user totals were up in almost every category imaginable, including monthly actives, daily actives and mobile.

It's a safe bet that Facebook will see even higher revenue growth in the upcoming quarter — the holidays always produce great ad revenue — but that's not the only reason to be optimistic about Facebook's future revenue stream.

The social network has 1 million advertisers on its platform, a number first announced in June, and double the number of advertisers from a year before, said Dan Levy, Facebook's director of small businesses. One million advertisers is an impressive figure. Equally impressive is that Facebook has 25 million small businesses with active company pages, which means only 4% of companies that use Facebook to connect with customers are also using the site to advertise. That's a lot of potential advertising revenue sitting close at hand.

"I think that there is a goldmine waiting to be exhausted," Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter, told Mashable in an email. "The 25 million businesses with active pages clearly understand that having a presence on Facebook has value to them, and it is only a matter of time before a large number of them experiment with advertising on Facebook."

Pachter said he believes that as many as half of the small businesses on Facebook will eventually advertise, which would generate more than $1.25 billion in ad revenue.

There are a handful of reasons why small and medium businesses aren't advertising more on Facebook, Levy said. For starters, many small businesses don't have a product ready for an advertising campaign. Others may have only one or two employees, so finding time or resources to advertise isn't always easy.

Facebook is trying to prepare itself for when these businesses are ready to advertise. With SMBs, that means a simpler advertising interface that eliminates a lot of the work needed to set up a campaign on Facebook. Instead of having to specify age groups, interests or education experience for its target audience, a company can now write their post, and simply attach a budget to it.

Facebook then handles the task of putting the ad in front of the right users, mostly fans of the brand page and their friends, according to Levy.

In the last year, 62% of new Facebook advertisers have come to the platform through these simpler interfaces, Levy said, confirming the need for a simpler ad process for small businesses.

Pachter said that Facebook will need to experiment with other kinds of ads, including coupons and location-based advertisements. A success-based advertising model, where businesses are only charged if their ad brings in customers or sales, could eliminate risk and encourage small businesses to take the plunge on Facebook, he added.

The good news for Facebook: It has 24 million small business already using its platform. This means convincing them that Facebook can help their business is already complete.

"If you travel around to conferences and you talk to folks that work with small businesses, they tell you the hardest thing in the world is to get a small business to pay attention to you," Levy said. "For us, our potential clients are already on Facebook. They already get it."

Now, it's only a matter of signing them up.

طوال السنوات الماضية و أنا زائر منتظم لمعارض الكتاب في عدة مدن و بلدان منها القاهرة وأبوظبي والشارقة….الخ . وعادة ما تقدم تلك المعارض خدمة الاستفسار عن كتاب سواء عن طريق اسم الكاتب أو عنوان الكتاب لتسهيل الحصول على الكتاب من خلال الخدمة الالكترونية. في كل مرة أقترح اسم الأستاذ أنسي الحاج أو اسم أحد مؤلفاته فلا أجد أي مؤلَف أو ذكر لأنسي الحاج، ليأتي جواب موظف الخدمة : عذرا لا وجود لإسم المؤلف أو الكتاب!

خلال معرض الكتاب الأخير في الشارقة والذي زاره أكثر من مليون زائر بحسب إحصائيات القائمين على المعرض،  سألت أصدقائي المسؤولين عن دور النشر عن سبب غياب اسم كبير مثل أنسي الحاج عن المعارض ، معظمهم أخبرني أن الأستاذ ينشر من خلال دار الجديد، وهذه الأخيرة لا تحضر معارض الكتاب. 

لا أعرف من هو ناشر كتب الأستاذ، لكن ما أعرفه جيدا أنني لم أصدف دار الجديد في أي معرض من معارض الكتب التي زرتها، اللهما إلا معرض بيروت الذي لم أزره بعد!

Pinterest has launched its first set of APIs, which will allow third-party sites to add Pinterest content and help people discover the most popular pins on the web.

 First partners for the service are a list of big brands and retailers — including Zappos, Walmart, Disney, Nestle, Random House and Hearst — underscoring how the site is ramping up for revenue generation with advertising and cross-marketing.

للمهتمين بأطوار القمر خلال شهر تشرين الثاني – نوفمبر 2013

بلادي
أعيديني من الغربةِ مُطبـِقاً
عليَّ ذراعُ والديّ
لكي أغفو 

بذاكرتي صوت العصافير أذّنت هناك
حيّ على السماحِ 
حيّ على المِلاح

أراني وقد أغمضتُ روحي على القذى
أصارعُ أيامي 
فيصرعني الخوف إلى غير وجهة 
وخلفي بلادٌ 
أوجعَ الياسمين حزنُها 
وفي البعدِ أنا الجرح 
والسكين 
والقتل والنزفُ

أشرف كنجو
دبي- الإمارات العربية المتحدة