News in Q5
BankMuscat, Oman Oil Marketing Company, Oman Mobile and Lulu Hypermarkets have joined hands to launch the first Multi-Partner smart card enabled rewards programme for customers in Oman. » more
Table Talk
Digital Oman spoke to Wahid Panwala, AGM e-Banking & Operations, BankMuscat (SAOG) to discuss a groundbreaking e-initiative. » more
Oman Plans for Convergence
Oman's delegation to the 16 – 18 November 2005 World Summit on the Information Society (www.itu.int/wsis) played a prominent part at the Tunis-based meet on the future of international governance of ICT. » more
Technology Powers Sports
Where will technology take the sporting experience? Award-winning science writer David Bradley looks into his technological crystal ball. » more
The Smartphone - A Powerful Friend
In this edition of DO, Dr. Graham Smith looks at the "smart" capability that you might well be carrying around in your pocket. » more
Anyone for Tennis?
Rachael Church on how the UK Lawn Tennis Association uses the Internet to make its sport more measurable, plus IBM’s role at Wimbledon. » more
IT in clinical use
A robot that performs laparoscopic surgery under the guidance of a surgeon who could be halfway around the world isn’t unheard of. » more
Capturing Life with Technology
"Human beings love to collect and store possessions, memories, experiences, in order to create and share personal histories, or just to keep track for practical reasons. » more
Handheld Entertainment
Whether you’re interested in videogames or not, Sony’s new PSP is the must have e-gadget of 2005, says DO’s gaming columnist Ian Sharpe. » more
Disasters: Let’s Avoid Them
What if your server shuts down, you’re flooded or there’s a fire? This is when Business Continuity Planning kicks in. Raza Ashraf reports. » more
Location, Location, Location
Navigating yourself around hospitals, museums and emergency situations. » more
New Backbones Give Arabian Networks Stability
Almost all carriers on the Arabian peninsular are working on expanding their backbone infrastructures. » more
Read All about IT!
Well, we’ve come to the end of another year and in this fourth edition of Digital Oman (DO) we talk to BankMuscat’s Wahid Panwala about the newly-launched smart basmaRewards loyalty card; Raza Ashraf looks at business continuity planning and how to avoid disasters; Ian Sharpe talks handheld entertainment; we’ve life caching with mobiles and blogs; an analysis of technology’s impact on sport; e-adoption in the health sector; Graham Smith walks us through smartphones; Salim Al Isamaily of ITTS tells us about digital convergence and where Oman’s IT sector could be heading in 2006. Plus news, readers’ letters and a whole lot more!
What we do
We believe DO’s remit is to analyze information communication technology (ICT) that has the potential to transform lives, business, industry and government both in Oman and across the world. As well as providing in-depth coverage of domestic and international innovations as they move from pilot projects to the marketplace, DO evaluates the social impact of technologies in a variety of fields - from government, education, telecommunications, finance, manufacturing, sport to retail.
It is our belief that DO has the power to arouse interest in ICT and provide information that is not readily available. Indeed, in these days of information overload people need trusted influences to guide them through the mass of information. In this regard, DO is already perceived as a reliable and intelligent ‘friend’ that passes on ICT recommendations - issues to think about, explore, do or buy. In fact, DO has been designed specifically to be part of an individual’s personal network of reliable ICT sources.
Looking forward
With the close of 2005 and four successful editions of DO under our belt, it’s time to focus on themes we want to cover in 2006. We’ve consulted with DO readers and supporters and identified topics that we think will be of interest and value – these include:
Gaming; e-Health; Open Source; Data Warehousing; Banking and Technology; the Net and Economic Growth; Sport and ICT; Telcos and How life in a connected world will be different; Youth and e-Literacy; and e-Government. So, there’s plenty to look out for in the New Year.
On the domestic ICT publishing front, DO has a head start in responding to this rapidly evolving post-mass-media world. Provided the magazine continues to give readers good reasons to engage with it, and knows how to harness that engagement, DO has a bright, long-term future.
And of course, on behalf of all of us here at Digital Oman, our best wishes for a happy, healthy and e-profitable 2006!
