As part of marketing and awareness activities, the eGovernment Authority (eGA) recently participated in the 3rd International Road Federation (IRF) - Middle East Regional Congress and Exhibition 2012.

The event, which took place at the Gulf Hotel from 9th - 11th January, was organized by the Ministry of Works (MoW) in cooperation with Bahrain Society of Engineers, IRF and Project Management Institute – Arabian Gulf Chapter.

The eGovernment Authority showcased a set of eServices related to MoW such as Traffic Diversion Request, Traffic Signal Service Requests, Abnormal Load Permission, Building Maintenance Request, Sanitary Connections, Sanitary Complaints, Materials Testing Results (QC), Contractor Prequalification, service and communication channels were also demonstrated with other eTransfromation related projects.

So.cl, pronounced social, is a social network tool created by Microsoft on 15th December 2011, for researchers and students studying social media in certain information and design colleges. Its purpose is to extend their educational experience by focusing on combining webbrowsing, searching and social networking.

Using search functions powered by Bing’s API, So.cl encourages students to search for topics and then create montages of the visually rich web-content. So.cl users can automatically share links and have ‘video parties’. They can also build posts with many elements—photos, video, text, and more—to share them with colleagues. Moreover, they can find students with similar interests, create their own social tool and build customized communities around specific educational goals.

Microsoft declared that So.cl complements with already established tools like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Bing, Google and other search tools as it is intended to encourage students in order to improve everyday communication and learning tools by researching, learning and sharing.

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Apple has updated its iBooks’ reading applications for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch, adding both a nightmode and a full-screen option. Other updates include the addition of several new fonts and classic covers for some public domain books.

Many users have lamented the absence of a night-mode, which is a standard offering in other e-reading apps. The full-screen option removes the fake book styling of the app’s reader view to allow more text to be displayed, but retains its page-turn effect.

Visit ebookmagazine.co.uk

Produced jointly by the Governance and Innovation Program and the Gender and Public Policy Program at Dubai School of Government, the Arab Social Media Report indicated that women’s engagement in social media tools has increased from 32% in 2010 to 33.5% by the end of 2011 but remain the least number of users, compared to men,

According to a survey conducted as part of this regional study, the number of Facebook users in the Arab region has reached 36 million with an increase of 68% since the beginning of 2011; whereas young generation from both genders is the frontrunners with a 70% share.

The report covered 22 Arab countries; in addition to Iran, Turkey and Israel. The objective of the report is to highlight and analyze usage trends of specific networking tools across the Arab region. It is also part of a comprehensive research initiative focused on social engagement as an empowering tool for Arab women.

Malicious hackers are wasting no time making headlines in 2012. The social-media giant “Facebook” was the first target for a malware worm known as Ramnit - and the attack offered a booty that reportedly includes the log-in details of more than 45,000 Facebook users. Ramnit was first discovered in April 2010 and hit 800,000 computers which resulted in the loss of financial information.

Seculert, a security firm, suspected that the attackers behind Ramnit are using stolen credentials to log-in to victims’ Facebook accounts to transmit malicious links to their friends, therefore, enlarging the malware’s spread. Cybercriminals are taking advantage of the fact that users tend to use the same password in various web-based services.

Notably, Facebook has witnessed a major rise throughout 2011 by attracting over 643 million users from around the world; out of which 70% are from outside the U.S.

According to the latest Arab Social Media Report, 36 million are Arab users.

Statistics released by the security company Socialbakers showed that the number of Facebook users in Bahrain has reached 271,380 (in last February) which represent 36.77% of the total population.

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