Monday, November 23, 2009

Ismailis in the News - Adil Lalani (Twitvid) has the hottest start up in Silicon Valley


Zee's Notes: I love finding young Ismailis making a name for themselves - whether it be in business, academics, sports or any endeavour where their efforts create value. One such youngster is Adil Lalani, a University of Waterloo graduate, who created  SurfYourWork- an online student information/school management system while he was in school and sold for a cool $1.25 million. Since then Adil has moved to the Start-up capital of the world - Silicon Valley - and with a friend has the hottest start-up with his company Eatlime.com - software that lets you send videos via Twitter. If you have not been paying attention in the last 12 months this message delivery system (Twitter) is being touted as the breakthrough idea in the Social Networking arena.


 Adil Lalani


Eatlime.com a video uploading and sharing service,  which has a patent-pending streaming technology is founded by  Mohammad Al Adham from Jordan and Adil Lalani from Pakistan. It’s funded by venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson and a group of angel investors, including Stanford’s Rajeev Motwani (early advisor to Google), Amidzad, former Google employees Georges Harik and Aydin Senkut, as well as XG Ventures, another group of former Googlers.

About TwitVid.com
TwitVid.com is produced by EatLime, Inc., a technology company uniquely capable of helping consumers take advantage of the convergence of social communications, mobile smart phones and video. The company was founded in 2008 by Waterloo University students Mo Adham and Adil Lalani in their dorm room. They wanted to share videos with friends, but were frustrated because other websites and services couldn’t upload fast enough and weren’t developed to ensure the highest quality experience for online social interaction. They envisioned a peer-to-peer model for fast and easy video sharing. As a result, they developed the Instant Media Engine which is the only server-based software to allow high quality media files to be viewed by recipients as soon as the uploading process begins. TwitVid.com delivers the fastest, highest quality video to be viewed on either a mobile device or any computer platform. TwitVid can be found at www.twitvid.com.




Begum Inaara Aga Khan

Zee's Notes: Video from the Princess Inaara Foundation Youtube Channel.

Aga Khan Golden Jubilee - One year later

Zee's Notes: It was exactly one year ago MHI landed in Canada for his Darbars to be held in Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver. Last Friday in all JK's across Canada we celebrated and remembered the magical week that was in November 2008. Here is another tribute of the magical year of the Golden Jubilee and what I love about this one is it showcases the Ismailis throughout the world in celebration. As well check out some of the Canadian Visit Videos - Enjoy - I really did !








His Highness Aga Khan among “The 500 Most Influential Muslims – 2009"

 Georgetown University Professors John Esposito and  Dr. Ibrahim Kalin have recently published their first edition of  “The 500 Most Influential Muslims – 2009"

The publication highlights people who are influential as Muslims, that is, people whose influence is derived from their practice of Islam or from the fact that they are Muslim. It further aims to offer valuable insight into the different ways that Muslims impact the world, and also shows the diversity of how people are living as Muslims today.

http://www.rissc.jo/muslim500v-1L.pdf

Ismailis in the News - Fez Meghani and Aftab Ali release Oh Allah Nasheed Song - from the Album From One Soul



The first Music Video for the upcoming album, "From One Soul" was released this past weekend. The song is called "Oh Allah" and it was shot on location in Cairo, Egypt, with much of the filming done at Al-Azhar Park along with Islamic and Downtown Cairo.


Fez is…

a Muslim singer, songwriter and producer, whose music focuses on conveying a message of Peace, Hope, Generosity, Kindness and Love – all of which are core values of Islam.

Born in Karachi, Pakistan, brought up in Dubai, U.A.E., Fez has resided in the United States of America since the age of 17. As a student in College, he produced and released his first album titled “Aag” in 1997. Although financed and undertaken on a considerably small budget, the project amassed humble sales of over 2,000 copies and helped Fez in obtaining experience in the music industry and defining his musical style of today.

In 2002, Fez, along with Shams Soomar, produced an album, titled “City of Light”, which sold over 5,000 copies. The feedback was extremely positive, and Fez realized that his music, with a religious message, was able to resonate with those looking for a combination of modern sounds and values of faith.

Fez also produced an album titled, “The Evolution of Creation” for Shams in 2006. This was an instrumental album that traversed a musical landscape covering Creation, revelation to the Prophets, and the quest for personal search to get closer to the Creator. The album received rave reviews on music websites such as Amazon and CD Baby.

In February of 2008, “A Golden Sunrise” was released, which has motivated Fez to go further beyond the scope of the album. When Fez started producing the album in 2005, he did not expect to see such strong positive feedback. The album was especially able to connect with the Muslim Youth, and that is perhaps what helped it in garnering sales of over 13,000 copies just in the United States of America alone.

Fez has also been featured as a lyricist for the title song on the album, “Frontierless Brotherhood”. He has also performed in many cities over the last few years including Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Seattle, Austin, Orlando, Los Angeles, Toronto and Calgary.

Inspired and encouraged by the support he has received on his last project, Fez – in conjunction with his musical partner, Aftab Ali, and his record label, PlanetUnity Records – is currently working on a new mainstream album. The album titled, “From One Soul” is expected to go on sale November 27, 2009.

Princess Zahra Aga Khan at Louis Vuitton Trophy – Nice Cote d’Azur 2009.

Princess Zahra Aga Khan cheers as Azzurra wins Louis Vuitton Trophy -  Stefano Gattini/Azzurra