Wadiblog

The following is an excerpt from Silicon Valley Moms’ blog:

“Wow, so mom? My Legos are made from dinosaurs?!”I smile big. My son also realizes that Legos and gas come from the same oily source, so he knows that a tank of gas and a box of Exoforce have more in common that price.

I tell the twins to touch everything in their room made from metal, then wood. Those are much smaller lists.

We read the end of the Oil book which explains the environmental effects of using so much oil. We look at a world map of where oil is found and I tell them about the Middle East and how they control most of the oil in the world. We talk about running out of oil. This is a good conversation with six year olds. They are really in to it.

Continue Reading…

The Bay Area based Muslim Advocates Executive Director, Farhana Khera testified before the United States Senate Judicial Committee in Washington DC.

The hearing that occurred on June 25th centered on “Laptop Searches and Other Violations of Privacy Faced by Americans Returning from Overseas Travel”.

The committee was presided by Senator Feingold. Amongst the list of witnesses, excluding an absent representative from the Department of Homeland Security were Farhana Khera, Executive Director of the Bay Area based Muslim Advocates group, Susan K. Gurley, Executive Director for the Association of Corporate Travel Executives, Larry Cunigham, Assistant District Attorney of the Bronx, above many others.

Click to listen to hearing

Social networks are transforming the way brands and consumers interact. Leading brands and agencies are embracing their potential — are you?

SWAT Summit looks at how agencies and brands can harness the power of social networks. This conference is for anyone who wants to be a leader in the next generation of marketing and advertising — and for the publishers, developers, and ad networks who will work with them hand in hand.

When: Thursday, July, 17, 2008

Where: Westin St. Francis, San Francisco, Ca.

Sign-up today and get $100 off when using the wadiblog promotion code.

Wadiwallah is a proud sponsor of SWAT Summit.

Silicon Valley, May 29: Yahoo! has announced it will outsource it’s Mobile Phone Instant Messaging business to JAJAH, who will help Yahoo! continue to provide a great communication experience to “our millions of Yahoo! Messenger users,” said Sabrina Ellis, vice president of Yahoo! Messenger. Yahoo! Messenger is one of the first communication tools consumers see and use when they turn on their computers, so it is critical that our partner mirror our commitment to our users, and JAJAH’s reliable VoIP network and proven customer and carrier-friendly experience make it an ideal solution.

Janitors strike in front of Cisco Systems’ North San Jose campus demanding higher pay and better health care packages. The janitors from SEIU work by contract for various high-tech and other companies in Silicon Valley. ( Lisa Fernandez/Mercury News )

At least 100 janitors are walking the picket lines this morning at some of Silicon Valley’s largest high-tech companies - including Cisco Systems and Apple - in protest of a contract offer they are calling “totally unacceptable.” Contract talks for more than 6,000 janitors in Silicon Valley ended Friday with a “take it or leave it offer,” said Mike Garcia, president of the 28,000-member janitors’ union. The offer fell short of agreements the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1877 had reached in other parts of the state, Garcia said, and his members voted Saturday to reject it and go on strike. [Continue Reading…]

Also read “Silicon Valley Silhouette…booming or busting” written roughly a year back by our staff contributor. The situation then is pretty much the same for the unskilled, low-income labor. Amidst the exponentially rising cost of living, triggered most recently by energy prices, life here in the Wadi, for the vast majority of unskilled labor is a tough bird to swallow.

Guest Post by: Riaz Haq

Sunday, May 18, 2008: South Asians in Silicon Valley had a big weekend with both TiEcon 2008 (The Indus Entrepreneurs Convention) and HDF (Human Development Foundation) holding their annual events. These events brought out the powerful, rich and famous with origins in the sub-continent including former Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, Lord Nazir Ahmad and celebrity politician Tariq Aziz. While Mr. Shaukat Aziz was the keynote speaker on Thursday evening at the TiE Global charter member reception, the Human Development Foundation annual fundraiser was addressed by Lord Nazir Ahmad and Tariq Aziz, Ethan Casey among others.

Continue Reading »

Sorry about the late notice, but we’re running our pilot streaming event on WadiLive! right now. Here are the details:

Winter Quarterly Panel Series: Offshoring 101 for Startups and Individuals

When: Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Time: 6:30 PM to 9:00PM

Venue: SAP, 3410 Hillview Drive, Palo Alto, Ca. 94304

Host: Safwan Shah – CEO, Infonox

 

 

 

 

In this panel discussion we bring together an experienced executives to examine how companies and individuals can take advantage of offshoring phenomenon in our flat world. Today companies routinely use offshore services for various disciplines, including engineering, marketing, sales, and support. The panel will address several key issues including:

• Pros, cons, and unknowns of using offshore services
• What functions can and cannot be offshored?
• Reasons other than “labor arbitrage” to offshore
• What to look for when selecting outsourced service providers

The second aspect we will highlight in this panel is how individuals who work in areas where skills are prone to be outsourced can take advantage of the offshoring phenomenon. Strategies that folks have used in this regard include moving over to offshore hubs like Pakistan, India, China and Philippines to set up their own service companies or staying local and partnering with established offshore service providers to provide their expertise which is needed onshore!

Panelists

• Faraz Syed - CEO, Mobilecomplete

• Zulki Khan - CEO, NexLogic

• Phani Nagarjuna - CEO, Nuevorar

• Ashar Aziz – CEO, FireEye

• Rehan Jalil – CEO, Wichorus

• Shazia Makhdumi – CEO, Colorfulstories

Safwan Shah

Safwan Shah the President and CEO of Infonox. His professional career includes positions with BioServe Space Technologies, a NASA center for commercial development of space and senior management/engineering positions in various Silicon Valley companies. In 1999, he co-founded Infonox, a SaaS/enterprise software company in the financial services segment. Infonox is the market and technology leader with several Fortune 25 customers. Safwan has published several scientific papers and is a contributor towards several awarded patents. Safwan also co-founded Chowk (chowk.com) in 1997 and continues to sponsor its evolution into an alternate media source for South Asians. Safwan obtained his Masters and Ph.D. from University of Colorado at Boulder.