I didn’t get a chance to watch the Olympics opening ceremony but after seeing these pictures on Gizmodo I think I need to. From the pictures it looks like the opening ceremony was pretty cool so I am going to try and download the opening now. I need to get live TV at my place, I don’t even have a satellite dish… [Link]

While I was in Thailand I spotted the Acer Aspire One at one of the electronic stores. The Aspire One was recently released to compete with the likes of the Eee PC and I think its got a pretty good shot at it. For one thing the Acer is around $150 cheaper, I just checked Amazon and the Aspire One is selling for KD100 which is pretty darn cheap. It also comes in different colors, the one I saw was navy blue but if I was going to get one I would probably get the white one pictured above.

Also today while I was at Carrefour I spotted the MSI Wind which is also competing in the same category. Carrefour had it priced at KD185 but its cheaper on Amazon although its currently out of stock. Here is the link to the Acer Aspire One on Amazon. [Amazon Link]

A strange escalator accident caught on video.
According to the Associate Press:

At least 20 people have been injured after an escalator at a Tokyo convention centre jerked to an abrupt halt. The stoppage knocked down dozens of people. The worst of the injuries appears to be a broken leg.

[YouTube]

Note: If you get a error that the video is no longer available then you most probably are on Qualitynet. They’re having weird issues which they will hopefully solve.

When I was in Bangkok I got to try out the Thai version of Red Bull and I loved it. I am not a big fan of Red Bull but the one in Thailand just tasted wayyy better. Firstly their version isn’t carbonated or at least not the one I had. The Red Bull I had came in a cough medicine like bottle and was actually syrupy like medicine and it even tasted like cough medicine! The only strange thing I found was the fact that it had the Halal logo on the side which meant there was something from an animal inside the drink. Didn’t want to know what, didn’t care to ask. Supposedly there is a store in Kuwait that sells them and I am just trying to find out where so I can get a hold of some. Anybody know?

Photo by joeannenah

It seems ProntoWash is popping up everywhere. I first saw them in the parking lot of Muthana Complex, I then spotted them in the parking lot of Salhiya, SomeContrast spotted them at Mishref Coop and now they’re also in the Marina Mall parking. It seems like a good idea to have them wash your car while you shop but I wonder how long the queue gets if they can only handle two cars at a time?

A bunch of people now have the new iPhone’s here in Kuwait and if you are wondering how to get a hold of one well it seems the easiest solution is eBay. You have two kinds of iPhone 3G’s you can get, you can get the regular locked version which is the one thats being sold in most parts of the world like in the US or you can get the Italian version which at the moment seems to be the only one that is officially unlocked.

The regular locked iPhone 3G is cheaper and sells for anywhere from $700 to $1000. Most users on eBay list them as unlocked iPhones but at the moment thats just not true. If you read the posts carefully they all promise to have the unlocking done a week after purchase… they are basically just waiting for the unlocking software to get released. You can go ahead and buy this version if you want but as of this post you won’t be able to use it in Kuwait at the moment. Very soon though with the next update of the unlocking software Pwnage you should be able to unlock it.

The Italian version is currently the only version available “officially” unlocked. This means if you buy the Italian version of the iPhone you can use it in Kuwait without needing to hack it or anything. This version is available for sale on the regular ebay.com but a larger collection is available on the Italian eBay which is ebay.it. The Italian iPhone sells on average for around $1400 which is pretty expensive but the advantage is that it works in Kuwait without a hitch.

If you’ve got the extra cash it might be a better deal to fly to Italy, spend a night or two there, buy an iPhone and then come back. If you don’t have the extra cash just wait a couple of months and the prices will probably drop down but I doubt they will go down under $500 or $600.

Just found out from q8loco’s blog that there is a new radio station launching in Kuwait called Mix FM 98.4. No one get their hopes up though its an Arabic station so BBC and VOA News are still our only other options over 99.7 for now. [Link]

A few days ago there was a news article that took many by surprise. A young Kuwaiti football player called Ibrahim Al Faresi got signed to a top Italian football team, the problem is no one had heard of him before. Well by sheer coincidence my good friend choowy goowy guy turned out to be friends with Ibrahim and was involved in the organization of the signing event that took place here in Kuwait. So who exactly is Ibrahim Al Faresi?

A couple of years ago Ibrahim was playing football with his friends in front of the Bulgarian embassy here in Kuwait when an employee at the embassy took notice of Ibrahim and told him he should go play football in the Bulgarian league. He offered to help him and hook him up with the right people so Ibrahim decided to take the chance and traveled to Bulgaria where he tried out for a football team and ended up joining them.

After awhile Ibrahim realized he wanted more and so went to the FIFA website and sent an email to a licensed agent so he would be able to travel and play in any club without issues. His new agent took him to England first where he was going to get signed to Crystal Palace F.C. But due to the fact that if you want to play in the English Premiership you need to have a work permit and also need to have played in your countries league at one point, Ibrahim couldn’t join them.

His agent then took him to try out at A.C. Siena in Italy. While there a very famous goalkeeper scout called Senior Silvano who had previously discovered the worlds best goalkeeper Gianluigi “Gigi” Buffon told him not to sign up with A.C. Siena and instead offered to have him trained more so he could get him signed up in a better team. Ibrahim accepted and went and trained under the guidance of Senior. After a short period Senior took him to try out for A.C. Milan and ACF Fiorentina. Fiorentina where right away impressed and instantly offered him a spot on their team.

And thats basically the story of Ibrahim. In a weeks time he is leaving Kuwait and heading to Italy for some medical test and some more training before officially signing for the club. Its a great story and it just goes to show that there are a lot of untapped talents here in Kuwait. I’ve always believed that there are some amazing football players here in Kuwait but I think the football league here is just not as strong as it used to be to draw in these talents. Hopefully this story will prove to be an eyeopener.

Picture from Al Azraq

If I hadn’t taken this picture myself I would have definitely thought it was a fake because no way on earth would I have ever imagined that someone would call a juice shop “Love Life Boost”. The place is located in the Marina Mall food court.

Only in Saudi of course! [Pictures]