Category: Blog Info

One of my plans for 2014 is to provide you guys with more content. I already have 248PM where I post random things not related to Kuwait, I also recently launched the Events and the Market section and now I’m introducing another section, one that will focus on fashion and lifestyle.

Last year after not being able to find someone to help me run the fashion section (I obviously can’t run it myself), I gave up on the idea completely until a few months back. Through a series of events I came up with the idea of creating a community driven fashion section in which I would invite various brands and people to participate in it. The brands would get exposure and I would get content, a win win situation.

After spending a few months meeting various people and trying to coordinate a synchronized launched, the fashion section is finally officially up. Currently the following brands have already started participating in the section: Al Ostoura, Al Yasra Fashion, 4, Pink Moon, Violet Concept as well as local fashion photographer Jalil Marvin and fashion blogger Joumana Soufi. There are a few more brands and people who will also be joining soon but I couldn’t wait any longer to launch the section.

So check out the section either by clicking on the “Fashion” button in the top navigation strip or by clicking [Here]

If you’re a fashion brand and you’re interested in being part of that section [Email Me]

It was an amazing (although short) time off from the blog. I’m back in London now so will resume posting as usual.

I’m currently in London and heading out to Paris tomorrow and I’ve decided while I’m there I won’t be posting anything on the blog at all. I will be back to London on the 25th and will resume posting then. So that’s basically 4 days without posting, the longest I’ve gone without posting since back in 2004. I’m taking a much needed break from the blog but I will continue to instagram.

So I hope everyone has a nice holiday, I’m out!

In the past couple of months I introduced a bunch of new things to the blog in an effort to provide you with even more content and entertainment. The first thing I did was create a dedicated Events section late last year and then at the start of this year I introduced the revamped Community. Now I’m introducing the Market.

The Market came about by necessity since the “For Sale” section in the Community became too difficult to manage. So, I shutdown the “For Sale” section there and created this new dedicated classifieds section instead. I had the locally based Orange Jetpack Studios help me get it running and looking the way I want it to and even though there is still room for improvement, I think its ready right now. So check out the Market either by clicking the link in the navigation bar on top or by clicking [Here]

Over the years the blog has become more than just a blog and your expectations of it has also changed. In a couple of days it will be the 9 year anniversary of the blog which is a pretty long time. Awhile back a reader wrote something which I hadn’t thought of before which is that some people started reading the blog while they were still in school, and then continued reading the blog all the way through their university years and now from their jobs. I found that amazing since I never expected to blog for this long. I truly appreciate everyone who reads the blog and from my side I’ll continue to keep finding content that interests you. This is my dream job.

I was recently approached by Entrepreneur Middle East to contribute to their monthly magazine and I got the beautiful letter below today from the editor in chief which I thought I would share:

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A Vested Interest: Mark Makhoul is the Goto Reference on All Things Kuwait

As the Editor in Chief of a magazine like Entrepreneur Middle East, I find it a necessity to bring forward the best and brightest across the MENA region when it comes to contributors. This is where Mark Makhoul, Founder of 248am comes in to the picture.

After faithfully reading the current 248am posts for the past year (and the well-stocked 248am archives of endless content), I see Kuwait as a happening and interesting place in the GCC, albeit a lot less publicized. Mark really has managed to capture both the coolest hidden factors of Kuwait, and the most relevant goings-on in everything from business to hospitality. Through 248am, Mark has actually convinced me that Kuwait might even be my next weekend destination in the GCC for an interesting getaway.

Since Mark acts as a de facto brand ambassador for the Gulf nation of Kuwait and its capital city, I asked him to be our authority on the new, the now, and the relevant as of March 2014.

I hope you’ll enjoy reading his work in Entrepreneur ME as much as I will.

My Best,

Fida Chaaban
Editor in Chief

A lot of you may not know this but there’s a pretty active “For Sale” section in the blogs Community. There’s always a bunch of random stuff being sold like right now there’s someone selling his Xbox One, someone else is selling their Dreamcast and there is even one person selling tea purchased from Teavana. Check it out over [Here]

Starting today, the blogs forum is now called “Community”. With this name change comes a host of other changes all with the aim to make the community more user friendly as well as more pleasing to the eye.

You can access the community by clicking the link in the navigation strip up on top or by typing community.mark248am1.wpenginepowered.com in your browser.

There are still more changes and additions coming to the blog which I’ll be rolling out one by one in the coming weeks.

Just a quick notice to the forum users. I just disabled the forum since I will be downloading the database and shifting it to the new upgraded forum. The forum should be down for 24 hours or less. Sorry for the inconvenience.

So I kinda messed something up today and had to restore my blog from yesterdays backup. For those of you who left comments today and yesterday (particularly under the Cannoli post) you’ll notice they’re no longer there because of this fact. Sorry about that.

Last night the updated Kuwait Blogs iPhone app became available in the Apple Store. This update fixes two things, the app now works with iOS7 and the app now runs in full screen. There were a bunch of blogs that were no longer being updated and I also removed those while updating the app.

To download the app just search for Kuwait Blogs in the Apple Store or click [Here]

A roundup of this weeks posts from 248PM

Million Short
Syrian Refugee Camps Under the Shadow of Advertisements
MIT researchers say they have created the trickiest tongue twister
The Division – Snowdrop Engine
BASE jumping gone wrong
The Most Talented Model in the World
Miley Cyrus “Wrecking Ball” Christmas ornament
Jon Hopkins – “Collider” (my favorite music video of the year)
Ferrari and Minivan share same radio UI

I’m looking for a CSS expert to help me out on a project for the blog. If you think you’re good hit me up with an [Email]

Update: Thank you to everyone who emailed me, I’ll reply back as soon as I can.

The 248AM iPhone app is finally updated and available in the Apple Store to download. There are two main fixes, the first is the fact the app now works with iOS7. The second fix is that the app now runs in full screen. I also submitted the updated Kuwait Blogs app into the store and that should be come available to download in the next few days.

To download the app just search for 248am in the Apple Store or click [Here]

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