Category: Information

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 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

I had breakfast at Johnny Rockets today and when I came to pay they told me Knet wasn’t working. Now after having lunch at Wasabi I came to pay and they again told me Knet wasn’t working. I am concluding from this that today is not Knet’s best day.

note: I am talking about Knet point of sales not the atm machines.

There is a slight problem with the forum which occurred during a routine server upgrade. I will try to fix the problem as soon as I can but for now the best way is to remove the styling from the page. In Firefox go to View>Page Style>None.

The stylish British cafe Napket is going to open at the Avenues phase 2 before the end of the year. I’ve never tried Napket but I passed by it a few times while in London and the place was packed. supposedly they’ve got amazing sandwiches. Now if only Pret a Manger would open up…

Q8 Loco has posted images and information on Dhiafa Village which is the new location near the Kuwait Towers that has Trader Vic’s. I was wondering what the other two restaurants were and it turns out they are going to be French and Italian. The Italian (pictured above) seems like its going to be pretty cool. Check out Q8 Loco’s website for more pictures and details. [Link]

Picture above taken by Q8 Loco

Nat just told me about this website here in Kuwait where people sell and buy pets from. Sounds normal until you actually check the site and realize people are selling everything from ponies and monkeys to crocodiles and cheetahs. My favorite though has to be the rare french dwarf goat, I wish I had a farm so I could get it. [Link]

Update: I called and asked about the cheetah, its 8 months old and the guy is selling it for KD1,200. He had four originally and this is the only one left. Is this even legal? How are people allowed to buy and sell cheetah’s or tigers?? Why isn’t there some kind of control? This is really upsetting.

Update2: Here is a video on YouTube of a guy in Kuwait who had a baby cheetah in his house. Although its very cute keep in mind this is a WILD animal and not a house pet so what he’s doing is very cruel. [Link]

The shawerma place called Weekend that is located in front of AUK in Salmiya got demolished. Supposedly the owner of the building demolished it so that he could drive off the owners of the shop. You can read more about it on the Al Rai Alaam newspaper but its in Arabic. I wasn’t a fan of Weekend, I prefered Malek Al 3aseer which was right next to it but it still sucks. They are doing the same with the shops in old Salmiya. For example Family Bookshop is still open but you can barely get to it. The entrances are blocked by rocks and sand because the owner of the building is trying to drive them out. [Link]

Thanks LunarDream

Desert Girl sent me a list of nearly all the major health clubs in Kuwait with their prices. JW Marriott looks like its the most expensive while Ramada in Riggae looks like the cheapest. Sea C Club, Marina Hotel and Corniche Club are not on this list so if anyone knows their prices just post them below in the comments. Here is the list of prices as a downloadable pdf.

Download: [Health Club Prices]

Picture above of Marina Hotel

I passed by Saso Lounge yesterday for lunch. They are going to be placing a banner on my blog soon so I figured I would pass by and check the place out. The place is located in a strategic location, during lunch while I was there the place was full of business people since its close to many offices. The food was also pretty good and very reasonably priced. Its an Italian Asian menu which although sounds strange made perfect sense to me since while I was in Lebanon I had a habit of ordering Sushi and Pizza for dinner. The dish pictured above is the Shrimp n’ Hammour which was great and a dish I would order again. Check out their website for more details and their location. If you work in Kuwait City you should pass and try it out for lunch. [Link]

Yesterday I passed by Ruby Tuesday to try their burger after some friends had recommended I try it. First off I have to say that I don’t like Ruby Tuesday. I’ve maybe had a good experience there only once and I hadn’t been to the place for maybe a year or more. The place hasn’t changed much since then, the menu has been updated and it seems they make better burgers now.

When I got the menu I knew what I was going to order, the Triple Prime Cheddar Burger which consists of a “blend” of certified Angus beef, lettuce, tomatoes, cheddar cheese and garlic mayonnaise sauce. It comes with fries usually but I told them to swap it for baked potato which they had no problem with.

Since I was there early the place was empty so my burger arrived quickly. At first glance the burger looked pretty good but I quickly found out that the bread was a problem but I will get to that in just a second. The beef patty itself was tasty although I originally found the “blend” word a bit iffy. Its like the fast food place Great Steak and Potato Company who have a large sign that proudly says their burgers are 98% pure beef. Its like o…k.. and whats the other 2% exactly? So that aside lets move on to the biggest problem in this burger, the bun. It looked more like a croissant than a bun which is ok but it was falling apart in my hands and I also found it too thin. That combination resulted in a very messy burger to eat, not good!

Overall though it was a good burger, I wouldn’t mind going back to Ruby Tuesday just for the Triple Prime. The patty had good flavor and the garlic mayonnaise went well with it but their bun left a lot to be desired. Thats why the final score is a 3 out of 5. You have the bun and you have the patty, its simple yet many places can’t seem to get it right.

Ruby Tuesday is located on th Gulf Road, Salmiya and Abu Halifa.
The cost of the Triple Prime Cheddar Burger was KD2.950

Update: I went back to Ruby Tuesday a few days ago and ordered the same burger, this time it was horrible. Presentation wise, taste wise, everything was just terrible. New score is a 1.5 out of 5.

A while back I posted about how I purchased the Sony DSC-W300 from a store in Muthana Complex and how I got a free memory stick with it. Well I don’t know how many readers went and purchased the camera from that store (I know of at least 3) but I just wanted to inform you that there is a very high chance that you ended up with a fake memory stick just like I did.

I first noticed a problem when some photos were turning up distorted. At first I thought it was a defect from the camera and was going to return it for another one when I realized the memory stick was a fake. Here is a link with details on how you can tell its a fake, I found out mine was a fake from the way the packet was sealed.

Anyway another thing you should know is that the camera shutdown speed is effected by the type of memory card in the camera. The shutdown speed is calculated from the moment you press the off button till the lens retracts. I did a test using three different memory cards and here are the results:

Sony 2GB Memory Stick Pro-HG Duo
First try: 1.62
Second try: 1.68
Third try: 1.65
Average is 1.65 seconds to shutdown.

SanDisk 1 GB Ultra II Memory Stick
First try: 2.61
Second try: 2.5
Third try: 2.54
Average is 2.55 seconds to shutdown.

Fake Sony 1GB Memory Stick Duo
First try: 5.25
Second try: 4.67
Third try: 4.92
Average is 4.94 seconds to shutdown.

So if you purchased your camera from Digital World in Muthana Complex and you got a free memory stick my advice is to throw it away and get an original one. Other than the high risk that you might lose an important photo the performance of the camera also suffers greatly.

I am not really a “lets save the world” type of guy but I don’t mind helping out by using less energy as long as it isn’t a hassle for me. With not enough electricity in Kuwait for everyone its even more important to try and save energy just so we don’t end up stuck in a 50 degree heat wave with no AC. Thats why I decided to finally try energy saving light bulbs. I used to hate them because I thought they all emitted white light which I don’t like but I just recently found out their are versions that emit warm colored light which matches regular light bulbs we are all used to. So, I passed by Ace Hardware today and picked up two 20w bulbs to try out. At KD1.050 a pop they are around 10 times more expensive than regular bulbs but they last 6 times longer and use around 4 times less energy. A 20watt energy saving light bulb is equivalent to an 85w Tungsten bulb.

First thing I did was try them out to see if the color of the light is fine and it is. It matches the color of regular light bulbs so I am now going to go back to Ace and buy a whole a bunch of these so I could start replacing all the bulbs in my house. If you’ve held back on buying these light bulbs there really isn’t a reason not to get them anymore unless its because of the price. But even the price shouldn’t be a factor, seriously how many bulbs do you have around the house? 10?