I just found out that Habchi and Chalhoub will be opening up a bunch of their brands at the new luxury expansion of The Avenues. Some of the brands they will be opening there are Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Chanel, Ralph Lauren, Tods, and Lanvin. The LV store is going to be the largest LV store in the Middle East. I’m not sure where the biggest store currently is, I’ve been to the one in Beirut, Bahrain and Dubai and I think Dubai’s is the largest right now.
Should be cool but sadly the launch is still far away since as you can see above, the expansion is still under construction. They’re expecting to open sometime at the end of 2012.
Ruby’s is one of my favorite places to eat and I noticed they’ve added new items on their menu and also increased their prices slightly. They now have 4 salads, 4 sandwiches, 4 pasta and 4 burgers. They’ve also added some breakfast items as well. I took a picture of the front of the menu which you can see [Here]
In case you missed my original post on Ruby’s here is the [Link]
Patrick from Projekt Cyan was at the movies in 360 Mall yesterday when he noticed a section Cinescape had setup with information and visuals from the start of Cinescape (previously called KNCC) around 50 years ago till today. They had old ticket stubs, a logo history and even some old 3D glasses that they used to give out (although if my memory serves me correct the 3D glasses I got when I watched JAWS had black and white stripes all over.) The pictures are pretty bad quality since they were taken by phone but it should give you a rough idea of what’s on display.
If you’re looking for an activity to do this summer then the Kuwait for Kenya (K4K) project by LoYAC might be one to consider:
The K4K trip will take place in Mombasa, Kenya as usual. The duration of the trip will be 3 weeks, from 02 July 2011 to 23 July 2011.
The objectives of this year’s trip will be slightly different from the previous years. We’re looking at 2 projects to conduct during the trip; an agricultural project in Barani community and starting the infrastructure for the MYCC (youth center) building.
During the trip, we will have two weekends, which we’ve planned a safari trip and a rafting trip respectively. Both should be plenty of fun.
For those of you that are interested in joining us, please keep in mind that the age criteria is 18-28 years old. Also, the trip will be self-funded with an estimated total cost of KD 800 (excluding Safari and Rafting activities). Interested volunteers should review the pre-field manual, to be aware of the trip’s process and risks.
If you’re interested then you can contact Aisha Alsayegh ([email protected]) or Sara Al Ansari ([email protected]) for more information. Here is a link to the K4K website with info and picture of their previous projects [Link]
Aramex Shop & Ship have now set up Chinese mailboxes for all their customers which sounds great but what exactly can we get from China and where do we order it from?
The first thing that comes into my mind is buying stuff from Hong Kong sellers on eBay. A lot of times when I am looking for Tamiya parts and cars on eBay, the sellers with the good stuff are based in Hong Kong. Another thing I can think of but still hobby related is websites like HobbyKing.com who have most of their stock based in Hong Kong as well. You can now order stuff from there HongKong warehouse and have them ship the items by EMS to your Chinese mailbox.
Does anyone have any other ideas? Did you know there is a Chinese Amazon?
Note: If the Chinese mailbox hasn’t shown up in your shopandship.com page be patient, they’re currently in the process of generating accounts for all their clients in all 26 Shop & Ship countries.
Ali Taqi, a student at AUK emailed to tell me about their performance in the Microsoft Imagine Cup that was recently held in our region. The Imagine Cup is a student technology competition where the aim is to create technology that will help solve the worlds toughest problems. The AUK students came first in Kuwait and second in the GCC and have now qualified to the next level which is to compete on an international level in New York. Their idea is very simple and according to them was inspired from the blog.
The students saw how when I took a picture of a problem and posted it on the blog the proper authorities would find out about the problem and get it fixed. So the students came up with the idea of creating a software which would be set up with a variety of different authorities (emergency services, garbage collection, health ministry etc..). They then would create a phone application for people so that when they find a problem, they can just snap a picture of it and then have the application send it to the proper authorities along with a geotag so that the location of the problem can be located quickly. They’ve called their idea the Revolutionary Reporting System or RRS for short.
In the video above for example they’re showing you how this software can be used to report an accident. Usually you would waste time trying to get a hold of the emergency call center and then trying to tell them what the problem is and where the problem happened. With this software they created things would be a lot easier.
I wish the guys involved in this project the best of luck (Ali Taqi, Bader Al Mohammed Ali, and Eissa Al Qadeeri). It’s a great idea and I for one would use it all the time. I do think they need to work a bit more on the video presentation before the New York event so maybe a local film maker can volunteer to help them out with this.
You can read more on this project by visiting the AUK website [Here]
Just an FYI to anyone planning to order the iPad Arcade Cabinet from Think Geek. Mine shipped a few days ago and according to UPS it weighs over 10lb’s, that means it’s going to cost around KD30 to ship from New York using Aramex! So just a warning to anyone planning on getting it, the thing is really heavy. [Link]
A reader emailed me saying that all ISP’s have started applying a fair access policy meaning they will now be placing limits on our bandwidth. I checked the Qualitynet website since they’re my provider and noticed that at the bottom of their DSL page it states “Terms and Condition & Fair Usage Policy Apply.” I figured that was something that was always there but I checked the google cache version of the page and noticed it wasn’t there before.
Of course I freaked out and quickly called Qualitynet, the support guy I spoke to didn’t know what fair usage policy was but after explaining it to him he said there is a temporary limit imposed at the moment due to a technical problem but once it’s solved everything will be back to normal and we won’t have any limits. Hopefully that turned out to be true because I would hate to have a limit.
Here are the links to all the ISP’s where fair usage policy is mentioned:
I’ve posted about MILSIM before [Here] and [Here] but in case you missed it MILSIM is short for military simulation. It’s an outdoor activity where unlike paintball you use very realistic weapons and the game focuses more on strategy than running around shooting randomly. Anyway they’re now open in Shaab Park, I haven’t been there yet but you can see a bit of the place in the video above in which they demonstrate some of the weapons you get to use. If you need more information you can visit their website [Here]
I just heard awhile ago from a source that Tesco and Sultan Center have just worked out a deal where Tesco will supply Sultan Center with an extensive range of British lines. This will include Tesco products and British brands that are not yet available in the region. I don’t know how reliable this source is so count this information as a rumor for now but if it is true it contradicts my previous post in which I said that Alshaya was bringing Tesco to Kuwait. Or maybe both things can happen?
Back in October I posted about a reader who’s neighbor installed telecom transceivers on his roof and covered them up to look like decorations. After complaining to the baladiya they came and removed the telecom towers a few weeks ago. So a happy ending right? Well a few days ago another neighbor suddenly had what looks like a water tower popup on his roof. After careful inspection turns out there were telcom transceivers hidden inside them.
So now he’s going to go back to the baladiya to complain again. This time he knows the correct department to talk to so the towers should get removed pretty quickly. It is illegal to place telecom transceivers on the roof tops of residential buildings. So know your rights and know how to spot them.
I found out the other day that you can actually order items from Amazon.co.jp and have them shipped to you via a mail forwarding company called Tenso to your Aramex mail forwarding mailbox in New York. This opens a whole new door on gadgets we can buy and price wise it seems pretty reasonable.
Basically you need to open an account with tenso.com who are a company that specialize in forwarding products from Japan to other parts of the world. Their prices are ok, I checked how much it would cost for 1KG and it turned out to be approximately KD10 including their service fee and shipping fee. Once you have an account with them (free to setup) you can order items from Amazon Japan and pay with your Kuwaiti card or order from other Japanese websites or even the Japanese eBayYahoo auctions. When you place your order you give them your Tenso address in the same way you give US sites your Aramex address. Once the package arrives to your Japanese mailbox they will ship the item to your US mailbox. They sadly don’t ship directly to Kuwait. They also don’t ship batteries so if you order say a camera, they will remove the battery before they ship it to you. You also might have to pay US customs depending on the items you order.
I know there are quite a few negatives but it’s still good to have this option. Check out tenso.com by clicking [Here]
Update: I was just told another option for buying from Japan is using the site From Japan. From what I understood they ship to Kuwait directly as well. Check them [Here]
I got a nasty chip in my windshield the other day from a flying pebble and if that wasn’t bad enough the chip happened right up in the middle of my line of sight. It was extremely annoying and I wanted to fix it right away so I ended up taking it to our friends at Al Falah Car Wash since they recently started repairing windshields.
It took them around half and hour to repair two chips in my windshield (the new one and an older tiny one) and now my windshield looks new again. It cost me around KD5 plus I tipped the repair guy. They did a great job so I highly recommend them plus you can get your car washed when you’re done.
They’ve activated the new clock road sign near McDonalds on the Gulf Road and it turns out they’re using a new screen for it. Unlike the first generation signs in which they used two smaller screens, the new sign uses one larger higher resolution screen which is much better. No more squinting trying to read the messages, they should be much larger and clearer from now on.
According to the Freedom of the Press 2011 survey release, Kuwait no longer tops the Arab world in freedom of the press, that position now goes to Lebanon. Previously Kuwait was always on top but this year it dropped from a global position of 115th last year to 124th place in 2011. You can check out the full results and press releases [Here]
Below is the freedom of the press ranking for the Middle East and North Africa:
1- Israel
2- Lebanon
3- Kuwait
4- Algeria
5- Jordan
6- Egypt
7- Qatar
8- Iraq / Morocco
10- Oman / UAE
12- Bahrain
13- Palestine / Saudi Arabia / Yemen
16- Syria
17- Tunisia
18- Iran
19- Libya
