Category: Interesting

THE One has a pretty cool customer feedback system. Right next to the cashier there is a little device with buttons and statements like “The service was fast and efficient” and “I found the staff knowledgeable” etc.. and answers right next to them like “Absolutely” or “Sort of” or “Not really” etc… While waiting to pay for your item you can just give your feedback on your experience in a process that takes only a few seconds. No need to give your name, number, birthday, time of visit and all that other crap. I think more stores need to implement this very easy to use system since its a quick process and more fun than filling a card with 20 questions.

There was a website address on the machine www.cfs-me.net which takes you to the dealers of the device. On the site they have more pictures and information regarding this system. Pretty cool.

Last month while browsing the web I landed on a website which spoke about some cool solar powered lights that Ikea was going to introduce into the market. To my surprise, while shopping today at Ikea I spotted the lights! They had the whole collection and the most expensive one (pictured below) was for around KD6 and that was because the set contained five light sticks. That’s pretty cool and cheap!

Magic Planet opened up at Avenues and it looks really great. What I think makes the place special is the minimalist design of some of the toys which all seem to take form of white bugs. I took the picture above but a friend of mine (Thanks Ibrahim!) emailed me a ton of pictures which you can check out by clicking on continue below.

Someone with a lot free time created this amazing stop motion video. [YouTube]

I was checking out Nemo’s blog when I found her post on a cafe located in Omneya complex in Salmiya called Book Cafe.

This is the description taken from the Book Cafe facebook page:

A quiet place
Provides you with Taekwondo, physical and mental relaxation
To think deeply, to read a book, to discuss a draft
My place is the beginning to achieve a place for you in the world
Start here

Judging by the pictures the place looks cool (color matches my blog) and the idea seems interesting but not too sure about the location. Nat also brought up a good point that usually when you want to read a book its more comfortable to read it while sitting on a sofa not a dinning room table. So bean bags or cozy sofas might be more suitable…

You can check out more pictures on Nemo’s blog [Here]
Here is the link to the Book Cafe’s facebook page [Link]

Picture taken by Nemo

Abdullah from the blog P0ach.com sent me these pictures to share with everyone. There are 10 pictures in total and they all have their descriptions underneath. This is the first time I display the pictures this way so if anyone has any problem viewing them or if the sites template looks strange please tell me so I can look into it. Click on continue below to see the pictures.

Thanks Abdullah!

I just found about freelensing and can’t wait to try it tomorrow during the day. This is the definition of freelensing according to Luke Roberts:

Photos taken with the lens detached from the camera but held in place and moved around to focus. This also lets extra light in sometimes causing light leaks and giving a vintage look and feel.

Also:
* Gives extra bokeh by shrinking the area in focus (aperture is 0)
* Allows for super macro shots
* Delicious light leaks
* Tilt-shift effects

For some cool freelensing samples (better than mine above) click [Here], [Here] and [Here]

Update: Here are some more free lensing shots I took which turned out much nicer. In all the shots except for the last, I had the lens flipped backwards.

After taking the picture of “The Almond Tree” with my Sony W300 I decided I wanted to invest in a macro lens for my Nikon D70 and D90. A macro lens would allow me to shoot subjects from extremely close distances. I started looking for a cheap macro lens because it isn’t something I do a lot of (macro photography) so I didn’t want to spend too much money on it. After a bit of research I found the Sigma 50mm f2.8 Macro lens. At $255 it wasn’t very cheap but got great reviews and the lens was very sharp.

But as I said, $255 wasn’t cheap and on eBay used ones were still around $150, cheaper but I still wasn’t convinced. Then I found out about “reversing adapter rings” (pictured above). Turns out there is a ring which you fasten to the front of your lens, and that ring allows you to connect the lens to your camera in reverse. When you connect your lens in reverse to your camera you get to shoot in macro. Sounds strange I know, and connecting your lens to your camera the wrong way round is sure to raise some eyebrows but I bought the ring and it works!

Below in the first shot you can see the bushes outside my office building. I took that picture with my 50mm lens at the closest distance I could get before the lens stopped focusing.

In the second picture I shot using the same lens just mounted in reverse using the adapter ring. It’s much more closer and it’s still using the same lens!

I don’t know whats the Canon version of this ring but the Nikon one is called BR-2A. I got mine from Amazon.co.uk for KD10. There is a ring on Amazon.com but it doesn’t mention if its the BR-2A although it looks like it and its selling for KD5.

So if you are looking for an affordable way to get into macro photography this is the way to go. The adapter rings works on both my 28mm and 50mm prime lenses.

Update: Another advantage of this ring is you don’t need to carry another heavy macro lens with you, you just carry this ring.

K5 has an interesting post about this cool little store he found called Nawader Al Kuwait. The place has a huge collection of vintage Arabic vinyl records and also vintage radios and record players. The place also has other random items, personally I am interested in the painting of the musicians above so I might pass by tonight to check the place out. You can see more pictures and information about the place on K5’s blog [Here]

Yesterday I posted about how disappointing the Teshkeel Comics theme park looks like and today I found a post on another blog about the Cartoon Network theme park which already opened and looks pretty cool. I can’t seem to figure out where its located though. You can check out pictures of the Cartoon Network on the blog P0ach by following this [Link]

Global Finance magazine just released a list of the world’s 50 safest bank and the only bank from the region that made the cut was NBK which came in at #44. The German bank KfW topped the list at spot #1 while HSBC came in at #19. For the full list here is a [PDF]

Thanks Abdullah!

Looks like a total meltdown over there. On the plus side, there will be less traffic and cheaper rent once it turns into a ghost town. Here is a link to a really harsh (but probably very true) article entitled “Goodbye Dubai”. [Link]

via Boing Boing

Abdullah, a reader of the blog sent me a picture of the giant wall sticker above which he took while he was in the States. The reason he sent it to me is because it looked very similar to Kuwait’s national logo (also pictured above). I wonder if a Kuwaiti living in the States remixed the logo or if Shepard Fairey (the guy behind OBEY) did it himself. He already admitted that his famous Obama Hope poster was based on a copyrighted photograph so it wouldn’t be to far fetched to think that he based this design on the Kuwaiti national logo. For those of you who don’t know anything about OBEY or Shepard Fairey, check this [Link]

Interesting fact. The reason the US Airways plane stayed afloat in the river for so long is partly because the Airbus A320 is equipped with a “ditch switch”. The ditch switch is a button in the cockpit that when activated, seals all ports and openings on the lower fuselage, so that once the aircraft enters the water, it doesn’t take on water as quickly as it would normally (via vents, drains, etc). I think that’s pretty cool. [Link]

Picture from [Here]

I was checking out Safat when I found a post by Intlxpatr talking about a Kuwaiti restaurant located next to Marina Mall. She had posted a bunch of pictures and the place looked really interesting and since it was on the same street as my house I decided to pass by and try it.

I have no clue how I never noticed this place before but even if I had I don’t think I would have thought much of it since from the outside it looks pretty average. Once you walk inside though you’re suddenly transformed into an old Kuwaiti city. The private cabins are actually little old Kuwaiti houses and to get to a cabin you have to walk through small narrow corridors, kinda like the old tight streets between the houses.

The menu is full of Kuwaiti dishes as you can expect, I ended up ordering hummus for starters followed by mourabian (yellow rice with shrimps on top) for my main course. The hummus was fine, the bread was weird, kinda like crepes but it was good. My main course also wasn’t bad at all and for KD2.500 was pretty cheap for the quantity. I prefer Oum Habbibs mourabian but that’s also nearly twice as expensive and located all the way in Kuwait City while this place is just minutes from my house.

Nothing I had tonight was wow but the place is an experience and I still have a ton of stuff to try on their menu. Prices are VERY cheap and you can actually check out most of the menu in Intlxpatr’s post. I passed by around 9:30 and the place was pretty packed. Overall it was a good experience and will definitely pass by again. They are located on the same street as Marina Mall, opposite Kwik Kopy, first floor, entrance is from the back next to the red truck (motor hamar).

To check out a lot more pictures of Freej Soeleh check out Intlxpatr’s post by clicking [Here]