Category: Internet

Kuwait Government Online is a very helpful site with information and forms on different government procedures. [Link]

Thanks K.TheKuwaiti

I’ve been given the go ahead by NBK to give you all a sneak peek into the brand new NBK website. They will be launching their new updated website sometime this month but before they go live they want to get some feedback. They do care what everyone thinks and if anyone spots any issues or has any comments on what they need to improve leave your comment below so they can read it. Check out their new website by visiting beta.nbk.com

Kuweet.com is like KuwaitBlogs.com except instead of tracking local blogs it tracks local tweeters. A lot of people in Kuwait have recently jumped onto the Twitter bandwagon including politicians so Kuweet is a nice site to be able to keep track of all their tweets without needing to have your own twitter account.

What is twitter? I think the easiest explanation is that its like blogs except every post is limited to just 140 characters.. perfect for people who don’t enjoy or have the time to read a lot of long posts. [Link]

Note: If you have a twitter account and want to be added to Kuwait just follow @Kuweet

If you don’t want to answer your secret question every time you log into Watani Online here is how to get rid of it.

Step 1 – Log into your Watani Online account as usual

Step 2 – Once you log in click on Manage my WOL Security Key on the left hand side

Step 3 – Click on Register you computer then on OK

Step 4 – Thats it. Next time you log into Watani Online from the same computer you won’t have to answer your secret question.

The other day I posted about a new place called SmokeHouse, well their website just came online today and you can check out their full menu there. I don’t think I’ve ever tried smoked food so I am interested in trying it out. This is from their About Us section:

The ‘Smoke House’ is Kuwait’s first restaurant specializing in American southern style BBQ. We offer a premium selection of hickory Smoked and Barbequed meats all served with our signature ‘Smokehouse’ sauces. We use our own secret rubs and marinades and then slow cook our meats to bring you the best tasting smoked BBQ around. We also provide authentic southern style sides and delicious desserts. Whether you dine in, have your food delivered or request our catering services we guarantee you’ll be back for more.

The site sadly doesn’t include pictures of the place but it does have a map with directions. Will try them out this weekend and then post a review of their burger. [Link]

When I first started this blog over 4 years ago I was getting only a handful of visitors a day. Since then the site hasn’t stopped growing and I’m now averaging over 10,000 visitors a day. From day 1 the blog was being hosted by a good friend but now it’s time for me to move the blog to its own dedicated server.

I just signed up with Rackspace, a leading web hosting provider hosting sites like Threadless, 37signals, Liquid Web Laughing Squid, ESPN, Disney Online, Motorola, Canon USA and more. They gave me a really good deal and promised to have my server up and running by Tuesday. This means I would probably start moving my blog to the new server sometime late next week.

If you’re interested my new server will have the following specs:

Dell 2850
Dual socket = 2 Xeon 3.2 GHz performance CPU’s
Two 146GB 10,000 rpm Hard drives (Raid 1)
4GB RAM
1 x Cisco 506 Firewall
24x7x365 Unlimited live person support
Guaranteed 1 hour hardware replacement
100% network uptime (Backbone = 65GB throughput)
1000 GB High Performance, Tier 1 Redundant Bandwidth
Constant network monitoring for latencies and intrusion

During the move there should be some downtime but I will post about it ahead of time.

Fasttelco
256 Kbps = 59KD
512 Kbps = 99KD
1 Mbps = 159KD
2 Mbps = 199KD

KEMS
256 Kbps = 70KD
512 Kbps = 110KD
1 Mbps = 180KD
2 Mbps = 300KD
3 Mbps = 500KD
4 Mbps = 700KD

Qualitynet
256 Kbps = 96KD
512 Kbps = 120KD
1 Mbps = 199KD
2 Mbps = 225KD
3 Mbps = 499KD
4 Mbps = 675KD
5 Mbps = 780KD
6 Mbps = 940KD
7 Mbps = 1000KD
8 Mbps = 1200KD

United Networks
256 Kbps = 96KD
512 Kbps = 129KD
1 Mbps = 192KD
2 Mbps = 360KD

[Source]

Note: These prices are per year

I thought it was fixed, why is my connection today worse than it was yesterday? Not only at home, even at work my connection today sucked compared to yesterday.

In honor of Google’s 10th birthday they’ve brought back their oldest available index from January 2001. So now everyone can search Google as if its 2001! Here is the link to their 2001 search. [Link]

My friend had her Yahoo account taken over (her mistake) and now all her friends are getting the following email from her:

hello,
I hope this message meets you in best of health, Pardon my mistakes because I am in a hurry writing this, I had traveled to Nigeria for official purposes, Unfortunately for me all my money was stolen at the hotel where I lodged, I am so confused right now,I do not know what to do or where to go,I did not bring my phone here,I have access to only emails, please can you send me $3000

I find that really funny but on a serious note has anyone ever had their Yahoo email taken over and then had the password reset again by Yahoo?

According to Falantan the blogger who first told us about YouTube getting block, the order to block YouTube was cancelled today morning. YouTube is here to stay for now.

I am posting from my iPhone since I have a problem with my Internet connection at home. I just renewed my connection with Qualitynet with an upgrade to 2MB and although everything was working fine now its not. I had a problem last year where my line couldn’t handle 2MB but it was supposedly fixed. Earlier today I was downloading perfectly fine at around 255KB/s but now its acting up again. Sucks to be without Internet.

It was bound to happen, Qualitynet has now also blocked Skype.com and even Fring.com!

At work I’ve got a Fasttelco connection and today I noticed that Skype was blocked. I don’t know how long its been blocked for but I found it strange that it was. Then someone posted a comment on the blog saying that United Networks have also blocked Skype. I’ve got a Qualitynet connection at home and at the moment Skype is still not blocked here but now I’m wondering if Qualitynet will start blocking skype to.

Update: Its also blocked on KEMS/Zajil

Update2: As of today morning the site is no longer blocked by Fasttelco

TIME magazine has put together a collection of the 50 best websites for 2008. I initially thought the list would be filled with mainstream stuff but surprisingly its not. The list is actually interesting with lots of surprises, I mean even UrbanDictionary.com is on their list! [Link]