Category: Personal

I finally met someone who has a Windows Phone and I have to ask this but why would anyone choose Android over Windows? I’m a huge iPhone and iOS fan but if I was gonna change to another system it wouldn’t be Android (which to me looks like a cheap Apple clone) it would be to Windows Phone. Instead of trying to make their operating system look like an iPhone they’ve done something completely different and I love it.

I got to play around with the phone briefly but visually I found the system appealing with smooth and cool animations. From what my friend demonstrated to me it’s also a very social networks friendly phone allowing you to stay connected with close ones in a similar way you would on Facebook.

If you have an iPhone or Android phone you can actually try a demo of Windows Phone by visiting the following url from your phone:
https://aka.ms/wpdemo

I had to go to Dubai for a day and got to experience Dubai Airport’s Terminal 3 for the very first time and I’m impressed. The terminal is huge, but not in the regular sense more like palace kinda huge. Lot’s of high ceilings and very large empty spaces. When I arrived to the airport it was empty with barely any passengers which I thought was cool. Can’t wait until our new airport gets completed. Below is a video I shot of their check in area (the left half, there is another similar area on the opposite side) showing how big and empty it was.

[YouTube]

Picture taken by Patrick

Anyone else experiencing reception problems with BBC lately? The reception seems to have gotten worse over the past week and strangely the station disappears completely once I hit the Sheraton roundabout…

I posted this picture on instagram and it got a lot of interest so I figured I post it here with more details. The picture above is of the new Double Cheese Burger at Little Ruby’s. Unlike their other burgers this one uses a regular bun and the patty is a different blend as well. I thought it was pretty good, I’d have a difficult time choosing between this burger and my other favorite their Bronte burger. It’s also the cheapest burger on their menu, I think it was KD3.1 and includes their awesome fries. Speaking of prices, they’ve gone ahead and increased their prices once again for some reason. I hate it when restaurants do that.

In case you’ve never heard of Ruby’s here is my original post on them. [Link]

Note: Ruby’s is NOT Ruby Tuesday.

I had a quick trip to Bahrain today and while there I spotted a lot of check points with concrete barriers and heavily armed police. I really hope everything gets better in Bahrain, it’s a beautiful country with great people and I hate seeing it like this.

I finally got around to putting together this video I shot last week when I was in Lebanon. I rented a snowmobile up in Mzaar (Faraya) near the ski slopes from a company called Highland Club. It costs $100 for an hour but they have better deals on longer journeys. For example they can take you from Faraya to the Cedars and back for around $400. That’s a 3 hour trip each way and comes to around $65 an hour.

If you’re ever in Lebanon and are interested in taking out a snowmobile you can call them on +9613860867 for reservation and directions or just go up to Mzaar near the slopes and ask for snowmobile rental places. [Vimeo]

The only camera I have with me right now on my vacation is the iPhone 4S and so far it’s been pretty great. One advantage the iPhone (or any phone cam) has over a regular camera is the fact you can share the photos instantly, kinda like Polaroid’s. I’ve been posting a lot of photos on Instagram and I just found a way to share them with none Instragam users using a site called Extragram. So if you want to check out the photos I’ve been taking on my trip just click [Here]

I was hoping to spend this week in Lebanon snowboarding or renting a snowmobile and going cross country over the slopes. I even packed my Contour+ video camera since I wanted to capture some video to share on the blog and I also packed lot’s of thick jackets. But, this whole week I’ve been here in Lebanon the weather has been pretty warm. I’m literally wearing a t-shirt during the daytime and a very very light jacket at night. There is no snowboarding, no snow and it’s not even cold. WTH?

Since it’s holiday season I thought it would nice to bring back the Holiday Gift Guide. The last time I put a list together was back in 2005 so it’s been awhile. The list below is made of items I like and think would make great gifts. Might add more if I remember anything else.

Books
Apple Pro Training Series: Final Cut Pro X KD9.5
Apple Pro Training Series: Motion 5 KD10
Wheat Belly KD4.5
Kindle 4 KD22

Cameras
Panasonic GX1 with 14-42mm X Power Zoom Lens KD265
Nikon D7000 with 18-105mm lens KD420
Contour+ KD128
GoPro Hero2 Motorsport Edition KD115
RAM Mounts Windshield Suction Cup Mount Kit KD8.5

Music
Apple iPod Nano 8GB KD34
Sony MDR-XB500 KD14
BeyerDynamic DT 770-PRO KD55
FiiO E7 USB DAC and Portable Headphone Amplifier KD25

Electronics
Apple MacBook Air 13″ 128GB KD340
The Boxee Box KD48
Data Robotics Drobo 4-Bay KD85
Garmin Forerunner 305 with Heart Rate Monitor KD50
Archos 70 – 250 GB KD65

Other
HPI Savage XS Flux RTR Mini Monster Truck KD88
SUPABOY Portable Pocket SNES Console KD23

Note: Most of the items above are linked to Amazon.com

[YouTube]

So last night I was trying to go to sleep at around 1:30am when I heard a loud commotion outside. I’m used to fights taking place underneath my building since there is a billiard place next door but this didn’t sound like an ordinary fight since it was pretty loud. So I put on my pants and hoodie and headed downstairs to see what all the commotion was about.

Turns out there were around 30 guys pushing, shoving, shouting and punching over I don’t know what. I thought about taking my phone out and shooting some pictures or video but since no one else was doing it I figured it would probably not be a good idea to do so. I ended up going back up to try and go back to sleep but around 15 minutes later 5 police cars arrive filled with cops.

Now that’s the first time I’ve ever seen cops come to a fight in my block. I’ve actually tried calling the cops myself before when there were guys running around the mall in my building with razor blades trying to cut each other and the cops never came. So my theory is this. I think the cops are starting to take these street fights seriously after the incident that took place at Marina Crescent. Are they waiting for a major incident to take place on the Gulf Road before they start patrolling it?

I was supposed to start off the weekend by riding out with the Desert Bike Club but couldn’t get myself to wake up at 6:30 in the morning for a 7:15 meetup. But I still managed to save the day by heading down to Bnaider. A friend of mine built an RC track at his chalet so I took two cars, my Tamiya FJ CR-01 crawler, and my Xray 808e buggy.

[YouTube]

The video above should give you an idea about how fun these cars can be. Mine is the pink one that starts off strong and then falls behind.

I like this shot since it captures an interesting moment when 3 off us go airborne but each one heading off to a different direction.

These two aren’t RC cars but they’re still cool toys.

Haven’t seen much Christmas decorations in Kuwait yet this year. Ted Baker had the cool Marilyn Monroe Santa last year but this year they’ve replaced it with a tacky looking banner. I spotted the Christmas tree above at Alraya Mall which is pretty cool (and big). Cartier in Salhiya also has some decorations up but other than those three I haven’t really seen anything else.

I’m not a fan of Sony headphones and I think the last time I bought a pair I was still listening to music from my discman. But while I was in New York killing time as after midnight at a Best Buy I spotted these on display and since I had my iPhone with music with me I figured I would try them out. I played the Tron: Legacy Reconfigured album and was blown away by how good the headphones sounded. Right away I wanted to purchase a pair but they were out of stock so I loaded up my Amazon app on my iPhone and bought it on the spot. It was an impulse buy but it should give you an idea of how good they sounded.

They’re not the most accurate headphones but they’re definitely the most fun. I count the Monster Beats Studio as fun as well but these cost a lot less and actually sound better. You’ve got the deep powerful bass but the mids and the highs are prominent as well. While the Beats can sound muffled with bass sometimes overpowering everything else, I have yet to face a similar problem with these cheap Sony’s. They also don’t need any batteries or a portable amp to power them.

And yes, these headphones look hideous. I own a bunch of headphones from entry level in-ears to 600ohms overheads and these Sony’s the ugliest pair I own but they’re also the cheapest. I can’t believe these headphones cost just $49 and sound this good. I’m not sure if they’re sold locally but you can check them out on Amazon. I love them. [Amazon Link]

I have a habit of installing apps on my iPhone and then only using them a handful of times and never again. Over the years I’ve accumulated a ton of useless apps to a point where finding one I needed became a hassle. So I decided to do some spring cleaning and delete the apps I hardly use anymore as well as apps that do pretty much the same thing. For example I had two apps that I used to re-size images on my phone, two apps to listen to internet radio stations, two RSS readers and so and so. I also had two apps which I used to find numbers of local businesses, iBadala and Urban Moon. So which did I decide to keep?

First I’ll state the obvious, iBadala looks terrible. The app feels like it’s stuck in a bad design time-warp somewhere between Windows 3.11 and the Pontiac Aztek. It’s not a pretty app while Urban Moon on the other hand looks a lot cooler and feels trendier. It has a pretty icon and a nice start up splash screen that really helps with the first impression. So in the looks category, Urban Moon wins hands down.

When it comes to functionality though, things are completely different. Although Urban Moon is the better looking app of the two and one that feels like it should be easier to use, it isn’t. When I run either one of these apps it’s usually because I’m looking for a number, usually a restaurant to call and check if I can reserve or see how long the line to get in is. Whenever I run Urban Moon I first need to wait for the app to check for updates, and if any are found I have to wait for them to download before I can even start using the app. Depending on how fast my internet connection is at that very moment this could take 5 second if there are no updates (on my 4s) or 10 to 20 seconds if there are any updates. The thing is, even 5 seconds is too long since it makes the app feel sluggish right from the get go due to the app freezing on the start up screen until it’s done checking for updates.

iBadala on the other hand takes just 2 seconds to launch and is then ready to use right away. While Urban Moon has all the numbers built into the app, iBadala grabs a number for you from an online database. Although that sounds slow in reality the search can take as little as under a second depending on how fast your connection is. The disadvantage here is the fact that if you don’t have an internet connection you can’t find any numbers.

It wasn’t that hard really to choose between the two. Even though iBadala is an ugly app, I constantly found myself using it instead of Urban Moon to find numbers quickly. Even if there wasn’t a long wait at the start of Urban Moon I still had to enter a section (another 1 second lost) before I could get to the search box. In any case both apps are free so you could download both and try them out and see which you prefer. I actually got Urban Moon back when they were selling it for $3.99 but they’ve recently made it free (but added advertising) which I think is a better way to go about it.

Here are the links for both apps:
iBadala App
Urban Moon App

I’m stuck at the Beirut Airport since my flight back to Kuwait got delayed 2 hours because of a strike. All Middle East Airlines pilots are on strike because the airline fired a 30+ year veteran pilot for getting cancer. I completely stand by the pilots decision to strike even though I’m now stuck here for an extra 2 hours. I guess I should be glad they didn’t walk out and force all the flights to get canceled.

Update: Here is a response from a MEA pilot

First of all i offer our apologies for this delay, and thank you for your support. Believe me when i say it was the only way to get our management to listen. The Lebanese pilots association is not demanding that the captain returns to fly, but they are only asking that this captain get his rights as described by the Lebanese law; receive 2 months full salary and 2 months half salary on sick leave where after that the Lebanese DCA shall decide if he is fit to fly and fully recovered or not. MEA gave him half of what the law says and fired him after 38 years of work during his sick leave in the middle of his treatment (against the Lebanese labor law). Again my sincere apologies and thank you for this support.