2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Last week I got the iControlPad to use with my iPad and after playing with it over the weekend I think it’s a great gadget for gamers. The iControlPad is a Bluetooth controller designed by the same guys behind the Open Pandora gaming device so you should know it was designed by gamers for gamers.

I was originally a bit worried that there would be a bit of lag between the control pad and the game but from my short experience with the device there doesn’t seem to be any lag whatsoever. It felt as if I was playing with a wired controller which is great, similar to the wireless Xbox and PS3 controllers.

The iControlPad works with a bunch of official games in the App Store but I actually got it so I could play SNES games using an emulator. Since I got an iPad 3 I’ve gone ahead and jailbroken my original iPad 1 into a gaming device. I’ve installed a SNES emulator on the iPad as well as some games and now with the iControlPad it’s a great portable Super Nintendo. The iControlPad actually has 6 buttons similar to the SNES except the top shoulder buttons (L and R) are located on the bottom of the back of the device which will take a bit of getting used to. Other than that I didn’t have any issues with it, it has a built in battery and charges via USB so it’s very practical.

The iControlPad I ordered came with a phone holder that attached to the rear of the controller. The holder fits not only iPhones but other phones as well including Android phones since the iControlPad works basically with both operating systems. The price of the controller is $74.99 and I ordered it from ThinkGeek but they’re out of stock right now. Your other option is to get it directly from the iControlPad website [Here]

I’ve previously test driven the Fiat 500 and loved it which is why I decided to rent the convertible version this weekend while I’m here in Lebanon. But, while the Fiat 500 was a lot of fun to drive on flat roads, it’s horrible to drive up a mountain.

I don’t think it’s the lack of power but more the crappy automatic gearbox. The car will just not shift down into the right gear when you really need it. It actually stalled with me TWICE on a tight steep corner which is why I’m now driving the car in manual mode not auto so I could choose the gears I want when I want them.

The version of the car I’m driving is the 500c where “c” stands for cabriolet. Since the weather is fantastic right now in Lebanon driving around in a convertible is the way to go about it. The car I’m in also has a black leather interior which looks a lot nicer than the beige interior of the car I test drove in Kuwait. But, I don’t think I could recommend anyone to get a Fiat 500 if they live in a mountainous country unless they get the manual version (or drive the auto gearbox in manual mode).

Just found out that they’re planning on solving the Al-Bidaa roundabout congestion by building an overpass over the roundabout. According to the article in Al Jarida, this project will take around two years to complete after all the approvals are given.

Now if someone can also solve the parking issue that would be great. [Link]

Kuwait will have exhausted all its oil savings by 2017 if it keeps on spending money at the current rate, the International Monetary Fund said in a report published on Tuesday.

The IMF, which held a regular consultation with the OPEC member state in the last two weeks of April, said Kuwait would not be able to save oil receipts into its future generations fund.

Not sure what all that means or how it will affect us directly but according to my Magic 8 Ball, the outlook doesn’t seem good. [Link]

On the bright side, at least they’re rapping in Arabic. [YouTube]

Note: Contains offensive language

I have a lot of information to share about my trip to Audemars Piguet and I’m going to try and keep it interesting and informative since I know not everyone is into watches like I am.

First just a bit of history on how that Swiss valley where AP is located became such a hotspot for all the watchmakers. The Audemars Piguet facilities are located in Vallée de Joux which is considered to be “the heart of Swiss watchmaking”. In the early 1800’s a watchmaker moved into the valley and started producing watches and when his business started booming he needed to hire help. The valley was full of farmers who spent the summers busy outdoors farming but the winters indoor not doing much. So, the farmers got into watchmaking since the basic tools to get started didn’t cost much and even their children started learning and working with watches at a young age. In other parts of Switzerland farmers were making music boxes during the winter months but they were making watches.

Once we arrived to Vallée de Joux which is just over an hour drive from Geneva, we were taken to the AP Restoration Department followed by the Museum. The restoration department is where they work to restore old watches back to working condition while trying to preserve all their original parts. A lot of the watch parts aren’t available anymore so if anything is missing or needs replacing not only do they have to hand make the parts but they always try to remake them using the same technique they were originally made with. While we were there we were lucky that the head of the department was working on a vintage pocket watch that contained a Grand Complication movement dating back to 1899 (pictured above). A simple watch movement is a watch that indicates the hours, minutes and seconds. On the other hand a calendar is a complicated movement, a moon phase, an alarm, a minute repeater (tells time using chimes) are all complicated movements. A Grand Complication is a movement that contains a whole bunch of complicated movements all together in one watch. I’ll try to list everything the watch above does so here it goes: It has clock watch with grand and small strike, minute-repeater, split seconds chronograph with minutes counter, alarm, jumping seconds, flying seconds and perpetual calendar. Yeah that’s a lot of things and this is a watch that was created back in 1899. It’s currently valued at around 3 million Euros.

After leaving the restoration department we headed to the museum. We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside but I did manage to take the one below of a poster that I saw hanging on the wall (I want it). The museum is housed in the original AP building from the late 1800’s. Although it’s full of interesting pieces, this was probably the most boring part of the whole trip for me because I couldn’t wait to get out and head over to their main production facility. If anyone knows where I can find the Ali with Arnold poster please let me know.

The website Home Design Lover have information and pictures of this beautiful house in Al-Nuzha called The Mop House. I hadn’t seen or heard of this house before but I think it looks amazing. [Link]

Back in February I signed up to a 10Mbps connection with WiMD and just over 3 months have passed since then so I figured I’d post a second impression. For those of you who missed my previous posts, WiMD is a local wireless internet provider that uses technology similar to WiFi and WiMAX except theirs works using the 5 GHz wavelength.

Since installing WiMD I got rid of all my other internet connections and have put all my trust in them. That might not sound like a big deal but you have to consider the fact I live my life online and if I don’t have access to internet I start experiencing withdrawal symptoms. Ok maybe that’s a bit extreme but you get the idea.

So how’s the connection speed 3 months later? Browsing websites everything is still super fast, pages load instantly and there is no lag of any sort. Downloading torrents I also don’t have any issues, if I let it download without any limitations it can easily bypass 1,000Kbps. YouTube on the other hand is horrible with WiMD. I’m not sure what exactly is the problem but I can stream an HD video from Vimeo instantly but I can’t watch a non-HD video on YouTube without having to wait ages for it to load. Running speed tests has also provided me with vastly different results than when I first started with WiMD. When I last ran the speed tests 3 months back I was getting results of around 10Mb/s, this time around I was having trouble getting half that. Check out the results below:

But really if it wasn’t for the YouTube issue I wouldn’t have noticed anything out of the ordinary. My biggest issue really is the YouTube problem since it’s ridiculous to have to wait for a low res video to load on a 10Mbps connection. I’ve already contacted support and they told me they’re working on a fix for it and I trust that they are. The speed test results have dropped considerably and what gets affected by this the most is downloads from a single source like say downloading an update or video from an Apple server. Since most of my downloads take place while I’m out of the house or asleep I’m not affected by this but I’m sure it does other people.

The best thing about WiMD and something I make great use of is the upload speed, it’s fast! What this allows me to do is upload files onto the server a lot quicker compared to my previous DSL connection. Nat takes advantage of this the most since she spends a lot of time emailing her clients large files and what used to take her a couple of hours now takes around 20 minutes.

But, like I previously mentioned, I’ve given up all my other internet connections including my very reliable DSL connection because I trust WiMD. I know they’re busy right now working to fix whatever needs to be fixing so I’m not concerned too much. They’ve just started catering to consumers recently and I know for a fact they’ve been overwhelmed with subscribers so it’s only a matter of time before things get back to normal. I’ll have to wait and see but so far I have no regrets signing up with them. They’re the best available option for me right now.

If you’re interested in a connection you can call them on 22475841 and 22475842 or visit their website [Here]

Update: Turns out the problem was the connection from my house to the tower. It’s been fixed and new speedtest results are posted [Here]

While in Geneva we stayed at a hotel overlooking the Geneva fountain called Beau Rivage. It’s an old hotel that dates back to 1865 and I doubt the general look of the hotel has changed much since then and that’s actually what I loved about the hotel.

It’s a very posh hotel and you feel that as soon as you walk in. It’s not Dubai style posh where everything is gold and shiny, it’s a lot more understated here with pastel pink colored marble pillars and ceiling decoration that dates back most likely over a hundred years. Of course the fact that everyone speaks English with a French accent doesn’t hurt.

The hotel is 5 floors high and my room was on the 4th floor which was great since I usually prefer the higher floors since they’re quieter. Once I walked in I was amazed at how big the room was. I think it’s probably the largest hotel room I’ve ever stayed in and it was beautifully decorated. I’m not really into this classical style but it worked really well in this case. The room was decorated very tastefully and I had 2 large windows that were bringing in a lot of natural daylight and more importantly I had an incredible view. I also had a fireplace, a real one not just for decoration. No idea if they actually use them in winter (I doubt) but the idea is great. Each room in the hotel is also individually decorated so no two rooms are the same.

The hotel has a couple of restaurants including one that has a Michelin star.They also have a bar with a really great outdoor seating area that also overlooks the famous Geneva fountain. I didn’t pay for the room but according to the rate card, my room rate was 1,600CHF a night which is around KD480. The hotel is located walking distance from the main shopping streets and is also just a 15 minute ride from the airport without traffic. It’s definitely one of the best hotels I’ve stayed in.

This is too funny. It seems Kuwait Airways hands out DVD players with a bunch of DVDs to Business Class passengers because the planes built in entertainment system doesn’t work. Check out more pictures on Omarker’s blog [Here]

I’m back in Kuwait now and I’ve got a bunch of things lined up to post about my trip to Geneva. I’m trying to sort through all the photos I took and once I do hopefully by tonight I’ll have a few posts up. In summary though it was a very educational trip and I got to meet some great people be it the guys who were with me from Kuwait or the AP people in Geneva. Just to give you a preview though I’m going to be posting about the hotel we stayed, a post about the restaurants I got to try out while there and of course a post or two about our visit to Audemars Piguet. So stay tuned.

Lakeland, the UK kitchenware store is now open in Marina Mall. I haven’t passed by the shop yet but the blog 965 Malls did and they have a ton of pictures up of the place. Check out their post [Here]

Is there a place in Kuwait that sells Roomba vacuum cleaners? I used to have the original one back in 2003 and it had cost me over KD20 to ship it with Aramex back then. Today it would probably cost more than double that amount so I’d rather get it locally if available.

One of my favorite workout supplements at the moment is Jack3d. It was recommended by Fahad since after a 10 hour work day I usually arrive at the gym drowsy and tired. Jack3d is a pre-workout supplement which you’re supposed to take 20-30 minutes before you hit the gym. It’s incredible, usually with most supplements you don’t feel any results until you look at the long term picture but with Jack3d you feel the difference from the first session.

Basically what Jack3d does is give you a lot of energy and one that lasts the full workout. I usually take two scoops but today I decided to take three since I had around only 5 hours of sleep and a really exhausting long flight and needed whatever energy I could get. The result? I kicked ass at the gym today, I lifted all my weights, didn’t feel sleepy or tired and also was barely resting between sets. I was giving it 110% for the full hour which is incredible considering how exhausted I was all day and I had even forgotten to take my asthma medication.

If you’re looking for a pre-workout boost I highly recommend Jack3d. I got mine from Results in Souk Sharq for KD22. You can read more about Jack3d [Here]

I’m currently at the Abu Dhabi airport awaiting my flight back to Kuwait. I’m going to miss the view from my Geneva hotel room window. Goodbye blue skies with big white puffy clouds.