2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

I thought the Burgan Bank logo was bad but the new ABK logo is even worse. Where do I start? First the typography, why is the letter “a” in lowercase while “BK” in uppercase? The Arabic and English types also don’t match, I think the English should have been based on the Arabic one and both should have at least been the same weight. Currently the English type is too heavy compared to the Arabic while in the old logo they were more balanced. The new icon also looks very generic and flat compared to the old one. The new icon is simply a square box while the older one had a more interesting open shape to it. I am sure they changed the logo because they wanted something that looks more modern which has actually worked in this case but I think thats the only thing that has worked. I would have posted about this logo Friday when I first saw the billboards on the Gulf Road but I couldn’t get a hold of the new logo since up until now their website hasn’t been updated. I had to get the logo from Fonzy’s blog who has also posted about the new logo. If anyone knows the name of the branding agency behind the new logo please post it in the comments.

Starting today The Avenues parking will no longer be free. I think thats a good thing because I know a lot of people would rather park outside and not pay which means more parking space inside for me. If only Marina Mall started charging for parking also. Its got to suck for the employees though.

update: Parking turns out is 200fils an hour which is expensive! The mall is big and walking around takes over an hour so expect to pay at the very least 400fils if you are just walking around or going there for lunch.

The Ministry of Communications has sent a letter to all the Internet providers in Kuwait to block all the torrent sites. They sent out a list of sites today to be blocked which I am trying to get a hold of. Hopefully my favorite torrent site (I won’t mention the name) is not on that list.

Recently the subject of segregating the private schools has come back into the limelight. I am personally against this because I think its unhealthy for the male and female students not to mingle while they are young. With regards to this subject a reader asked me to share the following message with everyone:

Your support is needed to attend and pass this message on to others: There is an important gathering at the Kuwait Womans Society in Khaldiya on Tuesday at 6pm in which they want owners of foreign schools and Kuwaiti parents and students to attend to contest the segregation law. They also want to invite as many Arabic speaking parents to support this event. Lots of press and MP’s will attend. Try and make it. Thank you.

Here are two better shots of the new Alghanim Electronics store that opened up at the Avenues. There were less people there today so it was easier to take the shots.

The writers strike is unofficially over, a few weeks before the Oscars.

Seeing how there is tons of news covering the issue, I am going to keep this simple and concise:

1. Writers should start getting back to work by Monday.
2. Most shows would begin writing scripts and reworking the storylines.
3. It would take 6 – 8 weeks to get up and running.
4. For those continuing the season: Expect 4 – 6 episodes left, airing in April (late) – May.
5. Other networks may scrap the season and begin production for next season (Aug – Sep).

The writers strike has also affected Movies, as most scripts were placed on hold. Expect production to resume; with releases (Da Vinci code 2) showing up sometime in the Winter.

More information can be found [here].

Posted by K.

the Internet is fixed .. long live the internet.

There is finally a light at the end of the tunnel (pun intended). Flag Telecom has reported that both links will be fully operational by February 10th now.

Cut # 1: FLAG EUROPE ASIA Cable cut between Alexandria (Egypt) and Palermo (Italy)

• The repair crew of marine experts, optical engineers has reached the site yesterday and it is expected that the splice work will be carried out today. It is currently planned that the repairs will be completed by Sunday, February 10th 2008.

Cut # 2: FALCON Cable cut between Dubai (UAE) and Al SEEB (Oman)

1. The ship loaded with spares, marine experts, and optical engineers have reached the site yesterday. The crew has recovered the one end of the cable and cable joining work is in progress.
2. The repair team has observed steady progress and the repair work are expected to be completed by Sunday, February 10th 2008.

I personally find it quite ironic that the Internet issue is fixed the day after InfoConnect; memo to Gitex, there is no need to sabotage our event (the organizers are doing it for you). Until the internet is fully operational, I suggest you check out Mark’s post on the ‘The internet’s undersea world‘. One of the more unnoticed parts of the image is the available/used capacity of the underwater link.

The fiber links around the world can handle up to 7.1 tbps. The capacity ‘purchased/reserved’ by ISPs is 5.7tbps. Which leads us to ask .. how much of the internet capacity is actually being used? 2.1tbps. In theory, everyone (around the world) could have triple the internet speeds and the fiber links would still have roughly 15% left of unused capacity.

-Posted by K.

My sister got a dog yesterday and Geo and him have been have been running around playing and fighting ever since. One minute they are best friends and the next they are fighting over a doll. Its ridiculous and exhausting keeping an eye on both of them. They are getting used to each other so thats a good thing. My sisters dog is a Shar Pei and she’s called him Mao but that confuses Geo since Mao sounds like “no” to him. Thats why I’ve decided to call him China Town which I think is cooler and he seems to be responding better to it anyway.

I just saw the new Alghanim Electronics store at the Avenues and although I am not a big fan of Alghanim Electronics I was actually impressed by the place. The place looks pretty cool and EVERYTHING they have is on display to be played with from phones and cameras to mp3 and portable video players. The new store is located under Cinescape near NBK and IKEA.

I was expecting more cables. [Link]

This guy is crazy! I thought his warm up was actually him showing us how fast he could clap but when he actually started clapping it was unreal. [YouTube]

via

Streaming live news from the USA and around the world. Pretty nifty. [Link]

Flag Telecom has released a press bulletin with an updated status on the cut fiber links:

Cut # 1: FLAG EUROPE ASIA Cable cut between Alexandria (Egypt) and Palermo (Italy)

• The ship loaded with spares has reached the fault location and has initiated the repair work; the repair work is estimated to be completed within 6-7 days.
• The Mediterranean network will be fully resilient with the addition of FLAG Mediterranean Cable current under implementation.
• The cable cut was reported at 0800 GMT on January 30th 2008 around 8.3 Km away from Alexandria cable landing station between Egypt – Italy segment.

Cut # 2: FALCON Cable cut between Dubai (UAE) and Al SEEB (Oman)

• The ship loaded with spares, marine experts, and optical engineers have reached the site yesterday. The crew has recovered the one end of the cable and cable joining work is in progress.
• The repair team has observed steady progress and the repair work are expected to be completed in next 3 – 4 days.
• The weather conditions are not favorable but the crew is continuing with the repair process.
• The cable cut was reported at 0559 GMT on February1st 2008 around 56 Km from Dubai, UAE on segment between UAE and Oman.

We should expect internet to return to normal within the next week. The official press bulletin is updated daily and can be found [here].

-Posted by K.

When will this stop? A regular combo used to cost KD1.750 a few years ago at Gulf Royal Chinese in the Marina Mall food court and then they increased the price to KD1.950. Now they’ve increased it again and the new price for a regular combo with coke is KD2.250.

Amazon just dropped the price of the Xbox 360 HD DVD player to just $79! Thats really really cheap!! [Amazon Link]