2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

I was just reading a recent issue of Campaign ME magazine (April 30) in which they have a section dedicated to Kuwait and I got to the part where they talk about Internet in Kuwait and to my surprise they mention my blog. The funny thing is the way they mentioned it and it went something like “…there is 248AM.com which is run by Nataly and her husband”. Nataly and her husband?! It should be like Mark and his wife who posts only once every 4 weeks. I am sure she is going to enjoy this when she reads it. She comes back from Beirut tonight btw so you can expect a post from her sometime this week about her trip.. then you have to wait till next month for another one.

A while back K.thekuwaiti posted about how to get video calling on MTC to work. Basically they are on trial period now and you can video call for free, the only problem is trying to find someone to video call.

If you have a 3G phone with video calling capabilities then all you need to do is send an SMS to the number 99999 with the word vc in the message and you should get a reply back telling you that video calling has been activated. If you get a message back and video calling is still not working, then turn off your phone, take out the battery and simcard and then put them back together. I had to do this to get 3G working on my phone and now I have a little 3G icon on my phone.

I tried video calling yesterday with K.thekuwaiti since he is the only person I know of that has video calling and it felt like video chatting using MSN. I don’t think I would use video calling to chat with a friend but I think I would use it to call a friend up and show him something. Like I could be at a party and I could call a friend up and show him with video what was going on at the party, that sort of thing.

Maybe once more people I know get 3G phones video calling could turn into a norm…

Ok since I had a lot of free time yesterday I was able to discover the Motorola V3x inside out. I had a lot of time to play with it, customize it, change it etc.. and I am happy that I got it just still stunned by the operating system. The V3x operating system is weird, sometimes I feel that it is too basic while other times I marvel at its customizability. There are some things I don’t understand why Motorola didn’t simplify or make easier to use, its just weird but over all it reminds me more of the Sony Ericsson OS more then the Nokia which is a good thing for me.

A really cool feature in the phone which helped make my move over smooth is the fact that you can reorder the menu system. Since I am used to my Sony Ericsson K700 I was able to reorder my Motorola menu to match my K700. Meaning on my K700 when you first came into the menu the Messages option was in position number 5 which is the second row middle icon. On the Motorola it was by default in position number 7 which is third row left side. Using the Main Menu personalizing option under settings I was able to place the Messages icon in position number 5, Settings in position 12, Internet in position 2 etc.. This made my move to the V3x much smoother, I felt right at home quickly. Even under the Messages menu I was able to move the SMS Inbox up to position number 2 and move my Voicemail inbox down to position 3. I really love this feature.

The worst feature in the operating system has to be when changing the ringer volume. Even if my phone is on silent, even if the keypad sound is turned off, no matter what I do, everytime you try to increase or decrease the ringer volume from the system menu you get loud ear piercing beeps which in a quiet office (or even a loud one) is very fucking annoying. Its very embarrassing and rude.

So far everything seems cool. The operating system is way faster then my K700 (aren’t all) and its probably the same speed as the K750 or a tiny bit faster which is really good. It doesn’t have any major features, the camera is 2MP which is the norm and it has 3G and video conferencing which i doubt I will ever use. But, I think thats what I like about the phone… that its a phone. All I really need to do with a phone is make and receive phone calls, send and receive SMS, synchronize my numbers with iSync (you need this plugin) and take pictures whenever I need to (usually of product model numbers in stores or price tags). This phone allows me to do all that with great ease and speed. The fact that I can charge my phone using any standard USB cable and the fact that I can mount the phone on my computer like an external hard drive are extra bonuses.

This phone is just a phone and so far it seems like it does everything right. Will use it for a week or two before writing a review on it.

A friend is selling her PowerMac for a really good deal. The Mac was purchased last July from Solize and is in like new condition. The PowerMac has been used maybe only 4 or 5 times for video editing. Here are the specs:

– 2.3 Ghz, Dual Processor
– 1 GB RAM (upgradable to 8GB)
– 250 GB Harddisk
– Super Drive

Asking price: KD650

If you are interested or have any questions leave a comment below and she will contact you. More pictures here and here.

update: PowerMac has been sold!

Today morning I checked the comments on my post from yesterday called The V3x and I read a comment by Omar who said I could find the V3x for KD120 which is basically the same price as the phone on Amazon. So I called Fono up and asked them if they had a version with only an English keypad and they said yes, so awhile ago I went and picked up my phone from Fono. First impressions.. well I realized how ugly and out dated my Sony Ericsson K700 is. The phones OS does seem confusing but I am guessing its because I have been using Ericsson for most of my life. The coolest feature on the phone is the fact that I can charge it using my Nikon’s USB cable. The data/charging port on the V3x is your standard USB input found on most USB devices like external harddrives and digital cameras. Very practical. The screen inside is gorgeous, very sharp and huge! Gonna finish up some urgent work and then fiddle with my phone a bit. I hate new phones since I am always worried about scratching them..

update: just tried video calling with K.thekuwaiti, I feel so futuristic now

update 2: to get it working with isync you need to install a plugin which you can find [here]

I was expecting to be wayyyy more expensive but they really aren’t. Compared to what some celebrities in Hollywood pay for their homes and apartments, these castles look like a steal.. [Link]

I don’t know where they are, when I looked for them at home and couldn’t find them I assumed I had left them at the office. I am now at the office and they are not here. I only use my glasses when I am sitting in front of the computer but if I don’t have them on my eyes start to burn and I get dizy. Today is going to be a sucky day.

Thanks to everyone who replied to my “I need a new phone” post. I decided to go for the Motorola V3x.

Yesterday while I was at the airport with Nat I saw a dark blue Motorolla Razr. I didn’t know what it was, it looked a bit thicker then the regular Motorola’s but it looked way cooler and it cost KD145. I didn’t think of it much until today while I was researching the V3i on Amazon and I found the V3x and recognized it as the phone I saw yesterday.

The V3x is a cool looking phone and I am getting the dark blue version since blue is my favorite color. It has a 2MP camera on the outside and a second camera on the inside for video calling since the phone also supports 3G. The resolution of the internal screen is 320 x 240 which is also pretty nice. I have only had one flip phone before in my life so it should be a nice change to own one now.

I just ordered the phone from Amazon since its around KD30 cheaper and it doesn’t come with the arabic keypad which I think makes the phone look ugly. Once I get it I will post a proper review of it.

Here is another picture I took of Geo yesterday. In this shot you can see his Dog-e-Tag, I have to say when I first got it a few months back I thought it wouldn’t last a week with Geo. He spends most of his time biting it and chewing it like a baby-sucker and the tag is still in excellent condition. Its unscratched, undamaged and just needs a washing.. its extremely durable.

I haven’t been watching Showtime for ages so I just turned it on now and was checking my Tivo guide and to my surprise I found two new cool shows. Not new as in they are recent but new as in new additions to showtime. The two shows are Moonlighting and Out of this World. Can’t believe they are playing these two shows.. I love them!

Really cool commercial. [Link]

Wooww… It looks really fucking cool! [Link]

I have some extra cash saved up which I just decided I would use to invest in the stock market. Anyone got any stock tips? Also I am planning on setting up an online trading account with Mutadawil, does anyone have a better suggestion? I wanted NBK but I need like minimum $25,000 to setup an online trading account with them.

When I was looking for a Memory Stick for my Sony PSP I didn’t know if it was worth paying extra and getting the high speed version (the Ultra II for example) or getting the regular and more affordable version. I did some research online to see if I could find information on this and what I found was very confusing.

The faster Memory Stick allows you to read and write data onto it faster then the regular card but according to some users the PSP doesn’t take advantage of the faster Memory Sticks. This means if you get a regular speed Memory Stick and a hight speed one, the PSP will treat both of them equally and read and write onto both at the same speed.

Some users on the other hand stated the opposite. Their views were that the PSP did take advantage of the high speed cards and that games would load faster when using them.

So not wanting to take a risk I decided to purchase the high speed card and thats what I have been using ever since. Recently I realized that 1GB wasn’t enough room since some games like Grand Theft Auto take up 850MB which leaves no room for a second game. So I was checking out prices on Amazon and noticed that once you get to Memory sticks 2GB and larger the price difference between the regular speed and high speed ones increased more.

Thats why I decided to experiment using the two different cards and see if they both worked on the PSP the same way. In short, turns out both cards performed exactly the same which means the people who said the PSP didn’t take advantage of the Hi-Speed cards were right.

I used Nat’s 1GB Sandisk card and my 1GB Sandisk Ultra II for my test. I copied GTA onto both and tried them out. I didn’t notice any difference at all, with both sticks the game loaded quickly and load times were none existent. Having a highspeed memory stick with the PSP is a waste of money..

I know this post might seem weird but I wrote it for people who are googling this memory stick information..

Today morning I dropped Nat to the airport and she will be in Lebanon until Sunday. Its just me and Geo at home chillin’ and watchin’ some TV.

I just finished watching this stupid movie called These Girls, from the IMDB description I thought it would be soft porn but instead it turned out to be really lame. I don’t know how it got an R rating..

So anyway the picture above is of Geo with the Cookie Monster doll which Ananyah had sent me. He had stolen it off my desk while I was in the bathroom and I didn’t have the heart to take it away from him.