2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Tonight I did the last upgrade for my Mac, I added the DVD writer and the 250GB hard drive which arrive today from Aramex. The only thing I didn’t upgrade was the VGA card but that is on hold until a suitable option becomes available for me. Here are the before and after specs of my mac:

Before
Apple PowerMac G4 733mhz
896MB SDRAM
280GB Hard Drive
Sony 8X CD Writer (Doesn’t read DVDs)

After
Apple PowerMac G4 Dual 1.6Ghz
1.25GB SDRAM
530GB Hard Drive
Pioneer 40X CD Writer / 16X DVD Writer

I just installed Tiger fresh on the new hard drive and everything is running super fast.

I just downloaded FireFox 1.5 (Beta 1) and first thing I noticed is that none of my extentions are compatible with it. Other then that FireFox still visually looks the same. I was expecting the icons maybe to be updated or something. The Prefrences control panel has changed, it now works like most other Mac apps. The browser seems a bit faster in loading up websites and actually FireFox 1.5 as a whole seems lighter and quicker. Sadly I will have to install the older version of FireFox again because I need my extensions. Here is the link to the FireFox 1.5 Beta 1 Start Page. [Link]

Was at Souk Sharq for lunch and I passed by the Sony store. They just released the Sony E507 MP3 player here and I played with it a bit and it looks pretty cool. Its 1GB and is selling for KD79.

I am currently updating the website’s theme slightly. If things look a bit off its because its not final yet.

Had lunch at Subway Salmiya yesterday. It was very disappointing. I ordered the Subway Melt and the Italian BMT and both of them the ingredients they used looked a lot different then the usual. The two sandwiches also didn’t taste like usual. Hopefully this isn’t the begining of the end for Subway in Kuwait. I have seen this happen before in Lebanon, everything was going perfect then suddenly the owner in Lebanon decided to use local ingredients, suddenly everything started to taste drastically different and then later he was shutdown by Subway International.

On the bright side they are accepting Sub Club cards once again, this time they are using different colored and sized stickers.

This is an extremely funny post at Daring Fireball where he emulates a conversation between Brushed Metal and Brushed Metal’s agent. You must have seen the new iTunes to understand it though. [Link]

[via]

Found this picture I took back in 91 of the old Marriott hotel which was burnt by the Iraqis. I have more pictures of other buildings that were destroyed but I cant seem to find them anywhere. Anyway click here if you want to view the above picture in hi-res.

A few months ago I was able to gather a whole bunch of pictures from after the invasion which I found online and uploaded to a flickr account. If you want to see those click here.

A nice timeline of Yahoo and Google front pages from 1996 up to 2005. Yahoo used to be soo much cooler. [Link]

As usual, Stewart cuts through the red tape ” and delivers some of his best work last night on 9/7″

Ed Helms says:…through the President’s leadership, he’ll end up building a billion dollar damn in Arkansas.

Stewart: Why would he build a damn in Arkansas?

Helms: His plan will be to fight the water over there, so we don’t have to fight it over here.

Video-WMP
Video-QT

[Via]

The new iTunes is really slick. I was so over the brushed metal look and I hope other brushed metal aps (like Safari and Quicktime) adapt this look. Everything new is so kick ass.

Fully Loaded
Core System

I know I want the black one. [Link]

I think this is such a good deal. Something so slick and sexy for only $199. I never liked the large iPods thats why I sold my second generation 20GB iPod and got a 4GB iPod mini instead.. even though I have over 60GB worth of MP3s. I like the iPod shuffle because its a memory stick and an mp3 player. Its practical for moving work from my office to my house and Nat loves taking it to the gym because its so light and unbreakable. I love the iPod mini because its small, gorgeos and blue. The large iPod to me serves no purpose. Its ugly, big and doesn’t hold all my MP3s. Maybe once they come out with an 80GB iPod then it might attract me but for now I believe the Shuffle and mini (ok now Nano) are both all I need.

Even recent survey says that on average a person carries 375 MP3s while on average an iPod user carries 504. That fits the Shuffle and Nano perfectly. Now I just need to find someone who will buy my mini so I can go order a Nano.

Update: Cool you can preorder it already from Amazon.com. [Link]

I just called Solize to ask if they sell any Lacie monitors, wow what a conversation. The guy on the other end was Egyptian and I honestly couldn’t understand anything he was telling me. I asked him if he had Lacie he said no so I asked what was the best screens he had and he told me Anvil. Hadn’t heard of the brand before so I asked if he had 21″ model, he told me no only 20, 23 and 30. Then it hit me, he didn’t say Anvil he said Apple! I told him I didn’t want to pay KD300+ for a LCD monitor since I would rather get an exceptional CRT for half that. He then told me I could get an Anbon something something LCD something something for only KD160. I realized the conversation was going no where since nothing he said made sense so I said thank you and I shut the phone.

Here is a link to something I am working on, its kinda like safat except it grabs feeds from some of my favorite sites. https://feeds.mark248am1.wpenginepowered.com/

Its still in beta testing.

I am very busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy busy.