2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

Was just talking with Nibaq now and he pointed me to an article on NY Times about how Google is the new Microsoft. Well its true, Google IS the new Microsoft and we all hate Microsoft. So, Nibaq came up with the idea of using Yahoo! instead of Google. Sounds simple but when you have been using Google daily for like forever its not easy to swap to Yahoo! overnight. So we decided to have a “Try Yahoo! Week”. Starting Saturday the 27th all the way to Friday the 2nd we will only use Yahoo! for our searches. I already added the Yahoo! engine to FireFox and will start practicing this weekend. Everyone is free to join this activity.

Here are two cool TV commercials I just found on my computer while trying to find something else.

Audi [Video 512KB]
Board Room [Video 1.18MB]

A nice video of a white car spinning its wheels on a public road in Kuwait. Notice how the driver doesn’t care about the oncoming cars. [Video 4.8MB]

Finally installed the PSP 2.0 firmware update and I can now browse the internet from my PSP. Cool shit.

Update: So far first impressions of the browser is thats its pretty cool, perfect for checking up on sites from bed before I go to sleep or at the airport while I wait to pick someone up. I haven’t any problems browsing except for 2 websites. 2:48AM’s sidebar didn’t show up on the PSP and Idontlikeyouinthatway.com gave me an out of memory error. Other then that everything worked like a charm. To make my life easier I also create a homepage for the PSP which includes links to all the sites I visit, this way I don’t have to type each one out manually.

This is a really cool software called coconutBattery and I can’t wait to use it on Nat’s PowerBook once I get home. This software gives you a whole bunch of details about the laptops battery including how much charge it originally held and how much it holds now. Nat’s battery is pretty messed up, in OS X it says her battery would last for 26 more hours when in reallity its more like 26 minutes. [Link]

I don’t like Arabic songs nor do I listen to them but for some reason I like Bortukala. Here are two versions of the Bortukala video. I guess the first one was made when the guy didn’t have any money and the second one once the song became more popular. I believe the word bortukala in this Iraqi song is like biatch in a rap video?

Bortukala 1 (3.98MB)
Bortukala 2 (2.62MB)

Finally the US 2.0 is out. People who downloaded the Japanese version last month will not be able to install the US version on their PSP. Currently though there seems to be no new features in the US version over the Japanese version. [Link]

A few days ago I noticed that every time I copy pasted a url from my Google search results it added some new google gibrish to the url. So I did a bit of research on this and it turns out google has a new option where it tracks your searches for you. To disable this you need to go to google.com and on the top right hand corner click on Search History and then on Pause. [Link]

Finally, there is a new option in Gmail where you can change your “From:” email address. Click on Settings then Accounts.

This post is for the ladies. Do you get turned on seeing slightly overweight men naked and covered in paint? Then you are in luck! [Link] (SFW)

Note: I had no clue what category to put this in, fashion maybe?

Here is a link to coupon you can print which would get you 20% off at Hard Rock Cafe although personally if this coupon gave me 100% off I wouldn’t go there. Definetly the worst Hard Rock Cafe in the world. [Link]

Offer Valid from Tuesday the 23rd of August till September 30th, 2005

EBgames has two very cool XBOX 360 bundles for pre-ordering. I am going to get the Ultimate Bundle since that has the most goodies. So Nat, if you are reading this, thank you in advance for this very thoughtful birthday gift! [Link]

Have you google talked yet? I have to say I think this is the worst idea from Google. I personally don’t think they can penetrate the MSN and Yahoo communities. [Link]

Just another Aramex related post. I just got an email from Aramex telling me that mail arrived to my US mailbox. I guess this is also a new service since it never did that before. This is the email I received:

Dear Mark,

We thought you would like to know that there has been a new update regarding a shipment in your mailbox. Please click on the below link to access your account.

https://www.aramex.com/shopandship

BusyNow brought this to my attention, it seems Aramex Shop and Ship are now shipping packages straight to Kuwait from New York. Check this, no UAE:

Location Date Comments
KUWAIT 8/23/2005 Shipment held for consignee pickup
KUWAIT 8/23/2005 Shipment received at operations facility
UNITED STATES 8/20/2005 Shipment manifested for forwarding
UNITED STATES 8/20/2005 Full airwaybill entry
UNITED STATES 8/19/2005 Shipment record created

I was talking with a friend of mine and somehow we got into a conversation about Kuwaiti accomplishments. He was surpised by some of the stuff I mentioned and I figured I would list them here and maybe some of you guys can add to this list and that way we can have a nice list of Kuwaiti accomplishments and add them to Kuwiki.

Zed Al-Refai – First Kuwaiti and Arab to climb Mt. Everest
Mesaed Alhammad – Built a working spacesuit
Danah Al-Nasrallah – First Kuwaiti female to participate in Olympics, she was 16!
Munirah Buruki – First Kuwaiti female pilot, only 19
Fahid al Dihani – Bronze Medal in Sydney 2000 Olympics
Amani Al-Haji – Female Kuwaiti Opera Singer
Khalid Sauod AlZaid – World Taekwondo Champion, only 12 years old
Abdulrahman Al-Farsi – Owner of the worlds largest Kite (does this count?)

Do you know any more?