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I heard about this place that fixes iPhones ages ago but never had a reason to pass by until today. My mum accidentally dropped her iPhone into her coffee and it stopped working so I took it to the Michel Chinese Workshop in Hawalli. That’s the official name of the store but you can call it the iPhone and iPad Workshop. The shop is located in the basement of a complex and is run by a very nice Chinese couple in the front and four young Chinese technicians in a small glass room in the back.

This tiny place kicks ass. They fix whatever problem you have with your iPhone or iPad and at a very reasonable price. They fixed my mums phone for KD15 while one of my twitter followers was able to replace his broken iPad screen for KD30. They’re also fast, it took them less than an hour to diagnose what the problem was with my mums phone and also fix it.

Finding the place isn’t too difficult as long as you know Ibn Khaldoon Street since they’re right on it. Get to Ibn Khaldoon and if you pass McDonalds on your left, keep driving around 100 meters and you’ll spot the above banner on your right hand side. If you’re on Ibn Khaldoon Street and you pass McDonalds on your right then you’ve passed the place. In case you get lost you can call them on 66228596 or 22640666.

The 2011 Corruption Perception Index is out and although Kuwait does poorly compared to our GCC neighbors, overall we’re not that bad when compared to the rest of the world. Kuwait ranked 54 out of 182 countries in the 2011 Corruption Perception Index with New Zealand being the least corrupt coming in 1st place while Somalia is the most corrupt landing at the bottom of the list at 182. Here is our ranking compared to our neighbors (the higher the less corrupt):

1- Qatar
2- United Arab Emirates
3- Bahrain
4- Oman
5- Kuwait
6- Saudi Arabia

You can check out the full results [Here]

I’m not a fan of Sony headphones and I think the last time I bought a pair I was still listening to music from my discman. But while I was in New York killing time as after midnight at a Best Buy I spotted these on display and since I had my iPhone with music with me I figured I would try them out. I played the Tron: Legacy Reconfigured album and was blown away by how good the headphones sounded. Right away I wanted to purchase a pair but they were out of stock so I loaded up my Amazon app on my iPhone and bought it on the spot. It was an impulse buy but it should give you an idea of how good they sounded.

They’re not the most accurate headphones but they’re definitely the most fun. I count the Monster Beats Studio as fun as well but these cost a lot less and actually sound better. You’ve got the deep powerful bass but the mids and the highs are prominent as well. While the Beats can sound muffled with bass sometimes overpowering everything else, I have yet to face a similar problem with these cheap Sony’s. They also don’t need any batteries or a portable amp to power them.

And yes, these headphones look hideous. I own a bunch of headphones from entry level in-ears to 600ohms overheads and these Sony’s the ugliest pair I own but they’re also the cheapest. I can’t believe these headphones cost just $49 and sound this good. I’m not sure if they’re sold locally but you can check them out on Amazon. I love them. [Amazon Link]

This is the last Cinemagic screening of the year and they’re ending it with one of my favorite movies and one of the best movies ever made… Brazil. The only other movie I’ve seen on the list is Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr.Fox which was really great as well. Here is the full list:

Thursday, December 1st at 7:30pm
A BAND’S VISIT
A band comprised of members of the Egyptian police force head to Israel to play at the inaugural ceremony of an Arab arts center, only to find themselves lost in the wrong town.

Saturday, December 3rd at 7:30pm
FANTASTIC MR.FOX
An urbane fox cannot resist returning to his farm raiding ways and then must help his community survive the farmers’ retaliation.

Thursday, December 8th at 7:30pm
WE LIVE IN PUBLIC
A documentary focusing on the life of dot-com entrepreneur Josh Harris, and his exploits over the last decade.

Saturday, December 10th at 7:30pm
THE ICE STORM
1973, suburban Connecticut: middle class families experimenting with casual sex, drink, etc., find their lives out of control.

Thursday, December 15th at 7:30pm
THE LEGEND OF THE HOLY DRINKER
This is an enchanting, mesmeric fable. It tells the story of an alcoholic who strives for redemption, but is cheated out of attaining it again and again – either by drink or friends or any of the myriad pleasures life throws at us. And yet somehow – miraculously – the drinker’s soul remainsintact; his final mission frustrated, temporarily foresaken but never entirely forgotten.

Saturday, December 17th at 7:30pm
12 ANGRY MEN
A dissenting juror in a murder trial slowly manages to convince the others that the case is not as obviously clear as it seemed in court.

Thursday, December 22nd at 7:30pm
THE DEVIL AND DANIEL JOHNSTON
Daniel Johnston, manic-depressive genius singer/songwriter/artist is revealed in this portrait of madness, creativity and love.

Saturday, December 24th at 7:30pm
RARE EXPORTS: A CHRISTMAS TALE
In the depths of the Korvatunturi mountains, 486 metres deep, lies the closest ever guarded secret of Christmas. The time has come to dig it up! This Christmas everyone will believe in Santa Claus.

Thursday, December 29th at 7:30pm
BRAZIL
A bureaucrat in a retro-future world tries to correct an administrative error and himself becomes an enemy of the state.

Cinemagic Kuwait, is organizing these events as part of its efforts to contribute to the development of an internationally competitive Kuwaiti audio-visual production industry, partly by bringing the filmmakers and audiences together and by Increasing the public’s interest in – and appreciation for – the art of film-making. Cinemagic movies are screened in the old Salmiya, on the roof on top of Alghanim Electronics and LG. Entrance is free of charge and includes refreshments, popcorn and much more. Here is a link to their Facebook group [Link]

Ubon, the Thai restaurant which I posted about awhile back looks like it’s opening soon. I saw them bring in the furniture 2 days back and the place seems pretty trendy looking. This will definitely turn into the coolest Thai restaurant in Kuwait.

Eureka have an offer just for today where you can get the iPhone 4s for just KD219. Eureka usually has a habit of running out of stock 2 minutes after opening so I don’t usually post about their offers except this time they’ve mentioned “unlimited quantity”. [Link]

Update: X-Cite have now also lowered the price of the iPhone 4S and you can buy it online directly from [Here]

The last thing left to talk about my trip to New York is the Turkish Airlines Lounge. On the way to New York I spent an hour in the lounge which wasn’t much time to experience it but on the way back I had five hours to kill so I then managed to properly check everything out.

The Turkish airport itself is pretty nice. There is a good amount of restaurants and cafes with a bunch of known stores like Hermes and Burberry and then the usual bookshops, electronic stores and souvenir shops. It’s not as big as the the Bangkok airport which I always compare to a mall, but still a lot better than most if not all the airports in our region (I haven’t been to the new Emirates terminal in Dubai). The lounge is pretty sweet, you enter by scanning your boarding pass and once you’re in you’re inside a different world. There’s a lot of seating all around the lounge with different moods and seating styles in each section. You’ve also got a lot of food stations scattered all about, some serving dessert, others freshly baked items a couple of hot food stations as well as four salad/snacks/fruit bars located in the different sections. I spent most of the time in a space at the back of the lounge sitting underneath a tree with a grand piano playing by itself in the background. It was very peaceful and cozy away from all the airport hustle and bustle.

Other than the different seating areas they also have a pool table, a kids games room, a mini movie theater, showers, sleeping rooms and a business center filled with iMacs. They also had a masseur who walks around offering complimentary massage as well as the usual free WiFi.

Overall I thought the lounge was pretty well done. You could even leave the airport from within the lounge bypassing the busy immigration counters in the airport. I don’t remember where but I read that they also offer guided tours of the city if you have a long stay over which is what I should have done since five hours is just too long to spend in a lounge no matter how nice it is.

My flight from New York to Turkey went by pretty quick since I slept all the way but I did experience a few new things I hadn’t experienced on the way there which I felt was necessary to post about. The first is that Live TV was working on this flight. This was my first experience with Live TV on a plane and it was pretty interesting. They had 4 channels to choose from, BBC English and BBC Arabic, Barclays Premier League Football and Euronews. I was watching BBC for example when I found out Gaddafi’s son got arrested so I was in the loop on current events even though I was stuck on a plane for over 10 hours. I did wish they had more channels but really the only channels that would make sense live would be news and sports channels since everything else really isn’t live anyway.

For our second meal on the flight they served breakfast. I had an omelet which even though was good, I was kinda disappointed that I couldn’t have it my way specially since we had a chef on board. I’ve flown business class on another airline with a chef and they allowed me to dictate exactly what I wanted in my omelet. It’s a minor quibble but one worth mentioning.

One major thing I liked about Turkish Airlines is the fact that business class was just 4 rows. On a large plane like the 777, 4 row of business class makes you feel like you’re sitting in first. We also had 2 or 3 flight attendants in our class and a chef taking care of us; that’s a really good ratio. Finally the legroom is just ridiculous. There has to be over a meter in space which gives you a lot of room to stretch your legs but also makes the whole class feel very spacious. The seats are also really wide so once you turn it into a bed you’ve got decent rolling space.

Overall I had a really positive experience on the flight to and back from New York. I’ve got one more post left which is the Turkish Airlines Lounge which I’ll try to have up tomorrow. For now if you have any questions regarding the flight just post it below.

I generally read a lot of magazines and a lot of online content but when it comes to books I hadn’t read one since The Lost World back in 1997. That’s why even though the Kindle intrigued when it first got released, I just couldn’t get myself to plunk down $400 for a device I might never use. Then Amazon started releasing newer Kindles and with each release dropping the price down until it hit $79. I don’t read books but for $79 I was willing to give it a shot so while in New York I passed by Best Buy and picked one up.

First thing I noticed once I took it out of the box was how light and small the Kindle was. It weighs just 170 grams which is slightly heavier than my iPhone but feels lighter due to the weight being spread out over a larger surface. The Kindle easily fit into my back jeans pocket and it even managed to fit into my jackets inner pocket. Because it’s so light you don’t feel it in your pocket and it also makes it easier to hold for long periods without your muscles fatiguing.

I carried the Kindle with me everywhere I went in NY since and whenever I found a free moment I would take out the Kindle read as much as I can and then put it away again. Because it’s a device dedicated to reading it makes reading very easy. I don’t need to turn the Kindle off or on and I also don’t have to worry about the battery dying. In just a few days I managed to finish reading my first book in years and I didn’t even charge the Kindle I just used it right out of the box. I didn’t even have to connect it to a computer I just logged into my amazon account from the device and bought my first book. Buying a book is also super easy since you just find the book you want and then click buy and that’s it. No need to log in or enter a password or anything like that.

For readers in Kuwait the Kindle makes a lot of sense since we don’t have a decent bookstore here but even if I lived in the US I would still prefer a Kindle over a real book. For one thing the Kindle is easier to carry around since it’s thinner and probably lighter. It’s easier to read since you can control the font size and most importantly you can carry more than one book at a time and buy a new one right from the device. Actually you don’t even have to buy books since Amazon offers a ton of books for free as well as other books you can borrow. I was going to buy a book called Elizabeth Street but since I’m an Amazon Prime member, Amazon offered me the option to “borrow” the book which I did. I played with the Kindle Fire and it seemed cool but I saw it as an iPad or Galaxy Tab competitor. The main competition to the $79 Kindle is the Kindle Touch and the Nook Simple Touch. Although I liked the feel of the Nook I thought it was bulky plus you can’t buy books from the Amazon Store which I prefer. The Kindle Touch on the other hand costs more than the $79 Kindle but it also has no physical buttons for page turning and I like the buttons as well as the fact that the buttons are located on both sides (useful if you’re holding the hand with just your left or right hand). The touch is also slightly bigger and heavier. The $79 Kindle does come with adverts but they’re not annoying at all since they never show up while reading. You only get to see an ad while the device is on standby or on the main home page but they’re really not intrusive and they don’t bother me at all.

If you haven’t considered the Kindle before or are thinking of buying one I would personally recommend the $79 version. It’s really cheap and has a lot of advantages which makes it a great buy in my book. Check it out on [Amazon]

Taken from K’s PATH John Peaveler’s Facebook page:

Flamingos massacred at the Abdaliya Nature Preserve after poachers forced their way in on Thursday, November 17th, 2011. Even our responding staff who come from a rural part of India where live can be brutal thought to write the word “crime” with the shotgun shells. You can see their look of disgust. We were able to save two, one uninjured and one with a broken leg. Now we will try to save them.

Not sure what kind of people who shoot Flamingos for fun but this is horrible. If you’re logged in to Facebook you can see the pictures and get more information [Here] For more information click [Here]

Thanks Rayboy

A couple of months back I got an email from Turkish Airlines asking me if I could try out their service and write about them. At first I figured they wanted me to fly to Turkey Economy Class but then I found out they actually wanted me to try their Business Class and gave me 6 very cool destinations to choose from:

Toronto
New york
Chicago
Los Angeles
Washington DC
São Paulo

I didn’t know much about Turkish Airlines back then other than their TV commercial featuring the football players so I was a bit surprised they actually flew as far as LA or São Paulo. It was pretty hard choosing a destination but in the end it was between LA and NY and since I was already planning a big trip to LA next year I decided to go with New York instead.

I’m leaving tomorrow early morning and will continue to post from New York although my timings will probably be off. This time around I’m staying at The MAve in Manhattan instead of Brooklyn since I’m going to be there for only a week and don’t want to waste any time commuting. The picture above is how my room should look like so will see how close to that it is once I get there.

Now Siri, find me the best burger place in New York!

Teenager dies in Salmiya mall gang fight
A 19-year-old Iranian died of chest wounds and two other youths, including an Egyptian expatriate were severely injured in a bloody fight among some 80 individuals at a famous shopping complex in Salmiya area.

The youths are said to have used batons, knives and other sharp objects to attack each other and the injured people were left behind, bleeding profusely, while other members of the feuding party managed to escape at the sight of police. Even so, about 20 of them were taken into custody when paramedics referred the three injured people to the Mubarak Hospital for medical care. Later on, the Iranian died of internal bleeding. A case has since been registered for investigation.

Meanwhile, another group of youths engaged in a quarrel at the same commercial complex over a girl, resulting in severe injuries to a citizen of Kazakhstan and a Jordanian. The injured people were taken to the Mubarak Hospital by paramedics arriving at the scene with security operatives. A case was registered.

In yet another incident, two Kuwaiti juveniles suffered injuries in different places of their bodies, as they fought with six other juveniles at a public garden in Rumaithiya. Paramedics sent the injured citizens to the Mubarak Hospital, while securitymen referred the other juveniles to Juvenile Prosecution for investigation. [Source]

Rowdy youths harass, strip 3 girls naked in Hawalli mall
The Nugra police have arrested two youths, both believed to be criminals, for eve-teasing and tearing the clothes of three Arab girls because they did not give in to their mischief, at a shopping mall, reports Al-Watan Arabic daily.

According to eyewitness reports the youths were constantly harassing the victims and the latter criticized them in front of the people. The youths got annoyed and allegedly tore off the clothes of the girls, following which they screamed for help when they were left with only undergarments on. Someone called the police and the suspects have been taken into custody. [Source]

If these two horrifying incidents aren’t enough to have malls rethink their security then I’m not sure what is.

I first heard about close captioning when I was living in Canada back in the early 90s since practically every station had it. Close captioning was created for the deaf community or hard of hearing individuals to help them understand what’s going on on TV. It’s a button on the remote you press to turn on and off and when on you can see subtitles on the screen along with sound descriptions. Turns out the system isn’t used here and so someone just started a campaign to try and push OSN to implement it. This is their aim taken from their Facebook page:

To urge OSN (Orbit Showtime Network) in speeding up the process of incorporating English subtitles in all OSN channels (whether the broadcasts are in English or Arabic) so that everyone – deaf, hard of hearing and hearing people – can have a better experience.

I’m surprised OSN don’t already have close captioning since they’re on the cutting edge of technology so I hope they listen and implement it soon. To support this campaign and for information on how you can help check out their Facebook page [Here]

On a side note they have a pretty cool campaign page with pre-written emails you can send with a click of a button and lots of information among other things. All campaign pages should be like this.

XRAY 808E from Mark on Vimeo.

I wasn’t planning on shooting a video, it just came to me while playing on the track so I didn’t have a tripod or a second hand to help me out. It’s not a great video but it still should give you a rough idea of what it’s like to race an RC car around the track. For some odd reason my edit turned out to be just 35 seconds so I repeated the lap twice in the video (it actually takes over a minute to race around the track without mistakes). If this track doesn’t convince you to get a race buggy then I’m not sure what would.

The large screen outside Al Hamra Tower was on as I passed by probably being tested out. Last week I noticed the tower lights were being tested out and the whole building was blinking and changing colors. Is it normal that every tower popping up in Kuwait now has it’s own light show taking place at night?