Search: “kuwait”

Looks like there is a new radio station launching for the Indian community in Kuwait called U FM. I called to find out when they will be launching but the person responsible wasn’t in yet so will be calling back again later. The station will be available on the 98.4 FM frequency and they already have a Facebook page up which you can check [Here]

Thanks Tijoe

A man was arrested in front of a bank in Salmiya recently where he faked disability to help him in begging. The man was apprehended by police who monitored his activity for days during which they discovered his apparent disability was fake. Investigations revealed that the man came to Kuwait from his home country Egypt on a visitor’s visa to practice begging. It was also revealed that he managed to collect KD 1,356 within only two days of begging. He remains in custody pending legal procedures. [Source]

1,356 in two days is actually pretty awesome.

There’s a block of very old Kuwaiti houses in Salmiya near my place which I keep passing by all the time. I keep telling myself I should pass by and take pictures but I never did and then today I noticed they put up a fence around them. I figured they’re getting ready to demolish the houses so when I got back home I picked up my camera and went to take some pictures.

I hope they consider saving and refurbishing whatever they can from these houses but my guess is they’re planning to demolish them since they might be too damaged to repair. Too bad since I like these old houses.

Frankom posted a video of what looks like a sporting event that took place in Kuwait recently and the girl who came in first was from Kazakhstan. Instead of playing the official Kazakhstan national anthem during the flag raising they mistakenly played Borat’s version of the anthem which I found hilarious.

The look on the girls face is priceless, she’s either thinking “wtf are they playing?” OR “damn it not again!”. [Video]

Update: The original video was removed from YouTube so I’ve uploaded it again and updated the links.

I found out about this yesterday and it completely caught me by surprise. OSN now has their own version of Hulu! If you’re an OSN customer you can register and sign up on their website and then stream movies and tv shows online. How cool is that?

You don’t watch the shows live instead they’re on-demand similar to Hulu. You find the show you want and just start watching it. Right now they have a pretty good collection of content online and I’m sure their library is going to grow with time as well.

I didn’t have any streaming problems and the interface is pretty good with the ability to watch the videos in full screen mode or in a window. You can also turn subtitles on and off for those that need it.

The funny thing is I’m used to watching videos on Hulu using a US based VPN but if you do that with OSN Play you’ll be turned away in a similar way Kuwait internet users get turned away from Hulu.

So try it out, it’s very easy to register just make sure you have the code from your OSN card with you. Here is a link to their website [Link]

At least it’s helping local producers.

Meanwhile, Kuwait Dairy Company (KD Cow) announced on Monday, that it increased its production capacity to meet shortage of dairy products in markets.

The company’s Director-General Saleh Al-Attiqi told KUNA that in order to maintain food security, under the current customs strike that paralyzed the market, the company doubled its production.
[Source]

Hawally Municipality Manager Fahad Al-Fahad urged citizens and expatriates to maintain cleanliness at public facilities along the seafront by refraining from littering and leaving barbeque remains, ash and charcoal.

Speaking during a three-day campaign, his teams along with the Touristic Enterprises Company (TEC), Al-Zayyani Company, Bayan and Mishref Co-opeartive Societies launched a campaign to prevent the practice of holding barbeque events in these areas. Al-Fahad stressed that such violations can be observed during weekends.

He stressed the need to create more active awareness campaigns and strict law enforcement. He also noted that special signs would be placed in such areas to enlighten visitors with by-laws and the penalties. Abdul Aziz Al-Yahia, Cleaning Department Manager said that his inspectors issued 125 citations over the weekend, explaining that fines ranging between KD 100 and 300 would be levied. [Kuwait Times]

My biggest issue with seaside BBQ-ers other than the trash they leave behind is the BBQ smoke. On Saturdays when I ride my bicycle to the gym I have a hard time breathing because of all the smoke. By the time I get to the gym the trainers think I was pigging out on kebabs and kill me with exercises. Not very fun.

The photo of the barricaded doors above are from inside Dr. Adel Al-Yousifi’s home taken after the liberation of Kuwait in 1991. Dr. Adel is the person behind the websites evidence.org.kw and freekuwait.org.kw. According to him a Kuwaiti family was taking shelter in his home during the 1990-1991 invasion while he was stranded in London.

When Dr. Adel got back he found out his home was used to shelter a boy sought by the Iraqis. Turns out several boys had seen what they were not supposed to and when they were captured by the Iraqi soldiers they were shot. But, one boy survived and managed to escape. His family hid him in Dr. Adel’s house but they pretended he had died of his wounds and arranged a fake mourning. The Iraqis never found him and he is considered to be a living martyr.

Dr. Adel is now interested in finding out the name of the young man who had survived the Iraqi soldiers and hid in the house. If you know who that person is please contact him on [email protected]

Kuwait sent 66 candidates who sat for 118 exams for a pass rate of 64.4%, the highest pass rate of all candidates sitting for the exam outside of the U.S. In fact, candidates from Kuwait performed better than every U.S. jurisdiction. By comparison, the best performing CPA exam jurisdiction in the U.S. – Utah – pulled a pass rate of 57.4% overall.

That’s an odd but interesting fact. I guess. [Link]

Thanks Uzair

The original Panasonic GF1 is easily one of the most enjoyable cameras I’ve ever used. I got it two years ago and it quickly replaced both my Canon G11 and Nikon D90 DSLR. Size wise it was slightly larger than the Canon G11 but the quality of the shots easily matched that of the Nikon D90. The camera was very well built and had a fantastic and bright 20mm f/1.7 lens and really my only issue with the camera was that the image got fairly noisy once it hit ISO 800 and above. The new GX1 is the GF1 replacement and it’s better than the GF1 in practically every way. I’ve been using it for sometime now so here’s what I think of it so far. This isn’t a comprehensive review, you can find those reviews online, this is just a review of the things I liked.

What I like about the GF1 and GX1 is the size since they’re small enough to fit into a jacket pocket and light enough to sling over my shoulder without noticing the weight. The reason I always stuck with the 20mm lens and never got a more practical zoom lens is because of the size. The 20mm lens is very compact while all the zoom lenses were pretty big and so added bulk to the camera and made it less pocket-able. But, with the launch of the GX1, Panasonic introduced a new series of lenses called X Lenses. These lenses have powered zooms and are a lot more compact than their regular lenses (Here is a comparison picture). How compact? Well the 14-42mm lens is now exactly the same size as the 20mm lens when closed. It’s super compact!

There are a few changes in the over look and feel between the GF1 and GX1. The GX1 is slightly smaller but now has a larger rubber grip on the front which makes holding the camera a lot more comfortable. The buttons have been shuffled around slightly in the back and they’re now made of metal instead of rubber. The rear screen was also replaced with a touch screen which I thought I would hate but I actually like a lot. The main reason I like it is because it makes focusing faster. I like to shoot with the “rule of thirds” so I can now frame my subject anywhere on the screen and then tap where I want it to focus. The touch screen also makes it easy to change various options and settings. Actually that’s one of the best things in this camera, the ability to change various options and settings without having to go into the camera menu. The camera has two customizable physical buttons on the rear and two more buttons on the screen which I can customize and if that’s not enough I also have a “Quick Menu” which I can access with a click on the rear screen which also pops up a bunch of other buttons which I can also customize.

ISO performance is a lot better compared to the GF1 and noise isn’t noticeable until you pass ISO 1600. The camera focuses much quicker as well not that it was slow before. Really everything about the camera is either slightly improved or better than the GF1 which I thought would be impossible to do. The only thing I’ve noticed that is actually worse is the battery life but that’s probably because the X Lens consumes more power than the regular lenses.

When the original GF1 came out it really didn’t have much competition other than the Olympus PEN series but now things are completely different with Fuji, Sony and Canon all coming into the picture with their own variations of the same idea. The only other cameras I was considering were the Sony NEX-7 and the new Fuji X-Pro 1. The NEX-7 is a great camera but Sony doesn’t have that many great lenses and they’re all really big which makes the camera not very portable. The X-Pro 1 is also a really great camera with really good lenses but the size and price put me off as well. In the end I don’t have any regrets and I would highly recommend this camera to anyone looking for a great carry every compact camera.

I got mine from Amazon and they have three different kits:
Panasonic GX1 Body Only $699
Panasonic GX1 with the 14-42mm Lens $799
Panasonic GX1 with the 14-42mm X Series Lens $950

Yesterday I posted about Al Khalid Complex and how cool a place it would be if all these trendy restaurants opened there. Well one commentator mentioned Lorenzo was opening there so I went back to the original picture I took and zoomed in to see if I could confirm it and there it was, a Lorenzo Opening Soon hoarding which you can see below. Nice!

CABLiTV is a local business that recently launched with the aim of bringing American television channels to the Gulf. A couple of weeks ago they contacted me asking if I would be interested in trying out their service and I agreed. I’ve now been using their service on and off since then and here’s my thoughts on it.

First just a bit of simplified information on how their service works. CABLiTV get a cable and internet subscription in the States, they connect a Slingbox to their cable box and then stream the video feed online. You can then access the video stream in Kuwait and anywhere else in the world via a Slingbox player. It’s not a new service but they’re the first one’s I know of that are based in the GCC.

The amount of American channels CABLiTV provides is bewildering. Their smallest package consists of around 210 American channels while their most premium package consists of over 285. There are a whole range of standard channels to choose from like Fox, NBC, ABC, SyFy, etc.. and depending on the package you choose you could also have access to premium channels like HBO and Showtime.

So you’ve got all these channels but how do you view them? Well you can access your channels using your web browser which is probably the easiest but also my least favorite way. You can also access the channels via the Slingbox Player on mobile devices like the iPhone, iPad, Kindle Fire, BlackBerry, Android phones and tablets, Windows Mobile etc.. which is more interesting than the browser but still doesn’t feel natural to me. The best way to access your CABLiTV account is using either a Boxee (pictured below) or a Logitech Revue since both these devices connect directly to your television. That way it feels like you’re watching proper television instead of feeling like you’re streaming a video off of YouTube.

Unlike OSN and ART, you don’t need to install a satellite dish on the roof to get these channels. All you need is an internet connection albeit a pretty fast one depending on the resolution you’re trying to stream. With my 10Mbps WiMD connection at home I sometimes managed to stream in full HD but majority of the times I would watch using the setting “Best” which is the second best setting and provides a pretty sharp picture. The slower the connection the lower the resolution but once you get past the middle setting of “Good” the picture becomes good enough for small screens like the iPhone or Blackberry while looking pretty pixelated on larger screens.

The idea of getting all these American channels to your home here in Kuwait is great but there are two downsides for me. The first which can easily be solved is you need a decent internet connection. The faster the connection the better the video quality you get and the more chance the video will stay stable while you’re downloading other things over the internet. The second issue I have is with the subscription price. Their most affordable package is KD578 a year which comes out to around KD48 a month while their most expensive package goes for KD770 a year which is KD64 a month. I’m sure there are a lot of costs involved in providing this service but it still comes out a lot to the end user and although I would love to have this service it wouldn’t replace my iTunes AppleTV account, nor would it replace my OSN subscription. So in the end I’m still going to pay for those services and then at least another KD48 on top of that for these channels.

Cost aside I do love the idea of this service. If you’re interested to find out more about what they have to offer you can visit the CABLiTV website where they also offer a free trial account. Check them out [Here]

I was just informed that according to the Kuwait Customs Labor Union, all the customs staff will go on strike starting from this Tuesday the 13th. Only emergency medicine and passengers on-board baggage will be processed during the strike. All other items will be placed on hold with no indication to how long the strike will last.

This seriously sucks.

According to the Aramex Shop & Ship FAQ the maximum value allowed per package to be shipped from the US should not exceed $2,500. Packages that are over $2,500 must come with an Export Declaration Form from the shipper or the merchant. Sounds complicated but turns out it’s not.

If you send an item that’s worth over $2,500 to your Shop&Ship account it will get marked as a high value shipment and be placed on hold. You will then receive an email from Aramex telling you that they’ve placed your item on hold and that you would need to visit their US Export Regulations page on the Shop&Ship website. You will then have to do the following:

– Download and open the “Written Authorization Sample” word document that’s linked at the bottom of that page.

– Fill your name in the field “Principal Party in Interest”. It should be the same name as the Shop & Ship account holder.

– Fill your physical address. By this they mean your Kuwait address and NOT your US forwarding mailbox.

– Place your signature in the signature field.

– Leave rest of the fields blank to be filled by Aramex.

– Finally send the word document along with the package tracking number to [email protected]

And that’s it. A pretty simple process that would delay your shipment a couple of days but nothing drastic.

Last month I posted about a group of local Cosplayers and they emailed me a few days back to tell me they participated in the Proud to be Kuwaiti event last week. They look pretty organized this time around with a lot of different characters. Loads of pictures after the jump [Link]