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Two weeks ago I posted a letter from Aramex Shop and Ship saying that due to customs regulations they will be charging 5% customs fee on all shipments not including a KD1 handling charge and a KD1 government stamp. From what I understood this was going to apply to all shipping companies but today I received a package via DHL Borderlinx and to my surprise there was no charge. According to the DHL employee they’re not charging 5% customs on shipments. But does that make DHL cheaper? I’m not sure.

The problem (the only problem actually) with DHL’s Borderlinx is they charge based on volumetric weight. What this means is if a small box weighs 1KG and a large box weighs 1KG, the large box is going to be more expensive than the small box even though they’re the same weight. In my case my package weighed around 2KG but the volumetric weight was around 5.35KG. If I had shipped it with Aramex they would have charged me for the 2KG but with DHL I had to pay more than double the actual weight. On the other hand unlike Aramex, with DHL you don’t pay the 8% New York State tax and you also don’t pay the 5% Kuwait customs tax so which comes out a better deal?

Item cost: $187 (KD51)
Actual Weight: 2.2KG
Volumetric Weight: 5.35KG

Aramex Shop and Ship
8% NY tax: $15 (KD4.1)
Shipping cost to Kuwait: KD13.75
Kuwait customs: KD6*
Approx time from US to Kuwait: 8 days**
Total shipping cost = KD23.85

DHL Borderlinx
No NY Tax
Shipping cost to Kuwait: $110.60 (KD30.8)
No Kuwait Customs
Time from US to Kuwait: 4 days
Total shipping cost = KD30.8

So even with the new 5% customs fee Aramex is charging and even with the NY State tax they still somehow end up cheaper than DHL. This mostly has to do with the fact that DHL charges on volumetric weight. If they charged on actual weight than they’d be considerably cheaper. On the other hand DHL is practically twice as fast as Aramex so that alone could be worth the extra cost for many people.

My conclusion
Large (not necessarily heavy) packages ship to Aramex
Small or regular sized packages ship to DHL

So basically I’m still going to be flip flopping between the two companies for now.

*Calculated using their customs calculator
**Based on a different shipment just received from Aramex

I’m currently in the process of reviewing the Sony NEX-7 camera so I was in Souk Mubarkia over the weekend taking some photos when I found the Mubarak Kiosk open and decided to check it out.

The function of the kiosk changed a lot over the years, originally in 1934 the kiosk was the first independent legal court in Kuwait. Later it was rented and used as a pharmacy an then as a post office run by the British. At the end of the 1950s the kiosk was used as a public library and 60s forward the top floor was used as a photography studio while the ground floor was turned into a samboosa shop. In 2010 the National Council for Culture Arts and Letters took over the kiosk and renovated it from ground up and turned it into a museum.

The museum is pretty small but that doesn’t really matter. The fact that the kiosk was renovated and turned into a historical site is what’s important and they really need to continue renovating more and more old buildings. It’s not worth driving all the way to Souk Mubarkia just to visit this museum but if you’re in the area it’s interesting to see. They have an iPad on the top floor in the back corner that has a photo gallery of old pictures of Kuwait as well as pictures of the kiosk from the outside and inside before and during renovation. I thought that was very interesting and even tried emailing the photos to myself using their iPad but failed (didn’t have access to the home button).

If you want to pass by here are their opening hours:

Summer Visiting Hours
Saturday to Friday
9AM to 12PM – 4:30PM to 8:30PM
Saturdays and Fridays they’re closed in the morning
Sunday they’re closed in the evening

Winter Visiting Hours
Saturday to Friday
9AM to 12PM – 4PM to 8PM

Ramadan Visiting Hours
Saturday to Friday
9AM to 12PM – 8:30PM to 11PM
(First days of Eid they’re closed)

Update: Below is a picture of the kiosk taken by John Newton back in 2009. I can’t believe how much the whole area has changed.

I mentioned the other day that I had heard Kuwait was sending a delegation to Switzerland in hopes of getting things sorted before the Olympics start at the end of the month. Looks like they were successful because the International Olympic Committee just approved Kuwait’s request to hoist the National Flag and the playing of the Kuwaiti National Anthem at the London Olympics.

Minister of Communications and Acting Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Salem Al-Utheina on Saturday congratulated all Kuwaitis on the approval of the International Olympic Committee of Kuwait’s request to hoist the National Flag at the upcoming Olympic games in London and playing of the Kuwaiti National Anthem.

The Minister told KUNA that he was informed of the approval following his second meeting earlier today with the Committee’s President Jacques Rogge.

Al-Utheina had delivered a letter from His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to Rogge at the Committee’s headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland on hoisting the flag of Kuwait in the Olympic Games, which kick off in London on July 27. [Source]

Congrats and good luck to all the athletes, Team Kuwait is a go!

His&Hers found a video of a short interview with Kuwaiti Olympic swimmer Faye Sultan whom I posted about early on in the week. As of now the Kuwaiti athletes will still be competing under the Olympic flag due to Kuwait being banned by the IOC. But, I also heard that a delegation got sent to Switzerland yesterday in hopes of getting things sorted before the Olympics begins. You can watch Faye’s interview [Here]

Kuwaiti sailors fix the old Kuwaiti flag on a dhow during preparations in Kuwait City on July 11, 2012, for the upcoming annual Pearl Diving Festival, meant to honor the nation’s former trade mainstay.

Kuwait’s on the main page of cnn.com under “Daily Snapshot” [Link]

Early bird registration just opened for this years Flying Start Triathlon. They’ve got two levels of competition, The Sprint and The Olympic. If there wasn’t any swimming involved I might have been able to compete in The Sprint level but I can barely swim a lap around the pool before collapsing from exhaustion.

The event takes place on the 19th of October but early registration earns you a 20% discount. If you’re interested to find out more head to their Facebook page [Here]

Late last month while at the Avenues I spotted the Vuzix Wrap at Xcite and since I’ve always wanted to try one of these before I contacted them so I could get one to review. The Vuzix Wrap is a video eyewear which basically means you watch video through tinny screens that are fitted inside the glasses. According to the package, watching videos using the Vuzix Wrap will feel like watching a 67″ screen siting 3 meters aways. After playing around with it for a week I have my personal opinion on video eyewear’s in general as well as this specific model.

The Wrap works with regular AA batteries which means you can use them wherever you are. The batteries are fitted into a small external compartment which you could keep in your pockets and the Wrap is connected to the batteries using a wire. The Wrap comes with earphones as well which you need to plug in separately into each side of the eyewear. Inside the box Vuzix also includes an adapter to connect the glasses to Apple devices like the iPhone as well as RCA cables so you could connect it to a videogame console or your TV receiver.

I downloaded Truth in 24 II from the Apple Store (which is the sequel to an incredible documentary btw) and watched it on the Vuzix. At first I was expecting it to feel weird and uncomfortable like trying to watch a 3D movie with 3D glasses but the experience was actually pleasant. I’m not sure if it felt like watching a 67″ screen from 10 feet away, but the screen definitely didn’t feel like it was 2cm’s away which is what I was expecting. These kind of glasses could be pretty useful when traveling on a plane since you can watch whatever you want in complete privacy and also zone out from your surroundings since once you have the glasses on you’re pretty much watching TV in your own little room.

But there are a whole bunch of things I didn’t like in the Vuzix Wrap. The video quality left a lot to be desired, other than the fact the screen resolution is low, I felt the contrast lacked with the blacks looking more like grays. I tried to adjust the settings as much as I could but I wasn’t able to improve on it that much. Another issue I had was with the earphones. First you can’t connect your own earphones which is a let down and second I found the included earphone wires to be too distracting. Each earphone plugs into a socket thats located in the front of the glasses so the wires were touching my eyebrow and face while on their way back to my ears. The eyewear along with the various attachments also felt very plasticky and cheap but the biggest issue I had with the Wraps were how stupid I looked wearing them. If you sit on a plane and put these on people are either going to think you’re Ray Charles or some douche with horrible taste who thinks its cool to wear sunglasses inside a plane. This is why although they would be practical to use while traveling, they might be better off being used in the privacy of your home where you can play Xbox on these glasses without having to hog the living room’s TV.

I’m pretty glad I finally got to try video glasses on and I kinda understand how Google’s Project Glass is going to end up working. Price wise Xcite currently have a special offer on these glasses until the end of the month and they’re selling them for KD89.900. If you want to check them out they have them on display at the Avenues branch OR even better you could try to win a pair. All you need to do is just leave a comment below and tonight I’ll choose a winner using Random.org. Good luck!

Rules: Only one entry per person and please make sure you use a working email since the winner will be contacted by email. If winner doesn’t respond within 24 hours another winner will be randomly chosen.

Update: Comments are closed and I had Random.org choose two numbers, a winner and a backup winner in case the winner doesn’t respond.

Winner is #94: Abdullah
Backup is #20: Ahmed

The other day I found out that Kuwait is going to have its first female Olympian swimmer and it got me thinking… who else is on Team Kuwait? Who are the other athletes that are going to be participating next month in the summer Olympics? Does anyone know?

Team USA have an amazing website listing all the sports they’ll be participating in as well as who will be representing them. We don’t have to have anything fancy like that, just a simple list would be enough since right now we don’t even have that. I just got the domain teamkuwait.com and as soon as I have a good amount of names I’m going to start uploading them there but I need your help.

If you have any idea who is going to be participating at the Olympics next month please email me or leave a comment below.

So far this is the list:
Swimming: Faye Sultan
Shooting: Mariam Erzouqi

Update: Thanks to Buz Fairy, this is the full list of Kuwaiti athletes participating in the Olympics next month:

Shooting:
– Fuhaid Al-Daihani in Double Trap (men)
– Abdulla Al-Rashidi in Skeet (men)
– Talal Al-Rashidi in Trap (men)
– Maryam Erzouqi in 10 meter Air Rifle (women)

Track and Field:
– Ali Al-Zankawi in Hammer Throw (men)
– Mohammad Al-Azmi in 800 Meters (men)
– AbdulAziz Al-Mandeel in 110 Meter Hurdles (men)
– Salsabeel Al-Sayyar in 100 meters (women)

Table Tennis:
– Ibrahim Al-Hassan (men)

Swimming:
– Yousef Al-Askari 100 meter freestyle/backstroke (men)
– Fay Al-Hussain in 100 meter freestyle (women)

Final tally is 11 Kuwaiti athletes, 8 men and 3 women.

Update2: Here is an article about Yousef (pictured below) who is currently a high school student in Florida. [Link]

After posting about On Cost the other day I decided to pass by and check it out myself. From the pictures (and logo) it looked like Kuwait’s version of Costco and on some level it is but mostly it isn’t. The place turned out to be a lot smaller than I was expecting it to be. There also isn’t an electronics section, a clothing section or a hardware or home-ware section. The way everything is displayed thought make it looks like a Costco but it’s more of a supermarket then a full fledged all in one retailer. I picked up a label maker from their small office supply section. I got it for around KD3 less than I had seen it somewhere else.

Finding the place was easy. Just take the 6th Ring Road and if 360 Mall is on your right keep heading straight past the Jaber Al-Ahmad International Stadium. Keep driving until you pass the new Kuwait University campus on your left (currently just hills and hills of sand) and then after that in a bit you’ll see a sign for the 604 exit. Once you take the exit stop at the traffic light and then take a left and pass under the bridge. Then keep driving straight until you get to a roundabout, you should spot what looks like a huge ass mall in the middle of the desert on your right, that’s the vegetable market and On Cost is located there.

Update: Here is a link to the location on [Google Maps]

Short but interesting report. [YouTube]

Originally I was planning to write a small post on my experience with the Synology backup drive and maybe compare it to my Drobo but in all honesty, the thing turned out to be a lot more than just a simple backup drive and so the tiny post has turned into a much bigger one.

Synology DS1511+ Web Interface

Firstly a quick brief about what the Synology DS1511+ is. In it’s most simplest form it’s an external backup hard drive that can take up to five 3TB hard drives and has data protection which means if one of the five hard drives fail my data is still protected. But the DS1511+ (from here on I’ll just call it the Synology) is also a mini server and so doesn’t require to be connected to a computer.

Xbench disk test

Performance wise the Synology turned out to be a lot faster than my Drobo. How fast? Copying a 2.48GB file from my computer over FireWire 800 to the Drobo took 4 minutes and 30 seconds. Copying the exact same file over gigabit ethernet to the Synology took just 42 seconds. That’s over 10 6 times as fast!

So yeah if you’re looking for a backup drive to put all your important files onto it and still have your data protected in case the drive fails, the Synology is great. But, the Synology is also more complicated to setup than the Drobo. Cost wise they’re selling the Synology drives in Kuwait for cheaper than Amazon and you can find them at either Blink (where I got mine from) or Cameo. Cameo also has the newer but slightly more expensive DS1512+.

Now that I got all that out of the way this second part is what REALLY makes the Synology cool. Continue below for the second part of this review.

The AlJazi Villas are the villas located right in front of The Village in Abulhasaniya. I always thought they looked interesting from the outside but was curious to know how the inside looked like as well. Conveniently, I just noticed ArchofKuwait have pictures of the interior as well as some information on how the project originated. They’re pretty cool villas and you can check out the photos [Here]

Omarker posted a video on his blog that was taken a few days ago onboard a Kuwait Airways flight to Jeddah. The video isn’t so great but you can see that the oxygen masks were released and you could also hear some strange engine sounds. [YouTube]

According to The Buz Fairy, Al-Qabas reported that the minister of transport asked Kuwait Airways to ground three of its ailing Airbus planes due to multiple and repeat maintenance and operational issues.

It’s times like this I wish Wataniya Airways was still around.

I just found out about Faye Sultan, Kuwait’s first female Olympian swimmer who’s going to be heading to London this summer to represent Kuwait in the Olympics. She’s only 17 years old and blogger Ali Almawash managed to get an interview with her which you can check out [Here]

According to Faye, Kuwait is still suspended from the Olympics and if things aren’t sorted by the time the Olympics starts she’ll be swimming under the flag of the Fédération Internationale de Natation (FINA).

via LWDLIK

iBadala is a local phone directory app on the iPhone and one that I use frequently. I’ve posted about them before [Here] and my biggest complaint back then was regarding the app’s design which looked prehistoric.

Turns out they read my post since I got an email from iBadala yesterday telling me that based on my feedback they’ve released a new revamped app with a completely new look. I downloaded the app awhile ago and the app does look better but more importantly the ease of use and speed is still there so they haven’t broken anything. In fact, they’ve made two minor changes to speed things up even more:

Search as you type
According to iBadala this feature was supposed to be in the original release but it never worked properly. What this feature does is it starts searching for results as you type so if you’re searching for “Open Flame Kitchen” by the time you’ve typed “Open” you already have two results displayed with the second one being Open Flame Kitchen.

Search results ranking
Another new feature to speed things up is how the results order changes the more people use the app. For example as I mentioned above a search for “open” will result in two results with Open Flame Kitchen being the second. If a lot of people are searching for open and then clicking on Open Flame Kitchen more than the first result which is Arab Open University, then the app will start displaying Open Flame Kitchen as the first result instead.

I was also told they’re releasing an Android version of the app in the next few days so that should please some people as well. If you want to download the iPhone version it’s available right now in the [App Store]