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I was expecting the screen to be floor to ceiling but it’s still pretty big.

Here is a list of shops I know of that are opening at Al Hamra:

Hermes (already open)
Le Sushi
Melenzane
Cavali Cafe
Gucci Cafe
Chocolate Bar
Elevation Burger
Panerai Boutique
Behbehani Watches
Harry Winston
Gelatissimo
Adidas
Adidas Originals
Reebok

Picture by Fahed

[YouTube]

I found the video above of the making of Fires of Kuwait on YouTube. If you didn’t already know Fires of Kuwait is an Academy Award winning nominated documentary from 1992 on the oil well fires that were lit up by the retreating Iraqi forces at the end of the 1990 invasion. The video above is a behind the scenes look into what went into the making of this documentary and I thought it was pretty interesting. In case you haven’t watched this IMAX documentary yet it’s currently showing every Friday at the Scientific Center IMAX theater. For details click [Here]

If you look carefully at the 2:24 mark you can see the Big Wind (pictured below) in action.

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.

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

The Ethiopian domestic worker who was beaten in front of her embassy in Lebanon and dragged into a car committed suicide today. [Link]

The fight on the MEA flight was because the guy was drunk and hit on a married woman. When the plane landed at the airport he was held for 10 minutes and then let go. It also wasn’t his first time. [Link]

No happy endings here.

Ever since I was a kid I always called this place Salmiya Plaza. Back in the 80s that’s where My Toy was located and that’s where the pastry shop we used to pass by to pick up finger food for birthdays and other events was located.

Today the place is still there but clearly looks like it isn’t being taken care of. I think that’s a shame since I believe this place has a lot of potential.

The plaza has a small parking right in front of it. You park your car and then walk up a few steps up onto a long shaded open corridor that separates the parking from the courtyard. It’s pretty nice since once you sit in the court yard you can’t see the cars. Around the courtyard in an L shaped layout lies all the shops. Each and every one of those shops overlook the spacious courtyard. Other than the parking spots in front of the plaza there is a huge lot behind the plaza where there is a wedding hall.

Imagine if this plaza was refurbished and trendy restaurants opened up over there. Imagine if Slider Station, Burger Hub, Zero, Pink Moon and Prime & Toast where actually all open there instead of their current location in the very tight Seef strip. I think it would have been a pretty cool place which is why I think this little plaza located off of Baghdad Street in Salmiya is a hidden gem.

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

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]

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.

Early Bird’s Bianca took the picture above and it looks like it’s by the same person that did “I want your love” which His&Hers posted about yesterday. Interesting…

Update: Just found out there’s another one as well, “I want your faith“

The local arcade scene was never really huge in Kuwait but it had a presence with places like Showbiz and Burj al Abyad catering to the gaming crowd. Even though the arcade scene is pretty dead world wide they still do have a cult following and in Kuwait we still have a few places that have new games or still have old machines. Yousef from the blog yousefq8.com created a small Kuwait Arcade Database with information on the current arcade locations around Kuwait along with some information on their condition and what type of games they have. I thought that was a pretty cool idea although I would personally like to see the database include a full list of all the machines at every location. Still it’s a nice idea and if you’re interested to check it out check it out on his blog [Here]

The last day when I was in London I decided to try their public bike rentals. I was worried it was going to be a bit complicated riding around a city I didn’t really know but it actually turned out to be a lot more fun that way. First of all the bike are very cheap to rent costing one pound for 24 hours and no other costs if you use the bike for 30 minute intervals. The rental process is automated using a touch screen and credit card and once you’re done paying for the bike you get a code which you punch into the bike to release the lock.

Me and Nat picked up our bikes from the corner of Hyde Park and rode across to the other side before returning the bike to another bike dock. We then crossed the street to shop a bit and when we were done we picked up new bikes from a different bike dock further down the street. Since I had already paid for 24 hours worth I just placed my card in the machine which recognized me right away and printed out new codes to release 2 new bikes. We then rode down passed Buckingham Palace where we stopped to watch a ceremony and then proceeded to head down towards the river.

Because we were on bikes we were covering a lot of area much more quicker than if we were walking. We also rode in areas we would usually skip by taking the subway so that allowed us to see and discover new things. The fact they have a lot of bike docks all over makes it easy to pick up a bike when you need one and drop off the bikes when you’re done. So next time you’re in London try renting a bike, it’s worth trying out.

Kuwait has one of the best ambulance services in the region and today I was invited to pass by the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) Control Center in Subhan for a tour of their operation and a behind the scenes look to how their system operates. Around three years ago Kuwait literally demolished and rebuilt the EMS Control Central from the ground up which how they became to have the most advanced state of the art system in the Gulf.

The EMS Control Center are responsible for dispatching ambulances during emergencies. When you place a call to the emergency hotline 112 and request an ambulance, 112 will forward your call to the EMS Control Center. Their goal is to have an ambulance reach your location in under 8 minutes. This is not a dream goal, this is something they have to do for every call no matter where you are in Kuwait. Even if you’re on Failaka and you request an ambulance you will get it in under 8 minutes. How do they do that? Well I was taken through the whole process and I’ll try my best to explain it below. In summary, it’s one hell of a system!

The EMS Control Center is made up of three groups that sit in the department in three rows. The first row are the Call Takers, the second row the Dispatchers and their are the Supervisors.

Call Taker
When you call the EMS or have your call forwarded to the EMS, the “Call Taker” is the person who will answer your call. Their job is to take all the information from a caller, pass it to the “Dispatcher” and then stay on the line with and pass the callers instructions on what they can do to help (CPR instructions, how to slow down the bleeding etc..). The Call Taker’s have three screens in front of them. One of the screens is basically the phone, it has a number pad, a list of important phone numbers and a call history. The middle screen is where the Call Taker fills in information like the type of event that occurred (accident, heart attack, fainting etc..), event address, and caller information. The third screen has a map of Kuwait which updates live zooming in based on the address being inputted in the previous screen.

This system is all automated and very efficient. Pinpointing your location is one of the most important things since it’s what allows them to get to you so quickly. They have a number of ways of finding out where you are even if you don’t know the exact address. For example they can find you using a landmark. Say you’re in Salmiya and the accident happened near Sultan Center. They can then type Sultan Center in their system and the area Salmiya and they’ll have the location displayed on their map. Say you’re on the highway on the way to Wafra and an accident occurred but there are no landmarks around just an empty desert. Then they will instruct you to find the nearest lamppost and read the numbers on the side of it. Each lamppost has a unique number which the EMS can use to pinpoint your exact location. Once they have your location the Call Taker will send it to the Dispatchers (more on them in a bit) and a new screen then pops up with step by step instructions the Call Taker can pass on to the caller. The step by step instructions depend on the over the phone diagnosis so in case a person is suffocating the following instruction would pop up:

a. (ECHO) I’m sending the paramedics (ambulance) to help you now. Stay on the line
e. (Suffocation) Remove anything covering the face or in the mouth, then tell me if she/he’s breathing
f. (Critical Caller Danger) (If it’s too dangerous to stay where you are, and you think you can leave safely) get away and call us from somewhere safe

The Call Taker ends the conversation after the ambulance arrives. Due to the fact that people who call are usually in a state of panic, only around 25% of them actually listen and follow the instructions.

Dispatcher
The Dispatchers work behind the scenes and don’t communicate with the callers. Once the Call Taker takes down the problem and address they instantly pass it on to the Dispatchers. While the Call Taker stays on the line with the caller and follows up on the situation, the Dispatcher’s work in the background trying to get ambulances to the callers location. They have a similar set up to the Call Taker’s but with added features. For example the Dispatcher can visually see where all the ambulances are located in Kuwait along with information on each ambulance like their availability or even the speed they’re traveling. When a Call Taker passes an event to the Dispatcher an annoying (an a bit freaky) siren goes off in the whole department alerting the Dispatchers. Once a Dispatcher accepts the event on their screen the siren shuts off. The Dispatcher then does two things, first he sends the event to all the ambulances in the area of the incident, and the second is he sends the event to the “Regional Ambulance Center”. Kuwait is divided into six parts and every part has their own Ambulance Center. All the ambulances are fitted with laptops and once they receive the event on their screens the first one to answer the event in that area takes the mission. If for some reason no ambulance answers the event within 2 minutes, the dispatcher is alerted who then contacts the Regional Ambulance Center to find out why there is a delay. The Dispatcher also has the ability to assign specific ambulances to the events. So say for example an ambulance is needed on the Gulf Road near the Kuwait towers and the Dispatcher notices on his map that there is Ambulance #171 that’s just 0.78km away he could assign the ambulance to the event directly.

This whole process is done practically instantly since to get an ambulance to a scene in under 8 minutes they can’t waste any time.

Supervisor
Supervisors are stationed on a third row behind the Call Takers and Dispatchers in the emergency control room. Their job is to monitor and overlook all the calls that take place. They make sure everyone is performing their duty to their best and they also make sure the diagnosis the Call Taker’s make over the phone are accurate.

This whole system is called Computer Aided Dispatch System (C.A.D) and was developed locally by CyberMAK (Intergraph Kuwait). The system is more advanced then any other in the region (including Dubai). The system is robust and I left extremely impressed. I had no idea how advanced our EMS was. What I wrote above is just the general flow but there are a lot of little things as well that are handled automatically. For example once an ambulance drops a patient off to a hospital they can then set their status as “Ready” or “Not Ready”. If they’re not ready then they have to list a reason (from available pre-sets) like they need to go get petrol or they are heading to the garage. There’s also the gory reason which is the ambulance contains blood and needs to be cleaned. The ambulances also get real time information updates so when a Call Taker gets new information from the caller the ambulances get to see the new information updated live on their screens. Another cool feature is once an ambulance picks up a person the paramedics have a form they fill digitally on the laptop where they list their diagnosis of their patient. That form gets sent to the hospital ahead of their arrival so they can be ready to receive the patient. Then there are other features to make things quicker, I mentioned earlier that the Dispatcher can assign a specific ambulance to an event, to do that all the Dispatcher needs to do is drag the specific ambulance icon on the screen to the event icon and the event gets dispatched to that ambulance. You also have training rooms at the center, another ambulance dispatch room for non emergency cases and even seminars and workshops that take place all the time. While I was there I passed by a seminar that was taking place. The seminar was being given by American doctors to paramedics and I think the subject had to do with radiation effects on pregnancy (I guess they’re expecting something?). Something I forgot to mention, the paramedics are from ALL nationalities not just Kuwaiti.

I always complain about how Kuwait used to be better and how Kuwait needs to fix things and I have to say that Kuwait’s EMS is an example everyone needs to look at. It’s one of the first government services I’ve experienced that has left me impressed.

I’d like to thank Mr Mohammed for inviting me on this tour.

So the old Salmiya building which housed some of our childhood memories like Family Bookshop and Alamiah got demolished recently and according to the developer Saud Sahoud, the picture above is what they’re building in it’s place. I honestly don’t have an idea what it is. I’ve actually named the picture above “something.jpg” since I’m not sure if it’s a mall, an entertainment park or some futuristic arena from TRON. Since I will be living down the block from this structure if someone can enlighten me to what it is that would be helpful. You can see a larger picture [Here]

I hope it’s going to be something cool because the area does need a big boost.

Update: I managed to find a better picture, the small one is above but the larger version of it is [Here]. Turns out it’s a mall which will contain 8 cinemas, a snow city, ice skating rink, thrilling rides, family entertainment and “things that will be the first in the world” [Source]

So I’m going to have a snow park and movie theaters in a building that wouldn’t like out of place on Blade Runner all just down the street from my house. That’s cool.

I was wondering how Salmiya would cope with this sudden influx of traffic but looks like a company has already been awarded a contract to sort it out. [Source]

Completion date for this mall is set for 2014.

Thanks Ahmad

Around a year ago I posted that I had heard Alshaya was bringing Tesco to Kuwait and since then things have gone pretty mute. At one point I was even told Tesco and Sultan had also formed a partnership where Sultan would carry Tesco products but nothing has come out of that as well.

But according to a different source of mine, Alshaya are still bringing Tesco to Kuwait. I couldn’t get any more information but the previous rumor I heard was that Tesco would replace Carrefour at The Avenues. We’ll have to wait and see.

Below is a list of brands I am aware of that Alshaya are bringing to Kuwait:

– IHOP (International House of Pancakes)
– The Hummingbird Bakery
– Pei Wei Asian Diner
– The Cheesecake Factory
– Texas Roadhouse
– Dolce & Gabbana
– Jo Malone
– Teavana
– Harvey Nichols
– Williams Sonoma
– West Elm
– Tesco

Oddly the one I’m looking forward to the most is Williams Sonoma since it’s really difficult finding high end kitchenware in Kuwait.

Thanks Paul