Search: “sti”

After falling down behind Lebanon last year, Kuwait is once again back in the lead in the latest World Press Freedom Index for 2012. Below is the ranking for the Middle East and North Africa, the global ranking is in the brackets:

1- Kuwait (78)
2- Israel (92)
3- Lebanon (93)
4- UAE (112)
5- Qatar (114)
6- Oman (117)
7- Algeria (112)
8- Jordan (128)
9- Tunis (134)
10- Morocco (138)
11- Iraq (152)
12- Palestine (153)
13- Libya (154)
14- Saudi Arabia (158)
15- Egypt (166)
16- Sudan (170)
17- Yemen (171)
18- Bahrain (173)
19- Iran (175)
20- Syria (176)

You can check out the full list in PDF format [Here]

I’m leaving to London early Friday morning for a week. It’s going to be a chilled out vacation and so far I’ve got the following things planned, all of which I haven’t done before:

– Cadbury World
– Stonehenge
– The Newman Arms
– G Kelly Pie
– The Last Tuesday Society
– The Hideout aka Trisha’s
– Cabman’s Shelter
– Bicester Village

Still trying to find an interesting castle to visit. Oh and I need to walk through Hyde Park. For some reason I haven’t done that yet. I’ll be staying at Easy Hotel in Paddington again since I had a good experience the last time. I’m going for a slightly larger room this time around so looking forward to that. If anyone has any recommendations on where to go just leave a comment below. I’ll of course be going to the regular places like Harrods, Oxford Street, Portobello Road, Borough Market etc…

The luxurious car show Concours d’Elegance is going to be held for the third time in Kuwait next month. Like the previous years, it going to be an important and prestigious event that will attract people from both inside and outside Kuwait.

What is the Concours d’Elegance?
Concours is a French word meaning competition. The concept of Concours originates in 17th C. France when aristocrats used to choose their best horse carriages to parade around parks of Paris during the summer week ends and holidays. Later these traditions changed to automobiles from the 20th C. Concours today have strict regulations and cars are inspected by qualified judges. Trophy winners are carefully chosen. Each year there are numerous events which take place across the world, many of which are world famous, including Villa d’Este in Italy, Goodwood in UK, and Pebble Beach in USA. The Kuwait Concours d’Elegance is rapidly becoming a fixture in this international program, able to attract some of the world’s rarest and exotic motorcars.

Date: February 15th to the 18th
Time: 10:00AM – 10:00PM
Location: Marina Mall interior, Marina Crescent and Marina Lawn

Tidbits
There are going to be some very interesting cars this year at the show including the Zagato, Jaguar F-Type, the McLaren and other surprises which they wouldn’t tell me about except that they’re “Concours Special Editions”. Valentino Balboni the former chief test driver for Lamborghini is going to back this year. Bruce Meyers the inventor of the Dune Buggy will also be at the event.

The new Supercar De Macross GT1 is going to be officially launched at our Concours. The GT1 has an 800hp Rouch engine and incoporates technologies currently used in F1… including some that are banned.

The Concours categories
Vintage: Class-A 1900 – 1930
Classic: Class-B 1931 – 1945
Post war Classic: Class-C 1946 – 1965
Modern Classic: Class-D 1966 – 1975

Muscle Cars Section
69 Dodge Daytona
70 Plymouth Superbird
71 Plymouth ‘Cuda 340 Convertible
67 Mustang Shelby GT500
74 Trans-Am SD
69 Shelby GT500 owned by Carroll Shelby him self!
and many many more.

Hollywood Cars
This year they’re bringing real life sized Pixar/Disney cars including Lighting McQueen, Finn and Mater.

Daily Events
15th – Muscle & Classic
16th – Supercars
17th – Kuwait Bike Show
18th – Enzo Ferrari Birthday

Once I find out more information I’ll add it to this post.
Here are some related links:
kuwaitconcours.com.kw
@KuwaitConcours
Facebook.com/Kuwait.Concours

The Kuwait Towers in Middle East by Eric Walker

Eric Walker, a blog reader sent me a link to a 360 Panorama he took at the Kuwait Towers. I thought he used some special equipment since the panorama is seamless and very well made but after talking to him it turns out he used just a regular camera with some accessories and software. Here is how he does his panoramas:

– He uses a regular point and shoot camera on regular tripod but he’s added a panorama tripod head mount (similar to these)

– He takes on average 40 shots depending on the scene. He prefers to have a tall structure nearby so that the majority of the panorama doesn’t result in just a plain blue sky. To get a clear shot of the ground below the camera without the camera shadow, he cheats and moves the camera back a bit and then takes the shot

– He uses the photo stitching software PTGui to stitch the photos all together. You can get that software from [Here]

– As a last step he uploads the final stitched image to his 360 Cities account where it is then reviewed by their council of reviewers. If they don’t find any stitching errors or other problems, the panorama gets published to their website and it can then be placed in Google Earth (360 Cities is the only panorama site that is partnered with Google)

Here are some other Kuwait panoramas Eric has taken:
Behind the Kuwait Towers
The Scientific Center of Kuwait
Mutla Ridge

Here are some Kuwait panoramas taken by other photographers:
Onboard Al-Boom Dhow
Hawally Park
Dhow in Souk Sharq
360 Mall
Kuwait Seaside Sunset
Heritage Souk
Salhia Complex
Water Clock in Souk Sharq Kuwait
Rooftop Swimming Pool

I was looking for an action cam a couple of months back and narrowed down my options to the GoPro Hero, Replay XD1080 and the Contour+. It was a really tough decision because each one of these cameras had an advantage and disadvantage. With the GoPro I hated the form factor, it felt too awkward to use and I didn’t feel comfortable using it but it was the cheapest of the bunch and the video quality wasn’t that bad. Plus it’s the most popular action cam with a ton of mounts. The Replay XD1080 is the smallest of the three and has a very easy to manage form since it’s basically just a small cylindrical tube. The downside is that it’s the least popular of the 3 so I couldn’t find much feedback on it and it also had a limited amount of mounts which were also expensive. Finally I checked out the Contour cameras. I love how they look and at first I wanted to go with the entry level Contour Roam which was waterproof and pretty cheap compared to the Replay and GoPro. But, it had one limitation which was the fact it couldn’t record at 60fps which meant if I ever wanted to do any slow motion I wouldn’t be able to properly. I then decided to check out the Contour GPS which was a notch above and finally ended up with the Contour+ which is their top of the line model.

The Contour+ has a bunch of cool features which I will try to go through quickly. First it has built in GPS. When you record a video with GPS turned on and then upload the footage to their website, you get a small map next to your video showing you the route you had taken. That can be handy if you’re racing around a track or going on trails but I don’t have a use for this feature and I always keep it off to gain around 30 minutes of extra battery life. The camera lens rotates which is super practical because if I mount the camera upside down or sideways, I just rotate the lens so that the footage ends up facing the right way up. It also has a bright f/2.8 lens and from the 3 cameras in the line up the Contour+ offered the sharpest and most detailed footage. I haven’t seen a comparison yet to the GoPro Hero2 but I would think the Contour+ is closer in quality to that than it was compared to the previous Hero.

My favorite feature of the Contour+ is the ability to turn my iPhone into a viewfinder for the camera. With one button press on the camera, the Contour App launches on my iPhone and I can then see what the camera sees. Not only that but I can also use the app to change the camera settings like exposure, brightness, contrast, resolution etc. Another feature film makers will like is the external mic jack. What this will allow you to do for example is mount the camera on the outside of the car while having the mic inside the engine bay recording the engine sound without the wind noise. The Contour+ (and the whole Contour family) also has a large sliding button on top of the camera which you use to start or stop recording. It’s easy to activate while wearing gloves and it allows you to tell if you’re recording or not either by feeling where the button position is or just looking at it.

The build quality of the camera is great, it has a brushed metal body and feels like it can take a hard drop. It’s not waterproof but I purchased the waterproof case which makes it resistant up to 60m. I also purchased a universal mount which is a small adapter that gives the Contour+ a tripod mount. I didn’t purchase any official mounts from Contour, instead I purchased some more durable and sturdier metal mounts from RAM. I got the flat surface suction mount and another mount for my bike.

Arctic Cat from Mark on Vimeo.

I really love the camera and have no regrets getting it even though the Hero2 got released. The quality of footage is very good (watch above) especially when the weather and light is great. Customer support is also superb. They have pretty active forums and their customer support people are always there ready to answer or solve any of your problems. Not all is perfect since I do have two issue with the camera and the big one being the price. Both the GoPro and Replay XD cost around $300 while the Contour+ costs a whopping $500! You could literally get two GoPro cameras for the price of one Contour+ which is just insane. I had a bunch of PayPal credits which is why I went for it but if I was paying for the whole thing myself I would have most likely gone with the Replay XD instead. Another issue I have is with the night time footage quality. The image isn’t as clear as I would have liked it to be but it’s probably me expecting too much from these small action cam sensors. You can see a short nighttime footage below.

But as I said, I have no regrets getting this camera and compared to the GoPro which I tried using, I found the Contour+ a lot more easier and natural. If you’re interested in purchasing it get it from ebay. I got mine brand new for $455 including the waterproof case. That’s a big saving compared to Amazon’s $499 listed price for just the camera without the case.

I was invited by X-Cite and Sony to attend a preview of the Playstation Vita in Dubai. The even would give us an intro on their new portable gaming console as well as preview some games and more importantly allows to play with the device.

Introduction
The GM of Sony MENA, Robert Fisser stated that the Vita will have the strongest line up of launch games for a Sony console which is possible since the first party and third party games lined up for the Vita’s February 22nd launch is fairly strong.

When you purchase a Vita among the included items will be 56 WAAR (Wide-Area Augmented Reality) cards that you’ll be able to use with AR (augmented reality) games which you’ll be able to download for free from the PSN store. What differentiates these AR games from others is that these games will be a lot more advanced, sophisticated and use a big area for game play. There are also two social services that Sony are pushing in Vita called Party and Near. Party lets you voice chat with friends on the Vita at anytime, even if you’re playing different games while near lets you see all your Playstation Network friends status’s and what they’re playing (or have played). You will also be able to see if their are other Vita gamers in your proximity and invite them to play a game. Finally you can also unlock gifts, or give gifts to your PSN friends.

Another big feature Sony talked about was sharing save files between your Vita and the PS3 and cross-platform play which basically mean you’ll be able to play head-to-head between the Vita and PS3. They showed us a demonstration when one of their Wipeout 2048 game designer who was using a Vita raced against a producer who used a PS3.

There is a parking lot I pass through every so often where all the cars park behind each other so no car can leave with a bunch of cars having to be moved first. What I found interesting is the unspoken understanding among those drivers. Even though everyone parks on closes on everyone else they all leave their phone numbers on top of the dash board. Some are scribbled on paper, other are typed out nicely and maybe even laminated while others are made into stickers and stuck on the front windshield. This parking lot which could only hold a certain number of cars comfortably can now hold a lot more and best of all it’s community driven.

I spotted this picture near Safat Square showing how the new revamped square will look like once construction is completed. I can’t see any seating areas which I think would be a big mistake this time around. They should add benches all around the fountains and the places that used to sell fake perfumes and toys should be turned into cafe’s (Note: That does not mean shisha places).

Sony is holding a PlayStation Vita event tomorrow in Dubai where they will be previewing their new handheld gaming system to the media. I was invited to attend the event but since my brother is a bigger gamer and runs his own gaming blog he’ll be going instead.

The event schedule is going to be the following:

11:00am: Media arrive and are greeted by PS VITA event staff
11:45am: Media are taken around the different stations for a quick tour
12:00pm: Event staff offer light food and refreshments
12:30pm: Sony PlayStation ME representative welcomes everybody, explains a bit about the USP’s of VITA and introduces SCEE speaker and game developer
12:45pm: Presentation starts followed by panel discussion and Q&A with all speakers
1:45: Post presentations one on one interviews
1:45 – 4:00pm: Hands-on with Vita

Since he’ll be having an extensive hands-on session with the device and attending the Q&A session, if anyone has any questions about the PS Vita or is curious about something leave it in the comments below and he’ll try to get them answered for you.

Ok, the title is not true but more than once I’ve mislead Kuwait new comers into believing we were about to take the subway when walking down towards the Darwaza Abdul Razaq Tunnel in Kuwait City (pictured above). Even once you’re inside the tunnel and you realize it’s just a pedestrian tunnel, it’s still not hard to imagine a pair of escalators located in a corner that can take you further down below towards the trains. That’s why I always found that tunnel interesting and I don’t think there is anything else like it in Kuwait.

The Architecture of Kuwait blog has a bunch of pictures of this underground pedestrian tunnel and you can see them [Here]

kuwait tv – fillers presentation from infofillers© on Vimeo.

Looks good but if a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it still make a sound?

I found out about Al-Sabih Marine from my twitter followers and I’m glad I did since I was planning to order a Pelican case from Amzon and it turned out to be cheaper to just buy it locally. .

Al-Sabih Marine is located behind Tilal Complex in Shuwaikh and as soon I walked into the place I spotted their Pelican collection. I was looking for the 1200 model in black but spotted a yellow one on display for KD23. The same case costs around KD10 on Amazon so I asked the salesman if they had any discounts and he told me they did and that the final price would be KD19.5. It also turned out they had it in black which was great. KD19.5 isn’t cheaper than Amazon but it was going to cost me at least KD10 to ship it with Aramex so even though I was paying double the price of Amazon I was still saving money. While I was there I also noted down the prices of the other sized cases just for reference. These prices below are without the discount which I am assuming is a standard 15%:

Pelican 1200 – KD23
Pelican 1300 – KD27
Pelican 1400 – KD38
Pelican 1450 – KD45
Pelican 1490 – KD65
Pelican 1500 – KD52
Pelican 1510 – KD72
Pelican 1550 – KD68
Pelican 1550 DIV – KD99
Pelican 1560 – KD80
Pelican 1600 – KD84

If you’re interested in getting a Pelican case I’m not aware of any other place in Kuwait that sells them for cheaper. Here is a link to their website [Link]

If you don’t know what Pelican cases are just watch the video below.

[YouTube]

You’ve probably passed by this building a number of times but not really known what it was or what’s inside. It’s currently getting demolished which is why I thought I would share some pictures I took back in 2003. Back then the building was still open and me and my friend decided to explore it and take some pictures. Most of the shots I had taken were abstract (it was a phase I went through) but I did find some shots that actually showed some of the interior which I posted below. We found a room full of files that contained dates and times of ships passing through some dating back to the 70s and I’m sure there might have been some even older. I kinda regret not taking more photos and flipping through more files but this is still better than nothing.

If you’re heading towards the Sheraton Roundabout the First Ring Road is now open. It’s important to note that the road no longer gets you to the roundabout but passes underneath it. The 1st Ring Road now ends at the Justice Palace.

Interior Ministry announced on Monday that it has asked the Ministry of Communications to suspend all anonymous accounts on the social networking site (Twitter).

The ministry said in a press statement that such measure comes in order to preserve the rights of citizens and residents of people who were used to slander them and their families under fake names, saying that such is a crime punishable by law.

It confirmed that all public have the freedom of expression guaranteed to them by the Constitution as long as those practices are going according to the law, especially with regard to using the (Twitter) site.

It explained that this step comes within the context of the ministry’s keenness to preserve community values and respect for the law. [Source]

That’s technically not possible. Kuwait’s Ministry of Communication can’t suspend twitter accounts. Sounds like a request from a department that doesn’t understand how twitter (and possibly the internet) works. I’m sure the MOC know that’s not possible and probably just replied to them with “enshallah”.