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I.D. has the results of the 2005 Annual Design Review, America’s largest and most prestigious juried design competition. The categories of this year’s best designs are: consumer products, graphics, packaging, environments, furniture, equipment, concepts and interactive. To see the winners click here.

Here is the list in no particular order.

Gizmodo
Engadget
CNN
BBC
2:48AM
Google News
Boing Boing
Waxy
Macrumors
The Superficial
Amazon
Kottke
Slashdot
Gmail
Lebanese Forces
LF Forum
Naharnet
AppleNova
The Register
Cnet
Autoblog
Safat
Joystiq
IGN
Del.icio.us
I Don’t Like You
Google

I don’t know if I should be happy about this but my test results say I am neither, I am normal.

Results
Joe Normal
21 % Nerd, 34% Geek, 17% Dork

Try the test yourself. [Link]

Yesterday I got my Nintendo DS which I had ordered from Amazon.com. I had ordered the bundle which included the Spiderman 2 game, Metroid Prime demo game and the Pro Gamers Kit. The Pro Gamers Kit is basically an Aluminum Case, Games Case, Earphones, Car adapter Screen Lenses and Neck Strap all in 1 package. The aluminum case looks like those bags in the movies where the drug dealers carry their cocaine in. First thing I did once I picked up my stuff was pass by Rihab Complex to exchange the Spiderman game for Super Mario. I hate Spiderman 2 but it came for free with the bundle and I figured I could exchange it for a game I would enjoy more. I found a store in Rihab that was willing to exchange spiderman for mario if I paid him KD3 which was a fair deal and I went ahead with the trade.

When I got home I took out the DS from the package and started playing with it. First thing I noticed was that its huge. Compared to my PSP the DS feels larger and heavier, Nat felt this the most since her hands are smaller then mine. I played Mario for a while and then played the mini games that came with the game and it wasn’t bad. I actually prefer the mario mini games to the actual game, they were more fun and faster. I really like the touch screen, I hate the stylus and thumb strap though, I prefer using my thumbs to click and rub the screen. I later played the Metroid Prime demo and that also made use of the touch screen, using my thumbs to click on screen buttons is very practical and easy. The reason I purchased the DS was so I could play the game Nintendogs which I ordered with the DS but which I still haven’t received so I am kinda disappointed about that.

The graphics of the DS compared to the PSP suck of course. This is why if I am going to buy games for the DS they won’t be realistic looking games. I would get 2D games or 3D games with a cartoony look, like Mario and Nintendogs. When it comes to realistically rendered games the PSP will always win. In October Castlevania is going to be released on the DS and it will be in 2D which is exactly the way I like it, so that will be the next game I will probably get. Nat is enjoying Mario a lot at the moment so I think she will be hogging the DS until I get Nintendogs at the end of this week.

So in conclusion, my first impressions of the DS is that its big, bulky, heavy and the graphics suck. BUT, it does have 2 things going for it, the touch screen and some cool games (like Nintendogs & Castlevania). I personally believe a system is worth purchasing if there is 1 great game you want on it, having 2 games I want is a bonus.

Click here to see the Nintnedo DS with the Pro Gamers Kit.

This is such a cool idea, the BBDO ad agency proposed to protrude fake arms and legs the trunks of taxicabs — right next to bumper stickers hyping the new season of the HBO megahit The Sopranos. HBO though refused to run this promotion but are now considering it to hawk the show’s sixth season. [via]

I think I finally found a remote to replace my Sony universal remote. The new Harmony 880 still has the form of the older Harmony remotes except it now also includes a beautiful colored screen. This is the dream remote, size and form similar to the simple Tivo controller but yet with features and functions that match the bulky Philips Pronto remotes. [Link]

I was talking with a friend of mine and somehow we got into a conversation about Kuwaiti accomplishments. He was surpised by some of the stuff I mentioned and I figured I would list them here and maybe some of you guys can add to this list and that way we can have a nice list of Kuwaiti accomplishments and add them to Kuwiki.

Zed Al-Refai – First Kuwaiti and Arab to climb Mt. Everest
Mesaed Alhammad – Built a working spacesuit
Danah Al-Nasrallah – First Kuwaiti female to participate in Olympics, she was 16!
Munirah Buruki – First Kuwaiti female pilot, only 19
Fahid al Dihani – Bronze Medal in Sydney 2000 Olympics
Amani Al-Haji – Female Kuwaiti Opera Singer
Khalid Sauod AlZaid – World Taekwondo Champion, only 12 years old
Abdulrahman Al-Farsi – Owner of the worlds largest Kite (does this count?)

Do you know any more?

And I thought models in Kuwait were underpaid. Dancer Mandy Coulton became famous as one of the dancers from the colorful iPod ads but Mandy herself can’t afford her own iPod. She was paid $1,500 for her three-hours work on the campaign and finds $400 for an iPod too much to pay. “I can’t justify spending that much money when I have day-to-day stuff to pay for like the car and rent.” She works as a nanny part-time while she waits for her dancing career to take-off. [Link]

I am FOR the war in Iraq ofcourse since I live in Kuwait and Iraq with Saddam was posing a threat to me. But today I read something very interesting by Michael Scheuer which made a lot of sense. He was giving an interview on the TV show Hardball when the reporter asked him if the war on Iraq was a good decision, his reply made a lot of sense and it makes me wonder if the US administration knew this would happen. If they were then what is so important about Iraq that made them take such a risk. This is the full transcript.

O‘DONNELL: And, finally, the president has made the case that winning the war in Iraq is central to winning the war on terror and making sure that Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda cannot take—harm the United States. Is that true, if we win there, will that help?

SCHEUER: No, ma‘am. The war in Iraq has broken the back of our counterterrorism effort. I‘m not an expert on the threat posed by Saddam Hussein, but the invasion of Iraq has made sure this war will last decades ahead and it has transferred bin Laden and al Qaeda from being man and an organization into being a philosophy and a movement. We‘ve really made sure that the war against us is going to be a long and very bloody one. Iraq was an absolutely disastrous decision.

This is interesting, makes the N91 more likable but I would still not buy one. [Link]

Update: According to Nokia, this information is inaccurate. [Link]

First mentioned at E3 back in May, the Game Boy Micro is going to be released next month priced at $99. Doesn’t sound much but when you consider the fact that the Nintendo DS, a more capable machine with dual screens and the ability to play Game Boy Advance games also costs only $120, the Game Boy Micro starts looking a bit more expensive. Still though, I will probably get one. [Link]

1. A rat can last longer without water than a camel.

2. Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks or it will digest itself.

3. The dot over the letter “i” is called a tittle.

4. A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top.

5. A female ferret will die if it goes into heat and cannot find a mate.

6. Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.

7. Bats always turn left when exiting a cave!

8. During the chariot scene in “Ben Hur,” a small red car can be seen in the distance (and Heston’s wearing a watch).

9. On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily!

10. Sherlock Holmes NEVER said, “Elementary, my dear Watson.”

YouTube.com is a service like Flickr except instead of people sharing pictures they share short videos. I personally don’t have any movies I want to share with people but it is interesting to watch other peoples videos. For example I just watched one guy do a pretty good Napoleon Dynamite impersonation and now I am going to look for some amatuer porn videos. [Link]

I am sick. I went to bed at 10PM feeling sick and I woke up now at 4:30 still as sick…

This site shows you how you can find warez using google. Whats interesting is that its done using Google China and seems pretty easy. [Link]

[via]