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I got an email from a reader saying that KDD products are now available at the Qurtuba Co-op. Only at the Qurtuba Co-op and not any other Co-ops as of this post. Usually the Co-ops are all united with their decisions but it seems there is some sort of internal conflict taking place right now and the Qurtuba Co-op was the first one to breakaway from the Co-ops KDD boycott and put KDD back on the shelves. I’m curious to see where this is going.

Thanks Kuwait Lover

[YouTube]

The video above is a TV interview with Colonel Adel Alhashash who shared facts regarding the stabbing that took place last night at The Avenues. According to the Colonel the incident started over a parking spot at around 10PM. The victim and the killer got into a heated argument over a parking spot in the basement and the confrontation then continued inside the mall. The victim was a Lebanese citizen, Dr Jaber Yousef who’s a dentist while the killer was with three other friends. During the confrontation in the mall the killer went and purchased a knife from Carrefour and then headed towards the victim and proceeded to stab him. Dr Jaber Yousef passed away an hour after arriving to the hospital.

According to the Colonel, The Avenues helped the investigators out a lot by providing them photos and CCTV footage of the aggressor. Because of those images the investigators were able to identify the killer but when they went to his home they didn’t find him there. They finally found him at a campsite in Bnaider where he was arrested. He’s 22 years old. The three friends who were with him have still not been caught but they will be soon.

When the Colonel was asked about the lack of presence of police officers at the mall the Colonel responded saying that with private locations such as malls the security is provided by the malls themselves and not the police. But, from what I understood in the interview this might change soon because of this incident and previous violent incidents that have taken place at malls.

There is a memorial page set up for the victim on Facebook and you can visit it by clicking [Here]

Update: Below is the photo of the killer

No idea what happened, supposedly it was over a girl but that’s still unconfirmed. There are also some graphic pictures of the victim currently circulating Whatsapp, Instagram and Twitter but I won’t be sharing them here.

Picture by Fajer188x

Update: A friend sent me the following video, no idea who the source is but that’s a lot of blood.

[YouTube]

Update2: Just posted the facts on the stabbing [Here]

Desert Tycoon is an iPhone game created by two guys one of whom is Kuwaiti Abdullah Al Zabin. The game is similar to SimCity but in this case you are based in the Gulf and you start off as a humble Bedouin. Step by step you build your business empire of real estate, business, energy, and tourism assets with the aim of basically turning your city into an Arabian metropolis like how Dubai is today.

The cartoon graphics are great and the music fits the game perfectly. More importantly the game is free and available to download from the iTunes store right now. [English Version] [Arabic Version]

Update: I got an email from Abdullah with some details regarding who they are. This is what he had to say:

A brief background about us. Myself and my business partner Ali Diab started Lumba in January of this year with a simple premise: build the next generation Arab mobile entertainment company. We are based in San Francisco, actually in the same shared office where many of the [now] large mobile game developers (Pocket Gems, SuperCell, Kabam, etc.) started over the past 3 years.

Our team consists of:
– Product Managers that worked for AdMob, Yahoo, Microsoft, and Bain
– Artists and Illustrators that worked with Pixar, Dreamworks, Fox, and Disney
– Software Engineers that worked for Google
– Music composer and producer who scored music for console game titles on PC, Xbox 360, and PS3. He also produced music for Kelly Rowland, Rick Ross, Black Eyed Peas, and Nicole Scherzinger

We are taking it upon ourselves to tastefully fuse Silicon Valley tech with our Arab cultural roots for all our mobile games. We hope our first, Desert Tycoon, is representative of that.

This is another music video that was emailed to me but this one has a very interesting story behind it. A dear friend of Feras the musician was diagnosed with breast cancer and was given very little to no chance of survival. The song “Won’t Let You Go” takes the listener through Feras’s experience since he wrote and composed the song to illustrate how to deal with such situations. The overall message is to stay strong, keep the faith, and never let go. Feras’s friend who’s survival chances were so thin ended up being cured and she went back to her everyday life continuing to inspire.

Feras Abushaar is 17 years old and is currently a senior at Al Bayan Bilingual School. The song is available for purchase on Amazon and iTunes with all proceeds from all his sales (100%) will go directly to (Hayat Cancer Organization). No profits will be made from the project. [YouTube]

You can purchase the single from Amazon or iTunes

It’s pretty impressive that a company founded back in 1889 still exists today and is considered one of the most innovative and creative companies in their field. Nintendo has survived throughout these years not by sheer luck, but by being able to adapt to markets and get ahead of the game. Nintendo didn’t always make video games – it started out making playing cards and when that business was waning the CEO of the time Hiroshi Yamauchis decided to move into other businesses like instant noodles, a taxi company, and even a TV network. Eventually, Nintendo made its way in the video game business and released the NES; 27 years later, Nintendo has finally released its sixth console, the Wii U.

Nintendo’s philosophy has never been about creating the most powerful console with the best graphics, but to create a console that anyone could enjoy, developers could create fun games for, and is affordable. They constantly try to innovate without going overboard. The Nintendo 64 was the first console to introduce analogue sticks and 4 player controller ports right out of the box that competitors adapted in the future. We’re seeing similar advancements with motion controls that Nintendo introduced with the Wii and now Nintendo has taken another step forward by introducing the Wii U and the Game Pad.

Mark was able to hook me up with a Wii U from X-cite to review and I got the chance to test it out by playing Super Mario Bros U, ZombiU, Nintendo Land and Batman Arkham City.

The first thing I was curious about was Nintendo’s new social network called the Miiverse and so far it’s been informative, entertaining, and pretty promising. For those who don’t know, the Miiverse is where you interact with other Wii U users through a community for every app or game out for the Wii U. So if you want to discuss some Youtube videos, you can go to the Youtube community and post about it there and other users can reply or give you a “Yeah!” (equivalent to a Facebook “Like”). If you want to discuss a specific game and you’re unsure about buying it, you can go to that game’s community and ask them about it. Other times, people will draw some really elaborate drawings using the Wii U’s gamepad and the community walls turn into a temporary art exhibit. And it works well – comments are posted instantly without delay. People will comment and try to solve things. For example, I was going through the ZombiU community and found a thread with over 25 comments of gamers trying to decipher some code someone found spray-painted on a wall in the game. I wouldn’t be surprised if communities like this sprang up in the next iteration of consoles Microsoft and Sony release.

[YouTube]

I’m going to take part in a Spartan Race. [Link]

Update: Just found out about the Tough Guy competition (video below) which is based in the UK. Here is a exceprt from Wikipedia:

It has been widely described as “the toughest race in the world”, with up to one-third of the starters failing to finish in a typical year.

After 25 stagings of the winter event, Wilson still claimed nobody had ever finished the course according to his extremely demanding rules. The race, and its summer equivalent, has suffered two fatalities during its history.

Tough Guy™ from Mr Mouse on Vimeo.

Sounds like a lot of fun and the UK version of anything is usually more hardcore than the US one (Dirty Sanchez vs Jackass).

A super talented friend of mine just released a new single called Tara Aadi. It’s very cool since the music is made up of 8-bit sounds generated from a GameBoy. Here’s some interesting trivia regarding Tara Aadi:

1. All the sounds in the music played was generated by a real Gameboy console

2. The melody was conceived in Kuwait, but arranged in Bad Soden, Germany

3. The vocals were recorded at the Arabic Theater HQ, one of the main founders of Kuwait’s performance art scene

4. Besides collaborating with Hussa Alhumaidhi on the melody, Mishari was responsible for every aspect of its production

5. Mishari mixed the song in Aziz’s car on the way to get treated in Hadi Hospital. Mishari resumed to mix the song in Hadi’s parking lot in his PJ’s and a robe.

6. The song was made with the intention of getting people to smile, preferably while dancing.

You can check out the song by hitting play above or you can check out his other songs on [SoundCloud]

I never got to call the Baladiya hotline about the garbage issue behind my building since mysteriously the garbage was cleaned up and the garbage dumpsters brought back. But, a reader called 139 to complain about the garbage situation near his building and it got sorted out very quickly (picture above).

So if your neihborhood has a garbage problem call the Baladiya on 139 and they’ll get the mess sorted right away. Very impressive.

Thanks Mathai

According to an article in the Kuwait Times it seems they’re going to be installing more average speed cameras on the highways. Average speed cameras measure the time you take from point A to point B and then calculate your average speed between these two points. If your average speed exceeds the speed limit you’ll get fined. Currently the only location they’ve installed an average speed camera is on the First Ring Road (pictured above). Here is a link to the Kuwait Times article. [Link]

Last month I posted about how trucks were coming and dumping garbage in the empty sand lot behind my house. Well luckily that stopped but they also removed the garbage bins that were there. Now everyone is just throwing the trash in a large pile. It’s pretty gross. I understand they’re going through a transition phase between two different garbage contractors but that shouldn’t be an excuse to remove dumpsters.

Now according to a reader who faced a similar issue, he called the baladiya hotline which is 139 and within an hour they had the garbage cleaned up. I’m going to give them a call tomorrow and see how effective that is.

I was invited to pass by Magnolia Bakery today for a sneak peek and while there I met with Bobbie Lloyd, the president and operating partner who filled me in on the brands history as well as what’s in store for the Kuwait location. The Kuwait store will be the 10th Magnolia Bakery in the world with seven branches located in the US, one in Dubai and one that recently opened in Beirut. If you live in Doha you’ll be pleased to know Magnolia will be opening there next month as well.

Those of you who know Magnolia Bakery will notice one big difference with the Kuwait location and that is they’ll be serving savory dishes like pasta and sandwiches alongside their desserts. This will be the first Magnolia Bakery branch that will be serving savories with the second being the Beirut location.

While getting a tour of the location I was asked if I wanted to ice a cupcake. Since I’m a klutz and I didn’t want to embarrass myself I politely said no but they insisted I give it a shot. After a short lesson I was handed a bucket of icing, a cupcake and a spatula. Even though the Magnolia Bakery staff make icing look really easy I knew it wasn’t going to be but I gave it my best and my cupcake actually didn’t turn out THAT bad.

Magnolia Bakery is located on the mezzanine floor of Hamra Tower and will be opening up this coming Wednesday. If you want to find out more about the brand you can visit their website [Here]

The Lebanese burger and wings chain, Lord of the Wings is opening soon at Discovery Mall. I’m not a fan of chicken wings but I’ve heard theirs are pretty good. Their burgers on the other hand I’ve tried and didn’t think much of.

Thanks Ali

Google released Google Maps for the iPhone today and other than the fact it’s a lot better than Apple Maps its also a lot better than the older Google Maps that was built into the iPhone software. The new version of Google Maps is using vector based graphics which makes it a lot smoother than the older version and it also has new features like traffic and turn by turn directions. You can download Google Maps right now from the Apple Store by simply searching for Google Maps.

I just took the running workshop at The 3 Club today and I thought it was very informative. The workshop was three hours long and combined theory and physical activity. If you’re a runner or interested in running then this is a workshop I highly recommend taking. There is only one more session left which is for this Friday so if you want to sign up visit this [Link]

Below is the workshop agenda to give you an idea of what it involves.