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Yeah its a long name but it helps with the geek factor. I’ve been wanting the Oral B Triumph for some time now but the local dealer never got the one I wanted which comes with the Smart Guide.

What is the Smart Guide? The Smart Guide is the little device that’s pictured above. Your toothbrush connects to it wirelessly and transmits various information about your brushing technique to help you brush properly while also making it more fun. First off it tells you how much time to spend on each quadrant of your teeth before shifting to the next one. It also tells you if you’re applying the right amount of pressure onto your teeth or gums by flashing a warning when it thinks you’re being too rough. Finally and most importantly, when you are done brushing correctly you get a smiley face on the Smart Guide as a reward. The live feedback system while brushing made me want the Triumph since I like information even if its coming from a toothbrush.

The price of the regular Triumph is KD42 in Kuwait after discount but it DOESN’T come with the Smart Guide. On Amazon the Triumph WITH the Smart Guide is for only KD34. I picked up the KD50 special edition version which comes with 2 tooth brushes and 2 Smart Guides, one for me and one for Nat which saved me a bundle. Will post a more in depth review once I get to use it for awhile.

Oral B Triumph 9900 Toothbrush with Smart Guide KD34 [Amazon]
Oral-B Triumph 9950 2 handle pack with 2 Smart Guides KD51 [Amazon]

I just passed by and had lunch at Falafel & Company and it was great. I had the double impact and the midnight shawerma. Double Impact is beef shawerma with fried onion strings, cheddar cheese, bbq sauce, jalapeno sauce and lettuce. The midnight shawerma is a beef shawerma with cheddar cheese, grilled fresh onions, lettuce and their special midnight sauce. Incredible stuff and for only 450fils each.

For those of you who are not as adventurous, you can have your shawerma “normal”. They’re located on the Gulf Road opposite Seif Palace from 9AM to 6PM

Last year I posted about a casting call for the first locally produced musical short film and I just got an email telling me that the project has been completed and the film will be premiering this weekend. Here is the email I got:

Attention all film lovers!

Shashati.TV, in association with Cinemagic Kuwait, are proud to present “The Shashati Show” – Kuwait’s biggest Audio-Visual variety performance!

Hosted by ShowTime’s very own comedy superstar, Wonho Chung, the evening will include the Kuwait premier of the highly anticipated, all-singing, all-dancing musical short film “Wonderful World”.

The show will also include a selection of the latest and greatest shorts from across the region, including Emirates Film Competition Winner “The Beggar and Moustafa’s Brain”, as well as Jordanian Filmmaker Fadi Haddad’s critically acclaimed film “Once upon a Piano”. The show will also feature a selection of the most recent prize-winning Kuwaiti short films presented by the filmmakers themselves.

But that’s not all! Screening for the very first time to a public audience in Kuwait will be ikbis.com’s hilarious “Doublage” comedy skits, as well as some innovative Kuwaiti audio-visual comedy clips & sketches!

Join us for a fun-filled evening full of laughs, tears, and above all films!

The event will take place at 7:30 p.m., on Thursday, June 11th at Cinemagic’s Rooftop Venue in Old Salmiya. Tickets will be available at the location for the price of 2 K.D – but advance booking is advised, as seating is limited. Send an e-mail to [email protected], or call 97996100 to reserve your ticket today!

I know this topic might sound strange but bear with me since I did find something interesting about balsamic vinegar that made it post worthy.

I became a fan of balsamic vinegar last year when I tried one that was aged 30 years at an Italian restaurant in Munich. So today while at Dean & Deluca I thought I would “splurge” 8 or 12 dinars on some decent balsamic vinegar. While checking out the bottles a salesman came over and told me about a 100 year old aged Acetaia Leonardi balsamic vinegar. I thought that was very interesting so he showed me the bottle and told me they produced only 200 of those bottles and 4 (actually 3 since one got sold already) bottles were available in Kuwait. Now I figured the bottle would be expensive but not THIS expensive. Turns out the bottle was “slightly” out of my budget costing KD190! The salesman told me they could order a bottle that was 300 years old at a cost of get this… KD2,500!

Although I wouldn’t pay KD2,500 or KD190 for balsamic vinegar (or any other consumable product (ok maybe for a burger)) I do appreciate having the choice and that’s what I like about Dean & Deluca and the over priced imported stuff at Sultan Center. I would rather have the choice and choose not to than not have the choice at all.

Here is a link to an interesting review of Acetaia Leonardi balsamic vinegars. [Link]

There is a rumor that’s been going around on a hack which supposedly only works with Zain sim cards which allows you to make free calls. I haven’t been able to find out what to do so I wanted to ask here if anyone knew the trick. This is what I’ve been able to gather about it online:

Frankom’s blog had a post where he said that you needed an iPhone for the trick to work. I have an iPhone but I haven’t found any information on what I need to do.

360Dewan had a link to a video (below) that looks like it was shot in Kuwait where the person in the video wraps aluminum foil around the sim card and then heats its up? That looked like total bullshit to me and no way on earth it would work if anything you would most probably damage your sim card trying that.

[YouTube]

Finally a user called HearBeat posted a link in my forum to a video (below) which looks like it could work but haven’t tried it out myself. Basically the video talks about the sim card and how every cell on the chip means something. The theory is one of the cells controls the clock so if you cover up that cell you would be able to talk for as long as you want and the telecom provider wouldn’t know how long you spoke for. HeartBeat also mentions this would only work on sim cards issued before 2002.

In any case Zain might have already fixed this bug (or they will after this post) but if anyone has any more info please post it below.

Thanks Rashed

Early last month I posted about a bear that was for sale here in Kuwait. People started calling Animal Friends who launched an extensive investigation aimed at locating the bear and helping the government to seize the animal.

The investigation discovered the bear living in a small cage in Kebd, exposed to the sun, chained by the neck, living on a diet of rice, and only offered water twice per day. After reviewing the evidence presented by K’S PATH, the MOI Police force, along with representatives from the Kuwait Environment Protection Agency and the Kuwait Zoo began the process of confiscating the bear and several other illegal animals being housed at the same location. The bear is now being housed in the Kuwait Zoo, and K’S PATH is attempting to find a suitable sanctuary in the natural range of the Eurasian Brown Bear. [Source]

I think that’s really great news and the group effort that went into this rescue was amazing. Thanks a lot to the MOI Police force, Kuwait Environment Protection Agency, Kuwait Zoo and of course Animal Friends. Animal Friends are a non-profit organization that run on donations so please help them out by clicking [Here]

The Reuters news video above is of an event that took place a few days ago here in Kuwait. Three world records were broken: worlds largest bucket of fried chicken, worlds largest box of donuts in and longest line of burgers in the world. [YouTube]

I just tried the Pepsi RAW and it didn’t taste that bad although I wouldn’t have it again. Pepsi RAW is like regular Pepsi except its made with all natural ingredients and free from artificial flavoring, colorings, preservatives and sweeteners. I found it at Sultan Center for 490fils and it tastes much better than RedBull Cola.

Was picking up a computer from Carrefour when I spotted this cheap laptop which seemed like a steal. The specs are: Intel Celeron 2.2Ghz, 1GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, 14″ screen, wifi, webcam and a DVD writer. The laptop comes with no operating system and they’re selling it for KD129.500.

The urban analysis blog re:kuwait researched and then created a map of the Kuwait Metro project. According to the map if I wanted to get to work by subway I would need to take the line 2 train from Amman Street and head north 11 stops to the Great Mosque station. Over there I would have to change to line 1 and head west 2 stops and get off at the Muthana Complex station. Not too bad.

Check out re:kuwait for more. [Link]

I passed by Carrefour today because I heard they had the new UK edition of WIRED magazine. For some odd reason the US version of WIRED magazine no longer comes to Kuwait so its good to know the UK edition does. Anyway it must have been sold out since I couldn’t find it, instead I found MAKE. I picked up the latest issue for KD3.750 which is actually cheaper than the US price which is $15. Its surprising that they sell MAKE in Kuwait since its a do it your self projects magazine and I didn’t think there was a market for it here. [Link]

According to the Slider Station facebook group Falafel & Company will be launching next Thursday on June 4th. On my to do list to try once they open is the Double Impact shawerma featuring crispy panko onion strings, jalapeno mayo and jalapeno bbq with cheddar cheese.

I was at Dean & Deluca when I noticed what looked like a new section filled with vodka bottles. Once I got closer I realized that what I thought was vodka turned out to be nearly two dozen kinds of high end water bottles. Here is a larger picture of the above in which you can read the brand names of the water. [Picture]

I was supposed to post this once I got back from Amsterdam but totally forgot about it. This is just a follow up to my Archos 7 review which I posted awhile back. I used the Archos extensively on my way to and from Amsterdam on the plane. Its a 6 hour trip and I spent the whole time watching movies and shows on my Archos. The screen is 7inches which is pretty big so with the help of a headphone splitter Nat was able to comfortably watch whatever I was watching on my Archos.

One feature that drove me towards the Archos 7 was the advertised 10 hour battery life. I figured I would get around 8 which is enough for long flights except I managed to get nearly 11 hours worth on a single charge! After watching videos on my Archos for the whole trip back from Amsterdam, once I got to Kuwait I managed to watch a few more episodes of Battlestar Galactica before the low battery warning came on. Thats simply incredible.

I also want to mention that I didn’t face any kind of issues with the Archos on the trip. My flickering back light issue seemed to have fixed itself and I didn’t encounter any crashes or freezes. So I can now confidently recommend this device to anyone who is looking for the perfect travel companion.

160GB Archos 7 is for $272. [Amazon Link]
320GB Archos 7 is for $412. [Amazon Link]

By the way there is also a smaller version called the Archos 5 which sells for $280. Its the same as the Archos 7 in every way except the screen is a 5inch and the battery lasts around 5 hours. [Amazon Link]

Just spotted an ad for British Airways on the BBC website. They’ve got a sale on business class tickets and they’re the lowest I’ve seen them. Tickets to London are for KD453 while tickets to Europe go for KD503 and tickets to North America for KD766. [Link]