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Aramex Shop&Ship are following in the foot steps of USWS and are going to start accepting online payments. A few people recently got the following email from Aramex:

Dear Valued Customer,

Thank you for using our SHOP&SHIP service. Our aim is to continuously enhance your shopping experience with us. We are about to launch a new feature on www.aramex.com which would allow you to make online payments for your shipping charges. We would like to offer this feature first to our VIP clients in order to eliminate delays in delivery due to cash unavailability. We hope that this new feature will be to your satisfaction, and we welcome your feedback on the service. We want to assure you that our most important objective is to continue providing you with quality transportation services that meet your needs effectively.

Sincerely,
SHOP&SHIP Customer Account Manager

Since the delivery guys started carrying Knet machines online payment isn’t that important anymore. Personally I would like to see their payment system upgraded where as one user mentioned, instead of charging per half KG they should start charging per 100grams. That way their recent price increase will seem more reasonable.

Thanks K!

I enjoy photography a lot and I have a whole range of cameras each serving a different purpose. The problem with most of my cameras is that they are just too big to carry around all the time. While in Munich although I had a lot of fun shooting with my old Nikon FE the fact remains it weighed a ton and I had to carry it around in a shoulder bag.

I currently have two small point & shoot cameras but they’re pretty outdated. I have a cheap Canon A530 camera which I keep in the car and then I have a Sony N1 which I am currently taking when I’m traveling. Problem with the two is that A530 doesn’t fit into my pocket and the Sony N1 doesn’t do well in dim lit situations. Thats why I’ve decided to search for a replacement. What I would like to have in my perfect camera is the following:

– Small size
– 6MP and up
– Bright lens
– RAW capabilities
– Great battery life
– Great image quality
– Great high iso performance
– Camera controls on top (like SLR’s)
– Character
– Metal body
– Needs to look good
– No budget (ok not Leica M8 budget)

If I was going to get a large DSLR camera I would get the Nikon D300 in a heart beat. Its a very easy decision since there aren’t that many high end DSLR’s to choose from. With a point & shoot camera its a different story, there are like a hundred different cameras to decide from and each has a different advantage. I’ve been doing a lot of research the past few days and so far the following are the cameras I am deciding between:

Canon G9
Great camera, shoots RAW, solid build but has decent high iso performance and I don’t think the camera fits into my pocket so it kinda kills the point.

Ricoh GX100
Its got a retro look, very solid build, shoots RAW, bright lens and great image quality. Problem is RAW shots take 5 seconds to save and has poor high iso performance which is a killer for me.

Sigma DP-1
This camera also has a retro look and also has a solid build. It uses the same image sensor as larger DSLR’s which means the image quality is fantastic. It has great high iso performance but the camera costs more than double the price of all the other cameras I am checking out and it only has a fixed 28mm lens which although I am a fan of isn’t really practical for my purpose.

Fuji Finepix F100fd
Not really a Fuji fan but this camera has excellent low light capabilities. Iso goes up to 3200 and the 1600 iso is pretty usable judging by the pictures online. But, I think this camera is really ugly, lacks character and many people have complained about its interface.

Sony W300
This camera and the next one below are fairly conservative choices. The W300 is a great size, looks good and has a durable black titanium body. It also has a pretty decent high iso performance and was the camera I was going to get except for the fact many users have complained about poor image quality.

Nikon S600
The cheapest camera from the bunch. Has excellent image quality, great size and looks plus a very fast start up time. Main problem with this camera is the shutter lag and no manual option.

Which camera am I going to go with? I have no clue at the moment. Its a tough choice and each camera has its advantage, I will probably do a bit more research and then decide what to get but so far I think I am leaning towards the Ricoh GX100. Once I decide I will post again here.

Update: Ok, the Ricoh GX100 which I had my mind set on will NOT fit into a jeans pocket [Picture]. I thought it was smaller than that. So now the G9, GX100 and Sigma DP1 are out of the picture. The Ricoh though looks like a great camera made for photographers. I was flipping through pictures taken by the GX100 on Flickr and all the pictures feel very film like. [Flickr Pictures]

Back in May I posted about the new digital signs that are popping up all over the place and a local blogger now has a picture of whats looks like a sign undergoing testing. The question still remains what are they going to be used for?

When I was in Munich traveling on the highway they had similar signs with the speed limit on it. The speed limit changed depending on the amount of traffic, when the sign was off I think it meant you had no limit but when the sign was on it meant follow whatever speed limit is displayed until the next sign. I doubt its going to be used like this here but to just display the speed limit like in the picture above which everyone already knows anyway is a waste. Anyone know what these signs are going to be used for or anyone have a theory?

Thanks DLC

Update: I replaced the original picture I posted with a better one I took myself on the Gulf Road.

Matt Harding became famous by accident awhile back when a video of him dancing in front of landmarks in different countries became an overnight success. Now Matt is back with a new video thats been in the making for over a year. This time around he visited and danced in 42 different countries and one them was Kuwait. Its a really cool video thats sure to give you goosebumps. [YouTube]

Thanks Shab!

Update: Here is a link to Matt’s journal when he was in Kuwait. I honestly thought he was a nice guy but after reading his journal I now think he’s a jerk. Watching the video above you get a feeling of world unity and peace but then when you find out the kind of person Matt really is it suddenly makes sense why the world is at war. [Link]

Animal Care is a local online pet shop that sells pet stuff including toys, food and accessories. They even deliver items to your doorstep. I think its a great idea specially since the only place that sells decent stuff is Sultan Center and they always seem to run out of stuff. [Link]

Thanks Rayboy

This link contains some beautiful shots from the preparations to the summer Olympics that will be held in Beijing. The picture above is of a remote control car whose duty is to transport javelins back to the athletes. Lots of shots with their descriptions, check them out. [Link]

This is a video presentation of The Mall of Kuwait which is currently being built. Judging by the video it looks pretty big but the most impressive thing has to be the 750 seat performance hall. The mall was originally scheduled to open this year but I don’t know if thats still the target time. [YouTube]

In May my Macbook stopped working and it pissed me off. Around two weeks ago I decided to take it to Digits (used to be called Mac&More) in Marina Mall to have them check it out. I wanted to find out exactly what was wrong with it and how much it would cost to fix. Well today I found out that my MacBook will be repaired for free under Apple’s global warranty program. Even though I purchased my MacBook from Amazon my warranty it still being honored here in Kuwait which is really cool. Now I have to wait 2-4 weeks for the part to arrive but that isn’t a problem since I have my Eee PC to keep me company.

As of yesterday, the E71 has officially been announced by Nokia. While being successor to the E61i, the best phone I have ever owned, would make it worthy enough to be a great phone. Nokia have sealed the deal by throwing in longer battery life, 3.2mp (AutoFocus) camera, HSDPA, a faster processor in a package much slimmer than any previous Nokia offerings. [Link]

While the apple fanboys will be fumbling about trying to find a unlocked 3G iphone, you can catch the E71 at your local reseller next month for a little over 130KD.  (It also comes in white/stainless)

Posted by K.

TIME magazine has put together a collection of the 50 best websites for 2008. I initially thought the list would be filled with mainstream stuff but surprisingly its not. The list is actually interesting with lots of surprises, I mean even UrbanDictionary.com is on their list! [Link]

D*lush opened up a new branch in Salmiya yesterday behind Al Bustan mall. Also a new cookie store opened up at The Avenues food court called Crumbs and supposedly their cookies are really good.

Two days ago the most beautiful goat in the world contest was held in Saudi Arabia. The goat pictured above won first place in what has to be the strangest beauty contest I’ve ever heard of. If you follow the link you can see more pictures from this event, doesn’t anyone else think these are some of the weirdest looking goats? [Link]

I was at Kout Mall tonight and noticed that Marble Slab had opened up there. I first tried it when I was in Dubai at the Mall of Emirates and they now have a branch here in Kuwait. For those of you who don’t know what Marble Slab is, its an ice cream shop in which you choose the flavor of ice cream you want and then you get to choose what kind of topping you want mixed in with your ice cream. They have a gigantic collection of toppings to choose from but I always go for chocolate ice cream mixed with mini marshmallows. [Link]

The other day I posted a picture of the first Nissan Skyline GT-R in Kuwait filling up at a gas station. Turns out the Nissan dealership Al-Babtain got their first shipment of Skylines which consisted of 3 cars, 2 being red and 1 a dark grey. The picture I posted the other day was of the grey one and my friend just sent me the picture above of the two red ones. The cars from this shipment and the next two shipments have already all been sold. Each car went for KD30,000.

Anyone know where I can purchase used arcade machines in Kuwait? I am interested in either of the following games:

Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat II, NBA Jam TE or Killer Instinct. The original Sega Rally would be nice but I wouldn’t know how they could fit it through my apartments door.