Yousuf's View

Internet Shopping

2009-11-10T06:26:00.000-08:00

"How do I buy stuff online?"

"How do I ship my stuff from USA/UK to Kuwait online?"

These are only a few of the many questions that I come across when people are talking about shopping online. So this is how it all goes down.

Suppose you want to buy something online say Amazon, now almost all of the products offered on that website offer no international shipping, so here's what you do.

If you do not already have a credit card (VISA, MasterCard) and this is not the usual bank ATM cards that are offered here in Kuwait when you open an account with them. If you have an NBK Shabab account, then you can goto your branch and ask for an Internet Shopping Card. Its basically an electronic credit card which you cannot swipe. For more info contact your bank. I took the example of NBK because this is my bank and I do not know what other banks offer this service. (I am sure other banks have this kind of offers)

Now that you have your credit card, you have the option of 3 popular shipping services who will ship your stuff from USA to Kuwait; Aramex, DHL, and U Shop We Ship(USWS).

You can get more info about them through their websites or numbers provided on their website.

These companies give you a physical mailbox number (a physical address in the US) which allows you to have your stuff shipped to that location and then forward it to Kuwait (Aramex and USWS go one step further and deliver at your doorstep). So when you are asked for Shipping and Billing address on Amazon, you can enter this new physical location and your order will be processed as any other US Domestic order.

After you stuff is in your mailbox, you have the ability to track it till it arrives in Kuwait. These companies however charge you with a price to ship it to Kuwait

DHL (known to be the fastest yet) price calculator, Mailbox Cost = $37

USWS: KWD 2.750 for first half KG of your package and every other half KG will be KWD 2.250

Aramex: ~KWD 10 for a new mailbox, KWD 3.000 for the first half KG and every other half KG will be KWD 2.500

London Trip and Updates

2009-08-02T03:16:00.000-07:00

Okay people so I have not been blogging because I am using twitter alot (see right column of this page for my tweets). I think twitter did the job for me, but since I had more than 140 characters to type up to tell about what's happening I chose to come here and write about it.

Well I am in LONDON now! and the timings couldn't have been better. Considering I come from Kuwait I could look at this in 2 ways (both are good). One, Kuwait is much hot now (50ºC) and coming here the weather is only nearing 14-20ºC, which is pretty good for me.

OR I could come in winter in which i will experience snow which would be pretty awesome as well.

For me, I think the first perspective takes precedence!

Well, Some of my UK friends are in US so I told them to buy me

a Canon XSi (450D) which is pretty cheap in US, because UK is much expensive but they are not responding to my FB messages and emails, so I think i will order a less-expensive Canon XS (1000D) from Amazon (UK)

So last night for the first time, I went to Trafalgar Sq. Didn't goto the Big Ben because friends said it was night and it would close soon and then I would need more time than there was to spend. So I will probably go there today. I am here for a month (returning 26 AUG). So I will have time for most of the things if not all.

Thats about it for now folks.. As I said, i want to buy a camera, i have this one now, but it doesn't get the best quality that I want, but i will still leave you with two pictures that I think are very good (un-edited versions)

Air Force going siick!

2009-06-05T04:18:00.000-07:00

So apparently the folks at Air Force aren't interested in flying planes anymore. Well not exactly but they are customizing the Mustang and Challenger to the limits to lure potential students to the Air Force.

Read

Laptop on your Lap may hurt

2009-06-05T03:47:00.001-07:00

If you didn't know this already then get this. If you have a laptop, and you have it balanced on your lap, the heat emitted by the battery of the laptop might actually reduce the male fertility.

Read

Transformers 2 and Chevy

2009-05-29T09:24:00.000-07:00

As thousand of people already are eagerly awaiting for the badass movie like me. In curiousity have already youtube'd the movie and feeding their thirst. For those who have no idea what I am talking about, its the long awaited, Transformers 2. The movie will hit theatres officially on 24 June this year.

Below are the two official trailers:

1.
(Embed is Disabled by request so click here)

2.
(Embed is Disabled by request so click here)

If you haven't already figured it out, Chevy is showing off its new and future models already in this movie. Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Concept is for Sideswipe, Beat and Trax as the Twins, Volt as Jolt and Camaro as Bumblebee. There is a video featuring all of these in the movie to see check it out below:

New PS3 Slim by E3?

2009-05-14T11:23:00.000-07:00

According to Engadget, A new PS3 is rumored to be available by the next E3. Now maybe just maybe, Microsoft would be thinking, what if it beats XBOX 360, should we make a new version on the XBOX? (720 probably?)

Read

Top Gear Season 13 - Coming Soon!

2009-05-11T13:59:00.000-07:00

Transmission, a Top Gear blog pointed out that the popular BBC TV show, Top Gear's Season 13 will air sometime around late June 09.

They say its because Hosts are kinda last minute people and its tentative. Furthermore, it states that amazing stuff will be coming onto this season of TG. So hold your breath and mark you calendars. Errr... around the end of June.

Read

Fallout 3 Guide

2009-05-05T04:45:00.000-07:00

So you bought yourself a copy of Fallout 3 and don't get the right gaming experience you wanted because your system isn't meeting the recommended requirements and now, you want to buy a new system. Gamespot explains what do you want in your next PC to get the best experience.

Read Here

Firefox logo

2009-04-25T09:43:00.000-07:00

Was firefox logo inspired from this?

2009-04-20T07:41:00.001-07:00

Sending this thru WWW.PING.FM, This is posted on my twitter, fb, gtalk status, flickr, blogger, and VOX

Apple gets hits

2009-03-22T03:28:00.000-07:00

I don't know if people are angry with Apple, bored with themselves (unemployment level is increasing everywhere), or just want to make money off others. These days Apple is in a lot of legal and economic issues:

1. The 9000 iPod Shuffle scam:

Nicholas Arthur Woodhams, a 23 year old from Michigan, US scammed Apple in getting out 9000 ipod Shuffles. He then sold these at a price which was lower than the sticker. Read more

2. Apple iPhone not giving 3G as promised, Sued!

Damone Dickerson has filed a law suit against Apple and AT&T for he was not getting any 3G reception on his iPhone. Read more

3. You pay $500 more for just the eaten fruit logo?

Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, said that "tide has really turned." What he basically means by this that in these tough times you don't want to spend more for anything that you can get for cheap. You pay $500 more for just the Apple logo. Read more (read the comments below on that page)

Audi Assist in Kuwait

2009-03-22T03:03:00.000-07:00

Leaving my gym, I saw this vehicle on my way to my car. And it seems that Kuwait has the Audi 24 Hour Roadside Assist service. Only this service car is not on the road. I also saw the Mercedes Service van parked in the area where I stay. Why don't I see any of these service cars on the road in Kuwait?

Nokia 5800 and TWITTERRR

2009-03-12T03:06:00.001-07:00

I got my new Nokia 5800 last week for KD 115. I got the red one, and I asked as to why the Blue version was more expensive (KD 129), the retailer told me because it is new and released after the red one. Dumb!

Well since I have wifi at home and university I thought I'd beef up my phone with some nifty applications which will help me stay connected all the more. I have currently installed the following applications on my phone:

1. Stew for twitter

2. Gmail

3. Accuweather*

4. Zip Manager*

5. Palringo for IM (support all major IMs) (you can also use Fring)

6. Paint Pad for painting*

*got it through the on board download application

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic is a symbian S60 v5 Device.

I currently use the free wifi at univesity and Wifi at home to get online on my phone but I wanna be able to be online at all times. This would be really cool, So a twitter buddy of mine blasha, said that she has a KD14/mo contract with zain for her data plan on her curve 8900. Well thats pretty cool. Will head to zain office today and probably sign up for this. I would also like to see if they have any other cheaper/better offers.

You now can also see the little twitter widget on the blog which is actually a live feed of my tweets

Helpful links for your Nokia 5800 XM:

http://nokia5800.net/

http://www.tube5800.com/

Kuwait National / Liberation Days

2009-02-24T04:39:00.000-08:00

Photo: ©Flickr

I am at the university and since the 25th and 26th are official holidays in the country's calendar, the university is celebrating the national days on 23rd and 24th February. Congratulations to everyone (Kuwaitis and Residents in Kuwait). Here's something to read on.

And here's something to cheer on.

More Megapixels (not equal to) Better Camera!

2009-02-21T07:10:00.000-08:00

Gizmodo explains why more megapixel'ified camera isn't always the best camera.
Read

Lego Computer

2009-02-15T11:44:00.001-08:00

Well seems some modder has taken his computer modding abilities to the next level. The person must be thinking of a gaming PC and made a PC from Lego's
Check it out here

Cultural Differences

2009-02-15T11:21:00.000-08:00

As you can see in this image, some one took at the Kuwait airport. This image shows how the signage differs from that of the western world.

Source

Tea Feed

2009-02-13T13:56:00.000-08:00

Well I am a tea lover and I haven't posted anything about it. I follow a podcast called Diggnation (you can subscribe through iTunes podcast directory as well). Its only by watching that podcast I got to liking / loving tea. Well one of the host Kevin Rose has opened a new account on twitter just for tea where he posts about tea and related stuff. Check it out here.

Skin your laptop, Locally.

2009-02-13T13:18:00.000-08:00

I just stumbled upon a site for the Kuwaiti market which offers skins for your laptop. There are pretty good ones for people who are bored with the plain look of their laptop lid. Well I did not order one as I love my MBP. But you can take a look at it here.

MWC '09 Nearing

2009-02-10T04:55:00.000-08:00

As Mobile World Congress(MWC) '09 is nearing, mobile phone manufacturers are prep'ing themselves and releasing all kinds of phones. Here is a round up of most the phones that are sneaked out by phone makers worldwide.

Nokia's 5630 XpressMusic

Sony Ericsson's W395 Walkman and C903 Cybershot

Nokia 5800 North American

Samsung S8300

Sony Ericsson (Code-named) Hikaru

Archos Android phone / tablet

Nokia E75

BlackBerry 9300 "Gemini"

LG Arena (KM900)

Samsung M7600

Windows 7

2009-02-10T03:41:00.000-08:00

Downloaded the new OS by Microsoft a few days ago but did not get time to install it. Finally installed it today on my desktop. I have to say Microsoft is stepping in the right direction with this one. Hope they don' t mess it up as they did with Vista. The new OS is awesome. It installed really fast and doesn't hassle you with all those requirements that you had to had when you installed vista. All over, Win7 is really responsive and amazingly faster than Vista. I am triple booting XP, Vista and Win7, and sometimes I feel that Win7 is faster than XP (yes!)

Reviews and Scoops by Engadget

Game to Reality, Myth to Reality

2009-02-08T14:15:00.000-08:00

Only considered as a myth that video games could actually help in real life get a skill. Well apparently this 18-year old high school drop out soldier in the US army became a drone pilot by playing on his XBOX. How cool?

Source

Criminal Mii

2009-02-08T12:34:00.000-08:00

Seems the warning notification system is changing too. Apparently its too much in Japan. Police authorities in Japan put up a warning poster of a person. Oh did I tell you it wasn't his picture, it was his Mii (Nintendo Wii's avatar). Interesting!

Source

Back Online..

2009-02-07T09:39:00.000-08:00

Its been really long since I've blogged and here I am back blogging. The main reason were Christmas-New year break, my short vacation to Mombasa (Kenya), and my Finals.

Well for whats hot and new in Kuwaiti Tech world is the InfoTech '09 Fair at the Kuwait International Fair Grounds in Mishref. This year's fair is tiny compared to last year's. Packed only in one hall (4A) Not much of new tech was seen. Nothing new on the hardware part but the market for internet was really hot.

FastTelco really dropped their ADSL Prices and ended up being the cheapest providers. Their pricing started from KD59/year for a low 256Kbps connection.

More pricing range here

New town!

2008-12-28T04:17:00.002-08:00

This year for Ashara, i came to mombasa, Kenya. Today being the first day of the new islamic year, there was majlis held at burhani masjid's mawaid. The official crowd was supposed to be 500, but more than a 1000 came. After the pehli tarikh majlis some mumineen were blessed with qadambosi. After about an hour and half of that moula ended the majlis and blessed mumineen who were waiting outside for his dedar. Nawu saal mubarak ane khaas dua ni iltimaas.

WTFQ8?

2008-12-21T08:33:00.000-08:00

No its not abusing anyone but its an actual site. Which to an extent gives you information about Kuwait's lower grade news and amuses too
click here

United Networks is down

2008-12-20T04:19:00.000-08:00

Since yesterday my internet (United Networks) was kind of slow so I thought there might be some thing wrong with my computer, then I went to my laptop for checking and, well, it was slow there too. Since it was after late in the night the help center was closed. I called the help center today and they said they were linking with their parent company overseas.
Upon asking them how much time will this take, they had no idea (lame), and it apparently will take a week'ish to fix this. Does it take this long to do this job? Can't they route all their lines to some other location which is fast and when the job is done they can re-route the lines to their main systems?

Forza Motorsport 2

2008-12-11T08:56:00.000-08:00

Things did not exactly go as I said in the last post, that I will buy the game that day but I did the next day. Now about the game, well what can I say; It was Editor's pick on Gamespot and that speaks for itself. I didn't want to waste any time to create a career so I jumped in in the Arcade mode which allows you to play exhibition matches. Everything is just better than any other car racing game I have ever tried. My Forza Motorsport 2 game was a Special Collector's edition which had a Bonus Disc containing all the updates of the game after its initial release.

Tip: I found out that games should not be bought from major stores like Alghanim or Eureka but should be bought from Rihab complex itself. I was offered this game for KD 25 in Alghanim Electronics and I got the same game in KD 18 in Rihab!

All New XBOX 360 Pro

2008-12-09T03:42:00.000-08:00

So Thursday 4th Dec was the last working day at university and I couldn't wait for my XBOX 360 to come to me. I had a friend who told me he would help me get a good deal but since he was busy, I took up the challenge and headed out to Rihab complex in Hawalli, also known as the gaming center. After scouting around for a good 2 hours, I got a good deal at a shop, so I went ahead and bought the XBOX 360 Pro console, the one with new chips and a 60 gig HDD, a voltage converter, 1 extra controller, and the game i always wanted to play, PES 2009.

I plan on getting 2 more games today, I am thinking Gears of War 2, and Forza Motorsport 2. I saw the reviews on Gamespot and both were Editors picks. Since they are top on gamespot, I believe I won't be dissapointed.

Eid Mubarak

2008-12-09T03:35:00.000-08:00

Well Eid here in Kuwait was yesterday, But I could not post anything about that because well, I was out with friends. It seems that India is celebrating Eid for some weird reason. Still Eid Mubarak to all of you guys and Enjoy!

Hello and Welcome

2008-12-09T03:31:00.000-08:00

This my new Blog. Yes I know the last one did not have much and I had to migrate to this blog because I created a new Gmail ID which I can now display in my Resume. So I hope this blog is the one and keep my blog simple and post some interesting stuff.

Click here to visit my previous Blog.

Update: I figured out how to import previous blogs, so below are all the previous posts in my previous blog.

The Kuwait Towers

2008-11-27T03:29:00.000-08:00

History

The conception of the Towers with three structures was initiated in 1962. Construction commenced in 1975 and in March 1979 the project was finally inaugurated. The three towers were built for multi-purpose operations. One, the needle shaped tower, provides electricity to the suburbs in Kuwait.

The Second, middle, tower stores up to one million gallons of water. It was made by group of people from Union Invest company c.o.o Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo and Tuzla.

About

The Kuwait Towers are three towers of reinforced concrete in Kuwait City. The main tower is 187 metres high and serves as a restaurant and water tower. It also has a Viewing Sphere which rises to 123 meters above sea level and completes a full round turn every 30 minutes. The second tower is 145.8 metres high and serves as a water tower. The third tower houses equipment to control the flow of electricity and illuminates the two bigger towers.

The towers were designed by Sune Lindström and Malene Björn and were built by Energoprojekt, a company from Belgrade, Serbia. They opened to the public in March of 1979. The towers were damaged heavily by the Iraqis during their occupation of Kuwait from 1990 to 1991. In 1991, after the liberation of Kuwait City during the First Gulf War, Vic Clarke of Nottingham UK abseiled the Kuwait Water Towers during structural surveys. Mr. Clarke was introduced into Kuwait by Mr. Michael Stewart, of The Stewart Group International, also from Nottingham UK.

There was substantial shell, and bullet damage to the exterior of the towers. The interior damage was mainly to electrical gear, mostly lift equipment. Some of the large triangular glazed panels shown in the photograph, were also damaged by shell fire.

Hope to go there in my fall break and take some pictures personally.

© Wikipedia

VIVA Launched, Will it survive?

2008-11-08T05:54:00.000-08:00

VIVA (The new telecom company in Kuwait) rivaling the two big boys ZainKW, and Wataniya. VIVA is going all out on the advertising campaign as posters and ads are on corner and traffic signals. The company has a 4 week offer in which customers can choose their own numbers starting with "55". They are calling this the "Fresh start with 55" campaign.

I went to their site to reserve my number, but since their servers cannot handle the amount of traffic the site will either timeout or will run slow.

Check it out here

Kuwait Mac Community

2008-11-08T05:43:00.000-08:00

As a Apple Fanboy (proud of that), I came across the only official Apple Group in Kuwait, which is listed on Apple. Hands Down, this website is great because it gives the Kuwaiti perspective.

Safat : The Kuwait Blogs!

2008-11-08T05:16:00.000-08:00

Browsing some blogs here at blogspot, I came across this blog which has a huge amount of bloggers aggregated and listed in one place. Until this moment I didn't know that the Kuwaiti community blogs as much. I am proud to be in this country.

I would surely like to be listed on the Blog Roll. Lets see what do I have to do to get my blog up there?

Drops Landed

2008-11-08T04:34:00.000-08:00

On November 3rd, I woke up without looking out the window as usual. University starts at 9:30 AM for me and since the first class is Accounts, I had to attend it. Leaving my apartment for my car in the lot, here I see what I've been waiting for since last year. Yes, RAIN! Just loved the season and wanted to get wet but couldn't forget I had to get to class. Got in my car, grabbed my camera and shot these, Enjoy.

OBAMA VICTORIOUS!

2008-11-04T21:28:00.000-08:00

Barack Obama told supporters that "change has come to America," as he addresses the country for the first time as the president-elect.

...Police estimated that 125,000 people gathered in Grant Park to hear Obama claim victory.

full CNN report here.

Google turned into an MP3 downloader engine?

2008-11-02T08:56:00.000-08:00

Usually digging for the tech stuff, i came across this website which shows how can you turn Google (the beloved search engine) into a music downloading beast. Well this did the trick for me.

So this is how it works:

1. goto Google

2. Enter the following string into the search bar:

-inurl:(htmhtmlphp) intitle:"index of" +"last modified" +"parent directory" +description +size +(wmamp3) "*bandname/songname*"

The only change you have to make in this code snippet is that replace the *bandname/songname* to the band's name or the song's name that you're searching for.

Although, google might generate no result, if you make a mistake typing the name correctly.

Full article here

MacLabs at AUK

2008-10-27T12:17:00.000-07:00

Starting off with brilliant news, I got my first paycheck while working in the Division of Humanities and Art in the American University of Kuwait. Although, my pay only included half month's salary because thats how long I've been working, I was extremely happy and could not get the grin out of my face while receiving it and for rest of the day!

This is my workstation i.e. desk of work. Its basically in the Mac Lab, but I usually have a specific computer on which I sit because I have some setting set on that station and I can't be bothered to do them all over when I sit on a new Mac Pro.

Here is the shot of the Mac Lab that is on the third floor in the Liberal Arts College building of AUK

The Lab has 32 Mac Pros, and was generally referred to as MacLab until recently it is referred to as "Male MacLab." This is due to the new government rule of segregation; the term does not need any further explanation.

Brand New MacBook Pro. Not so new!

2008-10-26T04:17:00.000-07:00

I got my MacBook Pro on 13th June '08. But since I do most of my computing on my MacBook pro(MBP), I felt I should dedicate this post to it, and guess what, this post is being written from my MBP.

I ordered my MBP from NewEgg. Actually, I wired the cash to my friend in states asking him to buy it for me. I had been planning to get the laptop for a long time, but didn't see the right time coming along until then. My friend was coming from the US for summer vacation, so he agreed to bring the laptop for me. Oh yes, I saved on shipping, it was free!

Here's some of the pictures when I took when I opened up my MacBook Pro:

Specifications of my MacBook Pro:

Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.40Ghz

15.4" WXGA

2GB DDR2 RAM

200GB HDD - 5400rpm

DVD(+-)R/RW

NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT

Mac OS X v10.5

Fall Break Scheduled!

2008-10-22T11:42:00.000-07:00

Still a freshman (1st year) in the university (American University of Kuwait), I haven’t spent many semesters on campus. Been a university student since summer '07 to be precise which makes the current semester (fall '08) my 5th semester. Ok, I know that’s not short time to but still. I hope to be a sophomore by the end of this semester.

Moving on, I had to say that because this year is the year in which I had (and am going to have) the most amount of something known as "vacation." This is because the standard 4-month summer for me turned into the 5-month vacation as the Kuwaiti government announced holidays as Eid season came along (End of holy month of Ramadan).

Enough with the past vacation in the current year and on with the coming vacation, and on with the coming vacations. Yesterday, I got an email for university’s student life, announcing that the fall semester break has been scheduled from December 5^th to January 7^th. The official vacations for me as of this year are a little over 6 months now. These do not include other small breaks like the liberation/national day holidays, weekends (if I want to count those too.)

These holidays might be boring for me or really exciting but lets see how these vacations turn out!

My first post and Welcome!

2008-10-22T09:26:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, this is my new blog and basically my new internet home. I will be updating and checking this site regularly, which also means I will be looking after your comments. I will be posting my thoughts and random stuff that I find on the internet and in my environment, and yes thats me in the picture