Remember Showbiz Pizza?

For eleven years, the Rock-afire Explosion was the animatronic house band for Showbiz Pizza Place restaurants. I’m glad I had the chance to see them here as a kid, we had Showbiz in Kuwait. The musicians’ story is a touching tale of technical expertise, marketing muscle, and, er, “concept unification.” (See the Wikipedia page for more on that.) Window Pictures (director Brett Whitcomb / writer Brad Thomason) are making a full-length documentary on the Rock-afire Explosion, and the new preview trailer is itself a must-see. Rock-afire Explosion trailer.

+ Source.

3 Comments » // July 7th, 2008 // Tagged & Archived in Random

Apple iPhone 3G will be late in the Middle East

Well, unless you’ve been trapped in prison lately, you should’ve heard about Apple’s new iPhone 3G. It’s twice as fast as the original and only half the price (as they claim…)

The new iPhone will run on several networks around the globe, Orange confirmed in Jordan, Vodafone in Egypt and Qtel in Qatar and it seems Zain won’t be getting any. iPhone will run on 3G networks (which we don’t also have in Jordan) alongside built-in GPS mapping, Microsoft Exchange support, desktop-class web browser, apps and Apple’s New MobileMe service. You’ll find Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, a 3.5 inch 480×320 pixel display, 2.0 megapixel geotagging camera, accessible SIM card and a slick new case.

The iPhone 3G will weigh 4.7 ounces and come in 8GB or 16GB sizes in black or white (16GB only). Now, here I have a question… I loved my previous iPhone and only sold it because It gave me headache and I accidently dropped it on the floor and scratched the screen. BUT! why would I need a 3G iPhone when networks in Jordan do not have that activated? The release in the US/UK in 6 days way and I can’t wait for it to come out..

Also, according to Apple, AT&T will offer it in the US for $199 for the 8GB and $299 for the 16GB (w/ 2 year contract) so I guess and according to Apple prices in the Middle East (calculating since a 350 KD macbook costs 500 in Kuwait and same in Jordan).

I think Orange’s offer is going to be for 250 JD for the 8GB and 500 JD for the 16GB (w/ 2 year contract), I hope they surprise me and release it for cheaper.

24 Comments » // July 5th, 2008 // Tagged & Archived in Amman, Jordan, Apple+Mac, Commercial, Design, Gadget, Kuwait, Random, Rant

Review: Zain e-GO

_{Little info: Zain e-GO is basically an internet service provided by Zain Kuwait through their 3G network using an access device made by Huawei, model E220. Technically it is a modem, USB and virtual CD-ROM device, Launched on 21 June 2006, the device is used for wireless Internet access using 3.5G, 3G, or 2G mobile telephony networks. It supports UMTS (including HSDPA), EDGE, GPRS and GSM.}

I finally went with a Zain e-GO account, it took me time to decide and internet offers this summer are not interesting at all, prices are still expensive and providers are not that stable, so I finally went to the closest Zain store to pick up a Huawei E220 HSDPA USB modem, which with a 27 KD monthly contract gives you unlimited bandwidth at 7.2Mbps (384Kbps download), the device costs 60 KD. Pretty good deal if you ask me. They have another offer with less benefits for people who just want to check their emails and browse.

What makes it better and convenient than Wi-Fi so far is that you can get connected with Zain coverage (covers the whole country), on the beach, while on the road, opening your laptop at a random location (cafeteria, cafe… etc) where you probably have to pay for prepared Wi-Fi cards or actually be surrounded by protected signals. Being able to get connected anywhere you want is great.

What makes it even better? It connects easily on a mac, you just need to download a driver, install it, restart and then enter username and password and have them saved, takes me seconds to connect. I so far tried it at various locations and it works amazing. Can’t complain at all.

I’ve been using it for a week now, and I can say it is great. Also, what makes it more convenient is that it takes less paper work than what a normal adsl takes, in Kuwait, you’ve got to provide your civil ID, copy of your bank statement for the last 3 months, a paper from the MOT that shows that all of your phone bills are paid and then the ISP has to plug the jumper switch and then you’ve got to install a line-filter to seperate phone from data link, you also have to plug the wireless router into electricity……. endless nightmares!

It took me 5 minutes to do the e-GO papers, 5 minutes to install the driver, plug the device and get it working. How cool is that?

P.S: not to sound a hypocrite. I dislike Zain in Jordan but Zain in Kuwait is totally different, I prefer it over Wataniya Telecom (owned by Qtel now)

5 Comments » // July 5th, 2008 // Tagged & Archived in Kuwait, Random, Review