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Kuwait Cinescape Patenting New Technology?

Bashar — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 10:16:34 +0000

Kuwait Cinema Company, Cinescape (a.k.a KNCC), seems to be filing a patent for a new technology, that will revolutionize the world of censorship as we know it. Cinescape says the new technology cuts down the editing time of the movie, and allows for dynamic re-censoring on the fly without having to go back to the execution chamber.

Without going too deep into the technical details of this technology, the method works in a way where a movie is screened it seems just once before the real show, and points of desired censorship are marked down. That’s all they need to deliver the movie to the fans. During the show, and when the specified not-yet-censored scene approaches, the magic starts to happen. A guy standing near the projector places what seems to be a piece of cardboard (Cinescape officials refused to confirm what it is exactly) to block the offensive scene from showing, and then removing the so-called cardboard when the scene is gone.

The new dynamic-censorship technology has already been put to practice in-mix with the old fashioned way of pre-editing, in the 3D IMAX screens of the blockbuster movie Avatar. The new technology might have been developed to overcome the technical difficulties Cinescape spoke of a week earlier, that caused the delay of the 3D IMAX version of Avatar.

Nevertheless Cinescape officials say this new technology delivers more than just a solution to a one-time problem. As on top of providing quick and dynamic censorship, it also allows the audio to go by, thus giving the viewers an idea about what’s happening, and keeping them in the action mood, as well as keeping the movie’s official showtime duration close, or same as the original movie, thus giving customers more minute value for their money.

Cinescape added then that the new technology have been well received by viewers with laughters, calling the competitors claims of deciphering laughter oddly as mocking total non-sense.

Neighbor countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iran have already shown great interested in licensing this new dynamic censorship, but Cinescape says they’re still early in the process, and want to improve the technology even further, before licensing it to the outside world. Couple of challenges Cinescape noted are being tackled right now. One is the redundancy of MCG (Manual Censorship Guy) who will be responsible for all the censorship, as in the case of emergency like restroom visits, Cinescape needs to ensure another MCG is in his place to do the job.

“This is too serious of a thing to play with. While viewers are enjoying the movie, we are working very hard behind the scenes to make sure this country stays intact. Single uncensored scene might bring more chaos to the parliament, and might even dissolve it once more.”

Another challenge is the audio censoring during for example sexual scenes, but Cinescape are hopeful they will soon relocate the primary wire feeding the audio, and be also able to kill it during such scenes. And as the technology gets better, I guess we can all hope to see full length dynamically censored movies by the holiday season of 2010. Here is one to Cinescape’s new year resolution.

UPDATE: Here is a call from MBH to officially boycott Kuwait cinema.

Aramex Solution to Kuwait Customs

Bashar — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:45:01 +0000

Good news. The following just got sent out by Aramex:

Hello Shop&Shippers!

We understand it’s been a rough week for all of you, but finally, Kuwait Customs’ policy has cleared up, and we’re happy to say that online shopping is about to become more fun than ever!

So here’s the bottom line: regardless of the goods value, all shipments are subject to customs clearance. We’ll clear all shipments in one bundle, and pay the charged customs duties accordingly. You read correctly; it’s on us!

In this case, you will only endure the following charges:

* 1 KD handling charges
* 5% of order value for Kuwait Customs duties (applicable only to orders valued above $100 USD)

However, self-clearance option is no longer available for our customers. You can contact us at [+ 965 1 820011] for further details.

Happy online shopping!

Your friends at Shop&Ship,

So you can add an extra 1 KD + 5% on most of your shipments, but Aramex will take care of the customs. One thing though not mentioned is the clearance time. Since they will clear items in bundle, will it be daily, or weekly? Nevertheless, it means at least slight more delay for items arriving in weekends, and that all your packages will come pre-opened!

I still think this is totally unfair and greedy from local business owners pushing for such tax on individual items, but at least now you can still shop online.

Aramex promising resolution to Kuwait Customs Problem in next 48 hours

Bashar — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:49:13 +0000

Shop&Ship Twitter Update:

And this is the linked-to tweet from their product manager:

WARNING: Visit his twitter page at your own risk. Extremely eye breaking colors.

Best Wishes!

Aramex ranking among countries

Bashar — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:49:13 +0000

I was talking to my friend last night about the recent new Kuwait Customs regulations and how this is going to affect Aramex more than anyone else. My guess was Kuwait must be the largest market for Aramex Shop&Ship at least, being computer and internet savvy society with a good average income. So here are the rankings around the world according to Alexa.

In percentage at least, judging at the numbers, this seems true. Now whether Kuwait is the absolute largest market (or at least has been so far), that’s something else.

Hold on your online carts, Aramex packages will go through customs!

Bashar — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:11:31 +0000

The following is an email from Aramex Shop&Ship notifying customers of new Kuwaiti Customs Authority regulation:

“Dear Valued Customer,

Thank you for choosing Aramex as your transportation partner.

The Kuwaiti Customs Authority has recently notified us that all courier shipments containing non-documents shall undergo customs inspection upon arrival at Kuwait airport. While Aramex shall continue providing its clearance services, we are unable to provide a specific time frame as to the duration of the clearance period, which may exceed five working days. Aramex therefore encourages all its customers who require speedy clearance to collect their shipments’ documents for self-clearance at the Aramex Ardiya office.

Should you need further assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact us on + 965 1820011.

Best Regards,

Aramex Shop&Ship Team”

So only letters and documents can pass through. But otherwise, each and every package of yours will have to go through customs, so you will have to add an extra 10-15 KD at least on top of your online purchase price, add to that the 2-3 days delay on average, as many packages will arrive just before or during the weekend and will have to wait for next working day to clear them. I would say however it’s 7 days in most cases, as if you’ve been to customs clearance once before, you won’t wanna do it again, and neither does Aramex I’m sure. They’d rather collect their payment upfront, since the hassle is not worth the extra 5 KD charge.

So added days for delivery, added cost, and ten times extra headache, Kuwait has made online shopping literally impractical. This is a blow for Aramex themselves however more than it is for the end user, who will go with the more convenient path now. I bet this is the best time for Aramex to reduce prices to cover the difference.

Now as for Kuwaiti Customs, I’m not sure why they would have to go through each and every single individual package, when most shipments are from trusted merchants like Amazon, with a bill specifying all that’s inside it. Well maybe I know, but I mean it won’t be a reasonable explanation for such a call. But let’s just say that’s fine, they lay the rules, and they have their wise reasons. Do they have the capacity for it? Before you say you want to check each and every package, can you handle all that load? For some Disney kid’s cartoon, I had to carry the package, guided with security guy, back and forth twice from the storage to the Ministry of Information hut to authorize it. And that place of theirs is so tiny a think guy can barely walk between the desks with one Pakistani guy who clears it. How can all the packages go through this one person? And that’s just for the DVD, let alone all the other items inside. I heard any item that has a charger has to go through Ministry of Commerce. No comment!

Has anyone paid the customs a visit, you will see what a mess the process is, and how overwhelmed they were already without inspecting all these Aramex packages. Now if you want to inspect the package, I say fine. I’ve got nothing to hide (most of the time!). But give us a process. I don’t have to waste a whole day, running from one building to the other trying to follow a process that insiders keep arguing about it.

So in a nutshell, for the foreseeable future, I say put on hold the items that can wait. Ohh and… I Love You Kindle!

Aramex Tracking… What Tracking?

Bashar — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 11:22:45 +0000

So I wake up today and check my Aramex shipment status to find they’ve been delivered my package. Finally, I said, and went to get the packages, only to realize there was no package! I re-login to Aramex site and see it’s really not yet delivered, and as a matter of fact, it still shows to be in the US!

How did I think it was already delivered?

Aramex Mailbox Ordering

You see, there is something always fascinating about your Aramex mailbox items, and it’s in the way items are sorted. Aramex seems to sort their mailbox items using the ORDER BY MOST_CONFUSING command, cause it’s not sorted by Receive date, and neither by shipping date! So last night my expected item was last row, and this morning I just clicked it immediately without looking. Second look told me they changed the ordering after some of the other items have been shipped!

Why does it have to be so confusing? It’s so simple and logic to order it by receive and/or ship date. The call to Aramex customer care brings more pain than satisfaction half the time, not because of their tone, but their plan general answers and excuses.

Why Is The Shipment Late?

In short, the guy tells me the items are actually in Kuwait airport and held by customs. For some reason, customs are holding and checking each shipment individually.

Why Don’t You Update Your Tracking?

Typical customer care guy explains there is inside tracking and one global to public, and that he can see it in Kuwait. OK, so why isn’t it updated in my page? The guy kept insisting there is no way they can update their tracking until the shipment reaches Aramex headquarter and they scan it, and claims no company in the world can do it.

That’s ofcourse totally false. Not only do worldwide companies do it, but I’ve seen Aramex do it times and times better than what Aramex tracking is doing these days. I’ve seen a package shown in customs one afternoon, then out for delivery the next morning. My friends have seen it as well, and not only that, but updated as still being held in customs.

Listen To The Customer

The guy kept arguing on the phone that there is no way to update the tracking info, and didn’t even give in to the fact of the problem, that all my shipments which are on their way to, or already in Kuwait still show as in New York, United States to me. They don’t even show as sent out of the US!

If the Aramex guy can see it updated, why can’t I see it too? If he knows it’s in customs, why can’t I get that piece of info too?. The least a customer care person can do is take the case to report it, but no, he kept defending it’s showing in Kuwait for HIM. Well as long as it’s showing for him I should be fine.

Shipping Frequency Randomness

How often is Aramex supposed to ship items per week? And on what days? This used to be quite defined before, but now seems to be totally random and doesn’t make any sense. For example, look at the mailbox in the first picture. First, an item is received on 13th, and shipped on 14th. OK. Then an item is received on 15th, one day later, and shipped on the very same day. This earns the customer maybe one day difference, at an extra cost of up to 3 KD. Then, all items received later on the same day of 15th, or 16th keep waiting until 20th to get shipped.

They guy ofcourse once again stood for the defense, claiming this delay is because of the weekend. Whatever weekend that is which spans from Thursday to Sunday!

What Would You Do If You Suspect Swine Flu in Kuwait?

Bashar — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 10:37:58 +0000

As a precaution to the Swine Flu virus that started spreading recently, most countries now have standard measures for people crossing their borders into the country, and I have to say I was a bit relieved to know Kuwait has this kind of thermal Airport scan as I heard, and then I was handed this paper when I picked my housemaid from the office.

50 KD (approx $173) and/or 1 month of prison for failing to do the test in 72 hours. I thought that is tough, but still fair compared to public benefit and health. So what do we do? We take her to the clinic, like a good American.. err I mean Kuwaiti! Good to know Kuwait do have standard measures against this Swine Flu thing after all isn’t it? Or do they?

It all started last night when I was on my way out with a dear friend and the phone rang at about 7:45 PM. My wife told me in a shocked voice they found fever in my housemaid when she went to do the test in one of the below listed so called Preventive Health Centers.

She told me her body temperature was 37.9 and they immediately isolated her, started cleaning the area, and said they suspect swine flu, and the ambulance must pick her up to the Contagious Diseases Hospital! (we’ll just call it CDH from now onwards). Now I’m very far away from being a Dr. but I didn’t see 37.9 as that serious. After a long trip into a different climate with little food on the way, it’s bound to happen to anyone. I asked her to make sure what they intend to do and call me back. Two consecutive calls, it was serious. My day with my friend was officially over as we just started to see the Avenues. I was so embarrassed, and to his credit, he took it in a very high spirit.

So back to my car, drive to the clinic, I saw the ambulance waiting out there. I went in and saw my wife frightened as the maid was close to my kid in the car drive. She said housemaid is isolated, ambulance was here for like 10 minutes and still did not take the maid to the hospital. It was obvious, they didn’t know what to do. They are all panicked, and clueless. When we inquired, the Dr. at the clinic shocked me saying CDH would not take her because serious flu should be above 38 degrees. I was like “What? it’s just 0.1 degree difference, and if there is a chance, they should do necessary checking to avoid spread of the disease”. I asked the Dr. at the clinic specifically whether they can do further testing to make sure, and the Dr. replied with clear No.

So why would you jail and fine me unless I do the test in 72 hours, if you don’t know what to do about it? Why wouldn’t CDH accept the case? Is it that they are clueless as well? Is it because they don’t see it serious? But shouldn’t they examine the case before they decide? Logically yes if the clinic has concerns, but the ambulance can’t take the patient to CDH without their approval it seems, and they’re not willing to give that approval! The ambulance guy trying to get out of it was suggesting I take her instead!. If the whole Ministry of Health doesn’t know what to do with the case, why should I bare the risk? I didn’t seriously think she has Swine Flu, as I don’t recall Indonesian confirmed cases, but even if, I’m not willing to take the one in a billion chance and risk my family, and not only that, but public’s health. If there is some slightest doubt, just take her in the ambulance and do the necessary checking, that’s all! I told my wife then to leave as it was obviously taking too long. After much deliberation, arguing, un-answered calls to head of the clinic, the ambulance driver suggested I take the papers only to the CDH and try to take it up with them. Either let them sign-approve it, or sign deny of accepting the case. It was obvious the guy wants to get out of it I told him that, but again, I didn’t have many options, and I wasn’t gonna let this story ends up here.

So I took the clinic admission guy’s mobile number and ambulance number. Ofcourse when you desperately need your phone in such days, battery always runs out. I saw the battery low message as I was taking their numbers, closed all unnecessary apps, and drove all the way to CDH. Going inside a quite night shift, there were barely one or two waiting outside, I spoke to the Drs and they quickly recalled the problem and said it’s not serious I tried convincing him to give it a check, but he declined to admission a case that does not need to. He then struck me saying “The Dr. at the clinic is too scared to examine the patient. How can she say that?”. I showed the Dr. the examination papers from the clinic, but I could see a true part of his story. My wife later on told me the Dr. initially did nothing but temperature test before freaking out. So I called the clinic back, and the guy asked me for signature of declining to take the case. I told the Dr. that and he said he can’t sign anything before examining the case! “But you just refused to accept her” I explained. The Dr. said it’s ok to check up on her , but was so confused when I told him the ambulance wouldn’t drive her in without their approval. He said this is new, and out of logic. A talk to the administration department there and the head also found it silly and didn’t know about such a thing. A guy setting on the couch explained the case, and the right to refuse accepting any case to avoid jam on the hospital.

OK, but this, even with the slightest of chance, could be serious according to the clinic. So why don’t you just do the necessary checking? Some discussion went on, and the head and Dr. both said they would be happy to accept the case, and I can tell the ambulance that. I drove quickly back the clinic, only to find out the ambulance has already left. I went into the admission room, and as the guy was busy with his work, he asked me to call the ambulance. So there it started to get funny as I was calling in on ambulance introducing my self as the clinic at times to get things done. I told them it’s all clear, you can send in the ambulance, I gave him the HDC direct line to call and confirm, and I ended up giving my personal mobile number as well. All for the good of the country right?

More than 30 minutes must’ve passed while I was at the clinic, chatting with the nice guys in the room, laughing also at how many people want to get away with the medicine without paying the 1 KD, or the amount of people who just come with a civil ID number in mind and want to go in! Eventually, the ambulance arrived, I spoke to them and they were still inquiring whether I’m 100% positive HDC would accept the case. I was like saying to my self “Helloooo… your guys called HDC directly! No don’t thank me, it was my job to drive there, do some negotiations, get their direct number to you to call and make sure. Any time!” I told him the ambulance already had the green light from HDC and he can call to make sure again. The new shift Dr took them aside to talk to them, not knowing I am the housemaid sponsor. I approached and introduced my self, and assured him they’re ok to accept her for checking. Ambulance driver calls his guys again for one last check. OK! We’re off to Mars? No just HDC. Let’s go!

At about the same time, my wife called:

Wife: Clinic called and they’re upset housemaid is still just sitting there, when are we gonna take her out.

Me: What? The ambulance is already here for 10 minutes, they’re taking her out now.

Wife: No, they say they can’t reach you and they called me, and I don’t know where you are.

Me: I’m right here at the clinic for more than half and hour! I’ve been talking to them, arranging for the ambulance and all. What’s this all about? Anyways, they’re about to take her out. Limme hangup and see what they do. Bye!

I went outside and after a while the ambulance guys were almost ready and asked ME to bring the patient. I went inside to tell the Dr. we’re getting her out, as I heard the nurse speaking of this sponsor who just disappeared, left a patient, and his wife doesn’t know where he is!

Me: Excuse me, any chance you’re talking about me?

Nurse: Are you the sponsor of the housemaid?

Me: YES! And I’ve been here for like an hour now at the admission, arranging for the ambulance and all.

Nurse (smiling): Ohhh OK, I’m sorry then!

By that time it was close to 11 PM already, and I thought how would a complete stranger who’s in a new country for her second day only feel alone in a clinic for 2 hours all by her self! She was scared to death crying, and I don’t blame her. I told her it’s OK, they are just going to make some checking on her in a hospital, but as she saw the ambulance I can feel her heart stopping for a second.

I drove behind the ambulance, or at least I tried as fast I can. But these guys can really win the Formula 1 with this car and way of driving. Was the case too urgent I wonder? My Dr. friend, not knowing anything about this story yet, called during the chase, and by that time, I really couldn’t hold my laughs any longer! We laughed hysterically as I saw the lights of the ambulance fade out of my sight, and the siren sounds could no longer be heard.

When I reached there, I could see the ambulance still parking (Good, I can still catch a piece of the action!). I went inside and the maid was behind curtains taking examination. Her body temperature was already a little bit lower, panic among everyone was lower, and facts were becoming more clear. HDC would have a point to not take anybody with a bit of high temperature, especially when the Dr. at the clinic refuses to do proper examination on the case. Drs in the clinic are completely clueless also about the virus, don’t know how to diagnose one, what to do when to find one, and where to send the patient to if proven to be a possible infection. Still though, in such a case and for the public good, I said it would be wise for HDC to take the case for further checking, just to be safe. The Dr’s argument that there are no recorded cases in Indonedia did not really convince me, as there is always a first time. And yes, this one in a 230 million case could be the first one. Or could be one of those…

The point is, we don’t gamble on public health. I understand the media exaggeration of the matter, and how very unlikely this case is to test positive, but if there is the smallest tiny little chance of this danger, then we better be ready!

As the Dr. at HDC was explaining the over-hyped virus, how he wasn’t even wearing a mask and it’s a shame Drs at the clinic were too afraid to handle it, and how I should calm down, not worry too much, when I was actually smiling and laughing, the maid’s tests were done, she was cleared to go with just some medicine prescription. But when she took the yellow hospital dress she was wearing off, the other Dr in the room was pissed off and wanted her to take it inside the infected clothes room, as he did not want to handle it him self. I laughed here saying “Well here you go. Here is a Dr in your room and he’s not willing to handle it!”

The poor girl was dying when we went into the car, looking for old bottles of water under the seats from thirst. Luckily there were open restaurants just nearby to grab her a quick bite and go home. By the time we reached, it was about 1 AM already. That’s more than 5 hours of going back and forth, arguing and debating about what should be the clinic’s job.

It was an awkward, action-filled night. I did have my laughs really, but I also grew some worries. Shall a real case come, or should a person be suspicious of the disease, what should he do? Where should he go? Last night raised several questions, and made several facts clear:

1- There is absolutely no medical staff training, education or any real precaution measures to the new virus in Kuwait.

2- Kuwait demands any new comer to do the Swine Flu check within 72 hours, or face 50 KD fine and/or 1 month of jail time. Yet, there is no procedure at all for this Swine Flu check. All the clinic knows about the disease is to test body temperature, which is not an adequate measure.

3- The clinics and HDC are not in real full understanding and agreement about the cases that needs to be sent, and the protocol followed to accept the case.

4- It would seem this whole Swine Flu check is just to show the public Ministry of Health really did take their measures, but they did not.

5- You can’t race an ambulance car!

This early morning the clinic called again to check on the case updates. I couldn’t really care to tell a lot about the case but that it was over.

NBK Secret Question…

Bashar — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:55:03 +0000

So I found by chance 2 weeks ago I have a new NBK card issued from last December, and then later on I knew I only have till end of March to collect it. After collecting the new card I know have the problem of NBK Online using card number as the login, and now it’s changed. Why didn’t NBK think of that before, and why didn’t they listen to people’s comments? From the English interface I tried both the new and old card. After going through the image, phrase, and question verifications, or setting them for the new one, I always end up with error and message to call 1801801. What’s the problem with that? I literally had the phone on and was on hold for over an hour, nobody was answering. I kinda knew no one would, but wanted to set it for the record :).

During the hour I was begging for help here and there, and someone told me the Arabic interface of NBK Online is actually more than just a flipped version, but is completely behind in the authentication process, before the annoying questions, and has a link for Reset Password. So much for usability and most secured bank in the middle-east! So I go there, login fails with message that I did not use my card online for two months. HINT: It’s 1 week old so yes I didn’t use it for 2 months. Trying to reset password I got the question of “Who was your first teacher?”, I’m almost positive I did not pick that question. Who would remember his first teacher really? Regardless, I tried wrong inputs to get another question, and this is the second question I got:

I call it the secret ink question :). I’m glad I took a photo of it at the time, as after the hour of waiting, NBK phone line was always busy, and I went to the nearest bank where after several attempts, the same reset password from Arabic interface seemed to work without the secret ink question (or the teacher one).

So if you’re having the problem accessing NBK online after getting the new card, try to go the Arabic interface, and then click on the Reset Password link. Hopefully you won’t have to remember your teacher’s name.

Google Kuwait can guess your language mixup

Bashar — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 08:21:27 +0000

Do you ever get this?

When my wife told me Google can autocorrect this for you I said “get outta here”. But then she showed it to me and I realized as someone who just let go the Google Kuwait enforcement, she got this extra feature!

As you type in the wrong language (e.g. Arabic), Google detects it’s all nonsense and tries to find English alternative. If you perform the search I noticed, it does not autocorrect as good as when on main page using the autocompletion correction. So if you find yourself doing that mistake over and over, Google Kuwait might be good for you.

Like it or not, Google Kuwait takes over

Bashar — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 17:26:16 +0000

To my surprise today, it seems the despite all our hatred against it, Google’s inforcement plan of Google.com.kw over all Kuwaiti users have worked out pretty well and in such a short time.

I was wondering before how many people used Google.com.sa, but now after living the experience, I can understand it all. I hope people are really using it out of choice and not ignorance. I just hate pushing it for them.

The Cisco Teleprecense Effect

Bashar — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 08:08:05 +0000

As I was talking to my inlaw yesterday about the Cisco Teleprecense, and as I was joking about it, I realized it’s seriously bringing a whole new dimension of problems to Kuwait. Imagine this. Every holiday season big fights arise about banning celebrities from coming to Kuwait. Kuwait has authority to ban them from coming. But what if I use Teleprecense for virtual live show? Now the singer technically didn’t come to Kuwait, so what are you going to do about it?

But let’s be frank here, no matter how good, people like to see celebrities in flesh and blood. There is however another thing similar and more serious. Some popular Islamic figure have caused recently big debates about coming to Kuwait, and how they should be banned. Away from politics and religion, now what if those banned people start giving their Islamic lectures through this teleprecense, and there is no law against it. There is no law that says you cannot download and listen to this lecture, and this is just a very advanced video version of it.

New laws need to be in place that controls and governs those areas, and clarifies them. I’m not suggesting here to ban or fight this wonderful technology, not at all. But such new game changing technologies should have clear laws governing them, otherwise we will end up with same Bashar & Jassem jailing story for a comment on their site, as they were mistreated like a published newspaper. Or when it’s too late, MOC will come up with similar law to VoIP, saying this is a crime!

Wataniya eight digit bug not fun anymore

Bashar — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 05:29:19 +0000

The bug of the eight digits with Wataniya came back yesterday, but this time it has evolved into something worse. Not only I couldn’t make a call at the intersection, but I kept calling while going forward to Fahaheel and I got like 5 consecutive “We cannot redirect your call, please add #2 infront of the number and dial again” Ofcourse, I’m calling Batriq @ 1888000, so it’s already changed to new numbering plan. I then got another 5 busy or idle responses, the type that happens when there is coverage problems. The problem started from 2nd Ring Road & Fahaheel intersection, and went on till Cairo St. #35 a Fahaheel Road. Such a long way to call it a cell handover problem isn’t it? Unless ofcourse if the edge of the cells run all along this Fahaheel Road area, which would be simply bad design and/or worse installation and configuration.

I wonder what happened to the guy roaming the world over the red carpet really :)

How to force Google.com on Google Chrome

Bashar — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 14:52:56 +0000

This is a follow up to the disappointing first fix to enforce Google.com as default search engine. While it have worked for few days on all browsers, today and all of a sudden, Google Chrome bar default searches took me back to Google.com.kw. I don’t want you for God’s sake! Do I need to give away my nationality for a decent Google.com search?

Luckily, I have quickly found another way. To do so, click on the spanner icon in the top right corner of Google Chrome. and select Options.

Then, under Basics tab, click on Manage from Default search:

If you see an item here with keyword Google.com.kw, remove it. It would probably have (Default) beside it, indicating it’s the default address bar search engine. Now look for another existing Google entry, or Add a new one if no one exist. In my case, I found and edited this Google entry:

Alter they keyword here to your likings, and the URL to whats shown in the image: “http://www.google.com/search?q=%s”

Click OK when done, select the engine you just edited and click on the Make Default button on right side of the pop-up screen. Close, Close and you should be done :)

Hope that’s the last of it.

How to Switch Back to Google.com from your local domain one?

Bashar — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 13:27:19 +0000

For the people so much annoyed with Google forcing them to go to their local domain version, e.g. Google.com.kw or what ever your region is, this is how to switch back to normal Google.com as your default search. Simply go to your local Google home page, e.g. Google.com.kw, and then click on Google.com in English.

NOTE: At time of Google.com.kw launch, this same solution did not use to work as it should. It would take you back then to Google.com, but if you use the browser default Google search engine you would land again on .KW domain. Next day, it was working properly. So I’m not sure if this same link works the same way on domains other than .KW. Let me know how it goes with you.

UPDATE: Bad news. Google.com.kw is enforced on me back again and I assume many others when searching using Chrome Address Bar. Same trick does not work. Firefox Google Search Engine and address bar both dont have the same problem. Looks like we’re gonna need a hack for it ;/. Thank you Google for not doing evil. Thank you.

UPDATE 2: I have tried to contact Google Chrome feedback for reporting this behavior. Not the best place, but it is a place that they will read at least.

UPDATE 3: I found the solution for Chrome Google Default Search. You can read it here.

Can we trust 6alabat.com?

Bashar — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 06:48:40 +0000

I was really surprised to see this “Signup Now. Your information will be confidential” box as I was browsing the 6alabat.com page, as I still recall the day they sold us out for spam.

So I thought maybe that’s my mistake I didn’t read their privacy policy clearly. I went on to their Privacy Policy page, and at the bottom of the page, under Usage of Information you find this:

So part of the administrative purposes is sending us those emails I presume:

Or was it a judgmental order back then? I’m confused!

Thank you, but no thank you. I have made my mind back then. No more 6alabat for me.

Google Kuwait not forced anymore?

Bashar — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 07:13:20 +0000

Following yesterday’s sudden launch and pushing of Google.com.kw on all Kuwait, there was a big strong reactions against it. It turns out most people hated to be forced for Google.com.kw, as they lose some the gadget search it seems along with some other stuff, and what they hated more was the Arabic interface. I’m not sure if it’s something I did, but the force of Google Kuwait is gone for me.

Are you still being forced to it?

What are the opening hours of viva.com.kw?

Bashar — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 12:47:28 +0000

Dear VIVA,

I have came across the news you are starting real operation on Dec 3rd, which is a great news when many people seem to be complaining about existing telecom operators’ unreliable coverage. Hopefully your firm can raise up the standards in the market.

I am trying to reach your site now as I did several times before, however this is what I get

Which made me wonder about your regular site working hours. Would you be so kind to include them in your next massive public ad campaign so that we can see what you have?

Kind Regards,

Bashar

P.S.: Somehow I don’t see the coverage problems going

Eighth Digit Revisited

Bashar — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 12:21:47 +0000

So I didn’t wait for next week to re-do the test of the Eightg Digit Curse. Nothing better to do in weekend right! :). The result however was contrary to last time. I called 3 consecutive times, twice at stationary (remember physics?), and then once while driving. What was different? Could it be under heavy load at night, as I usually call at night, and this time it was Saturday morning? Maybe. This will have to wait until next week :)

The one thing I’m sure of now is, I remember I frequently faced similar problem before calling Batriq from the same area and time.

The Curse of the Eighth Digit

Bashar — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 06:07:47 +0000

You would think after all this time the chaos of the eighth digit is gone, at least from the telecom companies side. Perhaps some people still got unchanged numbers, but that’s normal. Yesterday however while I was going to order my regular thursday night Batriq meal, I called “1888000″ Wataniya line only to get a message saying “you can’t reach this number, and you must add 2 to it”! I look at the number again and figure, they must’ve done something like this

if ( number.length() == 7 && isMocNumber(number)) {

add2Prefix();

}

Immediately after I left the 2nd Ring Road traffic light intersection with Fahaheel road away from the city, a second call made it. Hmm… Is it just by accident, or it the specific cell I was in? Maybe I will try again next week :D

Do you get such problems up till now?

Spam Does Not Pay

Bashar — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 14:59:42 +0000

So there I was, angry while waiting for the late company delivery when I received an Arabic SMS from sender Message. My smart phone is not smart enough to read Arabic yet (I’m too lazy to reformat it in other words), so I just saw the number in the SMS and called it from a phone line:

Me: Hello

Him: Hi

Me: Did you just send me SMS?

Him: Yes.

Me: Well! What is it? (forgot I was supposed to already know the message content, thinking this might be a friend)

Him: Yeah we do web site design if you like.

Me: (Man you so much got the wrong guy at the wrong time)

No Thank you.

Him: OK.

Me: (Not gonna let it go easy) Where did you get my number from?

Him: Oh we just send bulk SMS to all numbers

Me: Ohh… so you just disturb everyone in case some few people are interested?

Him: Well, some people are interested.

Me: Well, there are newspaper designed for ads you know?

Him: Yes.

Me: So you can use them.

Him: Yes, sorry for bothering.

Me: OK.

(I Hang Up)

To his credit, he was more decent than I thought over the phone, he took my harsh message well. However those people just don’t realize bothering thousands of people to target tens is a lot of disturbance. It drives people away rather than gets them, and website design is not like something you go searching for. Such services are all over the area.

I do not blame those spammers however. And neither do I blame the telecom companies in the first place. Their job is to maximize revenue in any way possible. If you were a manager, what would you do? The only one to blame is MOC over all of this, for taking it too easy, and not criminilizing any of those SMS Spam practices, keeping completely shut about them.

On the other hand, I was looking today at an official paper that should be signed by the ministry to clear out from the customs any routers, switches, or devices that might have to do anything with VoIP technology. It should testify not to use it for any illegal (though human beneficial) way, such as making VoIP international calls (all that MOC cares about).

I think in our 21st Century, the new slogan should be “Spam Does Not Pay”. At least, it doesn’t do as good as crime does it?

Aramex, your chance to earn customers trust

Bashar — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 09:56:48 +0000

July 1st, 2008

“Dear Valued Customer,

Thank you for using our SHOP&SHIP service. Our aim is to continuously enhance your shopping experience with us.

Aramex has found it necessary to increase the SHOP&SHIP rates to offset the increase in fuel price and operating costs. Effective July 1^st 2008, our new rates will be as follows:

First ½ kg K.D. 3.000

Each additional ½ kg K.D. 2.500

We appreciate your understanding as this situation is completely outside the scope of our direct control since fuel represents a significant variable cost in the provision of transportation services.

We want to assure you that our most important objective is to continue providing you with quality transportation services that meet your needs effectively. Our customer service teams are ready to answer any query you may have concerning the rate increase or any of our services.

Sincerely,

SHOP&SHIP Customer Service Team”

Nov 16, 2008

At over $140, Aramex raised their prices because of oil price, and we could understand it back then. Now with the oil price at around $50, half what the price was at begin of this year, Aramex has the chance to earn customer’s trust back and revert back to normal prices.

Are they gonna take that chance?

Gulf Bank Ran Out Of Cash!

Bashar — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:59:23 +0000

Without a close followup on the news, I’ve been hearing quite a lot about banks going bankrupt in Kuwait, and how only two or three will manage to stand up. Gulf Bank was the first to shout ou loud “We Are Sinking!”, something which forced th Central Bank of Kuwait to freeze Gulf Bank stock from trading, and I guess opening the door for more similar cases, and perhaps increasing demand for the close of whole stock market, which is something completely out of logic if you ask me. This is the market, you know the rules, you know the risks. At least, you should’ve known before you go into it. Don’t try to change the rules during the game.

So anyways, I read yesterday Central Bank is issuing guarantees to cover up bank losses, in an attempt to calm down people who are rushing to take out all their money. Regardless of this guarantees I say, if a bank is not capable enough of staying in business, they should step a side and make room for others. That same bank offered me 50 times my salary loan one year back. Tells the whole story doesn’t it?

A relative of mine went today to Gulf Bank to withdraw some money, and the bank said we don’t have money. You should’ve come earlier! Now that’s more than a good enough reason to pull my money out permanently, and it’s no rumors anymore. The bank is not capabale of giving back people’s money. Either that, or they are trying to trick people into it. At all rates, a bank at these conditions should not be running such type of ads:

Ironically, those type of ads are still running online.

Give Kuwait Movies “One More Chance”

Bashar — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:02:30 +0000

I have sworn before times and times not to go to any Arabic or Indian movie. It’s just not my taste. Couple of weeks back however, I got an email from a friend with a link for an upcoming Kuwaiti movie in cinema called “One More Chance”, aka OMC. When I asked, he told me he was the producer of the film. Knowing how smart and multi-talented he is made me pause and have a second thought. First I was shocked as this production business came out of nowhere, and second I was considering for the first time going to a Kuwaiti movie. So I read the synopsis saying “Meshaal, the investigation officer, investigates the murder of his best friend Alaa the programmer. “One More Chance” is a Kuwaiti action comedy movie.” This is when I decided, it’s time to break my vows, and that I did.

OMC is an action-comedy short 1-hour movie that turned out to be fun, and brings new ideas and ways of thinking to the Kuwaiti movie industry I believe. It brings a promise of possible good things to come. The beginning of the movie, the intro, is one thing that will raise expectations so high it was the best part of the movie. It was done Hollywood FBI or hacking movie styles, something I have never seen done before in Kuwait. The remain of the movie however goes below the intro level, and the way the story was quickly wrapped up and ended will leave you in disappointment after the strong intro scene.

Comic scenes were partly fun, though actors could do better as comedians in action movies. You get the feeling sometimes they are hesitating to tell the joke or something. There is one scene however I bet most people would blast at as we did. Action scenes were sadly the worst. They are Indian styles, and poorly directed Indian styles. Shooting scenes were never also fully completed. Bullet is fired, but you can only try to guess where it went. I will get to why is that in a minute. Camera angles were in many occassions wisely chosen, unlike regular stuff we see in Kuwait which is just Point & Shoot. Also, some environment shots help give the viewer a feeling of the environment, which is another thing overlooked usually. Transition between the scenes is not managed professionally I have to say, as you can tell when a cut and new shot was made pretty easily. Music was in some scenes classic and quite out of focus, irrelated to the scene.

The character of the investigator was completely missing as my friend called it. You can’t tell if he is top-detective, comedian, lame, or anything else. There is just no single character for him.

One thing that was pretty smart is the trick or puzzle if you wanna call it at the beginning of the movie that was resolved at the end. This type of mystery and puzzle solving, though not very complicated, is something we don’t see in Kuwait. Everything is pretty straight forward, you are never surprised or shocked at some point. This movie gave you the Aha! moment at the end.

Another thing I liked about the movie is how they didn’t include any hot girls to attract audience. Instead, they tried to depend on the story and movie content itself. I pretty much hate the over-use of girls as the main purpose of the movie. Love is not everything. You can do a great movie without it. 12 Angry Men should be a perfect example right? Also, no girls most likely means to censored scenes ;)

Actors:

Not being a high budget meant deending on so many new and amature faces, trying movie thing for the first time. Some have shown promises, others need a lot more to work on. For me, Bin Salem was the best actor in the movie. What do you think?

What this movie Isn’t:

I agreed to go to the movie with the promise I will get an hour or two with the producer to hammer him with my review. He genuily accepted it, and that I did. I gave him the long list, chatted about the movie production and his role in it. Once you know the full details, you should know not to raise your expectations so high of the movie. First, the movie was never intended to be a real movie, but rather a short testimonial and rehearsal one instead as a proof of concept, and it was shot with very low budget, and used many voluntairly efforts. Heck the whole movie was shot using one single camera! Thus, some incompleted action scenes were overlooked. You can’t ask for much when you’re not giving anything right? This is why some bullets scenes are missing!

The fact that the movie got good impressions and motivation persuaded them to push it to the big screen. It was too late to go back and finish the incompleted scenes however. It was basically tough luck, so don’t go to the movie expecting a full real movie, but rather a short one that might be fun, and shows you a potential attempt, and a promise of possible good things to come.

As a matter of fact the producer was saying “Bashar, I am glad you are reviewing it as a movie. This was made for us as a practice only, and if there is going to be next movie it will definitely be much better prepared for”.

Another thing is, I highly doubt this movie will suit females. It seems like a pure male targeted one. Action, and IT.

Geeky Takes [WARNING: SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!]:

Being an IT person the producer said you have to see it. I did, but that comes at a cost. I will expect high IT stuff from it, just like AntiTrust. So here goes the list of Geeky Takes

Intro movie was, again, great and gave feeling of IT upcoming events.
Spyware Definition: First of all, Spyware is not so much a techy catchy thing to show off with. If you wanna show off with techy stuff, pick a more deep topic. Second and most importantly, the definition was wrong or at least incomplete. Spyware is a software that normally installs without the user awareness, that’s right. But most importantly, a spyware is a software that collects information about your computer usage and transmits it to other parties without your approval, which was missing from the definition.
What is the program about? They say it’s program for secure communication between police and investigators, however that does not make it a Spyware right? Apparently, no one really knows what the program really does.
The programmer, Alaa, used Mac to program a client based app, which was later ran on Windows laptops. While you could argue Mac was running dual boot systems, that thing was apparently not accounted for.
The programmer Alaa was too much decent looking, his desk was completely clean from any papers. No empty pepsi cans, no cold pizzas lying around. It just didn’t give the feeling of hard-core geek.
No single command line shown! Boo-Hoo!
The program did not give the feeling of being a security communication program, and it seemed to look different from begin than from the end of the movie.
Programmers don’t use mouse! At least not so often.
The identity program was kinda neat one, how it scans through identities to find the right person.
When the gang steals the program, they do the old Delete Files trick rather than steal the laptop with it’s source code, or at least shoot the MacBook to death. Apparently, no one was welling to sacrifice his MacBook for the sake of the movie. I wouldn’t :)

While the above list might seem a bit rough, I wrote every single point with the hope it will help enhanced future productions, and I really wish them all the best luck.

[END OF SPOILERS!]

Give them your feedback

The movie producer was really open and encouraging to all sorts of feedback he could get. So please, let him have it. Give it to him here in the comments. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, it’s still shown in cinemas for one more week. You still have One More Chance!

Movie Site: http://www.abdalmovies.com

MOC Totally Screws Up With The 8 Digits Migration

Bashar — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 17:30:10 +0000

Tomorrow is the final date for migration to the eight digits numbering plan, and as per the schedule set by the Minisrty of Communications (MOC) them selves, MOC gets to do the migration at last. Nevertheless, MOC have stated several times since summer there are totally ready for this migration, and it’s just a matter of public awareness that is delaying the launch.

Now, you may call this an incident, but the details strongly suggests against it. Today, my home phone kept ringing almost every minute, when almost no one knows this number, as it’s only there for internet access to be honest. Everytime I pick the phone I get strange outcome. Once, it connected me to the Clock number 113. How come? I thought first it’s a prank. Then a second call, when I pick up, it rings as if I was calling. Third and fourth time. It kept going on. Last time there was an old lady at the other side of the phone, and clearly she didn’t know what’s going on. When she heard me on the phone, it appeared she had dialed the wrong number.

Prank? Unlikely with this variety of people I talked to. Coincidental problem? Very improbable at this rate. But at all rates, I will not just fire a conclusion.

Soon after, I get this message shouting loud and clear, 777 Emergency Hotline will not be available through MOC, and you must use your mobile operator to call them:

Now isn’t that an emergency hotline, and like the most important number of them all? Wasn’t MOC ready for this since summer as they claimed? And how could you rely on a mobile operator in case of emergencies? I know it usually does the purpose, but what if it doesn’t?

So anyways, later today I try to call from my land line my parent’s house. First I got IVR very unprofessional noisy Kuwaiti message that I think was about the move to new plan. It soon broke up. (Again, MOC was ready for this). Everytime I call I get an error, regardless if I try 7 or 8 digits.

Fare enough, I said. Being a technical I know those things happen during migration. But why didn’t they do it at late night I wonder? Those delivery restaurants must be really pissed off. So anyways, I wasn’t expecting any better. I called using my mobile phone, only to hear Arabic message saying: “Sorry, due to excess load on the network, we cannot take your call. Please try again later”

Hey… wasn’t I supposed to use my mobile phone for emergencies? I thought I am exaggerating with my example, but it didn’t last long to prove, Murphy’s law never fails you.

Great job MOC. Well done. You had written the rules all by your self, forced mobile operators to raise the funding for this migration, and then you totally screw up.

UPDATE (6:30 AM): I still can’t call 6 digits number from land lines, and guess what. Same time NBK Online Credit Card system is not working. But that’s no coincidence, NBK has a monthly regular downtime for their credit cards :(.

MOC: ISPs should protect Kuwaiti websites?

Bashar — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 09:38:52 +0000

Ministry of Communications representative in Kuwait have made an official weird announcement following several hacks on Kuwaiti websites, stating that the ministry and it’s governmental sites are not ready against hackers attacks (invitation for hackers), and then went on to explain why they are not ready, and why they can’t protect the banks and other corporation sites in Kuwait. He concluded finally by diagnosing the problem somehow as the fault of the ISPs! Saying they should work harder, and invest in providing security mechanisms for those sites!

Correct me if I’m wrong, but what does an ISP have to do with securing someone else’s website? If my site is vulnerable for SQL Injection, how is that the fault of the ISP. If my site has weak or blank passwords, if I am not patching my server with latest updates, or if my server has so many open ports inviting hackers to come in. What part of this actually relates to the ISPs?

It seems MOC was too scared of being hacked and blamed, having no clue about website security, and the actual role of the ISPs, they go on and point fingers to their “Usual Suspect”. The ISPs.

Well then, since it’s a matter of banks security, I guess that makes YouTube second priority to ISPs and MOC. Go figure protecting our sites :). Meanwhile, we will set our passwords to blank, since it’s your responsibility.

We are one shaky country

Bashar — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 09:17:34 +0000

Kuwait is an oil filthy rich country, and that’s pretty much all about it. Every week I read about a 5 year plan to change the face of the country, and make Kuwait a worldwide business centre. We read about big millions and billions being assigned for such projects, those projects we never hear or see later. I tend to avoid getting into those things, as they ruin my mood, and raise my blood pressure. The problem comes when these silly thigs I try to avoid come in my way. Or our way should I say. Our way of life.

Every day, we use YouTube to watch the news, soccer goals, Islamic lectures, technical presentations, visual tutorials for How To stuff that otherwise are difficult to explain with words, my kid loves it for watching cartoons and I use it to encourage him with educational kids shows. All of that and more. Such a service has made YouTube part of our lives, and a life changer as well.

And then, one day a guy got an email with links to some videos he didn’t like. That man happens to be in a vital position for deciding what’s right and what’s wrong. Driven wih Islamic motives, and taking the prides of a nation on his shoulders, that guy fires up a direct letter to all ISPs to block this whole service, the good and bad of it. We suddenly read about it in the newspapers, YouTube is being blocked. The order gets canceled by the minister, as it was not signed from him, and the individual effort bypassing all authorities goes unpunished. Not only that, but perliment members have adapted the story, backing this individual, and are demanding from the ministry of communications to devote time, effort, and money to fight those videos. When people are celebrating the Ramadan Eid, the perliment members have made it their top priority on the schedules after Eid already to demand an act on those videos, and have expanded their demands to reach other sites as well, or else, they will put the minister for interrogations.

The next day we hear, the ISPs are receiving letters from the ministry of communcations, which are really nothing more than individual efforts by normal people surfing the net, sending partial links to YouTube, and other offensive partial site links, such as Flickr and others, and the ministry does nothing more than stamping and forwarding them to all ISPs for implementation! To make the matter worse, the minister of communications makes an official statement that they are forming an official committe to unite their vision and statement, then start arranging with Gulf countries, then reach out for the whole Arabic and Islamic world for one big united move against the offensive bunch of videos.

Wooho… We have never seen or heard of such Islamic real uniting, and when was the last time we saw the minister really active and caring? Only when it comes to ministry money, or his chair. I wonder how dare we speak of country opening up for western world, and becoming a worldwide business centre, when few bunch of people on the other side of the world are able to manipulate our priorities, and shake our stabilities and focus, by simply uploading few silly videos.

What message are we really giving back to them? That we are weak and easily shaken country, or as a matter of fact, whole region. And what will happen if we block YouTube and other sites? Guess what, those offensive content will keep coming, and will increase as a matter of fact. People who want to use YouTube and the like will find ways around it, and those who don’t will not know about it, just as if they are looking the other way, and they will not be able to request for those videos to be removed from YouTube anymore. since they don’t know it exists. So blocking is just a fake pretending this problem doesn’t exist, and trying to disbelief the problem will always be there, you cannot stop it.

Did anyone of those demanding fight for offensive videos try to report the video as offensive to the concerned people, YouTube them selves? I have. And so have many others who are as caring and offended by the video, as those people trying to show off. They have a bit more sense of logic though. They try to address the problem, not panic and shout out loud. And guess what, the link I reported got deleted. I even tried to proxy to make sure it’s not only removed from Kuwait, it’s still deleted.

One might think this country is not moving forward, or at least not fast enough. But I believe they’re wrong. We are moving backward full speed and there is no stopping us.

Another Sea Cable Cut At Alexandria

Bashar — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 13:52:22 +0000

My friend told me there is another sea cable cut at Alexandria (Again, Egypt), and that explains the extremely unbearable slow internet today. We’ve got some great days ahead of us.

But there is one good thing from it. YouTube is technically blocked! Hey.. Is that a conspiracy? Or extreme stupidity?

Either ways dark days will come, and it will not be Happy Eid after all

Further to the YouTube Blocking Story

Bashar — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 10:05:52 +0000

Following up on the massive protest yesterday against what seems to be an individual irrational decision, coming from an immature person at the Ministry of Communications, Al-Jarida is providing us more details on the story. My doubts about the letter yesterday turned out to be true. The letter, which seemed very unprofessional sent by a single person, was sent by the head of control department directly to all ISPs for immediate execution, by passing the minister for approval.

The blocking was freezed yesterday for further discussions, which while good, pretty much surprises me even more. First of all, you don’t fire up an official letter to the ISPs and then reconsider. Secondly, if the letter was not signed by the minister, this letter has zero legal value, and belongs to the trash. The person who is on purpose, and still defending his ground, by passing all legal procedures, to block the third largest popular site in Kuwait, from an individual thinking (if that’s what you wanna call it), considering him self probably so smart with this crap, should be punished and blocked from his position, stripped out of all responsibilities, after showing such immature level in his management.

Kuwait is a multi-million nation, and if one small individual unkown person thinks he can run the country as he likes, think again! If you don’t like YouTube, don’t use it. However I am hundred percent positive, when this chaos is over, you could see this very same person using YouTube for his own interest.

Kuwait Blocking YouTube

Bashar — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 12:39:26 +0000

Unfortunately, this letter is not dated, but it was published today and confirmed by ISPs.

Brief Translation to English:

” Subject: Blocking an offensive website to Holy Quran and Holy Prophet

Reference to the above mentioned subject, and in tribute to the book of God and the holy profit, and in compliance to law order # 17 …, which states on banning porn sites and site offensive to the ethics and Islamic regulations, and since there is a site that sings the Holy Quran, God Forbid, and publishes offensive photos of the holy prophet by searching for “Quran singed and composed” in the below mentioned website, therefore you are requested to act upon and block this site immediately.

1- YouTube.com

“

This is how many Kuwaities started their day. By reading that the site which forms 15% of Kuwaiti traffic, according to one of the ISPs, and the #3 site on all Kuwait traffic according to Alexa, is being blocked, because a minority have published offensive contents. While this is prety rediculous, it’s also pretty much expected. In programming we always say, you give the wrong input, you will get the wrong output. Samething here. You put the wrong person on the job, you get the wrong decisions.

Why do I say that? Is it because I am less of a muslim? Well, maybe I’m not strictly religious, but voting against banning the site comes from various other different reasons:

Referring to YouTube as an offensive site that sings and composes the Holy Quran is a mistake against them. It makes it seem like this is the primary function of the site, they are doing it them selves, and that they are backing i up. Not like it’s few users who might have uploaded this video unnoticed.
Look at the bright side, our Holy Prophet said. When he saw a dead smelly dog, he looked at the white teethes he has, as a lesson to his friends. Now, YouTube is a lot more than a dead smelly dog here. It has millions of videos, some pointless, some fun, and many others are religious that you and your Islamic friends use on day to day basis. A search for Quran by it self brings 244,000 results! Now that seem a lot for an anti-Islamic site to me!
If we hate offensive content to our religion, why do we allow offense on others? What goes around comes around. Our TV, websites, Mosques, and all do show, support, and call for fight against non-muslims, calling them athiests, and our subscription based TV Channels broadcast movies more offensive, making some holy prophets like comedians God Forbid. This is officially estbalished company in Kuwait doing this. Why isn’t there anything to stop it? Local TV is not Ministry of Communicaiton responsibility. Well you can block their site for a start!
I got a email about this subject, saw the video, filed a complain request like any mature person would do to YouTube, and now, if I try to watch the video, this is what I get:
“This video has been removed due to terms of use violation.”
To prove how silly it is if this blocking takes place, at the time of writing this article, searching for Quran Singed and Composed in Arabic would bring zero results! Instead, this is what I got:

If they still wanna move forward, despite that YouTube did really act upon the video, listned to people complains, and there isn’t really any such videos right now, then I have a list of suggestions to push our country furter forward, carefully selected from Alexa top 100 sites in Kuwait:

Google, Yahoo, and MSN Search: The head of search to all evil things. Block them.
Facebook: There are some athiest and anti-Islamic groups. Don’t try to reach them, educate them, or show your thoughts. Just leave the whole site.
Maktoob.com: Arabic online forums, e-marriage could be abused for dating, movies, horoscopes. This is not Islamic is it?
Kooora.com: All about soccer, mostly European soccer where teams show sponsored Beer and wine ads on their Shirts.
RapidShare: Sharing is not monitored, you can’t tell what your people are sharing. And someone might be secretly sharing offensive content. There must be some of it. Or at least, just to be on the safe side
Travian.ae: Obiously, why should you let your people play as Romanian soldiers in an online game, helping the Romanian empire expand it’s grounds online, when they could be fighting as Islamic ones.
Hi5: Friendship site.
Blogger: Where everything is possible to post, and where we protest against site blocking.
Microsoft.com: It’s a jewish company! What could be worse? Let’s all use Sakhr computers.
Tagged: Again, has offensive videos section
Wikipedia: Anyone can edit an article about anything. Westerns are controlling the article. Kill it
zShare: Again, uncontrollable private file sharing site
Mozook: Online videos, love banners on main page
4Shared: Private shared videos could go offensive unnoticed
Q8yat: Forum that has Islamic section, umm section for wives and mothers. But hey, there is Halima Boland celebrity in this banner, and then there is a makeup section!
Alwatan: They have a daily comic, and one character is Islami one which they keep making fun of!
bramjnet: Hmm… site is down. We might as well give him a shot of mercy just to make sure
6rb: Songs, no need to check it even
Orkut: Another social site, encouracing opposite sex to meet
Flickr: If Searching reveals offensive photos, this must be one source for them
Piczo: Mix of photos, music, and videos. Contain offensive, so it is offensive
Metacafe: Has offensive videos as well. Ohh yes, it’s good for soccer goals as well, but still
Photobucket: Photo sharing again
ImageShack: Photo sharing. We already established this is bad enough
Koutbo6: Hmmm… challenging. There is this banner at the top for Eid movies. Those movies has girls in them, and those girls are not respecting our ethics. I don’t think this site is good for Muslims after all
NBK: Reba! non-Islamic loans promoted, and some girl pictures show up. Ohh, and it hurts KFH business also. So block it
SweetIM: Hmm.. nothing infront, but people use those emoticon icons to chat with opposite sex maybe. Let’s not make harsh decisions, we’ll look into it later
Amazon: You can buy EVERYTHING. Everything is certainly not good.
Jeeran: Online community to corrupt arab society
MediaFire: File sharing. Could share harmful files unnoticed
HawaaWorld: It’s an Islamic name, Islamic site, some Islamic hints. Seems good. But they have a makeup section. Na’h. Sorry, not allowed
KFH: If the internet was only KFH! Allow
OzQ8: Songs. Block
KNCC.com: Just censor movies, just ban them. (Didn’t they change their brand to Cinescape. KNCC is still higher in rank :))
Google Syndication: The Google ads, all evil Google ads come from here.
Kuwait25: Chat, songs. Anti-Islamic
Jazeera Airways: Are you sure they don’t show any bad movies on the flight? What about their waitresses? Maybe they are hot. Take test flight then decide
IMDB: Database of Hollywood movies, photos, info and all. Extremely bad
Google.com.sa: Even Google Suadi Arabia is not porn FREE! Block it
Kuwait Stock Exchange: OK, this is gonna make me on wanted list. But they do trade in companies that run non-Islamic investments. Telecom do sell songs, make draws, bring celebrities and all. This is a door to ivnest in wrong companies. I say we block it
DailyMotion: Hey, you forgot that one also. Like YouTube
WordPress: What people use to create their own blog. BAD BAD
VIP600: Videos. Celebrity Videos. Wrong
Friendster: Make friendship with opposite sex and western world. Never!
DVD4Arab: Has DVDs and songs section
Al-Qabas: They have movies and arts section. Why? Encouraging people to watch those movies.
MySpace: Again, online social sites
Q8Car: There you go. 2 whole sites now open to browse. Just make sure you don’t buy Jewish cars please
Arabiclub: Well, players are not wearing Islamic shorts. Offensive I guess
StarTimes: Seems a bit Islamic. But there is a games section, and we are forming a committe for game censorship. So we can’t allow others to speak about games. Block. Sorry
ArabEyes: Love SMS, fashion, movies. How did we miss you before?
jsoftj: softwares. Banner for Islamic songs. OK. But a girl is singing those songs. How anti-Islamic. Ban
Wataniya: Well, they do have those celebrity photos and videos. Evil
6arab: name says it all
Qadsiya Fans: If your shorts were only a bit longer. Ban
Qualitynet: The door to all those problems. Let’s just close them down
0zz0: File sharing. Banner for Mesyar marriage. What the…? Sorry, I thought we are cleaning net not making it worse. Ban
Kuwait777: Full of women photos. Ane besides, 777 is a registered trademark ;)
Ahram.org.eg: They require authentication! They must be hiding something from us. Ban
Kuwait University: We are still not happy with separated classes, mixed college. Also, you can search for women teacher phone numbers there. Ban until they are completely separated.
Fastelco: What’s that lady doing at your main site? And this is also another door to all corruption out there. Force them to block their sites, and then close them down
Zain: Zain is a wonderful world as the claim, distracting people from the immortal life after death. They should know better
Alrai Media: Their Ramadan contest is offensive (and silly if you ask me!). Block it
Ministry of Education: Well, they do teach music in Schools. Also, the site will list all wome schools, making it tempting to go after girls
BBC: If we blok YouTube, they talk about us. Let’s block them so we don’t hear them
te3p: Bluetooth, clips, photos. Disqualified
itrackit: Directory listing error. We don’t need you anyways
Clicksor: Uncensored Ads. Ban
Saatchi Gallery: You could fine some naked lady arts drawn on walls. Ban
Masrawy: Their comics are offensive to Islamic culture and ethics. Shows badly dressed women
Ask.com: I searched for “Is Islam Good?” and it gave me anti-Islamic results :(. Ban and sue them
ValueClick Media: Another uncensored ad site. Block
Ministry of Interior: Not block. ENJOY :). I suggest introducing extra charge for internet users wh want to use this site as extra feature
CNET Downloads: You can download offensive games from here
Salmiya.net: Place for song downloads. Block please
Islamweb: There, satisfying all needs. Not blocked.
Galdiatus: Not only half-naked warriors, but you can visually interact with opposite sex in the virtual world. If she wers hejab OK, otherwise welcome to the naughty list
GameSpot: Didin’t we already say no game sites?
Islamway: Approved. This is getting too useful. Maybe internet is not so bad after all. We should riase our prices
Rediff: Indian actors and celebs, vidoes as well. Not good. Not good at all
Gamezer: It basically allows you to play games against the opposite sex? BLOCK
My Ege: Islamic clips. But also, movie and game trailers, clips. Block
Lakii: This is a very nice site for women. My wife gets recipes from it all the time. But what’s with the beauty crap section? Block. No, I don’t need to check it first
Z7mh: movies, celebrities, mixed forums. Blocked
Adobe: This is basically a software, that could eventually allow you to open harmful documents. I don’t feel like giving it to the naive public. I vote block it
United Networks: Another portal to the world of offensive content. Block it
al-wlid: Forum directory, listing Hanan Dashti Makeup bride photos. Block
m5zn: Private file sharing again! Banner for lover forums. Block
Alazrag: A complete site supporting those above-knee short players. And besides, we don’t want people to know we still have national team or intend ot have one. Block it

Pheww… I hope I’m getting paid for this listing. Ohhh and, you may want to consider blocking my site as well!

Snip out of it I say. If you’re gonna treat a blog like a published book. A writer is responsible for a comment even if he deletes it 5 minutes later. One user can ban #3 website in Kuwait, then just write down laws banning all community driven websites, and in fact all individual sites. Any site must be pre-approved and monitored by the ministry, and the whole internet is basically a directory listing of approved sites. That list shouldn’t wrap so many pages I can tell you that.

I am personally positive this is only a matter of time before the rule is revoked, just like it was with Bahrain few years ago. However the matter still stands. On what basis do individual decisions change the way of life of other thousands. On what basis is the filter being made? Why YouTube? Why not other? Was there a contact to resolve the matter before blocking it? We can’t just go turn into China, if that’s what you want.

Below is a list of other protesting bloggers, and I suggest all of them exchange links to the story tohighlight the issue more. This can’t pass by easily.

Other Protesting Bloggers:

UPDATE: Apparently, the guy who signed off the letter didn’t even take the ministry approval before making this decision.

P.S: I got slashdoted hardly for misspelling a critical word :). Prophet fixed!

Wataniya Migrating to Eight Digits Today

Bashar — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 21:49:32 +0000

I’m not sure if they had newspaper ads or anything else, but this is a short notice. Wataniya sent mass SMS to it’s customers last night informing us they are moving to the eight digits plan today (Friday), and we have to add 6 to all the Wataniya numbers.

If you saw already, there is a converter tool to convert your phone contacts from 7 to the new eight digits numbering plan accordingly. It’s been also updated just recently to allow you to specify which operator you want to convert specifically, to adapt to this gradual migration phase.

I suggest you try the Java version if you can get the latest JRE 1.6, as the Windows version is built on an old release and is causing some compatibility issues. Ofcourse since it’s commercial software, I can’t afford to spend thousands for the sake of this program, and neither I intend to extend my Windows development life cycle. So please, bare it :).

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