Kuwait TV & Radio on the Internet

I came across this by chance.I remember checking up on this over the past couple of years but the Ministry of Information site was never that updated nor was it that user friendly. But I am really impressed that they have kept it simple and functioning.I am now able to watch Kuwait Television channels and also listen to the Kuwait Radio channels on the internet. I always wanted to get an access to it when I was abroad. You can check the site for yourself CLICK HERE for access to the KTV 2 Channel and browse through to it. For listening to the Super Station FM 99.7 Radio Kuwait (RKFM) just click on the link. I grew up in Kuwait watching KTV 2 and listening to FM99.7. Definitely enjoyed watching KTV 3 Sports when WWF used to come - now they call it WWE. But still I am browsing the WWW.

Marathon... Ultra!!!

I recently got to know that Kuwait Charity Run was going to be part of another Marathon which is going to be held in November 2012. The two categories are 10k and a half-marathon (21k) run. More updated information will be posted on their website, you can access HERE.

Also, Today a tweet from Aymstrong mentioned about the November 2012 Run. They have started registrations for the run with 4 categories:

• 10 K Race
• Half Marathon (21 km)
• Marathon (42 km)
• 100k Ultra (100 km)

The Ultra run would have been a surprise to me around a month back. But with Aymstrong successfully pulling off the 240k run on 25-26th February 2012 during the National and Liberation day from North Kuwait to South Kuwait via the Kuwait Towers at Kuwait City.

Update (27th April 2012) Got more information on the Kuwait Marathon. Official registrations have started and can be done on these websites. Kuwait Marathon Registration Page (Click Here) and the Kuwait Marathon (Aymstrong's) Official Form Page.

Photography Opportunities across Kuwait

It is time to write about, as many photography events are taking place across Kuwait. I thought of compiling most of these events in this one post. Kuwait has a good market for conventional and digital cameras. There are a lot of people who are interested and really enjoy photography as a hobby. I met many of them with amazing set of DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) cameras at the GulfRun event. It was interesting to find a lot of female photographers also. Apart from all the DLSR cameras, people with Smartphones and Compact digital cameras which are nowadays having 3-5 MP and above values. So you can see people clicking away throughout the day.

The Met department (Meteorological Department at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation) of Kuwait is holding a photography contest. The photography contest which will be held as one of the activities celebrating the World Meteorological Day (March 23rd, 2012). The aim of the photography contest is to document the meteorological phenomena occurring in Kuwait and to encourage effective and productive communication between the department and the public. For the rules and regulation, CLICK HERE and the last day for submission is 15th March 2012. People can email there entries. UPDATE (21st March 2012) : The Photos submitted and the list of winners can be viewed by CLICKING HERE.

KUNA (Kuwait News Agency) is also holding a photography contest. The contest last till 4th April 2012 and for the rules and regulation, CLICK HERE. There are three different categories: Snapshot Aesthetic Photos, Journalistic and Sports Photo, Digitally Treated Photos. Interested people can submit their photos in person at their office.

The Blog Expat and the city is celebrating its 2nd Anniversary and is holding a photo contest. CLICK HERE for the rules and regulations. The last date for entry is 16th March 2012. You can email your entries to her. The updates can be received also on twitter and Instagram. UPDATE (21st March 2012) : The Photos submitted can be viewed by CLICKING HERE. 

The Kuwait International Motocross Challenge (posted by Mark248am) being organised by Kuwait Quarter Mile Auto and Motorcycle  Club.This event is taking place on 17th March 2012 at Q8 MX Circuit - Bnaider. Photography enthusiasts will be allowed around the track. I believe this will be another opportunity for photographers. GoPro will be giving away 5 GoPro cameras to the attendees via a raffle draw while Dunkin Donuts will be offering donuts and hot coffee as well.

Kuwait VIDEO: CineFlex Kuwait Video

Came across this video today. It was referred by Mark 248am and Hamad Al-Sabah on twitter. Mark has posted about it on his blog also. The video is made by Cinemagic and they have many more videos on Youtube. They got their hands on a CineFlex (for Aerial Filming) and shot the footage. Here is the Youtube link for the above video. I am really enjoying the amazing kind of coverage I get to see about Kuwait. There are a lot of people in Kuwait who themselves have not seen much of Kuwait. Here is the photo of the Cinemagic's CineFlex.

CineFlex

The CineFlex V14HD is the ultimate gyro-stabilized solution for aerial filming. The Sony HDC-1500R 1080p professional broadcast camera is integrated into the Gimbal (CineFlexV14HD). Below is photo of the CineFlex  camera mounted on a helicopter. It gives us an idea about the scale of the camera.

CLICK HERE to view more video about Kuwait from the Youtube Playlist

Zain Flash Mob - Avenue Mall

A trend that has been growing all around the world over the internet and especially seen on Youtube. Flash Mobs popping up in city after city all around the world. Kuwait shows it is not behind in this trend. The flash mob completely organised by the Telecom Operator Zain kicked off in the largest mall in Kuwait - Avenue Mall. The official video can be seen below or on Youtube which has been uploaded by Zain. Already the video has 2.2 million views in the last 2 weeks. The new video uploaded by Zain is the making of the Zain Flash Mob (Behind the scene) which has been uploaded on 3rd March 2012. Many believe that the making of the flash mob will surpass the official video. Both the videos are shown below. Hope you enjoy as the singing and dancing has Kuwaiti touch to it.

PACI Number Plates

Building PACI number Plate

In the past few months the new PACI (Public Authority for Civil Information) number plates (Establishment Numbers) have started popping up in front of doors all over Kuwait. They have popped up in front of every kind of door that exists in Kuwait. (Sooner or later we might be able to buy a door or two with PACI number plates being sold with it - Humor me). Until now I have seen them put up in two different ways. Next to Apartment doors, they have been putting up stick on plates while in front of the building they are screwed into the pillars of the building. The numbers themselves have not changed at all. They are still the same as they were 15 years back. Only difference is putting up newly designed number plates (similar to the car number plates design change).

Some building number plates start with 9, I was guessing sooner or later somewhere in Kuwait the building number plate will coincide with mobile numbers of someone residing in that building. All the number plates that I have seen till now are 8 digits. That means 99,999,999 (Around 100 million options) The photos below show the new and the old designs. The new plates have a barcode printed at the bottom left. I have no idea about the purpose of that. Thinking about it, I am not sure of the purpose of the PACI number. I do not see them written in our civil identity cards even though we have a whole address mentioned on the back of the card.

Kuwait Finder App Logo (Courtesy to Kuwait PACI)

UPDATE (16th June 2013) : PACI GIS website has kicked in. CLICK HERE. Similarly for Smartphones the applications have been put up. (KUWAIT FINDER APP) For Iphone CLICK HERE. For Android CLICK HERE. Currently in Arabic.

Apartment PACI number plate - NEW

Apartment PACI Number plate - OLD

Hala Feb 2012 ends

Google Doodle for 25th February 2012

Google put up this Doodle on 25th February 2012 for the National Day of Kuwait. Really nice one and this was one of the hot subjects on 25th February on the Internet. For more amazing Google doddles click HERE.

Lot of things took place during Hala February 2012. Be it the Red Bull Car Park Drift to Run 200k event. The Concours d'Elegance took place between 15th-18th February 2012 due to which people got to see an amazing variety of cars - be it vintage, Ferrari, Porsche or even Bikes.

Kuwait Riders held the Bike Show 2012 at Marina Crescent between 15th - 17th February 2012. There are a lot of videos uploaded on Youtube. Here is one video to give an idea of the event. I believe over 325 riders were part of it. Anyways, you can check related video footage posted by the riders themselves on the Youtube related links.

The whole month of February has many other events taking place. Also, offers at the malls and hypermarkets kick in. The Gulf Street (Road No 25) is a place to be to see the festive mood of the people celebrating the National and Liberation day in Kuwait on 25th and 26th February 2012. This year on 25th February since it rained throughout the day, the government had postponed some of the outdoor celebrations to the next Saturday, 3rd March 2012. Since the ban of Foam or Thread Sprays since last year, this year Water Guns (Squirt Gun or Water Blasters) were a popular subject among the kids. I still do not get the idea of being squirted by water in such cold weather.

Kite flying is another event one should look into. There is a group called the Kuwait Kites Team which partakes into this event. There has been a lot of competitions even in Kite flying. The Flag design Kites are popular.

I think I barely scratch the surface on talking about all the events that take place in Kuwait especially during the month of February. Even the internet was buzzing throughout February with event updates, holidays plans, places to be, weather updates, traffic updates and ofcourse reviews of different events. There is always something to do or be at for anyone living in Kuwait

Internet in Kuwait

This has been one topic which I wanted to write about or atleast let people know of. This post is not going to highlight anything new but will summarize some of the things. 2012 brought the number of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) down from 5 to 4 for Wired Connectivity.

• Quality Net
• Fasttelco
• Kems
• Gulfnet

The above 4 companies have been recently given licence by Ministry of Communication (MoC) for a period of two years for a fees of 250,000 KD (Kuwaiti Dinars). Also along with that, the ISPs were asked to reduce the prices by 40% bringing the internet to some tempting prices. This reduction of price was introduced quiet early (mid 2011) but many existing customers did not know about it until the Infoconnect 2012 exhibition held in Jan-Feb 2012. I doubled my speed after paying a small difference with the new price list. The prices list for all the above 4 ISPs are amazingly similar varying only by 1 KD in most cases. People term this as Monopolization. The above wired internet connectivity is still the most economical for people if one has landline.

Wireless Internet connectivity is slightly new to Kuwait but still not that popular as it is not known to many. Here is a blog post which gives you good idea about the Kuwait experience and price list. I really did enjoy Wireless Internet connectivity experience when I was in India, Bangalore. It was newly introduced into India in January 2007 and I became a testing customer. I had a 3 months of unstable up-down connection till the technical team could figure out the in and out of the technology. During that time, I still hanged onto the wired internet. In India, the wireless internet is not that far off in price when comparing to the wired internet connectivity. In Kuwait, the two companies handling this is WiMD and MADA.

The telecom internet companies are Zain, Wataniya and Viva. They are competing against each other for customers in varieties of products from

• Mobile Internet for iphones, blackberrys and other smartphones.
• Single User internet (USB devices)
• Multi User Internet (Routers - Battery operated to standalone routers)

The telecom networks are still going to have a lot of challenge as they keep jumping the speed. Started with 256kbps to 512 kbps to 7.2 mbps to 21.6 mbps. I just hope that the network backbone can hold up as people in Kuwait are hungry for speed. Look into this blog post for a clearer picture.

Kuwait VIDEO: Time Lapse

Interesting Time Lapse Videos have been made in Kuwait and about Kuwait. I came across one video in the second week of January which was uploaded onto youtube by Ali Younis. The other video I just viewed which was uploaded by 92AlHashemi. For now, just give it a view. The video above is 'Kuwait in Motion' by 92AlHashemi (5.26 min) and the video below is 'Kuwait under the clouds' by Ali Younis aka alialiq8 (4.01 min).

CLICK HERE to view more video about Kuwait from the Youtube Playlist