Google launched their one-stop shop entertainment store yesterday. It is basically a rebranded Android Market with extra features. You can purchase Android apps, movies, music, and books.

of course Google is still not showing love for us here in Kuwait as we can only access the app store officially.

Google Play

Features

This is one of the most moving videos about the situation in Syria that has been going on for almost a year now.

Youtube

Don’t even think of joking on twitter as 2 British tourists got detained and deported due to a couple of tweets they made.

Leigh Van Bryan tweeted saying that he will “go destroy America”. Destroy, as Van Bryan tried to explain to US officials at LAX, was British slang for partying. But they didn’t seem to buy it.

They were then quizzed for hours, handcuffed and locked up overnight.

According to a report in the Sun the pair were held by armed guards and quizzed for five hours before being handcuffed, put in a van with illegal immigrants and locked up for 12 hours in separate holding cells before being put on a flight back home.

Source

The annual Blizzard conference (Blizzcon) just concluded and this video shows all the major announcement in just about 5 minutes which makes it more convenient than going there myself or watching the live stream.

Blizzcon

We just heard yesterday from Apple the specs of the latest iPhone 4S. Next week its Samsung and Google’s turn to announce the anticipated Nexus Prime/Galaxy, a rumored 4.65″ screen with 720P Super Amoled Plus display And from the teaser video it looks like it will have a curved screen. And by the end of the month Nokia world will be taking place and we should see the first Nokia Windows Mobile Phone device. I hope they don’t reveal something too awesome or that means I’ll be broke this month. That’s not taking into account the Amazon’s Kindle Fire that was announced last week.

Technically Windows 8 is not even in beta yet but who cares as long as it looks this good.

The video shows some basic UI elements and some OS settings in both platforms.

I am loving what was shown of Windows 8 so far and just can’t wait to see more of it.

If you are a PC gamer, you would definitely have heard of Razer before. They produce some high quality PC accessories form mouses and keyboards to gaming headsets.

But they seem to be getting into the PC manufacturing business. After all, HP will be leaving a huge gap with it leaving the consumer PC market. The laptop code named “Razer Blade” is the thinnest 17″ laptop in the market today and packs an impressive spec sheet, 2.8GHz Core i7 CPU and NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M graphics 2GB of GDDR5 VRAM and a 17.3-inch LED 1920 x 1080 display. It also takes a cue from their own “SwitchBlade” concept they revealed at CES. Implementing a LCD trackpad that also can be used as a secondary display for game info and quick shortcuts.

With a price of $2800, just over KD750, I think it is an excellent gaming laptop considering that 17″ MacBook pros start at $2500/KD700 almost.

Mr. Infinite Driver/NegativeEffect (you know, the guy behind the awesome GulfRun videos) is holding a competition where the prize is the minimalistic John’s Phone. It’s a really cool phone and the rules are simple:

Rules of the COMPETITION:

1. You must submit a picture of YOUR CURRENT PHONE in an Artistic or Comedic way.
2. The file must JPEG and no more than 1MB.
3. All photos must be submitted before August 31st.
4. The photos will be posted and voted on for the winner.
5. Send your photos to (infinitedriver@gmail.com)

Via ID

Warning: The videos are graphic

In the past few days Twitter/Whatsapp/BBM and every other type of social communication was bombarded with the news that Halima Boland is in the hospital recovering from a Stillbirth. Some people said it was a rumor, other said it was true. Halima talked about it on the air yesterday on Funoon Channel.

During a Sugarland concert in Indiana yesterday. With winds blowing up to 70 mph. The stage just couldn’t take it anymore and simply gave in and collapsed,  killing 5 people in the process until now and injuring 45 others.

Tom Hardy (Bane) and Anne Hathaway (Catwoman) are the latest additions Christopher Nolan’s wonderful trilogy as they join Christian Bale, Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson and Gary Oldman to conclude the saga.

The Amazing Spiderman:

Its a good thing they decided to reboot the series as it lost its way with the 3rd movie. I’m not sure about the cast though, both cast members and the director (Marc Webb – 500 Days of Summer) never tackled something this big before. But I hope they do well.

The Avengers:

Original Video- More videos at TinyPic

There isn’t a good copy out yet as the teaser supposed to show right after Captain America’s end credits. But the movie is looking good. With Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Blackwidow and others making an appearance. Directed by Joss Whedon (Thor)

Argentina:

Goalkeepers: Juan Pablo Carrizo (River Plate), Mariano Andujar (Catania), Sergio Romero (AZ Alkmaar).

Defenders: Ezequiel Garay (Real Madrid), Pablo Zabaleta (Manchester City), Nicolas Burdisso(Roma), Gabriel Milito (Barcelona), Javier Zanetti (Inter Milan), Nicolas Pareja (Spartak Moscow), Marcos Rojo (Spartak Moscow).

Midfielders: Esteban Cambiasso (Inter Milan), Javier Mascherano (Barcelona), Lucas Biglia (Anderlecht), Javier Pastore (Palermo), Ever Banega (Valencia), Fernando Gago (Real Madrid).

Forwards: Sergio Aguero (Atletico de Madrid), Angel Di Maria (Real Madrid), Gonzalo Higuain (Real Madrid), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Carlos Tevez (Manchester City), Ezequiel Lavezzi (Napoli), Diego Milito (Inter Milan).

Brazil:
8-time winners and winners of 4 out of the 5 tournaments are entering the competition as second favorites.

Goalkeepers: Victor (Gremio), Julio Cesar (Inter)

Defenders: Daniel Alves (Barcelona), Maicon (Inter), Andre Santos (Fenerbahce), Adriano (Barcelona), Lucio (Inter), Thiago Silva (Milan), David Luiz (Chelsea) Luisao (Benfica)

Midfielders: Lucas Leiva (Liverpool), Ramires (Chelsea), Sandro (Tottenham), Jadson (Shakhtar Donetsk), Elias (Atletico Madrid), Elano (Santos), Paulo Henrique Ganso (Santos), Lucas Silva (Sao Paulo)

Forwards: Robinho (Milan), Alexandre Pato (Milan), Fred (Fluminense), Neymar (Santos)

One of South America’s most famous football clubs, River Plate, was relegated from Argentina’s top division Sunday for the first time in its 110-year history, sparking riots among supporters.
The relegation play-off against Belgrano of Cordoba had to be abandoned in the final minute of the match in the Argentine capital, as police fought back a pitch invasion by furious River fans.

Source

أصدر ديوان الخدمة المدنية كتابا تم تعميمه على كافة الجهات والهيئات الحكومية، بمناسبة عطلة الإسراء والمعراج، حيث ستكون الإجازة الرسمية في يوم الخميس الموافق 30 يونيو- 29 من رجب 1432، بدلا من يوم الأربعاء والذي يوافق 28 من رجب 1432 هــ، الموافق 29 يونيو.

Link

Homepage

This 24″ display comes with a copy of Resistance 3, a pair of glasses (second set will cost $69) and a HDMI cable. All this for $500.

Specs:

• ARM Cortex A9 core (4 core) CPU
• SGX543MP4+ GPU
• 5″ OLED touchscreen (16:9, 960 x 544)
• 5″ rear touch pad
• Two analog joysticks
• Front and rear cameras
• 3G, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR and GPS
• Six-axis motion sensing system (three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer), Three-axis electronic compass
• Built in GPS (3G/Wi-Fi model only)
• PS Vita card slot
• Memory card slot
• SIM card slot (3G/Wi-Fi model only)
• Multi-use port (for USB data communication, DC IN, Audio [Stereo Out / Mono In], Serial data communication)
• Headset jack

This might be the last dedicated handheld gaming console. So I’m definitely getting one.

Notification:
This one was the most anticipated. Apple revamped the notification system on the iOS. making actually getting a notification more tolerable. Again a “borrowing” the idea from Google’s Android. you can slide down the screen a see all you notification and both the weather and stock widgets (and only widget sadly). Also, notifications will show up on your lockscreen. Making if more than just a glorified clock.

iMessage:
As I said yesterday, this just might be a BBM killer. The device automatically detects every iOS 5 user in your contacts and when you try to message them using the regular messaging app the bubbles switch from the standard green to a blue color indicating the use of iMassage. Apple still haven’t revealed fully how will this service work and will it identify contacts via mobile numbers mobile numbers the way Whatsapp does it or is it just an email account tie in.

Camera:
A few things happened to the photography aspect in iOS 5. for starters you will get a lock screen shortcut for the camera app for those critical moments when you need to access the camera as soon as possible. Also, you will be able to take a photo using the volume button instead of tapping on the screen. Lastly Apple also implemented some minor photo editing features the way iphoto handles editing on the mac. its more than enough for everyday photographer.

Mobile Safari Browser:
Tabbed browsing is long overdue on both iPhone and iPad. It works the same way it does as the desktop version of Safari but its only working on the iPad at the moment not sure if its coming to the iPhone at all. Also Apple added the ability to save long/multiple page articles for later viewing ala “Instapaper”. It also stripes away formatting of the page and convert it to a clean readable interface.

Thumb/Split keyboard is making an appearance. Reminds me of Microsofts Origami Project keyboards back in 2005/2006 and also the one Microsoft showed a few days ago in the Windows 8 video

iOS 5 and iCloud will be available this fall and OS X Lion will be available in July via the Mac Appstore.

• iOS 5
• OS X Lion
• iCloud

What I hope he will announce:

• A revamped notification and widget system for the iOS 5. Something similar to what the Android has.
• A new Airport/Time Capsule. A lot of theories are built upon a new Time Capsule and it getting either an A4 or A5 chip. I was in the process of getting on till I heard those rumors and decided to hold off for a few days.
• Macbook Air i3/i5 upgrade.
• Mac Mini i3/i5 upgrade.
• Apple TV A5 chip upgrade and the ability to run apps.

The other event that is taking place this week is the Electronic Entertainment Exposition (E3 for short). There are a lot of games that I’m looking forward to playing, so I hope I get more info about them:

• Nintendo’s new console
• Uncharted 3
• Gears of War 3
• Bioshock: Infinite
• Infamous 2
• Need for Speed: The Run
• Forza 4
• Skyrim
• Tomb Raider
• Darksiders ii
• Batman: Arkham City
• Silent Hill: Downpour

And a lot more.

]]> http://uptill1.com/2011/06/06/announcements-week/feed/ 2 http://uptill1.com/2011/05/12/android-market-paid-apps-coming-to-kuwait/ http://uptill1.com/2011/05/12/android-market-paid-apps-coming-to-kuwait/#comments Thu, 12 May 2011 18:31:09 +0000 N http://uptill1.com/2011/05/12/android-market-paid-apps-coming-to-kuwait/

Google I/O  just concluded yesterday with a ton of announcement. The one that really caught my attention was that Google is expanding its Android Market to 99 countries. And after going through the list you can see Kuwait listed along with Bahrain and Qatar. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are still missing from the list.

Source

Located in the historic town of Winnetka, this stately red-brick colonial Georgian is dramatically situated on a beautifully landscaped half-acre lot, just blocks from the quaint town-center and magnificent Lake Michigan. Built in the 1920s, this residence is now recognized the world over as the “Home Alone Home,” as it was featured in the popular family movie Home Alone and its first sequel.

Link

During the last weekend. The World Pro 2011 championship was held at Abu Dhabi. The guys from the Sidekick Academy participated in the competition and won 2 Jiu-Jitsu bronze medals. Well done guys.

The funny thing is that Steve Jobs in an interview done way back in 1994 (back when apple were the underdog) said that “We have always been shameless about stealing great ideas”.

Also, LG also complained when the original iPhone was introduced that Apple is is trying to copy the LG Prada. A device that was first announced on December 12, 2006.

A few months ago, Christopher Tin made headlines when his song “Baba Yetu” that was originally written for the game Civilization IV, was nominated for a Grammy. It was the first ever music that was originally written for a game to be nominated.

Earlier this week, Baba Yetu won in the “Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s)” category.  I hope this is just the beginning. as we all know how wonderful gaming music really is.

Source

Sky Sports News understands Rafa Benitez has been sacked from his post as Inter Milan manager after just six months in charge.The former Liverpool boss was only appointed by the Serie A giants in the summer but has failed to impress during his time in Italy.Benitez was handed the unenviable task of following in the footsteps of Jose Mourinho after the former Chelsea chief secured an unprecedented treble of the UEFA Champions League, Serie A and Coppa Italia titles.The 50-year-old has seen his side struggle in league action this season and they are currently seventh in the Serie A standings, 13 points adrift of leaders AC Milan, although they do have two games in hand.

Sky Sports News understands Rafa Benitez has been sacked from his post as Inter Milan manager after just six months in charge.

The former Liverpool boss was only appointed by the Serie A giants in the summer but has failed to impress during his time in Italy.

Benitez was handed the unenviable task of following in the footsteps of Jose Mourinho after the former Chelsea chief secured an unprecedented treble of the UEFA Champions League, Serie A and Coppa Italia titles.

The 50-year-old has seen his side struggle in league action this season and they are currently seventh in the Serie A standings, 13 points adrift of leaders AC Milan, although they do have two games in hand.

Via Skysports

تطرق النائب مسلم البراك إلى أحد الصحف اليومية مطلقا عليها عدة تهم وسباب والتي لها أيضا قناة فضائية فحمل النائب البراك “الميكرفون” الخاص بها مديرا ظهره إلى مقيم الندوة الناشط السياسي خالد الشليمي مستأذنا منه بطردها من الندوة وعلى الفور وافق الشليمي ما حمل البراك لحذف ميكرفون القناة على الأرض أمام مصور ومراسل القناة الكويتية الخاصة.

Via Zoom,Al-Watan

]]> http://uptill1.com/2010/12/21/%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a8%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%83-%d9%8a%d8%b7%d8%b1%d8%af-%d9%82%d9%86%d8%a7%d8%a9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b5%d8%a8%d8%a7%d8%ad/feed/ 2 http://uptill1.com/2010/12/13/it-was-all-for-show-no-donations-received-yet-for-al-azraq/ http://uptill1.com/2010/12/13/it-was-all-for-show-no-donations-received-yet-for-al-azraq/#comments Mon, 13 Dec 2010 06:57:13 +0000 N http://uptill1.com/?p=4858 According to the president of the Kuwait Football Association, Sheikh Talal Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, they are still waiting for the donations that half of the Kuwaiti businesses/business owners pledged to donate to the Kuwaiti national football team after winning the Gulf Cup over a week ago.

Second thoughts??