The long rumored “G-Drive” has been eluding us for a few years now but it is finally here. Google is going head-to-head with Dropbox with its Google Drive and here are some of the advantages of using Google’s solution:

• Paid plans are cheaper
• Offers more free space 5GB  (unless you have Dropbox referrals)
• Images and videos uploaded through Google+ do not count against your available space (restrictions apply)
• Document collaboration ala Google Docs
• Supports online viewing for "over 30 file types" including Photoshop, illustrator and HD Video (not sure how the support stacks up to Dropbox)
• Sync appears to be much faster than Dropbox
• Space also applies to other Google products: Gmail & Picasa
• Shared files give you a commenting and chat interface – which is actually more useful than it sounds
• If you happen to be grandfathered into a Google storage plan the prices are DIRT CHEAP.
• Improved search over Dropbox – including OCR recognition of PDFs, etc. This is really nice for eBooks.
• Files can be kept forever even if you stop paying. Stop paying and your files over the free storage limit will remain with read-only access as long as you want them. You could consider it pay once forever hosting.
• File-level app permissions. Apps don’t need access to your entire Dropbox, you can grant them access to a single file.

The service is still not available for everyone, it is slowly rolling out..

Google Drive

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

I was trying to watch yesterdays English Premier League game between Chelsea and Manchester United online via Abu Dhabi’s online offering. Its much more convenient and I wanted to get some things done during the game rather than  just focus what I thought would be a boring clash (boy was I wrong). Plus, I paid almost 20KD for it I might as well use it.

The problem was the service I paid for just didn’t want to work. I stared at the black box for a solid 3-5 minutes before giving up and switching the TV on. This isn’t the first time this has happened to me, it mostly happens during important/big games. It looks like that their servers cant handle the bandwidth required.

I kept the browser pointed at the games stream webpage and it started 8 minutes into the game but that wasn’t the end of it. The game didn’t run smoothly at all and was really stuttery throughout. It played for 15-20 seconds and then hangs for another 20-30 seconds. That wasn’t a fun experience.

The free streaming video that I got from a Russian website on the other hand played without a hitch. Which makes things even more frustrating.

This is going to be the final year I subscribe to the online portion of the EPL via Abu Dhabi. I had the same problem last year but was optimistic and thought they must have fixed what was broken.

If you are one that does a lot of online purchases from a number of retailers, you know that its hard to keep track of all of those receipts and orders.

A cool new website is Slice. What it does is simple but clever, it scans your e-mail for receipts and slowly starts building up your online purchase history. It also has very good search features and filters that helps when looking at your orders. You can also track your shipments directly from the website.

There is also an iPhone app available for free.

Slice

It seems that everybody is joining the online streaming party. After Abu Dhabi Sport made all of the Barclays Premier League matches available online from the beginning of last season, Aljazeera Sport has now the ability to stream all of its 12 channels online.

Not all of the content is available though. As when I was trying to watch last weekends FA Cup matches, I kept getting an error. I hope this gets sorted out and they get the licences for streaming all of their sporting events.

Access is currently free. It was implied that it will be free during November only but it is still free as far as I can tell. There is also an iPad app that make up for iOS’s lack of flash support. But I was able to use AirPlay to watch the game on my TV.

Al-JazeeraSport TV

I was in there store last month when I had my PC problem and saw -in my opinion- the best PC case ever created. The problem was it was the last piece and all scratched up. Also it costs 210KD :s

Blink

I used the website on many occasions. I subscribed saturday before the games but the account activated the next day (or late in the evening the same day not sure) and managed to watch the extra-long highlights of the yesterdays matches which were 45 mins long so you don’t miss a thing.

As for live viewing I watched Chelsea vs West Brom, Liverpool vs Arsenal and Man U vs New Castle all were great. And if you have a the bandwidth for it the quality automatically adjust (ala Netflix) to some very nice looking video.

Whats missing though is the short highlights that has just the goals, they might be there but I haven’t looked thoroughly enough and the ability to change the commentator language, from what I can see at the moment there is no why to do that at the moment.

Abu Dhabi online subscription is highly recommended even if you already have bought the receiver due to its shear and utter awesomeness

After two years of different business ideas, Karkoosha.com came to life. A unique online experience; Karkoosha.com is an online exhibition providing virtual space for exhibitors from all over the world. It is set up into boutiques with different time frames, depending on the exhibitor’s package. Each boutique has its own culture, history, inspirations, trendiness, art, heritage, and popularity. You can find designers that you have already heard about, or new designers that have just opened their doors to show off their unique talents. This experience not only includes fashion; it includes anything you can imagine!

Exhibitions are held on a 2-week to 1-year basis. The services provided to our clients is a process that takes over the displaying, selling, marketing, packaging, and delivery tasks of the exhibitor. All the exhibitor has to do is register online or email us at exhibitors@karkoosha.com. We then contact the exhibitor, arrange a meeting, approve their products, create a photo- shoot of the items, display them on the exhibitors exclusive boutique, sell them to the client, pack the items in our elegant packaging, and finally deliver to the client’s house anywhere in the world as soon as possible.

Since KARKOOSHA will be launching soon, this is what we have to offer to your readers and our interested exhibitors:
Are you a fashion designer, artist, furniture designer, entrepreneur, or publisher?

Do you want to have a boutique online without having to worry about employees, photographers, website designers, marketing, packaging, deliveries, etc.?

www.KARKOOSHA.com is your destination!

KARKOOSHA is an online exhibition providing virtual space for exhibitors from all over the world. It is set up into boutiques; each exhibitor has his/ her own boutique with the time frame they request.

We will be launching the website end of May. If you would like to have your own boutique on KARKOOSHA.com, all you have to do is email us a description of your products at exhibitors@karkoosha.com. We will then take a photo-shoot of the items and create your own boutique. We also take care of marketing, managing sales, packaging, and delivery to the client anywhere in the world as soon as possible.

Life is so much easier with KARKOOSHA!

* First 10 exhibitors will get two additional weeks!

www.karkoosha.com

It is with great pleasure and joy to announce that The House of Etiquette, Kuwait is finally launching!

After over two successful years of effort and industrious training in Europe’s leading internationally certified academy – The Etiquette & Protocol Consultancy and Modular Finishing School Academy of London – UK and a plethora of research in the field of education and etiquette, we are proud to officially announce the launch of The House of Etiquette, Kuwait. The House of Etiquette has spent a generous time planning and forecasting educational strategies to suit our goals and aims, in addition to finding the personal and bespoke needs of our clients based in the Gulf Region. Therefore, our etiquette school is the first in Kuwait specialized to offer children with the grace of elegance and poise … an asset that would last them for a lifetime filled with professional and social success. Not only are children welcome to be a part of our etiquette school … but programs for young adults and adults are available too! Courses for young adults and adults will be launching soon…but courses for children will be offered first!

The House of Etiquette, Kuwait is very proud to state that it has been solely built on two young Kuwaiti ladies – Bibi Al-Ghanim & Ma’ab Al-Qassem. These young ladies have an eternal passion and respect for etiquette – both classical and modern. Both Bibi and Ma’ab not only are certified in the areas of etiquette but in addition, Bibi’s knowledge further derives from her master’s degree in Education Management and Leadership whilst Ma’ab’s corporate educational background and over thirty varied certifications in the corporate realm combine to creating a formula of diversity and achievement. The House of Etiquette presents an admiration for refinement with a unique mission to spreading social grace and sophistication within Kuwait’s society. These young ladies are proud locals who know the cultural codes of the Gulf and are finally ready to share their knowledge with YOU!

Continue reading below for the details of the invitation to our faithful readers. And again best of luck in all their endeavors.

Therefore, we would cordially like to invite you and your guests to join The House of Etiquette, Kuwait at its official opening reception launch on May 3, 2010. Please find attached an invitation requesting the pleasure of your attendance. We truly look forward to having you become a part of The House of Etiquette family.

This invitation is open to every member of the blog and each member of the blog is allowed to bring a guest. May you please RSVP your attendance by e-mail to the following e-mail addresses:

maab@thehouseofetiquette.com and bibi@thehouseofetiquette.com and info@thehouseofetiquette.com

If you are unable to attend (although we truly would like you to) we would highly appreciate if you can post the attached invitation on your blog…we would be delighted to welcome your readers to attend our opening reception.

Thanking you in advance for your support and interest and we hope to see you soon!

Please Note: The House of Etiquette, Kuwait official website http://www.thehouseofetiquette.com will launch on May 3, 2010.

Best Regards,

Bibi I. Al-Ghanim & Ma’ab M. Al-Qassem

The House of Etiquette, Kuwait

Skreemr also provides an embedded Flash player so you can immediately play your search results without downloading the files.

Link

Finally, finished the long promised redesign of the blog. it might have some kinks so feedback would be appreciated.

I really recommend making this your default webpage. So that every time you launch your browser of choice, you will be greeted by this awesome welcome.

Link

I got the image above when I tried to access flickr during my stay in Dubai. I have no idea why would flickr be blocked, it just makes no sense. I thought they just might be religiously strict so I tried to  access a gambling site, and I did.

And just to make sure that I didn’t just access a site that just wasn’t blocked, giving them the benefit of the doubt (even though that the word casino might have been on top of their list) I tried again, with the first Google result for the search “online gambling”.

So if its not religious, what is it?

The happiest website on earth.

Link

“JetBlue 171, contact departure,” the unidentified child told one flight.

“Over to departure, JetBlue 171, awesome job,” a pilot said in response. Then a man’s voice is heard: “That’s what you get, guys, when the kids are out of school.”

If i was flying an aircraft coming in or out of JFK and a child’s voice came over from the control tower,  i think i would be a little worried.

An air traffic controller at New York’s JFK airport has been suspended from work after allowing a child to direct flights in and out of one the world’s busiest airports.  The incident took place on February 17 and an investigation has been opened. The child is also recorded saying “Adios, Amigo” to a Mexican pilot leaving the airport.

Accidents can happen with traffic in the air by different planes, maintenance problems, weather etc….  and now children taking over air traffic control….

link

I know I have just written about Google,but this is really cool.

Did you know that Google has more than 85% of the global search market share? and 97% of its revenue comes from Ads?

Want to know more about Google? hit the read link below.

Google’s main website has changed its colors to resemble Kuwait’s colors.

It looks like Conan O’Brien created a twitter account.

Follow him here, follow me here :)

Lynk

Being Sunday morning i was able to sleep in, i woke up and flipped thru my iphone and was face to face with Flixster. I decided to check out which were the nearest movie theaters with any decent movies, and stumbled upon Shutter Island. Flixster gave it a 70% but i decided to try it out nevertheless. I used to hate Leonardo Dicaprio, but after such movies as The Aviator,  Catch me if You Can, Blood Diamond, Body of Lies and The Departed more recently, he has become one of the actors i am enjoying most in movies. So we went off to the movie theater but decided to eat as we were an hour early for the movie. We went to a Brazilian grill restaraunt which was right by the cinema, and it was awful. Its called Tucano’s grill, and it seemed like the meat was from actual Tucan’s, the bird that is. Anyway back to the movie.

The movie is around 2hrs and 18mins. The only way i can describe it is delusional, hallucinating and utterly genius. It drags you on for almost 2 hours thinking that you know whats going on, when the last 10 minutes it changes totally. Its not like a Sixth Sense kind of ending, but you have the feeling all the way through that something is not right, but its totally different than what you imagine. Of course there will be parts of the movie where you might think it is slow and too easy to guess, but only the ending does justice to the movie. Basically it is about a US marshall (Dicaprio), who is investigating an escaped murderess from a remote island (Shutter Island) which is a hospital for the criminally insane. Martin Scorsese again does not fail to amaze with this plot and ending. IMDB gave it an 8.5, and for their standards that is pretty high. Great movie, with lots of twists and turns and worth the watch.

The fact that this seriously exists and is being advertised is very sad.

Its also available in 3 colors for the low price of $29.99

Website

Really liked the idea behind this online game.

Link

Registrations are open for what might be the web’s best bittorrent tracker. They usually open registration for brief moment. I was downloading stuff from there and for some reason I was signed out, and from there noticed that the registrations are open.

So hurry up an head over there.

Demonoid

I posted a few days ago about The World’s Ugliest Website, A commenter pointed out that he might have a contender for that. MIA’s website is one awful looking thing.

Yes she is the same MIA that have the hit song Paper Planes.

Don’t click here if you have a epilepsy

It’s been a while since my last SPAJS post, and when I saw this I had to post about it. You’ll get eye strain just from looking at it for 10 seconds. And its a nightmare to navigate through.

What were they thinking?!

Link

These are the current DSL prices here during the InfoConnect Expo.

Prices are for an annual subscription.

* If your line can handle more than 2Mb, you’ll get the speed for the same price as the you would for 4Mb. So basically they are saying that the prices of anything more than 2Mb and less than 4Mb are the same.

** subscription from 5Mb onwards will cost the same.

UPDATE UPDATE:

Notes:

Qualitynet: You’ll get double the subscription speed the first 3 months (for 256Kb and 512Kb subscriptions only), and a free wireless router.

Gulfnet: Subscription are for 14 months (2 free months) and you’ll get a free wireless modem.

They also have a new service where you can temporarily activate a 24Mb speed on your subscription (if your line can handle it) for a fee of 3.5KD. It will be activated for a week or till you reach your cap of 1GB, it can be activated via their website.

KEMS: You get 3 months free (total 15 months).

Fasttelco: You’ll get a 6 times your subscribed speed everyday from 1am to 7am.

updated KEMS 5-max pricing and Qualitynet’s note.

Thanks Khalid

Nokia just announced today that most of Nokia owner can download the new map/nav application for free on their devices.

So that puts it on par with android devices. Except we don’t have good Google maps coverage here in the middle east. Hope Nokia’s offering is much better.

Link