Monday, August 27, 2012

New iPad mini 'to be launched in October' - one month after the new iPhone 5


Apple will launch the new 'iPad mini' in October and not at the same time as the new iPhone 5 according to several sources close to the tech giant.
The new device which is expected to boast a display of less than eight inches will be unveiled at a separate event, so as not to dilute the impact of the iPhone's launch.
With the iPhone 5 widely expected to be revealed on September 12th, Apple sees an October follow-up for the smaller iPad as the perfect way to ensure that both products receive a blockbuster response.


With the holiday shopping season approaching, Apple will be able to dominate the tech-market with two new products to sell.


AllThingsD's John Paczkowski is reporting that several unnamed sources at Apple have indicated that following the 'as-of-yet-unannounced' iPhone 5 September launch, the 'iPad mini' will follow.
'Only after the next generation iPhone is out the door and on sale will Apple announce the smaller iPad it’s been working on,' said Paczkowski.

'That device, which is expected to have a display of less than eight inches, will be uncrated at a second special event, which sources said is currently scheduled for October.'
Furthermore, the iPad Mini will look more like a scaled-up version of the iPod Touch than a scaled-down iPad, rumours circulating the internet suggest.
It is expected the device will boast a 7.85-inch screen, positioning it to take on the Google's bestselling Nexus tablet.
However the similarities with the iPod Touch and the slimmer side bezels mean that the iPad Mini could have the same dimensions as its rival but still boast a larger 4:3 display.
Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was apparently set against a smaller iPad, but apparently relented in the months before his death last year, according to emails discussed in the ongoing Apple vs Samsung patent dispute.
During testimony during the ongoing Apple vs Samsung trial, submitted court documents suggest Steve Jobs was tempted to enter the seven-inch market.


Wednesday, August 22, 2012

The beginning of the end for Facebook?


One of Facebook's first investors has bailed out of the firm and sold 20 million shares. 
PayPal billionaire Peter Thiel, one of Facebook's earliest investors and a member of its board, was among the insiders selling stock in the social network after a lockup expired last week, it has emerged.
As one of Facebook's initial investors, he invested $500,000 in the company in 2004.

A regulatory filing said that Thiel, a former CEO at PayPal sold about 20 million shares of Facebook through affiliates such as his Founders Fund and other firms last week.
Thiel invest in dozens of startups through Founders Fund, and also recently back a firm planing to grow steaks in the lab.

The shares were sold on Thursday and Friday for between $19.27 and $20.69, for a total of $396 million.
He also sold 16.8 million shares in the company's May initial public offering, making $640m.
It is now believed he has sold most of his stock in Facebook.

Thiel is expected to use the cash to fund a new investment firm set up earlier this year
With partner Ajay Royan, his latest firm, called Mithril, will invest in new firms that have already received some venture capital but need more to expand. 
The firm will have an office in San Francisco.
Thiel also has his own foundation, and awards cash to promising youngsters who decide not to attend university.
Another 1.66 billion locked-up Facebook shares will be freed up for sale over the next nine months, likely to place more pressure on the stock. 
One of the biggest tests will come in November when the next batch of 1.2 billion shares will be eligible for sale.
As Facebook’s share price continues to plummet, critics have accused Mark Zuckerberg of being ‘in over his hoodie’ and called for him to step down as CEO.
Corporate experts have suggested that the 28-year-old founder should stick to what he does best as a technological innovator and hand the CEO reins over to a more experienced executive.
And any doubts about Zuckerberg were further compounded on Thursday as the company’s stock price plunged to an all-time low dropping to $19.87 – almost half its IPO price.
'There is a growing sense that Mark Zuckerberg, talented though he may be, is in over his hoodie as CEO of a multibillion-dollar public company,' Sam Hamadeh, head of research firm PrivCo, told the Los Angeles Times.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Stunning video of racecar crash off side of Colorado mountain


One of the racecars on a dangerous mountain course flew off a turn an proceeded to flip over at least a dozen times down the side of a Colorado hill.
The crash was captured on video and remarkably the driver and passenger are both fine, but the same cannot be said for their car.
The car was ripped to shreds as it crashed in during the Pikes Peak International hill Climb in Fountain, Colorado on Sunday.

Driver Jeremy Foley- who was participating in his first race at the well-known course- and his co-driver Yuri Kouznetsov were going predictably fast around a curve on mile 16 of the course and went off the side of the road.
Video of the crash shows that the Mistubishi Evolution 8 flips either 11 or 12 times before coming to a final stop alongside some small boulders.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Samsung launches its super-size Galaxy Note 10.1 smartphone

South Korea's Samsung Electronics said Tuesday it had launched a super-size version of its Galaxy Note smartphone, the latest salvo in its battle with Apple for the multi-billion-dollar handheld market.


The Galaxy Note 10.1, which went on sale on Monday in Germany and the United Arab Emirates, is almost twice as wide as its predecessor and is almost the size of a tablet.

The release comes as Samsung tries to make inroads in the tablet computer market, which is dominated by Apple's iPad, while the two electronics giants are also engaged in a bitter court battle over patent infringements.

The firm said the new Note would be officially released in the US on August 15 and sometime next week in Britain and South Korea.

The Galaxy Note 10.1 -- powered by Google's Android software -- features a touchscreen which is 10.1-inches (25.6 centimetres) measured diagonally, considerably wider than the 5.3-inch screen of the previous Note.

Like its predecessor, it comes with a stylus called the "S pen" to write notes or draw on the screen. The new version allows users to split the screen in half to view two programs at once.

The new device is equipped with a quad-core processor that allows users to run multiple applications at a faster speed than the previous version, which had a dual-core processor.

"The advanced technology and features included in Galaxy Note 10.1 give users the power to produce, create and customise communications," JK Shin, the chief of Samsung's mobile unit, said in a statement.

Samsung -- the world's largest smartphone maker by shipments -- in November introduced the first version of its Galaxy Note, a device positioned between the firm's flagship Galaxy S smartphones and Galaxy Tab tablet computers.

"Size-wise, the new product (Galaxy Note 10.1) is nearly a tablet PC," another Samsung spokesman told AFP.

Samsung and Apple are embroiled in legal battles in 10 countries worldwide over patents for smartphones and tablet computers.

At an ongoing major hearing in San Jose, California, Apple is seeking more than $2.5 billion after accusing the Korean firm of infringing designs and other patents.

Samsung denies this and counter-charges that Apple infringed its patents for wireless communication.

‘Warning pictures’ to display on cigarette boxes sold in Kuwait

Cigarette boxes sold in Kuwait will bear warning pictures starting from Thursday as per Ministry of Commerce and Industry instructions, the Ministry of Health announced yesterday.

“This decision comes in line with standards of the Gulf Cooperation Council which indicate that tobacco boxes must show warning pictures and written warnings”, said Assistant Undersecretary for Public Health Affairs Dr Qais Al-Duwairi in a press statement. “Adding the pictures is an important step to increase public awareness about the danger of smoking and the destructive effects of this habit on public health”.

Implementing this plan through coordination between the MOH and the MCI comes also as part of Kuwait’s commitment towards the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, Al- Duwairi added.

The MOH carries out through the National Antismoking Program multiple activities to increase awareness about smoking hazards, and help smokers quit smoking through specialized clinics around Kuwait.

The ministry also works in coordination with other state departments to implement the state law that bans smoking in public places, and raises attention to diseases caused by smoking through social network. “The MOH gives top attention to tackling chronic noninfectious diseases and smoking, being a top developmental priority and commitment in front of the international community”, Al- Duwairi said.

Source : KUNA

Monday, August 6, 2012

Kuwait Wins First Bronze Medal in London Olympics


Fehaid AlDeehani wins bronze in trap shooting in Olympic London 2012... Congratulations Fehaid for bringing it home to Kuwait!

 

Source : BBC Sports

Hone



Losing your keys can be a huge annoyance — whether they've slipped into couch cushions or just been left in an odd place, searching for them can cost you valuable time.Hone ($50) can help you get that time back. This small Bluetooth 4 dongle pairs automatically with your iPhone 4S or iPad 3 using a free app, giving you an audible vibration or alert when you tap the "Find" button, so you can spend less time looking and more time doing.
$50    BUY   
SOURCE : Uncrate

JAMES BOND 007 FRAGRANCE




If you can't look like Bond, you might as well smell like him. Coinciding with the franchise's 50th anniversary — and this November's release of Skyfall — the officialJames Bond 007 Fragrance ($TBA) gives you a chance to smell like one of MI6's finest. We have no idea what it smells like, but we can take a guess: gin, vodka, sex, gun powder, and blood. Sounds great!
$TBA    BUY       
Source : Uncrate

Sunday, August 5, 2012

How a Construction Crane is Erected

You would have probably wondered ( i always used to wonder till i saw this video) just how the tall, slim structure gets up there in the first place. The answer is, of course, another crane, which puts us into a chicken and egg situation.



The above video will answer your questions (warning: hit mute before pressing play). There are a few tricks. The first is that the crane is actually rather short when the boom is put on, short enough that hanging one side before the other doesn’t tip the whole thing over. The second is that the huge concrete counter weights aren’t added until there is some weight to counter (obvious, really, when you think about it). And third, there is a lift system for adding vertical sections, meaning that the crane can be raised in place as the building grows.
The video was put onto YouTube by San Marco Cranes, an Italian company that sells around the world, and which also has a fascinating video demo of a self-erecting crane on its Canadian site. Also, did you know that a self-erecting crane costs $10,000 a month to rent, before adding any other costs? Were youaware of it?


Source : Wired

The Door to Hell – Burning Gas Crater in Darvaza, Turkmenistan


There are several places around the world that locals believe are a door to hell. Endless catacombs beneath the city of Paris, France for example or Dimmuborgir lava formations in Iceland. When it comes to sheer jaw-dropping effect, however, The Door to Hell by Darvaza in Turkmenistan takes the cake.


The Derweze area is rich in natural gas. While drilling in 1971, Soviet geologists tapped into a cavern filled with natural gas. The ground beneath the drilling rig collapsed, leaving a large hole with a diameter of 70 metres (230 ft) at 40°15′10″N 58°26′22″E. To avoid poisonous gas discharge, it was decided the best solution was burn it off. Geologists had hoped the fire would use all the fuel in a matter of days, but the gas is still burning today. Locals have dubbed the cavern "The Door to Hell".
Next to capturing the gas, flaring is safer and friendlier to the environment than releasing the methane into the atmosphere, as methane is a relatively potent greenhouse gas and considered to have a high global warming potential of 72 (averaged over 20 years) or 25 (averaged over 100 years).
Turkmenistan plans to increase its production of natural gas. In April 2010, the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow visited the site and ordered that the hole should be closed, or measures be taken to limit its influence on the development of other natural gas fields in the area.
The locals from Darvaza have given the burning crater a name that suits it well – The Door to Hell. And everyone who visits Darvaza agrees with the name and finds it appropriate. When you look inside the burning gas crater, you do feel like this is what the door to hell would look like. No one dared to enter the chamber when it was first discovered and no one has dared there since. After all, everyone knows what kind of path a door o hell takes you. And it’s not the path anyone would voluntarily want to embark on. Seeing the door to hell with your own eyes, however is an experience like no other. You will have long stayed in awe after experiencing the viciousness of the fire within the gorge of the burning crater. The Door to Hell would be an amazing vacation experience for the adventurous wonderers. This is a vacation idea that your mainstream tour operators don’t know about. And that’s the beauty of it.

Top 21 Frisbee Trick Shots | Brodie Smith


Thursday, August 2, 2012

Earthquake in Kuwait ??


WTF ?


 emsc-csem confirm that there was an earthquake.. 
You can read more of the experience of a blogger [Here]




More news :
Director General of Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research Dr. Naji Al-Mutairi said Kuwait's national network for monitoring earthquakes recorded in Kuwait on Thursday, an earthquake measuring 4.2 on scale Richter north of the State of Kuwait at 47.82 longitude and latitude 29.62.

Mutairi said in a statement that this earthquake occurred at 07:32:50 am GMT Kuwait, noting that it is located at a depth of 10.0 km pads the ground, pointing out that the epicenter was 31 km away north of the capital, Kuwait City, the network has been recorded three aftershocks near the site strongly between 3 and 2.5 on a scale Richter.


No Reports of Damage or Injuries reported.

iPad Nano: All you need to know about Apple’s rumored tablet



The New iPad is barely out of its pristine white box, but rumors have already exploded about a potential iPad Nano arriving later this year. As the name suggests, we’re looking at an iPad that will be sporting a screen smaller than the stock 9.7-inch display found on the first three Apple tablets. According to various sources, the rumored tablet will have an 8-inch screen with HD resolution, similar to that of an iPad2.
I personally believe that Apple is attacking the budget-concerned part of the market with the iPad Nano. “The new tablet may herald a new era for those who long for an Apple device, but simply can’t part with an arm and a leg to buy one.” The budget tablet market is one which is definitely growing, and one which Apple is currently not part of, so it won’t be too much of a surprise if they do decide to go down the “Nano” route.
I’d love to see a new iPad Nano come to the market, as it would certainly give Amazon, Google and co a run for their money…
plus it would be intriguing to see what Apple would do with the smaller format.
Back in 2010, former Apple CEO Steve Jobs said that smaller screened tablets were not “sufficient to create great tablet apps” and would be “dead on arrival.” So, come September, Jobs might just be rolling in his grave.


Hysterical video shows Buttermilk the adorable leapfrogging goat showing off her talents


If you have a little too much energy that you need to let out, you go for a jog or play a game of basketball, but what is an adrenaline-filled goat to do? 
In the case of Buttermilk Sky, a Nigerian pygmy goat from a farm in Maine, it means leapfrogging over her barnyard buddies in a charming video that has captured the hearts of web users the world over.
The footage, shot on Took A Leap Farm in Houlton, Maine, has so far attracted more than one million views since it was posted on July 27.




And who can resist the sight of the miniature five-week-old kid goat cavorting in the grass and leaping in the air like a tiny four-legged Olympian?
But the frolicsome critter also reveals a mischievous side as it appears to deliberately jump over and knock its goat mates to the ground with its hoofs. 
According to the farm's blog, Buttermilk's owners vowed to donate $25 to the non-profit rescue and education organization called Farm Sanctuary if the video received 1,000 views. It now looks like they will have no problem making good on their promise.




Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Phelps Takes Record 19th Medal



LONDON, July 31, (Agencies): Michael Phelps broke the Olympic medals record Tuesday with his 19th as the United States romped to a dominating win in 4x200-meter freestyle relay at the London Games.
With 19 career medals spanning three Olympics, Phelps moved one ahead of Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina, who got her haul in 1956, 1960 and 1964. And he finally got his first gold of these games, bouncing back from the disappointment of settling for silver when he glided at the end of the 200 butterfly earlier Tuesday.
The United States team of Ryan Lochte, Conor Dwyer, Ricky Berens and Phelps on the anchor leg won in 6 minutes, 59.70 seconds. France took the silver in 7:02.77, while China was third in 7:06.30.
Phelps now has 15 golds, two silvers and two bronzes.




Fire at EQUATE Petrochemical Extinguished


Leak In Manufacturing Unit Causes Blaze
KUWAIT CITY, July 31: EQUATE Petrochemical Company said that it extinguished a limited fire earlier this morning. An EQUATE official said, “The fire, which resulted from a leak in part of a manufacturing unit, was contained and it was extinguished.” The official affirmed, “The incident caused no injuries as the area was isolated immediately,” adding that production operations of other production units were not affected. The official expressed utmost gratitude for the cooperation of the Fire Brigade with EQUATE’s team. The official added, “As EQUATE affirms its absolute commitment to the safety and wellbeing of its employees and community members as a whole as well as its industrial operations; EQUATE would like to note that it is the only entity authorized to issue statements regarding this matter and all other issues relevant to its operations.”

Established in 1995, EQUATE is an international joint venture between Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC), The Dow Chemical Company (Dow), Boubyan Petrochemical Company (BPC) and Qurain Petrochemical Industries Company (QPIC). Commencing production in 1997, EQUATE is the single operator of a fully integrated world-scale manufacturing facility producing over 5 million tons annually of high-quality petrochemical products which are marketed throughout the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Europe.

Source : Arabtimes


FBI finally goes digital

The FBI has announced that, after 12 years and $600 million, it has finally abandoned paper records in favor of a computerized system called Sentinel. Resembling a browser, it offers question-and-answer forms, case tracking and an ability to share files across the bureau's network. Assistant director Jeffrey Johnson said that the biggest hurdle was convincing paper-loving agents to get on board, so the system is designed to nag users into adding relevant data that's still extant on dead-trees. 
With any luck, some enterprising young agent will take advantage of the extensive database to find out the real location of Area 51 ;)

London Olympics 2012 Timetable for Kuwait





KUWAIT

Yousef Alaskari
Men’s 200m butterfly
Heats: 30th July
Semifinals: 30th July
Finals: 31st July
Mohammad Al-Azemi
Men’s 800m
Round 1: 6th August
Semifinals: 7th August
Final: 9th August
Fehaid Aldeehani
Men’s Trap
Qualification: 5th-6th August
Final: 6th August
Men’s Double Trap
Qualification: 2nd August
Finals: 2nd August
Ibrahem Alhasan
Table tennis, Men’s singles
Round 1: 29th July – already out
Abdullah Alrashidi
Men’s skeet
Qualification: 30-31st July
Finals: 31st July
Talal Alrashidi
Men’s Trap
Qualification: 5-6th August
Final: 6th August
Fawaz Al-Shammari
Men’s 110m hurdles
Round 1: 7th August
Semifinals: 8th August
Final: 8th August
Ali Mohamed Al-Zinkawi
Men’s Hammer Throw
Qualification: 3rd August
Final: 5th August
Maryam Arzouqi
Women’s 10m Air Rifle
Qualifications: 28th July (didn’t qualify)
Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions
Qualification: 4th August
Finals: 4th August
Faye Sultan
Women’s 50m Freestyle
Heats: 3rd August
Semifinals: 3rd August
Final: 4th August

TAG HEUER ANDROID RACER SMARTPHONE



TAG Heuer has created the RACER smartphone – the ’1st Luxury Phone Crafted for High Performance’ according the iconic watch maker.
The RACER uses a ‘high speed processor and latest Android software’ – but no specific details are available at this time.
But the draw with the RACER will be the design elements crafted by TAG Heuer.
The look is sharp and bold – just what you’d expect from TAG Heuer. The phone is made for performance, and has been engineered for lightness as well as strength. There is a shockproof rubber chassis that is supported and strengthened by the screwed-in titanium and carbon fiber bridges. The result is a fusion of luxury and performance inspired by TAG Heuer heritage in GT cars and Formula 1. There is also a new customizable 3D user interface to fit the individual needs of each owner.
Strong, lightweight, attractive – combine it with high performance and you could have special item.
The new TAG Heuer Racer collection starts around $3,700, and will be available in TAG Heuer boutiques, luxury mobile boutiques and selected watch and jewelry retailers in July.