Mada Communications just announced Home Internet Services through WiMax based services. Previously Mada only dealt with Corporate services and clients and didn’t enter the home market, but as of yesterday they have a booth in Marina Mall selling this Modem. For 20 KD a month you get speeds UPTO 10 Mbps, meaning you can get up to that speed but not necessarily stay at that speed. If you sign up this week you can get this package without any Data Caps for the first three months and after that it will be a 20 GB per month Cap, and you don’t have to sign up for a year. After speaking to them they are thinking about putting packages together at a later point to help increase the 20GB cap, maybe for every 5KD extra you pay you get 20GB but that is just a debate at this point. I went to Marina and bought two of them, one for me and one for a friend who lives in Khaldiya. Honestly its pretty cheap and worth trying out to see what kind of download speeds we can get out of it.

This is supposed to be a plug and play system, you switch it on and it works right away. I switched it on by Fintas since that was my first stop and for some reason it didn’t connect. I had other stops throughout the day so I decided to take it with me and plug it in and try it where I go.

It has two Ethernet Ports and Two Telephone Ports for ISDN service which is to be introduced at a later stage. Its not a small device, its about the size of an iPad when you see it but I do like the simple design of it.

Where it worked well:

• Mishref
• Shamiya
• Kuwait City
• Qadsiya
• Dahyat Abdulla Al Salem

I got speeds varying from 5 to 8 MB Downloads, and 0.2 to 2.8 MB Uploads which is pretty decent. Overall WiMax technology has been around for a little while now but its still a bit unstable. Overall its an excellent service from Mada Communications and I hope they rethink their Data Cap strategy. I was testing using a direct ftp download to check on the speed fluctuations and it ranged from 500 Kbps to 1100 Kbps which is pretty impressive overall, the pings are bit high though so anyone using it for gaming would be annoyed. I like the service I just hope it doesn’t get too saturated and can support a larger number of customers. Also one note they are still not available by the shalaihaat so its still just within the initial areas within the main residential areas around each ring road start from the 6th ring road and heading towards the city. I’m still going to tweak it and mess around with it but overall its pretty good.

(I Hate Data Caps! So Much!)

It seems that there are more and more interesting things that 52 Degrees keep coming up with, and in this case they have a very smart summber busienss program and I think its an excellent program for people to join and experience. With the excellent staff and people working with 52 Degrees this would be a very good program for people to get a hands on experience with work life in Kuwait and a way to get their business of the ground.

The Summer Business Program is dedicated to young aspiring students who have a dream to construct their own business. The program will begin initiation on June 19th 2011 and end on July 12th 2011. This program will be the first of its kind in Kuwait. The summer business program is not your typical “teach, learn and do” method; however this planned process is designed to have all selected candidates to teach themselves by practical daily training through all departments of 52 Degrees. Through this method candidates get to experience all aspects of having and promoting a business. During the program candidates will be expanding their business idea to the last detail. Every week a mentorship course will take place to follow up on work progress and project grading. The best business plan will have their business dream turn into reality. The management team will select top three candidate to receive a winning Gold, Silver, Bronze prize.

Gold Prize: One Year contract
Silver Prize: 6 months contract
Bronze Prize: 3 months contract

Terms and Conditions:

• Nominated candidates must be between the ages 16-22
• All candidates must be of Kuwaiti nationality
• All candidates must have a potential to create their own business in order to be nominated as a 52 Degrees trainee in this summer business program.

Link: 52 SBP

I have been passing by the Lulu Hypermarket in Shuweikh for years now and never thought of going in. Then one time on the way to the shalaih I needed to pick up a few items so I decided to stop by Lulu Hypermarket in Al Qurain instead of Sultan Center in Fahaheel. It took me about 5 minutes to get there since it was 5 minutes off of Malik Fahad (40) located in Asawaq Al Qurain, I think it was exit 208. Aswaq Al Qurain is a shopping Complex and its big but it still doesn’t have any permits and has been the case for years so it looks like its a deserted place.

When I walked in I was shocked to see the size of this market and selection of items. I wasn’t too impressed with the bakery but it was very organized. The other items were very diverse with so many kinds, like you can find every kind of cheese in mind, so many kinds of Ketchup, every type of meat in mind. I was pleasantly surprised to find they had Oscar Mayer hotdogs and they tasted amazing on the grill. So many lovely choices and I really did love the selection of items and size of the place. If you haven’t been there its really worth a visit.

Recently I had the chance to try a mobile car wash service, Wash-N-Drive, and they come to your home for a regular wash which takes about 30 minutes per car or a full detailing which can take all day. In this case they have been washing my cars normally for the past two months, alternating between two or three car every other day.

Whats great is that you can sign up for a schedule with them and in my case they come three times a week at around noon. They arrive in a van with all the necessary tools and detailing equipment, all they need is water and electricity. They are pretty pack these days but they will be adding more personal soon, they are usually consistent about timing and sometimes they run late due to certain circumstances but I do appreciate their professionalism. For 5 KD per car you will have a sparkling car and I do appreciate their excellent service since I don’t always have the chance to go to a car wash. They also wash and details motorcycles and boats and I have seen what they do with motorcycles and they know how to clean without getting the bike too wet.

I am not one for waterless washes as I have tried them before, they are a good concept for a quick touch up and wash but not a full wash that I like so I do like what DriveNWash do.

DriveNWash
97717779

After years of use they finally decided to upgrade the place, I know they charge about 10 KD for entry if you don’t have a business class seat, I’m not sure what fees they get from the other airlines but I’m assuming its a lot of money at this point. You would think they would make improvements at least on a yearly basis but that isn’t the case. Luckily they do have free internet but honestly its so insanely slow it really kills, they should upgrade it since people are consistently using it. At least this time around the couches are relatively comfortable compared to the previous ones, those were falling apart and needed to be changed, but I think there are too many single couches around the whole place and only large couches on the side which are too few.

One of the interesting stands in 52 Degrees belongs to Bibi Alghanim, an interior designer who has been recognized all around Europe and the Middle East over the last year or two. She currently has a special showing at 52 Degrees and I really think you should visit if you have a chance, I love some of the pieces she has.

In the last 24 hours Viva has applied data caps all its internet “Unlimited” package. It used to be the favored internet connectivity for people and companies. With these Caps it has become useless, people don’t realize the amount of data used when your surfing sites like Youtube or gaming online. Thankfully I’m dependent on the Fasttelco and Kems for my gaming and Downloading needs, and during that time of the crazy dust storms Viva was great but with these Data Caps Viva are now down in the dumps, no reason to keep the subscription, time to end the subscription.

Data Caps:

• 2GB per Day – I already hit that right away
• 60GB per Month

One of the things that I really enjoy in Kuwait is walking around the mashatil or plant nurseries off the 4th Ring Road. I for one do love plants and enjoy when there are plants indoors and outdoors of a house. My favorite plant by far is the Bonsai Tree and to my surprise there are some different kinds of Bonsai Trees when I thought there were only one.

I was honestly very impressed with the selection available in Kuwait and the kinds that survive in our weather. I was looking for a specific type of plant that I saw while I was traveling but I couldn’t seem to find but I only stopped at a few plant nurseries when there are dozens of them.

Some great Kuwait Bloggers have been invited as guest speakers for the Social Media Event by Al-Hareer that will be held today at 5:30 at GUST. They will be talking about their Blogs and how Twitter has affected and changed the blogging world. I find it interesting that they are taking topics such as these and inviting guest speakers from the blogging world. It is sponsored by Zain & Hosted by Khaled A-Zamel

Speakers:

• His&Hers Q8
• p0ach
• HiKuwait

Its nice to see events such as these and companies appreciating what social networking has done for the corporate world and in Kuwait.

Fantastic job Mubarak and the RedBull Drift Competition this weekend! He came in 3rd place, and the first two spots went to professional racers, so on that scale Mubarak is number one on my scale. I would hope that he could participate in the race in Lebanon but that only goes to first place. Lets hope that Mubarak goes on to bigger and better competitions so he can show skills. Thanks to GulfRun, HuperOptik Kuwait, and Abdulmohsen Abdulaziz Al-Babtain Co fo sponsoring him and supporting him in this endeavor. I hope more events such as these take place in Kuwait, and I hope better venues start popping up in Kuwait for events like these.

Thanks to 7ajieDude for the video coverage! Thanks to HisHersQ8 for the great coverage! Loved seeing the photos!

Link: GulfRun