Tag Archives | Lebanon

Geekfest Beirut Vol. 4 – The gaming edition

By Rami on June 15, 2011 in Events

This edition of GeekFest Beirut is all about games and gaming. On June 17th Beirut Art Center will turn into one large gaming platform with avant premier access to newly released games by Sony & Nintendo, a Mobile Gaming platform sponsored by NOKIA and a small pavilion of vintage games for hardcore geeks sponsored by Multimedia Megastore (M2). This will be the largest Game Case in GeekFest History and a revel for all game lovers to enjoy and participate in and be challenged by other pros. As it goes we expect no less that 150 geeks to come to challenge each other in virtual battles and win prizes courtesy of Nokia, Crepaway and GoNabit.

The event will also be catered by Crepaway and 961 Beer.

Do not miss out on the fun.

Need I say more? You can check Geekfest Beirut’s pages on Facebook and Eventbrite for more details about the event.

MTC Touch slashes calling rates for prepaid lines

By Rami on June 14, 2011 in Lebanon

It turned out that the price reductions I posted about yesterday are really coming and will be targeting owners of prepaid phone lines. According to this article from The Daily Star, MTC Touch is releasing 3 new recharge cards tomorrow for its Magic prepaid lines:

Start: Priced at $10 and has 30 talking minutes (Rate is $0.33/min)
Smart: Priced at $16.6 and has 60 talking minutes (Rate is $0.27/min)
Super: Priced at $30 and has 120 talking minutes (Rate is $0.25/min)

Given that there will be no hidden charges, MTC Touch is offering up to 36% reduction over the current rates ($0.39/min) and Alfa is supposed to follow a similar pricing. Pretty good in my opinion though the calling rates are still considered very expensive compared to the rest of the world. I just hope some day our government stops relying on this sector to fund its treasury and leaves the two operators to really compete on prices and services.

Next on the list is launching of the 3G service, let’s pray for it to arrive on time too!

Update:

Alfa also published the new rate plans for their prepaid lines which are now called “Waffer”. Thanks to Bechara.

MoT to announce charges reduction this week

By Rami on June 13, 2011 in Lebanon

The news below is from Assafir newspaper of Friday June 10 2011.

تخفيضات جديدة الأسبوع المقبل
«الاتصالات»: 3 ملايين مشترك في الخلوي

أعلنت وزارة الاتصالات ان نسبة الاختراق في الهاتف الخلوي بلغت حتى تاريخه 75 في المئة من مجمل المقيمين في لبنان، بارتفاع بلغ 30 في المئة (نحو 700 الف مشترك جديد) منذ نهاية العام 2009.
واشارت الى ان مجمل عدد المشتركين تجاوز عتبة الـ 3 ملايين بفعل الاجراءات التي اتخذتها الوزارة، لجهة توسعة الشبكات وخفض التعرفات، اضافة الى تقديم عروض جديدة، ومنها ما سيجري إطلاقها الاسبوع المقبل وتتضمن تخفيضات اضافية تتراوح بين 25 و50 في المئة على الكلفة الفعلية التي يتكبدها المواطنون.
من جهة اخرى، استقبل وزير الاتصالات د. شربل نحاس، في مكتبه امس، رئيس مجلس ادارة شركة ألفا مروان الحايك لمناسبة حصوله على جائزة رجل العام 2011 للاتصالات في العالم العربي.
وقال الحايك: إن هذه الجائزة ثمرة الجهود المبذولة بين وزارة الاتصالات وشركة «ألفا»، والتي أدّت الى احداث نقلة نوعية في قطاع الخلوي، تمثلت في اطلاق عروض جديدة وزيادة نسبة الاختراق وخفوض في التعرفات، والاهم بدء العمل الفعلي لادخال خدمات الجيل الثالث والمتوقع ان يتلمسها المستخدمون منتصف هذا الصيف.

Seems like the ministry of telecommunications is promising 25-50% price reductions on some mobile services this week. Let’s wait and see, and while waiting let’s just hope this won’t require some further approvals from any other party!

Beware of the Power Balance MTV is trying to sell

By Rami on June 10, 2011 in Lebanon

I was watching MTV Lebanon last night and saw and advertisement by some female basket ball player for some silicone wristband called “Power Balance” claiming it improves balance and strength, all for $8!

A quick search on Google will be enough to let you know it is just another scam! Bravo MTV.

In our advertising we stated that Power Balance wristbands improved your strength, balance and flexibility.

We admit that there is no credible scientific evidence that supports our claims and therefore we engaged in misleading conduct in breach of s52 of the Trade Practices Act 1974.

If you feel you have been misled by our promotions, we wish to unreservedly apologise and offer a full refund.

Via Gizmodo

Sushi Lounge Hamra – Sushi on a budget

By Rami on June 8, 2011 in Reviews

I was passing by Hamra a while ago an noticed a new place called Sushi Lounge right next to Banque du Liban offering take-away orders of 50 pieces for 50,000L.L. Being a kind of sushi junkie, I decided to try it out with a couple of friends.

The excessive use of crab sticks was a bit disappointing as well as the size of the salmon sashimi, but all in all it tasted fine. And although Oceanus Achrafieh ramains my favorite sushi place in Beirut, I recommend take-away orders from Sushi Lounge on those last few days of the month, when you start to watch your spendings!

Note that for dine-in, the price of the same order increases to 75,000L.L.

Noor Holding nothing but a scam

By Rami on June 5, 2011 in Lebanon

Remember the construction company that made a media buzz back in 2009 with the Cedar Island project it was promoting?

Call me naive, but this company, Noor Holding, had everything needed to let you think they’re doing legitimate business. A prestigious office in downtown Beirut, excessive advertising, claims about hundreds of household units being built, a good looking website, a “golden” phone number (01-999999), and a TV station. And at the end it turned out that the whole thing was nothing but a scam with the founder Mohammad Saleh (the man in the above photo) escaping with 5 million dollars! You can read everything about the issue in this article from Al-Akhbar.

I definitely don’t want to be in the shoes of those who have paid down payments for booking apartments with Noor Holding. These people will probably get nothing but news about Mr. Saleh moving from one country to another with their money…

MTV Lebanon releases an iOS application

By Rami on June 2, 2011 in Lebanon

Via Beirut Spring

mtv is the only Lebanese TV station that really understands the internet. As a Lebanese expat abroad, I am very grateful for their online news bulletins and how all their video content is logically organized.

Now they have an iOS app. Great for when stuck in traffic…

I haven’t tried it yet, but the screenshots show that the interface looks nice and appealing. Now wait for all other TV stations to follow. LBC, New TV, OTV, AlManar… but definitely not Tele Liban!

Update:
On a second thought, I think it’ll be entertaining to see if the Apple App Store will approve a similar application for AlManar TV by Hezbollah!

Group buying websites in Lebanon

By Rami on June 2, 2011 in Lebanon

Have you noticed the rise of group buying websites in Lebanon?

In case you don’t know what group buying is, it’s getting good deals at discounted prices on condition that a specific minimum number of people would make the purchase. For example, one of these websites can offer a discounted dinner at some restaurant (say $20 instead of $40) on condition that a minimum of 20 people purchase the deal. And usually you won’t be charged unless the minmum number of buyers is attained.

You might also be wondering how do these websites make money. To my knowledge, it works like referral programs, which means they get a small amount of money for each customer they refer to the deal.

While not all the discounts might seem tempting, but some deals are really good, I personally bought two entrance tickets to Laguava resort for $22 instead of $44 from one of these websites!

Here’s a list of the websites that get deals in Lebanon:

Any other one I forgot to mention?

By the way I’ve noticed that you don’t necessarily have to use a credit card on websites that use Bank Audi’s payment gateway, you can actually input a debit card number on condition that it is issued from Bank Audi. It worked for me on goSawa.

On abuse of power and ISF

By Rami on June 1, 2011 in Lebanon

Nice catch by Salim Al Lawzi.

Salim spotted two members from the ISF washing the Mercedes of some Lebanese official in Achrafiyeh. Think of it, if for the simplest things, in this case a car wash, this official is abusing his power, can you imagine what he does when dealing with other more important issues?

On the other hand, that most probably explains why ISF members act like douchebags with people, they get abused by their supperiors and they eventually have to let it out at others, us! (Although they do have some fun sometimes)

Khaliji guy almost shitting himself drifting with Abdo Feghali

By Rami on May 25, 2011 in Funny

Abdo Feghali’s drifting video with that hot girl is everywhere on blogs and Facebook, and has so far got more than 77,000 views! But what you might have missed is this hilarious video of a Khaliji guy who almost shat himself during the ride!

These videos by the way are from a series by Red Bull as part of a competition they’re holding, you can watch the rest of them here. And you can check this page for their upcoming drifting events in Lebanon over June and July.

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