Navigation

iPhone app to keep track of electricity cut-offs in Beirut

By on May 2, 2011 in Lebanon

I guess I’m lucky to have a good memory and almost always remember the electricity cut-off schedule in my area of Beirut, but I know a lot of people who keep on forgetting it and can definitely make use of this new iPhone application by Mustafa Baalbaki.

Only those living in Beirut would appreciate “Beirut Electricity” because they daily suffer forgetting when electricity is off.

You need to know that electricity in Beirut city (capital of Lebanon) is off everyday for three hours, and each day these three hours are withdrawn backwards. For example, if the power today is off from 3:00 PM till 6:00 PM, so tomorrow it will be off from 12:00 PM till 3:00 PM and so forth until reaching 06:00 AM to 09:00 AM, and then it switches back to be off from 03:00 PM to 06:00 PM. It’s weird and this App is here to solve the calculation problem for you.

When you first launch the App, you need to configure it by specifying the day and time cut range, and based on your input you can find when the electricity will be off at your location any time and on any day.

The application works on iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad but requires iOS 4.0 or later, and you can of course get it via the iTunes store.

I don’t have an idea about the schedule of areas outside Beirut, but if they also follow a certain system then we’ll probably see some similar releases soon, or maybe an upgrade of the current application.

Via Bilal Houri.

5

Lebanese blogosphere weekly link roundup (2011/04/24)

By on April 26, 2011 in Weekly Link Roundup

18 New links for this round.

See you next week!

0

Tania Saleh’s new video is out!

By on April 26, 2011 in Music

In 1943, a few days before the Lebanese independence got written on paper, “the creators” of Lebanon were scurrying to save a detained president and some of his ministers. Their main objective was to finish with the French
mandate. They had little time to imagine a country and a nation and to bring to life a constitution that served both with civil laws for a civil state.

A Lebanese girl, “Wehde” had an idea. The idea developed a dream and “Wehde” longed for a peaceful country, harmonious with its people from all walks of life from all 18 different sects. “Wehde” survived and her dream remained a dream. Today it has gathered dust over the years but “Wehde” still strolls down the sea shore on a sunny day with all the people waiting like her for a new (true) independent nation to
be born. This album tells her story. (available at www.forwardmusic.net)

3

Giveaway: 3 tickets to “The Dinner Party” play

By on April 26, 2011 in Giveaways

Few days ago I was granted 3 tickets to a new play called “The Dinner Party” which will be performed on April 29, 30, and May 1, at Babel Theater, and presented by Haigazian University Actors’ Club

The Dinner Party is based on a one-act play of the same name by Neil Simon, but the guys at Haigazian seem to have added a twist to it.

Six people are invited to a dinner, but only one person knows why. As the guests arrive one by one, they start to realize that they all have something in common. The secretive, ambiguous, cryptic mystery is unraveled through a series of misunderstandings, passionate outbursts and other delightful dilemmas. And what does a tourist from South Lebanon have to do with all of this?

For more information, you can check this Facebook event page.

Since I will most probably not be able to attend, I decided to give them away to the first person who leaves a comment on this post. Yes, that easy! 😛

**Comments Closed**

Congratulations Dalia, I just sent you an e-mail.

Nokia N8 review

By on April 25, 2011 in Reviews

Earlier in March Nokia Lebanon lent me an N8 device to try out and write a review about it. I’ve been using the phone for over a month now and I have to tell you this, it’s GOOD.

Camera:

First things first, the N8 rocks a 12 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens and auto-focus, and that’s what I loved the most about this phone. The images it produces are just so detailed and natural, and you’ll probably have so much fun with the panorama tool that Nokia offers for free via the OVI store. You can check the N8 flickr group to check by yourself how good can its camera be.

Display:

The N8’s 3.5″ display might not be the best in the market, but you can easily watch a movie on it if you’re on a flight or something, that’s how good the colors look on it, let alone using applications or previewing the camera photos.

Keyboard & touchscreen:

The last touch screen phone I’ve used from Nokia was the N97 which had a quite disappointing resistive screen, so I personally noticed a big improvement with the current capacitive screen on the N8, but unfortunately you still cannot rely on it if you’re the type of person who texts a lot. So I wish the N8 had room for a hardware keyboard like the E7.

Multitasking:

The N8’s operating system, symbian ^3, was built to handle as much simultaneously open applications as possible. You can safely browse the internet while you’re listening to music, having your e-mail open, and maybe a Facebook or Twitter client as well in the background.

Satellite navigation:

While other phones offer a built-in GPS chip and leaves you on your own to search for a navigation solution, with the N8 and other Nokia phones you’ll get OVI Maps pre-installed with free navigation. I’ve been using OVI maps ever since I purchased the E72 last year, but experiencing it on the N8’s 3.5″ display was a treat!

What I also liked:

The HDMI-out capabilities and the ability to connect to a USB flash drive through the dongle that ships with the phone.

N8 vs iPhone 4:

Everyone who saw the N8 with me had the same question, how does it compare to the iPhone 4? I actually don’t think there’s a definite winner, it all depends on what you’re expecting to get from your device. If it’s all about games and entertainment, then you should go for an iPhone, but for everything else I’m pretty sure the N8 is up to the challenge.

Overall:

Would I keep it if I had the chance to? Yes, particularly for its superb camera and display, although I’ll be missing the hardware keyboard on my E72!

0

Happy Easter

By on April 25, 2011 in Lebanon

Special thanks to Lynn Bizri for allowing me to use this photo, Lynn and her sisters decorated all of these eggs by themselves, and through it I would like to wish you all a wonderful Easter time with your families.

3

Lady Gaga’s “Judas” banned in Lebanon?

By on April 23, 2011 in Music

Have you noticed that Lebanese radio stations have stopped playing Lady Gaga’s new song “Judas”? I guess I heard it a couple of time and then they suddenly stopped it.

In case you’re not aware of it yet, “Judas” seems to be one of Lady Gaga’s stunts and is already enraging religious groups in the US because of its lyrics.

17

Tania Saleh new album launch

By on April 20, 2011 in Events

Make sure not to miss this one!

Tania Saleh, Lebanese singer – songwriter and Batoota Foundation would like to invite you to the launch of Tania Saleh’s eagerly awaited second studio album “Wehde” along with the music video launch of the album title, at a press conference and CD signing event in Café Im Nazih, Saifi Urban Gardens on Thursday April 21st 2011 from 5 pm to 9 pm.

I’ve been eagerly waiting for Tania’s new album “Wehde” to be released ever since I started hearing news about it one year ago, and just yesterday I got an e-mail about the launching event. Her first album “Tani Saleh” was released in 2002 and remains one of the very few albums that I still play to this day.

And here’s a sneak peek at the upcoming video.

1

Lebanese blogosphere weekly link roundup (2011/04/17)

By on April 19, 2011 in Weekly Link Roundup

11 New links for this round.

See you next week!

0

Powered by WordPress. Designed by WooThemes