Categories
Cell Phones

We Invented it First!

Cellular phones

A week ago while I was reading Reuters news on my cell, I read an article about people in Africa using a new method to contact each others. This new method is THE MISSED CALL! They just discovered it and cell phones companies are going crazy about it since they can’t make money from it. But the only thing missing in the article is a mention that Lebanese have been using this method for years now and that we use it for everything: Yes, No, I Love you, Good Morning, Good night, Call me, Hi, Bye, I hate you, come down (Nzal), I arrived, I’ll be arriving soon, I reached the party, I left the party, I miss you … And I can keep counting the usage of this beep for many more lines.

Anyways I googled for the article and here’s a quote from it followed by the link to the original web-site.

Khartoum – If you are in Sudan it is a ‘missed call’. In Ethiopia it is a ‘miskin’ or a ‘pitiful’ call. In other parts of Africa it is a case of ‘flashing’, ‘beeping’ or in French-speaking areas ‘bipage’.

Wherever you are, it is one of the fastest-growing phenomena in the continent’s booming cellphone markets – and it’s a headache for cellphone operators who are trying to figure out how to make some money out of it.

Complete Article

Categories
Lebanon Politics

Did the Countdown to Civil War 1.5 Start?

FPM Training

Everyone is getting armed, everyone is training, everyone hates everyone, when will the Civil War re-start?

PS: Civil War 1.5 and not 2 because we still have the same leaders and the same followers.

Categories
Lebanon

The Phoenix v/s The Cedar

The Cedars of Lebanon

People use two symbols for Lebanon, The Cedars that lives thousands of years and survives everything that comes in its way without leaning and the phoenix a mythical bird that regenerates from its own aches after it dies.

We have two symbols, but for some reason we forgot the first one. All we do is destroy our country, or have somebody destroy us every couple of years, then we regenerate from our aches only to restart the loop later on. What is wrong with us!? Why can’t we be more like the cedar, why can’t we just have a normal life! Why do we think that being destroyed is good because we will re-rise eventually?

What differentiate the cedar from the other trees is that it is able to live for thousands of years and that’s what made it so special, that’s why we chose it for our flag, we didn’t choose a pine tree or an apple tree because those trees live for a while and then die!

Let’s be a cedar and stop being a phoenix because there is nothing special or great about dying every once in a while!

Categories
Gadgets Music

Microsoft’s new Zunes

Microsoft new Zunes

Today Microsoft introduced the new Zunes MP3 Players, The new series includes Flash Based ones and HDD based one having 4, 8 and 80GB of storage.

What’s great about the new ones is the features Microsoft introduced that are apparently appreciated by everyone! Microsoft Fans got the offensive back on Digg, Endgadget and other sites, and are now “attacking” Apple Fans for the lack of features in the devices Apple offers! The fact that Microsoft is giving all the owners of old Zunes the chance to upgrade to the latest software and have old ones running the same software as the new ones also gave Microsoft a great boost!

More info about the latest Zunes Here.

Categories
Lebanon Nature

Fires in Lebanon: Pictures

Fires in Lebanon

Fires in Lebanon

Fires in Lebanon

ElNashra from LBCI

Categories
Lebanon Nature

Deir Al Qamar Surrounded by Fires

I just turned on the TV to find that Deir Al Qamar is currently surrounded by fires!

They are showing images on LBCI of burned trees and burning forests! apparently the village is surrounded and the firefighters are not managing to control the fires due to the lack of waters and vehicules, the army helicopter won’t help because of the wind. The fire started to reach some homes (they showed 2 burned cars and said 4 homes were damaged), the only help they got is from the Damour fiirefighters but they just asked for more help on TV!

Apparently 32 fires are currently burning in Lebanon (mainly the north and the mountains) because of the weather so this might explain why they can’t send other firefighters to help, but something has to be done! if the fire did so much damage in one night what will happen if it continues? Deir Al Qamar is one of the few remaining regions with forests in it, They can’t let it burn like this!

UPDATE : They just called a reporter in Rechmaya (that’s on the other side of the mountain!) the fire is spread in all the Chouf and is destroying everything! Trees in the hills around Rechmaya just started to grow back after a huge fire some years ago! I hope the fire didn’t destroy everything

UPDATE 2 : Lebanon is burning!! it is not confined to the Chouf Aley region, he just said the names of the villages that have fires and it’s everywhere!!!

They are asking people with Water Trucks to head to the nearest firefighters station to offer help and are making international calls to get help.

Here’s a list of villages with fires around them (Those are not the only ones, those are just the ones I managed to write down) :

  • Choueir
  • A3kour A friend living there told us there is no fire at her village!
  • Beit Mery
  • Rechmaya
  • Deir Al Qamar
  • Kbayat
  • 3azn2it (Big Fire)
  • Kfarzayna
  • Sir
  • Forza
  • B2arssouna
  • Rachaya
Categories
Cell Phones Tutorials

Fixing the K750i Joystick

Taking a K750 apart

I own a K750i, it is a very good phone with a lot of nice features but the only problem with it is its joystick.

The joystick on my phone stopped working correctly 2 weeks ago, I can press it down or press it to the left and I can also select with it but it wont press upwards or to the right side so today I googled for a fix to this problem and found one.

You will need:

  • An Electronic contact cleaner.
  • A tiny T-7 torx screwdriver

First of all take your phone apart, then take the joystick and start spraying it with the contact cleaner. (don’t worry apparently it doesn’t mess it up) Wait for a while for the joystick to dry and put everything back together.

Your phone joystick should be responsive again. if it’s not just get it repaired somewhere :P .

I am going to try this on Thursday since I have a day off, I just need to find an Electronic contact cleaner before, any idea who might sell them in Lebanon?

For more info check the original tutorial here.

Be careful when messing around with the insides of your phone, you could easily damage it. If you do you can only blame yourself, don’t do it if you can’t do it!

Thanks for the people in the forums mentioned above who tried the procedure and posted the pictures.

Here’s were you should spray the contact cleaner
How to clean a K750 joystick

Categories
People Weird

24 year old guy marries an 82 year old woman!

No Saba7 didn’t get married again, this guy is from Argentina and apparently he married the woman because “he’s always liked mature ladies” (I think he likes the money that’s in purses of mature ladies more:P). He apparently fell in love with the woman when he moved in with her after his mother’s death.

Read the original article here.

Categories
Computers Internet Lebanon

Review: PC and Parts

Logo of PCandParts.comPC and Parts is a Lebanese online PC store. On the web-site they claim to be the first Lebanese online store but I can’t verify that.

I am going to review the site first and then the customer service.

The website is organized and easy to browse, it is updated regularly with new products and price changes, the only problem with it is that it looks like a 1990s website on some pages.

One feature the website is missing is a search box, since it is organized you don’t spend too much time looking for the product you want but a search box will make life much easier for the visitors.

I bought 5 products from the site, you have the option to call or email them, I always emailed them. I never ordered in the first email but asked question about the products, they always answered my questions, sometimes even guiding me to a better product. When you finaly place your order you get an email asking you to confirm everything, they also ask you for your address. Aramex delivers the packages and takes the money, this is good, but the only problem is that the delivery time is between 9:30 AM and 2:30 PM so you can’t make plans for half a day because you don’t know when your order will arrive.

The products are good and the prices are usually better then the ones you can find at normal stores. The Items priced at over 20$ come with a one year warranty, but I once got a USB PCI card for 7$ that didn’t work correctly (worked OK during the first 10 days, after that whenever I plugged anything to it, it would work for 10 minutes then fail) so I recommend you only get the products that are covered by a warranty from them.

My final score will be a 4/5.

Categories
Photography

Lebanese Soldier in Nahr L Bared

BBC News has a nice picture of a soldier in Nahr L Bared.

 

LAF Soldier

A Lebanese soldier stands near spent artillery shells at the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon – the scene of fierce fighting between the army and militants.