Update: according to AlArabiya a fire in Mobily’s headquarters caused the network to be down.
Started at about 4 pm Saudi time. Right now 3G data is not working in most parts of Riyadh.
We hope that Mobily fix this soon.
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I talked about CaZa Cafe before, we were in a quick Mac user group meeting and there was a football game on the screen. We didn’t watch the game but we were charged %30 “tax” for something we never agreed to. Apparently that activity is illegal but no one cares. CaZa Cafe switched their target market to “Families” from “Singles” over a year ago. I thought they will fail just like Joffrey’s Coffee who closed their Tahliah St branch months after a switch to families. A few weeks ago CaZa Cafe decided to ban families. So they hanged these posters, sign said “Dear customers, we are now only accepting singles now”. They also hanged some world cup posters.
So the management of CaZa Cafe decided that they will have better profits by charging people “%30 world cup tax” for merely staying there during a World Cup game. Please remember that this is legally questionable. If a coffee shop suddenly asks you to pay extra and they never disclose it then I urge you to refuse to pay them that extra amount! It’s raining heavily in Riyadh at the moment and everyone twitter has agreed to use the following twitter hashtag #RiyadhRain. Since the old media has failed covering this. ArabCrunch is the first to report about this. Keep an eye on RiyadhRain for updates as well. I also made @RiyadhRain and curating some of the tweets as best as I can. Update: Ahmed made this post with an updated set of videos. Update: Jihad Alammar have made this page with auto refresh as well as this form to request help. Here’s a list of these help requests for volunteers. Update: Thanks to Haitham Ghazal for inquiring about it. He contacted GITEX in Dubai and their answer was: “Gitex Saudi is not associated with the same GITEX Technology WEEK in Dubai. The event is franchised in name only and is not organised or sold in any way by the Dubai World Trade Centre”. That proves it, Gitex Saudi is a useless show. I have to ask this, the official Gitex homepage DOES NOT MENTION GITEX Saudi Arabia 2010 in Riyadh. So is Gitex Riyadh 2010 or should I say “Computer Bazaar/Haraj Riyadh 2010″ is considered an actual trade exhibition or just a marketplace?
At least this year they have a list of participating companies, a horribly made list. No major companies like Microsoft attending. Here’s the full show booklet. Notice how big Mobily and STC booths are … The next Gitex Saudi Arabia in Riyadh will be from 25 to 29 Apr 2010. Gitex Riyadh 2010 will be held for the second year at the new Riyadh Exhibitions Company. Gowalla location here. Don’t expect it to be good. I am sure it will be a STC vs Mobily expo as usual. Nothing is more annoying and dangerous than this “reckless drifting” (aka Tafheet تفحيط) craze in Saudi Arabia. As if bad driving wasn’t enough we add recklessness to the unstable mix. Look at the following image: a BMW 745 parked sideways in the middle of King Abdullah road and most likely it was “drifting” recklessly. Notice the huge dent in the front.
I posted some videos I found that were taken in the same are of Riyadh: King Abdullah Road, in front of KSU entrance and near Raka’a Center (Here’s a Gowalla link) Apparently I was still used to 2009 I didn’t notice it on the old Riyadh Bookfair web site! They have finally update the page with a new design, tolerable design and actual content. Riyadh Bookfair Schedule & locationIt will be held at the new REC building (Gowalla location).
“For All” means “family” “men & woman”, ya know. And yes, no women only days. Technical books?There is no list of registered publishers online. Issues with the websiteCan I rant? I wanna rant!
I will visit it soon, I hope they have some good computer books. Update: Forget everything mentioned here, the fair site was from last year’s. Making a new post about this year’s one. Riyadh Book Fair always have a new domain every year, before it was www.riyadhbookfair.org but they LOST THE DOMAIN?! seriously? How hard it is to renew a domain name? It’s not hard! The new domain is riyadhbookfair.org.sa but the website is horrible and hard to navigate and. Please, visit the English site and have a laugh. What I find disappointing is the lack of technical publications, the only publication company listed (list is in Arabic only, nothing on English site) with a technical name is “ثري دي كمبيوتر سنتر ” no need to translate, it is pronounced “3D Computer Center”! I was expecting more technical books so this is a major disappointment (yet again). The US publishers listed are “school zone publishing” (kids books) “INTERNATIONAL TRADE LINKS” (I couldn’t even find a website for them) and “مركز مصادر المعلومات” wait wha? Riyadh Book Fair starts tomorrow, I could go if I have any time to waste … if you spot some tech books (computers mainly, but if you find something interesting please post a comment). Here’s the Riyadh International Book Fair 2010 Schedule listed here (apparently only men with Afros are allowed, and no women only days):
And here is the exhibition location on Gowalla: Riyadh Exhibitions Company. Last year’s Sandstorm was a big one, and apparently there is another one heading to Riyadh as we speak!
According to Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME)‘s early warning page (there is no English warning page, so you might as well go out?): A sandstorm is approaching Riyadh and Horizontal visibility of 1 meter! تحذير رقم(2)من الساعة(10:30)صباحا الى الساعة(12:30)ظهرا ليوم الاثنين الموافق 15 ربيع الاول 1431ه شبه انعدام فى مدى الرؤية الافقية حيث تتدنى الرؤية الافقية الى اقل من (1)م بسبب العوالق الترابية على المناطق((الشرقية – الرياض – القصيم ))….لذلك يجب اخذ الحيطة والحذر. Schools have already started sending students home. Hope everyone will be safe. Image from American Bedu. The latest Tweetup Riyadh was held in Caribou Coffee in Riyadh. While the coffee was excellent the seating wasn’t the best. So if you have a suggestion for a meetup location then make sure to post a twitter reply to @tweetupriyadh with your suggestion. Remember that the Tweetups are now held on the first Monday of each month instead of Thursday. |
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As for the schedule, the fair will be open from 10am to 10pm except Friday which opens at 4pm:
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