This is at Dubai International Airport. Welcoming my wife back from her vacation. It’s her first time to see the Galaxy Tab actually – and the video on.
New Year’s Eve at Burj Khalifa
I tried to cover the grandiose New Year’s Eve celebration at Burj Khalifa, but unfortunately, we weren’t able to find a good spot for a better view of the entire happenings. Anyway, here’s what I’ve had – on the Galaxy Tab as well.
Here’s the complete, official video of the New Year fireworks:
Chaos at Sheikh Zayed Road on New Year’s Eve
It’s totally chaotic after the 3-minute fireworks. As expected, thousands of people crowded the vicinity and altogether rushed to get on the roads first, or to board on the metro at the earliest. But to the dismay of many, the police at the Burj Khalifa Metro Station was closed for it can’t contain the volume of the crowd anymore – the announcement that it will operate til 3am was useless actually.
For motorists, oh man, it took us 3 hours to get out of the jam and reach home. People were also crossing Sheikh Zayed Road, climbing fences and the traffic was totally on halt. The Police were visible, only that they gave favor more on the crowd, than the motorists. Let my photos tell you the rest of the story. More photos on this link to my album.
Mobile: 7 Important Reasons Why You’d Love Samsung Galaxy Tab
The Galaxy Tab’s 7-inch little frame transforms the way you communicate, socialize and organize. Just imagine having your laptop, mobile phone, entertainment room and an entire office in one slim pack. It definitely is more of a usable gadget than just a pure-fancy one.
Here are my 7 important reasons why you’d choose Samsung Galaxy Tab over the rest:
1. PORTABILITY
Complementing it’s 7-inch built is its 380g light weight . It’s easy to grip in one hand (even in a Landscape screen orientation), and just fits my back pocket. Unlike iPad, you can do your online activities literally wherever you maybe, hence a mobile tablet.
2. MULTITASKING
Galaxy Tab enables me to keep multiple apps running at the same time. I can easily switch into another, and return to a previous activity exactly how I left it. Task Manager enables me to monitor all running apps and their RAM consumptions, and I can end any active app from there.
3. FLASH SUPPORT
This is one of the biggest advantage of Galaxy Tab from iPad. Thanks to Android 2.2 Froyo. You just won’t find any website that doesn’t open for an unavailable Flash support or missing DivX plugins. FLV videos load smoothly and quickly.
4. DUAL CAMERA / VIDEO CALLS
It has a 3.15 mega pixels primary camera with LED flash. And another 1.3 MP camera in front used for video calling or video chat. The camera boasts its autofocus feature – useful especially when in the Panorama settings. Photos taken are reasonably clear and crisp for a mobile camera. Videos doesn’t look that bad with its 30fps capture capability.
5. SOCIAL MEDIA FRIENDLY
Galaxy Tab is every social media freak’s best friend. It is actually my dashboard for all my social media accounts. Sharing anything is just a one tap job. Every file on the Tab – photo, video, article, docs – always has a Share option. Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, WordPress, Youtube, Foursquare, LinkedIn… and the list goes on.
6. OFFICE DOCS / PDF SUPPORT
Yes. I can open and edit MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint and PDFs on the Tab. I love how I view my slides in it. Unlike iPad (again), the Tab can be your tool to carry our meetings or any other presentations.
7. PHONE
Of course, I don’t need to carry a separate mobile phone. Its sim card slot is for the regular sim, so no need to change into a microsim. I won’t hold and put it onto my ear when talking though. Thanks to the earphone that comes with it, or you can use a bluetooth set. You can multitask while using the phone.
And there’s 2 more…
MULTI-INPUT FEATURE
I love that the Galaxy Tab doesn’t have the annoying auto-correct feature. For text inputs, it has a virtual QWERTY keyboard (which has a more convenient symbol switching) and SWYPE™ – I can do my emails or SMS easily either by using my thumbs or by using the SWYPE input technology. See my video on how to use SWYPE.
There’s also a Voice Input feature for web browsing. Just clear up your throat, speak legibly on the mic and you’ll get what you’re searching for.
STORAGE DISK
I can store any files in it via its proprietary USB or via Bluetooth. It comes along with its own program to browse files (Kies), but there’s an option to skip that and use it just like any other external disk.
And there’s really more. In random…
- 3G, of course
- Micro SD Slot – can use til 32GB more.
- Android Market – There’s just over 150,000 Android apps in there and 80,000 plus are free
- eReader Capability – Kindle
- Google Map Navigation – literally driving, walking and local transit directions are available
- The Notification Area Bar – it collects all notifications from your Social Apps, App Market, GPS and even your mobile phone alerts (missed calls, SMS received, Bluetooth)
- Unlimited Contacts from Facebook and Twitter – On the first time I activate the Facebook app, it download my friends contact details into my phonebook.
- Long battery life (compared to a laptop). It stays up to 7 hours of continuous heavy gaming and intense movie playing. When idle it stays up to 28 hours. And it doesn’t heat up.
- Entertainment Overload – Live Wallpapers, HD Playback for movies, Stereo speakers, Karaoke, and more…
- Adjustable Brightness – which can save battery life
- Inter-device Sharing made easy through the AllShare app
Christmas in Dubai Malls
This is how Christmassy Dubai has become. As if malls are in a competition to outshine each other with the most elegantly decorated tree. I almost forgot I am in a Muslim country. A big thanks to the leader of this nation in also acknowledging the festivities of other culture and religion. UAE is the best example of a community living in an interfaith unity.
Google celebrates UAE National Day with a tribute logo
Happy 39th UAE National Day!
The country is in its festive mood once again. The National Day is one of the most, if not the most, joyfully celebrated holiday in the UAE. Today marks its 39th. It’s the time to express love, appreciation and respect to the nation that cares not only about its citizens, but about everyone who lives here. The holiday is usually celebrated with street parades of cars and floats patriotically pimped with the UAE national colors of red, green, white and black. There are also traditional and modern concerts scheduled across the nation. There are also a lot of activities scheduled by museums, parks, malls and communities. Schedule.
In commemoration and tribute to the fastest developing nation in the world today, Google created and is using this logo for today:
Here are some photos depicting how people in the country celebrate the holiday:
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| Photo by The Schwartz Family Blog |
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| Photo by Global Arab Network |
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| Photo by Time Out Abu Dhabi |
Gulf News has listed the itineraries for the weekend. Click here to view the jampacked schedule.
Give baby dolphin a name
A newborn dolphin at the Dubai Dolphinarium needs a name. The metre-long, 10-kilo baby dolphin was born on October 10, 2010. You have all the right to suggest a name. Gulf News and Dubai Dolphinarium have teamed up for the ‘Name the Baby Dolphin’ campaign.
You can email your suggestions to readers@gulfnews.com or log on to http://gulfnews.com/in-focus/babydolphin. to learn more.
On Christmas, December 25, the Dolphinarium will shortlist the five most unique names and people can vote online.
The results will be announced on January 1, 2011 and the winner will meet the calf and receive a one-year family membership to the Dolphinarium. Additionally, he or she will receive 2 ‘swimming with the dolphins’ passes. The four runners-up will also get a chance to meet the dolphin.
Read the full article on Gulfnews here.
Here are some tips:
- The dolphin’s parents are Ksyusha and Seny. You might want to align the name to theirs.
- Interpret the name in a way that it relates to Dubai – how the city progresses and stand up amidst all obstacles – and how its culture remains attached to nature.
- Make the name sounds strong but not monstrous. Make it cute.
- Be vibrant – do not choose a lousy name of course.
- Think that you’re naming your own newborn – you’ll definitely give him the best name possible.
Be sure to elaborate your reasons when you email your suggestions to Gulf News. Be creative but don’t write a novel.
Exploring Fujairah at the minimum during Eid Al Adha
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| Fujairah Open Beach at a glance |
The family went to Fujairah for the first time, Wednesday 17th of November, to spend the Eid holiday (it’s the last ‘official’ day) on the beach. Man, we spent more hours on the road than on the beach. It was totally packed come lunch time.
I had a little commotion actually with ‘an official in civilian’ (I bet not a police) on the beach. While we were on waters, he kept knocking on our tent – and he didn’t stopped til about 5 minutes so we decided to approach him. He asked us to remove the tent as it is prohibited in the beach PARK. I argued with him about that ‘lousy’ PARK policy, but my wife interfere to pacify before things heat up. We’ve got all our things inside – and – it’s in an open park so I believe that having a tent is a must so we can peacefully leave our cameras, cellphones and wallet, and go swimming. Without any valid reasons. we submitted to what that official wanted. Whew.
You know what, we drove to another area in Fujairah, Al Aqqa and actually found lots of tents. Anyway, here are some pictures I’ve taken.
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| The other side |
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| And the port nearby |
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| On the way to Al Aqah Beach |
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| The other campers |
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| Others just settled on the rocks |
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| Into the deep. It was a rocky shore before reaching this part. We literally have to swim right from there til about 15m to enjoy the water. |
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| And since it’s an open beach… everybody’s welcome. |
Racial attack of a frustrated Dubai radio contest loser
I stumbled on Louise’s profile on Facebook and shocked to read the above wall post from someone. How bitter could one get for only not winning in a game of ‘chances?’ This lowly racial slur is totally out of context and unacceptable. Now that’s ridiculous for you. I feel for Louise.
Virgin Radio and Nahel.com had a radio-cum-facebook competition, “Show the Love” that ran in the last 3-4 weeks. To qualify to win an iPhone 4 or a Dell Vostro Laptop, one has to register on Virgin Radio’s website and change their Facebook or Twitter’s profile picture into a ‘Show The Love Photo’ (downloadable from their website).
Radio hosts call the winner’s name on-air and give them some 40 minutes to call the station to win the prize.
I also listen to Virgin and I could attest that there were far more other nationalities winning than Filipinos. Mr. Bitter could have just only spotted on a Filipino in times he tune in the radio. Check Virgin Radio Dubai’s Facebook page and you’ll see some random names of the winners.
Louise Da Costa is doing the show Mak and Da Costa with Ali Mak, a non-Filipino, weeknights from 8pm to 12midnight.
Mr. Bitter… move on dude!
Where to Buy Pork in Dubai, UAE?
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| Pork Shop in Spinneys |
Yes! Pork products are available for non-Muslims, in the entire UAE but Sharjah. The Emirates has been always respectful to other cultures and religions that select supermarkets are allowed to have dedicated “Pork Sections: For Non-Muslims”. You can also find a number of pork-serving restaurants within hotels. But neither fastfood nor restaurant, outside hotels, has pork on their menus.
Here are some popular Supermarkets across the UAE (except Sharjah) that sell pork products:
- Spinneys
- Al Maya
- Westzone
- De Belchoir
- Philippine Supermarket
- Choitram
Carrefour – one of the most popular, if not the most popular supermarket in the country doesn’t sell pork.
A friendly reminder: Be responsible not to do your barbeque in parks where many Muslims are gathered. Show respect that you don’t let them smell what you’re grilling.