Apple iPhone 3G Take Top Honors at T3 Gadget Awards
October 31, 2008
Apple took top honors with the iPhone 3G at the T3 Gadget Awards. The T3 jury awarded the iPhone 3G the title of “Most Anticipated Gadget of the Year”.
In other categories, the Sony Ericsson W980i won for “Best Music Phone”, the Panasonic Lumix FX37A won for “Best Compact Camera”, the “DSLR of the year” was Canon EOS 1000D, and the “Best Gaming Companion” was Sony Playstation 3, to name a few.
Shufflegazine October Available Online
October 31, 2008
We’ve just made Shufflegazine October available online. This is the last issue, at least for now, that we’re putting online. The November issue will be out with subscribers and in stores in just a few days so we offer the October issue as a teaser of what the new magazine looks like.
The intent for now at least is to offer the magazine for subscription and sell it in stores (members of EmiratesMac Apple User Group get free subscription). We will offer quite a number of articles for free on the site though so keep looking out for them. I’ll start posting October articles soon and November will follow. For now, enjoy a look at Shufflegazine October.
New MacBook MacBook Pro Support 6GB RAM
October 31, 2008
When Apple announced the new MacBook and MacBook Pro the other week speculation was everywhere that they really can take up to 8GB of RAM. That was because NVIDIA’s chipset supposedly support that much even though Apple says they take “only” 4GB. We ordered our MacBook with 4GB of RAM and I don’t see myself needing 8GB in the lifetime of this Mac but I guess some users may want it.
Now RAM seller RAMJet has posted information saying that the new Apple notebooks support 6GB and they even sell the RAM chips to you for that if you want. I don’t know why you’d need the extra 2GB but if you want the maximum RAM possible then I guess go for it.
Shufflegazine November Being Printed
October 30, 2008
Omran is as I post this at the printer looking at the first pages of the November issue rolling off the press. It’s looking good and we should be out on time or thereabouts.
Roving Reporter Setup
October 30, 2008
We’re staying in a hotel for a couple of nights so I’m trying to get some work done while on the road, so to speak. I know, I know, I should take it easy, relax and get off of the RSS feeds and I will do less of that (I think!). But for me just not having to go to the office, to meetings, etc is relaxing.
Anyway, I had set up my little roving reporter equipment in the hotel room and thought it was a very simplistic set up so I thought I’d take a photo of it. The only thing missing is the Blackberry Bold as that’s what I took the photo with.
My iPhone 3G Decided to Start Doing 3G
October 30, 2008
Yesterday when I looked down on my iPhone 3G it said “3G” for the first time. It’s unlocked via SIM card and has so far refused to show 3G or apparently connect at 3G speeds. I’ve used other iPhone 3Gs in Dubai at 3G speeds, like when we did the testing for the October issue, but my own iPhone 3G has refused 3G. That’s until yesterday. And still today it says 3G and gives me 3G speeds of up to around 1Mbps it seems, which is great.
Now I don’t know what changed because I didn’t do anything. I’ve used the iPhone in the same way all along. So assuming I didn’t change anything, can we speculate that Etisalat did something? Perhaps we can even (wildly) speculate that they’re preparing for iPhone officially in UAE?
Read Shufflegazine September 2008 Online
October 30, 2008
We’ve now made Shufflegazine September 2008 available online at issuu.com. We hope you enjoy reading it this way. This issue was the last one in the old Shuffle format. From October Shufflegazine has a different format and more pages. The Flash-based issuu.com viewer should load below or you can also check it out on the issuu.com web site.
Dubai Mall And iStyle Store Delayed Again
October 29, 2008
Dubai Mall, the latest mega mall project in Dubai, was scheduled to open tomorrow on October 30. You may even have seen big red signs around Dubai to this effect.
ArabianBusiness.com reports today that there is a delay to the opening so it will now be on November 4th instead. It’s also confirmed on the Mall’s web site.
IStyle is supposedly opening their latest store in Dubai Mall. We’ve yet to hear officially from ABM about this and we’ve sent a question to a representative of iStyle tonight and are eagerly waiting to hear back from them.
Apple Gaming Market Growing Fast, Middle East Developers Should Get on Board
October 29, 2008
I visited the Dubai World Gaming Expo today and tried to find out what the situation is for Mac gaming in general and in the Middle East in particular. There are quite a number of interesting interviews from today and I’ll try to share it all with you in the near future. For tonight I leave you with what Mr. Anas Al Madani, Vice President of Index, the conference organizers, said.
“iPhone and iPod games are wonderful and they gave Apple a new taste” said Mr. Al Madani. He added that the gaming market in the Middle East is growing very fast and local developers should produce more Apple games to meet the continuous increase of the Apple fans.
Mr. Al Madani further claimed that the future of gaming industry is very promising in the Middle East, and the opportunity is still available for anyone to establish their business. He also pointed that the local companies should start developing more games with Arabian features and approach international companies like Apple to make use of the huge success of the iPhone and iPod. Games for Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch platform are recently considered one of the most popular gaming platforms in the Arab World.
سوق العاب ابل ينمو سريعاً، يجب علي شركات تطوير الالعاب في الشرق الاوسط ان يستفيدوا من هذا النمو
معرض دبي للالعاب يقام لاول مرة في الامارات و الشرق الاوسط و شمال افريقيا
“ العاب ايفون و ايبود اكثر من رائعة و لقد اعطت لابل بعداً جديداً” هذا ما قالة السيد انس المدني نائب رئيس “اندكس ” الشركة المنظمة لمعرض دبي للالعاب، كما اضاف ان سوق العاب الحاسب و الهاتف المحمول ينمو بشكل سريع في منطقة الشرق الاوسط لذا يتوجب علي الشركات المنطقة انتاج المزيد من الالعاب المتوافقة مع منتجات ابل لكي يستفيدوا من الاقبال المتزايد من محبي ابل علي شراء مثل هذة الالعاب.
اشار السيد انس المدني الي ان سوق الالعاب الالكترونية في منتطقتنا العربية مازال واعداً و مازالت الفرصة سانحة للجميع للدخول فية مما يعطي الشركات المحلية القدرة علي انتاج المزيد من الالعاب و تقديمها الي الشركات العالمية مثل ابل لكي يستغلوا النجاح الباهر الذي حققة الايفون و الايبود اذ اصبحا من اكثر الوسائل شعبية للتمتع بالالعاب.
TOM BIHN Introduces Laptop Bags for New 15.4" MacBook Pro
October 29, 2008
Seattle, WA - TOM BIHN, a designer, manufacturer, and retailer of laptop bags, backpacks, travel bags, and briefcases, has introduced sizes of their Checkpoint Flyer “checkpoint friendly” laptop briefcase and Brain Cell laptop case specifically for the new 15.4″ MacBook Pro.
The Checkpoint Flyer
The Checkpoint Flyer Briefcase is the first airport security “checkpoint friendly” bag designed specifically for Mac laptops. Available in custom sizes for all Mac laptops, the Checkpoint Flyer’s laptop insert is removable and interchangeable with other sizes. When one buys a new laptop, they won’t need to buy an entirely new Checkpoint Flyer: just a new laptop insert sized to fit their new laptop.
The Checkpoint Flyer is made out of the high-quality materials TOM BIHN is known for: U.S. made 1050 denier ballistic nylon, Japanese Dyneema rip-stop fabric, YKK splash-proof zippers, and Poron foam-padded handles. The laptop insert of the Checkpoint Flyer protects the laptop from all sides with thermo-molded foam.
The Checkpoint Flyer is $220 USD (including laptop insert). Available for pre-order from the TOM BIHN website; ships by late November. Made in Seattle.
The Brain Cell
TOM BIHN customers have been using the Brain Cell laptop case to protect their Mac laptops everywhere from Iraq to Antarctica for over 10 years, giving the Brain Cell its word-of-mouth reputation as providing some of the best protection one can get for their laptop. Now the Brain Cell is available in a size specifically designed to carry the New 15.4″ MacBook Pro: Size 4Z.
The Brain Cell is designed to clip securely inside a variety of TOM BIHN messenger bags, briefcases, and backpacks - including the Empire Builder, Super Ego, Brain Bag, and Western Flyer.
Among the protective materials that make the Brain Cell are 8mm thick soft foam padding, 4mm hard corrugated plastic, cross-linked closed-cell polyethylene foam, and 12mm thick premium memory foam.
The Brain Cell Size 4Z is $60 USD. Available for pre-order from the TOM BIHN website; ships by late November. Available in two formats: Horizontal for use in messenger bags or briefcases and Vertical for use in backpacks. Made in Seattle.
Bags for the New Aluminum 13″ MacBook
TOM BIHN has over 14 different laptop cases, messenger bags, briefcases and backpacks available for the new aluminum 13″ MacBook.
TOM BIHN Bags
Size 4Z Brain Cell
The Checkpoint Flyer Briefcase
Bags for the 15.4″ MacBook Pro
Bags for the 13″ MacBook
Video: Watch the Checkpoint Flyer go through Airport Security
TOM BIHN has been designing and creating bags for over 30 years. The TOM BIHN Inc. headquarters and factory are located in Seattle, Washington, where the company is dedicated to creating quality products and quality jobs. The public is welcome to visit the TOM BIHN Seattle Factory Showroom and see where the bags are made. TOM BIHN products are available for order with worldwide shipping at the company’s website.