SMS from 77013: The first MTC-Vodafone WAR!

I keep getting SMS adverts on my Vodafone number from No. 77013. These are messages aimed at tweens edging the consumer to listen to "Cool songs", as if that is an added value to anything.

Two days ago, I called 107 (the MTC Vodafone help desk) and asked for this to be turned off. The lady said Ok and was rather polite, I hung up.

Today I got another message from 77013. This says:

" وإسمع أغاني موطبيعية حدها فن B رد"

I was furious. usually, the MTC help desk is an example of politeness and efficiency. I called back.
Another lady picked up, I told her that this is the second time I call about this. She offered to give me instructions and I had to send an SMS to a number to unsubscribe.
I said NO.
I DID NOT subscribe to anything and therefore will NOT unsubscribe. I told them they should cease this immediatly.
Then came something that was shocking for me, the lady told me that MTC wasn't the one sending out SMS messages it was a third party.
I demanded details of this "third party" and the lady said it was "Aywa Gulf".
I never heard of an Aywa Gulf, so I asked for a contact name or number. The lady could provide neither and she suggested that I call Batelco's 181. And so I did.
The Batelco operator (when they finally did pick up) said there is no such thing as Aywa Gulf. In all possible spellings. This does not seem right.
I immediately headed to my good friend "Google", the searches "Aywah Gulf" and "Aywa Gulf" gave me nothing. but when I switched into Arabic and searched "أيوا جلف" I found this.

Aywa Gulf is a Kuwaiti Company. Owned by Business man Faisal Alisa and partially by Aldiera Telecommunications (Kuwait). Alisa owns a telecommunications company based in Kuwait. He owns the "Alafasy" famous Islamic satellite channel (Which MTC sponsors and Aywa Gulf offers joint promotions for the MTC customers) in addition to several others.
In 2006, Faisal Alisa was rewarded by MTC as one of the most important customers and joint campaign providers.
Isn't that interesting. From all of this I know the following:

• MTC is not sending the 77013 SMS, so either MTC sold a third party my number for advertising purposes without my consent or a third party stole that number from somewhere.
• The company that is behind the SMS messages is Kuwaiti, not Bahraini, greatly increasing the possibility that MTC betrayed my trust and sold my number especially that:
• MTC and Aywa Gulf partnered in several campaigns and MTC awarded them for collaboration.

I do not appreciate my privacy being violated, nor do I appreciate my time being wasted. I filed a formal complaint with MTC's helpdesk and its number is 965004. I will also speak to Ms. Linda Aljamea (Manager Customer Services) and Mr. Mohammed Haji (PR Officer) first thing tomorrow morning to get an official response.

I love MTC. I am extremely disappointed in their unethical conduct. Anyway, I will post any updates to the matter here.

Winning Eleven 11 is near!

The Winning Eleven series is extremely popular the world over and in the GCC more specifically. Heck, in Saudi they even rent out Playstations in coffee shops so you can play the thing with your mates.

the 10th incarnation was released on the PS2 last year. The 11th release (which sounds confusing yet cool) is coming out on BOTH the X360 and PS3.
This will be amazing, no reviews needed. It's just updated and improved more of the same. You can see some of the new additions in the pictures below
If something is gonna increase PS3's sales in the Middle East, this will be it.

"Bio Shock" is reaping praise

Bio Shock has been causing Tsunami sized waves for the X360 fans. It has extremely detailed visuals and attained very high marks already.
1Up gave them a 10/10, Games radar: 10, Eurogamer: 10, Game informer: 10, IGN: 9.7, Game spy: 10.
Essentially it is a first person shooter. But it seems to be done remarkably well. The X360 becomes more Solid everyday. Look at the trailer and tell me what you think. You play the man that tries to kill the little girls. I know, sick but novel notion.

Bahraini Wallpaper: Art by Hisham Zubari

Hisham Zubari is a well known artist in Bahrain and a relative of mine. I have on my desktop one of his beautiful Bahrain inspired paintings, which he drew back in 2000. I think its too beautiful to keep on my desk so I thought I'd make a wallpaper size of it. Just click on the image to see the full size.
Enjoy!

You don't think you're biased?

USA supports Israel with $30,000,000,000.00 (30 billion) over the next 10 years in ARMS ONLY.

Which mean there are MORE aids going to it later!
The amount is BD11340000000 (Almost BD94500000 - ninety four million and a half dinars - per month).
Now why is America doing that?
Did they do that to... lets say, South Korea? Who is their friends and faces danger from the North?
Did they do it to Finland? It is a "friend" isn't it?
Why not Trinidad & Tobago, Uganda, Vietnam, Ivory Coast, Bahrain, Mongolia, Fiji Islands, Poland. Why don't you let any other small, faraway, another continent country take over your decisions?
Why do you always give to Israel, which didn't give anything back to the taxpayers who are paying for this anyway?
If you do not think USA is biased and or is controlled by this tiny "state", you must be on something. This, my friends, is another reason why terrorism still goes on.

Michael jackson sued again!

Today's Alwasat newspaper reports that a Bahraini governor, Shaikh Abdulla bin Hamad Alkhalifa (a son of Bahrain's King Hamad Alkhalifa) has filed a law suit against the one and only, Michael Jackson.

The case is based on the allegation that Michael Jackson backed out on a promise to record a cover version of an Elvis Priestly record (unnamed). They are suing for $5 million in damages plus the cost of full accommodation and hospitality for himself and his three children for 12 months.

The promise was made sometime in 2005 when Jackson first arrived to Bahrain. Later, in 2006, King Hamad Alkhalifa himself greeted the performer in his palace (see the picture above), where Jackson thanked the king for his hospitality and commented that he was going to release an album of original tracks rather than old compilations. The Album was going to be produced by "Two Seas Records", a Bahraini record label owned by Shaikh Abdulla.

Michael Jackson were casually seen in Bahrain's mall's during these periods. Whether shopping or reserving whole kiddie ride parks for Bahraini children. He is of coursed always preceded by his fame. which made him disguise him self in the famous "women's Abaya cross dressing incident" (see left) in an effort to escape curious eyes. Failing miserably and falling directly into International news agencies cameras.

Personally, I like Michael's music. Shame that he is throwing himself in these situations. If you ask me, he doesn't know what he's doing anymore. Where to stay, release an album or not, do other business or not. Shame. Real shame.

PS3 prices drop in Bahrain

Sony fought back with a global plan, it seems, to cut the prices. Today we saw ads for new reduced prices for PS3s in Bahrain.

Just a couple of months ago, it debuted to the tune of BD 270 ($715) for a bare bones system. Games were priced BD 30 ($80) at least.

We now see three bundles on display.

The first two has one game attached: Eithr "Resistance: Fall of man" or "Moto storm" and a controller.

System + one game now costs BD 229 ($606).

Another third bundle includes both mentioned games for BD 260 ($687) but for 2 controllers rather than one. Compared to the initial offering price, this is a pretty sweet deal. This deal could have set you back BD 360 ($952) at least had you got it at launch.

Similarly, I just heard this morning that PS3 prices in Malysia reached about BD 180 ($476). This is of course great news. Sony is doing exactly the suggestions I previously wrote in my March next gen forcast. They seems to be on the brink of a reform which can very much be very successful. If these moves could get retail customers intrested again, this will pull back the cautious 3rd party developers to the Sony side again.

In the mean time, Nintendo has NO Middle east representation nor official releases. And the choice of games are leaving hard cores hungry. Can't belive it, but This round Sony 1 / Nintendo 0.

The X360 is enjoying the Middle East presence of Microsoft and got price cuts and more distribution as well. Although it is still not the house hold name the Playstation is here.

Any way, It will be intresting to watch the public's reaction to the price cut.

Burning Warehouse. LIVE.

Yesterday, as customary, I went on to play a bit of footie. We gather around at 4 and kickoff once we are all there.
I headed first towards "The Centre" to buy me some socks only to see a great pillar of black smoke on the horizon. We drove in a little bit closer.
A warehouse was burning. Huge fire and lots of smoke. There were Police Vehicles and two Fire trucks.
I took a couple of pictures and started capturing video.
I am of course unfamiliar of fire fighting at all. So everything I say here could be knocked out by a single informed opinion. But it looks to me like there wasn't enough fire trucks on the scene. A single hose battled for about 15-20 minutes while I was there with no extra support making the blaze only spread to other directions.
Akhbar Alkhaleej said that fire fighters fought for more than three hours. They reported it was owned by Mr. Ghulam Alnamlaiti, and threatened 10 other warehouses plus high voltage lines.
AK also reported that over 50 individuals and 18 vehicles fought the fire. I don't know about that. Maybe eventually they were 50 and 16 other trucks came, but that isn't the number I saw, (just watch my video below). They Also reported that a truck needed only 3 minutes to refill its water tank from Bapco. Hmm.. Plausible but I didn't see any more trucks coming in with fresh water.
A great deal of thanks must go to Mr. Hassan Ali Almiraaj, who Alayam reported, gave all his water resources of his farm to assist in the fight. That is a noble thing to do.

Anyhow, I am a bit concerned about this. Whether how true the numbers are or how much I can rely on our fire fighters. Don't get me wrong, this is a brave thing they are doing. And I am sure they are more than capable. It just seems to take allot of time to act or coordinate with other officials. Kinda scary that.