Saudi TechView

Anime News Network and Manga Fox suddenly blocked in Saudi Arabia

Khaled A. — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:57:17 +0000

Anime News Network (www.animenewsnetwork.com), a very popular Anime news website was suddenly blocked in Saudi Arabia sometime last week according to @Shinryoma.

Anime News Network was never blocked in the country. Anime is not porn, CITC.

Update: Thanks @Turke and @Missice81 for telling me this. Manga Fox ( www.mangafox.com ) a Manga source, as been blocked as well! What’s next? One Manga? Manga Stream?

To help getting it unblocked as soon as possible fill the form at internet.gov.sa, write an email to unblock@internet.gov.sa or send a fax to +966(1)2639290.

Google isn’t working for some STC subscribers (update: might be DNS)

Khaled A. — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 21:47:50 +0000

Update: More people are having problems (here and here). The problem is apparently caused by using any external DNS (Google DNS for example). This is very weird.

This is not surprising. Some STC customers (including me, Muneeb in Dhahran and Abdullah in Riyadh) are having problems accessing Google. This appears to be random because others told me that it’s working properly.

This is not only effecting searches but Google Reader, Google Analytics, Youtube and other services! This is the error message by the way:

Network Error (tcp_error)

A communication error occurred: “Operation timed out”
The Web Server may be down, too busy, or experiencing other problems preventing it from responding to requests. You may wish to try again at a later time.

For assistance, contact your network support team.

Please, STC: fix your servers already.

DHL slowing myus shipments to push DHL EasyShop?

Khaled A. — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 10:53:49 +0000

Update: on Yousef’s shipment: finally in Jeddah, again. Wanna see something funny? Here’s the shipment mapped.

DHL EasyShop is another US forwarding services similar to MyUS. I didn’t get the chance to try it but if you’re interested read this first impressions post on 2:48am and this site dedicated to comment about how bad it really is.

With my many MyUS shipments I noticed that some shipments stay idle in DHL Bahrain for a long time (2 or more days some times). There was no reason for that delay, they simply chill out in Bahrain. I call it “the DHL black hole in Bahrain”.

I talked about it a lot on twitter, but what happened to me can’t be matched by what Yraffah experienced. He complained about it on twitter (here, here, here, here and here). Basically his shipment went from the US to Bahrain then went to his city Jeddah, stayed there for a week then shipped to Bahrain, stayed there for a few days, currently it is in Riyadh!

So here’s the theory: DHL is deliberately stalling shipments from MyUS to discourage MyUS customers and promoted their own EasyShop service. A historian friend suggested this theory and I agree with him.

Please remember that this is a Conspiracy theory with no evidence to prove it except user experiences.

STC/Mobily/Zain 3G Band

Khaled A. — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 16:03:22 +0000

I am about to purchase a Novatel MiFi 2352 or 2372. The MiFi shares a 3G data connection as a wireless access point and it’s battery powered. The difference between the 2 models is this:

MiFi 2352 uses the following bands: Tri-band HSUPA/HSDPA 900/1900/2100 MHz and Quad-band GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz. The MiFi 2372 however is: Tri-band HSUPA/HSDPA 850/1900/2100 MHz and Quad-band GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz.

According to this page: STC, Mobily and Zain all use the 2100MHz band for 3G.

Blocked in Saudi: Domain Tools’ WHOIS

Khaled A. — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 15:14:31 +0000

Domain Tools (not blocked) is an online tool for webmasters. Their WHOIS service (formally known as whois.sc) is now blocked. The blocked URL is:

whois.domaintools.com

WHOIS is a harmless protocol used to look-up domain names, etc. There is no reason what so ever for having it blocked. Read more about WHOIS on Wikipedia.

To help getting it unblocked as soon as possible fill the form at internet.gov.sa, write an email to unblock@internet.gov.sa or send a fax to +966(1)2639290.

PKI Seminar at Intercontinental Hotel in Riyadh

Khaled A. — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 09:07:40 +0000

The Saudi MCIT (don’t mind the design) will be hosting a 2 day seminar on PKI (Public key infrastructure). The seminars will be for 2 days starting tomorrow the 15th to the 16th of December 2009. The seminar will be titled “Experiences, Opportunities and Challenges in PKI”.

The following will be speaking at the seminar:

Dr. Fahad Al Hoymany. Senior Advisor and Head of National Center for Digital Certification (NCDC) , Saudi Arabia.
Phil D’Angio. Director of Business Development for VeriSign EMEA.
Dr. Khalid alghonaim. General Manager Alelm company ,Saudi Arabia.
Eng. Ali alsoma.General Manager E-Government Program “YESSER” Saudi Arabia.
Ami Azrul bin Abdullah.Chief Technology Officer Digicert Sdn Bhd., Malaysia.
Youngchul Kang.CEO, National Administration Information System and Security Co, South Korea.
Sami Ghazali.Chief Executive Officer Certification. National Digital Certification Agency. Tunis.
Hisham Mohamed Abdel Wahab.Director of electronic signature, ITIDA.Egypt.
Antti Vihavainen.Business development & professional services manager Valimo, Finland.
Eng. Abdullah Nasser Alghannam.R&D Deputy Director National Information Centre.
Eng. Fawaz Al Bassam.PKI administrator Aramco.
Dr. Tim Moses.Senior Director of the Advanced Security Technology group Entrust. Canada.
Antonio Colaianni.EMEA Sales Director Corestreet.
Dr. Sami alhumaidi.Director of ECP Research Program, KACST.Saudi Arabia.
Eng. Abdullah AlFathel.Head of Architecture & Security Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency.
Eng. Mohammad M. Al-Mandeel.Assistant Secretary General for IT – CIO Council of Saudi Chambers (CSC).
Olivier Ruff.PKI & SCM Consultant OPENTRUST.
Dr. Sundeep Oberoi. Global Head of the Niche Technology Delivery Group (NTDG) in Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).
Dr. Dhaifallah Al Zahrani. Deputy Governor for Legal Affairs Communications and Information Technology Commission(CITC).
Ronny Bjones. Security Architect/ EMEA EPG Security lead Microsoft Corporation.

Registration and more info can be found here.

Blocked in Saudi Arabia: Google Help Group

Khaled A. — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 07:29:02 +0000

Google’s very own “Google Groups Guide” Google group is blocked for no known reason. This is a Google Groups help and support forum. Here’s more info about it:

The Google Groups Help Forum is the primary channel for getting your Groups questions answered. You’ll find that this community is always buzzing with activity. Get ready to meet some expert users of Google Groups who’ll provide friendly advice about the product (if you’re nice to them). The Google Groups Guide and Groups Guide Ray, Google employees, regularly monitor this unmoderated Help Forum. The Guides will only respond to questions if there is valuable information to share with our users that has not already been provided by the Forum’s resident experts! Messages from Google employees will appear with a blue “G” badge.

From the description I see no reason to have it blocked. Here is the blocked URL:

http://groups.google.com/group/google-groups-guide/

To help getting it unblocked as soon as possible fill the form at internet.gov.sa, write an email to unblock@internet.gov.sa or send a fax to +966(1)2639290.

Video: Microsoft Windows 7 launch in Saudi Arabia

Khaled A. — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 08:47:05 +0000

I have to say that I am not impressed with this presentation by Microsoft Saudi Arabia. Special thanks to @MarwanAlmuraisy for posting the video.

Microsoft is supposed to start a Windows 7 ad campaign this Wednesday, we will see how effective it is going to be.

Windows 7 prices in Saudi Arabia (Full & OEM prices)

Khaled A. — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 15:45:08 +0000

Microsoft Windows 7 is now available in Saudi Arabia. The prices are (from Jarir Bookstore).

Windows 7 Home Premium Full 469SR ($125).
Windows 7 Professional Full 889SR ($237).
Windows 7 Ultimate Full 949SR ($253). (thanks Zeyad).

These are full editions and not upgrades or OEM (system builder) versions. The full version of Windows 7 all allow you to choose between 32 and 64-bit, so you will get both in the same package.

Windows 7 OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) also known as System Builder is now available and can be found at computer hardware stores (Olaya computer market in Riyadh). OEM versions are available in 32 and 64-bit editions. So unlike the regular edition you need to choose when you buy it. The prices are:

Windows 7 Home Premium OEM (32 or 64 bit): 460SR ($123).
Windows 7 Professional OEM (32 or 64 bit): 565SR ($151).
Windows 7 Ultimate OEM (32 or 64 bit): 765SR ($204).

Windows 7 Upgrade version is not available in Saudi Arabia at the moment.

Arabic version is not available until now, Jarir said maybe in 2 weeks. Also if it is like Windows Vista then you are forced to use one interface language (Arabic or English) with no ability to switch the interface language unless you have Windows 7 Ultimate. If this is true then it is an idiotic practice by Microsoft, they should support 2 languages in Saudi Arabia on all Windows editions.

Thanks @dubayan for the info.

Windows 7 quietly launched in Saudi Arabia

Khaled A. — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 12:43:40 +0000

Update: finally found the press release by Microsoft.

In a small event in Four Seasons Hotel in Riyadh, Microsoft Saudi Arabia has launched the company’s latest operating system: Windows 7. Microsoft Saudi Arabia’s “launch party” was a small press release attended by Samir Noaman, MS Saudi’s new CEO, Waiel Snosi, manager of MS Saudi sales and Sharif Morsi manager of Windows 7 marketing.

The launch event is very quiet compared to previous Windows operating system launches.

Microsoft Saudi Arabia is expected to launch a big Windows 7 advertisement campaign on October 28th in Saudi Arabia.

Via True Gaming.