One Big Construction Site (A Dubai Blog)

Identity Theft

2011-07-16T10:59:00.000+04:00

"ABU DHABI // A significant proportion of UAE residents have been victims of online hacking, fraud or identity theft, a new survey indicates.
Of 751 residents questioned for Al Aan TV’s Nabd al Arab (“Arabs’ Pulse”) programme by YouGov Siraj, 24 per cent had been victims of hacking, 13pc of identity theft and 22pc of online fraud.
The result is widespread concern about the risks of social networks, with two in five (40pc) saying they were somewhat or extremely unsafe.
Perhaps because it is the most widely used, Facebook is also the site about which there are most safety concerns, with a third (35pc) of respondents saying it was the least safe social network.
And 42pc of respondents were concerned that Facebook’s new facial recognition feature posed a “big security risk”." --more here:
http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/online-concerns-focus-on-facebook

These have to be the most skewed statistics ever represented... To suggest that the UAE suffers from 3 times more cases of identity theft than the US is preposterous.

What on earth is 'online fraud'? How on earth can 22 percent of people be victim to online fraud? I just don't understand how that is even possible to suggest that almost a quarter of the population have been defrauded online.

I refuse to trust these statistics as being anywhere near accurate, however, I will state that most people in the UAE are completely unaware of any form of any internet security and refuse to adapt to the 21st century.

Most of the group of people that answered "yes" to being a victim of hacking are going to be the sort that install all manner of free, pirated crap of the internet and then cry wolf when they get a thousand pop-ups on their computer. That isn't even hacking.

As a computer-savvy person I often find myself being asked to reinstall Windows for people; I tell them to buy a proper copy so they get updates, but no one wants to buy it. I know dozens of people who rely on free anti virus services (mostly AVG antivirus which is to put it frankly crap), literally no one will spend around 200 dirhams on an antivirus suite. What happens when your computer gets filled with crap and all of your passwords are stolen by a Romanian trojan virus? Call me, I'll fix it for you, and then you won't spend any money to solve the problem and you'll have the same problem again in 6 months.

The reason that people feel they are victim to so much in the UAE is their complete naivety and unwillingness to adapt to the 21st century. If you take 10 minutes a day and read the news you will understand the grave privacy and security concerns that face everyone today and you will learn to change your habits.

It is ridiculous to see just how naive people are in this country, you have a good chance of convincing almost anyone in the UAE that Etisalat has awarded them 500,000 AED in a competition and all they need to do is go and buy 50,000 AED worth of phone credit and patch it through to you.

Recently, an encrypted form of one of my passwords was leaked online via a hack of the Gawker Media network (who, for the record are complete idiots) as a result all of my passwords on the internet have been changed and I upped my security 'policies' on everything I do. To give you a clue of what a proper password looks like, here is one that I used on a recently decommissioned web server:

2G5Hc0CN7M%#15#^Z!&JMKF3B6!kQgqdzB58inBc%6I3HF#J64z*WCU2hk*@MskA

I'm pretty fed up of how ridiculous the situation in the UAE is so here is...
My guide to security and privacy for people who do lots of stuff online:
-Buy Windows and stop being a cheap-ass (if you can't afford it then get Linux which is free), buy an anti-virus and firewall suite which is good (nothing under the brand of Norton, AVG or McAffee)
-If you trust your entire computer security on a 200 AED router then you're getting what you pay for; I run an entire computer just to act as a router and firewall for my internet connection and I never have any issues with hacking at all, as we speak a bunch of people I pissed off online have been trying to scan my computer for the past week and have had no luck at all.
-If you want to do sensitive things online where you would like a barrier between you and whatever service you are using, then buy a VPS; it takes 10 minutes to set up and can cost as low as 6$ US. This is also important as a storage facility to store stuff you value outside of where you live; that way if your house burns down tomorrow, everything you need is located in some random data centre in the Netherlands.
-Buy a password manager, lastpass is a great service that costs 12$ US a year; this allows you to generate passwords and save them for automatic logon as well as store secure information. You can also use this on your mobile phone. It is also great because if your house burns down tomorrow all of your passwords are still on it (I should note however, that your passwords are stored on this service in encrypted form, you have to unlock them locally with your own password)
-Don't let idiots use your computer and download and install shit, put a password on it and hit people who use it.
-If you don't trust people to not use your computer then store sensitive files inside an encrypted folder, you can use software such as TrueCrypt to achieve this.
-Use Gmail or activate Google Apps on your domain, it blocks out 99.9% of the stupid online scam shit that wastes your time; if you don't use gmail in this day and age then you may as well disconnect your modem and throw it out the wall, every single other email service is absolutely terrible. Never, ever use your company email address for personal stuff.
-Buy AdMuncher Premium, it costs around 40$ US and blocks all forms of advertisements on your computer (including those on YouTube or anywhere else), this also subsequently blocks a lot of stupid shit which can cause you problems. When I use the internet I literally do not see any advertisements at all. Ever.
-If you are going to use Facebook then make your profile completely private and make yourself aware of what you are posting using it.
-If you are going to write stuff online be aware of how it is indexed far and wide on the internet and that even when you delete content it may take weeks, months or years for it to disappear.
-If you don't want to give out your phone number online then there are a number of services you can register with online to get a phone number located in another country for as little as 1$ US per month
-Make sure you keep a current mobile number with your bank and activate any facility that informs you of account activity; they send these messages instantly and you will know straight away if your bank account information has fallen into the wrong hands.
-Don't believe anyone who emails you or telephones you. Ever. You haven't wont half a million dirhams.
-If you see free shit online, there's a reason it is free and that is because it is full of viruses.
-Never, ever give out your passwords to bank staff or anyone, if they do ask you for them then you are allowed by law to shout at them and report them to their supervisors.
-If you are on a mac you are still at just as much risk as anyone else so take proper precautions.

Overall, if you are serious about your security and privacy it may cost as much as 200$ US a year, but it is money well spent.

Don't be creative

2011-06-26T05:22:00.003+04:00

Here's something you don't read every day in the UAE...

"ABU DHABI // Four masked men role-playing on a villa rooftop with fake assault rifles, pistols and knives found themselves facing the real thing - police special forces there to arrest them.

The men were dressed in camouflage outfits that looked like police uniforms, and were simulating fighting tactics on the rooftop in a compound next to a government building.

They were wearing bullet-proof vests and wielding plastic and metal clubs, and videotaping the game, said Col Ibrahim Sultan Al Zaabi, chief of Al Shaabiya police station in Abu Dhabi.

A neighbour reported suspicious behaviour on the rooftop and the men, three of whom were engineers, were in custody shortly afterwards. Police obtained a warrant and special forces raided the villa to apprehend the men "firmly and quickly", Col Al Zaabi said.

Col Al Zaabi described the men's behaviour as "absurd, childish, and unjustifiable".

He said an increase in the popularity of violent computer games had encouraged a culture of violence among children, and called for a ban on their import, as well as on the sale of fake weapons and firecrackers.

Society should encourage games that promoted children's creative abilities, and parents should control their children and promote cultural activities that enhanced their development, Col Al Zaabi said."

(source: thenational.ae

I particularly like the quote from the Chief knocking on the guys for being creative and saying we should only be creative towards children's games, despite the fact every article titles them as being 'men'. If you take a stroll on YouTube you'll see plenty of people reenacting scenes from video games and using it as method of learning pro-level software that could get them a job.

On reading through this same story on the Arabic side of things (at least via Google Translate) it appears that 3 of the men worked as engineers, so yes, let's ban video games for kids. They were also using airsoft guns which hasn't been reported in the English-language press that I have noticed.

Good luck on banning violent video games; I'm sure the 500 billion players in the UAE and GCC region who play Counter-Strike from dusk till dawn will be agreeable. I'll see you guys at the world championship for Barney's magical bus in Abu Dhabi next year.

Khaleej Times by far has the most entertaining write up on this whole story:

"ABU DHABI — It was like a war scene in miniature. Four masked men entered the terrace of the villa, holding guns in their hands. Fully equipped with arms and bullet-proof vests, they started shooting each other, hiding behind the water tank and AC units. As the fight continued, one or two among them fell injured.
Watching the reel-like scene over the window, a neighbour had shivers down the spine. The first thing to do was to call the police. Minutes later, a well-trained Q7 Special Forces unit reached the area with full preparation to storm the house where 10 people were supposedly staying in."

So basically, the problem is some guys went on a rooftop and shot some airsoft guns and filmed it, some neighbor was concerned (I'll judge that if I ever get to see the video) and a bunch of people got arrested.

Chinese gangs

2011-06-24T09:45:00.000+04:00

A while ago I tweeted about the 15 or so police cars that were on my street in the middle of the night; I first noticed two police cars at about 3:30AM and then stayed up until about 9AM watching them perform a massive manhunt; the total number of Police and CID personal was astounding.

Apparently, it was a Chinese gang in action and they had stolen from a few houses in the area; the police had caught one of them red handed but he had evaded them; initially everyone thought they'd only stolen from one house and it must've been someone important for them to send out more than a dozen squad cars.

From what I have heard the entire gang was caught and arrested a few days later and were then paraded around our neighborhood (I must have missed this part)

I have to say it is impressive to know the CID and Dubai Police take theft so seriously and it goes to show how safe the UAE is when it comes to 'gang' crimes.

EmiratesNBD

2011-06-04T02:11:00.000+04:00

What does the only bank worth your time in the UAE do with a big bundle of money? Aside from sending me 45 page long bank statements?

Put some woman waving her arms repeatedly about their 'enriched service' on the front of their website. And redesign it to provide practically nothing of use to a customer.

How about redesign the internet banking facility (you know, the place where people conduct online transactions which generally speaking make banks money) so that it looks and acts like something that wasn't designed two decades ago? Nope.

How about release an app for Android or god forbid iPhones that allows internet banking (you know, the place where people conduct online transactions which generally speaking make banks money)? Nope.

Yeah, that's right, change some fonts and put some woman waving her arms on the front page and that will make adding phone credit to my account from my mobile phone work (actually, no it doesn't)

And then add some sharing buttons...

What exact purpose do those serve for a customer? I really just don't understand it at all.

"HEY LARRY DO YOU USE THE EMIRATES NBD INTERNETS BANKING FACILITIES?!"
"WHY YES I SIGNED UP FOR IT WITH MY ACCOUNT BUT I DO NOT KNOW INTERNET"
"ITS OK LARRY, DO NOT FRET, I WILL USE THE SHARE BUTTONS CONVENIENTLY LOCATED ON THEIR WEBPAGE TO SHARE THEIR INTERNET WITH YOU AND THEN YOU CAN CONDUCT TRANSACTIONS WHICH MAKE THEM REVENUE USING THE AFOREMENTIONED ONLINE FACILITIES"

Here's how you can improve your site Emirates NBD:
MAKE IT WORK ON MOBILE PHONES.

Here are some other banks that have applications for mobile users, many more banks do not have these applications but they have banking websites which ACTUALLY WORK ON A MOBILE:

Please revert back to me at the earliest inconvenience with a woman waving her arms on the front of your site when you have completed the assigned task. kthx bai.

Stuff and Things

2011-03-26T05:09:00.002+04:00

It's high-time I updated this blog again. It has been a really long time since I last updated.

2010 was a great year in many ways. I got the chance to work an awesome project in 2010 which I never guessed would be a part of my career; then another project straight afterwards (with literally only enough time to get a car-wash and discovering and repairing a damaged tyre in-between the two projects). After working far too many 72-100 hour weeks I crashed in January and have been living in my cocoon since.

Sadly, 2011 began on a sad note. I learnt one morning just a few days into the new year that a friend of mine from high school had died. The same guy I used to go out with practically every weekend. The same guy who I never saw with anything but a wide smile across his face and a string of practical jokes up his sleeve.

I still remember a funny story when he once asked to use my headphones when we were on a school trip in the UK; I told him no because I was sure he'd break them. After some back and forth I relinquished and let him use the headphones. Of course, not more than 30 seconds later, sure enough, the headphones were broken.

Another friend of mine broke the news of his death to me quite abruptly--I sense from now knowing how well I knew said person. I was in shock and awe for a good few hours due to the usual name confusion that accompanies news of a death in this country. It was an extremely sad event.

The funeral was a hard event because of the familiar faces from a few years ago that were so sad.

I'm regretful that I lost touch with him several years ago when he left the UAE to study abroad and wish I hadn't.

Last week my grandfather passed away after more than an eventful life. I remember him mostly from my childhood as a Doc Brown-type inventor/scientists. His accomplishments during his life were truly monumental. I'll always remember him fondly for his tales of adventure and life.

I still remember him asking me when I was a child if I was going to marry a Dubaian woman.

A photograph of his casket that I was sent brought tears to my eyes--the simple items that would seem obscure to anyone not knowing him placed with it were enough to spell out his passions in life... a National Geographic magazine, a gauge, welding goggles, a saw and a hammer.

Sadly my grandfather suffered from Alzheimers and the last opportunity I got to see him he couldn't remember who I was, but his personality still shone brightly.

I'll always remember him as an adventurer, sailor, inventor and engineer and most importantly my grandfather. I miss him a lot.

My parents have finally left Dubai after around 20 years of living here; I still doubt that they're gone forever because they've been spinning the same story about leaving for the whole duration of our stay here.

My girlfriend went off to university in greener pastures and now we're doing the long distance thing. Have been really excited for her and I'm going to see her hopefully sometime soon which I'm really looking forward to because I miss her so much.

And of course, logically, after living here for 20 years I'm here on a visit visa once again. Life in Dubai is in its usual unsettled fashion.

updates

2010-10-15T17:46:00.000+04:00

My blog turned 5 in august.

5 years of blagging.

I should probably update at some point but for now I will make yet another post saying i'll update it next Thursday for sure.

Du, Etisalat, the TRA and the future

2010-07-02T13:46:00.005+04:00

According to The National, Du is (finally) soon going to gain access to Etisalat's telecommunications network...
The telecommunications operator du is set to gain access to the network of its rival Etisalat within weeks, ushering in a fresh wave of competition in the phone, internet and television market.

If the move goes ahead as expected, UAE residents will finally have a choice of telecoms providers regardless of where they live.

Etisalat has a monopoly on traditional telephones, internet service and cable TV throughout most of the country, while du services a small area of Dubai that includes newer neighbourhoods such as Dubai Marina and Media City.

“Welcome to competition,” Farid Faraidooni, the chief commercial officer for du, said this week.

The development will be a boon to du, which has been able to offer UAE consumers only mobile and landline services because of regulatory and technical issues.

Here are my personal predictions for broadband internet access and telecommunications in general in the next 12-24 months:

Du and Etisalat will begin a price war and heavily reduce the cost of their bundles (i.e. internet/tv/phone bundles) whilst increasing several-fold in a short timespan in an effort to gain market share.
We will see impossibly ridiculous combinations of high-speed internet with low bandwidth (like Etisalat's connections that you can only use for 6 hours at full capacity in an entire month) In light of bandwidth increases for internet connections it is likely (and already on the way to happening) that we will see people having to pay for additional bandwidth through their teeth (like Telstra in Australia
used to charge 465 AED per additional GB). Because of these bandwidth restrictions we will be 'heavily reliant' on content provided by Etisalat / Du.
They will make it harder to individually purchase services (i.e. a separate internet connection) and harder to purchase services with no obligations.
They will both introduce things like yearly contracts, ETF (early termination fees) and start ramping up the fees so we can enjoy full duopoly greatness.
While the price of telecommunications will seemingly come down, we will all be at the mercy of contracts with our telephone companies and will pay heavily for breaching them.
Skype will still be cheaper.
The TRA will probably say "no comment"

(Of course this is in many cases a worst-case scenario prediction and is just a prediction so take it with a grain of salt. But please do ask Du and Etisalat as much as possible before signing anything and research whatever services you purchase as much as possible before agreeing to anything)

RTA 'virtual tour' of Dubai Metro

2009-09-18T06:12:00.003+04:00

According to Gulf News the RTA has launched a virtual-reality-portal-metro-tour-website. It is so virtual that you can actually choose your sex and race:

The simulation/game sets timed targets for how fast you can purchase a ticket:

Here's a video of some of the tour: You can visit the site directly here (http://www.rta.ae/virtualtransport)

xgames.weyak.ae

2009-09-03T23:22:00.006+04:00

2 months ago I wrote about Boomtown, Etisalat's paid gaming service. Basically Etisalat had a whole bunch of servers which required payment for access which doesn't really happen anywhere else on Earth. Needless to say the servers were all empty most of the time and as no one was playing it wasn't like anyone was going to pay to join up to a bunch of empty servers.

Since then a new service has been launched by Etisalat, xgames.weyak.ae and this time the servers are completely open and free to anyone to play. It is really great to finally see some UAE gaming servers that are high quality, low ping, and pretty damn good. Hopefully a proper gaming community will build around these servers.

The games that currently have servers are Counter-Strike: Source, Counter-Strike, Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead which is a pretty decent selection. Although the servers aren't full all the time just yet some are quite popular already.

There is a decent amount of back + forth between gamers and the admins on the forums which will hopefully make the servers better in time.

According to a thread on the forum Etisalat will provide server rentals sometime in the future...

"WEYAK will be providing server rentals on the high speed ETISALAT network in the coming months - in addition to the free public services found here!"

The old Boomtown-weyak servers are still only available to paying users. I am not sure what is happening with Boomtown/xgames, I asumme they will be joined into one entity as they are both under the Etisalat name and both providing the same service.

To see the server list: http://www.reachgaming.com/games/servers

Thanks Etisalat.

How Du made Etisalat the same

2009-08-30T19:50:00.005+04:00

There is an opinion piece in Gulf News that is titled "How du made etisalat great". Yeah... I'm not sure how anyone thought this article would make sense.

Firstly, Gulf News is a local newspaper that is 4/5. At times, they seem to publish almost anything though-- like when they published a holocaust denial, so it goes without saying that they'd be the only paper in the UAE to publish praise of Etisalat. As for the author, it comes as no surprise that the authors name sounds familiar.

Fact: Etisalat still has a monopoly on broadband internet in the UAE. No one really cares about telephones any more, the internet is where its at. And the internet is where UAE users get shafted time and time again. We don't have VoIP. We don't have proper competition.

Contrary to the article in Gulf News, Etisalat has not changed one bit, corporate re branding doesn't change anything. You may all remember my case with Etisalat that took 43 days, 10,000 words, an apology letter and a refund to resolve. You'd think with an example of such poor customer service Etisalat would change its ways?

Nope. Just go read Grumpy Goat's situation here. It is obvious that Etisalat still has serious customer service and technical issues that they refuse to fix. Customer service in general at Etisalat is at an extremely, extremely poor level.If they help you then great, but if you get stuck in a situation that requires management you are literally screwed.

"Today, etisalat is one of the premier telecommunications companies in the world and is well on its way to achieving its goal of becoming a top-10 provider in the world."

Are you kidding? I am sitting here in disbelief at this quote. Etisalat may have a lot of money that it is investing around the place but that certainly doesn't make it a top-10 provider or anywhere near that mark. A 'premier telecommunications company'? You know what I'd do if I was a billionaire? I'd hire out Etisalat's submarine cable division, build myself an undersea internet pipe, route it through the country and cut out Etisalat entirely.

Although I would say Etisalat has garnered a bad reputation in some cases unfairly (due to people using routers and not understanding some of the technical aspects of using a router), it has a well deserved reputation in the customer service department.

"Where etisalat fell short was never in quality but rather in price and - to a certain extent - customer service competiveness"

Etisalat falls short in everything.

As for quality, Etisalat has a long, detailed history of sucking so hard in that department. Anyone who has picked up a phone or used the internet in the UAE has probably been held hostage at some stage by the abysmal quality levels of Etisalat.

Does anyone remember http://etisalat.charges.too.much.net ?

Who remembers the cable cuts?

The YouTube privacy issues?

The other cable cuts?

The facebook blocking?

The myspace blocking?

More cable cuts?

The GSM network drop-outs?

The SMS network problems?

Mail server issues?

Proxy issues, proxy issues, proxy issues and more proxy issues?

Port blockings?

On the subject of blocking; Etisalat has blocked literally thousands of sites unnecessarily (twitter?) that have taken YEARS for Etisalat to get around to fixing. That's 24 months to unblock a single website. That an organization can take that long to act on something is representative of how much of a failure it is. Don't try and sit there and tell me its because websites are different. In my customer service experience with Etisalat it takes at least 45 days to reach anyone in management. There is no management presence on any of Etisalat's public customer service options.

"People fondly remember the branded phones - anees, tanaf, tawash and hudhud."

You know what my fond memories of Etisalat are? waiting in the Etisalat office as a child for practically an entire day for a SIM card because the queue was so ridiculously long.

The article somehow manages to compare Etisalat and Microsoft (?). Never before did I ever expect someone would compare Microsoft (a financial and mostly critically successfuly company) to Etisalat.

"But over the years it became an arrogant monopoly that spends more of its money settling antitrust lawsuits than actually developing innovative software."

Wait.. what? Microsoft spent 6-10 billion dollars developing Windows Vista alone. The EU antitrust fine was 1.4 Billion USD. Thats a 5-7 fold difference. In any case, how is it even relevant? they don't exactly choose to pay antitrust fines, they are mandatory. It's not like it matters even if it were relevant how Microsoft spent their money because comparing Etisalat to Microsoft is irrelevant in the first place.

"[Windows Vista] was so faulty that it was decided to bypass the customary service pack ritual altogether and introduce a completely new OS: Windows 7."

Gee. Windows Vista service pack 2 must not count for much then?

"etisalat is considered a national success story gone global as well as one of the major contributors to social development in the UAE"

National success story? Unlikely. You know what happens when Etisalat goes to other countries? People literally go onto the streets, picketing and protesting at Etisalat. Nobody likes Etisalat. Etisalat is an embarrassment.

Perseus meteor shower in the UAE

2009-08-13T16:21:00.008+04:00

I've never felt so duped before; I drove all the way out 3/4 of the way to Al Ain because everyone was ranting about some meteor shower.

So a friend and myself drive, drive some more, and drive some more, and eventually come to some small exit from the Dubai-Al Ain road. Where I had hoped to go would have been a pain given the current roadworks.

With hand painted street signs, no street lighting and almost no sign of civilization (except for the customary grocery every 1 km) I have no idea where I was. I actually looked at my GPS and none of the streets were on it at all, I was in the middle of nowhere. I may as well have been navigating through the empty quarter. Then I see a tree on the road.

Not just any tree. A tree in the middle of the road. Not knocked over. As in a tree growing in the middle of the road. The road has actually physically been built around the tree.

Following the road I come to some sort of a track... A camel race track! I drive into the sand a little and park my car, take out all the photography stuff and sit... and wait...

Click for larger copy

...and wait...

Click for larger copy
Waiting for the camera exposures is painful; an 8 minute exposure really is somewhere on the scale of time right up beside eternity.

Trying to see a shooting star (or whatever the technical term may be) is hard enough on its own, however trying to get a photograph of a meteor shower is like staring at a blank wall and expecting it to spontaneously combust. It's just not going to happen.

Even though I saw a few shooting stars it wasn't like there was some mass or continuous stream of them at all. that's what I call false advertising. I didn't even see any at the same time as my friend, leading me to believe they probably don't exist. There are barely any photos of them, and when you tell someone you've just seen a shooting star 9/10 will say "Really?" because it is really next to impossible.

Even though we were in the middle of nowhere, there was still a lot of light pollution. The light pollution isn't from any form of civilization it's from the damn moon!

The other immediate problem was from dust in the air. Visibility wasn't the greatest. I guess I got to see some shooting stars and enjoyed listening to some music while waiting around in the humid and warm (~30°C) weather. I did enjoy the drive out to the desert. I probably got to see 5-6 shooting stars in total, thats what I'd call false advertising.

Indecent anti-indecency campaign

2009-08-10T01:59:00.005+04:00

Quite a few bloggers have covered a recent article in Gulf News titled "Dubai malls join anti-indecency campaign".

Not that anyone was aware that there was an actual 'campaign'; last I checked it was a group of angry people and some signs that went up in malls at least 6 months ago.

I'll expand on the opinion I have offered on Seabee's blog (Life in Dubai);

I think that there is some difference in what people may consider a 'public' space; Dubai is not a pedestrian city and these people that wear 'inappropriate' clothing aren't exactly walking around the city half naked (in most cases).

Maybe the problem is that people congregate at malls, and people are comfortable in malls. I would like to see someone wearing hot pants on a public bus or on the metro when it finally starts.

In comparison to a mall there are no signs on the street side telling people to wear 'respectful clothing' so what are people respecting? The mall? The western shops? The American restaurants in the food court? The shops that sell the exact clothes they are wearing? Where are the people fighting those wearing inappropriate clothes in actual public spaces and not just in a mall? Isn't it a bit weird that this is being fought solely through malls?

Even though the article presents opinions that the campaign should be extended to television and media and even when people sign up for visas that will all take a long, long time.
This will be a long process that is for sure. Even the most aggressive of media campaigns would never really achieve anything in my opinion. This indecency campaign is basically a move to start telling people what they can and cannot do; this used to be governed pretty quietly because of how many different cultures there are in the UAE (i.e. avoiding rocking the boat too far in any direction).

The idea of giving someone a prison sentence for wearing revealing clothing is still something that is pretty harsh and even though a handful of people here and there have been fined or jailed for offences it’s not like a police officer in the mall goes up to people and measures how hot their hotpants are or how short their miniskirt is and gives them a fine based upon that.

A mall is hardly the epitome of Emirati culture so I can see why people would think it difficult to think they are somehow disrespecting the culture when they are in a marble floored commercial emporium that barely has Arabic signage let alone any semblance of culture within. The idea that shopping mall management is being left to do this is slightly disturbing. Maybe if they were walking through the Bastikya area wearing hotpants then it would be another issue entirely--but on the whole people don't.

Of course about 345 people have already pointed out that the malls themselves are selling the clothes. Which is a repeat of the problem that has always existed (where people could get in trouble for wearing t-shirts/clothing sold locally); no one wants to or will enforce rules on shops. But change is desired. It could be like in Sharjah where the faces of female models are covered on all store fronts but that would be too excessive, so maybe they could just be slightly pixelated in Dubai or replaced with a smiling Modhesh so that everyone is happy and cheerful. Somehow I don't think all the high-end fashion retailers would be so pleased with any enforcement of anything, nor would the people that stamp down platinum credit cards to buy a new dress every day; whichever way you tilt it someone won't be very happy. Best of luck.

Twink (ey)

2009-08-05T00:26:00.003+04:00

Before internet censorship used to be easy; sites were categorized and the TRA would decide which categories were bad or good and we'd complain and they'd sit around (or Etisalat would) and not do much about it.
Nowadays it has all gone high tech. You can actually be blocked from typing something into Google--sounds stupid doesn't it? Well, that's because it is stupid.

I have always wondered how effective blocking words is on the internet; does it actually stop people finding what they want? Sometimes it seems that by searching for something completely innocent the TRA's censorship attempts lead me to something entirely different...
I'm sure we're all aware of what a 'twinkie' is--some kind of confectionary item sold in the US and not here.
I was trying to write a review about a movie (Richie Rich) for my other blog and I wanted to find out how many times the word 'twinkie' was mentioned in the script; usually copies of movie scripts are somewhere on the internet and it is easy enough to count how many times a word appears in a script.

So I put the following into Google:

Richie Rich script twink

You might ask yourself "what on earth did you put twink in there for?"; that's because I wanted to account for any spelling of the word twinkie (twinky, twinkie etc)

Damn. Imagine all the technology that went into producing that page when I typed the wrong few words in. A few million dollars worth of servers and probably just as much in software licensing, expertise, staff etc
Now in this situation I'm thinking the TRA either has a hard on for Richie Rich or "twink";
After further research it turns out that Etisalat/the TRA block the word 'twink' from being searched for on Google for whatever reason.
So I take 3 seconds to type "t+wink" into Google to bypass the stupid block and discover what twink actually means....

"Twink or twinkie is a gay slang term describing a young or young-looking gay man (usually in his late teens or early twenties) with a slender build, little or no body hair, and no facial hair" (from wikipedia

Mission success TRA. Mission success.
Dead serious: You can defy the entire keyword censorship system by pressing a single key on your keyboard.
Not only does it take an entire 3 seconds to circumvent such elaborate keyword censorship; it also doesn't really stop anyone looking for what they're looking for.

Middle Finger

2009-08-02T22:57:00.001+04:00

Time and time again...
"I got month's jail for flicking my middle finger"
Jail in Dubai for one-finger salute
Middle Finger Crime
Flash your middle finger in the face of someone in public in Dubai and get deported
...people have placed themselves in trouble by giving others the middle finger.

Most, if not all incidents seem to relate to the offensive manner of driving in the UAE; however that doesn't ever seem to go away. The bad drivers are out there every single day. Some days you can ignore them and just get on with your day, but other times they endanger your life, needlessly and dangerously tailgate you, try to change into your lane when you're turning at an intersection, cut you off, change lanes repeatedly without an indicator, drive inbetween lanes, attempt to reverse on Sheikh Zayed Road... I could go on, but everyone already knows about these problems, and has known about them for the past decade and not done anything about them.

Sure, you're angry. You give the middle finger. If you're a pedestrian, you have little other choice; however what about people who are in cars. I've been driving for a few months now and I've already had literally a thousand or so situations in which the middle finger could work, but it is ineffective. It's really ineffective. Not only that, it carries a possible prison sentence and deportation.

I just don't understand it.
As an angry driver you have two choices;
Use some puney muscle in your hand to raise your middle finger.

Or

Your horn. It's right in front of you. Nothing is more satisfying than that horn sound. I must profess my love for my car horn; It pierces through the thickest, blackest of car windows and even manages to sit above the loudest music any person would be listening to. It also gets that asshole who is on the phone having the worlds most important discussion (so important because he is risking his life and your life by not using a hands-free) who is weaving from lane to lane without using his indicator to look back in his rear vision mirror.

The horn travels in all directions. The middle finger does not.
The horn can be heard by everyone. The middle finger can not.
The horn is -110dB. The middle finger is not.

The horn doesn't get you deported. The middle finger does.

Dubai Mall parking

2009-07-24T14:21:00.000+04:00

My mobile phone is filled with text message drafts. You see, every time I find a parking space at a shopping mall in Dubai I have to write down as much information as possible. This is what my typical Dubai Mall parking location notation looks like:

Ice rink car park P2 Lg 53

Sounds simple enough doesn't it? Not really.

The epitome of bad mall parking design is probably Dubai Mall, in my opinion it has the worst parking system in the world--it has 3 parking areas (P1-P3) spread across a whole bunch of floors (Lower Ground, Ground, 1st and 2nd), so basically you have 12 possibilities, and if you go to the wrong one you are screwed. If you go to P1 instead of say P3 it involves walking around the entire mall, you might think that is no big deal until you actually look at the map for the mall. It is absolutely ridiculous in size (12,100,000 square feet according to wiki) and impractical to navigate (yes, I use the term navigate as it is that much of a pain)

Whilst I am familiar with Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) malls such as Deira City Centre of Mall of the Emirates, Dubai Mall doesn't seem to have the simple and easy to grasp navigation that MAF malls typically have.

You can collect a reciept upon parking that notates a very generalized area of where you have parked (I think it only mentions the floor (i.e. LGm) and parking area (i.e. P1) but what's the use? There are probably at least several thousand parking spaces in each 'specific' area, it is even an insult to 'specific' to use that term in this case.

I think in a few years time, we'll start seeing dust covered cars in Dubai Mall's parking area. These dust covered cars will no longer be a result of the recession but as a result of people being unable to find their cars ever again.

Harvey Nichols tshirt

2009-07-17T19:48:00.000+04:00

According to the internets and several newspapers, people are roaring about a tshirt sold by Harvey Nichols.

I have already pointed out via comments the similarity to a situation that errupted 3 years ago when Bershka produced an 'offensive' label and attached it to some items. The problem is similar, the reaction is similar and the outcome will most likely be similar.

Here are my predictions regarding the situation:

Harvey Nichols license will not be stripped
No one will actually boycott Harvey Nichols
Everyone will continue to buy clothing and products sourced from foreign companies and somehow act amazed when it appears that they have been offended
It will be okay to break the boycott when you want to buy that new Louis Vuitton handbag you've been waiting so patiently for
A t-shirt with similar sentiment that features an American flag will most likely sell in record numbers in the near future despite all the people claiming how inappropriate desecrating any national flag is

Apples and Oranges Index

2009-07-14T09:30:00.002+04:00

I always love the optimistic titles that some newspapers have in Dubai;
for instance, this morning on the Gulf News website:

"UAE ranked 123rd happiest place"

When you click on the link it's revealed that it's ranked 123 out of 143 countries. Does that even result in the country being qualified as 'happy'? I think not; technically speaking, the UAE is the 20th unhappiest country on Earth out of those ranked, obviously a more accurate title would have been "UAE ranked 20th unhappiest place".

As it turns out the index/report has little to do with happiness and more to do with pollution etc. In fact, after reading about the report itself, I'm not entirely sure what it is even about.

The happy planet index is stupid in that it is called 'happy planet', at first glance it could be thought that it is solely a ranking the countries environmental impact. Instead the index apparently rates the human well-being and environmental impact of the country and also asks such questions as (according to GN):
“All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole?”

Half of the GN article goes on about life expectancy and things like per capita carbon dioxide emissions and then they launch into a question like that. "Happy Planet Index" is a wholly inappropriate name, I think it should be called the "Apples and Oranges Index".

Dubai Metro Thoughts

2009-07-08T03:27:00.000+04:00

In two months time the Dubai Metro will hopefully open and I dare say that I have positive expectations of it (I know, I'm losing my touch). The whole concept of being able to buy a pass and go from abra to bus to metro is somewhat first worldish, and hopefully it works out well. It will also change Dubai for a lot of people in that they'll be able to finally walk somewhere (can't wait to do some street photography)

When the idea of the Metro was first being toyed with I didn't think it sounded realistic, and pretty soon it was being built quite quickly and now it's nearing completion (at least the first route anyway). So I think I have to tip my hat and give some positive thinking towards it.

It's really one of those things you'll be able to witness so few times throughout your lives, will people really ditch their cars for the metro? will the roads here suddenly empty up a bit? will I no longer have to refer to Sharjah as roflsharjah just because of the traffic and avoid driving there? Obviously only time will tell, and although I think the fares are really low enough that people will change from cars to metro eventually, though I would suggest the RTA find some way of offering people who sell their cars 6 months of free metro travel just to get things going and to get more and more people out of traffic/parking/etc.

Personally I will probably use the metro to go to a few places around town, but for going to Shisha or anything late at night it doesn't really work out as the service stops at midnight, somehow I don't really think the midnight closing time fits in with socialising in Dubai (on weekends) as many people stay out late. Fortunately, there is a metro station close enough to my house that I could walk there in winter so I really hope it's as accessible as I hope it will be.

The RTA has some other cool stuff coming up like bicycle tracks and hopefully they'll fulfill what they've been saying for a while and actually produce a drivers handbook, stop people with tinted windows, get people to use indicators, stop war for the rest of eternity, defeat Etisalat and perhaps even get this Metro thing to be a success.

New Blag

2009-07-06T14:52:00.000+04:00

I have started up a new blag which is unrelated to the content of this one, it's going to be more about movie, game, etc reviews and probably a bit more diverse.

Head over to samurai-sam.com and check it out. (already have 2 reviews up)

Tripod Soup

2009-06-30T04:56:00.001+04:00

The Bastikiya area near the creek is such a great area to visit; I go their often. I used to go down by the creek when I was really young to the Fatafeet café which had shisha, barbecued corn (mmmm) and at one stage the world's largest shawarma stand (DSF 2000). Unfortunately that got demolished for some reason and now the area is just pretty much a walkway, it's really nice in the winter months, although I would argue that it is missing a good shisha café that it so desperately needs.

I know that a private area like a mall or a shopping center has every right to ask you for filming permissions, but this is a public area, it is publicly accessible and there are no "no photography" signs posted anywhere. It's so publicly accessible that there are actually street numbers. Then why, I ask do security guards seem to patrol the area and tell people they're not allowed to take photos?

(to be clear, I have a camera (DSLR) on a tripod)

I've had the same conversation so many times before, it always goes like this:

"You have permission?"

"No"

"Your camera is too big, small camera is ok"

"So what if my camera is too big? This is a small camera."

"Problem if it is too big, this is a big camera"

"Why?"

"Because you need permission"

"Why?"

It always just goes on and on and on and on and it usually ends in security guards going off and me staying with my camera in the same place doing the exact same thing and the world surprisingly not coming to an end. Believe it or not, it is normal for heritage sites to have photographers take photos in (!)
The whole big camera/small camera crap really makes no sense, I could easily pop along with a Leica and take publication quality photographs discreetly using that or practically any sized digital camera without a tripod and no one would say anything—once again there are no "no photography" signs posted anywhere. In fact speaking of permissions, the security guards that come and hassle people trying to take photos never ever have permissions themselves, I've never seen a public area that has had a security guard in Dubai before. Having been through the big camera/small camera motions with more security guards than there are stationed at Fort Knox I know that it usually relates to either having a grey lens or any long/wide lens (which is usually a high-end canon lens), a large camera, and/or most importantly: a tripod.

A tripod rings alarm bells in every single security guards brain in Dubai, and I really have no understanding of why. Sure I could just not use a tripod and shoot handheld and no one would do anything, but get this: people use tripods. People have used tripods since the invention of photography.

This isn't some top secret military installation, it is a HERITAGE site. On top of being a heritage site, it's a heritage site that contains art galleries which in turn contain photography, yes, it's pretty much an art district.

Now let's make clear I'm not saying that a multi-million dollar Hollywood production should be able to come and just film for free without any permission, all I am asking is that someone with a camera, and a tripod who is taking photographs for non-commercial purposes should not be hassled in public areas. Is that too much to ask? And how do you determine if someone is taking photographs for non commercial purposes? You don't.

Video: Abras on Dubai Creek

2009-06-28T06:15:00.003+04:00

Abras on the Creek from samuraisam on Vimeo.

Click on this link to see the video in HD (make sure to click the HD button on the right of the frame to turn HD on)

Editing job probably isn't that great, just fiddling around with 5dmark2 video feature for now.

YouTube link

Bluetooth shenanigans from Dubai Police

2009-06-27T05:09:00.003+04:00

I think we've all had Bluetooth message request from Dubai Police around the place; I was recently at the New Spinneys intersection on Al Wasl Road (Wikimapia link) waiting at the lights when my phone beeped.

I was absolutely intrigued as to what Dubai Police would think could be so important that they send it to people who are driving cars—all the message contained was an animated picture that flashes between Arabic and English and simply states

"Pay your fines using kiosk by Credit Card"

"One touch closer to you"

Yes that's right, Dubai Police trying to distract me from driving by sending me messages about fines, which can be caused by using mobile phones while driving. So in theory if I checked the message and got fined I could pay for the fine having gained knowledge of payment methods from the Bluetooth message. (I should point out that a Bluetooth message is different to an SMS, it must be accepted in most circumstances before it can be received, and if it isn't accepted then it is lost once the mobile is out of range.)

It seems a bit stupid to be trying to message people who are driving; As best I can figure, the kiosk inside the Spinneys supermarket is sending the messages a bit far. I can't believe nobody thought about the range that the Bluetooth messages would have though; it seems like quite a basic aspect of placing a kiosk. It is also quite an intrusive form of advertising; Bluetooth messaging is renowned for being the most common method for viruses to spread over mobile phones.

In any case there is a lot of this kind of advertising that goes on in Dubai—I don't really see what the police are trying to inform me of, obviously if I within xyz distance of the kiosk then I'd probably know it is there, and if I was going to pay fines wouldn't I go to the machine to find out the payment methods? Or go to the Dubai Police website? Or call up Dubai Police? What is the statistical possibility that someone walking/driving past a kiosk would be interested in paying with a credit card let alone actually be interested in using the machine to check their fines or even pay them? Probably something like 0.0000001% How many people actually have their Bluetooth on 24/7 out of all those people? A fraction of a percentage of a percentile of a proportion of 1 out of 4000 people.

They also seem to have the same kind of creepy choice of words as Etisalat (which I wrote about here)

Etisalat: "We are closer to you."

Dubai Police: "One touch closer to you"

Dubai Police wants to touch you.

Getting a drivers license in Dubai part 1/3

2009-06-26T01:14:00.001+04:00

I've been putting off getting a license since I turned 18; I simply haven't had the time or haven't had a visa or I was living in another country that had public transportation. If I was smart and had the ability to predict the future I would have gotten my license before the RTA took control of the licensing process in Dubai. This post is my experience in getting my license. It took me 11 months…

Now let me stop you right there. 11 months. Eleven. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven. 11 months is a long time. A very long time when all you're trying to do is get a driver's license and especially a long time when you're the one busting the driving schools ass about lessons etc, It's not like I was slacking off, it actually took 11 months. Assholes. Anyway…

It also cost countless amounts of money, and took the patience of a saint to finally get my license in March, which means much of this process is from April 2008 onwards till March 2009. During this time the processes will have changed so please remember that. Most of the process here is indicative of the RTA taking over everything and trying to push standards a bit higher than possible.

M y friend Ahmed™ got his license at Dubai Driving Center; he drove to and from the driving school in a family car and did wheel spins and donuts beside the driving school (which happens to be right next to some Dubai Police station) and sat his test twice before actually getting his license.

As I'm not Ahmed, I don't drive without a license, I won't drive to the supermarket down the road using the backstreets, I won't drive to the grocery and I won't drive anywhere because it isn't worth it to me.

As my friend has/had a few contacts at said driving school I decide to apply to it too, it's not the biggest or best, but it's a company that takes money and supposedly provides lots of paperwork on RTA letterheads so how can I complain. And to be clear, by 'contacts' I don't mean turning up one day and getting a pass immediately, I mean assistance in getting test dates sooner/the next day instead of having to wait around for 4 years dicking around at some driving school just so that the RTA to announce teleporters around Dubai the day after I get my license.

The problem is that Ahmed's friend left the driving school as soon as I signed up, pretty much leaving me somewhat in the lurch.

There are a variety of reasons that I need a driving license; my work would specifically require a car (sure, I could work without a car and get taxis/lifts around but having a car and license opens up some unique quick-money opportunities), I also have personal reasons (independence etc) and I also want a license because I'm sick of going out with my girlfriend and sitting for 2 hours in a taxi queue and getting pissed off and being unable to do anything about it while the taxis that I do manage to get just end up driving the wrong way and at the same time denting a huge hole in my pocket.

I sign up and pay my money in advance for the whole thing. I specifically ask "Am I paying for everything with this payment, including test fees etc" and am told that I am paying for everything. In the end it turns out that I had to pay extra for every single test that I sat, so no I wasn't paying for everything.

I go into a room and get an eye test; my eyesight in one eye isn't the best (near-sighted or something), I ask "so does that mean I need glasses?" and am told that I do not. In the end it turned out that my license says that I require glasses, am I going to go back to the RTA and risk them taking away my license to find out? Hell no. I'm pretty sure if I add up all the things the driving school told me and compared them to what actually happened it'd paint a perfect impression of what driving schools in the UAE are like.

My initial impression is that the driving school is run like an early 90's Dubai government department, there is a separate section pretty much just for women and the queues for men are those cliché 10 people wide, 1 person deep queues, on top of that they have that 14 hour lunch break during the middle of the day at which time the queues remain empty.

When you're in the driving school you'll probably notice people with bags full of licensing paperwork, some of these people must've been at it for a long time and spent an absolute fortune trying to get a license, which is practically trying to get a future—most probably a better salary/job.

Once I've handed everything in I must wait 30 days for the infamous 'RTA approval', what's the approval for? Nobody knows. I did later see a form laying on a desk in the driving school that states that all new applicants must wait 45 days (logically no reason is provided). During this time you can't do anything at all, you just wait, there's really no reason at all for the waiting period except to anger you and quit your license and try and use public transportation or something. I was told someone would be trying to get me past this RTA approval process but it didn't end up happening.

Check back on my blog in the coming days for part 2.

McDonalds Breakfast in Dubai

2009-06-24T20:16:00.002+04:00

Recently McDonalds announced the introduction of 'McBreakfast' in Dubai.

This list of branches on the Explorer website shares all the branches that are currently serving McBreakfast in Dubai.

Here is my review:

I've had McBreakfast in Australia and it is composed of burger like 'McMuffins' with a patty or bacon and an egg if desired, usually this is accompanied with a hash brown which is pretty much one of the most delicious food items you can find on earth. The other thing the McBreakfast has is hotcakes or pancakes or whatever you want to call them, obviously packet mix made but they taste good.

I've never understood quite why McDonalds in the UAE hasn't had McBreakfast right until now, it's almost as if someone woke up one morning and just decided they wanted to avail themselves to make more money all of a sudden—I can't see why McBreakfast wouldn't have been a success 10 years ago.

Firstly the service was pretty appalling; it's quite a long wait in the drive through to get the McBreakfast. Both times I have tried McBreakfast since it was introduced I have been to the Jumeirah Beach road branch and the wait has been a bit excessive in my opinion—particularly on the second time, which involved waiting for quite long.

In terms of McMuffins I'm confused—I know for certain they have a sausage and egg McMuffin which I'm pretty sure is chicken, then similarly they have one which is solely a sausage McMuffin (no egg). The sausage patty tastes like chicken and I'm pretty sure it is chicken as opposed to beef in other countries though I can't tell you because the McDonalds UAE website doesn't offer the breakfast menu information or indeed any proper nutritional information in the nutrition section, which is kind of funny considering it is called the 'nutrition' section. Instead the 'nutrition' section of McDonalds website has several categories such as "Innovation & Leadership", "Transparency", and also "Balanced Lifestyle", "Nutrition & Kids" and "Menu". Those first two sections seem completely irrelevant to what I'd expect to find when I'm looking for nutritional information. The latter two sections tell me that a children are recommended to have at least 60 minutes of moderate physical activity per day, how helpful but at the same time irrelevant. Anyway, the patty, whether its chicken or beef (90% sure it is chicken) is quite herby, so if you're expecting McBland then it is most certainly not, perhaps a little too herby/salty for some.

Back onto the McBreakfast… The hash brown is good enough, it just seems really oily, like ridiculously oily, and it also seems to be a bit thicker than the hash brown I'm accustomed too—in turn the potato in the middle is nice and soft and the outside is crisp.

The hotcakes are decent enough; they just don't seem as good as they should be; the syrup came in a little unmarked plastic tub instead of McDonalds packaging, so technically speaking it wasn't McSyrup.

The scrambled eggs are kind of pretty normal/boring.

The other stuff on offer such as coffee and orange juice I'm sure you've all heard about before at some stage in your lives so I don't think it necessary to discuss them. I'm not much of a coffee drinker but I tried some and it seemed quite good and I've been told by regular coffee drinkers that it is quite good so it must therefore be quite good.

So to sum up, is the McBreakfast worth it? I really don't know, if you've never had it before then I suppose it is worth trying for the novelty factor. But in my opinion it doesn't really deliver in any extraordinary way. As to whether or not it will be a success, I wouldn't be counting on it; I think a few slight changes are necessary to really get it going, such as making it more widely available. Overall I would rate it 7/10, the hash browns being the defining item on the menu.

Anyway, those are my opinions/observations. Compared to a home-cooked breakfast with bacon and eggs and whatnot it will never compare but for when you're in a rush, hungry, poor and tired McDonalds is McDonalds is McDonalds is McDonalds.

Boomtown Etisalat Weyak Failure Triangle

2009-06-04T05:06:00.002+04:00

In any major city on this earth, there are gaming servers available 24/7. Thousands of them.

Right this very minute there are thousands of people shooting the crap out of each other. There are servers in Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Israel, Kazakstan and just about any country you can think of. Right now I could join a server in any country on earth, however the large distance between countries introduces problems, so finding a local server is the best option.

The majority of these are accessible by anyone for free, often internet service providers (like Du or Etisalat) in each country commonly sponsor them for free to their own customers, otherwise they are sponsored by individuals or by hosting companies. Often they are rented out to people that want to have their own preference towards rules/maps. They cost peanuts to run, other than the cost of a computer and added software the only running cost is electricity and bandwidth costs.

In the Middle East, the UAE has the highest proportion of internet users. It has also positioned itself as probably the optimum gaming location within the Middle East (as witnessed by GAMES08 conference held in Dubai).

In the United Arab Emirates there are few servers. Very few. 13 of these (the majority) are owned and operated by Etisalat, no one else is in a position to create servers because of severe bandwidth limitations. Rarely is anyone seen playing on them and there is good reason for this…

Etisalat expect users to sign up for Weyak (have written about this previously) in order to access their servers. To most people reading, you're probably thinking you just go to weyak.ae and sign up and that's it. No, Etisalat actually expect people to pay 45 dirhams a quarter/180 dirhams a year for access. That's pretty much unheard of.

It also seems they are blissfully unaware at how weird of an expectation that is: In fact, straight from the boomtown forums:

"as for making the servers free to play on i don't think that's an option for us, for it goes against our policy and rules"

The 'boomtown' company / Etisalat have probably around 20-30 servers, so they can't exactly be rolling in cash; I only ever see 1-2 servers with any players in them. The boomtown website claims to track statistics of 137 players, which seems a bit enthusiastic.

Reading this post on the boomtown forum is particularly entertaining, where they ask for feedback about the whole operation, and then take an entire year to reply, it's like a carrier-pigeon forum, well it's actually a forum that's half in English and half in Swedish, so maybe that's a "carrier-duva" forum. Weird. There seemed to be quite a few accusations flying around of poor modding in the past month or two, which makes it spectacularly crap for what is a paid service.

Really the whole boomtown service seems a tad disorganized, when attempting to join an Etisalat boomtown server I was confronted with this error:

Disconnect: This server is for members only. Does member nick: samuraisam belong to you. Register a free membership at boomtown.net

See how it says free? Well I fell for that crap and went to boomtown.net, guess what the first thing I saw when trying to sign-up was?

See that bit that says "45.00 per quarter", yeah, that's the most expensive free membership I've ever heard of. Even accessing a list of the servers they host requires you to sign up.

For a paid service, it is pretty pathetic—firstly I'd expect people to actually be playing on the servers, which they don't. It's like a lose-lose-lose situation:

Etisalat doesn't provide enough upstream bandwidth in the UAE, meaning no one can create servers by themselves
Etisalat creates their own servers and charges people to play on them
Everyone sees no one playing on the servers so they don't pay for them
Everyone loses, and Etisalat doesn't care

Or how about that other telephone company in the UAE (du) come along and create some servers, which they have! Although it is only 2 servers, they are free to access by anyone.

Let's make a comparison from Etisalat's paid-for servers vs 2 servers that Du set up which are free to access by all.

Du server 1: Average of 11.86 players out of a possible 15

Du server 2: Average of 9.48 players out of a possible 20

Etisalats highest rank server: Average of 2.8
players out of a possible 16.

That means if you were to join Etisalat's most popular server on any random day of the year, you're likely to face 1 opponent + someone missing a limb.

Du's servers completely trump Etisalat's several times over, in fact for the entire UAE, 2 servers that du has made for a game that is 5 years old have more people playing on them than all of Etisalat's servers combined.

If Etisalat at least let people have decent upstream bandwidth (try 4-8 times as much as you currently give), servers would sprout up all around the UAE, more people would buy games, and more people would subscribe to broadband. But Etisalat wants to make 200 dirhams a year, and judging by the whopping average of 2.8 players on its most popular server, they can't be doing too well with this concept.

(thanks to game-monitor.com for server statistics)