Lebanese Minister of Telecommunications launched the 3G service officially today at the AUST University in Achrafieh. Aside from the babbling and the false hopes given to the Lebanese about becoming the leading Tech country in the world, here are the 3G rates as announced by Minister Sehnaoui:

- 19$/month for 500 MB
- 10$/month for 100 MB
- 60$/month for 1 GB ( Not confirmed though)

The prices are reasonable but the caps are honestly ridiculous specially if we are planning to use the 3G connection as a wireless connection. You can barely check your email, upload few pictures and play few YouTube videos with 500 MB!

3G services will be provided as of November 1st in Beirut and its surroundings before gradually becoming available all over Lebanon.

I wonder if that’s their first time.

You can read more about their visit and Jeita Grotto [Here].

I got this SMS yesterday from the Ministry of Tourism:

“Vote for Jeita grotto. Send the word “Jeita” to 1070. The ministry of tourism is offering this sms free of charge, however a cost of 10 cents will be charged by the organizers of the new seven wonders competition”

What exactly is the MOT offering free of charge? Can someone please explain?

As for the new seven wonders competition, I will refrain from commenting on the whole issue until the voting date is over but I myself will not vote.

Update: Minister Sehanoui will hold a press conference today at AUST to explain the different phases and pricing. [Link]

Update2: 3G service will be offered for as low as 19$ for 500 MB. 10$ for 100 MB also available. Prices are ok but cap is ridiculous.

I heard the MOT minister is going to launch the 3G service officially today and that prices are going to start at 20$.

Noting that the test phase is almost over now, I hope we won’t have to wait long before the new plans are announced.

Georges Wassouf, also known as Abou Wadih, was rushed to the hospital this morning. According to news, Lebanese doctors rushed to his rescue in Syria.

What’s surprising to me is that he’s in Syria now. I don’t think any Syrian is in the mood for Wassouf concerts now.

I finally created a fan page for BlogBaladi on Facebook. It will be updated daily with Blog posts and some other non-Blog material that we feel like sharing.

Feel free to join in [Here].

I’ve been using the new iPhone for a couple of days now and these are somethings you need to know if you’re planning on using it in Lebanon.

Siri speaks and understands both English and French but not Arabic. You can’t speak both English and French to it at the same time, you have to decide which language you prefer and select it from the Siri menu.

You also need to have internet on your phone to be able to use Siri, even for simple tasks like setting the alarm. This is where 3G plays an important role since it speeds up the response time for Siri. With a regular Edge connection Siri isn’t as responsive and you won’t enjoy using her.

A big issue I have with Siri is you can’t teach it where your home or office is. For some reason Siri uses Google Maps addresses to learn these locations and Google Maps addresses is currently only available in the US. I don’t understand why Siri won’t learn based on my GPS location. If you’ve been using iOS 5 recently you might have played around with the new Reminder App. In that App you could teach it locations using GPS for example you could set a reminder that once you get home you need to walk the dog or once you get to the office remind me to call a supplier. So why Siri can’t learn locations with GPS is confusing specially if another app already does it.

The iPhone 4S is like the previous iPhone 4 with the biggest differences being Siri, a better camera and a faster chip which you will only notice when running games. If you want to see how better the new camera is download the two images below and compare:

Low light with iPhone 4S
Low light with iPhone 4

That’s some great news but a bit hard to believe to be honest. I wish they could provide more information as to what criteria are being considered when ranking those towns?

According to this list, Beirut is ahead of Las Vegas, Rio de Janeiro, Ibiza, Budapest and many others.

But in spite of its history of violence, Beirut puts great stock in having a good time. And there’s no shortage of trussed-up beautiful locals keen to be seen in Beirut’s bars and clubs.

Don’t even think about going out in Beirut before 10pm – and even then, it had better be for dinner. Dancefloors are dead until around 1am.

While there are a raft of upmarket clubs around town – such as Sky Bar, the ultra-glam venue affording a panoramic view of the Mediterranean coastline and boasting a filthy rich clientele of local celebs – we prefer the quirkier nightspots. [TNT]

BlogBaladi was featured once again in the October 2011 Communicate Levant issue. This time, the post mentioned was the one entitled “Answering Lebanon’s Ministry of Tourism ads“.

You can check out the other fellow bloggers mentioned [Here].

Nadine Labaki proposed a very efficient way to settle our differences in her latest movie “Where do we go now?” and I think this is another smart way to incite politicians and men to get things done.

The women of Barbacoas, Colombia have ended a three-month, 19-day “crossed legs” strike of sexual abstinence aimed at getting a road to their isolated town paved, after officials pledged to invest in the project. [Naharnet]

Looks like something good came out of the Blackberry outage even though I am a bit skeptical of those statistics. In fact, there’s no mention as to how many accidents occurr on a daily basis or how many occurred during those 3 days. Moreover, 40% seems like a huge percentage, but if we are talking about 6 accidents instead of 10, that’s nothing.

Officials in the country are reporting that traffic accidents plummeted 40 percent in Abu Dhabi and 20 percent in Dubai between last Tuesday and Thursday, when the BlackBerry blackout rolled through the Middle East. [Link]

It would be interesting to see if it had any effect on the accidents in Lebanon.

I went to see my first 3D movie, the three Musketeers, the other day and I must say it was a rather disappointing experience.

The 3D glasses are not big enough and did not fit well and were annoying to wear. Also, anytime you turn left or right, or shift your eyes, you need to reorient them.

It could be that Circuit Empire in Kaslik doesn’t offer decent 3D sunglasses, but I think they’re all the same. Nevertheless, I am eager to go watch Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin, so I will give 3D another try at City Mall Cinemacity theathers.

I must say I never thought I would hear the term ‘Zouzou Ebba’ mentioned in an English or French sentence. Turns out I am wrong and it has become a term widely used even by “les gens chics”.

In fact, while enjoying Mzaar intercontinental’s open buffet on Saturday, I overheard a little boy telling his brother in English that he did a ‘Zouzou Ebba’ with his bicycle the other day on a dangerous road and his brother answered him back in French saying that ce ‘Zouzou Ebba’ etait facile a faire.

Maybe we should integrate the term ‘Zouzou Ebba’ to the Lebanese language. It could be used in sentences such as:

- He was pulling a ‘Zouzou Ebba’ before he crashed into a truck and died.
- ‘Zouzou Ebba’ believed to be the #1 cause of death for motorists.
- Lebanese government to fine anyone caught doing a ‘Zouzou Ebba’ 50$.
- Zouzous of Lebanon sue the Lebanese government for associating their name with the rather demeaning term ‘Zouzou Ebba’.

The last few times I’ve been to Faraya were during the night, which is probably why I did not see this castle.

It is on the road leading to Sad Chabrouh and looks like it came out from some fairy tale. It is still under construction though and there’s no road that directly leads to it.

I don’t know if they have this planned already, but I think it would look much nicer with lots of treets around it.

[High Res]

I finally went to visit the empire of Lahm Baajen and its self-proclaimed emperor Afif. The place is small and is on the right side of the road just before you reach Faraya. It sells all sorts of Manakish but is famous for its Lahm Baajin man2ouche.

Aside from the Manakish, the owner of the shop, Afif, is well known for amusing his visitors with his funny stories, and has become popular after he showed on the LBCI program Kalamanji few years back.

Once we got in the place, Afif called one of his workers and asked him to come greet us. Apparently, everytime someone comes in, this guy has to come and say “Ya Hala ya Hala bil shabeb” or something like that.

After this weird yet amusing greeting, we placed our order and started listening to Afif. He was engaging in some weird talk with one of his customers on Maameltein and the Super night clubs before he looked at me and asked me if I was an NDU student.

Me: No I am an AUB student and I did my MBA at LAU.

Afif: Ahhh ya3ne ma bta3rif bil TTH?

Me: Mbala, 3anna yehoun bil AUB kamen.

Afif: Walla Walla, Fakkaret bil NDU bass. Aslan bta3rif NDU students aktar 3alam bile2o cheghel bil sou2.

Me: Le ba2a?

Afif: La2announ ma bye2e3do bil jem3a wou 3andoun kteer 3ale2at. Kelloun TTH wou ma ble2iyoun 2ella 3ande. Rou7 3al Cassino, White, B018 bitle2iyoun kelloun NDU.

Me: chou 3arrafak fiyoun kelloun?

Afif: Ana ba3refoun wa7ad wa7ad, wou ba3rif meen 3am yodhar ma3 meen wou meen tarak meen. Kelloun as7abe.

Me: Bravo mannak hayyin.

At this point, he switched the talk to another topic and I left with my Lahm Baajin man2ouche which was really tasty and worth the wait.

I recommend this place for anyone who’s planning a trip to Faraya.