And the winning belly flop move and winners.

Congratulations to all the winners. Shiv was the winner of AED10,000 from Speedo and an annual Wild Wadi Water Park pass. He told Virign Radio that his birthday is coming up soon and he’s going to spend the money on a great party for him and his friends!

Dubai telecommunication provider Du has donated AED 100,ooo to the chosen charity Concern Worldwide. Concern was selected by the Twestival global team and local organisers around the world to be this year’s charity because of its comprehensive and well respected approach to education. Education in areas of extreme poverty is an issue complicated by many different elements including hunger, clean water, teacher training, building of schools.

Besides the 100k donation, Du has given away 3 Blackberry mobiles. My mistake I didn’t give my business card otherwise I would have been one of the lucky winner. hehe…Congratulations to all the winners!

A big crowd is gathering at #dubaitwestival from Shufflegazine on Vimeo.

Great photos from @mich1mich here.

Images courtesy of Gulf News

You can join the RTA’s Golden Ticket Competition here.

Sample image from Mikko

So the  interruption  is due to the reported electronic scams which have been recorded over a period of seven months now and that Etisalat is going to update their system to avoid scam problems. Electronic scams through email, SMS and phone calls are the methods use by these swindlers.

An official has commented on the matter and said that this all starts with what is called social engineering. The victim receives a phone call or an e-mail saying that he or she has won a big prize. The fraudsters convince the victim that in order for the prize to be delivered, he or she has to pay a certain amount as a fee or transfer money as phone credit. Once the transaction happens, the fraudster ends the call.

Fraudulent e-mails have been used to steal credit card or bank details and phone calls are made offering pirated software.

The high incidence of such scams has led the police to launch a comprehensive awareness campaign. The campaign  aims at educating the public about the consequences of falling victim of such fraud. As part of the campaign, more than nine million messages was sent  to mobile phone users in the UAE.

I left our office today at around 5 pm  so I can arrive Sharjah early to pay our SEWA bills. First, I thought there was just a car accident ahead of me. I was already near airport road when I heard on the radio that there was a 8-storey building collapsed in Ittihad road. I was upset after hearing that news but luckily I arrived Sharjah early. But when I reached home, I googled it and found out that it was in Al Quds St. cor. Salahuddin Rd. near Ramada hotel. The building was a B +G+ 6 commercial and residential building designed in Steel beams and columns.

One passer by has uploaded these  videos of the said collapsed building.

The said incident was made known to local and international media because Mohammed Ali Jamadar tweets on Twitter.

Business IT Types that you will find in Dubai Internet City:

1. Information Technology
2. Software Development / Web Based
3. Telecommunication and Network
4. Human Resources Development Centre
5. Broadcasting (TV and Radio Broadcast)
6. Broadcast Management
7. Software
8. Internet and Multimedia
9. IT Service
10. Business Process Outsourcing
11. Consultancy
12. Dubai Outsource Zone
13. Professional Training Centre
14. Property Management Services
15. Publishing
16. Regional Head Quarters
17. Service Provider

Click here to view the complete list of IT companies in Dubai, Internet City.

Besides Internet City, there are also companies that are located through out Dubai, Abu Dhabi and other emirates of UAE.

I am still in the process of searching and gathering for SEO companies, and once I am finish with my list, I will share them here with you.

National ID usage

The Identity Card can be used as a unified identification document with all the government, semi-government authorities and private entities. An individual may utilize it to obtain all the administrative services easily and promptly guaranteeing the highest levels of security and privacy

• UAE National may utilize the Identity Card as a traveling document to travel among the GCC neighboring countries
• The ID card can be used to logon to Computers and Access online services
• The ID card can be used for access control, signing electronic forms, and signing documents to protect it from being altered by others
• It is agreed with the Ministry of Finance to include the e-Dirham service to the Identity Card
• It is agreed with the Ministry of Interior to include the e-Gate service to the Identity Card
• The ID Card can be used on Abdu Dhabi e-Gov portal www.Abudhabi.ae to Authenticate your identity and get access to services

Future Usage

Thanks to the systems integration Emirates Identity Authority envisioning to achieve with various governmental, semi-governmental, and private sectors, it is expected to extend the identity utilizations in the future to include other domains especially after completion of the registration of all national and residents of the United Arab Emirates. The ID Card maybe utilized in the future to store other cards information or provide various applications as follows:

• Labor Card
• Health Card and Health Insurance card
• Electronic Portfolio
• Commercial and Banking applications
• Driving License
• Passport
• In addition, the ID Card acts as an infrastructure to many applications and services to entities to use such as:
• Public Libraries and rental stores to check out books, movies, games, cars, and others
• Utilized to get access to exhibitions
• Metro, public transportation

We were told that the centre only accepts few applicants per day so we went there early. We arrived at EIDA around 4 in the morning and there were already around 40 people waiting on the que. This week will be more busy as there are still 400,000 professional expats that has yet to apply. So I advise you to come earlier.

How to apply for an ID card

Visit the nearest EIDA service centre. Once you are allowed to get inside, they will give you a ticket number for typing ( if you have not applied online ) and another ticket for registration. Then once they called your number, you will be ask to pay either 220 or 320 depending on the validity length of your residence visa. After that they will take a photo of you and fingerprints. And that’s it. You will just wait for your ID card to be delivered by Empost on the address you mentioned. They said that it usually take 10-14 days for the card to be delivered.

For more information about Emirates National ID, visit there website here.

The Land Motorsport Porsche 2 team of Carsten Tilke, Gabriel Abergel, Niclas Kenberich and Andzej Dzikevic won the 2009 Toyo  24 Hours yesterday beating Al Faisal Racing BMW of Prince Abdul Aziz Al Faisal, Paul Spooner, Claudia Huertgen and Stan Sorlie.

The race started 2 in the afternoon with 75 cars taking part of the race. There was a moment where we felt nervous when a car in front of us avoids another car and then crashed into a barrier. Unfortunately I was not able to take pictures as I have to put up a “code 60″ flag. When a Code 60 is up, drivers are only allowed to drive 60 km/h and are not allowed to overtake.

Here are some pictures during the Toyo tires race…

The top 10 after 24 hours

1. Land Motorsport 2 – Porsche 997 GT3 Cup – 573 laps
2. Al Faisal Racing 1 – BMW Z4 M Coupé – 573 laps
3. Besaplast Racing Team – Porsche 997 GT3 Cup – 571 laps
4. ARC Bratislava – Porsche 997 GT3 RSR – 570 laps
5. Hubert Bergh Motorsport – Porsche 997 GT3 Cup – 566 laps
6. Jetalliance Racing – Porsche 997 GT3 Cup – 566 laps
7. First Motorsport – Porsche 997 GT3 Cup S – 548 laps
8. CM Creativ Marketing GmbH – Porsche 996 GT3 Cup – 546 laps
9. Duller Motorsport 1 – BMW M3 E46 GTR – 543 laps
10. De Lorenzi Racing srl. – Porsche 997 GT3 Cup – 543 laps

See you again on the next Toyo Tires 24H Dubai.

This will be my second time to watch a real race. My first was the Asia GP2, Speedcars and FIA GT3 held last December. Kamui Kobayahsi won the Asia GP2 Series, V. Liuzzi UP Team for Speedcars, Arnaud Peyroles and James Ruffier for the FIA GT3 race.

Here are some of the pictures taken:

Visit there website here more information. Toyo Tires 24H of Dubai race will run from January 8, 9 and 10, 2009.

See you there!

Everyone is invited in this meetup and since I’m very much now into wordpress, I have confirmed my attendance on Facebook. I’m actually busy that day but since this is chance I don’t wanna missed.

I hope there will be a Wordcamp in Dubai soon.

See you there:

Date: Friday January the 2nd 2009
Time: 6:30PM
Location: Montgomery Golf Course – Dubai
RSVP: Event page on Facebook
Type: Open Event – Anyone can come