STORIES, STORIES

On Podcasts by Khayra Bundakji I ’ m not sure why or how it happened, but music never was a part of my life like it was for my peers. Whenever anyone would offer to the conversation how moved a song made them, it just wouldn ’ t register. Much like boys, much like makeup, much like fashion, it was yet another socially ostracising quirk of mine to not connect with or remember lyrics of music. Then one day, on my daily 45-minute commute to university, I discovered NPR. Terry Gross from Fresh Air , Ira Flato from Science Friday , and the gang from GeekSpeak added a dimension to my grayscale Saudi life I didn ’ t realise I lacked. This was before I had friends to discuss science or pop culture. Finding radio shows that felt I was amongst friends reunited me with a piece of my heart I didn ’ t know existed.     Once I gluttonously got through international podcasts, I desperately searched for something that would speak to me. Something, say, in Jeddah. Leading me ...

So my dad's been wanting a tablet since the beginning of the year. Background: let's just say his forays into technology haven't exactly been successful. He's still not comfortable around smart phones, and he's one of those dads who insist on turning off any motion sensor in any device for fear of some kind of disease-inducing radiation. We tried getting him a tablet earlier this year, and it ended up in my possession. Now that I have the Samsung Note 10.1, though, he says he's ready to try again. Here are the top 5 reasons why I JUST might not give him the Note: 5) It can make phone calls . It took me a moment to pick up the pieces of my blown mind after I discovered this feature. I'm almost pretty sure I missed some pieces of said mind, because when I was testing it, I couldn't at first figure out how to answer the phone call. I kept clicking the green phone icon and ignoring the arrows that indicated a swiping motion should do the trick. Se...

You're a geek. Or you just started becoming one. Or maybe you want to meet smart people.  And you happen to be in Jeddah. Luck be a GeekFest event named Gamma, happening in just 2 weeks. I've blogged about GeekFest before ( HERE ), but here's the Geekifesto (written by the guy who started GeekFest) to better understand what we're on about. To give you a summary, here's what we have on our Facebook Fan Page : So what's a GeekFest?   Jeddah's own community of geeks get together for:   GeekTalks  Presentations or discussions on relevant topics.   GameFest  An area to geek out with gamers and get sucked into the power of the gaming world.  TechnoCases  Showcases by technology companies to share their products with the geeks in a fun and interactive way.  ArtStuff  Creative geeks can display their work and collaborate with others to create new things.  Alongside it is much technology and chit chatting (and no...

Hello, Jeddah! It's time for another GeekFest event! We had GeekFest Beta a few months ago, but if you want to refresh your memory, click here to know more about GeekFest. GeekFest Gamma will be on the 11th of October 2012 (10-11-12, you guys!). Gamma is an invite-only event (for now). If you would like to get an invite, get involved in the community by signing up on Trello , where you can help us make this happen. You can also find us on Facebook and on Twitter . As part of ArtStuff, we are giving space to some of our local geeky artists to display their art at "LaunchPad". We would like to know what kind of art you, the community, would like to see. We have a bunch of nominated artists, but we have space for only the top four (4) with the most votes. Vote now! (Pick up to 4) Loading...

Yesterday, I went with the boys to try out Artemis (the game), mainly to see how it would work at GeekFest . Let's call it a Happy Accident that I actually enjoyed it. Basically, what it is is a simulation of a spaceship and the team that operates it (I'm still shaky on the proper lingo here). Members of each team have to work together towards a common goal, a mission - maybe to defend the ship, or to get to a specified destination, or maybe just to cruise in space and enjoy the view (at least I think this is a reasonable mission). I'm a n00b at video games, but I've got shit-tons of experience in teamwork, even though that doesn't necessarily make me a good team player. I enjoy the part where every decision I make affects the entire team. It takes a special kind of brain to be able to manage a group well. Seriously. I continue to be fascinated by this.