Riyad Bank’s Arabic homepage has been defaced by hackers. So much for electronic banking.
English homepage is still working, it appears that only the Arabic page has been defaced.
UAE’s Etisalat, an important shareholder in Mobily, has expressed their interest in having a bigger share of second largest mobile carrier in Saudi Arabia.
From Zawya:
After Etisalat’s general assembly meeting, in which it approved a 60% dividend and a 10% giveaway, Omran only offered that his company is working to determine a fair price at which it would buy more of Mobily’s outstanding shares.
He added that Etisalat would finish its buying spree by the end of the year, adding that all of the company’s foreign investments are sound and well contemplated.
Saudi Telecommunication Company did not post this so I will post it here instead, with their obvious mistakes. So it’s as received.
A qualitative breakthrough in the Internet service in the Kingdom
STC provides its customers with the highest Internet speed in the region (100 megabytes) through FTTH technology
Saudi Telecom introduced a qualitative and remarkable breakthrough in the field of Broadband services in the Kingdom by launching, for the first time in the Middle East and North Africa “MENA” a (100 Mega) package which secures the highest Internet speed “100 megabytes/second” through the Fiber to the Home technology “FTTH” technology. The customer’s house is connected with modern and developed Fiber Optic cables which transmit very high speeds and provide Internet services at the best quality and efficiency as it is the best Broadband technologies in the world. Saudi Telecom Company emphasized that providing its customers with high speeds comes within its continuous efforts to propagate the Broadband services in the Saudi society and offer the best Internet services to its customers at the lowest prices in order to generate an added value to their life and assist them perform many services and businesses through the Internet with high quality and efficiency incomparable to other Internet technologies.
In a press declaration given on this occasion, Engineer Saud Bin Majed Al Daweesh, CEO of STC Group, said that the success of Saudi Telecom in launching the Fiber to the Home technology “FTTH” is a qualitative breakthrough introduced by the Company in the field of Internet services in the Kingdom and it supports STC pioneering leadership of Broadband services by providing various technologies in order to contribute to changing the lives of thousands of the members of the society. This stems from the fact that such technology provides real and safe Internet at very high speeds in browsing and downloading software reaching 100 megabytes / second. Thus customers could enjoy the various Internet services, content services, multi-play services, HD TV, video library, various types of electronic games and many other services offered by the Company to its customers.
Engineer Daweesh pointed out that FTTH service is the most prominent new generation in Broadband networks which shall allow customers to use the Internet in the various fields and new applications such as e-learning services, medical examinations, three-dimensional presentations (audio, video and data), holding international conferences, remote security and control and all Broadband applications which assist in reaching the house of the future. In such house, its owner shall deal with its electric and electronic appliances through smart modern technology without having to perform the works which used to take prolonged time and efforts.
The CEO of the Company also stressed STC incessant endeavors to lead the initiative in launching the all-new services in the Saudi Market especially Broadband services. All members of the society make use of such new services and the Company is working towards quickly and properly providing their requirements in a manner that copes with the Saudi society needs.
STC customer, Fahd Al-Ballaa, An-Nakhil District in Riyadh, expressed his utmost happiness and thanks to Saudi Telecom which makes him the first customer all over the Middle East who connects the 100 megabyte speed to his house. He added that providing this service by STC emphasizes its pioneering role in spreading real Broadband services at the highest speeds in the Saudi society which makes the Kingdom the first country in the region which launches the highest speed in the world.
Al-Ballaa stated that he really experienced an extraordinary experiment and felt a tremendous speed which enables him to download some videos and extremely voluminous data in a flash. He never imagined this to happen until he experimented this service. He added “I and all my family members are surprisingly impressed with this new technology. I hope that it will have a positive impact on the family members by allowing them features such as distance education and accessing online technical and educational files and materials in an unprecedented speed”.
HOME SECTORE
End of press release.
I have no idea what “home sectore” is. My rant will be posted on my personal site instead.
Turn off your machines for an hour next Saturday March 27th at 8:30pm local Saudi Time. This is the first year Saudi Arabia officially joins the “Earth Hour” move. I will be participating in “Earth Hour Riyadh 2010″ as well.
From Arab News: “Lights are expected to be switched off in major cities including Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam from 8.30 to 9.30 in the evening. A number of government departments and private sector companies are also taking part.”
Make sure to register for the event on Facebook: Earth Hour Saudi Arabia 2010 – ساعة الأرض في السعودية ٢٠١٠. Also check this event specific for Earth Day Jeddah 2010.
A new Google Group for Ruby on Rails developers/enthusiasts in Saudi Arabia has been started by Abdulaziz.
Ruby on Rails “is an open source web application framework for the Ruby programming language. It is intended to be used with an Agile development methodology that is used by web developers for rapid development.”
The group is named Rails-KSA and you can find it here.
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.
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.
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.
Covering technology event and everything of interest to the Geeks of Saudi Arabia, SaudiGeeks website was launched with that goal in mind.
Best of luck to Jalammar and everyone else at SaudiGeeks.com, make sure to follow them on Twitter as well.
The Saudi Telecom Company (STC) is now taking pre-booking requests for their upcoming HTC Magic, a Google Android based phone.
The phone will be sold for 2,399SR ($631) and includes a free subscription to a 12-month data plan with a limit of 1 Gigabyte each (notice that STC‘s site called it Gega).
STC will hopefully open an Android app store and add Arabic language support when the HTC Magic is released. You can read more about the HTC Magic at HTC’s website. Via Maxer.