The saga of UAE web blocking lumbered into a new phase this week, as Etisalat started to unblock a number of sites that were previously banned. The changes were made without any particular announcement by either Etisalat or the TRA, although they came just ahead of an apparent deadline to unblock ‘one thousand’ web sites by 29th August.

As usual, its a case of more questions than answers though, as no official list of unblocked sites has been released and no explanation was given for why some sites are now considered OK, while similar sites are still blocked.

So far it looks like at least a half dozen high profile sites like Twitter and Live Journal have been opened up, along with less well known sites like Bright Kite, but with notable exceptions such as Orkut and Flickr, which remain blocked… Confusing to say the least. Without any master list of blocked sites, working out what’s no longer blocked is just about impossible.

There’s also no word yet from the TRA on what changes, if any, have been made to the how and the why of web blocking policy in the UAE, and there’s also no explanation as to why Etisalat blocks some sites that du doesn’t.

We’re still trying to speak to the TRA about this, so perhaps they might shed some light on the situation.

In the meantime, for all those that were worried that they were missing out on some essential Web 2.0-ey social interaction, feel free to twitter away to your heart’s content.

Space exploration is going through some changes at the moment, what with Nasa putting the Shuttle on ice and the future of the ISS looking a bit rocky on account of the fact that everyone is falling out with the Russians. But while government-funded space travel falters, private projects seem to be taking off. Now to give Richard Branson’s high altitude boomerang some competition in the space joyride market comes this - Star System Inc’s Hermes Shuttle.

Star Systems Inc's Hermes space shuttle

The Hermes is mostly the work of aerospace engineer Morris Jarvis, an enthusiast who started building the craft in his garage in 1993. Now the Hermes is almost ready for its first test flight, with IDF marking the first time its been out of the metaphorical garage. Continue reading … ‘Intel Developer Forum - what’s better than your own A380?’

It’s maybe not what I was expecting as part of a fairly technical keynote address, but the demonstration of Intel and DreamWorks new InTru 3D technology certainly livened up this morning’s sessions.

The new 3D technology is essentially pretty much like the old school 3D, complete with glasses, but obviously with the benefit of a lot of clever new technology and DreamWorks’ creative spin.

The future's so bright...

Continue reading … ‘Intel Developer Forum - now in glorious 3D-o-vision!’

Recognize this robot?

It is of course the Reem B Robot, developed by Abu Dhabi-based Pal Technology, and first unveiled in Abu Dhabi in June. Its on show at IDF, mainly on the account of the fact that its got an Intel Core 2 Duo processor running a number of functions.

Continue reading … ‘Intel Developer Forum Day 2 - Robots’

Intel gave a sneak peak at the next generation of its Classmate PC at IDF today. The Classmate, which is intended for school children, has already gained a fair amount of custom in the education sector in a number of countries (although none in the Gulf so far) and has pretty much beaten the One Laptop Per Child initiatives XO notebook as the low cost laptop of choice for government education projects.

Continue reading … ‘IDF Day 1 - New Classmate PC’