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Forgot to post this, but in early June I saw a Bentley Continental Flying Spur (four door version of the popular Bentley Continental GT) parked in front of the Burj Al Arab hotel. It had a British license plate and I’m guessing it was brought into town by Bentley for a press or customer event. This is supposed to be the fastest four-door sedan in the world featuring a tuned version of the Volkswagen W12 engine.

People into technology love acronyms. Most people who blog or read web logs are familiar with RSS, but there’s a new acronym that is becoming popular…RRS:

This is the first 2006 Range Rover Sport that I’ve seen in person, and I wonder if it’s the same one that was featured on the cover of the April issue of Top Gear magazine. According to the article in Top Gear, besides being a good looking SUV, it actually is an excellent off-road vehicle. The only real drawback are the plasticy Ford sourced dashboard components which look cheap compared to the BMW designed Range Rover interior.

I saw my first 2006 BMW M5 today. It was on it’s way to Abu Dhabi. I’m not a big fan of the regular 5-series but this looks nicer and I’m sure it’s a blast to drive. Seeing it made my miss my BMWs…well at least the M3 and the M-Roadster. I don’t miss the 745i much.

I have been told that I have an obsession with cars. Oh yeah, computers too. Umm, Duke Basketball has been also mentioned before. Vanilla ice cream? Perhaps, but I can definitely confirm that I have an obsession for cars. I seem to see interesting ones everywhere in Dubai. Either that or I’m subconsciously seeking them out.
On the way into work this afternoon I saw a large SUV out of the corner of my eye and instantly knew this was a preproduction Mercedes-Benz vehicle. In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s something that is internally referred to as X164 which is a larger version of the new ML-Class (W164). Some people say this is the replacement for the 25 year old G-Class (W463), and others hope its merely a larger ML with three rows of seating. Anyway, the phone in my camera sucks and the pictures aren’t great.




I really do hope this is not the replacement for the G-Class. The other day I dropped by my local Mercedes dealer and they told me that the entire 2005 production of the AMG G55 Kompressor has been sold and they have no information on whether it will be available as a 2006 model. Mercedes-Benz sold twice as many G-Class vehicles in the Middle East during the 2004-5 fiscal year as they did the previous year. Of course, sales in the US are much lower.

I saw what I believe is a Hummer H3 yesterday. It was parked in front of Hall 3 at the Dubai International Exhibition Center. I don’t get the point of this thing…it’s ugly, doesn’t look especially tough, and isn’t very exclusive. It’s going to have a tough time competing against the likes of the Nissan Patrol in the Middle East market.
What’s weird is that I don’t think this thing has gone on sale yet, not even in the US. The Hummer website says that the H3 is “coming soon.” Since it’s not really a vehicle I have any interest in, I haven’t been keeping up with its feature set or release schedule.

I saw two interesting things today. A very rare G-Wagen (I think only a dozen or so of this type were ever built), and two very rich and powerful men going for a stroll through the food court I was having lunch in.
Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG (444 HP V12 engine):

Steve Ballmer (President & CEO of Microsoft Corp.) with HH Sheikh Mohammed (Crown Prince & CEO of Dubai, Inc.) touring Dubai Internet City:

Yes, I know it’s been a while. Now that the hot summer months are around the corner I’m finding myself spending more time indoors and at my computer, so this blog will start to see some activity again.

I’ll start with some interesting pictures I took with my mobile phone last week. These pics are of two Mercedes R-Class and one B-Class pre-production vehicles in Dubai. I was surprised to see them still disguised with tape considering that both models have been publicly shown in production form several weeks ago. Anyway, here are the pics…click on the thumbnails to see larger versions of the images. Remember, these were taken with a phone so they aren’t the greatest, and the German-looking drivers weren’t trying to make it any easier for me as we zipped down the highway at 130 km/h (86 mph).

I’ve been travelling a lot this week, probably breaking my own personal record for number of flights in one week. Here are the details:

Airports

• Frankfurt, Germany
• Helsinki, Finland
• Oulu, Finland
• Stockholm, Sweden
• Nice, France
• Rome, Italy
• Bombay/Mumbai, India
• Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Airlines

• Emirates
• Lufthansa
• Finnair
• Blue1
• Sterling

Sadly, this was all for business and I didn’t get to enjoy any of the tourist attractions of any of the new places I visited (Scandinavia, Nice/Cannes). Cannes was really nice and will defintely be worth another visit at some point. At least it was much warmer than Finland, which was also full of Mosquitos!

Arabian Computer News (ACN) decided to put me on the cover of their September 2004 issue. I really don’t know why, but I guess it’s my good looks and my influence in the industry. Yes, I know it isn’t Time or Newsweek, but this is just the beginning. 😉

i-mate (a Carrier Devices brand) has launched their third generation Windows Mobile based SmartPhone, the i-mate SP3. I’ve gotten a chance to use this phone and it’s a major improvement over the previous HTC manufactured devices being sold under the i-mate brand. Now I’m torn between continuing to use a PocketPC Phone or move back to using a SmartPhone.

There are some nice features in the PocketPC like larger screen, some great third party applications, easier text input via the pen, better e-mail client, etc. On the other hand, there are some differences in the phone features that make the SmartPhone easier to use and better suited as a phone. Battery life is also longer on SmartPhone devices and you are less tempted to install crappy software which makes the phone less reliable. I think I’ll have to wait and see new i-mate PocketPC phone which has a sliding keyboard and WiFi before making a final decision.