Khaleej Times seems to have buried the lede in one of their Gitex stories today. After a quick glance, I happened to notice that the reporter casually mentions that du will be offering their iPod-3GS (sic) device on October 25.

Another telecom service provider, du, is offering customers an opportunity to book the i-Pod 3GS phone before its release on October 25.

Both Etisalat and du have announced their accepting pre-bookings for the device on their website. However, both companies have said the smartphone will be available "at the end of the month." October 25 is only one week away and technically would fall into that "end of the month" window. But is it the actual date?

After a relatively uneventful drive from Abu Dhabi to Dubai, I, your humble technology reporter, has finally arrived to Gitex. The conference hasn't yet begun and I'm one of the only reporters sitting along the rows of HP laptops (outfitted with Windows 7, no less) with a Mac. Actually, I'm one of the only reporters here, period.

In any case, you might want to bookmark the Beep Beep blog starting now as I'll be providing in-depth coverage of the event throughout the week. Interviews, quirky tidbits, geek news, that sort of thing. Just as long as there's enough caffeine around to keep me going. To start things off, check out the Gitex story I wrote in today's newspaper regarding Etisalat launching a new entertainment portal - think Xbox Live and iTunes, but geared for the UAE resident.

And, if you're actually at Gitex, feel free to drop me a line at dgeorgecosh -at- thenational.ae or via my Twitter account.

Yes, it's true, Gitex, the biggest technology event of the year (in the Middle East), is just around the corner. Like some of you, I've had literally hundreds of e-mails, phone calls and press releases tossed my way for consideration, but true to any tech conference, there's only a handful of things the regular geek should really check out.

To leave you all in suspense, I've included my top five list of Gitex's things you shouldn't avoid after the jump.

(Photo: Will this year's event carry the same enthusiasm last year's Gitex had? Randi Sokoloff / The National)