News related to
ARABIAN POST SPECIAL

What's On

Carnegie Mellon Researchers Develop a Touchscreen for Skin

A wearable technology developed by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University may one day make touchscreens for smart watches unnecessary as users could issue commands to their devices simply by touching their own arms. The new technology would essentially transform a user’s entire lower arm into a touchpad, capable of receiving commands traced on the skin. The system, called SkinTrack, was developed by Carnegie Mellon’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute’s […]

May 06

Columns

There’s money in Brazil and Argentina

|By Matein Khalid| After five years of pathetic under-performance, emerging markets are easily the asset class to own in 2016, as Europe is hit by a resurgent Euro/Italian banking woes and Japan by institutional gaijin selling and a stronger yen. A dovish Janet Yellen has talked down the US dollar and deferred the timing of FOMC interest rate hikes. The Chinese Politburo and People’s Bank have managed to […]

April 27

What's On

Report: Government Agencies Not Doing Enough To Protect IT Systems

NASA and the U.S. Department of State were among the federal agencies that received low marks on IT security, according to a recent report card issued by the New York-based firm Security Scorecard. Also receiving low grades were the states of Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Washington. The 2016 U.S. Government Cybersecurity Report, released earlier this month, analyzed the cybersecurity vulnerabilities of some 600 local, state and federal government […]

April 25

AutoMotiv

2016 Lexus NX 300h Review

The Lexus NX is a vehicle of firsts for the luxury brand from Toyota. It was the first compact crossover from Lexus, the first with a turbocharged engine, and the first example of a more extreme design language. This new, aggressive exterior styling is now showing up on other Lexus models, like the new RX 350 F Sport we tested earlier this month. While some won’t like […]

April 25

Talking Point

Hacked road cameras can compromise security

|By Arabian Post Staff| Road sensors, cameras and traffic light systems face the risk of hacking and the data collected by these devices could be compromised with unforeseen results, endangering the security of both road users as well as city administrations. Leading cyber security company Kaspersky Lab experts have, after extensive field research, proved that the data gathered and processed by these sensors can be dramatically compromised […]

April 24

What's On

Earth Day 2016: A Good Reminder To Recycle Old Gadgets

As we commemorate the 47th annual Earth Day, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a message for individuals or businesses thinking about throwing old electronic equipment and gadgets in the trash: Don’t. The agency, along with many other public and private organizations, is encouraging people to find ways to re-use or recycle the electronic machines and devices that seem to be produced by the millions each […]

April 22

What's On

Earth Day 2016: Today's the Day To Recycle Old Gadgets

As we commemorate the 47th annual Earth Day, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a message for individuals or businesses thinking about throwing old electronic equipment and gadgets in the trash: Don’t. The agency, along with many other public and private organizations, is encouraging people to find ways to re-use or recycle the electronic machines and devices that seem to be produced by the millions each […]

April 22

What's On

Microsoft Looks to the Cloud as Phone and PC Businesses Drag

Cloud-based and digital transformation-related services are making strong contributions to Microsoft’s bottom line, while its PC sales have proven to be a drag and Windows Phone revenues are crashing, the company reported yesterday. Microsoft’s financial results for the third quarter of its 2015-2016 fiscal year showed the company with revenues of $20.5 billion, a six-percent decline over earnings in the same quarter last year. Those figures included […]

April 22

Talking Point

Panama Papers leak traced to faulty plugins

|Arabian Post Special| The Mossack Fonseca (MF) data breach that made Panama Papers, the biggest data leak to journalists in history,  possible has been traced to a vulnerable version of a plugin used to create sliders in website designs. According to leading cyber security firm Wordfence, Mossack Fonseca was running WordPress, one of the  most popular website platforms in use, with a vulnerable version of Revoluiton Slider […]

April 09

Economy

Diamonds lose shine to vacations, gadgets

|By Arabian Post Staff| Diamonds are losing their allure and prices are dropping below the levels that prevailed a decade ago.  And diamond’s loss is mostly the gain of vacations, fancy handbags and high-tech gadgets. Diamonds are now cheaper than they were in 2006, says a Bloomberg report quoting data from PolishedPrices.com. Over the same period, the price of luxury items like cars, shoes and fine foods […]

April 09

Banking & Finance

RAK Offshore in Mossack Fonseca’s network

|ARABIAN POST SPECIAL| The Ras Al Khaimah Offshore Centre was among the centres, along with London, Miami and Zurich, used by Mossack Fonseca, the little-known but powerful law firm based in Panama, that constitutes the core of the Panama Papers, which has rocked the world by revealing the offshore links some of the planet’s most prominent people used to hide wealth. Mossack Fonseca has branches in London, Beijing, Miami, […]

April 05

Economy

Al Shafar says IPO not abandoned

|By Arabian Post Staff| Dubai-based Al Shafar General Contracting (ASGC) plans to revive its stalled IPO plan at an appropriate time, according to chief executive Bishoy Azmy. Al Shafar had made significant progress with its planned IPO last year, but the plan was put on hold in the wake of the market turning bad following the trouble in the global stock markets over problems with the Chinese economy.  The company […]

March 26

Columns

9-11 & alliance of Iran, Hezbollah and Al-Qaeda

|By Alaa Alghamdi| Judicial rulings have shown that the calamitous and tragic events of September 11 were borne out of a relationship between Iran and Hezbollah and al-Qaeda. Will the coming days reveal a similar relationship with Daesh too? Hezbollah is widely known for its support of terrorism, for inciting sectarian strife in the Arab countries, and for the cooperation of its members with drug dealers in Europe, North and South America, Africa, as a means to finance multiple activities, ease the burden on the Iranian treasury offering them substantial financial support, in […]

March 23

Economy

Threat of defaults begins to haunt

|By Arabian Post Staff| A sudden spurt in the number of new project announcements despite the weakening sentiments and a clear downturn in property prices is stoking fears of a 2008-style default revisiting the Dubai property market. The phase has even seen the revival of some of the grandiose schemes announced during the peak of the boom period, but got abandoned later as the crisis began to […]

March 15

Real Estate & Construction

Italian firm brings concrete-eaters to revolutionize demolitions

|By Arabian Post Staff| The introduction of a new technique, using excavators that could virtually be called concrete-eaters, is set to revolutionize the way high rise structures are demolished in the UAE. The new method reduces the time required to bring down a high rise structure to a matter of days, instead of months and years required by conventional methods. The shorter time frames would mean much quicker […]

March 11

What's On

Amazon Drops Device Encryption on Fire OS 5

With little fanfare, Amazon has removed the option for device encryption for tablets, phones and other products running its Fire OS 5 operating system. The decision has been met with widespread confusion and criticism, especially as Amazon yesterday filed an amicus brief in support of Apple’s decision not to give the FBI access to the data on the iPhone of one of the San Bernadino, Calif. terrorists. […]

March 04

Economy, Real Estate & Construction

UAE construction group to invest $100m in expansion

|By Arabian Post Staff| Ajman-based Tech Group, comprising a number of construction verticals, announced an investment of $100 million for the next three years, in what the company declares as an endorsement of the positive outlook for the country’s construction industry. Piling Tech, one of the group companies specializing in foundation engineering, design engineering and boring and driven piling systems, has acquired a new set of Soilmec […]

February 17

Economy

Turkey’s industry muscle on show at Win Eurasia

|By K Raveendran| Going by the pace at which machinery automation is advancing, the day does not appear to be a long way off when self-working machines carry out complicated and high-skilled operations without manual intervention. The Win Eurasia Metal Working Fair in Istanbul held during 11-14 February provided clear insights into the evolving trends in this area and the rapid strides Turkish machinery manufacturing industry is […]

February 16

What's On

Yahoo Makes Over Mobile App, Home Page in the U.S.

Yahoo Makes Over Mobile App, Home Page in the U.S. Google long ago overshadowed Yahoo, but the company is still working to acquire and retain new users to its network of sites. To that end, Yahoo has just updated its mobile app and home page in the United States. Simply stated, Yahoo is giving prominence to news, content and video on its home page. Viewers will see […]

January 29

Columns

Saudi will not de-peg or devalue riyal

|By Matein Khalid| The collapse in Brent crude oil below $30, a 20% fall in the Tadawul share index in January 2016’s global equity bloodbath, the cut in fuel subsidies and geopolitical risk escalation in the Middle East has spawned speculation in financial markets that Saudi Arabia will devalue the kingdom’s riyal, now pegged at 3.75 against the US dollar. Senior princes of the royal family and […]

January 27

Columns

Crude target price achieved

|By Matein Khalid| I had called for Brent crude to fall to $30 in successive columns since the November 2014 OPEC conclave in Vienna, when Saudi Arabia abandoned its traditional role as the “swing producer” the central bank of black gold. The world oil markets now face a supply shock, a demand shock, epic volatility and the loss of the “swing producer”. The world is running out […]

January 20

Banking & Finance

Abraaj buys Indian hospital chain

|By Arabian Post Staff| Dubai-headquartered private equity investment group Abraaj announced another investment in India to buy a majority stake in Quality CARE India Ltd, which runs CARE Hospitals from global PE firm Advent International. CARE, which operates a multi-specialty chain of 16 hospitals across nine cities, plans to expand in “underpenetrated” regions of India, as well as enter other markets where Abraaj operates, the Dubai firm […]

January 13

Investing

‘Made in China’ global equities crash

|By Matein Khalid| This was the ghastliest week for global risk assets since September 2011. Not even 290,000 new US jobs in December could negate the raw fear on Wall Street generated by the 10% fall in Shanghai, a yuan depreciation, market meltdowns of 6 – 7% in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Frankfurt, Mumbai and New York. Four months ago, I had published a KT article titled “History’s […]

January 12

Agenda, Economy

Dubai shows its true spirit

|By K Raveendran| Given Dubai’s fame as one of the most happening cities of the world, the international media attention to the New Year-eve fire at the Address Hotel was quite natural. At the same time, it did not escape the attention of the discerning that some sections of the media lost no opportunity to use the unfortunate incident to show things in a rather poor light. […]

January 02

Banking & Finance, Featured

WGC draft on gold standard for Islamic finance

|By Arabian Post Staff| The World Gold Council is exploring the creation of a Shariah Standard on Gold, which will provide guidance from the Shariah perspective on the usage of gold in financial and investment transactions for Islamic financial institutions and participants. The Standard also aims to increase transparency and harmonisation regarding the use of gold in various market practices. A draft of the Standard has been […]

January 02

Featured

Saudi budget signals a new era

|By Arabian Post Staff|The 2016 Saudi budget marks a transformation, signaling the end of material overspending, introduces a medium-term fiscal strategy and sweeping subsidy changes, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch said in a special report. However, the budget does not signal any near-term changes to energy or Fx policy, in its view. The report says the 2016 budget announcement is a significant one for the Saudi Arabian economy. […]

December 29

Featured

Banks find support in US ‘de-risk’ move

|Arabian Post Special|The UAE Central Bank is solidly backing the UAE banks in dealing with the ‘de-risking’ policies imposed by US banks on the UAE banks. The central bank is seized of the problems faced by the UAE banks in this regard. The new U.S. regulations have imposed extra burdens and costs on banks in the United States, which is forcing these banks to cut their international […]

December 22

AutoMotiv

Car Hacking: Are You At Risk?

There is an old cliché that goes, “they don’t make them like they used to.” With the pronounced computerization of contemporary cars in mind, that adage certainly stands tall. More than 50 percent of vehicles sold this year connect to the Internet in one or more ways, and it is predicted by 2025, every car will be connected in multiple ways. That brings up the issue of car hacking. […]

December 19

Investing

King dollar trend is down, but not out

|By Matein Khalid| The plunge in crude oil after OPEC’s Vienna conclave, Dr. Draghi’s failure to resist Bundesbank pressure not to fire another ECB easy money bazooka, Wall Street’s junk bond debacle and an imminent rise in the Fed Funds rate for the first time since 2006 will all shape the next big trades in Planet Forex. The Euro has risen to 1.10 on Draghi’s failure to […]

December 16

Columns

Islamic Crowdfunding: Way to go

|By Umar Munshi| Islamic Crowdfunding has the potential to help us change our world for the better. When an online community unites and pools resources, this community has the financial and social clout and capability to create and re-create multiple aspects of the world and directly impact society. Crowdfunding itself started and blossomed in the West initially amongst groups of like-minded individuals wanting to create something. In […]

December 14