In 1600, actor William Kemp was challenged to morris dance his way from London to Norwich. He accepted the bet and completed his journey – a distance of about 100 miles – in nine days (spread out over a few weeks). So was born the phrase “nine-day wonder”, to describe someone or something that suddenly gains fame, only to quickly fade from the spotlight. Fame no longer […]
Emirates, the world’s biggest long-haul airline, and Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways are reviewing their workforce as overcapacity and a stronger dollar put pressure on earnings. The cutbacks show how the Gulf airlines’ rapid expansion of the past few years is slowing down against a more challenging economic backdrop. Dubai-based Emirates has offered redundancies to staff working in accounting, finance, IT and other departments in its head-office, sources […]
As we celebrate the completion of another trip around the sun, and prepare to start the next one, the festive television season is shifting into high gear. Grab your remote – we’ve got more than enough TV treats to enjoy as you relax on the sofa after all the preparation and socialising. Pop that gourmet corn, rip open a box of chocolate and enjoy a wide range […]
Most players will tell you that the back-to-backs add up to more fatigue and more risk for injury. They have also become a marketing problem for the league, because coaches sometimes bench their stars for one of the games. Continue reading the main story Just last week the Cleveland Cavaliers left LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love at home when the team visited the Memphis Grizzlies […]
In this Sept. 5, 2014, file photo, the Apple logo hangs in the glass box entrance to the company’s Fifth Avenue store in New York. Ireland is appealing the European Union’s landmark order to collect 13 billion euros ($14 billion) in taxes from Apple. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File) Ireland will appeal the European Union’s landmark order to collect a record 13 billion euros ($14 billion) in taxes […]
The Christmas album has proved to be a tough roasted chestnut to crack over the years. Few musicians emerge from the ordeal of releasing a festive single with their credibility intact, so surely only the most foolhardy (or cash-strapped) of artists would attempt a whole LP of seasonal tunes. Yet try they do. From the hipster-pleasing holiday grooves of James Brown to the contemporary cheer of this […]
Federer landed on his still-fragile left knee, which in February had required him to have surgery for the first time in his career, keeping him out for more than two months. Though he got up slowly at Wimbledon and finished the match, he did not finish the season. He even missed the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, which had long been one of his major late-career […]
On Saturday morning, the Pentagon was eager to announce that China would return a U.S. Navy underwater drone after its military scooped up the submersible in the South China Sea late this week and sparked a row that drew in President-elect Donald Trump. As previously reported, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said that “through direct engagement with Chinese authorities, we have secured an understanding that the Chinese will […]
Senior American officials and top commanders in the Middle East say the brutal urban fight for Mosul is succeeding — however slowly — but is proving to be tougher than expected. These officials predict that the battle to oust the Islamic State from Iraq’s second-largest city could last two to four more months. Continue reading the main story Brett H. McGurk, President Obama’s envoy to the international […]
Image: Sarah Tew/CNET Every week, we sound off on the most important technology trends in our Monday Morning Opener. Looking back on 2016, we’ve identified the five tectonic plate shifts that have made the biggest impact on the industry and our readers who use these tools to drive the progress of the planet. So, without further ado, here are the five big tech trends of 2016 according […]
Digitizing analog processes can have steep learning curve. Robin Harris Even as a kid, I could see the visual difference between TV sitcoms – shot on videotape – and films. Video had a jarring sharpness that, paradoxically, made the picture less real. Films, with much higher resolution than video, looked more real, even though the motion blur and background softness – among other artifacts – are a […]
1 of 15 Fancy something fancy? We pay a visit to 14 of the city’s snazziest afternoon teas to scope out scones, sandwiches and smooth brews. 2 of 15 Al Fayrooz Lounge Rating: 4/5Most impressive item: Mango soufflé with blackcurrant sorbet.There’s a very traditional feel to this afternoon tea, with old-fashioned ceiling fans and a plush Arabesque lounge setting, but the tea itself has a modern twist; […]
(Image: Uber) Uber will continue operating its Volvo self-driving cars on San Francisco, California streets, despite repeated warning from state regulators the ride-hailing service doesn’t have proper permits to do so. In a letter obtained by the Associated Press, California’s Department of Justice said “the attorney general will seek injunctive and other appropriate relief,” if Uber doesn’t get the special permit to allow for self-driving vehicles. The […]
Settling into an interview with Marwan Bin Jassim Al Sarkal, the man in charge of luring foreign investors to Sharjah, it becomes evident that both tensions and ties bond the emirate with neighbouring Dubai. On the one hand Sharjah is cast into the shadows, often overlooked by businesses and visitors. On the other hand, the bigger brother’s international standing is helping the emirate of 1.5 million people […]
A few days ago we wrote about the Harvard Professor, Larry Lessig, who was offering free legal services to any Republican elector willing to consider switching their vote from Trump to any other candidate when the electoral college meets on December 19th (see “Harvard Professor Says He’s Rallied Nearly Enough GOP Electors To Block Trump“). At the time, Lessig said he was in active discussions with […]
Microsoft is building out a number of “graphs,” or data indexes, across the company. There’s the Bing knowledge graph, the Office Graph, and now, the LinkedIn professional graph. This week, the company announced plans to add another graph to its stable: A “world graph.” It’s partnering with HERE, TomTom, and Esri to build this geographic data index. The data in the coming world graph isn’t just about […]
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte(Photo: Tang Chhin Sothy, AFP/Getty Images) President Rodrigo Duterte threatened Saturday to terminate a pact that allows U.S. troops to visit the Philippines, saying “bye-bye America” as he reacted with rage to what he thought was a U.S. decision to scrap a major aid package over human rights concerns. A U.S. government aid agency, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, said earlier in the week that […]
As millions of children around the world drag their parents to shopping malls to sit on Santa’s lap and tell him their wishes, hardly anyone is coming to Demre. Turkey has an abundance of problems — frequent terror attacks, a swelling population of Syrian refugees, mass arrests after a failed coup — that have driven tourists away. The only foreign visitors to Demre these days seem to […]
A version running Google’s Chrome OS could join the Windows and Android editions of the Lenovo Yoga Book 2-in-1. Lenovo has a critical darling on its hands with the Yoga Book, a 2-in-1 hybrid that uses a “Create Pad” instead of a traditional laptop keyboard. That feature — which allows the user to switch easily between typing and pen input modes (including writing directly on paper that’s […]
ABU DHABI // Before becoming Europe’s No 1 ethical hacker, Jamie Woodruff took advantage of his autism to become a computer boffin and started hacking when he was nine. In discussing with young people how challenges can be turned to opportunities, Mr Woodruff, 23, showed how he overcame autism, dyslexia and dyspraxia. “I did not have access to education sectors that you would see. When I went to […]
When it emerged from stealth in 2011, MapR was an outlier in the Hadoop community. At the time, Hadoop was defined largely by two projects adapted from Google research: MapReduce, which introduced highly linear, massively parallel processing to big data, and the HDFS file system, which could accommodate data by the petabyte. And at the time, Hadoop was defined as an Apache open source platform. MapR’s message, […]
Earlier in the day, Kaler said in a statement that the suspensions were the result of an “Athletics Department decision based on values” — and not a direct consequence of the 10 players’ violation of the university’s code of conduct. Continue reading the main story “A bowl game is a wonderful reward for an excellent football season,” Kaler said. “It is my hope that our eligible football […]
Toronto worker Kristy Milland looks for data jobs that she can pick up to make ends meet. Image: Sam Santos/George Pimentel Photography This article originally appeared on TechRepublic. Each morning when she wakes up, Kristy Milland powers up her home computer in Toronto, logs into Amazon Mechanical Turk, and waits for her computer to ding. Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT), which has been around for over a decade, […]
DUBAI // A group of adventurers travelling the world by car, motorcycle and bicycle have said the UAE’s peace and security made it a popular destination for tourists. During a stop in Dubai, four travellers made camp in Mushrif park for the 5th Dubai Traveller’s Festival. Leonhard Salwey, who left his home in Germany seven months ago to explore the world on his bicycle, thought the event […]
