ABU DHABI // The British royal navy is strengthening its presence in the Arabian Gulf after it took command of US Task Force 50 – the first time it has led a US force in the Middle East. The force, which has assisted in battling ISIL in Iraq and Syria, plays an important role in the region because it allows free passage of trade throughout the Gulf […]
Photo The Iranian city of Ahvaz during a sandstorm on Saturday. Rain has turned the dust there into mud, which caused power stations to stop working. Credit Morteza Jaberian/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images TEHRAN — Days of protests against dust storms, power outages and government mismanagement in one of Iran’s most oil-rich cities subsided on Sunday after security forces declared all demonstrations illegal. Residents of Ahvaz, a […]
Maybe not even Nokia could have guessed just how big of a success the Nokia 3310 would be when the company released it in 2000. At the time, the indestructible bar of a cell phone that allowed people to take chats and group chats on the go paved the way for modern mobile communication and permanently changed the way people perceived mobile phones. Designed and marketed specifically […]
Yesterday´s Future is Today´s Reality. In the area of Business applications, cloud seems to be all over the place. But it has many facets which all have its right to exist, though it´s a fatal misunderstanding to see cloud simply as an alternative technical deployment option. From the new millennium SaaS models that have been adopted, initially with huge appetite in dedicated Line of Business areas. We […]
While the year continues to be dominated by headlines touting the universal appeal of Alexa, there’s another gives a glimpse of what the big next step in human-computer interaction will be: eye tracking. The concept of measuring and responding to human eye motion isn’t new, but the past year saw a rising interest in the technology. There have been a slew of acquisitions of eye tracking startups by large […]
Two months after an unexpected, landslide loss in the December 4 constitutional referendum which cost him his job as Italy’s prime minister, on Sunday Matteo Renzi quit as leader of Italy’s ruling party, in the process triggering a re-election fight against minority dissidents that threatens the stability of the center-left government, Bloomberg reports. Renzi told a national assembly of the ruling PD that he had handed in […]
Home-grown restaurant Publique will open its doors in the next two weeks in Souk Madinat Jumeirah. It occupies half the space formerly used by Rivington Grill. The other half is taken up by another new offering – Folly by Nick and Scott – which is also set to open around the same time. Publique is a venture by restaurateurs Jonathan Vercoutere and Julien Pilard, the guys behind […]
special feature Harnessing IoT in the Enterprise The tech revolution is spreading to every corner of the earth with the Internet of Things, and it’s enabling data analytics and automation in ways never before imagined in business. Depending on whose numbers turn out to be right, there will be somewhere between 20 and 200 billion “things” connected to the internet by 2020. We all know about the […]
Researchers are finding new benefits to smartphone features such as camera and flash, which can help examine and diagnose patients Smartphones are revolutionizing the diagnosis and treatment of illnesses, thanks to add-ons and apps that make their ubiquitous small screens into medical devices, researchers say. “If you look at the camera, the flash, the microphone… they all are getting better and better,” said Shwetak Patel, engineering professor […]
The search for the elusive former abbot of Wat Phra Dhammakaya has shifted to the medical equipment found on the premises of the locked-down temple to find clues to the state of his health. Despite three days of searches of the sprawling Pathum Thani temple, which the authorities have effectively sealed off to control movements in and out, Phra Dhammajayo continues to evade arrest. Of particular interest […]
There are a range of jobs being spun up with Microsoft Azure instances, many with attractive salaries. The Azure-related position for which companies are paying the most is that of enterprise architect. Photo: HubSpot In the United States, companies report allocating $125,000 a year for their Azure architects, on average. Developers and sales and marketing specialists adept in Azure, Microsoft’s cloud-based infrastructure offering, follow at $100,000 a […]
UMM AL QUWAIN// After moving to a port built and fashioned to promote their industry, fishermen are worried about a lack of basic amenities there, including water and electricity. Damage to vessels has been reported by fishermen in the two weeks since they moved from Al Khor to Al Naqaa Port in Al Meydan. Hussein Al Hajri, president of Umm Al Quwain Co-operative Society for Fishermen, said […]
Credit: BYU Photo BYU engineering professors have created an origami-inspired, lightweight bulletproof shield that can protect law enforcement from gunfire. The new barrier can be folded compactly when not in use, making it easier to transport and deploy. When expanded—which takes only five seconds—it can provide cover for officers and stop bullets from several types of handguns. “We worked with a federal special agent to understand […]
Part of a poster issued by the British tax authorities to counter offshore tax evasion in 2014. PHOTO: H.M. Revenue & Customs Through the Panama Papers released at the beginning of last year, the offshore tax haven activity of the national elites were seen in the full light of day by citizens. The reverse engineering of the internal database of one of the world’s leading offshore money […]
Cayan Group, the developer of the Cayan Tower in Dubai, has condemned the actions of Russian model Viki Odintcova after photographs of her hanging off the edge of the skyscraper without any restraints. The Saudi-based company said in a statement that the stunt was carried out without its approval or permission and was “in no way a reflection of the Group’s commitments to art, creativity, and the […]
Land Rover really started something when it rolled out the first Range Rover – now known simply as the “Classic” – in 1970. Bearing in mind that the existing all-terrainers at the time were slow, noisy, lumbering devices with all the grace of an elephant stomping through the jungle, the “Rangie” was a comparative gazelle. The Range Rover was no less off-road capable than its Toyota Land […]
Gautam Sharma Back in the good old days, Honda was an engineering-focused company that gave us scintillating driver’s cars such as the 1990s NSX, DC2 Integra Type R and S2000 roadster. But for the past decade or so the Japanese carmaker has been content to adopt a much more conservative posture, churning out good quality – but vanilla-flavoured – offerings. Pretty much every model in the current […]
ABU DHABI // Despite the odd spot of rain and the grey and gloomy skies, the sporting spirit of thousands of budding athletes shone through as National Sports Day kicked off in the capital on Thursday. Teams, gyms and sporting clubs from across the capital offered free sessions in dozens of group and individual sports as well as a range of fitness classes for people to try […]
Image: Relax VR The early promise of virtual reality (VR) was vast: We would be transported to new worlds and live in alternate realities. While scientists and programmers have been investigating the possibilities of VR since the 1960s, it’s only in the last few years that the technology started to gain mainstream traction, with VR applications spanning from education to real estate. Australian startup Relax VR is […]
Earlier this morning Bergen County municipal judge Roy F. McGeady ruled that there is probable cause to believe that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was aware that the so-called Bridgegate scandal from 2013, resulting from unnecessary lane closures on the George Washington Bridge, was “purposely created, it was contrived, it was orchestrated for political retribution.” As such, Governor Christie has been ordered to appear before the court […]
Credit: Disney Research A new method developed by Disney Research for wirelessly transmitting power throughout a room enables users to charge electronic devices as seamlessly as they now connect to WiFi hotspots, eliminating the need for electrical cords or charging cradles. The researchers demonstrated their method, called quasistatic cavity resonance (QSCR), inside a specially built 16-by-16-foot room at their lab. They safely generated near-field standing magnetic waves […]
Tinder could be launching a Stories feature, and we’re not talking about a place where users reveal the most bizarre conversations they’ve had on the platform. Instead, there is a really strong possibility that the dating app adds some form of a video feature. Tinder announced on Wednesday it acquired the startup Wheel, the L.A.-based company that has developed a social network app where users share “video […]
Photo The site of a car bomb explosion that killed dozens in Baghdad on Thursday. Credit Ahmad Mousa/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images ERBIL, Iraq — A car bomb exploded in a crowded Shiite Muslim neighborhood in Baghdad late Thursday afternoon, the latest terror attack in the capital claimed by the Islamic State, security officials reported. At least 51 people were killed and at least 58 more wounded […]
Containers are great, having to re-invent persistence to use them, not so much. But that is changing. You’re not the only one concerned about container persistence: 82 percent of respondents in a recent survey said they’d deploy containers within two years if storage challenges could be resolved. That is a legitimate concern, as containers can offer great versatility and efficiency compared to virtualization, but being forced to […]
SMEs are going to dominate the renewables space, especially in emerging markets, such as the GCC, with the private sector playing a key role in driving adoption. UAE SMEs driving adoption and growth of the renewables sector The UAE’s cleantech industry is today buzzing with several start-ups and medium sized firms investing huge amounts of time and resources to identify better, more efficient and sustainable ways to […]
The alerts are designed to warn people about impending severe weather events such as flooding. Image: IBM Research scientists are building a new form of networking technology designed to provide billions of people with potentially lifesaving weather alerts, even if they don’t have internet connectivity. Developed by IBM Research and The Weather Company, Mesh Network Alerts is a peer-to-peer mesh networking technology that allows Android devices to […]
The likes of France and the Netherlands have long been staple destinations for cycling enthusiasts, but the growth of riding a bike for sport has seen cycling-holidays spring up all over the world. And there are some new destinations that are going to special lengths to burst onto the scene Yorkshire, England Yorkshire has thrown itself into road cycling with almost unnerving gusto. Since hosting the opening […]
Recorded Future A hacker has compromised at least 60 universities and US government organizations, utilzing SQL injections as his weapon of choice. Rasputin, believed to be a Russian hacker, is most well-known for the December 2016 attack against the US Electoral Assistance Commission through an unpatched SQL injection (SQLi) vulnerability. At the time, the hacker offered to sell access to the system to a Middle Eastern broker, […]
At almost two metres tall, the Woman From The Mangroves is life-size and imposing. Her body is made from fishing-net wire, traditionally used by the portside fishermen of Ras Al Khaimah, and her head is fashioned from part of an old mangrove tree taken, after it had already died, from the natural landscape along the emirate’s thriving coast. It is one of 41 pieces of art, and […]
Your daily guide to community and cultural activities across the Emirates for February 16, 2017, including performances, festivals, art exhibitions, film screenings, health and fitness events, talks, classes, workshops and family fun. Ellen Fortini rounds up 10 things to do today in the UAE. Want to see your event listed here? Email us with the details and contact information at [email protected] newslide Abu Dhabi Food trucks Love […]
