Turning rubble into homes, the Dutch style AMSTERDAM, 2 days ago In Dutch capital Amsterdam, a mobile factory, the size of two shipping containers, ingests rubble at one end, liquifies it into cement and spurts out Lego-shaped building blocks. Call it rubble for the people, converting the deadly debris from disasters into homes and hospitals, cheaply and quickly. It’s the brainchild of Gerard Steijn, a 71-year-old sustainable […]
Have you ever received an e-mail that sounds snarky and overreact because you’re reading the undertones between the lines? Or has anyone ever snapped at you for an offensive e-mail that you sent with the best of intentions? IBM is working to eliminate that problem with Watson Tone Analyzer. Big Blue is convinced a computer can accurately and automatically detect the tones conveyed in a message and […]
ABU DHABI // It has gone so fast – and so far, so good. It’s already the third anniversary of work starting on the UAE’s first nuclear power plant at Barakah, near the border with Saudi Arabia. And it is still on budget and set to go live in late 2017, ultimately providing a quarter of the Emirates’ energy needs. But becoming the first new member to […]
A logo is pictured at Google’s European Engineering Center in Zurich April16, 2015. Reuters/Arnd Wiegmann/Files Google Inc on Wednesday unveiled a new feature called “Purchases on Google,” which allows shopper to buy items directly from mobile search ads. The eagerly awaited “buy” feature, which Google said it was testing with a few retailers, uses saved payment credentials from the user’s Google Account for transactions. Both Google and […]
|By TAP Staff| The UAE is taking the world’s most popular landmarks and attractions in Vegas, Orlando, London, Paris, New York and Ibiza to the next level for 2020. “Dubai is now considered as an international city on the same stage as New York, London, Paris and Tokyo, and is leading the development of the UAE leisure market together with Abu Dhabi,” said Phil Taylor, Director of Team Leisure LLC, previously Chief Executive of […]
They are as associated with London as Big Ben. They have a reputation for being as clean as a crumpet plate. And they are as recognizable as Parliament. And perhaps they should be, since they have been around for quite the while. Perhaps the best-known is the Austin FX4, which was made from 1958 to 1994. They also have a reputation for being all-black, but they do come in […]
|By Matein Khalid| Last week was a roller coaster and the Nikkei Dow closed at 19,800. Abenomics has had a seismic impact on Japan’s economy, financial markets and banking system. The yen has fallen from 76 on the eve of the election in 2012 to 122 against the US dollar. Corporate profits have exploded. Land price rises, job growth, bonuses, capex and consumer spending have lifted Japan […]
DUBAI // Why do women wear black and men white? Is everybody in the UAE rich because of oil? These were just some of the questions and misconceptions young Emiratis tackled about women and life in the UAE from visitors to the UAE pavilion at Milan Expo 2015. The questions posed by curious visitors covered religion, history, women’s rights and education. The Emiratis hope their answers helped […]
The newest version of Apple’s mobile operating system is set for release this fall, but the company is — for the first time — offering the public a chance to take iOS 9 for a test drive. The public beta is now available for anyone to download, although Apple recommends that users first back up their devices and/or use secondary devices in case the preview OS has […]
UAE. The representation of women on corporate boards continues to increase, but the number of women leading boards still remains low globally. Overall, women now hold 12 percent of seats worldwide with only 4 percent chairing boards, according to the fourth edition of the Women in the Boardroom: A Global Perspective, report by Deloitte. The report outlines the efforts of 49 countries to increase the number of […]
Privacy Group Asks FTC To Push Google on U.S. ‘Right To Be Forgotten’ The failure of Google to offer users in the U.S. the same “right to be forgotten” protection available in Europe violates U.S. law on unfair and deceptive trade practices, according to the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog. The organization on Tuesday submitted a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) asking the agency to “investigate […]
Redmond is cleaning house. Microsoft just announced plans to restructure its phone hardware business to better focus and align resources. Part of that alignment translates to layoffs. Microsoft will cut up to 7,800 positions, primarily in the phone business. The result: an impairment charge of about $7.6 billion related to assets connected to its Nokia Devices and Services business acquisition. That’s on top of a restructuring charge […]
|By TAP Staff| Claims worth AED 2.27 billion have been filed with the DIFC’s Court of First Instance from January to June 2015. This represents a 447 percent increase compared with the same period in 2014. The big increase reflects the growing confidence placed in DIFC and Dubai as a global and regional centre of legal excellence, DIFC Courts said. The average value per claim in the […]
Google’s new image-recognition program misfired badly this week by identifying two black people as gorillas, delivering a mortifying reminder that even the most intelligent machines still have lot to learn about human sensitivity. The blunder surfaced in a smartphone screen shot posted online Sunday by a New York man on his Twitter account, @jackyalcine. The images showed the recently released Google Photos app had sorted a picture […]
In another sign of the ongoing changes in online search, Yahoo is testing a search partnership with Google. The search giant confirmed in a statement that “Yahoo is currently testing search results and ads from a number of partners, including Google as one of their options.” A Yahoo spokesperson told us, “As we work to create the absolute best experiences for Yahoo users, from time to time, […]
UAE. John Mullins, Associate Professor of Management Practice in Marketing and Entrepreneurship, London Business School, comments: “As in most places, the best thing regional governments can do to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses in the Middle East is to not over-engineer their efforts to assist. A key strategy to adopt is to focus on nurturing local talent by encouraging professional development through education and apprenticeships, rather than […]
|By TAP Staff| Dubai announced plans to build the world’s first fully functional 3D printed building, an ambitious move that will establish the UAE’s position as the global centre of technology in architecture construction and design. The building will be located close to the ‘Museum of the Future’, launched earlier this year in Dubai, and will act as temporary headquarters for its staff. It will be approximately […]
Under a new 10-year agreement that starts in 2016, AOL will be taking over a large part of Microsoft‘s display ad sales for numerous sites and services, including MSN, Xbox, Outlook.com and Skype. As part of the partnership, announced Monday, AOL will adopt Microsoft’s Bing as its exclusive provider of search and search advertising services across all of its properties. In a separate deal, first reported Monday […]
People visit the Microsoft booth during the 2015 Computex exhibition at the TWTC Nangang exhibition hall in Taipei, Taiwan, June 2, 2015. Reuters/Pichi Chuang Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) said on Monday it will hand over its display advertising business to AOL Inc and AppNexus Inc, and sell some map-generating technology to ride-hailing app company Uber, as it slims down its money-losing online operations. The moves mean Microsoft will […]
An unmanned SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket explodes after liftoff from Cape Canaveral, Florida, June 28, 2015. Reuters/Mike Brown WASHINGTON The failure of a SpaceX rocket over Florida on Sunday should not lead U.S. officials back to Russia to look for a rocket engine that can get military equipment into space, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain said on Monday. “This mishap in no way diminishes the […]
UAE. A new report by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a global management consulting firm and the world’s leading advisor on business strategy, delves into the challenges faced by Exploration & Production (E&P) companies here in the GCC region. The fact is, these are trying times for E&P companies globally. Following more than a decade of strong financial returns, the industry has experienced several difficult years caused […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Thousands of Kuwaitis, both Sunnis and Shiites, marched Saturday in a funeral procession for the 27 victims of a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque during communal prayers the day before, an attacked claimed by the jihadists of the Islamic State group. The Kuwaiti authorities were questioning a number of people to determine whether they were connected to the plot, and the Interior Ministry […]
VIENNA — Secretary of State John Kerry began on Saturday what the Obama administration hopes will be the final push for a nuclear accord with Iran, just three days before a deadline for concluding an agreement. However, American officials have almost discounted the notion that a deal will be made by Tuesday’s deadline. Their goal is to bridge a number of technical and political divides over the […]
An engineering breakthrough by researchers at the University of California, San Diego, has the potential to double the speed of fiber optic networks. The findings, reported by a team of photonics researchers in the June 26 edition of the journal Science, could dramatically increase the maximum power capacity of signals sent through fiber optic cables. Although not every user connects to the Internet through an optical cable, […]
