So what can schools near roads do about their air quality? Closing a school’s doors and windows won’t keep traffic pollutants out (though that helps). Heavy-duty air filters — higher quality than the typical filters in schools — can substantially reduce what gets into the air the kids and teachers are breathing inside. Filters rated MERV 16, characterized as surgery-grade, have been installed in dozens of Southern […]
PCLinuxOS 2017.02 KDE Desktop Image: J.A. Watson One of my oldest ‘friends’ in the world of Linux distributions is PCLinuxOS. I have watched it change over the years from a group of add-on packages for Mandake Linux to its own distribution, and seen it become one of the most solid, stable, and best community-supported distributions available today. I have seen the founder and primary moving force behind […]
Newly appointed New South Wales Minister for Finance, Services and Property Victor Dominello has said he plans to bring his data-driven expertise to his new portfolio, rewarding government agencies with an “innovation bonus” if they move away from a silo-ridden approach to IT and service delivery. Speaking at the Gartner 2017 APAC Data & Analytics Summit in Sydney on Monday, Dominello said he had his eye on […]
President Donald Trump is again breaking the internet not because of another dramatic press conference, outrageous Twitter statement or a “photo” showing him with Vladimir Putin. It began with a Reddit page that surfaced recently, titled Tiny Trumps, which is devoted to photoshopped images of the president, depicting him in various states of, well, smallness. Shrinking Trump Barely a day since the Reddit community was started, it has already […]
Despite financial woes, Faraday Future is pushing through with its factory in Las Vegas, six months after its construction was stopped from lack of funding. In a statement published on the company’s website, Faraday Future says it will have a competitive bidding process for the construction of its car plant, and has already solicited five bids from “top U.S. and international contractors.” This news comes on the […]
Kraft Heinz, the Warren Buffett-backed US food group, dropped its $143bn pursuit of consumer products rival Unilever on Sunday, only two days after publicly confirming its interest in acquiring the Anglo-Dutch rival. Kraft Heinz said in a joint statement with Unilever that it had “amicably agreed to withdraw its proposal for a combination of the two companies”. A takeover would have created the world’s second-largest consumer goods […]
The EU’s Brexit negotiators expect to spend until Christmas solely discussing Britain’s divorce from the bloc, denying London any trade talks until progress is made on a €60bn exit bill and the rights of expatriate citizens. A narrow divorce-first approach favoured by Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, would represent a big setback for Britain’s aim for a fast-track EU trade deal, completed by the end of […]
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 […]
Theresa May has ordered her top officials to examine Kraft Heinz’s proposed takeover of Unilever to see if it raises concerns for the wider British economy and merits government intervention. The $143bn takeover approach is a big test for Mrs May’s industrial policy: last year she criticised Kraft’s 2010 takeover of the British chocolate maker Cadbury — the US company reneged on a promise to retain factories […]
Here are the questions the FT Markets team will be pondering this week: What do retail flows mean? Money flows are widely watched but, like anything in markets, there is signal and then there is noise. Investors poured money into global stock funds last week, one when US stock markets set fresh records, and US long-only equity funds received the first net inflow of cash ($0.5bn) in […]
Hackers are carrying out surveillance on members of the Israeli military by hacking into their Android phones in order to monitor activity and steal data – potentially including photos and audio recordings – according to security companies. Developed and deployed by currently by a so-far unidentified group, ViperRAT is designed to collect sensitive information from infected devices, with those behind the malware seemingly most interested in images […]
UAE-based developer Manazel Real Estate has announced that it is preparing to launch a major coastal project in the Ghantoot area, an area situated between Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The project is currently in the licensing stage, with further details to be announced at the Cityscape exhibition in Abu Dhabi in April, the company said in a statement. Mohamed Mehanna Al Qubaisi, chairman of Manazel Real Estate, […]
For populists on both sides of the Atlantic, “expert” is now an expletive, a synonym for out-of-touch elitists swindling the common man. This was perhaps most obvious during the Brexit referendum campaign, when the UK Justice Secretary and “Leave” advocate Michael Gove told a stunned interviewer that “the people of this country have had enough of experts … from organizations with acronyms saying that they know what is best.” Polling indicates […]
Red Baraat’s oft-touted boast as “the best party band in years” – a quote from America’s National Public Radio they are so proud of it is part of their website display name – was under no threat when they kicked off a multi-emirate UAE tour in Abu Dhabi on Friday (February 17). The eight-piece Brooklyn troupe opened the second day of Barzakh Festival, a two-day celebration of […]
DUBAI U.S. President Donald Trump’s eldest sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump were guests of honor at the opening of a Trump-branded golf course in Dubai on Saturday, the first Trump property project launched since their father’s inauguration. Speaking on a stage in front of the clubhouse at the Trump International Golf Club Dubai, Donald Trump Jr. praised the development of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), […]
Your daily guide to community and cultural activities across the Emirates for February 19, 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 Art exhibition Catch […]
By John Whitesides | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON After a tumultuous opening month in the White House, President Donald Trump is heading to a friendlier, familiar and potentially rejuvenating place: the campaign trail. Beset by vicious fights over his Cabinet, legal setbacks over his immigration orders, the resignation of his national security adviser and an investigation into possible links between his campaign and Russian intelligence, Trump is turning to […]
The borders between tradition and trend locked hands in a merry dance at the opening night of Abu Dhabi’s Barzakh Festival – much like the “two seas that meet but do not mix”, which the event’s name recalls. Over two evenings, The Arts Centre at NYU Abu Dhabi will welcome five acts from three continents, an all-star line-up likely to make any fan of “world music” swoon. […]
Strata Manufacturing, the advanced composite aero-structures manufacturing company owned by Mubadala Development Company, has signed an agreement which will look at using 3D printing technology to create aircraft parts. The deal inked with India’s Reliance Defence Limited is part of plans to collaborate on advanced aerospace manufacturing capabilities between India and the UAE. The agreement continues to deepen the bilateral ties developed between the UAE and India […]
FIFA President Gianni Infantino said on Thursday he intends to encourage co-hosting for the 2026 soccer World Cup that could divide the tournament up between as many as four countries. “We will encourage co-hosting for the World Cup because we need FIFA to show we are reasonable and we have to think about sustainability long-term,” Infantino said. “(We could) …maybe bring together two, three, four countries who […]
We are in an era of “Hyperscale companies” such as Amazon, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Apple with limited opportunities for startups warns Sam Altman, head of Y Combinator, Silicon Valley’s influential investment group and educator. In his 2017 YC Annual Letter Altman wrote: “We’re now in the era of hyperscale technology companies…Companies like Amazon, Facebook, Google, Apple, and Microsoft have powerful advantages “ “I expect that they […]
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 […]
Ten years ago Vladimir Putin angrily declared that the post-cold war order was a sham. Standing before the western military and diplomatic establishment at the Munich Security Conference, the Russian president accused the US of plunging the world into chaos by warmongering, meddling in other countries’ affairs and disregarding international law. For many, it marked the moment that Mr Putin became an adversary. Now, as foreign policy […]
The number of American companies tapping Europe’s bond markets has fallen this year with rising relative borrowing costs on the continent weakening the case for cross-border debt. An extended rally in European credit has enticed US companies to borrow over €100bn of so-called “reverse Yankee” bonds over the past two years with corporate bond purchases from the European Central Bank driving down yields. But appetite is fading […]
