In the wake of the ISIS terror attacks in Paris, many technology companies are looking ahead and preparing for the worst. Disaster recovery is a new focus for some, while others have had their eye on the target for much longer. IBM, for example, announced a contest today that gives developers access to its cloud to encourage disaster response-related app development. Just days after Friday evening’s attacks […]
The Urban Planning Council has developed the Abu Dhabi 2030 Urban Structure Framework Plan to optimize the city’s development through a 25-year program of urban evolution. The Urban Planning Council plan seeks to naturally ventilate the city by having block orientation, landscape, roadways and building form being oriented towards the prevailing winds. From a sustainable perspective, the landscape design of the open space in the Capital District […]
|By TAP Staff| Residential rents in Abu Dhabi may be reaching an affordability ceiling, particularly at the higher end of the market, the latest Abu Dhabi Real Estate Market Overview report by Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) and its real estate advisory subsidiary MPM Properties said. But given year on year growth, tenants in this segment are still seeing sizeable rental increases at lease renewal, the report […]
Drone maker DJI and Canonical want to help developers’ applications take flight. Literally. The companies announced today that they are releasing a computer embedded on a drone platform. The goal is to allow developers to transform drones into more intelligent, autonomous machines capable of performing complex computing tasks on their own, according to DJI. The DJI Manifold, as the new system is called, runs on Canonical’s Ubuntu […]
Adi Robertson|Theverge|Be cautious about trusting Microsoft’s on-stage HoloLens demos. While the company has released videos that capture the augmented reality experience reasonably well, its events invariably show off whole rooms full of holograms — which is actually one of the the headset’s weaker areas. So it’s better to think of Project X-Ray, which Microsoft publicly unveiled today, as a vision of what augmented reality could look like. Robo-scorpions! […]
UAE. In times of economic uncertainty, cold-hearted international investors seek more diversification of their property portfolios; as London provides opportunity for property capital appreciation with prices continuously on the rise in the last five years, reasonable prices and growing yields in Dubai market make an equally attractive income generating opportunity. Mutual InterestFor Middle Eastern investors, London has always been regarded as a strong investment complementary to their […]
While Dubai continues to pump out sumptuous new apartment blocks, for a rising number of expatriates the city no longer offers the luxury lifestyle that lured many foreigners to the Gulf. A shortage of affordable homes and a reduction in overseas allowances since the financial crisis are pushing foreign staff on middle incomes out to less glamorous areas of the city far from the office, or to […]
A logo is pictured at Google’s European Engineering Center in Zurich April16, 2015. Reuters/Arnd Wiegmann/Files WASHINGTON The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has opened a preliminary investigation into whether Google Inc (GOOGL.O) uses its Android operating system to dominate competitors as more consumers go mobile, two sources familiar with the matter said on Friday. The Android mobile platform is a key element in Google’s strategy to maintain revenue […]
SAN FRANCISCO/SYDNEY The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus hit stores around the world on Friday, kicking off what is expected to be a record weekend of sales as customers scrambled to buy Apple Inc’s (AAPL.O) marquee product in pink for the first time. Eager buyers – joined by at least one robot – flocked to Apple stores from Sydney to New York and San Francisco, itching to […]
Bloomberg|David McLaughlin| Google Inc. is back under U.S. antitrust scrutiny as officials ask whether the tech giant stifled competitors’ access to its Android mobile-operating system, said two people familiar with the matter. The Federal Trade Commission reached an agreement with the Justice Department to spearhead an investigation of Google’s Android business, the people said. FTC officials have met with technology company representatives who say Google gives priority to its own […]
INTERNATIONAL. Gleaming glass skyscrapers, state-of-the-art technology, and wealthy merchant families have replaced the Gulf’s muddy towns and villages populated by traders and pearl fishers that once lacked electricity, running water or modern communications. The region’s modern day projection of a visionary cutting- edge, 21st century urban environment masks however the fact that some things have not changed. Gulf states continue to be ruled by the same families, […]
ABU DHABI // Residents of Jumeirah’s old fishing neighbourhood are worried that the Federal National Council might not be paying attention to their needs, and the needs of the elderly. The sight and sound of fishing boats heading into the Arabian Gulf or returning with their catches is a common one at the small harbours dotted along the coastline. While better facilities for captains and their crews […]
UAE. Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said today that although it expects that some corporates and infrastructure issuers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) will likely feel the weight of lower oil prices, most of its rated entities show resilient financials for now, in an industry report card published today titled, “Some Gulf Corporates Could Feel The Heat On Low Oil Prices.” Corporate and infrastructure companies in the […]
UAE. As Dubai continues to roll out developments fueling the expansion of the city, there has been pressure on developers to build affordable homes to support the middle-income groups (earners between 3k-10k AED). In the last year, a flurry of new projects has been launched to cater to this segment. As the markets have matured and slowed down, developers have catered to affordability, more often by reducing […]
Developers and IT pros have been test-driving a preview of Office 2016 since March, but the final version is now set to launch starting September 22. Microsoft said the “seminal” release will be chock full of new IT management features. The new suite of Office applications will give Office 365 ProPlus business subscribers a choice of two types of ongoing updates. As they have in the past, […]
Apple TV has been redesigned for the future of television & Tim Cook explained today that the future is apps. The new system offers Siri-powered voice control, a glass-screen touchpad remote, and an all-new operating system called tvOs that makes it easy for developers to create new, app-based content. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it […]
UAE. JLL, the world’s leading real estate investment and advisory firm, has today published a special report on the middle-income housing segment in the Middle East and North Africa region. The report highlights the social and economic impact of a marked shortfall in the required supply of middle-income housing, suggesting that significant efforts are needed to address the current imbalance. The report clearly outlines that this shortage […]
The official launch date for the Gear S2 is still two weeks away, but Samsung is providing a sneak preview of its answer to the Apple Watch via a new video posted on its YouTube channel. Backed by a pulsing, techno-pop beat, the video shows a silver-tone digital timepiece with a round face, and teases at a number of features ranging from voice calls and messaging to […]
On opening day of the 2015 Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco yesterday, company CEO Brian Krzanich (pictured) gave attendees a look at a prototype smartphone integrated with an Intel RealSense 3D camera. The camera would be contained in a Google Project Tango smartphone. Holding up the prototype phone, about the size of an average Android smartphone, Krzanich said the device would “breaks the limits of what […]
Redmond is adding container support to its latest Windows Server 2016. The idea is to help developers deliver applications more quickly so they can keep up in a competitive landscape. Users will get the first public preview of Windows Server Containers in Microsoft‘s third technical preview of Windows Server 2016 and System Center 2016. The company is also integrating features such as Nano Server functionality and improving […]
UAE. After a decade of finding bargains in real estate markets against the backdrop of a secular weak US Dollar, as well as a regime of declining interest rates, foreign investors in the last year have faced the prospect of sharply higher housing prices in Dubai, as their nations’ currencies have fallen against the US dollar. In times of a weak dollar market, real estate prices have […]
Future versions of the Firefox Web browser could provide users with new ways to block online site elements that track visitors’ behaviors. Mozilla, the organization that develops Firefox, said it is currently experimenting with a private browsing update and other new features in pre-beta versions of its browser being tested by developers. The new features are currently being taken for a test drive on the Firefox Developer […]
Sundar Pichai, Senior Vice President for Products, delivers his keynote address during the Google I/O developers conference in San Francisco, California May 28, 2015. Reuters/Robert Galbraith/Files SAN FRANCISCO A low-key style and an unusually firm handle on diplomacy propelled new Google chief executive Sundar Pichai to the top of the search engine giant, former colleagues said, cementing his successes such as creating the Chrome browser. As part […]
UAE. In response to a plethora of exogenous (dollar strength, oil price declines, etc.) as well as endogenous (numerous real estate launches, doubling of transaction fees, Central Bank caps on mortgage etc.) factors, prices and transactional activity have fallen across the freehold markets. In response, Developers in Dubai have offered a variety of incentives to galvanize sales in the form of payment plans that have often stretched […]
