The Technology Express Magazine | Edition: October 2022

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Dear readers, 

Dear Readers, we are excited to present you with the October 

2022 edition of The Technology Express (TTE)! 

Our goal is to provide you with key informational stories 

and keep you updated regarding everything new in the evergrowing 

technology world, which of course has a big impact on our 

everyday lives. We have reached a point in time where technology 

is growing very fast and it is becoming more and more difficult to 

keep up with all the new things happening, but don’t worry, we got you 

covered as we dive deep into the pivotal and vast fields of technology 

with every new release. We cover fintech, biotech, data intelligence, 

AI & ML, cloud computing, cybersecurity, startups, gaming, robotics, 

Web3 & crypto, space tech, and lifestyle. In addition to the latest news 

circulating, we present monthly reviews and recommendations of 

technology gadgets, apps, and different services. 

Dr. Abdulaziz AlBatli - Cloud Aficionado and Founding Board 

Member, Saudi Cloud Computing Association is on the cover as he 

shared his opinions and views on the worlds of cloud computing, AI, 

and the latest technologies during an exclusive interview with TTE. 

Find out more about fintech with our list of the top 5 apps in 

the UAE, learn how big data is affecting the business module, learn 

about The Merge and its consequences on Ethereum, discover more 

on NEOM ‘The Line’, Elden Ring, ambient computing and the Ronin 

Blockchain cyberattack. Web3 columns discuss how you can book 

flights with crypto and how Web3 is creating a new genre of NFTdriven 

music. Find the latest Apple products inside with much more 

to read. 

The latest issue of TTE provides updates on the latest news in 

circulation and reviews of tech gadgets, apps, services and much 

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developments exhibit how technology is the future of creativity, 

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Contents 

P58 | 5 FINTECH APPS IN THE UAE 

P82 | BOOK FLIGHTS WITH CRYPTO 

P38 | REASONS BEHIND ELDEN RING’S 

POPULARITY 

P70 | GADGET REVIEWS 

WHEELS 

P40 | NEOM ‘THE LINE’ 

P52 

P42 | INTERVIEWS 

P62 | TECH MY MONEY 

P60 

P66 

P54 | COVER STORY 

P78 


NEWS 

IN FOCUS 

FINTECH 

EazyPay launches crypto payments via “Binance Pay” 

Eazy Financial Services to accept cryptocurrency 

payments using “Binance Pay” over “EazyPay’s” 5000+ 

Point-of-Sale (POS) Terminals & Online Payment 

gateway throughout the Kingdom of Bahrain, the leading 

Bahraini financial institute “EazyPay,” which specializes 

in Point-of-Sale (POS) & Online Payment Gateway 

Acquiring services, recently announced its strategic 

partnership with Binance, the world’s leading blockchain 

& cryptocurrency platform. 

Digital Banking service Wio starts operations with focus 

on SMEs 

Wio Bank, a digital lender with headquarters in Abu 

Dhabi, began operating in the UAE. In its first year, Wio 

Bank intends to concentrate on small and medium-sized 

businesses. The bank’s chief executive, Jayesh Patel, told 

The National on the occasion of its debut in Abu Dhabi that 

it will expand its operations to serve retail clients next 

year in order to become a full-service digital bank. We 

spend a lot of effort trying to ensure that our customers 

have a positive experience, according to Mr. Patel. 

SAMA updates regulatory Sandbox’s 

framework to back up more FinTech 

startups 

In accordance with its plan for 

economic transformation, Saudi 

Arabia’s banking authority is changing 

the rules governing its “sandbox” 

regulatory environment. The Saudi 

Central Bank, also known as SAMA, 

said in a statement on its website that 

the move is in line with objectives to 

advance the economy of the kingdom, 

diversify its revenue streams, enable 

financial institutions to support the 

expansion of the private sector, and 

permit new businesses to offer a 

variety of financial services. 

Dubai property investment startup 

Stake raises $8m in recent funding 

round 

Dubai-based real estate FinTech startup 

Stake has raised $8 million in an 

early stage funding round to drive its 

growth as regional investors flock to 

the stability of property investments 

amid volatile global markets. The 

pre-series A funding round was 

backed by Dubai-based venture capital 

firm Middle East Venture Partners 

(MEVP) and BY Ventures, along with 

returning investors Vivium Holding and 

Combined Growth Real Estate, said 

Stake. 

FinTech firm Wise fined $360.000 by 

Abu Dhabi regulator 

The local unit of fintech company 

Wise was fined $360,000 by the 

regulator of Abu Dhabi’s free zone 

financial center on Tuesday for 

breaking anti-money laundering 

(AML) regulations. In a statement, 

the Financial Services Regulatory 

Authority (FSRA) of Abu Dhabi 

Global Market stated that it had 

“determined that Wise did not 

establish and maintain suitable AML 

systems and controls to ensure 

complete compliance with its AML 

responsibilities.” 

8 

/ OCTOBER 2022 

www.thetechnologyexpress.com

APP REVIEW 

APPLE 

TOP 

WIDGET 

OPAL 

With the introduction of iOS 16, iPhone now 

allows its users to tweak its background, and 

change color and font but most importantly, 

it now permits the users to add widgets. The update 

provides built-in Apple widgets such as Weather, 

Calendar, Reminders, and Health and lets users add 

various third-party widgets. By far, the update of iOS 

16 has been the most popular among users due to the 

drastic change that it has brought in the appearance 

of the smartphone. The users are able to give their 

iPhones a more customizable look depending on their 

choice and they also get to keep the apps as widgets 

which they quite frequently use. There have been no 

foul reviews from any user yet and appears to be the 

most successful initiative by Apple developers. 

Opal helps you keep a track of your screen time 

and also provides for various techniques by 

which the duration could be used. It locates 

the apps which eat up the most time and creates a 

customized schedule that blocks them for a period 

of time. It also comes with timer systems that would 

send reminders and discourages its use. This could 

be a very useful app for teens and young adults 

who struggle with managing time and are easily 

manipulated by social media apps. Avid users have 

also reported that they have an increased ability to 

focus on their work and also have better sleep quality. 

However, the sole downside is that the app is currently 

available only for iOS at the Apple App Store and not 

for Android devices. 

PARLER 

Parler is a “non-biased, free speech social media 

focussed on protecting user’s rights” however it is 

categorized under News in the Apple App Store. This 

could be a great way out for social media users who are 

willing to steer clear of all kinds of political censorship 

as Parler would not filter or remove content based on 

any opinion. But one important concern that has crept up 

amongst parents is the safety of their children while using 

the app. It is facing criticism as young vulnerable minds 

would be exposed to varied kinds of information available 

online. As adults have the power to make a conscious 

choice, it is seen as an app that refrains from any manner 

of criticism with regard to the parleys that are posted. 

Within 1000 words, the users can post parleys and speak 

their hearts out. It is quite user-friendly and is available 

both on Android and Apple App Store. 

TIKTOK 

NOW 

After the launch of the widely used social media app, 

TikTok in 2016, TikTok Now has brought a whole new 

perspective wherein the users and their friends 

can capture what they are doing at the moment with the 

device’s front and rear cameras after they receive a daily 

prompt to take a photo or a 10-second video. TikTok’s 

general community guidelines are required to be adhered 

to by both the creator and their consumers. TikTok Now 

has leveled itself up and has brought in a set of new 

guidelines with respect to the safety of adolescents 

and young teens. The option of restricted sharing only 

amongst friends would enable better privacy and security 

options and eliminate any chances of violation. The aim 

is to create better and seamless methods by which the 

streak of entertainment can be kept up which would also 

improve the user experience on the app. 


DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION 

IS DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF 

EQUAL IMPORTANCE FOR LARGE 

ENTERPRISES AND SMES? 

Digital transformation, also referred to as DT and DX, is the recent technological 

advancement that is being adopted at several workplaces these days. It enables easier 

and smoother collaboration with the workforce from any part of the world. Therefore, 

irrespective of the size of the enterprise, it is being adopted by mostly all organizations to 

stabilize and make their business operations work in a more efficient manner. 

The investment in the 

digital transformation 

of workplaces has also 

increased as, given the 

current global pandemic 

situation, the right kind of technology 

not only empowers the workforce 

but also provides it with the 

required momentum to maximize all 

operational performances. 

Digital transformation gives force 

to advanced technologies such 

as data analytics, cloud storage 

and services, machine learning, 

and even artificial intelligence. 

These technologies are helping 

enterprises to reimagine themselves, 

irrespective of their size. Be it a big 

business house or an SME, they are 

implementing the common digital 

tools such as a company website, 

search engine optimization (SEO), 

social media presence, mobile apps 

for easy accessibility, customer 

relationship management systems, 

online directories, and much more. 

These are aids for enterprises to 

keep accurate tabs, records, and 

calculations of all their operations. 

The bigger enterprises employ 

such advanced systems, which 

have also made the process of 

introducing new products, services, 

and better ways of communication 

easier. On the other hand, SMEs are 

small-scale industries and therefore 

are the backbone of the country’s 

economy as their innovation and 

better revenue collection contribute 

to the nation’s progress. The SMEs 

have become more flexible and wellarmed 

to become almost at par with 

the big enterprises. These digitalspecific 

initiatives not only contribute 

to better operational conditions 

within the business but also help 

them improve quality strategies 

through the study of trends and 

market demands, and this has 

been made possible through digital 

transformation. 

Here are a few ways in which 

business hubs and SMEs have 

been experiencing growth with the 

adoption of digital transformation 

tools: 

Improved operational efficiency 

Digital transformation has the 

complete capability to nurture and 

revamp the business, with the main 

10 



Digital transformation has the complete capability to 

nurture and revamp the business, with the main focus on its 

operational part. It is true that small enterprises generally do 

experience more challenges in operational management due to 

their low resources and lack of guidance. 

focus on its operational part. It is 

true that small enterprises generally 

do experience more challenges in 

operational management due to their 

low resources and lack of guidance. 

However, digitization has the power 

to remove such barriers and increase 

performance efficiency, which paves 

the way for the overall growth of the 

business at a relatively lower cost. It 

also helps businesses determine the 

suitability of various business models 

through further research. Whereas 

for larger enterprises, the digital 

transformation tools help with better 

strategizing, which invariably makes 

the business see steady growth and 

improved operational efficiency. 

Increased revenue generation 

For both big and small enterprises, 

digital transformation has opened up 

numerous arenas and opportunities 

through which SMEs can receive 

more profit and have better revenue 

growth. Apart from these, the other 

avenues used for creating more 

revenue are automated accounting 

tools, software to produce invoices, 

sales funnel software, and CRMs. 

All these tools are sponsored 

by the advancements of digital 

transformation. The digitization of 

SMEs has seen growth in revenue 

through various communication and 

collaboration tools, design tools, 

analytics tools, and marketing tools. 

This has enabled businesses to 

gain more customers and build a 

stronger presence in the market. 

Thus the small businesses have 

started generating extra revenue 

and have helped boost more growth. 

With regards to the big companies, 

the extra revenue that they receive 

through such technological 

developments has made ways 

through which they can create 

better opportunities and scopes for 

themselves. 

Better team collaboration 

Team collaboration is an important 

aspect of any business, as both 

small and large-scale businesses 

need to manage their workforce for 

better management and an improved 

system of workflow. Bringing 

digitization into this ambit would help 

increase productivity and pave the 

way for better employee satisfaction 

as well. The employees would be 

more focused on work as the digital 

tools would provide a strategic 

approach to solving the problems 

that may be posed. Using efficient 

systems such as collaborative 

tools for team management and 

cloud storage solutions to share 

documents and files would impact 

the operations of the company, which 

would help get the work done in a 

smoother way than before. 

Higher customer engagement 

Customer relations and a 

company’s engagement with its 

customers are a few pivotal matters 

that are very crucial to the company. 

Customers expect the best-ever 

performance from the companies 

that provide the service that they 

pay for. Thus, keeping the customers 

satisfied with the company’s services 

is very important, but at the same 

time, it is quite challenging. In such 

situations, the digital tools have 

completely improvised the game and 

have helped in gaining the customer’s 

trust as the system has become 

more trustworthy and efficient in 

nature. Tools such as a digital help 

desk, modern email marketing tools, 

call center software, and analytics 

tools have completely revamped the 

system. 

Better supply-chain management 

system 

The boost in the performance of 

any company, be it a bigger company 

or a small enterprise, depends on the 

aspect of supply chain management 

systems, as they create the perfect 

ecosystem wherein the firms 

can operate irrespective of their 

geographical boundaries. It makes 

analysis, collection, and compilation 

of data quite easier and optimizes 

supply chain management. The 

enterprises have seen better growth 

and greater revenue collection by 

applying digitized tools to supply 

chain management. 

With improvement in every aspect 

of the world, business hubs are not 

far behind as they have now merged 

with the advanced technological 

systems that have been beneficial 

for both the business and its 

customers. Clear strategy and 

informed decisions with regards to 

the business would pave the way 

for success, and with the help of 

the above digital tools, the option of 

growth is enormous. 

-feature@thetechnologyexpress.com 


WEB3 

compounding the interest and value 

of each piece. 

Furthermore, it is also possible to 

integrate music with digital art, very 

often in the jpeg or gif formats. These 

introduce one-of-a-kind works of 

art that include music as an element. 

In this vein, Lostboy NFT emerges 

as a popular music collective that 

integrates art and music while 

emphasizing mental wellness. 

HOW WEB3 IS CREATING A NEW GENRE OF 

NFT-DRIVEN MUSIC 

How is Web3 related to music? 

Music-related use cases for Web3 

technologies are piling up as the 

industry goes all in on adoption. From 

democratizing song rights royalties 

and blockchain licensing to legacy 

companies like Sony Entertainment 

filing patents for a nonfungible 

token- (NFT)-authenticated music. 

While electronic dance music and 

pop seem to be picking up the most 

attention in terms of NFT music, 

they’re even making a difference in 

more traditional areas like opera. 

Just like any new and novelty tool, 

however, there are creators who live 

off the hype. This is often seen with 

pump-and-dump cryptocurrencies 

and NFT projects, both of which 

have little to no value or long-term 

utility. As music NFTs become more 

popular, the hype follows. Hundreds 

of music NFT projects are popping 

up on Twitter, creating what can be 

seen as almost a subgenre of NFT 

music. Before NFTs, the next wave 

of internet musicians was creating 

music for virality in short video 

clips. “There is no doubt that artists 

have been freed creatively by NFTs. 

One example can be seen with NFT 

musician Sammy Arriaga, who 

leveraged his internet community 

on TikTok and Twitter to sell out 

over 4,000 music NFTs. Another 

NFT musician and blockchain music 

label creator, Thomas ‘Pip’ Pipolo, 

added that his artistic passion for 

music making comes before anything 

else.“The drive to create music and 

then using NFTs as an artistic tool to 

have an actual product to sell to fans 

and investors is what motivates me.” 

All about NFT driven music 

Digital collectibles NFTs bring back 

the power in the hands of the artists, 

allowing them to engage with their 

followers and establish their role in 

the Metaverse via concerts and other 

activities. Overall, the blockchain may 

provide a layer of transparency and 

trust as the technology can facilitate 

more openness and reliability. 

Everything is encoded in smart 

contracts, and artists are aware 

of the precise allocation of funds. 

Artists may engage in decentralized 

governance, seek funding, and 

eventually view every transaction 

recorded on the blockchain. 

For instance, a music video might 

be most effective when utilized as 

an extended virtual expression of 

a piece of music, elaborating the 

essence of a song. This way, it might 

become a lucrative tender in the 

realms of digital art and NFTs. So far, 

have witnessed a few instances of 

this in action, most notably with the 

Canadian artist Grimes, who sold $6 

million of unique video NFTs, many 

of which represented fragments of 

music and even past demos, further 

Advantages of Technology and 

experience around music 

“To take advantage of technology 

to be able to create a secondary 

experience around music that 

people couldn’t have before,” Jeremy 

Fall, Founder of Web3 Company 

says that musicians have always 

needed to incorporate many types 

of art into their creations – visuals, 

performance, audio, and video – and 

that these new Web3 tools allow 

this. Regarding noise, in many 

scenarios surrounding music, there 

is consensus that it is learned 

and natural. Web3 musicians and 

creators like Pipolo, Fall, see NFT 

music as a result of the true power of 

decentralized technology. 

As far as hype, in lots of the 

eventualities surrounding music, the 

consensus is that it’s each earned 

and pure. Musicians and Web3 

music creators like Pipolo, Fall, all 

see NFT music because of the true 

energy of decentralized expertise. 

“What I think is important to get 

rid of selling ‘bad’ or ‘lower quality’ 

music is that artists sell more of 

their music.” The importance lies in 

technology that allows artists to use 

accessible tools like Twitter artists 

to sell their characters and stories 

while giving fans more credibility 

as owners and participants rather 

than just followers. Pipolo says this 

“rewards the playing field for those 

who have the ability but lack the 

connections.”Web3 record company 

founder Jeremy Fall backed this 

statement and said it was definitely 

not about hype. 


12 



FUNDING 

NEWS 

Eat App closes $11m Series B round 

aiming global expansion 

Eat App, an internationally renowned 

restaurant reservations website 

with headquarters in Dubai, has 

announced today that its $11 million 

series B round has come to an end. 

MEVP, 500 Startups, Derayah VC, 

Dallah Albaraka, Ali Zaid Al Quraishi 

& Brothers Company, Rasameel 

Investment Company, and current 

investors are all participating in the 

round. 

Abu Dhabi-based The Cloud raises 

$10m in new funding round 

A $10 million series A fundraising 

round has been secured by The 

Cloud, a virtual kitchen start-up 

situated in Hub71 in Abu Dhabi. The 

company plans to utilize the money 

to grow its operations throughout 

the GCC and Europe. The Rua Growth 

Fund of Saudi Arabia joined the 

investment round, which was led by 

Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP) 

of Dubai and Olayan Financing 

Company of Riyadh. 

Majid Al Futtaim Launchpad 

Accelerator Programme, in 

partnership with AstroLabs, 

announces SME and startup winners 

to join ecosystem 

Majid Al Futtaim, the leading 

shopping mall, communities, retail 

and leisure pioneer across the Middle 

East, Africa and Asia, has revealed 14 

start-ups and SME winners to join its 

Launchpad accelerator programme 

across three categories, Homegrown, 

Health and Beauty, and Proptech. 

The successful companies will now 

receive unrivalled access to business 

growth incentives, mentorship 

programmes and the vast Majid Al 

Futtaim innovation ecosystem to 

strengthen their commercial viability 

across the region. 

Dubai property investment startup 

Stake raises $8m in recent funding 

round 

Dubai-based real estate FinTech 

start-up Stake has raised $8 million 

in an early stage funding round 

to drive its growth as regional 

investors flock to the stability of 

property investments amid volatile 

global markets. The pre-series A 

funding round was backed by Dubaibased 

venture capital firm Middle 

East Venture Partners (MEVP) and 

BY Ventures, along with returning 

investors Vivium Holding and 

Combined Growth Real Estate, said 

Stake on Tuesday. 

Abu Dhabi’s ADQ sets $200m fund for 

tech startups 

Abu Dhabi, an oil-rich emirate, 

is intensifying its push into the 

technology industry by establishing 

a new $200 million fund to invest in 

early-stage firms. According to a 

statement, Further Ventures, which 

is supported by the sovereign wealth 

fund ADQ, will concentrate on supply 

chain, fintech, and digital asset 

investments. 

Accelerator hub D369 is raising $1bln 

for start-ups in Web3 and metaverse 

People can breathe a sigh of relief 

because Web3 offers a lot more 

advantages and benefits than its 

predecessor. When compared 

to conventional marketing and 

advertising strategies, Web 2.0 

demanded newer modern-age 

technology, urging the users to have 

them in order to see the sites. 


CYBER SECURITY 

A CLOSER LOOK 

AT FINANCIAL 

CRIME 

As implied by the name, 

financial crime relates to 

criminal activity in relation to 

money or property of which 

someone else is the owner. 

It is predominantly to get 

monetary gains out of it, and 

the victim faces the losses 

that come along with it. 

With the advent of the latest 

technology, people all around 

the globe are facing the impact 

of financial crimes at different 

levels, depending upon their 

countries’ economic status. 

Financial frauds or crimes 

invariably occur at various 

levels. It could be conducted 

through larger terrorist 

groups that are targeted 

at multinational corporations, or it 

could be through hackers who target 

individual systems such as laptops, 

mobile phones, or computers to 

hack them and derive financial gains 

from them. It can range from money 

laundering, dishonor of checks, 

forgery, fraud, tax evasion, insurance 

fraud, identity theft, and other 

forms of embezzlement in which 

the wrongdoer targets a victim and 

wrongfully deprives them of their 

money and/or property. It may also 

happen through third-party sources 

such as frauds in the financial sector, 

which include crimes related to a 

bank loan, credit card fraud, bribery, 

corruption, and other such related 

financial crimes. 

In the UAE, the ambit of digital 

currencies is brought under the 

realm of law, which targets any 

hackers and also protects the users 

from any malpractices. The law has 

also recently introduced the niche 

concept of “controlled delivery,” 

which is also known as a form of 

a sting operation that allows the 

authorities to let the suspected 

money laundering activity proceed 

so that it enables assistance in 

the investigation and convicts the 

apprehended persons of carrying on 

with the crime. 

During the last few years, there 

have been a few appointments made 

at the senior levels of financial 

regulators in the UAE financial 

free zones, the Dubai International 

Financial Centre (DIFC) and the Abu 

Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), over 

the past year, along with the Financial 

Services Regulatory Authority 

(FSRA). These bodies are expected 

to take a more active approach 

to building and enforcing newer 

regulations related to the financial 

safety and functioning of these 

financial hubs. This will also help in 

the detection of financial crimes and 

the building of systems that will help 

find ways to counter them. 

Such changes will bring about 

radical improvisations in the legal 

compliance environment in the 

UAE, essentially related to financial 

crimes as all activities would be 

going through a compliance risk 

assessment to ensure that they 

are not imminently exposed to 

the perils of the new technologies 

that the world is visualizing. All 

companies are devised to implement 

better adjustments and other such 

corrective measures that would 

prevent UAE-based companies 

from the risks of money laundering, 

terrorist-linked financing, and other 

financial crimes. 

In 2021, the National Committee 

for Combating Money Laundering 

and Financing of Terrorism and 

Illegal Organisations (NAMLCFTC) 

adopted the Anti Money Laundering 

and Countering the Financing of 

Terrorism (AML/CFT) guidelines 

for financial institutions under the 

Chairmanship of Khaled Mohammed 

Balama and the Governor of the 

Central Bank of UAE. It has set to 

increase the rate of awareness 

amongst people with respect to 

financial crimes and finds relevance 

in the risks and penalties resulting 

from the violation. The delegates 

believe that their combined efforts 

would result in strengthening the 

ways that would result in combating 

financial crimes. The Committee 

has also approved an assessment 

report related to terrorism financing, 

money laundering, and other serious 

financial crimes. The operational and 

legislative standards would prioritize 

the recent risk that is being posed in 

the field of financial crimes and that 

would also boost the cooperation 

between the different authorities. 

Financial crimes happen all around 

the world and it is not an issue 

specific to UAE. However, different 

jurisdictions have adopted more 

specific ways in which they can 

combat such crimes and also prevent 

the potential risks that arise from 

such crimes. Over time, the laws that 

punish the wrongdoers involved in 

such financial crimes have become 

stricter and these crimes now come 

under the ambit of a felony. The 

punishment for all such crimes may 

include imprisonment of up to 10 to 

15 years along with a hefty amount 

of fine which may range from AED 

10,000 TO AED 500,000 depending 

upon the degree of the crime that is 

being committed. 


14 



FUNDING 

NEWS 

Saudi-based ZenHR concludes 

$10m funding round aiming MENA 

expansion 

ZenHR, a Saudi Arabian startup in 

human resource technology, has 

raised $10 million to expand its 

operations throughout the Middle 

East and North Africa. According 

to the Riyadh-based company, 

Rua Growth Fund of Saudi Arabia 

spearheaded the investment round, 

which also included Endeavor 

Catalyst of the US and other current 

investors. 

Qatar-based Sponix Tech receives investment from UK’s Aser Ventures 

Astrategic investment in Sponix Tech, a sports technology business based 

in Doha, has been purchased by Aser Ventures. Mohammad Ali Abbaspour 

created Sponix in 2020, which creates ground-breaking software that 

increases fan interaction and opens up new revenue streams for sports rights 

holders, broadcasters, and advertisers. 

Khalifa Fund launches 1st accelerator 

to help SMEs harness e-commerce 

A program has been developed 

by the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise 

Development to help small 

and medium businesses use 

e-commerce technologies to expand 

their operations. According to the 

Abu Dhabi agency on Wednesday, the 

first-ever E-Commerce Acceleration 

Programme is a training program 

that will assist businesses in building 

their e-commerce platforms while 

receiving mentorship from industry 

professionals. 

UAE-based fintech startup Zywa raises $3m in latest round 

Teenage-focused FinTech start-up Zywa raised $3 million in a new funding 

round, bringing its worth to more than Dh110 million ($30 million). Teenagers 

can get a prepaid card from the start-up, which is a part of Hub71, Abu Dhabi’s 

global tech ecosystem, and use an app to manage and save money. 


LAUNCH 

Apple WatchOS 9 

EXPRESS 

WatchOS 9 was previewed at the 

2022 Worldwide Developers 

Conference in June. 

With an emphasis on improved 

health and fitness features, the 

WatchOS 9 upgrade includes design 

enhancements, new watch faces, and 

new applications. 

There are now four brand-new 

watch faces available. While Playtime 

showcases entertaining, animated, 

and personified numbers produced 

in partnership with artist Joi Fulton, 

Lunar depicts the link between the 

Gregorian calendar and various lunar 

calendars. Astronomy is an updated 

version of the original Astronomy 

watch face with a remastered design 

and fresh star map and cloud data. 

At the same time, Metropolitan is a 

traditional type-driven watch face 

with a style that varies when the 

digital crown is rotated. 

Several existing watch faces have 

design updates as well. Modernized 

and improved complexities are 

provided for Utility, Simple, and 

Activity Analog, and backdrop color 

modification is included in Modular 

and X-Large. More photographs, 

such as those of kittens, pets, and 

landscapes, now have a depth effect 

thanks to the Portraits watch face. 

Additionally, the Focus mode function 

may now be tied to a particular watch 

face, allowing you to use a different 

watch face for “work” mode than 

“personal” Focus mode. 

Apple Watch Ultra 

People think the Apple Watch Ultra 

best suits athletes and people 

who enjoy being outside. People 

have been persuaded to buy the 

Apple Watch Ultra since the Apple 

event because they think it is an 

improvement. The Apple Watch Ultra 

features a new design with a titanium 

body. It has a bigger crown and an 

Action button. The Action button may 

be modified to do many functions. 

Despite being bigger, the Watch is not 

considerably heavier. 

It has a 49mm face and is larger than 

the 45mm on other models. Due to 

its exterior design, the Apple Watch 

Ultra can operate in temperatures 

between -20 and 55 degrees Celsius. 

Additionally, the Watch is resistant 

to depths of up to 40 meters. On a 

single full charge, the battery will last 

36 hours, and in low power mode, 60 

hours. Regular flyers will be fine with 

utilizing it because they won’t need to 

charge it constantly. 

The action button will help you while 

trekking to find your way, and you 

can bookmark locations on it. The 

action button may be customized 

to do various tasks, while Compass 

Waypoint and BackTrack provide 

extra options. 

16 



LAUNCH 

Apple AirPods Pro 

(2nd Generation) 

EXPRESS 

Three years ago, Apple finally gave 

the people what they wanted: 

active noise cancellation (ANC) in 

a set of AirPods. The original design 

of the product’s traditional earbuds 

was maintained, but a better fit and 

an ear tip for noise isolation were 

added. Apple officially debuted its 

most recent premium earbuds with 

the iPhone 14: the second-generation 

AirPods Pro ($249), following a 

complete redesign of the “standard” 

AirPods last year and the release 

of some over-ear noise-canceling 

headphones in 2020. 

Apple still needs to rewrite the 

formula for Version 2.0 completely. 

Apple undoubtedly let you down if 

you were looking for an upgraded 

design for the new AirPods Pro. The 

company chose to concentrate on 

the internals instead of performing 

a thorough redesign, adding several 

new features and improving what 

was previously present using 

some new silicon. Therefore, even 

though Apple didn’t abandon their 

appearance, these AirPods Pro differ 

greatly from their predecessor. 

There is no need to download an 

additional app to make adjustments 

because all of the AirPods Pro’s 

functions are included in iOS. For 

this reason, when you open the case 

and hit the on-screen pop-up, the 

earphones automatically pair with 

your phone. As previously noted, a 

long press on the volume slider in 

the Control Center will rapidly access 

noise cancellation, transparency, 

spatial audio, and head tracking. 

Dimensions: 30.9 x 21.8 x 24 mm 

Weight: 5.3 g 

Noise Reduction: Active Noise 

Cancellation, Transparency Mode 

Battery: 30 hours with Charging Case 

Frequency Response: 10 Hz (Min) - 20 

kHz (Max) 


AI & ML 

CAN AI PREDICT NATIONALITY AND AGE 

THROUGH FACIAL RECOGNITION? 

These days, an AI system 

has learned to reliably 

forecast both age and 

ethnicity, making facial 

recognition technology 

contentious. 

Age and gender are two of the 

most important facial characteristics. 

Since they are so fundamental to 

social interactions, estimating them 

from a single-face image is critical 

in intelligent applications like access 

control, HCI, law enforcement, 

marketing intelligence, and visual 

surveillance, among others. 

Researchers have created an 

algorithm that accurately analyzes 

face characteristics, including 

wrinkles, furrows, and spots. The 

Institute for Neural Computation 

at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) 

has developed a system that uses 

AI to determine a person’s age and 

ethnicity precisely. 

AI Algorithm Identifies Age & 

Ethnicity 

The age and ethnicity of faces 

can now be determined by an AI 

system, albeit experts are unsure 

of the method’s exact mechanism. 

Due to its extensive adoption by law 

enforcement and the potential for 

racial prejudice, AI face recognition 

technology has recently come under 

fire. 

Amazon announced a police 

limitation on the usage of its face 

recognition technology in the 

wake of the Black Lives Matter 

demonstrations until better 

guidelines are implemented. 

However, concerns about using AIbased 

face recognition existed even 

before the most recent innovations. 

A Chinese business created a 

facial recognition system that 

could recognize a face while hiding 

behind a mask during the COVID-19 

epidemic. Meanwhile, companies like 

Clearview AI have been developing 

face recognition algorithms that may 

risk internet users’ privacy. Despite 

these instances, it is anticipated 

that the technology will be widely 

employed in the future, particularly in 

crowded urban areas. 

18 



The system is 

also capable of 

determining a 

face’s ethnicity in 

addition to its age. 

Given that many of 

the existing AI facial 

recognition algorithms 

are less capable of 

reliably judging 

non-white faces, this 

characteristic is all the 

more important. 

According to Tech Xplore, 

engineers from Ruhr-Universität 

Bochum (RUB) in Germany developed 

the most recent AI innovation. The 

system reads facial characteristics 

of aging, such as wrinkles, furrows, 

and spots. The system is also capable 

of determining a face’s ethnicity in 

addition to its age. Given that many 

of the existing AI facial recognition 

algorithms are less capable of 

reliably judging non-white faces, 

this characteristic is all the more 

important. 

How AI Learns To Identify Age & 

Ethnicity 

The method in question is an 

eleven-level hierarchical deep neural 

network. Researchers supplied the 

AI with hundreds of photographs 

with a range of ages and ethnicities 

as well as information on the ages 

and ethnicities of each individual in 

the pictures to train it. Researchers 

gave the machine the freedom 

to decide which ethnic and facial 

characteristics to examine when 

predicting recognition. This included 

facial wrinkles that deepen gradually 

with age to aid in age identification. 

The algorithm maintained those 

particular characteristics and 

disregarded others that frequently 

fluctuate between faces, such as eye 

color or nose shape, in accordance 

with the design. 

The researchers have not yet been 

able to pinpoint the traits the system 

uses to distinguish between ages 

since the algorithm taught itself to 

read faces. Even still, the outcome is 

astounding, especially given that the 

algorithm typically underestimates 

age by no more than three and a 

half years. An accomplishment was 

allegedly superior to the human 

brain, our current best system. 

The likelihood of correctness was 

found to be better than 99 percent 

for ethnicity. While the accuracy 

in identifying age and ethnicity is 

impressive, there is a transparency 

issue because engineers aren’t 

aware of how the AI system arrives 

at its findings. 



FITNESS, LIFESTYLE & FASHION TECHNOLOGY 

APPLE FITNESS+ 

If there’s one major trend in fitness this year, it’s the growth of at-home fitness. Compared to last year, 

the valuation of Peloton has increased by 100% to $1.8 billion. Lululemon also invested in the Mirror, 

which is anticipated to bring in over $100 million this year, while NordicTrack reported $1 billion in sales 

over the last 12 months through September. With Apple Fitness+, Apple has now entered the at-home 

fitness sector. This subscription service combines the Apple Watch’s activity-tracking sensors with the 

screen of your choice to deliver intelligent workout ideas based on previous class history and fitness 

measurements while giving real-time support throughout live and on-demand exercises. The seamless 

integration of Fitness+ across the Apple ecosystem makes it appealing. You can get studio-style 

workouts on the iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV for $9.99/month or $79.99/year with an Apple Watch (Series 

3 or later) and a subscription. 

Why the Apple Watch Is So 

Important 

To begin with, the Watch functions 

as a sort of remote control to start 

and halt your workout regardless 

of where you are watching it. But 

more crucially, the tailored aspects 

of each exercise are powered by 

the sensors inside the Watch. Realtime 

data (such as heart rate and 

calories burned) will be displayed 

on the screen while you work up 

a sweat and at crucial times. For 

instance, the trainer may highlight 

specific metrics to assist you in 

maximizing your effort level or add 

an interval countdown to help you 

get through an effort. Any activity 

rings you can close will also be 

recognized on-screen during a 

workout. (If you’d like, you may 

conceal these stats on each device.) 

The Type of Workouts Included on 

Apple Fitness+ 

Speaking of exercises, there are 

eleven distinct types of exercises 

available on Fitness+, including 

High-Intensity Interval Training 

(HIIT), Strength, Yoga, Dance, Core, 

Cycling, Treadmill (for jogging and 

walking), Rowing, and Mindful 

Cooldown. To discover the ideal 

routine, select any categories 

and filter by trainer, length, and 

music style. You may sample each 

exercise with a 30-second clip 

that introduces the teacher, song, 

and program, so you know what to 

expect (many only use your body 

weight, while others utilize simple 

equipment like dumbbells). 

Every Monday, new workouts 

are released, and they are all 

accessible in intervals of 10, 

20, 30, and 45 minutes. Use the 

10-minute sessions as fitness 

“snacks” throughout the day or 

stack a few different exercises 

to create your own lengthier, 

total-body experience. The shorter 

classes are especially helpful for 

individuals who can’t commit to 

longer workouts in one go. You may 

discover teachers of every hue, 

age, and form, from adapted athlete 

Amir Ekbatani to Ironman World 

Championship participant Josh 

Crosby, no matter how long you 

choose to exercise. Several trainers 

show the exercises and adaptations 

for exercisers of different skill 

levels during each session. All 

the trainers utilize American Sign 

Language for a few distinctive 

words, another tribute to diversity. 

What’s Unique to Apple Fitness+ 

20 



Fitness+ gets to know you better 

the more you use it. When you 

begin, the Watch takes in any 

previously recorded data and 

any exercise information from 

third-party applications synced 

with Apple Health (like Peloton). 

The “More of What You Do” area 

of Fitness+ (on any device) will 

provide personalized workout 

recommendations based on the 

exercises you’ve been performing 

most frequently, and the “Try 

Something New” portion will 

present complementary exercises 

to balance out your fitness routine. 

While there aren’t any live exercises 

on Fitness+, some programs (like 

HIIT) employ a measure called 

the Burn Bar to compare you to 

other users who have completed 

the same activity. To achieve this, 

the Burn Bar uses your rolling 

two-minute calorie burn (equalized 

for weight differences). It doesn’t 

quite match the social aspects of 

Peloton and the Mirror, but if you’re 

competitive with yourself, it may be 

motivating. 

Of course, an Apple experience is 

only complete with Apple Music’s 

incorporation. Anyone may listen 

to the music in Fitness+ without 

having a membership to Apple 

Music, and anyone can preview a 

workout playlist before signing up. 

If you have a subscription, you can 

quickly save your favorite songs or 

complete workout playlists to your 

Apple Music library. 

The Apple TV experience seems 

the most immersive and genuine 

studio experience, which is the 

ultimate objective for any at-home 

platform these days. This is even 

though Fitness+ was designed for 

the accessibility and mobility of the 

iPhone. However, using an iPhone 

or iPad is just as straightforward 

(particularly on a cardio machine, 

which will be useful if travel is 

once again a frequent occurrence). 

However, purchasing a phone or 

tablet stand can help you see your 

screen more clearly while moving. 

Apple isn’t exactly a newcomer to 

the fitness game—the Watch is, 

after all, in its sixth generation— 

but Fitness+ is the first to bring 

virtual studio sessions to your iOS 

devices, which is where you are 

already. It makes sense for people 

who already own an iPhone and a 

Watch to use this seamless service. 

This cutting-edge method of 

accessible, cheap at-home exercise 

may be what ultimately convinces 

individuals who have been on the 

fence to invest. 


NEWS 

IN FOCUS 

CYBERSECURITY 

AI & ML 

Australia’s second largest 

telecommunications company Optus 

hacked! 

Customers’ names, birthdates, phone 

numbers, and email addresses 

were revealed due to the incident. 

The corporation, which has over 

ten million subscribers, claims to 

have stopped the attack, but not 

before other information, including 

the numbers on driver’s licenses 

and passports, was compromised. 

Payment information and account 

passwords, according to Optus, were 

safe. All clients should verify their 

accounts, the business said, adding 

that it would alert individuals who 

were at “heightened risk.” 

Hacker couple held destructive 

cyberattack on Holiday Inn chain “for 

fun” 

They identify as a couple from 

Vietnam and claim that after trying 

a ransomware attack, which 

was unsuccessful, they erased a 

significant amount of data. They 

were able to access the databases 

of the FTSE 100 company by using 

the simple and insecure password 

Qwerty1234. According to an expert, 

the instance shows the vengeful side 

of criminal hackers. IHG, a UK-based 

company, runs 6,000 hotels globally 

under the Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, 

and Regent names. 

Uber starts investigation after 

network breach 

Following what appears to be a 

hacking intrusion into its network, 

Uber claims to have informed law 

police. According to a security 

professional, the intruder showed 

proof of getting into key systems at 

the ride-hailing business. There was 

no evidence that Uber’s operation or 

vehicle fleet had been impacted in 

any manner. 

More than $30m of stolen crypto 

from ‘Axie Infinity’ recovered 

The first time that stolen assets 

have been seized from bad actors 

associated with the reclusive 

country, more than $30 million in 

cryptocurrency stolen from the 

mobile game Axie Infinity has been 

recovered by US authorities from 

North Korean hacking groups, 

according to blockchain company 

Chainalysis. 

Ransomware group BlackCat 

behind Italy’s GSE hacking 

According to security 

researchers and documents 

reviewed by Reuters, 

the hacking organization 

BlackCat was responsible 

for a recent attack on Italy’s 

state-owned energy services 

company GSE. They took a 

sizable amount of data and 

threatened to publish if their 

demands were not satisfied. 

In a ransomware attack, 

hackers extort their victims 

for a cryptocurrency payment 

by stealing their data and 

threatening them with data 

breaches. 

22 



VISIONARIES IN FOCUS 

Sumaya Al Hajeri- Lead of Executive 

Affairs, UAE government 

Sumaya Al Hajeri is a leader in the 

field of technology, telecommunications, 

and outer space regulations. She is 

heading the Governance and Data 

section at the Minister’s Office of 

AI, Digital Economy, and Remote 

Work Application. Previously, she 

was the Head of Space Policies and 

Regulations at the UAE Space Agency. 

She contributed to achieving several 

projects, such as the UAE’s participation 

in the UN Committee on the Peaceful 

Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) and the 

UN Office of Outer Space Affairs, the 

Federal Law No. 12 of 2019 regarding the 

regulation of the UAE Space Sector, and 

other related strategies and policies. 

Talha Nasir- Founder of three startups 

and a successful entrepreneur 

Nasir is the overseer of three free 

organizations right now. Quite possibly 

of Nasir’s most productive businesses,’ 

Drive plus to Rent-a-Car’’, has assisted 

the thriving business person with 

developing his noteworthy portfolio. In 

the UAE, Drive Plus Rent a Car is one of 

the main vehicle rental organizations. 

It expects to address the issues of 

the 2 inhabitants and guests living all 

through the district, with many vehicles 

made accessible at the least expensive 

market rates. He consolidates his 

insight and involvement in a huge 

cluster of hand-crafted vehicle rental 

choices to make the ideal counterpart 

for everybody all over the planet who 

visits UAE. 

Jazeer Jamal-Founder, Grow Valley 

GrowValley Ventures is the region’s 

first & biggest Venture Studio & 

Fund based in the UAE that partners 

with influential partners to create 

extraordinary inorganic growth. 

He founded, co-founded, coinvested, 

and exited multiple ventures 

in the last two decades. Some of his 

ventures failed miserably, as they did 

for many others, some became super 

successful, and some just sailed to 

pay the bills. He has been blessed 

to learn a lot by doing business with 

many affluent royal family members 

and billionaires in the Middle East. His 

experience in Saudi Arabia and in the 

UAE has been life-changing. 

Hosam Arab- founder of tabby (UAE) 

Hosam Arab is the founder of BNPL 

startup tabby, possibly one of the most 

talked about fintech startups in the 

Middle East this year. The company was 

founded in 2019 and made the news this 

year for a number of developments, 

especially a US $50 million funding 

round. Before starting tabby, Arab 

helmed fashion e-commerce company 

Namshi, another widely discussed 

company in the region, as co-founder 

and CEO. The company was majority 

acquired by Dubai’s Emaar Malls in 2017 

for US$151 million, then fully bought out 

in 2019 for US$129.5 million all cash. 

Arab, a Harvard alumnus, stepped 

down from his role of CEO soon after 

the acquisition, and six months later, 

founded tabby. 

Ola Doudin- Founder of BitOasis 

BitOasis is a crypto trading 

platform in the UAE – one of the 

earliest local startups of its kind. The 

company allows users to trade over 

20 cryptocurrencies and fiat pairs and 

has seen trading volumes cross US$3 

billion so far. It recently picked up 

US$30 million in a Series B fundraise. 

Ola Doudin has spent the last six years 

building the company as its co-founder 

and CEO. BitOasis is her first venture, 

but Doudin is also reported to be a 

co-founder and advisor to Middle East 

Bitcoin payment processing company 

Yellow. Doudin has IT experience 

with EY in London and also has 

management experience at Aramex 

and Arabia 500. 

Abdulla Almoayed- Founder of Tarabut 

Gateway 

Abdulla Almoayed is the founder 

of the first open banking platform (and 

one of the most closely watched in 

this space) Tarabut Gateway. Founded 

in Bahrain in 2018, the company 

recently shifted its HQ to Dubai. 

Tarabut Gateway is not Almoayed’s first 

company. Almoayed has invested in a 

number of businesses in the Middle 

East, across healthcare, education, 

logistics, cybersecurity, and fintech, 

through his holding company Almoayed 

Technologies. 

Almoayed Technologies is a private 

venture investment fund focused 

on large-scale digital infrastructure 

projects. 


STARTUPS IN FOCUS 

KEEPFACE 

Keepface is a Global Influencer 

Marketing Platform offering 

a variety of influencer 

management tools that allow 

brands and agencies to work with 

the most relevant influencers to 

create engaging and native content. 

Keepface is a SaaS tool for brands 

to run influencer marketing and 

employee and customer advocacy 

campaigns through a single platform 

for maximizing marketing ROI. 

Keepface is rapidly growing in the 

USA, MENA, and Asia with about 

400,000 registered influencers from 

35 countries, 550 campaigns, and 

2,800 clients including Leo Burnett, 

Starcom, Havas, P&G, Danone, Mars, 

McDonald’s, Microsoft, Samsung, 

PepsiCo, UNDP, and many more. Our 

edge-to-edge automated platform 

allows brands to run campaigns with 

influencers at scale, orchestrating 

content creation, and measuring 

real-time performance. 

Founded by Vagif Abbasov, Elsad 

Yusifli, and Emin Veli in 2016, the 

startup connects brands with social 

media influencers and helps them 

launch campaigns and measure their 

performance through their platform. 

Simply put, they help companies to 

run any scale influencer campaigns 

to reach greater target audiences 

while tracking and enhancing 

the progress in real-time. Their 

automated platform allows 

companies to collaborate with 

influencers at a mass scale, but in a 

customized fashion. They currently 

have over 2,000 influencers listed 

on their platform with their services 

being used by over 50 brands and 

agencies including Samsung, Lays, 

and Uber. “There are several key 

factors that make us unique, one 

of which is our influencer-driven 

strategy. The real value is being 

created by influencers, so the 

influencers using their platform and 

the value created by them are the 

main assets of our company,” said 

Emin Valiyev, the co-founder and 

CMO of Keepface. We believe that the 

human touch in modern marketing 

is absolutely essential and thus, we 

are empowering hundreds of brands 

across all the major industries, 

including brands such as McDonald’s, 

Samsung, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, and 

many more. 

24 



OKADOC 

Okadoc is a one-stop-shop patient 

engagement platform based in the 

UAE that helps providers seamlessly 

connect with their patients. Founded 

in 2018, Okadoc operates across 3 countries 

including UAE, KSA, and Indonesia. Okadoc 

enables health systems to offer a wide range 

of services from 24/7 self-scheduling and 

telehealth to marketplaces and payments. 

For health systems and plans, Okadoc is 

a technology partner that increases 

operational efficiency and improves 

patient engagement and retention. 

For patients, it’s an all-in-one 

platform that digitizes the patient 

experience and provides access 

to quality care, resulting in better 

health outcomes. Their whitelabeled 

solution is trusted by the 

region’s leading healthcare and 

payor groups. As the best-funded 

health tech startup in the GCC, 

Okadoc aims to improve the 

healthcare experience for all. 


OGRAM 

Ogram is a startup in the UAE 

that was founded in 2017 and 

is currently operating from 

a headquarters in Dubai. The 

company provides a platform that 

allows businesses to find staff on 

demand and to find service providers 

that can take work on a contingency 

basis. 

Ogram has previously received 

startup funding to assist its growth 

and development. This was achieved 

during a funding round in May 2020. 

This funding round had one investor 

and netted the business a figure of 

$870,000. 

Ogram provides a range of service 

lines that can be tailored to suit every 

client’s needs based on your occasion, 

budget, and staffing requirements. The 

company offers competitive pricing 

as well as highly trained, presentable, 

and reliable staff who have experience 

at some of the UAE’s best-known 

venues and events. The flexibility that 

the platform offers allows it to cater 

to large orders, last-minute bookings, 

and changes, as well as long-term 

engagements. Ogram handles 

payments, scheduling, and a host of 

other features so that the client can 

focus on growing their business and 

making the venue or store thrive. 



REMOTEPASS 

RemotePass is a startup in 

the UAE that was founded 

in 2020 and is currently 

based in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The 

company provides a SaaS solution 

for businesses that allows them to 

take greater control of their remote 

teams by facilitating payments, hiring, 

onboarding, and the management 

of these teams, wherever they are. 

UAE-based startup RemotePass, a 

tech platform helping companies 

hire anyone, anywhere, has officially 

raised funds in a pre-Series A round 

that was led by BECO Capital with 

participation from Wamda Capital, 

Khawarizmi VC, Flat6Labs, Wealth 

Well, and a syndicate of Saudi 

investors. 

This follows RemotePass’s initial 

seed investment and comes as the 

start-up is ramping up efforts to 

further enhance and streamline the 

process for companies to onboard 

and pay their remote teams globally. 

Despite the infancy of the company, 

RemotePass has still managed to 

attract startup funding to grow the 

business. This was achieved during 

a single Seed Funding Round in 

December 2021, where the company 

received an undisclosed amount 

of investment from five investors. 

RemotePass makes it easy to 

hire, onboard, and pay your global 

team in full compliance, giving you 

everything you need to support 

them. Using the platform’s contract 

management system, companies can 

instantly create localized contracts, 

automate onboarding with identity 

verification and document collection, 

and process mass international 

payroll all in one place. RemotePass 

offers the flexibility for remote 

teams to get paid in the currency of 

their choice. Developed onboarding 

and payroll software designed to 

help global teams. The company’s 

platform has the unique ability 

to automate invoicing after each 

payment, multiple currencies that 

allow receiving money in multiple 

currencies; has early pay that gets 

automatically deducted from the 

next pay; and has customer support, 

enabling teams with full compliance 

and making it easier to hire, onboard, 

and pay the global team 

26 



ROBOTICS 

ROBOT HELPS REVEAL HOW 

ANTS PASS ON KNOWLEDGE 

We all know that ants 

communicate with each 

other. But exactly how 

that works had not yet 

been researched until Nigel Franks 

decided to look for an answer. 

What was the idea? 

Prof. Nigel Franks of Bristol’s 

School of Biological Sciences said, 

“Teaching is so important in our own 

lives that we spend a great deal of 

time either instructing others or 

being taught ourselves.” This should 

cause us to wonder whether teaching 

occurs among non-human animals. 

“And the first case in which teaching 

was demonstrated rigorously in any 

other animal was in an ant.” The 

team wanted to determine what 

was necessary and sufficient in 

such teaching. If they could build a 

robot that successfully replaced the 

teacher, this should show that they 

largely understood all the essential 

elements in this process. 

How was the idea executed? 

Prof. Franks’s team built a small 

robot that mimics the behavior of 

rock ants that use a one-to-one 

teaching method. This method is 

called “tandem running,” which is 

when one ant leads another ant to a 

valuable resource that he found so 

fascinating. 

Prof. Franks explained the 

experiment he conducted to analyze 

his aim. He said that he waited for 

an ant to leave the old nest and put 

the robot pin, adorned with attractive 

pheromones, directly ahead of it. 

The pinhead was programmed to 

move towards the new nest either 

on a straight path or on a beautifully 

sinuous one. He also said that he 

had to allow for the robot to be 

interrupted in its journey, by us, so 

they could wait for the following ant 

to catch up after it had looked around 

to learn landmarks, and when the 

follower had been led by the robot 

to the new nest, the team allowed it 

to examine the new nest and then, 

in its own time, begin its homeward 

journey, and then used the gantry 

automatically to track the path of the 

returning ant. 

The result of tandem running 

After experimenting, Franks 

and his team observed a positive 

approach to his research: the 

robot had indeed taught the route 

successfully to the apprentice ant. 

The ants knew their way back to the 

old nest whether they had taken a 

winding path or a straight one. Before 

conducting the experiment, Frank 

added, “As a scientist, a cast-iron 

way of proving that you’ve understood 

something is to build something from 

scratch that works.” So, we thought 

we would try and replace the tandem 

leader with a robot.’ 

Why tandem running and how did it 

help the research? 

The reason why tandem running 

takes so long is that the partner who 

is following stops periodically to look 

around. In a normal tandem run, the 

leader would stop to wait for the 

follower. To do this, the team used 

a joystick to control the movement 

of the pinhead. The two students 

involved, Jaboc Podesta and Edward 

Jarvis, – did a fabulous job with this 

research,” said Franks. But he further 

added that he also used the same 

gantry to follow the learner on his 

way back home. It was programmed 

to auto-track the movement of the 

ant returning home and to precisely 

record the coordination of its path all 

the way home. 

After the successful research 

After finding some actual proof 

that the research did reveal that the 

pinhead did not simply lead an ant to 

a valuable resource. The team was 

able to show that the following ant 

learned the route and was better at 

finding its way home than it would 

have otherwise been. 



HOME-TECH 

WHAT IS APPLE’S NEW ROOMPLAN? 

Apple has unveiled new 

tools, technologies, 

and APIs designed to 

help developers create 

even richer experiences 

for their users. Widgets on the 

Lock Screen enable developers to 

surface key information from their 

apps in a new way, while other new 

APIs across Apple’s platforms help 

them build more unique features. 

WeatherKit gives developers the 

ability to integrate Apple Weather 

forecast data directly into their 

apps, and Xcode Cloud — Apple’s 

continuous integration and delivery 

service built into Xcode — is 

available to every Apple Developer 

Program member to help them 

create higher-quality apps, faster. 

Metal 3 enables gaming developers 

to create breathtaking graphics 

with accelerated performance, and 

developing for Apple’s platforms 

is now even more intuitive with 

improvements to Swift, SwiftUI, 

and Xcode. And with improvements 

to SKAdNetwork, ad networks and 

developers can better measure 

how ads perform while still 

preserving user privacy. 

Live Home 3D is available for 

iOS, Mac, and Windows and offers 

a variety of tools that simplify 

the design creation process, 

handling everything from drawing 

floor plans to a complete 3D 

visualization. The software enables 

an amateur designer to create 

realistic and professional projects 

using innovative technologies to 

produce the final plan. 

Swift UI Cookbook for Navigation 

All app development starts with 

a robust navigation framework. 

The SwiftUI provides a proverbial 

kitchen of code to enhance the 

app experience for businesses. 

The SwiftUi’s navigation stack and 

the split view feature can help 

you connect with specific areas 

of the iOS application and explore 

the navigational state at a much 

higher speed. The APIs in SwiftUI 

scale from the basic stacks on 

iPhone, Apple TV, Apple Watch, 

and other iOS devices to a more 

multi-column presentation. This 

also creates a presence for the 

new navigation APIs, recipes for 

navigation, and persistent state. 

Is it intended for iPhone users? 

Apple introduced this API for 

iPhone and iPad devices, but 

something ahead says that this API 

has a higher purpose. It’s almost 

as if Apple is working on a LiDARbased 

device that needs to detect 

the environment around the user in 

real-time. 

With iOS 16, Apple also added 

4K HDR video support for ARKit 

apps for the first time, while it also 

updated the Nearby Interaction API 

to integrate the U1 chip with AR. 

As the company has reportedly 

been working on its mixed reality 

headset, perhaps these new APIs 

were created with the headset in 

mind. 

For Apple, innovative hardware 

28 



is the entire point. Whether that 

hardware is used to access Meta’s 

metaverse, another company’s 

platform, or isolated experiences 

crafted by small developers, is 

almost irrelevant. 

Apple’s alternative to Meta’s 

embodied Internet will likely be 

a broad offering spanning the 

iPhone, iPad, Mac, and a future 

AR/VR headset. The metaverse 

may simply be an app (or apps) 

competing with other AR/VR 

experiences across multiple 

devices. 

“I wouldn’t read too much 

into Apple not using the word 

metaverse,” says George Jijiashvili, 

principal analyst at Omdia. “Rather, 

focus on what it’s doing to enable 

experiences which could support 

virtual social interactions in the 

future.” 

Apple with AR technology 

Aside from the new RoomPlan 

Swift API, a technology that 

developers can use to quickly 

create 3D floor plans of real-world 

spaces, Apple had no all-new AR/ 

VR announcements. RealityOS, 

the operating system rumored to 

power Apple’s upcoming headset, 

wasn’t even teased. This seems 

like a vote of no confidence in all 

things metaverse and, perhaps, 

the entire AR/VR space. However, 

Jijiashvili warns against such 

pessimism. “The reality is that 

Apple has much strength in this 

space, which it continues to 

gradually improve,” says Jijiashvili. 

He points out Apple has acquired 

over eight AR/VR startups since 

2015. ARKit, Apple’s augmentedreality 

development platform for 

iOS devices, continues to see 

interest from developers, including 

big names like Snapchat and even 

Instagram, which is owned by 

Meta. 

However, Apple’s lack of news 

gives the rest of the industry the 

chance to prepare for its seemingly 

inevitable push into space. Though 

consumer headsets are dominated 

by Meta, which produces nearly 

80 percent of all headsets sold, 

the industry is rife with midsize 

companies like HTC, Valve, DPVR, 

Magic Leap, Pico, Lumus, Vuzix, 

Pimax, and Varjo—to name just a 

few. Apple’s arrival in space could 

threaten these innovators. 

The demonstration comes 

courtesy of Russ Maschmeyer from 

Shopify who published a series 

of Tweets that showcase the idea 

behind a new AR prototype that 

leans on Apple’s AR API. He refers 

to it as being able to hit the “reset 

button” on a room and see what it 

would look like empty of furniture. 

The demonstration shows how 

the technology scans a room using 

Apple’s RoomPlan API, a tool for 

developers that was showcased at 

WWDC earlier this year. The tool 

uses the LiDAR sensor on iPhones 

and iPads to scan the geometry of 

a room and build a 3D model of the 

space that developers can then use 

for a variety of purposes. 

A plan for the RoomPlan? 

Specifically, RoomPlan is an API 

that could enable new visually 

immersive use cases in real 

estate, design, or architecture 

apps. For example, interior design 

apps can integrate RoomPlan to let 

their users visualize wall colors 

to inform the right shade (and 

amount) of paint. 

The end-user experience 

involves scanning one’s room using 

a LiDAR-equipped iPhone. That 

guided experience then outputs a 

3D model of a given room. And that 

basic framework opens the door 

for the use cases noted above and 

several others that will develop. 

As Apple puts it, “The framework 

inspects a device’s camera feed 

and LiDAR readings and identifies 

walls, windows, openings, 

and doors. It also recognizes 

room features, furniture, and 

appliances—a fireplace, bed, or 

refrigerator—and provides that 

information to the app.” 

Apple also refers to RoomPlan as 

“the first step in architecture and 

interior design workflows to help 

streamline conceptual exploration 

and planning.” The next step is 

for developers to integrate the 

RoomPlan API and take it in other 

creative directions in real estate 

and home services. 

The ultimate goal here is that 

3D scanning for physical spaces, 

previously reserved for deeperpocketed 

tech players, is brought 

to startups and app developers. It 

could also boost the functionality 

of existing tools for home projects. 

Dimensionally Appropriate 

But one question that emerges 

from all of the above is why 

this underlying framework is 

necessary, and what value is Apple 

adding here? The answer is that 

AR doesn’t “just work” without a 

few complex components in place, 

including dimensional maps of a 

given space. 

Of course, there’s rudimentary 

AR like early versions of Pokémon 

Go, but those are more “floating 

stickers” than AR. But for AR’s 

true promise, graphics should hide 

behind trees or remain at a fixed 

distance while real-life people 

walk in front or behind them, as 

dimensionally appropriate. 

That brings us back to room 

scanning. The idea is that spaces 

are scanned for geometric and 

semantic understanding. The 

former is all about dimension, 

while the latter is all about context. 

It’s about knowing that a window is 

a window and a wall is a wall, as 

noted by Apple. 



EVENTS 

CYBERSECURITY INNOVATION SERIES 

Organized by Market 

Solutions Events 

Management 

and endorsed by 

the UAE Cyber Security 

Council, Cybersecurity 

Innovation Series (CSIS) 

– 2022 took place on 6 – 7 

September 2022 at Conrad Hotel, 

Dubai, UAE. 

The forum included working sessions 

with the participation of 35 experts 

in the cybersecurity sector and 

the attendance of more than two 

hundred people interested in the 

digital economy, during which they 

shed light during 25 sessions on the 

latest innovations and discussed the 

measures taken by the government 

and private institutions to address 

cybersecurity challenges, and 

explored ways to develop information 

infrastructure and expand and 

improve them in the everevolving 

world of the Internet. 

The summit hosted dignitaries 

such as Dr. Mohamed Hamad 

Al Kuwaiti, from the UAE Cyber 

Security Council, Aloysius 

Cheang & Hulk Zhang from 

Huawei, Sultan Al-Owais from Ministry 

of Cabinet Affairs, Nicholas Charnley 

from TAQA – Abu Dhabi National Energy 

Company PJSC, Dr. Srijith Nair from 

Careem, Dr Richard Uhunmwagho from 

Standard Chartered Bank, Dan Caban 

from Mandiant, Emad Haffar from 

Kaspersky, Imran Shaikh from Virgin 

Mobile UAE, Laurence Elbana from 

PICUS Security, Jeevan Badigiri from 

DAMAC Group, Shafiullah Ismail from 

Mubadala Capital, Adam Docrat from 

Aster Retail GCC, El Bachir El Alaoui 

from Engie and many more. 

30 



EVENTS 

DIGITAL WORKFORCE SUMMIT 

The 2nd annual Digital 

Workforce Summit – UAE 

Edition hosted a renowned 

line-up of IT, HR and digital 

transformation from Dubai Electronic 

Security Centre (DESC), Ministry of 

Finance, Gargash, Emirates National 

Oil Company (ENOC), Enate Ltd., 

NEOM, Ministry of Education, Zoho, 

Kissflow, Emirates NBD, Al Yousuf 

Group, Iron Mountain and more 

to discuss on topics like Digital 

Economy, Technologies Adoption, 

Digital Talent, Employee Experience 

and much more while shaping UAE’s 

Digital Future! 

In line with His Highness Sheikh 

Mohamed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s 

directives, Dubai has become the 

digital capital of the region and we 

are working towards becoming the 

main a global digital capital in the 

near future. At the Digital Dubai our 

strategic roles are to maintaining 

information security across 

government, develop skills and 

build capacities, promoting a secure 

digital economy in Dubai and leading 

the digital transformation,” said Dr. 

Bushra Al Blooshi, Deputy Director of 

the Information Services Department 

at Dubai Electronic Security Centre, 

Digital Dubai 

The event took place on 6-7 

September 2022 at Conrad Hotel in 

Dubai, UAE, the two-day agenda was 

filled with a wide range of learning 

and knowledge driven conversations 

Empowering the Digital Workforce 

in 2022, Creating a Single Platform 

for Every Team, Women in HR 

Leadership, Equipping the future 

generations with the scientific, 

ethical, and professional tools for 

economic development among others 

A digital enablement strategy 

will only be successful if your 

customers are placed at the heart of 

it, Eng Meshal Abdulla BinHussain, 

Information Technology Director, 

Ministry of Finance 

This event hosted dignitaries like 

Dr Bushra AlBlooshi from Dubai 

Electronic Security Centre (DESC), 

Meshal Abdulla BinHussain from 

Ministry of Finance, Faisal Ali from 

Gargash, Wail Saleh from Du, Dr. 

Lt. Col Hamad Khalifa Swuidan 

Al Nuaimi from Abu Dhabi Police 

General Headquarters, Uday 

Jose from Enate Ltd.,Vaishnavi 

Soundarrajan from Zoho, Rakesh N 

from Kissflow, Tino Jiftajian from Iron 

Mountain and many more 

-event@thetechnologyexpress.com 


EVENTS 

MIDDLE EAST MANUFACTURING AND 

TECHNOLOGY EXPO 

MIDDLE EAST MANUFACTURING & TECHNOLOGY EXPO (MEMT), AND MIDDLE 

EAST DESIGN & BUILD WEEK UNITES THE MANUFACTURING, TECHNOLOGY 

AND CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY IN ABU DHABI, UAE 

The Middle East Manufacturing 

& Technology Expo (MEMT) 

& Middle East Design & 

Build Week (MEDBW), the region’s 

only events dedicated to the 

manufacturing, industrialisation, 

construction, and design industry, 

were organised from 12-14 

September 2022 at Hall No. 4 of 

the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition 

Centre in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The 

three-day events brought together 

manufacturing, industrial, and 

technology professionals for 

business development, networking, 

and knowledge sharing. It was well 

received by participating companies, 

visitors, trade associations, 

ministries, and government bodies. 

To boost industrialisation and 

manufacturing industry sectors in 

UAE, MEMT Expo 2022 & MEDBW 

2022 were jointly organised by 

the Abu Dhabi Chamber of the 

32 



Commerce & Industry (ADCCI) 

and CONNECT and held with the 

support of the Ministry of Industry 

& Advanced Technology (MoIAT) 

as a Supporting Partner, Abu 

Dhabi Department of Economic 

Development (ADDED) as Strategy 

Partner, Abu Dhabi Department 

of Culture and Tourism (ADDCT) 

as Destination Partner, Abu Dhabi 

National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC) 

as Venue Partner, Etihad Airways 

as Airline Partner, Emirates 

Development Bank (EDB), as 

Finance & Innovation partner, 

Infor as Technology Partner, the 

Manufacturing Technologies 

Association as Supporting Partner. 

The events were also supported 

by various ministries, government 

bodies, and leading local and 

international companies. 

The business platforms highlight 

the state’s initiatives aimed 

at economic transformation 

through technological reforms in 

manufacturing and capitalizing on 

the rapidly developing frontier of 

industrial modernization. The threeday 

exhibitions showcased the latest 

technologies, advanced solutions, 

and innovative services from around 

the world, offering attendees the 

opportunity to network, learn and 

explore cutting-edge solutions in 

industrialization, manufacturing, and 

solutions in architecture, design and 

technology sectors. 

During three days of the 

exhibitions, representatives from 

government bodies and leading 

organizations such as Abu Dhabi 

Municipality, Adeeb Group, Burgess 

Furniture Ltd, Conrad Abu Dhabi 

Etihad Towers, Double Tree by Hilton, 

Etihad Rail, Fairmont Hotel, Hyundai 

Engineering and Construction, 

Marriott, Saudi Aramco, Saudi 

Lime, and Siemens attended the 

exhibition over three days to source 

solutions for their business needs. 

The workshops, which were well 

attended by industry specialists and 

decision-makers, shed light on the 

construction and manufacturing 

market outlook, hot trends shaping 

the construction & manufacturer 

industry, the future of technology in 

architecture, innovation in design, 

smart space for smart living, 3D 

print collaboration for construction, 

sustainable architecture, sustainable 

construction, manufacturing market 

outlook and development of SME 

manufactures, manufacturing 

workforce, and financing of the 

manufacturing sector. 



EVENTS 

ADIPEC THE FUTURE OF ENERGY: 

SUSTAINABLE, AFFORDABLE, SECURE 

Hosted by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company 

(ADNOC), ADIPEC is the world’s most influential 

event for the energy industry. ADIPEC 2022 

will gather policy makers, energy CEOs and 

energy professionals from across the globe, 

to spearhead discussions focused on key global energy 

trends, policy formation, and geopolitical factors. 

Taking place a week before COP27, ADIPEC 2022 is 

the global forum for leaders to reinforce strategies 

and commitments that will drive the industry towards 

reducing emissions and meeting net-zero goals. 

Alongside the exhibition and conferences, ADIPEC 2022 

will also host four specialised industry zones that will 

enable the global energy industry to strengthen existing 

business partnerships and form new models of crosssector 

collaboration to unlock and maximise value across 

businesses and drive future growth. These zones are: 

Offshore & Marine Zone 

The Offshore & Marine Zone is one of the world’s 

foremost meeting places for the marine transport and 

logistics sector to understand the latest developments 

in technology, meet new buyers and develop new 

business opportunities with NOCs, IOCs, and IECs, service 

companies, EPC contractors, subsea engineering, supply 

chain companies and the full energy value chain. For 

more information. 

Digitalisation In Energy Zone 

The dedicated Digitalisation Exhibition at ADIPEC 2022 

34 



Smart Manufacturing Zone 

The ADIPEC Smart Manufacturing Zone will continue to 

provide a unique platform for the manufacturing industry 

to gain insights into the energy transition and identify 

the challenges and opportunities for manufacturing 

in the drive for a net-zero carbon economy. For more 

information. 

will continue to be a global showcase of the technological 

solutions that can help the energy industry unlock 

untapped value and opportunities as digitalisation 

becomes more deeply integrated into all aspects of 

operations. For more information. 

Decarbonisation Zone - NEW 

The newly launched Decarbonisation Zone will provide 

the platform for the global energy ecosystem to navigate 

the decarbonisation pathway. It will provide the opportunity 

for participants to discuss key low-carbon technologies 

and the role the oil and gas sector plays in creating a 

foundation for the transition away from fossil fuels to 

cleaner energy. For more information 

Be a part of the conversation and shape the future of the 

oil, gas, and energy industry at ADIPEC 2022. 



NEWS 

IN FOCUS 

CRYPTOCURRENCY 

AI & ML 

Bankrupt crypto lender Voyager’s CFO 

is resigning months after appointment 

Ashwin Prithipaul, the chief financial 

officer of Voyager Digital Ltd, is 

prepared to leave his position just a 

few months after being hired by the 

cryptocurrency lender that declared 

bankruptcy in July. The company said 

on Friday the finance head would 

resign after a “transition period” to 

pursue other opportunities, and that 

Chief Executive Officer Stephen Ehrlich 

will head the role in the interim. 

Compute North files for bankruptcy, 

owed $500m to creditors 

Compute North Holdings Inc., which 

offers data center services to 

blockchain businesses and bitcoin 

miners, filed for bankruptcy in 

Texas. Compute North, a Minnesota 

company based in Eden Prairie, 

claimed to owe at least 200 creditors 

up to $500 million. According to 

the company’s Chapter 11 petition, 

its assets are worth between $100 

million and $500 million. 

eToro secures ADGM in-principal 

approval to launch services 

One of the largest digital investing 

platforms in the world, eToro, has 

received preliminary approval 

from Abu Dhabi Global Market 

(ADGM) to conduct business as a 

cryptocurrency broker in the capital 

of the UAE, paving the way for the 

Middle East launch of its services. 

According to a statement from Tel 

Aviv-based eToro, it will enable 

the business, which has around 30 

million users worldwide, to engage in 

derivatives and securities by utilizing 

its platform that is focused on social 

collaboration and investor education. 

Bitcoin, Ethereum price predictions 

following US Federal Reserve 

monetary policy decision 

With no clear indication of a 

directional bias, the price of bitcoin 

is consolidating. Ethereum and 

other altcoins have lost some of 

their volatility as a result of this poor 

performance. But there will probably 

be volatility because the US Federal 

Reserve (Fed) issued its monetary 

policy decision. 

Binance celebrated MVP regulatory 

authority license with Burj Khalifa 

facade show 

Dubai’s iconic Burj Khalifa – the world’s 

tallest building – was the setting 

for two spectacular Binance light 

shows held on September 24 – 25, to 

celebrate Binance’s recently awarded 

MVP (Minimum Viable Product) 

license in Dubai. The show featured 

breathtaking animation that lit up 

the entire building, and introduced 

thousands of spectators to a journey 

through Web3. 

Dubai approves crypto firm 

Blockchain.com 

Blockchain.com, a London-based 

cryptocurrency company, announced 

that it has received a provisional 

license to operate in Dubai. This 

makes it the latest in a line of digital 

asset companies to expand in the 

Gulf as the area strives to become 

a center for blockchain technology. 

The business, which also operates a 

cryptocurrency exchange, announced 

that it has reached a deal with 

Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory 

Authority (VARA), which will allow 

it to establish a presence there and 

start employing. 

Crypto exchange Huobi to remove 

some privacy-focused tokens from 

the platform 

Huobi, once one of the largest 

Chinese cryptocurrency exchanges, 

will delist a number of privacyfocused 

tokens including Zcash 

and Monero amid rising regulatory 

concern worldwide. “Huobi Global 

strictly complies with the compliance 

policies of every country and always 

endeavors to safeguard our users’ 

assets,” the firm said in a statement 

dated Sept. 11. The tokens that will 

be delisted on Sept 19 include Zcash, 

Monero, Dash, Decred, Firo, and 

Verge. 

36 



DID YOU KNOW 

THERE ARE MORE THAN 

1 BILLION MALWARE 

PROGRAMS. 

2021 malware statistics show that 

560 000 new pieces of malware 

are detected daily and that more 

than 1 billion malware programs 

exist. According to Google, 50 

websites per week are infected 

with malware, and 46% of hackers 

only use email to disseminate 

malware. If you believed your 

phone was secure, think again. In 

2020, there were over 28 million 

mobile malware assaults. 

THOUSANDS OF BOTS 

RUN WIKIPEDIA. 

Most of us know that Wikipedia 

is only an encyclopedia created 

by users. The site is operated 

by thousands of automated 

algorithms, which most people are 

unaware of or don’t even consider 

(bots). There are about 2456 bot 

jobs that have been authorized 

to do page maintenance. The fact 

that there are 54 million English 

Wikipedia pages is another 

interesting piece of information. 

THE DEEP WEB IS 400X BIGGER THAN THE INTERNET 

WE KNOW. 

The Deep Web is a site that 

isn’t picked up by a search 

engine like Google. Although 

the Deep Web and the Dark 

Web are sometimes confused, 

they are not the same thing. 

The Deep Web is a subclass of 

the Dark Web, which mostly 

comprises encrypted websites 

with concealed IP addresses 

that keep users’ identities and 

whereabouts private. Being 

able to conceal identities in this way will make it attractive for criminals 

to sell their illicit goods. However, just 0.01% of the Deep Web comprises 

the Dark Web. The Deep Web also contains items like the portions of 

premium subscription services, password-protected email accounts, and 

other such secured data. Only 0.03% of the internet is represented by the 

Surface Web or the content that search engines can access. 

ALEXA IS 

EAVESDROPPING. 

If you own an Amazon Alexa 

device, you can turn off the 

power or the microphone 

while not in use. To continually 

enhance the Alexa experience, 

Alexa listens to your chats and 

stores the conversation history 

in the cloud. Since we are used 

to Google listening to our phone 

calls, this is not news. However, 

there’s still something unsettling 

about it. 

INDIA- THE UK CONDUCT 

COUNTER RANSOMWARE 

EXERCISE 

In collaboration with BAE 

Systems, India’s National 

Security Council Secretariat 

(NSCS) and the British 

Government successfully 

conducted a virtual ransomware 

drill for 26 countries to prepare 

for a large, widespread cyber 

attack. The National Cyber 

Security Coordinator (NCSC) in 

India conducted the International 

Counter Ransomware Initiative 

(CRI)-Resilience Working Group 

exercise. This virtual cyber 

exercise’s goal is to identify and 

respond to a significant, broad 

cyber security issue that affects 

institutions operating within a 

nation. 

WHY IS THE TIME SET 

TO 9:41 ON ALL APPLE 

IPHONE ADS? 

If you didn’t notice, the time is always 

set to 9:41 on the phone’s screen 

in Apple iPhone advertising (when 

they don’t utilize a blank screen). 

Although it seems like a random 

number, it has significance. Steve 

Jobs launched the first iPhone at 

this time in 2007. 


GAMING 

REASONS BEHIND ELDEN RING’S POPULARITY 

Elden Ring is a 2022 action 

role-playing game developed 

by FromSoftware and 

published by Bandai Namco 

Entertainment. 

FromSoftware wanted to create 

an open-world game with gameplay 

similar to their existing Dark Cloud 

series, intending Elden Ring to act as 

an evolution of Dark Souls. Miyazaki 

admired Martin’s work and hoped 

his contributions would produce 

a more accessible narrative than 

FromSoftware’s previous games. 

Elden Ring received critical acclaim 

for its open-world, gameplay 

systems, and setting, with criticism 

going towards technical performance 

issues upon release. By July 2022, 

the game had sold more than 16.6 

million copies. 

Elden Ring might have won a Grand 

Award at the Tokyo Game Show, the 

convention’s equivalent of a Game of 

the Year award, but many players are 

turning their attention to CyberPunk 

2077– nearly two years after CD 

Projekt Red’s futuristic open-world 

RPG came out. 

Stream Charts, a website that 

tracks how many people are 

playing a game at a given time on 

Steam, shows Cyberpunk 2077 has 

33,658 players as of Sept. 15, 2022. 

Meanwhile, as Reddit user Lymbassy 

first noted, FromSoftware’s Elden’s 

Ring had 29,093 players during the 

same period. 

The gap of approximately 4,000 

players may seem small, but it is 

a surprise considering Cyberpunk 

2077’s rocky, bug-filled start and 

delayed expansion content. However, 

the game shows signs of new life 

after CDPR introduced Cyberpunk 

2077’s long-awaited DLC expansion, 

Phantom Liberty, in a recent live 

stream. 

Elden Ring came out on Feb. 25, 

2022, and while it launched with 

a full single-player campaign and 

robust multiplayer element, fans 

eagerly await news about upcoming 

content in the dark fantasy RPG. 

FromSoftware usually supports its 

games with new DLC quests and 

even full campaigns, so it’s likely just 

a matter of time before news of Elden 

Ring DLC emerges as well. 

Why is Elden Ring so popular? 

For the last couple of months, 

everybody’s been trying to figure 

out why everyone currently drawing 

breath in this cursed earthly 

realm can’t stop playing or talking 

about Elden Ring. It’s a mystery. 

It makes no sense. Elden Ring, a 

brutally challenging open-world 

RPG, hasn’t just been popular. The 

numbers have been astronomical. 

FromSoftware has released a 

number of hit titles. Dark Souls 

and Bloodborne have deservedly 

attracted millions of players. But 

Elden Ring’s level of success has put 

the famed developer into a whole 

other stratosphere. FromSoftware’s 

last game, the highly rated and 

super popular Sekiro, took a year to 

shift 5 million copies. Bloodborne, a 

PlayStation 4 exclusive, sold around 

3 million copies over its lifespan. 

38 



FromSoftware’s most successful 

release, Dark Souls 3, took around 

four years to sell 10 million copies. 

Reasons behind Elden Ring’s 

Popularity 

According to Mat Hart, the cofounder 

of the company, “fans 

should expect a dark, richly-realized 

tabletop world of mystery and peril, 

with satisfying combat and rewarding 

exploration.” At this stage, there 

aren’t many details on the project, 

but Steamforged promised a combat 

system that wouldn’t involve dice 

rolling. Additionally, you’ll be able 

to play the game with up to three 

other friends, or by yourself if you so 

choose. 

Like Steamforged’s take on Dark 

Souls and Horizon Zero Dawn, Elden 

Ring will come with a handful of 

miniatures. The company shared a 

render of one of Elden Ring’s earlygame 

bosses, which will look in 

miniature form. Despite its small size, 

this version of the Fell Omen looks 

just as intimidating as its video game 

counterpart. Steamforged will share 

more details on the project when it 

brings the game to Kickstarter at a 

later date. Until then, you can sign up 

to receive updates as the company is 

ready to share them. 

Elden Ring’s origination 

FromSoftware’s line of “Soulslike” 

RPGs has always given players a 

plethora of outfits and weapons with 

which to customize their characters; 

Elden Ring in particular has a truly 

diverse selection of armor sets, 

armaments, magic spells, and 

consumables, many of them derived 

from the appearance and attacks of 

enemies and friendly NPCs players 

can encounter throughout the Lands 

Between. With a creative mindset 

and a knowledge of outfit choices, 

it’s more than possible for players 

of Elden Ring to create “cosplay” 

character builds inspired by the 

protagonists and antagonists of 

Star Wars, The Witcher, and other 

fantasy franchises. Fantasy fiction 

cosplays have been popular for quite 

a while among fans of FromSoftware 

games such as Demon’s Souls, Dark 

Souls 3, and Bloodborne, thanks to 

their diverse range of weapons and 

armor sets ranging from beautiful 

to beautifully grotesque in form. 

Character builds of Guts and other 

characters are popular cosplay 

choices from the fantasy manga. 

Berserk is popular in Dark Souls 

and other Soulslike games, in part 

because Berserk’s art style inspired 

key parts of the Soulslike RPG visual 

aesthetic. The open-world size 

scope of Elden Ring, FromSoftware’s 

newest Soulslike RPG, has greatly 

expanded the cosplay opportunities 

players have, letting them create 

custom PCs who look like, dress 

like, and even fight like the following 

classic fantasy figures 

First, players can replicate the 

look of Kratos using Elden Ring’s 

character creation suite, adding 

blood-red tattoos to an ashen-pale 

skin tone and giving their Tarnished 

PC either no hair at all (for young 

Kratos) or a shaggy black beard (for 

dad Kratos). The Hero starting class 

will give players access to a shirtless 

armor set similar to what Kratos 

wears in the God of War games and 

a round shield. A set of Fist weapons 

with the War Cry or the Barbaric Roar 

Ash of War equipped will let Kratos 

cosplayers emulate his “Spartan 

Rage” mode from God of War (2018), 

and the Highland Axe weapon with 

the Hoarfrost Stomp Ash of War 

will closely resemble his signature 

Leviathan Axe, and weapons such 

as the Giant’s Red Braid (from Elden 

Ring’s Jotun-Esque Fire Giant boss), 

Magma Whip Candlestick, or Magma 

Blade can stand in for his iconic 

Blades of Chaos. In the Elden Ring 

character creation engine, goldencolored 

eyes, long white hair, and 

stubble facials will capture the basic 

look of Geralt of Rivia. Two different 

greatsword-class weapons can stand 

in for Geralt’s signature armaments - 

a steel longsword for slaying humans 

and a silver-plated one for killing 

monsters. 



NEOM ‘THE LINE’ 

His Royal Highness 

Mohammed bin Salman, 

the Saudi Arabian crown 

prince, first revealed plans 

for a utopian-looking 

“linear” city that would run entirely 

on clean energy about a year and 

a half ago. He promised that Saudi 

Arabia would invest between $100 

billion and $200 billion to make the 

project a reality. The Line, a new 

metropolis where citizens would live 

without automobiles or streets inside 

a 100-mile-long futuristic “belt,” was 

depicted in a way that resembled 

the setting of a post-apocalyptic YA 

novel. In NEOM, the green hub of 

the kingdom, people would travel 

autonomously and quickly, and 

artificial intelligence makes life 

better by utilizing data to improve 

infrastructure. 

Visuals of the project were 

noticeably absent when it was 

originally publicized. Instead, the 

audience was encouraged to imagine 

what this unique metropolis may look 

like using only buzzy descriptions 

filled with cliched tech terms. But as 

the adage goes, a picture is worth a 

thousand words—and for those eager 

to better understand The Line. 

His Royal Highness published 

images of The Line’s design towards 

the end of July, which helped to 

clarify the intended outcome. The 

Line will have a mirrored exterior 

that mirrors the surrounding desert 

and be 656 feet wide and 1640 feet 

tall. Most city services will be layered, 

meaning that parks, schools, offices, 

and other infrastructure will be built 

on top of one another, encouraging 

vertical and horizontal travel. 

HRH bin Salman stated, 

“during The Line’s debut last year, 

we committed to a civilizational 

revolution that puts humanity first 

based on a dramatic reform in urban 

design.” The city’s vertically tiered 

settlements would “challenge the 

typical flat, horizontal cities and 

offer a paradigm for ecological 

preservation and increased human 

liveability,” according to today’s plans. 

The Crown Prince stated, “NEOM 

is one of the most significant 

projects of Saudi Vision 2030, and 

our commitment to delivering The 

Line on behalf of the people remains 

steadfast.” 

The Line “rethinks our urban life” 

The Line is a massive, mirror-clad 

linear megastructure intended to 

span a 170-kilometer section of the 

Saudi Arabian desert. 

It may contain nine million people 

if it is constructed, as Qaddumi 

believes it will be. 

It will play a significant role in 

NEOM, an area fueled by renewable 

energy that is now being developed in 

Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Egypt. 

The Line, in the words of Qaddumi, 

“rethinks our urban existence from 

the bottom up” and provides an 

alternative to conventional city plans 

that radiate outward from a central 

location. This implies that it will have 

a 34 square kilometer footprint, 

40 



SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGY 

making everything you need within a 

five-minute walk. 

The director said that this 

linear design would help address 

contemporary cities’ problems, 

including vehicle hegemony, air 

pollution, and urban sprawl. 

Neom has the chance to create 

a brand-new metropolis that won’t 

have these issues from the beginning, 

stated Qaddumi. 

Without automobiles, pollution, 

and unprecedented access to people 

and businesses, “The Line” will 

revolutionize transportation. 

Neom exploring carbon 

sequestration 

The Line is “dedicated to being a 

net-zero carbon city,” said Qaddumi. 

A building must completely 

remove all emissions throughout 

its lifespan to be considered net 

zero. This covers operational and 

embodied carbon emissions, which 

are brought on by a structure’s use 

and the building supply chain. 

According to academic Philip 

Oldfield, the massive embodied 

carbon associated with creating 

The Line will “overwhelm any 

environmental benefits that a tiny 

footprint gives,” as he previously told 

Dezeen. According to Qaddumi, Neom 

has a staff devoted to researching 

“green building material” to ensure 

the least-embodied carbon-intensive 

items are chosen. Renewable energy 

sources will also be used to power 

the city. The development will also 

use carbon-removal technology for 

the carbon emissions that cannot 

be prevented. He claimed that any 

carbon emissions brought on by 

the production and delivery of the 

structural parts would be completely 

offset. Along with carbon offsetting 

and carbon sequestration, such as 

CO2 capture, “The Line construction 

will be complemented.” 

“Nature corridors” to be built into the 

design 

Oldfield expressed similar 

worries about how the building might 

affect biodiversity, but Qaddumi 

emphasized that the design of the 

linear city also prioritizes protecting 

local animals. 

In contrast to traditional cities, 

he added, “The Line will ensure 

that nature is not diminished as it 

traverses the urban fabric and that 

it is instead preserved, witnessed, 

experienced, and cherished.” 

“For instance, water flows and 

terrestrial creatures will pass in 

selected channels on the ground 

level.” 

The Line’s reflective facade is 

one element of the architecture that 

inspires concern for animals. This is 

because it is believed that one of the 

main reasons for bird mortality each 

year is shiny surfaces. 

According to Qaddumi, The Line 

would be built in such a way as 

to avoid collisions, with “natural 

corridors” that coincide with 

migratory bird routes and facade 

treatments that prevent them. 

He added that a committed team 

of experts would map these precise 

migratory routes and patterns over 

the next years. 

Birds flying at various altitudes 

will also have designated natural 

pathways built in conjunction with the 

appropriate glass treatment, he said. 

Ceramic frits, one of the most 

popular techniques to make buildings 

more bird-friendly, are among the 

glass treatments that Qaddumi 

anticipates using in the project. 

Piling work for first phase has begun 

It has been questioned by several 

observers if The Line will ever 

actually be constructed. 

Qaddumi asserted that the 

feasibility studies were finished 

and that the first phase’s piling 

construction had already started. 

“There is no doubting about the 

project’s scope and ambition,” he 

said. The financial and construction 

feasibility studies for The Line are 

finished, however. 

He also added that the team is 

currently collaborating with “the 

world’s top universities and urban 

research organizations” to enhance 

the design using digital twins, 

creating a virtual replica of a project 

to help decision-making. 

The team at Neom is also 

investigating digital and modular 

building methods to reduce 

construction time and its negative 

environmental effects. 

He said, “Moving the building 

process from normal contracting to 

a more reliable delivery mechanism 

more typically employed in 

manufacturing is one way the design 

will change. 

“We are speeding up the 

industrialization of the building 

process and the digitalization of 

design utilizing tailored platforms.” 

Mohammed bin Salman, the 

crown prince of Saudi Arabia, is 

planning to build The Line, which is 

said to have been designed by US 

studio Morphosis, though this has not 

yet been publicly confirmed. 

THE Line city 

Neom’s futuristic urban landscape 

offers a different perspective on the 

kingdom’s self and future 

The unveiling of THE LINE’s 

designs is a continuation of NEOM’s 

advancements in the creation of its 

flagship initiatives, including OXAGON, 

its reimagined manufacturing, and 

innovation city; TROJENA, it’s an 

international mountain tourism 

destination that will provide the 

first outdoor skiing in the Arabian 

Gulf; and the debut of two NEOM 

subsidiaries: ENOWA, its energy, 

water, and hydrogen company; and 

the NEOM Tech & Digital Company. 



INTERVIEW 

Please start by introducing yourself 

My name is Hasan Algarhy, I’m an architect, I 

started in the tech industry back in 2019 when I 

co-founded iDeezign which is a digital platform for 

designers and architects, and today we have more 

than 5000 registrations from more than 50 countries, 

and this year I decided to start my Metaverse 

platform given the momentum and the potential of 

the Metaverse. 

You call Duverse the first human-centric Metaverse, 

please elaborate on that 

Sure, we think it’s very important that we take care 

of the mental health and we’ll being of the users of 

the Metaverse. This is actually something that many 

Metaverse platforms miss, and that is why we are 

developing standards and guidelines for human 

centricity of the Metaverse. 

HASAN ALGARHY 

FOUNDER, DUVERSE 

Hasan Algarhy is the Founder of Duverse, the first 

human-centric Metaverse, and the first Metaverse 

platform in the MENA region to offer clients turn-key 

business Metaverse solutions. 

As an accomplished accredited architect and urban 

designer who designed and built hundreds of projects 

in the MENA region. Hasan decided to become “The 

Metaverse Architect” by starting Duverse in 2022. 

Hasan`s extensive knowledge and work in the fields 

of urban psychology, green building technologies, and 

urban design empowered him to build a Metaverse for 

the people, where the mental health and well-being of 

the users are at the core of everything we do. Hasan is 

accredited by the American Society of Civil Engineers, 

and he studied green building technologies at Lund 

University – Sweden. Hasan started in the tech industry 

back in 2019 when he co-founded iDeezign – the leading 

digital design platform- today iDeezign has 4.5K+ users 

from 50+ countries. 

Hasan`s vision is bringing the Metaverse to the 

people, and not just being a part of the future, but to 

help shape the future, and bring you the future. 

What changes will the Metaverse 

bring to our traditional way of 

doing business? 

It’s basically an evolution 

for the internet from a 2D 

experience to a 3D experience; 

for example if you’re doing a 

Zoom call on 2D you’ll have 

instead a fully immersive 3D experience which 

comes with a lot of opportunities, better interaction 

and much more. 

Is establishing business presence in the Metaverse 

of equal importance to both large enterprises and 

SMEs? 

Yes definitely, starting business on the Metaverse 

is now important for SMEs, large groups and 

basically for everybody. It is the future. Other 

companies are starting now already and you 

shouldn’t be late in taking big decisions and starting 

your business on the Metaverse. 

Will the Metaverse turn people away from actual 

social interaction or will it enhance it? 

It will definitely enhance it. I mean think about 

how many hours you spend on your phone for a day; 

that’s 4-5 hours. It will almost be the same; just 

instead of having a simple 2D experience on your 

phone, you’ll have a fully immersive 3D experience, 

better e-commerce experience and better learning 

experience. It will definitely enhance the experience. 

What message do you have for our readers? 

Start on the Metaverse now and don’t delay this 

step.Thank you. 

-interview@thetechnologyexpress.com 

42 



SOFTWARE 

AMAZON WEB 

SERVICES 

(AWS) 

LAUNCHES A 

NEW REGION IN 

THE UAE 

Customers may execute 

workloads and store data 

securely in the UAE with 

even reduced latency 

thanks to the second AWS Middle 

East (UAE) Region. 

Until a projected investment of 

more than $5 billion (AED 20 

billion) in the UAE through 2036, 

it is predicted that the new AWS 

Region would provide an average 

of nearly 6,000 full-time employees 

per year. 

Numerous Middle East and 

North African companies, such 

as Al Ghurair Investment, Alef 

Education, Dubai Islamic Bank, 

GEMS Education, the UAE Ministry 

of Health and Prevention, and YAP, 

are among the tens of thousands of 

clients using AWS to innovate. 

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has 

launched a new data center in 

the United Arab Emirates (UAE). 

The company intends to invest 

$5 billion in the nation over the 

coming 15 years to foster economic 

development and speed up 

innovation. 

In July 2019, AWS established 

its first cloud region for the 

Middle East in Bahrain. Local 

enterprises, charitable groups, and 

governments with data residency 

restrictions will be able to keep 

their data within their nation 

thanks to the new data center. 

Organizations may fully benefit 

from services like cloud computing, 

storage, databases, networking, 

machine learning, analytics, and 

the Internet of Things. 

Three availability zones will be 

included in the new AWS region, 

assuring reduced latency for 

high-availability applications. The 

data center will benefit the UAE’s 

economy by giving the locals 6,000 

full-time job opportunities. The 

jobs should assist the AWS supply 

chain’s engineering, construction, 

telecommunications, and 

maintenance sectors. 

The opening of the AWS Middle East 

(UAE) Region, according to Prasad 

Kalyanaraman, VP of Infrastructure 

Services at AWS, “allows for even 

more customers to leverage 

the power of the cloud to drive 

innovation across the UAE, while 

also investing in the local economy 

through job creation, training for 

highly sought-after technology 

skills, and education resources to 

further advance the UAE’s strategic 

priorities.” 

AWS has 87 availability zones 

worldwide 

There are 87 availability zones for 

Amazon Web Services, spread over 

27 different countries. With plans to 

open 21 additional availability zones 

and 7 AWS regions in Canada, 

Australia, Switzerland, India, Spain, 

Israel, and New Zealand, the firm 

has been quickly growing the 

footprint of its data centers. 

Through the new AWS Middle East 

(UAE) Region, AWS intends to 

invest an estimated $5 billion in 

the UAE for the following 15 years. 

This investment will be made up of 

capital expenditures for building 

data centers, operational costs 

for ongoing utilities and facility 

costs, and purchases of goods 

and services from local vendors. 

Additionally, the investment is 

anticipated to sustain close to 

6,000 jobs a year on average. This 

employment will be a part of the 

UAE’s wider economy and the 

AWS supply chain’s construction, 

facility maintenance, engineering, 

and telecommunications sectors. 

Additionally, it is anticipated 

that over the next 15 years, the 

installation and maintenance of 

AWS infrastructure in the UAE will 

increase the country’s GDP by an 

estimated $11 billion. 

Microsoft, AWS’s main rival, also 

debuted a new data center area in 

Doha, Qatar. The new data center 

will create 36,000 new jobs and 

increase the Qatari economy by 

almost $18.7 billion. Customers 

can create apps that use AI, hybrid 

capabilities, data analytics, and 

digital security using the centre’s 

servers. 


44 



INTERVIEW 

ALAA MOHRA 

ACTING CEO AT UNCLE FLUFFY FRANCHISE, REAL ESTATE 

INVESTOR & SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCER 

Please start by introducing 

yourself 

I’ve been investing in 

the real estate industry 

in Dubai for the past 15 

years. I bought my first 

apartment when I was just 

22 years old and I still own 

it until now and it’s still paying me 

until this month. I’ve invested in a lot 

of properties during this time and 

I have learnt a lot of lessons; good 

ones and bad ones. 

Where do you see the real estate 

market in Dubai heading? 

I think that Looking at the shortterm 

market trends would be of less 

relevance and prominence to the 

long-term investment capabilities 

that the real estate sector provides. 

When I invest in real estate, I invest 

to own and never sell, I invest to 

keep, I invest to protect my money. 

If you have this mentality and you 

keep it this way, you can never think 

of where the market is heading 

right now. I truly don’t care where 

the market is heading because 

I invest for the next 10-20 years 

and my parents and grandparents 

never thought of this because if they 

would’ve thought of this, I would’ve 

inherited so much real estate by 

now. But they didn’t and today I’m 

thinking real estate as an asset to 

own and never let go. 

What does it take for a person to be 

considered an entrepreneur? 

I think it’s all about going down 

to the details and doing things and 

supervising on the smallest details, 

but at the same time, outsource the 

work that others can do. 

Whenever I do something, 

I always ask myself this 

question: Is there someone 

out there who found a 

better way to do this? And 

all I need to do is just pay 

them so they can do it 

better. This way I save my time, my 

energy and my money and I can put 

my efforts and focus in doing better 

things and more things. 

What advice do you have for 

startups? 

I would advise to be careful 

with automation. I have seen so 

many business owners advising 

companies and startups to focus on 

automation and replace humans. 

This might work for you in the short 

term but in the long run, your clients 

and customers would run away 

because they still want to interact 

with humans. They don’t want to lose 

that energetic and positive feeling 

whenever they talk to a human. 

Where do you see the financial 

market heading? 

Nobody can predict what could 

happen to the financial market 

because of you look at the history, 

every time we had a bubble and this 

bubble exploded and made a mess, 

no one ever saw it coming. The only 

guy who saw the housing crisis 

coming in 2008 was rewarded by 

a movie, they made a movie about 

the guy who predicted the crisis, so 

any person who comes on media 

predicting a crisis, they are actually 

just guessing, and if there is a crisis 

that would happen in the near future, 

I always ask myself this 

question: Is there someone 

out there who found a 

better way to do this? And 

all I need to do is just pay 

them so they can do it 

better. This way I save my 

time, my energy and my 

money and I can put my 

efforts and focus in doing 

better things and more 

things. 

it’s not going to be for the reasons 

that everyone anticipates. 

What message do you have for our 

readers? 

The Technology Express is 

everywhere! Every time I go to 

a very insightful event, they are 

always there. They always document 

and ask very good questions. So I 

think it’s a very insightful magazine, I 

think you should continue to explore 

it because the team is fantastic. They 

look and dig deeper for information 

that can be exciting for their 

readers. 

-interview@thetechnologyexpress. 

com 


EVENTS 

INVESTPRO UAE DUBAI 2022 

46 




INTERVIEW 

PER OVERGAARD 

EMEA CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER, LENOVO 

Please start by introducing 

yourself 

Hi, I’m Per Overgaard, and I’m 

interviewing for the technology 

Express. I’m Europe, Middle East, 

and Africa Chief Technology Officer 

for Lenovo data center group. 

Throughout your long journey in 

digital infrastructure, can you point 

out the most important pillars for a 

robust base? 

Yes. I think it’s remembering 

that we’re all on a journey. So I 

often talk to both my team and 

my customers about showing 

progress. I’m not talking about 

speed. I’m talking about moving 

forward. So that’s what innovation 

is all about. It’s the most important 

thing that you can talk about when 

you are at any level in a company. 

It’s something that involves the 

CEO, the CIO, the COO, or the CFO. 

And it’s a collaboration. That’s 

where you get innovation on all 

platforms, it is just that you get 

a full understanding and how 

the company can collaborate 

to become better and more 

competitive. This is how I see IT. IT 

is exactly that vehicle to become 

competitive, to innovate, and to 

move forward, both in company 

and in terms of how to use your 

solutions, but also how to present 

yourself for your customers. 

How do we exploit the value of all 

the data that we are constantly 

collecting? 

That’s a very good question, 

especially here in the UAE. I see 

a lot of interest. I see a lot of 

appetite. And that appetite is very, 

very different from any other 

region that I work with throughout 

Europe and Middle East. It’s 

super nice to talk to people who 

understand innovation and the 

need to innovate. So, AI and Edge 

as a vehicle is going to do exactly 

that. exploit the data that we have. 

We have two very important assets 

in the companies. One is people, 

getting the right people should 

be essential for every company, 

because you get exactly what 

you’re paying for. Now, data is 

something that I think you should 

take very seriously. You own a 

goldmine, and we need to bring 

that goldmine forward with the 

technology that we have and the 

technology we’re going to have the 

next couple of years, bringing what 

we know forward to build super 

cool solutions. So it’s all about the 

data. It’s all about how we treat the 

data, how we use that data. 

What do you consider to be the 

biggest challenge in the journey to 

the cloud? 

Exactly that, it’s data. There’s a 

lot of things around security. And 

there is a lot of things in terms of 

how we build that bridge. So ask 

yourself this question. 

The data center you have today 

on premise, is that an optimal 

solution? Is that fully secure? Does 

it work the way you want it to and 

does it bring you to the next level? 

I questioned that. And because of 

that, we have to see innovation 

in a different way. We have to 

ensure that we don’t shift from A 

to B, just because the technology 

providers are telling you to do 

Yes. I think it’s remembering 

that we’re all on a journey. So I 

often talk to both my team and 

my customers about showing 

progress. I’m not talking 

about speed. I’m talking about 

moving forward. So that’s what 

innovation is all about. It’s the 

most important thing that you 

can talk about when you are at 

any level in a company. 

that. We only go to B if there is a 

really innovative advantage for 

the company that we’re working 

in. And I think you can only do 

that by bringing it out of context, 

maybe even by building a second 

company. And inside that second 

company, you build the innovative 

solutions that you need to become 

the best—the number one. 

What would be the biggest change 

that we would have to adapt to 

next year? 

Again, the change here is all 

about how we get there. So how do 

we get to the next level? How do 

we get to the B? 

And I think this is where you 

can use the cloud and cloud 

technologies as the vehicle. 

But it’s only a vehicle. It’s back 

to the human capital. You need 

to ensure that you have the right 

skills in your CIO office and 

48 



So I do a lot of M&A for Lenovo, 

and the way that I get my 

knowledge is to talk to people 

and engage with people, and 

the media you have is super 

cool way of getting yourself 

on top of different topics and 

ensure that you are always 

staying curious and that you 

always go and ask the why. 

the right understanding for the 

remaining part of the leadership 

to bring you where you want to go, 

and that’s very difficult. First of 

all, it’s not easy to get that kind of 

skill inside your company. There 

are very few innovative people, and 

normally they’re very expensive. So 

let me give you an example. We’ve 

built our next level innovative city 

in the city of Barcelona. 

We couldn’t have done that 

unless we collaborated with a 

lot of other companies. We are 

building a conglomerate. We’re 

building a new company and 

inside that company is even our 

competitors. I think that would 

have been an unthinkable thought 

just a couple of years ago. And now 

we are building it together because 

that is the only way that we can 

move forward. No company is able 

to build that idea themselves. No 

one can stand alone. 


reader? 

I met a really smart technology 

guy here during the weekend, 

when I was at a wedding in 

Barcelona. And the guy said that I 

need to read a lot. I need to update 

myself every day to get the edge 

on predicting next-generation 

solutions or the companies that 

we’re going to buy. So I do a lot of 

M&A for Lenovo, and the way that 

I get my knowledge is to talk to 

people and engage with people, 

and the media you have is super 

cool way of getting yourself on top 

of different topics and ensure that 

you are always staying curious 

and that you always go and ask 

the why. Ensure that you always 

go and interact with the people 

who are around you. This is how 

you become smarter, and this is 

how you create your own vision 

to build the next-generation IT 


-interview@thetechnologyexpress.com 


CRYPTO & DIGITAL ASSETS 

THE ETHEREUM MERGE 

A paramount sort of event in the crypto industries took place recently and the crypto industries are 

never the same again. Too many new terms, and conditions, and all of this are for what? And Oh! 

Questions. Doubts. Whatnot. So here’s everything you need to know about the ETHEREUM MERGE. 

and gained early financial support 

for Ethereum from Silicon Valley 

kingmaker Peter Theil. (However, 

during this year’s Bitcoin 2022 

conference, Thiel railed against 

Ethereum and claimed it was the 

“extreme opposite” of his beloved 

Bitcoin). 

Buterin conceived Ethereum as 

a blockchain network that would 

have far more uses outside of just 

mining cryptocurrency, as with the 

blockchain Bitcoin operates on. 

Ethereum does have its currency, the 

megapopular coin Ether (or ETH), 

but its tech also hosts video games, 

prediction markets, and most of the 

NFTs in circulation. 

What is the Ethereum that everybody 

keeps talking about? 

Ethereum is a decentralized 

blockchain platform that establishes 

a peer-to-peer network where the 

execution takes place securely and 

safely. It verifies application code, 

also known as the known contracts. 

Not only can Ethereum do what 

Bitcoin does which is to transfer 

money globally, but it’s also capable 

of much more – anyone can deploy 

code onto the network. And because 

it’s so flexible, any computer program 

can run on Ethereum. 

Smart contracts are the 

rudimentary building blocks of 

the Ethereum applications. Smart 

contracts are pretty logical. A place 

where transactions and business 

functions can happen without trust 

— without intermediaries. Smart 

contracts on Ethereum put this vision 

into practice. 

What is the Ethereum Merge? 

The Ethereum Merge is the joining 

of Ethereum’s proof of stake (PoS) to 

transition the Ethereum blockchain 

off the legacy to the Proof of work 

(PoW) system. 

That move, known as “the 

Merge,” is of huge consequence. 

Cryptocurrency doubters have always 

been a little skeptical, and perhaps 

argues quintessentially that coins like 

bitcoin and ether are useless and that 

they consume enormous amounts of 

electricity. 

Ethereum’s switch to proof of 

stake has been planned since 2014 

before the blockchain was officially 

deployed. Because of its technical 

complexity, and the increasingly large 

amount of money at risk, it’s been 

delayed multiple times. 

Something important to know 

about Ethereum is that it’s used 

and trusted by many key crypto and 

metaverse players. It was co-founded 

back in 2013 by programmer Vitalik 

Buterin, a longtime crypto enthusiast 

who also helped launch the first 

serious crypto-focused magazine 

How the Ethereum merge will affect 

crypto investors? 

Ethereum is switching to a 

more energy-efficient method of 

substantial transactions that take 

place on the platform, known as 

proof of stake. 

The current proof-of-work model 

requires enormous amounts of 

energy to power computers that race 

to solve complicated math equations 

to validate transactions. 

As the number of transactions 

in the blockchains increases, the 

computational power required to 

solve those puzzles also increases— 

high computational power results in 

increased energy consumption. 

The timeline kept getting delayed, 

causing observers to doubt this 

would ever come to fruition. It 

was only by December 2020 that 

Ethereum completed the first step, 

Phase 0, by building the Beacon 

Chain. The impending Merge, Phase 

1, kept getting teased and delayed. 

Finally, last month, Ethereum 

50 



developers offered Sept. 6 through 

Sept. 15 as the final deadline for the 

Merge’s emergence. 

Opinions and Suggestions that were 

given by a few crypto investors after 

the Ethereum merge 

Though this merge has been 

planned for a while, this might still 

come out as a shock to people, and 

here are a few facts entrepreneurs 

and investors have shared. 

“The effect of this news has 

been speculated on Ethereum price 

as the prices have been falling for 

the last week by approximately 6%. 

Considering the situation, many 

exchanges including Unocoin have 

disabled Ethereum and Ethereumbased 

coins and tokens deposits 

and Withdrawals. As an advice to the 

investors, Ethereum and Ethereumbased 

coins and tokens might be 

highly volatile after this merger and 

any uncalculated risk might prove to 

be fatal,” said Sathvik Vishwanath, 

Co-founder & CEO of Unocoin. 

“The Ethereum merge is a crucial 

step in the transition to proof of stake 

which will lay the foundation of future 

scalability improvements, while also 

significantly lowering the energy 

usage. There are no immediate 

gains like lower transaction fees 

but investors may benefit in the 

long run as it paves the way for 

future improvements in terms of 

costs and ecosystem development,” 

said Sumit Ghosh, CEO, and Co- 

Founder of Chingari, an on-chain 

social app. He also further added, 

“It is premature to determine how 

the merge will affect the Ethereum 

network, but it will undoubtedly have 

a significant influence on the whole 

crypto industry.” “The spotlight is on 

Ethereum as it completes the biggest 

technology upgrade in recent years - 

the Merge. The momentous event is a 

culmination of months of meticulous 

planning and test runs that can 

be compared to the challenge of 

changing the engine of a 24-wheeler 

loaded truck while it is on the move. 

With a successful merge, Ethereum 

can await new investors as it 

transitions to this 2.0 version,” said 

Prashant Kumar, Founder, and CEO at 

weTrade. 

A few Merge risks after the Ethereum 

merge 

Not everything is unicorns and 

rainbows, my friend. Though the 

drastic change has taken over a 

heartbeat for all the investors in 

bitcoin and cryptocurrency, there 

are a lot of things to be thankful for 

because of this incident. Although, 

again, there are a few risks that 

you might need to be a little more 

concerned about. 

People might be expecting a little 

too much after the event: 

This is understandable given 

Ethereum is the second biggest 

crypto in the world and the switch to 

proof-of-stake is unprecedented. 

And this merge is not going to 

address some of the biggest issues 

faced by Ethereum users. Ethereum’s 

price will suffer when people realize 

the much-hyped Merge won’t fix all 

the problems. 

There may be a few technical 

challenges that nobody might be 

aware of: 

Ethereum’s price could see 

significant volatility in the weeks 

surrounding the Merge. Taking a 

longer-term view, it’s important to 

consider the danger that Ethereum 

could slip from its position as smart 

contract crypto king. The most 

likely scenario is that a handful of 

programmable cryptocurrencies 

dominate rather than one player. 

This is all you needed to know 

about the Ethereum merge. Geez 

sounds like a meteoroid clash isn’t 

it? But as it might have its safe ends 

and risks this however is helping the 

economy develop and also giving 

the crypto investors and users a 

boost. Various opinions, thousands of 

questions, and millions of solutions 

for each. As everyone might think “ It 

will all come around someday.” But, 

this much delayed, even more delay. 

A question for a question. But for now 

this adaption but be a little change 

until it becomes the new normal. 



WHEELS 

FERRARI PUROSANGUE 

52 



SPECIFICATIONS 

ENGINE: 6.5-LITER V12 

0-60 ACCELERATION: 3.3 SECONDS 

HORSEPOWER: 715 HP 

TORQUE: 528 LB/FT 

As it always has been and as 

you’ve never seen it before, 

this is Ferrari. Undeniably, 

businesses that traditionally 

produced upscale sports cars are 

now branching out into upscale 

performance SUVs. Even if this trend 

has roots that go back many years, 

the current surge of newer rivals 

shows that there is no better moment 

than the present to enter the luxury 

performance SUV industry and take 

advantage of what some of the top 

ones have to offer. The end product 

is often the ultimate vehicle, one that 

no sports car could ever hope to 

match in terms of on- and off-road 

performance, daily usage, luxury, 

and practicality. The Purosangue is 

Ferrari’s response to the fiercely 

competitive premium performance 

SUV category. Ferrari is one of 

the most enduring and exclusive 

automakers in the world. Although it 

may seem like a radical change for 

the brand, Ferrari adopted the SUV 

design and made it one of its cars. 

The same Ferrari brand may now 

be experienced, but this time on a 

brand-new frontier. The naturally 

aspirated V12 engine in the Ferrari 

Purosangue produces a whopping 715 

horsepower and 528 lb/ft of torque. 

The Ferrari Purosangue can compete 

with some of the top performance 

vehicles in the world, even as an SUV, 

with a remarkable 0-60 time of under 

3.3 seconds thanks to its 8-speed 

dual-clutch gearbox. 


COVER STORY 

54 




CLOUD AFICIONADO AND FOUNDING BOARD MEMBER, 

SAUDI CLOUD COMPUTING ASSOCIATION 

Abdulaziz has over a decade of hands-on experience in business development in IT and Emerging 

Technologies markets. He has been participating and co-leading nation-wide projects of localizing 

technologies across the chain, empowering and enabling local Cloud Computing content and 

participated in drafting national Cloud and Emerging Tech strategies, policies, and regulations. He is a 

mentor, a public speaker and a guest lecturer in Cloud computing, Digital Transformation and Emerging 

Technologies. He gives lectures, participates in talks and panel sessions, and leads workshops at different 

entities, such as King Saud University, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, Badir Program, 

Monshaat Authority, IEEE Saudi Arabia, MCIT, SAFCSP, etc. With over 12 years of being abroad (USA and 

UK), Abdulaziz has successfully achieved his BSc, MSc, and PhD in Computer Science with distinction. He 

has specialized in Cloud Computing during his PhD working and analyzing datasets of Google GCP, Amazon 

AWS and Alibaba Cloud which led to the publishing of a number of peer-reviewed scientific articles and 

posters (available on Google Scholar). 

Exclusive to The Technology Express 

Please start by introducing yourself 

I’m the co-founder and board 

member of The Cloud Computing 

Association in Saudi Arabia, and 

I’m the senior advisor for IT and 

ET at CITC, which is the IT and 

Communications regulatory entity 

in Saudi. 

Can you highlight some of the reallife 

use cases that cloud computing 

makes easier? 

We can see a lot of use cases 

and actually we are living in 

many of them in different sectors 

whether in healthcare, education, 

government, agriculture, and the 

financial sector. For example, in the 

education sector, we’ve seen in the 

pandemic that different countries 

What we have seen so far 

is just a glimpse of what 

cloud computing can bring 

to the world and the globe. 

It is a change of mindset. 

It is a change of the way 

organizations can work from 

now on, companies and the 

government will focus on 

their core business, on their 

value proposition rather than 

updating and having the 

burden of maintaining their 

own IT infrastructure. 

have just switched the way of 

education and delivering education 

rather than closing schools and 

classrooms, in the industrial 

sector for example, we’ve seen full 

automation of floors, we’ve seen 

IoT deployment and sensors that 

are powered by cloud computing, 

also in healthcare, for example, 

we’re seeing a lot of applications 

of telemedicine and also surgeries 

and operations that are being done 

remotely for patients. 

As a founding member of Saudi 

Cloud Computing Association, 

what does the future hold for cloud 

computing? 

What we have seen so far 

is just a glimpse of what cloud 


COVER STORY 

Cloud computing can actually provide more 

cyber security controls through the cloud 

provider, we’ve seen surveys by different 

companies that almost all companies have 

seen improvement in cybersecurity up to 

60% compared to where the infrastructure 

of IT was internally. 

computing can bring to the world 

and the globe. It is a change of 

mindset. It is a change of the way 

organizations can work from now 

on, companies and the government 

will focus on their core business, 

on their value proposition rather 

than updating and having the 

burden of maintaining their own IT 

infrastructure. Also in the future, 

we will see many use cases that 

power AI and power smart cities 

where basically a human being can 

actually live in the space of IT. 

How can enterprises migrating 

their data to the cloud assure its 

safety? 

So basically, there are different 

strategies when it comes to 

migrating from legacy to a cloud 

or from different cloud vendors let 

alone ensuring internal procedures 

and controls over data and whether 

security or privacy is also essential 

rather than just relying 100% on the 

cloud provider. A customer and only 

the customer can safeguard his 

own data. 

Do you think zero-trust security 

should be taken seriously by 

startups in the GCC and the MENA 

region in general? 

It is the mainstream globally. 

We cannot know. No entity can 

actually claim 100% cybersecurity 

or a hundred percent risk-free 

kind of solutions and services, yet 

mitigating the challenges and risks 

is also essential. Cloud computing 

can actually provide more cyber 

security controls through the 

cloud provider, we’ve seen surveys 

by different companies that 

almost all companies have seen 

improvement in cybersecurity up 

to 60% compared to where the 

infrastructure of IT was internally. 

What are some of the latest 

technologies that you think will play 

a major role moving forward? 

So basically AI is the number 

one kind of buzz word that we hear 

nowadays. AI will power how and 

will shift somehow the mindset 

from technology-focused to 

innovation-focused and innovationcentric 

and also will change how 

people live their lives in a positive 

way, things will be smoother, things 

will be sustainable whether we are 

in home or the workplace or even 

walking in the streets. Also, we 

will see a lot of applications when 

it comes to AI and data, we have 

seen it nowadays in deep learning 

and machine learning, and in the 

future we will see a lot of positive 

applications of such technologies. 

Following up on the topic of AI, do 

you think that it is getting out of 

control or is it moving in a healthy 

way? 

It is not getting out of control. 

It is moving in a positive, healthy, 

and prosperous way like any 

technology, like any new kind of 

tool. It is a double-edged sword. Yet 

we’ve seen and we are witnessing 

actually a lot of use cases and 

applications that lift up the lifestyle 

of humans globally and also cut 

costs and improve efficiency and 

effectiveness of how people live 

their lives and how organizations 

perform their work in general. 


readers? 

We are just seeing the tip of 

the iceberg when it comes to how 

positive technology is and how 

positive new solutions and services 

and different kinds of technologies 

are. We will see a lot of positivity 

when it comes to AI, cloud 

computing, and edge-computing, 

people are collaborative and 

communities are working together 

to have sustainable, more energetic, 

and positive day-to-day lives. 

-interview@thetechnologyexpress. 

com 

56 



SPACE TECHNOLOGY 

SPACE TECHNOLOGY START-UP SKYROOT AEROSPACE ACQUIRES 

THE BIGGEST INVESTMENT EVER IN A SPACE-TECH COMPANY 

Asuccessful Series-B 

financing round saw 

Indian start-up Skyroot 

Aerospace receive US$51 

million. This is the largest 

funding round ever in the spacetech 

sector. GIC, one of the most 

reputable investors in India, led 

the funding round. Mayank Rawat, 

Managing Director of GIC India Direct 

Investment Group, will join Skyroot’s 

Board. 

The latest round of funding 

comes in response to the Indian 

government’s massive push into 

the space industry, which included 

opening it up to entrepreneurs 

and promoting private sector 

involvement. his investment 

strengthens Skyroot’s ability to 

capitalize on trillion-dollar space 

commercial possibilities and further 

confirms the company’s technological 

advantages. The business intends to 

satiate the expanding demand from 

the global small satellite industry. 

India’s Skyroot is developing 

India’s first privately built space 

launch vehicles. The flagship Vikram 

series of launch vehicles is named 

for Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, who 

established India’s space program. 

Uniquely constructed with an allcarbon 

fiber frame, Vikram Series 

rockets can send up to 800 kg of 

payloads into low-earth orbit (LEO) 

The Indian Space Research 

Organization (ISRO) and Skyroot 

have signed a Memorandum of 

Understanding (MoU) to share 

resources and expertise. 

Skyroot is gearing up to launch a 

demonstrator in space this year and 

pursue global customer acquisition. 

“We are proud to welcome one 

of the world’s leading institutional 

investors as a long-term partner in 

our mission to ‘open space for all. 

this round puts us on a trajectory 

of hyper-growth by funding all of 

our initial developmental launches 

and enables building infrastructure 

to meet the high launch cadence 

required by our satellite customers. 

our objective is to establish 

ourselves as a provider of best-inclass 

rocket launch services and the 

go-to destination for affordable and 

reliable small satellite launches.” 

said Pawan Kumar Chandana, cofounder, 

and CEO of skyroot. 

“We have validated all three 

propulsion technologies in our 

Vikram space launch vehicles, and 

completed a full duration test of one 

of our rocket stages in May ‘22. We 

are also planning a demonstrator 

launch to space this year. This round 

will help us get to a full-fledged 

commercial satellite launch scale 

within a year from now. We have 

started booking payload slots for 

our upcoming launches.”, said Naga 

Bharath Daka, Co-Founder and COO 

of Skyroot. The financial advisers for 

this funding round are Rothschild & 

Co India. The additional funding will 

assist in growing the elite space 

engineering team, which presently 

numbers around 200 people and has 

a combined expertise of more than a 

thousand years in the rocket industry. 

Prior steps in the company’s 

development of its commercial space 

launch vehicles have previously 

been accomplished. The founders of 

Myntra and CultFit, Greenko Group, 

Solar Industries India Limited, Google 

board member Ram Shriram’s 

Sherpalo Ventures, Neeraj Arora 

(Former WhatsApp Global Business 

Chief), Wami Capital, and others from 

previous funding rounds are among 

the notable shareholders of Skyroot 

has added with this round. 

India’s first privately designed 

cryogenic, hypergolic-liquid, and 

solid fuel-based rocket engines 

were successfully produced and 

tested by the four-year-old Skyroot, 

whose R&D and manufacturing 

activities heavily utilize sophisticated 

composite and 3D-printing 

technology. A new market study 

predicts that the market for space 

launch services will increase at a 

CAGR of 12.25% over the forecast 

period, from $14.21 billion in 2022 to 

$31.90 billion in 2029. 



FINTECH 

5 FINTECH APPS IN THE UAE 

The fintech market in the Middle Eastern region has been speedily growing over the past five years. 

The interest developed in people and the fintech opportunities that the region has been offering 

have been quite revolutionary compared to other provinces around the world. According to a new 

study launched by the Mena Research partners, the fintech sector would attract an investment of 

over $2.5 billion in deals by the end of 2022. The spectacular infrastructure and opportunity that it 

provides will host over 255 startups by the end of 2022. The landscape of the fintech industry in the 

UAE has radically changed over the past six years and has been an ever-evolving sector to date. 

Here are a few fintech apps that have stirred up waves in the market in the UAE: 

PAY TABS 

Founded by Abdulaziz Fahad Al Jouf in 2017, Pay Tabs is a businessto-business 

payments solution provider in Saudi Arabia that 

provides simplified payment solutions to online businesses and 

some innovative and new-age features such as business manager 

dashboards and e-invoices. The app focuses on simplifying the 

system for such entrepreneurs who are required to travel quite 

often or have issues with time constraints. It allows access to 

the business owner from any part of the world and allows him to 

transact or receive money in a more hassle-free manner. Pay Tabs 

ranked 9th in the Forbes list of “The Middle East’s Most Funded 

Startup,” as it raised $27 million in funding in 2020. It has had over 

900 downloads and has successfully processed around $577.8 

million worth of transactions. 

Research shows that the UAE is the hub of over 50% of the fintech 

startups in the MENA region, considering the opportunities and 

flexibility it provides. The authorities are surely making more 

diligent efforts to create a regulated environment to protect users 

from cyber crimes and also promote such industries. 

MAMOPAY 

Mamopay was established by former Google 

employees in the year 2019 with a focus on 

building it as a peer-to-peer (P2P) payments 

app operating in the Middle Eastern region. 

Canceling all the involved hassles, this app 

allows its users to make requisite payments 

or transfer amounts by entering the recipient’s 

phone number and email address only. This 

initiation through technology has not only 

made transactions simpler but also helped in 

avoiding all the shortcomings that could be 

faced when doing a bank transaction in person. 

After raising funds from multiple investors and 

global companies, Mamopay went live after 

raising around $1.5 million. As people found a 

lot of relevance in the user-friendly system of 

the app, it has gained a lot of positive feedback 

from its users. 

58 



FINTECH 

LULU MONEY 

Founded in 2017, LuLu Money is a remittance and money 

transfer app that aims to simplify the modes of transferring 

and transacting money between its users. It also allows WPS 

as salary cards for remittances and has also launched its 

first-ever payroll management card called “My Pay My Card” in 

association with the First Abu Dhabi Bank. This will enable the 

users to make transfers and receive payments without having 

to enter any bank account details. The app has successfully 

launched its e-wallets for expats from the Philippines. LuLu 

Money has successfully been downloaded around 890,000 

times and has processed over 8,25,000 transactions worth $730 

million to date. 

MYFATOORAH 

Established in the year 2016, My Fatoorah was first 

launched in Kuwait as a peer-to-peer transaction 

system. Thereafter, it has spread its reach and now 

has full-fledged operations continuing in Oman, 

Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE, and Egypt. 

The Founder and Managing Partner Abdullah al 

Dabbous has earlier stated that till the year 2022, 

it has processed transactions amounting to $1.7 

million and has reached over 160,000 downloads. It 

is available on both Android and iOS platforms and 

has over 40,000 active users. Such P2P payment 

solutions have simplified the essence of monetary 

transactions among users. 

TABBY 

Dubai-based fintech startup founded 

in 2019 has since built its user base 

not only in Dubai but also in Saudi 

Arabia and prominent parts of the 

UAE. It offers the flexibility of both 

online and offline purchases, which 

would be paid up either through 

a single deferred installment or 

multiple installments. The buynow-pay-later 

fintech has teamed 

up with various retailers to allow 

their consumers the facility to defer 

paying for their purchases for up to 

30 days or make payments within 

four months in equal installments 

at zero cost. The users can avail of 

its services for over 500 merchants. 

In its Series A funding, Tabby 

successfully raised $23 million in 

2020 and thereafter also announced 

a partnership with Visa, joined 

the Saudi Arabian Central Bank’s 

regulatory sandbox for FinTech firms, 

and additionally raised $7 million. 

This app is available both on iOS and 

Android. 


WHEELS 

BENTLEY FLYING SPUR RANGE 

Most six-figure ultra-luxury 

cars are flawless throughout. 

The outcome is something that 

appears to have been taken directly 

from a book of Victorian poetry 

since every last element has been 

thoroughly examined. The outcome 

seems like it’s still a few hours of 

climbing away from the summit 

when these pillars of perfection 

butt up against the spectre of zeroemissions 

rules and restrictions. 

One of the exceptions to the norm 

that saloon versions of cars are 

practical, worthy, and about as 

thrilling as a bowl of white rice is the 

Bentley Flying Spur. 

It’s a Bentley Continental GT 

performance coupe with two more 

doors, which is a nice place to start 

for a luxury vehicle. The Flying Spur 

isn’t for those who are quiet and 

reserved, though; for one thing, it’s 

about five and a half meters long and 

has a front grille wider than most tiny 

automobiles. 

But you don’t purchase a Bentley to 

blend in, and part of the appeal of a 

vehicle like this is that you can make 

a statement with it. The practically 

unlimited alternatives accessible 

begin with choosing a color, and if 

you have a lot of money, your only 

true restriction is your imagination. 

60 




ENGINE: V8 542 BHP @ 6000 RPM/HYBRID 410 BHP @ 5500- 6500 RPM 

ACCELERATION: 4.0 SECONDS 

MAX SPEED: V8 198 MPH/HYBRID 177 MPH 

TORQUE: V8 568 LB-FT @ 2000-4500 RPM/HYBRID 406 LB-FT @ 2000- 5000 RPM 


TECH 

MY 

iPhone 14 Pro Max 

Since the 2019 iPhone 11 series, 

Apple has been releasing “Pro” 

iPhones, but it wasn’t until the 

iPhone 14 Pro phones that it truly 

established a substantial distinction 

between the Pro and non-Pro iPhones. 

A portion of this differentiation can be 

attributed to genuine innovation: the 

iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max introduce 

a completely new user interface that 

has sparked discussion throughout 

the tech industry and is very likely to 

inspire significant changes to the UI of 

Android phones soon. The Pro iPhones 

also bring the highest pixel density to 

an iPhone, enabling a new optical zoom 

range and raising the bar for what 

experts can accomplish concerning 

picture editing. 

Although Apple opted to reuse last 

year’s silicon for the basic iPhone 14 

handsets, only the iPhone 14 Pro and 

Pro Max receive the new A16 Bionic 

processor, which is the other reason 

MONEY 

that separates the two models. 

The Pro iPhones should become 

more popular than in past years due 

to these decisions, and fortunately for 

customers, Apple has mostly lived up 

to the promise. The new phone looks 

strikingly identical to the previous 

model, even though the iPhone 14 Pro 

Max overtakes the iPhone 13 Pro Max 

in several key hardware areas. Except 

for a few millimeters and grams, the 

overall proportions are nearly identical, 

and the new model has the same 

“Ceramic Shield” (reinforced glass) and 

stainless steel sides. The alert slider 

is in the same location as previously, 

as are all the buttons. In other words, 

the 14 Pro Max will feel extremely 

similar if you’ve ever touched or closely 

examined an iPhone 13 Pro Max. 

With a brightness rating of up to 

2,000 nits, the 6.7-inch OLED display 

this year is notably brighter. This 

smartphone’s display is the brightest 

one yet, and you probably won’t need 

to turn it up over 25% brightness when 

using it inside. 

The Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max is large 

in both shape and personality. Along 

with speed improvements, battery 

improvements, camera upgrades, the 

Always-On Display, and the Dynamic 

Island feature, a new design is truly 

attractive, especially in this bigger 

version. It has all the same capabilities 

as its smaller brother and is certainly 

rather pricey and heavy. However, it’s 

still a beautiful gadget for those who 

desire an extra 0.6 inches of display or 

battery life. 

• Size: 6.7 inches. 

• Chipset: Apple A16 Bionic (4 nm). 

• RAM: 6 GB. 

• Battery: 4323 mAh Battery with 

Fast Charging. 

• Camera: 48 MP + 12 MP + 12 MP 

Triple Rear & 12 MP Front Camera. 

• Price: $ starts from 1,479.00 

62 



TECH 

MY 

MONEY 

Android 13 

After several months of beta 

testing, Android 13 is publicly 

available to Pixel phone users. 

The operating system is an incremental 

update that builds on the groundwork 

established with Android 12 and 

launches earlier in 2022 than the 

traditional Android autumn release. 

It offers easy multitasking options, 

cross-compatibility with Chromebooks 

and Google tablets, per-app 

language customizing, photo-picking 

enhancements, and increased privacy 

and security features. Android 13 isn’t 

a revolutionary operating system 

like Android 12, but polishing up the 

fantastic feature set from the previous 

year is sometimes negative. 

Material You, Google’s “radical new 

way to think about design”, redefined 

personalization for Android users last 

year. This tool may change the user 

interface (UI) to match your wallpaper’s 

color scheme. With a wider range of 

colors available in Android 13, you have 

more choice over how the home and 

lock screens appear. It’s a wonderful 

touch that this function has also been 

enhanced to support non-Google app 

color schemes. Unfortunately, since 

developers must choose to enable 

this functionality, many apps we often 

use on our phones currently need to 

support it. 

Additionally, this version includes 

several new permission and privacy 

enhancements that significantly 

reduce OS intrusiveness and increase 

user comfort. Apps on Android 13 

now request your permission before 

sending you alerts. You can turn off 

these notifications as soon as you 

install the app, so you won’t have 

to worry about receiving a barrage 

of alerts every time you open your 

iPhone (or later in the Privacy menu in 

Settings). 

As numerous smart devices utilize 

the Android architecture, Google 

increases device capability and 

interoperability with each new OS 

version. You may easily use your 

Android phone as the control panel 

for your smart devices. Google has 

improved multitasking capabilities in 

Android 13. You can instantly stream 

texts from your phone onto your 

Chromebook. As long as these gadgets 

are Bluetooth-connected, you can send 

and receive messages without picking 

up your phone. 

It shouldn’t be surprising that Google 

is broadening Android’s features 

rather than aiming for another huge 

release in 2022 since Android 12 was a 

significant smartphone update when it 

launched last year. Although Android 13 

seems like a series of improvements, 

the OS is not hurt by this. The brandnew 

customization features are 

fascinating. The updated security and 

privacy policies are a much-needed 

development. The multitasking 

enhancements are a huge productivity 

boost; we hope to see more of them in 

the future. 

New & Improved features 

• New Photo picker 

• A more private Nearby Device 

permission for Wi-Fi 

• App icon theming 

• Improving per-app language 

preferences 

• New Project Mainline modules 

• Bluetooth LE Audio 

• MIDI 2.0 

• Multitasking improvements for 

tablets 

• More control over app 

notifications 

• Improved media controls 

• Developer-downgradable 

permissions 

• Improved text support 

• DNS over HTTPS support 

• Support for Spatial Audio 

• Cross-device sharing 

• Quick Settings: Placement API 

• Under-the-hood improvements 


TECH 

MY 

MONEY 

64 



God of War Ragnarök 

The year’s most-awaited video 

game, God of War: Ragnarök, is 

to be released. On the last PS5 

demonstration in 2021, the release of 

this cult-series game was formally 

announced. 

The first teaser hinted at Atreus and 

Kratos’ long-awaited return. In addition 

to several well-known celebrities, the 

mythology-inspired game will also 

feature some fresh faces. 

Release Date 

According to Sony Santa Monica 

Studios, God of War Ragnarok will 

finally be released on November 9, 

2022, following an initial delay that 

put the game in the 2022 launch 

window. The information was revealed 

unexpectedly in a brief “Father and 

Son” cinematic trailer, which featured 

Kratos and Atreus battling a huge wolf. 

God of War: Ragnarok: Is It a PS5 

Exclusive Game? 

God of War: Ragnarök won’t be a 

PS5-only title. The game, however, 

is only available on the PlayStation. 

Hermen Hulst, the president of 

PlayStation Studios, announced that 

the future God of War game would 

be a cross-gen release for PS4 and 

PS5 gamers in an interview with the 

PlayStation Blog. 

Additionally, the top online casinos 

are getting ready to adapt the premise 

of this brand-new installment in the 

cult series to launch a slot that players 

could never have imagined playing. 

However, all of that is in the future and 

depends on when the game will be 

launched. 

God Of War: Ragnarök – A Detailed 

Storyline 

The trailer for the new game gives 

you a clear impression of the plot. 

Years after the publication of the final 

God of War game in 2018, fans saw a 

confident Atreus, whose genes will 

once more be in play. 

The father-and-son team must be 

ready to face the impending Ragnarok, 

the Norse people’s fabled catastrophe, 

and fight against foes they created like 

Thor or Freya. The storyline will let you 

explore Nine realms, three more than 

the previous God of War game, adding 

Asgard, Svartalfheim, and Vanaheim. 

The trailer also introduces intriguing 

new characters, such as Angrboda, 

one of the last living giants. The 

enormous man you see after the trailer 

is Tyr, half-brother of Thor and son of 

Odin. Tyr was imprisoned by his father, 

and desired to get revenge on him. 

2018’s God of War Spoiler Alert! 

At the end of the 2018 God of War, 

Atreus and Kratos discover that Mrs. 

Kratos, or Faye, was originally a giant 

named Laufey. The realization of this 

knowledge transforms Arteus into 

Loki, a half-giant, half-god. Yes, it is the 

mischief-loving Loki from the Marvel 

movies and Norse mythology that you 

are familiar with. 

After such a significant revelation, 

word spread that Fimbulwinter would 

also be arriving. Your knowledge of 

Norse mythology may be lacking if you 

don’t know what it is, but that’s good 

since we’re here to enjoy the game, not 

mythology. Ragnarok is the result of a 

three-year “great winter.” 

Thor appears in the post-credits 

sequence, and Kratos approaches him 

to find out what he wants. Thor may 

seek retribution for allegedly “killing 

his sons,” or he may want Kratos’ 

assistance to avert Ragnarok. 


WHEELS 

2022 GMC HUMMER EV 

A 

fully electric pickup truck, the 

2022 GMC Hummer EV, also 

known as the Hummer EV 

SUT, is intended to serve as a flagship 

and proving point for General Motors’ 

attempts to transition its cars from 

gas and diesel. The Rivian R1T and 

Ford F-150 Lightning are two less 

monstrous EV options. At the same 

time, the Jeep Gladiator maintains 

some of the same fundamental, tough, 

tactical appeals in a more compact yet 

gasoline-powered design. 

Superior to the trucks that had 

the logo before. The Hummer EV is 

one of the fastest vehicles because 

of its three powerful engines, eyecatching 

historical style, and futuristic 

“moonshot” accents. It also has more 

than 300 miles of range. 

The Hummer EV was created by 

combining GM’s knowledge of bodyon-frame 

trucks and unibody cars. 

The battery was sandwiched between 

layers and inside the frame rails to 

become an integral part of the vehicle’s 

chassis. 

The 2022 Hummer EV draws on the 

history of the military Humvees dating 

back over 40 years and GM’s nowdefunct 

Hummer brand. However, it is 

entirely electric and unrelated to the 

full-size trucks produced by GM today 

or the Hummers of the past. 

The finished vehicle is the largest 

and heaviest electric car yet made for 

personal use. The Hummer EV can 

accelerate this more than 9,000-pound 

heavyweight to 60 mph in roughly 

three seconds thanks to its well over 

200 kWh of energy storage in a nearly 

3,000-pound battery pack and 1,000 

horsepower and 1,200 lb-ft of torque 

from its three motors (one front, 

two rear). As a result, the Hummer 

EV receives a 329-mile range rating 

from the EPA; however, this rating 

isn’t legitimate because the Hummer 

EV isn’t the light vehicle the test is 

designed for. 

66 




AMBIENT COMPUTING; WHAT DOES IT MEAN 

One of the newest technological buzzwords in Silicon Valley is ambient Computing. It refers to technologies 

that allow people to use a computer without realizing they’re doing it. 

Computing You Can’t See 

Technology companies have 

been working to further integrate 

computing platforms into our daily 

lives over the past few years. One of 

their goals is to assimilate computers 

into our surroundings so that we 

don’t notice we’re using them. 

These technologies, often known 

as “ambient computing,” carry out 

computations for you without your 

explicit instruction. These gadgets are 

meant to be seamlessly incorporated 

into the surroundings that you are 

no longer aware of since ambient 

refers to “in your environment.” 

This is significantly different from 

smartphones and smartwatches we 

must actively check to use. 

The majority of computing 

systems rely on user input. For 

instance, you would enter the title 

of the movie and the theatre, where 

it would be shown in the Google 

search box to look up the movie 

schedule on your phone. You may use 

a remote control or mobile app to 

manually adjust the air conditioner’s 

temperature to make your house a 

bit cooler. 

Ambient Computing aims to 

reduce resistance between you and 

the computer. You would interact with 

your environment, and the gadgets 

would react to your actions rather 

than explicitly setting or dealing with 

them. For example, an ambient smart 

thermostat analyses the space and 

your interactions with it to determine 

68 



FUTURE TECHNOLOGY 

the appropriate temperature setting. 

To do this, ambient Computing 

uses a range of technologies, such as 

motion tracking, speech recognition, 

gestures, wearables, and artificial 

intelligence. 

The IoT 

One should look into the concept 

of the IoT, or the Internet of Things, 

to better understand ambient 

Computing. 

The Internet of Things (IoT) 

connects several technologies, which 

combine to provide customers with a 

smart experience. Consider a smart 

building with sensors, memory, and 

ability. When you enter the building 

with your pass, the smart building 

remembers your preferred lighting 

and temperature, the time your 

morning meeting is scheduled to 

begin, and the way you drink your 

coffee. 

The Internet of Things (IoT) is 

now in use worldwide, even though 

it may seem expensive to some and 

hopelessly futuristic to others. An 

ambient computing environment is 

being created in our homes by the 

multitude of smart, app-connected 

household items now available, 

including cat flaps, coffee makers, 

smart lighting, and alarm clocks that 

mimic natural sunlight. These devices 

include smartphones, laptops, 

tablets, smart TVs, smartwatches, 

and voice-activated digital assistants. 

What about in our places of work? 

Many firms are still exploring the 

full potential of ambient Computing 

and the IoT; therefore, it’s possible 

that how various companies intend 

to use the idea may vary greatly 

depending on the sorts of sectors 

they operate in. 

With the capacity to gather 

analytics and actively learn from 

them, ambient Computing may help 

a business function to its fullest 

potential by removing several 

stages from working procedures 

and fostering the development of 

stronger routines. 

Ambient Computing in the workplace 

The relationship between a 

computer and an employee in the 

workplace has traditionally been 

straightforward: The employee uses 

Computing to gather information, 

but with ambient Computing, the 

computer (or rather, a collection of 

internet-enabled devices) gathers 

the information for us, as soon as we 

indicate we need it, or possibly even 

before. This should be possible for 

any straightforward office operation, 

thanks to devices’ convergence and 

capabilities. 

For most of us, smartphones, 

computers, and tablets are now 

common in the office. In 2019 and 

beyond, it’s expected that voiceactivated 

digital assistants and smart 

technologies for the workplace, 

including lighting, will increase. 

Ambient Computing will become 

commonplace as we progress toward 

the fully integrated smart workplace, 

and we won’t think of the average 

workday as beginning when we get 

to the office, log on to the computer, 

and open our email (then head to the 

kitchen to make a cup of coffee). 

Ambient Computing will ensure 

that our surroundings and gadgets 

are always one step ahead of us, 

which will help us in many ways, 

including cost savings for company 

executives and decision-makers, 

improved teamwork, and enhanced 

employee flexibility. 

What is the future of ambient 

Computing? 

There will probably be even more 

ambient Computing in the future. 

Numerous gadgets can already 

detect when you wake up. Smart 

technologies may one day be able to 

open your curtains so you may wake 

up to natural light rather than an 

alarm. 

When you enter the living room, 

a room sensor may alert your 

speakers to your presence, and they 

might begin telling you the day’s 

news. These are instances of ambient 

Computing, which is already present 

all around you in various intelligent 

products that seamlessly integrate 

the computer into your surroundings. 

Several hardware manufacturers 

are using ambient Computing in their 

marketing and design philosophies. 

The smart home operating system 

used by Samsung, a leader in the 

field of smart technology, is referred 

to as “Project Ambience.” 

Google has been eager to become 

involved with ambient Computing. 

The business is probably going to 

increase the number of hardware 

products in its lineup so that they 

better match its present selection of 

integrated services. 



GADGET 

REVIEWS 

LEICA D-LUX 7 “A BATHING APE 

Х STASH” CAMERA 

New York graffiti legend Stash 

(AKA Josh Franklin) has been 

working with streetwear brand 

A Bathing Ape since the Nineties, 

most recently on a pair of 20th 

anniversary Bape Sta sneakers. 

Their new collab, however, is a 

decidedly more luxe offering: a 

camouflage Leica camera. Whether 

you want to blend in at the Barbican 

Conservatory or stand out on the 

street-style circuit, the lightweight 

D-Lux 7 is a compact picture-taking 

powerhouse, perfect for people who 

want to take their photography to the 

next level. This collab, which comes 

with A Bathing Ape and Stash logos 

engraved on the camera body and an 

embossed rope strap, is limited to 

only 1,850 models worldwide. 

THERABODY THERAFACE PRO 

Therabody is bored with coping 

with our aching muscle tissues; 

now the American health 

model is coming for our faces. 

Fortunately, it has opted for one thing 

just a little gentler this time round: 

the TheraFace Professional is a 

percussive gadget that comes with 

a trio of easy silicone attachments, 

a multi-spectrum LED mild ring that 

enhances collagen manufacturing, 

and a microcurrent functionality 

that tones facial muscle tissues. 

People have been impressed after 

the company examined it at launch, 

and they expect it to have awesome 

potential for individuals who maintain 

numerous tensions around their 

jaw. There are additionally warmth 

and cryo attachments, available 

individually. 

Percussion massagers provide some 

of the relief of a hands-on massage 

in the comfort of your own home 

by alleviating tension and soreness 

through percussive pressure at 

variable speeds. 

Theragun makes some of the best 

massage guns, and the Theragun Pro 

is the brand’s top-of-the-line device: 

at $600, it offers more adjustability 

and attachments compared to 

other Theragun massagers, like 

the compact Theragun Mini or the 

mid-range Elite. The Pro comes with 

six attachments (the most of all 

Theraguns), has two rechargeable 

batteries instead of one, and has 

an adjustable head for easier 

maneuvering whether you’re using it 

on yourself or someone else. Plus, it 

offers commercial-grade sturdiness 

and can withstand 60 pounds of force. 

70 



GADGET 

REVIEWS 

TEAC TN-280BT-A3 TURNTABLE 

The vinyl resurgence reveals 

no sign of stopping. However, 

the subsequent step is to 

discover a report participant that 

appears nearly as good as it sounds. 

Choose TEAC’s Seventies-model 

‘TN-280BT-A3’ in walnut, a 2-pace 

belt drive turntable that offers inbuilt 

Bluetooth, which implies no 

tough wiring. The TN-280BT-A3 is 

not only a great-sounding turntable 

for music enthusiasts who want to 

enjoy vinyl records from the closet 

or re-issues. It brings you a totally 

new way of listening to vinyl records 

with its Bluetooth capability. No 

extra cost for hi-fi components or 

complicated wiring is required. Only 

Bluetooth speakers or headphones 

you might have for iPhones are 

required to enjoy the world of vinyl 

records. The TN-280BT-A3 also 

accommodates a built-in phono EQ 

amplifier that provides line output 

and allows you to connect to almost 

any sound system regardless of the 

type of input. The belt-drive motor on 

the TN-280BT-A3 reduces vibration 

for sweeter, more accurate sound 

than direct-drive turntables for DJs, 

while an aluminum die-cast platter 

and anti-skating system provide a 

solid foundation for great-sounding 

playback. The high-performance, 

upgradable MM cartridge AT3600L 

from audio-Technica captures 

every detail on your record, and the 

static-balanced straight-tone arm 

ensures clear sound. It’s all housed in 

a handsome case in black or walnut 

veneer. 

SAMSUNG WIRELESS CHARGER 

It might be a Samsung gadget, however, this reasonably 

priced and unobtrusive wi-fi charger works with Apple 

and Android telephones too, in addition to headphones 

that are arranged for the function. An LED light lets 

you know when the charge is complete, dimming in the 

evening in order to not disturb your sleep, and the 9W 

quick charging assist ensures that you simply get the job 

carried out rapidly. 

People tend to use charging docks in places or rooms 

where they spend a lot of time. This means that you 

might handle your charger quite often. It may be on your 

nightstand and used in dark or dim situations, it may be on 

a crowded workspace top, or it may be in a busy kitchen 

area with family coming and going at all times of the day. 

Mobile phones are truly just small, portable computers, 

and people simply can’t afford to have excessively long 

charging times. People are advised to purchase a wireless 

Samsung charger that provides a charging speed of at 

least 7.5 watts. Just like you want to have a fast charging 

speed, you also will want to know the level of charge your 

battery has reached. This is why it’s useful to purchase a 

charger with an LED light that indicates the percentage 

that your battery has charged. However, you might also 

want to make sure that the light on your wireless charger 

isn’t too intense and doesn’t bother you when you’re 

sleeping, for instance. Some chargers have lights that can 

be turned off or dimmed according to your preference. 


CYBERCRIME 

SKY MAVIS’ RONIN BLOCKCHAIN CYBER ATTACK 

The Ronin Networks blockchain system was created by Sky Mavis for the play-to-earn game Axie 

Infinity. A Sky Mavis employee downloaded a PDF file with spyware hidden inside, resulting in one 

of the biggest cryptocurrency thefts ever. The company lost 173,600 ETH and 25.5 million USDC 

(around $540 million at the time of the incident). 

About Axie 

Infinity and Ronin 

Networks 

Axie Infinity is an online video 

game in which players earn 

cryptocurrency with the 

help of fantastic creatures 

known as “axies” which can be “bred,” 

used in competitions, and sold to 

other players. To players, axies 

look like cuddly animals, but they 

are essentially non-fungible tokens 

(NFTs). 

Released in 2018, Axie Infinity soon 

gained a wide audience. At its peak, 

players could earn so much that for 

some in South East Asia it became a 

full-time job. In its record-breaking 

November 2021, the game had a 

daily player count of 2.7 million and 

revenues last year hit $215 million 

per week (by the summer of 2022, 

however, they had dipped to a modest 

$1 million per week). 

How did the attack happen? 

The cybercriminals used the 

malware to gain access to the 

private keys of network validators, 

that is, nodes that verify and confirm 

cryptocurrency transactions. There 

were nine such validators in Ronin 

Networks at the time of the attack, 

and to carry out the transfer, at 

least five of them had to approve it. 

Eventually, the attackers managed 

to compromise four validators at 

the company itself and a fifth in 

the decentralized autonomous 

organization Axie DAO, where it 

would (and should) not have been, 

were it not for an oversight on the 

part of Sky Mavis itself. 

In November 2021, due to the high 

volume of transactions and load on 

the validators, the company allowed 

Axie DAO to approve transfers. After 

a month, the load decreased, and 

Axie DAO’s assistance was no longer 

required — but the rights to approve 

transactions were not withdrawn, 

which played into cybercriminals’ 

hands. Having penetrated the Sky 

Mavis system, the hackers also 

gained access to Axie DAO, which 

provided the fifth validator needed 

to withdraw funds from others’ 

accounts to their own. 

The Ronin network hack took place 

on March 23, but it wasn’t discovered 

for days. It was ultimately disclosed 

on March 29. The attacker stole 

173,600 Wrapped Ethereum (WETH) 

and 25.5 million USDC stablecoins, 

which were collectively worth about 

$622 million at the time of disclosure, 

but $552 million when the attack took 

place. 

Ultimately, the attackers drained 

the funds via the bridge that connects 

Ronin to the Ethereum main net, 

using hacked private keys to gain 

control of five of the network’s nine 

total validators to sign fraudulent 

transactions and transfer the funds. 

Users can withdraw one Ether for 

each one they held in March once 

the bridge reopens, a spokeswoman 

for Sky Mavis said in a statement. 

The 56,000 Ether tokens missing 

from the Axie Infinity-related DAO, 

or decentralized autonomous 

organization’s treasury, will remain 

uncollateralized. 

Sky Mavis pledged in March to 

reimburse online participants who 

lost funds. The firm raised $150 

million in a funding round led by 

crypto exchange Binance in April. At 

the time, the firm said it planned to 

use the money and Sky Mavis’s and 

Axie Infinity’s resources to reimburse 

72 



Ronin bridge users. 

Sky Mavis’s views on the cyber 

attack 

“The new round, combined 

with Sky Mavis and Axie balance 

sheet funds, will ensure that all 

users are reimbursed. The Ronin 

Network bridge will open once it 

has undergone a security upgrade 

and several audits,” Sky Mavis said. 

Leading the funding round was 

Binance, which will also be allowing 

ETH withdrawals and deposits for 

Axie Infinity users. 

“The 56,000 ETH compromised 

from the Axie DAO treasury will 

remain undercollateralized as Sky 

Mavis works with law enforcement to 

recover the funds.” “If the funds are 

not fully recovered within two years, 

the Axie DAO will vote on the next 

steps for the Treasury,” the company 

said. He further added, “We believe 

that Axie will go down in history as 

the first game to imbue players with 

true digital property rights and recent 

events have only strengthened this 

conviction.” 

The situation after the incident 

Sky Mavis has called for the 

responsible disclosure of security 

vulnerabilities that may affect 

its operations and users.“While 

researching, we’d like to ask you 

to refrain from doing automated 

testing, denial of service, spamming, 

spoofing, and phishing. Performing 

further attacks once you have proof 

of Remote Control Execution (RCE) 

attacks may have your bounties 

forfeited,” the policy section of the 

bug bounty program read. 

“Only vulnerabilities with a working 

proof of concept that shows how it 

can be exploited will be considered 

eligible for monetary rewards.” 

“Determination of whether a reported 

issue sufficiently meets the bar for 

monetary rewards is done at Sky 

Mavis’ discretion,” the blog added. 

The hack attack on the Ronin 

Network was discovered by Sky 

Mavis on March 23, making for 

the largest-ever loot to have been 

extracted out of a blockchain hack. 

The attacker had cracked the control 

of Sky Mavis’s four Ronin validators 

and a third-party validator run by 

Axie DAO (decentralized autonomous 

organisation). A legal investigation is 

underway in the case. Sky Mavis has, 

meanwhile, raised $150 million in a 

recent funding round led by crypto 

exchange Binance. The funds will 

be used to reimburse victims of the 

Ronin attack. Overall, cybercriminals, 

last year stole over $1.3 billion from 

hacking the blockchain sector, a 

report by blockchain research firm 

CertiK claimed in January. 


HEALTHCARE 

AR AND VR USES IN CLINICAL DIAGNOSIS 

With the increase in medical imaging operations, a lot of oncology specialists are adopting digital reality 

technologies like AR and VR since there is enormous potential across different stages such as detection, 

diagnosis, and treatment. 

It is true that AR and VR technologies have driven the gaming and entertainment industries, but they also 

have a very good potential to transform the healthcare industry since they can change a lot of traditional 

healthcare operations and branches in a number of ways, including radiology, oncology, training, and more. 

Still, at a very early stage, digital reality (AR/VR) technologies are helping care delivery specialists save 

lives and take critical decisions. These technologies have the potential to bring overall healthcare costs 

down. Considering the potential of VR and AR, healthcare may revolutionize the way diagnostic practice is 

carried out to view MRI and CT images. 

With the increase in 

medical imaging 

operations, a lot of 

oncology specialists 

are adopting digital 

reality technologies like AR and VR 

since there is enormous potential 

across different stages such as 

detection, diagnosis, and treatment. 

It is true that AR and VR 

technologies have driven the gaming 

and entertainment industries, but 

they also have a very good potential 

to transform the healthcare industry 

since they can change a lot of 

traditional healthcare operations 

and branches in a number of ways, 

including radiology, oncology, training, 

and more. Still, at a very early stage, 

digital reality (AR/VR) technologies 

are helping care delivery specialists 

save lives and take critical decisions. 

These technologies have the potential 

to bring overall healthcare costs 

down. Considering the potential of VR 

and AR, healthcare may revolutionize 

the way diagnostic practice is carried 

out to view MRI and CT images. 

AR and VR in Medicine 

Globally, AR and VR revenue in 

the healthcare market is projected 

to grow from US$1.2 billion in 2021 

to US$11.6 billion in 2028, a CAGR 

of 38.3%. Some of the fundamental 

factors expected to boost the growth 

of augmented and virtual reality 

in the healthcare market include 

technological advancements and 

digitalization in healthcare, favorable 

government initiatives, rising 

healthcare expenditure, and growing 

usage of surgical procedures and 

74 



medical training. 

Patient care management 

applications will lead the market for 

augmented reality and virtual reality 

in healthcare. The use of AR and VR 

in therapies and rehabilitation is 

increasing in the healthcare market. 

Rehabilitation applications will 

include their use in physical therapy 

and for the care of brain injuries, 

stroke, and other conditions. 

AR and VR techniques are being 

increasingly adopted for use in 

surgeries and diagnostics. Systems 

such as touch surgery use virtual 

reality to provide a view of the 

patient’s anatomy and physiology, 

thereby providing opportunities 

for surgeons in the operating 

room. This, in turn, is expected to 

expand the growth of the market 

for augmented reality and virtual 

reality in healthcare. The growing 

adoption of AR and VR technologies 

in medical surgeries to optimize 

surgical procedures and increase 

the efficiency of treatment has been 

one of the key factors driving market 

growth over the past few years. 

How can AR and VR Help the 

Healthcare System Handle 

Challenges? 

Augmented reality (AR) is the 

technology that allows a smart 

device to display information, videos, 

and graphics in the real world. 

This technology allows the user to 

augment the real world by viewing 

additional data as it is incorporated 

into the real world. Virtual reality 

(VR) is a simulated reality created by 

computer technology where a person 

is completely immersed in a digital 

environment. The most widespread 

examples of VR are VR chats, Volvo 

test drive reality, The North Face’s 

hiking experience in Yosemite 

National Park, and an immense 

number of VR games. 

Healthcare companies use AR 

and VR technologies to improve their 

customer experiences by effectively 

engaging them in healthcare 

activities. Doctors and healthcare 

In December 2021, Musk stated that 

SpaceX would reach Mars by the year 

2026 and, after being familiar with all the 

conditions, their company would be able to 

take humans to the Red Planet in a much 

more sustainable manner. 

specialists also benefit from VR and 

AR technologies by using them in 

operating rooms and classrooms. 

AR and VR technologies have a 

fast-growing market and are quickly 

gaining popularity in medicine 

and healthcare. Although both 

technologies are in their early stages 

of adoption in healthcare, they are 

already able to provide high-quality 

assistance to doctors and medical 

specialists in inpatient treatment and 

educate the public. 

Advantages of Utilizing AR and VR 

over Traditional Medical Imaging 

Techniques 

The depth perception achieved 

from 3D imaging used with AR or 

VR may provide visualization and 

additional characteristic detail such 

as microcalcification (a tiny abnormal 

deposit of calcium salts) and its 

patterns, such as compact clusters 

or a linear or branching pattern, to 

determine the risk of cancer. Thus, 

AR/VR imaging may decrease the 

amount of manual thresholding by 

providing more details about complex 

structures. 

AR/VR environments may 

facilitate enhanced or additional 

digital content on radiology 

processing tools. An example 

could be the use of different colors 

to represent different parts of a 

complex structure or the use of 

different shapes like a cube or sphere 

(remember, AR and VR provide 

3D imaging) to represent similar 

anatomies. A radiologist, surgeon, 

and patient can improve their 

communication and collaboration 

with computer-generated graphics 

with this additional information. AR/ 

VR enabled imaging may provide 

additional arrows or note(s) in 

imaging for easier communication 

between the aforesaid. It may 

also improve overall patientcare 

procedures. Considering the 

advancements in head-mounted 

devices (HMD), AR/VR devices can 

provide a better interface and control. 

Advanced head-mounted devices can 

track head motion and accordingly 

facilitate virtual imagery. Such 

technology may allow a radiologist 

to deliver anatomical information 

quickly on a virtual surface and 

help them to understand details by 

providing the capability of zooming 

in on a particular part of the virtual 

image. 



MARKETING TECH 

ROBLOX TO LAUNCH 3D 

ADVERTISING NEXT YEAR 

The online gaming platform plans to launch 3D immersive advertisements the next year in 

an attempt to go beyond the present in-game purchases. 

The gaming company said at its annual developer’s conference that Roblox plans to launch 

the immersive advertisements in 2023 after testing them with developers and a small 

number of marketers by the end of 2022. 

The company said Roblox’s 

immersive ads would only 

target audiences aged 13 

and above. 

The current global 

economic issues are wreaking 

havoc on the advertising business 

worldwide. The declining income has 

also affected well-known advertising 

networks like Snap and Meta. As 

lockdowns ended and schools 

reopened, Roblox too suffered 

the effects as user spending was 

decreased by inflation. 

To counter the declining demand, 

Roblox has turned to the metaverse. 

At its Roblox Developers Conference 

(RDC), held in September 2022, 

Roblox gave a sample of its brandnew 

immersive in-game advertising. 

In 2023, the Roblox Immersive 

Ads are most likely to launch. The 

new ad format will allow for creating 

3D portals that may carry Roblox 

76 



he gaming platform said during the Roblox Developer 

Conference that it would spend more than $580 

million on its developer exchange by June 2022. 2.7 

million people generated Robux on the site from their 

projects in only the month of June. 

users to unique virtual worlds. With 

58.5 million daily active users, Roblox 

is presenting its new Immersive Ads 

offering as a way for businesses 

to build stronger customer 

relationships. 

By adding a new dynamic that 

lets users manage the scarcity of 

their goods, Roblox is also expanding 

its Marketplace, where artists can 

sell their creations for the in-game 

money known as Robux. The launch 

of Roblox’s new monetization 

strategy coincides with a downward 

financial trend experienced by the 

gaming platform as a whole. 

Roblox has already succeeded in 

luring businesses that want to test 

out the metaverse. Numerous wellknown 

companies, like Nike, Gucci, 

and Gap, already have a presence 

in Roblox and have used activations 

specifically suited to the platform, 

such as persistent spaces that vary 

over time. Roblox is attempting to 

attract more advertising revenue 

from businesses hoping to profit from 

the Web3 medium by introducing an 

immersive advertisement option. 

Posters for Roblox Vans World are 

all over the Internet. A “sponsored” 

disclosure is shown in a video that 

advertises the activities and is shown 

on an overhead screen. 

The avatar is brought into a 

branded virtual area after entering a 

portal. Similar principles apply as the 

player passes through the portal to 

return to the original experience after 

leaving Vans World. 

Brands will be able to advertise 

their own Roblox venues to 

audiences of Gen Z and Gen Alpha 

customers, who are generally 

difficult to contact. For the creators, 

the ads have the potential to be 

lucrative. As marketers pay to be 

showcased in well-known worlds 

that already entice users to spend 

time there, creators may monetize 

their efforts. 

Instead of creating their worlds 

from scratch, many businesses are 

choosing to use existing Roblox 

experiences. To promote inclusion, 

American Eagle created a spring 

campaign that included a club in the 

well-liked Roblox role-playing game 

Livetopia, which has had more than 

1.5 billion visitors. 

The gaming platform sees the idea 

of creators making money through 

Robux as essential to expanding its 

creative economy. 

The gaming platform said during 

the Roblox Developer Conference 

that it would spend more than $580 

million on its developer exchange 

by June 2022. 2.7 million people 

generated Robux on the site from 

their projects in only the month of 

June. 

Roblox also intends to offer 

producers on its Marketplace 

control over the scarcity of online 

commodities by enabling them to 

resell or exchange things to support 

individual business initiatives. 

Through these technologies, 

Roblox is envisioning a future in 

which all products will have a finite 

quantity and where everyone can 

shop in a customized marketplace for 

the goods they love. 

Roblox did not meet Wall 

Street’s revenue targets and user 

growth projections in its secondquarter 

earnings in August. Last 

April, industry watchdog Truth in 

Advertising filed a letter to the 

FTC accusing Roblox of deceptive 

marketing practices. However, in 

its RDC, the company announced 

that the new Immersive Ads on 

its platform would be labeled as 

advertisements. 

Most of Roblox’s revenues are 

currently generated from Robux, its 

virtual currency, which players use 

to upgrade their avatars via in-game 

purchases of pets or accessories. 



WHEELS 

CADILAC 

ESCALADE 2023 

The Cadillac Escalade from 

2023 is among the top luxury 

SUVs available. It addresses 

every perspective or uses you could 

imagine. Cadillac lavishes it with a 

first-rate cabin that stands head 

and shoulders beyond its similarly 

opulent rivals. Both the normal 

and cargo-extended Escalade ESV 

versions have a tonne of room. 

The ride is really smooth when you 

combine the magnetic ride dampers 

with the optional air suspension. 

The Escalade-V even comes in a 

performance model for 2023. 

Although this type of vehicle may 

be fundamentally wasteful, the 

Escalade has a Duramax diesel 

engine that is more efficient. It’s 

supple and startlingly quiet, which 

fits Escalade’s character. The 

Escalade has three OLED panels and 

an intuitive infotainment system, so 

there is no shortage of technology 

inside. Additionally, Super Cruise, the 

finest hands-free driving assistance 

technology currently available, is 

available with it. 

Although the German threerow 

SUVs provide a very different 

perspective on the notion of an 

ultra-luxury SUV, and the Navigator 

may be more sumptuous with its 

various interior choices, the Escalade 

is tough to match as a whole. It is 

feasible to customize a full-size 

luxury vehicle in the “Have It Your 

Way” way, even if it means choosing a 

668-horsepower supercharged V8. 

78 




ENGINE: V8 6.2 LITER ECOTEC3 

ACCELERATION: 6.1 SECONDS 

HORSEPOWER: 682 HORSEPOWER 

TORQUE: 653 POUND-FEET OF TORQUE 


MICROSOFT LAUNCHES AZURE 

AVAILABILITY ZONES IN THE UAE 

Amid organizations’ increasing focus on futureproofing operations and safeguarding 

considerable gains gained in their digital transformation programs, cloud-native business 

continuity, and disaster recovery suite launches in the country, 

Microsoft announced on 

August 23 that Azure 

Availability Zones would 

be made generally 

available and provided 

by its Dubai-based UAE data centers. 

Microsoft’s commitment to the UAE 

government, its business community, 

and its people is strengthened 

by the investment, which aims to 

increase the competitiveness of UAE 

enterprises via essential business 

continuity and disaster recovery 

solutions. 

According to Naim Yazbeck, 

General Manager of Microsoft UAE, 

“With the advent of the always-on 

economy, uptime and ongoing 

access to important data, apps, and 

workloads have become front-ofmind 

considerations for the region’s 

technology stakeholders.” “As 

industries undergo more change and 

organizations face competition from 

market disruptors, competitiveness 

depends on an organization’s capacity 

to carry on even when external 

factors disrupt marketplaces and 

supply chains. Such capabilities 

cannot be provided by backups alone. 

Infrastructure and solutions that 

are strategy-focused are necessary 

for rapid recovery to be successful. 

That is what Azure Availability Zones 

deliver.” 

Complete business continuity 

and disaster recovery plans must 

include Azure Availability Zones 

as a fundamental component. 

Through enhanced architecture and 

integrated end-to-end security, it is 

intended to guarantee the resilience 

and availability of business-critical 

applications and data in times of 

crisis. 

The introduction of Azure 

Availability Zones shows that 

Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure 

80 



ENTERPRISE IT 

The capabilities and 

advantages provided by 

Microsoft’s enterprisegrade 

data centers in 

Dubai, which went 

live in June 2019, will 

be expanded upon by 

Azure Availability Zones. 

The facilities’ services 

have allowed many 

organizations to expand 

their capacity and rethink 

their business models. 

in the United Arab Emirates is 

prepared to serve as the foundation 

for futureproofing initiatives 

implemented by organizations in the 

aftermath of the COVID pandemic. 

The capabilities and advantages 

provided by Microsoft’s enterprisegrade 

data centers in Dubai, which 

went live in June 2019, will be 

expanded upon by Azure Availability 

Zones. The facilities’ services have 

allowed many organizations to 

expand their capacity and rethink 

their business models. Emirates 

Group, Commercial Bank of Dubai, 

Mashreq Bank, and First Abu 

Dhabi Bank are some of the UAE 

organizations that have already 

switched to Microsoft Azure 

Availability Zones. “As a company, we 

believe in the ability of technology to 

provide a better and more agile client 

experience as well as to help our 

staff to be dynamic and stay in front 

of changes in our sector. According to 

Srinivasan Sampath, First Abu Dhabi 

Bank’s Acting Group Chief Technology 

Officer, “the new availability zones 

will allow us to improve how we use 

Microsoft Cloud, offering us a greater 

level of data security, resilience, and 

flexibility, which in turn will support 

our customer-centric ethos and 

allow us to provide greater benefits 

for our clients.” 

“For more than three years, 

regional entrepreneurs have used 

the intelligent, dependable, and 

adaptable Microsoft Cloud as the 

core of their digital transformation,” 

Yazbeck continued. “Business agility, 

cost reduction, productivity, security, 

governance, and compliance are 

just a few advantages that our 

regional cloud clients have noticed. 

We anticipate a quick uptake of 

Availability Zones now that the area 

has been given access to them 

as clients look to safeguard their 

significant gains. 



AVIATION 

BOOK FLIGHTS WITH CRYPTO: 

LEARN MORE 

Online tokens like Bitcoin 

and other well-known 

cryptocurrencies enable 

you to control money on 

a peer-to-peer network 

that a central bank does not 

regulate. These digital currencies 

are secure, convenient, and helpful 

for swiftly completing international 

transactions. 

More travel companies are 

allowing consumers to use 

cryptocurrencies to pay for their 

reservations for hotels and flights as 

the advantages of cryptocurrencies 

become more widely understood. It is 

frequently as simple as choosing the 

Bitcoin option when checking out to 

purchase your tickets. 

Airlines that accept cryptocurrency to 

book flights 

These websites will be useful if 

you need to utilize a company that 

takes cryptocurrencies but still want 

to compare hotel and flight costs to 

get the best deal. To compare the 

prices of businesses that accept 

digital currency as payment and work 

with your travel plan, you may quickly 

search and filter a wide range of 

businesses. 

Travala.com 

Travala was founded with 

cryptocurrency as a travel booking 

platform based on blockchain 

technology. Although the website also 

takes a broad range of popular and 

alternative digital tokens, you may 

still pay using conventional methods. 

In addition to providing rates up to 

40% less expensive than other travel 

platforms for more than 2,200,000 

rental homes in 230 territories and 

countries, it continues to be one of 

the most cryptocurrency-friendly 

booking sites. 

This website deserves special 

attention because it uses AVA, a 

cryptocurrency native to the platform. 

It can be acquired as part of loyalty 

rewards or refunds, used to pay for 

travel expenses, or kept as a store of 

value. 

Alternativeairlines.com 

Alternative Airlines provides 

you with a wider choice of flights 

by using small airline carriers 

in remote destinations. On this 

comprehensive online ticketing site, 

you may select from over 650 airlines 

to easily and securely purchase 

tickets to destinations worldwide. It 

also provides a multi-stop booking 

option that enables you to create an 

itinerary for a trip that includes many 

places. 

If you are worried that unforeseen 

circumstances might prevent you 

from flying, Alternative Airlines lets 

you add Cancellation Protection to 

your booking. You may get a complete 

refund for your ticket if you can’t 

travel because of illness, mechanical 

problems, bad weather, and more for 

a modest cost. 

This company accepts over 25 

international payment methods 

and over 160 currencies without 

extra charges. Alternative Airlines 

collaborates with Utrust and Crypto. 

com to allow cryptocurrency 

payments, enabling you to pay for 

tickets using Bitcoin, Dash, CRO, 

Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple, UTK, 

and Tether. Choose “cryptocurrency 

payments” on the checkout page and 

make a payment using one of the 

accepted third-party processors. 

Alternative Airlines supports 

payment methods that let you pay for 

your flight in monthly installments 

or pay at a later time in addition to 

taking Bitcoin and other currencies. 

Additionally, if your departure date 

is changeable, you may use the Best 

Fare Finder feature to get the best 

deal. 

Bitcoin.Travel 

Although this airline is based 

in Poland, you may book flights 

to cities like New York, London, 

and Tokyo anywhere in the world. 

Major media outlets praise Bitcoin. 

Travel for having one of the most 

comprehensive lists of flights, 

rentals, and hotels from companies 

that accept cryptocurrencies as 

payment. To choose the best travel 

agency for your trip, use its excellent 

search engine, limiting your results 

by location, airports, airfare, dates, 

times, and stops. 

Founded in 2011, Bitcoin.Travel 

was one of the earliest adopters 

of cryptocurrency payments in the 

travel industry. Bitcoin.Travel has 

grown to accept seven different 

cryptocurrencies despite its name: 

BCH, DASH, LTC, ETC, BTC, ETH, 

and DOGE. However, you must first 

purchase bitcoin before sending 

82 



the money. Twenty-four hours after 

check-in, the company sends your 

funds to the vacationing host. 

CheapAir.com 

Since 1989, CheapAir has 

searched for the most economical 

hotels, flights, and car rentals, 

and in 2013, it began taking bitcoin 

payments. The popular tokens 

Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Dash, 

Ethereum, and Litecoin are currently 

accepted. 

This firm examines up to 100 

times more low-cost possibilities to 

get the greatest airline ticket prices 

than comparable travel agents. 

Through its price drop payback 

method, CheapAir will offer you a 

credit in the amount of the difference 

if you discover a lower ticket or if 

your airfare decreases after your first 

booking. You may also spread out 

the cost of your tickets with offers 

beginning at 0% APR. 

On the website, you may reserve 

discounted flights to practically any 

location and over 200,000 hotels 

worldwide. You may use its search 

engine to look for one-way, roundtrip, 

and even multi-city tickets by 

entering a place and a date. For 

those who want to discover the 

greatest value inside a certain time 

range, CheapAir also offers ticket 

alternatives with flexible dates. 

AirBaltic 

The distinction of being the first 

airline in the world to accept Bitcoin 

on its website belongs to AirBaltic. 

This airline joined businesses like 

Expedia and Dell in taking bitcoins in 

2014 as part of its creative strategy 

for customer-focused service. This 

one is one of the few airlines that still 

permits direct flight bookings using 

cryptocurrencies. 

Use the airBaltic website to 

explore the listed ticket costs in 

euros, then go to the payment screen 

to use Bitcoin to buy an airline ticket. 

The airline will then swap your 

Bitcoins for euros at the prevailing 

currency rate via the third-party 

On the website, you may reserve discounted flights 

to practically any location and over 200,000 hotels 

worldwide. You may use its search engine to look 

for one-way, round-trip, and even multi-city tickets 

by entering a place and a date. For those who want 

to discover the greatest value inside a certain time 

range, CheapAir also offers ticket alternatives 

with flexible dates. 

payment processor BitPay. Since 

it cannot directly take bitcoins, a 

miner fee is additionally required for 

every transaction. Only the cheapest 

airBaltic Basic class tickets are 

eligible for this option. 

There are 60 distinct destinations 

in Europe, the Middle East, 

Russia, and the Commonwealth of 

Independent States, where you may 

pick from direct flights. AirBaltic’s 

headquarters are in Riga, Latvia, 

providing connectivity to a wider 

network from its destinations via 

North Hub Riga. 

Why buy air tickets with Bitcoin? 

Security. Using Bitcoin to purchase 

plane tickets gives you complete 

control over your money. 

Full control. Only you have open access 

to and control over the Bitcoin in your 

account; the banks do not control it like 

they would a currency account. 

Blockchain tech. Since the 

transactions are taking place on the 

blockchain, the payments will be 

significantly more secure. 

Privacy. Unless you provide the 

passwords to your wallets, no one 

can steal your money. 

Track your payments. You can view 

a complete list of transactions from 

your bitcoin wallet because all 

payments are also recorded on the 

blockchain. 

How and where to buy Bitcoin? 

You’ll need to convert your fiat 

currency into Bitcoin before you can 

start buying airplane tickets using 

cryptocurrency. Practically any 

nation can complete this since it is 

so simple. The two best places to 

purchase bitcoin are Coinbase and 

Binance. 



MANUFACTURING 

TOP 5 EV (ELECTRIC VEHICLES) BATTERY 

TECHNOLOGY INVENTIONS MOVING THE 

INDUSTRY AHEAD 

Environmental engineers 

are reducing transportation 

emissions by developing 

battery technology for 

electric vehicles (EVs). 

The EV market is growing as more 

politicians who care about the 

environment take office. The Biden- 

Harris administration, for instance, 

established an emission-reduction 

objective by increasing public EV 

fleets. 

Many environmentalists are 

concerned about EV development 

plans because they expect difficulties 

with municipal solid waste (MSW). 

To reduce MSW from lithium-ion 

batteries, engineers are increasing 

the capacity of the batteries used 

in electric vehicles. Extending the 

battery life of electric cars may 

reduce emissions and advance the 

sector. 

Current EV Battery Technology 

Challenges 

The materials used in EV batteries 

provide the biggest environmental 

problem. Most EVs use lithium-ion 

batteries to store power and increase 

their range. Ecologists have identified 

many types of environmental 

deterioration linked to lithium mining 

and battery production. 

A poisonous leak from the 

Ganzizhou Rongda mine was found 

when locals living close to the Liqi 

River spotted dead fish and animal 

corpses at the river’s bank. Local 

ecosystems close to mines can 

contaminate subsurface pollutants, 

harming biodiversity. 

The poor recycling rates of 

existing EV battery technologies 

provide another difficulty. Car 

batteries can be returned to 

some manufacturers to recover 

important metals; however, some 

manufacturers throw the batteries 

into landfills, where they contribute 

to hazardous stormwater runoff. 

Due to the insufficient battery 

capacity of current electric cars, 

some buyers are reluctant to invest 

in the technology. EVs typically have a 

234-mile range. People who routinely 

drive long distances could choose 

gas-powered vehicles instead. 

The good news is that fresh 

developments may lead to 

advancements in EV battery 

technology. 

Here are five of them: 

1. NanoBolt lithium tungsten batteries 

Researchers at N1 Technologies, 

Inc. introduced multi-layered 

tungsten and carbon nanotubes to 

battery anode materials, which link 

to the copper anode substrate and 

84 



develop a nanostructure resembling 

a web. More ions can connect to this 

large surface during recharge and 

discharge cycles. Because of this, the 

NanoBolt lithium tungsten battery 

can be recharged more quickly and 

hold more energy. For use in any 

lithium battery design, nanotubes are 

available and ready to be trimmed to 

size. 

2. Zinc-manganese oxide batteries 

How exactly does a battery 

function? A DOE’s Pacific Northwest 

National Laboratory team looked into 

conventional theories and discovered 

an unexpected chemical conversion 

process in a zinc-manganese oxide 

battery. It is possible to enhance 

energy density in traditional batteries 

without raising costs if that process 

can be managed. For large-scale 

energy storage to support the 

country’s electrical system, the zincmanganese 

oxide battery becomes a 

potential replacement for lithium-ion 

and lead-acid batteries. 

3. Organosilicon electrolyte batteries 

Lithium battery issues include 

the potential for the electrolyte to 

catch fire or explode. Professors 

of chemistry at the University of 

Wisconsin-Madison Robert Hamers 

and Robert West created liquid 

solvents based on organosilicon (OS) 

to create something less dangerous 

than the carbonate-based solvent 

system used in Li-ion batteries. 

The resultant electrolytes may 

be molecularly tailored for the 

commercial, industrial, and military 

Li-ion battery industries. 

4. Gold nanowire gel electrolyte 

batteries 

Researchers at the University 

of California, Irvine, experimented 

with gels, which are less flammable 

than liquids, in their hunt for a 

better electrolyte for lithium-ion 

batteries. After coating them with 

manganese dioxide, they attempted 

to encapsulate gold nanowires in 

electrolyte gel. Usually too fragile 

to be used in batteries, nanowires 

have improved in durability. When 

the scientists charged the resultant 

electrode, they found it could 

maintain a charge for 200,000 cycles 

without losing it. In comparison, a 

typical battery has 6,000 cycles. 

5. TankTwo String Cell batteries 

The lengthy recharging procedure 

for electric vehicles (EVs) prevents 

their adoption. TankTwo looked at 

modularizing a battery to reduce 

hours to minutes. Their String 

CellTM battery comprises several 

tiny, autonomous, self-organizing 

cells. Each string cell is made of a 

plastic casing coated in a conductive 

substance that enables it to make 

connections with other cells quickly 

and readily. The connections in the 

electrochemical cell are under the 

supervision of an internal processing 

unit. The battery’s tiny balls are 

sucked out and replaced with 

recharged cells at the service station 

to enable rapid charging of an EV. The 

cells may be recharged at the station 

during non-peak times. 

Benefits of Expanding Battery Life for 

Electric Vehicles 

To save the global ecology, 

environmental engineers are 

extending the battery life of electric 

cars. The transportation industry 

produces about one-fifth of 

greenhouse gas emissions, and this 

air pollution worsens ecosystem 

stability and speeds up climate 

change. 

Additionally, tailpipe emissions 

harm people’s health and wellbeing. 

Greater risks for lung cancer, 

asthma, and other respiratory 

diseases are present in areas with 

high emissions. Additionally, they 

are more susceptible to strokes and 

heart attacks. 

Purchasing electric trucks, 

cars, buses, and other kinds of 

transportation might positively 

impact the environment. People 

may have fewer health problems by 

switching to electric vehicles instead 

of gas-powered ones. Additionally, 

society can protect biodiversity by 

To save the global 

ecology, environmental 

engineers are extending 

the battery life of electric 

cars. The transportation 

industry produces about 

one-fifth of greenhouse 

gas emissions, and this 

air pollution worsens 

ecosystem stability and 

speeds up climate change. 

lowering air pollution. 

Minimizing MSW is another 

advantage of developing the EV 

sector and battery life. A circular 

economy, which depends on 

constantly reusable items to 

narrow the gap between mining and 

manufacturing, may be supported 

by recycling EV batteries and other 

vehicle parts. 

Boosting Electric Car Battery 

Capacity Pays Off 

The main issue with 

contemporary EVs is the poor rates 

of battery recycling. To reduce 

MWS and harmful discharge, 

environmental engineers are 

optimizing the recycling of lithium. 

Those who purchase EVs now may 

have access to more environmentally 

friendly end-of-life solutions than 

current owners. 

Drivers may upgrade their 

sustainability by replacing their 

lithium-ion batteries with lowimpact 

substitutes, thanks to the 

EV industry’s swift expansion and 

innovative sustainable options. 

Individuals can attain low-emission 

transportation alternatives by 

upgrading car components. 



EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY 

DIFFERENT WAYS METAVERSE IS 

REVOLUTIONIZING EDUCATION 

The term ‘metaverse’ has 

been a really hyped word 

that was initially coined by 

Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO 

of Meta, formerly known as 

Facebook, who put his main focus on 

developing a more digitized future. 

Currently, this word is widely in use 

in everyday life and has found its 

own relevance in all sectors, namely 

travel, entertainment, business, IT 

companies, and even interpersonal 

relationships. Amongst all this, the 

education sector is not debarred, and 

it also has found its point of linkage 

with the metaverse that helps in 

providing a positive impact on the 

pedagogical and cognitive practices 

and also serves to give a better 

learning experience. 

The term ‘meta’ means beyond 

and ‘verse’ indicates the universe. 

This new-age concept helps in 

creating a computer-built reality 

system that is in parlance with 

the real world wherein people 

are allowed to interact with the 

digital environment and objects 

present therein. This reduces the 

gap between the virtual and the 

real world as it all gets overlapped 

with the help of technology. Users 

are free to have their own identities 

that are customizable and could be 

transferable across other platforms 

as it is a completely centralized 

system. People are still not entirely 

aware or well versed in its working, 

but the scope that it provides is 

immense. This is the pivotal reason 

that it has found such perfect 

relevance in the education industry, 

as it creates an environment that 

is conducive to both teaching and 

learning. 

Due to the pandemic, students 

have not been able to attend classes 

physically and are forced to learn 

through online classes. However, 

it has been accepted by various 

educators that platforms such as 

Zoom, Teams, and Google Meet are 

not quite favorable for students as 

they lack the factor of collaboration 

and competitiveness. This is where 

the concept of the Metaverse fits in 

perfectly. The students are allowed 

to indulge in a more immersive 

learning system that would help 

them interact and also empower the 

students with the required learning 

content. When compared to online 

classes, introducing Metaverse into 

the teaching and learning process 

would sincerely serve as the best 

alternative to physical classes. 

Students are required to not only 

attend classes but also perform 

experiments and research, and even 

take part in group projects. The duty 

of ensuring that all these tasks are 

duly performed by the students 

for their knowledge is upon the 

teachers and the educators. In such 

situations, they are able to take care 

of it better, as all these activities are 

being performed in real-time and 

the students can interact with the 

teachers and vice versa if the need 

arises. This paves the way for greater 

creativity and innovativeness in the 

86 



students as they are required to 

arrive at the solutions based on their 

own deductions in a virtual space. 

The shackles of contemporary 

teaching and learning systems could 

be shattered by the introduction 

of Metaverse in all educational 

spaces. The experiences that it 

provides to the children are quite 

extensive and beyond imagination, 

which helps the student have the 

information engraved in their minds. 

For example, students in a science 

class are learning about the solar 

system and the universe. Using 

the technology of Metaverse, the 

students can travel through time and 

space on a virtual spaceship and 

reach the outer realm of the Earth 

to learn about astronomy. The same 

applies to history classes as well. 

The students can travel back in time, 

experience archaeological remains 

and major historical sites with their 

own eyes, and also see the greatest 

historical events happen right in 

front of them. Also considering a 

laboratory class, the students would 

not be bound to use the tools that are 

physically present and available but 

they could have access to any and 

every laboratory tool and product 

that is required for their experiment. 

Metaverse can also replicate and 

duplicate objects for better learning 

within the digital space. Working 

on complex engineering tasks has 

also been made easier through 

powered simulation, which runs in 

a safe digital environment. This not 

only helps in shaping the minds of 

the students at any level but also 

provides them with a holistic and 

wholesome learning experience that 

will be fun, enjoyable, and insightful 

as well. 

For educators also, the usage of 

Metaverse has been beneficial as 

they can readily deliver periodically 

longer or even shorter lectures 

to a large group of students 

which otherwise would not have 

been possible in real or physical 

classrooms. The lecturers could be 

transformed into animated teachers 

The prominent 

reason that Metaverse 

is changing the 

gameplay when it 

comes to education 

is that firstly, it 

is bridging the 

gap between the 

experiences of physical 

and online classrooms. 

as well and this helps the teacher 

not only save their own time but 

also devote that same amount of 

time to offer a student personalized 

guidance in cases when it is required. 

Therefore, it does not become a 

routine task for teachers and they 

can actually enjoy the task that they 

are doing. 

The prominent reason that 

Metaverse is changing the gameplay 

when it comes to education is that 

firstly, it is bridging the gap between 

the experiences of physical and 

online classrooms. Metaverse 

is removing the redundancy that 

online education has currently 

brought in and is being unprejudiced 

while allowing realistic objects 

and depictions into the scenario. 

Secondly, it is elevating the level of 

communication and negating the idea 

of isolation and loneliness that online 

classes may serve. Metaverse is 

allowing the students to participate, 

collaborate, and socialize, which 

would not only foster their learning 

experience but would also improve 

their cognitive development as well. 

Physical distances between the 

teacher and the student should not be 

the reason for their stunted growth 

as the new technology now is aiming 

to allow the participants to interact 

freely in the virtual world. Thirdly, 

it crucially supports the concept of 

immersive learning. The technology 

of the Metaverse is supported by two 

main spheres of the invention that is 

Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual 

Reality (VR). These technologies can 

be used to their maximum capacity 

only when enjoyed with headsets, 

glasses, and other gears that provide 

for a wholesome journey. This nature 

of learning is known as immersive 

learning as it not only focuses on 

expediting knowledge but also 

converts it into reality and increases 

engagement. Finally, it provides 

the benefit of gamified learning. 

Gamification makes learning fun, and 

effortless and just like the real game, 

it provides for real-time feedback, 

thus improving the scope of problemsolving. 

The learning environment 

resembles a real-life situation and 

this makes the overall learning 

experience come to life. 

The mode of education has been 

evolving. Libraries have always 

been a constant source of gaining 

knowledge through physical copies of 

books. With the advent of computers, 

learning has shifted to PowerPoint 

presentations, pdfs, and various 

other sources. However, this new age 

concept of Metaverse is set to change 

the lives of not only educators and 

students but the whole world as 

the way education was perceived 

would be completely changed 

for the good. Forms of learning 

would not be classic anymore as 

it would be a more vivacious and 

engaging experience for everyone 

involved in the process. It would be 

immensely exciting to see the kinds 

of advancements that technology can 

bring to us in the future. 



LATEST TECH 

SAUDI’S MEWA SIGNS MOU 

WITH INTEL 

The Ministry of Environment, 

Water and Agriculture, is 

a government ministry in 

Saudi Arabia responsible 

for the sustainability of the 

environment and natural resources 

in the Kingdom. The ministry is also 

in charge of developing and applying 

policies that contribute to achieving 

water and food security. The current 

Minister is Abdulrahman Al-Fadli, 

who was appointed as the Minister 

of Agriculture on 15 January 2015 

and kept his position after amending 

the name of the Ministry to the 

Ministry of Environment, Water and 

Agriculture in May 2016. Because of 

its areas of responsibility, H.E. the 

Minister chairs the boards of several 

vital organizations related to the 

Ministry’s fields of operation, such 

as the Presidency for Meteorology 

and Environment, the Saudi 

Wildlife Authority, the Saline Water 

Conversion Corporation, National 

Water Company, Saudi Arabian 

Grains Organization, the Agriculture 

Development Fund, and the Irrigation 

and Drainage Authority. 

The Ministry implements 

environmental, water production, 

and agricultural plans and programs 

across the Kingdom with a focus on 

sustainability and value creation. It 

has widened its contribution to the 

national economy through numerous 

programs, especially in the areas of 

food security, water preservation, 

and environmental protection. Within 

these vital industries, it has created 

millions of viable, value-adding, 

sustainable jobs for the citizens of 

Saudi Arabia. 

Signing ceremony 

The signing ceremony took place 

at The Global AI Summit, held under 

the patronage of His Royal Highness 

Crown Prince Mohammed Bin 

Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, at 

King Abdul-Aziz Conference Center 

88 



The signing ceremony took place at The Global 

AI Summit, held under the patronage of His 

Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammed Bin 

Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, at King Abdul- 

Aziz Conference Center in Riyadh from the 13th 

through the 15th of September. 

in Riyadh from the 13th through the 

15th of September. 

The memorandum was signed 

by the Director of the General 

Administration of Information 

Technology and Digital 

Transformation at the ministry, Dr. 

Abdul Hamid Bin Abdullah Al-Alaiwi, 

and the General Manager of Intel 

Corporation in the Kingdom of Saudi 

Arabia, Eng. Ahmed Al-Abdul- 

Jabbar. Dr. Al-Alaiwi pointed out 

that the signing of the memorandum 

represents one of the aspects of 

cooperation between the government 

and private sectors in the fields of 

modern and emerging technology 

such as the Internet of Things, 

augmented reality, remote sensing, 

and AI. The agreement is in line with 

the goals of the Kingdom’s Vision 

2030 and achieves the goals of the 

Ministry’s digital transformation 

strategy for the next four years. 

“The MoU represents one of the 

many ways of fostering publicprivate 

collaboration on cutting-edge 

and emerging technologies, such 

as the Internet of Things, enhanced 

reality, remote sensing, and artificial 

intelligence, as well as e-government 

best practices and bolstered digital 

infrastructure capabilities,” said Dr. 

Elaiwi. He further added, “The MoU 

is in line with Saudi Vision 2030 and 

the Ministry’s digital transformation 

strategy for the next four years.” 

Why this agreement and 

understanding? 

The MoU was signed on the 

sidelines of the Global AI Summit, 

organized by the Saudi Data and 

Artificial Intelligence Authority 

(SDAIA) at the King Abdul-Aziz 

International Conference Center in 

Riyadh. 

A statement to the press 

mentioned, “The MoU aims to 

facilitate the mutual recognition of 

educational qualifications, periods 

of study undertaken, documents 

related to academic degrees or 

qualifications, and accreditation by 

educational institutions within the 

two countries.” It will also facilitate 

the establishment of joint or dual 

degree courses between higher 

education institutions, one of our 

objectives under NEP 2020 for the 

Intel-nationalization of Education.” 

The signed MoU seeks to 

bring about a bilateral exchange 

of information concerning the 

educational structure, programs, and 

standards and increase the mobility 

of students and professionals 

between the two countries. It also 

aims at encouraging cooperation in 

the education sector, and the creation 

of newer study programs as mutually 

agreed upon by the signatories. 

At the Ministerial Roundtable at the 

Global AI Summit, member states of 

the Digital Cooperation Organization 

(DCO) agreed to adopt the Riyadh AI 

Call for Action Declaration (RAICA), 

which seeks to use AI technology 

to benefit people, communities, 

nations, and the world as a whole. 

The declaration was signed by all 

members of DCO including Bahrain, 

Cyprus, Djibouti, Kuwait, Morocco, 

Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Jordan, 

Rwanda, and Saudi Arabia. The call 

to action aims to advance the DCO’s 

commitment to identify and address 

present, emerging, and future 

humanitarian issues in the field of AI. 

Deemah Al Yahya, Secretary 

General of DCO, said: “DCO was 

created with the ethos of establishing 

an inclusive digital economy through 

collaboration across diverse entities 

at all levels. The RAICA declaration 

is this idea put into practice. By 

signing this declaration, all DCO 

member states are reaffirming their 

shared desire to usher in a brighter 

future for all by harnessing the huge 

potential of AI to improve the lives of 

people around the world.” 

DCO has developed a series of 

action areas to help these pillars 

to be implemented. To do this the 

member countries will push to 

provide all individuals with the 

resources they need to obtain AI 

literacy; work with organizations to 

identify how to employ AI to advance 

human rights; improve digital 

infrastructure; adopt comprehensive 

AI ethical guidelines; develop AIsupported 

initiatives to address 

global challenges; use AI to reduce 

human impact on the climate; and 

setup multilateral collaboration to 

accelerate AI accessibility across 

nations. 



BIOTECH 

HOW JOHNSON & JOHNSON IS UTILIZING 

TECHNOLOGY TO TRANSFORM THE WAY 

WE LIVE AND WORK 

There were little over one 

billion people on the planet 

in 1886, the year Johnson 

& Johnson (J&J) was 

founded. 131 years later, 

J&J now provides daily services to 

slightly over a billion people globally. 

The corporation manufactures 

many goods essential to people’s 

everyday lives and professional 

endeavors, including several wellknown 

consumer brands, life-saving 

medications, and important service 

delivery components. 

It is more difficult than ever 

to keep up the supply chain that 

ensures all these different items get 

to where they need to go. 

The company transformed its 

supply chain into a platform that 

promotes innovation across the 

board to better serve the demands 

of J&J’s expanding client base. This 

is no simple endeavor, given J&J’s 

size and breadth. With over 60,000 

employees and 350 distribution 

locations worldwide, J&J fulfills more 

than 100,000 orders daily, providing 

goods and services to millions of 

homes, shops, pharmacies, and 

hospital operating rooms. 

More and more futuristic-looking 

technologies, such as self-driving 

vehicles and intelligent robots, are 

making headlines daily. 

These developments mark 

the start of the so-called Fourth 

Industrial Revolution, which will 

transform how we live and work. 

While the Third Industrial Revolution 

gave billions of people access 

to digital technology, the Fourth 

Industrial Revolution is distinguished 

by a variety of cutting-edge 

technologies that have an impact on 

all economies and industries and 

provide new career opportunities for 

those in the fields of manufacturing, 

design, and science, technology, 

engineering, and mathematics. 

Finding and deploying these 

new technologies has become a 

top concern for businesses all over 

the world because they have the 

potential to impact every part of 

the company, including operations, 

production, distribution, and 

customer experience. However, some 

people have adapted more quickly 

than others. 

To hasten a more thorough and 

broad use of these technologies in 

manufacturing, the World Economic 

Forum and McKinsey & Co. developed 

the Global Lighthouse Network in 

2018. Ninety manufacturers from 

various industry sectors have so far 

been given Lighthouse certifications 

for their use of technology from 

90 



The World Economic Forum 

has selected the Lighthouse 

honorees as global leaders 

who have embraced and 

integrated innovations to 

pave the way for others. 

Lighthouses have been used to 

help navigation for thousands 

of years. 

the Fourth Industrial Revolution 

to boost production and efficiency 

while also practicing environmental 

stewardship. 

The World Economic Forum has 

selected the Lighthouse honorees as 

global leaders who have embraced 

and integrated innovations to pave 

the way for others. Lighthouses have 

been used to help navigation for 

thousands of years. 

Two new Lighthouse certifications 

have just been given to Johnson & 

Johnson, one for its orthopedics 

business’ commitment to end-toend 

client connection and the other 

for its London-based Vision Care 

order-fulfillment processes. The 

firm now holds seven Lighthouse 

Certifications, more than any other 

company, in pharmaceuticals, 

medical devices, and consumer 

health. 

According to Johnson & Johnson’s 

Executive Vice President and Chief 

Global Supply Chain Officer Kathy 

Wengel, “Improving the end-to-end 

customer experience is the key to 

success.” While maintaining our 

commitment to quality, enhancing 

sustainability benefits for the planet, 

and improving cycle time and 

visibility for the patients, consumers, 

and customers we are honored 

to serve, advanced manufacturing 

technologies contribute to greater 

efficiencies and connectivity across 

Johnson & Johnson. 

Johnson & Johnson DePuy Synthes 

Advance Case Management in 

Bridgewater, New Jersey. 

Received Lighthouse designation 

for putting in place a fully digital 

platform that guarantees orthopedic 

surgeons get the ideal combination 

of useful instruments and gadgets 

for each patient, reducing waste and 

speeding up operating room setup 

time. 

Johnson & Johnson Vision Care 

Order-Fulfillment Operations in 

London 


for Creating a one-stop shop for 

order administration has improved 

the customer experience. 

Johnson & Johnson DePuy Synthes in 

Suzhou, China 


for establishing a seamless digital 

platform that boosts connection 

and productivity and benefits the 

business’s expansive operations 

Cognitive Automation 

Data is at the core of Johnson & 

Johnson’s goal for a more intelligent 

supply chain. Johnson & Johnson can 

send data crawlers into the supply 

chain to collect and index massive 

volumes of data based on pre-set 

criteria because of its strong IT skills. 

Depending on the insight that 

advanced planning is trying to 

attain, it is possible to develop an 

analytics layer that can produce 

various data tools, which can then 

be used to create a number, such 

as a prediction. To accurately notify 

customers of how long it will take for 

their purchase to arrive, the data may 

be utilized, for instance, to determine 

the typical durations it takes for 

a certain product to complete its 

supply chain trip. 

As an alternative, it might alert 

teams to any supply chain nodes 

where performance is routinely 

falling short of expectations. Once 

they have been located, these 

inefficiencies may be corrected, and 

ongoing evaluations can be done to 

ensure the required changes have 

been made. 

Let’s start with something easy, or 

at least somewhat easy, Ackerman 

suggested. “You place an order. When 

they’re going to get it, either you or 

the person listening wants to know. 

Very basic, correct? Except that it’s 

incredibly difficult. When someone 

orders widget A over six months, 

they will often ask when it will arrive. 

Did we truly give them the correct 

date when we said it would be on this 

day? In reality, you’ll discover that 

most of the time, individuals aren’t.” 

Your brand’s performance may 

be improved with the customer 

experience by implementing an 

intelligent supply chain that uses 

automation and data. It’s encouraging 

to see well-known companies like 

Johnson & Johnson set the bar in this 

arena. 



BUILDING AUTOMATION 

SIEMENS 

ESTABLISHES 

MULTIPLE 

PARTNERSHIPS 

ACCELERATING 

DIGITAL 

TRANSFORMATION 

Although most corporate 

executives concur that 

going digital is a top priority 

for their organizations, 

these changes frequently stop in 

practice. Only 40% of companies are 

successful in scaling up their digital 


To speed up digital transformation 

and value creation for clients of 

all sizes in the industry, buildings, 

grids, and mobility, Siemens AG has 

introduced an open digital business 

platform, Siemens Xcelerator. The 

business platform facilitates a 

quicker, more scalable, and easier 

digital transformation. In addition to 

a growing ecosystem of partners, a 

dynamic marketplace, and a curated 

portfolio of internet of things (IoT) 

enabled hardware, software, and 

digital services from within Siemens 

and from approved third parties, 

Siemens Xcelerator also has a 

growing community of partners. 

The open digital business platform 

creates value for participants by 

facilitating interactions and fostering 

innovation between multiple 

parties. With the launch of Siemens 

Xcelerator, step-by-step, Siemens 

will transform its entire portfolio of 

hardware and software to become 

modular, cloud-connected, and built 

on standard application programming 

interfaces (APIs). Technical and 

commercial governance principles 

will ensure all parties’ highest 

standards and values. Siemens and 

third-party offerings will adhere to 

interoperability, flexibility, openness, 

and as-a-service design principles. 

Enabling easier, quicker, and more 

widespread digital transformation 

Since no one can innovate 

independently, the open digital 

business platform benefits users 

by stimulating connections and 

encouraging creativity among various 

stakeholders, including consumers, 

partners, developers, and others. 

With the introduction of Siemens 

Xcelerator, Siemens will gradually 

convert its whole range of hardware 

and software so that it is modular, 

cloud-connected, and constructed 

using industry-standard application 

programming interfaces (APIs). 

Strong technical and commercial 

governance principles guarantee 

the highest quality and value for 

all stakeholders. Offerings from 

Siemens and other companies will 

follow interoperability, flexibility, 

openness, and as-a-service design 

tenets. 

New SaaS launch – Building X 

Siemens announced the first 

new SaaS offering as part of 

Siemens Xcelerator. Building X is a 

revolutionary smart building suite 

that provides a single source of truth 

(SSOT) that simplifies digitalization 

and helps clients reach their net 

zero objectives. Data silos in energy 

management, security, and building 

maintenance are broken down by 

an end-to-end data and analytics 

package. Building X is an open 

software package that is completely 

cloud-based, modular, and has 

built-in cybersecurity and AI-enabled 

applications. 

On June 27, 2022, Siemens 

stated that it had reached a deal to 

buy Brightly Software, a renowned 

provider of asset and maintenance 

management software located in the 

United States. With this purchase, 

Siemens’ digital and software 

expertise in buildings will also 

include Brightly’s well-established 

strengths across important 

industries. The Siemens Xcelerator 

for Buildings portfolio will be a key 

component. 

Siemens also intends to 

incorporate Industrial Operations 

X, which combines solutions and 

applications from the sensor to edge 

to cloud, IoT as-a-service and low 

code development capabilities, as 

well as a wide variety of ready-touse 

apps, into its industrial internet 

of things (IIoT) solutions for industry. 

Utilizing Siemens’ extensive vertical 

IT/OT integration expertise and 

capabilities allows the unification 

of data from the physical world of 

automation with the digital world of 

92 



information technology. Companies 

can operate better and be more 

productive, flexible, and sustainable if 

data silos are broken down. 

A partnership with NVIDIA for the 

advent of immersive digital twin 

technology has been announced. 

Siemens commits to working 

together and developing a powerful 

partner ecosystem, expanding on 

current strategic alliances with 

Accenture, Atos, AWS, Bentley, 

Microsoft, and SAP, among others. 

The partnership ecosystem is 

intended to grow with small, medium, 

and big businesses. 

NVIDIA is the subject of the first 

significant collaboration contract 

under the Siemens Xcelerator 

banner. The two businesses today 

announced an extension of their 

relationship to allow the industrial 

metaverse and enhance the usage of 

AI-driven digital twin technology that 

will help raise industrial automation 

to a new level. The firms want to link 

NVIDIA Omniverse, a 3D design and 

collaboration platform, and Siemens 

Xcelerator, an open digital business 

platform, as the first stage in their 

partnership. This will make it possible 

for businesses to make choices 

more quickly and confidently in an 

industrial metaverse equipped with 

physics-based digital models from 

Siemens and AI-enabled, physically 

correct, real-time simulation from 

NVIDIA. 

Confirmation of digital growth 

strategy and goals 

The natural next step in Siemens’ 

digital plan is the release of the 

Xcelerator platform. For current and 

potential clients, Siemens will be 

able to unleash a great deal of value, 

particularly for newcomers in the 

market for small and medium-sized 

enterprises. 

In conjunction with the launch, 

Siemens reaffirms its growth goals 

for the digital business, which 

included a compound annual growth 

rate of around 10% throughout the 

business cycle and were first stated 

at the capital market day last year. In 

the fiscal year 2021, digital revenue 

was €5.6 billion. Launching the 

business platform will support the 

company’s goal of raising yearly 

recurring income and is consistent 

with its shift to as-a-service 

offerings. 

India will be the key hub to 

accelerate digital initiatives further. 

India has one of the largest 4G 

client bases, which is currently fast 

advancing toward 5G, as well as 

more than 75 crore cellphones, more 

than 80 crore internet users, and 

other statistics. By 2025, the Indian 

AI industry is anticipated to be worth 

USD 7.8 billion, while the country’s 

industrial IoT market is expected 

to rise at a CAGR of 15.5% from 

2020 to 2026. In addition, the Indian 

government wants to use the digital 

economy to generate $1 trillion in 

economic value by 2025. 

India’s digital transformation 

is led by CIOs of companies, from 

small and medium-sized businesses 

to major corporations in the 

industry, energy, infrastructure, and 

transportation verticals. While a CIO’s 

top concerns are frequently the total 

cost of ownership and return on 

investment, addressing integration 

issues brought on by shifting market 

dynamics, a lack of expertise and 

resources, and changing customer 

expectations are just as important. 

Partnership with UAE’s Ministry 

of Industry and Advanced Technology 

(MoIAT) 

The UAE’s Ministry of Industry 

and Advanced Technology (MoIAT) 

has partnered with Siemens to 

hasten the industrial sector’s digital 


The collaboration will also create 

a strategic roadmap for putting 

Industry 4.0 concepts into practice. 

More than 70 industrial 

enterprises nationwide have already 

been evaluated, and by the end of 

2022, the ministry and Siemens will 

analyze 200 industrial companies 

in the UAE for their digital maturity. 

This program will assist the goals 

of the “UAE Industry 4.0” program 

to increase industrial productivity 

by 30% and add Dhs25 billion to 

the national economy over the next 

ten years. MoIAT and Siemens will 

administer it. 

UAE Industry 4.0, supported by 

MoIAT, aims to expand the integration 

of additive manufacturing, deep 

learning, machine learning, artificial 

intelligence (AI), and the Internet of 

Things (IoT) into the value and supply 

chains that underpin the industrial 

sector. 

The UAE will be able to ascertain 

its present baseline level for adopting 

Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) 

technologies across the country’s 

industrial sector thanks to the digital 

maturity assessment program. 

The industries that are prepared 

for digital transformation to boost 

productivity and support the nation’s 

economic competitiveness will also 

be identified. 

It is no longer enough to sell 

products in today’s industrial world. 

Businesses may collaborate to 

access existing solutions that 

decrease emissions, boost energy 

efficiency, and cut waste more quickly 

than ever before by collaborating and 

sharing information and experience 

in a confidential, reliable manner 

made possible by digital technology. 

Particularly small and medium-sized 

businesses can profit from the art of 

the possibility and reuse of existing 

solutions. 



usiness.4sale logo 

RED Color 

EVENTS 

BUSINESS4SALE COMES WITH 

AN EXCITING OPPORTUNITY FOR 

INVESTORS IN GITEX 2022 

Abdullah Saleem 

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER 

Expertise in operation, 

management & solving problems 

Business4sale, a platform where entrepreneurs and investors can unite 

to form a partnership, has confirmed that the company will attend the 

GITEX 2022 in Dubai. The company, led by Abdullah Saleem, has seen 

exponential success since its formation in 2020. 

Business4sale is the largest business exit and investment platform in the 

GCC. The company’s mission is to create and recreate opportunities for 

business owners and entrepreneurs. The company has successfully helped 

more than 590 businesses in GCC for sale and investment. The firm has also 

helped more than 90 business owners to sell their companies and more 

than 90 entrepreneurs start and invest in businesses. 

The firm has a strong base of satisfied customers, helping people from 

all over the region. Business4sale will be attending the GITEX 2022 for 

entrepreneurs and investors to meet and form new partnerships. The 

company aims to expand its base of satisfied customers by letting other 

entrepreneurs know about them as well. 

This can be a great start for any entrepreneurs looking for investments and 

investors looking for promising entrepreneurs to invest in. The company 

specializes in buying and selling businesses, offering legal consultation, 

investments and partnerships, and selling or buying equipment. 

FOSALI TO PRESENT NEW COLLECTION 

OF HAND-MADE DESIGNER CHANDELIERS 

DURING GITEX 2022 

Fosali’s collection of hand-made designer chandeliers 

mirrors the actual trends on the market - grand 

design with energy focus and smart control. Fosali is 

unveiling LED-powered chandeliers of their own design and 

development, featuring miniature LED modules assembled 

with OSRAM chips. The chandelier LED INFINITO is based 

on specially made LED modules that can be dimmed down 

and controlled separately from LED backlighting which is 

also an integrated part of this luxurious piece, it comes in a 

comfortable and eye-pleasing colour spectrum of 2700K. 

The other presented chandelier LURE features intelligent 

lighting with smart control and thanks to biodynamic LED 

chips it offers a smart change of a scene from warm white 

colour 2700K to cool white 5500K with just one click on a 

remote controller. Once again, the chandelier features LED 

backlighting, which also comes in the biodynamic version 

so it will be possible to demonstrate the backlighting 

separately from the main LED modules. 

94 



FRESHCRAFT TO SHOWCASE INNOVATIVE INDOOR 

AIR PURIFIER TENSHIELD AT GITEX 2022 

Freshcraft is a socially conscious and creative business 

that focuses on improving people’s lives through 

modern technology. The company believes in exploring 

the potential of technology to be the best way to satisfy 

humanity’s insatiable desire for ease. Freshcraft aspires to 

improve people’s lives by providing innovative health and home 

improvement solutions. 

At GITEX 2022, Freshcraft will be introducing Tenshield, the 

intelligent air and surface security device ensuring safer 

indoors for your loved ones. Tenshield elevates the standard for 

all air purifiers out there by mitigating transmission of viruses, 

low power consumption, improving air quality, automatic and 

manual sensors for time control, zero recurring cost and 

keeping your lungs safe from the harmful bacteria. 

Tenshield disperses negative ions into the air, forming a 

protective shield around you against all airborne infections. 

It significantly neutralizes germs in the air and on the 

surface in real time. It improves air quality by significantly 

reducing particle matter and other dangerous volatile organic 

compounds that are frequently present in the air. 

PANZA ROBOTICS PLANS TO INTRODUCE ‘ARTABAN’ ROBOT AT GITEX 2022 

Routine duties such as area 

surveillance, condition 

monitoring, and predictive 

maintenance are important expenses 

for practically every government 

or private enterprise. The cost is 

increased if the jobs are completed 

in potentially dangerous or difficultto-reach 

regions (disaster areas, 

earthquakes, mines, landfill sites, 

nuclear power plants, oil stations, 

etc.) To drive down this cost, Panza 

came up with Artaban. A four-legged 

autonomous robot designed to 

support normal or risky activities in a 

variety of sectors. 

The company expects the 

following industries to benefit the 

most: - Utilities & Manufacturing 

(smart predictive maintenance, 

leak detection, surveillance), - 

Waste management (monitoring 

environmental changes, detecting 

dangerous conditions), - Public 

safety (detecting dangerous events 

or objects, monitoring disaster 

areas), - Healthcare (performing 

hospital disinfection, social distancing 

facilitation, COVID-19 measurements). 

Panza’s approach is to have its 

robot Artaban perform these 

duties - a universal multifunctional 

robotic platform built to assist such 

mundane or risky operations across 

several sectors. Artaban might 

play an important role in lowering 

expenses, lowering failure rates, 

and safeguarding residents’ and 

employees’ health and safety. 


DATA & DATA INTELLIGENCE 

HOW TO LEVERAGE BIG DATA TO 

MAKE MORE IMPACTFUL MARKETING 

DECISIONS 

Irrespective of whether one is 

a big corporation or an SME, 

industries have been making their 

prime decisions based on the 

analysis of big data. This is done 

with the aim of ensuring that the 

organisation will work smoothly and 

without hurdles in the future. In such 

situations, both internal and external 

sources of data have been proven to 

be helpful for attaining organisational 

goals. However, it is very pertinent 

to understand why knowledge 

with regard to the quality of data is 

directly proportional to the quality of 

decision-making in a business. 

“Big data” generally means an 

inundated amount of information that 

is being collected at a higher velocity, 

which helps provide the organisation 

with some valuable insights. It is 

necessary that such be analysed 

minutely as the slightest error may 

thereupon lead to analysis paralysis. 

It is foremost that analysis is initiated 

by dissecting the customer’s/buyer’s 

needs and any shortcomings that 

may creep up in the way. This will 

lead to the building of a customerfocused 

business strategy and 

accelerate the performance of 

the business. The organisations 

hereupon should adopt smart and 

strategic ways that would help them 

locate the valuable information that 

is necessary and also act upon it in a 

timely manner. 

With the adoption of this method, it 

could only be a huge success if the 

pattern is chronologically recognised. 

It is always the case that data from 

multiple sources will be trimmed 

down to focus on one single point. 

Generally, data collected from all 

sources converge at one point, which 

helps in creating a sound business 

decision that is relevant to the 

particular field. 

The steps involved in the analysis 

and utilisation of data are quite 

intrinsic and broad at the same 

time. It involves the processes of 

reporting, analytics, data mining, 

process mining, predictive and 

prescription analysis, developing 

performance metrics, sharing 

with trusted partners, regulatory 

compliance, and much more. Their 

in-depth understanding and relevant 

usages can help businesses locate 

and develop better and more efficient 

opportunities for themselves. The 

combination of this information 

must convey the business’s internal 

sources as well as external sources 

such as market trends. It is apparent 

that internal data that is stored in an 

unstructured manner is much more 

challenging to gather and analyze; 

however, it is very difficult to find 

any type of structured or semistructured 

data in the market. These 

organisational structures would help 

the business build them up for a 

bright and successful future. 

Understanding the various types 

of data and knowing which ones are 

essential for one’s own business is 

another key aspect that may build 

or break a business. Ranging from 

better analysis of the customer 

96 



uying process to tracking the 

regional and cultural preferences, it 

is vital that the strategies resonate 

with the prospect. Such would only 

be possible when the identified 

patterns are used in such a way as 

to attain the organization’s desired 

goals. This would help the business 

be optimized according to the needs 

of the consumer and make it more 

successful among people. 

Marketing and advertising 

sector data contains information 

that is targeted more towards the 

customer as it is in line with their 

demographics, intent, behavioral 

patterns, and likelihood. This 

nature of data helps in funneling 

the marketing strategies, which 

thereupon lead to customer 

purchases. Thus, correct metrics and 

key performance indicators (KPIs) 

are essential to putting the business 

on track so that it can make informed 

decisions for the future. The task of 

data collection for business hubs is 

indeed a much more complicated 

task, especially due to the fact that 

the data is varied and also frequently 

siloed. This makes the entire process 

much more interesting as the data 

has to be identified based on the 

technique of pattern recognition. 

However, this may often pose 

imminent challenges to businesses. 

The quality and accuracy of data are 

equally important as the collection 

of those data, and thus they demand 

a high level of attention and quality 

assurance checks before their 

mandatory implementation. 

Data analysis used as a form 

of pattern recognition helps 

organizations understand their 

competitors’ products and their 

optimal performance and have an 

idea of their product development 

and marketing strategies. When the 

customer data that is leveraged for 

analysis is layered with relevant 

information on the competitor’s 

products, the resultant analysis 

is much stronger, and it brings 

additional learning about not only the 

business but also its competitors. 

It does not necessarily have to 

be the competitors only; it can be 

about the entire ecosystem as well. 

All this collected data needs to 

be amalgamated into one so that 

organisations can have easy and 

efficient access to it. It requires to be 

processed to remove any unwanted 

redundancies and is made more 

structured by complying with all 

legalities, running it through quality 

checks, and being reassessed to 

cancel out any irrelevant data. 

Big data analysis shows the 

business where it might be headed in 

the near future. Apart from its usage 

in social platforms, emails, apps, 

and other forms, the analytics help 

in internal aspects as well, such as 

Marketing and advertising 

sector data contains 

information that is targeted 

more towards the customer 

as it is in line with their 

demographics, intent, 

behavioral patterns, and 

likelihood. This nature of 

data helps in funneling the 

marketing strategies, which 

thereupon lead to customer 

purchases. 

predictive analytics, visualizations, 

ad targeting, optimizing marketplace 

performance, and customer relations. 

It must, however, steer clear of any 

potential security issues as there 

is a continual flow of information at 

all times. All businesses have been 

leveraging big data, but one sector to 

explore is gaming. As video games 

have wide user engagement, involve 

social communication, and require 

substantial technological investment, 

players may buy, trade, or earn 

access to game features, bonuses, 

and merchandise. With gaming 

being one of the most competitive 

industries, data can be used to get 

insights on advertising, incentivizing, 

and strategies to build a deeper user 

management system. 

Therefore, the size of the enterprise 

is completely irrelevant when it 

comes to the application and usage 

of big data. Based on the changes in 

compliance and competitiveness, the 

business’s approach to big data must 

be flexible, and it must continuously 

assess data to confirm its relevancy 

without being rigid in nature. This 

is because being up-to-date and 

comprehensive in one’s approach 

would help them pave a strategic way 

in the future toward an organisational 

building. 



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BUSINESS 

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Investments in Growing Businessess 

Your Partner in Growth 

www.wasayainvestments.com

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تحت رعاية صاحب السمو الشيخ محمد بن زايد آل نهيان،‏ رئيس دولة اإلمارات العربية المتحدة 

Under The Patronage of H.H Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President Of The United Arab Emirates 

Supported By 

31 October - 3 November 2022 

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

FIVE REASONS TO VISIT ADIPEC 

ADIPEC will give attendees a unique opportunity to network in person with the leaders, 

innovators, buyers and sellers who taking the energy industry into the future. Gain an 

international perspective with energy professionals from 160 countries and join the discussion on 

creating responsible and resilient energy transition. 

SOURCE THOUSANDS OF PRODUCTS AND SERVICES 

Attracting more than 2,200 exhibiting companies and 54 NOCs, IOCs, NECs and IECs from 

around the world, ADIPEC provides an unrivalled opportunity for buyers and sellers to meet, 

learn, network, do business and source of thousands of products, services, technologies, 

innovations and new age energy solutions across the full value chain. 

SPECIALISED INDUSTRY ZONES 

Running in parallel, ADIPEC will host four specialised industry zones - Offshore & Marine 

Zone, Digitalisation In Energy Zone, Smart Manufacturing Zone and the newly launched 

Decarbonisation Zone, that will provide a platform for new business opportunities across the 

full spectrum of the energy industry. 

INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE 

With more than 28 exhibiting international pavilions, ADIPEC provides a platform to energy industry 

professionals to convene and explore latest developments within the global energy ecosystem. 

NETWORK WITH THE RIGHT AUDIENCE 

ADIPEC provides an exceptional opportunity to the global energy industry to convene and 

network with the right audience. 80% of the 150,000 energy professionals convening from over 

160 countries are either a decision maker, purchaser or an influencer. 

JOIN THE CONVERSATION TOWARDS ENERGY TRANSITION 

ADIPEC 2022 is facilitating important discussions and will continue to provide a global platform 

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energy transition – one that is flexible and resilient. 

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The Technology Express Magazine | Edition: October 2022

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