4 weeks ago
Batelco Celebrates iPhone 18 Launch with ‘The 18K Challenge’
18 winners to receive latest fitness devices as part of a three-day fitness challenge Batelco by Beyon is celebrating the launch of iPhone 18 with “The 18K Challenge”, a three-day public fitness activation inviting people across Bahrain to get moving for the chance to be one of 18 winners. Taking place from Friday 18 September to Sunday 20 September, the 18K Challenge will bring participants together through the Batelco x iPhone 18 Fitness Challenge Public Club on Strava, creating an interactive way to celebrate the arrival of iPhone 18 through technology, movement and community. Participants will be challenged to walk or run a total distance of 18km, with their eligible activities recorded through the Strava App. Designed to be accessible to different fitness levels, participants can complete the challenge at their own pace and wherever they choose over a period 3 days. Commenting on the initiative, Batelco Chief Consumer Officer Aseel Mattar said: “The launch of iPhone 18 is an exciting occasion, and we wanted to celebrate it in a way that gives people across Bahrain the chance to be part of the experience in a way that goes beyond a traditional product launch. The 18K Challenge brings together technology […]
1 month ago
UAE Moves To ‘War-Proof’ Data Centers After Iranian Retaliatory Strikes
The UAE is redrawing its plans for a five-gigawatt artificial intelligence (AI) data center project, one of the largest anywhere outside the US, after Iranian retaliatory strikes on infrastructure across the Gulf forced the Emirates to rethink how and where critical facilities are built, Reuters reported on Friday. Speaking in anonymity, six people familiar with the matter told Reuters that Emirati authorities began reassessing where and how sensitive facilities should be built once the war reached the Gulf. Four of those sources said the campus, first designed as a single 26-square-kilometer site in Abu Dhabi, is now expected to take shape as several data centers distributed across the country. Authorities are weighing ways to shield the facilities from drone and missile strikes, the sources said, including installing air defenses and putting some of the centers underground. Sources also said interceptors and electronic jamming equipment are being written into the redesign, with blast-resistant concrete and additional backup power and cooling systems also under consideration, and with the most sensitive material, including military data, possibly housed inside mountains. Iran began striking Gulf states hosting US forces with missiles and drones in response to US and Israeli airstrikes on Iranian territory. Two Amazon […]
1 month ago
Saudi Arabia To Develop Over 14 GW Of Computing Capacity To Accelerate AI Growth
SILICON VALLEY — Saudi Arabia is working with the private sector to develop more than 14 gigawatts of computing capacity as it builds an integrated model to attract artificial intelligence companies and accelerate their growth, Minister of Communications and Information Technology Abdullah Al-Swaha said. Speaking at the opening of the fourth Frontier Leaders Forum 2026 in Silicon Valley, California, Al-Swaha said the Kingdom’s approach centers on providing AI companies with three critical components: computing capacity, capital and access to customers. The forum, held under the theme “AI Forward: A Global Frontier,” brought together leaders from AI, technology, investment, venture capital and innovation from the United States and around the world. Al-Swaha cited Groq as an example of the model, saying Saudi Arabia was among the company’s early supporters by providing access to major customers, investing in the company and creating an environment that enabled it to scale. He said the Kingdom aims to replicate that experience with a new generation of global companies. Al-Swaha said the more than 14 GW of computing capacity being developed in partnership with the private sector would support the requirements of advanced AI companies, reduce operating costs and improve infrastructure efficiency. He also highlighted Saudi […]
1 month ago
“There Is No Day After Tomorrow”; Bessent Warns Of Consequences To Losing AI Arms Race To China
Authored by Arthur Zhang via The Epoch Times, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the United States cannot afford to fall behind China in artificial intelligence, warning that a Chinese lead would outweigh other U.S. advantages. “Beating China – there is no day after tomorrow if China wins at this,” Bessent said on Sept. 9 at Breitbart News’s “State of the Economy” event in Washington. “If they were to pull ahead of us on AI, then nothing else matters.” Bessent made the remarks while answering a question about opposition to data centers and the need to expand the infrastructure required for AI development. On the same day, the National Security Agency, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and FBI issued a joint advisory accusing six China-based AI companies of conducting industrial-scale campaigns to extract capabilities from U.S. frontier AI models. The agencies named DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, Alibaba, MiniMax, StepFun, and Z.AI, saying the companies had extracted billions of tokens through millions of requests to frontier models including Claude, GPT, Gemini, and Grok since at least late 2024. Knowledge distillation is a machine learning technique in which one model is trained using the outputs of another. The technique is commonly used legitimately, including […]
1 month ago
Ten AI Jobs That Pay Up To 85% More Than Traditional Tech Jobs
Tech professionals who add AI skills to their existing expertise can earn significantly more than those in traditional roles, according to a September 2026 study by software talent marketplace Lemon.io. In some cases, the salary premium approaches 85%, while several career transitions could take less than six months, according to Lemon.io. The research compared established tech jobs with their AI focused equivalents using average base salary data from Indeed, Built In, and Coursera. It also analyzed Google Jobs postings and monthly search volume to determine which AI titles have genuine hiring demand. The roles were then ranked by the salary increase over their traditional counterparts. ML site reliability engineers came out on top, earning an estimated $240,000 a year compared with $130,000 for traditional site reliability engineers. That is an increase of nearly 85%, or $110,000 annually. The role builds on distributed systems expertise while adding skills such as GPU fleet management and maintaining reliable machine learning training workloads. The transition is estimated to take five to nine months, with 587 job postings identified. AI/GPU cloud engineers followed with a salary of $250,000, the highest overall pay in the study. Traditional cloud engineers earn around $140,000, meaning AI specialization could […]
1 month ago
Elon Musk’s The Boring Company to build 150km of tunnels across UAE, raises Dh11 billion
US billionaire Elon Musk’s The Boring Company (TBC) will deploy more than 150 kilometres of tunnels across the UAE as part of an accelerated partnership with the country, backed by a $3 billion (Dh11 billion) Series D funding round led by the UAE and affiliated investment entities. The financing values the tunnelling and infrastructure company at $23 billion and builds on the company’s existing collaboration with the UAE on the Dubai Loop project. The company said this new agreement comes in addition to the Dubai Loop project previously awarded. The first phase of Dubai Loop will involve a pilot route extending 6.4km, comprising four stations, linking the Dubai International Financial Centre and Dubai Mall. These include: Burj Khalifa, DIFC 2, Zabeel Dubai Mall Parking and ICD Brookfield Place. In July, TBC said precast concrete operations for the first phase of Dubai Loop wereunderway, with the tunnel set to weigh 100 million pounds. The first phase will utilise 25,000 segments, each weighing 4,000 pounds, the company added. Among the UAE investors in the round is Shamal Holding, a Dubai-headquartered global investment firm, which confirmed that it has taken a stake in TBC as part of the financing. Other investors include Human […]
1 month ago
TikTok takes down more than 15.5m videos violating platform policies in MENA
TikTok has taken down 15,519,240 videos across Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman, Iraq, Morocco, Lebanon and Sudan during the first quarter for Community Guidelines violations. The move reflects the scale of the platform’s enforcement efforts and its focus on maintaining safety and accountability across the Middle East and North Africa region, a statement said. As part of its broader efforts to promote age-appropriate and “authentic experiences” on the platform, TikTok removed 86,288,705 fake accounts and 25,764,372 accounts suspected of belonging to users under the age of 13 globally during the first quarter of 2026. “These actions reflect the scale of TikTok’s efforts to identify and remove accounts that may not meet its platform requirements, while strengthening safeguards for younger members of its community,” TikTok said. “Through a combination of automated detection, account-level enforcement, and human review, TikTok continues to reinforce the systems designed to support a safer and more age-appropriate experience.” Globally, the platform suspended more than 50 million LIVE sessions from January to March, an 18.6 percent increase from the previous quarter. A further 58 million sessions were subject to demonetization or warnings, while 21,966,667 LIVE creators were also demonetized or warned. Across the eight MENA markets, TikTok […]
1 month ago
‘It Could Kill Us All By 2030’: AI Researcher Resigns, Warns “Do Not Underestimate The Power Of This Tech”
Authored by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times, An artificial intelligence (AI) researcher on Sept. 8 said he had resigned and warned people about the technology’s dangers. Jacob Coxon, who has worked in recent years doing research at the firms OpenAI and Anthropic, said in a series of posts on X that neither company is acting responsibly as they move toward what he described as superintelligent AI that is capable of self-improvement. “Do not underestimate the power of this technology. These will soon be superhuman systems that can hack anything, revolutionize any field overnight, and acquire real power and resources. We have all witnessed the progress in each of these domains, and progress is not slowing,” Coxon said. “The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade. This is not a marketing stunt. If anything, many executives and senior researchers will couch their phrasing in the press to sound sensible – but I hear the same people express fear privately. No other human activity poses this level of danger.” Coxon said a common response to such warnings is, if company leaders believe in the dangers, why are they still building the […]
1 month ago
Apple’s Long-Awaited Foldable iPhone Arrives. Will It Fit In Your Pocket?
Apple Unveils Foldable iPhone, iPhone 18 Pro Lineup and New Wearables (courtesy of Bloomberg): Shares are mixed following the launch event: Apple’s product launch event at its Cupertino, California, headquarters begins at 1 p.m. ET. Here’s a breakdown of the expected announcements and production outlook from Susquehanna semiconductor analyst Mehdi Hosseini: 1. Our checks suggest Sep-Q iPhone builds are tracking to 60 million units, including 28 million units of the iPhone 18 family and 1-2 million units of the iPhone Ultra1, Apple’s first foldable form factor. Rolling forecasts further indicate Dec-Q iPhone builds of 74 million units, including 45 million iPhone 18 units and 6-7 million iPhone Ultra1 units. 2. Importantly, iPhone18 production in 2H26 is expected to consist exclusively of the Pro and Pro Max models, while up to 10 million units of the lower-priced iPhone18 are currently scheduled for shipment in 1Q27. 3. Our updated model projects total iPhone builds and shipments of ~240 million units in 2026, down 2% Y/Y. This includes iPhone17, iPhone18, and iPhone Ultra1 production of 144 million, 73 million, and 8 million units, respectively. 4. Looking ahead, current forecasts suggest Mar-Q iPhone builds of 62 million units, down 17% Q/Q but up 10% […]
1 month ago
‘Google’s largest single investment in Europe’
In what marks Google’s largest single investment in Europe, the tech giant announced it will invest at least 13 billion euros ($15 billion) over two years to expand its digital and artificial intelligence infrastructure in Finland. The investment project includes data centres and clean energy partnerships across the municipalities of Hamina, Kajaani, Muhos, and Vaala. This expanding infrastructure will directly power major artificial intelligence models and services, including Google’s Gemini chatbot. Scheduled for construction during 2027 and 2028, the project is estimated to boost Finland’s annual GDP by 3.6 billion euros (4.19 Billion Dollars). It will also support over 37,000 jobs across the country, comprising 16,000 construction roles and 7,000 ongoing technical and operational positions. Google initially established its footprint in the Nordic country in 2009 by converting a former paper mill in Hamina into a data centre. Finland’s cool climate and stable electricity grid, powered by nuclear, wind, and hydro energy, make it ideal for data expansion. Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo welcomed the decision, stating that deepening collaboration with Google delivers lasting economic benefits as the country grapples with record-high unemployment.
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