Tech & Telecoms - Gulf Insider

1 year ago

Bahrain Moves To Enable ID Cards As Travel Documents

In a significant move towards advancing Bahrain’s digital transformation, His Excellency Interior Minister General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, Chairman of the Ministerial Committee for Information and Communications Technology, inaugurated three strategic projects at the Information & eGovernment Authority on Friday. During the visit, HE the Interior Minister emphasized that the introduction of innovative digital technologies and the facilitation of secure government services reflect Bahrain’s progressive and creative approach. He credited these advancements to the comprehensive national development process led by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and supported by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister. As part of these initiatives, HE the Interior Minister directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Nationality, Passports, and Residence Affairs (NPRA) to coordinate efforts for enabling ID cards to function as travel documents. This initiative involves integrating information between ID cards and passports while engaging with other countries for their recognition as valid travel credentials. A key highlight of the visit was the inauguration of the new self-service center, aligned with the government’s 2023-2026 digital transformation strategy. The center features six self-service platforms that provide various government services, including identity […]

1 year ago

Saudi Passports Directorate Launches New e-Services On Absher

Director General of the Saudi Passports Maj. Gen. Dr. Saleh Al-Murabba inaugurated a series of new electronic services on the Absher platform in collaboration with the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA). The event took place at the Ministry’s Employees Club in Riyadh. The newly introduced services include the renewal of a resident ID for the mother of a Saudi citizen, adding dependents, and canceling expired exit and re-entry visas. These enhancements aim to streamline procedures for beneficiaries, reinforce digital transformation efforts, and improve service efficiency and quality. The initiative also seeks to save time and effort while increasing accuracy in electronic transactions.

1 year ago

WhatsApp Down For Thousands Of Users, Massive Outage Reported

Meta-owned social media giant WhatsApp has gone down for thousands of users, according to outage detection website Downdetector. Data on the Downdetector website shows WhatsApp being inaccessible for over 10,000 people in India at around 9.20pm. In UK, over 50,000 people repored that they could not use the app. According to Downdetector, over 70 per cent people reported issues in sending messages, while 17 per cent people faced issues in server connection. There was no immediate statement from WhatsApp on the outage. Many users took to X, formerly Twitter, to inform that their WhatsApp was not working. The social media platforms have also been flooded with memes. Social media users react “Me running to Twitter after rebooting my phone to see if WhatsApp is down,” said one of the users. Posting a picture of a crowd, another user said “people quickly rushing to Twitter to confirm if WhatsApp is down.” “One would think since it’s 2025 WhatsApp could warn us before it stops working for maintenance,” said a users. Another user said, “”Me running to Twitter to check if WhatsApp is down or if my WiFi just betrayed me again…” “How many people have now come to X to see […]

1 year ago

UAE Cyber Threats: Over 223,000 Assets Still Potentially Exposed, Report Finds

There is a critical need for advanced cybersecurity measures in the UAE to meet the challenges of increasing complexity and sophistication of cyberattacks, a report said. Over 223,800 assets hosted within the UAE are potentially exposed to cyberattacks, with half of the critical vulnerabilities remaining unaddressed for over five years. “This exposure, coupled with the surge in advanced cyberattacks, underscores the absolute necessity of robust cyber defenses in a region that is at the forefront of AI-driven technological innovation and geopolitical significance, the latest report by the UAE Cyber Security Council and CPX, a leading provider of end-to-end cyber and physical security solutions and services, said. UAE faces sophisticated cyberattacks The report, titled ‘State of the UAE Cybersecurity Report 2025’, offered an in-depth analysis of the country’s rapidly evolving cyber threat landscape. The report also examined key trends shaping the current cybersecurity challenges, including misconfiguration, which represents 32 per cent of the cyber incidents, followed by improper usage and unlawful activity at 19 per cent. The government, finance, and energy sectors are the most targeted by cyber threat actors, it said. In 2024, drive-by downloads remained a prevalent method for initial entry vectors used by threat actors, with phishing and web server […]

1 year ago

Meta In Talks For $200 Billion Data Center Project That “Would Dwarf” All Of Its Other Projects

Power and electrical equipment companies moved higher in early trading after The Information reported Tuesday evening that Meta Platforms is in discussions to build a new artificial intelligence data center campus that “would dwarf anything the company has done to date” and be the largest project of its kind, with costs potentially exceeding $200 billion. A person familiar with the plans said Meta has been speaking with developers about potentially opening the data center campus in states including Louisiana, Wyoming, or Texas, adding senior executives have already toured potential sites. On Meta’s latest earnings call, META CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the social media company plans to invest “hundreds of billions of dollars” in AI infrastructure “over the long term,” without elaborating. <blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>TikTok Owner ByteDance Plans $12 Billion AI Chip Investing Spree; Trump Unveils "Stargate" Project <a href=”https://t.co/ngpiMlDhWA”>https://t.co/ngpiMlDhWA</a></p>— zerohedge (@zerohedge) <a href=”https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1882065757351125238?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>January 22, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script> Like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google, Meta has aggressively increased capital expenditures to expand AI data centers, raising its capex to between $60 billion and $65 billion, nearly 70% higher than last year. The company has not provided details on whether the new project will begin this year. Click here to read more Also read: Meta To Spend $65bn On AI […]

1 year ago

UK Power Grid Requires $60 Billion Investment By 2050

The UK could need up to $63 billion of investment in the power distribution network nationally to support additional demand and generation through 2050, double the current pace of additional investment, said the National Infrastructure Commission, the government’s independent infrastructure advisor. The UK will likely need investments of between $47 billion (£37 billion) and $63 billion (£50 billion) by 2050 as a “step change” is required in investment in Great Britain’s local electricity networks. This investment would be essential to achieve the government’s growth mission and lower long-term energy costs for consumers, the commission said in a report on Friday. The required investment levels would be at least a doubling of current annual allowances for load related expenditure, on top of business as usual investment, such as end of life asset replacement, the commission added. The National Infrastructure Commission’s report says that with demand for electricity set to double by 2050, the current pace of additional investment in electricity distribution networks must also double to ensure the system can cope with rising demand and connect both new sources of renewable power and new electricity demands to the grid faster. Investments, however, are constrained by legislation. Current regulation by the energy regulator Ofgem “is too complex […]

1 year ago

Watch: AI Robot ‘Attacks’ Crowd In China

A disturbing viral video clip shows an AI-controlled robot ‘attacking’ a crowd during a festival in China.The incident happened during a demonstration where a group of AI-powered robots were performing for the attendees. The footage shows smiling festival-goers watching the robot as it moves towards them. 🚨🇨🇳AI ROBOT ATTACKS CROWD AT CHINESE FESTIVAL A humanoid robot suddenly stopped, advanced toward attendees, and attempted to strike people before security intervened. Officials suspect a software glitch caused the erratic behavior, dismissing any intentional harm. This comes… pic.twitter.com/xMTzHCYoQf — Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) February 25, 2025 However, their expression soon turns to shock as the android starts jerking around erratically and appearing to begin to charge at them while throwing an attempted head butt. Security guards then have to rush in to drag the robot back. Rather creepily, another identical robot can be seen in the background watching the whole thing unfold. Event organizers claimed the incident happened as a result of “a simple robot failure” and denied that the robot was actually trying to attack anyone. They also tried to calm fears by asserting that the robot had passed safety tests before the show and that measures will be taken to prevent such […]

1 year ago

Qatar Inks Five-Year AI Deal With Scale AI To Boost Government Services

The Qatar government signed a five-year deal with AI data company Scale AI to deploy AI-powered tools and training. The move is in line with the push to improve government services in the Gulf Arab state. “(This deal) can be a blueprint for other governments around the world, and it allows us to really commit in a way that I think could drive impact even faster,” Trevor Thompson, global head of growth at Scale AI, said, Reuters reported. The deal will allow Qatar’s government to adopt tools such as predictive analytics, automation and advanced data analysis in an effort to streamline operations, according to a statement by Qatar’s communications and information technology ministry. Scale AI will develop more than 50 possible uses of artificial intelligence (AI) for Qatar’s government over the next five years, the statement added. Reuters said Thompson declined to say how much the deal is worth. Qatar is in a race to become an AI leader amid rising competition from neighbouring Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Founded in 2016, Scale AI provides large amounts of accurately labelled data for use in training tools such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The company also helps its customers, which include tech giant Microsoft, Wall Street […]

1 year ago

Apple Nukes End-To-End Encryption in UK After Refusing to Give Backdoor Access

Apple has elected to remove its most advanced, end-to-end encrypted security feature for cloud data in the United Kingdom after the government ordered the company to build a backdoor for accessing customer data. On Friday, Apple announced that Advanced Data Protection, a stronger form of end-to-end encryption used on a wide variety of user data, is no longer available in the UK for new users. This affects iCloud data storage, device backups, web bookmarks, voice memos, notes, photos, reminders and text message backups, Bloomberg reports. “We are gravely disappointed that the protections provided by ADP will not be available to our customers in the UK given the continuing rise of data breaches and other threats to customer privacy,” Apple said in a statement. “ADP protects iCloud data with end-to-end encryption, which means the data can only be decrypted by the user who owns it, and only on their trusted devices.” Two weeks ago reports surfaced that the UK government had ordered Apple to build a backdoor into customer data globally – which Apple said was “unprecedented overreach by the government,” which the company said meant that “the UK could attempt to secretly veto new user protections globally preventing us from ever offering them to customers.” I actually wrote […]

1 year ago

“We’re Seeing Heavy Traffic”: Musk’s Grok Chatbot Tops No. 1 On App Store, Overtaking ChatGPT & TikTok

Days after Elon Musk and his xAI team unveiled Grok-3—touted as the “smartest AI on Earth“—the chatbot, which outperforms all commercially available models, has surged to the top of the Apple App Store list. Data from the App Store shows that xAI’s Grok app sits number one on the “Top Free App” page, beating OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Meta’s Threads, and TikTok. This surge in demand for Grok likely began around the release of the new model on Monday night. Musk and xAI staff showed how the new model outperformed Alphabet’s Google Gemini, DeepSeek’s V3 model, Anthropic’s Claude, and OpenAI’s GPT-4o across math, science, and coding benchmarks. Momentum was reignited on Wednesday night after Musk announced that Grok-3 would be “free to all” for a limited time. For a short time, Grok 3 is available for free to all! https://t.co/r5iLXi2pBm — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 20, 2025 By Thursday morning, Musk and xAI had encountered a good problem: “We’re seeing some heavy traffic, so we’ve opted for an alternate model to get your answer to you faster.” This was the message generated while asking the model to produce an image. XAI noted overnight: “This is it: The world’s smartest AI, Grok 3, now available for free (until our servers melt).” This is it: The world’s smartest AI, Grok 3, now available […]

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Search Here

Bahrain Moves To Enable ID Cards As Travel Documents

Saudi Passports Directorate Launches New e-Services On Absher

WhatsApp Down For Thousands Of Users, Massive Outage Reported

UAE Cyber Threats: Over 223,000 Assets Still Potentially Exposed, Report Finds

Meta In Talks For $200 Billion Data Center Project That “Would Dwarf” All Of Its Other Projects

UK Power Grid Requires $60 Billion Investment By 2050

Watch: AI Robot ‘Attacks’ Crowd In China

Qatar Inks Five-Year AI Deal With Scale AI To Boost Government Services

Apple Nukes End-To-End Encryption in UK After Refusing to Give Backdoor Access

“We’re Seeing Heavy Traffic”: Musk’s Grok Chatbot Tops No. 1 On App Store, Overtaking ChatGPT & TikTok

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