Tech

The year when smartphones dominated

The year 2020 will always be remembered as the year where the world’s population locked itself indoors to ward off COVID-19 pandemic. Last year will also be remembered as the year that smartphones became one of the few tools for communication, playing games, downloading apps and accessing news and information in most countries around the […]

WhatsApp denies its privacy update will violate privacy of users

WhatsApp has been at the epicenter of worldwide backlash and controversy in the first week of 2021 following their announcement of updating their privacy policy, which many around the globe found to be too intrusive. Under the terms of the new policy, Facebook will be able to collect users’ data from the app such as […]

Erdogan becomes first world leader to ditch WhatsApp

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s media office announced Sunday that it will be discarding the popular instant messaging app WhatsApp, following its controversial privacy policy update. Instead, the office said it has decided to switch to Turkish homegrown application BiP. According to statements made through WhatsApp, presidential officials said the media office will begin updating […]

WhatsApp bug made group chats accessible via simple Google search

Controversy continues to loom over WhatsApp, as the popular instant messaging app suffered a security bug where private group chats seem to be appearing on Google searches, leaving room for anyone to join them. The issue first surfaced back in 2020 and was quickly fixed, but has now resurfaced once more, allowing private user data […]

WhatsApp’s new privacy policy: Give us your data or delete the app

In a controversial move, popular instant messaging app WhatsApp have changed their privacy policy to allow Facebook – its parent company – to forcefully collect private user data such as phone numbers, payment info, location, and more. Users who refuse to comply with the updated policy – that will come into effect as of February […]

A changing workforce during Covid: the top trends of 2021

Covid-19 was the major theme throughout 2020. It tested the fortitude of governments, companies, economies, and individuals alike in the face against a radical disruption that heavily touched the way we live our lives on every level. As with any sudden shift in global lifestyle, there have been those who have painfully adapted, while others […]

STC, Alibaba Group announce cloud services deal

State-owned Saudi Telecom Company (STC) announced a $500 million partnership deal with venture capital fund eWTP Arabia Capital, and Alibaba Cloud to provide high-performance public cloud services in the Kingdom. Alibaba Cloud, which is the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, considers KSA as a strategic market for its operations in the GCC […]

The case for net neutrality

Humankind is slowly transcending into a new reality ushered in by the tidal wave of technological advancements that are developing on a day-to-day basis. The fifth generation of mobile networks, the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), etc.…; these techs and their acronyms could easily fill an entire […]

Saudi Arabia spearheads its digitization efforts

The global COVID-19 pandemic burned through many brick-and-mortar businesses around the world, forcing their hand into making the digital switch to remain afloat as people went into lockdown. Despite economic repercussions, the crisis prompted stronger digitization efforts by private and public sectors; a move praised by Saudi Arabia’s Trade Minister Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi. Al-Qasabi […]