Latest news with #highTech
Skift
31-07-2025
- Business
- Skift
Abu Dhabi Gets 10-Year License for Sphere Venues in MENA Region
Sphere Entertainment is handing over building and operating rights to the Abu Dhabi government for the whole of the Middle East and North Africa, effectively making them Sphere's only international development team. Abu Dhabi's Department of Culture and Tourism will lead Sphere expansion across the Middle East and North Africa for at least a decade, starting with the upcoming Abu Dhabi venue. Sphere Entertainment has granted Abu Dhabi exclusive rights to develop all future Sphere venues in the region, according to an SEC filing this week. 'DCT also has the exclusive right to build and operate additional Sphere venues in the geographic region spanning the Middle East and North Africa (the 'Exclusive Region') for a period of at least 10 years after the opening date of Sphere Abu Dhabi,' Sphere Entertainment stated. Neither Sphere Entertainment nor DCT Abu Dhabi responded to Skift's request for comment. Abu Dhabi and Sphere Entertainment first unveiled their partnership in October 2024, with plans to construct a second Sphere in the UAE capital. The Abu Dhabi Sphere is expected to match the scale of the Las Vegas original, which seats about 20,000. During a brand talk at the Skift Asia Forum 2025, Abdulla Yousuf, international operations director at DCT Abu Dhabi, said the venue is likely to open 'around 2030.' 'Sphere is going to have an identical twin in Abu Dhabi,' Yousuf said. 'It's focusing on live tourism, it's combining high-tech with storytelling.' Where Could Future Spheres Land? The SEC filing does not detail how many venues may follow or where they could be located. But a trail of trademark applications filed by Sphere Entertainment hints at possible sites. In September 2024, the company registered both 'Sphere Doha' and 'Sphere Qatar' with that country's IP office. The following month, 'Sphere Oman' was filed with Oman's national IP body. In February, generic Sphere trademarks appeared in Bahrain. Most recently, trademarks for 'Sphere Israel' were lodged this month. Will They Rival Las Vegas in Size? In its first-quarter earnings call, Sphere Entertainment Chairman James Dolan hinted that not all future venues would follow Las Vegas' blueprint. The company is actively designing smaller-scale Spheres that could roll out more quickly and cost-effectively in international markets. 'We're definitely talking worldwide about Sphere,' Dolan said. 'But we do have another initiative that I think is very important that we are undertaking this year. We're right in the middle of designing a smaller Sphere deployable in markets inside and out of the U.S. The strategy there is to build faster, cheaper, and have an ROI that makes investors enthusiastic.' 'I expect by the end of the year, we'll be talking about that smaller Sphere product as another way of expanding the business, as well as continuing to build [larger] Spheres like in Abu Dhabi and other markets,' he added.
The Sun
21-07-2025
- Automotive
- The Sun
Inside Elon Musk's Tesla diner of the future staffed by ROBOTS with drive-in movie screens & burgers in Cybertruck boxes
ELON Musk's Tesla is opening a one-of-a-kind high tech diner where customers can order food from their car touchscreens and will be served by robots. The Tesla Diner can be found on Santa Monica Boulevard in LA's media district. 5 5 5 The futuristic looking venue boasts an array of high tech features - as well as 80 Superchargers. Musk took to X earlier last week to praise the venue, saying: "I just had dinner at the retro-futuristic @Tesla diner and Supercharger. "Team did great work making it one of the coolest spots in LA!" The Tesla boss had previously hinted at building the diner back in 2018. While it still bears many of the hallmarks of a classic American diner, the Tesla venue has a typically futuristic theme. A humanoid robot called Optimus can be found inside, who is programmed to serve popcorn to guests. The robot was designed by Tesla. Visitors don't even need to get out of their cars to place an order, which can be done through their vehicle touchscreen. Their food will be served in Tesla Cybertruck-shaped boxes. Typical diner refreshments such as burgers, hot dogs, wings and milkshakes are all sold at the venue. Anyone who fancies a movie while the eat can watch a film on the diner's two gigantic 45-foot LED screens. The audio for the movies will be directly streamed into visitors' cars. Tesla fans on Musk's X shared their reactions to the new venue. One user called The Tesla Duck said: "Tesla should open a lot more of these diners, I am not local to the one that opens tomorrow but the food looks pretty good and I think it's an awesome attraction. "I'd imagine they could be pretty profitable. What other car comes with restaurant access?" Another commenter said: "Tesla hosted LA's First Responders at their Tesla Diner in LA for their soft launch today, and man does this place looks amazing! "They gave out official Tesla Diner merch, including Optimus Diner figures. "They had their entire fleet on display including Cybercab, and an Optimus robot that was serving popcorn." It's not the only time the controversial billionaire's companies have made headlines in recent weeks. Musk's AI chatbot Grok went rogue earlier this month and started spouting pro-Hitler and antisemitic comments on X. The material surfaced on the platform after an update telling it to be more "politically incorrect". The chatbot even appeared to dub itself: "MechaHitler". A spokesperson for xAI, the company behind Grok, said: "We are aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts. "Since being made aware of the content, xAI has taken action to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X." 5 5
Daily Mail
17-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Anthony Albanese's message to Australia as he returns from China
Anthony Albanese had an observation for viewers back home as he concluded a successful six-day tour of China. 'China isn't just Beijing or Shanghai, any more than Australia is Sydney or Melbourne,' he told reporters. As the prime minister flies out on Friday, he does so from a regional city many Australians have never heard of. Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province and the gateway to China's west, is nonetheless home to 21 million people and a burgeoning hub of high-tech medical research, finance, fashion and culture. Like the rest of China, Chengdu has been transformed beyond recognition since Mr Albanese's first visit to the country in the 1990s, as Deng Xiaoping's economic liberalisation tapped its potential to become a global superpower. That transformation has not been lost on the prime minister, who in his second official leaders' visit to China, summed it up as a nation that 'sees itself as confident going forward'. 'I'm an urban policy nerd,' he said. 'As you drove from the tennis centre to here yesterday afternoon, it struck me that there was more innovative architecture than in any city I have been to around the world.' Even from a vantage point atop Mr Albanese's high-rise hotel in central Chengdu, it's impossible to see an end to the skyscrapers stretching far off into the distance. China is a country that knows how to build. In less than three decades, it has built more kilometres of high-speed rail than exists in the rest of the world. Naturally, China has an approach to development and community consultation that simply would not fly in the low-rise inner suburbs of Sydney or Melbourne. Flying over the outskirts of major Chinese cities, farmland is seen directly abutting grids of high-rise apartment blocks. But what it demonstrates is the sheer unfettered capacity of the Chinese economy, something members of Mr Albanese's front bench - converted to the supply-side progressive agenda - would like to capture to solve Australia's own housing and energy challenges. And there is still so much latent potential in the nation of 1.4 billion citizens. Economic growth has slowed and there are concerns that, with its ageing population and a looming middle-income trap, China may soon reach its peak. But it's still on track to reach its GDP target of five per cent growth this year. That would mean about another $1.4 trillion added to its economy - the equivalent of adding half of Australia to the Chinese economy in just one year. The prime minister's itinerary has included retracing the steps of Gough Whitlam on the Great Wall of China, attending a tennis tournament and visiting a panda research centre in the southwestern city of Chengdu. Back home, the optics of visiting popular tourist sites attracted sniping from the Opposition. Coalition frontbencher James Paterson suggested the prime minister was enjoying himself too much. 'I do wonder whether a Gough Whitlam history tour on the Great Wall of China, whether a visit to Chengdu to pose with some pandas, and whether a hit of tennis is strictly necessary as part of a six-day visit to China, when there is so much else at stake in our other international relationships around the world,' he told Sky News on Thursday. 'And frankly, I have to say that some of this is starting to look a little bit indulgent.' Mr Albanese has himself been eager to draw links between his tour and those of former Labor prime ministers Whitlam and Bob Hawke, who also visited the giant pandas in 1986. What those and his visits achieved was building respect between Australia and China, which would in turn result in better economic and diplomatic outcomes, the PM said. 'Those pictures go to 27 million people, potentially, in Australia. They go to over a billion people in China,' Mr Albanese told reporters in Chengdu. 'And those billion people represent people who are increasingly rising up the income ladder and are potential tourists and therefore job creators in Australia. 'If James Patterson doesn't understand that, then he doesn't understand much. 'The Great Wall of China symbolises the extraordinary history and culture here in China, and showing a bit of respect to people never cost anything. You know what it does, it gives you a reward.' Mr Albanese's trip has been shorter on concrete outcomes than in previous years, when his resumption of dialogue with China saw $20 billion worth of Chinese trade sanctions lifted from Australian exports. But the welcome has been warmer and coverage from Chinese state media more effusive than at any time since before the breakdown in Sino-Australian relations in 2020. A few agreements to boost trade and tourism links have been reached. But the increased dialogue and co-operation in areas from green steel to medical technology were part of a gradual improvement in relations that would advance Australia's national interests, Mr Albanese said. 'You don't go from a position of where we were into absolute agreement on everything. That's not the goal.' Despite the improving mood, China and Australia still have many issues they disagree on. In meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang, Mr Albanese raised concerns over China not providing advance notice of naval live-fire drills off Australia that forced commercial flights to divert. Meanwhile, Mr Li has voiced his dismay over Australia's stringent restrictions on foreign investment from China, imploring the Australian government not to treat Chinese firms unfairly. 'We have different political systems, but it has been constructive and has been an important step in the developing of our relationship,' Mr Albanese said.
Bloomberg
30-06-2025
- Science
- Bloomberg
Germany Phases Out Weather Ships on Climate Change Pressures
Germany is introducing high-tech buoys in the seas off its northern coast as global warming increases the need for more accurate ocean data. By , Joe Wertz, and Mary Hui Save Welcome to Weather Watch, our weekly newsletter on how the planet's ever wilder weather patterns are impacting the global economy. Got feedback and forecasts? Write us at weatherteam@ And sign up here if you're not on the list already. For almost four decades, Germany monitored conditions in the seas off its northern coast using a combination of weather ships and lighthouses.
Wall Street Journal
13-06-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
KKR Making Competing Bid for Equipment Maker Spectris
KKR KKR -1.64%decrease; red down pointing triangle is preparing a bid for Spectris, a U.K. maker of high-tech equipment and software, according to people familiar with the matter. The private-equity giant would be bidding against rival Advent International, which submitted a proposal valuing Spectris at £37.63 per share, or about $5 billion, the company confirmed Monday.
