Tag Archives | technology

9 Lebanese Startups Among The Arab World’s Top 100

By Rami on October 3, 2017 in Lebanon

Forbes Middle East released its list of the top 100 startups in the Arab World and Lebanon earned 9 spots with Anghami coming 2nd in the overall ranking thanks to $29M in funding. UAE based startup Fetchr was ranked 1st with a funding of $52M.

Here’s a list of the Lebanese startups that were mentioned (Full list available here):

#2 Anghami – Music streaming platform
#23 Scriptr – IoT application platform
#25 Falafel Games – Develops and publishes massively multiplayer online games
#31 Sqwirl Lab – Startup studio
#39 Energy24 – Alternative Energy storage and generator
#65 Blink My Car – Car care app
#72 Risk+ Solutions – Financial intelligence and risk management solutions
#77 Loop – Electric scooter sharing technology
#85 Myki – Cybersecurity

With the all the telecom infrastructure upgrades we are promised, I hope we get to see even more Lebanese projects and startups in the coming years.

On the other hand, a similar list was also compiled by Forbes for the top 100 Arab companies and 4 Lebanese banks made it to the list (Bank Audi, BLOM Bank, Byblos Bank, and Bank of Beirut).

Gadget Reviews by Zaher Hallab

By Rami on August 29, 2016 in Reviews, Technology, Videos

zaher hallab

If there’s something we miss in the Lebanese blogosphere then it’s definitely tech or gadget review blogs. And that’s the gap Zaher Hallab is trying to fill with his new channel on YouTube.

I first met Zaher back in 2009 and have always known him as a tech geek, and given that he says things as they are, I believe he’s pretty much capable of providing reviews and opinions on new gadgets and devices.

His first published video is a review of the LG G5 and I can fairly say it was well executed except that it could have been made a bit shorter. I definitely recommend you subscribe to his channel for the new videos to come.

Steve Wozniak is Coming to Beirut

By Rami on August 25, 2016 in Events, Technology

steve wozniak

Yesterday I got an e-mail from the organizers of Banque du Liban Accelerate announcing that Steve Wozniak will be among the speakers in their 3rd annual international conference in November.

For those who know little about him, Steve Wozniak (or Woz) was one of the co-founders of Apple along with Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne in 1976. He single-handedly developed the Apple I computer in the same year and then designed the Apple II in 1977 which became one of the first highly successful mass-produced personal computer, that’s why he’s considered a pioneer of the PC revolution in the 70s and 80s.

I know there are a dozens of YouTube videos featuring talks by Wozniak, but watching him live will definitely be an enriching experience for tech entrepreneurs.

BDL Accelerate is an innovation and startup conference that will take place at Forum de Beyrouth on November 3, 4, and 5, and attendees will be allowed admission for free. In addition to Wozniak, the organizers have so far announced 3 other speakers among which is Mike Butcher from TechCrunch.

For more information you can check BDLAccelerate.com.

Lebanon’s Fadel Adib is on the Forbes 30 Under 30 List

By Rami on January 9, 2015 in Lebanon

fadel adib

The name might be familiar to you since Fadel Adib was already on MIT’s “35 Innovators Under 35” list earlier in 2014 along with Ayah Bdeir and Rand Hindi.

Fadel is known to have created WiTrack, which allows tracking of moving bodies using wireless signals, and has been named once again among the world’s top people in technology but this time in Forbes list of 30 Under 30 rising stars in enterprise technology.

Fadel Adib, 25, Ph.D. candidate at MIT

As an MIT grad student, Adib was part of the team that created WiTrack, a spin on Wi-Fi that uses a radio signal–just 1% as strong as Wi-Fi and 0.1% of your smartphone’s signal–to track movements with incredible accuracy.

You can check the full list here.

Fadel is yet another example how successful can Lebanese be outside their country but have to suffer here due to the political and social pressures.

Lebanese couple marries on Skype

By Rami on October 22, 2013 in Lebanon

I just stumbled upon this article from Annahar today about a Lebanese couple from Tyre who got married on Skype since the bride, Hawraa Said, lives here in Lebanon while the groom, Assaad Fakhoury, is in the US. Check all about it here.

Technology for the win!!

Instabeat – The must have gadget for professional swimmers

By Rami on April 24, 2013 in Lebanon

I just came across this cool project called “Instabeat” by professional swimmer Hind Hobeika.

Hind is a former swimmer who used to train with the American University of Beirut’s swimming team and recognized the need for a monitoring device to track hear rate during her practices. So she came up with Instabeat, a device that is designed to fit any pair of swimming goggles to tracks a swimmer’s heart rate, caloric burn, and number of laps.

During practice, swimmers will be alerted through LED lights as to whether they are performing in fat burning (blue), mid-range (green), or maximum (red) zones. Progress over time can also be visualized after connecting the device to your personal dashboard through a USB port. Future prototypes will allow syncing data to your mobile phone using Bluetooth.

You can read more about Hind Hobeika and her Instabeat device on Intabeat.me. And if you feel like supporting her, you can take part in her indiegogo campaign to raise $35,000 needed for further development of Instabeat.

Thank you @sam_lb

Cedar tree planted into wireless devices

By Rami on April 2, 2012 in Lebanon

No it’s not like really planting a cedar tree into some electronic device! But a research team at the American University of Beirut discovered that cedar tree shaped antennas are ideal for use in some wireless devices.

The team found that the geometry of the cedar, based on repetitive triangular parts, allows a cedar-shaped antenna to operate at multiple frequencies, which makes it suitable for many types of wireless devices such as mobile phones.

Karim Kabalan, professor and chairman of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was the mastermind behind the design, after two years of searching for an antenna that would be easy and inexpensive to fabricate and innovative, veering away from the usual rectangular and circular shapes. Source

The Lebanese Phalanges should be credited for the design though, it looks pretty much like their schematic cedar.

Thanks to @mkdubai