Advancements in artificial intelligence will transform basketball and other sports, said the inventors and co-founders of Huupe, a sports-tech company, on the second day of Leap technology conference in Riyadh.
Huupe is a smart basketball hoop that can track, analyse and potentially improve player performance.
Co-founders Lyth Saeed, a Palestinian-American, and Paul Anton, a Greek-American, both from Milwaukee, took to the stage at Leap to talk about their goals for the product and the California-based company.
"We want to be the Fortnight of basketball," said Mr Anton, referring to the popular multiplayer online video game, noting that Huupe allows for a similar experience between players in various geographic locations.
Mr Saeed and Mr Anton said the genesis of their invention goes back to their childhood, both of them growing up as friends in the US state of Wisconsin, and both being long-time basketball fans.
They founded the start-up in 2015 but it took several years as they sought the right technology, tools and financing to implement their smart basketball vision.
"We thought, for sure, someone had come up with the idea to make the backboard a screen before, but we were the first," said Mr Saeed, noting that Huupe successfully secured a patent for their product.
"We're the first company to display that information on the backboard in real time."
As of 2023, they said Huupe had raised $11 million from investors.
The company's smart basketball hoop, unveiled in 2022, is currently available for $4,995 or $9,995, depending on the model.
Soon, the company hopes to introduce a Huupe 'mini', which it hopes will cost $499.
The company had not merely created a smart basketball hoop, but rather a basketball platform with an app that allows for users to sign up for various training sessions and features, the co-founders told the crowd at Leap.
So far, according to Huupe, more than 1,000 orders have been placed.
Mr Saeed said the company has installed its first Huupe in Saudi Arabia at one of Saudi Aramco's facilities.
They have also sold several in the UAE.
"We have investors in the UAE," said Mr Anton, who added that Huupe is currently pursuing a series A funding round.
Huupe's smart basketball hoop tracks shooting percentage, player location and speed, and offers advice from various athletes through video and the app.
It also allows for players to play various games remotely against one another, assuming both have a Huupe installed.
The company said purchases of the hoop were already available outside the US.
Mr Saeed and Mr Anton are not alone with their vision of a merger between technology, data and sport, especially at Leap, where hundreds of technology companies are laying out a plans for athletes, teams and fitness aficionados.
Mohamed Kamel, chief executive of Lumin Soft, an Egypt-based custom software and data science company, showed an AI-powered product, Pitch+, which can analyse football players through video camera and almost instantaneously provide analysis and trends.
“It could be a revolution for football,” Mr Kamel said. “It’s all done without GPS tracking,” he added, referring to similar products which rely on cumbersome devices players have to wear.
"If you're a coach and need to analyse the opposing team, you can show Pitch+ the team's game and analyse it," he added.
Lumin Soft is in the early stages of putting together a marketing plan to court football clubs to use Pitch+, while also working on overall fitness training technology to be used in homes.
Momentum surrounding AI shows no sign of slowing down, especially at Leap, where AI and large language models are being featured and promoted by various tech companies and start-ups throughout the large exhibition venue.
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Through Her Lens: The stories behind the photography of Eva Sereny
Forewords by Jacqueline Bisset and Charlotte Rampling, ACC Art Books
SWEET%20TOOTH
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECreated%20by%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Jim%20Mickle%2C%20Beth%20Schwartz%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Nonso%20Anozie%2C%20Christian%20Convery%2C%20Adeel%20Akhtar%2C%20Stefania%20LaVie%20Owen%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
The five pillars of Islam
New schools in Dubai
BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
Starring: Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Jenny Ortega
Director: Tim Burton
Rating: 3/5
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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The past Palme d'Or winners
2018 Shoplifters, Hirokazu Kore-eda
2017 The Square, Ruben Ostlund
2016 I, Daniel Blake, Ken Loach
2015 Dheepan, Jacques Audiard
2014 Winter Sleep (Kış Uykusu), Nuri Bilge Ceylan
2013 Blue is the Warmest Colour (La Vie d'Adèle: Chapitres 1 et 2), Abdellatif Kechiche, Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux
2012 Amour, Michael Haneke
2011 The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick
2010 Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Lung Bunmi Raluek Chat), Apichatpong Weerasethakul
2009 The White Ribbon (Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte), Michael Haneke
2008 The Class (Entre les murs), Laurent Cantet
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
ENGLAND SQUAD
Eoin Morgan (captain), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Tom Curran, Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
The biog
Favourite films: Casablanca and Lawrence of Arabia
Favourite books: Start with Why by Simon Sinek and Good to be Great by Jim Collins
Favourite dish: Grilled fish
Inspiration: Sheikh Zayed's visionary leadership taught me to embrace new challenges.
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Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
The years Ramadan fell in May
'The worst thing you can eat'
Trans fat is typically found in fried and baked goods, but you may be consuming more than you think.
Powdered coffee creamer, microwave popcorn and virtually anything processed with a crust is likely to contain it, as this guide from Mayo Clinic outlines:
Baked goods - Most cakes, cookies, pie crusts and crackers contain shortening, which is usually made from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Ready-made frosting is another source of trans fat.
Snacks - Potato, corn and tortilla chips often contain trans fat. And while popcorn can be a healthy snack, many types of packaged or microwave popcorn use trans fat to help cook or flavour the popcorn.
Fried food - Foods that require deep frying — french fries, doughnuts and fried chicken — can contain trans fat from the oil used in the cooking process.
Refrigerator dough - Products such as canned biscuits and cinnamon rolls often contain trans fat, as do frozen pizza crusts.
Creamer and margarine - Nondairy coffee creamer and stick margarines also may contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.
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The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela
Edited by Sahm Venter
Published by Liveright
Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
Story%20behind%20the%20UAE%20flag
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Winners
Ballon d’Or (Men’s)
Ousmane Dembélé (Paris Saint-Germain / France)
Ballon d’Or Féminin (Women’s)
Aitana Bonmatí (Barcelona / Spain)
Kopa Trophy (Best player under 21 – Men’s)
Lamine Yamal (Barcelona / Spain)
Best Young Women’s Player
Vicky López (Barcelona / Spain)
Yashin Trophy (Best Goalkeeper – Men’s)
Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City / Italy)
Best Women’s Goalkeeper
Hannah Hampton (England / Aston Villa and Chelsea)
Men’s Coach of the Year
Luis Enrique (Paris Saint-Germain)
Women’s Coach of the Year
Sarina Wiegman (England)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Company profile
Name: Infinite8
Based: Dubai
Launch year: 2017
Number of employees: 90
Sector: Online gaming industry
Funding: $1.2m from a UAE angel investor
What sanctions would be reimposed?
Under ‘snapback’, measures imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council in six resolutions would be restored, including:
- An arms embargo
- A ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing
- A ban on launches and other activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, as well as ballistic missile technology transfer and technical assistance
- A targeted global asset freeze and travel ban on Iranian individuals and entities
- Authorisation for countries to inspect Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines cargoes for banned goods
EA Sports FC 26
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3/5
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
Where to buy
Limited-edition art prints of The Sofa Series: Sultani can be acquired from Reem El Mutwalli at www.reemelmutwalli.com
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Evacuations to France hit by controversy
- Over 500 Gazans have been evacuated to France since November 2023
- Evacuations were paused after a student already in France posted anti-Semitic content and was subsequently expelled to Qatar
- The Foreign Ministry launched a review to determine how authorities failed to detect the posts before her entry
- Artists and researchers fall under a programme called Pause that began in 2017
- It has benefited more than 700 people from 44 countries, including Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Sudan
- Since the start of the Gaza war, it has also included 45 Gazan beneficiaries
- Unlike students, they are allowed to bring their families to France
Zayed Sustainability Prize
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