Dreams of being the next Bieber? Google has a Dubai office for that

DUBAI // Google says it is standing by to help budding singers who want to follow Justin Bieber's path to global superstardom.

The young star's break was made possible because of his videos on YouTube, which is owned by Google. Bieber's talent was spotted online by showbiz tycoon Scooter Braun, who went on to become the Canadian teenager's manager - and the rest is music business history.

Google's Dubai-based Middle East and North Africa (Mena) operation has a dedicated department that helps performers and others make the most of the opportunities offered by the video-sharing website.

"In this office we have teams that deal with YouTube partnerships," said Maha Abouelenein. "So if someone wants to becomes a YouTube partner and they'd like to make money and grow their business and have special branding and become a YouTube star, then this is the department that helps them."

Advice for making effective YouTube videos includes creating the types of content that have proven successful in the past, and enabling comments and engaging users through social media.

A clear and accurate title, meaningful description and good keyword tags help viewers to find videos. And a YouTube partnership programme helps people to make money if their videos do go viral.

Mohamad Mourad said: "We're giving people the platform, the tools, and the support to make great things happen and grow big audiences."

The Dubai office has a number of departments such as community outreach and sales and marketing, as well as a section that helps businesses to use Google services and another that works with government departments.

The company has held specialised training sessions in the UAE for policymakers and officials from 48 federal and local government bodies. The training is designed to help the public sector use technology to enhance its work and engage with citizens.

Ms Abouelenein said: "We help governments to understand how they can be more like a company and benefit from the internet."

She said an example of the type of project the team would help with is the Google+ social network page of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

"Sheikh Mohammed has more than 200,000 followers," she added. "The technology helps to bring leaders closer to the citizens, so they want to know the things they can do to do that."

The office is home to a unit that provides Arabic translations of Google products such as Gmail and YouTube. The team is led by Dr Fayeq Oweis, who is also responsible for a number of other languages from across the region.

"What we do is, any services or products that Google releases in English, we provide the localisation in Arabic or the other languages, so it goes to the users in their own language at the same time," he said.

Mr Mourad said there was a need for more Arabic content on the web.

"The percentage of users online in Mena versus the percentage of content in Arabic represents a huge gap and we know users in Mena are coming online for local content," he added.

With this in mind, Google last year launched a programme called Arabic Web Days. A month-long series of online and offline events was held across the region to accelerate the creation of Arabic content.

Mr Mourad said the company was bringing local culture online in other ways, such as Google doodles, the special on-screen logos used to celebrate holidays, famous people and events.

And he reaffirmed the company's commitment to the region, saying: "We have been inspired by how users across the Arab world use the web and we want to be able to grow in Mena. We have been investing in the region and will continue to do so."

csimpson@thenational.ae

if you go

The flights
Flydubai offers three daily direct flights to Sarajevo and, from June, a daily flight from Thessaloniki from Dubai. A return flight costs from Dhs1,905 including taxes.
The trip
The Travel Scientists are the organisers of the Balkan Ride and several other rallies around the world. The 2018 running of this particular adventure will take place from August 3-11, once again starting in Sarajevo and ending a week later in Thessaloniki. If you’re driving your own vehicle, then entry start from €880 (Dhs 3,900) per person including all accommodation along the route. Contact the Travel Scientists if you wish to hire one of their vehicles.

Rocketman

Director: Dexter Fletcher

Starring: Taron Egerton, Richard Madden, Jamie Bell

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

The specs

AT4 Ultimate, as tested

Engine: 6.2-litre V8

Power: 420hp

Torque: 623Nm

Transmission: 10-speed automatic

Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)

On sale: Now

The specs

Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel

Power: 579hp

Torque: 859Nm

Transmission: Single-speed automatic

Price: From Dh825,900

On sale: Now

Test

Director: S Sashikanth

Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan

Star rating: 2/5

if you go

2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups

Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.

Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.

Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.

Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).

Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.

Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.

Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.

Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.

Start-up hopes to end Japan's love affair with cash

Across most of Asia, people pay for taxi rides, restaurant meals and merchandise with smartphone-readable barcodes — except in Japan, where cash still rules. Now, as the country’s biggest web companies race to dominate the payments market, one Tokyo-based startup says it has a fighting chance to win with its QR app.

Origami had a head start when it introduced a QR-code payment service in late 2015 and has since signed up fast-food chain KFC, Tokyo’s largest cab company Nihon Kotsu and convenience store operator Lawson. The company raised $66 million in September to expand nationwide and plans to more than double its staff of about 100 employees, says founder Yoshiki Yasui.

Origami is betting that stores, which until now relied on direct mail and email newsletters, will pay for the ability to reach customers on their smartphones. For example, a hair salon using Origami’s payment app would be able to send a message to past customers with a coupon for their next haircut.

Quick Response codes, the dotted squares that can be read by smartphone cameras, were invented in the 1990s by a unit of Toyota Motor to track automotive parts. But when the Japanese pioneered digital payments almost two decades ago with contactless cards for train fares, they chose the so-called near-field communications technology. The high cost of rolling out NFC payments, convenient ATMs and a culture where lost wallets are often returned have all been cited as reasons why cash remains king in the archipelago. In China, however, QR codes dominate.

Cashless payments, which includes credit cards, accounted for just 20 per cent of total consumer spending in Japan during 2016, compared with 60 per cent in China and 89 per cent in South Korea, according to a report by the Bank of Japan.

The smuggler

Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.

Khouli conviction

Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.

For sale

A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.

- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico

- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000

- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950