Keith Richards once described music as being similar to air. While the Rolling Stones guitarist meant it as a figurative statement of devotion to his chosen art form, one of the great inventors of modern times has taken this literally.
Last month, the UK company Dyson, founded by British engineer Sir James Dyson, announced its entry in the headphones market. The Dyson Zone, which will be released this year, is described as a set of noise-cancelling over-ear headphones that deliver high-fidelity sound, while simultaneously pumping purified air into your nose and mouth.
If this sounds like something out of a sci-fi film, then you wouldn't be far off. The National experienced those futuristic vibes when the product was exclusively displayed at the Palais De Tokyo in Paris on Monday. Although we were able only to gawk at the products, not wear them.
They look hefty, but staff assure us that's because they're designed to distribute the load "over the sides of the head", in a method similar to a horse saddle.
The cushions look flatter and angled in line with the contours of the ear for extra comfort, while the noise cancellation feature is also touted as being able to reduce volume by up to 40 decibels.
These elements discerning audiophiles will undoubtedly investigate next year, but they may pause when encountering the key feature: a non-contact visor that pumps clean air to the nose and mouth courtesy of compressors built into each ear cup.
This exists simply so customers can breathe cleaner air, Dyson says. We ask him if it's in response to the pandemic, but he says development began years before Covid-19 entered our lives.
The overall look of the product — the colour scheme of the displayed product is blue and copper — resembles something straight out of a cyberpunk comic.
And while the official price tag has yet to be revealed, it will follow most Dyson products at being at the top end of the scale.
And that’s nothing to apologise for, Dyson says during a career retrospective called A Life After Art School. The value reflects the six years of development and 500 prototypes it's taken to come up with the final product.
He says it's the price of "being innovative", particularly because there are "huge" upfront costs. "Inevitably, it’s going to be expensive."
The hits and misses
The technology for the Dyson Zone was initially developed for Dyson’s failed electric car venture, which had reportedly lost more than half a billion dollars before the plug was pulled in 2019.
Where such an eye-watering amount could have curbed his ambitions, Dyson, 75, and his team powered on.
The road to his estimated $7.7 billion fortune has long featured prolonged setbacks and mastering the art of making disparate connections.
It all started in 1978 when his own vacuum cleaner was not doing what it was supposed to do. Taking a cue from the industrial cyclone tower he designed for his UK factory — one where a centrifugal force was created to separate paint particles from the air — the fledgling engineer applied the same principle in creating the world's first bagless vacuum cleaner.
He says the five-year research and development process nearly made him broke, with 5,127 prototypes created until he hit pay dirt.
The technology was sold to a Japanese company, after a series of “all night meetings”, which went on to brand it The G Force.
"It was named by a magazine as one of the designs of the decade, next to the Sex Pistols and the Pompidou Centre," Dyson says wryly. "After that I did my own licensing and technology and released my first vacuum cleaner, the DC1, in 1993.”
While Dyson vacuum cleaners have become a household name, there are plenty of products that haven't been quite as successful.
Consigned to the scrap heap in 2000 was a short-lived robotic vacuum cleaner. "It had 120 sensors and it had about 18 battery cells," Dyson says. "I realised that no one would buy it because it was too expensive."
The experience did trigger some soul searching, however, into the effective role robotics could play in our everyday life.
"I realised the future of robotics is vision systems. It is about being able to see, film and interpret what it is seeing."
This sowed the seeds for the Dyson 360 Heurist, a more refined take on the original robot vacuum cleaner that, through artificial intelligence, knows the contours of your home and cleans up on instruction.
Improving 'prosaic, boring and even nasty products'
Dyson has since become known for items other than vacuum cleaners, from cord-free hair straighteners to high-velocity fans, but Dyson is aware his sprawling empire has been built on the back of products that perhaps won't get people's blood pumping.
“I have never been attracted to glamorous products. I like the more prosaic, boring and even nasty products, like vacuum cleaners, and try to make them interesting and beautiful,” he says.
“I am sort of perverse in that way. I like taking on things that are not attractive and making them work better.”
It is a philosophy Dyson wants to leave as his legacy.
This is encapsulated in his 2021 memoir, Invention: A Life, in which he comes across as more fond of his failures than successes.
The biggest career setback, he says, came early on, when he was a minority shareholder in a company, leaving him creatively bereft. It's why he decided to launch Dyson and keep it as a family business.
It's also partly why he backed the UK decision to leave the European Union in 2020.
“On principle, it’s like companies. If you are taken over by another company, then you lose your individuality and ability to choose your own direction. So, for me, Brexit was about sovereignty and being able to decide our own course of action.
“As a small business owner, I must feel like that. I don’t want to feel part of a conglomerate. It is as simple as that ... it’s a psychological benefit.”
Dyson is now passing his knowledge on to future generations, because he wants to foster greater confidence in dealing with uncertainty. He's set up a series education facilities, such as London’s Dyson School of Design Engineering and The Dyson Building campuses in London Royal College of Art, which all revolve around the Steam syllabus of science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics.
“We recruit engineers because they love to change things and that’s their life ambition,” he says.
“I have also found that work experience doesn’t always help. What we need is people who need to be pioneers and not afraid to learn every day and young people I find are not scared of doing that."
Households of the future
When it comes to envisioning the household decades from now, Dyson is unsurprisingly reticent. He says an ill-judged answer could come precariously close to giving away company secrets.
"Robotics is something we are working on," he says, cryptically.
"Tidying up after children is a real chore. Clearing up after dogs and all kinds of things. Home help is becoming really important.”
One thing he is clear about, however, is that the investments and failures will keep racking up.
"You just have to accept that it's all a big risk and that you are going to be wrong sometimes," he says.
"If it always works, life will be too easy. It's all part of the thrill of it, it is a productive form of gambling that creates jobs and wealth."
Whether the Dyson Zone is one of those hits or misses, remains to be seen.
World Cup warm-up fixtures
Friday, May 24:
- Pakistan v Afghanistan (Bristol)
- Sri Lanka v South Africa (Cardiff)
Saturday, May 25
- England v Australia (Southampton)
- India v New Zealand (The Oval, London)
Sunday, May 26
- South Africa v West Indies (Bristol)
- Pakistan v Bangladesh (Cardiff)
Monday, May 27
- Australia v Sri Lanka (Southampton)
- England v Afghanistan (The Oval, London)
Tuesday, May 28
- West Indies v New Zealand (Bristol)
- Bangladesh v India (Cardiff)
THE LOWDOWN
Photograph
Rating: 4/5
Produced by: Poetic License Motion Pictures; RSVP Movies
Director: Ritesh Batra
Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Sanya Malhotra, Farrukh Jaffar, Deepak Chauhan, Vijay Raaz
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
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Crazy Rich Asians
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeon, Gemma Chan
Four stars
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Top 5 concerns globally:
1. Unemployment
2. Spread of infectious diseases
3. Fiscal crises
4. Cyber attacks
5. Profound social instability
Top 5 concerns in the Mena region
1. Energy price shock
2. Fiscal crises
3. Spread of infectious diseases
4. Unmanageable inflation
5. Cyber attacks
Source: World Economic Foundation
Profile
Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
Dhadak
Director: Shashank Khaitan
Starring: Janhvi Kapoor, Ishaan Khattar, Ashutosh Rana
Stars: 3
Results:
5pm: Conditions (PA) Dh80,000 1,400m | Winner: AF Tahoonah, Richard Mullen (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer)
5.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh90,000 1,400m | Winner: Ajwad, Gerald Avranche, Rashed Bouresly
6pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 1,600m | Winner: RB Lam Tara, Fabrice Veron, Eric Lemartinel
6.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 1,600m | Winner: Duc De Faust, Szczepan Mazur, Younis Al Kalbani
7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup (PA) Dh70,000 2,200m | Winner: Shareef KB, Fabrice Veron, Ernst Oertel
7.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh90,000 1,500m | Winner: Bainoona, Pat Cosgrave, Eric Lemartinel
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List
James Mustich, Workman
Dhahdak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Stars: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
500 People from Gaza enter France
115 Special programme for artists
25 Evacuation of injured and sick
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
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Heavily-sugared soft drinks slip through the tax net
Some popular drinks with high levels of sugar and caffeine have slipped through the fizz drink tax loophole, as they are not carbonated or classed as an energy drink.
Arizona Iced Tea with lemon is one of those beverages, with one 240 millilitre serving offering up 23 grams of sugar - about six teaspoons.
A 680ml can of Arizona Iced Tea costs just Dh6.
Most sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, five teaspoons of sugar in a 500ml bottle.
Fight card
Preliminaries:
Nouredine Samir (UAE) v Sheroz Kholmirzav (UZB); Lucas Porst (SWE) v Ellis Barboza (GBR); Mouhmad Amine Alharar (MAR) v Mohammed Mardi (UAE); Ibrahim Bilal (UAE) v Spyro Besiri (GRE); Aslamjan Ortikov (UZB) v Joshua Ridgwell (GBR)
Main card:
Carlos Prates (BRA) v Dmitry Valent (BLR); Bobirjon Tagiev (UZB) v Valentin Thibaut (FRA); Arthur Meyer (FRA) v Hicham Moujtahid (BEL); Ines Es Salehy (BEL) v Myriame Djedidi (FRA); Craig Coakley (IRE) v Deniz Demirkapu (TUR); Artem Avanesov (ARM) v Badreddine Attif (MAR); Abdulvosid Buranov (RUS) v Akram Hamidi (FRA)
Title card:
Intercontinental Lightweight: Ilyass Habibali (UAE) v Angel Marquez (ESP)
Intercontinental Middleweight: Amine El Moatassime (UAE) v Francesco Iadanza (ITA)
Asian Featherweight: Zakaria El Jamari (UAE) v Phillip Delarmino (PHI)
UAE squad to face Ireland
Ahmed Raza (captain), Chirag Suri (vice-captain), Rohan Mustafa, Mohammed Usman, Mohammed Boota, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Waheed Ahmad, Zawar Farid, CP Rizwaan, Aryan Lakra, Karthik Meiyappan, Alishan Sharafu, Basil Hameed, Kashif Daud, Adithya Shetty, Vriitya Aravind
Tips to stay safe during hot weather
- Stay hydrated: Drink plenty of fluids, especially water. Avoid alcohol and caffeine, which can increase dehydration.
- Seek cool environments: Use air conditioning, fans, or visit community spaces with climate control.
- Limit outdoor activities: Avoid strenuous activity during peak heat. If outside, seek shade and wear a wide-brimmed hat.
- Dress appropriately: Wear lightweight, loose and light-coloured clothing to facilitate heat loss.
- Check on vulnerable people: Regularly check in on elderly neighbours, young children and those with health conditions.
- Home adaptations: Use blinds or curtains to block sunlight, avoid using ovens or stoves, and ventilate living spaces during cooler hours.
- Recognise heat illness: Learn the signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke (dizziness, confusion, rapid pulse, nausea), and seek medical attention if symptoms occur.
Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
Sheer grandeur
The Owo building is 14 storeys high, seven of which are below ground, with the 30,000 square feet of amenities located subterranean, including a 16-seat private cinema, seven lounges, a gym, games room, treatment suites and bicycle storage.
A clear distinction between the residences and the Raffles hotel with the amenities operated separately.
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
Company%20profile
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