News

UAE Bans Recreational Drone Use Following Deadly Attack

Those who break the new rule and get caught flying their drones can face financial penalties or go to jail for up to three years.

Published

5 years ago

January 26, 2022

David Morelo

uae bans recreational drone use following deadly attack

DJI

Drones have many legitimate uses, from capturing the world from the bird’s-eye view for journalism and film to delivering packages and even precious cargo like defibrillators to playing an important role in search and rescue operations. But just like every other technology, a drone can be used both for good and evil.

Recently, a drone attack on an important oil facility in Abu Dhabi killed three people and led to a fire at Abu Dhabi’s international airport. The attack was claimed by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who have since then launched more attacks against the United Arab Emirates and its neighbor, Saudi Arabia.

Based on currently available information, it seems that the attackers have strapped bombs to large consumer-grade drones with enough carrying capacity and battery power to take them to their destination.

“Several attacks, a combination of cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and drones, targeted civilian sites in the UAE” said Yousef Al-Otaiba, UAE ambassador to Washington. “Several were intercepted, a few of them didn’t and three innocent civilians, unfortunately, lost their lives”.

In response to the attacks, the UAE has banned hobbyists from flying their drones and other light aircraft, such as gliders. Those who break the new rule and get caught flying their devices can face financial penalties or go to jail for up to three years, reports the Dubai-based Khaleej Times.

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Even before this announcement, drone enthusiasts in the UAE have already been required by law to obtain a certificate from the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority. The certification process is now put on indefinite hold, and its official website displays an error message.

According to the Ministry of Interior, exceptions can be made on a case-by-case basis for work contracts or commercial or advertising projects that rely on filming using drones.

News

Instagram Redraws Its Wordmark And The Internet Reads “Instagzam”

Instagram’s first wordmark refresh in a decade arrives with new fonts, a restrained gradient — and a Reddit verdict of sidegrade.

Published

4 days ago

August 14, 2026

Nour Nasir

Instagram

Although Instagram’s famous camera icon hasn’t changed, the company has refreshed the handwritten wordmark at the top of its app. This is the first redesign we’ve seen in ten years, and one the internet promptly set about renaming.

“The wordmark at the top of the app hasn’t changed in 10 years, so it was time for a refresh,” Instagram head Adam Mosseri wrote in a post on August 13, describing the new version as “cleaner and more modern” while keeping references to the original design.

Instagram says its team explored hundreds of options — all-caps lettering, camera-inspired concepts, even literal handwriting — before returning to script. “Script reflects individuality, so referencing that felt right,” Instagram director of product design Jasmine Probst said in Meta’s announcement. “The new wordmark is bolder and simpler, with touches of unexpectedness. It cues individual expression, a personal voice, both of which have always been core to Instagram”.

The wordmark is part of a broader brand overhaul: an updated Instagram Sans typeface, two new fonts — the hand-drawn Instagram Pen and Instagram Mono — plus refreshed motion and layouts, and more restrained use of the signature gradient. The wordmark is rolling out globally now, with the rest arriving throughout 2026 and beyond.

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The design mixes cursive and print lettering, some characters connected and others floating free. That hybrid approach, combined with unusually shaped “s” and “r” characters, led some users to conclude the logo actually reads “Instagzam”. On the r/logodesign subreddit, one user said the wordmark looked “fan-made,” like something built in Canva; another called it “an unsettling mix of manuscript and cursive”; a third summarized it as a “sidegrade” — or, inevitably, a “zidegrade”.

Not everyone was hostile to the new look. Some found the half-cursive design stylish and surprisingly readable, while others called it an improvement on its predecessor, and one commenter argued Instagram was simply adopting minimalist branding later than everyone else. Either way, the platform now has a refreshed identity, three updated fonts, and an unofficial new pronunciation.