News

UAE Is Ready To Test New Face ID Technology In Service Delivery

Published

5 years ago

February 22, 2021

uae is ready to test new face id technology in service delivery

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It looks like UAE citizens won’t be required to identify themselves using government-issued documents in the near future. The country’s government has decided to greenlight an official trial of a new facial recognition technology (face ID technology) to further develop the services provided by the private and government sectors alike.

The decision was made at a Cabinet meeting on Sunday, which was chaired by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and the Ruler of Dubai. “In a meeting today, we have approved a facial recognition technology to verify the identity of individuals instead of submitting a lot of documents,” tweeted His Highness.

If the initial trial turns out successful, the ministry will expand the use of the facial recognition technology and support the launch of a related set of services in some private sector institutions.

Besides being convenient and efficient, citizen identification using face ID technology could also help curb the spread of the novel coronavirus and other infectious diseases. Similar contactless identification solutions are currently being deployed across airports, banks, and private businesses.

The Cabinet also approved the National Standards Manual for Statistical Data to provide a unified framework for the collection, processing, storage, and presentation of statistical data. The goal here is to ensure a high level of quality in all statistical activities, which play an essential role in supporting important governmental decisions.

Also Read: Dubai Police Use Futuristic Technology To Read Murder Suspect’s Mind

The manual covers eight basic topics: economic statistics, social and demographic statistics, education statistics, employment statistics, environment statistics, buildings and housing units statistics, and administrative divisions of each emirate.

It’s also worth mentioning that the Cabinet reviewed a study dealing with the prevention of mental and physical disabilities and reducing the mortality rate among children by performing premarital screenings for genetic diseases. According to the study, premarital genetic tests can reliably predict the risk of developing genetic diseases.

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.