News

Israeli Engineers Create Gadget That Fights Panic Attacks

Published

6 years ago

March 5, 2021

israeli engineers create a gadget that fights panic attacks

CalmiGo

It’s estimated that between 1 and 2 percent of the general population experience panic attacks from time to time. Unfortunately, the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic has given us all a new source of anxiety, and the light at the end of the tunnel still seems far away. Some mental health experts even worry that the current pandemic could be followed by a mental health pandemic of yet unknown proportions.

The good news is that there are people like biomedical engineering Adi Wallach and her mother, Dr. Orna Levin, who understand that mental health issues can be just as debilitating as physical ones and are determined to do something about them.

After years of struggle with Wallach’s panic attacks, the mother-daughter duo decided to combine their expertise and use technology to help people around the world live their lives without panic attacks. Through their Israel-based company, Dendro Technologies, they released a product called CalmiGo, which looks like an asthma pump but functions completely differently.

“The idea came about as a result of my own personal struggles with anxiety attacks,” said Wallach. “Out of this unfortunate situation, CalmiGo was conceived. I was searching for something, anything, that I could take with me that would help me get through these moments of distress. When I was unable to find an adequate solution, I decided to create a device which people could take with them everywhere they go, one that would help them stop moments of anxiousness and distress regardless of age, location, or technical abilities.”

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

CalmiGo is essentially a smart deep breathing companion whose purpose is to calm your breathing in stressful situations to prevent the onset of a panic attack. To accelerate and deepen the relaxation, the device features a scented element (lavender, peppermint, or bergamot) as well as an optional function that vibrates the device to provide multi-sensory stimulation.

CalmiGo is compact enough to carry in a small pocket, and studies have shown that just a few minutes each day with the device can significantly reduce common symptoms of anxiety and stress. You can order CalmiGo right now on its official website by or via Amazon.

News

Microsoft Plans $10 Billion-Plus Gulf Expansion Despite Iran Conflict

Security is shaping Microsoft’s approach, from resilience work with governments to what it will say about how the money splits by country.

Published

4 days ago

September 24, 2026

Nour Nasir

Microsoft

Microsoft is planning more than $10 billion of investment across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait through 2030, Vice Chair and President Brad Smith told Reuters, calling the spending schedule aggressive. The Iranian conflict that began on February 28 has not persuaded the company to scale back.

“We’re sustaining all the investments we planned to make before this conflict started, and we are in fact adding to them,” Smith said. The $10 billion-plus total does not, however, show how large those additions are.

The investment, which Smith described as part of Microsoft’s continued infrastructure expansion, is aimed at cloud and AI infrastructure and at the company’s growing regional operations. Microsoft also intends to put more than $400 million into subsea and terrestrial connectivity across the Middle East by 2030.

The spending fits the region’s own ambitions too. Gulf governments have been investing heavily in AI infrastructure as part of a push to diversify their economies beyond oil and gas and turn themselves into global technology hubs. Major cloud and AI providers have been drawn in part by the land and relatively low-cost energy on offer.

Microsoft is widening its partnerships with regional AI companies, though not on identical terms. In 2024, it invested $1.5 billion in Abu Dhabi-based G42 for a minority stake, and Smith currently sits on G42’s board. Saudi Arabia’s Humain and Qatar’s Qai are working with Microsoft on selected priority areas, but Smith said the company does not plan to make capital investments in either.

Also Read: Egypt’s Mobile Wallets Are Booming, But Cash Still Has Power

The conflict has added another strand to Microsoft’s work in the region. Since it began, Smith said, the company has supported regional partners with digital resilience assessments, and it is now working with Gulf countries through a digital resilience initiative focused on preparedness and the protection of critical data.

So far, the company has given no country-by-country breakdown of the investment, citing security among other factors. So while the headline figure is public, how Microsoft divides the spending among the four countries is not.