News

Istanbul Fights Disease-Carrying Mosquitoes Using A Smartphone App

There are approximately 190,000 mosquito habitats in Istanbul, and 80% of them wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for humans creating ideal breeding conditions.

Published

4 years ago

April 22, 2021

Joanna Melki

istanbul fights disease carrying mosquitoes using a smartphone app

Unsplash

With the world’s attention focused on the still ongoing coronavirus pandemic, it’s easy to forget that there are many other serious health problems affecting the lives of people around the world. Istanbul is one of the countless cities that have been invaded by disease-carrying mosquitoes, and the city’s civic body has recently decided to solve this problem using modern technology.

More specifically, the Istanbul Municipality has released a smartphone app whose purpose is to identify different mosquito species in the city and create a real-time map showing their location. The gathered information will allow city officials to take appropriate actions in order to stop, or at least slow down, the spread of mosquitoes in the city of hundred names.

The biggest challenge is the fact that not all Istanbul residents own high-end smartphones with high-resolution cameras capable of taking detailed pictures of tiny mosquitoes, especially under poor lighting conditions. That said, even less-than-ideal pictures can help officials map out the general presence of mosquitoes in Istanbul, which can go a long way in tackling the infestation.

Önder Yüksel Eryiğit, a senior municipal official, said that there are approximately 190,000 mosquito habitats in Istanbul, and 80 percent of them wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for humans creating ideal breeding conditions for mosquitoes.

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Academics have warned the Istanbul Municipality about the possibility of mosquitoes infected with Zika and West Nile viruses already making the city their new home. To prevent a deadly outbreak of these and other infectious diseases, it’s important to act quickly and avoid letting the problem get out of hand.

This certainly isn’t the first application of mobile apps in the Middle East for the purposes of solving pressing healthcare issues, and it’s safe to say that it won’t be the last. For example, during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic, a group of 16 technology enthusiasts from Turkey developed a contact-tracing app to instantly alert users who had contact with infected people.

News

Stake Powers Instant Payouts With Checkout.com Pay To Card

The new feature lets investors in the UAE, KSA, and UK receive real estate returns in minutes — cutting withdrawal times to under 10 minutes.

Published

2 days ago

June 19, 2025

Nour Nasir

stake powers instant payouts with checkout.com pay to card

Stake, a leading digital real estate investment platform, has unveiled Pay to Card, a next-generation withdrawal feature built on Checkout.com’s global payment infrastructure. The integration enables investors to have dividends and returns credited directly to their bank cards — often within minutes — dramatically reducing the traditional multi-day payout process.

After a successful pilot in May involving over 200 users, some investors reported receiving their funds in under 10 minutes. Ricardo Brizido, CPTO and Co-Founder of Stake, emphasized the importance of speed and reliability: “With Pay to Card, we’re eliminating unnecessary delays and putting returns in our investors’ hands almost instantly. This feature was built to directly solve one of the most common pain points in real estate investing, and it’s already driving strong results”.

The feature launch coincides with rapid growth in real-time finance across the Middle East. Checkout.com’s “State of Digital Commerce in MENA 2025” report highlights a 388% year-on-year surge in Account Funding Transactions (AFTs) in the UAE, reflecting strong demand for immediate payout solutions. The same study recorded a 176% increase in total processing volume from 2023 to 2024 and noted that daily online transactions have jumped 320% since 2020.

Since its 2021 debut, Stake has facilitated over AED 1 billion in property transactions, advancing its mission to democratize real estate investment in high-growth markets. By integrating Pay to Card, Stake reinforces its commitment to customer-centric innovation and operational transparency.

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Remo Giovanni Abbondandolo, General Manager for MENA at Checkout.com, praised the collaboration: “Stake has always led with customer-first financial experiences. Together, we’re meeting the expectations of a region that is no longer just digital-first, but real-time-first. Pay to Card exemplifies how modern payment infrastructure can directly solve investor pain points”.

Pay to Card is now available to all Stake users in the United Arab Emirates, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the United Kingdom. By slashing withdrawal times from days to minutes, Stake and Checkout.com are setting a new standard for seamless, on-demand real estate investing.