News

Ring Upgrades Home Security With New Ring Protect Plus Features

The latest update allows users to access exclusive new features such as Multi-Cam Live View and Priority Alerts.

Published

2 years ago

April 30, 2024

Nour Nasir

Ring

Home security expert Ring has revealed five new features for its Ring Protect Plus subscription:

Live View
Picture-in-Picture
Multi-Cam Live View
Snapshot Capture Plus
Priority Alerts
Event Summary

The update should help users boost security and get more value out of their doorbell or camera systems, along with extra peace of mind.

The new video tools, such as Live View Picture-in-Picture, Multi-Cam Live View, and Snapshot Capture Plus, offer insights into activating, viewing, deleting, and downloading snapshots and allow adjustments to snapshot frequency.

Meanwhile, the Enhanced Notifications feature allows users to customize notifications and keep up with what’s happening at home. In addition, a Priority Alerts tool enables alerts when a mobile device is in Do Not Disturb mode and can override settings like Alerts Snooze and Motion Schedules. Finally, the Event Summary feature offers a daily digest of all events and recordings.

“We have always focused on home security solutions that are flexible to work in any space,” said Mohammad Meraj Hoda, Ring’s Vice President of Emerging Markets. “We are seeing more households turn to Ring for the peace of mind that comes from knowing their homes are secure. We’re giving our customers tools they need to build a home security system exactly the way they need it”.

Also Read: Dubai Gives Go Ahead For $35 Billion Al Maktoum Airport Expansion

Ring Protect Plus covers unlimited Ring Video Doorbells and Cameras for a single location. However, the company also offers a Basic plan covering a single Ring Video Doorbell or Security Camera at one location. With both Basic and Plus plans, users can save, share, and download clips of any detected events for up to 180 days.

The company is currently offering a free 30-day free trial to its Ring Protect service with any Ring Video Doorbell or Security Camera purchase. The Ring Protect Plus subscription can be purchased later for $10/month or $100/year.

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.