News

Sennheiser Helps Arabic Content Creators Get Their Message Across With Portable Lavalier Set

The set is an excellent investment for content creators who understand the importance of audio quality in content production.

Published

5 years ago

August 27, 2021

Joanna Melki

Sennheiser

It has never been easier for Arabic content creators to create engaging material and share it with the whole world. Even mid-range smartphones can effortlessly record high-definition video, and their broad connectivity options make it possible to stream the recorded footage in real-time. DSLR cameras have also come a long way, offering an incredible picture quality at increasingly affordable prices.

But captivating video footage on its own hardly ever tell the full story. To have the biggest impact possible, especially when recording interviews and capturing real-life events as they unfold in their raw form, it must be supported by high-quality audio. Unfortunately, that’s where many smartphones and even DSLR cameras fall short.

The XSW-D Portable Lavalier set from Sennheiser is intended to help Arabic content creators get their message across as clearly as possible. The set includes an XSW-D 3.5mm (1/8”) transmitter, XSW-D 3.5mm (1/8”) receiver, ME2-II clip-on lavalier mic, 3.5mm (1/8”) coiled cable, cold shoe mount, belt clip, and USB-A to USB-C charging cable.

Sennheiser XSW-D portable lavalier set

To use it, you simply connect the transmitter and the clip-on microphone together and pair it with the receiver, which you can then connect to your smartphone or DSLR camera. Because the transmitter and receiver communicate using the 2.4 GHz band, they can be up to 75 meters (250 feet) away from each other. On a single charge, you can expect to record for about 5 hours, and there’s nothing stopping you from pairing multiple transmitters with a single receiver.

Also Read: Yela Secures Over $2M To Connect Fans & Celebrities Via Video Messages

As one would expect from Sennheiser, the audio quality of the XSW-D Portable Lavalier set is excellent, with no distracting hisses and glitches ruining the listening experience. Overall, the set is an excellent investment for all content creators who understand the importance of audio quality in content production and are willing to spend some money to stand out from the crowd.

News

Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon

Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.

Published

2 weeks ago

August 27, 2026

Dana Saadeh

visa's return to syria starts with a test and a bank in lebanon

Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.

The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.

Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc

— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026

“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.

Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.

Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget

The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.

Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.