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Shake a Dubai taxi

The experience of travelling on a Dubai taxi is about to change as new Hi-Tech taxi features and a smart app are being launched.

Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) announced at the Gitex exhibition that it is all set to become a “smart” experience by year-end.

Passengers can expect the ability to do everything from “shaking” down a taxi to checking flights on board and paying by credit or NoL cards.

To begin with, a potential passenger needs to download the Smart Taxi app on his smartphone. It’s a free application, the first of its kind in the region, that allows him to book and track taxi orders in real time.

Once downloaded, a unique “shake-a-taxi” concept will allow the customer to fetch a cab by merely shaking his cellphone. The idea stems from the same gesture as waving your hand to flag down a taxi.

The customer would need to enter his contact number and the application will automatically look for available taxis nearest to him. When the cab is identified, the driver will confirm the pick-up and notify the customer in real time along its journey. “The customer will get all the details about the taxi, including the name and picture of the taxi driver by the time it reaches him.”

Instead of the current guessing work that is done to find out if a taxi is vacant, new smart taxi signs will leave no room for doubt. Every taxi on the road will have a message that clearly states if it is vacant, hired or booked, according to which it will show a green, red or orange light.

Once inside the taxi, the passenger can feel a difference. All taxis will have Wi-Fi, so the passenger can make the most of it. We will be installing LCD screens on which he can get flight information, make check-ins, find out about events and do a variety of other tasks. 

The screens will be installed in phases and the Dubai Taxi fleet of 3,500 vehicles will be the first to get them. When the journey is over and it’s time to pay, the passenger can select three modes of payment: cash as is the current case, credit card or a smartphone-enabled NoL card. This is expected to be particularly beneficial to tourists who may not be carrying cash or the local currency. Passengers will also be able to rate the drivers’ performance on a five-star-scale when they disembark.

In addition to taxi bookings, the application allows passengers to schedule a taxi at any date or time. If the customer is near a taxi park, walking directions to the taxi will also be provided.

- Inputs from Xpress/Gulf News.

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"All these lights and nothing to display"

I get as offended as the next person by senseless vandals smearing their ugly tags on every wall, bus stop and fence around town. That's disgraceful lack of respect for the public space and private property alike. However, real street art can be beautiful and sometimes incredible one-liner statements can make your day.

In the UAE, rare is the voice raised in protest, least of all in the public space. So what is the point of home grown street art? "The meaning of graffiti," explained aerosol artist Sya One in an interview conducted by the Virgin Megastore blog last year, "is marking any surface with a trace to show that you were there." Graffiti is generally the domain of "writers", who spray words-as-image, most frequently their own names. Street artists, less concerned with their names (some don't even sign their work), usually juggle text and imagery, injecting them with sharp social commentary. "It's no longer about proving my existence with graffiti," claims Safe, an Abu Dhabi street artist whose highly visual work packs some hard punches against big enemies like consumerism. For some, marking one's turf comes second to crafting a message.

If, as media pundit Marshall McLuhan proclaimed, we become what we behold, then most Dubai residents are likely to be some form of outdoor advertising.
One tag, at the foot of a mammoth Sheikh Zayed Road billboard, stingingly spotlights the hollowness of this ad saturation: "All these lights, and nothing to display." The handiwork of prolific yet discreet artist Arcadia Blank, this is just one of the many pungent morsels he has used to turn heads and provoke thought in Dubai neighbourhoods since early 2011. Aesthetically, his work may be scratchy, speedily-sprayed text, but reactions to its bold simplicity have been widely favourable. Many nod in approval of his targeting temporary structures ("he's an artist, not a vandal"), while claiming to be momentarily lulled into a mindscape away from the Dubai rat race. He has been active in many parts of Dubai, but especially in the Tecom and Al Barsha areas. I have made several walks around these neighbourhoods to spot his musings.
I must admit, I am a fan.

Arcadia Blank wants simply to inject a voice into what is perceived as a voiceless place. Opposed to the stranglehold of Dubai's commercial art galleries, he fights to shift the focus towards the public realm. "I hope my public text work has helped plant seeds in the local art community's minds regarding public space," he modestly admits. "Art has a place in the city. It fills a very prominent void."

Not all “graffers” have such honourable civic intentions. The tagger Al Afghani, working in the newer parts of town, favours rants (“I hate pretentious arts”). Elsewhere, a gang of Emiratis’ signature is three dots forming a triangle.

But what of street art that, well, is not on the street? Brands, eager to don an edgy aura, are busy courting graffers. Perrier, Adidas, and the Aloft hotel in Abu Dhabi have all commissioned works from the likes of Sya One and Steffi Bow. Event planners, too, are quick to jump on the graffiti bandwagon, with live art "gigs" becoming increasingly commonplace.

Galleries are notoriously reticent in welcoming street art into the inner sanctum of the white cube. The Beirut Art Center's 2012 White Wall show sensitively struggled with the slippery issue of bringing an inherently outdoor and accessible art form indoors. But one street art insider mistrusts these intentions. Break DJ Lobito is the founder of Deep Crates Cartel, a collective comprising local street artists and other urban talent. "Part of the function of street art," he asserts, "is to deconstruct the institutions that have created the art industry."

Municipalities also want their piece of the street art pie. When asked about Dubai Culture's recent efforts to nurture public art via themed initiatives like "The City is Your Canvas", most artists fall politely silent. Does local government involvement and municipal messaging sap the power out of street art, domesticating its untamed spirit?

Whatever the future of the art form, it seems inextricably linked to the rise of public art. Deep Crates Cartel is lobbying hard to obtain legal walls where artists could let loose without fear (Saudi Arabia already has one).

As commissioning public art garners greater attention, the street artists see an opportunity: their art can keep its bite, but evolve in a fully legal, even civic, context. With one catch: no corporate promotion or municipal hidden agendas. Only then, they imagine, will we have the kind of art powerful enough to bring tears to our eyes.

- With inputs from The National. Thanks to Arcadia Blank.

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Signs in the UAE

One of the most interesting things about life in the UAE is the cosmopolitan nature of the country. The population of almost 6 million people is roughly made up from 80% expats and 20% Emiratis. There are people living here for shorter or longer time from more countries and territories than there are members of the United Nations.

It is like a global village and over time you will meet and interact with people from all over the world. The official language of the UAE is obviously Arabic, but English is the language most commonly used in business and when out in public. Since only the minority of people here are actually native English speakers, sometimes things go horribly wrong when it comes to communication. Certain ethnic groups tend to have their own special variety of “English” using phrases and terms taken directly from their own language and translated to English where it is then used to bend the language in ways which the Queen would never use. There are loads of examples of “Jinglish” as the native English speakers call it. On many occasions this improper use of English can be hilarious, especially when “Jinglish” is applied to signs displayed in public. On other signs it is the spelling, grammar or punctuation which is not quite spot-on and makes things go wrong. Even the sign itself and its layout might cause problems understanding it properly.

Although many signs serve a serious purpose offering sound advice or warnings, sometimes the message does not really come through or it gets completely lost in translation.
Below are a few examples of some of the signs I have come across here in the UAE. It is very easy to find some funny examples when driving or walking around the city and it can become a great sport to be sign-spotting once you get the feel for it. Enjoy.

Safety Fist? Human Traffic?? - better wear safety helmet then...

No tap dancing either.

No, please hurry up, men!

Please dry-flush yourself when through!

Wonder what they are doing to that building?

Glad they are not demolishing it...

One of those days, but keep smiling :-)

I love this sign near Abu Dhabi.

Always make me wonder what they keep in store for me today.

Surprise!

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BlackBerry Battered in the UAE

Big news here in the oasis today which has caused rather a lot of fuzz within the expat community.

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of the UAE -TRA - has said that BlackBerry Messenger, BlackBerry E-mail and BlackBerry Web-browsing services in the UAE will be suspended as of October 11. This was officially announced today by government news agency WAM. This will affect BlackBerry owners whether they signed up with Etisalat or du, the only two telecommunication service providers in the country.

Needless to say, quite a few people here were not exactly thrilled with the fact that a vast portion of the user interface on their phones can no longer be accessed or used as intended as from that date.

Alledgedly, the suspension is a result of the failure of ongoing attempts, dating back to 2007, to bring BlackBerry services in the UAE in line with UAE telecommunications regulations. Now, I have been here a fair amount of time and I have witnessed the very thorough marketing campaigns launced repeatedly by both service providers to get the public to sign-up for subscriptions for the BlacBerry service. It is an extremely popular series of handsets here in the UAE and I know loads of people who are huge fans of BlackBerrys and swear they couldn't live without it. I myself is an iPhone evangelist though, so I am really not affected by the fuzz, but I do respect those less fortunate amongst friends.

Both telecommunications operators, Etisalat and du,were informed of the decision earlier today. The notification was delivered with an instruction to ensure minimal consumer disruption in the provision of alternative services.

Shortly after the announcement, Etisalat issued the following statement:

"This is an important decision made by the Regulatory Authority and we fully understand the legal and social considerations behind the decision.

"Etisalat has an obligation to act within the law and the regulations of the TRA, while at the same time, providing our customers with the best service. Etisalat has a significant share of customers in the UAE for its mobility services, including BlackBerry customers and hence it is very important for us to ensure our customers enjoy continuity of services. Etisalat's focus at the current time is to make sure its valued customers experience continuity of mobility services. In line with its commitment towards its customers, Etisalat will soon be announcing a range of alternative mobility products and services for its existing BlackBerry customers."

The core of the problem seems to be that BlackBerry data is immediately exported offshore, where it is managed by BlackBerry servers in the US and elsewhere. Thus not passing through the filtering systems in place in the UAE where attempts to access websites or services which are considered to be not in line with UAE customs and values and otherwise considered to be offensive are blocked. BlackBerry data services are currently the only data services operating in the UAE where this is the case.

Since the BlackBerry concept and user services, however, are based on a centralised server platform, obviously it is and has been possible to access such sites which are not in line with the the UAE regulations.

Commenting on the announcement, the TRA director general said: "With no solution available and in the public interest, in order to affect resolution of this issue, as of October 11, 2010, BlackBerry Messenger, BlackBerry Email and BlackBerry Web-browsing services will be suspended until an acceptable solution can be developed and applied."

I think the matter will be resolved eventually since most normal operations on the BlackBerry like checking e-mails, texting, phoning etc will still be intact. However, from 11th October all traffic will pass through the handle filters and all traffic will thus pass through the networks of etisalat and du. At the end of the day, they will be the winners since the traffic on their networks is going to go up significantly.

On the other hand, today the number of BlackBerry handsets being offered for sale on souk.com went up quite a lot. If you want to acquire a cheep one, now might be the perfect time. Maybe, everyone will end up getting an iPhone in the end.

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