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Mariam Al-Yazidi

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  • Adobe expanded its partnership with Saudi Arabia’s communications ministry and the Humain AI firm, opening free tools to eligible citizens and residents.
  • The 12-month offer covers Adobe Firefly Standard and Adobe Express Premium features, with a value Adobe puts above $4 billion.
  • A new image model built around Saudi culture will let users make pictures from prompts written in Arabic.
  • Access starts reaching users late in 2026, with a startup track to follow in early 2027.

Adobe has broadened its work with Saudi Arabia’s government and the Humain AI firm, opening its design software to millions in the kingdom at no charge. The company announced the move on Monday at LEAP 2026 in Riyadh. More than 27 million people who qualify, all aged 13 and over, will get 12 months of free use. Adobe puts the value of the commitment above $4 billion, though that figure reflects the worth of the free access rather than cash paid to Humain.

The offer covers the Adobe Firefly Standard tier along with premium features in Adobe Express. It also brings in Firefly Foundry image and video models. The plan puts Adobe’s free AI tools in the hands of students, small businesses and everyday creators. Shantanu Narayen, Adobe’s chief executive, tied the deal to helping Saudi individuals and businesses turn ideas into work. For Adobe, reach matters as much as goodwill. The rollout begins late in 2026. Saudi Arabia has made AI a national priority, and this deal slots into that push.

A model built around Saudi culture

At the center of the offer sits a new image model built by Adobe and the Humain AI firm. The system supports Arabic AI image generation, letting users produce pictures that fit local norms from prompts written in Arabic. Adobe describes the model as a way to reflect local values and visual style. Humain brings the cultural data and local knowledge, while Adobe supplies the underlying technology. The two companies first agreed to work together in November 2025, aiming to build Arabic content tools for the kingdom and the wider region.

This deal builds on that start. The Adobe Humain partnership now reaches well beyond a single product. For a government investing heavily in its own digital economy, control over how machines picture the country carries real weight. Who sets the cultural defaults, and who checks them, becomes part of the story. Tareq Amin, Humain’s chief executive, has argued that AI should understand the setting in which it runs.

Who governs the rollout?

The arrangement pulls together a private US firm, a national ministry and a state-owned tech company. Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology anchors the public side. The Humain AI firm, owned by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, carries the local mandate, and the fund oversees close to $1 trillion in assets. Adobe brings the software and the brand. Free access can build habits early, before users settle on rival apps.

The design software market has grown crowded, and smaller AI-first firms have taken share on price and speed. By seeding its tools among millions, Adobe positions itself to keep paying customers once the free year ends. Reach also extends to founders. From early 2027, eligible startups in the ministry’s CODE and The Garage programs will get a year of free Adobe tools and training. Access runs wide, yet the terms sit with the state and a global firm. Whether the free tier turns into lasting use will test how a sovereign fund, a ministry, and the Humain AI firm share the work of building a country’s digital tools.

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  • AI, AI Tools, Artificial Intelligence, Saudi Arabia

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Apple's iPhone Duo
  • iPhone

The iPhone Duo is Apple’s first foldable iPhone, and it opens like a small book into a 7.6-inch screen. Closed, you hold a 5.4-inch outer display that fits in a pocket. Both screens share the same aspect ratio, so a video or app scales cleanly as you move between them. Stand it up on a table, and it works hands-free for calls or video. Apple showed the phone on September 9 at its Surprise and Shine event in Cupertino, where new chief executive John Ternus led his first keynote. He said rival foldables often feel like two phones stuck together. The Duo tries to feel like one device that changes size when you need it.

What the screens and camera can do

Open the Duo and the inner display runs 50 percent larger than the iPhone 18 Pro Max. A custom nano-texture finish cuts glare and hides the crease, the seam that has annoyed foldable owners for years. Peak brightness reaches 3000 nits, so the screen stays readable outdoors. Inside, an under-display FaceTime camera keeps the view whole, with no notch breaking the screen. The rear camera leans on a 48MP Dual Fusion system with a main and an ultra-wide lens. There is no telephoto, a trade Apple made to save room in the thin body. Smart Take reads the scene and snaps the photo when everyone poses, so you can stand in the shot instead of behind it. You can also shoot 48MP photos and 4K video at up to 120 frames per second.

iPhone Duo specs that matter for daily use

The iPhone Duo specs point to a phone built for long, heavy days. Inside sits the A20 Pro chip with a vapor chamber that spreads heat during games and video edits. Apple pairs it with a dual-battery design that fits more cells into the frame. You get up to 31 hours of video on the inner screen and up to 44 hours on the outer one. Plug it in, and it reaches 50 percent in about 20 minutes. A Grade 5 titanium frame and a precision hinge give the body its strength, and Touch ID moves to the side button in place of Face ID.

iPhone Duo prices are ridiculously high

Here is the part your wallet cares about. The iPhone Duo price starts at $1,999 for 256GB in the United States, which makes it the most expensive iPhone in the lineup. In the UAE, iPhone Duo starts at AED 8,499 for the 256 GB, AED 9,349 for the 512 GB, AED 11,049 for the 1 TB, and the laptop-price level of AED 13,599 for the 2 TB. Preorders open October 16, and the iPhone Duo release date lands on October 23. Apple plans a first wave across more than 70 countries, then adds 28 more on October 30. For comparison, Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8 starts near $1,899.

Why the foldable iPhone arrives only now

Apple waited years while Samsung and others sold foldables. Now the foldable iPhone brings iOS 27 features built for two screens, like Split View and apps that respond to how you hold the phone. eSIM handles the connection, since there is no SIM tray anywhere. Apple Pencil support arrives later in 2026. That gap of a few weeks after the iPhone 18 Pro points to a slower, careful rollout for a harder build. If you have wanted a phone that turns into a small tablet without feeling clumsy, this is Apple’s answer, and you can hold one this month.

  • 3 min read
Work from Park initiative
  • Business

The Work from Park initiative puts bookable workspaces inside Dubai’s public parks, starting with Al Barsha Pond Park. Dubai Municipality announced the programme on 19 April 2026 and said it had signed two memoranda of cooperation to deliver it. One went to Group AMANA, which builds the units, and the other to Letswork LLC, which operates them.

Entrepreneurs, freelancers, small and medium-sized enterprises

The structure is a public-private partnership. Dubai Municipality provides the park and the mandate. Private firms handle design, construction, and daily operation. The municipality said the model gives the private sector a route into public facilities while each site keeps its role as a park.

Target users are entrepreneurs, freelancers, small and medium-sized enterprises, and anyone doing remote work in Dubai. Content creators get dedicated production rooms, which the municipality said are meant to strengthen their place in the emirate’s creative economy.

Letswork runs the booking side. Users reserve space through the Letswork app, check in on arrival and use one membership across the company’s network of venues. The offer covers desks by the hour, event space, podcast recording and production rooms for creators. Letswork will also run training programmes and group sessions for creative talent and new businesses.

How the Work from Park initiative is built

Group AMANA delivers the first site through its DuBox unit. DuBox builds the workspace modules in a factory, then transports them to the park and assembles them on site. The municipality said this shortens the build schedule, reduces waste and lowers the environmental footprint compared with conventional construction. Units can be reconfigured later as demand shifts.

The Al Barsha Pond Park site was scheduled to open in May 2026. Letswork now lists it as a bookable venue on its platform. The listing describes modular pods with high-speed Wi-Fi, power and climate-controlled seating, plus podcast studios and creative production rooms. Members can book day passes, meeting rooms and private offices under one Letswork membership.

Dubai Municipality said the Work from Park initiative would add more sites across the emirate later in 2026. Locations and opening dates for those have yet to be confirmed.

Bader Anwahi, CEO of the Public Facilities Agency at Dubai Municipality, said the partnerships combine advanced construction methods with private sector expertise to produce public infrastructure “that is flexible, sustainable, and aligned with modern lifestyles and work patterns.”

Richard Abboud, CEO of Group AMANA, said modular construction lets the company build efficient, adaptable units at speed.

Why the Work from Park initiative fits Dubai’s planning goals

The programme sits under three policy frameworks. Dubai’s 2040 Parks and Greenery Strategy targets 95 million park visits a year by 2040. Land use falls under the Dubai Urban Plan 2040. Economic targets through 2033 come from the Dubai Economic Agenda D33.

Omar AlMheiri, co-founder of Letswork, said the partnership would add dedicated creative spaces and podcast studios. He described it as a step toward changing where and how people in the UAE do flexible work.

Dubai Municipality describes the Work from Park initiative as the first of its kind. Existing Dubai coworking spaces operate from office towers, hotels and retail sites. This programme moves the format onto municipal parkland, with the municipality as host and a private platform as operator.

Outdoor workspaces in Dubai face one obvious constraint: summer heat. The Letswork listing addresses this with climate-controlled seating inside the pods. Demand across a full year of operation will show whether the format holds. The second site, once announced, will be the next signal of how fast the municipality intends to scale.

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