Modern life causes us to generate an astounding amount of data. The Internet Archive in San Francisco tasked with storing the world’s information, contains a colossal 25 million gigabytes of material – but that represents a tiny fraction of the amount we produce every day – from holiday videos to step counts. It all combines to form a vivid personal record, a valuable picture of who we are. But while this kind of personal legacy might once have been placed carefully in a box under the bed, it now sits on servers in unknown locations around the globe.
Our assumption is that it’ll be there for as long as we need it, but the custodians of that data can’t always guarantee to look after it for the long haul. This has just been illustrated by photo storage service Flickr, with the announcement that its previous offer of a free terabyte of storage is being cut back. From February 5 next year, users of Flickr’s free service will only be allowed to store 1000 photos, and any excess will be deleted, oldest first. No heed will paid to their importance; pictures of weddings and graduations are just as likely to disappear as blurry selfies – unless you download them soon for safe keeping.
'It’s the way we’re wired'
The new owner of Flickr, SmugMug, has given a very reasonable explanation for this change: the firm is trying rebuild a platform dedicated to quality rather than quantity, and wants users to recognise that online storage is worth paying for. But it serves as a reminder that despite the convenience of a virtual repository, precious memories can disappear for unforeseen reasons – and when they do, we become furious.
“It’s the way we’re wired,” says Dr Micah Altman, director of research at MIT Libraries in Boston, Massachusetts. “When we discover we’ve lost something, we pay a lot more attention to it than we would have done otherwise. In the past, we’d keep physical objects around us and make decisions about whether or not to keep them, but today, we generate more information than we can possibly manage by ourselves.”
That information is produced without us even thinking, enabled and encouraged by the various services we use. We may access webmail rather than store it on a computer, send our photos to the cloud to save on smartphone space, or choose to stream our favourite music rather than collect libraries of mp3s. Online services have made themselves indispensable, with calendars, address books, to-do lists and much else besides living on their servers. “Part of the business model of these services is to lock people in,” says Altman. “It’s much more profitable. But if you’re storing all your data in one place, well, that’s a single point of potential failure.”
So what could go wrong?
In theory, cloud storage is safer than keeping everything archived at home. Burglars break-in, hard disks fail, and phones can be lost. The big online services, however, store copies of your data in multiple locations across multiple continents, and losing that data would require a highly unlikely failure in all those locations at once. "For things like fire and flood and lightning strikes [the services] are doing really well," says Altman. "The bigger worry is that something goes wrong with your relationship with that organisation. That they mess up your credit card rebilling, your renewal email goes astray or you end up in dispute. There are critical risks related to the organisation itself."
Companies including Flickr and YouTube have been involved in well-publicised cases where people have had their accounts closed – and data deleted – because of disputed violations of terms of service. Then there's computer error; despite the solid reputation of internet warhorses such as Gmail and Dropbox, they have both experienced glitches in the past where customer data has mysteriously vanished. And then, as with Flickr today, business models have to change or die – and if the latter happens, your data may die with them.
____________________
Read more:
Five-star fakery: how online reviews may not be as trustworthy as you think
‘Merging man and machine doesn’t come without consequences’
Why do people love unboxing videos?
____________________
Countless services have fallen off the internet, from Geocities (2009) to blogging platform Posterous (2013) to last month's closure of social media platform Path, and with each shutdown comes mass deletion of our painstakingly accumulated stuff. When entire server companies go bust, like what happened with Megacloud in 2013, the ramifications are even greater. Worse: these companies aren't generally liable for that data loss.
What the future holds
The Googles, Facebooks, Apples, and Amazons of this world are seen as too big to fail, and could be seen as reliable keepers of our digital assets – although Scott Galloway, professor of marketing at NYU Stern School of Business, predicted in an interview last year that those businesses are all likely to fail in the next 50 years, such is the pace of change. People’s lives have become so inextricably intertwined with these firms that it’s hard to imagine them not being there. However, if they went, a part of us would disappear, too.
Data is fragile, and the practical lesson we should learn is one we've been taught a thousand times: back things up in multiple places. "Paying a few dollars a month to more than one online storage service is more reliable than keeping a copy in a safe-deposit box because you're never going to check that the copy in the deposit box still works," says Altman. But there's also the more profound question of how much the preservation of our data really matters to future generations – particularly in an age when we generate so much without trying, from our musical tastes to our movements around the world. "We don't have good models to predict what information is going to be useful in the future," says Altman. "Important information isn't necessarily the most popular or the most viewed, and as yet there's no way of knowing its future value."
So, while our individual digital legacies may be important to us, they’re of unknown worth. But one thing is clear: if it’s preserved properly, historians of the future will have a crystal clear idea of what human life was like in 2018 – as long as they have the time and the patience to sift through it all.
Company profile
Company name: Fasset
Started: 2019
Founders: Mohammad Raafi Hossain, Daniel Ahmed
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $2.45 million
Current number of staff: 86
Investment stage: Pre-series B
Investors: Investcorp, Liberty City Ventures, Fatima Gobi Ventures, Primal Capital, Wealthwell Ventures, FHS Capital, VN2 Capital, local family offices
ENGLAND SQUAD
Goalkeepers Pickford (Everton), Pope (Burnley), Henderson (Manchester United)
Defenders Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Chilwell (Chelsea), Coady (Wolves), Dier (Tottenham), Gomez (Liverpool), James (Chelsea), Keane (Everton), Maguire (Manchester United), Maitland-Niles (Arsenal), Mings (Aston Villa), Saka (Arsenal), Trippier (Atletico Madrid), Walker (Manchester City)
Midfielders: Foden (Manchester City), Henderson (Liverpool), Grealish (Aston Villa), Mount (Chelsea), Rice (West Ham), Ward-Prowse (Southampton), Winks (Tottenham)
Forwards: Abraham (Chelsea), Calvert-Lewin (Everton), Kane (Tottenham), Rashford (Manchester United), Sancho (Borussia Dortmund), Sterling (Manchester City)
MATCH INFO
Champions League last 16, first leg
Tottenham v RB Leipzig, Wednesday, midnight (UAE)
CRICKET WORLD CUP QUALIFIER, ZIMBABWE
UAE fixtures
Monday, June 19
Sri Lanka v UAE, Queen’s Sports Club
Wednesday, June 21
Oman v UAE, Bulawayo Athletic Club
Friday, June 23
Scotland v UAE, Bulawayo Athletic Club
Tuesday, June 27
Ireland v UAE, Bulawayo Athletic Club
The British in India: Three Centuries of Ambition and Experience
by David Gilmour
Allen Lane
Important questions to consider
1. Where on the plane does my pet travel?
There are different types of travel available for pets:
- Manifest cargo
- Excess luggage in the hold
- Excess luggage in the cabin
Each option is safe. The feasibility of each option is based on the size and breed of your pet, the airline they are traveling on and country they are travelling to.
2. What is the difference between my pet traveling as manifest cargo or as excess luggage?
If traveling as manifest cargo, your pet is traveling in the front hold of the plane and can travel with or without you being on the same plane. The cost of your pets travel is based on volumetric weight, in other words, the size of their travel crate.
If traveling as excess luggage, your pet will be in the rear hold of the plane and must be traveling under the ticket of a human passenger. The cost of your pets travel is based on the actual (combined) weight of your pet in their crate.
3. What happens when my pet arrives in the country they are traveling to?
As soon as the flight arrives, your pet will be taken from the plane straight to the airport terminal.
If your pet is traveling as excess luggage, they will taken to the oversized luggage area in the arrival hall. Once you clear passport control, you will be able to collect them at the same time as your normal luggage. As you exit the airport via the ‘something to declare’ customs channel you will be asked to present your pets travel paperwork to the customs official and / or the vet on duty.
If your pet is traveling as manifest cargo, they will be taken to the Animal Reception Centre. There, their documentation will be reviewed by the staff of the ARC to ensure all is in order. At the same time, relevant customs formalities will be completed by staff based at the arriving airport.
4. How long does the travel paperwork and other travel preparations take?
This depends entirely on the location that your pet is traveling to. Your pet relocation compnay will provide you with an accurate timeline of how long the relevant preparations will take and at what point in the process the various steps must be taken.
In some cases they can get your pet ‘travel ready’ in a few days. In others it can be up to six months or more.
5. What vaccinations does my pet need to travel?
Regardless of where your pet is traveling, they will need certain vaccinations. The exact vaccinations they need are entirely dependent on the location they are traveling to. The one vaccination that is mandatory for every country your pet may travel to is a rabies vaccination.
Other vaccinations may also be necessary. These will be advised to you as relevant. In every situation, it is essential to keep your vaccinations current and to not miss a due date, even by one day. To do so could severely hinder your pets travel plans.
Source: Pawsome Pets UAE
TWISTERS
Director:+Lee+Isaac+Chung
Starring:+Glen+Powell,+Daisy+Edgar-Jones,+Anthony+Ramos
Rating:+2.5/5
'Dark Waters'
Directed by: Todd Haynes
Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Anne Hathaway, William Jackson Harper
Rating: ****
Scoreline
Ireland 16 (Tries: Stockdale Cons: Sexton Pens: Sexton 3)
New Zealand 9 (Pens: Barrett 2 Drop Goal: Barrett)
Essentials
The flights
Etihad and Emirates fly direct from the UAE to Delhi from about Dh950 return including taxes.
The hotels
Double rooms at Tijara Fort-Palace cost from 6,670 rupees (Dh377), including breakfast.
Doubles at Fort Bishangarh cost from 29,030 rupees (Dh1,641), including breakfast. Doubles at Narendra Bhawan cost from 15,360 rupees (Dh869). Doubles at Chanoud Garh cost from 19,840 rupees (Dh1,122), full board. Doubles at Fort Begu cost from 10,000 rupees (Dh565), including breakfast.
The tours
Amar Grover travelled with Wild Frontiers. A tailor-made, nine-day itinerary via New Delhi, with one night in Tijara and two nights in each of the remaining properties, including car/driver, costs from £1,445 (Dh6,968) per person.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
SPECS
Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Price: From Dh167,500 ($45,000)
On sale: Now
Bridgerton season three - part one
Directors: Various
Starring: Nicola Coughlan, Luke Newton, Jonathan Bailey
Rating: 3/5
Company Profile
Company name: Namara
Started: June 2022
Founder: Mohammed Alnamara
Based: Dubai
Sector: Microfinance
Current number of staff: 16
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Family offices
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Dooda Solutions
Based: Lebanon
Founder: Nada Ghanem
Sector: AgriTech
Total funding: $300,000 in equity-free funding
Number of employees: 11
Greatest Royal Rumble results
John Cena pinned Triple H in a singles match
Cedric Alexander retained the WWE Cruiserweight title against Kalisto
Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt win the Raw Tag Team titles against Cesaro and Sheamus
Jeff Hardy retained the United States title against Jinder Mahal
Bludgeon Brothers retain the SmackDown Tag Team titles against the Usos
Seth Rollins retains the Intercontinental title against The Miz, Finn Balor and Samoa Joe
AJ Styles remains WWE World Heavyweight champion after he and Shinsuke Nakamura are both counted out
The Undertaker beats Rusev in a casket match
Brock Lesnar retains the WWE Universal title against Roman Reigns in a steel cage match
Braun Strowman won the 50-man Royal Rumble by eliminating Big Cass last
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 268hp at 5,600rpm
Torque: 380Nm at 4,800rpm
Transmission: CVT auto
Fuel consumption: 9.5L/100km
On sale: now
Price: from Dh195,000
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Haltia.ai
Started: 2023
Co-founders: Arto Bendiken and Talal Thabet
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: AI
Number of employees: 41
Funding: About $1.7 million
Investors: Self, family and friends
How to come clean about financial infidelity
- Be honest and transparent: It is always better to own up than be found out. Tell your partner everything they want to know. Show remorse. Inform them of the extent of the situation so they know what they are dealing with.
- Work on yourself: Be honest with yourself and your partner and figure out why you did it. Don’t be ashamed to ask for professional help.
- Give it time: Like any breach of trust, it requires time to rebuild. So be consistent, communicate often and be patient with your partner and yourself.
- Discuss your financial situation regularly: Ensure your spouse is involved in financial matters and decisions. Your ability to consistently follow through with what you say you are going to do when it comes to money can make all the difference in your partner’s willingness to trust you again.
- Work on a plan to resolve the problem together: If there is a lot of debt, for example, create a budget and financial plan together and ensure your partner is fully informed, involved and supported.
Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
Crops that could be introduced to the UAE
1: Quinoa
2. Bathua
3. Amaranth
4. Pearl and finger millet
5. Sorghum
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl, 48V hybrid
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 325bhp
Torque: 450Nm
Price: Dh289,000
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
First-round leaderbaord
-5 C Conners (Can)
-3 B Koepka (US), K Bradley (US), V Hovland (Nor), A Wise (US), S Horsfield (Eng), C Davis (Aus);
-2 C Morikawa (US), M Laird (Sco), C Tringale (US)
Selected others: -1 P Casey (Eng), R Fowler (US), T Hatton (Eng)
Level B DeChambeau (US), J Rose (Eng)
+1 L Westwood (Eng), J Spieth (US)
+3 R McIlroy (NI)
+4 D Johnson (US)
T20 World Cup Qualifier A, Muscat
Friday, February 18: 10am - Oman v Nepal, Canada v Philippines; 2pm - Ireland v UAE, Germany v Bahrain
Saturday, February 19: 10am - Oman v Canada, Nepal v Philippines; 2pm - UAE v Germany, Ireland v Bahrain
Monday, February 21: 10am - Ireland v Germany, UAE v Bahrain; 2pm - Nepal v Canada, Oman v Philippines
Tuesday, February 22: 2pm – semi-finals
Thursday, February 24: 2pm – final
UAE squad: Ahmed Raza (captain), Muhammad Waseem, Chirag Suri, Vriitya Aravind, Rohan Mustafa, Kashif Daud, Zahoor Khan, Alishan Sharafu, Raja Akifullah, Karthik Meiyappan, Junaid Siddique, Basil Hameed, Zafar Farid, Mohammed Boota, Mohammed Usman, Rahul Bhatia
All matches to be streamed live on icc.tv
RESULTS
Bantamweight:
Zia Mashwani (PAK) bt Chris Corton (PHI)
Super lightweight:
Flavio Serafin (BRA) bt Mohammad Al Khatib (JOR)
Super lightweight:
Dwight Brooks (USA) bt Alex Nacfur (BRA)
Bantamweight:
Tariq Ismail (CAN) bt Jalal Al Daaja (JOR)
Featherweight:
Abdullatip Magomedov (RUS) bt Sulaiman Al Modhyan (KUW)
Middleweight:
Mohammad Fakhreddine (LEB) bt Christofer Silva (BRA)
Middleweight:
Rustam Chsiev (RUS) bt Tarek Suleiman (SYR)
Welterweight:
Khamzat Chimaev (SWE) bt Mzwandile Hlongwa (RSA)
Lightweight:
Alex Martinez (CAN) bt Anas Siraj Mounir (MAR)
Welterweight:
Jarrah Al Selawi (JOR) bt Abdoul Abdouraguimov (FRA)