< Previousopinion 40 edge_february 2024 N avigating through unprecedented challenges and harnessing innovative technologies, the gaming industry remarkably thrived in 2023. The global gaming market, anticipated to grow from $281 billion in 2023 to a staggering $665 billion by 2030, continues to dominate the entertainment world. With the surge in gaming revenues in the UAE, driven by its youth-centric population, the industry has morphed into a communal and interactive experience. Evolutions like virtual reality, increased mobile gaming, growth of esports and more project an optimistic outlook for 2024’s gaming landscape. Studios engaging multiple demographics As gamers from the 80s and 90s grow up, the average age of gamers is rising, landing at 35 years old today. The UAE has the highest percentage of adult video game players in the world, with nine out of 10 participating, according to Statista’s Global Consumer Survey. The gaming industry By Eduardo García Riaño Chief Product Officer, GGTech Levelling up Fuelled by a surge in gaming revenues attributed to its youthful population, the UAE gaming industry has transformed into a shared and interactive experience GAMING has found new ways to keep engaging young audiences (Alphas and Gen Zs) while expanding to older ones (Millennials). New formats such as hybrid sports-gaming products are breaking records every year, showing that there is still a lot of room to innovate. On the other side, gaming and esports have a worldwide audience of Gen- Zs and Millennials, who are difficult to reach through traditional advertising methods. Gaming and esports provide a platform for brands to showcase their message, organically while they are enjoying one of their passion points. GGTech’s Amazon UNIVERSITY Esports saw participation from over 3,500 university students in the region. This global competition exposes students to workshops hosted by professionals and gain their first professional experience in the industry. Emerging gaming markets Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East regions are key for global industry growth. MENA governments are funding the esports ecosystem, with UAE and Saudi Arabia spearheading investments, especially given their young, tech-savvy populations. As of 2023, the MENA region emerges as the quickest expanding domestic market, hosting over 377 million gamers and contending with Europe and America’s figures. Globally, there are 3.24 billion gamers. Notably, Saudi Arabia and UAE rank among the top 15 nations in engagement, with respective rates of 21 per cent and 19 per cent. Saudi Arabia’s National Gaming and Esports Strategy aims to create 39,000 job opportunities by 2030. Meanwhile, the ‘Abu Dhabi Gaming’ initiative, launched last year, strives to develop regional talent and host year-round gaming events. There is still room to keep growing, and we expect to see 2024 with double-digit growth in these markets. Industry consolidation This was a key aspect of 2023. The double-digit growth seen in key gaming territories such as MENA’s gaming market Fastest-growing domestic market with a gamer population exceeding 377 millionopinion edge_february 2024 41 Europe, Asia, and North America in the last years (23 per cent in 2020), fostered by the pandemic, is no longer there (five per cent in 2022). But consolidation is a good sign in an industry, as we can purge those segments, products and companies that were operating at non-sustainable paces. Those that consolidate or grow their market share during these times will emerge as leaders for the next years. Gaming is the biggest entertainment industry With riveting stories, characters, and puzzles, games offer immersive experiences unparalleled in digital entertainment. Mobile gaming has risen to prominence, appealing to all age groups by enabling play on the go. In 2022, the gaming industry eclipsed music and film combined, generating a staggering $185 billion in revenue. By the end of 2023, we are expecting streaming services like Netflix to launch games on their apps. We saw hybrid sports-gaming products, like King’s League, achieve great success, has products, merchandise, and an entire content ecosystem driven by top gaming creators on platforms like YouTube and Twitch. We expect that in 2024, more people will select gaming as their main entertainment activity, increasing competition with music, movies, sports, and other entertainment industries. “New formats such as hybrid sports-gaming products are breaking records every year, showing that there is still a lot of room to innovate” $665BN The projected value of the global gaming market by 2030 Source: Fortune Business Insights Entertainment trends In 2024, an anticipated rise in the preference for gaming as the primary entertainment activity is expectedopinion 42 edge_february 2024 T oday, the relevance of AI across industries is undeniable. The concept of AI itself has left behind its revolutionary phase and has entered its evolutionary phase, creating possibilities and opportunities for organisations to lead new avenues of business and efficiencies. Governments too have been onboard to ensure AI readiness on economical, environmental and societal fronts. The Middle East is no exception in this scenario. The UAE has developed its National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031 that aims to build a fertile ecosystem for AI to encourage its adoption. Since AI is predominating the technology industry already, here are our predictions for 2024 related to AI and other technologies: The world will go composite in its approach to AI In 2024, generative AI enters the later stages of its hype cycle, and organisations will realise the technology, while transformational, cannot deliver meaningful value by itself. As a result, they will move toward a composite AI approach that combines generative AI with other types of artificial intelligence and additional data sources. This approach will enable more advanced reasoning and bring precision, context, and meaning to the outputs produced by generative AI. For example, DevOps teams will combine generative AI with fact-based causal and predictive AI to supercharge digital innovation by predicting and preventing issues before they occur and generating new workflows to automate the software delivery lifecycle. AI-generated code will create the need for digital immune systems In 2024, more organisations will experience major digital service outages due to poor quality and insufficiently supervised software code. Developers will increasingly use generative AI-powered autonomous agents to write code for them, exposing their organisations to increased risks By Bernd Greifeneder SVP, Chief Technology Officer and Founder, Dynatrace Beyond the hype From composite AI approaches to the rise of Chief AI Officers, explore how organisations are navigating challenges and embracing opportunities AI of unexpected problems that affect customer and user experiences. This is because the challenge of maintaining autonomous agent-generated code is similar to preserving code created by developers who have left an organisation. None of the remaining team members fully understand the code. Therefore, no one can quickly resolve problems in the code when they arise. Also, those who attempt to use generative AI to review and resolve issues in the code created by autonomous agents will find themselves with a recursive problem, as they will still lack the fundamental knowledge and understanding needed to manage it effectively. These challenges will drive organisations to develop digital immune systems, combining practices and technologies for software design, development, operations, and analytics to protect their software from the inside by ensuring code resilience by default. Organisations will appoint a chief AI officers In 2024, organisations will increasingly appoint senior executives to their leadership teams to ensure readiness for AI’s security, compliance, and governance implications. As AI gains popularity in personal use, employees are inclined to leverage it for enhanced work productivity. To formalise AI integration, organisations are recognising the need for a Chief AI Officer (CAIO), akin to a security executive. The CAIO’s role involves crafting policies, educating, and empowering the workforce to ensure safe AI utilisation, safeguarding against noncompliance, intellectual property breaches, and security risks. opinion edge_february 2024 43 This strategic approach aims to prevent unauthorised AI adoption and pave the way for widespread organisational AI implementation. Data observability will become mandatory In 2024, data observability will become mandatory as organisations seek to drive more intelligent automation and faster decision-making. The doubling of data volume every two years poses challenges for organisations aiming to process it swiftly and on a larger scale. Despite this, the escalating costs and risks associated with poor-quality data highlight the pressing need for effective solutions. According to a recent survey, 57 per cent of DevOps practitioners find the absence of data observability hinders compliant automation. Consequently, there’s a growing demand for solutions providing data observability, facilitating the secure ingestion of high- quality data for on-demand analytics. Enhanced data observability empowers IT operations and business analytics teams to comprehend data availability, structure, distribution, relationships, and lineage across diverse sources, including distributed hybrid and multicloud platforms. This comprehension is crucial for generating trustworthy insights by ensuring data freshness, detecting anomalies, and eliminating potential errors from duplicates. Organisations will extend observability to more business use cases In 2024, the combined pressure of adopting more environmentally sustainable business practices and tackling rising cloud costs will catapult observability from an IT priority to a business requirement. AI’s growing prevalence in organisations amplifies cloud resource consumption, escalating carbon footprints. AI-driven observability analytics offer a solution, empowering firms to enhance FinOps and sustainability. By providing actionable insights and facilitating intelligent automation, these tools address inefficiencies in cloud environments. Increased adoption of AI-powered observability enables automatic orchestration for optimal resource utilisation, reducing emissions and operational costs. Platform engineering will become mission critical In 2024, platform engineering will become mission critical. Organisations will recognise that a seamlessly functioning and secure software delivery pipeline is equally vital to business continuity as the quality and security of the digital services that end users and customers rely on. We will, therefore, see a shift toward the productisation of the tooling used to drive DevOps, security, and site reliability engineering best practices. This will bring platform engineering to the fore as organisations codify the know-how and capabilities needed to automate secure software delivery pipelines. As this trend takes hold, software delivery, security, and operations processes will be triggered through application programming interfaces (APIs) that automate those tasks based on real-time insights from observability data. Organisations will phase out legacy SIEM solutions In 2024, next-generation threat intelligence and analytics solutions will phase out security information and event management (SIEM) systems. These modern solutions enable security teams to extend capabilities beyond log analytics to access the context provided by a broader range of data modalities and different types of AI, including generative, causal, and predictive techniques, working together. As a result, organisations will gain access to deeper and more accurate, intelligent, and automated threat analysis, helping to protect their applications and data from increasingly sophisticated threats. “In 2024, generative AI enters the later stages of its hype cycle, and organisations will realise the technology, while transformational, cannot deliver meaningful value by itself” 57% The proportion of DevOps practitioners who believe the lack of data observability hinders compliant automation44 edge_february 2024 JBL: QuantumStreamStudio The Quantum Stream Studio offers an array of advanced specifications and features to elevate the recording experience. With its three condenser microphones and a 192kHz/24-bit sampling rate for high-quality audio, its versatility is demonstrated through four polar patterns, accommodating various recording scenarios effortlessly. Experience hassle-free control with the touch- sensitive Mic Mute and a precision Mic Gain/ Volume knob for fine-tuned adjustments. Dive into your recordings with confidence using real- time monitoring through the Mic Monitoring and Audio/Voice Monitor features, providing control and flexibility during recording sessions. Stay in the creative flow with the VU Meter and Dynamic Range Compressor, guaranteeing a balanced and distortion-free audio output. The Quantum Stream Studio goes above and beyond with JBL QuantumENGINE, offering EQ customisation, quick Mic/Unmute control, Noise Reduction, Polar Pattern selection, Mic Gain adjustment, and customisable RGB lighting options. Elevate your recording game and immerse yourself in a world of audio excellence with the Quantum Stream Studio.gadget watch edge_february 2024 45 The AMD Ryzen 8000G Series of desktop processors feature up to eight cores and 16 threads, designed for enhanced performance in gaming and content creation. Built on the AMD “Zen 4” architecture, these processors prioritise efficiency and speed. The Ryzen 7 8700G flagship model boasts eight cores, 16 threads, 24MB of Cache, and Radeon 780M graphics, while the Ryzen 5 8600G offers six cores, 12 threads, and Radeon 760M graphics. Notably, these processors integrate AMD Ryzen AI technology, introducing the first NPU on a desktop processor for accelerated AI capabilities. The series provides fast built-in graphics with Radeon 700M, offering an affordable AAA 1080p gaming experience, especially in compact form factors. Features like AMD EXPO technology enhance memory performance, and Precision Boost Overdrive (PBO) allows convenient one-touch overclocking. AMD: Ryzen8000G series GARMIN: Lily2 The Lily 2 is the latest smartwatch offering by Garmin. It features a petite design with metal watch cases and discreet patterned lenses that reveal a vibrant touchscreen display with a simple tap or wrist movement. With a focus on style, the Lily 2 offers customisable options, including colours such as Cream Gold and Coconut or Dark Bronze and Mulberry, along with interchangeable Italian leather, nylon, or silicone bands. The smartwatch prioritises health and wellness with Body Battery energy monitoring, sleep scoring, and fitness tracking capabilities, including specialised sports apps for activities like cardio, yoga, and dance fitness. It is equipped with connected GPS, which ensures accurate tracking during outdoor workouts, and Garmin Pay enables seamless contactless payments on the Lily 2 Classic model. It also comes with 24/7 monitoring of heart rate, respiration, Pulse Ox, and stress, while women’s health tracking and meditation and breath work activities enhance overall well-being. Compatible with both Apple and Android smartphones, the Lily 2 offers a practical and modest accessory with essential health and fitness tracking capabilities.46 edge_february 2024 ANKERWORK: S600Speakerphone The AnkerWork S600 speakerphone harnesses the power of AI and employs “neural network algorithm technology” along with professional NPU chips to excel in noisy environments, utilising data from over 20,000 rooms to filter out background noise during calls. This noise elimination feature aims to maintain audio quality during calls, making it suitable for crowded places. Boasting four high-fidelity microphones, 5W output, and 360-degree sound, the speaker ensures clear voice pickup and delivers a superior audio experience. Beyond its role in professional communication, the AnkerWork S600 seamlessly transitions into a high- quality music and podcast player between meetings. The speakerphone incorporates a 15W Qi 2.0 Magnetic Fast Charging feature, allowing users to conveniently mount their phones for accessible charging during calls. The magnetic mount’s flexibility during conference calls ensures an optimal angle for showcasing remote team members. gadget watch UGREEN: NASync DX480T Plus Additionally, the device features two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports, delivering transfer speeds of up to 40Gb/s, enhancing its data and media transfer capabilities in a compact design. The NASync DX480T Plus by Ugreen is a compact and powerful addition to the NAS product line, measuring 7.0 x 5.6 x 2.0 inches. With SSD storage allowing for a substantial 16TB of all-flash storage space, it ensures high-speed data access and responsiveness. The expandable RAM drive, offering up to 32GB, complements the Intel 12th gen Core i5 10 Core processor, resulting in a potent combination for seamless multitasking and processing efficiency. Running on the custom Ugreen OS Pro (UGOS Pro), it enhances user experience and control. gadget watch edge_february 2024 47 ACER: PredatorHeliosNeo18 The Predator Helios Neo 18 (PHN18-71) is a robust gaming laptop designed for casual and entry-level esports players. It is equipped with an Intel Core i9 processor 14900HX and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU, providing efficient performance for gaming and creative tasks. As an added boost, the laptops can be configured with up to 32 GB DDR5 5600 MHz memory and up to 2 TB PCIe Gen 4 solid state drives in RAID 0. The 18-inch WQXGA IPS display features a 240 Hz refresh rate, 3 ms response time, and a 100 per cent DCI-P3 colour range for high-quality visuals. Practical features include a 4-zone RGB keyboard with dynamic lighting and control through the PredatorSense 5.0 utility app. Additionally, it includes DTS:X Ultra surround sound, Intel Killer DoubleShot Pro for reliable connections, and various ports like Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.1, and MicroSD card readers for versatile connectivity. Ensuring efficient heat management, the laptop employs 5th Gen AeroBlade 3D fan technology, liquid metal thermal grease on CPUs, and vector heat pipes, ensuring sustained peak performance.review 48 edge_february 2024 Sennheiser Accentum: Features hitting high notes By Arya Devi HEADPHONES The symphony of style, endurance, and audioreview edge_february 2024 49 T he Sennheiser Accentum Bluetooth Headphones is a pleasant blend of design, battery efficiency, and audio quality. These headphones prioritise comfort with a practical design, offering a snug fit on the head that’s perfect for extended use. Design and battery life The product is sleek and comfortable. The headphones feature a stylish black design with circumaural, closed-back ear cups, providing a perfect fit. The well- padded ear cups and ergonomic design ensure comfort during prolonged listening sessions. Weighing only 221g, they are remarkably lightweight (which is unique for a circumaural model), making them suitable for extended wear. The standout feature is the exceptional 50-hour battery playtime, eliminating the need for frequent recharging. The fast charge function, providing 5 hours of playback with just a 10-minute charge, is a convenient addition for those on the move. With Bluetooth 5.2 and support for various codecs, the headphones offer stable connectivity and cater to diverse audio preferences. The audio quality Sennheiser’s signature sound is evident in the 37mm dynamic drivers, offering a broad frequency range (10 - 22,000 Hz). The pristine audio quality creates a superb ambience, elevating the overall listening experience. The max sound pressure level is 106 dB SPL. It’s worth noting that some users may find the sound output not as loud as desired. The headphones provide customisation with a built-in 5-band equaliser, allowing users to tailor the audio to their preferences. Whether seeking a deep bass boost or a clear Podcast mode, these options ensure a personalised listening experience. Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency Mode The Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) technology ensures an immersive listening experience by reducing distractions. The Transparency Mode is a thoughtful inclusion, enabling users to stay aware of their surroundings without removing the headphones, adding practicality to the overall design. The Sennheiser Smart Control App allows easy switching between ANC and transparency modes. But for easy access, you may also double- push the power button to get the job done. The app, available for both iOS and Android, enhances user control and fine-tuning with features like equaliser adjustments, sound checks, connection management and more. The ANC of this model is good but not the absolute best in the market. As for the microphone, it is suitable for calls in quiet environments but may have noise rejection issues in windy or crowded areas. Considering the impressive features and performance, these headphones stand out as one of the best options available in their price range, offering a perfect blend of comfort, functionality, and audio excellence. reviewNext >