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Thursday, 16 May 2024

What We’re Tracking Tonight
For Your Commute
Enterprise Recommends
Go With The Flow
Technology
Enterprise Entertainment Calendar

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Today at a glance

1

The Big Story Today

IDH may be pulling out of the EGX.
2

TECHNOLOGY

How CAPTCHA is giving Google all of your data.
3

FOR YOUR COMMUTE

Making mistakes is good for you.
4

ON THE TUBE TONIGHT

A Man in Full shows us how to make bns… And lose them.
5

Sports

Watch the Bundesliga kings be crowned tonight.
6

OUT AND ABOUT

Turning Tables shows that people are the sum of their past.
7

Ears to the Ground

Bad Hasbara points and laughs at Zionist propaganda.

Thursday, 16 May 2024

What We’re Tracking Tonight
For Your Commute
Enterprise Recommends
Go With The Flow
Technology
Enterprise Entertainment Calendar
1

WHAT WE’RE TRACKING TONIGHT

THIS EVENING: IDH to delist from Egypt’s stock exchange?

Good afternoon, folks and happy Thursday. The weekend is finally here and temperature has shot up, bidding us to stay in the shade and in the vicinity of our air conditioners.

THE BIG STORY TODAY

Integrated Diagnostics Holdings (IDH) could soon delist its shares from the Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX) due to “limited trading activity”, the consumer healthcare giant said in its disclosure to theEGX today (pdf). All listed shares will be transferred to their primary market on London stock exchange (LSE) if the general assembly approves the voluntary delisting, the company’s board said in the disclosure.

What’s next? The company will announce later a timetable of the delisting procedures, which include the date of extraordinary general assembly meeting to vote on the move, and dates of the proposed delisting.

Objecting shareholders can then sell their shares back to the company at the highest price of the following: (a) The highest closing share price on EGX during last month, (b) the highest close share price on LSE during last month, (c) the average closing price on EGX in the past three month, or (d) the average closing price on LSE in the past three month based on the average exchange rate in EGP during this period.

Remember: The Cairo-based company had the first technical listing of its kind on the Egyptian stock market in May 2021 when it transferred 5% of its shares from LSE to EGX after having a blockbuster debut in London back in 2015.

THE BIG STORY ABROAD

Meta is facing a huge fine as it battles an investigation by the EU. The European Commission is investigating Meta platforms Facebook and Instagram for child safety risks, believing that the company may be responsible for “behavioral addictions in children,” which run the risk of more serious “rabbit-hole” effects. While Meta insists that extensively researched tools and policies have been in use to protect children for over a decade, the Commission’s decision to investigate was based on a 2023 risk assessment report conducted by Meta. Under the Commission’s Digital Services Act, Meta could be facing a fine of up to 6% of their global annual revenues, which would come out to USD 8.4 bn. (CNBC | Reuters)

** CATCH UP QUICK on the top stories from today’s EnterpriseAM:

  • The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has cut our growth forecast for 2024 to 3.9%,down 0.6 percentage points from its September forecast.
  • Beyon Solutions to acquire controlling stake in Link Development: Beyon Solutions — one of the companies owned by Beyon Group, itself a portfolio company of the Bahraini sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat — has announced it will acquire a controlling stake in Egypt-based tech provider Link Development for an undisclosed amount.
  • Ministers had a busy Wednesday: The Madbouly cabinet greenlit a raft of decisions during its weekly meeting yesterday, including one that would see the cabinet set up a unit whose sole focus is state-owned companies.

☀️ TOMORROW’S WEATHER- The mercury will be showing highs of 37°C and lows of 20°C in Cairo, according to our favorite weather app.

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2

FOR YOUR COMMUTE

Trial and error is the way to go to retain information

Teachers were right: Trial and error helps enhance your memory. The concept is called ‘error-driven learning’ and is derived from neuroscience and cognitive psychology. It emphasizes the importance of making mistakes, especially in learning a new skill, which will help our memory retention in order to properly master a new skill or retain and retrieve information.

Testing trumps memorization. Based on an experiment in 2006, retrieving information from memory, even if it leads to errors, strengthens neural connections and enhances long-term memory. It’s like trying to learn vocabulary words in a new language, testing ourselves by recalling the meanings of those words is more beneficial than simply reading and rereading it. Here repetition is key as it helps encode the right information and refine understanding.

Sorry kids: Overnight crash studying is a fail. ‘Spacing out’ study sessions is crucial over time to give your brain time to process and consolidate information instead of cramming knowledge into one session. Additionally, practicing the information in new locations is beneficial, as it prevents the information from being solely associated with one place.

That’s the ABC to learning: Enforcing these methods will allow our brains time to rest and review the material multiple times, which reinforces learning and makes it easier to recall the information and acing this new skill and exam.

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3

ENTERPRISE RECOMMENDS

TV icon Jeff Daniels is back in A Man in Full

? ON THE TUBE TONIGHT-
(all times CLT)

Atlanta’s tale of ambition and adversity in A Man in Full. The series is an adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s 1998 satirical novel, set against the backdrop of Atlanta’s high-stakes real estate world. It goes on to delve into the unraveling of Charlie Croker (Jeff Daniels), a brash and ambitious mogul facing the consequences of his reckless financial decisions.

Charlie Croker, a charismatic real estate tycoon based in Atlanta, has enjoyed years of unchecked success and indulgence. But his empire comes crashing down when the bank calls in nearly USD 1 bn of loans, declaring him bankrupt due to mismanagement.

As he grapples with his financial collapse, a series of interconnected storylines unfold, where the people in his orbit manage the impact. Among them are his first wife Martha (Diane Lane), whose financial ties to Croker become increasingly precarious, along with Martha’s friend Joyce (Lucy Liu).

Meanwhile, his employee Raymond Peepgrass (Tom Pelphery) revels in his former boss’s downfall while navigating personal scandals of his own. The series also delves into the harrowing experiences of Jill (Chanté Adams) and Conrad Hensley (Jon Michael Hill), an African American couple navigating systemic racism amidst Conrad's involvement in a police brutality case.

Amidst the chaos,Croker's lawyer Roger White (Aml Ameen) finds himself embroiled in a political scandal involving Atlanta's mayoral race, further complicating matters for Croker and those around him.

You’ll get drawn into a gripping tale of ambition, hubris, and the pursuit of redemptionin the face of adversity. Throughout the series, themes of power, privilege, and morality come to the forefront, as the characters grapple with the consequences of their actions and the complexities of modern society.

WHERE TO WATCH- You can catch the series on Netflix or watch the trailer (watch trailer,runtime 2:00)

⚽ Barcelona is fighting to maintain their second place rank in La Liga:Barcelona will go head to head with Almeria tonight at 10:30pm, in round 36 of the Spanish League. Barcelona are currently in second place just a point ahead of Girona (with a game in hand), while Almeria will play comfortably after their relegation confirmed.

Two matches in the Egyptian League tonight: The first game is National Bank and Al Masry at 7pm, and the second is between Enppi and Modern Future at the same time.

Things are heating up also in the EFL Championship play-offs: Leeds United are playing against Norwich City at 10pm today, in the second leg to qualify for the Premier League. Southampton is set to go head to head with West Bromwich in the same round at 10pm tomorrow. Both first leg matches ended with a negative draw. The victors will then meet in a final match at Wembley Stadium on Sunday, 26 May to determine the team that will advance alongside both Leicester City and Ipswich Town — who secured their spots earlier in the Premier League after finishing first and second in the Championship.

Al Ahly are in Radès: Tunisian club Esperance will kick off a match with our Red Devils in the first leg of the African Champions League final at 10pm this Saturday. Red Devils qualified for the finals after defeating Mazembe 3-0, while Esperance triumphed over Mamelodi Sundowns with two goals over the two legs. The two teams have met twice in the final before, with each victoring once.

In the remaining matches in the European League:

  • Fiorentina vs Napoli (Serie A, 9:45pm Friday)
  • Torino vs Milan (Serie A, 9:45pm Saturday)

Bundesliga Finale: The German league will conclude its current season next Saturday, with the round of 34 kicking off with nine matches ahead, all starting simultaneously at 4:30pm. The positions qualifying for the Champions League have already been decided, while the battle for the Europa League and Conference League spots, as well as regulation zones, continues.

Important matches we recommend:

  • Bayern Leverkusen vs Augsburg
  • Dortmund vs Darmstadt
  • Frankfurt vs Leipzig
  • Bayern Munich vs Hoffenheim
  • Freiburg vs Union Berlin

? OUT AND ABOUT-
(all times CLT)

HAPPENING THIS WEEK-

ACT Theatre Group’s Turning Tables opens tonight. Get your theater fix with this original play that tackles the complex human relationships we all know and love. The first performance istonight and will continue to play until Saturday 18 May at Rawabet Art Space. Grab your tickets here.

Zawya’s Cairo Cinema Days is back: Zawya’s film program is a showcase of the latest and most prominent productions in Arab cinema within the past year. All through July 31, you can watch films from Palestine, Lebanon, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Morocco, Sudan, and Egypt. You can find more information on this month’s film selection here.

Experience true culinary discovery at Flavor Republic’s Cairo Food Week.Today is the last day of the week-long event being held at Downtown District. You can follow the event itinerary here and grab tickets for each of the individual events here, but expect prices to make a dent in your bank account. You can get to know the co-founders of Flavor Republic, Hoda El Sherif and Sherif Tamim, in this edition of Founder of the Week.

An art exhibition that supports both Egyptian contemporary artists and a local charity.The eighth edition of Le Printemps Des Artistes will take place at Villa Magenta in Heliopolis from tomorrow 17 May till Saturday, 18 May. Entry is open to the public and without fees.

HAPPENING LATER-

The National Museum of Egyptian Civilization (NMEC) is hosting the Empower Her Forumstarting Sunday, 19 May, to Wednesday, 22 May. The forum is meant to promote creative empowerment for women in the art community, hosting women artists from around the world. More information will be posted on their Facebook page closer to the event.

Celebrate Disco Masr’s eighth album release at their concert on Friday, 24 May at Zed Park Sheikh Zayed. Grab your tickets here.

Egyptian rapper Marwan Moussa will perform with Jordanian singer Aziz Maraka on Thursday, 30 May at Zed Park in Sheikh Zayed. You can also enjoy the concert online through the Minly app. (Zed Park Tickets | Online Tickets)

? EARS TO THE GROUND-

The world’s most moral podcast: Matt Lieb, the host of Bad Hasbara, has had it up to here with Zionist propaganda. And he’s sure he’s not alone. The comedian, actor, and writer created the show last December to create a space to address — and more importantly, make fun of — pro-Israel propaganda. Hasbara is a Hebrew term that Lieb translates as “S*** that I just made up to explain why that thing you saw isn’t actually the thing you saw.”

Humor with a bite: Lieb invites guests of all creeds and professions to join in on the fun. You can find the likes of comedian Bassem Youssef, writer/director Shereen Lani Younes, and activist Simone Zimmerman on the show, partaking in episodes titled things like The Irony Dome and This Could Be Hamas But You Playin’. They discuss Zionist PR fails, how Palestinians are portrayed in the media, and how Israel tries to position itself online.

We don’t need a counterargument. While many pro-Israel critics point out the lack of opposingviewpoints, the views being presented in the podcast aren’t up for debate. Both the host and his guests are all staunchly anti-Zionist, and don’t care to give people who oppose that view a platform to spread their bad Hasbara.

WHERE TO LISTEN- You can tune in on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, Podbean, Podbay, and YouTube.

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4

GO WITH THE FLOW

What the markets are doing on 16 May 2024

The EGX30 rose 3.3% at today’s close on turnover of EGP 3.4 bn (29.4% below the 90-day average). Local investors were net sellers. The index is up 5.02% YTD.

In the green: Mopco (+14.6%), E-finance (+9.6%), and Elsewedy Electric (+8.9%).

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This publication is proudly sponsored by

5

TECHNOLOGY

I’m Not a Robot: The click that costs your privacy

From space exploration to analyzing data and vacuuming the house, robots can do all kinds of complex tasks. So how is it that checking a box on a webpage is what stumps them? Well… technically, it doesn’t. In a quest to make it harder for bots to slip through, what was once a security check has now evolved into a tool for Google to snoop on you and your browser history at any time.

What is CAPTCHA exactly? CAPTCHA (loosely) stands for “completely automated public Turing test to tell computers and humans apart.” The software was initially designed as a challenge-response authentication protocol — a procedure where one party presents a puzzle that requires a solution from a second party for access — to stop spammers and hackers from using bots to interact with webpages.

If you remember, before the now-infamous I’m Not a Robot box, CAPTCHAs used to look something like this. But as robots got smarter, CAPTCHA got harder, and eventually became inaccessible to most of us humans. By 2014, CAPTCHAs looked like this, and Google had developed AI that could pass 99.8% of the tests… While humans were only passing 33%.

That’s why Google invented The Box. CAPTCHA’s more sophisticated successor, reCAPTCHA, introduced a simple clickable test to make authentication more seamless. Why can’t a robot do that? Well, they can. But the click isn’t the test, the way you click is. The trajectory of your cursor is a good indicator of whether or not you’re human — a cursor controlled by a bot moves in a suspiciously straight line at a consistent speed, while human cursor movements are… well, human.

Think you have bot-level control over your mouse? If you have to click on picture CAPTCHAs, that may actually be the case. If you’ve had to identify fire hydrants or crosswalks or traffic lights, it means that the site may still be unsure whether your cursor movements are automated or not. But let’s not forget to look at the big picture…

Google can track your movements. Using reCAPTCHA means that the company has the facilities to potentially funnel information from users, even from sites that aren’t technically affiliated with the tech giant. And that’s not all. Modern reCAPTCHAs don’t require user interaction at all — they just examine your browsing history. Internet activity is the clearest indicator of who’s human and who’s a bot. For example, it’s unlikely that bots will Google their own names, EGP to USD rates, or the most shocking Met Gala look this year.

Your browsing history is a goldmine for anyone in the advertising business (and Google is). This raises serious privacy concerns, since 77.4% of Google’s revenue comes from its ad business. Google insists that it doesn’t use information gathered from reCAPTCHA’s peeks into our internet history for personalized ads — it says as much in the reCAPTCHA terms of service. It’s up to you whether or not you choose to believe a company that just recently removed “Don’t Be Evil” from its code of conduct.

Or one that saved browser records from users using Incognito mode. Incognito mode on Google Chrome alleges that it keeps your browsing private by not saving activity data onto your device or linking it to your Google account. Chrome also states that once you close all of your Incognito windows, the browser discards any site data and cookies gathered during your search. A lawsuit filed against Google in 2020 accused the company of saving “bns of data records” from Incognito users.

“Hold on, I didn’t give Google permission to track my cursor or my internet history.” Yes, you did. If you check Google’s privacy statement and informational video (watch, runtime: 0:57), whenever you use a Google service, you allow the company to collect information that includes the searches you make, the ads you interact with, and visits to any website that also uses Google services. That includes 30 mn websites that use Google Analytics, 14.5 mn sites run by any of the 5 mn companies that are subscribed to Google Workspace, Google Docs, and any other collaborative tools, and any of the 58.8 mn pages that use Google Ads for advertising purposes. Did we mention that that includes information about your location?

As a result, Google assumes permission to track you. All. The. Time. It doesn’t even need you to interact with reCAPTCHA anymore — they just use your tracking info. If you think that not using Chrome will help, you are sorely mistaken. Users have reported that while using browsers that aren’t affiliated with Google, like Firefox, they’re noticed having to complete more reCAPTCHA challenges. This begs the question of whether Google is simply trusting their browsers to be better at bot detection, or trying to usher users over to Chrome. There’s no way to opt out of reCAPTCHA on a site you need to use, so we’re either forced to accept being tracked, or drop off the grid entirely. We’re not sure which choice is more radical.

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ENTERPRISE ENTERTAINMENT CALENDAR

MAY

11 May-1 June (Saturday-Saturday) Summer Showcase art gallery at Bibliothek

16 May (Thursday): Omar Taher book signing and open discussion at Bibliothek

16-18 May (Thursday-Saturday): Turning Tables at Rawabet Art Space.

16-18 May (Thursday-Saturday): Rise Up Summit at the Grand Egyptian Museum.

17 May (Friday): El Mahatta at The American University in Cairo.

17 May (Friday): Aly Elhaggar concert at Must Theatre.

17 May (Friday): Musical Theatre Event with Medhat Saleh, Reham Abd Elhakim, and Mai Farouk at Zed Park.

17-18 May (Friday-Saturday) Le Printemps des Artistes at Villa Magenta.

18 May (Saturday): Farma, Marcia, and Rachel walking tour by Qahrawya.

18 May (Saturday): Red Bull Login gaming event at District 5.

19-22 May (Sunday-Wednesday): Empower Her Art Forum at The National Museum of Egyptian Civilization

21 May (Tuesday): Disco Arabesco- Tablet El Sett & Fabrica at Theatro Arkan

23-25 May (Thursday-Saturday): The Design Show at Cairo International Conventions Center.

24 May (Friday): The Glow Run by The TriFactory at Palm Hills Sports Club.

24 May (Friday): The Elite Super Show at the Cairo International Stadium.

24 May (Friday): Disco Misr Festival - Album Launch V8 at Zed Park

25 May (Saturday): Techne Summit at the Cairo International Stadium.

26 May (Sunday): El’Emaraperformance at Rawabet Art Space.

27 May (Monday): Half of a Yellow Sun book club meeting at Bibliothek

27-30 May (Monday-Thursday): Account Management For Ads Workshop with FP7’s Momen Aboutaleb at The GrEEK Campus.

29-30 May (Wednesday-Thursday): Solar & Storage Live Mena at Egypt International Exhibition Center, New Cairo

29 May-1 June (Wednesday): What Have The Years Done To Us?at Rawabet Art Space

30 May (Thursday): Mochakk Concert at Saqqara Pyramid.

30 May (Thursday): Marwan Moussa and Aziz Maraka concert at Zed Park.

31 May (Friday): Opera Carmen at Cairo Opera House

31 May (Friday): QADYA 04 at Madinaty Club Tennis Center Court

JUNE

4 June (Tuesday): Karaoke Night at Room Garden City

4-7 June (Tuesday-Friday): Africa Health ExCon at Egypt International Exhibition Center

7 June (Friday): Celebrating 40 Years of Omar Khairat at Abdeen Palace.

15-19 June (Saturday-Wednesday): Eid El Adha (TBC).

30 June (Sunday): June 30 Revolution Day (TBC).

JULY

7 July (Sunday): National holiday in observance of Islamic New Year (TBC).

23 July (Tuesday): Revolution Day (TBC).

SEPTEMBER

15 September (Sunday): National holiday in observance of Prophet Muhammad’s birthday (TBC).

OCTOBER

6 October (Sunday): Armed Forces Day.

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