Users on photo-sharing app BeReal can only post realistic imagery without filters or Photoshop. Photo: BeReal, Unsplash / Solen Feyissa
Users on photo-sharing app BeReal can only post realistic imagery without filters or Photoshop. Photo: BeReal, Unsplash / Solen Feyissa
Users on photo-sharing app BeReal can only post realistic imagery without filters or Photoshop. Photo: BeReal, Unsplash / Solen Feyissa
Users on photo-sharing app BeReal can only post realistic imagery without filters or Photoshop. Photo: BeReal, Unsplash / Solen Feyissa

What is BeReal? Anti-Instagram photo-sharing app forces users to share the truth


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If you’ve ever scrolled through Instagram and come away hating your face, your body and your whole life, then you'll probably be glad to know about BeReal, a photo-sharing app that's shaking up social media by ensuring users only represent their true selves online.

The app aims to “make people feel good about themselves and their lives” by removing all the ways in which users can alter their looks, lives and locations.

BeReal co-founder Alexis Barreyat says it was created in order to generate “genuine” interactions online.

The number of monthly users of BeReal, which was founded in 2020, have been increasing steadily, and this year its monthly users increased by 315 per cent, according to Business Insider.

BeReal doesn’t have any filters and it doesn't allow users to post existing photos from their camera reels that may have been touched up. All images posted have to have happened in the here and now.

How does BeReal work?

The app sends out an unscheduled notification at a random time each day, giving the user two minutes to take and upload a photo of themselves or their surroundings.

Images can’t be edited on the app, and existing photos can’t be imported, meaning no Photoshopped pictures make it on to the feed.

The goal of the app is for users to capture themselves in the moment in as realistic a way as possible.

There’s also a block on accessing other people’s images, which can only be seen once you post your own. Your photos are only available to people you have given access to.

With authenticity a favourite buzzword of Gen Z, the app has been praised by users for creating “aggressively normal” feeds that better reflect real life.

'Current social media apps do not connect us'

A 2021 study by Instagram's owner, Meta, showed the company was aware of the app's detrimental effects on teenagers' mental health. Photo: Unsplash / Katka Pavlickova
A 2021 study by Instagram's owner, Meta, showed the company was aware of the app's detrimental effects on teenagers' mental health. Photo: Unsplash / Katka Pavlickova

A 2021 study by Instagram's owner Meta found that the photo-sharing site was having a devastating effect on teenagers’ mental health and body image.

Results from the study, which were given to the Wall Street Journal, showed that 40 per cent of teenage Instagram users in the US and UK who reported feeling “unattractive” said their feelings started when they began using Instagram.

“Thirty-two percent of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse,” read the study. “Comparisons on Instagram can change how young women view and describe themselves.”

The daily diet of heavily filtered faces, “perfect” bodies and influencers who seem to be permanently on holiday, have left younger people unable to differentiate between what is real and what has been curated or Photoshopped.

However, social media influencers have defended themselves, insisting the images they share are a “highlights reel” and are not to be confused with their day-to-day lives.

BeReal, says Barreyat, is the “response to a feeling that current social apps are doing everything else but connecting us with our friends and family”.

Nine online words games to play if you like 'Wordle' — in pictures:

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Electric scooters: some rules to remember
  • Riders must be 14-years-old or over
  • Wear a protective helmet
  • Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
  • Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
  • Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
  • Do not drive outside designated lanes
RESULT

Huddersfield Town 1 Manchester City 2
Huddersfield: Otamendi (45' 1 og), van La Parra (red card 90' 6)
Man City: Agüero (47' pen), Sterling (84')

Man of the match: Christopher Schindler (Huddersfield Town)

Company Profile

Company name: Fine Diner

Started: March, 2020

Co-founders: Sami Elayan, Saed Elayan and Zaid Azzouka

Based: Dubai

Industry: Technology and food delivery

Initial investment: Dh75,000

Investor: Dtec Startupbootcamp

Future plan: Looking to raise $400,000

Total sales: Over 1,000 deliveries in three months

Who's who in Yemen conflict

Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government

Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council

Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south

Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory

What can victims do?

Always use only regulated platforms

Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion

Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)

Report to local authorities

Warn others to prevent further harm

Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence

The%20specs
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Other workplace saving schemes
  • The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
  • Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
  • National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
  • In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
  • Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
The biog

Siblings: five brothers and one sister

Education: Bachelors in Political Science at the University of Minnesota

Interests: Swimming, tennis and the gym

Favourite place: UAE

Favourite packet food on the trip: pasta primavera

What he did to pass the time during the trip: listen to audio books

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CHELSEA'S NEXT FIVE GAMES

Mar 10: Norwich(A)

Mar 13: Newcastle(H)

Mar 16: Lille(A)

Mar 19: Middlesbrough(A)

Apr 2: Brentford(H)

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The alternatives

• Founded in 2014, Telr is a payment aggregator and gateway with an office in Silicon Oasis. It’s e-commerce entry plan costs Dh349 monthly (plus VAT). QR codes direct customers to an online payment page and merchants can generate payments through messaging apps.

• Business Bay’s Pallapay claims 40,000-plus active merchants who can invoice customers and receive payment by card. Fees range from 1.99 per cent plus Dh1 per transaction depending on payment method and location, such as online or via UAE mobile.

• Tap started in May 2013 in Kuwait, allowing Middle East businesses to bill, accept, receive and make payments online “easier, faster and smoother” via goSell and goCollect. It supports more than 10,000 merchants. Monthly fees range from US$65-100, plus card charges of 2.75-3.75 per cent and Dh1.2 per sale.

2checkout’s “all-in-one payment gateway and merchant account” accepts payments in 200-plus markets for 2.4-3.9 per cent, plus a Dh1.2-Dh1.8 currency conversion charge. The US provider processes online shop and mobile transactions and has 17,000-plus active digital commerce users.

• PayPal is probably the best-known online goods payment method - usually used for eBay purchases -  but can be used to receive funds, providing everyone’s signed up. Costs from 2.9 per cent plus Dh1.2 per transaction.

Why seagrass matters
  • Carbon sink: Seagrass sequesters carbon up to 35X faster than tropical rainforests
  • Marine nursery: Crucial habitat for juvenile fish, crustations, and invertebrates
  • Biodiversity: Support species like sea turtles, dugongs, and seabirds
  • Coastal protection: Reduce erosion and improve water quality
The specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo

Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm

Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm

Transmission: 9-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh117,059

Lexus LX700h specs

Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor

Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm

Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm

Transmission: 10-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh590,000

Specs

Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric

Range: Up to 610km

Power: 905hp

Torque: 985Nm

Price: From Dh439,000

Available: Now

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Europe’s rearming plan
  • Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
  • Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
  • Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
  • Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
  • Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
House-hunting

Top 10 locations for inquiries from US house hunters, according to Rightmove

  1. Edinburgh, Scotland 
  2. Westminster, London 
  3. Camden, London 
  4. Glasgow, Scotland 
  5. Islington, London 
  6. Kensington and Chelsea, London 
  7. Highlands, Scotland 
  8. Argyll and Bute, Scotland 
  9. Fife, Scotland 
  10. Tower Hamlets, London 

 

How Alia's experiment will help humans get to Mars

Alia’s winning experiment examined how genes might change under the stresses caused by being in space, such as cosmic radiation and microgravity.

Her samples were placed in a machine on board the International Space Station. called a miniPCR thermal cycler, which can copy DNA multiple times.

After the samples were examined on return to Earth, scientists were able to successfully detect changes caused by being in space in the way DNA transmits instructions through proteins and other molecules in living organisms.

Although Alia’s samples were taken from nematode worms, the results have much bigger long term applications, especially for human space flight and long term missions, such as to Mars.

It also means that the first DNA experiments using human genomes can now be carried out on the ISS.

 

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Updated: December 29, 2022, 7:55 AM