By taking off, I mean when say 51% of people agree its here. By Advanced Robotics i mean when (home) robotics has it's chatGPT moment and becomes commonplace.

Based on my intuition and hope lol -

AGI - mid of 2027 say June 2027

ASI - end of 2027

Robotics - early 2028 say February

i am more curious about what ppl's time line according to their definition of agi/asi. trying to guage how much change are ppl expecting

By taking off, I mean when say 51% of people agree its here. By Advanced Robotics i mean when (home) robotics has it's chatGPT moment and becomes commonplace.

Based on my intuition and hope lol -

AGI - mid of 2027 say June 2027

ASI - end of 2027

Robotics - early 2028 say February

i am more curious about what ppl's time line according to their definition of agi/asi. trying to guage how much change are ppl expecting

Words are meaningless. And forgettable.

There are so many recurring charges: eChannel, insurance, corporate bank, establishment card, the license itself is costly too, then the office. I don't know how a budding company that's still trying to navigate the market can handle all these costs, especially considering the current geopolitical climate and economy. I thought there would be discounts for mainland licenses, but I didn't see any, at least the "social contribution" fees could have been reduced.

I wish there was more of a Silicon Valley culture, because companies need time, years even, to figure out product-market fit. Navigating this market with all these fixed costs is brutal. We really need a place that's geared toward startup founders with moderate, reasonable costs, where it doesn't feel so harsh to be early stage.

Big companies can obviously pay these fees without blinking. But for small, early-stage companies, I imagine it's genuinely tough. It's hard for entrepreneurs to find their product-market fit when the costs keep stacking up and you're constantly on the brink of closing. Building something from scratch just doesn't seem to be incentivized that much here.

Hopefully, there will be a new zone or initiative that allows breathing space for creativity, innovation, and early-stage companies to grow.

Black swan events such as the Iran war or sudden regional instability, makes me think a lot about one thing: the importance of having a real base back home.

I know someone whose parents never invested properly back in India. Now that they are older, they regret it because they feel stuck. They want to go home, but they do not really have a proper home base to return to.

A lot of people live and work here for years and assume life will stay the same forever. Only later do people realize how valuable it is to have a home, land, savings, or some kind of asset in their own country that gives them options.

For people working in the UAE or anywhere outside their home country, I think it is wise to slowly build something back home. A place to go to. A house. Land. An apartment. Something that gives you security and dignity if circumstances change.

Personally, I think your first property should usually be in your home country, where you have deeper roots and more permanent belonging. Only after that should you think about buying elsewhere.

And honestly, I would be very careful about buying major assets in a place where you do not have permanent citizenship.

For people from war torn country, saving up for a second passport (Saint Kits, Nauru, etc) some of which have low tax, or moving to a country with a path to citizenship should be the priority, before going all in investing in a country.

Your residency here is conditional. Even with a Golden Visa, your right to stay is tied to requirements, renewals, a system you don't fully control. A job loss, a health issue, a regional crisis, and the clock starts ticking.

The UAE has no state pension for expats. When you leave, you leave with whatever you saved.

Invest in the place where you will be buried.

Think from the end state backwards. Where will your kids realistically belong long term?

A lot of expat families never think about what happens if their children eventually have to go back due to economics, deportation, religious conflicts, layoffs, visa issues, nationalization policies, or retirement.

If you never built a base back home, your kids can end up in a strange middle state: not fully belonging abroad, while also lacking assets, networks, and stability back home compared to cousins and peers there.

That becomes a lose-lose situation.

I am bullish on developing countries in East Asia and South Asia over the next 20 to 30 years. Meanwhile, I think Middle East could become more unstable over time geopolitically.

Build your home base first. Then build elsewhere.

A comment I saw -> You can die in your apartment and no one will find out for 1 week maybe your work will find out in 3hrs when you late, I miss the old UAE 15 years ago…there was a bit community until many many money chasers moved here. Now it’s just business, if you not paying you are not welcome.

I never see the reposts section on my profile, only likes, favorites. And when I chat with someone, and then go to my profile, i dont see my likes or favorites appearing. None of them are loading. And often times, when i load the page it tells me i am logged out, but when i refresh the page, i am logged in as normal. They need to revamp the PC browser version. Started happening few weeks back.

The favorites show collections, when normally it supposed to show my favorites videos. Like all three sections should have many videos. The repost section never appears, so thats a long term bug.

https://preview.redd.it/qf3z3rbgqc0h1.jpg?width=2432&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c6bed402b8f71fd944e3a80a71ef435f90612dfa

https://preview.redd.it/8r3brrbgqc0h1.jpg?width=2380&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=410d3343a1bf11ba9bc5969b5f5a815f369dc650

https://preview.redd.it/jieefsbgqc0h1.jpg?width=2326&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=119a9c74a79fe3f3e2f0ebc409990d332f418c12

Look at summary at the end, if you don't care about the specifics or have already purchased a router of your choice.

Upgraded to Neo 1Gbps (400 AED/month) as existing customer, and finally pulled the trigger on the TP-Link Archer BE6500 Dual-Band Wi-Fi 7 Router. Best decision I've made for my home setup. Getting a consistent 850 Mbps over Wi-Fi, which is the realistic ceiling you'll hit regardless of which router you use on this plan.

If you are new customer Neo plan gives you discount. Always buy/upgrade from Etisalat website or using the app. Don't bother using a different number to get the new customer discount, it will make another bill and not worth that for a 2 month discount.

If you use Etisalat router, you have to pay 22.5Dhs/Month. So if you use it for 24 months its 540 Dhs. The router I purchased is way worth it, as my experience with Etisalat router were subpar as the range is weak. And the D-Link they gave me before was unreliable.

I bought my router model for 480 Dhs from Amazon, for bigger range specifically and it didn't disappoint. As I have many walls between the router, and I still get 300Mbps. In the router room, I get 900Mbps. If price is an issue, purchase TP-Link Next-Gen Wi-Fi 6 AX3000 Mbps for 200 Dhs from Amazon.

The Etisalat-provided router is an Arcadyan (also a Chinese brand, for those who think they're avoiding Chinese). Mine was a D-Link before that, and it would silently die every night while I slept. Restart every single morning. The TP-Link has been rock solid.

Here's the full process if you want to bring your own router.

Step 1: Request PPPoE credentials from Etisalat

Do not bother calling. You will not reach a human agent. Even X/Twitter is useless as you will get generic answers. Instead:

1. Download the TDRA app
2. Submit a request asking for your PPPoE username and password
3. Also specifically ask them to disable the Plug and Play (PlugNPlay) feature on your line

Once they process it, you'll receive an SMS with your PPPoE username and password. Keep that handy.

Step 2: Buy your router

The TP-Link Archer BE6500 is what I went with and it handles 1Gbps without breaking a sweat. Wi-Fi 7 is genuinely future-proof at this price point.

Step 3: Set up the router

Skip the Tether app for initial setup. The web interface is faster and gives you more control.

1. Connect the fiber/internet line to the WAN port on your router
2. Open a browser and go to 192.168.0.1
3. When prompted for connection type, select PPPoE (not Dynamic/DHCP)
4. Enter the username and password from your SMS
5. That's it. You should be online.

Step 4: A few settings to configure

Disable Smart Connect — split your 2.4GHz and 5GHz into separate SSIDs. Gives you more control over which band your devices connect to.

Leave TWT and OFDMA/MU-MIMO disabled — they're off by default and that's fine. Enabling them can actually hurt speed on most setups, though they may improve battery life on phones. It's just that when i enabled such fancy optimizations, the max speed I could reach even near the router during speedtest was 600 Mbps. So i think you sacrifice speed for range or something.

Change your DNS to 1.1.1.1 (Cloudflare). The default DNS you get through PPPoE feels sketchy to me.

Optional: Link to your TP-Link cloud account

Ohh you also get Amazon subscription for free. So go to E& app and then go to manage plan, and then go to subscriptions, and you will see Amazon there, click to redeem it. And then it will take you to a browser asking to log into amazon. Make sure you are not already logged in to a account you don't want prime in, its not reversible.

You can log into your TP-Link account directly from the 192.168.0.1 web interface. Once linked, you can manage the router remotely through the Tether app without needing to be on the same network.

Quick summary

Step	Action
1	Download TDRA app, request PPPoE credentials + disable PlugNPlay
2	Wait for SMS with username/password
3	Connect router, go to 192.168.0.1, select PPPoE, enter credentials
4	Disable Smart Connect, keep TWT/OFDMA off, set DNS to 1.1.1.1

The hardest part of this whole process is getting Etisalat to respond. Once that's done, the actual router setup takes under 10 minutes. Totally worth it.

Also chatGPT was really helpful during the setup for technical specifics, so giving this article to it, can help you answer more niche questions.

Happy to answer any questions in the comments.