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• Arcane's co-creator has revealed which regions of Runeterra will be explored in the next League of Legends (LoL) adaptation
• Noxus, Ionia, and Demacia are set to take center stage
• Riot Games' co-founder Merc Merrill says they won't feature in three separate shows

One of Arcane's co-creators has finally revealed what's in store for future League of Legends (LoL) adaptations on Netflix – but isn't ready to confirm two big details just yet.

In an exclusive chat with TechRadar to discuss all things Arcane season 2 and future project plans, Christian Linke reconfirmed that Netflix, LoL creator Riot Games, and animation studio Fortiche would explore Noxus, Ionia, and Demacia in forthcoming movies and TV shows. These fan-favorite regions of Runeterra – the world that LoL and Arcane are set in – were first revealed by Linke in an extensive chat with League superfan Necrit on Twitch last Saturday (November 23).

The introduction of the six-eyed raven in season 2's final episode teased the arrival of another major Noxus-based character (Image credit: Netflix/Riot Games/Fortiche Production)

However, while those reveals set tongues wagging among diehard LoL fans and Arcane devotees, Linke was keen to stress that any projects centered on Noxus, Ionia, and Demacia were still in the very early stages of development. That was to be expected, especially in light of Linke and fellow creator Alex Yee telling me that it'll be a long time before the next League adaptation makes its Netflix debut. This reveal, though, provides more questions than answers, including which iconic LoL champions will be part of proceedings and whether these regions are being focused on in individual movies and TV shows. [Update: an X/Twitter post from Riot Games co-founder Marc Merrill confirms that these three regions won't be explored in three separate shows.]

With season 2's final three episodes teasing the arrival of a major League champion (Grand General Jericho Swain) who has ties to Noxus, Ionia, and Demacia – read more about these in my Arcane season 2 act 3 ending explainer – I couldn't help but ask Linke for more details on the above. Perhaps unsurprisingly, though Linke wasn't in the mood to confirm too much about the sequel (or, potentially, sequels) to one of the best Netflix shows.

"That's hard for me to say," Linke replied when I asked if Swain would be a protagonist or major supporting character in Arcane's follow-up. "Look, there's a presence throughout Arcane, as well as at its end... I mean, we gravitate toward the stories that our audience wants and we would be silly geese not to look at these really interesting and amazing regions of our IP [intellectual property]. I guess I can't really speak about specific characters yet. But, as I said to Necrit, we're really exploring these regions and there are essential characters that are attached to those regions."

As for whether Noxus, Ionia, and Demacia would feature in the same project or not, Linke added: "At this point, it really comes down to finding the right visionaries, storytellers, and people to shepherd and realize these. So, I really can't say anything too specific, but just know that we're working hard on them."

We're really exploring these regions and there are essential characters that are attached to those regions

Christian Linke, Arcane co-creator

I guess we'll just have to wait for more news from Linke and company when they have something official to share, then! Hopefully, the wait won't be too long, either – indeed, when Linke confirmed (in June) that Arcane's second season would also be its last, he implied that more information would be shared on the award-winning animated series' sequels before 2024 ends. Unless he's already revealed said information by confirming Noxus, Ionia, and Demacia's inclusion in the next project, then, I'd expect some more details in the weeks ahead. It would be a nice festive gift if more was unveiled, wouldn't it?

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• Trend Micro discovers brand new backdoor called GhostSpider
• It can exfiltrate sensitive data and tamper with the OS
• It was used by a Chinese state-sponsored threat actor known as Salt Typhoon

Infamous Chinese state-sponsored threat actor Salt Typhoon has been seen using a brand new backdoor malware to target telecommunication service providers.

A report from cybersecurity professionals Trend Micro analyzed the backdoor, called GhostSpider, noting it is used in long-term cyber-espionage operations, with its key stealth mechanisms include remaining exclusively in memory, and encrypting its communication with the C2 server.

GhostSpider is capable of a number of things, including uploading malicious modules into memory, activating the module by initializing necessary resources, executing the primary loader function (data exfiltration, or system tampering), and closing the module to free memory and remain out of sight. Finally, it can adjust its behavior to avoid getting detected, while maintaining periodic communication with the C2 server.

Abusing endpoint flaws

The Washington Post noted US authorities recently notified 150 victims, most of which were in the D.C. area, that Salt Typhoon was eavesdropping on their communications.

In its report, Trend Micro added besides telecommunications, the Chinese target government entities, technology, consulting, chemicals, and transportation sectors in the U.S., Asia-Pacific, Middle East, South Africa, and other regions. To breach the systems, Salt Typhoon would exploit a number of flaws in different endpoints, including bugs in Ivant’s Connect Secure VPN, Fortinet’s FortiClient EMS, Sophos’ Firewall, and others.

While GhostSpider took all the limelight, Salt Typhoon was also spotted using other, never-seen-before variants, including a Linux backdoor called Masol RAT, a rootkit called Demodex, and a backdoor named SnappyBee.

Known as one of the more dangerous threat actors, Salt Typhoon mostly focuses on data exfiltration and surveillance, often aimed at government agencies, political figures, and key industries in the U.S. and allied nations. Some of its notable victims include major U.S. telecommunications providers such as T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon, and Lumen Technologies.

Via BleepingComputer

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In an era of relentless technological advancement, AI integration isn’t merely an upgrade but a fundamental shift affecting every aspect of organizational operations. Unlike past tech shifts that required specific teams or experts to adapt, AI is a horizontal skill — demanding universal competency across entire organizations. For business leaders tasked with AI transformation, here’s the simple truth: every single employee needs to become an AI employee.

In the months and years to come, we will see the difference between companies that merely consider AI as a feature and those that fully integrate AI into their operations. This shift enhances productivity, security, and innovation, and it fundamentally alters competitive dynamics.

This transformation is evident when comparing the fluency of leading AI companies — primarily startups and tech giants — to more traditional companies. Top-tier AI organizations achieve Gen AI fluency with over 90% of their non-technical workforce proficient in AI; this is in stark contrast to the 28% average in firms outside of Tech. This widespread AI integration underscores that in cutting-edge organizations, understanding and utilizing AI is the norm, not an outlier. In these environments, AI fluency is not merely encouraged but is a fundamental expectation, fostering a culture of continuous adaptation and learning.

Setting a skills vision for your AI-ready workforce

To effectively integrate AI across their organization and ensure every employee is AI-ready, leaders should follow a clear, actionable playbook:

Begin by setting a skills vision and defining the AI competencies necessary for all employees. This vision should be dynamic, evolving with technological advancements and strategic business needs. It serves as the foundation for developing an AI-ready workforce.

There are different ways of structuring your skills vision. The easiest approach is AI Builders vs AI Users. The vast majority of employees will be AI users — using AI tools to augment and accelerate their existing workflows. Roughly 5% of employees will be responsible for building AI systems, platforms, products, language models, and evaluation tools — these are the experts that will equip your company with the tools it needs to succeed.

While the builders vs. users framework allows us to understand AI workforces in a broad sense, most organizations will need a more granular approach. An AI-ready workforce pyramid can be broken down into four levels: Center of excellence, “AI + X”, Fluency and Literacy.

- Center of excellence: Your center of excellence could be considered synonymous with “AI builders.” These are the data scientists, machine learning engineers, and software engineers you need to build an internal AI platform. They’re not applying AI tools to some other area of the company like sales or marketing — their entire role is to design, build, and refine AI tools for internal or external clients.

- “AI + X”: These are the subject matter experts whose roles can be transformed with the addition of AI. Employees at this level could come from every possible background — electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, financial experts. AI can help these employees become more well-rounded and build something truly meaningful in their specific area of expertise. While they don’t train foundational models or develop AI infrastructure, they need to use APIs, leverage retrieval augmented generation and prompt engineering methods, prototype solutions, call models, and sometimes even build end-to-end products. It’s worth noting that we’re already seeing talented individuals recognize the potential of becoming “AI + X” experts — in the deep learning class I co-created at Stanford, two-thirds of my students are not majoring in computer science.

- Fluency: At this level, you don’t necessarily need to know how to use AI tools or apply them to your workflows. Fluency is the required level for employees who are interacting with a technical counterpart. For example, a marketer selling a data product needs a certain level of understanding to be able to accurately and effectively market that product. A sales executive needs a degree of fluency to be able to answer questions from technical buyers, even if they’re not using the tools themselves.

- Literacy: This is the basic level of AI skills needed for front-line workers and individual contributors. For these employees, AI literacy could help them improve productivity depending on their role and responsibilities. But it’s equally important for these employees to be part of the broader cultural change and identify their own use cases: when every employee has achieved a standard level of AI literacy, that company is then in a much better position to innovate.

Executing your AI skills vision: challenges and strategies for leaders

Implementing your AI skills vision is often more complex than crafting it. Here’s how leaders can navigate these complexities effectively:

- Leveraging top talent: Your products will only be as good as your best contributors, and AI is no different. The experts that can come up with creative innovations will raise the bar for the rest of the organization. For this reason, at the Center of Excellence level, organizations must do everything they can to maximize the abilities of their strongest AI employees. These top performers set the standard for the entire organization. For example, I’ve seen a software company that transferred an expert in clean coding to a team struggling with maintaining clean code; within weeks, significant improvements were evident across the organization.

- Preventing a culture of “dangerous amateurs": The behavior of the company’s leadership also makes a huge difference in the adoption of AI. CEOs and other executives must be able to set the tone for the rest of the organization — if they’re not proficient in AI today, they should acknowledge it and communicate how they plan on closing that skills gap. If executives only pretend they know about AI, their employees will do the same. Organizations with “dangerous amateurs” (as my friend and collaborator Fernando Lucini calls it) — those who overstate their abilities — will find it much more difficult to begin productizing AI, and they will run the risk of getting overtaken by competitors.

- Leading by example: As companies upskill their workforces, their CEOs should be at the forefront of developing their AI abilities. Executives should be willing to share their experiences — and their scores in benchmarked AI assessments — with their employees to foster a culture of learning.

No time to waste

The rapid evolution of AI highlights the need for companies to become skills-based organizations. Innovation relies on adapting to quickly changing skill demands. In 2016, I frequently used the programming language TensorFlow; less than a decade later, TensorFlow has changed so much that I can no longer use it effectively without updating my skills. This demonstrates how specific technical skills can become perishable.

Innovation requires employees to master cutting-edge skills, but these skills are impossible to learn quickly without strong foundations. The creation of ChatGPT in 2022, which was built on the transformer architecture first introduced in 2017, underscores the importance of durable skills. The development team's solid foundation in mathematics, statistics, algorithms, data structures, coding, and English — skills that are durable — was critical. These durable skills, both technical and behavioral, are essential for long-term success. This illustrates why a T-shaped skills approach to employee development, blending a broad base of durable skills with narrow but deep perishable skills, is strategic for continuous growth.

The expiration date for perishable skills is coming faster than ever before, emphasizing the need for ongoing learning to stay competitive. If companies aren’t prepared to keep up with perishable skills, they’re going to get disrupted.

Innovation happens thanks to perishable skills but sustains thanks to durable skills. Organizations need to embrace the need for both or risk getting left behind.

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This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

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• Bang & Olufsen has revealed its stylish new ANC wireless earbuds
• They offer upgraded microphones and improved transparency with ANC
• They'll be available to buy from December 17 for $499 / £429

We don't need to hear Bang & Olufsen's new ANC earbuds to know that we want them: the jewelry-inspired Beoplay Eleven are absolutely gorgeous, especially in their Copper Tone option (above).

But as ever with the brand, there's substance to match the style: these promise to deliver the most advanced ANC of any Bang & Olufsen earbuds along with a typically luxurious audio experience.

The new Beoplay Eleven come in two colors, Natural Aluminum and Copper Tone, with cases to match.

They're IP57-rated and promise up to eight hours of battery life; the batteries are removable and replaceable (albeit by service techs) so these buds should last for many years.

Beoplay Eleven earbuds: key features and pricing

(Image credit: B&O)

Bang & Olufsen says that the Beoplay Eleven earbuds deliver double the noise reduction at low frequencies, compared to their previous ANC tech, along with improved optimization across different ear sizes and shapes.

The six updated microphones are also apparently faster and more efficient, delivering a more natural-sounding transparency mode with less hiss.

The external microphones benefit from a redesign that’s put more holes in the stems to deliver a more open sound and reduce wind pressure; in conjunction with the B&O app's Wind Guard feature that should mean much better isolation from wind noise without also muffling essential sounds such as traffic.

(Image credit: B&O)

There are new microphones for voice calling and a new voice processing system to deliver clearer sound. Bang & Olufsen says that the result is the best voice call performance of any of its earbuds to date.

The new Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Eleven earbuds will be available from 17 December 17 for $499 / £429 / €499 (or about AU$768). We're looking forward to testing them soon to see where they rank in our guide to the best wireless earbuds.

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