TechRadar News

• Apple has updated its iWork suite of productivity tools to version 14.3
• The new version brings support for Apple Intelligence on iPhone, iPad, and Mac
• Users can use Writing Tools and Image Playground within Keynote, Pages, and Numbers

Apple has updated its iWork suite of productivity tools including Keynote, Pages, and Numbers to include Apple Intelligence, a major free AI update.

The 14.3 update brings AI benefits to Apple's equivalent to Microsoft Office, including Writing Tools, which allows you to proofread, summarize, and compose text for your documents. Writing Tools has been available for iPhone, iPad, and Mac since September, but now you can easily access it via the Apple Intelligence button in iWork.

Writing Tools also lets you reword your writing with preset tones, as well as give prompts to nudge Apple Intelligence in a certain direction. For example, you could tell it 'Make this text more exciting' and Apple will work its magic.

Writing Tools isn't the only new Apple Intelligence feature available for Keynote, Pages, and Numbers. Image Playground, Apple's take on the best AI image generator, is also included, enabling you to quickly add images to your documents for a touch of color and creativity.

Apple Intelligence in iWork is compatible with all M-series Macs, M-series iPads, the A17 Pro iPad mini, iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, and all iPhone 16 models.

Power up your workflow with Apple Intelligence

(Image credit: Apple)

Apple Intelligence in iWork isn't the only big new AI update for your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. Apple's release of iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and macOS Sequoia 15.2 is a huge step forward for the rollout of the company's AI tools.

With new features like Genmoji, ChatGPT integration in Siri, and Mail categorization, there's plenty to help you improve your workflow alongside iWork's new Writing Tools and Image Playground features.

Apple Intelligence is still not complete, however – we'll need to wait until March or April 2025 to see Siri get personal context and on-screen awareness, which should help tie all of these AI tools together. As it stands, Apple hopes you'll use Apple Intelligence when you need it, peppering AI features throughout the operating system. This approach lets you use Apple Intelligence only if you choose to do so, which is a far less intrusive approach than is the case with some other AI products.

Whether or not Apple Intelligence can significantly improve your productivity will depend on how you use your Apple devices; but adding proofreading and image generation to iWork is a great place to start.

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• Elden Ring Nightreign was one of The Game Awards 2024's biggest surprises
• It's a roguelite co-op experience for up to three players
• It'll release sometime in 2025, with a network test happening next year

One of the biggest surprises from The Game Awards 2024 was the announcement of FromSoftware's next game: Elden Ring Nightreign.

While certainly not a full-blown sequel to the 2022 game of the year, Nightreign instead brings a bespoke co-op experience for up to three players. The game's official landing page describes it as: "a standalone adventure within the Elden Ring universe, crafted to offer players a new gaming experience by reimagining the game's core design."

The 'reimagining' part seems pretty accurate there, as the announcement trailer was largely gameplay focused and showed off abilities that looked like they'd otherwise be straight out of a fanmade mod pack. We see playable characters fly long distances by holding onto a hawk's talons. Another ability sees us slamming down on a group of enemies from above. There's even a Sekiro-style mantle that honestly would've been a godsend in the base game.

Elden Ring Nightreign seems to be adopting a 'roguelite' style of progression. One key phrase on the landing page strongly hints at this, saying: "Overcome a relentless environmental threat that sweeps through a land that changes between each game session and defeat the magnificent boss of that night!"

It also notes that we'll get to play as "uniquely skilled heroes," indicating a shift away from player-created characters to more tailor-made builds. It'll be interesting to see how these heroes synergize with one another during co-op play, though I imagine it'll be perfectly playable solo should one prefer.

Otherwise, there's plenty for FromSoftware heads to mull over in this announcement trailer alone. For instance, a newly revealed NPC appears to be the Gloam-Eyed Queen, an important figure often spoken about in Elden Ring's lore that has yet to make an in-game appearance.

Oh, and Dark Souls 3's Nameless King shows up as a boss fight. No, really, it's literally the Nameless King - dragon, massive spear, lightning and all. FromSoftware is known to re-use its assets from project to project (which I'm not saying is a bad thing, mind), but it's never quite been this blatant. I'm pretty sure Dark Souls' Centipede Demon made a cheeky appearance, too.

(Image credit: Bandai Namco)

A PC Gamer hands-on preview managed to get a few more details about the upcoming game. Director Junya Ishizaki states that players will need to keep ahead of a "battle royale-style wall of deadly rain" and that an average run - including the concluding boss fight - will take around 30 minutes to complete.

If you're at all worried about the prospect of Elden Ring Nightreign being a live service title, don't fret. Ishizaki explains: "We wanted to have a game that felt like a complete package out of the box on the day of purchase, so everything is unlockable... it's not what we'd consider a live-service game."

Elden Ring Nightreign is slated to release sometime in 2025 and is coming to PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One and PC. Good news for those eager to play the game, too, as PC Gamer reports a network test will also be coming next year.

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• Naughty Dog's next game is a sci-fi action title
• It's called Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet
• It is coming to PS5

We finally know what developer Naughty Dog has been working on. Announced as part of The Game Awards 2024, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is a brand new sci-fi franchise currently in development for PlayStation 5.

Although details are scarce, the announcement trailer does give us a rough idea of what to expect from the game’s style and tone. In the trailer we see protagonist Jordan A. Mun, portrayed by actor Tati Gabrielle, on a retro futuristic space ship.

She is a skill bounty hunter, tracking a target who has fled to the mysterious and dangerous planet of Sempiria. After some back and forth with her agent, she decides to pursue him to the planet’s surface. You can watch for yourself below.

This planet seems to be where the majority of the game will take place, that is if a recent press release is anything to go by, as she becomes stranded and has to fight to survive. The very end of the trailer gives us a brief look at what might be an in-game enemy, a hulking robotic creature armed with a giant two-sided axe.

Jordan is seen running towards them, brandishing her own sword pulsing with red energy. The press release goes on to state that “this game lives up to the Naughty Dog tradition of creating an emotional, character-driven epic journey” and even claims that “this will be the deepest gameplay in Naughty Dog’s history”.

There’s no word on an official release date yet, though we do know that the game is coming to PS5. This is just pure speculation, but I certainly wouldn’t expect the game to arrive in 2025. Hopefully more concrete information will emerge in the coming months.

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• Huawei has revealed the Mate X6 folding phone
• The main camera has 10 manually selectable aperture stops
• Unlikely to be available in the US or UK

Huawei has revealed the Mate X6, the latest addition to its Mate X line of booklet-style foldables, with a major focus on photography.

The phone comes equipped with a 50MP main camera with an impressive 10 physical aperture stops, allowing users to determine the depth of field and light intake of the camera manually. That’s a step up from even the best camera phones – think Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and iPhone 16 Pro – which almost always have a fixed aperture.

The camera system also features a 40MP ultra-wide camera and a 48MP telephoto camera with 4x optical zoom and a 5cm super macro mode.

As a folding phone, the Mate X6 boasts a 6.45-inch 1080 x 2440 external screen and a 7.93-inch 2240 x 2440 internal screen, both of which are OLED panels. A new multitasking feature allows users to run three apps simultaneously.

Huawei Mate X6 in Nebula Gray (Image credit: Huawei)

We’re still waiting for details on the internals of the new device, but we do know that the phone’s heat dissipation area has increased by 30% thanks to the use of new, cooler materials such as graphene.

However, even if we did have the internal specs of the Mate X6, it’s unlikely they’d be of much use – Huawei hasn’t sold phones in the US for years due to a legislative ban, and the company is currently absent from the UK market.

This would make the Mate X6 the second especially innovative foldable released by Huawei in recent memory. The Mate XT tri-fold device, for instance, arrived in September 2024 and made huge waves with audiences and commentators despite only being available in China (that said, we'll be publishing our own hands-on review of the device very soon).

The Huawei Mate X6 is available in three colors: Nebula Gray, Nebula Red, and Black, with the Nebula colors featuring a textured exterior. Regional availability beyond Europe – where the phone will begin shipping for €1,999 on January 6 – has yet to be confirmed.

For the latest official updates as we hear them, be sure to keep up with our dedicated Huawei phones coverage, as well as our more general phones coverage.

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• New Anker wireless chargers have seemingly arrived at Apple stores, but haven't hit shelves yet
• The charger is apparently called the Anker MagGo Qi2 Slim 5K
• The charger is expected to be an Apple store exclusive, at least for a while

Images of a new slim MagSafe power bank from Anker have been shared by a credible leaker via the r/Anker subreddit.

User u/Rynalf shared a handful of images of the rumored Anker MagGo Qi2 Slim 5K portable charger, including some of the charger affixed to the back of an iPhone 16 Pro via MagSafe.

The charger appears to be a slimmed-down version of the Anker MagGo Qi2 10K. u/Rynalf added that the charger comes with a 5000mAh capacity, and measures in at 8.8mm thick – a significant reduction compared to the 14.7mm thick 10K model.

(Image credit: u/Rynalf)

In fact, the user shared full dimensions of the unreleased charger, measuring 101.67mm x 69.76mm x 8.79mm.

That’s enough capacity to charge any iPhone 16 model from 0 to 100%, with varying amounts of charge left over. The charger also comes in two color options, white and blue.

As well as charging wirelessly at 15W thanks to the Qi2 standard, the charger features a bi-directional 20W USB-C charging port, which can be used to refill the charger as well as charge devices with a wired connection.

(Image credit: u/Rynalf)

With two devices connected – one wired and one wirelessly – wireless charging will apparently be limited to 5W and wired to 12W.

As for the strength of the MagSafe attachment, u/Rynalf elaborated in the comments of their post that the charger has a “noticeably stronger grip than the 10K Slim”, and sticks about the same amount as the Sharge CarbonMag 5K MagSafe power bank.

u/Rynalf added that their local Apple store already had stocks of the new charger, though they did have to ask a staff member to get one from the stock room, which implies the new chargers aren’t properly available yet.

As NotebookCheck notes, the new charger is tipped to be an Apple store exclusive for an as-yet unknown period of time, though other retailers may be able to stock the charger eventually.

If you're after a new charger in the here and now, then check out our guide on the best portable chargers.

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• Wix added a new feature to introduce AI to customer support
• The AI chatbot integrates with the site's internal systems, generating relevant and timely responses
• The feature is available for free, with upgrade options

Wix, one of the best website builders on the market, has introduced a new Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) tool, aimed at improving customer interactions.

Called AI Site-Chat, this feature is designed to serve as a virtual agent for customers. That way, businesses using Wix will be able to answer customer inquiries and provide relevant information 24/7, even when there are no employees or business owners available.

In a press release shared with TechRadar Pro earlier this week, Wix explained that AI Site-Chat works by integrating with the site’s internal systems. That allows it to pull live data from the website’s resources, and thus deliver accurate, and timely, information.

There are two major ways businesses can benefit from integrating AI Site-Chat, Wix further elaborated. One is the obvious - boosting customer experience by being available 24/7. Since the virtual agent is AI-powered, it is capable of recognizing the intent behind each user query, and is thus able to deliver price and customized answers and recommendations.

Available now

Another advantage of AI-powered chatbots is that they can be customized to reflect the brand voice, and can be configured with specific restrictions or preferences.

"Our latest AI feature, the native AI Site-Chat, provides SMBs an enterprise-level tool to assist how they interact with their website visitors," said Yaniv Ben Simon, Head of Product for AI Site-Chat at Wix. “Businesses can seamlessly use this feature to deliver real-time, conversational customer service, sales, and support in one place, and ultimately see reduced friction, increased engagement, and improved conversions.”

AI Site-Chat is available to Wix users in English. It is free to use initially, but users can choose to upgrade to a premium plan for unlimited usage.

Comment from the expert

This is the latest in a long string of AI-powered tool and feature releases from Wix. The platform now offers everything from a full AI website builder to AI-powered text writing and image editing tools.

This follows an industry trend, with almost all of the top website builders on the market looking for ways to leverage AI to help users create websites faster and easier than ever before.

The new AI Site-Chat tool from Wix is likely to be popular amongst website owners, helping them answer customers' questions faster than ever before and removing potential bottlenecks in the buying process. But users should also use this new tool with caution, as relying too heavily on AI in customer interactions may lead to frustration and potential alienation.

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• Researchers from WPScan find flaw in Hunk Companion, a plugin with roughly 10,000 users
• The flaw allows crooks to install other plugins from the WP repository, including those with known RCE flaws
• WPScan found the flaw while investigating an active attack

Hackers have reportedly found a way to install old, outdated, and vulnerable plugins on WordPress websites, directly from the WordPress plugin repository. That way, they are able to introduce vulnerabilities to target sites made with the website builder, which grant them remote code execution (RCE) abilities, SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), admin account creation, and more.

The bug that allows crooks to do that was found in Hunk Companion, a utility plugin designed to enhance the functionality of WordPress themes developed by ThemeHunk.

It typically provides features like additional widgets, customization options, and demo content import functionality. It often serves as a companion to ThemeHunk's themes, unlocking advanced design and usability features not available by default.

Critical vulnerability

Researchers from WPScan found the flaw and reported it to the plugin’s developers, who came back with a fix within days.

While investigating a reported cyberattack, WPScan found that a threat actor abused the bug to install a vulnerable version of WP Query Console, a plugin that hasn’t been patched in seven years. This plugin is known for being flawed, allowing crooks to run malicious PHP code on target sites via a remote code execution bug tracked as CVE-2024-50498.

Hunk Companion is currently used by more than 10,000 websites, which isn’t exactly an impressive figure in the world of WordPress sites, but still not negligible.

The bug used to install flawed plugins is tracked as CVE-2024-11972, and has a severity score of 9.1 (critical). The earliest version that addressed it is 1.9.0, and users are advised to install it as soon as possible. BleepingComputer has also noticed that a similar bug was patched in Hunk Companion 1.8.5, tracked as CVE-2024-9707. It seems the patch didn’t work as intended as there are obvious workarounds.

At press time, 11.6% of users upgraded to v1.9, meaning roughly 8,800 sites are still vulnerable.

Via BleepingComputer

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It seems a new challenger to the best streaming services is on the way next year with CNBC set to launch its own stand-alone offering, CNBC Plus. As per Variety, the new service will launch in the first quarter of next year and be available globally.

Not set to offer any original programming at launch, the service will instead be the streaming home of all of CNBC’s linear programming. It’s a niche service for sure, and perhaps one that won’t attract a whole lot of new viewers, but considering how much of the network’s viewership takes place outside of the home, in a business setting, it’s a potential goldmine for folks looking to spend their commute getting up to date with the day's news before they land in the office or on the trading floor. It should at least have more legs than Warner Bros. Discovery ill fated CNN Plus – here's how to watch CNN from anywhere in the world if you've been wondering.

All of this is seemingly part of NBCUniversal’s plan to separate its cable networks and spin them off into their own company, tentatively called SpinCo. Not only will this include the likes of CNBC, but also entertainment networks such as SyFy and USA. The idea is that, removed from the conglomerate monster of NBCU, the struggling networks will be able to reinvest in themselves, rather than have their capital swallowed up by said monster. It’ll also make Comcast look better in investors meetings, with subscription giant Peacock front and centre and declining networks pushed off to the side.

What does this mean for Peacock?

That CNBC Plus is launching with no original programming and indeed being removed from the corporate umbrella is likely to be a worry for Peacock users who have, until now, been able to enjoy some of the network’s programming as part of their subscription. While it’s by no means a comprehensive offering, CNBC Leaders is available on the streamer and while the Peacock livestream of Squawk Box ended earlier this year, it’s still been available on catch-up.

With the new service in desperate need of exclusive-to-streaming content, it’s likely we’ll see all CNBC programming pulled from NBCU’s flagship streamer, although we should state nothing is confirmed at present. And it’s worth bearing in mind that this isn’t NBCU’s first foray at spinning their current affairs programming into online services following the creation of the NBC News NOW streaming service.

It remains to be seen exactly what the play from NBCU is going to be here, although we’d expect some answers soon. It’s definitely a potential cause for concern for Peacock subscribers, but for those that want that iconic ticker anytime, it looks like exciting times ahead.

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• Assassin's Creed Shadows has received a new combat overview
• The game's dual protagonists, Naoe and Yasuke, have their own unique skills and weaponry
• Naoe or Yasuke share similar parry mechanics but results vary

Ubisoft has shared new combat details for Assassin's Creed Shadows ahead of its February 15, 2025 release.

In a new blog post, the developer provided a deep dive into the fundamental principles of the game's combat system and discussed how weapons will alter battles, depending on which protagonist you play as; Naoe or Yasuke.

For offensive basics, there are light, heavy, posture attacks. Light attacks are quick and reliable and inflict small increments of damage, but some enemies can easily counter them and "power through" to land attacks of their own.

Heavy attacks are useful for staggering enemies, but posture attacks seem to be the most effective in fights. Holding down the input will charge the ability to dial up the damage, can be held indefinitely, and is used to break through an enemy's blocking stance.

Ubisoft also explained that an enemy can be put into a "vulnerable state", a short window that will allow the player to deal "devastating" damage.

While in defense both Naoe and Yasuke can use directional dodges to avoid incoming blows, but Naoe's dodges are "characterized by directional rolls", whereas Yasuke's are directional steps that keep his posture upright.

The protagonists also share similar parry mechanics but results vary. When Yasuke deflects a blow, the enemy bounces back, opening them up for attacks, while Naoe's requires her to pivot to either side of the enemy.

Yasuke also has a unique block mechanic that allows him to "turtle up behind his weapon" and withstand oncoming attacks from kunai and arrows.

"These subtle differences in attack and defense are really what makes the control of each character unique - and adaptable to your ideal playstyle," said Shadows' game director Charles Benoit.

Although Naoe excels in stealth as a shinobi, she's able to defeat enemies using a barrage of attacks but can be overwhelmed when surrounded due to her lack of armor and limited combat resources.

As a samurai, Yasuke can stay in the fight longer and is the only protagonist with the ability to switch weapons mid-combo through the link-attack ability, like the Sheathed Posture Attack, a charged opening attack while his katana is still in its sheathe.

For weapons, Naoe has a versatile katana that unlocks the ability to assassinate enemies through shoji doors, a Tanto and Hidden Blades which unlock Double Assassinations, as well as a Kusarigama for crowd control. This extendable ball-and-chain can reach enemies at a distance and can unlock the Rush Assassinate ability to take down foes 10 meters away.

Yasuke has a long katana to match his size, a Naginata for crowd control, a Kanabo for breaking through defenses and armor, and a Yumi Bow for long-range attacks.

There's also the Teppo flint rifle for armor penetration, but has a slow fire rate and an even slower reload time.

Players will be able to use all these weapons against a number of enemy types each with their own unique combat styles that will need to be learned as you progress through the game, including Outlaws, Ashigara Soldiers, Ronin, Samurai, Samurai Daisho, and Guardians.

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• Apple TV Plus has landed the streaming rights to the sci-fi romance All of You
• The film is written by and stars Shrinking co-creator Brett Goldstein
• All of You tells the story of two best friends who have an unspoken love for each other

It's official: Brett Goldstein is breaking into the best Apple TV Plus movies territory – and I couldn't be happier.

Shrinking is one of my favorite Apple TV Plus shows, so when I discovered that the co-creator of the hit comedy series has a movie on its way to Apple TV Plus, I immediately knew that it could very well be my favorite movie in 2025.

Goldstein is a comedy connoisseur, having helped produce and star in the hugely successful Ted Lasso and Shrinking. Now, Apple Original Films has landed the streaming rights to Goldstein's sci-fi romance All of You, which is set to stream in the new year.

All of You premiered at this year's Toronto International Film Festival, and went on to screen at the London Film Festival. Currently, the film has an 83% Rotten Tomatoes score from 24 critics, with Cool Girl Critiques writing in their TIFF 2024 review: "A tender and heartbreaking portrait of love with the right person at the wrong time – this drama’s cynical and cathartic take on the soulmate trope will leave an emotional mark by its final frame."

What is All of You about?

Goldstein penned the script alongside the film's director William Bridges, who won an Emmy Award for his Black Mirror episode U.S.S. Callister. The official plot of All of You is as follows: "When an exciting new test matching soulmates together comes between two best friends, they spend the next 12 years trying to resist the urge to disrupt the paths their lives have taken – marriage, children and tragedy – despite the undeniable feeling they belong together."

Goldstein plays the lead role of Simon, and Imogen Poots stars as his best friend Laura. The cast also includes Steven Cree (Outlander) and Zawe Ashton (The Marvels).

Apple is set to add some exciting titles to its movie library next year, with the new sci-fi mystery thriller The Gorge starring Miles Teller, Anya Taylor-Joy and Sigourney Weaver, as well as Brad Pitt's F1 in June.

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Apple has finally fixed a security bug with its new password manager app which could have put your data at risk.

The provider first introduced Passwords with the long-awaited iOS 18 update as a built-in application to help you manage your login details and alert you if they're compromised in a data breach. Developer and security researcher Tommy Mysk, however, found a vulnerability in its system soon after the launch.

Apple confirmed that the new 18.2 operating system update has solved the issue that an attacker could have exploited to "alter network traffic. " Mysk now urges everyone to upgrade all their Apple devices to the latest version to patch the critical issue as soon as possible.

iOS 18.2 security update

"Since iOS 18 launched, the new Passwords app has been using unencrypted HTTP to download icons for password entries – a potential security risk. We reported this bug to Apple in September, and it’s finally fixed in iOS 18.2 (CVE-2024-54492)," Mysk wrote on X on Wednesday, December 11, 2024.

HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) refers to a set of rules that allow us to communicate data on the Internet and is used to load webpages. As the iOS expert explains (see video below), malicious networks can easily intercept and manipulate insecure HTTP.

The problem was that every time you added a new password, Passwords got the account's icon from the added website (say, gmail.com, for example) and called the website over the insecure HTTP protocol.

"This malicious network overwrites the response to return a custom icon," said Mysk. "Passwords picked the custom icon and showed it in the app. This could be a malicious payload."

"This issue was addressed by using HTTPS when sending information over the network," confirmed Apple in its 18.2 security update release.

The Passwords fix is now available for all devices (iPhone and iPad 18.2, as well as macOS Sequoia 15.2) after upgrading to the latest version.

Mysk urges everyone to upgrade their devices as soon as possible, noting that also another security company, Tenable, classified the vulnerability as "critical."

The 18.2 update isn't just about fixing vulnerabilities, though. The release is probably the biggest Apple Intelligence upgrade for iPhone, iPad, and Mac so far, in fact, bringing some of the most-anticipated Apple AI features to devices including Genmoji, Image Playground, and a ChatGPT-powered Siri.

Most notably, Apple Intelligence finally extends its support for Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the UK.

Even before the internet was invented, businesses have had security operations centers (SOCs) to monitor, manage and secure the enterprise. This was because protecting data, applications, and the network were all seen as integral to the success of the business. Today, no serious enterprise would ignore the importance of its network operations.

Yet when it comes to an even more valuable resource – employees – it’s only recently that businesses have started to assess and improve the quality of the digital employee experience (DEX) and its subsequent impact on productivity. One way some organizations are tackling the problem is the creation of DEX Operations Centres (DOC), i.e. a function designed to maximize the digital experience for all employees by removing blockers, reducing stress, and enabling better focus.

However, building a new function can be a tricky business if it isn’t planned right. Happily, creating a DOC doesn’t need to be a convoluted or onerous process. Having worked with multiple organizations, I can testify that, with the right approach and executive support, it’s possible to launch a small, but fully functional one after only a few key steps.

Avoiding the big mistake

Launching any new tech-related initiative can be daunting. Every business has its own set of horror stories about projects going sideways or costly implementations that got botched.

One of the most common reasons for this is that, too often, businesses start by purchasing expensive technology and then trying to retrofit a structure and rationale to justify it afterwards. This is precisely the wrong approach, especially when building a DOC. Technological solutions and tools need to be the final piece of the puzzle, after the organization has developed a full understanding of the purpose, scope, and structure of the proposed DOC.

Four workshops

While there is no one ‘right’ way to build a DOC, having been involved in multiple such initiatives, there are four key elements that should be addressed. Fortunately, while these are vital steps, they do not have to be particularly drawn out. If all relevant stakeholders are available and engaged, a DOC can be created with four targeted workshops:

1. The mission: The first workshop is the most high-level, but also the most important: the mission of the DOC must be clearly defined. Once there is a clear definition of the mission and vision of the DOC that covers why it’s necessary and what it aims to bring to the business, a whole host of subsequent decisions become easier. Moreover, this helps position the DOC within the organization, clarifying which teams it will be working with, and what the reporting structure could be. As an example, a business might launch a DOC with the vision to provide the best possible digital experience for all employees.

2. The service catalogue: After defining the vision, the mission and the positioning of the center in the organization, the next workshop should focus on what services the Centre will be providing. DEX encompasses a vast range of potential services and use cases, so it’s essential to start with a small number and doing those efficiently, rather than immediately trying to take on two dozen different problems from jump. In our example above, initial services might be around hardware and software optimization to improve the performance of devices and thereby the digital experience.

3. The use cases: In the same way that the service catalogue is aligned with the mission, so the specific use cases, standard operating procedures, and deliverables need to be aligned with the services catalogue. Continuing our example, the use cases for our hypothetical DOC could be around supporting the reduction of proactive tickets, extending the lifetime of devices, or identifying and repurposing unused hardware rather than buying new.

4. The team: Once all of the above is in place, the final workshop can assess what sort of team and operational model is needed in order to most effectively carry out the plan. For some organizations, the DOC will be an evolution of the support team that sits alongside traditional IT support, while others may merge the two into a larger team. There is no right or wrong answer to how to create a DOC – some organisations have a fully allocated team, others only partly allocated. Some have their DOC as an internal function, others outsource it. Some have a dedicated team; others draw upon a cross-functional set of skills. The important thing is that, with the services and use cases mapped out already, it’s far more straightforward to identify the requisite expertise and input to make the Centre a success.

Only after all of these decisions have been made should organizations start thinking about what technology is needed, otherwise they can find they are spending significant sums on new solutions without getting any worthwhile ROI.

An evolving practice

While every business should follow the four steps above in creating their DOC, that doesn’t mean they should feel constrained in terms of what it looks like. There is no minimum size, set of services, or standard structure that has to be followed. Many Centres have been launched with only two people and a handful of use cases. Indeed, it can be better to scale back ambitions for the initial launch and make sure that things are running smoothly before increasing investment.

However it’s constituted, once the Centre has a couple of successes under its belt, it’s far easier to showcase the value of DexOps as a concept and to get additional buy-in from stakeholders across the enterprise. And, because a well-constructed DOC is agile and responsive to the needs of the business, it will mature alongside the enterprise, adding and discarding services as needed to best facilitate the core mission. Regardless, as long as organizations take the time to map out a proper mission, vision, and operational structure, any DOC will consistently add value across all areas of the employee experience.

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• Garmin has released its 2024 Connect Data Report
• It reveals trends from Garmin customers all over the world
• It tells us about Body Battery, Sleep, Score, and where's best in the world if you want to walk 10,000 steps a day

As is customary for this time of year, fitness tracking and wellness platforms continue to release aggregated wellness data to give us helpful trends and insights into the world of fitness.

Garmin is the latest platform to dish out its numbers, with its annual Garmin Connect Data Report for 2024 out now.

Its stats are taken from the personalized fitness insights available in the Garmin Connect app, and covers customers of all the best Garmin Watches on the market, from the Forerunner to the Fenix and everything in between. Here's everything you need to know from this year's report.

Garmin Connect Data Report 2024

(Image credit: Future)

Garmin has provided insights into several of its proprietary tracking metrics, including Body Battery and Sleep Score, so you can see where you stack up on the list.

Garmin says the average morning score is 71, and the average evening low is 22, putting average daily drain at 49. Users had the most energy on Tuesdays, and the lowest scores on Saturdays. The lowest energy expenditure of the year? January 1. The highest? August 27.

Regarding sleep scores, Garmin says most users sleep best on Monday nights into Tuesday mornings, with the worst night of sleep of the week being a Saturday, unsurprisingly.

Saturday's alright for fighting (stress)

Next is stress, and Garmin users average 30 (out of 100) for the year, with Monday the lowest average stress score of the week, and Saturday the highest.

Finally, for training readiness, Garmin says that the average user score was 60 (out of 100), the highest training readiness scores were on Tuesday, and the lowest on Sunday.

When it comes to walking 10,000 steps, Garmin users take an average of 8,317 a day, the highest daily step count of 10,340 goes to Hong Kong, the lowest in Indonesia.

The stats provide a fascinating insight into Garmin's averages. Don't read too much into them, we're all unique after all, but you can see how you stack up across the data with the full results.

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Independent auditors have confirmed that one of the best VPN apps on the market protects your data with "a high-security level."

Mullvad VPN put its security infrastructure under scrutiny for the fourth time between October 23 and November 28, 2024. Experts from X41 D-Sec performed penetration tests and source code audits across all VPN apps for 30 days, finding only non-critical issues.

The VPN provider stated that it has now addressed these flaws "to the extent possible."

Mullvad's 4th security audit

"Overall, the Mullvad VPN Applications appear to have a high-security level and are well positioned to protect from the threat model proposed in this report," concludes the audit.

As mentioned earlier, experts conducted a white box penetration test and source code audit to investigate if attackers could compromise users' real identity or monitor their activities.

"The use of safe coding and design patterns in combination with regular audits and penetration tests led to a very hardened environment," noted experts.

Auditors found a total of six vulnerabilities, though none of them were critical. Three smaller issues "without a direct security impact" were also identified. You can find all the technical details in the full report.

Commenting on the results, the provider said: "Mullvad is very happy with the quality of the audit performed by X41 D-Sec. X41 managed to find issues in our code that previous audits missed, which shows that there is great benefit in having audits performed by different companies."

This is, in fact, the fourth independent security audit Mullvad has undergone every two years since 2018.

The fourth third-party security audit of the Mullvad VPN app has concluded that the app has a high security level. Some non-critical issues were found, and have been fixed to the extent possible.Read more here: https://t.co/9XbSwJhwjDDecember 11, 2024

Mullvad implemented fixes for four of the issues found during the audit. The team released a new app version on the affected platforms (desktop, Android, and Linux VPN) immediately after receiving the audit report.

Auditors also confirm the provider addressed all the issues "swiftly and the fixes were audited to be working properly."

The latest results corroborate Mullvad as one of the most secure VPN providers on the market right now. Besides bullet-proof security infrastructure, the service offers a strict no-log policy (which an inconclusive police raid proved in real life), a built-in tracker blocker, and strong encryption protocols.

In October, Mullvad even beefed up its defense against AI surveillance and censorship thanks to some advanced security features. These include extended support for VPN obfuscation technology for the WireGuard protocol and the innovative DAITA system which aims to mitigate AI-powered tracking by modifying the appearance of data packets sent over the VPN network.

• Security researchers from Akamai found UI Automation accessibility feature could be abused for malicious use
• UI Automation must be allowed to do all the things malware usually does, which makes it difficult for antivirus programs to spot it
• Admins can monitor the OS for suspicious activity

Cybersecurity researchers from Akamai have discovered a new way to get malware to run on Windows devices without triggering Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) tools.

In a report published on the Akamai blog earlier this week, it was said that starting with Windows XP, the OS introduced a feature called UI Automation, as part of the .NET Framework. This feature is designed to provide programmatic access to user interface elements, enabling assistive technologies like screen readers to interact with applications and help users with disabilities. It also supports automated testing scenarios by allowing developers to manipulate and retrieve information from UI components programmatically.

But if a piece of malware were to abuse UI Automation, they could execute different malicious commands without triggering any security alarms: "To exploit this technique, a user must be convinced to run a program that uses UI Automation," Akamai said in its writeup. "This can lead to stealthy command execution, which can harvest sensitive data, redirect browsers to phishing websites, and more."

Detecting possible attacks

The new technique is essentially a port from Android, since it revolves around accessibility features.

Since the malware would essentially be abusing what’s otherwise a benign, intended use, antivirus programs would have a difficult time flagging the activity. In essence, it is the same as with Android - the accessibility services API has become the go-to way for malware on the platform. It is also the best way to spot malicious applications, since they all must ask for permission to use Accessibility Services, first.

To detect possible attacks, admins should monitor the use of UIAutomationCore.dll, the researchers concluded. It being loaded to a previously unknown process should be cause for concern, it was said. Furthermore, network admins can monitor the named pipes that are opened on an endpoint by the UIA, which is another indicator of use.

The details on how to do that can be found here.

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Black Friday and the following holiday shopping season are critical for retailers worldwide. For many, the revenue generated during this period represents a substantial portion of their annual targets, and sets the stage for the year ahead. Preparation begins months in advance as retailers plan inventories, identify likely hits, and scale up operational capacities.

While experienced retailers often rely on past experience to gauge purchase volumes and potential obstacles; effective planning requires more than a gut feeling—it must be validated with data.

Retailers collect vast amounts of data relating to purchases, from average basket size, popularity of items, most frequent purchase days and times, and more. All of this data provides valuable insights for retailers to ensure they are well prepared for the peak season. Human analysis alone, however, may not guarantee the best and most valuable insights are drawn. This is where AI can help.

AI tools can sift through vast amounts of data, identify key trends, and generate predictive insights. By analyzing historical data and applying heuristics, AI can help retailers forecast demand, optimize inventory, and streamline staffing decisions.

Once these insights are generated, AIOps tools can take over, automatically scaling resources like CPU and capacity to handle traffic spikes, providing the necessary "boost" to handle high traffic, even during unexpected peaks.

Let’s explore AI’s role in ensuring success for retailers in this peak season.

Addressing operational challenges

Retailers face various obstacles in preparing for the holiday rush. Planning includes anticipating product demand, ensuring inventory availability across locations, and preparing logistics. This period’s sales surge can put unprecedented pressure on IT systems, which may need to handle hundreds of orders per hour.

AI-driven forecasting enables retailers to move beyond a gut-feeling, making data-driven decisions based on historical trends and real-time data. AI tools analyze vast amounts of retail data—such as basket sizes, peak shopping times, and item popularity—to make precise predictions. These insights improve capacity planning, including timely adjustments for resources like storage and CPU power, which is essential for keeping systems running smoothly.

Once these insights have been drawn, AIOps platforms dynamically allocate resources as demand increases, minimizing downtime and keeping the customer experience intact.

Smarter inventory and staffing

Inventory management is another area transformed by AI. Predictive analytics allows retailers to anticipate demand more accurately, adjusting inventory levels to align with projected needs to avoid stock shortages or surplus.

This real-time forecasting helps ensure popular products remain available and inventory is efficiently distributed across stores and warehouses. Additionally, predictive insights enable more strategic staffing, ensuring that employee levels align with anticipated demand spikes.

AI also provides a feedback loop that retailers can leverage year after year, helping them refine their holiday season strategies. By using heuristics and historical data, AI helps forecast demand patterns and guides long-term planning for staffing, logistics, and inventory management.

Real-time visibility for seamless operations

Visibility across operations is essential for success during peak shopping periods. Retailers must monitor metrics like incident count (to track disruptions), churn rate or cart abandonment (to gauge retention), inventory turnover (to assess sales versus stock), and logistics (to ensure delivery success). AIOps platforms offer dashboards that provide real-time tracking of these metrics, allowing teams to make immediate, informed decisions to manage demand fluctuations and resolve any issues.

This comprehensive view helps large, omnichannel retailers manage both in-store and online channels. By responding to real-time data, retailers can address customer needs swiftly and reduce the risk of supply chain bottlenecks.

With AI providing this observability, retailers are better equipped to offer a seamless customer experience, even during peak demand.

A data-driven future for retail

With the holiday season's high stakes, AI and AIOps are enabling retailers to make well-informed, strategic decisions that go beyond gut instinct. By offering predictive analytics, real-time insights, and automated scaling, these technologies streamline operations, prevent costly outages, and enhance customer satisfaction. Retailers that embrace these data-driven strategies gain an edge in a competitive landscape, not only succeeding during peak periods but also laying the foundation for future growth and agility.

In a market where customer expectations are high and purchase habits are changing, data-driven strategies supported by AI are becoming essential tools for retail success.

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• The upcoming BMW M3 will use four electric motors
• Its clever torque vectoring aims to deliver driving dynamics
• A petrol engine version will still be offered

BMW has revealed teaser images and video footage of its forthcoming M3 replacement during testing, which will feature a quad-electric motor set-up in the first time in its long and illustrious career.

Choosing to tell the development story through a Netflix-esque mini-series on YouTube, the German automaker has revealed elements of what we can expect from the upcoming “M HP BEV” (high-powered battery electric vehicle), which will be based on an all-new Neue Klasse 3 Series platform.

Although there is no word on battery capacity and the sort of performance we can expect when it arrives in 2028, BMW M boss Frank van Meel says the project was about “embracing new technology”, and finding out “how to push the limits of what is technically possible".

That means a centralized ‘brain’ that aims to bring the numerous control modules under the stewardship of one, very powerful computer unit.

There will also be cutting-edge and highly precise torque vectoring at each wheel, which BMW hopes will deliver some of that ‘Ultimate Driving Experience’ that the company is famed for.

M3 fans are understandably worried about the electrified future of such a beloved and revered sports car, with many worried that the added weight of batteries will blunt performance – something van Meel says is inescapable.

During an interview with Autocar, the BMW CEO admitted that early performance EVs would have to be equipped with larger, heavier batteries in order to “avoid range anxiety in environments where charging infrastructure is still not widely spread.”

But he goes on to suggest that in the coming years, the charging infrastructure is going to improve at such a rapid rate that his company might not have to cram in such a huge quantity of battery packs, as charging will become faster and more convenient.

Analysis: BMW is hedging its bets

(Image credit: BMW)

According to BMW’s CEO, the electrified M3 is being developed alongside an internal combustion engine counterpart. The company has heavily revised the current generation 3.0-liter straight-six petrol engine to meet Europe’s stringent emissions regulations.

That means a petrol M-car will be available for as long as customer demand exists and, according to some of the YouTube comments under BMW’s recent video, could be a lot longer than the German automaker envisages.

BMW will have a tough job convincing the M-Performance faithful that an electric vehicle can deliver the raw, visceral thrill of some of its best V8 and V6-powered petrol cars, most of which have gone on to garner legendary status in the car community.

Former BMW M engineer Albert Biermann, the man behind some of the best M-Performance cars, proved electric could be exciting when he joined Hyundai and helped the team develop the Ioniq 5 N.

But that car required so much computing power and technical trickery to not only disguise its weight but also usher in the sort of driving cues that many expect of a combustion engine sports car, such as synthesized gear changes and fake exhaust notes.

The Hyundai Ioniq 5 N remains a special car, but it leaves many speculating that you could enjoy much the same thrills at half the price with a used petrol-powered counterpart that doesn’t require the heavy and expensive extras to raise a smile.

Whichever way you look at it, BMW will have a tough time convincing anyone that has ever owned a combustion-engined M3 that this electric version is going to be good enough to tempt them to make the switch.

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• Mike Flanagan has written a script for a DC movie about Clayface, and a director has not yet been named
• Filming on the project is expected to begin in early 2025
• Flanagan revealed he is keen to do a standalone Clayface movie as a "horror/thriller/tragedy"

Following the monumental success of one of the best Max shows The Penguin, there's news that a standalone Clayface movie is in the works, with a screenplay written by one of the most exciting filmmakers out there, Mike Flanagan. Filming on the movie is expected to commence in early 2025, according to reports by Variety.

As someone who loves the darker side of DC, I am very keen to see Flanagan's take on Clayface. He's already terrified me with his Stephen King adaptation Doctor Sleep as well as some of the best Netflix shows like The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass.

Flanagan has really made a name for himself in the horror genre, but as he's busy doing a Carrie TV series for Prime Video, he won't be in the director's chair for this one. So it'll be interesting to see who takes the reins for the recently greenlit DC project.

What do we know about the Clayface movie?

At the time of writing, we don't have much to go off just yet. But Flanagan has teased that he was keen to make it a "horror/thriller/tragedy", so it seems he's keen to keep up his reputation as a writer with a keen eye for the macabre.

The Batman and The Penguin creator Matt Reeves will be producing the movie, and that's about all we know right now. Casting remains a mystery too so we'll need to wait and see who takes on the role of this iconic and underrated Batman villain.

The shapeshifting Clayface has previously been played by Ron Perlman in Batman: The Animated Series and by Brian McManamon in the TV series Gotham, but this movie will mark the first time he's really taken center stage and I'm keen to see who the role is given to next.

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• Byte Federal filed a new notice with the Maine Attorney General's office, confirming a cyberattack
• Attackers tried to access sensitive data on 58,000 people, but it is unclear if they succeeded
• Targeted data included names, postal addresses, email addresses, Social Security numbers, transaction activity, and more

Byte Federal, a US company operating thousands of Bitcoin ATM machines, suffered a data breach in which customer data may (or may not) have been compromised.

In a new filing with the Maine Office of the Attorney General, the company said that on September 30 2024, an unidentified threat actor accessed its servers through a bug in third-party software.

The company spotted the intrusion on November 18, when it shut down the platform, isolated the bad actor, and secured the compromised server. The bug was in GitLab, which its developers used for project management and collaboration.

No evidence of abuse

Subsequent investigation determined that the crooks tried to access users’ sensitive information, including their names, birthdates, postal addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, government-issued ID cards, Social Security numbers, transaction activity, and photos. More than enough to engage in all sorts of malicious activity, from phishing, to wire fraud, identity theft, and more.

Whether or not the crooks succeeded in accessing these files is not yet confirmed. “We have no evidence at this time that any of your personal information was actually compromised or misused in any manner,” the company said in the filing. “No user funds or assets were compromised,” the announcement added.

In total, 58,000 people could be affected by the incident.

To address the attack, Byte Federal performed a hard reset on all customer accounts, notified the affected individuals, and did a full rotation on all system passwords, tokens, and keys.

“With the assistance of an independent cybersecurity team, we are conducting a forensic investigation to determine the cause and the scope of the incident,” Byte Federal concluded. “This investigation is ongoing, and we continue to cooperate with law enforcement in this regard.”

The company is one of the largest Bitcoin ATM operators in the United States, servicing some 1,200 machines, according to TechCrunch.

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• Microsoft has announced Xbox Insiders with Game Pass Ultimate can now test the "Stream your own game" feature on console
• Testers can now preview the feature on Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S, and Xbox One
• The feature will be released to all players next year

Xbox Insiders with Game Pass Ultimate can now stream select games on console.

Last month, Microsoft announced that members subscribed to the Ultimate tier were able to stream select games through TVs and other supported devices like smartphones, PCs, and tablets.

The "Stream your own game" feature, which allows users to play "select" games they own via the cloud, was also announced to be coming to Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S next year.

However, starting today, Xbox Insiders in the Alpha Skip-Ahead and Alpha rings can preview this feature as long as they have an Ultimate subscription, and stream select games they own beyond the Game Pass catalog on their consoles.

It's now available in 28 countries where Cloud Gaming is available and Microsoft confirmed that testers won't need to install these games, saving time and hard drive space.

To start streaming, Insiders will need to navigate to My Games & Apps > Full Library > Owned Games.

If the player owns a cloud playable game, they'll see a cloud badge next to it, and to find a game quickly they can Choose Filter > Ready to play > Cloud Gaming.

The company has previously released a list of 50 games that are available to stream, which includes some of the biggest releases, like Baldur's Gate 3, Cyberpunk 2077, Balatro, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and more.

The list is also expected to grow as Microsoft works with more studios, it confirmed.

Players eager to take part in the testing can join the Xbox Insider Program and download the Xbox Insider Hub for Xbox consoles and Windows PC.

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