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Industry 4.0 is reshaping the manufacturing industry and one of the key catalysts to its success is AI. But, given its productivity and quality benefits, why do over 60% of UK manufacturers not have AI implemented into their operations? It’s not as simple as other plug-and-play add-ons, AI needs to be fed on quality data and that’s lacking in today's manufacturing industry.

AI systems are only as good as the data they are fed on. Here, Nicholas highlights the roadmap data needs to follow before it can be fed into AI systems to gain actionable insights – from data cleaning and storage to the hybrid pathway to smart factories.

AI success hinges on AI-ready data. So much so that Gartner predicts 60% of AI projects unsupported by AI-ready data will be abandoned by the end of 2026. There is no shortage of data in the manufacturing industry. Data comes from machine sensors, IoT devices, and control systems but this raw data is not AI-ready straight away. First, it must be cleaned, contextualized, structured, and processed.

AI can easily miss signals or raise false alarms when it’s fed on uncontextualized data. For manufacturers to ensure this is the case, a data platform with secure governance and quality control is required. This foundation can ensure AI is fed accurate and reliable data. Here are the steps manufacturers need to take to make AI-ready data a reality:

1: Data hygiene – simplifying data ensures a smooth AI journey

The multiple sources of data in the manufacturing industry can cause headaches for AI when trying to interpret and understand the data. Ensuring data is accurate, consistent, and complete is crucial.

Contextual metadata such as machine ID, timestamps, digital product passports, and batch numbers can help manufacturers fix errors, handle missing values, validate sensor outputs, remove duplicates, and flag anomalies before data is fed into AI platforms.

2: Management & Security – clear data ownership is key in the most cyberattacked industry

For three years running, manufacturing has been the most cyberattacked industry and with data coming from multiple sources, the threat of cyberattacks is vast. Manufacturers need to ensure sensitive data is securely managed by utilizing role-based access control and encryption.

First, clear ownership of data needs to be established with access rights and compliance rules, then a data catalogue can be developed so stakeholders know where data is, when it’s available, and how to access it.

3: Make data silos a thing of the past – centralize and contextualize data

One of the biggest barriers to effective data use in manufacturing is the siloing of Operational Technology (OT) and Information Technology (IT). To overcome this, data must be brought into a central platform. But consolidation alone isn’t enough – standardized definitions are needed to align data from the top floor to the factory floor.

Using a unified namespace or knowledge base helps connect equipment, processes, and sensor streams, reducing confusion and enabling consistency across the business.

With these foundations in place, manufacturers can transform raw industrial data into a structured digital twin. The next step? Feeding that data into advanced analytics and machine learning.

4: Old legacy and batch processes won’t cut it – time to upgrade your system

Once raw manufacturing data has been cleaned and contextualized, the next challenge facing manufacturers is where the data can be stored and processed. Many manufacturers still operate with outdated legacy databases and nightly batch processes which are unable to operate at the speed of Industry 4.0. In fact, over one-quarter of UK organizations have stated legacy technology as a key barrier to AI growth.

Enter, modern data architectures. These systems are flexible, scalable, and capable of handling large datasets and enable high-stake manufacturing environments such as supply chains, production lines, and maintenance schedules to operate with real-time insights.

5: Unify your business with a data lakehouse

In enabling real-time data insights, data can no longer be stored in data lakes, a traditional centralized system that can store large quantities of raw data in its native format. These are great for encapsulating sensor readings or machine logs for deeper analysis but without governance or structure they can quickly turn into ‘data swamps’. To move to the next level manufacturers, need to adopt a data lakehouse.

A data architect that combines the scale and flexibility of data lakes with the governance and schema management of a data warehouse allows for all areas of the business to work from one unified platform. This means everyone from data scientists who are interested in the raw, unstructured data, to business analysts who want well-structured data tables can work and collaborate using the same system.

But that’s not all. Through enabling machine learning, business intelligence and predictive analysis, data lakehouses can store data cheaply while enforcing structure to foster collaboration and speed up analysis.

6: Speed is everything on the factory to reduce maintenance downtime

Given the fast-paced nature of the manufacturing industry, data loses value if it arrives late. Take a factory setting for example. If a crucial machine overheats or malfunctions, it needs to be reported and flagged instantly for maintenance to be actioned.

Real-time streaming technologies process sensor data the moment it’s generated, enabling immediate action when issues arise. But the benefits go further – automated fault detection can spot anomalies in machine temperature or vibration, while live dashboards give operators instant visibility into throughput and quality.

The result? Faster response times, fewer disruptions, and smarter process adjustments reduce downtime, minimize waste, and boost efficiency.

7: Unlock smart factories with a hybrid edge-to-cloud model

In today’s modern manufacturing industry, many data architectures process all data following an edge-to-cloud model. Edge computing devices in the factory handle the here-and-now tasks such as local inference for anomaly detection or filtering sensor noise and cloud computing devices store large-scale analytics, historical data analysis, and advanced AI model training. This hybrid model gives manufacturers low latency at the edge and the ability to tap into the vast quantities of data in the cloud systems.

The predictive maintenance aspect of the manufacturing digital transformation journey will benefit greatly from this approach as the edge devices do the real-time monitoring and the cloud utilizes aggregated data from multiple locations to refine AI models. This is crucial for manufacturers as a recent McKinsey report stated that predictive maintenance can reduce maintenance costs by 10 to 40% and downtime by 50% and increase asset lifetime by 20 to 40%.

Manufacturers must handle data with care to unlock AI’s true potential

The manufacturing industry is almost there in unlocking the true potential of AI. Manufacturers already have the data they need to make some strategic shifts and benefit from the powers of Industry 4.0 and AI. It’s not a simple process turning raw industrial data into AI-ready data, but the efficiency, quality, and profitability benefits make the process worth it!

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• Trend Micro warns its customers about a critical-severity flaw in its endpoint protection solution
• It released a mitigation as it works on a patch
• Users are advised to apply the mitigations as soon as possible

Trend Micro is warning customers of an ongoing attack which abuses a critical severity vulnerability in one of its products.

The company said it recently discovered a command injection vulnerability in its on-prem version of the Apex One Management Console - an advanced endpoint security solution designed to protect enterprise networks from a wide range of threats.

The vulnerability is tracked as either CVE-2025-54948, or CVE-2025-54987, depending on the CPU architecture, and was assigned a severity score of 9.4/10 (critical). It allows threat actors to remotely run arbitrary code, including malware.

Working on a patch

Trend Micro said it aims to release a patch in mid-August 2025, which should also restore this function.

"For this particular vulnerability, an attacker must have access to the Trend Micro Apex One Management Console, so customers that have their console's IP address exposed externally should consider mitigating factors such as source restrictions if not already applied," the company said.

"However, even though an exploit may require several specific conditions to be met, Trend Micro strongly encourages customers to update to the latest builds as soon as possible."

So far, the company has seen at least one attack taking place in the wild, although it did not detail where, against whom, if it was effective, or who the threat actors are.

Since Apex One is mostly used in enterprise environments, and the bug allows remote code execution, it is safe to assume miscreants are using it to drop infostealers and ransomware encryptors, while stealing sensitive files for extortion.

With the flaws now being being abused in the wild, Trend Micro released a mitigation measure to help defend its customers as it works on a patch. The mitigation, according to the Japanese CERT, disables admins from using the Remote Install Agent function to deploy agents from the console.

Via BleepingComputer

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Looking for a different day?

A new Quordle puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Thursday's puzzle instead then click here: Quordle hints and answers for Thursday, August 7 (game #1291).

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,100 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today – or scroll down further for the answers.

Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles, while Marc's Wordle today column covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

Quordle today (game #1292) - hint #1 - VowelsHow many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 4*.

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).

Quordle today (game #1292) - hint #2 - repeated lettersDo any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 3.

Quordle today (game #1292) - hint #3 - uncommon lettersDo the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

• Yes. One of Q, Z, X or J appears among today's Quordle answers.

Quordle today (game #1292) - hint #4 - starting letters (1)Do any of today's Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?

• The number of today's Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 2.

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #1292) - hint #5 - starting letters (2)What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• K

• K

• R

• B

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

Quordle today (game #1292) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1292, are…

• KNEEL
• KINKY
• RALPH
• BOOZY

Another very difficult round and a close shave for me that came down to one last Hail Mary guess.

KINKY took me ages to get after failing with “windy” but it’s one I should have thought of as a regular player, as this word has come up a couple of times this year.

Daily Sequence today (game #1292) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1292, are…

• MINCE
• MISER
• FLUME
• TIMID

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1291, Thursday, 7 August: PLUNK, PROXY, CURVY, PEARL
• Quordle #1290, Wednesday, 6 August: RISKY, APART, FAUNA, HANDY
• Quordle #1289, Tuesday, 5 August: ROAST, SLICK, AUDIT, BILLY
• Quordle #1288, Monday, 4 August: MACAW, SINCE, COLON, CHIRP
• Quordle #1287, Sunday, 3 August: MOTIF, LEERY, LOFTY, BURST
• Quordle #1286, Saturday, 2 August: WARTY, PUPAL, CLEAR, SLICE
• Quordle #1285, Friday, 1 August: ACTOR, MEALY, WIDTH, ADOBE
• Quordle #1284, Thursday, 31 July: STYLE, VALET, AGONY, ALLOY
• Quordle #1283, Wednesday, 30 July: DEBAR, ADMIN, FOLIO, USAGE
• Quordle #1282, Tuesday, 29 July: BATCH, TOPIC, MURKY, BUNCH
• Quordle #1281, Monday, 28 July: CANDY, TRYST, SHIRT, FORGO
• Quordle #1280, Sunday, 27 July: TRAWL, BALER, PIANO, MINCE
• Quordle #1279, Saturday, 26 July: MUDDY, SAINT, KINKY, POLAR
• Quordle #1278, Friday, 25 July: BONUS, RESIN, CEDAR, MADAM
• Quordle #1277, Thursday, 24 July: AGONY, VERVE, GLEAN, MINUS
• Quordle #1276, Wednesday, 23 July: OZONE, PENCE, ROOMY, WIDER
• Quordle #1275, Tuesday, 22 July: OPTIC, GIDDY, VOCAL, ADULT
• Quordle #1274, Monday, 21 July: KNEED, SNAIL, PINTO, FEAST
• Quordle #1273, Sunday, 20 July: GRACE, COUNT, EGRET, GIANT

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Thursday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Thursday, August 7 (game #788).

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #789) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• DEGREE
• DRAW
• PAC-MAN
• VEST
• PAINT
• PRESENT
• TIE
• DOODLE
• MARVEL
• SQUARE
• SPACE
• EVEN
• DOZE
• GRANT
• CONFER
• PASS NOTES

NYT Connections today (game #789) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: Words that describe a 1-1 scoreline 
• GREEN: To give
• BLUE: Drifting off
• PURPLE: Two consonants with several meanings

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #789) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: MAKE EQUAL, AS A SCORE 
• GREEN: BESTOW 
• BLUE: THINGS YOU MIGHT DO DURING A BORING CLASS/ MEETING 
• PURPLE: WORDS AFTER THE LETTERS "MS" 

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #789) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #789, are…

• YELLOW: MAKE EQUAL, AS A SCORE DRAW, EVEN, SQUARE, TIE
• GREEN: BESTOW CONFER, GRANT, PRESENT, VEST
• BLUE: THINGS YOU MIGHT DO DURING A BORING CLASS/ MEETING DOODLE, DOZE, PASS NOTES, SPACE
• PURPLE: WORDS AFTER THE LETTERS "MS" DEGREE, MARVEL, PAC-MAN, PAINT

• My rating: Hard
• My score: Fail

Today’s Connections flew way over my head. I’d already used up two mistakes on the easiest group, so the odds were stacked against me.

And yes I did think DRAW, PAINT and DOODLE should be in a group together and in search of a last one picked PRESENT for no logical reason whatsoever – this was not my greatest day.

If you found this edition straightforward and the word SPACE didn’t send you into a tailspin of confusion (surely it should have said “space out”) then kudos. 

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Thursday, August 7, game #788)

• YELLOW: MOUSE ACTIONS CLICK, DRAG, HOVER, SCROLL
• GREEN: PERFORATE BORE, PIERCE, POKE, PUNCH
• BLUE: ONES WITH POINTY EARS BATMAN, DEVIL, ELF, VULCAN
• PURPLE: WIMBLEDON WINNERS BORG, GRAF, KING, SINNER

What is NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.

On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.

It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.

It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Thursday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Thursday, August 7 (game #522).

Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.

Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Strands today (game #523) - hint #1 - today's themeWhat is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Kings of swing and bebop

NYT Strands today (game #523) - hint #2 - clue words

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

• HARD
• DUETS
• STAIR
• WARD
• FATE
• SAFE

NYT Strands today (game #523) - hint #3 - spangram lettersHow many letters are in today's spangram?

• Spangram has 8 letters

NYT Strands today (game #523) - hint #4 - spangram positionWhat are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First side: bottom, 3rd column

Last side: top, 4th column

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Strands today (game #523) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #523, are…

• DUKE
• COUNT
• HAWK
• DIZZY
• CANNONBALL
• YARDBIRD
• FATS
• SPANGRAM: JAZZ CATS

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 1 hint

Thanks to my father’s love of old-time jazz I was pretty familiar with most of the “cats” we were searching for today, but I had to google YARDBIRD and HAWK.

For the record, today's words referred to pianists DUKE Ellington, FATS Domino and COUNT Basie, saxophonist CANNONBALL Adderley, and trumpeter DIZZY Gillespie.

The last two words were nicknames for two legendary saxophonists – Yardbird for Charlie Parker and Hawk for Coleman Hawkins.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Thursday, August 7, game #522)

• STEADY
• SOUND
• DEVOTED
• FIRM
• CONSTANT
• UNWAVERING
• SPANGRAM: HOLD FAST

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.