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For embedded developers, the leap to edge AI is closer than you think

By Parag Beeraka, Senior Director, Segment Marketing, IoT, Arm

The rapid growth of AI and machine learning is supercharging innovation in edge devices and embedded systems. However, successfully deploying ML models on resource-constrained hardware requires edge AI expertise that can span data science, machine learning, and specialized embedded engineering disciplines. In a sense, the decades-old discipline of embedded design that delivered vast amounts of solutions built on simple microcontrollers using home-grown or commercial real-time operating systems, is literally drinking from an AI fire hose.

Most edge AI development teams that want to leverage new AI and ML workloads face a skills gap that hampers their ability to optimize and accelerate on-device AI. Some companies deal with the gap by building internal AI/ML teams; others have hired dedicated ML leadership and acquired startups to jumpstart their AI expertise.

However, while progress is being made, the bar continues to rise as ML methods and models grow more complex. We should expect, for instance, that several derivatives of ChatGPT or Gemini will be running on small, embedded controllers and edge AI soon in the future, in real-world applications providing greater benefits. Additionally, time-to-market pressures are huge. It can take years for embedded engineering teams to fully "skill-up" on MLOps. And, even then, they need to keep learning. They need to keep learning because MLOps at the edge continuously evolves.

Edge AI gaps

So what key gaps persist? Three key areas stand out:

Data management

Model optimization

Efficient inference

As a key provider in technologies that enable AI and ML solutions to expand and flourish, Arm is keen to make the lives of engineers and developers easier and more efficient to realize their AI dreams.

Let's take a deeper look at those challenges.

Data management: Managing data effectively is critical for developing and deploying machine learning models but has its challenges. These include collecting the correct, unbiased data from sensors, labeling the data accurately and consistently for training and ensuring privacy and security of data.

Maintaining the tooling, infrastructure and skills for robust end-to-end ML data management - in a traditionally embedded-design world - introduces additional challenges for embedded teams.

For instance, targeting and prototyping on hardware traditionally has been a cumbersome, slow process. Arm has taken steps to simplify this part of the design process and accelerate deployment with Arm Virtual Hardware (AVH), a cloud-based service that provides functionally accurate models of Arm-based chips, allowing software developers to simulate the behavior of Arm-based IoT devices without the need for physical hardware.

Now consider the complexity of the data input for ML applications - audio and other forms of inputs from sensors. Because of the diverse nature of sensors, it's important to maintain a focus on standards, as that helps to streamline the handling of these data sets.

Arm's new SDS (Synchronous Data Streaming) framework for sensor data addresses the need for standardized data collection, labeling, and distribution for model development. It allows capturing physical sensor/audio data streams from the target hardware - for example from a MEMS gyroscope or microphone - during development. The framework provides Python-based utilities for playback, visualization and analysis of the captured data streams. SDS playback combined with AVH enables automated testing of algorithms on simulated models, useful for CI/CD pipelines. Through close partnership with Arm, TDK Qeexo has added support for Synchronous Data Streaming (SDS) framework in their Machine Learning Platform Qeexo AutoML.

Model Optimization: The AI journey starts with a use case and then with data for the use case. Once the use case and dataset are determined, then complex models can be trained using various methods. This requires access to large datasets and significant computational resources. That said optimization is a vital step to deliver ML workloads on power-constrained devices. This takes many forms. The size of ML models is reduced through techniques like pruning, quantization, and knowledge distillation. This cuts storage and memory requirements.

One optimization example is Arm's collaboration with NVIDIA on TAO, a low-code AI toolkit built on TensorFlow and PyTorch that's designed to simplify and accelerate the model training process by abstracting away the complexity of AI models and the deep learning framework.

Additionally, the Arm Model Optimization Toolkit, built with Arm's vast global ecosystem and intimate knowledge of underlying hardware technologies and system-design requirements, is invaluable in helping development teams achieve their best optimizations.

Efficient Inference: Efficient inference in edge devices is literally where the rubber meets the road. Because these devices are usually resource-constrained, enormous care must be given to deploy models at the edge. While CPUs can handle some workloads, the emerging specialized workloads often demand a heterogeneous computing solution to deliver performance with processing efficiency. Indeed for hardware acceleration, many embedded SoCs provide accelerators like DSPs, TPUs, NPUs that are optimized for ML workloads.

Therefore, running ML workloads efficiently on embedded devices with diverse accelerators involves extensive tuning using compilers like Arm's Vela and software libraries like CMSIS-NN. Using Arm Vela compiler, developers can compile a TensorFlow Lite for Microcontrollers neural network model into an optimized version that can run on an embedded system containing an Arm Ethos-U NPU (neural processing unit), which can accelerate various ML workloads. The Vela compiler allows users to optimize various properties of the Ethos-U embedded system, such as memory latencies and bandwidths, by rewriting the Vela configuration file. Arm ecosystem partners such as Edge Impulse, Nota.AI, Qeexo, and Plumerai have integrated Vela compiler into their tool flows so that their customers can easily use Arm-based platforms with Ethos-U accelerator.

The up-skilling imperative

Maintaining the tooling, infrastructure and skills for robust end-to-end ML data management introduces additional skills challenges for traditional embedded design and development teams.

Bridging the skills gap requires combining the strengths of hardware vendors, AI/ML experts, and enterprise software providers through aligned strategies and unified toolchains. Arm products, tools, resources and its ecosystem serve as the foundation for upskilling engineers so they can unlock transformative AI use cases.

For more information, please visit our web site.

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With rapid growth of edge AI, many teams lack expertise in areas like data management, model optimization, and efficient inference. Arm's Parag Beeraka explores key challenges and how to bridge the skills gap in developing edge AI solutions.

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Arm and ecosystem partners are looking to accelerate the next evolution of silicon.

By Richard Grisenthwaite, EVP, Chief Architect & Fellow, Arm

A key challenge our partners are consistently looking to solve is: How can we continue to push performance boundaries, with maximum efficiency, while managing costs associated with manufacturing and yield? Today, as the ever more complex AI-accelerated computing landscape evolves, a key solution emerging is chiplets.

Chiplets are designed to be combined to create larger and more complex systems that can be packaged and sold as a single solution, made of a number of smaller dies instead of one single larger monolithic die. This creates interesting new design possibilities, with one of themost exciting being a potential route to custom silicon for manufacturers who historically chose off-the-shelf solutions. The excitement is focused on the concept of composability - putting together a bespoke complete solution by reusing a set of existing or standardized chiplets, each optimized for cost-performance. This reusability and standardization can lead to a multi-vendor chiplet supply chain that could enable both new and existing players to access performance and differentiation opportunities.

Delivering the common frameworks required to accelerate the chiplet market

To realize thisopportunity, designers will need alignment on many non-differentiating choices in chiplet partitioning, and the associated impact on interface standardization. A common framework is needed to enable the next generation of silicon designers, and requires significant and focused collaboration and investment. Today I'm excited to provide updates on two new initiatives that will help to deliver this framework:

Arm Chiplet System Architecture (CSA): Arm and a group of more than 20 partners are analyzing and defining optimal partitioning choices for chiplet-based systems. The goal is to develop the Arm Chiplet System Architecture (CSA), which will enable greater reuse of components (physical design IP, soft IP etc) between multiple suppliers. The group covers multiple market segments from mobile to automotive to infrastructure, exploring how we can better standardize around system design choices for different chiplet types, such as how to partition an Arm-based system across multiple chiplets, or their high-level properties (e.g. requirements for system memory or a Root of Trust).

Updating AMBA to standardize protocols for chiplets: For more than 27 years, AMBA has been a foundational open industry standard. AMBA specifications like AXI and CHI have been used in billions of devices.
AMBA CHI is high speed, credited, and packetized, which makes it ideal for chiplets. The previously announced AMBA CHI C2C specification leverages the existing on-chip CHI protocol and defines how it is packetized, enabling it to be transported chip(let)-to-chip(let). We're pleased to share today that the open specification is now formally released, after collaboration with a diverse set of partners across the industry. You can read more in this blog.

There are several existing AXI-based designs that are critical to enable in chiplets. We've committed to deliver an open AXI C2C specification that can be adopted by silicon vendors currently enjoying the benefits of AXI in their single chip designs.

Complex Problems Need Collaboration

Our investments into AMBA and CSA will enable partners to decompose an Arm-based system across multiple chiplets, in the same way a monolithic chip is composed of IP blocks. Alongside these new standards, there are several Arm-specific and industry-wide layers we need to continue to collaborate on:

Physical layer: Industry standards. such as UCIe, are needed to define the physical layer for transporting data between chiplets within a package (for AMBA, PCIe and other protocols) and other non-differentiating aspects of system aggregation from chiplets.

Protocols: We expect industry standard protocols, such as PCIe and CXL, alongside on-SoC interconnect protocols like AMBA, to enable the market to aggregate well-defined peripherals from across a motherboard into a package.

High-level properties and partitioning: For Arm-based systems using AMBA protocols, there is an infinite flexibility to disaggregate the SoC into chiplets. CSA will help the Arm-ecosystem to reach consensus around the most valuable partitioning schemes to reduce fragmentation.

A diverse chiplet market, built on Arm

While mass market adoption of chiplets is likely to take many years to reach mass-market adoption, we're excited by the potential these standards have to expedite the journey towards chiplet-based systems. The flexibility of the Arm platform is enabling the emerging chiplet ecosystem today - it's a natural progression in our heritage of enabling partners to build custom silicon solutions quickly with the flexibility they need. As we continue to deliver the compute, performance efficiency and software solutions the industry demands in an increasingly complex landscape, we are bringing the ecosystem together around new critical standards and programs, like the recently announced Arm Total Design, that will enable a thriving, diverse chiplet ecosystem built on Arm.

To get involved in Arm CSA, partners can reach out to csa-feedback@arm.com.

Any re-use permitted for informational and non-commercial or personal use only.

Editorial Contact

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Arm Ecosystem Collaborates on Standards to Enable a Thriving Chiplet Market

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Arm and ecosystem partners looking to accelerate the next evolution of silicon through a thriving, diverse chiplet market.

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Starfield creator on ‘choice anxiety’, long games and exclusive titles

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Todd Howard tells the BBC his team wondered if they ‘were in over our heads’ when creating the game.

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MrBeast overtakes PewDiePie as most-subscribed YouTuber

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MrBeast overtakes PewDiePie as most-subscribed YouTuber

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MrBeast has ended PewDiePie's reign as the YouTuber with the most subscribers - the first change at the top in almost 10 years.

Swedish creator PewDiePie, whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, became the most-subscribed YouTuber in August 2013 with his gaming reaction videos.

In 2019, he was the first person to attract 100 million subscribers.

But the philanthropy of MrBeast, really called Jimmy Donaldson, gained him his 112 millionth subscriber this month.

Although YouTube does not show the exact numbers, that pushed him above PewDiePie's 111 million.

MrBeast is known for videos featuring huge cash giveaways and prizes, as well as charity work.

In 2021, he launched a separate philanthropy-themed YouTube channel, which itself has more than 10 million subscribers, and he has a licensed charity that functions as a food bank to feed communities across the US.

He and fellow YouTuber Mark Rober organised international collaborative fundraisers TeamSeas and TeamTrees, which focus on environmental issues - the latter raising more than $24m (£16.7m) to plant 20 million trees worldwide.

And PewDiePie himself donated almost $70,000 to the TeamTrees project.

Mastered the art

British YouTuber Steven Bridges, whose videos have millions of views on the platform, told the BBC MrBeast has "mastered the skill" of making compelling content.

"There's probably no other YouTuber in the world who understands it as well as MrBeast," he said.

"Making an entertaining video is one thing, but ensuring that every single second of a video keeps the viewer hooked is very difficult to pull off, and MrBeast's retention - the percent of the video the average viewer watches - and view counts speak for themselves.

"Really, MrBeast is playing the game of making the most entertaining videos that appeal to the biggest number of people, and he's consistently knocking it out of the park.

"I don't think there's any YouTuber out there that's surprised MrBeast has taken the number one spot."

T-Series

Though neither has yet commented on the milestone, PewDiePie previously said he thought MrBeast would "definitely" overtake him.

"I can't wait for it to be over," he joked in a video from August 2022. "He definitely deserves it. I hope he does it."

And while MrBeast has become the most-subscribed individual user on YouTube, he is some way off having the biggest YouTube channel.

T-Series, an Indian music video publishing company, leads the way in that category with more than 200 million subscribers.

Despite their apparent rivalry for the top YouTuber crown, MrBeast publicly supported PewDiePie when the music video channel rose to prominence.

In 2018, PewDiePie had the top YouTube channel altogether, and became embroiled in a - mostly jokey - public rivalry with T-Series over the top spot.

MrBeast was the first prominent YouTuber to make videos supporting PewDiePie, buying radio adverts and billboards in North Carolina urging people to subscribe to him.

Over the course of a year, PewDiePie eventually lost the top channel spot to T-Series, although he went from about 60 million to 90 million subscribers in the contest, making his lead as top YouTuber apparently unassailable.

That has ultimately proved not to be the case.

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MrBeast overtakes PewDiePie as most-subscribed YouTuber

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MrBeast has ended PewDiePie's reign as the YouTuber with the most subscribers - the first change at the top in almost 10 years. Swedish creator PewDiePie, whose real name is Felix Kjellberg, became the most-subscribed YouTuber in August 2013 with his gaming reaction videos. In 2019, he was the first person to attract 100 million subscribers.

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The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage

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The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage

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The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage

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Read 955 reviews from the world’s largest community for readers. THE THRILLING ADVENTURES OF LOVELACE AND BABBAGE . . . in which Sydney Padua transforms on…

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While there are no detailed sex scenes in the book, the lead female talks about meeting up with her boyfriend to have sex, texting him about sex, and While there are no detailed sex scenes in the book, the lead female talks about meeting up with her boyfriend to have sex, texting him about sex, and discusses making a playlist for when they have sex. Leighellen Landskov...more (less)

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Nenia ✨ I yeet my books back and forth ✨ Campbell

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While there are no detailed sex scenes in the book, the lead female talks about meeting up with her boyfriend to have sex, texting him about sex, and While there are no detailed sex scenes in the book, the lead female talks about meeting up with her boyfriend to have sex, texting him about sex, and discusses making a playlist for when they have sex.

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Time Traveller Danny And The Codebreaker

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Time Traveller Danny And The Codebreaker

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Time Traveller Danny And The Codebreaker (Time Travelling Kids Book 9)

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Time Traveller Danny And The Codebreaker book. Read reviews from world's largest community for readers. The heat is stifling, the noise a deafening chatt...

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Time Traveller Danny Meets the Codebreaker

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Time Traveller Danny Meets the Codebreaker

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Time Traveller Danny and the Codebreaker is one of a series published by Seven Arches Publishing. Danny is a very likable character, struggling with his Year 9 GCSE subject choices and being whisked through time by SHARP, a mysterious company that sends young agents through time to save the future of the world.
This time, Danny goes back in time twice, first to make sure a young boy with aspergers reaches his school, and secondly, to meet this same boy as an adult and ask him to crack some codes....more

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Time Traveller Danny Meets the Codebreaker

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Time Traveller Danny and the Codebreaker is one of a series published by Seven Arches Publishing.

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Countdown to Zero Day: Stuxnet and the Launch of the World's First Digital Weapon

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Countdown to Zero Day: Stuxnet and the Launch of the World's First Digital Weapon

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I remember it like yesterday: watching the news as the mysterious events surrounding Stuxnet unfolded, only to add to the mystery in some aspects. But that was more than 10 years ago!

Then I remember watching " Zero Days", a jaw dropping documentary.

Finally, I had the opportunity to read this excellent book. Top-notch technical journalism! The author managed to pull of a difficult feat: it's not easy at all to write about such a complex technical subject, in addition to describing the socio-polit...more

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I remember it like yesterday: watching the news as the mysterious events surrounding Stuxnet unfolded, only to add to the mystery in some aspects. But that was more than 10 years ago! Then I remember watching " Zero Days", a jaw dropping documentary. Finally, I had the opportunity to read this excellent book.

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Sandworm: A New Era of Cyberwar and the Hunt for the Kremlin's Most Dangerous Hackers

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Sandworm: A New Era of Cyberwar and the Hunt for the Kremlin's Most Dangerous Hackers

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One of the best books about modern infosecurity threats -- a detailed investigation into the activities of GRU in attacking infrastructure around the world (primarily in Ukraine), their motivations, and where the threat is evolving.

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One of the best books about modern infosecurity threats -- a detailed investigation into the activities of GRU in attacking infrastructure around the world (primarily in Ukraine), their motivations, and where the threat is evolving.

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Brown Dogs & Barbers: What's Computer Science All About?

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Brown Dogs & Barbers: What's Computer Science All About?

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This book by Karl Beecher explains what computing is all about, and how computer science has developed over (surprisingly) a few thousand years. It's a good introduction to computational thinking, though I found it challenging. The reason is that it's very mathematical in places, and while the author makes a valiant attempt to get through to mathematically-challenged people such as myself, it is not always an easy read.

I also thought it was a shame that Ada Lovelace is absence from these pages,...more

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This book by Karl Beecher explains what computing is all about, and how computer science has developed over (surprisingly) a few thousand years. It's a good introduction to computational thinking, though I found it challenging.

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Mythical Man-Month, The: Essays on Software Engineering

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Mythical Man-Month, The: Essays on Software Engineering

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Few books on software project management have been as influential and timeless as The Mythical Man-Month. With a blend of software engineering facts and thought-provoking opinions, Fred Brooks offers insight for anyone managing complex projects. These essays draw from his experience as project manager for the IBM System/360 computer family and then for OS/360, its massive software system. Now, 20 years after the initial publication of his book, Brooks has revisited his original ideas and added new thoughts and advice, both for readers already familiar with his work and for readers discovering it for the first time.

The added chapters contain (1) a crisp condensation of all the propositions asserted in the original book, including Brooks' central argument in The Mythical Man-Month: that large programming projects suffer management problems different from small ones due to the division of labor; that the conceptual integrity of the product is therefore critical; and that it is difficult but possible to achieve this unity; (2) Brooks' view of these propositions a generation later; (3) a reprint of his classic 1986 paper "No Silver Bullet"; and (4) today's thoughts on the 1986 assertion, "There will be no silver bullet within ten years."

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Mythical Man-Month, The: Essays on Software Engineering, Anniversary Edition, 2nd Edition

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Few books on software project management have been as influential and timeless as The Mythical Man-Month. With a blend of software engineering facts and thought-provoking opinions, Fred Brooks offers ... - Selection from Mythical Man-Month, The: Essays on Software Engineering, Anniversary Edition, 2nd Edition [Book]

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Discover the mind-blowing high-tech inventions of the future! Incredible images reveal the secret inner workings of everything from drones and supercomputers to underwater hotels and flying cars.

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Published by DK Children

RRP: £12.99

ISBN: 9780241426388 Size: 276 x 220 mm Pages: 192 Published: 16 Jul 2020

Discover the mind-blowing high-tech inventions of the future! Incredible images reveal the secret inner workings of everything from drones and supercomputers to underwater hotels and flying cars.

How Super Cool Stuff Works explains how incredible technologies will shape the world of tomorrow. Explore robotics, space rockets, artificial intelligence, and even games consoles in this cutting-edge non-fiction science book for kids aged 9 and over. Also featured are state-of-the-art buildings, new ways of travelling, imaginative entertainment gadgets, and even how teleportation and invisibility cloaks might be possible in the future. Each exciting subject is explained in detail, via crisp images and engaging, child-friendly text. "How it works" panels explain each subject's secret inner workings.

New and updated for 2020, How Super Cool Stuff Works is a one-stop shop for kids who want to know what the latest and greatest technologies are, and how they will shape our world in the years to come.

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Discover the mind-blowing high-tech inventions of the future! Incredible images reveal the secret inner workings of everything from drones and supercomputers to underwater hotels and flying cars.How Super Cool Stuff Works explains how incredible technologies will shape the world of tomorrow. Explore...

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Have you ever thought that computer science should include more dragons and wizards? Computational Fairy Tales introduces principles of computational thinking, illustrating high-level computer science concepts, the motivation behind them, and their application in a non-computer—fairy tale—domain.

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Have you ever thought that computer science should include more dragons and wizards? Computational Fairy Tales introduces principles of computational thinking, illustrating high-level computer science concepts, the motivation behind them, and their application in a non-computer-fairy tale-domain. The goal of this book not to provide comprehensive coverage of each topic, but rather to provide a high level overview of the breadth and excitement of computer science. It's a quest that will take you from learning the basics of programming in a blacksmith's forge to fighting curses with recursion.

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Have you ever thought that computer science should include more dragons and wizards? Computational Fairy Tales introduces principles of computational thinking, illustrating high-level computer science concepts, the motivation behind them, and their application in a non-computer-fairy tale-domain.

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The flying car that could turn into a biplane

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The flying car that could turn into a biplane

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At a launch event at Draper University in San Mateo, California, a start-up revealed how its flying car hopes to take off.

Alef bills its still-in-development electric vehicle, the Model A, as the first true flying car - a vehicle that it hopes will look like a sleek electric car but be capable of vertical take-off, and able to fly for 110km (68 miles).

The firm hopes to compete in a market occupied by well-advanced rivals, such as AirCar and the Pal-V gyrocopter that are already flying and driving.

But Jim Dukhovny, Alef's chief executive and co-founder, argues most existing vehicles are not strictly flying cars in his opinion.

"A flying car has to be a car, which means it can drive on a regular street, park in a regular parking space. And it also should have vertical take-off," he told the BBC.

"If you require an airport to take-off, what problem are you solving? And why is this a flying car?"

Flip to fly

The top surface of the Model A's car-like exterior is a mesh so that air can pass through to eight propellers inside the body which provide lift.

But flying any distance using these alone, without the assistance of wings, would require prohibitive amounts of power.

Alef's proposed solution is novel - for longer flights the Model A transforms into a biplane.

After a vertical lift-off, the Model A will turn onto its side, the two-person cockpit swivels so the driver remains facing forward, and the car becomes a biplane with the long sides of the vehicle forming the top and bottom wings.

The classic biplane shape, with two wings, one on top of the other, is easier to see in the Model A if you imagine the mesh in-between the solid sides being removed. Alef has also produced a video visualising the transition.

Forbes observed that the way it would fly resembles the Opener Blackfly, an existing vertical take-off electric aircraft.

It's an ingenious idea, but is it a practical one?

Bringing flying and driving together adds weight, electric power also means heavy batteries.

"The design is right on the ragged edge of what the physics and technology can do, which is where you would expect it to be," says aeronautical engineer Professor Steve Wright of the University of the West of England.

The mesh, as visualised, might also cause significant aerodynamic drag, he adds.

Alef says it has managed the transition to biplane in "scaled flights" since 2018. And it has large prototypes capable of vertical flight - though they don't yet resemble the polished appearance of the firm's mock-ups and concepts.

But Prof Wright warns the jump from a prototype to a working product is easily underestimated.

Technical hurdles are only one obstacle to building highways in the sky busy with flying cars.

The regulation and certification of flying cars is likely to be rigorous, time-consuming and expensive, as it is for any aircraft.

To fly a biplane, even one that you can drive on the roads, will require a pilots licence - though Mr Dukhovny envisions that for short low-level hops over obstacles using vertical flight, a licence used for drone operators might suffice.

And authorities are likely to impose strict rules on where vehicles can be flown.

For these and other reasons, Prof Wright thinks the future of flying cars will not be a single vehicle that consumers own, drive and fly.

In the film Back to the Future, the character Doc Brown's fusion-powered DeLorean car leaves the road and swoops into the air.

"That isn't how mass airborne transport is going to play out, which is a real shame. I really want my flying DeLorean as much as anybody does," Prof Wright says.

In reality, travelling by flying car, Prof Wright argues, would be more like hiring a taxi.

"You pull out your phone, and a robot car would draw up and it would take you to somewhere the size of a small park and the drone comes down, sets itself down, you jump in there. So in other words, you summon a drone taxi."

Many companies are developing autonomous passenger drones. Recently Chinese firm Xpeng gave its first public demonstration of its X2 vehicle in Dubai.

But Mr Dukhovny strongly believes that the idea of being able to drive and fly in the same vehicle is an attractive one. When I ask him who will pay the Model A's initial $300,000 (£266,000) price tag, he says "early adopters".

He says people have been waiting for a flying car for a 100 years. Alef's ambitious goal is to start selling vehicles in 2025.

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The flying car that could turn into a biplane

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At a launch event at Draper University in San Mateo, California, a start-up revealed how its flying car hopes to take off . Alef bills its still-in-development electric vehicle, the Model A, as the first true flying car - a vehicle that it hopes will look like a sleek electric car but be capable of vertical take-off, and able to fly for 110km (68 miles).

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Black women missing from tech industry, says report

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Black women missing from tech industry, says report

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Up to 20,000 black women are "missing" from the tech industry in the UK, according to a joint report by campaigners and a representative body.

The report says the proportion of black women in IT is two-and-a-half times smaller than that of the UK workforce as a whole.

Campaigning group Coding Black Females said tech "desperately needed" more people from a range of backgrounds.

Industry bodies acknowledge that "more must be done" to support diversity.

Analysing data from the Office of National Statistics, the authors of the Coding Black Females (CBF) and BCS report found that black women made up 1.8% of the UK workforce but only 0.7% of those working in technology.

An extra 20,000 black women would need to be recruited in addition to the 12,000 already working in IT to fill the gap.

Women are also under-represented in senior leadership roles, it said. In 2021, just 17% of IT directors were female, according to the report.

The report says while ethnic-minority representation in general is higher among IT specialists than in the wider workforce, that is largely due to the high proportion of tech professionals of Indian ethnicity.

'The only one in the room'

The authors also sought to shed light on the experience of black women in the industry through surveys and in-depth interviews.

Siba Munsanje, a software engineer at Deloitte, told researchers: "You have to get used to knowing that you are the only one in the room on the team, in the project, at the conference.

"Sometimes it can become a bit challenging. Sometimes... you can see people tiptoeing around you a little bit or making sad jokes - it's those little things that you have to put up with."

Nicola Martin, head of quality engineering at Adarga, a UK-based artificial-intelligence software firm, said: "Now stats are being published related to diversity in tech, we can see there is still a lot of work to do.

"The tech industry needs to encourage more diversity to ensure that people want to stay in the industry."

The report asked 350 black women to tell them about their experiences.

Respondents felt that more could be done to encourage black female applicants - including work in relevant communities to raise awareness of opportunities.

Some women said the interview process and workplace culture would put off applicants. One respondent quoted in the report said the "tech bro" culture was exhausting.

Charlene Hunter, chief executive of CBF, told the BBC women's experiences showed there were still barriers to getting a job in tech.

"You hear often stories of people applying for roles and not really being given any actual feedback. You know you meet all of the criteria, but something doesn't quite feel right."

But the discrepancy was not just about numbers employed but also their opportunities to build careers.

"We need senior leaders to match the large numbers of black women currently appearing in tech and engineering adverts, with genuine opportunities to progress into rewarding jobs," Ms Hunter said.

She drew particular attention to the development of artificial intelligence - there is a concern that AI systems can display bias against different ethnicities and genders.

Greater diversity in senior positions would help ensure that thinking about bias was "included in every part of your design process".

Rashik Parmar, chief executive of the BCS, the professional body for computing, said: "We will only be able to build the systems that serve everyone if the diversity of humanity is represented in the project teams that design and build these systems."

Nimmi Patel, from trade association Tech UK, said while steps were being taken to support diversity and inclusion within the tech workforce, "clearly more must be done".

"Both industry and government should work together to inspire, educate, and attract diverse talent to ensure black women - and women in general - enter and progress through the industry," she said.

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Black women missing from tech industry, says report

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Up to 20,000 black women are "missing" from the tech industry in the UK, according to a joint report by campaigners and a representative body. The report says the proportion of black women in IT is two-and-a-half times smaller than that of the UK workforce as a whole.

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Every year we throw away millions of tons of electronic waste - old computers, mobile phones, televisions.

All of them have circuit boards in them.

Now the Royal Mint has found a way to turn them into gold, which they're planning to use to make commemorative coins.

BBC Science Editor Rebecca Morelle has been to their factory in Llantrisant, in South Wales to find out how it's going to be done.
Produced by Alison Francis. Filmed and edited by Duncan Stone.

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Royal Mint wants to turn your old phone into gold

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Every year we throw away millions of tons of electronic waste - old computers, mobile phones, televisions. All of them have circuit boards in them. Now the Royal Mint has found a way to turn them into gold, which they're planning to use to make commemorative coins.

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Wi-Fi 7 is coming: Meet the smarter, faster Internet of the future

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Qualcomm announces the FastConnect 7800, which the company says will be the first Wi-Fi 7 chip. But what is Wi-Fi 7? We explain the next generation of wireless networking technology.

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Watching Me, Watching You: How Eye Tracking Is Coming to VR and Beyond

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Leading eye-tracking company Tobii has some ideas about why this is the next great leap for immersive tech.

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Google's plan to limit data tracking on its Chrome browser has been extended to cover apps on its Android-based smartphones.

Its so-called Privacy Sandbox project aims to curb the amount of user data that advertisers can gather.

Rival Apple now forces app developers to ask permission from users before tracking them.

The news will be a blow to firms like Meta, which rely on putting their code on apps to track consumer behaviour.

Meta said this month that Apple's changes would cost it $10bn (£7.3bn) this year. Google's Android operating system is used by about 85% of smartphone owners worldwide.

No detail

Third-party cookies, which use people's browsing history to target adverts, will be phased out on Google's Chrome browser by 2023.

In a blog, Google said it was now extending what it calls its Privacy Sandbox to Android apps, and working on solutions that will limit sharing users' data and "operate without cross app identifiers, including advertising ID".

These identifiers are tied to smartphones and are used by apps to collect information. Google said that it will keep them in place for at least two years, while it works "with the industry" on a new system.

"We're also exploring technologies that reduce the potential for covert data collection, including safer ways for apps to integrate with advertising SDK (software developer kits)," it added.

The tech giant did not detail how it plans to do this.

Apple decided in April last year that app developers had to explicitly ask for permission from users to use IDFA (Identifier for Advertisers). Data from advertising company Flurry Analytics, and published by Apple, suggests that US users are choosing to opt out of tracking 96% of the time.

Google's blog did not name Apple, but referred instead to "other platforms" which it said "have taken a different approach to ads privacy, bluntly restricting existing technologies used by developers and advertisers".

"We believe that - without first providing a privacy-preserving alternative path - such approaches can be ineffective," it added.

Google, unlike Apple, relies on advertising revenue.

Google's attempts to create alternatives to third party cookies on its Chrome browser have not gone entirely smoothly.

Its first proposal -a system called Federated Learning of Cohorts (Floc) - was disliked by privacy campaigners and advertisers alike.

Floc aimed to disguise users' individual identities by assigning them to a group with similar browsing histories.

Real-time bidding

Its successor, Topics, was announced recently and aims instead to group users in topic clusters selected out of about 350 categories such as fitness or travel. When someone visits a website, Topics will show the site and its advertising partners three of their interests from the previous three weeks.

The Competitions Market Authority has been scrutinising Google's transition to more privacy-focused systems and said of its plans to extend them to Android apps: "We will continue to monitor this closely and engage with Google on the nature and detail of its proposals."

The average app includes at least six third-party trackers that are there solely to collect and share online data, according to a report commissioned by Apple last year.

And any one data broker is estimated to have data on up to 700 million consumers, according to research firm Cracked Lab.

Regulators, such as the UK's Information Commissioner's Office, are investigating the advertising ecosystem, especially the way ads are sold - known as real-time bidding - which automatically places billions of online adverts on web pages and apps every day.

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Google moves to make Android apps more private

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Google's plan to limit data tracking on its Chrome browser has been extended to cover apps on its Android-based smartphones. Its so-called Privacy Sandbox project aims to curb the amount of user data that advertisers can gather. Rival Apple now forces app developers to ask permission from users before tracking them.

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Facebook's owner wants extraordinary computing power to develop AI models to recognise speech, translate languages and power 3D worlds

Facebook's parent company, Meta, is building the world's most powerful AI-specific supercomputer to develop better speech-recognition tools, automatically translate between different languages and help build its 3D virtual metaverse.

Although far from complete, the AI Research SuperCluster (RSC) is up and running and has already overtaken Meta's previous fastest supercomputer. That machine was designed in 2017 and ran on 22,000 powerful graphics processing units (GPUs) which, despite being designed for playing games, are highly effective tools to train artificial intelligence models with.

RSC currently has only 6080 GPUs, but they are more powerful than those in the older machine and it is already three times faster at training large AI models than its predecessor. Its current performance is on a par with the Perlmutter supercomputer at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center in California, which is currently placed at number five in the TOP500 global supercomputer rankings.

When RSC is complete, it will consist of 16,000 GPUs and be almost three times more powerful than it is now. Meta says that at this point, it will be the fastest AI-optimised supercomputer in the world, performing at nearly 5 exaflops.

Supercomputers can be designed to excel at certain tasks. Meta's machine is specialised to train and run large AI models. There will be more powerful computers in the world when it is complete, but only a few, and none that shares its exact architecture or intended use.

The cutting edge of AI research has relied on scale in recent years, and ever more powerful machines to train models with. One of the largest neural networks, the Megatron-Turing Natural Language Generation model, has 530 billion parameters, which are roughly equivalent to the connections between brain cells. Meta says its machine will eventually run models with trillions of parameters.

James Knight at the University of Sussex, UK, says the proposed computer is "huge" in scale, but may not overcome some of the challenges in AI research. "A system this large is definitely going to let them build larger models," he says. "However, I don't think that merely increasing the size of language models will address the well-documented problems of existing models repeating sexist and racist language or failing basic tests of logical reasoning."

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Meta is building the world's largest AI-specific supercomputer

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Facebook's owner wants extraordinary computing power to develop AI models to recognise speech, translate languages and power 3D worlds Facebook's parent company, Meta, is building the world's most powerful AI-specific supercomputer to develop better speech-recognition tools, automatically translate between different languages and help build its 3D virtual metaverse.

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US President Joe Biden reminds the White House he is serious about repairability

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US President Joe Biden reminds the White House he is serious about repairability

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https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/26/biden_right_to_repair/

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US President Joe Biden has weighed into the Right to Repair furore once more as sueballs fly over some alleged monopolistic practises by a well-known farming equipment manufacturer.

While Biden did not mention John Deere by name in his tweet on the matter (preferring instead to offer plaudits to Apple and Microsoft for changing their policies on punters getting kit fixed by third parties), he did not shy away from other areas in his remarks on the topic.

When you own a product, you should be able to repair it yourself. That's why I included support for the "right to repair" in my Executive Order.

Now, companies like Apple and Microsoft are changing their policies so folks will be able to repair their devices themselves.
- President Biden (@POTUS) January 24, 2022

"If you own a product, from a smartphone to a tractor, you don't have the freedom to choose how or where to repair that item you purchased," he said.

"What's happened was a lot of these companies said, 'You're right. We're going to voluntarily do it. You don't have to order us to do it.' And voluntarily said, 'We'll do it.'"

Hmm. Biden's comments come just over half a year since an executive order was made to deal with repair restrictions and mere days after sueballs were lobbed at the Deere & Company farming equipment maker for allegedly preventing users from repairing their gear themselves or via a third party. The company also received two Worst in Show awards at CES, thanks in part to its approach to repairability.

The European Parliament voted at the end of 2020 to slap labelling on products indicating their lifetime and repairability. Activist iFixit reported in 2021 on the pros and cons of the system introduced in France which, while not without faults, was a step in the right direction.

As for Biden's remarks, iFixit said: "This feels great, but it's not greatly accurate. Apple and Microsoft are large companies, to be sure, but there are many other manufacturers who will do nothing to make their devices more repairable without intervention. And those two corporate giants are not putting independent repair on the same footing as their in-house services -they're taking small, if still historic, steps.

"It's worth marking the point in time in which the US president announced his support for the right to repair - even if he has some issues with the feel of it."

Now, about that battery in our smartphone... ®

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Biden reminds White House he is serious about repairability

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US President Joe Biden has weighed into the Right to Repair furore once more as sueballs fly over some alleged monopolistic practises by a well-known farming equipment manufacturer.

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What is the quantum apocalypse and should we be scared?

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What is the quantum apocalypse and should we be scared?

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Imagine a world where encrypted, secret files are suddenly cracked open - something known as "the quantum apocalypse".

Put very simply, quantum computers work completely differently from the computers developed over the past century. In theory, they could eventually become many, many times faster than today's machines.

That means that faced with an incredibly complex and time-consuming problem - like trying to decrypt data - where there are multiple permutations running into the billions, a normal computer would take many years to break those encryptions, if ever.

But a future quantum computer, in theory, could do this in just seconds.

Such computers could be able to solve all sorts of problems for humanity. The UK government is investing in the National Quantum Computing Centre in Harwell, Oxfordshire, hoping to revolutionise research in the field.

But there is also a dark side.

Data thieves

A number of countries, including the US, China, Russia and the UK, are working hard and investing huge sums of money to develop these super-fast quantum computers with a view to gaining strategic advantage in the cyber-sphere.

Every day vast quantities of encrypted data - including yours and mine - are being harvested without our permission and stored in data banks, ready for the day when the data thieves' quantum computers are powerful enough to decrypt it.

"Everything we do over the internet today," says Harri Owen, chief strategy officer at the company PostQuantum, "from buying things online, banking transactions, social media interactions, everything we do is encrypted.

"But once a functioning quantum computer appears that will be able to break that encryption... it can almost instantly create the ability for whoever's developed it to clear bank accounts, to completely shut down government defence systems - Bitcoin wallets will be drained."

It's a prognosis echoed by Ilyas Khan, chief executive of the Cambridge and Colorado-based company Quantinuum. "Quantum computers will render useless most existing methods of encryption," he says.

"They are a threat to our way of life."

Quantum-proofing

Seriously? That does sound completely apocalyptic, so why haven't we heard more about this?

The answer is that yes, OK, this would indeed be the case if no precautions were being taken. "If we weren't doing anything to combat it then bad things would happen," says a Whitehall official who asked not to be named.

In practice, mitigation efforts are already in train and have been for some years. In the UK, all government data classified as "top secret" is already "post-quantum" - that is, using new forms of encryption which researchers hope will be quantum-proof.

Tech giants like Google, Microsoft, Intel and IBM are working on solutions, as well as more specialist companies like Quantinuum and Post-Quantum.

Most importantly, there is currently something of a post-quantum cryptography "beauty parade" taking place at the US National Institute for Science and Technology (NIST) just outside Washington DC. The aim is to establish a standardised defence strategy that will protect industry, government, academia and critical national infrastructure against the perils of the quantum apocalypse.

All of this will not be cheap.

Quantum computing is expensive, laborious and generates large amounts of heat. Developing quantum-safe algorithms is one of the major security challenges of our time.

But experts say the alternative - doing nothing - is simply not an option.

More on this story

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What is the quantum apocalypse and should we be scared?

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Imagine a world where encrypted, secret files are suddenly cracked open - something known as "the quantum apocalypse". Put very simply, quantum computers work completely differently from the computers developed over the past century. In theory, they could eventually become many, many times faster than today's machines.

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Technology | Latest News & Updates | BBC News

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Get all the latest news, live updates and content about Technology from across the BBC.

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Enterprise technology news for IT decision-makers and professionals

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To use generic hockey vernacular, NHL 23 rebounds and scores. This is the first major, broad push forward for this series since the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 debuted in 2014. It's overdue, but it's good to finally see. It's the little things sometimes, and enhanced graphics and audio in NHL 23 bring a notable freshness. Not everything receives the same makeover, but where the developers put their focus pays off.

Unlike last year, NHL 23 actually makes use of the hardware power provided by the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, and ice looks like ice. That doesn't sound extravagant, yet seeing an overhead scoreboard reflect on the playing surface during a period's opening moments is gorgeous. As skates tear up the surface, leaving behind new (and only slightly convincing) ice piles along the boards, reflections accurately fade. Pre-game, certain teams have custom light shows as their players skate out. Those also look impeccable, with an entire crowd waving glow sticks as a laser light show beams onto the ice.

This translates to the players too, meticulously defined down to freckles (where needed), precise jersey stitching, and visors gleaming in the light. At a distance, assuming the animations keep pace (necessary fast transitions always break the immersion), NHL 23 looks like an actual broadcast, completely and totally.

NHL 23 looks like an actual broadcast, completely and totally.

Revamps on the audio side make strides too, creating one of the most authentic in-arena soundscapes in sports gaming. More than varied cheers and boos, there are intensities, like the crowd's volume rapidly rising during a tense face-off, or giving up - even booing - when down by an insurmountable goal count. Home teams have individualized chants to push them on, all newly recorded. That sounds typical on paper, but in execution, the authenticity is unreal. Commentary remains the same, however, which means the too-game-ified X-Factor chat returns from last year, but those are the only breaks from NHL 23's sublime audio-visual reality.

NHL 23 adds flashy new drama in the form of a slew of desperation plays, like diving for a loose puck in front of the net, a puck that would be otherwise unreachable. The same goes for defense, trying to sweep the puck out of their zone, balancing the fun and the strategy. All these take to execute is a double tap on the pass button or quick double swipe on the analog stick, which is an almost natural reaction when excited near the net. Other controls remain as-is, including the elegant stick handling, fluid dekes, and satisfying slap shots, all performed with the right thumbstick.

What We Said About NHL 22

NHL 22 puts a lot of energy into promoting Superstar X-Factors, but even giving big-name players unique special abilities doesn't have the significant gameplay implications you'd expect. This is a strong year for out-of-the-box balancing, though, and the various arcade modes have their charms, even if they're just limited sidebars. It's an uneven jump into a new generation visually. Plus, the choppy commentary, inconsistent tone, and repetitive cut aways during stoppages make it harder to become immersed in the hockey than it's been at the series' peaks. - Matt Paprocki, October 19, 2021

Score: 6

Read the full NHL 22 review

Star players come with X-Factors, another cross-brand touch that - like HUT - applies to its entire EA Sports roster. These receive tuning updates this year, along with fresh abilities in the mix, but amid hockey's frantic pace their viability rarely seems obvious mid-play. They remain a passive feature that only occasionally come into play. Sarah Nurse's X-Factor, as an example, increases her shot and passing accuracy after taking a hit, but to what actual effect or amount isn't clear. The color commentary thinks this makes a difference though, and those snippets sound more like marketing than actual information.

Winning teams can take part in an interactive Stanley Cup celebration, and it's neat to have the Cup in hand, passing it around to others, and see the names inscribed onto the trophy. It's not really meaningful, because choosing who hoists the Cup is nothing more than a bland menu selection, which adds little drama. But it's a good idea, and I could see EA expanding on it down the line to offer us more control over the festivities, and that sounds like fun.

NHL 23 isn't worth purchasing if Be a Pro is your primary mode.

Aside from the visual boosts and new on-ice moves that apply, Be a Pro mode is untouched. The single-player career rolls out exactly like NHL 22, from the cinematics to the storyline. To be clear, it's the exact same. All of it. NHL 23 isn't worth purchasing if this is your primary mode, unless updated rosters mean that much to you. The same goes for side modes like NHL Threes and One-on-One, which seem to show up in this annual hockey game only because taking them out doesn't make sense.

Rather than focus there, EA delved into revamping the franchise mode. It's not a total do-over, but the smartly redone set-up phase can radically alter how seasons progress. Entire divisions can be reordered, the number of teams optionally range from six to 48, allowing international teams into the mix. Playoff terms bounce between how many teams make the cut, and how standings are structured.

EA's marketing notes it's now possible to run a franchise with the original six teams, and that's true. In a case of unlucky timing, NBA 2K23 allowed for a similar idea when it was released last month, yet also offered the actual players from those legacy teams. NHL 23 lets fantasy rosters into the mix, albeit with contemporary stars only; Gordie Howe will not be joining the action. [Correction: Gordie Howe is available, along with a selection of Hall of Famers, but not entire classic teams.]

By including full IIHF women's team and tournaments, not just custom players, NHL 23 makes hockey video game history, even if NHL is the only option on the market these days. In the microtransaction-based Ultimate Team, EA's clearly profitable card-trading team-building mode, those women from IIHF teams make their first appearance. Surely destined to spark nonsense conversations about inter-gender hockey, the move is the right one to go along with Canada's Sarah Nurse co-cover star debut. As a plus, those playing legacy editions of NHL 23 on Xbox One or PlayStation 4 can migrate their HUT team over to a new console when/if they upgrade to the Series X or PS5. That's a rarity in these annual, real-world dollar-based modes.

As an additional bonus, online play in HUT offers cross-platform play between Xbox Series X/PS5 or Xbox One/PS4 players. It's not a total integration as this is all limited to versus (no co-op) and this only applies to HUT and World of Chel competition, but it's a move that's worth noting. Still, it's Ultimate Team, predatory in its execution to keep us all purchasing and digging through packs to find the best players, who remain artificially rare by design.

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To use generic hockey vernacular, NHL 23 rebounds and scores. This is the first major, broad push forward for this series since the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 debuted in 2014. It's overdue, but it's good to finally see. It's the little things sometimes, and enhanced graphics and audio in NHL 23 bring a notable freshness.

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Logitech G715 review: 'A powerful deck wrapped up in a cosy pastel aesthetic'

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Logitech G715 review: 'A powerful deck wrapped up in a cosy pastel aesthetic'

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The Logitech G715 keyboard brings a softness to an otherwise hard, angular market. From its curved edges to the literal cloud of a wrist rest, this is an exercise in pastel colors, smooth matte finishes, and customization. Don't be fooled by this warm and fluffy exterior, though, there's still a cold, hard gaming machine underneath with all the speed and fury one can expect from a top tier device.

This is no kids version either. The G715 starts life at a $199.99 / £179.99 base price, and that's before you add the costs of different colored faceplates and keycaps to the equation. We did the math, and fully kitting this out as Logitech intended would set you back $276.99 / £245.99. That's more than the Razer Huntsman V2 Analog - the best gaming keyboard on the market right now.

Still, if you're after a particular aesthetic, the Logitech G715 may well get you straight there - with additional customization options to boot. We put the TKL deck to the test over the course of three weeks to see how it fares.

Today's best Logitech G715 deals

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Logitech G715 Design

There's no doubt about it, the Logitech G715 is a good looking keyboard. With cozy rounded corners and soft LED lighting bleeding around the edge of the main deck, you're certainly bucking the all-black all-angles trend of the current gaming keyboard market here. The matte plastic material is pleasant to the touch, and adds to the relaxed vibe - but I did notice it collecting (and holding onto) any crumb of dust the instant it entered the atmosphere. There is, after all, a reason you don't see too many white gaming keyboards and I don't know how long this pliable plastic will stay looking crisp and clean when under longer term use.

(Image credit: Future)

Of course, it's hard to pull off a pastel design without that blank white canvas, and that aesthetic is one of the things I loved the most about the Logitech G715. There's nothing ostentatious or aggressive about this design - something that can't be said for the majority of decks on the shelves. With a thick, chunky build, and those comfortingly dull edges there's something relaxing about this step away from the language we've come to accept.

That doesn't mean this is a stripped-back deck. The glowing RGB around the edges and per-key LEDs will certainly make sure you know you're picking up a solid piece of kit. This lighting is actually surprisingly powerful, considering the laid-back vibe running across the whole device, but won't give Logitech's more mainstream bulbs a run for their money.

Then you've got the included cloud wrist rest. This is one of the more unusual aspects of the Logitech G715, but it's a nice addition in-keeping with the rest of the keyboard's themes and is surprisingly comfortable to boot. I did notice that some of the ridges became a little annoying when placed in certain positions, but lined up with the deck head on, my palms felt neatly supported between the padding.

Logitech G715 Features

You can pick up the Logitech G715 with the brand's own linear, tactile, or clicky switches (though the clicky option isn't available in the UK). These GX switches are remarkably smooth compared to the usual Cherry suspects - the blues we tested were crisp and snappy but did come with their trademark volume level. Still, I sometimes prefer the feedback of a clickier switch, and was particularly satisfied with the clean auditory profile here - especially considering they felt light to actuate and sit underneath a particularly soft set of doubleshot PBT keycaps.

(Image credit: Future)

The G715 is a wireless gaming keyboard, but you've still got the option to connect via the USB-C cable, with the choice of connecting by Bluetooth or through the brand's own Lightspeed 2.4GHz dongle. I didn't notice anything particularly fast about Lightspeed compared to other brands, and haven't on previous Logitech keyboards, but it's still plenty fast for gaming.

Running along the top bezel, there's options for Bluetooth pairing, game mode (to lock the Windows key), and RGB brightness and preset cycling. You'll find 8 RGB modes loaded onto the keyboard already, with plenty more options to be created in G Hub.

Of course, the biggest aesthetic feature is the swappable face plates. While we didn't receive any additional color options to test out, it's a nice to have if you can afford to splurge. Of course, these are bonus points - nobody's going to force you to pick up the extra plates when you first pick up the G715, but it's nice to know there are different $20 options out there for if you feel like a change.

Logitech G715 Performance

The Logitech G715 does feel great under the hand, with those PBT keycaps offering up a particularly satisfying surface, and the crisp switches under the hood keeping everything snappy. The tactile bumps we received performed particularly well in faster paced games, returning to full height with more than enough time to make repeated presses comfortable and easy.

That was only compounded by the nicely spaced, well-sized keycaps - ensuring precision and speed from a design point of view as well. Sensitivity also felt perfectly tuned to avoid unwanted keypresses, but that actuation bump generally saved me from any missteps as well.

I was also particularly impressed by the battery, serving up a commendable amount of active time per full charge. I was using this rig for everyday work for a full week (with cycling RGB effects) before having to plug in, and never experienced any dropouts when that charge was low either. That's likely due to the quick shutoff during inactivity - something that may have proved frustrating if the G715 wasn't so fast to boot back up at the whisper of a keypress.

Should you buy the Logitech G715?

(Image credit: Future)

The Logitech G715 is still a pricey keyboard, and there's no performance enhancements or additional features here that you can't find on other cheaper TKL models. However, the quality of those tactile switches will satisfy anyone on the hunt for a particularly clacky build, and the aesthetic is one we don't see too much of in this classically angular market. If the design speaks to you, there's nothing like the G715 on the market right now, but if you're after function over form you can certainly pick up a far cheaper model and still feel that speed and precision. The Logitech G713, for example, shaves $20 / £40 off the price tag by sacrificing wireless functionality.

Or, we'd recommend taking a look at the Corsair K63 Wireless if you'd like to keep that cable-free setup - while it only ships with linear Cherry MX Reds, you'll regularly find it for under $100 / £100. If you're happy to scrap that TKL form factor, we also loved the snap of the SteelSeries Apex 5 hybrid switches. Yes, you're dropping down to ABS keycaps here, but you're spending far less, picking up a full deck and still grabbing some particularly satisfying keys.

Today's best Logitech G715 deals

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How we tested the Logitech G715

I used the Logitech G715 keyboard for all daily work and play over the course of three weeks, running the deck in 2.4GHz, Bluetooth and wired connections across Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Fall Guys, and Planet Coaster. I completed two full battery run-down tests during this time, charging to full capacity and using consistently without topping up. For more information on how we test gaming keyboards, check out our full GamesRadar+ Hardware Policy.
For even more customization options, check out the best hot-swappable keyboards on the market. Or, take a look at the best Razer keyboards for a different brand.

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Logitech G715 review: 'A powerful deck wrapped up in a cosy pastel aesthetic'

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Logitech G715 keyboard brings a softness to an otherwise hard, angular market. From its curved edges to the literal cloud of a wrist rest, this is an exercise in pastel colors, smooth matte finishes, and customization.

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Six years after Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness disappointed fans of the sci-fi JRPG series like me, Star Ocean: The Divine Force feels like a long-awaited return to form in many ways. Its revamped combat is a lot of fun, breathing fresh life into a system that certainly benefits by evolving with the times a bit. Other areas do stagnate, unfortunately, like its lackluster visuals and horrid user interface. But a respectable story full of likable characters makes this a sequel I'm still very happy to have sailed through the stars of.

The Divine Force tells a standalone story that isn't directly connected to any other Star Ocean games, but it does contain quite a few references to past events and characters that were rewarding to catch as a series veteran. This particular tale follows a reasonable young space merchant with a really bad haircut named Ray, who crashlands on the underdeveloped, medieval-like planet of Aster IV. There he meets Laeticia, the prim and proper princess of the Kingdom of Aucerius, and agrees to assist her in fending off a nearby empire in return for help finding his missing crewmates. I enjoyed that the story kicks off at a smaller scale than you might expect from a spacefaring adventure, but things only grow impressively from there, as the conflicts on this backwater planet end up having astronomical consequences that go beyond the stars.

Star Ocean: The Divine Force Screenshots

One cool twist is that you're actually given the choice between following Ray or Laeticia as your main character, with a handful of instances where they split up and you only see what happens with the side you picked. You'll be able to follow the overall story just fine either way, but there are some smaller moments that won't make much sense without knowing what happened to the other party. For example, I picked Ray's path, and at one point there was talk about an arranged marriage between two nations that I had absolutely no context for. However, had I picked Laeticia instead, I would have understood that conversation but potentially missed something else. It's an interesting storytelling mechanic that encourages you to go back for a second playthrough of the roughly 30-40 hour campaign, though it's not enough to make up for the lack of a New Game Plus option. I'd love to see the story events that I missed out on with Laeticia, but not being able to transfer over the levels, skills, and equipment of my party is a real disincentive.

Star-Studded Party

The Divine Force's cast of characters is a lively bunch that consists of both Aster IV locals and people from off-planet. The dynamic between your main party is especially fascinating because half of them come from a civilization that hasn't even discovered the concept of gravity yet, while the other half is casually familiar with warp drive engines that allow spaceships to travel light years. That results in plenty of entertaining and unexpected moments, like when the party is trying to find a cure for a disease that is wiping out Aster IV's population. Ray's robotic but surprisingly caring first commander, Elena, is able to create an antidote based on a few bird-dropping samples, but that also involves teaching Laeticia and her comrades about the concept of bacteria.

You can also learn more about each character through Private Actions, which are cute cutscene moments that you trigger by talking to your party members while they are scattered around the world's various towns. Private Actions show off a lot of a character's personality and quirks, giving them opportunities to talk about more than just the events of the main story. In particular, I really enjoyed learning about Laeticia's knight guardian, Albaird Bergholm, and his fondness for sweets - he loves them but keeps it a secret because he thinks it's unbecoming of a knight.

The issue with Private Actions, however, is that they're very annoying to find. Just like in past games, Private Actions are pretty well hidden and you have to go out of your way to sniff them out, with no icons or indications to tell you when a new one has popped up. I hated wasting so much time fast traveling to other towns, running around them, and talking to all of my party members in the hopes of triggering a Private Action. The conversations were generally worth having once I found them, but I wish this feature was more streamlined.

It's also disappointing that character animations and faces don't live up to the otherwise lovely environments you find them in. Characters have this doll-like porcelain look to their expressions that always comes off a little unintentionally creepy. This stands in sharp contrast to the gorgeous 2D character art from Akira Yasuda that primarily appears in promotional materials and box art. Pretty much none of that is in the game itself, which is frankly baffling - the clean lines and sharp, realistic details within the eyes and lips are just so aesthetically pleasing, I was left wondering how the 3D models could end up looking so poor in comparison.

Combat Evolved

Star Ocean's previous battle system has received almost a complete overhaul in The Divine Force, and it's one that's worked out for the better. Here, it plays very similarly to the action-combat of a JRPG like the 2009's Tales of Graces, which was ahead of its time with the wide variety of flashy skills at your disposal. The Divine Force lets you assign up to three combat skills to each face button in sequential order, and pressing a button three times during a fight will have you carry out all three of those moves in the order you listed them. This new system feels much more flexible and smooth, especially compared to past games - previously you were only able to set a few skills due to the old Capacity Points system and would end up spamming the same two-to-four skills in battle as a result. But now this problem is completely gone, and the large selection of different combat abilities you can equip keeps battles from ever feeling stale. (That's also helped by the excellent soundtrack, with the electric guitars of Ray's battle theme making fights even more exhilarating.)

But the real game changer here is the DUMA system, named after the party's robot companion. With DUMA, the party member you are controlling will be able to rush an enemy down and close the gap between them at high speed. You can even change directions while rushing, and if you turn away from your target's eyesight you'll activate a Blindside - a returning feature introduced in Star Ocean: The Last Hope. Blindsides are as powerful as they are fun, momentarily paralyzing enemies and allowing your entire party to wail on them. And while DUMA adds a ton of adrenaline and momentum to combat, it can also be used defensively. For example, you can exchange your ability to rush to instead allow DUMA to reduce the amount of damage your party takes. Being able to switch between modes on the fly like this makes battles more dynamic and exciting.

Not only is DUMA invaluable during fights, but it also plays a role outside of combat. You can use DUMA as a sort of jetpack to help you scale buildings in town or up mountains in the wild. You might find hidden purple gems while doing so, which are amusing collectibles to hunt down that help level up DUMA's different abilities. This semi-open world exploration feels natural while flying around with DUMA, but the landscapes are also somewhat empty and lacking in personality. The vast environments have lots of wide open fields, but they seem large only for the sake of being large. There are no massive changes in elevation, and the fields are mostly just flat without any discernible landmarks. The environments and skyboxes can at least look beautiful, but the layouts of each area aren't on par with what a game like the impressive Xenoblade Chronicles 3 showed off on the Switch earlier this year.

The vast environments are large only for the sake of being large.

Menus aren't pleasing to look at either. In the party member screen, you're greeted with boring and dull black boxes. To make matters worse, whenever you hover over a character, you're shown their mediocre 3D model instead of those lovely 2D portraits. For all of Integrity and Faithlessness's faults, one aspect that it did well was its menu, which showed giant 2D artwork of the party members around each other, very similar to what Tales of Arise's menu had. It's a shame that The Divine Force didn't attempt to replicate that style.

Perhaps surprisingly, the worst offender when it comes to menus is actually the font size. It's honestly the smallest font that I've had to read in a game in recent memory, and I literally had to squint my eyes in order to legibly read subtitles, tutorial info, and skill descriptions. Most games nowadays come with an option to increase the font size, but The Divine Force doesn't have that. I really hope Square Enix addresses this issue in a post-launch patch because it's genuinely distracting, and not even having the most basic accommodations for accessibility is unacceptable.

That said, the UI issues aren't so bad that I can't wait to optimize my party's gear for the post-credits content that the Star Ocean games are known for. Each character has a specific Item Creation talent, like Ray's natural affinity for Smithery to create weapons and Laeticia's Compounding skills to make medicine. The process is straightforward and easy to understand - for example, combining two blueberries makes a blueberry potion - which prevents progression from feeling like a chore. It's not crucial to make the most of this crafting during the regular campaign, but I know that I'll have to spend time mastering the system if I want to be properly prepared for the hardest fights that The Divine Force has to offer.

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Star Ocean: The Divine Force Review - IGN

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Six years after Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness disappointed fans of the sci-fi JRPG series like me, Star Ocean: The Divine Force feels like a long-awaited return to form in many ways. Its revamped combat is a lot of fun, breathing fresh life into a system that certainly benefits by evolving with the times a bit.

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Electronic Arts has announced that it will cease making Fifa-branded football games next year. From 2023, the series will continue under a new brand, EA Sports FC.

In a press release on the decision, EA stated that licensing deals remain in place with 19,000 players, 700 teams, and more than 30 leagues from around the world, as well as with UEFA, which means the Champions League will still be a part of the game, although the World Cup will not.

The Fifa titles have been an annual fixture in game charts since the release of 1993's Fifa International Soccer on the Sega Mega Drive. Since then the titles have sold more than 325m copies around the world, dominating the football simulation market and seeing off competitors such as Actua Soccer and Pro Evolution Soccer.

The possibility of a split between Electronic Arts and Fifa was first reported by the New York Times last October when it was claimed that Fifa was looking to double its licensing fee to $1bn.

Speaking to the BBC, David Jackson, vice president of EA Sports said that the publisher has plans to extend the game beyond interactive matches, but that the licensing restrictions imposed by Fifa were prohibitive.

"At the moment, we engage in play as a primary form of interactive experience. Soon, watching and creating content are going to be equally as important for fans," said Jackson.

"Under the licensing conventions that we had agreed with Fifa 10 years ago, there were some restrictions that weren't going to allow us to be able to build those experiences for players."

It's likely that Electronic Arts will look to capitalise on the massive success of 'live service' games such as Fortnite and its own Apex Legends, where annual release schedules have been replaced by an evolving experience with seasonal subscription fees, live events and greater player customisation options. Watching live matches and esports competitions could also be part of the new series.

Electronic Arts has attracted criticism for the 'loot box'-style monetisation of its popular Ultimate Team mode, in which fans pay for randomised digital packets of players with which to build their own superstar sides. In 2018, Belgian effectively banned loot box mechanics in games when they were classified as unregulated gambling. Governments around the world have since looked into tightening regulations.

For its part, Fifa has confirmed a new non-exclusive model for the future of the Fifa game titles. In a press release sent out two hours after EA's, the football governing body stated, "a number of new non-simulation games are already under production and will launch during the third quarter of this year".

Fifa did not share details on which games publishers it is working with. However, in a combative statement Fifa president Gianni Infantino said, "I can assure you that the only authentic, real game that has the Fifa name will be the best one available for gamers and football fans. The Fifa name is the only global, original title. Fifa 23, Fifa 24, Fifa 25 and Fifa 26, and so on - the constant is the Fifa name and it will remain forever and remain THE BEST".

EA has not disclosed details on the plan for monetising its future football games, but industry watchers will be interested to see if it rolls back on its profitable Ultimate Team model. Fans will also await more solid information on EA's promises to introduce fresh modes and innovate in new areas such as the women's game and grassroots football.

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Electronic Arts has announced that it will cease making Fifa-branded football games next year. From 2023, the series will continue under a new brand, EA Sports FC.

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(Image credit: Bungie)

In Destiny 2's next major expansion, we're finally taking the fight to Savathûn, the Hive goddess of cunning. The Witch Queen is a battle that has been years in the making, but before forming a fireteam and entering her creepy 'throne world', it's important to understand the threat she poses.

Those new to Destiny 2, or who've been on a break, may well be wondering why this cackling moth lady is so dangerous, given that us guardians have already killed a couple of gods. You also need to know that, narratively, the Witch Queen promises to be the most untrustworthy expansion to date, stuffed with all sorts of secrets and lies.

The best way to uncover the truth is to first understand the past, which is why I'm here to give you a lore primer. For the full experience, hit the video link above.

The origin of the Hive

To grasp Savathûn's motives, we need to go back to the beginning. The Hive we know today are very different from their original form. The Books of Sorrow-essentially a Hive biography-refer to them as the proto-Hive or Krill. This race was stranded on a planet called The Fundament, where multiple factions existed. Two main groups emerged, those loyal to the Helium Court and those loyal to the Osmium King. While the proto-Hive often fought with each other, they were also at the mercy of numerous predatory species and even the toxic planet itself.

The Krill were at the bottom of the food chain and suffered brutal, short lives. The Osmium King had three children (Aurash, Xi Ro and Sathona) who eventually transformed into the Hive Royalty we know today (Oryx, Xivu Arath and Savathûn). They're absolutely not the kind of family you want to have over for dinner.

A bargain with Worms

You may be thinking: "Savathûn sounds less like an existential threat, and more like someone who booked the wrong intergalactic AirBnB", which was true, until the Hive siblings encountered the Worms. The Krill's urgency to leave the planet was increased by the threat of a tidal wave, a cataclysmic event that would wipe out trillions. The Krill noted that it was the Traveler (yes, the same flying golf ball which gives the guardians their powers) that aimed to cause this calamity by aligning itself with the 52 moons of the Fundament.

Why would the Traveler wreak such destruction? Well, in the depths The Fundament's oceans lived Worm gods that had been imprisoned by agents of the Light. In order to escape, they needed to form a symbiotic pact with another species. If a tidal wave wiped out all potential hosts then the Worms would be trapped forever. From the Traveler's point of view, when it came to slaughtering all life on the planet, the ends justified the means. Which is an interesting reminder that the good/evil binary in Destiny isn't quite as clear as it might initially seem, but also a reminder that we maybe shouldn't trust a book written by the Hive in the first place.

Anyway! To ensure the survival of their species, Oryx, Savathûn, and Xivu Arath took a ship to the depths of The Fundament's ocean and made a bargain with the Worm gods. Oryx agreed that all Krill would consume a worm larva in order to create a symbiotic pact between the races. And so the Krill became the Hive. (You can still see evidence of this ancient bargain today when you destroy a Hive and the larva is expelled.) In return, the Worms would provide the Hive with immortality and incredible power. There was, of course, a substantial catch: The worms needed to be constantly fed, otherwise they would consume their host.

There are two ways to feed a Worm. 1) Constant killing as a form of tribute. This method applies to all Hive-they must keep killing or perish. 2) Never disobey their nature. This method is specific to the Hive royalty. Essentially they must stay completely true to themselves, or die. So, Oryx must never stop exploring and discovering, Xivu Arath must constantly test her strength, and Savathûn must never abandon cunning.

That's why Savathûn is known as the sister of trickery. It is both her nature and her curse, because if she takes any other path she will be eaten by her Worm. After the bargain, Oryx and his sisters went on to conquer The Fundament, growing in power from all the killing, eventually enabling the Hive (and the Worm gods) to escape before the tidal wave hit. What the Hive did not initially grasp was that the Worms' hunger is endless. As they fed their Worms, the parasites became more powerful and hungrier, requiring an ever-greater tithe of death and destruction.

Why does Savathûn want to steal the light?

The simplest answer is that Savathûn wants to escape the never-ending cycle imposed by her Worm. Savathûn has employed numerous schemes in the past to keep her worm sated, but all have eventually proved inadequate. She has experimented with black holes, fed her worm with deception and trickery (rather than killing), and even placed a time loop on the Dreaming City, cursing the whole region to become a giant murder battery. Despite it all, her Worm wants more.

Which makes it all the more significant that in 'Exorcism', the final weekly mission of the current season, Savathûn has her worm removed by Mara Sov, the Awoken Queen. The cut scene ends with Savathûn having seemingly escaped, and the Worm now in Mara Sov's possession.

[ Editor's note: Myelin's video was recorded just before Exorcism dropped, at which point Savathûn/Osiris was still trapped inside a crystal.]

We can presume that Savathûn wants to steal the Light to replace the powers of the Worm, thereby maintaining her strength and immortality. In the past, several Destiny villains have attempted to steal the light and failed, so what's her plan?

How will Savathûn 'steal' the light?

We can't yet say for sure, but we do know that she has been scheming ever since Season of the Hunt (Season 12). Around that time, Osiris lost his Ghost, Sagira, in a battle against Xivu Arath. His lightless body was found by Savathûn, who either possessed or impersonated him, locking the real Osiris in an unknown location. While masquerading as Osiris, here's a non-exhaustive list of what she got up to:

Sowed dissent among the Vanguard and tried to get Zavala killed by the Cabal.

Built a friendship with Crow, restored his pre-guardian memories, and used him to acquire a bunch of dead Ghosts from the Spider on the Tangled Shore.

Reclaimed the Crown of Sorrow (a Hive device used for mind control).

Spread a viral song around the City, the purpose of which remains unknown, but is bound to be even worse news than having Phil Collins stuck in your head.

We don't fully understand the significance of these deceptions. For example, restoring Crow's memories drove him away from his sister, Mara Sov-but was that the goal, or does Savathûn plan to leverage her friendship with Crow to steal the light somehow? What we can say for certain is that something big is about to happen. Savathûn has set up the chess board and is about to make her play. When she gains the Light, she will have access to the same powers that Guardians do, and will be able to use it to modify her Throne World in unknown ways.

Uh, what is a throne world again?

The Hive were the first beings to establish throne worlds, although Mara Sov, Queen of the Awoken, was also able to create one with the assistance of Riven, a wish dragon. Exactly what's required to make a throne world isn't clear, but we do know that throne worlds can be molded by paracausal beings through sheer will and desire. The only way to truly defeat someone who has a throne world is to slay them within it.

Savathûn's throne world is unlike anything we have previously seen. It features an alabaster castle blessed by the Light, and a murky jungle containing a downed pyramid ship. A throne world is the representation of its owner's psyche, which is why Savathûn's represents the Hive rejecting the Darkness of their past and embracing the Light. Bear in mind, though, that nothing is as it seems. Savathûn hints at this when she says that her throne world is "indistinguishable from her own mind." Or in other words: Trust nothing.

What happens next?

In the Witch Queen campaign, Guardians will enter Savathûn's throne world, presumably in an attempt to permanently take her out. However, when it comes to the sister of trickery, it's unlikely to be so simple. We can assume that her throne world has been modified by the Light, which may affect how it functions. Savathûn knows the importance of throne worlds, would she allow Guardians to enter so easily? Doesn't this whole thing feel a lot like a trap?

You are now armed with the history of the Hive. It's almost time to enter Savathûn's throne world and discover the truth for yourself.

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Can anyone be trusted in Destiny 2's The Witch Queen expansion?

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In Destiny 2’s next major expansion, we’re finally taking the fight to Savathûn, the Hive goddess of cunning.

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PC Gamer is your source for exclusive reviews, demos, updates and news on all your favorite PC gaming franchises.

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The best brand advocates are you and your coworkers

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The best brand advocates are you and your coworkers

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The best brand advocates are you and your coworkers

It's easy to use

Sprout's Employee Advocacy platform gives you one place to put all your shareable content so employees can quickly and easily post approved content to their social networks.

It makes a huge impact

Whether your goal is to drive brand awareness, generate leads or attract top talent, employee advocacy can make a measurable difference.

Calculate your ROI.

Amplify employee voices to drive real business results

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Get the data you need and connect results to leads, web traffic, event registrations and more.

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Request a personalized demo

We'd love to show you how Sprout's powerful and easy-to-use Employee Advocacy platform can help you increase brand awareness and engagement while reducing risk and driving sales.

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Social Media Advocacy Solutions | Employee Advocacy by Sprout Social

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The best brand advocates are you and your coworkers Sprout's Employee Advocacy platform gives you one place to put all your shareable content so employees can quickly and easily post approved content to their social networks. Whether your goal is to drive brand awareness, generate leads or attract top talent, employee advocacy can make a measurable difference.

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There isn't much that gets consumers more excited than seeing an "X" between their two favorite brands. Marketers are learning more about their target audiences and some of the most valuable information is what other brands they have their eyes on. Brand collaborations and cobranding are a win-win-plus, these campaigns can cost 25x less than other forms of digital marketing.

We've seen a lot of collabs in the fashion and music space, but right now, the winner for best brand collaboration might be e.l.f. cosmetics and Dunkin'.

It's more than cooperating, it's cobranding

While e.l.f.'s Dunkin'-inspired product line might not have launched until April, the two brands have a comarketing history. In late 2021, e.l.f. launched a TikTok "reality show" style campaign, " Eyes. Lips. Famous. " The campaign featured three challenges set by influencer judges with the winners taking home a year's worth of free e.l.f. products. One of those challenges just happened to be a Dunkin'-themed look.

The campaign helped e.l.f. leverage affiliate marketing tactics, gave a glimpse into potential consumer interest in a brand collaboration, and created an opportunity to gather authentic and exciting user-generated content. Altogether, the TikTok hashtag "#EyesLipsFamous" garnered 41.8M views. It's no wonder that Dunkin' and e.l.f. decided to take their brand partnership a step further with a product launch.

Winning brand collaborations start with unexpected pairs

Coffee might not seem like it has a lot in common with concealer, but e.l.f. and Dunkin' have managed to make their partnership seem organic. In some ways, they're leaning into the seemingly offbeat nature of their partnership, like how Dunkin' did when they first tweeted about the partnership.

In other ways, this brand partnership makes perfect sense. On social, Dunkin' and e.l.f. are working to appeal to the same audience of younger, budget-conscious consumers. By working together to create a campaign, they're able to reach a wider audience of their ideal customer profile.

We dove into Sprout Social's Listening tool to quantify the campaign's impact. We looked at social media data from March 14 to April 14, 2022, to examine how the brand partnership affected social performance.

Since launching their brand partnership with Dunkin' on March 30, 2022, 21% (12.9 million) of e.l.f.'s Twitter impressions are coming from the keywords and hashtags, "Donut," "Dunkin," "#dunkindonuts," "#elfxdunkin" and mentions of @dunkindonuts. This marked a 52% increase in impressions for e.l.f. compared to the two weeks leading up to the product launch. Those impressions are hitting the target audience too: 80% of Tweet authors are between 18 and 34 years-old.

Positive scarcity mindset

Everyone loves a limited edition. The e.l.f. and Dunkin' product is super niche-and super sought after. Only allowing members of e.l.f.'s Beauty Squad loyalty program members to purchase the product-and only having a limited supply-ensured that this cobranded product would sell out. Even after selling out, it's still sought after. While the original " Classic Dunkin' Stack Vault" sold for $75 with free shipping, it's being listed on resale markets as high at $135 with $30 shipping.

Even after selling out, the brand partners hyped up the products more with an Instagram giveaway. Using Instagram's Collab feature, e.l.f. co-posted the offer with Dunkin' for maximum reach. The post earned 88,658 likes and 148,969 engagements. Between March 30, 2022 and April 14, 2022, e.l.f. managed to rack up over 681,000 total Instagram engagements. The duo planned a winning social strategy of using Instagram and TikTok for engagement and Twitter for reach.

How to identify valuable brand collaborations

If you're thinking about creating some cobranding magic of your own, you'll want to keep a few things in mind.

Choose wisely

Deciding how to collab with brands can seem tricky. Try to focus on what you might have in common with potential partners. Dunkin' and e.l.f. had common market segments they tackled together. Maybe your perfect partnership revolves around the types of feelings your product invokes, shared interests your audiences have, or the priorities of your target market. Keeping something in common will keep your brand collaboration on track later on.

Test early

Dunkin' and e.l.f. were able to test the reception of their partnership early through their TikTok campaign. Social is a great barometer for your audience's interest in potential cobranded projects or products. Through social listening, you can figure out which parts of a collaboration to lean into-and which you should cut.

Get creative

A collaboration is a perfect opportunity to go big on brand. For e.l.f. and Dunkin', honing in on the coffee and baked goods chain's iconic brand colors and embracing the cosmetic brand's reputation for creativity worked wonders. Identify what your audiences associate with your brands and don't be afraid to get bolder than you might on a solo campaign.

Running on Dunkin'

It's not just America that runs on Dunkin'. Successful social strategy apparently does too. By leveraging their existing brands and following, Dunkin' and e.l.f. multiplied their reach and efforts-while making something cool in the process. Using social to understand, reach and influence their target market, the brands created a product that crossed industry lines and kept consumers craving more.

Social listening data can help you understand your audience and create the next cult classic. Learn more about how social data can unlock fresh insights into what your customers want.

Katie Woods

Katie Woods is an Editorial Writer at Sprout Social where she analyzes social trends and best practices to help social and business leaders grow. Anytime she isn't writing, she's attempting to build something or being way too involved with her dogs.

Read all articles by Katie Woods

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Brand collaborations 101: e.l.f. and Dunkin' prove the power of partnership

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There isn't much that gets consumers more excited than seeing an "X" between their two favorite brands. Marketers are learning more about their target audiences and some of the most valuable information is what other brands they have their eyes on.

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As we approach the end of October and ever closer to Halloween it's time to talk about cyber threats and best practices to prevent them. Although this may not seem as fun as trick-or-treating, October is an important time to give you pointers on how to protect your online presence.

In a recent Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2022 there are some spooky key findings.

Cyber attacks

The survey results show that in the last 12 months, 39% of UK businesses identified a cyber attack, remaining consistent with previous years of the survey. However, we also find that enhanced cyber security leads to higher identification of attacks, suggesting that fewer mature cyber organisations in this space may be underreporting.

Attack type

Of the 39% of UK businesses that identified an attack, the most common threat vector was phishing attempts (83%). This is a rise from the previous data collected in 2017 which was 72%.

Frequency & impact

Within the group of organisations reporting cyber-attacks, 31% of businesses and 26% of charities estimate they were attacked at least once a week.

Cost of attacks

Looking at organisations reporting a material outcome, such as loss of money or data, gives an average estimated cost of all cyber-attacks in the last 12 months of £4,200. Considering only medium and large businesses; the figure rises to £19,400.

Actions to prevent future cyber threats

Among those that have identified any breaches or attacks, around two-thirds of businesses (62%) take action to prevent further breaches. This is a similar finding to 2021. Significantly fewer charities take action to prevent breaches compared to last year (57% vs. 69% in 2021).

The figures above are spooky but don't worry VeryPC is here to help. We have a range of products to help you prevent future attacks.

Phishing Training

The types of breaches that organisations have reported in the last 12 months are most commonly phishing. Staff are receiving fraudulent emails or being directed to fraudulent websites. This is followed, to a lesser extent, by impersonation where outsiders pretend to be members of the recipient's organisation in emails or online, and finally viruses or other malware.

Now you can train your staff to be aware of potential phishing email threats at a time when cyber attacks are increasingly on the rise. Security awareness training software is proven to change user's behaviour and it's something we use right here in-house at VeryPC.

You can train your users with an initial online training program featuring interactive modules, videos and games. However, the real strength of this software is being able to phish your own users. You can choose from thousands of "known to work" templates and then you can track if a user opens any attachments, clicks a link or even replies to the phishing email you have sent to them. With enterprise-strength reporting, you'll be able to see the statistics for both the training and testing modules.

Two-Factor Authentication

Although just over a third of businesses (37%) and just under a third of charities (31%) require employees to use two-factor authentication, it's becoming an everyday necessity.

Two-factor authentication often referred to as 2FA is an additional layer of protection against cyber criminals and phishing attacks. Put simply, two-factor authentication adds an extra layer of security and protection to your online accounts and verifies your identity using a second factor (e.g. your phone or other mobile devices).

Even if someone knows your password, they will be prevented from being able to access your account without having your mobile device (the second factor).

In summary my top tips for practising better cybersecurity:

Contact us today to speak with either me or another of our specialists on Cyber Security.

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As we approach the end of October and ever closer to Halloween it's time to talk about cyber threats and best practices to prevent them. Although this may not seem as fun as trick-or-treating, October is an important time to give you pointers on how to protect your online presence.

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Scarborough: Plan to make town cyber security centre of excellence

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Scarborough: Plan to make town cyber security centre of excellence

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Scarborough: Plan to make town cyber security centre of excellence

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The project in Scarborough aims to increase awareness and provide solutions to cyber-attacks.

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Vice Society Hackers Are Behind Several Ransomware Attacks Against Education Sector

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Vice Society Hackers Are Behind Several Ransomware Attacks Against Education Sector

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Vice Society Hackers Are Behind Several Ransomware Attacks Against Education Sector

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Cybercrime group Vice Society has been linked to several ransomware and extortion campaigns targeting the education, government, and retail sectors.

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How Anti-virus software updates are  tested

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How Anti-virus software updates are  tested

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(Photo: invincible_bulldog/Getty Images)

The whole point of installing an antivirus or security suite product is to protect you and your data from a multitude of security risks and annoyances. But how do you know it's doing its job? It's not like a motion-sensing camera. You can't just wave at it and see it working. When evaluating these products for review, we put their claims to the test in many ways. Each review reports the results of our tests, as well as hands-on experience with the product. This article will explain just how these tests work.

Of course, not every test is appropriate for every product. Many antivirus utilities include protection against phishing, for example, but some don't. Many suites include parental control, but others omit this feature. Some nominally standalone antivirus products add firewall protection as a bonus. Whatever features a given product offers, we put them to the test.

Testing Real-Time Antivirus

Every full-powered antivirus tool includes two core features. The on-demand scanner seeks out and destroys existing malware infestations, and the real-time monitor fends off new attacks. There's only one way to be sure these protective features work, and that's to hit them with real-world malware. We use virtual machines for this testing, so there's no risk of spreading any missed infections.

Each year in the spring, when most security vendors have finished their yearly update cycle, we gather a new collection of malware samples for this test. We start with a feed of the latest malware-hosting URLs, download thousands of samples, and winnow them down to a manageable number.

We analyze each sample using various hand-coded tools. Some of the samples detect when they're running in a virtual machine and refrain from malicious activity; we simply don't use those. We look for a variety of different types, and for samples that make changes to the file system and Registry. Once we've pared the collection down to something reasonable, we record exactly what system changes each sample makes.

To test a product's malware-blocking abilities, we start by opening the folder of samples. Real-time protection in some products kicks in immediately, wiping out known malware. If necessary to trigger real-time protection, we single-click each sample, or copy the collection to a new folder, or download the samples from cloud storage-whatever it takes. We note which samples the antivirus eliminates on sight.

Next, we launch each surviving sample and watch how the antivirus handles it. We record the total percentage detected, regardless of when detection happened.

Detection of a malware attack is necessary but not sufficient; the antivirus must actively prevent the attack. A small in-house program checks the system to determine whether the malware managed to make any Registry changes or install any of its files. In the case of executable files, it also checks whether any of those processes are running. And as soon as measurement is complete, we shut down the virtual machine.

If a product prevents installation of all executable traces by a malware sample, it earns 8, 9, or 10 points, depending on how well it prevented cluttering the system with non-executable traces. Detecting malware but failing to prevent installation of executable components gets half-credit, 5 points. Finally, if, despite the antivirus's attempt at protection, we find one or more malware processes running, that's worth a mere 3 points. The average of all these scores becomes the product's final malware protection score.

Testing Web-Level Protection

The best time to annihilate malware is before it ever reaches your computer. Many antivirus products integrate with your browsers and steer them away from known malware-hosting pages. If protection doesn't kick in at that level, there's always an opportunity to wipe out the malware payload during or immediately after download.

While our basic malware protection test uses the same set of samples for a season, the malware-hosting URLs we use to test Web-based protection are different every time. We get those links from a feed of the very newest malicious URLs detected by London-based MRG-Effitas and typically use URLs that are no more than a few days old.

Using a small purpose-built utility, we go down the list, launching each URL in turn. We discard any that don't point to a malware download, and any that return error messages. For the rest, we note whether the antivirus prevents access to the URL, wipes out the download, or sits by idly doing nothing. After recording the result, the utility jumps to the next URL in the list that isn't at the same domain. We do skip any files larger than 5MB, and we skip files that have already appeared in the same test. We keep at it until we've accumulated data for many dozens of verified malware-hosting URLs.

The score in this test is simply the percentage of URLs for which the antivirus prevented downloading malware, whether by cutting off access to the URL completely or by wiping out the downloaded file. Perfect 100% scores are not uncommon, and most tested antivirus tools manage 90% or better protection.

Testing Phishing Detection

Why resort to elaborate data-stealing Trojans when you can just trick people into giving up their passwords? That's the mindset of malefactors who create and manage phishing websites. These fraudulent sites mimic banks and other sensitive sites. If you enter your login credentials, you've just given away the keys to the kingdom. And phishing is platform-independent; it works on any operating system that supports browsing the Web.

These fake websites typically get blacklisted not long after their creation, so for testing we use only the very newest phishing URLs. We gather these from phishing-oriented websites, favoring those that have been reported as frauds but not yet verified. The best security programs detect these new fakes using real-time analysis. Those that just rely on simple-minded blacklists typically earn lower scores.

We use four virtual machines for this test, one protected by the product under testing, and one each using the phishing protection built into Chrome, Edge, and Firefox. A small utility program launches each URL in the four browsers. If any of the four returns an error message, we discard that URL. If the resulting page doesn't actively attempt to imitate another site, or doesn't attempt to capture username and password data, we discard it. For the rest, we note whether each product detected the fraud.

As with the web-level protection test, scores vary widely. Some products achieve 100% detection, while others can't even outscore the protection built into the three browsers.

Testing Spam Filtering

These days email accounts for most consumers have the spam vacuumed out of them by the email provider, or by a utility running on the email server. In fact, the average consumer's need for spam filtering is slim to none. Austrian test lab AV-Comparatives tested antispam functionality back in 2016, finding that even Microsoft Outlook alone blocked almost 90 percent of spam, and most suites did better, some of them much better. But the lab hasn't published another such test. According to one of the principals there, "end consumers use hosted mail solutions like Gmail, so no spam filter is needed anymore."

Years ago, we ran our own antispam tests using a real-world account that we carefully tuned so it would receive plenty of spam but also plenty of valid email. To test a spam filter, we would download thousands of messages and manually check whether any spam slipped into the Inbox or, worse, valid mail got marked as spam. This test took more time and effort than any of our other hands-on tests. Expending maximal effort on a feature of minimal importance no longer makes sense.

There are still important points to report about a suite's spam filter. What email clients does it support? Can you use it with an unsupported client? Is it limited to POP3 email accounts, or does it also handle IMAP, Exchange, or even Web-based email? At present, we carefully consider each suite's antispam capabilities, but we longer suffer through downloading and analyzing thousands of emails

Testing Security Suite Performance

When your security suite is busily watching for malware attacks, defending against network intrusions, preventing your browser from visiting dangerous websites, and so on, it's clearly using some of your system's CPU and other resources to do its job. Many, many years ago, security suites deservedly got a reputation for sucking up so much of your system resources that your own computer use was affected. If users turn off protection because it's a performance drag, that's no kind of protection. Security companies shaped their products up, so you hardly ever see a noticeable slowdown. We do still run some simple tests to get an insight into each suite's effect on system performance.

Security software needs to load as early in the boot process as possible, lest it find malware already in control. But users don't want to wait around any longer than necessary to start using Windows after a reboot. Our test script runs immediately after boot and starts asking Windows to report the CPU usage level once per second. After 10 seconds in a row with CPU usage no more than 5 percent, it declares the system ready for use. Subtracting the start of the boot process (as reported by Windows) we know how long the boot process took. We run many repetitions of this test and compare the average with that of many repetitions when no suite was present.

In truth, you probably reboot no more than once per day. A security suite that slowed everyday file operations might have a more deleterious impact on your activities. To check for that kind of slowdown, we time a script that moves and copies a large collection of large-to-huge files between drives. Averaging several runs with no suite and several runs with the security suite active, we can determine just how much the suite slowed these file activities. A similar script measures the suite's effect on a script that zips and unzips the same file collection.

There are still a few suites that slow one or more of these tests appreciably, but their numbers are dwindling. At the other end of the spectrum, we've found several instances in which the tests ran faster after installing the suite.

Testing Firewall Protection

The typical personal firewall has two jobs, protecting the computer from outside attack and ensuring that programs don't misuse the network connection. To test protection against attack, we use a physical computer that connects through the router's DMZ port. This gives the effect of a computer connected directly to the Internet. That's important for testing, because a computer that's connected through a router is effectively invisible to the Internet at large. We hit the test system with port scans and other Web-based tests. In most cases we find that the firewall completely hides the test system from these attacks, putting all ports in stealth mode. The built-in Windows firewall handles stealthing all ports, so this test is just a baseline.

Program control in the earliest personal firewalls was painfully interactive. Every time an unknown program tried to access the network, the firewall popped up a query asking the user whether to allow or block access. This approach isn't very effective, since the user generally has no idea what action is correct. Most will just allow everything. Others will click Block every time, until they break some important program; after that they allow everything.

It's becoming more and more common for suite firewalls to offer this kind of detailed program control without making it the default. For those products, we turn it on before testing. Also, many firewalls come pre-configured with access permissions for known programs. For our hands-on check of program control functionality, we use an app that's guaranteed to be unknown-a tiny browser utility coded in house and not present anywhere else.

At the other end of the spectrum, the best firewalls automatically configure network permissions for known good programs, eliminate known bad programs, and step up surveillance on unknowns. Only if an unknown program attempts a suspicious connection does the firewall kick in to stop it. That's not something we can test, since we don't write malware, but we can observe this functionality during malware protection testing.

Software isn't and can't be perfect, so the bad guys work hard to find security holes in popular operating systems, browsers, and applications. They devise exploits to compromise system security using any vulnerabilities they find. Naturally the maker of the exploited product issues a security patch as soon as possible, but until you apply that patch, you're vulnerable.

The smartest firewalls intercept these exploit attacks at the network level, so they never even reach your computer. Even for those that don't scan at the network level, in many cases the antivirus component wipes out the exploit's malware payload. We use the CORE Impact penetration tool to hit each test system with about 30 recent exploits and record how well the security product fended them off.

Finally, we run a sanity check to see whether a malware coder could easily disable security protection. We look for an on/off switch in the Registry and test whether it can be used to turn off protection (though it's been years since we found a product vulnerable to this attack). We attempt to terminate security processes using Task Manager and third-party task killer utilities. And we check whether it's possible to stop or disable the product's essential Windows services.

Testing Parental Control

The category of parental control and monitoring covers a wide variety of programs and features. The typical parental control utility keeps kids away from unsavory sites, monitors their Internet usage, and lets parents determine when and for how long the kids are allowed to use the Internet each day. Other features range from limiting chat contacts to patrolling Facebook posts for risky topics.

We always perform a sanity check to make sure the content filter correctly blocks inappropriate websites. As it turns out, finding porn sites for testing is a snap. Just about any URL composed of a size adjective and the name of a normally covered body part is already a porn site. Very few products fail this test.

We use a tiny in-house browser utility to verify that content filtering is browser independent. We issue a three-word network command (no, we're not publishing it here) that disables some simple-minded content filters. And we check whether we can defeat the filter by using a secure anonymizing proxy website.

Imposing time limits on the children's computer or Internet use is only effective if the kids can't interfere with timekeeping. We verify that the time-scheduling feature works, then try foiling it by resetting the system date and time. The best products don't rely on the system clock for their date and time.

After that, it's simply a matter of testing the features that the program claims to have. If it promises the ability to block use of specific programs, we engage that feature and try to break it by moving, copying, or renaming the program. If it says it strips out bad words from email or instant messaging, we add a random word like "fnord" to the block list and verify that it doesn't get sent. If it claims it can limit instant messaging contacts, we set up a conversation between two of our accounts and then ban one of them. Whatever control or monitoring power the program promises, we do our best to put it to the test.

Interpreting Antivirus Lab Tests

We don't have the resources to run the kind of exhaustive antivirus tests performed by independent labs around the world, so we pay close attention to their findings. We follow four labs that release scored test results on a regular basis, using their results to help inform our reviews.

Based in Magdeburg, Germany, the AV-Test Institute continuously puts antivirus programs through a variety of tests. The one we focus on is a three-part test that awards up to 6 points in each of three categories: Protection, Performance, and Usability. To reach certification, a product must earn a total of 10 points and have no zero scores in any of the categories. The very best products take home a perfect 18 points in this test.

To test protection, the researchers expose each product to AV-Test's reference set of over 100,000 samples, and to several thousand extremely widespread samples. Products get credit for preventing the infestation at any stage, be it blocking access to the malware-hosting URL, detecting the malware using signatures, or preventing the malware from running. The best products often reach 100 percent success in this test.

Performance is important-if the antivirus noticeably puts a drag on system performance, some users will turn it off. AV-Test's researchers measure the difference in time required to perform more than a dozen common system actions with and without the security product present. Among these actions are downloading files from the Internet, copying files both locally and across the network, and running common programs. Averaging multiple runs, they can identify just how much impact each product has.

The Usability test isn't necessarily what you'd think. It has nothing to do with ease of use or user interface design. Rather, it measures the usability problems that occur when an antivirus program erroneously flags a legitimate program or website as malicious, or suspicious. Researchers actively install and run an ever-changing collection of popular programs, noting any odd behavior by the antivirus. A separate scan-only test checks to make sure the antivirus doesn't identify any of over 600,000 legitimate files as malware.

We track results from three of the many tests regularly released by AV-Comparatives, which is based in Austria and works closely with the University of Innsbruck. Security tools that pass a test receive Standard certification; those that fail are designated as merely Tested. If a program goes above and beyond the necessary minimum, it can earn Advanced or Advanced+ certification.

This lab's file detection test is a simple, static test that checks each antivirus against about 100,000 malware samples. A parallel false-positives test ensures accuracy-too many false positives can impact a program's rating. And the performance test, much like AV-Test's, measures any impact on system performance. We consider the dynamic whole-product test to be the most significant. This test aims to simulate as closely as possible an actual user's experience, allowing all components of the security product to participate in fighting the malware.

Where AV-Test and AV-Comparatives typically include a couple dozen products in testing, SE Labs generally reports on no more than 10. That's in large part because of the nature of this lab's test. Researchers capture real-world malware-hosting websites and use a replay technique so that each product encounters precisely the same drive-by download or other Web-based attack. It's extremely realistic, but arduous.

A program that totally blocks one of these attacks earns three points. If it sprang into action after the attack began but managed to remove all executable traces, that's worth two points. And if it merely terminated the attack, without full cleanup, it still gets one point. In the unfortunate event that the malware runs free on the test system, the product under testing loses five points. Because of this, some products (notably earlier editions of Windows Defender) have received below-zero scores.

In a separate test, the researchers evaluate how well each product refrains from erroneously identifying valid software as malicious, weighting the results based on each valid program's prevalence, and on how much of an impact the false positive identification would have. They combine the results of these two tests and certify successful products at one of five levels: AAA, AA, A, B, and C.

As noted above, we use a feed of samples supplied by MRG-Effitas in our hands-on malicious URL blocking test. We also follow quarterly results from two of this lab's ongoing tests. The 360 Assessment & Certification test simulates real-world protection against current malware, much like the dynamic real-world test used by AV-Comparatives. A product that completely prevents any infestation by the sample set receives Level 1 certification. Level 2 certification means that at least some of the malware samples planted files or other traces on the test system, but these traces were eliminated later. Any product that doesn't achieve one of these levels simply fails. The Online Banking Certification very specifically tests for protection against financial malware and botnets, on a similar pass/fail basis.

Coming up with an overall summary of lab results isn't easy, since the labs don't all test the same collection of programs and they all use different scoring systems. We've devised an algorithm that normalizes each lab's scores to a value from 0 to 10. Our aggregate lab results chart reports the average of these scores, as well as the number of labs testing. The best possible result is a perfect 10 score based on results from all four labs. If just one lab includes a product in testing, we consider that to be insufficient information for an aggregate score.

You may have noted that this list of testing methods doesn't cover virtual private networks, or VPNs. Testing a VPN is very different from testing any other portion of a security suite, so we've supplied a separate explanation for how we test VPN services.

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How We Test Antivirus and Security Software

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(Photo: invincible_bulldog/Getty Images) The whole point of installing an antivirus or security suite product is to protect you and your data from a multitude of security risks and annoyances. But how do you know it's doing its job? It's not like a motion-sensing camera. You can't just wave at it and see it working.

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The NCSC's report noted that apps "can also be installed on laptops, computers, games consoles, wearable devices (such as smartwatches or fitness trackers), smart TVs, smart speakers (such as Alexa devices), and IoT (internet of things) devices".

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Cyber-security chiefs warn of malicious app risk

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The NCSC's report noted that apps "can also be installed on laptops, computers, games consoles, wearable devices (such as smartwatches or fitness trackers), smart TVs, smart speakers (such as Alexa devices), and IoT (internet of things) devices".

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A celebration of Margaret Sale’s life - The National Museum of Computing remembers the woman who helped save Bletchley Park

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A celebration of Margaret Sale’s life - The National Museum of Computing remembers the woman who helped save Bletchley Park

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The National Museum of Computing, Bletchley, 2nd August 2022 - TNMOC invites friends and family to join in celebrating Margaret Sale's life on 18th September. It will be a great opportunity to remember Margaret and the impact that she had on so many people.

Margaret was a founding member of the Saving Bletchley Park campaign and, along with her late husband Tony, played a pivotal role in keeping the legacy of the Bletchley Park site alive. She was a volunteer for three decades, leading tours, raising funds, organising lectures, and facilitating the rebuilding of iconic computers like the Colossus.

She was an enthusiastic supporter of TNMOC since its founding 15 years ago, leading the supporters' club and ever-present at the museum to show visitors around. It is thanks to the tireless work of Margaret that visitors are able to experience all that TNMOC offers.

Jacqui Garrad, museum director, said: "Margaret was a treasure to the museum as a whole and to me personally. We are so happy to be able to honour her with the event, and hope that as many of Margaret's friends, colleagues and loved ones as possible will be able to attend and make it the special celebration of her life that Margaret deserves."
The schedule for the day is below:
10.30 - Museum opens

11:15-11:30 - Welcome

11:30-12:30 - Networking together throughout the museum, exploring the wonderful legacy left to its Custodians.

12:30-13:20 - Lunch & networking (Afternoon tea)

13:30-15:00 - Hear from Margaret's family, friends and colleagues - live streamed for those unable to attend the museum in person.

Break - Refreshments & Cake

15:15-17:00 - Enjoy exploring the museum

Those who knew Margaret are invited to bring a picture of her and write a note on the back for the museum's memory wall.

In order to track numbers, attendees are requested to register on Eventbrite and to please let the museum know in advance if they would like to say something during the 1.30-3pm slot.
About The National Museum of Computing
Located on Bletchley Park as an independent museum, The National Museum of Computing (TNMOC) brings to life the history and ongoing development of computing for the inspiration and enjoyment of both the general public and computing enthusiasts.

TNMOC acquires, conserves, restores, and rebuilds historic computing machinery and related artefacts. The museum displays and interprets its exhibits to tell the history of modern computing, with a particular emphasis on British contributions. Many of the exhibits are maintained in working condition and regularly demonstrated, including the Turing-Welchman Bombe and Colossus code breaking machines from WWII, the Harwell Dekatron Computer, the world's oldest still working original computer dating from 1951, mainframe computers and minicomputers from the 1960s, 70s and 80s, through home and personal computers of the 90s, to modern tablet computers and smartphones.

The museum runs a highly successful Sandford Awarded learning programme for schools and colleges that introduces computing technology and coding to young people, to help inspire the next generation of computer scientists and engineers. It also runs a popular ongoing programme of hands-on activities during school holidays, offers lectures and interactive events, both on site and via remote Internet access.

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A celebration of Margaret Sale's life - The National Museum of Computing remembers the woman who helped save Bletchley Park - The National Museum of Computing

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The National Museum of Computing, Bletchley, 2nd August 2022 - TNMOC invites friends and family to join in celebrating Margaret Sale's life on 18th September. It will be a great opportunity to remember Margaret and the impact that she had on so many people.

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The National Museum of Computing celebrates the 100-year anniversary of the BBC 

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The National Museum of Computing celebrates the 100-year anniversary of the BBC 

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The National Museum of Computing celebrates the 100-year anniversary of the BBC with its new “BBC through the decades” exhibition — The National Museum of Computing

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The National Museum of Computing (TNMOC) has announced its latest exhibition, “BBC through the decades,” to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the British Broadcasting Corporation. Visitors to the TNMOC exhibition will witness the evolution of the technologies that have formed the backbone of the BB

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Computerizing a "World Brain"

In the 1950s several visionaries including Ted Nelson and Douglas Engelbart independently suggest computerizing the concept of cross-references, creating the clickable link we use on the Web. Nelson calls it a "hyperlink," and the computerized text "hypertext." Along with graphics pioneer Andries van Dam they develop many core computing functions such as word processing, online collaboration, and hypertext links. J.C.R. Licklider's 1960 book Libraries of the Future outlines a related vision, which adds mild artificial intelligence to the mix.

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Networking & The Web | Timeline of Computer History | Computer History Museum

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Computerizing a "World Brain" In the 1950s several visionaries including Ted Nelson and Douglas Engelbart independently suggest computerizing the concept of cross-references, creating the clickable link we use on the Web. Nelson calls it a "hyperlink," and the computerized text "hypertext."

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Some elements -- when incorporated thoughtfully -- help tell stories and explain your company. Other elements work to improve how content looks on a specific device. While it's not necessary to include every trend that comes about on your website, many of them have the potential to improve your visitor's experience.

But with so many options to choose from, it can be challenging to determine which ones are really worth considering. To help you narrow your focus, we've detailed eight important elements of modern website design that you can include to improve your site's performance.

8 Modern Website Design Elements and Trends

Element #1: Unique and Large Typography

Most companies have a particular font or typography that they use to help their customers immediately identify them versus their competitors. In recent years, designers have received a larger selection of fonts to choose from, making it easier for brands to more accurately express themselves through typography.

For example, The New Yorker is recognized instantly through their use of unique font, Adobe Caslon Pro. While more unique fonts, such as Blokletters-Balpen, have begun to be used by startups and technology companies like Zero.

Why is it useful?

Typography uses one design trend across the website to lead readers to different parts of the page. For instance, The New Yorker website leads visitors from one section to another based on the typography and font sizes.

When creating your company's brand, your choice in typography can indicate subtle hints about who you are. Are you fun or serious? Functional or informational? Regardless of what font you choose, be sure that your designer considers its applicability across browsers and computers. Choosing a font that is not supported by common browsers and computers could mean that your website displays awkwardly on different devices.

Element #2: Large & Responsive Hero Images

You don't have to go far beyond the popular publishing website Medium.com to see an example of a large hero image:

Large images such as this one do away with the concept of above and below the fold. By focusing on just the image with text rather than a CTA or social buttons, Medium creates a strong visual experience that encourages you to scroll down to read more.

Large hero images are also often placed in the background with text and other content overlaid on top, like on Uber's website. Regardless of the approach you utilize, large images can help visually tell your story without having to rely on just text.

Why is it useful?

Your customers are coming from all over the place and have high expectations. You may not be sure if they are finding your website from their phone, tablet, or desktop computer. The image that Medium uses above is extremely powerful, but if it was only visible from desktop computers, many people may miss it.

That said, ensuring your images are responsive makes for a good user experience. Website visitors can look at different images -- whether they are the background or product images -- and be able to get the same experience no matter what device they are coming from.

Element #3: Background Videos

Videos that automatically play in the background can add a lot to a page. They can be used to tell a story and significantly reduce the amount of other content that is needed to explain your business.

Let's take Wistia's website, for example. When you land on their homepage a large video automatically starts playing in the background, and by clicking on the play button, you get a deeper look at Wistia:

This background video serves as a brilliant way to get the visitor engaged to click-through to the main video.

Why is it useful?

Background videos focus on enticing the visitor from the moment they land on your page. The video allows your visitor to understand the key points about your company without ever having to read a single line of text.

In addition, video is processed 60,000 times faster by our brains compared to text. While people are often hesitant to read heavy blocks of text, videos appear effortless and can be consumed very quickly. It also helps that connection speeds are increasing and mobile device sizes are growing, making for better video experiences.

Element #4: Semi-Flat Design

In 2013 Apple fundamentally shifted to flat design. Simply put, flat design is any element that does not include or give the perception of three dimensions, such as shadows. Not only is flat design is easier for users to comprehend, but it can also load more quickly on websites without complicated or overly-technical elements.

Following in Apple's footsteps, many other organizations -- both large and small -- have shifted to flat design. However, company's like Uber have put their own spin on the style by adding subtle shadows and dimensions. As you can see in the image below, the boxes have an element of depth with shadows around them, without overdoing it:

When you scroll over any of the boxes on the Uber homepage the shadow disappears and relieves the image behind it.

Why is it useful?

Flat design helps the visitor understand your content more quickly, and adding some elements of depth can bring it to life. Regardless of whether you fully design your website using flat design or utilize shadows and other elements, it's important to be consistent throughout your website. Ensure that your homepage, product pages, and any other key sections of your website all utilize the same design cues so that visitors can instantly understand what they're viewing.

Element #5: Hamburger Menus

It's likely that most websites you come in contact with have a long menu of options to choose from. The advantage of this is that the menu can take the visitor directly to where they want to go. However, the disadvantage is that they generally take up a ton of valuable screen space.

The hidden, or hamburger, menu changes this. This menu was common in web applications before making it's way to web design -- even in Google Chrome you can find a hamburger menu on the right-hand side.

Wondering why it's called a hamburger menu?

If you use your imagination, the three lines that are stacked on top of one another look like hamburger patties. Get it?

Why is it useful?

The pages of your website should have a clear path for the user to take. Removing a busy navigation makes the experience cleaner and distraction free. This improved experiences help to improve the likelihood that the user will find the information they need to complete a desired action.

Element #6: Giant Product Images

You may have noticed that many B2B websites are starting to display large product images on their sites to highlight different features or parts of their product. This is no coincidence.

To give you a better idea of what we're talking about, let's take a look at the product page for the HubSpot Website Platform:

There is a large featured image at the top of this page, and as you scroll down the page there are additional in-depth product images. The images are also responsive which aims to ensure an optimized experience for viewers coming from different devices, as we mentioned earlier.

Why is it useful?

Larger product images help designers highlight different features of a product in a more efficient and effective way.

This approach reinforces the benefits of a feature by providing the opportunity to highlight the most valuable pieces. For instance, in the second image, you will notice that there are numbers on the image corresponding with benefits of certain features.

These large images are also scan-friendly. They help visitors generate a solid understanding of what the different product features do by convey them through images instead of words.

Element #7: Card Design

With the rise of Pinterest, designers and marketers alike have become fascinated with cards. Individual cards help distribute information in a visual way so the visitors can easily consume bite-sized pieces of content without being overwhelmed.

Brit + Co's homepage serves as a great example of card design in action:

By breaking up different pieces of content into cards, users can pick and choose which articles they want to expand. This helps to keep the homepage feeling clean and organized, without relying on a ton of text.

Why is it useful?

Card design is becoming more and more popular across B2B and B2C websites because it helps to deliver easily digestible chunks of information for users. Using this design on your site can help highlight multiple products or solutions side-by-side.

Keep in mind that your cards should be responsive. This means that as the screen size gets smaller or larger, the number and size of cards shown should adapt accordingly.

Element #8: Short Product or Feature Videos

In addition to background videos, companies are also beginning to use short product or feature videos to highlight a specific use case. These short videos are great at bringing your solution to life, while not overwhelming the visitor with a long experience that they must sit through.

A strong example of this comes from the folks at InVision. They display this short illustrator of how easy it is to use their product by dragging-and-dropping a design directly on their homepage:

Why is it useful?

According to Inc. Magazine, 92% of B2B customers watch online video, and 43% of B2B customers watch online video when researching products and services for their business. Therefore, B2B companies need to create videos that explain their products because it is influential in the buyer's decision-making process.

These short videos allow for your prospect to quickly understand value without watching a really long, in-depth experience. Sure, both have value, but the shorter videos allows for quick understanding that is best for top of the funnel.

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in January 2014 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.
What other design elements are important to incorporate into your website? Let us know in the comments section below.

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The 8 Elements of Modern Web Design (And Web Design Trends to Watch)

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Some elements -- when incorporated thoughtfully -- help tell stories and explain your company. Other elements work to improve how content looks on a specific device. While it's not necessary to include every trend that comes about on your website, many of them have the potential to improve your visitor's experience.