Its a dicey time for the British TV industry. The BBC may not currently be facing the hostility of the previous government, but its output is being winnowed down by cuts; the chunk taken out industry-wide by Covid-19 has never really been put back; the pockets of the once-shiny new streamers are less deep than they used to be, and more desperate for returns on investment; and the majority freelance workforce that make the shows we love are seriously struggling for security and a future. The model needs to change.Despite all that gloom, 2024 has still seen some amazing work come to screen. Weve had tense crime series, globetrotting thrillers, glitzy entertainment shows, heartfelt comedy, imaginative sci-fi and brilliant period drama. Weve had shows so good they explain why clever, creative people choose unstable careers and crazy hours to make them. Join us in celebrating the most entertaining UK TV series of the year, and add any of your British favourites weve missed below. Youll find the Best Of American TV list here, feat. Shogun and Interview With the Vampire and House of the Dragon and all that great stuff. Happy watching!25. GladiatorsIn terms of uncomplicated, feel-good family joy, few series can beat this years BBC One Gladiators reboot. In an atomised entertainment world where every member of a family is sucked in to their own personal screen, shows with multi-generational appeal are increasingly rare, and this good-natured brawn-fest has to be the pick of the bunch. Presented by light entertainment doyen Bradley Walsh (his son Barney is also there), its charmingly nostalgic for those of us old enough to know who Ulrika(ka-ka) Jonsson is, fresh fun for everybody else, and once again a Saturday teatime staple. Read why its the last feelgood show standing here.24. Renegade NellSally Wainwrights family fantasy felt like a throwback to a different time not the 18th century, when it was set, but the late 20th century, when childrens teatime drama was at its peak. In the 70s, 80s or 90s, this imaginative story about Nell (Derry Girls Louisa Harland), a young woman endowed with magical superpowers by a sprite (Ted Lassos Nick Mohammed), would have been a post-bath and homework Sunday night family favourite. Nells adventures fighting evil lords and standing up for the oppressed were great fun, but sadly couldnt find their audience in the streaming age, hence Disney+ not renewing it. Read our review here.23. Red EyeTheres not much better than a big, silly TV thriller that knows its a big, silly TV thriller and absolutely leans into it. ITVs Red Eye (already renewed for a second series) is exactly that. Richard Armitage plays a surgeon implicated in an international spy conspiracy in this real-time six-parter set mostly aboard a London to Beijing flight. As the altitude climbs, so does the body count and so do the frankly ludicrous twists that come together for a genuinely exciting climax. Brain-off conspiracy fun. Read our review here.22. The Traitors Series 2When it works, it works, and in series two, The Traitors worked. Even the worst TV snob cant argue with the entertainment value of Dianes poisoned fizzy ros death and high drama funeral (well, they could, but as they almost certainly werent watching, the rest of us dont have to listen). Skulduggery, betrayal, twists, and beautiful weirdo Claudia Winkleman the high camp of The Traitors is a thing to behold, and a lifeline in the dark winter months. Bring on series three, and read our guide to the best survival tactics on the show, and why they should put Winklemans face on stamps, here.21. The Red KingFolk horror is a British institution, and one that writer Toby Whithouse (Being Human, Doctor Who) bravely attempted to revive for this Alibi six-parter, with some success. Anjli Mohindra plays Grace, a detective seconded to a remote British island where her investigation into the disappearance of a local teenager leads her to discover a vast conspiracy. Its a twisty mystery that pays bountiful homage to genre classic The Wicker Man and ticks a lot of familiar boxes. Read our review here.20. Until I Kill YouIts become so common for makers of true crime drama to insist that their shows arent exploitative or salacious but instead, all about giving a voice to the victims, that the sentiment has become almost meaningless. Four-parter ITV Until I Kill You though, really delivers on that promise. Serial killer John Sweeney (Shaun Evans) isnt the focus, this is very much the story of Delia Balmer (Anna Maxwell-Martin), a woman who suffered immensely at her former boyfriend Sweeneys hands, but whose story is ultimately one of strength and hope. Maxwell-Martin gives an extraordinary performance as this idiosyncratic survivor. Read about the dramas depiction of Balmers Catch-22 situation here.19. LudwigThis David Mitchell vehicle is charming stuff. Its faintly-ludicrous-but-knows-it story of identical twin brothers (Mitchell) and police conspiracy bumbled along nicely for six episodes, whereupon a cliffhanger made the now-commissioned second series a must. Mitchell plays socially awkward loner John Taylor, a puzzle-setting genius whose more outgoing police detective twin brother James goes missing, leaving his wife (Anna Maxwell Martin) and son behind. To find James, John must assume his identity, and it turns out that a lifetime of solving puzzles is excellent preparation for solving murders. A well-acted, unchallenging binge-watch dotted with treats including cameos by Derek Jacobi and Felicity Kendal. Read our review here.18. PassengerHappy Valley meets Stranger Things in this ITV horror mystery starring Lokis Wunmi Mosaku as a detective investigating weird happenings in an isolated Northern village. The TV screenwriting debut of The Crown and Betters Andrew Buchan, Passenger is a twisty story that pulls you along with eerie revelations, comedic interludes, intriguing characters and a solid cast. Whats really going on at the bread factory? Its worth spending six episodes of this unusual series finding out. Read our review here.17. Day of the JackalSky Atlantics new 10-part adaptation of Frederick Forsyths assassin novel takes the unusual step of following killer-for-hire The Jackal (Eddie Redmayne) and the MI6 agent obsessively tracking him (Lashana Lynch) home to their spouses and children. It slows things down, but adds another Killing Eve-type layer to the action thriller, giving it additional jeopardy as if The Day of the Jackal needed any more of that. Watch it for Redmaynes prosthetic disguises, car chases and expert marksmanship. Read our review here.16. ShardlakeThis TV adaptation of CJ Sansoms Tudor-set mystery novels has been a long time in the coming. Sir Kenneth Branagh was once attached before his attention strayed to Wallander, leaving room for Stephen Butchard (The Last Kingdom) to write this atmospheric adaptation for Disney+. It stars Arthur Hughes as 16th century lawyer Arthur Shardlake, a man tasked with investigating a murder at a wealthy, remote monastery that Henry VIII (Sean Bean) wants to find justification to shut down, and is a transportive crime mystery that does justice to Sansoms character and setting. Read our review here.15. Taskmaster Series 17 & 18What is there to say? Its Taskmaster, one of the most reliably entertaining British comedy shows around. Each new confection of guest brings its own flavour to whatever daft business Alex Horne, Greg Davies and co. have cooked up (performing classical music without any instruments, screaming body parts in Alexs face and secretly saying umbrella five times, to name but a few) . 2024 saw Steve Pemberton, Sophie Willian, Nick Mohammed, John Robins and Joanne McNally vie for first place, followed by Jack Dee, Emma Sidi, Rosie Jones, Babatunde Alsh and Andy Zaltzman. Always daft fun. Read our series ranking here.14. Big Boys Series 2A third series is on the way to Channel 4, so dont worry that the monumental finale to Big Boys second run would be our last visit to Jack, Danny and co. That finale belonged to the excellent Harriet Webb, whose role as Cousin Shannon was expanded this time literally as Shan found herself unexpectedly pregnant and on the labour ward in the last episode. Jack Rookes autobiographically inspired university comedy started strong and just gets better, so expect great things from Jack and Dannys final year at Brent.Read more 13. Blue Lights Series 2Belfast-set BBC One police drama Blue Lights eschews the home life-light approach of a more standoffish crime series like Line of Duty, and foregrounds the characters behind the official acronyms and handcuffs. Series one threw three rookie cops in at the deep end, and series two sees the new trio a little more experienced and steadier on their feet, but still finding their way through policing a city riven by political and religious division. And thats just their work lives; theres just as much drama to be found in the romantic side of things in Declan Lawn and Adam Pattersons well-cast, empathetically written show. Read our interview with Sian Brookes here.12. Mr Bates vs the Post OfficeIts rare in these days of too-much-TV for a single drama to cut through in the way that Mr Bates vs the Post Office did. In what might have been the best scheduling decision of recent years, the ITV four-parter about the sub-postmaster false conviction scandal was stripped across the very first week of 2024, when people were at home and looking for something new post-Christmas. We watched this brilliantly acted (Jason Watkins, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Monica Dolan) true story about cruel miscarriages of justice in droves, and viewers were mobilised to follow the story through the subsequent inquiry and its aftermath.11. One DayThe less said about the 2012 movie adaptation of David Nicholls One Day the better (it wasnt just poor Anne Hathaways Yorkshire accent, everything was just too concertinaed for a movie runtime to make any real impact). This 10-part Netflix series is the only adaptation to watch. Starring Ambika Mod and Leo Woodall as Emma and Dexter, the two romantic leads who meet on St Swithins Day (July 15th for anyone born after the ninth century) in 1988 and whose elliptical story we follow on that day for the next two decades. Funny, warm, nostalgic and be warned a teeny bit heartbreaking, this is a pretty perfect rom-com. Read how the Netflix version fixed the movies biggest problem, here.10. We Are Lady Parts Series 2Nida Manzoors excellent Channel 4 comedy about an all-female, all-Muslim punk rock band went even bigger in its second series. Instead of focusing mostly on the story of stage-fright-suffering guitarist Amina (Anjana Vasan), each bandmember had their turn in the spotlight and their own character drama played out inventively through music. With plenty to say about ambition, selling out, political expression and modern life, this ones a funny, raucous must-watch.9. RivalsPerhaps its the waiting-in-for-parcels time of Christmas talking, but how great is it when something actually delivers? When it was first announced, Disney+s Rivals promised to be oodles of saucy fun and delivered exactly that. It retold Jilly Coopers toff-bonking tale with a top cast (David Tennant, Katherine Parkinson, Aidan Turner, Claire Rushbrook) and an overflowing champagne coupe of bubbly 80s energy. The soundtrack, the outfits, the shagging, the wit it all worked, so thank goodness theyve already renewed it for a second series. Read our delighted review here.8. Almas Not Normal Series 2Sophie Willans Bafta-winning autobiographically inspired BBC Two sitcom has such a deft way with serious stuff (addiction, abuse, child neglect, cancer, death) that youre still grinning before youve even noticed that things have turned grim. Which they wont be for long, because Almas Not Normal brings heart, laughs and silliness to every scene, no matter the subject. Series one was great, but series two, which welcomes Steve Pemberton, Craig Parkinson and Nick Mohammed, is even better, and what it has to say about family and more is worth hearing. 7. SupacellThe emotional drama in Rapmans Netflix series would be enough to hold your attention even without the addition of superpowers and time-travel. Theyre the sci-fi fantasy icing on the cake of this extremely watchable and well made story about five Black south Londoners who discover they can do extraordinary things: telekinesis, super-strength, super-speed Its up to Tosin Coles Michael to bring all five together to complete a mission close to his heart, but when the pressures of real life get in the way, being a superheros not that easy. A second series has already been announced. Read our series one review here.6. KAOSDont cry that its over, smile because it happened? Thats about right for KAOS, a bold, inventive, modern take on Greek myths that was cancelled by Netflix in record time. Why? It was both ambitious (read: expensive) but also idiosyncratic and niche, so couldnt quite wipe its face when it came to drawing enough of an audience for the streamer. Created by The End of the F***ing Worlds Charlie Covell, KAOS reimagined Greek mythology through a modern lens, telling stories with imaginative twists and stuffing its episodes with Easter eggs for mythology nerds to savour. The cast was top-notch (Jeff Goldblum as Zeus? Janet McTeer as Hera? Beautiful.) and the whole thing was totally transportive. Read our review here.5. Baby ReindeerYou cant fail to have noticed Richard Gadds acclaimed Netflix series, though perhaps not for the right reasons. Gadds autobiographically inspired story about being stalked was the centre of a very well publicised legal hubbub (is that hubbub the right term when $170 million law suits are involved?) after the real woman Gadd had fictionalised as Jessica Gunning character Martha was first identified by fans online, and then pursued a case against the show for its description of itself as a true story. Expensive lessons are being learned, and Netflixs legal team will doubtless tighten up its processes in future, but brushing all that aside, what remains is the fact that Baby Reindeer is an excellent drama frank, honest, painful, funny and one of the best this year. With spoilers, read about its stunning fourth episode here.4. Slow Horses Series 4Weve said it before, but we (and everybody else writing about Apple TV+ spy thriller Slow Horses) will say it again: if this was on BBC One on a Sunday night, it would get gangbusters ratings and engender a national obsession on a par with the early days of Broadchurch and the later days of Line of Duty. That said, the BBC couldnt afford Gary Oldman, who makes this Mick Herron adaptation as brilliant as it is, so thats that.In series four, the disgraced spy graveyard that is Slough House dealt with a terrorist bombing, a mercenary international kill squad, a serious threat to a senior spook, and a very personal blast from the past. It was pacey, gripping, funny and well, it featured the best character on television. What more is there to say?3. Doctor Who Series 14Rewatch the trailer above. Do it now, Ill wait. Done? Okay. Wasnt it great? Didnt those episodes contain some of the most memorable and imaginative British television that you (and hopefully your kids) saw this year? Jinkx Monsoon crawling out of the piano, the return of Steven Moffat with the supremely tense Boom, Rubys creepy, unknowable shadow in 73 Yards, the spiffy Doctor and his new beau dancing in the Bridgerton episode, the many faces of Susan Twist, the ongoing mystery of Mrs Flood, THAT blast from the past in the two-part finale Granted, Space Babies wasnt the strongest start, and two Doctor-lite episodes out of eight with a brand new Doctor was too many, but looking back, theres so much to cheer about not least Ncuti Gatwa owning the part like he was the first person ever to play it. Bring on the Christmas special. Read our reviews and more here.2. Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the LightYou could call it recency bias seeing as at the time of writing, the second instalment of Peter Kosminsky and Peter Straughans Hilary Mantel adaptation Wolf Hall, featuring an ethereal score by Debbie Wiseman, is still airing on BBC One, but thats not it. The Mirror and the Light is simply the greatest combination of story, setting, writing, directing and performance that television has seen in years. Almost 10 years, in fact, when the first series aired. Damian Lewis is excellent as King Henry VIII, a vain and childlike man of terrible power, but Mark Rylance is supreme as clever, kind, ferocious and idealistic Thomas Cromwell. Last series was all about Cromwells rise, and this ones all about his fall, making it darker, more emotional and totally compelling. Read our slightly giddy episode reviews here.1. Inside No. 9This was an astounding feat. The ninth series of Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pembertons brilliant BBC Two anthology marked 55 individual stories and distinct settings with several times as many characters, and countless surprises. Not only did series nine contain episodes as good as the show has ever made (tube train-set opener Boo to a Goose is easily Top 10), but the finale was also the perfect capper to everything that went before. In Plodding On, Inside No. 9 went meta and showed us its own wrap party, complete with a roster of past guest stars and more Easter egg references to previous stories than it would be sane to count (we tried). Having been in such regular supply this past decade, it would be easy to take the extraordinary achievement of Inside No. 9 for granted, so we chose not to by putting it at the top of this list. Bravo to all involved. Read our episode reviews here.

I have an AirTag on my keychain to keep track of my keys, but obviously an AirTag is too big and bulky to fit inside a wallet. Thats what the SwitchBot Wallet Finder is for. Disguised inside a thin, credit-card form factor, the SwitchBot Wallet Finder connects to the Find My app on your iPhone, so you can follow its location, and it even houses a speaker so you can make it beep to help you find your wallet when it inevitably gets lost somewhere in your home.Read on for my review SetupSetup is super simple. Although it ostensibly supports its own app and Android, I have used it solely through the Apple Find My app built into the phone. I didnt even download the SwitchBot app at all. To set up, you open Find My, tap Add Item, and press and hold the button on the Wallet Finder card for a couple of seconds. You then choose a name and emoji icon to identify it later. By default, it suggested Benjamins Keys, but I renamed it to Benjamins Wallet, selected one of the wallet-adjacent available emojis, and pressed Continue and I was done. Then, it just slips into one of the empty card pockets in my wallet.How it tracks locationAs a reminder, Find My accessories do not have GPS. Instead, they broadcast a low-energy Bluetooth signal that nearby Apple devices like iPhones, iPads and Macs pick up on. The location is then transmitted securely and privately to the Find My network, so you can hopefully locate and retrieve your lost item.Even if you are miles away, as long as someone with an Apple device is nearby, the wallet will be locatable on the map in the Find My app.Theres also no ongoing subscription or other costs to worry about (unlike some competitors).As demonstrated by the success of AirTags, the Find My network works really well and the SwitchBot Wallet Finder is just as effective. If your item is stationary, and nearby one of the billion iOS devices in the world, it wont take too long for its location to appear in Find My. If the item is moving, location updates are slightly delayed behind real-time, however.You can also use the Find My app to mark your item as explicitly lost. Then, if someone else finds your wallet and wants to help give it back to its rightful owner, they can use the Identify Found Item feature in Find My which will present your contact information to help arrange returning it to you. The upcoming iOS 18.2 update even adds the ability to make a shareable link to send to others to help assist in tracking down your lost items.Finding nearby using the speakerUnlike an AirTag, the Wallet Finder does not incorporate an ultra-wide band radio. That means it lacks the Precision Finding feature that the AirTag offers when in close proximity.However, the integrated speaker in the Wallet Finder more than suffices for the job of finding your lost wallet. When in Bluetooth range, the card emits a reasonably loud tone. It is slightly less loud than the sound an AirTag makes, and naturally gets a bit muffed when ensconced inside a closed wallet, but it is still audible, more than enough for you to hear it from a good distance away.For the (embarrassingly common) case of when Ive misplaced my wallet somewhere inside my house, I can now just open the Find My app, press Play Sound, and instantly hear which room it is in.Find My also works with the Siri voice assistant, as an added convenience. For example, I can shout wheres my wallet? at my HomePod, and it will start pinging it for me.Safety and trackingIve been using Pebblebee Card for the last couple of years and I love it! They released a new version recently that has even longer battery life. Rechargeable also! View all commentsJust like AirTags, the Wallet Finder is marketed as a device to help recover lost items. It is not designed to address problems of theft or nefariously track other people. If the card is separated from its owner for a period of time, the speaker will emit a noise to make people aware of its presence. It will also trigger Unknown Item Moving With You alerts on any nearby iPhones in the vicinity.Its also worth pointing out that someone else with the card in their possession can deactivate the Find My connection, by pressing the button in a particular shutdown sequence.ConclusionIf used for its intended purpose, the SwitchBot Wallet Finder is a very effective and great value for money. While obviously designed to be kept inside a wallet, it even has a built-in hole cutout if you did want to slip it on some kind of lanyard or keychain. I highly recommend it.Perhaps the only drawback to be aware of is that the Wallet Finder card has no means of replacing the battery. It is a single use consumable, rated for about 3 years of usage. But the contents of your wallet are valuable enough that it probably makes financial sense to simply buy another when it eventually dies. You just have to be okay with yourself regarding the environmental waste.Add 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

With iOS 18.2, Apple introduced an all new Mail app. It introduced mail categorization, a fresh coat of paint, contact photos/business logos for conversations, a new system for grouping emails, and more. All of that sounded nice when it was unveiled back at WWDC, but now that Ive actually spent some time using it, Im having some doubts.Mail CategorizationOne of the biggest features in the new Mail app is categorization, breaking down your emails into varying categories of Primary, Transactions, Updates, and Promotions.This all sounds nice in concept, since itd declutter your inbox, and the Primary tab would contain everything thats important. In practice though, a lot of things were incorrectly categorized, and I found myself swiping over to the All Mail tab most of the time, that way I could see everything without having to deal with inaccurate sorting.And yes, you can choose to recategorize senders if you dont like how Apple chose to sort it. However, I find that a bit tedious compared to simply turning categorization off entirely.How to disable itApple thought about the fact that everyone might not necessarily like categorization, and provided a simple way to disable it.Click on the three dots in the upper right hand corner of the inbox, and you can swap from Categories to List View. This provides an All Mail experience, while still keeping the profile pictures and other design elements of the new Mail app.This setting is also inbox by inbox, so if youd like to have categorization on all inboxes, but a list view for others, you can do that.Priority notificationsAll Mail should be the first tab and default option. Now when you open the app already inside an inbox you need to make sure you're looking at the correct mailbox (if you have multiple accounts), and you're looking at the correct category/all mail. View all commentsLuckily for me, Apple already has Priority Notifications in the Mail app, which does a much better job at quickly highlighting whats important, without me feeling like Im potentially missing out on emails because of less-than-ideal categorization. This feature has definitely saved me a couple times. Obviously, this feature requires an Apple Intelligence capable device (iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro, iPad mini 7, and M1 and later Macs/iPads) but its my preferred method of seeing whats important.Apple will also soon be expanding Priority Notifications to all Apple Intelligence capable devices in a future iOS 18 release, allowing you to keep track of whats most important, across all of your varying apps not just mail. However, thats not here quite yet.What do you think of the new Mail app in iOS 18.2? Let us know in the comments below.Follow Michael:X/Twitter,Bluesky,InstagramAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Dec 16, 2024Ravie LakshmananCryptocurrency / Phishing AttackCybersecurity researchers are calling attention to a new kind of investment scam that leverages a combination of social media malvertising, company-branded posts, and artificial intelligence (AI) powered video testimonials featuring famous personalities, ultimately leading to financial and data loss."The main goal of the fraudsters is to lead victims to phishing websites and forms that harvest their personal information," ESET noted in its H2 2024 Threat Report shared with The Hacker News.The Slovak cybersecurity company is tracking the threat under the name Nomani, a play on the phrase "no money." It said the scam grew by over 335% between H1 and H2 2024, with more than 100 new URLs detected daily on average between May and November 2024.The attacks play out through fraudulent ads on social media platforms, in several cases targeting people who have previously been scammed by making use of Europol- and INTERPOL-related lures about contacting them for help or getting their stolen money refunded by clicking on a link.These ads are published from a mix of fake and stolen legitimate profiles associated with small businesses, governmental entities, and micro-influencers with tens of thousands of followers. Other distribution channels include sharing these posts on Messenger and Threads, as well as sharing deceptively positive reviews on Google."Another large group of accounts frequently spreading Nomani ads are newly created profiles with easy-to-forget names, a handful of followers, and very few posts," ESET pointed out.The websites these links direct to have been found to request for their contact information and visually imitate local news media; abuse logos and branding of specific organizations; or claim to advertise cryptocurrency management solutions with ever-changing names such as Quantum Bumex, Immediate Mator, or Bitcoin Trader.In the next step, cybercriminals use the data gathered from the phishing domains to directly call the victims and manipulate them into investing their money into non-existent investment products that falsely show phenomenal gains. In some cases, victims are duped into taking out loans or installing remote access apps on their devices."When these victim 'investors' request payout of the promised profits, the scammers force them to pay additional fees and to provide further personal information such as ID and credit card information," ESET said. "In the end, the fraudsters take both the money and data and disappear following the typical pig butchering scam."There is evidence to suggest that Nomani is the work of Russian-speaking threat actors given the presence of source code comments in Cyrillic and the use of Yandex tools for visitor tracking.Similar to major scam operations like Telekopye, it's suspected that there are different groups who are in charge of managing each and every aspect of the attack chain: Theft, creation, and abuse of Meta accounts and ads, building the phishing infrastructure, and running the call centers."By using social engineering techniques and building trust with the victims, scammers often outmaneuver even the authorization mechanisms and verification phone calls the banks use to prevent fraud," ESET said.The development comes as South Korean law enforcement agencies said it took down a large-scale fraud network that defrauded nearly $6.3 million from victims with fake online trading platforms as part of an operation called MIDAS. More than 20 servers utilized by the fraud ring have been seized and 32 people involved in the scheme have been arrested.Besides luring victims with SMS and phone calls, users of the illicit home trading system (HTS) programs were enticed into investing their funds by watching YouTube videos and joining KakaoTalk chat rooms."The program communicates with the servers of real brokerage firms to get real-time stock price information, and uses publicly available chart libraries to create visual representations," the Financial Security Institute (K-FSI) said in a presentation given at the Black Hat Europe conference last week."However, no actual stock trades are made. Rather, the program's core feature, a screen capture function, is used to spy on users' screens, collect unauthorized information, and refuse to return money."Found this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.SHARE

Dec 16, 2024Ravie LakshmananMalware / CybercrimeCybersecurity researchers have discovered a new PHP-based backdoor called Glutton that has been put to use in cyber attacks targeting China, the United States, Cambodia, Pakistan, and South Africa.QiAnXin XLab, which discovered the malicious activity in late April 2024, attributed the previously unknown malware with moderate confidence to the prolific Chinese nation-state group tracked Winnti (aka APT41)."Interestingly, our investigation revealed that Glutton's creators deliberately targeted systems within the cybercrime market," the company said. "By poisoning operations, they aimed to turn the tools of cybercriminals against them a classic 'no honor among thieves' scenario."Glutton is designed to harvest sensitive system information, drop an ELF backdoor component, and perform code injection against popular PHP frameworks like Baota (BT), ThinkPHP, Yii, and Laravel. The ELF malware also shares "near-complete similarity" with a known Winnti tool known as PWNLNX.Despite the links to Winnti, XLab said it cannot definitely link the backdoor to the adversary owing to the lack of stealth techniques typically associated with the group. The cybersecurity company described the shortcomings as "uncharacteristically subpar."This includes the lack of encrypted command-and-control (C2) communications, the use of HTTP (instead of HTTPS) for downloading the payloads, and the fact that the samples are devoid of any obfuscation.At its heart, Glutton is a modular malware framework capable of infecting PHP files on target devices, as well as plant backdoors. It's believed that initial access is achieved via the exploitation of zero-day and N-day flaws and brute-force attacks.Another unconventional approach involves advertising on cybercrime forums compromised enterprise hosts containing l0ader_shell, a backdoor injected into PHP files, effectively allowing the operators to mount attacks on other cybercriminals.The primary module that enables the attack is "task_loader," which is used to assess the execution environment and fetch additional components, including "init_task," which is responsible for downloading an ELF-based backdoor that masquerades as the FastCGI Process Manager ("/lib/php-fpm"), infecting PHP files with malicious code for further payload execution, and collecting sensitive information and modifying system files.The attack chain also includes a module named "client_loader," a refactored version of "init_task," that makes use of an updated network infrastructure and incorporates the ability to download and execute a backdoored client. It modifies systems files like "/etc/init.d/network" to establish persistence.The PHP backdoor is a fully-featured backdoor that supports 22 unique commands that allow it to switch C2 connections between TCP and UDP, launch a shell, download/upload files, perform file and directory operations, and run arbitrary PHP code. In addition, the framework makes it possible to fetch and run more PHP payloads by periodically polling the C2 server."These payloads are highly modular, capable of functioning independently or being executed sequentially via task_loader to form a comprehensive attack framework," XLab said. "All code execution occurs within PHP or PHP-FPM (FastCGI) processes, ensuring no file payloads are left behind, thus achieving a stealthy footprint."One other notable aspect is the use of the HackBrowserData tool on systems used by cybercrime operators to steal sensitive information with a likely goal to inform future phishing or social engineering campaigns."In addition to targeting traditional 'whitehat' victims through cybercrime, Glutton demonstrates a strategic focus on exploiting cybercrime resources operators," XLab said. "This creates a recursive attack chain, leveraging the attackers' own activities against them."The disclosure comes weeks after XLab detailed an updated version of the APT41 malware called Mlofe that adds improved persistence mechanisms and "embeds an RC4-encrypted kernel driver to mask traces of files, processes, and network connections."Once installed, the Linux backdoor is equipped to communicate with a C2 server to receive and execute various commands, including collecting device and process information, launching shell, managing processes, carrying out file and directory operations, and uninstalling itself."Melofee offers straightforward functionality with highly effective stealth capabilities," it said. "Samples of this malware family are rare, suggesting that attackers may limit its use to high-value targets."Found this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.SHARE

DescriptionSubscript is an early-stage startup focused on making life better for B2B SaaS finance leaders.Were backed by top-tier investors like First Round Capital as well as execs from Looker, Gusto, Postman, Plaid and others. Were looking for our first Content Marketing Manager to help continue our rapid growth!In this role, youll help Subscript become a content powerhouse while you grow your marketing career with us!The way we work:At Subscript, we do things differently and we're proud of that:First, you should know that every job at Subscript (including this one) is completely remote. You can truly work from wherever you want! Youll have co-workers in San Francisco, Portugal, Brazil, England, Vietnam, Canada and many other places. We are an asynchronous team - we don't do scheduled internal meetings, and we rely on each team member to communicate clearly in writing and with recorded videos. If you're sick of pointless meetings, this is the place for you! In fact, youll soon notice that most of this interview process is going to be asynchronous. We told you we do things differently!We're a team that loves working together - we love playing board games (these we do synchronously ). Full-time team members meet up multiple times per year for live offsites around the world (expenses paid!)Like all start-ups we're scrappy, but not scrappy on compensation: Subscript is committed to paying our awesome team members at market rate!The role youll play on our team:As our first Content Marketing Manager, not only are you going to be responsible for creating all of our content, youre also in charge of strategically guiding us to ensure were creating the right type of content. You need to be strategic, but also need to roll up your sleeves and get stuff done.Fortunately, Subscript is already well known for its terrific content. Not only do we have a collection of thoughtful written content, but we also have a well-respected video podcast that has featured thought leaders like the CFO of Braze, the CFO of ThoughtSpot and the CFO of Gainsight. Now, its up to you to build upon that foundation. Finance leaders at B2B SaaS companies are eager for great content and were counting on you to keep impressing them.Youre joining as the second or third marketer on our team. Youll partner with our Head of Marketing and youll be a key reason that Subscript is successful. We hope youll look back in five years and be tremendously proud of the content marketing engine you built.To be a good fit for this role you likely need 2-5 years of content marketing experience at a B2B SaaS company.Traits youll need to be great in this role:A sponge - To excel in this role youll need to be a great learner who is eager to become an even better content marketer.Talented and prolific writer - You need to be a gifted writer who absolutely loves the craft of using words to inspire people. And, at the same time, you need to be able to overcome writers block, or the need to be perfect. Were counting on you to create a large volume of high-quality content. In two years wed like to be known for our incredible content throughout the world of B2B SaaS, and youll be the driving force to get us there.Flexibility - We believe in creating a wide variety of content here at Subscript and youll be in charge of all of it! For example, in a week you might write blog posts, produce a video podcast, craft some LinkedIn posts, and put together an email series. Thats really just scratching the surface!Bias toward action - In this role youll role up your sleeves and do a lot of work. This isnt a simply a content strategy role - were just too early in our adventure for that. Instead, youre leading content strategy, while also leading content production and content analysis. There will be resources to help you along the way, but youll only be successful if you love jumping in and creating things.Resourceful - Youre great at figuring things out!The interview processWe like to be really transparent about everything at Subscript, including our interview process!Our interview process is designed to focus on the traits listed above, as well as your ability to communicate clearly (both written and via recorded video). We're a fully asynchronous company, so that's how we will mostly communicate in this interview process too .1. First, youll fill out the application. This also involves answering a couple of questions.2. Next, youll complete an exercise where you write a Subscript blog post. Well never publish this writing (unless *you* decide to publish it once youre hired). Were eager to see if you can understand our ICP and create something theyd find compelling.3. Then, youll complete your final exercise where youll create a launch plan for an episode of our video podcast.4. Lastly, youll meet with Phil Sharp, our Head of Marketing. This will be a casual conversation where hell have some questions for you, but will also save a lot of time for whatever is on your mind!5. And finally, hopefully we'll send you an offer. And hopefully you'll accept!BenefitsUnlimited vacationCompletely flexible work schedule work literally anytime (and anywhere) you want!Benefits appropriate to your location (health/dental/vision in the USA)Company-wide retreats multiple times per yearLike all start-ups we're scrappy, but not scrappy on compensation: Subscript is committed to paying our awesome team members at market-rate, including benefits. Related Jobs See more Sales and Marketing jobs

DescriptionSubscript is an early-stage startup focused on making life better for B2B SaaS finance leaders.Were backed by top-tier investors like First Round Capital as well as execs from Looker, Gusto, Postman, Plaid and others. Were looking for our first Growth Marketing Manager to help continue our rapid growth!In this role youll wear a lot of different hats and continue to grow your marketing career with us!The way we work:At Subscript, we do things differently and we're proud of that:First, you should know that every job at Subscript (including this one) is completely remote. You can truly work from wherever you want! Youll have co-workers in San Francisco, Portugal, Brazil, England, Vietnam, Canada and many other places. We are an asynchronous team - we don't do scheduled internal meetings, and we rely on each team member to communicate clearly in writing and with recorded videos. If you're sick of pointless meetings, this is the place for you! In fact, youll soon notice that most of this interview process is going to be asynchronous. We told you we do things differently!We're a team that loves working together - we love playing board games (these we do synchronously ). Full-time team members meet up multiple times per year for live offsites around the world (expenses paid!)Like all start-ups we're scrappy, but not scrappy on compensation: Subscript is committed to paying our awesome team members at market rate!The role youll play on our team:Subscript has grown fast in the last year and its up to you to help us continue that growth in 2025! Were counting on you to be a well-rounded marketer who can launch and scale new growth channels across both Paid and Organic.You need to be flexible enough to work across multiple marketing disciplines. For example, one day you might be launching LinkedIn ads, the next day you might be optimizing cold email campaigns, and another day you might be creating an SEO strategy. We dont expect you to be an expert across all of these channels, but we do expect you to have the right marketing fundamentals, and an eagerness to learn.Youre joining as the second marketer on our team. Youll partner with our Head of Marketing and youll be a key reason that Subscript is successful.To be a good fit for this role you likely need 2-5 years of marketing experience. Ideally, a lot of that experience is at a B2B SaaS company.Traits youll need to be great in this role:A sponge - To excel in this role youll need to be a great learner who is eager to become an even better marketer.A well-rounded marketer - We dont want a performance marketer, or a SEO specialist, or a LinkedIn influencer. We straight up need some marketers. We want someone who can (and is eager to) flex into multiple disciplines of marketing.Good with math - You dont need to be an engineer, but you do need to be a numbers person. You need to be able to say, This experiment isnt worth running because in the best case scenario it will generate x visits to our site which will likely only turn into y customers.Strong writer - Its hard to be a great, well-rounded marketer unless youre a strong writer. And, its impossible to work in a culture like Subscript unless you can document your work and persuade others to take action through writing.Resourceful - Youre great at figuring things out!The interview processWe like to be really transparent about everything at Subscript, including our interview process!Our interview process is designed to focus on the traits listed above, as well as your ability to communicate clearly (both written and via recorded video). We're a fully asynchronous company, so that's how we will mostly communicate in this interview process too .1. First, youll fill out the application. This also involves answering a couple of questions.2. Next, youll complete an exercise where you get to demonstrate how youd approach learning something new. The output of your work here will be 1-2 pages of writing.3. Then, youll complete your final exercise designed to help us learn more about how you approach marketing and growth. The output of your work here will be 1-3 pages of writing.4. Lastly, youll meet with Phil Sharp, our Head of Marketing. This will be a casual conversation where hell have some questions for you, but will also save a lot of time for whatever is on your mind!5. And finally, hopefully we'll send you an offer. And hopefully you'll accept!BenefitsUnlimited vacationCompletely flexible work schedule work literally anytime (and anywhere) you want!Benefits appropriate to your location (health/dental/vision in the USA)Company-wide retreats multiple times per yearLike all start-ups we're scrappy, but not scrappy on compensation: Subscript is committed to paying our awesome team members at market-rate, including benefits. Related Jobs See more Sales and Marketing jobs

Last week, this space was all about OpenAIs 12 days of shipmas. This week, the spotlight is on Google, which has been speeding toward the holiday by shipping or announcing its own flurry of products and updates. The combination of stuff here is pretty monumental, not just for a single company, but I think because it speaks to the power of the technology industryeven if it does trigger a personal desire that we could do more to harness that power and put it to more noble uses. To start, last week Google Introduced Veo, a new video generation model, and Imagen 3, a new version of its image generation model.Then on Monday, Google announced a breakthrough in quantum computing with its Willow chip. The company claims the new machine is capable of a standard benchmark computation in under five minutes that would take one of todays fastest supercomputers 10 septillion (that is, 1025) years. you may recall that MIT Technology Review covered some of the Willow work after researchers posted a paper preprint in August. But this week marked the big media splash. It was a stunning update that had Silicon Valley abuzz. (Seriously, I have never gotten so many quantum computing pitches as in the past few days.) Google followed this on Wednesday with even more gifts: a Gemini 2 release, a Project Astra update, and even more news about forthcoming agents called Mariner, an agent that can browse the web, and Jules, a coding assistant. First: Gemini 2. Its impressive, with a lot of performance updates. But I have frankly grown a little inured by language-model performance updates to the point of apathy. Or at least near-apathy. I want to see them do something. So for me, the cooler update was second on the list: Project Astra, which comes across like an AI from a futuristic movie set. Google first showed a demo of Astra back in May at its developer conference, and it was the talk of the show. But, since demos offer companies chances to show off products at their most polished, it can be hard to tell whats real and whats just staged for the audience. Still, when my colleague Will Douglas Heaven recently got to try it out himself, live and unscripted, it largely lived up to the hype. Although he found it glitchy, he noted that those glitches can be easily corrected. He called the experience stunning and said it could be generative AIs killer app.On top of all this, Will notes that this week Google DeepMind CEO (the companys AI division) Demis Hassabis was in Sweden to receive his Nobel Prize. And what did you do with your week? Making all this even more impressive, the advances represented in Willow, Gemini, Astra, and Veo are ones that just a few years ago many, many people would have said were not possibleor at least not in this timeframe.A popular knock on the tech industry is that it has a tendency to over-promise and under-deliver. The phone in your pocket gives the lie to this. So too do the rides I took in Waymos self-driving cars this week. (Both of which arrived faster than Ubers estimated wait time. And honestly its not been that long since the mere ability to summon an Uber was cool!) And while quantum has a long way to go, the Willow announcement seems like an exceptional advance; if not a tipping point exactly, then at least a real waypoint on a long road. (For what its worth, Im still not totally sold on chatbots. They do offer novel ways of interacting with computers, and have revolutionized information retrieval. But whether they are beneficial for humanityespecially given energy debts, the use of copyrighted material in their training data, their perhaps insurmountable tendency to hallucinate, etc.is debatable, and certainly is being debated. But Im pretty floored by this weeks announcements from Google, as well as OpenAIfull stop.) And for all the necessary and overdue talk about reining in the power of Big Tech, the ability to hit significant new milestones on so many different fronts all at once is something that only a company with the resources of a Google (or Apple or Microsoft or Amazon or Meta or Baidu or whichever other behemoth) can do.All this said, I dont want us to buy more gadgets or spend more time looking at our screens. I dont want us to become more isolated physically, socializing with others only via our electronic devices. I dont want us to fill the air with carbon or our soil with e-waste. I do not think these things should be the price we pay to drive progress forward. Its indisputable that humanity would be better served if more of the tech industry was focused on ending poverty and hunger and disease and war. Yet every once in a while, in the ever-rising tide of hype and nonsense that pumps out of Silicon Valley, epitomized by the AI gold rush of the past couple of years, there are moments that make me sit back in awe and amazement at what people can achieve, and in which I become hopeful about our ability to actually solve our larger problemsif only because we can solve so many other dumber, but incredibly complicated ones. This week was one of those times for me. Now read the rest of The Debrief The News Robotaxi adoptionis hitting a tipping point. But also,GM is shutting down its Cruise robotaxi division. Hereshow to use OpenAIs new video editing toolSora. Blueskyhas an impersonator problem. The AI hype machine iscoming under government scrutiny. The Chat Every week, I talk to one of MIT Technology Reviews journalists to go behind the scenes of a story they are working on. This week, I hit up James ODonnell, who covers AI and hardware, about his story on how the startup defense contractorAnduril is bringing AI to the battlefield. Mat:James, you got a pretty up close look at something most people probably havent even thought about yet, which is how the future of AI-assisted warfare might look. What did you learn on that trip that you think will surprise people? James:Two things stand out. One, I think people would be surprised by the gulf between how technology has developed for the last 15 years for consumers versus the military. For consumers, weve gotten phones, computers, smart TVs and other technologies that generally do a pretty good job of talking to each other and sharing our data, even though theyre made by dozens of different manufacturers. Its called the internet of things. In the military, technology has developed in exactly the opposite way, and its putting them in a crisis. They have stealth aircraft all over the world, but communicating about a drone threat might be done with Powerpoints and a chat service reminiscent of AOL Instant Messenger. The second is just how much the Pentagon is now looking to AI to change all of this. New initiatives have surged in the current AI boom. They are spending on training new AI models to better detect threats, autonomous fighter jets, and intelligence platforms that use AI to find pertinent information. What I saw at Andurils test site in California is also a key piece of that. Using AI to connect to and control lots of different pieces of hardware, like drones and cameras and submarines, from a single platform. The amount being invested in AI is much smaller than for aircraft carriers and jets, but its growing. Mat:I was talking with a different startup defense contractor recently, who was talking to me about the difficulty of getting all these increasingly autonomous devices on the battlefield talking to each other in a coordinated way. Like Anduril, he was making the case that this has to be done at the edge, and that there is too much happening for human decision making to process. Do you think thats true? Why is that? James:So many in the defense space have pointed to the war in Ukraine as a sign that warfare is changing. Drones are cheaper and more capable than they ever were in the wars in the Middle East. Its why the Pentagon is spending $1 billion on the Replicator initiative to fieldthousands of cheap dronesby 2025. Its also looking to field more underwater drones as it plans for scenarios in which China may invade Taiwan. Once you get these systems, though, the problem is having all the devices communicate with one another securely. You need to play Air Traffic Control at the same time that youre pulling in satellite imagery and intelligence information, all in environments where communication links are vulnerable to attacks. Mat:I guess I still have a mental image of a control room somewhere, like you might see inDr. StrangeloveorWar Games(orStar Warsfor that matter) with a handful of humans directing things. Are those days over? James:I think a couple things will change. One, a single person in that control room will be responsible for a lot more than they are now. Rather than running just one camera or drone system manually, theyll command software that does it for them, for lots of different devices. The idea that the defense tech sector is pushing is to take them out of the mundane tasksrotating a camera around to look for threatsand instead put them in the drivers seat for decisions that only humans, not machines, can make. Mat:I know that critics of the industry push back on the idea of AI being empowered to make battlefield decisions, particularly when it comes to life and death, but it seems to me that we are increasingly creeping toward that and it seems perhaps inevitable. Whats your sense? James:This is painting with broad strokes, but I think the debates about military AI fall along similar lines to what we see for autonomous vehicles. You have proponents saying that driving is not a thing humans are particularly good at, and when they make mistakes, it takes lives. Others might agree conceptually, but debate at what point its appropriate to fully adopt fallible self-driving technology in the real world. How much better does it have to be than humans? In the military, the stakes are higher. Theres no question that AI is increasingly being used to sort through and surface information to decision-makers. Its finding patterns in data, translating information, and identifying possible threats. Proponents are outspoken that that will make warfare more precise and reduce casualties. What critics are concerned about is how far across that decision-making pipeline AI is going, and how much there is human oversight. I think where it leaves me is wanting transparency. When AI systems make mistakes, just like when human military commanders make mistakes, I think we deserve to know, and that transparency does not have to compromise national security. It tookyearsfor reporter Azmat Khan to piece together the mistakes made during drone strikes in the Middle East, because agencies were not forthcoming. That obfuscation absolutely cannot be the norm as we enter the age of military AI. Mat:Finally, did you have a chance to hit an In-N-Out burger while you were in California? James:Normally In-N-Out is a requisite stop for me in California, but ahead of my trip I heard lots of good things about the burgers at The Apple Pan in West LA, so I went there. To be honest, the fries were better, but for the burger I have to hand it to In-N-Out. The Recommendation A few weeks ago I suggestedCa7riel and Paco Amorosos appearance on NPR Tiny Desk. At the risk of this space becoming a Tiny Desk stan account, Im back again with another. I was completely floored byDoechiis Tiny Desk appearance last week. Its so full of talent and joy and style and power. I came away completely inspired and have basically had her music on repeat in Spotify ever since. If you are already a fan of her recorded music, you will love her live. If shes new to you, well, youre welcome. Go check it out. Oh, and dont worry: Im not planning to recommendBillie Eilishs new Tiny Desk concertin next weeks newsletter. Mostly because Im doing so now.

html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"We have listed the top 5 most viewed WA Award-winning projects in 2024 as the new year approaches. Our selection, entirely based on the number of individual page views, their page views show that our readers highly interested to those projects.The 5 projects, ranging from 46th Cycle to 48th Cycle of WA Awards 10+5+X, includes projects Korean architecture practice Mind Architects' Cafe Soom in South Korea, MAS Architecture's Draco Hotel & Suite from Vietnam, Direction Architects' House Symbiosis from Greece.While the four projects are selected from the 46th Cycle of WA Awards, and one project is selected from the 47th Cycle of WA Awards. WAC's list mostly focuses on the Realised categories, while only one project is selected from the Student category.Do you want to be on this list? We have extended the deadline for the WA Awards 49th Cycle. The WA Awards 10+5+X 49th Cycle is open for entries until Thursday, 19December, 2024 (23:59 GMT +0).Start your entries from here.Scroll down to see WAC's 5 most viewed WA Award-winning projects in 2024 (listed by the number of page views):Image Ryu JunyeolWA Awards 10+5+X 46th Cycle winner: Cafe Soom in South Korea by Mind ArchitectsDesigned by Mind Architects, the building has a bare concrete skin that highlights the sculptural and geometric mass that the studio produced, which is reminiscent of natural rocks. The building's outside features are closed and introverted.The courtyard on the east side of the building provides enough natural light for the inside while providing a complete view of the surroundings. The site's external and vivacious courtyard merges perfectly with the natural surroundings."It is hoped that users of Cafe Soom will pass through the desolate retaining wall like a castle wall and enjoy nature while breathing in a warm and cozy space," the office explained.Cafe Soom in South Korea by Mind Architects won the WA Awards 10+5+X 46th Cycle in the Architecture/Realised category.The project received 18,080 page views at the time of this writing.Image courtesy of MAS ArchitectureWA Awards 10+5+X 46th Cycle winner: Draco Hotel & Suite in Vietnam byMAS ArchitectureDesigned by Vietnamese architecture firm MAS Architecture, the idea behind the project is to create an oasis in hospitality where guests are completely comfortable in both open and closed spaces. From this angle, the minimalist and consistent design is evident in every area.The Draco Hotel & Suite has a scale of 50 rooms with an absolute view to the sea together with the surrounding area. In order to optimize the landscape's area and provide the most focused view of the sea, those bedroom blocks are oriented with priority in one direction. The open-plan interior design also prioritizes aesthetic appeal and sensory pleasure. usually dismantling the traditional separation between sleeping and bathroom areas and establishing a seamless connection to increase the visual perception of space in a limited space.Draco Hotel & Suite in Vietnam by MAS Architecture won the WA Awards 10+5+X 46th Cycle in the Architecture/Realised category.The project received 12,247 page views at the time of this writing.Image Studio Naaro/Marcela SpadaroWA Awards 10+5+X 47th Cycle winner: House Symbiosis in Greece byDirection ArchitectsDesigned by Greek architecture practice Direction Architects, the House SymbiosisThe facades' volumetric displacement creates cantilevers and balconies, which purposefully reduce interior visual contact and provide exclusive outdoor areas. The front inner facade's sculptural ribbon-like geometry gives the appearance that the building is moving.House Symbiosis in Greece by Direction Architects won the WA Awards 10+5+X 47th Cycle in the Architecture/Realised category.The project received 6,959 page views at the time of this writing.Image courtesy of Merve rkeWA Awards 10+5+X 46th Cycle winner: Green Network in Turkey by Merve rkeDesigned by architecture student Merve rke, one particular focus of the Green Network project is encouraging people to live sustainably. The goal goes beyond simple urban growth; a city that thrives on sustainable green energy offers its citizens chances for social, cultural, and economic advancement. Energy is conceived as a comprehensive force that has the power to raise the city's standard of living.Bringing green energy to Basmane, zmir, Turkey, which has been identified as the crucial component for this transformation, is the starting point of this revolutionary reaction. In order to efficiently transfer green energy from passive energy systems along the train line that extends to Basmane, the Green Network project is a comprehensive infrastructure and superstructure undertaking. Green Network in Turkey by Merve rke won the WA Awards 10+5+X 46th Cycle in the Architecture/Student category.The project received 5,338 page views at the time of this writing.Image Hiroyuki OkiWA Awards 10+5+X 46th Cycle winner: SkyGarden House in Vietnam by Pham Huu Son ArchitectsDesigned by Vietnamese architecture studio Pham Huu Son Architects, SkyGarden House is a townhouse in Nha Trang City, located in Central Vietnam. Large glass walls create an infinite sense of openness by blending the inside with the garden outside. This improves comfort and fosters a closer bond between people and the natural world in addition to showcasing a beautiful surrounding area. In the most private region of the house, the bedroom transforms from a place to sleep to a place to enjoy the peace and beauty of nature.The potential of this house design to make the living area more natural is one of the advantages of this house. Large glass panels, a skylight above the staircase, and many glass doors allow natural light to enter the space, creating an artistic panorama while also drastically lowering the need for artificial lighting during the day. SkyGarden House in Vietnam by Pham Huu Son Architects won the WA Awards 10+5+X 46th Cycle in the Architecture/Realised category.The project received 3,579 page views at the time of this writing.Top image in the article: WA Awards 10+5+X 46th Cycle winner: Cafe Soom in South Korea by Mind Architects. Image Ryu Junyeol.

Submitted by WA ContentsKaira Looro is seeking for innovative designs for Nursery Schools in Sub-Saharan AfricaSenegal Architecture News - Dec 16, 2024 - 06:16 html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"The Balouo Salo Non-Profit Organisation has launched the 2025 edition of the Kaira Looro Architecture Competition for Nursery Schools in the rural areas of southern Senegal, a country in western Sub-Saharan Africa bordering the Atlantic Ocean, Mauritania, Mali, Gambia and Guinea.The 2025 edition of the Kaira Looro Competition invites architects, students, designers, engineers, and young professionals from around the world to design an architectural model for a Nursery School in rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa.As the organization explained, the objective is to create a safe and inclusive environment that promotes children's well-being and development.The competition will select 3 winners, 2 Honourable Mentions, 10 Special Mentions, 35 Finalists, and 4 Internship Awards. The Internship Awards will include top architectural offices: Kengo Kuma & Associates in Tokyo, Benedetta Tagliabue EMBT in Barcelona, Amanda Levete Architects in London, and SBGA | Blengini Ghirardelli in Milan.World Architecture Community is official media partner of the 2025 edition of Kaira Looro Competition and will share the winners of the competition once the competition is closed."The lack of quality educational facilities in many rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa poses a significant barrier to children's development," said the Balouo Salo Non-Profit Organisation."Education plays a crucial role in nurturing cognitive skills, emotional growth, and social abilities, preparing them to face lifes challenges with resilience and creativity.""However, in many of these regions, children are deprived of these fundamental opportunities due to the absence of safe and stimulating environments," the organization added.Young professionals and students throughout the world will have the chance to influence the direction of education in Sub-Saharan Africa with this new initiative. In addition to being a creative challenge, this is an opportunity to help leave a legacy of sustainability, innovation, and community empowerment.Furthermore, Kaira Looro is the only competition with no profit-oriented objectives.All proceeds will entirely be donated to the humanitarian organization Balouo Salo, which is dedicated to improving access to education, healthcare, and infrastructure in these disadvantaged regions."By participating, entrants will also become witnesses to tangible change driven by solidarity," the organization continued.The 2025 edition invites participants to provide creative, affordable, and environmentally friendly solutions that combine learning, interacting with others, playing, and exploring in a single area.The use of regional resources, environmentally friendly building techniques, and community involvement in the construction process should be the main goals of proposals.In addition to being a lively and friendly environment for children, the completed project should be a model of sustainable development and a point of reference for the neighborhood.Participants must also consider the challenges of building in rural areas, where the lack of skilled labor and heavy machinery can pose significant obstacles.The Nursery School should cover a maximum area of 650 square meters and include classrooms, offices, educational and play areas, a medical room, a dining hall, storage, and sanitary facilities. All this should be achieved through a unique and innovative design that represents excellence in this educational field.As per tradition, the competition also aims to launch young architectural talents into the international arena by awarding prestigious prizes and professional growth opportunities.Some of the most significant awards include: the first prize winner will receive a cash of 5,000, with an internship at Kengo Kuma & Associates (Japan), and the realization of the project as a humanitarian initiative.The Second Prize winner will receive a cash of 2,000, with an internship at one of Benedetta Tagliabue EMBT (Spain), Amanda Levete Architects (London), or SBGA Blengini Ghirardelli (Milan).The Third Prize winner will receive a cash of 1,000, with an internship at one of EMBT (Spain), ALA (London), or SBGA Blengini Ghirardelli (Milan).The competition also recognizes special and honourable mentions, as well as 35 finalists. All awarded projects will gain international visibility and be published in prestigious architectural journals and the competitions official book.The jury of Kaira Looro is made up of some of the worlds most renowned and award-winning architects worldwide, such as Kengo Kuma (Kengo Kuma & Associates), Benedetta Tagliabue (Benedetta Tagliabue EMBT Architects), Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem, Ramn (RCR Arquitectes), Mario Cucinella (Mario Cucinella Architects), David Adjaye (Adjaye Associates), Amanda Levete (Amanda Levete Architects), Manuel Aires Mateus (Aires Mateus Architects), Giancarlo Mazzanti (El Equipo Mazzanti), Agostino Ghirardelli (SBGA | Blengini Ghirardelli), Raul Pantaleo (TAM Associati), Emmanuelle Moureaux (Emmanuelle Moureaux Architecture + Design), Saad El Kabbaj, Driss Kettani, Mohamed Amine Siana.First prize winner for the Maternity Centre Facility Competition, Bao Gia Luong from Vietnam. Image Bao Gia Luong, courtesy of BalouosaloEarly registrations will open on January 10, 2025Early registrations will open on January 10 and will be made until February 28, 2025. Regular registrations will open from March 1 to April 9, 2025, while late registrations will be made from April 10 to May 15, 2025.Project submission deadline will end on June 10, 2025. Jury evaluations will take place between June 23 and June 29, 2025.The organizaton plans to announce winners on July 8, 2025.The competition guidelines can be accessed from here: EN_Kaira Looro 2025.pdf.The competition brief can be accessed from here. Registrations can be made through this page.All images Balouosalo.> via Kaira Looro Competition