While the debut Superman trailer clearly reveals a number of supporting characters, it also includes a hidden DC superhero that fans almost certainly missed.The Engineer, played by Mara Gabriela de Fara, can be seen walking across the top of the LuthorCorp building in a real blink-and-youll-miss-it moment. Its hard to make the character out, but zoom in a little and youll see the Engineer in fuzzy detail.The Engineer can be seen walking across the top of the archway. Image credit: Warner Bros.Writer-director James Gunn responded to one fan who spotted the Engineer in the trailer to confirm the find, writing on Threads: Haha you are correct!!The Engineer / Angela Spica is an electronics prodigy and member of superhero team The Authority, who will eventually get their own DCU movie. It will supposedly weave in several characters from DC's Wildstorm imprint, with Gunn himself working on an outline. The Engineer is arguably the most powerful member of the group as she can self-duplicate, is a technopath, has a genius-level intellect and radio-induced telepathy. Check out IGN's article, Who Are the Authority: The WildStorm DCU Characters Explained, for more.It will be interesting to see what The Engineer is capable of in Superman and how she interacts with the other characters. Whats she doing running about the top of the LuthorCorp building? And what relationship, if any, does she have with Lex Luthor himself?Superman hits theatres on July 11, 2025, and is the first film in the DCU's Chapter One: Gods and Monsters. IGN has an explainer on all the DC Heroes and Villains in the new trailer, comments from James Gunn on Krypto actually being a pretty terrible dog in the movie, thoughts on how Superman is about hope, and more.Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Steam Replay is here and has revealed some interesting insight into the Steam communitys playtime in 2024.Perhaps the most interesting stat revealed by Steam Replay is that just 15% of playtime spent by all Steam users this year was in games released in 2024.That means the vast majority of Steam users are happy playing games released in 2023 or earlier, despite the likes of Palworld, Black Myth: Wukong, Helldivers 2, and the all-conquering Banana all launching in 2024. More recently, Path of Exile 2 and Marvel Rivals released on Steam and saw huge concurrent player numbers.Digging into the details, Steam Replay reveals 47% of playtime spent by all Steam users was in releases from the last one to seven years (recent favorites, as Steam calls them), and a sizable 37% in classic games (releases from eight or more years ago). Im still addicted to Civilization 6, which came out in October 2016, so that checks out.IGN's Twenty Questions - Guess the game!IGN's Twenty Questions - Guess the game!To start:...try asking a question that can be answered with a "Yes" or "No".000/250Its easy to think that the data suggests gamers arent buying new games, but thats clearly not the case. Palworld set sales records, as did Helldivers 2 and Black Myth: Wukong. And as PC Gamer noted, the 15% figure is up significantly on the 9% of playtime spent by all Steam users in 2023 on games released that year (2023 included Hogwarts Legacy and Baldurs Gate 3). For extra context, the figure in 2022 was 17%, so the data is very up and down.But clearly, many Steam players are happy sticking with older games, and Steams most-played list reinforces that. The top-three most-played games on Steam by concurrent players right now are Counter-Strike 2, PUBG, and Dota 2 all old games. Other older games in the top 10 include Naraka: Bladepoint, GTA 5, Rust, and Apex Legends.In April, data revealed that games that were at least six years old accounted for more than 60% of playtime in 2023 across PC and console. The top game across all major platforms was Fortnite. As has been expressed by many a video game analyst and CEO, publishers are finding it increasingly hard to wrestle gamers away from the games they already play and have spent money in, building up their library of virtual skins over the course of years.Meanwhile, Steam Replay reveals the median number of games played by Steam users this year was just four, and the median unlocked achievements was 13. So dont feel too bad if youve only played a handful of PC games this year. Youre in good company!Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

This article contains spoilers for Sonic the Hedgehog 3.Ow! The edge! Sonic the Hedgehog 3 brings another fan-favorite character to the big screen series, a character that may be baffling to those not steeped in Sonic love. In addition to dealing with two Robotniks, regular nemesis Ivo and now grandfather Gerald (both played by Jim Carrey), Sonic must match wits with Shadow the Hedgehog (voiced by Keanu Reeves).Shadow might look like Sonic, but he has a very different attitude. Sullen and harsh, Shadow focuses only on his mission of revenge. Over the course of the movie, we get glimpses of Shadows backstory, which helps us understand Sonics grumpy new pal. But as dark as the story onscreen gets, the video games went much farther.Before he got his own gun-toting, swear-word-saying solo game in 2005, Shadow teleported into the franchise with Sonic Adventure 2 in 2001. That game follows Ivo Robotniks plan to revive Project Shadow, a plan his grandfather Gerald devised 50 years earlier. Working on the cosmic Space Colony ARK, Gerald strived to create the ultimate life form. After two failed attempts, Gerald succeeded with the creation of Shadow the Hedgehog.Geralds one reprieve from his work came in the form of his granddaughter Maria, an innocent who stayed aboard the ARK with him. Gerald brought the young Maria to the ARK in search of a cure for her terminal disease, and she became close friends with Shadow. Despite his bond with Maria, Shadow was still made as a tool of Robotnik, which drew the attention of the Guardian Units of Nations (GUN).Befitting its name, GUN raided the ARK with weapons hot, an attack that led to the death of young Maria. Burning with anger, Gerald gave false memories to Shadow to refocus his mission on a single goal: destroying the Earth.All of that happens more or less faithfully in the movie Sonic the Hedgehog 3. Sure, there are some slight differences, with Carrey playing a more whacky Gerald Robotnik, GUN being less initially violent, and actor Alyla Browne (Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga) being a bit older than the Maria of the games. But the basic idea is the same. Shadow loved Maria and her death drove him to seek vengeance. After being freed from 50 years of captivity, Shadow will stop at nothing to satisfy that desire.But in the movie, Marias death is more roundabout. As she runs from the GUN soldiers alongside Gerald and Shadow, Maria stands too close to electronic equipment. When a GUN soldier fires toward them, he hits the equipment, causing it to explode. Maria dies in the fireball that ensues. Its horrifying to be sure, especially for a kids movie. Yet the original Sega Dreamcast video game was darker still.Sonic Adventure 2 indeed gets more direct. In a flashback sequence, we watch as Maria makes her escape with GUN in pursuit. She begs Shadow to turn against her grandfathers programming, but looks up just as a gun goes off and the screen goes white. So, sure, we can interpret the moment in different ways, but Sonic fans mostly agree that GUN directly shoots point blank Maria in the game. It should be noted back then, Sega and Sonics brand was to be slightly more edgy (or teen-appealing) than the House of Mario at Nintendo.Its not hard to see why Sonic the Hedgehog 3 made its change though more than 20 years after the fact. While the Blue Blur certainly has fans who have stuck through the characters through some very weird decisions, from inappropriate references to real-world genocide to the infamous fan art of Sonic pregnant with Tails child (no, Im not linking to that), these Paramount Pictures movies are exceedingly kid-friendly. It wouldnt do to have children see someone like them get shot in between scenes of Carrey playing drums on his big belly.Instead director Jeff Fowler and the films many writers handle the tone like a hedgehog running through a track and collecting all the rings. Between Reeves natural gravitas and the actual death onscreen, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 plays homage to the source material, but still leaves plenty of space for the bright colored action that new, younger fans expect.Join our mailing listGet the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox!Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is now playing in theaters nationwide.

Frank FrancesOur lives may have been changed in recent years (Seamless, Covid, and a whole host of other societal shifts), but one thing is for sure: entertaining is back, andin some casesmore elaborate than ever. While some have the luxury of a standalone dining room, many of us small space-dwellers are stuck with nooks and crannies to feast in. Before you throw your hosting dreams out with last night's takeout, hear us out: you do not need a dedicated room for dining. Dining rooms of today can be a corner, a bookmark, or a cubicle of surprisingly small sizes. It all depends on how you use the space. Don't believe us? See below for 20 designer-approved small dining room ideas to help you make the most out of even the smallest footprint. 1No dining room? No problem! William AbramowiczIf you are one of the many with no dedicated room in which to dine, the most sensible thing is to make the room where you cook double as a dining room. In this old Connecticut house, former model Anne Bannert placed a small pine trestle table at one end of the kitchen. A pair of chairs from the 1930s and a bench under the window allow for a party of four while a pine hutch nearby can be used for easily accessible table settings. 2Pattern PlayFrank FrancesTreat your tiny dining room with all over pattern. In this Vermont house, designer Sheila Bridges did what she does bestputting colors and patterns together like they were always meant to be. The effect unifies the room (or corner of a room) where you will dine and invites guests to sink into the moment. Bridges covered these walls in wallpaper by Morris & Co. and the Roman shade and nearby curtains are done in a Castel Maison fabric. To finish the look she covered the vintage dining chair seats in a complementary Schumacher ikat.Advertisement - Continue Reading Below3Find Space AnywhereAnnie SchlechterRebecca Gardner knows how to throw a good party...and she won't let her teeny New York City apartment stop her. In fact, she can pack up to 40 guests in, thanks to some clever spatial tricks, including unfolding a table for eight in her bedroom. 4Forego a SideboardKelly MarshallMost traditional dining rooms have not just a table and chairs, but a sideboard as well. If your dining room is as narrow as the one in this New Jersey house, move the settings storage and serving station to the kitchen and reserve the dining room for dining. This dining table is by Castlery and the chandelier is from Currey & Co.Advertisement - Continue Reading Below5Corner It UpEric PiaseckiIf your dining area doubles as another room, utilize the corner of said room (usually an under-programmed space!) as your dining area. In this Aspen escape a cushioned banquette provides ample seating around the Harvey Probber table. Two 1950s Hans Wegner chairs allow for easy access seating. 6Bay Window BanquetteAdrian GautSome dining rooms sit comfortably within the curves of a bay window. If your apartment or house is blessed with this kind of architectural detail, don't waste it. Instead of placing a plant or floating reading chair in the nook, outfit it with a built in, wraparound bench and place a bistro-sized table in front of it. In this New York City kitchen, designer Nanette Brown chose one unifying color: pink. The Roman shades make sense for the space and are made with Pindler fabric. Mood lighting is provided by way of two vintage Swedish sconces by Aneta.Advertisement - Continue Reading Below7Try Your EntrySimon UptonIf you have no room to spare for dining, consider using using your entry. Since it is the first room guests see, it will need to be adaptable: cover the table with a sumptuous fabric of some sort so that it reads more like a luxurious entry console, just centered rather than abutting a wall. In this Spanish apartment Lorenzo Castillo placed an 18th-century rug on the table and added a Regency-style bench in front of it for added flair. Pull the chairs away to the corners of the room or into another room and decorate the table when not in use. 8Rethink the IslandWilliam WaldronIf you have no dining room and are blessed with a large kitchen, you can kill two birds with one stone. Replace your kitchen island with a dining table instead. It can double as a preparation surface when needed (ever peeled potatoes sitting down?) and a dining table when it's time eat. In this Upstate New York house the owner chose an antique American dining table and chairs and stool from Calvin Klein Home.Advertisement - Continue Reading Below9Treat Your Space Like a GalleryWilliam WaldronIn this Manhattan apartment, artist and jeweler Federico de Vera treated his kitchen and dining area as carefully as the rest of his art-filled home. If your space is small, that is even more of a reason for everything to be finely chosen and fully functional. A steel-top table by Gregor Jenkin serves as a bridge between the steel-toned cabinetry and countertops by Armani Casa and the antique chairs surrounding the table. One is a 19th-century Louis XVstyle chair that's upholstered in a Richard Saja embroidered toile de Jouy and another is in the style of Gerrit Rietveld. Scattered wood and gilt frames on the nearby wall complete the cultured mood. 10What's Your Order?If you are using one side of a larger room as your dining area why not treat it with a glamorous touch? Base the design on your favorite booth in your favorite upscale restaurant. In this Miami apartment the walls were covered in Sebastian Herkner tiles from Kaufmann Keramik. A Studiotwentyseven table provides space for a least six guests with extra seating by way of two Cassina chairs. Peter Zumthor-designed pendants from Viabizzuno hang over the table.Advertisement - Continue Reading Below11Define With ColorPatrick BillerIf your dining room exists without doors, define the space with color. A bold choice in color paradoxically makes small rooms feel more powerful, and often, more spacious. In this Victorian Toronto row house the dining rooms walls are painted in Farrow & Ball's Rectory Red with the company's Preference Red used on the trim. Furniture should be just as grand as the colors used on the walls. Here a Biedermeier-style table surrounded by 18th-century Italian chairs painted green and covered in a Pierre Frey fabric ups the ante. A juicy glass Venetian chandelier overhead is the final word in glamour. 12Windows Do WondersAdrian GautIf you have no dedicated dining room in your home, find a quiet corner with ample natural light and make it your dining nook. In this Ashe Leandro designed Texas house a custom bench upholstered in a rich red Dedar fabric defines the space. A table from B&B Italia allows for enough room for a meal of six (at night or in the light!).Advertisement - Continue Reading Below13Keep It Simple-ishRoger DaviesMonochrome does well in many instances, including in small rooms. In this chic, straightforward Kentucky farmhouse black and white was all that was needed to create a gracious space. The dining rooms Restoration Hardware table was painted black to match the 1940s dining chairs. Above a rock-crystal chandelier hangs with tiny black shades that match the candelabra lamps from Mumbai in the background. A 19th-century Swedish console and plant stands, also black, drive the theme home.14Library LivingWilliam AbramowiczIn the great mansions of 19th-century industrial titans there were rooms to retire to after dinner. These "smoking rooms" were often overstuffed with bookcases, armchairs, and objet d'art, and sometimes a tiny table for post-dinner snacks. Why not expand on this idea and marry your library to your dining room? In this San Francisco loft, Steven Volpe placed a dining table of his and Roth Martin's design in front of an aluminum bookshelf by Martin Szekely. A 1950's light fixture hangs above it and wood dining chairs are as useful for reading as for dining around it.Advertisement - Continue Reading Below15Art It UpDouglas FriedmanYour dining area doesn't have to be big to take big art. The bolder the better. In this dining nook in a historic Manhattan apartment, a photograph of Jackie Kennedy by Harry Benson hangs above the custom banquette. Chairs by Laura Gonzalez in Le Manach fabric complement the colors in the photograph, while a dining table by Pluhowski Furniture roots the space.16Try A SectionalGREY CRAWFORDWhen space is tight, consider bringing the living room into the dining room. In this rustic lodge the owner used a sectional to shape out his dining area. The curved mini-sectional is by Ballard Designs and is paired with an antique table that plays into the home's welcoming, traditional character. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below17Matchy Matchy!Kelly MarshallIf your dining area is in your kitchen and there is not enough space to distinguish preparation areas from dining areas, lean into the constraint and make your dining furniture match your kitchen. In this Rayman Boozer-designed Harlem home, the custom cabinetry is painted in Benjamin Moores Cats Eye green that matches the green stripes on the seats of the vintage Thomas Harlev dining chairs. Wallpaper that mimics hanging plates by Matthew Williamson for Osborne & Little picks up the greens in both. 18Dining Room or Pool House?William Jess LairdIf you're blessed with a swimming pool perhaps make it part of your dining room? Or at least make use of the view. In this Key West home, the dining area overlooks the luscious backyardswimming pool and allmaking for a calming, playful experience inside as well as out. Interior design firm General Assembly used a light blue green paint for the walls (above the millwork) and playful, vintage Joe Colombo chairs around the circular dining table. A Pelle chandelier mimics bubbles and if you are lucky enough to dine under it you would notice painted palm fronds on each glass surface. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below19Cloud ControlRoger DaviesIf you are one of those straight-to-the-point types, perhaps pick one simple, straightforward decorating scheme: white. In this Nantucket home (the ideal place for a pared-back dining room) architect Rebecca Ascher chose white paint for her walls along with a white dining table by Catherine Memmi and white Eero Saarinen chairs from Knoll.20Go RetroEric PetschekIf your pad comes complete with the wood panelling of the 1970s, don't rip them out, make them work! In the dining room of this New York City apartment, designer Bachman Brown let the wood walls lead. A restaurant-style banquette in a similar timber provides a comfortable seat to eat from, while the chrome dining chairs across from them are straight out of the 1970s. The Carlo Nason pendant light and bookcase on the opposite wall remain on trend, and jolts of bright blue on the baseboards and doorways keeps the room as relevant as it is retro.

I didnt waste any time when AirTags first came out, immediately buying eight of them: for five bags, keys, a videography rig, and a bicycle. But Ive also repurposed some of them during trips for some AirTag sharingwith friends, and iOS 18.2 makes this option even better.Ive confessed before to being something of a bagaholic, so the first thing I did was to slip an AirTag into each of my main bags, where they live almost permanently This means that no matter which of my main bags I take out with me, it will be protected.For less-frequently used bags, I just borrow one to temporarily protect whichever bag Im using that day.But Ive also lent one or two of these AirTags to my partner or friends when travelling together, so that I can track their bags as well as my own. In addition to the obvious value if a bag does go missing, I also really like the reassurance I get from boarding the plane, checking the Find My app and confirming that all our hold baggage made it safely on board.But the AirTag sharing feature introduced in iOS 18.2 makes this type of social use even better. I can simply share the link for the tags used in my companions bags with them, so that they too can track them. It does, though, mean that they have no ability to track items until they are marked as lost (and you cant cheat and do that when they arent, as the option isnt available when they are with you).This can be done with the original sharing feature, but that requires them to have an Apple account and an Apple device. Share Item Location in contrast works with any device, and without the need for an Apple ID.Ill also share with them the AirTags in my own bags as that way we get some additional redundancy. In the worst case of someone snatching both my phone and my cabin bag containing my other Apple devices my travel buddy will be able to instantly track my possessions on their own phone.Share Item Location is a significant enhancement to AirTags when traveling with family or friends, ensuring that everyone in the party has oversight over all the bags.Check out our simple how-to guide for instructions, and enjoy even greater peace of mind on your next trip.Photo by4zyxxnonUnsplashAdd 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

We learned earlier this week of a Bluesky extortion issue, emerging after the social network said that it would use domain name ownership as a way to verify the identity of public figures.Bluesky hasnt fully addressed the issue, but has taken one step toward reducing the problem of scammers impersonating well-known people on the platform Bluesky extortion problemCybersquatting where someone buys the domain names of well-known people in order to impersonate them, or to try to sell the domain at a vastly inflated price has long been a problem.But social network Bluesky made things worse when it announced that it would use domain name ownership as a means of verifying the rightful owner of a username on the platform. For example, if you own the domain johnnyappleseed.com, then Bluesky would allow you to use that same name and domain on its network.That led to scammers trying to extort some well-known people by registering their domain name and then pointing out that they wouldnt be able to use their own name on Bluesky without acquiring it. Bloomberg columnist Conor Sen posted an example of one of these extortion attempts:Hi Conor. I own conorsen.com As you may know Bluesky is using .com domains to verify Bluesky accounts. bsky.social/about/blog/4. Right now we are configuring an email sign up sheet with your favicon at the domain.If you choose to try and report and suspend bsky.app/. profile/cono then you will not be able to verify the domain yourself. It will look like the verified domain got suspended. You can make an offer for the domain or do nothing.TechCrunch notes that this led to a thread in which real and fake versions of Hustle founder Sam Parr were arguing.Partial protection addedTechCrunch reports that Bluesky has addressed one aspect of the problem, by protecting your original username when you switch to a custom domain.Bluesky is also adding protection against username squatting by reserving your original Bluesky username with (.bsky.social suffix) when you change your username to a custom domain.For example, if Johnny originally registered as johnnyappleseed.bsky.social and then later updated this to johnnyappleseed.com, then someone else would have been able to grab the original username. Bluesky has now blocked this.Your Mentions now have their own tabSeparately, the app has added a separate tab for Mentions, rather than having these buried within the Notifications tab.You also get new ways to sort replies.Users can choose between linear and threaded views. They can also sort replies using different filters like hot, oldest, newest, most-liked, and random.Bluesky recently passed 25M users, but so far Threads appears to have the best shot at replacing the social network formerly known as Twitter.Photo byYohan MariononUnsplashAdd 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

Update: Right now, you can save 28% on the Eve Outdoor Cam at Amazon.Eve Outdoor Cam is a sleek outdoor video camera for HomeKit, with integrated LED floodlight ideally designed to light up your driveway at night. Ive been a fan of the Eve Indoor camera for a while, and my experience with the Outdoor Cam is similarly positive. HomeKit cameras are better than ever, thanks to significant user interface upgrades to the Apple Home app in iOS 16.And HomeKit Secure Video support means clips are saved to your iCloud account in an end-to-end encrypted manner. To make things even more compelling, this set up requires no additional monthly subscription to use, assuming you pay for some iCloud storage. So how does Eve Outdoor Cam and the state of HomeKit Secure Video fare? Very well, for the most part Hardware design of Eve Outdoor CamThe Eve Outdoor Cam feels solid and well built. I had someone help me install it, and even they remarked on the premium manufacturing of all the parts as they were putting it together. Build quality of the unit is high. The simple black and white plastic appearance will fit in well with the decor of most home exteriors. It is not discreet but it is not meant to be, as it of course serves double duty as an outside light. Most of the front fascia is taken up by the white light window, although the actual physical LEDs stop just above the black camera bezel cutout. Situated above the camera is a small status light. By default, it illuminates blue when the camera is on, and red when it is recording. I found the feeble blue/red glow detracted from the otherwise minimal design of the housing; thankfully, the status light can be turned off in the accessory settings.Hardwired installation and simple software setupEve Outdoor Camera uses Wi-Fi for connectivity and is hardwired for power. This is nice because it means the camera can have a permanent network connection, with no need for battery saver sleep states and you dont have to worry about swapping batteries every few months.Installation difficulty will vary based on your individual circumstances. I fortunately had an outside dumb motion-activated light near the front door already; it was a matter of removing that and rewiring the camera in its place. If you arent comfortable with wiring it yourself, it will be a quick job for an electrician, assuming you have an existing light fitting available to use. If you dont have the wiring already in the wall, the endeavor will be much more complicated and possibly not worth the effort.Once physically installed, set up could not be easier. Open the Home app, scan the HomeKit QR code on the sticker and the phone will find the camera, bring it on the network, add it to your home, and youre basically done. Remember, a HomeKit hub (Apple TV or HomePod) is a prerequisite to be able to access the camera when away from your home network, and to use the HomeKit Secure Video recording features.Eve Outdoor Cam placed next to my front doorThe cameras mount allows for a wide degree of adjustment, with leeway for swivel and tilt. Aesthetically, it looks best if positioned straight on but I think most people will find they need to adjust it a bit. The range of angle adjustment combined with the camera lenss own wide field of view means you should have confidence you will be able to find a good vantage point. Essentially, you just need a placement that puts the camera at or above door height.If you want to trial this before you take the plunge and buy, hold up an iPhone where you intend to place the camera and snap a picture. The iPhones 0.5x lens produces a similar image to what you can expect from the Eve Outdoor Cam, in terms of field of view. (At the same time, check you have a stable 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi signal at the location.)Floodlight is a convenient 2-in-1 bonusThe 2-for-1 nature of the unit is a big factor in its appeal. If you are going through the effort to hardwire a camera, it might as well do something else at the same time. As I said before, I replaced a nighttime outdoor light with the Eve Outdoor Cam. I havent lost any light functionality. In fact, the camera is a better light than what I had before. The LED floodlight is much brighter, fills a wider area, and more customizable thanks to it being network connected. Through the Eve app, choose whether the motion-activated light is active during the day, at night, or never.Floodlight is more than enough to light up my front porch and drivewayYou can also tweak the lights on duration and degree of motion sensitivity. I changed the sensitivity from medium to high to avoid it triggering when cars on the road drove passed the house. These kind of controls are not typically found in dumb traditional outdoor lighting fixtures. One slight quirk is that Eve exposes a 0-100 brightness slider and boost mode for the light. I didnt find much visible difference when the light was set at the minimum or maximum level it was on or it was off.Because the Eve Camera light is exposed as its own accessory to HomeKit, you can also turn it on and off manually in the Home app, or with Siri voice commands, and use it as part of scenes and automations like any HomeKit smart light. Eve Outdoor Camera qualityThe camera resolution is rated at 1080p, like all HomeKit Secure Video cameras. The actual detail of the image doesnt look that sharp the stream is clearly compressed and quickly gets blurry when you zoom in but it is more than fit for purpose. The wide angle lens means the image covers a large area, easily enough to watch over my front porch and driveway. The automatic camera exposure adjusts well to all lighting conditions, dawn through dusk. The frame rate is a little lacking, and I found recordings would occasionally miss out a couple of seconds. Nevertheless, it results in perfectly usable footage.Day and night vision (no floodlight active) snapshots downsampled slightly compared to original qualityThe night vision works superbly, enabling the camera to remain useful even in complete darkness. The range of the night vision is long; people or animals can be seen anywhere in the frame. You wont want to hold protracted conversations over the integrated speaker and mic, but the audio quality is decent enough for short two-way talk session with someone waiting on the doorstep. The mic is sensitive and will pick up footsteps or engine noise long before they come into the cameras view; this can be a blessing or a curse depending on the circumstances.Cameras in the Home appThe display of cameras in the Home app is greatly improved in iOS 16. You can see your favourite cameras at a glance in the main root view, neatly laid out in a single large panel. The thumbnails show static image snapshots from each camera, refreshing approximately every fifteen seconds. View all cameras with larger thumbnails or tap on an individual camera thumbnail to maximize. The full-screen layout activates the current live camera feed, and includes a timeline so you can scroll back through past recordings.Recordings with HomeKit Secure VideoHomeKit Secure Video means the Eve Outdoor Camera output is continuously streamed to a HomeKit hub in the home like an Apple TV or HomePod for processing. Recordings can be enabled or disabled separately depending on your geolocation. If you dont want a camera recording or even activated at all while you are at home, you have that option.The HomeKit system is in charge of saving clips when motion occurs, and sending notifications. If you are super serious about security, you may want to keep a 24/7 rolling camera stream. HomeKit Secure Video does not support that, so youll have to look elsewhere.For most home uses, though, only recording clips of activity is really what you want hours and hours of footage of nothing happening is useless. HomeKit camera recordings are stored in iCloud for up to ten days. The Home app lets you export clips to a file if you need to keep them longer term, or send them to others. You need a paid iCloud account for the cloud recordings feature to be available, but they dont count towards your storage quota.Camera notifications are rich and usefulThe Home app can notify when any motion occurs or when specific subjects of motion are recognized; the system can separably detect people, animals, vehicles and packages. If you want to be alerted when a person is at the door, but dont care about the neighbourhood cat walking across the frame, you can do that. Futhermore, face recognition means HomeKit will try and recognize exactly who is in the video (based off the People categories in your Photos library); mute notifications entirely from selected persons. I use the face recognition feature to ignore notifications of myself arriving home.All of these smarts make for some really rich notifications. Heres some examples: The Entrance Cam camera has detected a person. The Entrance Cam camera has detected an animal. The Entrance Cam camera has detected a person and a package. The Entrance Cam camera has detected a person who may be [name]. The notification content includes a short video clip of the activity, a button to view the current live feed inline, and shortcuts to accessories in the same zone as the camera (like the cameras own flood light).The cross-platform nature of the Home app means these alerts arrive on all your devices. Whats really cool is on Apple TV, notifications come in as a PIP window in the corner of the frame, on top of whatever youre watching. These are the kind of integrations where Apple shines, and where non-HomeKit solutions will fall short. It shouldnt be understated how useful it is that the Home app is available on every Apple device I can check in on my cameras on the Mac, or even my watch, whenever I please. How many third party security systems even have an app for anything but the iPhone?Notification controls are not fine-grained enoughHowever, for all of the notification customization options I just described, the Home app needs even more. This is something outside of Eves purview, as all of the HomeKit handling is managed by Apple software. We have to hope future OS updates include improvements in this department.A big frustration for me is that the people detection system cannot discern between a person facing towards the camera, or facing away. With my Eve Outdoor Cam in situ looking out onto the driveway, it sees people approach but it also sees people leaving. Therefore, I get a notification going off almost any time that I, or anyone else, leave the house. HomeKit detects a person in frame so the notification triggers, but face recognition cannot kick in as my head is facing the opposite way. This may sound like a small thing, but a pointless notification every time someone leaves the house quickly becomes a source of daily annoyance.Another complaint I have is that you cannot tell the system to silence repeated alerts of the same person. Lets say it is trash night, and you are walking in and out the house several times. HomeKit will trigger an alert each time it sees you. Id love a setting that allows for a short grace period when the same person is seen again.You cant manage the enabled state of activity detection with automations at all. For instance, I can imagine one theoretical mitigation of the person leaving problem. Set up a motion sensor in the hall; if motion detected, disable camera notifications for the next minute. This would eliminate all the false positives caused by people leaving the house. Unfortunately, this isnt possible. A switch for camera control is not exposed to as an automation target (so the light of the Eve Outdoor Camera can be automated, but not the camera part).Eve Outdoor Cam only works with HomeKitA persistent question with HomeKit and smart home stuff in general is reliability. If you hunt out online, you can find plenty of people with HomeKit issues. I know geofencing rules are particularly nebulous, and iOS 16 time-based automations just refuse to activate for some folks. At least in my experience, as one person, it all works well enough for me to be happy.I have one occasional glitch in which the Home app will not let me view the Eve cameras live stream because it says someone else is currently doing that (you can only view from one device at a time), but I know no device is active. I have seemingly narrowed this down to a bug with the Home app on Mac, as I have found that opening Activity Monitor and quitting the homed processes releases the hanging resources and returns the camera to normal function.Eves dependence on HomeKit means no additional accounts to manage, no extra cloud service to pay for, and seemingly better performance than some competitors that treat HomeKit as an afterthought. But be aware that if you ever fall out of favor with HomeKit, the camera doesnt work with anything else. If you have Android-using members of your household, tough luck.Wrap-upWith the Apple ecosystem exclusivity in mind, I can wholeheartedly recommend the Eve Outdoor Cam. Smart home cameras are somewhat of a luxury item, and the Eve camera is certainly not cheap but they sure are nice once you have them. The ability to check in on my driveway from anywhere and get alerted if someone is approaching the house provides peace of mind that is hard to quantify. Being able to talk to someone at the door in a pinch is a bonus, like a pseudo smart doorbell. Combining a hassle-free camera with a motion-activated floodlight makes for a very compelling all-in offering. You can buy Eve Outdoor Cam here for $249. I tested the black version for this review. A white edition model is also available. 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

Lisa Morgan, Freelance WriterDecember 20, 20249 Min ReadRancz Andrei via Alamy StockData governance isnt where it needs to be in many organizations, despite the widespread use of AI and analytics. This is risky on several levels such as cybersecurity and compliance, not to mention the potential impacts to various stakeholders. In short, data governance is becoming more necessary as organizations rely more heavily on data, not less.Steve Willis, principal research director, data, analytics, enterprise architecture and AI at Info-Tech Research Group offers a sobering statistic: Some 50% to 75% of data governance initiatives fail.Even in highly regulated industries where the acceptance and understanding of the concept and value of governance more broadly are ingrained into the corporate culture, most data governance programs have progressed very little past an expensive [check] boxing exercise, one that has kept regulatory queries to a minimum but returned very little additional business value on the investment, says Willis in an email interview.Most data professionals cite things like lack of business understanding and/or executive engagement, limited funding, the complexity of the data landscape or general organizational change resistance as the root-cause or causes as barriers to data governance implementation and the reason(s) why most data governance initiatives fail, though Willis disagrees.Related:A lack of a deep connection between the tangible outcomes business stakeholders care about and the activities and initiatives undertaken in the name of data governance is the primary cause of failure, says Willis. The few who have successfully implemented data governance can easily point to the value that data governance initiatives have delivered. [They are] able to provide a direct line of sight not only to tactical wins but to deep contributions to an organization achieving its strategic goals and objectives.Where the Problems LieMany data teams, particularly data governance teams, lack the proper relationships with business stakeholders, so the business has no visibility into how data governance works.Data governance teams should be rigorously focused on understanding how improvements in [data use] will tangibly make life easier for those managing and using data, be it removing critical pain points or creating new opportunities to add value, says Info-Techs Willis. By not focusing on their customers needs, many data governance professionals are over-focused on adding workload to those they are purporting to help in return for providing little measurable value.Related:Steve Willis, Info-Tech Research GroupWhy the disconnect? Data teams dont feel they can spend time understanding stakeholders or even challenging business stakeholder needs. Though executive support is critical, data governance professionals are not making the most out of that support. One often unacknowledged problem is culture.Unfortunately, in many organizations, the predominant attitude towards governance and risk management is that [they are] a burden of bureaucracy that slows innovation, says Willis. Data governance teams too frequently perpetuate that mindset, over-rotating on data controls and processes where the effort to execute is misaligned to the value they release.One way to begin improving the effectiveness of data governance is to reassess the organizations objectives and approach.Embed data governance activities, small step by small step into your current business operations, make managing data part of a business process owners day to day responsibilities rather than making the governance and management of data a separate thing, saysWillis. This abstraction of data governance and management away from business operations is a key reason why nominated data stewards, who are typically business process owners, dont understand what they are being asked to do. As a data governance team, you need to contextualize data management activities into the language the business understands and make it a part of what they do.Related:Common Mistakes and How to Avoid ThemBusinesses are struggling to make data accessible for users and protect it from misuse or breaches. This often results in either too much bureaucracy or insufficient control, leaving organizations vulnerable to inefficiencies and regulatory fines.The solution is to start small, focus on delivering results, and build from there. Begin with high-priority areas, like fixing compliance gaps or cleaning up critical datasets, to show quick wins, says Arunkumar Thirunagalingam, senior manager, data and technical operations at healthcare company McKesson, in an email interview. These early successes help build momentum and demonstrate the value of governance across the organization.He says the biggest mistakes companies make include trying to fix everything at once, relying too much on technology without setting up proper processes and ignoring the needs of end users.Overly restrictive governance often leads to workarounds that create even more problems, while waiting until a crisis forces action leaves companies in a reactive and vulnerable position, says Thirunagalingam. [W]hen done right, data governance is much more than a defense mechanism -- its an enabler of innovation and efficiency.Stephen Christiansen, principal security consultant at cybersecurity consulting firm Stratascale,says the shortage of data professionals, exploding data growth, and ever-increasing requirements for AI and data security are causing organizations to take a more conservative approach.Companies need to be continually investing in data technologies that help them manage, secure, and integrate data across their enterprise systems, says Christiansen in an email interview. Internally, companies need to [build] a data-driven culture, so employees better understand the importance of data governance and how it benefits them.David Curtis, chief technology officer at global fintech RobobAI, says the average amount of data is growing 63% monthly. The speed and velocity of this growth is overwhelming, and companies are struggling to manage the storage, protection, quality, and consistency of this data.Data is often collected in multiple different ERPs across an organization. This often means that data is disparate in format and incomplete. Eighty percent of companies estimate that 50% to 90% of their data is unstructured, says Curtis in an email interview. Unstructured data creates challenges for large organizations due to its lack of standardization, making it difficult to store, analyze, and extract actionable insights, while increasing costs, compliance risks and inefficiencies.Companies need to start with a data governance strategy. As part of that, they need to review relevant business goals, define data ownership, identify reference data sources, and align the data governance strategy KPIs. For ongoing success, they need to establish an iterative process of continuous improvement by developing data processes and committing to a master data governance framework.For every dollar you invest in AI you should invest five dollars in data quality. In my experience, the most common data challenges are due to a lack of clear objectives and measurable success metrics around master data management initiatives, says Curtis. Often insufficient or poor-quality data, often at scale, and limited integration with existing systems and workflows, prevents scalability and real-world application. Evolving regulations are also adding fuel to the fire.Organizations are continually challenged with complying with the constant stream of regulations from various jurisdictions, such as GDPR, HIPAA, and CCPA. These regulations keep evolving, and just when IT leaders think theyve addressed one set of compliance requirements, a new one emerges with slight nuances, necessitating continuous adjustments to data governance programs, says Kurt Manske, information assurance andcybersecurity leader at professional services firm Cherry Bekaert. The reality is that companies cant simply pause their operations to align with these ever-changing regulations. Consequently, developing, deploying and managing a data governance program and system is a lot like changing tires on the car as it goes down the highway. [Its] an undeniably daunting task.This underscores the need to establish a resilient culture versus a reactive one.Leading companies see regulatory compliance as a differentiator for their brand and products, says Manske in an email interview. [One] key reason data governance programs and system deployment projects fail is that organizations try to take on too much at once. Big bang deployment strategies sound impressive but they often encounter numerous technical and cultural problems when put into practice. Instead, a metered or scaled deployment approach across the enterprise allows the team, vendor and governance leadership to continuously evaluate, correct and improve.The Sobering TruthOrganizations that lack strong governance are drowning in data, unable to harness its value, and leaving themselves vulnerable to growing cyber threats. According to Klaus Jck, partner at management consulting firm Horvth USA, incidents like the recent CrowdStrike breach are stark reminders of whats at stake. Data quality issues, silos, unclear ownership and a lack of standardization are just the tip of the iceberg.Klaus Jck, Horvth USAThe root cause of these struggles is simple: Data is everywhere. Thanks to new sensor technologies, process mining and advanced supervisory systems, data is produced at every step of every business process, says Jck in an email interview. The drive to monetize this data has only accelerated its growth. Unfortunately, many organizations are simply not equipped to manage this deluge.A truly effective strategy must go beyond policies and frameworks; it must include clear metrics to measure how data is used and how much value it creates. Assigning ownership is also key -- data stewards can help create a control environment sensitive to the nuances of modern data sources, including unstructured data.Failing to connect governance to business goals or neglecting executive sponsorship are major mistakes, says Jck. Poor communication and training also derail efforts. If employees dont understand governance policies or dont see their value, progress will stall. Similarly, treating governance as a one-time project rather than an ongoing process ensures failure.Dimitri Sirota, CEO and co-founder at security, privacy, compliance, and AI data management company BigID, says the root cause of data governance challenges often stem from poor data quality and insufficient governance frameworks.Inconsistent data collection practices, lack of standardized formats for key data elements such as dates and numeric values, and failure to monitor data quality over time exacerbate the problem, says Sirota in an email interview. Additionally, organizational silos and outdated systems can perpetuate inconsistencies, as different teams may define or manage data differently. Without a rigorous framework to identify, fix and monitor data issues, organizations face an uphill battle in maintaining reliable, high-quality data.Ultimately, the absence of a centralized governance strategy makes it difficult to enforce standards, creating noise and clutter in data environments.Marc Rubbinaccio, head of compliance at security compliance provider Secureframe, points to a related issue, which is understanding where sensitive data resides and how it flows within organizations.[T]he rush to adopt and implement AI within organizations and software products has introduced new risks, says Rubbinaccio in an email interview. While the efficiency gains from AI are widely recognized, the vulnerabilities it may introduce often go unaddressed due to a lack of thorough risk evaluation. Many organizations are bypassing detailed AI risk assessments in their eagerness to stay ahead, potentially exposing themselves to long-term consequences.About the AuthorLisa MorganFreelance WriterLisa Morgan is a freelance writer who covers business and IT strategy and emergingtechnology for InformationWeek. She has contributed articles, reports, and other types of content to many technology, business, and mainstream publications and sites including tech pubs, The Washington Post and The Economist Intelligence Unit. Frequent areas of coverage include AI, analytics, cloud, cybersecurity, mobility, software development, and emerging cultural issues affecting the C-suite.See more from Lisa MorganNever Miss a Beat: Get a snapshot of the issues affecting the IT industry straight to your inbox.SIGN-UPYou May Also LikeWebinarsMore WebinarsReportsMore Reports

Ganesh Seetharaman, Managing Director, Deloitte ConsultingDecember 20, 20244 Min ReadValentin Valkov via Alamy StockDuring peak times like holiday periods, retailers, consumer goods companies, insurance firms, and others involved in seasonal crunch-time sectors face a delicate balance between opportunity and risk. Seasonal spikes can be a stringent test for executives, revealing the strength of their business and operational resilience. To understand why, just think back to recent incidents with organizations that may have experienced mass website outages due to holiday spikes or that suffered prolonged log-in issues.Indeed, downtime during peak periods can result in financial impacts measured in millions of dollars per hour, so its clear that the user experience is paramount. Even minor issues can lead to significant consequences, including customer churn, wasted ad spending, and long-term brand damage. The takeaway? Failure when the world is watching can have cascading effects, and a track-record of 99.99% uptime is insufficient if the 0.01% downtime occurs at critical moments. With that in mind, lets explore a strategic approach to building game-ready resilience.Game-ready resilience means that your systems can manage adversity -- from ecosystem impacts, including third-party services -- to unprecedented traffic peaks. Most importantly, it also means creating a culture of reliability with constant learning and cross-functional teams that understand the business impacts of downtime and can respond effectively to outages.Related:To enhance business and operational resilience during the holidays, tech leaders should focus on four key areas.1. Forecast and define measurable requirements.Start enhancing resilience by developing a reliable forecast of expected transaction volumes and user behavior. Seek to understand normal traffic patterns as well as how spikes in traffic might affect your systems during peak periods. Prioritize critical services; for example, with an e-commerce platform, the checkout process should take precedence over less-essential features like recommendation engines.Use service level objectives (SLOs) to define availability expectations and measure them. For instance, aim for 99.99% shopping-cart availability -- which you can foster by forecasting transaction volumes across all channels. Then, translate those forecasts into performance requirements like the ability to accommodate a specific number of concurrent users while meeting reliability expectations. It's also crucial to identify potential architectural bottlenecks and failure points.2. Map dependencies and mitigate risks.Related:Modern retail ecosystems are complex webs of internal systems and third-party services. To identify vulnerabilities and mitigate risk, create a comprehensive map of all dependencies. Then, assess the services scalability and reliability, and develop failure contingency plans that include circuit breakers and fallback options.In addition to infrastructure, focus on key business and foundational services, especially in hybrid and multi-cloud environments. Next, to build agility and minimize recovery time, develop a clear view of all dependency layers and build fault tolerance. An example of dependency management could look like an e-commerce organization simplifying its shipping infrastructure to achieve more efficient package delivery.3. Implement robust reliability checks.Establish clear, measurable reliability objectives aligned with business outcomes. For example, you might set granular targets, such as sub-2-millisecond log-in times. Such metrics create a common language across development, operations, and business teams, fostering a unified approach to reliability. Also, to ensure build stability, avoid last minute changes, and implement rigorous process controls for continuous validation.Related:Integrate SLOs and synthetic monitoring into your operational framework. Develop real-time observability solutions that provide actionable insights and rapid response capabilities. Implement observability to balance innovation and stability during peak loads and align technical metrics with indicators like net promoter scores. Also, adopt site reliability engineering to translate technical metrics directly into customer experience.4. Develop and refine incident-response procedures.Swift and effective responses to system challenges can prevent minor issues from becoming major crises. So, its essential to develop incident response procedures that include comprehensive system dependency maps that create communication channels, action plans, and escalation pathways that help minimize confusion. Automatic failure notifications are a must as well, as are self-healing approaches to incidents and solutions driven by error budgets and burn rates.Next, ensure organizational readiness through training, communication protocols, and regular response drills. Implement proactive monitoring systems to detect and address issues early. Also, learning from high-profile incidents underscores the importance of transparent, timely communication during disruptions.The Path ForwardBuilding resilience requires both a cultural and technical shift to align critical services with customer journeys, refine resilience policies, and adapt to changing demands. Practices like game day drills enhance readiness, reinforcing that resilience is an ongoing effort that requires continuous refinement, not a one-time project. True resilience requires a holistic approach that ensures people, processes, and technology work in sync to handle both surges and scale-downs effectively. By adopting the strategies weve discussed here, you can prepare your systems for peak times while building stronger, more resilient year-round operations.About the AuthorGanesh SeetharamanManaging Director, Deloitte ConsultingGanesh Seetharaman is a managing director at Deloitte Consulting LLP. He leads Deloittes Technology Resiliency market offering and is recognized for delivering innovative solutions for his clients, as well as for helping organizations navigate technology challenges and capitalize on market opportunities.See more from Ganesh SeetharamanNever Miss a Beat: Get a snapshot of the issues affecting the IT industry straight to your inbox.SIGN-UPYou May Also LikeWebinarsMore WebinarsReportsMore Reports

Who beat up Superman?Most of the first official trailer for James GunnsSuperman features a Man of Steel who is not looking to great. Hes bleeding. He doesnt look like he can even move. And he has to rely on his dog Krypto to rescue him.How Superman got in that condition is not made clear. The rest of the trailer shows DCs new Superman (David Corenswet) doing Superman things: Flying, saving people, romancing Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), encountering other DC super heroes like Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced), Green Lantern Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), and Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi). And, of course, evil and bald Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) is watching all this happen from his evil villain skyscraper. (All good villains need a skyscraper.)Watch the first full trailer forSuperman below.READ MORE: Every DC Comics Movie, Ranked From Worst to BestIts pretty clear that no matter what else happens with this movie, Krypto is going to be a scene-stealing star. I am not shocked the guy who made Baby Groot thought it was a smart play to stick an adorable sidekick in his new superhero movie. Just look at this guy.Warner Bros.Warner Bros.loading...That dog is going to sell some tickets.Here is the newSupermans official synopsis:Superman, DC Studios first feature film to hit the big screen, is set to soar into theaters worldwide this summer from Warner Bros. Pictures. In his signature style, James Gunn takes on the original superhero in the newly imagined DC universe with a singular blend of epic action, humor and heart, delivering a Superman whos driven by compassion and an inherent belief in the goodness of humankind.James GunnsSuperman is scheduled to open in theaters on July 11.Get our free mobile app20 Comic Book Movies You Forgot ExistedThere have been so many movies based on comics in recent years, you might not even remember all of them (or most of them).Filed Under: James Gunn, Superman, Superman: LegacyCategories: Movie News, Trailers