• Adobe releases software updates to patch security issues
    www.techradar.com
    Security flaw could have granted hackers the ability to read sensitive information.
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  • US Government Defense bill waters down creation of US Cyber Force, allocates billions to "rip and replace" Chinese tech
    www.techradar.com
    Upgraded defense policy will create a joint force to look after Pentagon networks, and remove Chinese tech.
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  • 1,000 of the worlds best logos are in a single book
    www.fastcompany.com
    If youre looking for a visual primer on the history of logo design, you could do worse than 1,000 Marks, a book of 1,000 logos from partners at the design firm Pentagram.1,000 Marks [Photo: Pentagram]The book collects some of the firms current and former partners best work over more than half a century, with marks as far afield as American Express and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Originally published as a limited-run edition by Pentagram in 2010, 1,000 Marks has been picked up by Thames & Hudson for wider distribution and double the logos of the original edition. The book is now available for purchase on the Thames & Hudson website. The book acts as a greatest hits, showcasing work across multiple eras of graphic design as far back as the 1960s, with work like Alan Fletchers logo for Reuters in 1968, and it goes all the way up to the present, with recently unveiled logos like for American Girl, MIDI, Thailands Ruam Sami Museum, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium.Each page shows a simple black-and-white logo, the year it was designed, and the name, location, and a brief description of the organization that uses it. Logos are arranged in alphabetical order, which means the pages showing the bird logos for Puffin Books and Penguin Books face each other, and the 2017 logo for Rolls-Royce the industrial technology company and the 2020 logo for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars share a spread.London-based Pentagram partner Angus Hyland edited the book. Hyland tells Fast Company that initially, the idea of making a book with 1,000 marks seemed bonkers to him, and getting 21 Pentagram partners to choose their selection of new material was probably the most challenging part of the process. His main takeaway from the project was that despite all the recent discourse about identities being more than just a logo, logos really do matter.Logos need to work so much harder now across so many different platforms, and while it might look OK on your iPhone, theres nowhere for a below-par mark to hide when its splashed across a massive billboard, Hyland says in an email. As business gets more competitive and attention spans get shorter, its more important than ever for a company to have a memorable, well-designed mark, he says.
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  • Your fancy smartwatch band is full of toxic forever chemicals
    www.fastcompany.com
    According to a new study from the University of Notre Dame, your smartwatch band is exposing your wrist to so-called forever chemicals.Researchers found exceptionally high levels of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) such as perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA) in more expensive wristbands made from fluorinated synthetic rubber, a material manufacturers often use because its more durable than typical silicone. While the material, which resists discoloration and repels water, sweat, and oil, is great for a workout, those exceptionally high levels of PFAS, combined with long-term skin exposure, also present a potential health hazard to consumers, the study found.Researchers tested 22 smartwatch and fitness tracker wristbands from Apple, CASETiFY, Fitbit, Google, KingofKings, Modal, Nike, Samsung, Tighesen, and Vanjua, and found PFAS were widespread, especially in the priciest brands.higher price = more PFASThe study, published in Environmental Science & Technology Letters, found that every wristband it tested with a cost of $30 or more was made with fluoroelastomersand contained potentially hazardous levels of PFAs. Most wristbands priced $15 or higher likewise were made with flouroelastomers and contained high levels of PFAs. The only wristbands free of these chemicals were those priced at less than $15.This discovery stands out because of the very high concentrations of one type of forever chemical found in items that are in prolonged contact with our skin, Graham Peaslee, a professor emeritus in Notre Dames department of physics and astronomy and one of the studys authors, said in a statement, referring to PFAS. That means theres an increased risk such chemicals could seep through human skin.Peaslee tells Fast Company the study didnt single out results for individual wristbands because of its small sample size, but had sufficient information to publish its findings showing several common brands use this type of wristband and thus they could advise consumers on how to avoid them without picking on specific companies.unique risksPFAS can be found everywhere, from food packaging and fire extinguishing foam to personal care products, meaning most Americans have been exposed to the substances, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There are adverse health effects associated with exposure to PFAS, such as reproductive and developmental effects, but the study notes exposure limits are still being studied.When it comes to the wristbands, researchers found they had a median concentration of PFAS that was about four times higher than that found in cosmetics. In a study published in 2023, researchers found PFAS in cosmetics had a median concentration of about 200 parts per billion, while the median concentration for the tested wristbands was about 800 parts per billion. One wristband sample was even higher, at more than 16,000 parts per billion.The researchers had never before seen PFA concentrations at this level for any wearable consumer product applied to the skin, Peaslee says. They recommend reading product descriptions and sticking with cheaper wristbands made from silicone instead of fluoroelastomers.
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  • How this leadership process can help managers earn power instead of demanding it
    www.fastcompany.com
    Kim Clark served as dean of the faculty at Harvard Business School for a decade. He also served another decade as the 15th president of Brigham Young UniversityIdaho and spent four years as the Commissioner of Education for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is currently a Distinguished Professor of Management at Brigham Young University.Jonathan Clark is a professor of management at the University of Texas at San Antonio, where he has served as department chair and associate dean.Erin Clark is a managing director with Deloitte Consulting, Human Capital, where she works with clients to improve individual and organizational performance.Here, the authors share five key insights from their new book,Leading Through: Activating the Soul, Heart, and Mind of Leadership.Listen to the audio versionread by the authorsin the Next Big Idea App.1. The need for a shift from Power-Over to Leading ThroughMobilizing people to make things better helps people and organizations thrive. That is the great work of leadership, and it is often very frustrating. In our research, we found that this is because while executives need to do the work of leadershipthe work of mobilizing and empoweringthis is often not what they do. Instead, the actions they take are manifestations of a deeply embedded paradigm ofpowerrather thanleadership.This paradigm of power confuses and conflates the exercise of power with the work of leadership. We call this dominant way of thinking thePower-Overparadigm, shorthand for power over people and the organization. It is subversive and often so deeply embedded that we dont see it. And yet, there is a recognition that something needs to change and many organizations are trying. We can see a new paradigm emerging in these efforts. This book is our attempt to capture these emergent ideas and bring them to life in a new paradigm which we callLeading Through, meaning leading through people and through a leadership process that permeates the entire organization.We use three metaphors that draw on our human nature to describe the Leading Through paradigm: the soul, the heart, and the mind of leadership.2. The soul of leadership: Seeking to do goodThe work of leadership is about doing good and making things better. It is moral work that requires a moral context or shared framework of values and beliefs that guide decisions and actions. The work of activating the soul of leadership includes building on universal values like kindness, honesty, and care to animate the ultimate purpose in an organization. You do this in such a way that it illuminates the boundaries within which everyone acts, from senior executives to the front line.This makes possible one of the most powerful things that leaders do: generate light to propel the organization forward. We use the metaphor of light intentionally as a symbol for life, energy, wisdom, and understanding that defines the moral context of the organization. In contrast, actions that run counter to the moral context generate darkness which leads to inconsistent and damaging actions and decisions.The discernment and discipline necessary to generate light and strengthen an organizations moral context are not a destination or state of being. It is a continuous cycle wherein mistakes are made, and learning and growth become a source of strength for everyone. We call this thecycle of virtue. People who live this cycle are engaged in the work of leadership.3. The heart of leadership: Promoting human thrivingLeaders seek to lift and strengthen people, help them grow, learn, and find meaning in their work. It is an emotional relationship defined by mutual commitments that bind people together. InLeading Through, we present a framework for the heart of leadership. In both our research and our own experience, we have seen the principles behind this framework in action. We call it LIVE, which stands for Love, Inspiration, Vitality, and Expression. LIVE provides a structure for understanding the needs and interests of people and for helping them thrive.Love:We use the concept of love broadly but intentionally to mean human connections of understanding, appreciation, compassion, and care. The personal work of leadership is sustained by creating human connections of love. Without connection, people cannot thrive. We need each other, including at work. This requires intentional effort on the part of individuals; it requires leadership.Inspiration:The wordinspirecomes from a Latin root meaningto breathe into. In common usage, inspire captures the sense of an influence that energizes, invigorates, and motivates. When truly inspired, you are learning, growing, and becoming more. Engaging in leadership work to mobilize and empower inspires those around you.Vitality:We think of vitality as positive personal energy for meaningful action. This is both physical and emotional. On the physical side, it derives from the condition and care of our bodies, the extent to which our bodies function properly and are properly fueled. On the emotional side, it comes from the ability to regulate stress and anxiety, and is tightly intertwined with good mental health. Leaders create energy by focusing on vitality as an intentional outcome, nurturing personal energy that in turn energizes others.Expression:People who thrive act on their inspiration and energy to give expression to their knowledge, wisdom, and skill. In LIVE, we focus on two forms of expression: voice and creativity. People who thrive have a voice: the opportunity to share their ideas and contribute to making meaningful decisions. People who thrive also have the chance to create and contribute to developing and producing something new, either through improvement or innovation. With voice and creativity, people experience the joy of expression and thrive by making meaningful contributions to work they value.Alignment across the four elements of the LIVE framework has a powerful amplifying effect. We align ourselves with others and build others up, and they, in turn, do the same. There is more power in the work and we all grow and accomplish important things together.4. The mind of leadership: Advancing action, learning, and changeThe mind of leadership brings to life what we call theleadership process, the work that propels groups and organizations toward a desirable future. In using the leadership process in our work and teaching it to others, we have found it universally applicable for mobilizing and empowering people. In the leadership process, the work of leadership is done by those who lead the team as well as every member of that team.There are three phases to the leadership process:Initiate.Opportunities and challenges are assessed and identified, and connections are made with key stakeholders.Mobilize.Teams and a network of key partners are built and established.Empower.The core team and network of partners are activated and engaged in the work, and their efforts are focused to propel the work forward.The leadership process provides a framework in which the mind of leadership finds powerful application and, together with the soul and heart, drives the work of leadership.5. The modular leadership system: Leadership that permeatesA greater degree of autonomy at work results in more energized, engaged people and more effective organizations. Further, the freedom to choose and initiate action is fundamental to creativity and innovationbut so, too, is structure. Without some structure, initiative could spiral out of control.How can an organization have both innovation through initiative and freedom alongside unity and alignment from structure? The principle ofmodularity. In a modular system, the components work well as a united whole but can also be designed, developed, and improved independently.Modularity makes freedom of action possible while ensuring a cohesive, unified whole. The benefits of modularity depend on three aspects of organization design:How work is organized and carried out across the organization.How integration aligns work across the organization.How power dynamics shape how power is used and expressed.InLeading Through, we identify what needs to be true in each of the three areas to enable both freedom and unity. Namely, we need a framework focused on innovation through initiative; we need an approach to integration focused on making more information visible and accessible to more people; and we need power dynamics that activate the power within people. There is great potential in everyone, and the modular leadership system aims to liberate and enable the power of that potential wherever it can be found.This article originally appeared in Next Big Idea Club magazine and is reprinted with permission.
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  • Apple's microLED plans will get a giant boost from Foxconn's AR glasses move
    appleinsider.com
    Foxconn is moving into the AR glasses market, and that will also help Apple use microLED displays in future products. Here's how.MiniLED, as used in the iPad Pro and MacBook Pro could be superseded by microLEDApple has gradually changed the display technologies it uses in its products over the years. After using TFT, OLED, and mini LED, the next shift to microLED could end up being helped by an investment by a supply chain partner.In a Tuesday announcement, Foxconn revealed a partnership with Porotech, a company working in the augmented reality industry, with a background in display technology. Under the partnership, Foxconn will be entering the AR glasses market, with the two working on microLED wafer processing and optical module packaging. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
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  • Apple's 14-inch MacBook Pro with M4 Pro chip plunges to record low $1,699 today only
    appleinsider.com
    The M4 Pro MacBook Pro 14-inch has hit a new record low price of $1,699, with units in stock with free store pickup as early as today. But don't delay, as the deal ends on Christmas Eve.Grab the best price on Apple's M4 MacBook Pro.The $300 price cut at Best Buy on the standard M4 Pro MacBook Pro 14-inch knocks the price down to a new all-time low of $1,699. Equipped with a 12-core CPU, 16-core GPU, 24GB unified memory and 512GB of storage, the standard model in your choice of Space Black or Silver offers a solid amount of performance for the sub-$1,700 price point.Get the $1,699 MBP deal Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
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  • In 2024, Archinect took an in-depth look at architectural licensure
    archinect.com
    One of Archinects most significant editorial undertakings of 2024 was our Archinect In Depth: Licensure series. Across four months, we spoke with key organizations, researchers, leaders, and commentators related to licensure, in addition to eliciting views from our community.Our journey took us across the history of licensure, the current pathway to licensure, state and national laws, barriers, opportunities, visions for the future, and comparisons with other countries. As we explored the topic, meanwhile, the licensure landscape continued to evolve in 2024 as the U.S. sought to reform the process and competencies held within the licensure system, while also updating its reciprocal agreements with other nations.Explore further insights on Archinect's leading coverage of architectural licensure in 2024 below.Our in-depth exploration of licensureImage credit: ArchinectIn May, we began a conversation about architectural licensureOur Archinect In-Depth: Licensure series began wit...
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  • How Etermax took Trivia Crack World to Meta Quest VR headsets
    venturebeat.com
    Etermax scored big with Trivia Crack, a mobile game that has had more than 800 million downloads. Now it's moving into VR.Read More
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  • My most anticipated games of 2025 | The DeanBeat
    venturebeat.com
    Im going to keep this post short as Rachel Kaser is giving this topic the real treatment. I wanted to weigh in on my own list of the most anticipated games of 2025. The list is in reverse order and the No. 1 most anticipated game is at the bottom of this post. While a lot of this is subjective, its always critical for the game industrRead More
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