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2025-05-16 13:17:33 ·

DanceGRPO: A Unified Framework for Reinforcement Learning in Visual Generation Across Multiple Paradigms and Tasks

Recent advances in generative models, especially diffusion models and rectified flows, have revolutionized visual content creation with enhanced output quality and versatility. Human feedback integration during training is essential for aligning outputs with human preferences and aesthetic standards. Current approaches like ReFL methods depend on differentiable reward models that introduce VRAM inefficiency for video generation. DPO variants achieve only marginal visual improvements. Further, RL-based methods face challenges including conflicts between ODE-based sampling of rectified flow models and Markov Decision Process formulations, instability when scaling beyond small datasets, and a lack of validation for video generation tasks.
Aligning LLMs employs Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback, which trains reward functions based on comparison data to capture human preferences. Policy gradient methods have proven effective but are computationally intensive and require extensive tuning, while Direct Policy Optimizationoffers cost efficiency but delivers inferior performance. DeepSeek-R1 recently showed that large-scale RL with specialized reward functions can guide LLMs toward self-emergent thought processes. Current approaches include DPO-style methods, direct backpropagation with reward signals like ReFL, and policy gradient-based methods such as DPOK and DDPO. Production models primarily utilize DPO and ReFL due to the instability of policy gradient methods in large-scale applications.
Researchers from ByteDance Seed and the University of Hong Kong have proposed DanceGRPO, a unified framework adapting Group Relative Policy Optimization to visual generation paradigms. This solution operates seamlessly across diffusion models and rectified flows, handling text-to-image, text-to-video, and image-to-video tasks. The framework integrates with four foundation modelsand five reward models covering image/video aesthetics, text-image alignment, video motion quality, and binary reward assessments. DanceGRPO outperforms baselines by up to 181% on key benchmarks, including HPS-v2.1, CLIP Score, VideoAlign, and GenEval.
The architecture utilizes five specialized reward models to optimize visual generation quality:

Image Aesthetics quantifies visual appeal using models fine-tuned on human-rated data.
Text-image Alignment uses CLIP to maximize cross-modal consistency.
Video Aesthetics Quality extends evaluation to temporal domains using Vision Language Models.
Video Motion Quality evaluates motion realism through physics-aware VLM analysis.
Thresholding Binary Reward employs a discretization mechanism where values exceeding a threshold receive 1, others 0, specifically designed to evaluate generative models’ ability to learn abrupt reward distributions under threshold-based optimization.

DanceGRPO shows significant improvements in reward metrics for Stable Diffusion v1.4 with an increase in the HPS score from 0.239 to 0.365, and CLIP Score from 0.363 to 0.395. Pick-a-Pic and GenEval evaluations confirm the method’s effectiveness, with DanceGRPO outperforming all competing approaches. For HunyuanVideo-T2I, optimization using the HPS-v2.1 model increases the mean reward score from 0.23 to 0.33, showing enhanced alignment with human aesthetic preferences. With HunyuanVideo, despite excluding text-video alignment due to instability, the methodology achieves relative improvements of 56% and 181% in visual and motion quality metrics, respectively. DanceGRPO uses the VideoAlign reward model’s motion quality metric, achieving a substantial 91% relative improvement in this dimension.

In this paper, researchers have introduced DanceGRPO, a unified framework for enhancing diffusion models and rectified flows across text-to-image, text-to-video, and image-to-video tasks. It addresses critical limitations of prior methods by bridging the gap between language and visual modalities, achieving superior performance through efficient alignment with human preferences and robust scaling to complex, multi-task settings. Experiments demonstrate substantial improvements in visual fidelity, motion quality, and text-image alignment. Future work will explore GRPO’s extension to multimodal generation, further unifying optimization paradigms across Generative AI.

Check out the Paper and Project Page. All credit for this research goes to the researchers of this project. Also, feel free to follow us on Twitter and don’t forget to join our 90k+ ML SubReddit.
Sajjad AnsariSajjad Ansari is a final year undergraduate from IIT Kharagpur. As a Tech enthusiast, he delves into the practical applications of AI with a focus on understanding the impact of AI technologies and their real-world implications. He aims to articulate complex AI concepts in a clear and accessible manner.Sajjad Ansarihttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sajjadansari/Reinforcement Learning, Not Fine-Tuning: Nemotron-Tool-N1 Trains LLMs to Use Tools with Minimal Supervision and Maximum GeneralizationSajjad Ansarihttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sajjadansari/RL^V: Unifying Reasoning and Verification in Language Models through Value-Free Reinforcement LearningSajjad Ansarihttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sajjadansari/Offline Video-LLMs Can Now Understand Real-Time Streams: Apple Researchers Introduce StreamBridge to Enable Multi-Turn and Proactive Video UnderstandingSajjad Ansarihttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sajjadansari/AI That Teaches Itself: Tsinghua University’s ‘Absolute Zero’ Trains LLMs With Zero External Data
#dancegrpo #unified #framework #reinforcement #learning

DanceGRPO: A Unified Framework for Reinforcement Learning in Visual Generation Across Multiple Paradigms and Tasks
Recent advances in generative models, especially diffusion models and rectified flows, have revolutionized visual content creation with enhanced output quality and versatility. Human feedback integration during training is essential for aligning outputs with human preferences and aesthetic standards. Current approaches like ReFL methods depend on differentiable reward models that introduce VRAM inefficiency for video generation. DPO variants achieve only marginal visual improvements. Further, RL-based methods face challenges including conflicts between ODE-based sampling of rectified flow models and Markov Decision Process formulations, instability when scaling beyond small datasets, and a lack of validation for video generation tasks. Aligning LLMs employs Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback, which trains reward functions based on comparison data to capture human preferences. Policy gradient methods have proven effective but are computationally intensive and require extensive tuning, while Direct Policy Optimizationoffers cost efficiency but delivers inferior performance. DeepSeek-R1 recently showed that large-scale RL with specialized reward functions can guide LLMs toward self-emergent thought processes. Current approaches include DPO-style methods, direct backpropagation with reward signals like ReFL, and policy gradient-based methods such as DPOK and DDPO. Production models primarily utilize DPO and ReFL due to the instability of policy gradient methods in large-scale applications. Researchers from ByteDance Seed and the University of Hong Kong have proposed DanceGRPO, a unified framework adapting Group Relative Policy Optimization to visual generation paradigms. This solution operates seamlessly across diffusion models and rectified flows, handling text-to-image, text-to-video, and image-to-video tasks. The framework integrates with four foundation modelsand five reward models covering image/video aesthetics, text-image alignment, video motion quality, and binary reward assessments. DanceGRPO outperforms baselines by up to 181% on key benchmarks, including HPS-v2.1, CLIP Score, VideoAlign, and GenEval. The architecture utilizes five specialized reward models to optimize visual generation quality: Image Aesthetics quantifies visual appeal using models fine-tuned on human-rated data. Text-image Alignment uses CLIP to maximize cross-modal consistency. Video Aesthetics Quality extends evaluation to temporal domains using Vision Language Models. Video Motion Quality evaluates motion realism through physics-aware VLM analysis. Thresholding Binary Reward employs a discretization mechanism where values exceeding a threshold receive 1, others 0, specifically designed to evaluate generative models’ ability to learn abrupt reward distributions under threshold-based optimization. DanceGRPO shows significant improvements in reward metrics for Stable Diffusion v1.4 with an increase in the HPS score from 0.239 to 0.365, and CLIP Score from 0.363 to 0.395. Pick-a-Pic and GenEval evaluations confirm the method’s effectiveness, with DanceGRPO outperforming all competing approaches. For HunyuanVideo-T2I, optimization using the HPS-v2.1 model increases the mean reward score from 0.23 to 0.33, showing enhanced alignment with human aesthetic preferences. With HunyuanVideo, despite excluding text-video alignment due to instability, the methodology achieves relative improvements of 56% and 181% in visual and motion quality metrics, respectively. DanceGRPO uses the VideoAlign reward model’s motion quality metric, achieving a substantial 91% relative improvement in this dimension. In this paper, researchers have introduced DanceGRPO, a unified framework for enhancing diffusion models and rectified flows across text-to-image, text-to-video, and image-to-video tasks. It addresses critical limitations of prior methods by bridging the gap between language and visual modalities, achieving superior performance through efficient alignment with human preferences and robust scaling to complex, multi-task settings. Experiments demonstrate substantial improvements in visual fidelity, motion quality, and text-image alignment. Future work will explore GRPO’s extension to multimodal generation, further unifying optimization paradigms across Generative AI. Check out the Paper and Project Page. All credit for this research goes to the researchers of this project. Also, feel free to follow us on Twitter and don’t forget to join our 90k+ ML SubReddit. Sajjad AnsariSajjad Ansari is a final year undergraduate from IIT Kharagpur. As a Tech enthusiast, he delves into the practical applications of AI with a focus on understanding the impact of AI technologies and their real-world implications. He aims to articulate complex AI concepts in a clear and accessible manner.Sajjad Ansarihttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sajjadansari/Reinforcement Learning, Not Fine-Tuning: Nemotron-Tool-N1 Trains LLMs to Use Tools with Minimal Supervision and Maximum GeneralizationSajjad Ansarihttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sajjadansari/RL^V: Unifying Reasoning and Verification in Language Models through Value-Free Reinforcement LearningSajjad Ansarihttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sajjadansari/Offline Video-LLMs Can Now Understand Real-Time Streams: Apple Researchers Introduce StreamBridge to Enable Multi-Turn and Proactive Video UnderstandingSajjad Ansarihttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sajjadansari/AI That Teaches Itself: Tsinghua University’s ‘Absolute Zero’ Trains LLMs With Zero External Data #dancegrpo #unified #framework #reinforcement #learning

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DanceGRPO: A Unified Framework for Reinforcement Learning in Visual Generation Across Multiple Paradigms and Tasks

Recent advances in generative models, especially diffusion models and rectified flows, have revolutionized visual content creation with enhanced output quality and versatility. Human feedback integration during training is essential for aligning outputs with human preferences and aesthetic standards. Current approaches like ReFL methods depend on differentiable reward models that introduce VRAM inefficiency for video generation. DPO variants achieve only marginal visual improvements. Further, RL-based methods face challenges including conflicts between ODE-based sampling of rectified flow models and Markov Decision Process formulations, instability when scaling beyond small datasets, and a lack of validation for video generation tasks. Aligning LLMs employs Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF), which trains reward functions based on comparison data to capture human preferences. Policy gradient methods have proven effective but are computationally intensive and require extensive tuning, while Direct Policy Optimization (DPO) offers cost efficiency but delivers inferior performance. DeepSeek-R1 recently showed that large-scale RL with specialized reward functions can guide LLMs toward self-emergent thought processes. Current approaches include DPO-style methods, direct backpropagation with reward signals like ReFL, and policy gradient-based methods such as DPOK and DDPO. Production models primarily utilize DPO and ReFL due to the instability of policy gradient methods in large-scale applications. Researchers from ByteDance Seed and the University of Hong Kong have proposed DanceGRPO, a unified framework adapting Group Relative Policy Optimization to visual generation paradigms. This solution operates seamlessly across diffusion models and rectified flows, handling text-to-image, text-to-video, and image-to-video tasks. The framework integrates with four foundation models (Stable Diffusion, HunyuanVideo, FLUX, SkyReels-I2V) and five reward models covering image/video aesthetics, text-image alignment, video motion quality, and binary reward assessments. DanceGRPO outperforms baselines by up to 181% on key benchmarks, including HPS-v2.1, CLIP Score, VideoAlign, and GenEval. The architecture utilizes five specialized reward models to optimize visual generation quality: Image Aesthetics quantifies visual appeal using models fine-tuned on human-rated data. Text-image Alignment uses CLIP to maximize cross-modal consistency. Video Aesthetics Quality extends evaluation to temporal domains using Vision Language Models (VLMs). Video Motion Quality evaluates motion realism through physics-aware VLM analysis. Thresholding Binary Reward employs a discretization mechanism where values exceeding a threshold receive 1, others 0, specifically designed to evaluate generative models’ ability to learn abrupt reward distributions under threshold-based optimization. DanceGRPO shows significant improvements in reward metrics for Stable Diffusion v1.4 with an increase in the HPS score from 0.239 to 0.365, and CLIP Score from 0.363 to 0.395. Pick-a-Pic and GenEval evaluations confirm the method’s effectiveness, with DanceGRPO outperforming all competing approaches. For HunyuanVideo-T2I, optimization using the HPS-v2.1 model increases the mean reward score from 0.23 to 0.33, showing enhanced alignment with human aesthetic preferences. With HunyuanVideo, despite excluding text-video alignment due to instability, the methodology achieves relative improvements of 56% and 181% in visual and motion quality metrics, respectively. DanceGRPO uses the VideoAlign reward model’s motion quality metric, achieving a substantial 91% relative improvement in this dimension. In this paper, researchers have introduced DanceGRPO, a unified framework for enhancing diffusion models and rectified flows across text-to-image, text-to-video, and image-to-video tasks. It addresses critical limitations of prior methods by bridging the gap between language and visual modalities, achieving superior performance through efficient alignment with human preferences and robust scaling to complex, multi-task settings. Experiments demonstrate substantial improvements in visual fidelity, motion quality, and text-image alignment. Future work will explore GRPO’s extension to multimodal generation, further unifying optimization paradigms across Generative AI. Check out the Paper and Project Page. All credit for this research goes to the researchers of this project. Also, feel free to follow us on Twitter and don’t forget to join our 90k+ ML SubReddit. Sajjad AnsariSajjad Ansari is a final year undergraduate from IIT Kharagpur. As a Tech enthusiast, he delves into the practical applications of AI with a focus on understanding the impact of AI technologies and their real-world implications. He aims to articulate complex AI concepts in a clear and accessible manner.Sajjad Ansarihttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sajjadansari/Reinforcement Learning, Not Fine-Tuning: Nemotron-Tool-N1 Trains LLMs to Use Tools with Minimal Supervision and Maximum GeneralizationSajjad Ansarihttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sajjadansari/RL^V: Unifying Reasoning and Verification in Language Models through Value-Free Reinforcement LearningSajjad Ansarihttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sajjadansari/Offline Video-LLMs Can Now Understand Real-Time Streams: Apple Researchers Introduce StreamBridge to Enable Multi-Turn and Proactive Video UnderstandingSajjad Ansarihttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sajjadansari/AI That Teaches Itself: Tsinghua University’s ‘Absolute Zero’ Trains LLMs With Zero External Data

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Smashing Magazine een koppeling hebt gedeeld

2025-05-16 12:48:26 ·

Building A Practical UX Strategy Framework

In my experience, most UX teams find themselves primarily implementing other people’s ideas rather than leading the conversation about user experience. This happens because stakeholders and decision-makers often lack a deep understanding of UX’s capabilities and potential. Without a clear UX strategy framework, professionals get relegated to a purely tactical role — wireframing and testing solutions conceived by others.
A well-crafted UX strategy framework changes this dynamic. It helps UX teams take control of their role and demonstrate real leadership in improving the user experience. Rather than just responding to requests, you can proactively identify opportunities that deliver genuine business value. A strategic approach also helps educate stakeholders about UX’s full potential while building credibility through measurable results.
Strategy And The Fat Smoker
When I guide teams on creating a UX strategy, I like to keep things simple. I borrow an approach from the book Strategy and the Fat Smoker and break strategy into three clear parts:

First, we diagnose where we are today.
Then, we set guiding policies to steer us.
Finally, we outline actions to get us where we want to go.

Let me walk you through each part so you can shape a UX strategy that feels both practical and powerful.
Diagnosis: Know Your Starting Point
Before we outline any plan, we need to assess our current situation. A clear diagnosis shows where you can make the biggest impact. It also highlights the gaps you must fill.
Identify Status Quo Failures
Start by naming what isn’t working. You might find that your organization lacks a UX team. Or the team has a budget that is too small. Sometimes you uncover that user satisfaction scores are slipping. Frame these challenges in business terms. For example, a slow sign‑up flow may be costing you 20 percent of new registrations each month. That ties UX to revenue and grabs attention.
Once you have a list of failures, ask yourself:
What outcome does each failure hurt?

A slow checkout might reduce e‑commerce sales. Complicated navigation may dent customer retention. Linking UX issues to business metrics makes the case for change.
Map The Aspirational Experience
Next, visualize what an improved journey would look like. A quick way is to create two simple journey maps. One shows the current experience. The other shows an ideal path. Highlight key steps like discovery, sign‑up, onboarding, and support. Then ask:
How will this new journey help meet our business goals?

Maybe faster onboarding can cut support costs. Or a streamlined checkout can boost average order value.
Let me share a real-world example. When working with the Samaritans, a UK mental health charity, we first mapped their current support process. While their telephone support was excellent, they struggled with email and text support, and had no presence on social media platforms. This was largely because volunteers found it difficult to manage multiple communication systems.

We then created an aspirational journey map showing a unified system where volunteers could manage all communication channels through a single interface. This clear vision gave the organization a concrete goal that would improve the experience for both users seeking help and the volunteers providing support.

This vision gives everyone something to rally around. It also guides your later actions by showing the target state.
Audit Resources And Influence
Next, turn your attention to what you have to work with. List your UX team members and their skills. Note any budget set aside for research tools or software licenses. Then identify where you have influence across the organization. Which teams already seek your advice? Who trusts your guidance? That might be the product group or marketing. You’ll lean on these allies to spread UX best practices.
Finally, consider who else matters. Are there policy owners, process leads, or executives you need on board? Jot down names and roles so you can loop them in later.
Spot Your Constraints
Every strategy must live within real‑world limits. Maybe there’s a headcount freeze. Or IT systems won’t support a major overhaul. List any technical, budget, or policy limits you face. Then accept them. You’ll design your strategy to deliver value without asking for impossible changes. Working within constraints boosts your credibility. It also forces creativity.
With the diagnosis complete, we know where we stand. Next, let’s look at how to steer our efforts.
Guiding Policies: Set the North Star
Guiding policies give you guardrails. They help you decide which opportunities to chase and which to skip. These policies reflect your priorities and the best path forward.
Choose A Tactical Or Strategic Approach
Early on, you must pick how your UX team will operate. You have two broad options:

TacticalYou embed UX people on specific projects. They run tests and design interfaces hands‑on. This needs a bigger team. I like a ratio of one UX pro for every two developers.
StrategicYou act as a center of excellence. You advise other teams. You build guidelines, run workshops, and offer tools. This needs fewer hands but a broader influence.

Weigh your resources against your goals. If you need to move fast on many projects, go tactical. If you want to shift mindsets, work strategically. Choose the approach with the best chance of success.
Define A Prioritization Method
You’ll face many requests for UX work. A clear way to sort them saves headaches. Over the years, I’ve used a simple digital triage. You score each request based on impact, effort, and risk. Then, you work on the highest‑scoring items first. You can adapt this model however you like. The point is to have a repeatable, fair way to say yes or no.
Create A Playbook Of Principles
A playbook holds your core design principles, standard operating procedures, and templates. It might include:

A design system for UI patterns;
Standards around accessibility or user research;
Guides for key tasks such as writing for the web;
Templates for common activities like user interviews.

This playbook becomes your team’s shared reference. It helps others repeat your process. It also captures the know‑how you need as your team grows.

Plan Your Communication
Strategy fails when people don’t know about it. You need a plan to engage stakeholders. I find it helpful to use a RACI chart — who is Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed. Then decide:

How often will you send updates?
Which channels should you use?
Who leads each conversation?

Clear, regular communication keeps everyone looped in. It also surfaces concerns early so you can address them.
With guiding policies in place, you have a clear way to decide what to work on. Now, let’s turn to making things happen.
Action Plan: Bring Strategy To Life
Actions are the concrete steps you take to deliver on your guiding policies. They cover the projects you run, the support you give, and the risks you manage.
Outline Key Projects And Services
Start by listing the projects you’ll tackle. These might be:

Running a discovery phase for a new product.
Building a design system for your marketing team.
Conducting user tests on your main flow.

For each project, note what you will deliver and when. You can use your digital triage scores to pick the highest priorities. Keep each project scope small enough to finish in a few sprints. That way, you prove value quickly.
Offer Training And Tools
If you choose a strategic approach, you need to empower others. Plan workshops on core UX topics. Record short videos on testing best practices. Build quick reference guides. Curate a list of tools:

Prototyping apps,
Research platforms,
Analytics dashboards.

Make these resources easy to find in your playbook.
Assign Stakeholder Roles
Your strategy needs executive backing. Identify a senior sponsor who can break through roadblocks. Outline what you need them to do. Maybe it’s championing a new budget line or approving key hires. Also, pin down other collaborators. Who on the product side will help you scope new features? Who on the IT team will support user research tooling? Getting clear roles avoids confusion.
Manage Risks and Barriers
No plan goes off without a hitch. List your biggest risks, such as:

A hiring freeze delays tactical hires;
Key stakeholders lose interest;
Technical debt slows down new releases.

For each risk, jot down how you’ll handle it. Maybe you should shift to a fully strategic approach if hiring stalls. Or you can send a weekly one‑page update to reengage sponsors. Having a fallback keeps you calm when things go sideways.
Before we wrap up, let’s talk about making strategy stick.
Embedding UX Into The Culture
A strategy shines only if you deeply embed it into your organization’s culture. Here’s how to make that happen:

Build awareness and enthusiasm
Run regular “lunch and learn” sessions to showcase UX wins.
Host an annual UX day or mini-conference to boost visibility.
Create a monthly UX salon where teams share challenges and victories.

Make UX visible and tangible
Display personas and journey maps in office spaces.
Add design principles to everyday items like mousepads and mugs.
Share success metrics and improvements in company communications.

Embed UX into processes
Establish clear UX policies and best practices.
Review and update procedures that might hinder a good user experience.
Create a healthy competition between teams through UX metrics.

These tactics transform your strategy from a document into an organizational movement. They foster a culture where everyone thinks about user experience, not just the UX team. Remember, cultural change takes time — but consistent, visible efforts will gradually shift mindsets across the organization.
Implementing Your UX Strategy: From Plan To Practice
We started by diagnosing your current state. Then we set policies to guide your efforts. Finally, we laid out an action plan to deliver results. This three-part framework keeps your UX work tied to real business needs. It also gives you clarity, focus, and credibility.
However, creating a strategy is the easy part — implementing it is where the real challenge lies. This is precisely why the book Strategy and the Fat Smoker carries its distinctive title. Just as someone who is overweight or smokes knows exactly what they need to do, we often know what our UX strategy should be. The difficult part is following through and making it a reality.
Success requires consistent engagement and persistence in the face of setbacks. As Winston Churchill wisely noted,
“Success is going from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”

This perfectly captures the mindset needed to implement a successful UX strategy — staying committed to your vision even when faced with obstacles and setbacks.
#building #practical #strategy #framework

Building A Practical UX Strategy Framework
In my experience, most UX teams find themselves primarily implementing other people’s ideas rather than leading the conversation about user experience. This happens because stakeholders and decision-makers often lack a deep understanding of UX’s capabilities and potential. Without a clear UX strategy framework, professionals get relegated to a purely tactical role — wireframing and testing solutions conceived by others. A well-crafted UX strategy framework changes this dynamic. It helps UX teams take control of their role and demonstrate real leadership in improving the user experience. Rather than just responding to requests, you can proactively identify opportunities that deliver genuine business value. A strategic approach also helps educate stakeholders about UX’s full potential while building credibility through measurable results. Strategy And The Fat Smoker When I guide teams on creating a UX strategy, I like to keep things simple. I borrow an approach from the book Strategy and the Fat Smoker and break strategy into three clear parts: First, we diagnose where we are today. Then, we set guiding policies to steer us. Finally, we outline actions to get us where we want to go. Let me walk you through each part so you can shape a UX strategy that feels both practical and powerful. Diagnosis: Know Your Starting Point Before we outline any plan, we need to assess our current situation. A clear diagnosis shows where you can make the biggest impact. It also highlights the gaps you must fill. Identify Status Quo Failures Start by naming what isn’t working. You might find that your organization lacks a UX team. Or the team has a budget that is too small. Sometimes you uncover that user satisfaction scores are slipping. Frame these challenges in business terms. For example, a slow sign‑up flow may be costing you 20 percent of new registrations each month. That ties UX to revenue and grabs attention. Once you have a list of failures, ask yourself: What outcome does each failure hurt? A slow checkout might reduce e‑commerce sales. Complicated navigation may dent customer retention. Linking UX issues to business metrics makes the case for change. Map The Aspirational Experience Next, visualize what an improved journey would look like. A quick way is to create two simple journey maps. One shows the current experience. The other shows an ideal path. Highlight key steps like discovery, sign‑up, onboarding, and support. Then ask: How will this new journey help meet our business goals? Maybe faster onboarding can cut support costs. Or a streamlined checkout can boost average order value. Let me share a real-world example. When working with the Samaritans, a UK mental health charity, we first mapped their current support process. While their telephone support was excellent, they struggled with email and text support, and had no presence on social media platforms. This was largely because volunteers found it difficult to manage multiple communication systems. We then created an aspirational journey map showing a unified system where volunteers could manage all communication channels through a single interface. This clear vision gave the organization a concrete goal that would improve the experience for both users seeking help and the volunteers providing support. This vision gives everyone something to rally around. It also guides your later actions by showing the target state. Audit Resources And Influence Next, turn your attention to what you have to work with. List your UX team members and their skills. Note any budget set aside for research tools or software licenses. Then identify where you have influence across the organization. Which teams already seek your advice? Who trusts your guidance? That might be the product group or marketing. You’ll lean on these allies to spread UX best practices. Finally, consider who else matters. Are there policy owners, process leads, or executives you need on board? Jot down names and roles so you can loop them in later. Spot Your Constraints Every strategy must live within real‑world limits. Maybe there’s a headcount freeze. Or IT systems won’t support a major overhaul. List any technical, budget, or policy limits you face. Then accept them. You’ll design your strategy to deliver value without asking for impossible changes. Working within constraints boosts your credibility. It also forces creativity. With the diagnosis complete, we know where we stand. Next, let’s look at how to steer our efforts. Guiding Policies: Set the North Star Guiding policies give you guardrails. They help you decide which opportunities to chase and which to skip. These policies reflect your priorities and the best path forward. Choose A Tactical Or Strategic Approach Early on, you must pick how your UX team will operate. You have two broad options: TacticalYou embed UX people on specific projects. They run tests and design interfaces hands‑on. This needs a bigger team. I like a ratio of one UX pro for every two developers. StrategicYou act as a center of excellence. You advise other teams. You build guidelines, run workshops, and offer tools. This needs fewer hands but a broader influence. Weigh your resources against your goals. If you need to move fast on many projects, go tactical. If you want to shift mindsets, work strategically. Choose the approach with the best chance of success. Define A Prioritization Method You’ll face many requests for UX work. A clear way to sort them saves headaches. Over the years, I’ve used a simple digital triage. You score each request based on impact, effort, and risk. Then, you work on the highest‑scoring items first. You can adapt this model however you like. The point is to have a repeatable, fair way to say yes or no. Create A Playbook Of Principles A playbook holds your core design principles, standard operating procedures, and templates. It might include: A design system for UI patterns; Standards around accessibility or user research; Guides for key tasks such as writing for the web; Templates for common activities like user interviews. This playbook becomes your team’s shared reference. It helps others repeat your process. It also captures the know‑how you need as your team grows. Plan Your Communication Strategy fails when people don’t know about it. You need a plan to engage stakeholders. I find it helpful to use a RACI chart — who is Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed. Then decide: How often will you send updates? Which channels should you use? Who leads each conversation? Clear, regular communication keeps everyone looped in. It also surfaces concerns early so you can address them. With guiding policies in place, you have a clear way to decide what to work on. Now, let’s turn to making things happen. Action Plan: Bring Strategy To Life Actions are the concrete steps you take to deliver on your guiding policies. They cover the projects you run, the support you give, and the risks you manage. Outline Key Projects And Services Start by listing the projects you’ll tackle. These might be: Running a discovery phase for a new product. Building a design system for your marketing team. Conducting user tests on your main flow. For each project, note what you will deliver and when. You can use your digital triage scores to pick the highest priorities. Keep each project scope small enough to finish in a few sprints. That way, you prove value quickly. Offer Training And Tools If you choose a strategic approach, you need to empower others. Plan workshops on core UX topics. Record short videos on testing best practices. Build quick reference guides. Curate a list of tools: Prototyping apps, Research platforms, Analytics dashboards. Make these resources easy to find in your playbook. Assign Stakeholder Roles Your strategy needs executive backing. Identify a senior sponsor who can break through roadblocks. Outline what you need them to do. Maybe it’s championing a new budget line or approving key hires. Also, pin down other collaborators. Who on the product side will help you scope new features? Who on the IT team will support user research tooling? Getting clear roles avoids confusion. Manage Risks and Barriers No plan goes off without a hitch. List your biggest risks, such as: A hiring freeze delays tactical hires; Key stakeholders lose interest; Technical debt slows down new releases. For each risk, jot down how you’ll handle it. Maybe you should shift to a fully strategic approach if hiring stalls. Or you can send a weekly one‑page update to reengage sponsors. Having a fallback keeps you calm when things go sideways. Before we wrap up, let’s talk about making strategy stick. Embedding UX Into The Culture A strategy shines only if you deeply embed it into your organization’s culture. Here’s how to make that happen: Build awareness and enthusiasm Run regular “lunch and learn” sessions to showcase UX wins. Host an annual UX day or mini-conference to boost visibility. Create a monthly UX salon where teams share challenges and victories. Make UX visible and tangible Display personas and journey maps in office spaces. Add design principles to everyday items like mousepads and mugs. Share success metrics and improvements in company communications. Embed UX into processes Establish clear UX policies and best practices. Review and update procedures that might hinder a good user experience. Create a healthy competition between teams through UX metrics. These tactics transform your strategy from a document into an organizational movement. They foster a culture where everyone thinks about user experience, not just the UX team. Remember, cultural change takes time — but consistent, visible efforts will gradually shift mindsets across the organization. Implementing Your UX Strategy: From Plan To Practice We started by diagnosing your current state. Then we set policies to guide your efforts. Finally, we laid out an action plan to deliver results. This three-part framework keeps your UX work tied to real business needs. It also gives you clarity, focus, and credibility. However, creating a strategy is the easy part — implementing it is where the real challenge lies. This is precisely why the book Strategy and the Fat Smoker carries its distinctive title. Just as someone who is overweight or smokes knows exactly what they need to do, we often know what our UX strategy should be. The difficult part is following through and making it a reality. Success requires consistent engagement and persistence in the face of setbacks. As Winston Churchill wisely noted, “Success is going from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” This perfectly captures the mindset needed to implement a successful UX strategy — staying committed to your vision even when faced with obstacles and setbacks. #building #practical #strategy #framework

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Building A Practical UX Strategy Framework

In my experience, most UX teams find themselves primarily implementing other people’s ideas rather than leading the conversation about user experience. This happens because stakeholders and decision-makers often lack a deep understanding of UX’s capabilities and potential. Without a clear UX strategy framework, professionals get relegated to a purely tactical role — wireframing and testing solutions conceived by others. A well-crafted UX strategy framework changes this dynamic. It helps UX teams take control of their role and demonstrate real leadership in improving the user experience. Rather than just responding to requests, you can proactively identify opportunities that deliver genuine business value. A strategic approach also helps educate stakeholders about UX’s full potential while building credibility through measurable results. Strategy And The Fat Smoker When I guide teams on creating a UX strategy, I like to keep things simple. I borrow an approach from the book Strategy and the Fat Smoker and break strategy into three clear parts: First, we diagnose where we are today. Then, we set guiding policies to steer us. Finally, we outline actions to get us where we want to go. Let me walk you through each part so you can shape a UX strategy that feels both practical and powerful. Diagnosis: Know Your Starting Point Before we outline any plan, we need to assess our current situation. A clear diagnosis shows where you can make the biggest impact. It also highlights the gaps you must fill. Identify Status Quo Failures Start by naming what isn’t working. You might find that your organization lacks a UX team. Or the team has a budget that is too small. Sometimes you uncover that user satisfaction scores are slipping. Frame these challenges in business terms. For example, a slow sign‑up flow may be costing you 20 percent of new registrations each month. That ties UX to revenue and grabs attention. Once you have a list of failures, ask yourself: What outcome does each failure hurt? A slow checkout might reduce e‑commerce sales. Complicated navigation may dent customer retention. Linking UX issues to business metrics makes the case for change. Map The Aspirational Experience Next, visualize what an improved journey would look like. A quick way is to create two simple journey maps. One shows the current experience. The other shows an ideal path. Highlight key steps like discovery, sign‑up, onboarding, and support. Then ask: How will this new journey help meet our business goals? Maybe faster onboarding can cut support costs. Or a streamlined checkout can boost average order value. Let me share a real-world example. When working with the Samaritans, a UK mental health charity, we first mapped their current support process. While their telephone support was excellent, they struggled with email and text support, and had no presence on social media platforms. This was largely because volunteers found it difficult to manage multiple communication systems. We then created an aspirational journey map showing a unified system where volunteers could manage all communication channels through a single interface. This clear vision gave the organization a concrete goal that would improve the experience for both users seeking help and the volunteers providing support. This vision gives everyone something to rally around. It also guides your later actions by showing the target state. Audit Resources And Influence Next, turn your attention to what you have to work with. List your UX team members and their skills. Note any budget set aside for research tools or software licenses. Then identify where you have influence across the organization. Which teams already seek your advice? Who trusts your guidance? That might be the product group or marketing. You’ll lean on these allies to spread UX best practices. Finally, consider who else matters. Are there policy owners, process leads, or executives you need on board? Jot down names and roles so you can loop them in later. Spot Your Constraints Every strategy must live within real‑world limits. Maybe there’s a headcount freeze. Or IT systems won’t support a major overhaul. List any technical, budget, or policy limits you face. Then accept them. You’ll design your strategy to deliver value without asking for impossible changes. Working within constraints boosts your credibility. It also forces creativity. With the diagnosis complete, we know where we stand. Next, let’s look at how to steer our efforts. Guiding Policies: Set the North Star Guiding policies give you guardrails. They help you decide which opportunities to chase and which to skip. These policies reflect your priorities and the best path forward. Choose A Tactical Or Strategic Approach Early on, you must pick how your UX team will operate. You have two broad options: TacticalYou embed UX people on specific projects. They run tests and design interfaces hands‑on. This needs a bigger team. I like a ratio of one UX pro for every two developers. StrategicYou act as a center of excellence. You advise other teams. You build guidelines, run workshops, and offer tools. This needs fewer hands but a broader influence. Weigh your resources against your goals. If you need to move fast on many projects, go tactical. If you want to shift mindsets, work strategically. Choose the approach with the best chance of success. Define A Prioritization Method You’ll face many requests for UX work. A clear way to sort them saves headaches. Over the years, I’ve used a simple digital triage. You score each request based on impact, effort, and risk. Then, you work on the highest‑scoring items first. You can adapt this model however you like. The point is to have a repeatable, fair way to say yes or no. Create A Playbook Of Principles A playbook holds your core design principles, standard operating procedures, and templates. It might include: A design system for UI patterns; Standards around accessibility or user research; Guides for key tasks such as writing for the web; Templates for common activities like user interviews. This playbook becomes your team’s shared reference. It helps others repeat your process. It also captures the know‑how you need as your team grows. Plan Your Communication Strategy fails when people don’t know about it. You need a plan to engage stakeholders. I find it helpful to use a RACI chart — who is Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed. Then decide: How often will you send updates? Which channels should you use (email, Slack, weekly demos)? Who leads each conversation? Clear, regular communication keeps everyone looped in. It also surfaces concerns early so you can address them. With guiding policies in place, you have a clear way to decide what to work on. Now, let’s turn to making things happen. Action Plan: Bring Strategy To Life Actions are the concrete steps you take to deliver on your guiding policies. They cover the projects you run, the support you give, and the risks you manage. Outline Key Projects And Services Start by listing the projects you’ll tackle. These might be: Running a discovery phase for a new product. Building a design system for your marketing team. Conducting user tests on your main flow. For each project, note what you will deliver and when. You can use your digital triage scores to pick the highest priorities. Keep each project scope small enough to finish in a few sprints. That way, you prove value quickly. Offer Training And Tools If you choose a strategic approach, you need to empower others. Plan workshops on core UX topics. Record short videos on testing best practices. Build quick reference guides. Curate a list of tools: Prototyping apps, Research platforms, Analytics dashboards. Make these resources easy to find in your playbook. Assign Stakeholder Roles Your strategy needs executive backing. Identify a senior sponsor who can break through roadblocks. Outline what you need them to do. Maybe it’s championing a new budget line or approving key hires. Also, pin down other collaborators. Who on the product side will help you scope new features? Who on the IT team will support user research tooling? Getting clear roles avoids confusion. Manage Risks and Barriers No plan goes off without a hitch. List your biggest risks, such as: A hiring freeze delays tactical hires; Key stakeholders lose interest; Technical debt slows down new releases. For each risk, jot down how you’ll handle it. Maybe you should shift to a fully strategic approach if hiring stalls. Or you can send a weekly one‑page update to reengage sponsors. Having a fallback keeps you calm when things go sideways. Before we wrap up, let’s talk about making strategy stick. Embedding UX Into The Culture A strategy shines only if you deeply embed it into your organization’s culture. Here’s how to make that happen: Build awareness and enthusiasm Run regular “lunch and learn” sessions to showcase UX wins. Host an annual UX day or mini-conference to boost visibility. Create a monthly UX salon where teams share challenges and victories. Make UX visible and tangible Display personas and journey maps in office spaces. Add design principles to everyday items like mousepads and mugs. Share success metrics and improvements in company communications. Embed UX into processes Establish clear UX policies and best practices. Review and update procedures that might hinder a good user experience. Create a healthy competition between teams through UX metrics. These tactics transform your strategy from a document into an organizational movement. They foster a culture where everyone thinks about user experience, not just the UX team. Remember, cultural change takes time — but consistent, visible efforts will gradually shift mindsets across the organization. Implementing Your UX Strategy: From Plan To Practice We started by diagnosing your current state. Then we set policies to guide your efforts. Finally, we laid out an action plan to deliver results. This three-part framework keeps your UX work tied to real business needs. It also gives you clarity, focus, and credibility. However, creating a strategy is the easy part — implementing it is where the real challenge lies. This is precisely why the book Strategy and the Fat Smoker carries its distinctive title. Just as someone who is overweight or smokes knows exactly what they need to do, we often know what our UX strategy should be. The difficult part is following through and making it a reality. Success requires consistent engagement and persistence in the face of setbacks. As Winston Churchill wisely noted, “Success is going from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” This perfectly captures the mindset needed to implement a successful UX strategy — staying committed to your vision even when faced with obstacles and setbacks.

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2025-05-16 10:27:28 ·

New Helldivers 2 update 01.003.001 patch notes fix “spamming bug” as players exclaim “thank god”

You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games here

Update 01.003.000 was huge for Helldivers 2 as it kicked off the return of the Illuminate with new enemies added to their army, and it also introduced weapon customization, delivered lot of balance changes, and provided a lot of fixes. However, it also introduced an exploitable bug causing HD2 to crash for a lot of players. Fortunately, the Helldivers 2 update 01.003.001 emergency hotfix patch notes fix this “spamming bug,” and Arrowhead has also shared a workaround for a store issue on the PS5.
Helldivers 2 update 01.003.001 emergency hotfix patch notes
The only patch note for the Helldivers 2 update 01.003.001 emergency hotfix is as follows:

Fix for the Stratagem spamming bug that caused severe crashing.

This is fantastic news. Arrowhead announced on May 15th that a fix was “tentatively scheduled for tomorrow,” so it’s good that the developers were able to release the patch as planned. For those unaware or never encountered the glitch, the “spamming bug” basically duplicated stratagems resulting in the game constantly crashing for players due to others exploiting the glitch for nefarious reasons.
Reacting to the update on Reddit, the community is understandably elated. There are a lot of comments simply echoing the sentiment, “thank god,” meanwhile, one user commented, “Just found out about it yesterday and I found it very undemocratic”. However, despite the overwhelming support for the fix, there are couple of disappointed comments such as, “What a shame, seeing how much we can abuse it before the whole thing just crashes was the most fun I’ve had in the game in months”.
In addition to the fix for the “Stratagem spamming bug,” Arrowhead has also shared a workaround for a store issue on the PS5. The below comes courtesy of the known issues webpage:

The Super Store skips pages when attempting to buy an item on the first page when using PS5 in Quality mode. Please switch to Performance mode as a workaround while we solve this issue!

There’s also the following known issues that still exist after being introduced in 01.003.000:

Circle key binding has no functionality if a Player wants to leave the Customization screen without saving changes to the attachments.
Guard Dog flies away instead of reloading

For more Helldivers 2, check out our guide to the best warbonds ranked, along with the best stratagems and best throwables. We have also a guide to the best weapons, and, if you’re coming back to HD2 for the first time in a long while, we have a bunch of tips and tricks to help you get reaccustomed to the battlefield.

Helldivers 2

Platform:
PC, PlayStation 5

Genre:
Action, Shooter, Third Person

8
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#new #helldivers #update #patch #notes

New Helldivers 2 update 01.003.001 patch notes fix “spamming bug” as players exclaim “thank god”
You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games here Update 01.003.000 was huge for Helldivers 2 as it kicked off the return of the Illuminate with new enemies added to their army, and it also introduced weapon customization, delivered lot of balance changes, and provided a lot of fixes. However, it also introduced an exploitable bug causing HD2 to crash for a lot of players. Fortunately, the Helldivers 2 update 01.003.001 emergency hotfix patch notes fix this “spamming bug,” and Arrowhead has also shared a workaround for a store issue on the PS5. Helldivers 2 update 01.003.001 emergency hotfix patch notes The only patch note for the Helldivers 2 update 01.003.001 emergency hotfix is as follows: Fix for the Stratagem spamming bug that caused severe crashing. This is fantastic news. Arrowhead announced on May 15th that a fix was “tentatively scheduled for tomorrow,” so it’s good that the developers were able to release the patch as planned. For those unaware or never encountered the glitch, the “spamming bug” basically duplicated stratagems resulting in the game constantly crashing for players due to others exploiting the glitch for nefarious reasons. Reacting to the update on Reddit, the community is understandably elated. There are a lot of comments simply echoing the sentiment, “thank god,” meanwhile, one user commented, “Just found out about it yesterday and I found it very undemocratic”. However, despite the overwhelming support for the fix, there are couple of disappointed comments such as, “What a shame, seeing how much we can abuse it before the whole thing just crashes was the most fun I’ve had in the game in months”. In addition to the fix for the “Stratagem spamming bug,” Arrowhead has also shared a workaround for a store issue on the PS5. The below comes courtesy of the known issues webpage: The Super Store skips pages when attempting to buy an item on the first page when using PS5 in Quality mode. Please switch to Performance mode as a workaround while we solve this issue! There’s also the following known issues that still exist after being introduced in 01.003.000: Circle key binding has no functionality if a Player wants to leave the Customization screen without saving changes to the attachments. Guard Dog flies away instead of reloading For more Helldivers 2, check out our guide to the best warbonds ranked, along with the best stratagems and best throwables. We have also a guide to the best weapons, and, if you’re coming back to HD2 for the first time in a long while, we have a bunch of tips and tricks to help you get reaccustomed to the battlefield. Helldivers 2 Platform: PC, PlayStation 5 Genre: Action, Shooter, Third Person 8 VideoGamer Subscribe to our newsletters! By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime. Share #new #helldivers #update #patch #notes

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New Helldivers 2 update 01.003.001 patch notes fix “spamming bug” as players exclaim “thank god”

You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games here Update 01.003.000 was huge for Helldivers 2 as it kicked off the return of the Illuminate with new enemies added to their army, and it also introduced weapon customization, delivered lot of balance changes, and provided a lot of fixes. However, it also introduced an exploitable bug causing HD2 to crash for a lot of players. Fortunately, the Helldivers 2 update 01.003.001 emergency hotfix patch notes fix this “spamming bug,” and Arrowhead has also shared a workaround for a store issue on the PS5. Helldivers 2 update 01.003.001 emergency hotfix patch notes The only patch note for the Helldivers 2 update 01.003.001 emergency hotfix is as follows: Fix for the Stratagem spamming bug that caused severe crashing. This is fantastic news. Arrowhead announced on May 15th that a fix was “tentatively scheduled for tomorrow,” so it’s good that the developers were able to release the patch as planned. For those unaware or never encountered the glitch, the “spamming bug” basically duplicated stratagems resulting in the game constantly crashing for players due to others exploiting the glitch for nefarious reasons. Reacting to the update on Reddit, the community is understandably elated. There are a lot of comments simply echoing the sentiment, “thank god,” meanwhile, one user commented, “Just found out about it yesterday and I found it very undemocratic”. However, despite the overwhelming support for the fix, there are couple of disappointed comments such as, “What a shame, seeing how much we can abuse it before the whole thing just crashes was the most fun I’ve had in the game in months”. In addition to the fix for the “Stratagem spamming bug,” Arrowhead has also shared a workaround for a store issue on the PS5. The below comes courtesy of the known issues webpage: The Super Store skips pages when attempting to buy an item on the first page when using PS5 in Quality mode. Please switch to Performance mode as a workaround while we solve this issue! There’s also the following known issues that still exist after being introduced in 01.003.000: Circle key binding has no functionality if a Player wants to leave the Customization screen without saving changes to the attachments. Guard Dog flies away instead of reloading For more Helldivers 2, check out our guide to the best warbonds ranked, along with the best stratagems and best throwables. We have also a guide to the best weapons, and, if you’re coming back to HD2 for the first time in a long while, we have a bunch of tips and tricks to help you get reaccustomed to the battlefield. Helldivers 2 Platform(s): PC, PlayStation 5 Genre(s): Action, Shooter, Third Person 8 VideoGamer Subscribe to our newsletters! By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime. Share

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2025-05-16 10:01:42 ·

Gen Alpha is getting zits, so acne brands are meeting them at a popular hangout

Gen Alpha, the youngest generation of active consumers in the market, are teetering on the onset of teen angst. For many of them, an unavoidable trigger of it will be those pesky hormonal-triggered breakouts.

It’s a moment for the skincare industry to once again swoop in and offer tweens and teens a smorgasbord of problem-skin creams, gels, patches and facemasks treatments. That part hasn’t changed for generations of consumers. What’s evolved are the strategies brands are using today to reach the youngest of them.

Previous generations of teens, for instance, would see ads for acne brands in glossy magazines, newspaper inserts, on TV during Nickelodeon commercial breaks and on the radio. None of this will effectively work with Gen Alpha, a fully digitally native cohort. They live and breathe the internet, gaming and social media.

So in March, Switzerland-based Galderma, maker of skincare brand Cetaphil and Differin, for the first time took its acne brand to one of Gen Alpha’s most popular hangouts—the gaming platform Roblox.

Roblox has about 98 million active daily users, with 80% of them below the age of 25. On average, users spent a total of 21.7 billion hours on the platform just in its first quarter this year, up 30% from a year ago.

“The when, the where and the why ofeffort is very rooted in data,” says Tara Loftis, global president of dermatological skincare at Galderma. “Acne impacts 85% of people between the ages of 12 and 24. Where are tweens and younger GenZers spending most of their time? The answer is gaming.” Loftis and her team partnered with marketing agency Dentsu and “dreamed up what it would look like for Differin to integrate directly into Roblox.”A novel approach for skincare

Walmart, Fenty Beauty, Crocs, H&M, PacSun, Nike and e.l.f. Beauty are among dozens of major brands that have created their presence in the Roblox metaverse. However, Differin’s entry, according to industry experts, makes it one of the first brands in the acne-care category to now be on Roblox.

It is a novel approach by skincare brands trying to connect with young consumers, says Larissa Jensen, senior vice president and global beauty industry advisor at market research firm Circana.

“Cosmetics brands, such as e.l.f, have been turning to Roblox to reach a very specific younger demographic. That isn’t new. But, for skincare, it’s a little bit more challenging to integrate skincare into a gaming platform,” Jensen says. “With makeup, you can engage with the brand through gameplay where you put makeup on your avatar. It’s harder to interact in the metaverse with skincare. If Galderma has success with this strategy, you can bet that other brands will be paying attention.”

The Roblox activation for Differin involves three mini gamesas part of the brand’s “Level Up Lobby.” In one game called “Foam Blaster,” the challenge is to use a blaster to clean hovering faces with Differin’s 10% benzoyl peroxide maximum strength foaming cleanser. Players in “Power Patch Splat” launch Differin power patches at the right moment to splat pimples.

In “Zit Zapper,” the objective is to zap zits as they appear on hovering faces with Differin’s 10% Benzoyl Peroxide spot treatment.

The goal with these roblox games, said Loftis, is to create brand awareness and educate “Gen Zalpa”about skincare through gamifying acne care and integrating Differin into that experience.

Although players can’t buy Differin products on Roblox, they are able to upload their receipt for any Differin purchase to unlock virtual rewards in the games.

“What we didn’t want to do was to have this look like ad necessarily, in the traditional sense,” says Loftis. “Two reasons for that. We are not able to target anyone under the age of 13, or to target people specifically that have acne. But what we can do is make that assumption about where 80% of acne sufferers are. They are Gen Zalpa and they’re on Roblox.Chasing the Roblox “Gold Rush”

Clay Colarusso, head of TeenVoice, a teen market research and insights company, is very familiar with the “Gold Rush” of brands to the Roblox metaverse as they strive to capture the attention of the youngest shoppers and influence their future spending habits.

Marketers trying to unlock the tween and teen markets and the billions of household dollars that they’re either influencing their parents to spend, or the dollars they’re spending directly, has been happening for decades, says Colarusso.

“I’m a child of the 80s and I distinctly remember the toy and breakfast cereal commercials that would play one after another as I watched Saturday morning cartoons,” says Colarusso. “Kids back then would go to mom and dad and ask them to put the toy on the birthday wishlist.”

The difference today, he says, is that the path to purchase is much shorter through digital marketing than it was with traditional media in the 80s.

“If I’m on Roblox and I have an opportunity to buy, and maybe even have my parent’s credit card already preloaded in there, I can purchase immediately. Or, I can influence my parents to buy it for me,” Colarusso says. “It’s a marketer’s dream. But where it gets tricky is on the data side.”

Brands have to be careful when they target young consumers. The Federal Trade Commission, through its Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule, prohibits companies, websites and online services from collecting personal information of children under 13 without parental approval.

“The concern is really less about brands marketing to this demographic, with certain obvious exceptions, and more about data collection and privacy concerns especially when dealing with consumers under 13,” Colarusso says. “This is why folks get really nervous when they think about marketing or how to market to kids, and rightfully so. They need to behave in a judicious and prudent way.”Roblox says on its website that the platform is “compliant with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Ruleand other international regulatory standards.” For people 13 and older who are eligible to see ads, Roblox said ads “must be clearly and prominently disclosed using simple and understandable language.”

“Hate to be sold to”

According to Galderma, in less than 30 days after the Differin Roblox games launched, the Differin “Level Up Lobby” campaignhas attracted more than three million visits with more than 365,000 mini games and nearly 12,000 hours of brand engagement on the gaming platform.

“We know that Gen Zalpha hates being sold to. These are games. If they struggle with acne, we hope to educate them about skincare through gaming that resonates,” says Loftis. “If not, it’s still a fun game.”

So far, she says a fairly high number of people playing the games are “playing them completely.”

“We went big on our gaming, which means we basically moved away 100% from traditional advertising for Differin,” Loftis says. “Gen Zalpha isn’t going to buy an acne patch because they see an ad. They’re going to buy it because they see a really compelling before and after result that their favorite gamer or TikToker talks about.”
#gen #alpha #getting #zits #acne

Gen Alpha is getting zits, so acne brands are meeting them at a popular hangout
Gen Alpha, the youngest generation of active consumers in the market, are teetering on the onset of teen angst. For many of them, an unavoidable trigger of it will be those pesky hormonal-triggered breakouts. It’s a moment for the skincare industry to once again swoop in and offer tweens and teens a smorgasbord of problem-skin creams, gels, patches and facemasks treatments. That part hasn’t changed for generations of consumers. What’s evolved are the strategies brands are using today to reach the youngest of them. Previous generations of teens, for instance, would see ads for acne brands in glossy magazines, newspaper inserts, on TV during Nickelodeon commercial breaks and on the radio. None of this will effectively work with Gen Alpha, a fully digitally native cohort. They live and breathe the internet, gaming and social media. So in March, Switzerland-based Galderma, maker of skincare brand Cetaphil and Differin, for the first time took its acne brand to one of Gen Alpha’s most popular hangouts—the gaming platform Roblox. Roblox has about 98 million active daily users, with 80% of them below the age of 25. On average, users spent a total of 21.7 billion hours on the platform just in its first quarter this year, up 30% from a year ago. “The when, the where and the why ofeffort is very rooted in data,” says Tara Loftis, global president of dermatological skincare at Galderma. “Acne impacts 85% of people between the ages of 12 and 24. Where are tweens and younger GenZers spending most of their time? The answer is gaming.” Loftis and her team partnered with marketing agency Dentsu and “dreamed up what it would look like for Differin to integrate directly into Roblox.”A novel approach for skincare Walmart, Fenty Beauty, Crocs, H&M, PacSun, Nike and e.l.f. Beauty are among dozens of major brands that have created their presence in the Roblox metaverse. However, Differin’s entry, according to industry experts, makes it one of the first brands in the acne-care category to now be on Roblox. It is a novel approach by skincare brands trying to connect with young consumers, says Larissa Jensen, senior vice president and global beauty industry advisor at market research firm Circana. “Cosmetics brands, such as e.l.f, have been turning to Roblox to reach a very specific younger demographic. That isn’t new. But, for skincare, it’s a little bit more challenging to integrate skincare into a gaming platform,” Jensen says. “With makeup, you can engage with the brand through gameplay where you put makeup on your avatar. It’s harder to interact in the metaverse with skincare. If Galderma has success with this strategy, you can bet that other brands will be paying attention.” The Roblox activation for Differin involves three mini gamesas part of the brand’s “Level Up Lobby.” In one game called “Foam Blaster,” the challenge is to use a blaster to clean hovering faces with Differin’s 10% benzoyl peroxide maximum strength foaming cleanser. Players in “Power Patch Splat” launch Differin power patches at the right moment to splat pimples. In “Zit Zapper,” the objective is to zap zits as they appear on hovering faces with Differin’s 10% Benzoyl Peroxide spot treatment. The goal with these roblox games, said Loftis, is to create brand awareness and educate “Gen Zalpa”about skincare through gamifying acne care and integrating Differin into that experience. Although players can’t buy Differin products on Roblox, they are able to upload their receipt for any Differin purchase to unlock virtual rewards in the games. “What we didn’t want to do was to have this look like ad necessarily, in the traditional sense,” says Loftis. “Two reasons for that. We are not able to target anyone under the age of 13, or to target people specifically that have acne. But what we can do is make that assumption about where 80% of acne sufferers are. They are Gen Zalpa and they’re on Roblox.Chasing the Roblox “Gold Rush” Clay Colarusso, head of TeenVoice, a teen market research and insights company, is very familiar with the “Gold Rush” of brands to the Roblox metaverse as they strive to capture the attention of the youngest shoppers and influence their future spending habits. Marketers trying to unlock the tween and teen markets and the billions of household dollars that they’re either influencing their parents to spend, or the dollars they’re spending directly, has been happening for decades, says Colarusso. “I’m a child of the 80s and I distinctly remember the toy and breakfast cereal commercials that would play one after another as I watched Saturday morning cartoons,” says Colarusso. “Kids back then would go to mom and dad and ask them to put the toy on the birthday wishlist.” The difference today, he says, is that the path to purchase is much shorter through digital marketing than it was with traditional media in the 80s. “If I’m on Roblox and I have an opportunity to buy, and maybe even have my parent’s credit card already preloaded in there, I can purchase immediately. Or, I can influence my parents to buy it for me,” Colarusso says. “It’s a marketer’s dream. But where it gets tricky is on the data side.” Brands have to be careful when they target young consumers. The Federal Trade Commission, through its Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule, prohibits companies, websites and online services from collecting personal information of children under 13 without parental approval. “The concern is really less about brands marketing to this demographic, with certain obvious exceptions, and more about data collection and privacy concerns especially when dealing with consumers under 13,” Colarusso says. “This is why folks get really nervous when they think about marketing or how to market to kids, and rightfully so. They need to behave in a judicious and prudent way.”Roblox says on its website that the platform is “compliant with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Ruleand other international regulatory standards.” For people 13 and older who are eligible to see ads, Roblox said ads “must be clearly and prominently disclosed using simple and understandable language.” “Hate to be sold to” According to Galderma, in less than 30 days after the Differin Roblox games launched, the Differin “Level Up Lobby” campaignhas attracted more than three million visits with more than 365,000 mini games and nearly 12,000 hours of brand engagement on the gaming platform. “We know that Gen Zalpha hates being sold to. These are games. If they struggle with acne, we hope to educate them about skincare through gaming that resonates,” says Loftis. “If not, it’s still a fun game.” So far, she says a fairly high number of people playing the games are “playing them completely.” “We went big on our gaming, which means we basically moved away 100% from traditional advertising for Differin,” Loftis says. “Gen Zalpha isn’t going to buy an acne patch because they see an ad. They’re going to buy it because they see a really compelling before and after result that their favorite gamer or TikToker talks about.” #gen #alpha #getting #zits #acne

WWW.FASTCOMPANY.COM

Gen Alpha is getting zits, so acne brands are meeting them at a popular hangout

Gen Alpha, the youngest generation of active consumers in the market, are teetering on the onset of teen angst. For many of them, an unavoidable trigger of it will be those pesky hormonal-triggered breakouts. It’s a moment for the skincare industry to once again swoop in and offer tweens and teens a smorgasbord of problem-skin creams, gels, patches and facemasks treatments. That part hasn’t changed for generations of consumers. What’s evolved are the strategies brands are using today to reach the youngest of them. Previous generations of teens, for instance, would see ads for acne brands in glossy magazines, newspaper inserts, on TV during Nickelodeon commercial breaks and on the radio. None of this will effectively work with Gen Alpha, a fully digitally native cohort. They live and breathe the internet, gaming and social media. So in March, Switzerland-based Galderma, maker of skincare brand Cetaphil and Differin (a popular over-the-counter acne treatment sold in Walmart, Target, Ulta and on Amazon), for the first time took its acne brand to one of Gen Alpha’s most popular hangouts—the gaming platform Roblox. Roblox has about 98 million active daily users, with 80% of them below the age of 25. On average, users spent a total of 21.7 billion hours on the platform just in its first quarter this year, up 30% from a year ago. “The when, the where and the why of [our] effort is very rooted in data,” says Tara Loftis, global president of dermatological skincare at Galderma. “Acne impacts 85% of people between the ages of 12 and 24. Where are tweens and younger GenZers spending most of their time? The answer is gaming.” Loftis and her team partnered with marketing agency Dentsu and “dreamed up what it would look like for Differin to integrate directly into Roblox.” [Screenshot: Galderma] A novel approach for skincare Walmart, Fenty Beauty, Crocs, H&M, PacSun, Nike and e.l.f. Beauty are among dozens of major brands that have created their presence in the Roblox metaverse. However, Differin’s entry, according to industry experts, makes it one of the first brands in the acne-care category to now be on Roblox. It is a novel approach by skincare brands trying to connect with young consumers, says Larissa Jensen, senior vice president and global beauty industry advisor at market research firm Circana. “Cosmetics brands, such as e.l.f, have been turning to Roblox to reach a very specific younger demographic. That isn’t new. But, for skincare [brands], it’s a little bit more challenging to integrate skincare into a gaming platform,” Jensen says. “With makeup, you can engage with the brand through gameplay where you put makeup on your avatar. It’s harder to interact in the metaverse with skincare. If Galderma has success with this strategy, you can bet that other brands will be paying attention.” The Roblox activation for Differin involves three mini games (for players ages 13 and up) as part of the brand’s “Level Up Lobby.” [Screenshot: Galderma] In one game called “Foam Blaster,” the challenge is to use a blaster to clean hovering faces with Differin’s 10% benzoyl peroxide maximum strength foaming cleanser. Players in “Power Patch Splat” launch Differin power patches at the right moment to splat pimples. In “Zit Zapper,” the objective is to zap zits as they appear on hovering faces with Differin’s 10% Benzoyl Peroxide spot treatment. The goal with these roblox games, said Loftis, is to create brand awareness and educate “Gen Zalpa” (Gen Alpha and younger GenZers) about skincare through gamifying acne care and integrating Differin into that experience. Although players can’t buy Differin products on Roblox, they are able to upload their receipt for any Differin purchase to unlock virtual rewards in the games. “What we didn’t want to do was to have this look like ad necessarily, in the traditional sense,” says Loftis. “Two reasons for that. We are not able to target anyone under the age of 13, or to target people specifically that have acne. But what we can do is make that assumption about where 80% of acne sufferers are. They are Gen Zalpa and they’re on Roblox. [Screenshot: Galderma] Chasing the Roblox “Gold Rush” Clay Colarusso, head of TeenVoice, a teen market research and insights company, is very familiar with the “Gold Rush” of brands to the Roblox metaverse as they strive to capture the attention of the youngest shoppers and influence their future spending habits. Marketers trying to unlock the tween and teen markets and the billions of household dollars that they’re either influencing their parents to spend, or the dollars they’re spending directly, has been happening for decades, says Colarusso. “I’m a child of the 80s and I distinctly remember the toy and breakfast cereal commercials that would play one after another as I watched Saturday morning cartoons,” says Colarusso. “Kids back then would go to mom and dad and ask them to put the toy on the birthday wishlist.” The difference today, he says, is that the path to purchase is much shorter through digital marketing than it was with traditional media in the 80s. “If I’m on Roblox and I have an opportunity to buy, and maybe even have my parent’s credit card already preloaded in there, I can purchase immediately. Or, I can influence my parents to buy it for me,” Colarusso says. “It’s a marketer’s dream. But where it gets tricky is on the data side.” Brands have to be careful when they target young consumers. The Federal Trade Commission, through its Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA), prohibits companies, websites and online services from collecting personal information of children under 13 without parental approval. “The concern is really less about brands marketing to this demographic, with certain obvious exceptions, and more about data collection and privacy concerns especially when dealing with consumers under 13,” Colarusso says. “This is why folks get really nervous when they think about marketing or how to market to kids, and rightfully so. They need to behave in a judicious and prudent way.”Roblox says on its website that the platform is “compliant with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA) and other international regulatory standards.” For people 13 and older who are eligible to see ads, Roblox said ads “must be clearly and prominently disclosed using simple and understandable language.” “Hate to be sold to” According to Galderma, in less than 30 days after the Differin Roblox games launched, the Differin “Level Up Lobby” campaign (which ends on May 31) has attracted more than three million visits with more than 365,000 mini games and nearly 12,000 hours of brand engagement on the gaming platform. “We know that Gen Zalpha hates being sold to. These are games. If they struggle with acne, we hope to educate them about skincare through gaming that resonates,” says Loftis. “If not, it’s still a fun game.” So far, she says a fairly high number of people playing the games are “playing them completely.” “We went big on our gaming, which means we basically moved away 100% from traditional advertising for Differin,” Loftis says. “Gen Zalpha isn’t going to buy an acne patch because they see an ad. They’re going to buy it because they see a really compelling before and after result that their favorite gamer or TikToker talks about.”

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2025-05-16 07:01:15 ·

Coinbase cyberattack: What users need to know about stolen customer data, password security, and more in $400 million incident

Stock in Coinbase, the largest U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange, fell more than 8% Thursday on news it was the victim of a cyberattack, in which hackers successfully bribed overseas contractors to leak important information so they could steal customer data. The company estimates it could cost million to resolve the situation.

While investors may be concerned, Coinbase customers undoubtedly are as well. Here’s what users of the crypto exchange need to know.

What happened?

Coinbase reported in a Securities and Exchange Commissionfiling that on May 11, it received an email from an entity claiming to have obtained information about certain Coinbase customer accounts and internal Coinbase documentation—including materials relating to customer-service and account-management systems.

The filing said hackers sent an email threatening to publish customers’ personal data if Coinbase did not pay a million ransom, which CEO Brian Armstrong confirmed on X was specifically for “million in Bitcoin.” According to the SEC filing, Coinbase learned the cybercriminals obtained the data by paying off multiple overseas contractors or employees working in support roles. Once detected, Coinbase immediately terminated those involved.

Coinbase said it did not pay the ransom and has been working with law enforcement to investigate the breach. It’s establishing a million reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the attack.

Was my Coinbase password or private key leaked in the attack?

No. The SEC filing said the data breach did not compromise customer passwords or private keys.

Were my Coinbase funds exposed in the attack?

According to the SEC filing, neither “targeted contractors” nor “employees” were able to access customer funds.

What about Coinbase customer data like my email, address, and phone number?

Yes, according to Coinbase’s blog, the following personal information was compromised:

Name, address, phone, and email

Masked Social SecurityMasked bank‑account numbers and some bank account identifiers

Government‑ID imagesAccount dataLimited corporate dataHow can I protect myself?

Coinbase told Fast Company: “Expect impostors. Scammers—related to this incident or not—may pose as Coinbase employees and try to pressure you into moving your funds.”

Additionally, the company outlined what customers can do in this post.

What should I do if I receive a phone call, text, or request from Coinbase?

A Coinbase spokesperson told Fast Company: “If you receive this call, hang up the phone. Coinbase will never ask you to contact an unknown number to reach us.”

Again, remember, Coinbase will never call or text, or ask for your password or two-factor authenticationcodes, or for you to transfer assets to a specific or new address, account, vault, or wallet.

I think my Coinbase information was leaked in the cyberattack. What should I do?

Coinbase said it will reimburse customers who were tricked into sending funds to the attacker due to social engineering attacks.

If your data was accessed, you should have already received an email; notifications were sent Wednesday, May 15, at 7:20 a.m. ET to affected customers.

 Flagged accounts now require additional ID checks on large withdrawals and include mandatory scam‑awareness prompts. As Coinbase monitors high-risk transactions, customers may experience delays.

The company said it is opening a new support hub in the U.S., adding stronger security controls and monitoring across all locations, and will keep the community updated as the investigation progresses.
#coinbase #cyberattack #what #users #need

Coinbase cyberattack: What users need to know about stolen customer data, password security, and more in $400 million incident
Stock in Coinbase, the largest U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange, fell more than 8% Thursday on news it was the victim of a cyberattack, in which hackers successfully bribed overseas contractors to leak important information so they could steal customer data. The company estimates it could cost million to resolve the situation. While investors may be concerned, Coinbase customers undoubtedly are as well. Here’s what users of the crypto exchange need to know. What happened? Coinbase reported in a Securities and Exchange Commissionfiling that on May 11, it received an email from an entity claiming to have obtained information about certain Coinbase customer accounts and internal Coinbase documentation—including materials relating to customer-service and account-management systems. The filing said hackers sent an email threatening to publish customers’ personal data if Coinbase did not pay a million ransom, which CEO Brian Armstrong confirmed on X was specifically for “million in Bitcoin.” According to the SEC filing, Coinbase learned the cybercriminals obtained the data by paying off multiple overseas contractors or employees working in support roles. Once detected, Coinbase immediately terminated those involved. Coinbase said it did not pay the ransom and has been working with law enforcement to investigate the breach. It’s establishing a million reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the attack. Was my Coinbase password or private key leaked in the attack? No. The SEC filing said the data breach did not compromise customer passwords or private keys. Were my Coinbase funds exposed in the attack? According to the SEC filing, neither “targeted contractors” nor “employees” were able to access customer funds. What about Coinbase customer data like my email, address, and phone number? Yes, according to Coinbase’s blog, the following personal information was compromised: Name, address, phone, and email Masked Social SecurityMasked bank‑account numbers and some bank account identifiers Government‑ID imagesAccount dataLimited corporate dataHow can I protect myself? Coinbase told Fast Company: “Expect impostors. Scammers—related to this incident or not—may pose as Coinbase employees and try to pressure you into moving your funds.” Additionally, the company outlined what customers can do in this post. What should I do if I receive a phone call, text, or request from Coinbase? A Coinbase spokesperson told Fast Company: “If you receive this call, hang up the phone. Coinbase will never ask you to contact an unknown number to reach us.” Again, remember, Coinbase will never call or text, or ask for your password or two-factor authenticationcodes, or for you to transfer assets to a specific or new address, account, vault, or wallet. I think my Coinbase information was leaked in the cyberattack. What should I do? Coinbase said it will reimburse customers who were tricked into sending funds to the attacker due to social engineering attacks. If your data was accessed, you should have already received an email; notifications were sent Wednesday, May 15, at 7:20 a.m. ET to affected customers.  Flagged accounts now require additional ID checks on large withdrawals and include mandatory scam‑awareness prompts. As Coinbase monitors high-risk transactions, customers may experience delays. The company said it is opening a new support hub in the U.S., adding stronger security controls and monitoring across all locations, and will keep the community updated as the investigation progresses. #coinbase #cyberattack #what #users #need

WWW.FASTCOMPANY.COM

Coinbase cyberattack: What users need to know about stolen customer data, password security, and more in $400 million incident

Stock in Coinbase (COIN), the largest U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange, fell more than 8% Thursday on news it was the victim of a cyberattack, in which hackers successfully bribed overseas contractors to leak important information so they could steal customer data. The company estimates it could cost $400 million to resolve the situation. While investors may be concerned, Coinbase customers undoubtedly are as well. Here’s what users of the crypto exchange need to know. What happened? Coinbase reported in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing that on May 11, it received an email from an entity claiming to have obtained information about certain Coinbase customer accounts and internal Coinbase documentation—including materials relating to customer-service and account-management systems. The filing said hackers sent an email threatening to publish customers’ personal data if Coinbase did not pay a $20 million ransom, which CEO Brian Armstrong confirmed on X was specifically for “$20 million in Bitcoin.” According to the SEC filing, Coinbase learned the cybercriminals obtained the data by paying off multiple overseas contractors or employees working in support roles. Once detected, Coinbase immediately terminated those involved. Coinbase said it did not pay the ransom and has been working with law enforcement to investigate the breach. It’s establishing a $20 million reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the attack. Was my Coinbase password or private key leaked in the attack? No. The SEC filing said the data breach did not compromise customer passwords or private keys. Were my Coinbase funds exposed in the attack? According to the SEC filing, neither “targeted contractors” nor “employees” were able to access customer funds. What about Coinbase customer data like my email, address, and phone number? Yes, according to Coinbase’s blog, the following personal information was compromised: Name, address, phone, and email Masked Social Security (last 4 digits only) Masked bank‑account numbers and some bank account identifiers Government‑ID images (e.g., driver’s license, passport) Account data (balance snapshots and transaction history) Limited corporate data (including documents, training materials, and communications available to support agents) How can I protect myself? Coinbase told Fast Company: “Expect impostors. Scammers—related to this incident or not—may pose as Coinbase employees and try to pressure you into moving your funds.” Additionally, the company outlined what customers can do in this post. What should I do if I receive a phone call, text, or request from Coinbase? A Coinbase spokesperson told Fast Company: “If you receive this call, hang up the phone. Coinbase will never ask you to contact an unknown number to reach us.” Again, remember, Coinbase will never call or text, or ask for your password or two-factor authentication (2FA) codes, or for you to transfer assets to a specific or new address, account, vault, or wallet. I think my Coinbase information was leaked in the cyberattack. What should I do? Coinbase said it will reimburse customers who were tricked into sending funds to the attacker due to social engineering attacks. If your data was accessed, you should have already received an email; notifications were sent Wednesday, May 15, at 7:20 a.m. ET to affected customers.  Flagged accounts now require additional ID checks on large withdrawals and include mandatory scam‑awareness prompts. As Coinbase monitors high-risk transactions, customers may experience delays. The company said it is opening a new support hub in the U.S., adding stronger security controls and monitoring across all locations, and will keep the community updated as the investigation progresses.

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TechRadar een koppeling hebt gedeeld

2025-05-16 06:53:54 ·

With 5 months to go, many UK businesses are grappling with the Windows 10 end-of-life deadline

Cloudhouse research shows a lack of awareness about Microsoft’s Windows 10 2025 deadline, leaving firms vulnerable as cyber threats grow and outdated systems persist in many workplaces.
#with #months #many #businesses #are

With 5 months to go, many UK businesses are grappling with the Windows 10 end-of-life deadline
Cloudhouse research shows a lack of awareness about Microsoft’s Windows 10 2025 deadline, leaving firms vulnerable as cyber threats grow and outdated systems persist in many workplaces. #with #months #many #businesses #are

WWW.TECHRADAR.COM

With 5 months to go, many UK businesses are grappling with the Windows 10 end-of-life deadline

Cloudhouse research shows a lack of awareness about Microsoft’s Windows 10 2025 deadline, leaving firms vulnerable as cyber threats grow and outdated systems persist in many workplaces.

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Ars Technica een koppeling hebt gedeeld

2025-05-16 04:42:23 ·

After latest kidnap attempt, crypto types tell crime bosses: Transfers are traceable

trace it

After latest kidnap attempt, crypto types tell crime bosses: Transfers are traceable

Crypto abduction attempts continue to rock France.

Nate Anderson

–

May 15, 2025 4:34 pm

|

45

The kidnapping attempt in progress.

Credit:

France24

The kidnapping attempt in progress.

Credit:

France24

Story text

Size

Small
Standard
Large

Width
*

Standard
Wide

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Standard
Orange

* Subscribers only
  Learn more

Masked men jumped out of a white-panel van in Paris this week, attempting to snatch a 34-year-old woman off the street. The woman's husband fought back and suffered a fractured skull, according to France24. The woman continued resisting long enough for a bike shop owner named Nabil to rush out swinging a fire extinguisher, which he hurled after the departing van as the attackers finally fled. The entire altercation was captured on video.
The woman was identified as the daughter of a "crypto boss," and her attempted kidnapping is part of a disquieting surge in European crypto-related abductions—two of which have already involved fingers being chopped off. The last major abduction happened in Paris only two weeks ago, and it ended with French police storming a house in the Paris suburbs and rescuing a crypto mogul's now-four-fingered father.
The attacks have spooked the industry, which has called, somewhat ironically, for enhanced protections from the government. Reuters notes that the issue has been escalated all the way to the top of the French government, where Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau announced plans this week to "meet with French crypto entrepreneurs to make them aware of the risks and to take measures to protect them."

The sudden spike in copycat attacks in France, Belgium, and Spain over the last few months suggests that crypto robbery as a tactic has caught the attention of organized crime.Crypto industry insiders seem convinced that organized crime likes these attacks because of abelief that crypto transfers are untraceable. So people like Chainalysis CEO Jonathan Levin are trying to clue in the crime bosses.
"For whatever reason, there is a perception that’s out there that crypto is an asset that is untraceable, and that really lends itself to criminals acting in a certain way," Levin said at a recent conference covered by the trade publication Cointelegraph.
“Apparently, thethat crypto is not untraceable hasn't been received by some of the organized crime groups that are actually perpetrating these attacks, and some of them are concentrated in, you know, France, but not exclusively."

Nate Anderson
Deputy Editor

Nate Anderson
Deputy Editor

Nate is the deputy editor at Ars Technica. His most recent book is In Emergency, Break Glass: What Nietzsche Can Teach Us About Joyful Living in a Tech-Saturated World, which is much funnier than it sounds.

45 Comments
#after #latest #kidnap #attempt #crypto

After latest kidnap attempt, crypto types tell crime bosses: Transfers are traceable
trace it After latest kidnap attempt, crypto types tell crime bosses: Transfers are traceable Crypto abduction attempts continue to rock France. Nate Anderson – May 15, 2025 4:34 pm | 45 The kidnapping attempt in progress. Credit: France24 The kidnapping attempt in progress. Credit: France24 Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more Masked men jumped out of a white-panel van in Paris this week, attempting to snatch a 34-year-old woman off the street. The woman's husband fought back and suffered a fractured skull, according to France24. The woman continued resisting long enough for a bike shop owner named Nabil to rush out swinging a fire extinguisher, which he hurled after the departing van as the attackers finally fled. The entire altercation was captured on video. The woman was identified as the daughter of a "crypto boss," and her attempted kidnapping is part of a disquieting surge in European crypto-related abductions—two of which have already involved fingers being chopped off. The last major abduction happened in Paris only two weeks ago, and it ended with French police storming a house in the Paris suburbs and rescuing a crypto mogul's now-four-fingered father. The attacks have spooked the industry, which has called, somewhat ironically, for enhanced protections from the government. Reuters notes that the issue has been escalated all the way to the top of the French government, where Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau announced plans this week to "meet with French crypto entrepreneurs to make them aware of the risks and to take measures to protect them." The sudden spike in copycat attacks in France, Belgium, and Spain over the last few months suggests that crypto robbery as a tactic has caught the attention of organized crime.Crypto industry insiders seem convinced that organized crime likes these attacks because of abelief that crypto transfers are untraceable. So people like Chainalysis CEO Jonathan Levin are trying to clue in the crime bosses. "For whatever reason, there is a perception that’s out there that crypto is an asset that is untraceable, and that really lends itself to criminals acting in a certain way," Levin said at a recent conference covered by the trade publication Cointelegraph. “Apparently, thethat crypto is not untraceable hasn't been received by some of the organized crime groups that are actually perpetrating these attacks, and some of them are concentrated in, you know, France, but not exclusively." Nate Anderson Deputy Editor Nate Anderson Deputy Editor Nate is the deputy editor at Ars Technica. His most recent book is In Emergency, Break Glass: What Nietzsche Can Teach Us About Joyful Living in a Tech-Saturated World, which is much funnier than it sounds. 45 Comments #after #latest #kidnap #attempt #crypto

ARSTECHNICA.COM

After latest kidnap attempt, crypto types tell crime bosses: Transfers are traceable

trace it After latest kidnap attempt, crypto types tell crime bosses: Transfers are traceable Crypto abduction attempts continue to rock France. Nate Anderson – May 15, 2025 4:34 pm | 45 The kidnapping attempt in progress. Credit: France24 The kidnapping attempt in progress. Credit: France24 Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more Masked men jumped out of a white-panel van in Paris this week, attempting to snatch a 34-year-old woman off the street. The woman's husband fought back and suffered a fractured skull, according to France24. The woman continued resisting long enough for a bike shop owner named Nabil to rush out swinging a fire extinguisher, which he hurled after the departing van as the attackers finally fled. The entire altercation was captured on video. The woman was identified as the daughter of a "crypto boss," and her attempted kidnapping is part of a disquieting surge in European crypto-related abductions—two of which have already involved fingers being chopped off. The last major abduction happened in Paris only two weeks ago, and it ended with French police storming a house in the Paris suburbs and rescuing a crypto mogul's now-four-fingered father. The attacks have spooked the industry, which has called, somewhat ironically, for enhanced protections from the government. Reuters notes that the issue has been escalated all the way to the top of the French government, where Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau announced plans this week to "meet with French crypto entrepreneurs to make them aware of the risks and to take measures to protect them." The sudden spike in copycat attacks in France, Belgium, and Spain over the last few months suggests that crypto robbery as a tactic has caught the attention of organized crime. (This week's abduction attempt is already being investigated by the organized crime unit of the Parisian police.) Crypto industry insiders seem convinced that organized crime likes these attacks because of a (mistaken) belief that crypto transfers are untraceable. So people like Chainalysis CEO Jonathan Levin are trying to clue in the crime bosses. "For whatever reason, there is a perception that’s out there that crypto is an asset that is untraceable, and that really lends itself to criminals acting in a certain way," Levin said at a recent conference covered by the trade publication Cointelegraph. “Apparently, the [knowledge] that crypto is not untraceable hasn't been received by some of the organized crime groups that are actually perpetrating these attacks, and some of them are concentrated in, you know, France, but not exclusively." Nate Anderson Deputy Editor Nate Anderson Deputy Editor Nate is the deputy editor at Ars Technica. His most recent book is In Emergency, Break Glass: What Nietzsche Can Teach Us About Joyful Living in a Tech-Saturated World, which is much funnier than it sounds. 45 Comments

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After latest kidnap attempt, crypto types tell crime bosses: Transfers are traceable