The winners of the $TRUMP meme coin contest did get to see President Donald Trump speak at a private dinner closed to the press — but his speech was probably the least exciting part of their night. They did get a better, more valuable, and potentially more lucrative experience: the opportunity to network with the biggest crypto traders in the game, win watches worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, and attend a not-so-exclusive afterparty at the Capitol Hill Marriott afterward — all without having to complete particularly thorough background checks.The vetting process for entering the dinner was a ‘pretty light’ KYC checkAfter being whisked behind the gates of the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, past a throng of journalists snapping photos and protesters screaming at them for being corrupt, the 220 attendees went through security and had their IDs checked. According to one attendee, many were wealthy but some were living on normal-ish paychecks. The other guests, he said, were largely foreigners from overseas, all with an extremely high risk tolerance for gambling with crypto. The attendee said the vetting process for entering the dinner was a “pretty light” KYC check done by a third party, which he found odd considering he was about to have dinner in proximity to the president. (Know Your Customer is an anti-money-laundering compliance measure that banks, crypto exchanges, and other financial institutions are required to do.)“I talked to someone about getting into the White House, and it’s a lot more strict in terms of you have to show your passport and all that,” he told The Verge. “If this is true, it’s disappointing, but not surprising. When we sued during the first Trump administration to see who the Secret Service was running background checks on at Mar-a-Lago, we were told that the government wasn’t vetting the people meeting with Trump there, it was all done by his private business,” Jordan Libowitz, vice president of communications for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), wrote in email to The Verge. “This is a massive ethical issue that we reportedly have foreign nationals paying thousands if not millions of dollars to a sitting president to get access to him, and it’s all done in a way that the government does not have records of who they are. If you were drawing up a playbook for potential corruption, this is how you’d do it.” According to the attendee, Trump’s presence was limited to a speech from behind a podium bearing the presidential seal — despite the White House having previously called it a private event on the president’s “personal time” — then immediately flying back to Washington on Marine One. “For the most part, it was just him talking about his campaign, and about how he beat Biden, and blah, blah, blah, how we were in a terrible place with crypto before he got elected and now we’re in a great place,” the attendee said.Though Trump was greeted like a celebrity, with guests clamoring up close and hoping for signatures, the real draw of the event was Justin Sun, the crypto billionaire, who was swarmed with fans and selfie-seekers during the dinner. RelatedSun came in first place, having bought more than $20 million worth of $TRUMP during the contest. During a prize ceremony at the end of the night, he was presented with a $100,000 Trump-branded Tourbillon watch — the grand prize for the top four winners. (Unfortunately for third and fourth place, their Tourbillons were not ready by the time of the dinner and will be shipped to them later.) Later, there was a raffle for two other Trump-branded watches, each with an estimated retail value of $500. Other crypto stars were spotted at the event: Vincent Liu, chief investment officer at the Taiwan-based crypto trading firm Kronos Research; “Ice,” the founder of Memecore, a Singapore-based crypto organization that came in second place; and GAnt, a crypto influencer who came in fourth place and had been sharing his preparations for the dinner with his followers on Telegram. According to a report from the blockchain analysis company Nansen, the contestants collectively spent $394 million to participate in the dinner, with the winners spending anywhere between $55,000 and $37.7 million to participate.If people wanted to keep the festivities going after dinner, there were buses available to take them to the Capitol Hill Marriott back in DC, where Memecore was hosting a private afterparty at the rooftop bar. (The party had apparently been reserved for the top 25, but eventually it ballooned to include anyone else who wanted to attend.)The owners of $TRUMP and the White House have declined to publish a list of attendees, sparking outrage from lawmakers concerned about the potential for the token to be used for bribing the president. But several attendees were more than willing to make themselves known, giving on-the-record interviews with news outlets both before and after the dinner, posting photos and videos on their socials, and even openly discussing their experiences with their online Telegram followers. The dinner hosts themselves were just as eager to show off their success. A photographer was offering attendees the chance to find themselves in the event album via facial recognition. At the end of the night, after all the gifts had been handed out, Bill Zanker, the CEO of World Liberty Financial, asked everyone in the audience to put on their commemorative trucker hats, emblazoned with a slimmed-down Trump and the words “Fight! Fight! Fight!” for a celebratory photo. Everyone in the crowd flung theirs in the air, as if it were a college graduation. According to the attendee, Zanker then asked everyone to hashtag their photo with “Trump meme dinner or whatever” when they posted them. Although The Verge found photos of the hats on social media, we were not able to find any particular hashtag associated with them.The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.See More:

html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd" Heading into the long Memorial Day holiday weekend, Hulu is adding The Last Showgirl, a film that went under the radar last year and it could have disappeared entirely if not for a fantastic performance by Pamela Anderson. That’s why it was an easy pick to be the first choice among the three great Hulu movies you need to stream this weekend. Our other picks include one of Tom Cruise’s best Mission: Impossible films, which is timely since Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is now in theaters. The final pick of the weekend is comedy/drama starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper just three years after their acclaimed performances in Silver Linings Playbook. Recommended Videos Need more recommendations? We also have guides to the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, the best movies on Max, and the best movies on Disney+. The Last Showgirl (2024) Roadside Attractions Some industry observers believed that Pamela Anderson was going to get an Oscar nomination for her leading role in The Last Showgirl. While that didn’t ultimately come to pass, Anderson’s performance was very powerful and it changed perceptions about what she can do as an actress. Anderson plays Shelly Gardner, a showgirl who has starred in a single Las Vegas revue for three decades. Shelly dedicated her life to the show, even at the expense of her only daughter, Hannah Gardner (Billie Lourd). However, Shelly is completely unprepared when she learns that the revue is closing in two weeks, and this isn’t the kind of job that sends its employees into a comfortable retirement. For the first time in years, Shelly is truly terrified about her future prospects, because being a Las Vegas showgirl is all that she knows. Taking that away from Shelly might destroy her. Watch The Last Showgirl on Hulu. Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011) Paramount Pictures Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol is probably the fourth or fifth best Mission: Impossible movie… but it’s still pretty great! Animation director Brad Bird made his live-action debut with this sequel, which puts the entire Impossible Mission Force under the gun. Kurt Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist) has framed the IMF for bombing the Kremlin, which is why Russian agents are after Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his entire field team, including Jane Carter (Paula Patton) and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg). Officially, the U.S. has also disavowed and disbanded the IMF. Unofficially, Ethan still has some leeway to clear their names. Ethan gets some additional assistance from William Brandt (Jeremy Renner), a man who is hiding some secrets of his own. Brandt’s fighting skills are far too advanced for someone who isn’t supposed to be in the field, and his connection to Ethan is something that’s haunted him. But before they can deal with that emotional baggage, they’ll have to work together to save the world from Hendricks’ plans to unleash a nuclear war between the United States and Russia. Watch Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol on Hulu. Joy (2015) 20th Century Studios The Silver Linings Playbook team of director David O. Russell, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, and Bradley Cooper reunited in 2015 with Joy, a biopic about the creator of the Miracle Mop. Joy Mangano (Lawrence) is a put upon young woman who is not only supporting her kids, but also her mother, Terri Mangano (Virginia Madsen), her ex-husband, Rudy Mangano (De Niro), and even Joy’s ex-husband, Tony Miranne (Édgar Ramírez). Joy’s invention leads her to QVC executive Neil Walker (Cooper), who helps her change her life when the mops become a success. However, Joy doesn’t get to have a happy ending at that point. There are members of her own family who try to steal her success out from under her, as well as some underhanded tactics from a business rival that may cost Joy everything she has. Watch Joy on Hulu.

In an excerpt from the e-book, User interface design and implementation, veteran game designer Christo Nobbs examines the interplay between UI and game design.Our e-book, User interface design and implementation, illustrates how UI artists and designers can build better interfaces in Unity. The guide covers workflows for the two UI systems available in Unity, but the primary focus is on Unity UI Toolkit for Unity 2021 LTS and beyond. Christo Nobbs, the game designer who was also a major contributor to The Unity game designer playbook, shares a section that he provided for this latest guide on how UI and game design can create rich immersion to keep your players captivated.Successful games are immersive. Whether it’s a VR simulation or mobile role-playing game (RPG), a great game transports us to a different world.Immersion requires a delicate balance of UI and game design. The UI needs to be functional – but within the confines of the game’s art direction and overall identity. The trick is using the right UI for the right situation.Should you show an onscreen icon when a player picks up an item or defeats an enemy, or is that too distracting? Could a misplaced pop-up take the viewer out of the action? These are the kinds of questions you’ll need to consider as a UI designer and artist in the larger context of your game.One current trend is diegetic UI. Today’s game players inherently recognize traditional extra-diegetic UIs, such as health bars or menu screens, as conventions of the medium. They’re artificial devices plastered on the “fourth wall” to communicate with the user. But diegetic UIs, conversely, embed themselves into the story and narrative. They make parts of the game world function as a user interface.Imagine a game character that pulls out an empty weapon magazine in a scripted Timeline sequence. That animation can replace a head-up display (HUD)-based ammo counter.The Dead Space series is often cited as a prime example of diegetic interface. Here, the player dons a sci-fi survival suit, which motivates the game’s UI. The suit’s holographic display projects in-game statistics and inventory, as well as colored lights on its spine that double as a health indicator. The result is a built-in UI seamlessly integrated into the story.In iRacing by iRacing.com Motorsport Simulations, realistic in-car dashboard indicators show damage, which also affects the car’s handling. The player understands there’s something wrong with the vehicle through audio and visual cues, rather than an explicitly flashing vignette or HUD icon.On the flip side, if a game is tooimmersive, the designer can build an “out.” A horror game can give the player a “safe word” with a pause button. This intentionally breaks immersion if scenes become too intense.Experienced designers understand that the UI must fit with the game’s identity. The interface needs to be clean, readable, and appropriate for the situation. With today’s hardware, you can realize advanced UIs that support the story you are trying to tell.At the other end of the spectrum, competitive games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, or CS:GO, Overwatch, and League of Legends depend on UIs that gather information. They use HUDs that must be efficient and assist in gameplay. Diegetic interfaces are less appropriate here. Breaking that fourth wall can actually make for a better game.Since the players have a keen awareness that they are participating in a planned experience, the interface helps them assess the “playing field” – remaining time, team rosters, vitals, minimaps, etc. In some ways, this reflects a sporting event, where the broadcast UI updates its spectators.Whether they’re showing team positions or illuminating players through walls, these UIs have the effect of enhancing strategy and tactics. They can also build suspense for the player and heighten the experience. Thanks to the UI, being a spectator after losing an online match can sometimes be as entertaining as playing.In World of Tanks, the spatial UI elements appear above each player’s tank to relay information about teammates and enemies; things like their name, tier, health, and tank icon. The HUD point bar, navigation elements, and minimap all share a clean and direct visual language.By working with your designer, you can better understand the game’s UI needs. Gameplay is a balance between challenging your players and sharpening their skills. Ideally, this will pass through the Flow channel (see the chart below).Tilt too far to one side and you risk boring your players. To alleviate that, reduce UI elements and increase the challenge level. Then you can force the player to puzzle through the gameplay without too much assistance.Making the game too difficult, on the other hand, can result in anxiety. In this case, adding UIs can lessen gameplay confusion and get your target complexity back on track.Think of UI as a design device meant to steer your game into this Flow channel. An interface shouldn’t waste the viewer’s time. It should clearly communicate its content (e.g., load out, health, etc.), but nothing else. Your designer will likely go through numerous iterations as the product evolves into its shippable form. Let the players – and the gameplay – work out the rest.Tip: UI text You might want to use less text in your interfaces to improve their focus. Small adjustments to icons, fonts, and layout can all impact game pacing. Less text, where appropriate, can also make it easier to localize your game.For more UI text tips, see Joseph Humfrey’s 2018 GDC talk, Designing text UX for effortless reading.Interface designers today have a vast library of game applications to learn from. You can explore them through the Game UI Database. This massive, searchable site allows you to filter by HUD element, type, style, and feature, among other categories. Use it to pore over hundreds of published games and study their in-game menus and screens.Another great resource is Interface in Game. It features video clips of UI elements you can browse. Use this database to search a wide range of titles by platform and genre. Need to polish up some visual effects or UI details? You’re likely to find a reference here.As you examine more game interfaces, you’ll begin to perceive patterns, especially by genre. In a first-person shooter (FPS), for example, we expect to see the health stats at the bottom of the screen. It’s almost an established convention, since so many applications have done it this way.When designing a UI, it’s important to capture the genre’s visual language. If you’re building an RPG, look at how other RPGs handle inventories, skill trees, leveling up, etc. Make something that players are already familiar with, so they can jump right into the gameplay with an understanding of the established style.UI design patterns aren’t random. They’ve evolved over time through a sort of collaborative effort. Designers have already figured out what works, and new designs are simply building on an existing game canon. Learn from these past design decisions. You’ll not only save yourself time, but appease your players as well, who will be expecting certain patterns and visuals in the game.For more information on UI design patterns, read Best practices for designing an effective user interface by Edd Coates, a senior UI artist from Double Eleven.UI Toolkit sample – Dragon Crashers is a demo available to download for free from the Unity Asset Store. This sample demonstrates how you can leverage UI Toolkit for your own applications, and involves a full-featured interface over a slice of the 2D project Dragon Crashers, a mini RPG, using the Unity 2021 LTS UI Toolkit workflow at runtime.You can find more advanced e-books for Unity creators on our How-to hub.

Making a game is hard. Getting anyone to care about it might be harder. That’s why we launched the Indie Survival Guide — an evolving archive of Q&As, VODs, and live streams from developers and industry folks. There’s no guaranteed playbook for success, but hearing how others navigated design, business, and getting by can give you better odds. In this recent stream, we sat down with Chris Zukowski from HowToMarketAGame.com, who shared honest, actionable advice on standing out in a crowded Steam marketplace. Below are a few highlights from the conversation.1. Optimize your Steam pageA good Steam page does two things: it tells players exactly what kind of game they’re looking at, and it proves that it’s worth their time. According to Chris, clarity is king:“You wanna make your Steam page look like your type of game so that at an instant somebody shopping goes, ‘Ah, it's that type of game—I’m gonna buy it.”To build trust, you also need to look professional, and that starts with how your game is presented visually.“You wanna show quality. And another way to do quality is you should hire a capsule artist,” says Chris. “I’m telling you folks… don’t just use Unity, take a screenshot, and then use MS Paint to write the title of your game. Don’t do that.”Details matter, even in your thumbnail. Chris pointed out how players make fast visual associations when skimming through the store.“Every capsule always has a hammer. I don’t know why,” he says. “But if you just put a hammer in your thumbnail for your game—it’s called a capsule—people are gonna see that hammer and subconsciously go, ‘Oh, I bet I build a city with that.’”Why is all this important? Often, you have that first 5 seconds when someone lands on your Steam page or views your capsule browsing the platform to grab their attention. The competition is steep, and you need to find any way to rise above the noise.2. Choose the Right Genre on SteamYour first marketing decision isn’t the trailer, or the tweet — it’s the game you chose to make. Genre isn’t just a creative choice; it defines your market fit.“The moment you say ‘I’m gonna make this type of game,’ you’ve actually made the biggest marketing decision,” Chris explains. “People think like, ‘Oh, I’ve made my game and now I want to start thinking about marketing.’ It’s too late.”Chris emphasized that certain genres are better suited for Steam’s player base. Horror is a consistent favorite, as are systems-driven games.“Most of the games that do very well are genres that people don’t typically make. The big one is horror. The other ones I call crafty building strategy simulation-y games,” he says. “Crafty building strategy simulation-y games—these are games where they’re almost like a sandbox. It’s not like a linear story where you’re a dude with a sword and you run through an environment.”Things like crafting games, management and automation games, city builders, and simulation games do really well on Steam, even if they don’t become household names. This has held true for awhile. Trends on Steam aren’t as unpredictable as they seem. Chris has tracked genre performance over several years and found them surprisingly stable:“I’ve done this for the past three years to look at the big genres that are on there… and typically, it’s very consistent year over year. These trends aren’t running. These trends are staying the same.”3. Avoid Common Mistakes on SteamEven great games can stumble at launch because of simple oversights. One of the biggest? Not treating your Steam page launch as an announcement:“People have never announced their game,” he says. “I know this sounds weird… but a lot of people just throw their Steam page up and then their Steam page is live. No. When you put your Steam page up, you announced your game.”Another major one: forgetting to use Steam’s built-in tools to notify your audience.“You launch your game and… you didn’t push the ‘email wishlisters’ button? That’s a big one. That’s a new rule. That was instituted in about October. But that’s it—you have to push the button,” he says. “You have two weeks from when you launch your demo to push this button called ‘email wishlisters’… do not forget. A third of responses to my survey were like, ‘what’s an email button?’”Discovery on Steam is based on a lot of things, but don’t underestimate metadata and tags. Steam’s discovery algorithm relies heavily on tags, yet many devs ignore them or don’t maintain them.“Another stupid thing—check your tags. I’ve seen people that have like 10 tags. No—you wanna get all the tags."4. Prepare for Steam Next FestSteam Next Fest can offer a massive visibility spike — if you show up prepared. That means your demo needs to be in shape before the event begins.“You should not be debuting your demo during Next Fest,” he says, “Next Fest is the grand… it’s the quinceañera. It’s the grand debut of the final stage of yourself. You should have released your demo long before.”This is especially important because Steam gives all participants equal footing at first — but only boosts games that perform well early.“You want your demo bulletproof,” he says. “You’ve wanted it vetted by streamers before. You’ve wanted it in other festivals. Because if on that first day everybody fires it up and there’s some bug… you’re done.”Chris emphasized the importance of building wishlists before the event begins:“If you’re coming into Next Fest hot with more wishlists, you will do better. That’s why you want to get that demo out early and build some momentum before the fest begins.”5. Invest wisely when supplementing your Steam pageIf you're chasing visibility, you don’t need to buy a massive toolset or a stack of ads. In fact, most of this process can be done with strategy and timing.“There aren’t that many tools… you don’t need to buy a lot. Marketing is not pay-to-win that much,” he says about marketing a Steam game. “Marketing is actually much more strategic, and it’s about when you time certain activities and what you do.”The only thing Chris consistently recommends spending on? A pro-looking capsule image.“The only thing I really recommend spending money on is hiring a capsule artist. Other than that, most of this is free and DIY.”There are no magic formulas, but learning how others have done it can go a long way. If there’s one consistent takeaway from this chat with Chris, it’s that marketing is not just about shouting as loud as you can on social media. You need to make a game that the market on that platform is looking for, make it obvious that it’s that type of game, and let the game do the marketing work for you. Getting demos out early is key. You can follow more of Chris’s work at HowToMarketAGame.com, or dive deeper into the Indie Survival Guide for more hard-earned advice from devs who've been there.Keep making games, and don’t forget to push that e-mail button.

Microsoft, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), took a major step in dismantling one of the most prolific cybercrime tools currently in circulation. Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit (DCU) collaborated with the DOJ, Europol, and several global cybersecurity firms to disrupt the Lumma Stealer malware network — a malware-as-a-service (MaaS) platform implicated in hundreds of thousands of digital breaches worldwide. According to Microsoft, Lumma Stealer infected over 394,000 Windows machines between March and mid-May 2025. The malware has been a favored tool amongst cybercriminals for stealing login credentials and sensitive financial information including cryptocurrency wallets. It’s been used for extortion campaigns against schools, hospitals, and infrastructure providers. According to the DOJ website, “the FBI has identified at least 1.7 million instances where LummaC2 was used to steal this type of information.” Recommended Videos With a court order from the U.S. District Court for the Northern Districts of Georgia, Microsoft took down roughly 2,300 malicious domains associated with Lumma’s infrastructure. The DOJ simultaneously took down five critical LummaC2 domains, which acted as command-and-control centers for cybercriminals deploying the malware. These domains now redirect to a government seizure notice. International assistance came from Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) and Japan’s JC3, who coordinated efforts to block regional servers. Cybersecurity firms like Bitsight, Cloudflare, ESET, Lumen, CleanDNS, and GMO Registry assisted in identifying and dismantling web infrastructure. Inside the Lumma operation Lumma, also known as LummaC2, has been operating since 2022, possibly earlier, and makes its info-stealing malware available for sale through encrypted forums and Telegram channels. The malware is designed for ease of use and is often bundled with obfuscation tools to help it bypass antivirus software. Distribution techniques include spear-phishing emails, spoofed brand websites, and malicious online ads known as “malvertising.” Cybersecurity researchers say Lumma is particularly dangerous because it allows criminals to rapidly scale attacks. Buyers can customize payloads, track stolen data, and even get customer support via a dedicated user panel. Microsoft Threat Intelligence previously linked Lumma to notorious Octo Tempest gang, also known as “Scattered Spider.” In one phishing campaign earlier this year, hackers were able to spoof Booking.com and used Lumma to harvest financial credentials from unsuspecting victims. Who’s behind it? Authorities believe the developer of Lumma goes by the alias “Shamel” and operates out of Russia. In a 2023 interview, Shamel claimed to have 400 active clients and even bragged about branding Lumma with a dove logo and the slogan: “Making money with us is just as easy.” Long-term disruption, not a knockout Image used with permission by copyright holder While the takedown is significant, experts warn that Lumma and tools like it are rarely eradicated for good. Still, Microsoft and the DOJ say these actions severely hinder and disrupt criminal operations by cutting off their infrastructure and revenue streams. Microsoft will use the seized domains as sinkholes to gather intelligence and further protect victims. This situation highlights the need for international cooperation in cybercrime enforcement. DOJ officials emphasized the value of public-private partnerships, while the FBI noted that court-authorized disruptions remain a critical tool in the government’s cybersecurity playbook. As Microsoft’s DCU continues its work, this Lumma crackdown sets a strong precedent for what can be accomplished when industry and government specialists collaborate to eliminate threats. As more of these organizations are uncovered and disrupted, remember to protect yourself by changing your passwords frequently and avoid clicking links from unknown senders.

People keep telling me that big agencies are the future—that you need massive scale, deep pockets, and cutting-edge tech to survive. But after 25 years in this business, I’ve seen firsthand that raw creativity and genuine curiosity still drive the best work.  Sure, some folks think enterprise platforms and huge teams are the answer. I believe the future belongs to nimble agencies that can pivot quickly and bring fresh ideas to the table. The old “bigger is better” mindset is shifting. These days, brands want partners who truly get them and bring something distinctive to their work, and that’s where independent agencies shine.  Why brands go independent  At MOCEAN, we’ve taken our entertainment background and applied that cinematic storytelling to everything from gaming to pharmatech. When The Cheesecake Factory came to us, we threw out the standard restaurant advertising playbook and created something more narrative-driven and alive.  Look around. You’ll see that brands are increasingly turning to indies for work that cuts through the noise. Tubi and Coors Light are making waves with bold, irreverent social campaigns. NBA and Beats by Dre are connecting across generations through culturally-authentic creative. Chipotle and American Express are proving that social-first thinking drives both emotional connection and business results. None of these came from holding companies—they’re all independent work.  Having a specific focus isn’t limiting, it’s liberating. It leads to deeper insights and work that actually resonates.  Today’s clients need to move at lightning speed, stretch their budgets further, and stay culturally relevant in an ever-changing landscape. That’s exactly what independent agencies do best.  Our flat structure means fewer hoops to jump through. Ideas move from concept to execution faster, with real collaboration along the way. While big agencies might take months to launch a campaign, independent shops like ours deliver in weeks.  Thriving talent means more innovation  Real innovation happens at small, independent shops. Top talent wants to make meaningful work. They want their ideas to see the light of day, not get lost in layers of approval. That energy is contagious.  Yes, holding companies have resources. But independents aren’t trying to be them; we’re blazing our own trail. We’re testing new tools, solving real problems, and building teams that genuinely care about doing great work.  I see it at MOCEAN all the time. Some of our most innovative AI applications have come from individuals just experimenting on their own. When people feel truly empowered, creativity flourishes.  The role of technology  We’re embracing AI, but thoughtfully, as a tool to enhance our work, not replace human creativity. We use platforms like Midjourney and ChatGPT to streamline presentations, rough out concepts, and rapidly iterate on ideas.  Some partners are still figuring out their AI comfort zone, which we completely respect. Meanwhile, we’re building expertise where it makes sense, so we’re ready to lead when the time comes.  Creative businesses will always need human insight and creative instinct. Independent agencies get that, and we protect space for it.  Clients see the difference. So does talent. More creatives are leaving big agencies for smaller, more passionate teams—places where the work matters more than office politics and results speak louder than processes.  Our strength comes from staying adaptable, staying curious, and putting partnership before process.  Twenty-five years in and I’ve never been more excited about what’s ahead. Creativity still wins. Curiosity still wins. And people still want to do work that moves them.  Michael McIntyre is CEO of MOCEAN. 

TechTarget and Informa Tech’s Digital Business Combine.TechTarget and InformaTechTarget and Informa Tech’s Digital Business Combine.Together, we power an unparalleled network of 220+ online properties covering 10,000+ granular topics, serving an audience of 50+ million professionals with original, objective content from trusted sources. We help you gain critical insights and make more informed decisions across your business priorities.The CIO's Playbook for IT Automation in 2025The CIO's Playbook for IT Automation in 2025This session highlights a practical, step-by-step approach to achieving automation success and hazards to avoid.Brandon Taylor, Digital Editorial Program ManagerMay 22, 20255 Min ViewWith digital transformations everywhere all at once, the importance of automation for IT teams shouldn't come as a surprise. Determining which processes to automate first and which tools to deploy are equally as important, but so are the obstacles that will waste money and slow deployment down. In this archived keynote session, Sidney Madison Prescott, director of innovation, artificial intelligence at NRI, explores a practical, step-by-step approach to achieving automation success. This segment was part of our live webinar titled, “Perfecting IT Automation in 2025: A Roadmap for CIOs.” The event was presented by InformationWeek on April 17, 2025.Watch the archived “Perfecting IT Automation in 2025: A Roadmap for CIOs” live webinar on-demand today.About the AuthorBrandon TaylorDigital Editorial Program ManagerBrandon Taylor enables successful delivery of sponsored content programs across Enterprise IT media brands: Data Center Knowledge, InformationWeek, ITPro Today and Network Computing.See more from Brandon TaylorWebinarsMore WebinarsReportsMore ReportsNever Miss a Beat: Get a snapshot of the issues affecting the IT industry straight to your inbox.SIGN-UPYou May Also Like

TechTarget and Informa Tech’s Digital Business Combine.TechTarget and InformaTechTarget and Informa Tech’s Digital Business Combine.Together, we power an unparalleled network of 220+ online properties covering 10,000+ granular topics, serving an audience of 50+ million professionals with original, objective content from trusted sources. We help you gain critical insights and make more informed decisions across your business priorities.The CIO's Playbook for IT Automation in 2025The CIO's Playbook for IT Automation in 2025This session highlights a practical, step-by-step approach to achieving automation success and hazards to avoid.Brandon Taylor, Digital Editorial Program ManagerMay 22, 20255 Min ViewWith digital transformations everywhere all at once, the importance of automation for IT teams shouldn't come as a surprise. Determining which processes to automate first and which tools to deploy are equally as important, but so are the obstacles that will waste money and slow deployment down. In this archived keynote session, Sidney Madison Prescott, director of innovation, artificial intelligence at NRI, explores a practical, step-by-step approach to achieving automation success. This segment was part of our live webinar titled, “Perfecting IT Automation in 2025: A Roadmap for CIOs.” The event was presented by InformationWeek on April 17, 2025.Watch the archived “Perfecting IT Automation in 2025: A Roadmap for CIOs” live webinar on-demand today.About the AuthorBrandon TaylorDigital Editorial Program ManagerBrandon Taylor enables successful delivery of sponsored content programs across Enterprise IT media brands: Data Center Knowledge, InformationWeek, ITPro Today and Network Computing.See more from Brandon TaylorWebinarsMore WebinarsReportsMore ReportsNever Miss a Beat: Get a snapshot of the issues affecting the IT industry straight to your inbox.SIGN-UPYou May Also Like

Xbox Game Pass appears to be taking a page from Nintendo Switch Online’s playbook by adding a slew of classic titles to its library. Xbox and Antstream Arcade have joined forces to launch Retro Classics, which gives all Game Pass members access to a 50+ collection of Activision titles like “Commando, Grand Prix, Kaboom!, Mech Warrior 2: 31st Century Combat, and Pitfall!” according to Xbox. The initiative is described as a “commitment to game preservation and backwards compatibility,” as such, these titles will be available to play “across console, PC, and on supported devices with cloud gaming.” That means Xbox consoles, the Xbox app on PC, supported LG and Samsung smart TVs, Amazon Fire TV devices, and Meta Quest headsets. To access Retro Classics, users must download it via a Game Pass membership. Players can also compete against friends, rivals, or the global community through unique challenges. What’s more, it offers the ability to save and reload progress, “a first for many classic titles,” Xbox boasts. Additional games are slated to arrive from Activision and Blizzard, with an expectation to have over 100+ titles added to the collection over time. Now it’s obvious Xbox itself doesn’t have a bag of classic titles as deep as Nintendo, which has been churning out games since the first Star Wars trilogy. But it is good to see Microsoft putting those retro Activision classics to good use after acquiring the company a couple of years back.

Xbox Game Pass appears to be taking a page from Nintendo Switch Online’s playbook by adding a slew of classic titles to its library. Xbox and Antstream Arcade have joined forces to launch Retro Classics, which gives all Game Pass members access to a 50+ collection of Activision titles like “Commando, Grand Prix, Kaboom!, Mech Warrior 2: 31st Century Combat, and Pitfall!” according to Xbox. The initiative is described as a “commitment to game preservation and backwards compatibility,” as such, these titles will be available to play “across console, PC, and on supported devices with cloud gaming.” That means Xbox consoles, the Xbox app on PC, supported LG and Samsung smart TVs, Amazon Fire TV devices, and Meta Quest headsets. To access Retro Classics, users must download it via a Game Pass membership. Players can also compete against friends, rivals, or the global community through unique challenges. What’s more, it offers the ability to save and reload progress, “a first for many classic titles,” Xbox boasts. Additional games are slated to arrive from Activision and Blizzard, with an expectation to have over 100+ titles added to the collection over time. Now it’s obvious Xbox itself doesn’t have a bag of classic titles as deep as Nintendo, which has been churning out games since the first Star Wars trilogy. But it is good to see Microsoft putting those retro Activision classics to good use after acquiring the company a couple of years back.