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Trivial-to-exploit authentication flaws can give an unsophisticated remote attacker 'omnipotent' control over a server and its contents. View the full article

Welcome to your ultimate guide to favicon design. In this article, we'll run through exactly how to create a perfect favicon, with specific tips for creating a favicon for Apple Touch, Windows 8, Android, Chrome, Opera and Safari – including a handy guide to the different favicon sizes and formats you need to know.You can use the boxout opposite to jump to the section you want. So first up, what is a favicon? Short for favorite icon, favicons are small symbols that appear in the URL bar and bookmarks list. Today, favicons extend the brand of a website beyond the browser canvas in many more different contexts, but we'll get on to that later. Looking for a different kind of icon? See our guide to the best free icon sets In the old days of the early web, creating a favicon involved linking a 16x16px icon file and that was that. Nowadays, it's a little more complicated – there are different favicon sizes and processes for different contexts. Creating a proper favicon is a science. In this article will show you exactly how to design a favicon. We'll start with some top tips for what your favicon should look like (for more inspiration, explore our roundup of the best iPhone app icons), then move on to specific advice on how to create a favicon for different contexts. We'll be using the template available on Apply Pixels to easily generate the different favicon sizes required, and the favicon from Apply Pixels as an example. 01. Make it recognisable The first thing to consider when designing a favicon is what needs to be represented in the canvas. Remember that your favicon is only displayed to the user when they are already on your website or have bookmarked it. So there's no need to try and attract the user with your favicon. 02. Use your logo Consider favicons as sober signposts that aid users in recognising your website when browsing their bookmarks lists and homescreens. Therefore, you want to use your logo, or whichever symbol most easily let's the user recognise your website. If you don't have a logomark that fits the quadratic canvas, use the most recognisable part of your logo. 03. Keep it clear There are also a few things you should avoid. Don't use the favicon as a marketing tool - that means no price tags, 'new' or 'updated' banners and so on. In fact, you don't want to put text inside the favicon at all. Text doesn't scale well, and the chances are it's going to be illegible anyway. Finally, don't use a photo – it will be muddy and unrecognisable at the size it's going to appear at. 04. Create two versions Different backgrounds work well for different contexts When favicons were first introduced in Internet Explorer 5, they appeared in the URL bar and in the bookmarks list. Today, favicons are displayed in a lot of other contexts, including bookmarks lists, shortcut menus and even mobile and TV homescreens. This makes it hard to predict how your favicon will be displayed to the end user. To ensure your favicon looks good in the many different contexts it's going to appear in, ideally you should provide two favicon styles: Logo on transparent background This version is shown in the URL bar, bookmarks lists and other places where the favicon appears next to your website URL or name. Logo on solid fill This version is used in grid-like bookmarks and shortcut menus where the browser or device masks the background, to achieve a uniform look in context. As mentioned before, different contexts require different sized favicons. Below you can see a quick guide to the different formats and dimensions you'll need to supply to cover all of the main use cases. Previously favicons had to be provided in the ICO format. Today it's okay to provide the files in PNG format (except for the Safari Pinned Tab icon which should be provided as SVG). If you want an easy way to design and export all favicon sizes, take a look at the favicon template over at Apply Pixels. Click the table to enlarge it Now let's take a closer look at the specific requirements of different use cases. How to create a desktop browser favicon Let's start with the most straightforward favicon you'll need to create: a classic favicon for the classic desktop browsers. This type of favicon works best on transparent backgrounds, as it will often appear in the URL bar and in bookmarks lists. Classic style favicons displayed in the bookmarks bar and URL bar in Google Chrome You'll need to provide this type of favicon in three sizes, all in PNG format with a transparent background. 16x16 32x32 48x48 How to create Apple Touch favicons Apple's iOS uses Apple Touch Icons to represent websites that have been saved to the iOS home screen as bookmarks. This means that the Apple Touch Icon will be rounded to the squircle mask of iOS app icons. It'll also be displayed against whichever background the user has chosen for their homescreen. With this in mind, your Apple Touch Icon should have a solid fill background style. This favicon will be displayed against the user's homescreen background Apple favicons should be supplied in a PNG format. You can get away with providing a 180x180 Apple Touch Icon that will automatically scale for the various iPhone and iPad sizes. This will work fine in most cases. If not, you can provide additional sizes for the different Apple devices: 60x60 76x76 120x120 152x152 180x180 How to design Windows 8 Tiles Although Windows 8 is no longer supported by Microsoft, there are still a lot of users with tablets running this OS. Depending on your user base, you might want to create a favicon for this platform as well. The 558x270 Windows Tile is the only favicon that is not quadratic Windows 8 uses Tiles to represent websites in the UI. There are five sizes to support in total, one size for Windows 8.0 and four sizes for Windows 8.1. The Windows 8 Tiles are made up of two components: Foreground: Your favicon image with a transparent background Background: The tile background generated by Windows 8 All Windows tiles should be in PNG format with a transparent background. These are the sizes you need to use. For Windows 8: 144x144 And for Windows 8.1: 128x128 270x270 558x270 558x558 The background color is specified in the tags and the browserconfiguration.xml that you need to provide: Note that the specified favicon dimensions in the browserconfiguration.xml do not match the sizes specified above. That's because, for scaling purposes, Microsoft recommends providing images that are larger than the standard tile dimensions. How to create a favicon for Android, Chrome and Opera Android, Chrome and Opera use the android-chrome-192x192.png and android-chrome-512x512.png that Google recommends. Since the introduction of adaptive icons in Android, websites added to the Android homescreen will mask the 192x192 design, so the icon takes shape after the user's preferred masking style. This might be a squircle, ellipsis, rectangle, rounded rectangle or teardrop shape. The favicons here will be masked into different shapes, according to user preference You need to create a PNG favicon with solid background, at 192x192 and 512x512. Implement these favicons by adding a manifest.json file to your site and linking to it within the tags: Here is the code for the manifest.json file: How to create a favicon for Safari's pinned tab This is the odd one out, and it is the only favicon that needs to be provided in vector format as an SVG file. It displays as the thumbnail icon when a user pins a tab to the Safari browser window. Unlike all other favicons, this icon is generated from an SVG image This favicon needs to be a 100% black SVG file with a transparent background. The SVG can only be one layer, and safari requires the viewBox attribute of the SVG to be set to "0 0 16 16". What about Google TV, Chrome Web Store and pre-iOS 7 Apple Touch Icons? There are some favicon dimensions and formats that were not included in this article, either because they are practically deprecated or because they are rarely relevant for the average web developer. In general, developers and designers should strive to support as broad a variety of devices and operating systems as possible, but sometimes it just does not make sense. For example: Google TV was replaced by Android TV in 2014, and the SDK was discontinued, Chrome Web Store is probably only relevant if you're building a Chrome app, extension or theme, and the percentage of iOS devices not running iOS 7 or later is now less than ~1 %. If you want an easy way to design and export all favicon sizes, take a look at the favicon template over at Apply Pixels. Read more: Mobile app design: A beginner's guide How to design app icons The best monitors for programming 2019 View the full article

Ethical hacking is becoming a growth industry. The information security sector is booming, expected to grow at 10.2 per cent annually through to 2023, according to a report from Markets and Markets. This has prompted a demand for white hat hackers and other security professionals. A study by the Herjavec Group predicts that 3.5 million cybersecurity-related jobs will open up through to 2021. The high demand and growing cost of attacks have resulted in some impressive salaries. PayScale puts the average annual salary for a computer security specialist at around $72,000, while the Infosec Institute estimates somewhere around $71,331 for a certified ethical hacker. IT security workers also seem resilient to economic downturn. If survey responses from (ISC)2 are any indication of the future, ethical hackers can be relatively confident that they will keep their jobs whenever the next recession hits. This means that learning more about ethical hacking rather than just focusing on other aspects of web design, such as building the best website layout, could help you futureproof yourself. Cybersecurity is essential for any business that stores data or operates in an online capacity, which means that many opportunities exist for ethical hackers. The obvious careers are those at internet giants such as Facebook, Google or Amazon. Banks and other companies in the financial sector also require high levels of security. The best code editors Many major companies have their own cybersecurity workforce but there are also infosec specialists like Cisco and FireEye, as well as roles in the military. Information security professionals can find jobs in a wide range of industries and in just about any major city in the world. But a career as an ethical hacker isn't only about the financial benefits. As our society has moved online and with the success of shows like Mr Robot, the image of the hacker has crept out of the dimly lit basement and become a respected and intriguing figure. With all of these advantages in mind, working as an ethical hacker can be a pretty sweet deal. But what's the best way to become one? What types of ethical hacking are there? Ethical hacking is a broad field made up of numerous subdisciplines. Each of these have their own skill sets and requirements. Some of the major types include: Penetration testing – This involves being granted permission by an organisation to hack into their systems in an attempt to find security holes. Digital forensics – The digital branch of forensic science can include things like intrusion investigation and assisting law enforcement. Social engineering – A significant part of breaching systems is all about tricking people instead of getting past technology. This particular field of expertise is known as social engineering. Vulnerability research – This job involves finding the latest vulnerabilities and threats, as well as coming up with ways to effectively manage them. Join us at Generate CSS our CSS-focused conference for web designers and developers. Find out more at www.generateconf.com . Use special offer code WEBDESIGNER2 for a 10% discount on tickets! What skills do you need for ethical hacking? This really depends on the answer to the last question. If you want to be a penetration tester, then you will need to be an expert in at least one programming language but the more the better. You will need to understand how systems interrelate, key networking principles and design, the security models of Unix and Windows, as well as a host of other knowledge. If you would prefer to stick with social engineering, you could get by with charisma and a smile. Despite this, it's still an idea to have at least a decent technical background, especially if you want to be able to understand colleagues and progress further in the field. The particular skills needed for your career depend on where you see yourself heading. Some people will have a solid plan and stick to it, while others may choose to go with the flow, look for opportunities in their surroundings and pick up whatever skills they can. This approach can lead them to areas of ethical hacking that they never would have thought of. Do you need a degree for ethical hacking? A degree can be a good way to enter the industry but it's not strictly necessary. Of course, this comes back to what kind of ethical hacking role you want. Some governments can be more strict about degree requirements, as can some companies. But many well-regarded businesses in the industry don't put as much emphasis on degrees – they care more about a person's skill set and their attitude. In the eyes of many employers, someone who is excellent at their job is miles above a mediocre candidate with a piece of paper. Saying that, degrees can be beneficial for career advancement and moving into managerial roles. Prospective ethical hackers have several paths to choose from. They can get a general computer science or computer engineering degree, then perhaps join the workforce for a few years. After a while, they may choose to get a master's degree in cybersecurity, ideally with their company paying for their studies. Alternatively, some may want to get into cybersecurity right out of the gate. There are a lot of great cybersecurity programmes throughout the world and the best one for you will depend on your location and career goals. If you do opt for university, don't get complacent with your degree. If you want to excel in the field, combine it with personal study, such as learning new programming languages, keeping up with industry news and even browsing hacker forums. Keeping up to date is important for handling the latest threats and technological changes. Is ethical hacking certification available? Thankfully, many of the necessary skills can be found in other ways and as long as you have them, you should still be able to find a job. In the most unstructured sense, you can learn a lot of what you need from forums and watching YouTube videos. Although this isn't the fastest way to learn, it has been a trusted path for many teenage hackers. A more structured approach involves online courses and certifications, which are often more respected in cybersecurity than in other industries. There is a variety of free and relatively cheap courses that offer great ways to get started. If you want certifications valued by the industry, look at getting one of the following qualifications: CNSS 4011 CISM CISSP CREST SEC+ CySA+ CCNA Security CCNA Cyber Ops Cybersecurity is a wide and rapidly moving industry. Making a career out of it involves knowing what you want to specialise in and working hard to become an expert in that particular role. As long as you keep up with the latest threat developments, you could be setting yourself up for a comfortable and engaging career. This article was originally published in issue 321 of net, the world's best-selling magazine for web designers and developers. Buy issue 321 here or subscribe here. Related articles: How to set up a local development environment 6 ways to get into creative coding How to code faster, lighter JavaScript View the full article

Don’t know what TikTok app is? If you work in the creative industries, you need to get up to speed fast, right now. Why? Well... Remember that time when nobody under 25 was talking about Facebook any more, and the buzz seemed to be around this new thing… Instablam, or Instafam or something? Well, that’s exactly what’s happening now in the world of social video. (If you're after some Insta tips, see our post on how to change the font in your Instagram bio.) The most downloaded app in the US in 2018, and now available in over 150 countries and 75 languages, the TikTok app reached the one billion downloads mark in February, and that number continues to climb. It is, in short, the latest cultural revolution to hit social media. And as with all previous revolutions, its popularity is hugely skewed towards the young, while many older people haven’t even heard of it. It didn't make it to our list of best social media platforms for creatives, for example. Tet. So what exactly is TikTok, and why should creative professionals care? Read on as we explain everything you need to know. 01. It lets you make short videos Fundamentally, TikTok is a social platform for making, sharing and watching short videos using your Android phone or iPhone (see our posts on Android apps and iPhone apps for our top apps for creatives). These may be anywhere between three and 60 seconds long, although most typically run to around 15 seconds. In this way, it’s similar to the now-defunct Twitter app Vine. But there are a number of important differences. First, TikTok is a standalone app, not an adjunct to an already-existing platform. Second, and uniquely in the social media space, it’s not a product of American, Silicon Valley culture, but comes from China (where, for complex legal reasons, it’s available as a separate, but identical app called Douyin). Thirdly, the TikTok app has a set of unique features. These include the ability to use preloaded tracks from a wide variety of music genres in your videos, special effects like slow/fast motion, stickers and filters, and the ‘React’ feature, which lets you film your reactions to a specific video (which itself appears in a small, movable window). 02. The videos are fun and silly In terms of functionality, TikTok doesn’t offer much you can’t find in other apps. What really makes it so important is how it’s actually being used, by hundreds of millions around the world. The first thing you notice about videos on TikTok is that they’re lively, silly, fun, OTT, and often just plain weird. They’re the perfect antidote, then, to the kind of po-faced projections of 'perfect lives' that have quickly become a cliché on Instagram. In contrast, TikTok app videos are mostly joyously amateurish, and unthinkingly honest. There’s a real sense of kids 'being themselves' that you don’t get on other platforms. (Note: Ironically, because Creative Bloq isn't yet set up to embed TikTok videos, we've featured YouTube compilations in this post, which naturally focus on the higher quality clips. But you'll still get the broad idea...) 03. It’s mostly lip-synching, dancing and challenges So what do people do in TikTok videos? Well, for one thing there’s a lot of lip syncing and dancing to pop songs. A LOT. As you’d expect from kids messing about, most of this is laughably shambolic compared to the heavily edited and polished production values of today’s YouTube stars. But that’s kind of the point. Most of the people uploading videos to TikTok don’t want to be celebrities, they just want to have fun, and that fun can be incredibly infectious. Plus the use of preloaded tracks means that you can enjoy the song in high fidelity, even if the video itself is a bit rubbish. (See our best video editing software if you're interested in creating high-quality videos.) One of the main planks of TikTok culture is responding to challenges, such as the stair step challenge, where participants dance up a set of stairs in elaborate ways. Some of these are set by TikTok itself, some by brands, musicians and media celebrities, and some just naturally generated by the community itself. Pets doing daft things is another popular theme on TikTok, as are cosplay, stunts, lip synching to comedy routines, and playing out famous TV/film scenes. Whatever the subject, though, the videos here range from highly professional, to cute and adorable, to annoying and cringe-inducing. All (young) human life is here, basically. 04. The social aspect isn’t the main deal While Instagram, Twitter and Facebook are all about getting likes, follows and friends, TikTok's app is still largely about the actual content. You do follow people, and some of the most popular accounts have eye-popping numbers of followers. (The record is currently held by singer Loren Gray, who has 33.1 million at time of writing). But it’s not really about that. Most creators simply want to be on TikTok to make funny clips to share with friends, and the wider world, in that order. And others are just there to watch (as on YouTube, you don’t have to upload anything in order to enjoy people’s clips). Best of all, when it comes to the comments section, TikTok seems to have avoided – for the moment – the kind of nastiness that’s tainted so many other forms of social media. TikTok is primarily powered by how much users like your videos: nothing more, nothing less. That doesn’t mean TikTok is without its problems. Like every other service popular with young people, it’s been accused of attracting cyberbullies and sexual predators, encouraging obscenity, and mishandling private data, an issue that’s been magnified in the wake of the Huawei controversy and general paranoia about China. More generally, TikTok users should not be generalised as the 'voice of youth' today. Look on other social channels and you'll find lot of other youngsters being very scathing about its clips and the kind of people who make it. Although how much of that is just general class prejudice, or sheer jealousy, is a matter for debate. But aside from all that, TikTok is a place where popularity is not (yet) powered by personal connections, friend circles, clever SEO tricks, Russian bots, marketing money or mainstream celebrities. It’s primarily powered by how much users like your videos: nothing more, nothing less. 05. It’s influencing wider culture If you haven't downloaded the TikTok app, then why should you care about it? Because the wider culture is becoming heavily immersed influenced by it, in ways you may not even be aware of. Take music. One of the biggest tracks of the year globally has been Lil Nas X’s Old Town Road. But while it’s been near impossible to avoid the song, what may have escaped you is how it became so huge. Not, as you might expect, through radio play. Not through steaming music platforms like Spotify. Not even via Twitter, Instagram or Snapchat. No, this track first became titanic on TikTok, when a meme took off via the #yeehaw hashtag, which prompts youngsters to drink 'Yee Yee Juice' and change into cowboy/cowgirl clothes just in time for the song's drop. This was by no means a one-off, either. Many other songs, old and new, have blown up internationally via TikTok memes too, including Flamingo by Kero Kero Bonito, Pretty Boy Swag by Soulja Boy, Sicko Mode by Travis Scott" and Fake ID by Riton and Kah-Lo. And it’s not just musicians who are using the platform to attract attention. TikTok has been used by everyone from Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon, who asked users to roll around on the floor like a tumbleweed, to Google, who got people creating entertaining videos that utilise their Google Assistant. In short, when it comes to promotion on social media, brands have an enticing new alternative to using influencers, with their demands for money, gifts and free holidays in return. In contrast, if teens on TikTok like your idea, then masses of them will put time and effort into making videos that promote it, for free, and purely for their own amusement. So far, it seems, there’s no resistance among TikTok video creators to helping even the biggest companies in this way. Which means for creatives, it’s really a matter of coming up with neat and fun ideas to inspire youngsters, and achieve cut-through. No one’s saying it’s easy, but if you work for a full-service creative studio, expect your clients to soon be demanding it, if they aren’t already. Best of luck! Read more: How to nail your social media strategy The evolution of social media logos (and what you can learn from them) The best video editing apps in 2019 View the full article

You're reading These 7 Multipurpose WordPress Themes Are the Best 2019 has to Offer, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook! There’s a reason so many people choose to go with a multipurpose WordPress theme. The best ones excel in flexibility, the number and variety of features offered, and the ability to create almost any website type you can imagine. You … View the full article

Today Wacom announced an update to one of its flagship products, the MobileStudio Pro 16. A firm favourite among creative professionals, Wacom's creative pen computer is now armed with even more power and features to help maintain its position as one of the best graphics tablets (a lot) of money can buy. Under the hood of this high-end mobile device you'll find an Intel Core i7 Quad core processor and NVIDIA Quadro graphics card (a P1000 4GB GDDR5 if you want specifics), the combination of which promising to provide all the power needed to run even the heaviest creative software applications. The update also sees Thunderbolt 3 connectivity thrown in to the mix, it's 40Gbps speed making it up to eight times faster than USB 3.0 and providing the ability to run two 4K displays hassle-free. Add to that the convenience a Thunderbolt connection offers (to virtually any display and with a variety of protocols) and a new ‘Backdoor’ feature which makes it easy to upgrade the SSD and DDR memory whenever you need to and you've got an impressive revamp. The update will come as welcome news to any creative thinking of adding this powerful kit to their arsenal. However at over £3000 per unit, the MobileStudio Pro 16 is is far from cheap. But for professionals thinking of making a purchase, there's never been a better time to invest. The revamped MobileStudio Pro 16 will be available to purchase this month, with an updated MobileStudio Pro 13 set to follow later this year. For more information and full specs on today's new offering, head over to the Wacom website. In the meantime, you'll find the best prices on both models currently available below. View the full article

You're reading Bootstrap Buttons Guide, Examples, and Tutorials, originally posted on Designmodo. If you've enjoyed this post, be sure to follow on Twitter, Facebook! Buttons are baseline components of every interface. When it comes to Bootstrap, the simplest details matter. Therefore, Bootstrap buttons are not just rectangle-shaped elements; they are professional tools with predefined styles. Read about Bootstrap grid, Bootstrap navbar, and Bootstrap modal. Meeting the … View the full article

Everyone loves a good pair of Chucks, right? Nobody wants to be seen in a pair of generic basketball shoes. And the latest All Star designs will leave no-one in any doubt that you're adorning your feet in a pair of genuine Converses, because they're decorated with an absolutely massive brand name. As reported by Sneaker News, the latest addition to the massive Converse range is a set of stunning hi-tops that don't just feature the iconic Converse logo design, but also have the Converse name embroidered across both boots in an enormous script font, reminiscent of the Coca-Cola logo. The left boot has 'Conv' written along the side, while the right boot has 'verse' on it. 28 great free script fonts A big brand name is a hot look right now So if you stand with your heels together and feet spread out, people standing behind you will be able to read 'Converse' across your new Chucks. Or actually, now we look a the designs more closely, it'll be more likely something like 'Conwerse'; the cut-off on the 'v' seems a little too generous for its own good. Despite that little typographic niggle, this is a strong look for Converse. Supersized brand names seem to be a hot trend at the moment – see the recent Boots and Grolsch redesigns for great examples of going over-large with the brand name – and this is right on the money. And there's more to these distinctive daps than their immense branding. They come in a choice of fantastic-looking single-colour designs: white, red or black (with contrasting text colour), and are made from a more durable canvas blend than your standard Chuck. See? Told you. 'Conwerse' Sneaker News also reports that the insole is equipped with Nike's React cushioning, which you won't find in standard All Stars, only in Converse's new All Star Pro BB range. These glorious new Converses are expected to go on sale at the end of the month; the only downside is that so far they seem to be destined for the Japanese market only. Of course, it could be that Converse simply hasn't got around to announcing them for the rest of the world yet. We'll be watching for further updates from Converse with suitably bated breath. Related articles: Nike brings back old Swoosh logos Design a killer logo in Illustrator 5 brands that hit nostalgia hard View the full article

Implementing game mechanics and competition into the mix can incentivize employees to improve their cybersecurity posture. View the full article

American baseball team Chicago White Sox have had a huge range of logos in the past – the team's featured 10 primary logos, 20 headwear marks and a whopping 77 lettering variations adorning its jerseys. Despite this logo overload, the name of the team, 'White Sox' hadn't been used on the team's jerseys since 1990. Now, design agency Contino, has rectified this by creating a sleek new 'White Sox' logo for the team's home jersey. The new wordmark draws on elements from the previous 'White Sox' logos as well as elements of the 'Chicago' script also in use in the team's visual identity (see our free script fonts for more cursive fonts). That script font is a custom typeface called South Side Script, and has one feature that may be slightly contentious (more on that later). The White Sox logos of 1947 (left), 1987-1990 (middle) and 2019 (right) Contino says the new logo "features minor bumps and hiccups along the contours of the letters as a nod to the imperfections of baseball’s rich aesthetic history while still creating a unique mark with its own distinguished personality." We like the reframing of "a mess of different identities" to "rich aesthetic history". We also see what Contino means about the bumpiness of some of the forms, such as the 'W' and the 'e', but overall think the wordmark pulls off looking incredibly smooth. It also looks extra cool in-situ on the jerseys (below). So far, so good. For more on creating great logos, see our guide to logo design. The new logo in-situ There's only only thing that jumps out at us, though. At first glance, we saw 'White Sex'. We fully admit that this may be a product of our dirty minds, and of course, when we looked again, it seems obvious that it doesn't. There's also another 'e' to make it absolutely clear that the 'o' is in fact, an 'o'. But we still can't unsee it. Is this what Contino meant by a hiccup, we wonder? Read more: 45 free retro fonts Mock Cleveland Indian logos highlight racial double standards The 10 greatest sports logos of all time View the full article

Time is precious for creatives, and so finding ways to work smarter is essential. If you're one of the many users signed up to Adobe Creative Cloud, you'll know mastering its apps can be hugely time consuming, which is why you've almost certainly mastered some keyboard shortcuts by now. However, do you always remember the right one to use? Maybe there's few you've yet to discover? In this super-helpful Adobe CC cheat sheet from the team over at Shutterstock, you'll find the most popular keyboard shortcuts for Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign, all in one place. The handy printable chart can be downloaded as a PDF, with the three app's shortcuts colour-coded (using signature shades) and organised into a periodic table-style layout for maximum efficiency. And the best bit? It's totally free! So whether you're a seasoned pro at Adobe's 'big three' and just want a little refresher, or new to the creative software and in need of a helpful starting point, this download will serve you well. We also have an excellent round of Photoshop tutorials and Illustrator tutorials should you need some extra help honing your Adobe CC skills. Click image to download Read more: Adobe MAX 2019: News, rumours and predictions The 10 best alternatives to Photoshop 39 InDesign tutorials to level up your skills View the full article

So you've completed your course, and you're on the lookout for job opportunities. Or perhaps you've already got some work, but are still feeling a little unsure of yourself. Starting off in your new career can be both exciting and terrifying. There are some things you can do to make your life easier – getting your design portfolio in order for instance – or checking out our list of design jobs if you're after a new challenge. Apart from that, it's often just a case of getting stuck in and doing what you can. Getting advice from those who've been there often helps, of course. Here, we spoke to graduates who've been there to find out what mistakes other juniors have made, and what you can do to avoid them. 01. Missing a key email "One of my first clients was YouTube Official, which invited me to contribute to an art book," says Nadine Kolodziey, a visual artist and art director based in Germany who’s been working freelance since she graduated in 2013. "I thought the message was spam and deleted it. Eventually, they called and asked for my first drafts. I was in shock, but super-happy." Not every potential client will call after a missed email, though, so make sure you read carefully before sending an email to the bin. 02. Not making the most of placements “On my course, we were encouraged to seek placements, but it wasn’t compulsory,” says Hattie Windle, who graduated from Leeds College of Art (now Leeds Art University) in 2017, and is now a middleweight designer at Robot Food. “I’d feel the 25 per cent of students who didn’t do one missed out. Not only does it help you secure a job, it’s also the best place to learn. I’ve learned more about design at Robot Food than I ever did at university!” If you're currently on a placement, internship or are in a new role, remember that just clocking in won’t get you far. “What you get out of it depends on how much you put into it,” says Joseph Lebus, who graduated from a design course at Shillington and is now a junior designer at Made Thought. “If you aren’t doing the work you want, or learning the skills you’re looking for, it’s up to you to make that happen.” 03. Not specialising In a diverse industry where it’s impossible to be all things to all people, it can pay to specialise, as Neil Gilchrist did after graduating with a BA in interaction design from Glasgow School of Art. “I started thinking about my university work and what I’d found interesting,” he says. “This took me in the direction of studios producing the work I wanted to do. Then it was all about curating my portfolio.” Gilchrist now works as a junior designer at DixonBaxi. 04. Giving up Don’t get disheartened when obstacles appear. “Many people turned their noses up when I mentioned I hadn’t taken the traditional route into the design world,” says Lebus. “But in the end, it gave me a stronger drive to keep pushing myself and get my voice heard. Lebus used his Instagram account to get his work out there, "and this led to me securing my first few internships,” he says. This article originally appeared in Computer Arts issue 294. Buy issue 294 or subscribe here. Read more: How to refine your design portfolio 4 portfolio tips that junior designers need to know How to become a junior designer View the full article

What makes a specific camera the best camera for wildlife photography? You may think that pretty much any camera will do the job, but in truth, wildlife photography is a particular discipline that has its own requirements, and some cameras will be much more suitable than others. So what do these requirements include? Well, wildlife photography is a fast discipline. You’ll be attempting to capture subjects that will not stay still for very long, and may flee if they realise you are near them. This means that a camera with a fast frame rate is critical. As you’ll be out and about you also want to have solid battery life, and a camera that isn’t too heavy to carry for long distances (our pick of the best camera bags around will help you with that). The ability to use telephoto lenses and shoot at range is critical, meaning you want to either pick an interchangeable lens camera with plenty of telephoto optics available, or a compact (i.e. fixed lens) camera that has a decent maximum focal range. A fast autofocus system is an absolute must, and ideally one that has plenty of AF points that cover the majority of the frame. There are plenty more factors to consider, and we’ve tried to cover a broad range of them with our list. So, without further ado, let’s take a look at the best cameras for wildlife photography that you can buy right now... Best camera for wildlife photography overall It’s built like Nikon’s pro DSLRs, but comes at a significantly lower price point. Nikon’s D500 is a dream come true for many photographers, and, for the money, it’s currently the best camera for wildlife photography. Its burst rate of 10fps is paired with a generous shot buffer that allows the camera to keep shooting and shooting, even in RAW mode, with up to 200 continuous shots possible. Its sensor is APS-C not full-frame, which does mean reduced dynamic range but provides the advantage of increasing the effective focal length of telephoto lenses – a boon for wildlife photographers. Ruggedly built and dependable, this is the workhorse wildlife shooter for all seasons. Best high-end camera for wildlife photography The Canon EOS-1D X Mark II is the current gold standard for professional photographers. It shoots and shoots with speed and accuracy, and if you don’t mind paying the premium price tag, it’ll produce superb results when photographing wildlife. It’s an absolute beast of a camera, able to keep churning out shots at 16fps with the mirror locked up, or at 14fps with autofocus enabled. Access to the Canon EF range of lenses ensures you’ll always have glass for the occasion, with some of the best telephotos in the business on its books. It’s the camera equivalent of a pneumatic drill – if you know what you’re doing, you’ll get the job done as quickly and efficiently as possible. Best budget camera for wildlife photography While Nikon’s true entry-level range is its D3000 series of cameras, we reckon the D5300 is a better buy for the wildlife photographer on a budget. This highly capable DSLR provides a generous 24.1MP of resolution and 5fps burst shooting, as well as an autofocus system that’s surprisingly sophisticated for a camera of this class. Add in access to the extensive Nikon F range of lenses and you’ve got a camera that equips you with all the tools you’ll need to get started with wildlife photography, all at a really competitive price. It’s weather-sealed too, so you need have no fear of the elements. Best point-and-shoot camera for wildlife photography The fourth iteration of Sony’s big RX10 bridge camera, the RX10 IV pairs a 1-inch sensor with a 24-600mm f/2.4-4 lens for amazing versatility and image quality. All this range would already be ideal for wildlife photography, but the fact that the camera is capable of shooting at an impressive 24fps with autofocus, to a maximum buffer of 249 frames, really seals the deal. The autofocus system is fast enough to keep up thanks to its 315 AF points, with Sony claiming focus-acquisition times as snappy as 0.03sec. All this comes at a premium price – if it’s too dear for you, consider previous models in the RX10 range, which you should be able to find at a much friendlier price. Best DSLR camera for wildlife photography All right – technically it’s an SLT camera, but Sony’s A-mount does so many things right that it’s up there with the best DSLR cameras for wildlife photography. It’s capable of shooting at up to 12fps with autofocus enabled, and it’s designed with the kind of intelligent ergonomics that make DSLRs so intuitive to use, with a generously sized handgrip and intelligently laid-out controls. Its autofocus system is sophisticated and accurate, and while the fact that it’s a few years old means it’s missing some of the latest bells and whistles, this also means the a77 II can be picked up for a bargain price. Best mirrorless camera for wildlife photography While Sony has many fantastic full-frame mirrorless cameras in its Alpha 7 range, we like the a6500 for its combination of lightweight build, super-speedy shooting and incredible autofocus coverage; a massive 425 points spread across the frame ensures that the a6500 will be able to lock onto even the most elusive of subjects. The a6500 is also incredibly lightweight, and its APS-C sensor pushes the focal length of your lenses just a little bit further, which is a boon for photographing wildlife. An incredibly feature-packed camera for its size and price point, the a6500 is a superb achievement of imaging technology. Best Nikon camera for wildlife photography You’ll find no shortage of Nikon photographers eager to tell you why they swear by the D850 – it’s basically a premium all-rounder, a solid DSLR that does pretty much everything really well, and is undoubtedly one of the best cameras for wildlife photography. With 45MP of resolution, class-leading dynamic range, a weather-sealed construction, excellent noise-reduction systems and truly outstanding image quality, especially in RAW files, the camera is just an absolute workhorse. You can connect to SnapBridge for instant image transfer from the camera to your phone, and thanks to the generous battery life, you can shoot for absolutely ages. An all-around winner. Best Canon camera for wildlife photography When Canon updated its EOS 7D camera, it didn’t just bump up the resolution, it remade the camera from the ground up to make it an absolutely superb APS-C DSLR in practically every category. It can burst shoot at up to 10fps and its lightning-fast Dual-Pixel autofocus system can keep up with everything. Add in a sophisticated metering system, a rugged body and a host of other useful functions (albeit no Wi-Fi, and an LCD that isn’t touch-sensitive), and you have a seriously competitive DSLR for capturing wildlife. Canon did an excellent job of overhauling the EOS 7D – the EOS 7D Mark II is outstanding. Read more: The best books for photographers in 2019 15 top tips to boost your photography skills The best photo apps and photo-editing software View the full article

Unless you've been living in an Amish village for the last couple of decades, you'll know that Apple products are sleek, clean, and powerfully understated. And while this means that its devices look cool and minimalist, it also means they're a blank canvas waiting to be customised. And that's just what Apple celebrates in this new video. If you're an iPhone user – and we can't blame you if you are, what with all those free iPhone apps for designers – you might listen to your device with AirPods. These wireless headphones are housed in cute little charging cases, which are made even more adorable with a bit of personalisation. Crafty AirPod owners have made them their own with charming heart decals, knitted sleeves, and even keychains. To celebrate its community's creativity, Apple in South Korea has compiled this supercut of super-sweet modifications. Cool, huh? Of course we could see some more changes on the way for the iPhone. A recently released invitation to an Apple event hints at the launch of the iPhone 11, and has got people speculating as to whether it will feature a new colourful logo. Now that's a design detail we would really love to see. To get your own Apple AirPods, see today's best deals below: Related articles: The 100 greatest Apple creations It cost 50K to digitise: 5 surprising Apple logo facts The 10 most beautiful Apple products (and the 5 ugliest) View the full article

Up to 25 percent of valid vulnerabilities found in bug bounty programs are classified as being of high or critical severity. View the full article

If you're stuck staring at a blank canvas, or faced with a brief that has a lot of room for interpretation, having the right tool to hand can help you get your creative mojo on. And if you need to generate a variety of ideas and concepts as quickly as possible, Photoshop CC's Pattern Stamp tool can be a godsend. Creating variety is where the Pattern Stamp tool excels. It generates interesting textures and colour variations from texture sheets, and also creates enough room for happy accidents to occur which can be beneficial to the early stages of the creative process. Get Adobe Creative Cloud Here we'll take you through the process of creating your own custom patterns and how to apply them to a value sketch. Based on the outcome of placing the patterns, we'll refine the sketch to a working idea, before bringing that idea to a more refined finish. Download the custom brushes for this tutorial. 01. Gather pictures Collect some pictures to form your patterns Before I start, I gather pictures to build my library of patterns. I'm using photos that I take myself or collected from friends and family. I'm building up my own reference library by storing photos on a cloud server. That way I can use my own photos, knowing there are no copyright restrictions on them. 02. Use the Pattern Stamp tool Paint your canvas with the Pattern Stamp tool The Pattern Stamp tool enables me to paint or fill my canvas with a pattern that I choose from a pattern library. Similarly to the Brush tool, I can select a brush tip to paint the pattern with. There are pre-made patterns available but for this workshop I'll make my own. I've created several patterns that can be downloaded from my website under the Resources tab. 03. Create patterns to use with the tool Ensure the lighting and shadows in your photos match I make a new document and copy-paste photos from my reference library (A). By double-clicking my layer (B) and using the Blend if… option under Layer Style (C), I can blend layers together by excluding colours. Holding Alt while dragging will split the slider in two, resulting in a smoother transition. I make sure that I arrange the photos in such a way that the lighting and shadows correspond with each other. 04. Refine and edit the chosen patterns Retouch the edges with the Content Aware tool To retouch the edges of the photos, I use the Content Aware tool under Edit > Fill. In the dialog I choose Contents > Content Aware. By clicking OK, this tool fills the selection with the surrounding pixels and blends them together. I click Filter > Other > Offset to make the pattern tileable. 05. Warm up and create a series of sketches Get going with a bunch of sketches At this point I have no idea in mind so I use the Pattern Stamp tool to warm up, and to show how effective it is in the early phases of a painting. I start my sketches with limited values and use the standard Round brush to keep the shapes simple. After producing multiple sketches, I decide to develop one of them so I can show my whole process from start to finish in this workshop. 06. Refine the value sketch Adjust your foreground and background values to enhance the perspective I create the feeling of atmospheric perspective by making the foreground values darker, and those in the background lighter. I deliberately avoid adding any light or shadows because I want the Pattern Stamp tool to do that for me. At the same time, I rearrange different layers to come up with a pleasing composition. I want the round shapes to contrast with the straight lines. 07. Block in the colours Use Impressionist mode to block in colour I use the Impressionist mode of the Pattern Stamp tool to block in the colours. The Impressionist mode will generate colour variations based on the colours Photoshop identifies in the active pattern. I block in the colours of each layer on a separate layer so I can add them as a clipping mask (B) and adjust them later on. 08. Make the most of those happy accidents If something goes wrong, try working with it I create a new layer to paint with the Pattern Stamp tool with the Impressionist mode turned off. This is the moment where a happy accident should help take an idea to the next level. For those not aware of the phrase, a happy accident in painting is when something unique and unexpected happens. It turns out to be beneficial to your work and guides you on to a new path that you might not have considered. 09. Rethink the story Happy accidents can lead you to exciting new ideas By placing the Pattern Stamp tool I come up with the idea of having derelict communication spheres that are partially buried under the desert hills. I use the Pattern Stamp to create the sea and clouds in the background. Because I use clipping masks for all the coloured layers, I can easily adjust the values to the underlying greyscale layer. 10. Clean up the focal points Upscale the image and add more detail Once I'm happy with the overall positioning of elements, I upscale the image to a bigger resolution. This enables me to add more details on the focus points. By adding more layers with the Pattern Stamp tool and applying a Distort > Spherize Filter on them, I generate more details on the foreground communication hub. 11. Refine the figures Use an tool like Mixamo to add characters to your scene Mixamo is my favourite tool to add figures to my paintings. It's an online service designed to rig and animate your custom 3D characters. It also holds a library of pre-made models and animations that are free for use. I pick a model and animation and screengrab the pose to add it to my painting. This model will help me to achieve the correct pose and proportions. 12. Check the readability of the composition Use light and shadow to draw the viewer into the scene Using an interesting light and shadow pattern, I lead the viewer in and through the painting. By creating a repetition of shadows and lights I'm able to push the feeling of depth even more. I fix the values of the background hubs and add more perspective to the clouds in the sky. 13. Add greyscale and colour simultaneously Use a custom proof setup to view colour and greyscale versions at the same time I go to Window > Arrange and create a new window for my open document. For this new window I change the viewing options: View > Proof Setup > Custom. In the dialog I choose sGray for the Device to Simulate menu. By placing the two windows next to each other, I can paint in colour and values at the same time. 14. Add finishing touches A few more fixes and you're done Working on the values and colours at the same time enables me to keep my values in place while making the finishing touches. I rearrange my layers slightly to create some more breathing space around them. I add extra small details to give everything a more finished look. After getting feedback from friends, I fix small parts of the painting, such as the perspective of the clouds. This article was originally published in issue 173 of ImagineFX, the world's best-selling magazine for digital artists. Buy issue 173 here or subscribe to ImagineFX here. Related articles: How to resize an image in Photoshop All the best free Photoshop brushes The 10 commandments of Photoshop etiquette View the full article

GIMP is a popular image editing tool, but its name isn't as universally loved. The software's title, which is an acronym of GNU image manipulation programme, is a word that can also be used as an ableist slur, and has sexual connotations. To fix this, a new fork of the GIMP editor, called Glimpse, has been created. Given that GIMP is one of the most popular pieces of free graphic design software, you would have thought that its makers would have addressed this naming issue. However it came down to Bobby Moss, a technical writer a database giant Oracle, to address the situation. Moss had seen a discussion topic opened by developer Christopher Davis on Gitlab called 'Consider renaming GIMP to a less offensive name'. Finding Davis' arguments against the name to be well reasoned, Moss decided to fork the project into Glimpse. Speaking to The Register, Moss said that Glimpse not only remedies the rather unfortunate name, but that it also aims to overhaul the entire UI of GIMP. "Initially I thought it was just going to be a quirky project on my own private GitHub but people expressed enthusiasm for it," Moss told The Register. "It's evolved now into this new thing where you’ve got multiple people running it, myself, Chris who originally posted the issue, and another woman called Clipsey … it's all kind of ballooned out from there." Better name, better UI, what more could you want? The team behind GIMP are clearly aware of the issues surrounding its name. On the software's FAQ page, it says this in response to the questions about whether or not it will rename GIMP: "With all due respect, no. We’ve been using the name GIMP for more than 20 years and it’s widely known. The name was originally (and remains) an acronym; although the word “gimp” can be used offensively in some cultures, that is not our intent." While GIMP and Glimpse are on different pages when it comes to naming conventions, there is some common ground to be had. That's because Glimpse developers plan to continue contributing upstream code to GIMP, meaning that its development will continue at a steady pace and ensure that there are no incompatibility issues between the two applications. Related articles: The best digital art software in 2019 Paint like a pro with free digital art software 4 tools every digital artist needs View the full article

A trip to Disney's all-new land, Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge – which opened at Hollywood Studios yesterday – wouldn't be complete without a souvenir. But visitors hoping to remember their visit with certain Star Wars-themed Coca-Cola bottles might want to think twice before boarding their flight home. That's because the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has said they won't be allowed on flights. It's all to do with the look of the bottles. We've already seen some standout packaging designs on Creative Bloq, but these Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, and Sprite bottles have attracted the wrong sort of attention because they bear a resemblance to thermal detonators from the Star Wars films. Thermal detonators are basically space-age grenades. So it's not a huge surprise that the TSA is being extra cautious and saying that the bottles "aren't allowed" on flights. The issue was raised on Twitter, when a user asked the TSA if they could pack them in their luggage. According to CNN, a TSA representative shed more light on the situation by saying: "these items could reasonably be seen by some as replica hand grenades... While we continue to review this issue, TSA officers will maintain the discretion to prohibit any item through the screening checkpoint if they believe it poses a security threat." The important word in that statement is "discretion". Some users have said that they had "zero issues" taking their bottles with them on a flight. But it's probably best for travellers to play it safe and enjoy their Star Wars Coke experience safe within the Star Wars galaxy. There's no denying the bottles look, well, edgy. Earlier this year, Scott Trowbridge, the lead Imagineer on the Galaxy's Edge project enthused about the bottles, saying they were "cool, kind of thermal detonator-ish" during a panel. The bottles are available for $5.49 from Star Wars lands in both Disneyland and Hollywood Studios, Walt Disney World (which recently revealed its 50th anniversary logo). Related articles: 6 free Star Wars fonts Is this the luxury Star Wars furniture you're looking for? How to illustrate a Star Wars-inspired environment View the full article

As creatives, we all have a long list of things that we’d like to work on or achieve. But sometimes we can quickly lose momentum with the goals we've set ourselves. However, it's never too late to continue learning and get started on your creative ambitions. To help you do just that, brush up on the design skills you’ve always wanted to refine with The Complete Adobe CC Training Bundle, now with 95% off. With over 60 hours of lectures and over 200 tutorials, this Adobe CC Training Bundle is the perfect way to get more out of the programmes you already use. And if you haven't already signed up, get Adobe Creative Cloud. This seven-course training programme is geared towards various levels of experience, so no matter where your degree of expertise stands, you're likely to get something out of it. You'll be able to improve your skills in Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, and so much more. There's even a course dedicated to the ins and outs of the art of animation. This will teach you valuable skills that will be useful for industries needing animation elements for video games, interactive media, education and event reconstruction. With more than 39,000 students already enrolled, this popular training bundle is available at any time, allowing you to come back and visit it when you need to reference a specific tutorial or get a spark of inspiration. Explore the tool panels in each program and get exposed to real-life exercises that test your understanding of the content. Great for work and play, this training bundle is a gem for both the budding and seasoned creative. While a lifetime bundle membership usually sells for $673, it's currently price-dropped (for a limited time only) to $29 – that's a saving of 95%. It's certainly a great way to elevate the design artistry you already possess, or start up a new career in the digital arts. Related articles: Build prototypes with Adobe XD Get started with Adobe Dimension CC Create perspective in Adobe Illustrator View the full article

The right projector will make it easy to present your work in the best possible light, with rich colours and super sharp picture quality. If you're looking for a projector for your studio, it's wise to invest in one that can be mounted permanently on the ceiling. A high quality model will be able to project a crisp image at sizes over 100 inches. If you're showing work to clients, and one of the best 4K monitors won't suffice, a portable projector could be a good option. These compact devices are small enough to tuck into a bag, and take minimal time to set up. Many even offer Bluetooth connectivity so you can display work directly from a laptop, tablet or phone without any cables. It's also worth bearing in mind the two main projector technologies: LCD and DLP. Images from an LCD projector tend to be brighter, with better colour accuracy, while DLP projectors typically offer better contrast and tend to be smaller. If cost isn't an issue, there are also laser projectors to consider. These use less power, produce an extremely crisp image, and the light source lasts far longer than the bulb in a standard projector. We've picked the best projectors with both technologies so you can decide which one is right for you. A few years ago, a projector with 4K resolutions and high dynamic range would have been prohibitively expensive, but the feature-packed Optoma UHD40 is surprisingly affordable. It produces a crisp picture with punchy colours and rich blacks to make your work shine. There's also an Ultra Detail mode, which can give images an extra edge when used in moderation. The UHD40's HDMI connection allows you to easily connect it to a PC or laptop, and the added USB port means you can display images and video directly from a memory stick. It's not the prettiest projector around, but that's not a major concern if it's mounted on your studio's ceiling. A superb performer at a bargain price. Laser projectors like the Optoma UHZ65 cost significantly more than their traditional lamp-bearing projectors, but it's hard to beat the picture quality – particularly for videographers and animators. Optoma’s PureMotion technology eliminating any blurring or judder, and the projector is capable of reproducing the full Rec.709 colour gamut. Vertical lens offset makes it easy to line up the image with the screen (even if you have limited space available) and the laser light source is rated to last the whole life of the projector (20,000 hours according to Optoma), so if you can afford the initial outlay, it's a great long-term investment. The BenQ TK800 is a stylish, affordable projector that was originally created with gamers in mind, but is also a superb choice for any interactive graphics and live demonstrations thanks to its minimal input lag. It also supports 4K, which seems surprising for such an affordable unit, but there’s a slight catch: the TK800 actually takes a 1,920 x 1,080 image and flashes it four times in very rapid succession, creating the effect of ‘true’ 4K. It might sound like a cheat, but qualifies as 4K by industry standards. This is further helped by a high quality glass lens specifically designed for 4K content. This projector’s biggest drawback is its noise, which might be a little distracting. One of the Optoma UHD51A’s key selling points is its Alexa integration, letting you control it with voice commands via a smart speaker. It might seem like a gimmick at first, but in practice, not having to hunt for a remote when a client is visiting can be a real boon. The UHD51A delivers stunning picture quality – rich and sharp – with the unusual addition of 3D support, provided you have the necessary Active DLP Link glasses. Its built-in speakers won't do justice to projects with audio, but add a quality surround-sound system and you’ve got one of the best projectors going. Despite its name, the Epson Home Cinema 4010 (also known as the EH-TW7400) is ideal for work as well as play. This is another projector that simulates 4K picture quality using a native resolution of 1,920 x 1,080, but it’s a trick that works well in the capable hands of Epson’s engineers and helps keep the price down. 4K content is reproduced in crisp detail, and there's 3D support (reproducing the full three-dimensional Rec.709 colour space). Although its chassis is on the large side, this is one of the quietest projectors around, allowing clients to focus on your work rather than a whirring fan. The Epson EH-TW650 doesn’t offer 4K support (native or simulated), but at this price, it’s hard to complain. At 3,100 lumens, it produces a picture bright enough to be seen clearly in daylight, with bright whites and deep blacks. It produces a fair amount of heat, so make sure there’s plenty of room for ventilation when setting it up (a process made a little trickier than average due to the lack of vertical lens shift). Once you have the picture lined up correctly, you can stream your work directly from a mobile device thanks to the EH-TW650's its Wi-Fi connectivity and Epson's iProjection app. A great choice for students, or any creatives working to a tight budget. The dinky Anker Nebula Capsule has an unusual design, looking more like a Coke can than a conventional projector, and is ideal for popping into a bag for client meetings. It can connect to your laptop using the regular HDMI connection or Micro USB, though sadly it lacks the Wi-Fi connectivity of the Epson projector above. It uses a rechargeable Li-ion battery rather than a mains power supply, so you won't need to hunt around for a power outlet when setting it up, but this does have drawbacks: its resolution is just 854x480 and it’s rated at only 500 lumens. If portability is your main priority though, it's well worth considering. The LG Minibeam PH550G has a more conventional design than Anker’s Nebula Capsule, but is still tiny and comes with a smart case that means it's equally portable. Setup takes a matter of seconds, with no cables at all thanks to the Minibeam's built-in rechargeable battery (rated for two and a half hours), Bluetooth sound and screen mirroring from a phone, tablet or laptop. You can also present work directly from a USB stick, or use the conventional HDMI input. The choice is yours. Like the Nebula Capsule, its resolution is low at just 720p and it doesn’t produce the richest colours, but that’s the price of portability (for now). Read more: The best mechanical keyboards in 2019 The best trackpads in 2019 The best USB-C monitors in 2019: charge your laptop too View the full article

The group is using the More_eggs JScript backdoor to anchor its attack. View the full article

Invites to Apple's next major launch event, which will see the unveiling of the iPhone 11, have recently been distributed. Save 10 September in your diaries Apple fans, because this is the date of the special event, which will take place at The Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino. But rather than everyone focussing their attention on what might be on the cards for the shiny new iPhone 11, it's the event invite that's got everyone talking. An (obviously) minimal design, the invitation design simple features a beautiful new colourful version of the iconic Apple logo and a witty one-liner reading "by innovation only". There have been rumours that Apple might bring back its rainbow logo, so is this a tease of an imminent redesign? (We can't help but hope so!) Twitter is rife with speculation, with some suggesting the new logo design features the different colours the iPhone 11 will be available in. Whatever it means, given that the iPhone is already a popular tool with creatives – it's a regular in our best camera phones round-up – the unveiling of a shiny new version promises to be an exciting event. Will you be there? As for the iPhone 11, this is expected to arrive in three flavours. These will likely be the standard iPhone 11, the iPhone 11 Pro, and the iPhone 11 Pro Max. We've already got an idea what the iPhone 11 could look like, but how about its technical capabilities? According to Tech Crunch, these models are rumoured to feature a triple camera array with an ultra-wide lens. Could this supersede the iPhone XS camera? The iPhone 11 is also suggested to boast a new A13 chip, and wireless power sharing. The invite comes days after Microsoft sent press invites for its Surface event. And just like the Apple invite, it featured a unique logo that excited interest with the press. We'll have to wait until 2 October to see if Microsoft launches a dual-screen Surface device though. Related articles: The 100 greatest Apple creations It cost 50K to digitise: 5 surprising Apple logo facts The 10 most beautiful Apple products (and the 5 ugliest) View the full article

Google is looking to battle the malicious apps - and apps abusing user data - on Google Play by improving its bug-bounty program arsenal. View the full article

Earlier this month, we jetted off to New York to watch the culmination of Wix Design Playground. If you’re not familiar with it, this three-month programme sees lucky participants tasked with creating a non-profit site, developing an online marketing campaign, and building their own portfolio. In other words, it’s a fantastic way for budding designers to expand their design skill set, get familiar with web design tools, and kick-start their careers. Now in its second year, the Wix Design Playground continues to deliver. During the programme’s final presentation, we saw how multidisciplinary designers had worked together to revolutionise the websites of non-profit organisations. This inspiring demonstration was the result of months of workshops, and sessions taught by industry-leading designers. Seeing the finished sites, and the looks of amazement on the faces of the website owners, was a proud moment for all involved. We already spoke to Wix head of design and branding, Hagit Kaufman, to hear about how the company is helping designers and clients to create better sites. But what about the designers themselves? What have they got out of the Design Playground? We caught up with creators from this year’s programme, as well as the inaugural course, to hear how it aided their development. 01. Participants learn how to tell a story Mentors helped Trisnadi to refine the photographic assets of the HERoines,inc. site One of the fundamental things to keep in mind when creating a brand is its story. And nowhere is this more true than when it comes to non-profits. A story is a way to put a company’s values front and centre, which was one of the biggest realisations for Wix Design Playground 2019 student Valerie Trisnadi. “It was important not to focus on just the aesthetics of the website, like making it look nice or just cleaner,” explains Trisnadi, who worked with Qiuyu Guo to reimagine Jolaubi Osho’s organisation, HERoines,inc.. “Portraying the values of the site was something huge. It was fundamental to making sure that its message would get across, and that would lead to getting more membership for the organisation.” 02. Creators are paired to promote growth By working with other designers, creators are able to share their skills and learn something new. This is because they are carefully paired so that everyone is in a position to be exposed to new techniques. Take illustrator and designer Kristina Filler, who took part in the 2018 Wix Design Playground to design the ARTE website. “The Wix team did a really good job of pairing artists together,” she reveals. “I have very strong illustration skills and client relations skills, but I don't have very strong typographic skills. So they paired me with typographers who were really great at developing the structure of the website, and I interspersed some illustrations into it.” 03. Designers are encouraged to play Filler and her team created a fresh and powerful colour scheme for ARTE This mingling of skills and personalities means that the Wix Design Playground lives up to its name. “The whole theme of the programme was to encourage play,” adds Filler, who tends to usually work with small teams. While this allows her to have a hand in all parts of the process, it comes at a cost. “The downside is that you don't have a big budget to mess around and experiment,” she says. “And if you do that, it's kind of on your own time.” With the Design Playground though, she had more opportunities to try out new tools and approaches. “It reminded me of the value of that, and how I need to do more of it.” 04. It reinforces the value of design One recurring theme at the Design Playground presentation was that non-profits can overlook the importance of good design. However this programme does an amazing job of demonstrating how valuable it is, and why non-profits and other businesses should invest in design. “A lot of companies undermine the importance of design,” says Trisnadi. “For them, as long as there’s a logo and some information, they’re good. They don’t realise how visuals can impact a person and make them reach out or donate. And if there’s no interest, that pro-activism won’t continue. And that’s what design does, and organisations can undermine that.” 05. The course isn't the end Wix Design Playground is an invaluable networking opportunity Graduating can be a scary moment, suddenly you find yourself adrift in the ‘real world’. This isn’t the case for the Design Playground attendees though. “It didn’t end when the Playground ended,” says Filler, “I really feel like they are genuinely interested in seeing us grow.” It’s more than Wix just wanting to create something that reflects well on them, too. For Filler, the connections that she made at the Design Playground resulted in the sponsorship of her social good and feminist podcast, Women Crush Weekly. If you want to get involved with the Wix Design Playground 2020, click here to be taken to the application page. Good luck! 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It’s coming up to five years since Affinity Designer launched Serif’s brand new graphics suite. The vector drawing app was joined in 2015 by Affinity Photo, and this year by Affinity Publisher. Now in version 1.7, Affinity Designer remains one of very few rivals to the 32-year-old Adobe Illustrator. And, as a £48.99 purchase for Windows or Mac, costs less to buy outright than three months of a Creative Cloud single-app subscription. Affinity Designer's attractions are enhanced by a surprisingly complete iPad edition (see our Affinity Designer for iPad review), and the ability to roundtrip Designer documents to Affinity Photo or edit them directly within page layouts in Affinity Publisher. Adobe’s apps, with their diverse histories, can’t match this integration. But just how good is Affinity Designer as a drawing app, and is anything still missing? Read on for our verdict. Affinity Designer 1.7 review: Multiple fills and strokes You can now apply multiple strokes and fills to each object, with their own stacking order and blending modes Anyone who draws complex artwork will habitually duplicate objects to build up effects. It’s the oldest workaround in the book, but makes editing the shape later impractical. Why can’t you just apply multiple strokes and fills to the same path? Well, with the 1.7 update, you can. Fills and strokes for an object are listed in the Appearance panel, where you can re-order them and change their blending modes (Multiply, Overlay and so on). You can’t add fills or strokes to more than one object at once, or to live text, and the feature is isolated from the Layers panel with its effects and styles, but it’s a good start. Affinity Designer 1.7 review: The Isometric panel The Isometric panel builds on Designer’s comprehensive grid and smart snapping options Designer has excellent grids, guides and smart snapping, further improved in this update with edge and centre alignment, and the new Isometric panel builds on these to help you draw axonometrics. Grid options include more exotic projections as well as the all-important choice of traditional 30° isometric or a pixel-friendly 26.565°, described here as 2:1. (A decade ago, I proposed ‘tetarto-orthometric’ as a term for this projection. It didn’t catch on, but feel free to throw it into conversation.) Click Edit in plane, and you can flick between Front, Side and Top to skew objects to the grid as you draw them. Combined with Snap to Grid, this makes it quick to construct pseudo-3D scenes. Some 3D primitives and intersections would be a welcome addition. Affinity Designer 1.7 review: Brush tools Designer’s vector brushes respond to stylus input and can also be fully edited and reapplied to strokes For more expressive artwork, Affinity Designer is no Corel Painter, but includes a variety of vector brushes. Once you get used to the way strokes wriggle as you paint, there’s a lot of power in being able to select previous strokes, tweak them and apply different brushes. A graphics tablet or the iPad version (with Apple Pencil) is best here, but the ability to use velocity as a proxy for pressure, or even manually edit the pressure graph for a stroke, enables gestural results with any input method, and stabiliser options flatter your drawing skills. (For more iPad apps that work with Apple pencil, see our best iPad Pro apps post.) Affinity Designer’s Pixel persona includes a whole other set of bitmap brushes as well as basic retouch tools. Complemented by the option to add raster noise (grain) to fills and effects, this makes it easy to ‘dirty up’ vector artwork, which can sometimes look antiseptic. Affinity Designer 1.7 review: Performance and usability Designer’s core tools will feel familiar to anyone with vector experience, and drawing is responsive Speed has always been a strong point of Affinity – unencumbered by legacy code – and the 1.7 update brings more optimisations, especially for Apple’s latest Metal API, although the Windows version gains too. Even on less capable hardware, Designer suffers nothing worse than slightly choppy redraw when you get ambitious with its combination of vector and pixel tools. Zooming in and out is refreshingly immediate. Affinity Designer hasn’t always been free of small glitches, but we saw few issues during testing, and if it does crash, open documents are automatically recovered. Other new features in Affinity Designer 1.7 include: Arrowheads for strokes Bézier drawing aids including ‘rubber band’ preview More options for path transformations Transform multiple selected objects individually Column guides for text and other objects What’s missing from Affinity Designer 1.7? Gradient fills are extensively customisable, but Illustrator’s object blends and mesh options are missed With a full set of vector tools and effects, multiple artboards per document, decent typesetting and the raster features too, all underpinned by prepress-ready colour management, Affinity Designer feels pretty complete. There are gaps, though. While rival indie vector app Sketch supports a plugin architecture that’s seen it widely integrated into workflows, Affinity Designer has none, which also limits its appeal for jobs like cutter output. There’s no scripting or any data-driven tools to compare with Illustrator’s graphing. Nor is animation supported, although you could onion-skin in layers and extract frames as slices for assembly in a motion graphics app using the Export persona, which also facilitates batch asset generation. In Illustrator CC, complex shading is achieved using either mesh gradients or object blends, which tween one shape to another. Affinity Designer currently offers neither of these, nor object warping. How good is Affinity Designer 1.7? It’s hard to overstate what Serif has achieved with the Affinity suite, and Affinity Designer stands out in a sector that still has little competition. Yes, there are other alternatives to Illustrator and its subscription pricing, notably Inkscape, Sketch and CorelDRAW. But Inkscape’s open source scaffolding is the antithesis of Designer’s elegant code and UI; Sketch, though popular in digital, is a less comprehensive drawing app exclusive to the Mac; and the expensive, sprawling CorelDRAW is, well, an acquired taste. For more on an array of software options, see our digital art software post. For general users, Designer is a vector app that’s no more daunting than others, very affordable and hard to grow out of. Pros can have confidence in the Affinity brand, but it would be good to see some attention to Affinity Designer’s remaining limitations. Read more: The best iPad apps for designers View the full article