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The MacBook Pro 16-inch is Apple’s latest professional laptop, and it represents an exciting evolution for the MacBook Pro line, which we feel has seemed a little unambitious lately. While the 15-inch and 13-inch MacBook Pros that Apple launched earlier this year were only minor upgrades over previous models, the new MacBook Pro 16-inch is a far more revolutionary offering, and one which feels almost tailor-made for modern creatives. In fact, Apple has been keen to stress that it has listened to its customers when designing the MacBook Pro 16-inch, and has offered them “more of what they love.” The result is a drastically-improved MacBook Pro with some excellent new features that makes it one of the best laptops for graphic design. So, you get some of the most powerful mobile hardware in the world, as well as a gorgeous new larger screen – and increased resolution as well. While it does still have a few frustrating quirks we’ve come to expect from an Apple laptop – which we’ll get to in a moment – what you’re essentially getting is a larger, more powerful MacBook Pro. More of what you love, indeed, and also one of the best laptops for designers you can buy right now. Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch: Price When it comes to the price of the MacBook Pro 16-inch, there’s good news and bad news. First, the bad: as you’d expect from a high-end Apple product, the MacBook Pro 16-inch is a very expensive device, and represents a serious investment. However, the good news is that Apple hasn’t raised the price of the base model of the 16-inch MacBook Pro compared to the base model of the earlier 15-inch model. For £2,399 you get a 6-core Intel Core i7 processor, AMD Radeon Pro 5300M 4GB GPU, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. This is the same price that Apple was asking for the 2019 model of the MacBook Pro 15-inch, which comes with a 6-core 9th generation Intel Core i7 processor, Radeon Pro 555X with 4GB of GDDR5 memory, 16GB RAM and 256GB SSD storage. That means the larger screen, plus double the storage and better graphics, all comes for effectively free. If you were conflicted about whether to get the 16-inch model or the 15-inch model, the answer is clear: get the 16-inch MacBook Pro. There is also a higher-end model that comes with a 2.3GHz 8-core Intel Core i9 processor, AMD Radeon Pro 5500M, 16GB RAM and a 1TB SSD for £2,799, which is the same price as the high end 15-inch MacBook Pro. Now that the 16-inch MacBook Pro is out, we’ll likely see the price of the 15-inch model drop – though Apple itself has stopped selling the 15-inch model. In Apple’s view, the 16-inch MacBook Pro is now the high-end MacBook Pro offering, with the 13-inch MacBook Pro the more affordable option. For anyone who just bought the 15-inch MacBook Pro earlier this year, however, the news that their new purchase is now outdated, may not be too welcome. Apple also allows you to configure the MacBook Pro 16-inch to add more power if you need it. This is great for building a MacBook Pro that suits your needs (and budget), though it does add to the price quite quickly – the most powerful option for the MacBook Pro 16-inch will cost a huge £5,769! To justify the high price, the MacBook Pro 16-inch needs to be a seriously impressive performer. Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch: Power and performance So, how does the MacBook Pro 16-inch perform, and does it make it a good investment considering the price tag? The good news is that it performs brilliantly. The version we tried is the high-end base configuration, which comes with an 8-core Intel Core i9 processor and 16GB of RAM. This makes the laptop an excellent performer when it comes to multitasking. If you often work with lots of different applications open at once – for example if you’re rendering a video and want to fire off a few emails or create a presentation at the same time – then the MacBook Pro 16-inch can do this. The AMD Radeon Pro 5500M graphics card is also a very powerful professional-grade GPU. If you’re a video editor who works with high resolution footage, or a 3D designer, then you’ll find the performance of the MacBook Pro 16-inch to be seriously impressive. Apple has managed to fit the kind of performance we’d expect from a big, bulky, desktop PC into the impressively svelte body of the MacBook Pro. If you’re a video editor or a 3D designer, then you’ll find the performance of the MacBook Pro 16-inch to be seriously impressive. Of course, if you don’t need to do that kind of intensive work, then the MacBook Pro 16-inch is probably too overpowered for your needs. In this case, you’re better of buying a regular MacBook or laptop instead. When it comes to battery life, the MacBook Pro 16-inch really shines. Many laptops that offer this kind of power do so at the expense of battery life, which means you need to plug them in while you’re working. However, we’re pleased to say that the MacBook Pro 16-inch offers exceptional battery life. By Apple’s estimates, the MacBook Pro 16-inch gives around an hour more battery life compared to the 15-inch model, and in our tests we found that to be pretty accurate, with it lasting 11 hours and 41 minutes, with a looped 1080p video at 50% screen brightness. In contrast, the Razer Blade 15 Studio Edition managed just 5 hours and 28 minutes in the same test Apple has achieved this by including a 100-watt-hour battery (16 WH larger than the previous models). This is the largest capacity battery the FAA allows on flights, and thanks to the power efficiency of both Apple’s hardware and software, it means you’re unlikely to see better battery life in a powerful laptop. Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch: Display Perhaps the most noticeable change with the new MacBook Pro is the increased screen size. Recently, the largest screen you could get on a MacBook Pro was 15-inches, but Apple has bumped that up to 16-inches. The good news is that this hasn’t impacted image quality, as Apple has also increased the resolution as well, which is now 3,072 x 1,920 with a pixel density of 226 pixels per inch. Compared to the 15-inch model’s 2,880 x 1,800 resolution, which offered a pixel density of 220ppi, the new screen of the MacBook Pro 16-inch offers sharper image quality. It features the same P3 colour gamut, which is essential for photographers and video editors who rely on accurate colours, and means the screen of the MacBook Pro 16-inch is one of the most vibrant displays on a laptop. Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch: Key features Whilst the larger screen is the most noticeable change, another welcome new feature of the MacBook Pro 16-inch is an overhauled keyboard. The keyboards included in previous models of the MacBook Pro used Butterfly switches for the keys. While the aim of these was to allow the MacBook Pro to be as thin as possible by keeping the depth of the keyboard shallow, it lead to a number of complaints from users who found that the keys would become unresponsive, especially if debris, such as dust, went between the keys. It was enough of a problem that Apple started a returns service where its customers could send in their faulty MacBook Pros. Obviously, this resulted in quite a PR disaster for Apple, so we’re very pleased to see Apple finally replace the problematic Butterfly switch with Scissor switches found in the Magic Keyboard, Apple’s popular keyboard for iMacs. This has also made the keyboard of the MacBook Pro 16-inch feel much more responsive and tactile, offering an overall more pleasant typing experience. The MacBook Pro 16-inch runs macOS Catalina, Apple’s latest operating system. One of the best features of the new OS is Sidecar. This allows you to use an iPad as a second screen. So, you could draw on the iPad with the Apple Pencil stylus, and your doodles will appear on the MacBook Pro 16-inch. There are a number of creative apps that allow you to use the iPad along with the Apple Pencil stylus to control the apps via touch, and it’s one of the best new features for creatives. However, this is a feature that’s not exclusive to the new 16-inch model; any Mac that can run macOS Catalina can make use of this feature. Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch: Should you buy it? So, should you buy the MacBook Pro 16-inch? It’s a bit of a complex question, really. There’s no doubt that Apple has made the best MacBook Pro ever with its new device. It’s the most powerful laptop from Apple, and the new larger screen is a real sight to behold. The improved keyboard is a very welcome addition, hopefully eliminating the problems that plagued previous MacBooks, and it feels so much nicer to work on. Apple’s iconic design is also still present and correct, and while some people may have hoped for an all-new look, it’s still a gorgeously-designed laptop. However, it’s also very expensive, and the level of power on offer here won’t be for everyone. If you don’t need to perform heavy-duty graphical tasks like 3D rendering, then your money may be spent elsewhere. It’s also a shame that Apple is sticking to only including four Thunderbolt ports, which means for any creative professional that uses peripherals with a standard USB connection, like a graphics tablet or a memory card reader, then you’ll need to buy an adapter. View the full article

The DevOps lifecycle management said that response to its year-old bug-bounty program has been robust. View the full article

One flaw found in WordPress plugins Ultimate Addons for Beaver Builder and Ultimate Addons for Elementor is actively being exploited. View the full article

It's nearly Christmas, in case you hadn't noticed. And in the spirit of festive cheer, Supremo has updated its popular online game, Its Centered That with a seasonal new look. The game challenges users to decide whether dots are in the centre of shapes. Previously, these were the usual standard shapes, triangles and the like. But now, you get to guess whether or not the dot is in the centre of robins, reindeer and Christmas presents (really, still just a square, but there's a bow to liven things up). You even get to click on Rudolf the green-nosed reindeer to say 'yes', the dot is in the centre. Or Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer to say 'no'. The game doesn't state that his name is Rudolf, but we will assume so (see our Christmas vectors if you'd like some more seasonal shapes in your life). Supremo's quiz is harder than it sounds, but it's game over once you get one wrong (expressed in the somewhat upsetting form of a pooh emoji over your screen), so you may end up trying over and over again until you up your score. And even the most experienced among you with the sharpest eyes for proportions may not have finely tuned your skills when it comes to identifying the centre of a reindeer. Unless you've been really concentrating hard on making your Christmas cards, that is. Check out the Its Centered That seasonal game here and let us know how you do on Twitter or Facebook. If you're after more festive fun, then see our review of IKEA's festive advert, or our analysis of this year's John Lewis TV ad. Read more: MPC Vancouver closes doors after Sonic fiasco Controversial 'Cocaine Santa' Christmas jumper becomes this year's hottest seller Burger King trolls banana artwork with a French fry View the full article

Remember all the furore around the original Sonic redesign? It's hard to forget that weird human-like face and those teeth. There were so many complaints that it was back to the drawing board for a new-look Sonic. But, perhaps the damage had already been done, as Moving Picture Company Vancouver – the animation and VFX studio behind the Sonic design – has now closed. In an email (an unverified version has been posted on Imgur), the company says, "This decision has not been taken lightly." And goes on to say that, "increasing external market pressures in Vancouver and more attractive opportunities in other locations have created a challenging environment for us to sustain the studio." MPC, which has offices around the world, has worked on big-time 3D movies including The Lion King and Watchmen and even won an Oscar for its work on 2012’s Life of Pi. Oh, and it also played a part in Cats. Was the Sonic redesign the final nail in coffin for this branch of MPC? Fan reaction to the original Sonic design might have been scathing, but the new-look spiky speedster was well-received and definitely much improved. See the trailer below. But, it seems there was a much bigger problem at MPC Vancouver than just the Sonic redesign. A now deleted post on Reddit entitled: "As a recently let go employee of MPC Van" offers some intriguing insight to some of the problems at the studio. The original post from the disgruntled employee might not be there any more, but you can definitely gauge the feeling from the comments, which include angry commenter MPCdeserter (the name seems a bit of a giveaway), who mentions "horror stories to the point where they have had to settle out of court because of the way they treat artists". It's a sad day for any creative studio to shut one of its branches, but it looks like we can't really blame the loveable blue hedgehog this time. Well, not entirely. Read more: PSD to 3D: Turn Photoshop images into 3D scenes 9 of the best free 3D apps Paramount to redesign Sonic after overwhelming backlash View the full article

The Xbox Series X has been unveiled, and the design is already getting some serious heat on social media. Specs-wise, you can't knock it – this thing is four times more powerful than the Xbox One X – but the design of the console is something else. Microsoft has gone for a mighty, monolithic design that deviates pretty considerably from what we're used to. See it being unveiled below. While we'd expect kickback on any major new tech release, the memes this time are particularly brutal. Comparisons are coming in thick and fast. Is it a fridge-freezer? An aside here: we're not quite sure of the actual size, but we're assuming it's not quite this big. Others are getting more of a Spongebob vibe. Alternatively, if you're looking for an expensive coffee table, today could be your lucky day. Others have wondered if Microsoft got its inspiration from old-school PC towers. Whatever you think of the design of the new Xbox Series X, we think Charleyy Hodson has probably best summed up the situation – because let's face it, if it's really as good as it seems, we're all going to buy one anyway when it comes out (the release date is yet to be announced). This news also means we might be seeing some price drops on the older XBox One X. Check out the best prices in your territory below. Read more: Controversial 'Cocaine Santa' Christmas jumper becomes this year's hottest seller Burger King trolls banana artwork with a French fry This Apple Pencil is the cheapest we've ever seen View the full article

A Christmas jumper depicting Santa Claus holding a straw as he grins over what looks like three lines of cocaine and the tagline 'let it snow' was recently pulled from Walmart's Canadian store, with the company saying it did not represent its values. The jumper is now a top seller on Amazon.com. We've seen many a badly designed Christmas garment in recent years, as the trend for ugly jumpers seems to have taken hold, and the design of this particular Christmas garment is definitely not sophisticated. Although it is perhaps hard to reach sophistication when depicting Santa Claus about to start an (illegal) bender. (If you're after some more family-friendly seasonal cheer, see our Christmas vectors roundup). But if you're looking at the design from a 'does this get the message across?' kind of way, then it seems pretty clear. However, just in case it wasn't totally obvious that this is a Saint-Nick-doing-coke jumper, let's just have a little look at the wording next to Walmart's original description, which was pointed out by @HurrbaSousJohn on Twitter. "We all know how snow works. It's white, powdery and the the best snow comes straight from South America. "That’s bad news for jolly old St. Nick, who lives far away in the North Pole. That’s why Santa really likes to savour the moment when he gets his hands on some quality, grade A, Colombian snow." Wow. Just wow. Amazon has gone for a different approach and just named the jumper: 'Cocaine Santa let it snow Christmas sweater'. However, its description does point out that this jumper is "perfect for cosy days with your family!" Which is... interesting. Walmart had also pulled a number of other jumpers that depicted Santa in "uncompromising and sometimes sexually-suggestive positions", and said that such jumpers are sold by third-party sellers. Amazon doesn't seem so bothered by such matters. And the reviewers all seem pretty pleased with the $31.99 product too, although there are so far only three of them. You can check out the listing on Amazon here, or go to Let It Snow Sweaters website, which is revelling in the jumper's banned status. Read more: The 10 best Christmas ads of all time 8 best new Christmas fonts Reduced Lego sets make the perfect Christmas gifts View the full article

ZBrush retopology, or how to retopologise a model in general, is one thing that all 3D sculptors or 3D modellers have to master. Having a highly detailed model is only part of the process, and if you want to get that model out of ZBrush and over to an animation package, you're going to need a lower-polygon version of your model. That version also has to have topology that is good for rigging and will deform well enough to perform the required action. Even if you are making static items like rocks and trees, you will need good topology and accurate UV mapping to give you good texture maps. For 3D inspiration, see our favourite 3D art, and to keep on top of your workflow in ZBrush, see these ZBrush tips. ZBrush retopology methods Lots of programs have features now that allow you to create good underlying topology from a high-resolution mesh. We are going to look at ZBrush in this tutorial and look at the different ways that you can take your model and ‘retopo’ it. Firstly we will look at a very simple method of auto retopology using something called ZRemesher. It is now in its third iteration and the later version that came with ZBrush 2019 (see our ZBrush 2019 review) is more advanced and better at doing retopology on hard-surface models. Then we will explore how to use the Topology brush, which lets you draw your new mesh on top of your sculpt. Lastly, we will look at retopologising using the ZSphere tool, which gets a bit more complex. All three methods have their uses and you can choose the one you need depending on the type of project you are doing. Use ZRemesher 01. Start with automatic retopology The quickest and most simple way to retopologise a model is to use ZRemesher. It is as simple as telling ZBrush how many polygons you want and clicking the button. Find it in Tool > Geometry > ZRemesher. The input number is in 1,000s, so if you put five you will get roughly 5,000 polygons. It takes a minute to calculate based on how many polygons you are starting with. The results are often great for models that don’t need specific edge loops, like inanimate objects. The edge loops might not be where you need them, so we can address that in the next step. 02. Use ZRemesher guides To control the edge loops a little bit more you can use ZRemesher guides to tell ZBrush where to put specific loops. Type B, Z, R to access the ZRemesher Guide brush. Now with a small brush size draw rings around areas where you would like more accurate loops. Focus on areas like the eyes, the mouth, the ears and anywhere you might want a targeted loop. Once this is done you can change settings in the ZRemesher panel to improve things. The Adaptive sliders give you more regular shaped polygons. The Curve Strength slider makes ZBrush stick more closely to your guides. Use the Topology brush 01. Get started with the Topology brush The Topology brush is accessed using B, T, O. The basic idea is that you can now draw out lines on your mesh. Draw out four lines that intersect and ZBrush gives you a polygon shape. You can then continue to draw out lines by drawing through the ones you have already laid down or by continuing from the green points that are now visible. To clear away any overspill lines use Alt and drag on the model, and if you want to clear one specific line simply Alt-draw over that line. 02. Introduce topology brush detail Continue drawing geometry and building up your new low-poly mesh as needed. You can extract the geometry at any time but if you only want to have a single polygon thickness (which is essential for retopology) you need to keep your draw size to 1. Any higher and you will get geometry with progressively thicker walls based on the size you enter. Once you click on the mesh you will mask off the sculpted model. If you now go to SubTool > Split > Split Masked you can separate out your model from the new low-poly geometry. Use ZSphere 01. Append ZSphere The next method to try is the ZSphere retopology method. Make sure that your model is the active one in the SubTool panel. Use Insert to append a ZSphere (the red ball icon) below your model. Now look at Tool > Topology. You must be in Draw mode for this next step (Q). When you click on Edit Topology, the model changes to a state where you can add topology lines and build up your new low-polygon model. The model we are using is asymmetrical, but you can easily do a symmetrical retopo by hitting X on the keyboard to activate symmetry mode. 02. Move your points This is by far the most accurate way to retopologise your models and as such, it comes with lots of options. To add points simply click. To delete a point Alt-click on it. To begin a new starting point Ctrl-click on an existing point. You may need to move points once you have laid them down. To do this switch to Move mode (W) and then move the point as needed. If you want to move lots of points at the same time increase your Draw Size. Be sure to switch back to Draw mode to continue (Q). 03. Build good edge flow We can now begin to build up a set of geometry with good edge flow. Wherever you can see a need for animation be sure that you are making the correct judgment about laying down edge loops. Make sure to follow muscle rings around the eyes and mouth. If an eye needs to blink then the topology needs to be made to work just as a real eye would. Use Move mode as needed where topology hasn’t been laid down in the correct place. 04. Complete the geometry Work around the entire head and complete the geometry to suit your need. If you intend to project the high-resolution detail onto the new topology make sure you match the entire model. If you just need patches of geometry for other uses (a new face for another model for example) then just finish it as needed (see next step). This process is a great way to create new geometry for all sorts of uses, including making armour that follows the geometry of your character, clothing, straps etc. 05. Finish the topology process Unlike the Topology brush, the ZSphere Topology tool uses the Adaptive Skin panel to finish the process. Once you have gone as far as you need to and the retopology is all complete, go to Tool> Adaptive Skin. Set the Density to 1 and the DynaMesh Resolution to 0. That way the resulting mesh will be exactly as you drew it and not a high resolution. When you click Make Adaptive Skin the new topology is created as a new ZTool and you can click on it in the Tool panel. If you want to learn more about 3D subscribe to 3D World, the magazine for CG artists, today. Read more: 19 tips to master ZBrush ZBrush at the movies Work smart with your Zbrush UI View the full article

William Vaughan is a difficult artist to categorise. He's currently senior 3D production manager at multinational shoe firm New Balance, but he's also a prolific creator of 3D characters – his work has appeared in Hollywood movies, architectural visualisations, and even been turned into vinyl toys. An author and educator – he was previously academic director of The Digital Animation & Visual Effects School in Florida – his published output ranges from guides to 3D modelling to science-fiction novels. For the past decade, the thread uniting this varied career has been Modo: Foundry's creative 3D modelling software, and Vaughan's primary production tool. And what currently excites him about the application is the way that the latest Modo 13 Series of releases harness the power of modern GPUs, both through Radeon ProRender – AMD's powerful physically based render engine – and mPath, Foundry's ground-up redesign of the native Modo renderer. Modo for character modelling Vaughan first used Modo on Pixar's 2009 animated short, Partly Cloudy. He worked as a freelance character modeller on the project, teaching himself to use the software over the course of a single weekend. “I bought Modo on Friday, spent my weekend modelling two characters to get familiar with it, and I was ready to go on Monday,” he recalls. “The crazy thing was that I had two day jobs at the time, but there was no way that I was passing [an opportunity like that] up.” William Vaughan now uses Foundry’s Modo as his principal modelling and rendering software “At the time, what blew me away was how interactive everything was,” he continues. “I wasn't keying in numbers and seeing what happened: I was interacting with my model in real time. That and Modo's selection tools were the biggest selling points to me.” Over time, Modo would gradually replace other 3D software in Vaughan's workflow, both on his personal and professional projects. “It's a complete package: all of the tools are there, they're easy to use, and they're flexible,” he explains. “Although I model 3D characters, I think of myself more as a problem-solver – and Modo has everything I need to solve my problems.” Modo for product design Vaughan has also been instrumental in implementing Modo in the design pipeline at New Balance. Previously, the company's workflow involved creating designs in 2D, having them manufactured physically, then modifying the 2D designs accordingly. Now, New Balance uses Modo to create 3D prototypes. “One of the big driving forces for introducing 3D was to cut down on physical samples,” says Vaughan. “By doing that, we're cutting costs, but also reducing the impact on the environment.” All of New Balance's shoes, like the FuelCore Agility v2, are prototyped in 3D inside Modo New Balance has introduced Foundry software right through its production pipeline, with designers generating concepts in Modo, iterating on looks and generating technical documentation in Colorway (another tool that Vaughan describes as a “game-changer”) then taking the CAD files used for manufacturing and rendering them in Modo to produce marketing images. According to Vaughan, the new workflow enables New Balance to get to an accurate representation of how a shoe will look much earlier on in the production process, enabling the firm to make more informed decisions on new designs. “Whereas before, designers might have showed up [to the first design review] with Post-it notes and sketches, they’re showing up with full 3D models,” he says. Having now trained over 50 of New Balance designers to use Modo, Vaughan praises the software's shallow learning curve. “It's very artist-friendly,” he comments. “Most of New Balance's designers didn't have a background in 3D, but in Modo, you can get to a nice-looking render very quickly.” Modern GPUs for rendering Of all of the changes in this year's Modo 13 Series of updates, Vaughan is most excited about the way the software is taking advantage of the processing power of modern graphics cards; a process that began in Modo 13.0 with the integration of Radeon ProRender. AMD's physically accurate GPU renderer provides artists with fast, interactive, photorealistic previews of 3D models. The Modo 13 Series enables artists to use their GPUs to speed up renders, both for interactive previews and for final-quality output “Modo is known as a great modeller. People know that it produces good renders. But they have been waiting to take advantage of the GPU [to speed up rendering],” he says. “Radeon ProRender was the first taste of that in a Modo pipeline.” Since its introduction, Radeon ProRender has become more tightly integrated into standard Modo workflows with each successive release, with Modo 13.2 adding support for the Modo physical material's Specular and Dissolve properties, and the Film Offset controls of the Modo camera. In some cases, a scene that would normally take 24 minutes to render was done in nine. It's just insane. William Vaughan More recently, Vaughan has been testing mPath, the new path tracer introduced in Modo 13.2. mPath reinvents Modo's native render engine as a modern, hardware-agnostic renderer, able equally to take advantage of the processing power of massively multi-core CPUs like AMD's Ryzen Threadripper chips, and of professional GPUs. This new architecture brings with it a range of benefits, distilling Modo's render settings to a much smaller set of parameters and enabling artists to generate render passes more flexibly. But for New Balance, the main appeal of mPath is sheer, raw speed. In Vaughan's tests, existing New Balance production scenes rendered in mPath in Modo 13.2 in a fraction of the time achieved using the standard renderer in Modo 13.1. “In some cases, a scene that would normally take 24 minutes to render was done in nine,” he says. “It's just insane.” Time-saving new modelling and animation tools Modo 13.2 also brings with it updates to the powerful direct modelling tools that New Balance uses in production every day. The new Edge Chamfer tool creates rounded edges on geometry – essential in hard-surface modelling workflows like product design – generating better geometry and cleaner UVs than the existing Edge Bevel tool, which it is ultimately intended to replace. As well as its rendering features, Modo 13.2 adds new tools for character rigging and animation In addition, the update extends Modo's rigging and animation tools, both for technical visualisations and for the characters Vaughan creates in his personal work. He is particularly impressed with the new Planar IK system, which makes it easier to create soft or stretchy IK setups when rigging limbs. “I'm having to do less work to get nice soft transitions from when a limb is bent to when it is fully extended,” he says. “That affects something as simple as a walk cycle.” Other changes in Modo 13.2 include a new system of Gradient Layers and Gradient Modifiers, reducing the number of deformers required to create complex character rigs, and more streamlined workflow in the Graph Editor, with options to fit the Timeline range automatically to the animation curve selected, and to normalise the vertical ranges of a set of curves. A game-changer for Modo users But for New Balance, the key changes in Modo 13.2 are those new rendering tools. “We’re constantly spitting out renders,” Vaughan points out. “There isn’t a day where we don’t produce hundreds, if not thousands of frames.” Being able to use the GPU for rendering will transform artists’ workflows at companies like New Balance, says William Vaughan For Vaughan, the fact that Modo can now take advantage of the GPU to speed up rendering – whether as interactive previews with AMD's Radeon ProRender, or as final-quality output with mPath – is “one of the biggest pieces of news that Foundry could have for the software”. “I see myself primarily as a modeller, so the fact that it's the thing I'm most excited about speaks volumes to the importance of GPU rendering,” he says. “Modo is already a complete toolset for 3D artists – but if you can make our workflow faster, we'll be very happy.” You can see more of William Vaughan's work in his online gallery. To try the new rendering features in Modo 13.2 for yourself, download the free 30-day trial from Foundry’s website. View the full article

Lego is arguably the perfect Christmas gift. Relaxing, fun and no matter what your interests, there's a set to suit. So if you're struggling with what to buy your loved ones this year, you're in luck. Right now on Amazon and Walmart there's a number of impressive deals on some of the most popular Lego sets. The Lego Technic Bugatti Chiron Super Sports Car definitely falls into that category, topping the wishlists of many a Lego and supercar fan. It takes 3,599 Lego pieces to put this amazing model together, so it's no surprise to learn it doesn't come cheap. But right now you can get it for less, with a whopping £110 knocked off the retail price. That means you could be the proud owner of a new Lego Bugatti Chiron for just £219.99 in time for Christmas. If supercars aren't your thing, never fear, there are plenty more of the best Lego sets for adults on offer, including Harry Potter, Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Lego City and much more. And if you can't find the set you're looking for below, John Lewis has a wide variety of sets available and is offering money off Lego vouchers when you spend a certain amount (only until 17 December). Here are the best Lego deals, to suit all interests and every budget, available right now. If you're in the US, you can currently get some great Lego deals at Walmart... Read more: Introducing Lego, as you've never seen it before The Knight Bus Lego review Stranger Things Lego set available now – and it's EPIC! View the full article

Seventeen bugs could be exploited to stop electrical generation and cause malfunctions at power plants. View the full article

With 2.8 million apps in the Google Play store and the Apple app store not far behind, the act of creating an app itself is clearly no longer the challenge it once was. There are plenty of frameworks providing streamlined developing, more developers than ever, and the channels are there to promote new offerings. But while the process of how to make an app has got simpler, it’s harder than ever to find the idea that makes for a real game-changer. Below are eight of the most disruptive apps yet – these apps all turned their industries upside down and spawned myriad imitators. 01. Uber Uber is the epitome of the disruptive app Some of the most successful apps are those that started out trying to solve a single specific problem or common nuisance. In this case, the idea for a ride hailing app reportedly occurred to Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp after they struggled to get a taxi in Paris while attending LeWeb tech conference in 2009. Ten years on, Uber is now responsible for 14 million trips a day and is the single most expensed vendor on business expense sheets in the US according to Certify. The taxi industry was ripe for disruption and Uber got there first with a solution that was easier and more convenient. It provided an estimated final fare and accepted virtual payments – all from a sleek black and white UI that was initially as simple as “push a button, get a ride,” and which later evolved to start at the end of the process by asking “Where to?”. As proof of its disruptiveness, Uber has led to protests from taxi drivers and legal challenges in many cities, but its success despite this has spawned many imitators and forced other taxi and ride services to react and modernise. Its also had some controversial redesigns over the years, the latest of which was in 2018 – read about it here. 02. GrubHub GrubHub meant no more arguments over who would call for pizza GrubHub is another example of an app that saw a chance to make life a little easier – and tidier, since it well and truly rendered obsolete the piles of takeaway menus piled up beside the landline. Restaurants have not always been very good at marketing their food online, often offering unwieldy multi-page pdf menus, while placing orders over the phone used to often involve frustrating calls with rushed workers. GrubHub was founded in 2004 and changed all this with an app that allowed users to browse menus, see photos, enter discount codes and pay for delivery in a few taps. The problem for GrubHub has been that a host of competitors was hot on its tail, from Deliveroo in London to Glovo in Barcelona. These apps offered comparable UX and left GrubHub struggling to find a unique selling point. 03. Google Maps Google Maps helped us find our way to places we didn’t even know we wanted to go to The main use for physical maps and atlases now seems to be as vintage decor, while top-of-the-line GPS sat nav devices such as TomTom and Garmin have been rendered all but obsolete now that free apps such as Google Maps have turned our phones into personal navigators. But Google Maps disrupted more than just the cartographic and GPS industries; it’s also had a huge impact on marketing, revolutionising how businesses can be found by enabling people to discover businesses on their own doorsteps that they might previously have never known existed. There are many maps applications out there including Waze and Apple Maps, but with 1 billion downloads, Google’s is by far the most used. Its integration with other Google products makes it something of a panacea, as it incorporates Google calls, reviews, questions, photos and personal contacts into one map-based interface. 04. Transferwise TransferWise is one of many apps taking on the banks There can be no bigger target for disruption than banks. Loved by few, the financial behemoths have for a long time been able to charge hefty fees for sending money across borders with few other options available other than packing wads of cash in a suitcase. Many startups have identified chances to increase access or reduce fees in financial services, making fintech one of the most disruptive areas of app design, with apps like Robinhood trying to open stock trading to the masses, Square revolutionising the payments sector and Venmo allowing people to more easily split the bill after an evening out. Founded by two Estonian entrepreneurs, Kristo Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus, TransferWise provides a very simple function, allowing users to transfer money internationally with much lower fees than those charged by the major banks. Users can do so with only a couple of taps thanks to an effortlessly straightforward UI that makes each step obvious, and simple animations providing for a smooth experience that lets you know exactly when your money’s arriving. It’s no wonder it’s now processing $4 billion a month for more than 4 million customers in 72 countries. 05. Spotify Carry your music collection everywhere without needing a flight case Spotify didn’t invent the wheel, but sometimes a great app comes from improving, simplifying or streamlining what has already been started. Spotify took the post-Napster iTunes Store concept and perfected it, introducing a pay-per-month subscription service for music streaming that could be used across devices to save physical storage space. With millions of tracks and a free version for those who don’t mind ads, it’s become the go-to music service for 248 million active users, convincing even inveterate pirates that streaming was the way forward. The incorporation of some of the best features from other services, like jointly created playlists and tailored suggestions, makes for personalised access to a treasure trove of music at a scale not seen before. The latest redesign put more of an emphasis on podcasts, tapping into yet another blooming market. 06. Instagram Instagram made us all feel like professional photographers Most of us were already taking photos on our phones before Instagram came along. What Instagram did was make us feel like talented photography professionals. With its myriad filters and styling options, the photo sharing app suddenly allowed us to transform the most mundane shot from our everyday routine – everything from breakfast to the bus journey home from work – into something beautiful and share-worthy. It changed the way we take photos and share them with friends, but it also changed the way we interact and experience everything from eating out to exercise classes, making businesses need to think more than ever about presentation. With more than a billion users now, Instagram has provided an easily accessible method of promotion for small businesses, and in the process has created an entire new industry of online influencers promoting products, trips and experiences that has left marketers struggling to catch up. 07. Twitter Twitter allowed the public to break news stories before the traditional media While the internet had already pushed the speed at which news could be communicated, Twitter took things even further by cutting out the middleman – the media. The platform transformed the way news is broken and turned members of the public into citizen journalists, commentators and opinion formers. We no longer need a TV anchorman or embedded reporter to tell us what is happening in the furthest corner of the world; news can be delivered by anyone with a Twitter handle and be found and explored thanks to the trusty hashtag. When a major event occurs many people’s reaction is no longer to turn on the radio, TV, or even to look to online news portals, but to turn to Twitter to see what’s trending. 08. WeChat WeChat is like the Swiss army knife of apps, but Chinese Many of the most disruptive and most successful apps focus on addressing a single problem and doing it well, and when they start getting too bloated with tools and features, spin these off into separate apps such as Uber Eats, and Messenger from Facebook. But in China a single app has disrupted not just one industry, but almost all industries. Initially understood by many in the west as a 'Chinese WhatsApp', WeChat is so much more, offering everything from file sharing to mobile payments, booking and more all within one single app. For most app designers, this would seem like a recipe for disaster with a bloated UI leading to sluggish, if not frustrating user experience, but WeChat cleverly packs things in. It also leaves most apps behind in terms of download numbers. Read more: 9 incredibly useful things you didn't know Gmail could do 6 Christmas card designs that are so bad they're good The best VR apps in 2019 View the full article

It's rare to see Apple deals outside of a major event, and this is especially true for the Apple Pencil. But this new 1st generation Apple Pencil is being sold at just £69.99 on eBay right now – just in time for some last minute gift shopping. That's a price that's even lower than those seen on Black Friday, when we saw it knocked down to £72.46. Given that outside of Black Friday we're usually gushing over deals that knock a fiver off the usual price of £89, there is definitely some fawning to be done over the NINETEEN POUNDS that can be saved with this bargain. The Apple Pencil is perfect for making digital art. It's sensitive to pressure and tilt, making sketching and drawing a breeze. It pairs with the iPad Pro, mini and Air, boasts bluetooth connection, a lightning connector and a magnetically attached cap. And did we mention you can save £19? Once you've snapped up this shiny new toy, you'll want some amazing apps to use with it. Check out our list of iPad Pro apps optimised for use with the Apple Pencil. Not in the UK? Here are some deals where you are. Read more: The best iPad styluses in 2019 The 13 best iPad apps for designers The best iPad Pro deals in 2019 View the full article

Would you buy a banana taped to a wall for $120,000? No? Nor would we, but that's how much one buyer paid for Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan's banana piece, titled 'Comedian' at Art Basel Miami. And the artist even sold a second one for the same amount, and a third for $150,000. The story went viral and Burger King decided to get in on the hype with its very own duct-taped banana parody, in the form of a print ad (see more print ads here). The fast-food chain teamed up with advertising agency Buzzman to create a tongue-in-cheek campaign that saw a Burger King French fry taped to a wall with the price tag of €0.01 (next to a very expensive banana taped to a wall). The ad was shared in a tweet (see below) from Burger King France with the caption "N’avalez pas n’importe quoi." Google translates this as "Do not swallow anything". This seems like a dig at the art world, as if the chain is trying to tell us not swallow this BS. And we think they might be. The saga doesn't end there, though – and it gets better. Heinz continued the conversation with a simple but witty response. The ketchup giants recreated the Burger King ad, complete with duct-taped French fry, but added a final flourish – a dollop of sauce on the end of the fry and a bottle of tomato ketchup in the foreground. The price was upped from €0.01 to €0.02, and Heinz US' tweet bore the caption: 'Now, it's a French fry'. And Heinz Brasil's caption was equally as pithy, proclaiming: 'Upgrade Successful'. Heinz stayed totally on-brand here, with an ad that could easily sit amongst its usual offerings – a simple image that puts the condiment firmly centre-stage as the star of the show. And Burger King's pop at the art world is totally in line with its recent exploits, too. That Whopper bus outside of the Houses of Parliament had the same cheeky tone. Creating a topical ad from a subject everyone's talking about is a great way to generate loads of publicity without spending hours creating a standalone campaign. But it has to be witty for it to fly, and we think BK and Heinz have succeeded here. Read more: The 10 best Christmas ads of all time Lego's stunning new ads are a creative force for good British Library ad causes comma controversy View the full article

If you're struggling to think of great Christmas gift ideas, you're in luck. Apple's iPad and iPad Pro are on the wish list of many an artist and designer, and you can make their Xmas dreams come true with these epic deals from Best Buy. Right now, the brand new, 10.2-inch 2019 iPad has been reduced to just $249.99, and the 11-inch iPad Pro to less than $650! That's a huge saving of $80 and $150 respectively. As of this moment, you won't find these items cheaper anywhere in the world. Apple's iPad and iPad Pro have become popular tools among creative professionals in recent years. The Pro in particular, boasting power similar to that of a laptop, a design that easily slots, almost barely noticeable, into most bags and support for both generations of Apple Pencil. The new iPad, recently earlier this year, has also become a highly sought-after product. The price tag before this discount was a huge selling point, so shave another $80 off and this quality device is currently a total bargain. Impressive discounts like this on Apple products don't come along often, so if you're interested, you'll need to be quick. Oh, and don't forget to get an Apple Pencil to go with your shiny new device too! There's also some great deals running in the UK, albeit not quite as impressive as the US, but still a decent savings on all-new iPad. Not in the UK or US? Here are the best same spec iPad Pro prices in your area: View the full article

You might think Christmas is magical enough already. The giving of beautifully wrapped gifts spreads joy and love throughout friends and family. Now, imagine adding the mouth-watering scent of pizza to that transaction. Not something we've ever considered before but it could only make it better... right? Well, turkey will have to take a back seat this year thanks to a festive collaboration between Papa John's and the homeless charity, Crisis. Graphic illustrator Mike Hughes has created a fun and festive pizza-themed range of wrapping paper for the #ChristmasIsBetterShared campaign. (Feeling inspired? Here's our pick of free graphic design software if you fancy making your own themed wrapping paper.) The wrapping paper comes in two designs, both created by Hughes. The first features bright, bold images of pizza oven igloos, pizza DJ decks and characters indulging in general festive cheer – plus the all-important pizza itself, of course. And the second design turns your gift into a pizza. Okay, not an actual pizza, but it features illustrations of giant pepperoni and cheese. And to top it all off, the paper also wafts the scent of pizza at you. With wrapping paper that's being sold for £4.99 online by Papa John's, the campaign aims to raise money for Crisis. The drive is backed up by a video advert (below) in which a trio of lonely creatures (a penguin, yeti and snowman) are saved from their Christmas solitude and sadness by the enticing scent of a Papa John's delivery. They follow the delivery and it leads them to a joyful fairground full of people and fun. Alongside the wrapping paper, Papa John's is selling a range of festive gifts adorned with the characters listed above, and you can even buy a special pizza box when you order a pizza, with all proceeds going to Crisis. “We’re really proud to be working with Crisis, a charity that aims to eradicate homelessness and provides vital services to people in the UK at one of the hardest times of the year," said Papa John's marketing director, Giles Codd. "We hope that the money raised will help toward Crisis continuing the fantastic work they do not just at Christmas, but throughout the whole year.” It's a novel idea that's sure to get attention, and an amusing to raise money for a great cause. Hughes has hit just the right mark with his Where's Wally-style illustrations, too. Companies often run successful campaigns when they team up with charities for special projects (like the Cadbury's Donate Your Words campaign). And besides the positivity of the connection with charity, such projects are an opportunity to get an alternative perspective on a brand image through new design. Read more: Has branding become boring? Where to find logo design inspiration The 6 best branding books View the full article

I’ve always strived to develop my personal style, an artistic voice that speaks via tools and media. When I thought I had found it, I got completely lost at the same time. My vector graphics looked crisp and professional, but my hand drawing was stiff. I bought countless markers, gel pens and paints to experiment with. So then I decided it was time to go back to basics and review my approach and started to draw with nothing but a pen. Just sketches with no intention to end up as finished artworks. I also tried to do the same digitally: one single layer and default brush. Surprisingly, it worked! There was a common theme between new works and drawings that looked completed despite being quickly drawn. But curiosity drives me to experiment. I don’t use water with brush pens, I’ve never opened a blender marker, and I don’t apply an eraser to lead pencil. But I’m happy with that – my artistic voice comes through my personal style. Here I go over some of my top tips on creating artwork with brush pens. (See our best pens post if you want to stock up on supplies. Or get more advice with our how to draw tutorials.) 01. Use vertical hatching I draw with a black fineliner and add plenty of detail by applying lots of vertical hatching. I use two 0.8mm fineliners. The first one is new and gives me a thick line. The second one is old: perfect for dry, gritty and less-then-perfect lines. 02. Paint from light to dark Since I use watercolour brush pens, I follow the rules in this piece, going from light to dark and leaving blank spots to create the light. I use two or three similar hues and layer them over each other with thin brush strokes: this helps to define my basic shadow spots. 03. Enhance the shadows In this piece I use dark blue to create shadows on secondary elements. I paint with spots and long brush strokes, repeating the shape of certain elements. These brush pen strokes look darker when wet, just like watercolour. Check your work when the paint dries. 04. Use stylised text This piece has a heavily stylised text element. To create this, I paint the header area with long, bold strokes of a contrast colour combination. I add violet to the corner to support the general composition. Now this picture looks organic, but the text is too crisp. I add a gradient to the text for a more organic feel, using bold and thin strokes instead of smooth blending. You may have noticed that I’m afraid to use water! 05. Don't aim for perfection I like to throw some occasional marks into the finished composition to give it a more natural look. I draw lines and particles with a dry fineliner. In this piece the text doesn’t look sterile anymore and blends well with the rest of the composition. I reduce the tension between lines by adding dry fineliner strokes here and there. This can be compared to the mixing and mastering process in audio production, when you equalise instrument frequencies in order to create a well-balanced arrangement. 06. Sign your work, and leave it To finish, I add a few spots of shadow with a dark grey brush pen and darken the teeth to push the character's fang towards the viewer. My Predator looks uglier and more aggressive – I like it a lot now! I sign my artwork, which means I'll never make any changes to it. The illustration is complete. The finished illustration – click the top right corner to enlarge the image This article was originally published in issue 177 of ImagineFX, the world's best-selling magazine for digital artists. Buy issue 177 or subscribe to ImagineFX. Read more: All the best free Photoshop brushes The best Illustrator brushes: premium and free 27 top free brush fonts View the full article

Bloomberg Businessweek has published a hard-hitting report on the privacy issues surrounding the popular Alexa range of Amazon devices. Everyone's talking about it... but not because of the content of the article. It's because of the artwork that appears on the cover. Sadly, in a bid to capture a visual metaphor for Amazon listening in on your private conversations, the art team at Bloomberg have accidentally created (we'll only say it once)... an Echo fleshlight. It's one of the peak design fails we've seen. See it being unveiled in Bloomberg's GIF below. When Bloomberg first shared the cover on Twitter, literally thousands of people rushed to point out the similarity that absolutely no one in the publication approval line had spotted. Here are some of our favourite comments: Wonderfully, the article itself (read it here) is actually titled: 'Silicon Valley is listening to your most intimate moments". You couldn't make it up. Bloomberg's own response was a little weak. Which has led some to suggest maybe the art team knew exactly what they were doing. After all, nothing's going to publicise your mag like sticking a sex toy on the cover. Read more: Netflix brings out the smutty side of brands Apple is offering wheels for the new Mac Pro... for an extra $400 Christmas gift idea: the present everyone wants (even if they don't know it yet) View the full article

While it seems incredible that another 12 months has flown by, it’s a perfect chance to take stock and reflect on the year in web. To say 2019 was exciting for web design may seem like an understatement, with things moving forwards so constantly and quickly. But this is no nostalgic retreading of old news or a whimsical recap, but an opportunity to highlight some maybe less obvious stories that point to where we’re going next. In no particular order, here are eight of the biggest web design updates, movements and announcements worth repeating. Or for more trending tools, explore our essential web design tools roundup. 01. CSS Grid Layout came of age CSS Grid Layout is proving a ubiquitous system for defining adaptable interface designs If you did much peeking under the bonnet of web layouts in 2019, you would know that Grid is the word. CSS Grid Layout, to be precise, really came into its own this year, with more designers adopting it as a standard since popular browser support materialised back in 2017. Considered the most powerful layout system CSS has to offer, its two-dimensional definition of columns and rows provides a palpable edge over Flexbox. Starting from a container or 'parent' element, set using the display: grid attribute, the comprising columns and rows are then sized before 'child' elements are added. What’s more, the order that these elements are defined is irrelevant, thus facilitating rearrangement into a myriad of combinations with media queries. Given the importance of layout flexibility across devices, it’s unsurprising this elegance and reusability of responsive templates is finding favour. Join us in April with our lineup of JS superstars at GenerateJS – the conference helping you build better JavaScript. Click the image to find out more and book your ticket 02. GSAP 3 arrived The new MotionPathPlugin within GSAP 3 simplifies the movement of elements along an SVG <path> line For those who don’t already know, the Greensock Animation API (GSAP) is rapidly becoming a standard for scripted web animations (for a basic introduction, explore our guide to getting started with GSAP). If your favourite dynamic websites of 2019 did some fancy SVG-based motion work with speed and grace, its highly likely GSAP was behind it. The library boasts faster execution than jQuery and CSS3 transitions with 60fps performance, so little wonder it’s becoming an ever-present. November also saw the release of GSAP 3 and the addition of over 50 new features while claiming to be half the size of the old TweenMax. Other highlights to watch for include a simplified API, backwards syntax compatibility and parent/child inheritance for shortening repetitive calls. In addition, a new MotionPathPlugin allows any element to be animated along editable SVG motion paths. 03. Typography got BIG Large, viewport-stretching typography was a fiercely popular aesthetic choice for designers. Fonts were huge online this year, with oversized text and an integral use of typography as an aesthetic device becoming increasingly evident. Lauded websites such as Symbols of the Thaw and Rogue Studio (shown above) are recent examples, with others revelling in a greater variety of styles. “For me there has been quite a big shift in how fonts are used this year, as font licensing has become more universally available, and affordable,” says Steve Scott, Creative Director & Founder, Another Colour. “Oversized fonts, calligraphic and humanist fonts have become popular, making an interesting shift from geometric fonts.” In October too, it was announced that HGCC had successfully acquired MonoType after a $825m buyout, which might have further market impact. The company’s own trend report has identified variable fonts as one to watch in 2020. 04. Dart took flight Flutter and the underlying language Dart are fast becoming popular platforms for GitHub developers Google’s client-optimised programming language Dart was first unveiled eight years ago. Created for cross-platform app building and able to be compiled as JavaScript, the language seemingly enjoyed a notable adoption boom in 2019. As part of its annual State of the Octoverse report, GitHub crowned Dart as the year’s fastest growing language within its repository, showing a 532 per cent increase. The platform also released its version 2.6 in November with the news that dart2native would join Dart’s existing set of compilers. This allows developers to compile Dart code to self-contained executable programs, irrespective of whether the target system has the Dart SDK installed. With Flutter, Google’s popular UI toolkit, also based on Dart, there has never been a better moment to discover what all the fuss is about. 05. Adobe Dreamweaver 2020 arrived Adobe Dreamweaver still holds a fond place in the hearts of web designers and developers While now it may seem like a new markup editor releases every hour, this wasn’t always the case. Not so long ago you only had one viable choice, with Adobe’s Dreamweaver being an essential tool for web designers and developers alike. In November we welcomed the latest 2020 release, and these day the app comes packaged into Adobe’s online Creative Cloud experience. The new features are far from revolutionary, but significantly live editing has been made more seamless. Users here are able to edit semantic tags such as <aside> and <section> and so on, while 'auto-sync' technology keeps live and code view changes synchronised. Code hinting gets enhancements with better filtering logic for PHP and more hints made available for not just PHP but JavaScript also. Dreamweaver 2020 can be purchased as a single app. 06. We got experimental with navigation Innovative navigation became very much the defining feature of sites like Anton Chalov’s portfolio There was always a purist way of thinking that said good web navigation should largely go unnoticed. The whole process of reaching your desired destination only becomes an issue when it's bad or it loses you. However 2019 saw a new school of thought take hold and a concerted effort to make navigation the focal point in itself. Suddenly there were large menus and big compass-like splash screens, with Your Majesty’s effort for FILA Explore being a case in point. Others pushed more experimental dials, such as Austrian agency Ursa Major Supercluster’s WebGL project bauble. Russian designer Anton Chalov also pushed the boat out by turning chalovak.tv into an old TV set controlled and explored remotely via smartphone, putting imaginative navigation firmly at the heart of an engaging experience. 07. CSS updates changed direction Designers are enthusiastic for CSS level 4 selectors to migrate from working draft status to full browser support soon In 2019, it became much clearer that the prospect of HTML 6 and CSS 4 is likely to be a mythological concept. Much more probable is that enhancements will continue to be layered on to each specification, like the draft updates made to CSS Selectors level 4 back in August for example. These useful constructs particularly found traction this year, with a decided buzz around the new :is() pseudo-class for simplified style targeting. Acting much like an If…Then statement in code, this is proving popular for conditionally applying styling to certain elements in conjunction with sister :where() and :not() selectors. The advantages of CSS coding economy become most evident at child element level and while currently still at working draft status, it can be tested with fallbacks across the main browsers. 08. Duda secured $25m investment Third-party website building platform Duda secured a substantial cash boost in September Website builder platforms continued to go from strength to strength in 2019, a year after Zion Market Research valued the market at $6.5bn worldwide. Its report back in May forecasts that valuation to reach $13.6bn by 2027, with huge players like Squarespace, Automattic (WordPress) and Wix.com attracting heady investment (take a look at our guide to the best website builders in 2020). An emerging force in this space is Duda, with the centralised multi-service platform announcing a $25m funding injection in September. Duda targets agencies, digital publishers and hosting providers with tools for building websites at scale, alongside team collaboration and client management services. Founded in 2009, the Palo Alto-based startup claims 14 million site builds thus far and will be hoping this latest capital boost can cement it as an emerging player to watch over the next 12 months. Read more: The best JavaScript frameworks to try Master the golden rules of incredible UI design 6 steps to writing better CSS View the full article

Several toys that were tested have been found lacking authentication measures, opening them up to an array of insidious attacks. View the full article

Apple fixes bug that allows nearby hackers to render iPads and iPhones unusable. View the full article

The Intel attack uses a similar technique that gamers commonly use to overclock their CPUs. View the full article

Running the social media accounts for a big-name brand can be a thankless task. Not only are you often constrained by the need to be on-message at all time, which can really put the brakes on your creative urges, you're also the first point of contact for customers with something to complain about. Nothing can spoil your day like having to deal with a bunch of people who are furious about a typo on your brand's landing page. So it always gladdens our hearts to see a brand that's willing to kick back and have fun; it's the calling card of many of our favourite brands that rule at social media. The ultimate guide to social media for creatives And recently, Netflix absolutely nailed it, with a well-timed take on the popular 'What’s something you can say during sex but also when...' meme that was doing the rounds all last week: Nice tweet, but given the nature of Twitter it could have easily sunk without trace, especially given how many variants on the theme were about at the time. But it hit just the right note with just the right people – all the other social media people out there working for big brands – and the end result was a totally joyous (and utterly puerile) spectacle of smutty showing-off from brands that you wouldn't expect. Well to be fair, we'd expect it from MoonPie; we love its account's permanent state of hapless bafflement. And the same goes for Pop Tarts. Beyond that, though, it all gets quite surprisingly fruity. IMDB's quite a sensible site full of important film information, but it was quick to chip in with this: Then along comes Grammarly and honestly we don't know where to look. And here's the New York Times' Wordplay account, which we assume is to do with crosswords and stuff. It's like that first time you see your mum getting drunk and a little bit lewd. God bless the NHS. Moving swiftly on, here are three more of our favourites from Arby's, Petco and ever-popular video game, DOOM. Hey, as long as it's consensual then that's absolutely fine with us. Hats off to all the beleaguered social media people who joined in the fun; you may not necessarily have achieved much in the way of targeted brand messaging, but you definitely helped provide a little human edge for your assorted accounts. Especially you, The Discovery Channel: As someone was quick to point out, they've probably been waiting for years for the opportunity to use that line. What, you don't get it? For younger viewers, this is what they're referencing: We're sorry. The 1990s were a very different time. Take your mind off the horror by finding the full Netflix Twitter thread here. Related articles: 8 best social media platforms for artists and designers How to nail your social media strategy 5 ways (not) to lose followers on social media View the full article

The new Mac Pro is now available to order, but the thing that everyone is getting hung up on is the optional wheels, which will cost you an extra $100 per wheel. That's right, if you select 'stainless steel frame with wheels' rather than 'with feet' (generously offered for free), you'll see your checkout total jump up by $400, £360 or AU$640. When the machine was first announced, Apple released some price info that was as jaw-dropping as the specs on offer. The machine alone costs $4,999 at the very least. And if you want a stand for your monitor, that'll set you back an extra $999. Now it seems that if you want to move this understandably heavy machine around without putting your back out, you'll need to shell out another $400. Nice wheels We'll concede that the Mac Pro is not a machine aimed at most creatives. You're not going to stumble upon one in your average designer's home office – it's very much geared at rich companies. However, if you did decide to shell out the $6k for the cheapest model available, you'd only be getting 256GB of storage and 32GB RAM. That's not going to be enough for many designers' needs – take a look at our guide to the best computers for graphic designers to see just how out of whack this is with the rest of the market. Want to bump up that RAM? You're going to need some serious capital. Raising those 32 gigabytes to 1.5 terabytes will set you back an extra $25,000. In fact, someone's done some maths and figured out that for the top-spec version, you'll need to pay over $52,000. Phew. When you put it like that, $400 for some wheels seems pretty reasonable, doesn't it? Read more about the Mac Pro on Apple's website, or see below for some more affordable options from Apple. Read more: You can now buy Airpod 'carrying straps' – what a time to be alive Surface Laptop 3: The MacBook Air killer? 2020 iPhones could be completely portless View the full article

It is the most wonderful time of the year, including the email marketing universe. The great thing about Christmas is that subscribers are already primed to make purchases. Everyone is seeking presents for loved ones in December. Therefore, all you …View the full article