Latest news with #DarrenWilliams
BBC News
21-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Watch: BBC Radio Newcastle previews the Championship play-off final
Sunderland are in their first Championship play-off final since 1998, when they lost one of the most memorable ties on penalties to Charlton after a 4-4 the Black Cats return to the Premier League after eight years away?Join former Sunderland players Darren Williams and Kieron Brady alongside Simon Pryde on BBC Radio Newcastle's Total Sport on Thursday (18:00 BST) as they look ahead to the final and hear from boss Regis Le Bris as well. If you are not in BBC Radio Newcastle's broadcast area you can watch and listen online on the BBC Sport website and app, on the BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds.
9 News
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- 9 News
Google to launch new AI Mode in main search engine
Google is launching a new AI Mode feature in their main search engine in the US. Added 30 minutes ago Google is launching a new AI Mode feature in their main search engine in the US. 30 minutes ago 00:34 Blizzard game developers Darren Williams and Ely Cannon sit down with to reflect on 30 years of Warcraft. Apr 21st, 2025 04:39 The next big expansion for the long running Elder Scrolls Online video game has been unveiled. A decade on, players will be able to continue the original storyline in Seasons of the Worm Cult. Coming to PC and consoles in June. Apr 11th, 2025 00:44 For the first time, 9News can reveal these leaked iPhone 17 Models in video to show the likely changes coming later this year. Mar 27th, 2025 03:05 One of the most hyped new features Apple announced last year was the potential to use the existing Apple AirPods Pro 2 to perform a hearing test - and that feature is rolling out in Australia today. Mar 25th, 2025 04:16 Why this is the best value iPhone on the market. Feb 27th, 2025 11:57 Technology expert Trevor Long speaks on Apple's new iPhone 16e. Feb 19th, 2025 02:47 South of Midnight is an upcoming action adventure game featuring mythical creatures and Deep South folklore. recently went hands on with game, which is set to release on Xbox Series X|S and PC in April. Feb 11th, 2025 02:08 9News has obtained a 'Dummy' mock up of what appears to be the next iPhone. Jan 27th, 2025 10:07 Nine's Julian Price sits down with Luc Plante, Level Design Director at Ubisoft to talk all about Assassin's Creed Shadows. Jan 25th, 2025 07:56 Samsung launches new AI features in their latest flagship S25 smartphones. Jan 22nd, 2025 01:51 A trailer for the new system quietly appeared online in the early hours of Friday morning Australian time; confirming features - and a new Mario Kart - which have been rumoured for months. Jan 16th, 2025 00:27 Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg has said the company will no longer use fact checkers. Jan 7th, 2025 00:19
ABC News
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
How 30 years of Warcraft has taken Australian developer Darren Williams from Adelaide to Azeroth
Darren Williams remembers watching his dad moving fantasy characters across the screen of their home computer 30 years ago in Adelaide. They'd sit together as his father played Warcraft, commanding battles of orcs, goblins, knights and mages across a medieval land, constructing bases and gathering resources to amass the strongest army. Williams fell in love with real-time strategy (RTS) games, and his dad encouraged him to play, even though he wasn't very good at first. He played the video game series developed by Blizzard Entertainment for years, all through high school and into university, where he was studying engineering. "I had the realisation, 'Hey, engineering is a way you can make games. I want to make games,' and Blizzard games were my favourite." Now, years after watching his dad play, Williams is working on the same series. Williams spent hours building and learning the systems of the game alongside his university studies. The games shipped with their own campaign and map editors, allowing players to build custom scenarios or characters and upload them to the web for other people to enjoy. "It was so cool to realise the tools that game developers were using to build these games were available to players," he says. Warcraft III was particularly influential for Williams, who says it was "a gateway". "I'd follow games reporting and study how others built things, studying computer-programming languages used in the games in my spare time." The follow-up to Warcraft III was World of Warcraft (WoW), first launched in 2004. The multiplayer video game changed the genre from strategy to third-person role-playing, and hundreds of players would work together to defeat bosses and complete quests. Williams applied multiple times before successfully securing a job working on WoW around 15 years ago. He now lives in California, where Blizzard has its headquarters. Returning to Australia for the 30th anniversary celebrations of the Warcraft series in Sydney and Melbourne, he says the games have fostered a community of fans across the world. "Ultimately, for World of Warcraft, it is a social experience, right? You're jumping in and sometimes you're doing your own stuff, but you're doing that with a bunch of other people around. You're forming connections, the game connects you with other people," he says. "So when those people get together and meet physically, sometimes for the first time, it's so awesome." Edward Goodwin's path into making games also started as a player; the former professional esports competitor and broadcaster discovered the Warcraft spin-off card game, Hearthstone, in high school. "I was going to school for engineering in college and, about halfway through, I realised that Hearthstone was kind of my main hobby," says Goodwin. "I was getting to the point where I was good enough where I could transition from the engineering degree — which, while very important, was not really what I wanted to do. Instead I could play Hearthstone full-time." Goodwin, who played under the handle Gallon, competed as part of French esports team GamersOrigin around the world. But he never expected to become a game developer. "I don't think I ever set out to be in games. I think [it was] a little bit of like, right place, right time — there was a clear need for them to have someone who had like a super-high-level understanding of the game," says Goodwin. "I got older and my experience with Hearthstone kind of increased and my relationship with the game changed. "I'd done really well at tournaments, it kind of felt like the next logical progression, right?" Goodwin says the team worked hard to make their games fun for lots of different types of players — from professionals to people who are playing for the first time. "These games are for everyone. "With WoW being 20 years old … you'll have people who have played for a decade, two decades and, at the same time, you'll have players where they're literally playing their first game today." While both developers started their studies in engineering, their jobs were ultimately much more creative than most people would expect, with the goal to make the games enjoyable for all sorts of players. "Ultimately, it's very creative: you're taking a blank page, you're writing code and you're making something happen," says Williams. "It's really fun to talk to a designer, they have a lot of cool ideas. It's good to say to them, 'Actually, that idea is possible, we can kind of engineer anything.' "That is the best part about coming to work, working with people with different backgrounds, working with different disciplines and kind of bringing these experiences to life."
Techday NZ
05-05-2025
- Business
- Techday NZ
BlackFog unveils AI update to detect dormant cyber attackers
BlackFog has announced updates to its AI-based ransomware prevention and anti-data exfiltration platform, introducing baseline activity monitoring to help organisations address advanced persistent threats, living off-the-land attacks, and insider threats. The updated platform focuses on detecting attackers who remain dormant within networks for prolonged periods before executing targeted assaults. Industry trends have shown that many hackers can remain undetected for months or even years, highlighting the need for improved detection of these so-called variable dwell time attacks. Simultaneously, organisations face heightened risks from insiders, as disgruntled employees and external ransomware groups escalate tactics to recruit or coerce internal actors. BlackFog's new baseline activity monitoring trains individual devices over seven to thirty days, assessing typical activity and actively searching for deviations. When an activity surpasses a set threshold, an alert is raised in the platform's management console, enabling security teams to investigate further. The technology adapts automatically to an organisation's environment, accounting for factors such as time zones and working days to avoid false positives and ensure suspicious activity is accurately detected. Dr. Darren Williams, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of BlackFog, commented, "With the increasing costs of remediation, fines, and business loss now exceeding 1 million dollars, it is becoming critical to protect not only customer data but all your digital assets from the threat of extortion. With more than 95% of all ransomware attacks now involving data exfiltration, it is more critical than ever to protect your data." BlackFog's anti-data exfiltration (ADX) technology is designed to add a further layer of cyber defence, aiming to address gaps left by firewalls and endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions. The platform offers coverage for devices running Windows, macOS, Chrome, Android, and iOS, providing what the company describes as round-the-clock defence without the need for direct human input. By focusing on blocking emerging attacks powered by artificial intelligence, BlackFog aims to equip organisations with new tools to address an evolving threat landscape. The updated platform targets common attack vectors, including living off the land attacks, which use legitimate tools and processes to evade detection. BlackFog's focus on baseline monitoring is intended to spot irregularities pointing to such covert techniques or insider threats before they escalate into serious breaches or ransomware incidents. BlackFog was established in 2015 as a cybersecurity firm utilising artificial intelligence to underpin its anti-data exfiltration technology. The company reports that more than 94% of attacks involve some form of data exfiltration, which it regards as a critical issue for organisations seeking to reduce extortion risk, protect customer data, and safeguard intellectual property. BlackFog's solutions have been subject to industry recognition, receiving the Gold Globee award for AI-Driven Data Protection Solution and the Cybersecurity Breakthrough Award for AI-based Cybersecurity Innovation of the Year. The company also notes a Gold achievement at the Globee awards in 2024 for best Data Loss Prevention and was recognised in the State of Ransomware report for contributions to digital security. The new updates reflect an ongoing trend in cybersecurity where proactive prevention and detection mechanisms are viewed as increasingly necessary, given evolving attacker tactics and increased pressure on organisations to avoid costly breaches and data loss.
9 News
21-04-2025
- Entertainment
- 9 News
Blizzard game developers Darren Williams and Ely Cannon sit down with 9News.com.au to reflect on 30 years of Warcraft.
Blizzard game developers Darren Williams and Ely Cannon sit down with to reflect on 30 years of Warcraft.
