Ireland’s games industry stands at a crucial “inflection point”

In a challenging environment for the games industry, Ireland is creating “incredible incentives and structures” to support and “elevate” Irish game developers in “the way they deserve to be uplifted”.

This was the observation of Xalavier Nelson Jr., the BAFTA-nominated and Forbes 30 under 30 Studio Head of game developer and publisher Strange Scaffold, one of the key speakers at the FÍS Games Summit 2025, which took place last weekend in Galway, Ireland.

Mr Nelson was responding to the announcement at the Summit of the Digital Games Portfolio, a major new fund designed to further develop and strengthen the Irish games industry’s rapidly growing international reputation.

The Digital Games Portfolio is a €500,000 funding scheme, launched by Screen Ireland, and which will be managed by Ardán, the Galway based organisation supporting creatives in film, TV, games, and animation, and Imirt, the national organisation for game developers and creators in Ireland. 

The DGP will fund a variety of new initiatives, the first of which will be IndieDev 2025, a cross-border prototype fund in collaboration with NI Screen to help teams of creators turn their game ideas into prototypes.

The fund will also see Dublin and Galway become ‘incubators’ to support individuals at the early stage of their careers. There will also be a pilot development fund targeting established Irish game studios, to allow them develop IP within their work spaces.

The funding comes at what Ardán CEO, Alan Duggan, called a “pivotal” moment and “an inflection point” in the Irish games industry.

“There’s a tremendous enthusiasm and vigour in the Irish games industry,” he said. “We’re swelling into a wave and that’s really running contrary to a lot of what’s happening internationally.”

Colm Larkin, CEO of Imirt, said: “At a State level, Ireland is looking at games and games developers as a culturally relevant art form and is saying, ‘Yes, we need to support this.’ This is just going to be the first step towards really growing our sector.”

The Minister for Arts, Culture, Media, Communications and Sport Patrick O’Donovan TD said: “The international games industry represents a huge contestable market, one in which Ireland can excel based on our technical, design and storytelling competencies. This funding combined with the recently introduced tax credit for games are key steps along the government’s path to developing a national strategy for games.”

The future of the industry, AI, and creativity

In his address, Xalavier Nelson Jr., said the games industry “makes miraculous art” but is poor at delivering on time, within budget, and in certain instances, quality.

He noted how missing deadlines and exceeding budgets has become normalised within the industry, and said current industry models often prioritise long development cycles for single projects, leading to burnout and limiting opportunities for artists to experiment.

He called on game developers to recognise they are artists, but also encouraged them to develop a strong business sense, in order to “confront these realities”.

Industry legend Tom Hall (Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom), who now works in Ireland as Design Lead at the Galway based Romero Games, explored the creative process.

He encouraged game developers to embrace ‘Drift Time’, his concept of allowing the mind to wander freely in order to create. He encouraged Summit attendees to “play around with an idea” especially if it “may make you feel uncomfortable”.

Hall also advised developers to take a ‘bottom-up’ approach to game creation, in order to work out core gameplay issues and mechanics, instead of top-down design, where the story and universe are prioritised.

AI and its role in the Games Industry was addressed by Finlay MacAree, Technical Director at Xbox Game Studios. He said while AI can enhance the creative process by generating ideas, assets, or code, allowing developers to focus on higher-level design and storytelling, AI itself “will never replace art”.

“I want someone’s actual history, feelings, and emotions in the game,” he said, and warned that relying solely on AI will lead to generic outcomes. He said human creativity and input remained essential as it is informed by personal experiences and emotions, fostering innovation and originality.

As well as national and international guest speakers, the FÍS Games Summit 2025 had close to 300 people in attendance from Dublin, Belfast, Cork, and across Ireland. The Summit has doubled in size from 2024, with the addition of roundtables for developers of marginalised genders; writing and pitching; and a games room where attendees could try out new demos by Irish games companies.

Advise AI investment surpasses €8M as it launches GenAI agent for brands

Advise, the automated data, analytics and AI platform provider helping retail manufacturers and brand-owners to unlock revenues and margin growth, today launches a new GenAI-powered agent. The expert GenAI assistant has been trained by Advise engineers to enhance customer decision-making, giving them competitive advantage. It represents an €8M investment by the Dublin-based company in the development of its AI platform.

Advise’s GenAI agent is a major update to the company’s AI-powered SaaS platform and can help brands to reach actionable insights 10X faster than previous methods. The platform collates and harmonises sales, inventory and customer data from multiple sources into a single platform. The Advise analytics engine filters out data noise, identifies key patterns and presents the most critical information in real-time. The customised GenAI agent further enhances this process by translating complex analytics into clear, natural language explanations and recommendations, turning statistical outputs into human-digestible insights.

The latest release was created by Advise’s Dublin-based engineering team, using a customised and trained large language model (LLM). While more widely available LLMs are typically limited to chatbot-style interactions, Advise’s agent moves beyond this. The GenAI agent has been trained to augment the role of the category manager – the expert responsible for understanding product performance and optimising new product, pricing and promotion strategies. In doing so, the platform empowers consumer-packaged goods (CPG) brands such as Kerry, Dr. Oetker, Pilgrim Food Masters, Tayto and Britvic, to take decisive action that will result in revenue growth.

Advise has programmed the customised GenAI agent to work from a structured set of instructions and best practices. With the ability to personalise its output according to each customer, it can detect market shifts, anticipate trends and deliver guided and relevant insights tailored to business needs. The agent also ranks, through a News Feed on the Advise platform, its insights based on relevance and urgency, ensuring users receive tailored, high-value recommendations on their next steps.

Kevin McCarthy, CEO, Advise, said: “Many businesses are still focusing on data collection and analytics, but we have moved beyond that. We have automated data processing and evolved GenAI to augment and act as a valuable assistant to category managers; turning data into insights and decisive actions that drive margin growth and competitive advantage.

“At Advise, we believe that the future of category management isn’t just about gathering more data; it’s about making smarter decisions, faster. Our new GenAI agent doesn’t just analyse; it anticipates. It learns, adapts, and prioritises what matters most for each brand, providing tailored recommendations that translates directly into growth. It enables users to move beyond spreadsheets and dashboards to proactive decision-making.”

 LLMs are hugely powerful and are impacting every industry, but their output is non-deterministic and they suffer from creative hallucinations. This can make them unsuitable for numeric and statistical analysis unless carefully managed. What we have created is the next generation of CPG decision-making: where you don’t just gain trustworthy information, but a strategic advantage using GenAI. In a world where speed and precision define success, this is how the best brands will stay ahead.”

Key Metrics To Track When Working With A Healthcare PR Agency

If your hospital is struggling to build a credible reputation in the market, then you can consider working with a healthcare PR agency. Why? This can be a strategic investment that will go a long way in elevating your organisation’s image, building trust with important stakeholders, and eventually helping you in achieving and driving the objectives of your platform. 

However, you need to be sure that you get the most out of this partnership; it’s crucial to outline and monitor the key performance indicators or metrics. What do these metrics do? Well, they provide you with loud evidence of whether your facility is creating an impact while assisting you in assessing the return on your investment. 

Questions like “What are those key metrics?” might have popped into your mind. Don’t worry, as this blog is here to give you the relevant details related to the necessary metrics you need to track while collaborating with this PR agency. 

Media Relations and Visibility 

Media relations and visibility are the categories that pay immense attention to your platform’s ability to grab and secure positive media coverage, as that can do wonders in boosting your entity’s visibility in the long run as well. How is it done? Let’s discuss:

Number of Media Placements

In this situation, the number of media placements plays a massive role. How? This metric tracks the number of times your company or its name was mentioned in various relevant media outlets. This can be in the shape of online, print, and broadcast, providing a solid number to confirm if the agency’s efforts are fulfilling the purpose or not. 

Quality Of Media Placements 

Yes, on one side, quantity matters, but at the same time, you can’t ignore the quality of media placements. Therefore, you need to keep the following factors in mind:

Type of Publication

You need to stay vigilant and check the type of publication the agency is getting you published in. For instance, your platform should get covered in extremely respected publications, national news outlets, or influential blogs that have a huge target audience. Why? The reason is that these spaces add more weight as compared to watching your company’s name and images in smaller, less relevant magazines that wear the label of non-existence. So, if you are trusting their efforts, then this should be there. 

Outlet Should Be Relevant

The agency shouldn’t be reaching out to random media outlets but the ones whose following is relevant to your target patient. For instance, it will be best if people like health care professionals, policymakers, or other well-known stakeholders follow the media outlet. 

Analyze The Tone

Even if your medical organisation is receiving the desired media coverage, analyze the tone and sentiment of the situation. Examine whether it is negative, neutral, or positive, as you certainly won’t pay them for doing negative publicity. Hence, the PR agency should not leave any stone unturned in providing your company with either exceptionally positive or balanced reporting. 

Inclusion of Key Message 

You will want the key message of your medical facility to be correctly expressed in front of the media. Hence, keep your eyes open to see whether the healthcare PR agency is standing by their commitment as they promised, meaning does their team accurately communicate about your value propositions, and highlight or not. 

Placement and Prominence

When your hospital’s name appears in a feature article, you can expect it to attract more views than just getting briefly mentioned in a broadcast segment. Hence, while working with a healthcare PR agency, see where their teams are mentioning your platform. 

Media Reach and Impressions

You must have read about the terms impressions and reach, but you won’t know what they stand for. Impressions are another critical metric that gives the total number of times your hospital’s coverage was viewed. While reach shares the unique number of individuals who could have seen or heard about your hospital’s coverage. How are these rough figures calculated? It is done on the basis of circulation figures, the amount of traffic the particular website receives, or the number of viewership of all the relevant media options. 

Content Marketing and Thought Leadership 

Does your healthcare PR agency offer content marketing and thought leadership ideas in its package? If so, then be ready to track the following metrics: 

Website Traffic and Engagement

After the PR agency posts some interesting content on your hospital’s site, you need to monitor changes on the website. For instance, look at the overall visits of the target audience you tried to reach, any unique visitors that were compelled to read through the posts or blogs on your website, the rate of bounce, and how much time is spent on your page. And from what source is this traffic coming from, such as organic, referral, or direct? In this way, you can assess the PR agency’s efforts to determine whether the partnership was a waste of time and money. 

Performance Of The Blog 

If the PR agency has filled your website’s blog section with plenty of blogs, then track the content’s performance. For instance, you should see how many views, comments, and shares the information receives. Plus, the time spent on the page.  

Engagement on Social Media

Social media is seen as a vital tool, so the PR agency may use it for creating social media posts or promotional activities. Therefore, monitor metrics in the form of likes, shares, comments, and reach to know that their team’s efforts are working out. 

Conclusion

We hope you are clear regarding the key metrics you need to check while working with a healthcare PR agency. Therefore, after signing a deal, try to follow as suggestions so you don’t end up wasting time and money. 

MacBook Bluetooth isn’t working: 8 tips to fix it

Apple laptop users sometimes face the problem of MacBook Bluetooth not working. In this article, we will tell you the reasons why Bluetooth is not working properly and how to fix the issue.

Why Bluetooth is not working on my MacBook

Common causes include:

  • configuration failure;
  • outdated macOS;
  • a lot of devices are connected;
  • the system is not optimized;
  • .plist files are corrupted.

8 tips to fix Bluetooth on your MacBook

You can fix the Bluetooth problem yourself if you use our step-by-step instructions.

1. Rebooting Bluetooth

The module does not always detect and connect wireless devices. In this case, a simple reboot can help – turn Bluetooth off and on again.

2. Restart your MacBook.

To fix the software not working properly, restart your computer. To do this, click on the Apple icon and click on “Reboot”.

3. Resetting the Bluetooth module

If the problem is on a MacBook with macOS Monterey:

  1. Press Command+Option.
  2. In the Spotlight search, type “Terminal” and press Return.
  3. Paste “sudo pkill bluetoothd” and confirm the action by pressing Return.
  4. Reboot the device.

For MacBooks with Big Sur or older versions of macOS:

  1. Press Shift+Option+Bluetooth icon.
  2. Click on the “Reset Bluetooth module” option.

If your laptop is running macOS Catalina or earlier, click “Debug” and then “Reset Bluetooth module” in the system settings.

4. disconnecting peripheral devices

Sometimes reconnecting peripherals can help solve the problem:

  1. From the Apple menu, go to System Preferences.
  2. Select Bluetooth and click on “X” to deactivate the selected device.
  3. Restart your MacBook and reconnect the device after a few minutes.

5. System optimization and cleaning

You can perform optimization with CleanMyMacX which cleans the system of junk, removes malware, etc. Launch the program, go to the system partition, and click “Scan”. Once the process is complete, run the automatic cleanup.

6. Upgrading macOS and Bluetooth

Go to System Preferences through the Apple menu and then to the Software Update option. Update macOS when a newer version is available.

7. Delete Bluetooth.plist files.

If the module property list files are corrupted, this can cause malfunctions. How to fix it:

  1. From the Finder menu, select “Go to” and then “Go to Folder”.
  2. Insert /Library/Preferences, click Go, and delete the com.apple.Bluetooth.plist file.
  3. Paste ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost, hit Go, and delete com.apple.Bluetooth.xxx.plist.
  4. Restart your MacBook so that the system creates new files.

8. Alternative connection method

If you’re having trouble connecting Bluetooth, try using the AirBuddy or ToothFairy apps. They are available for free after you subscribe to Setapp.

Source: Techtoro.io Blog

How to Come Up With an Airtight Marketing Plan for Your Brand

Creating an airtight marketing plan is important if you want your business to thrive in a competitive marketplace. When you have a well-crafted marketing plan, it is more than just a document, it is a compass that will guide your efforts and align your team. 

It is also going to drive your brand towards measurable growth. In this guide, you’re going to take a walk through the critical steps to develop a powerful marketing plan so that you can grow your audience and maximize your conversion rate.

Understanding Your Brand Identity

Before diving into any marketing strategy, it’s important that you have a deep understanding of your brand identity. This includes knowing who you are, why you exist, and what you stand for. 

Your brand identity should encapsulate your values, voice, vision, and mission. It is the personality of your business and what is going to set you apart from your competitors. Establishing your brand’s tone and visual identity will help you to create a consistent image across all your social media marketing channels. 

Whether your brand is youthful, playful, or sophisticated, the tone should be present in everything from your social media captions to your website copy. Authenticity is going to play a key role because customers are increasingly drawn to brands that communicate transparently and stay true to the core values that they have

Defining Your Target Audience

One of the most important aspects of any marketing plan is having a clear understanding of who your target audience is. When you know who you’re targeting, it’s going to help you to tailor your message and choose the right channels. 

You will then be able to create offerings that will resonate deeply with your audience. Start by creating customer personas and include demographic data such as income level, gender, age as well and location. 

Make sure you understand their pain points as well; this way, you can know what problem you can solve for them. You should use tools such as Google Analytics, customer surveys, and social media insights to gather information about your audience in addition to digital insights, incorporating branded merchandise can also help you better connect with your target audience. Branded merchandise like a custom patch can reinforce brand recognition and appeal to specific customer segments when aligned with their interests and lifestyle, making your marketing efforts more tangible and memorable

Make sure that you research your competitors in the niche so that you can identify opportunities and gaps that you can fill.

Setting SMART Goals

 Once you get a firm grasp of your brand and audience, it is time to set your marketing goals. These goals should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. 

These objectives are going to serve as a foundation for all your marketing activities. They will help you to keep your team focused and give you a benchmark to evaluate the success of your efforts. No matter what your goals are, whether it be to grow your email list, increase your social engagement, or generate leads, making sure that you align all your initiatives with your objectives is going to ensure that your actions contribute to the growth as a business because it’s going to communicate what your brand does.

Crafting Your Core Messaging

Messaging is the heartbeat of your marketing plan. It is what will communicate what your brand does and who it serves. It will also make it clear why your brand should matter to your customers. 

Your message should highlight your value proposition. This is the unique benefit that your product or services are going to offer. It should answer questions such as why someone needs to choose your brand over another one. 

Consistency in your messaging is what is going to build trust and recognition. All campaigns, whether they’re online or offline, should reflect a unified message from your brand. This doesn’t mean that you repeat the same slogan everywhere, but you must ensure that the story behind your brand, values, and tones is the same across all your platforms. 

Your message should be adaptable so you can personalize it for a different audience segment while still maintaining the overall voice of your brand. 

Choosing the Right Marketing Channels

No marketing plan is complete until you suggest the approach that you want to use for marketing. This is called channel selection. 

Where and how you distribute your content is important. Your target audience and your goals will likely determine the platforms that you should focus your time on. You must make sure that you are prioritizing quality over quantity. 

You should try to be active on just about every channel that is possible. Identify the ones that are going to offer you the best return on your investment and commit to mastering those. Make sure that you monitor your performance over time so that you can see clearly how you are performing. Your marketing channels should work together to create a seamless brand experience for your customers.

Developing a Content Strategy

Your content is what brings any marketing strategy to life. When you have a well-channeled content strategy, it is going to provide a lot of value for your audience.

Content can take many different forms; you may share content with your audience through your social media posts, newsletter, and blog posts. A well-planned content strategy is going to ensure that there is consistency across all your platforms.

You should keep a content calendar so that you know when and where you publish. The calendar should be informed by everything that is in your customer’s journey. 

For those who are in the beginning stages of their customer journey, you may want to educate and inform them. Those in a later stage of the journey may appreciate demos and customer testimonials. Make sure to have a clear purpose and a call to action as well. This will guide your audience one step closer to becoming loyal to your business.

Leveraging Video Production

Video has become a cornerstone of effective marketing. It offers a dynamic way for you to engage your audience, and you will be able to convey complex information quickly and easily. Video offers you a great way to build strong emotional connections. 

From brand story videos to product explainers that tell viewers more about what you have to offer, video is going to play a pivotal role in just about any stage of the customer’s journey.

To successfully integrate video into your marketing plan, you must first identify your objectives. Are you looking to increase brand awareness and boost social engagement? Different goals are going to call for you to use different types of videos.

Brand videos are ideal for doing top-of-funnel awareness. While tutorials or case studies may be more effective when your customers are later in the funnel.

Pre-production is a critical phase throughout the entire process. To create  amazing videos, you need to develop a script or storyboard that aligns with your messaging as well as your brand identity. Pay very close attention to visual elements such as composition, color grading, and lighting. Depending on the budget that you have, you can create videos in-house with your smartphones and your editing software. You may also partner with a professional video production agency if you are interested in doing higher-end projects.

Budgeting and Resource Allocation

A marketing plan is only as strong as the resources that your business puts behind it. Determine your budget early on. This is the first important step, make sure you allocate funds according to your goals and your expected ROI. 

You should think about expenses for content creation, software tools, as well as advertising spend. Your budgeting should always be flexible, and you should revisit it regularly. 

There are some tactics that may perform better than expected, and you will want to make additional investments with these. Others may need to be scaled back. 

Your resources, whether it be time, money, or people, should always be deployed where they can make the most impact. Consider using marketing automation tools, as these can help you to do more with less. This allows you to have greater efficiency in campaign management and lead nurturing for your business.

Measuring Success and Adapting

One of the most overlooked parts of a marketing plan is performance tracking. Set up systems to monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) that are in alignment with all of the goals you want to achieve.

This could include metrics like website traffic, social engagement, and email open rates. Regular analysis will enable you to understand what’s working, what’s not. You will also be able to understand why. 

You can use these insights to reinforce and optimize your strategies. If you are to have what is considered an agile marketing team you will need to constantly test new ideas.

You also have to make sure that you are constantly tweaking campaigns. Once you double down, it will drive results. Reporting should be transparent, and it should always be shared across departments to make sure that everyone is aligned and informed.

Finally, you must make sure that you keep an eye on market trends and customer behavior. Bear in mind that your plan should evolve as the marketing landscape begins to change so be ready to adapt.

 

AR tool could give cyclists ‘sixth sense’ and improve self-driving vehicle safety

A new tool which can rapidly prototype augmented reality experiences has given researchers new insights which could allow cyclists to safely share the roads with self-driving cars.

Researchers from the University of Glasgow developed the tool, called CycleARcade, which uses augmented reality headsets to enables cyclists to see and interact with simulated autonomous vehicles as they ride in real-world environments.

The team used CycleARcade to explore how new gear could equip cyclists with a ‘sixth sense’ to help them be more aware of self-driving cars’ intentions. They also examined how cyclists from different countries may expect different behaviours from autonomous vehicles on their local roads.

Unlike traditional simulators which use stationary bikes surrounded by computer screens to mimic real-world situations, CycleARcade enables a more realistic experience, where cyclists ride freely in open spaces with graphics of virtual vehicles displayed in their headsets. The system provides researchers with precise control over the virtual vehicles, allowing cyclists to safely test out immersive scenarios which could be dangerous on real roads with actual cars.

The team’s research builds on previous work they have conducted on how autonomous vehicles can communicate effectively with cyclists to replace the complex set of nods, waves and eye signals which human drivers and riders have developed to signal their intentions to each other. Their CycleARcade research will be presented as two papers later this month at the CHI Conference in Japan.

The first paper outlines how the Glasgow team used CycleARcade to test new designs for interfaces which could alert cyclists to nearby autonomous vehicles and provide information about the cars’ intentions.

With the help of a focus group of 20 cyclists, they developed and tested three virtual displays which would give riders information about vehicles around them in different road scenarios where some cars would yield to the cyclists while others would not.

One prototype, RoadAlert, displayed signals about the cars’ intentions directly onto the road surface and played spatial audio beeps which got louder as vehicles approached. A second, called reARview, gave riders a virtual rear-view mirror through augmented reality glasses. The third, named Gem, used handlebar-mounted displays to communicate the virtual vehicles’ movements.

Ammar Al-Taie, of the University of Glasgow’s School of Computing Science, is the paper’s lead author. He said: “Technology offers an opportunity to augment cyclists’ awareness of the roads around them, providing a kind of ‘sixth sense’ to help them navigate safely.

“What we found in this study is that you don’t need to alert cyclists about all vehicles equally. Cyclists need focused awareness of vehicles that pose the greatest risk, like those approaching from behind or vehicles that won’t yield, while being able to maintain attention on the road ahead. RoadAlert was the design that brought those qualities together most effectively for our study participants.

“It’s important to emphasise, though, that we’re not expecting cyclists to have to adopt this kind of technology in order to stay safe on the roads in the future. Instead, we’re expanding the toolbox for cyclists who want additional support or awareness, who could choose to buy devices specifically designed to do so.”

In the second paper, computing scientists and psychologists from the University of Glasgow and colleagues from the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden show how they used CycleARcade to probe the road safety expectations of cyclists in three different countries, with very different levels of cycling infrastructure.

They gave CycleARcade kits to cyclists in cities in Sweden, Oman and Scotland and asked them to ride in simulated road conditions with computer-controlled projections of autonomous vehicles displayed in their headsets.

In Stockholm, where cyclists are used to having their own space in dedicated cycle lanes, riders wanted to know exactly where the self-driving car was located around them. They preferred to take their time to judge its intentions by watching its driving behaviour.

In Muscat, where cyclists regularly navigate busy shared roads and make fast-paced decisions about their next move, riders were more likely to quickly trust direct signals from the vehicles.

Cyclists from Glasgow, which has a limited number of dedicated bike lanes, took a more balanced approach. They reported that they wanted to see both location information and clear signals about the vehicle’s intentions.

Mr Al-Taie added: “These findings clearly show that cyclists learn to share the roads with cars differently from country to country, which suggests that self-driving cars might need to adapt their communication methods to better speak the language of the local roads. Humans often do this naturally when driving abroad, but autonomous vehicles may need to have their programming tweaked to take local driving culture into account when they start rolling out around the world in the years to come.”

The paper has been selected by the conference for an Honorable Mention award, which are presented to the top 5% of papers submitted to CHI 2025.

CycleARcade is the latest development in research led by Professor Stephen Brewster, of the University of Glasgow’s School of Computing Science, which focuses on how cyclists can communicate with self-driving cars in the years ahead.

Professor Brewster said: “Ultimately, we’re aiming to thoroughly explore the ways in which cyclists and autonomous vehicles can speak the same language on the roads to keep both as safe as possible. Human drivers and riders have developed a sophisticated series of signals to help decide who has the right of way or who has priority in a change of lanes, for example, and it’s vital that cyclists can have the same level of trust and understanding with self-driving cars.

“CycleARcade is a powerful tool to help explore how that new language can be developed, using real bikes in real physical spaces, with virtual elements that can be tweaked or replaced in real-time. We’re continuing to work on research in this area, and we hope that our insights will help influence the design of future generations of autonomous vehicles.”

The team’s papers, titled ‘Around the World in 60 Cyclists: Evaluating Autonomous Vehicle-Cyclist Interfaces Across Cultures’ and evARything, evARywhere, all at once: Exploring Scalable Holistic Autonomous Vehicle-Cyclist Interfaces’, will be presented at the CHI Conference in Yokohama, Japan, on Monday 28th April and Wednesday 30th April respectively.

Video

 

What to Do if Your Phone Is Stolen: 7 Essential Recovery Tips

With the rising cost of phones, comes the rising cases of theft. Like minded  Tech Expert Joe Davies shares tips on how to recover yours if lost.
In the age of expensive smartphones, the rising trend of phone thefts, and the ever-present risk of losing your device, it’s essential to be prepared. Phones now contain much more than just contact lists and photos.
They now also hold sensitive information and act as our connection to the digital world. With TikTok trending hacks and expert advice, we break down how you can improve your chances of finding your stolen phone.
The TikTok Hack: Can It Help You Find Your Stolen Phone?
Recently, a TikTok video went viral, showing a hack for tracking a stolen phone. By using the “Find My” feature from Apple or Google, it demonstrated how you could locate your device if it’s turned on and connected to the internet. This hack, while useful in theory, is not always reliable, particularly if the thief has turned off the phone or disabled location services.
“The viral TikTok hack is a good starting point, but it’s not a complete solution. If your phone is off or disconnected from the internet, you’re left with limited options. Always ensure that the necessary tracking services are enabled before any potential loss.”
That said, while the hack can be part of the solution, here are some other effective strategies to help you recover your stolen device.
7 Tips to Find Your Stolen Phone
  1. Use Find My iPhone (Apple Devices) or Find My Device (Android)
Apple and Android devices come with pre-installed features designed to track your phone. If you have “Find My iPhone” or “Find My Device” enabled, these tools can pinpoint your phone’s last known location. Additionally, they offer the ability to lock your device or erase sensitive data remotely.
“One of the most reliable ways to track a stolen phone is through the manufacturer’s built-in features. Just make sure they’re enabled beforehand, or you’ll miss out on these helpful tools.”
  1. Contact Your Service Provider
If location tracking doesn’t lead to your phone, reach out to your mobile network provider. They may be able to track your device’s IMEI number (a unique identifier for your phone) and lock it remotely to prevent further use.
  1. Remote Lock Your Phone
Whether you’re using an iPhone or Android, remote locking can prevent thieves from accessing your personal data. “Find My iPhone” and “Find My Device” both offer the option to lock your phone remotely, offering some peace of mind in case the phone can’t be recovered right away.
  1. Report the Theft to Local Authorities
While you may not be able to track your phone in real-time, it’s important to file a police report. This not only helps with the recovery process but is necessary for insurance claims. Some local law enforcement agencies have the means to trace stolen phones based on their IMEI numbers.
  1. Check Lost-and-Found Services
Many airports, malls, and other public places have lost-and-found services. If you’ve lost your phone while out and about, make sure to check with them in case someone turned it in.
  1. Use Third-Party Apps
Third-party apps like Lookout or Prey offer additional tracking options and remote control of your phone, such as taking photos of the thief, locking your phone, or erasing your data.
“Third-party apps can be a good backup option, but you need to install them in advance. These apps may not be as effective as the built-in features, but they offer extra layers of security.”
  1. Protect Your Phone with a Case and Screen Protector
While this doesn’t help you track a stolen phone, using a protective case makes your phone less appealing to thieves. A bulky or uniquely designed case can act as a deterrent.
While recovering a stolen phone is not always guaranteed, taking these steps can increase your chances. However, the most effective way to protect yourself is to ensure your phone is equipped with the necessary security settings before any incident occurs. Enable location tracking, use strong passwords, and stay vigilant when in public spaces.
“The best way to prevent a phone from being stolen is to be proactive. Prevention is always better than trying to recover something once it’s gone.”
With these tips and expert advice, you’ll be better prepared to find your phone if it’s stolen or lost. But, ultimately, safeguarding your device starts with taking simple steps to protect it from theft.

Suretank nurtures Louth engineering talent with bursary programme

Suretank, the leading provider of modular and tank solutions for global infrastructure, pharma, marine and energy companies, has announced the expansion of its bursary programme to include two additional bursaries to support the next generation of engineering talent. The bursary programme has now been named The Tom Moody Programme for Engineering Talent, a reflection of the legacy left by Suretank’s General Manager, Tom Moody, who died earlier this year.

The expansion of the bursary programme marks Suretank’s 30th anniversary in business. It follows the company’s recent announcement that it is creating 80 new jobs in the Louth region, strengthening its commitment to investing in the community and driving further business growth. As demand for engineering talent in Ireland remains high, the programme will ensure Suretank continues to develop its own in-house engineering talent, serving a global customer base. The company’s engineering department boasts 30 engineers with expertise in mechanical, electrical and structural engineering.

The Tom Moody Programme for Engineering Talent will now become an annual partnership with Dundalk institute of Technology (DkIT). It is designed to support engineering students in their academic journey and includes the payment of college fees and expenses, along with paid work placements throughout the year in Suretank’s cutting-edge facilities in Louth. Additionally, recipients receive guided mentorship to ensure they develop the practical skills and expertise necessary to thrive in their careers.

This extension builds on the success of the company’s first bursary, launched in October last year, and reflects Suretank’s ongoing commitment to investing in the next generation of talent and supporting the local community. It comes in addition to Suretank’s apprenticeship programme, which last year saw one of its apprentices, Jamie Kirwan, named Apprentice of the Year Award (Electrical) at the Generation Apprenticeship Ireland Awards.

Applications are open to third-year students at Dundalk Institute of Technology studying for degrees in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical & Electronic Engineering, and Architectural Technology. Click here for more information and to apply.

Dymphna Conlon, People & Organisation Development (P&OD) Manager said:

“At Suretank, we are deeply committed to empowering the next generation of engineers while giving back to the community that has supported us for the last 30 years. Expanding our bursary programme reinforces our long-term investment in the local region, providing students with a valuable opportunity to gain a head start in their careers.

“This initiative also honours the legacy of our colleague, Tom Moody, who was a strong believer in nurturing talent and his dedication and spirit left a lasting impact on all of us. By offering hands-on experience, mentorship, and the skills needed to succeed, these bursaries celebrate his memory in the most meaningful way—by supporting the future of engineering talent. More than just financial assistance, this is our ongoing commitment to people, progress, and the potential within our community.”

Virtual Reality in Education: The Future of Learning Right Ahead

Virtual reality (VR) has gone from the domain of science fiction into the mainstream in recent years, transforming sectors including entertainment to healthcare. Its ability to revolutionize education is now acquiring impetus.

VR is revolutionizing schools and teachers especially in science education as they search for creative approaches to involve digital-native students and close the theory-practice gap.

Outline virtual reality and explain its applications.

Virtual reality is the simulated experience that might be either exactly like or quite different from the real world. Usually, it uses a headgear that envelops the user in a 3D environment so enabling real-time interaction with digital elements.

Users can experience scenarios from a first-person point of view, move across the surroundings, and handle objects.

VR is already rather extensively applied outside of the classroom. Medical students perform procedures in virtual operating rooms in hospitals. In architecture, designers stroll through virtual building models before they are ever built.

Gamers enter large virtual worlds with lifelike graphics and physics in entertainment. All of these programs have as their common thread immersion and interactivity—qualities that can be quite effective in the classroom.

Why Virtual Reality in Education Might Be the Next Frontier

Virtual reality in education marks a major change in the way teachers present materials and students absorb knowledge. Lectures, textbooks, and sporadic hands-on exercises define conventional classroom environments.

Although these strategies have many benefits, they can find it difficult to involve students completely, particularly in relation to abstract or difficult topics including chemistry, physics, or biology. VR presents a chance to bring learning more physical and interactive.

Imagine students seeing real-time oxygen-rich blood flow across arteries as they investigate the human circulatory system from the inside. Alternatively, chemistry students working in a totally safe digital lab on perhaps hazardous reactions.

Deeper knowledge and long-term memory depend on VR transforming students from passive receivers into active participants.

 

Benefits of VR in Education

Using virtual reality in classrooms offers many benefits. Among the most convincing advantages of VR are its capacity to support active learning, increase participation, and produce unforgettable learning opportunities. Here are a few main advantages:

1. Enhanced Involvement and Motivation

Students that participate actively in their education are more likely to remain involved. VR brings an exciting quality absent from many conventional approaches. Using cutting-edge technology in conjunction with immersive storytelling and interactive surroundings makes courses unforgettable and fun.

2. Enhanced Conceptual Knowledge

Like molecular structures, gravitational forces, or electromagnetic fields, abstract ideas are famously challenging to teach. Often directly manipulating these ideas, VR lets students see them in three dimensions. This spatial interaction makes learning more natural and helps one to grasp.

3. Safe and Understood Environment

Many experiments in disciplines including chemistry or physics include hazards that restrict active student participation. In a real-world classroom, VR lets students run experiments that would be too costly, dangerous, or logistically difficult. Errors become inevitable in the course of learning without any practical repercussions.

4. Individualized Education

One can create VR systems to fit different learning environments by means of design. Immersion graphics help visual learners; kinesthetic learners value interactive simulations. Some sites even provide real-time comments to help students through courses at their own speed.

5. Inclusiveness and Accessibility

VR can provide experiences otherwise unattainable for students with disabilities or those living in remote areas. Virtual field trips, 3D visualizations, and simulated labs help to level the playing field and offer equal learning possibilities.

Useful VR Applications for Science Education

There is nowhere more clear the influence of VR than in STEM education, especially science. These are a few useful approaches VR is now being used in science classrooms:

1. Virtual laboratories for science

Creating virtual labs where students may conduct experiments without using actual materials is one of the most efficient applications of VR. Under a VR helmet, platforms like Futuclass—which provides modules allowing students to balance chemical equations, mix elements to form compounds, or see exothermic reactions—offer These labs provide hands-on experience that supports theoretical knowledge by simulating real-world physics and chemical interactions.

2. Human Biography and Anatomy

Students could investigate the human body in 3D rather than learning diagrams from a textbook by memory. Learners can “walk through” organs, see body processes in action, and even replicate surgical operations using virtual reality. Higher education and medical training, where a better knowledge of anatomy is crucial, benefit especially from this approach.

3. Physics Replays

From grasping Newton’s laws to experimenting with electromagnetism, VR lets students visualize forces, motion, and energy transfer in ways that would be challenging in a conventional lab. Students can, for instance, instantly see how changes in variables like gravity or friction affect outcomes—something impossible in a real-world classroom. This allows them to control those variables.

4. Environmental and Earth Sciences

In environmental science education VR is also creating waves. Students might investigate several ecosystems, see how climate change is affecting things, or go through geological events like earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. These immersive events inspire closer involvement by making world problems feel instantaneous and personal.

5. Discovery of Space

 Virtual reality lets students travel across the solar system, land on Mars, or negotiate the International Space Station, so transforming their lessons in astronomy. This not only piques interest but also helps to place difficult astrophysical ideas in a context never possible in textbooks.

Using VR in Education: What More Is Needed?

Although the advantages are obvious, using VR in learning environments does call careful preparation:

  • Schools need VR headsets, ideally with high-resolution displays and easy controls. Affordable choices for classroom use are Meta Quest, which provides wireless, stand-alone capability.

     
  • Software and Content: Excellent learning materials are absolutely vital. Curriculum-aligned VR modules especially meant for middle and high school students are offered by external providers.

     
  • Teachers have to be at ease using VR technology and including it into their lessons. Many companies provide onboarding and support to guarantee seamless adoption.

     
  • Important factors also include infrastructure: charging stations, a stable Wi-Fi connection, and an area where students might safely use VR headsets.

     
  • Safety and Monitoring: Schools should create procedures for supervised use, so guaranteeing that sessions are catered to avoid motion sickness or disorientation and that students use the equipment responsibly.

     

Last Words

Virtual reality in education offers a present-day chance to rethink how we teach and learn, not a futuristic dream. The possibilities to create interesting, significant, and successful learning environments become almost endless as more universities embrace immersive technologies.

Particularly in science education, VR provides a strong means to bring abstract ideas to life, so enabling students to investigate, experiment, and really comprehend the surroundings.

Investing in this transforming technology now will help teachers equip their students for the real-world challenges of tomorrow rather than only for tests.