Promon’s Tom Lysemose Hansen discusses the security challenges of tech such as quantum, edge computing and more, as well as the importance of collaboration in mobile app security.

Read more: Why awareness is the greatest challenge in mobile app security

The English Premier League is giving offside calls a (semi) automated upgrade.

The new system revamps arguably the most controversial rule in sports.

First introduced back in 1863, the offside law prevents sneaky footballers from camping by the goal.

In its current iteration, the rule only applies to attackers in their enemy’s half. Once they enter that space, teammates can only pass to them when they’re behind at least two opposition players.

Sounds confusing? Well, allow me to clarify.

Players can be offside when any part of their body is beyond the defenders. Or maybe when there’s daylight between them. But sometimes, only when the attacker is “actively involved” in play. Got it? Good, me neither.

Officials have attempted to refine the rule, but offside calls still constantly enrage both footballers and fans.

The latest target of their ire is the video-assistant referee (VAR). Designed to review decisions made on the pitch, the system added a second offside check. Unfortunately, it also added new problems.

Not only did the decisions remain controversial, they were now also excruciatingly slow. The Premier League was sent back to the drawing board.

It returned today with a new solution: semi-automated offside technology (SAOT).

Automated offsides

SAOT applies optical tracking to footballers. When a player is offside, the software automatically draws lines on the footage to illustrate their position. Referees then check the film before making a decision.

By combining automation with human oversight, the system could enhance both accuracy and speed. At least, that’s the plan.

Attackers in the blue zone have entered an offside position. Credit: Genius Sports.

The Premier League will introduce SAOT next season, which kicks off on Friday. British tech firm Genius Sports has been recruited to design the system.

The company will install computer vision cameras in every Premier League stadium. According to Genius Sports, the software can generate full 3D renders of the players, ball, and offside area in “seconds.” Officials can then make a precise call.

Tony Scholes, the Premier League’s Chief Football Officer, expects the system to improve the flow of the game. He claims SAOT will enhance the experience for all participants — “including supporters.”

It’s a bold promise, but one that even perfect tech would struggle to fulfil. Because sometimes the only right decision is the one that benefits our team.

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund is celebrating a $138 billion profit from the first half of the year, but has put the champagne on ice.

The $1.6 trillion fund credited the returns to investments in tech. Driven by surging demand for AI, technology stocks surged during early 2024.

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund — the largest in the world — reaped the benefits. Its equity portfolio gained 12% in the six months through June.

Nvidia provided the largest cash injection. Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and TSMC also chipped in big sums.

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Over a quarter of its equity investments (26%) are now in tech. But there are escalating fears about their financial futures.

Tech stocks have plummeted in recent weeks. The fund’s CEO, Nicolai Tangen, expects that worse is still to come.

Tangen has several anxieties about the market. One is the rising levels of sovereign debt, which can cause markets to plunge.

“It’s at a level we haven’t seen [before], it is continuing to increase, and there seems to be very little willingness anywhere in the world to actively try to reduce it,” he told Reuters.

At a news conference on Wednesday, Tangen also raised concerns about global tensions. He cites the wars in Ukraine and Gaza as significant risk factors for the fund’s investments.

“There is a lot of uncertainty in the world and we are in a completely different geopolitical situation,” he said.

Although Mozart has no living descendants, his music still has countless inheritors. The latest in the lineage — born just this summer — is a digital twin.

German tech giant Siemens conceived the prodigious clone. Last month, the company brought the system to Mozart’s hometown of Salzburg.

Located at the foot of the Alps, the scenic city is hosting the prestigious Salzburg Festival of music and theatre. Classical notes are soaring through the sultry air. They’re sweeping across outdoor stages and around opera halls. Some have even entered the digital twin.

Like every digital twin, the system is a virtual model of a real-world counterpart. But this one has an unusual focus: sound.  

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The technology replicates a building’s acoustics. By simulating sounds within the virtual domain, the twin reveals the sonic workings of the physical realm.

“We are around acoustics all the time, but this means we can really be in them,” Julia Müller, Salzburg Festival’s director of development, tells TNW. “It is such a different feeling.”

Siemens envisions abundant applications. Architects will design venues with peerless acoustics. Builders will construct homes with perfect soundproofing. Events will adapt convention centres for music, theatre, and dance. Conductors will customise opera halls for their music. Orchestras will rehearse in replicas of real concert halls.

But before those fantasies became reality, the digital twin was called for an audition. Salzburg provided two formidable tests: a fabled festival venue and the music of Mozart.

Digitising sound
The Large Festival Hall was built specifically for the Salzburg Festival. Credit: Siemens

Inaugurated in 1960, Salzburg’s Large Festival Hall is a storied setting for operas and concerts.

Built on old stables, the square auditorium has globally renowned acoustics. As the name suggests, the venue is also immense. The 100-metre stage is among the widest in the world. Around 2,200 people can attend each performance.

Their seats offer different music experiences. They also affect the music. Their materials, locations, and the people sitting on them all influence the acoustics that resound throughout the hall. So do the carpets on the floor, the musicians on the stage, and the instruments they play. 

The architecture also dramatically impacts the sound. When the building pushes echoes and reverberations into cacophonous directions, acoustic panels are installed on walls and ceilings to soothe the strains.

The digital twin had to model each of these effects. Siemens assigned the task to Simcenter, a software portfolio for developing and testing simulations.

The software first analysed data on the shape, structure, and contents of the hall. All the underlying materials were then precisely defined. Each can cause sound waves to behave differently. 

Soft curtains absorb the waves, while metal furnishings reflect them. When they bounce off concrete walls, they generate a distinct acoustic reaction. If they hit a seat, they will create another reaction.

Siemens analysed these effects through two core techniques: impulse response measurements and ray tracing. Together, they measured and simulated the flow of sound through the hall.

A virtual stage for Mozart

Engineers first installed 12 microphones around the auditorium. On the stage, they placed 11 high-quality speakers in the positions of the instruments. 

Each speaker then sent small signals around the room. For a set number of seconds, they transmitted a broad frequency band at a certain duration and precise volume.

As the signals circled the hall, microphones recorded their effects. The results were then sent for analysis.

“With that technology, we get the individual signature sound of the room,” Arnold Holler, an engagement manager at Siemens Simcenter, tells TNW.

Siemens then embedded that signature into the digital hall. 

The digital twin of Salzburg’s Festival Hall. Credit: Siemens

With virtual microphones and speakers in the same positions as their physical twins, the sound tests were repeated. Computer models then examined the acoustic behaviour.

“We correlate the simulation with the measurements and map the model to reality,” Holler says. “With that, you get the digital twin. Otherwise, you just have a digital model.”.

Assured that their replicant was fully developed, the team released the virtual doppelganger. 

The finished twin replicates endless musical configurations. Users can then explore the impact on every seat in the hall.

From remote locations, they can experiment with sounds, materials, and layouts. All their tweaks could transform the acoustics. By simulating them in a digital twin, they will create evidence for decisions in the real world.

More acoustic digital twins are already in the works. But technology still has to convince sceptics. To dispel their doubts, Siemens has turned to Salzburg’s favourite son. 

Mozart enters the digital stage

Siemens built the digital twin into an XR application. Named the “Sound of Science,” the app transports us into a 3D model of Salzburg’s Large Festival Hall. We then explore the music playing in the venue, adjusting sounds and structures as we listen. 

We move instruments, expand orchestras, add acoustic panels, and listen to the effects from different seats in the venue. Every change has an audible impact on the acoustics.

Stephan Frucht, the artistic director of the Siemens arts programme, chose Mozart’s 29th Symphony for the experience. Blending transparent textures with sophisticated techniques, the music showcases the digital twin’s capabilities.

A conductor and musician in his own right, Frucht cut the track in a Berlin studio. One instrument after another was recorded onto individual files. All were integrated with the digital twin. The audio signals were then fed into the XR software.

The app provides views — and listens — from the conductor’s perch, the stalls, and the upper circle. Credit: Siemens

The XR app opens a window into the potential of acoustic digital twins. It also shines a new light on Siemens.

Music’s digital future

Founded back in 1847, Siemens has a lengthy history of engineering excellence. The Munich-based firm is also Europe’s largest industrial manufacturer. But the current company has another focus: software. 

Digital twins are a central component of today’s business. They’re used to monitor and improve various industrial operations, from manufacturing plants to energy grids. 

The Salzburg system shows the twins can also optimise acoustic conditions. Frucht has even loftier ambitions for the project. He believes the music can influence industrial applications.

“After all, innovation can also come from culture,” he says.

He points to a precedent set by Salzburg’s second favourite musical son: Herbert von Karajan. A celebrated (and controversial) Austrian conductor, Karajan inaugurated the Large Festival Hall. He was also involved in developing the compact disc. One of his recordings was the first work ever pressed onto the plastic.

Legend has it that he also set the CD’s parameters. He reputedly demanded that a single disc must have space for Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. The outcome was a 74-minute capacity.

If music has a similar impact on digital twins, Mozart could have a whole new breed of descendants.

The UK-headquartered bank that recently received a banking licence in the country reported revenues of $2.2bn and a record profit of $545m last year.

Read more: Revolut becomes Europe’s most valuable start-up at $45bn

UK fintech Revolut has been valued at $45bn following a share sale by employees, making it Europe’s most valuable private tech company and shaking up the world of traditional finance. 

An employee share sale is when staff sell their company shares either to the company they work for, external investors, or on the open market. In Revolut’s case, its employees sold a portion of their shares to investors including Coatue, D1 Capital Partners, and Tiger Global, among others.  

Revolut’s new valuation puts it above the market capitalisation of most of Britain’s oldest banks, including Barclays, Lloyds Bank, and NatWest. Only HSBC is valued higher. Investors in Revolut are clearly confident that the neobank has much better growth prospects than many traditional lenders.

Nik Storonsky, Revolut’s CEO, said he was “delighted” that his employees could realise the benefits of the company’s “collective success” via the share sale. “We’re also excited to partner with several new investors who share our vision as we continue our journey to redefine the banking landscape as we’ve known it,” he said.

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The fresh valuation comes at a good time for Revolut. Last month, the company finally secured its UK banking licence, which allows it to provide overdrafts, loans, and savings products — just like traditional banks. In 2023, Revolut reported revenues of $2.2bn and says it is on track to surpass 50 million customers by the end of this year. 

The news comes as Revolut gears up for its highly-anticipated IPO. While the British business has yet to set a date for its debut on the public market, co-founders Storonsky and Vlad Yatsenko previously indicated that they would likely list in New York. However, a listing in London is still possible, the Financial Times reports.

Codec’s Stephanie Conville explores innovative approaches to enhancing student welfare at third level, from digital solutions for managing special requests to creating a more empathetic campus environment.

Read more: How tech innovation can enhance student wellbeing