Despite comprising half of the U.S. workforce, women are underrepresented in the tech world, holding only 25% of technology and computer science positions. The tech community is working to change that: Mentoring groups and educational programs such as Girls Who Code, Black Girls Code, and Girl Develop It are rapidly growing in popularity in order to close the gap. Interestingly, one of the first spaces where women with tech skills were welcomed was in the art world, where female developers, inventors and tech culture enthusiasts are still active today. Here are a few women you should know—past and present—who use tech as part of their artistic palette.

 

Digital projections and immersive experiences
Artists are using technology to create stunning audiovisual works that surround the viewers. California-based artist Jennifer Steinkamp is one of the top artists in this field: She uses sophisticated software to create computer-animated projections of water, flowers, trees, and other organic and abstract forms that are full of dazzling color and movement, as they billow and flow fluidly across ceilings and walls. (You can view many of her works on YouTubehere.)

 

Music
Tech has been influencing musicians for decades: One of the first prominent women in electronic music was Delia Derbyshire, a composer who worked at the BBC in the 1960s and developed theme music from purely electronic sources, including the famous Dr. Who theme music. New York composer Laurie Spiegel was a software developer at Bell Laboratories who developed the 1980s algorithmic composition software Music Mouse; another New York musician, Laurie Anderson, invented the Talking Stick, a MIDI-controlled instrument that can capture and replicate sounds. More recently, San Francisco sound-based artist Holly Herndon has been using her laptop as an instrument; her 2012 album Movement utilizes the visual programming language Max/MSP to process her voice and create unique instruments for her distinct, personal electronica.

 

Wearable tech
The Internet of Things (IoT) has become a great palette for performance artists. New media performance artist Tiffany Trenda uses wearable tech to explore the relationship of the female body to technology. Her piece Proximity utilizes smartphones and screens to conceal her identity while inviting bystanders to touch and interact with them—a metaphor for how people hide or reveal themselves behind the curtain of technology. LA-based artist and programmer Lauren McCarthy used a smart watch as an inspiration for her piece pplkpr, an app that quantifies the wearer’s emotional responses to other people to “optimize” their social lives.

 

Digital surveillance and privacy
Privacy is a controversial issue among digital users—so naturally it’s become fodder for artists as well. Lauren McCarthy also developed an app called Follower, which selects and assigns the user a real, anonymous follower for a day in order to grapple with the idea of being under surveillance. In 2012 New York-based artist Carla Gannis began The Non-Facial Recognition Project, which takes popular facial recognition technology used by apps and sites such as Facebook and explores the issues that arise when your image appears somewhere without your permission.

 

Tech aesthetics and expression
Where do the aesthetics we use to represent ourselves and our technology come from, and why are they the way they are? Carla Gannis grapples with these questions in her 2013 work “The Garden of Emoji Delights,” which takes Hieronymus Bosch’s famous triptych “The Garden of Earthly Delights” and replaces its religious imagery with secular digital symbols. On the other end of the fine art spectrum is Cybertwee, an artistic movement that takes the traditionally masculine, steely look of cyberpunk and gives it a pink-tinted girl-friendly spin. You can see some of their collected works on the Cybertwee Tumblr (such as this fun reimagining of a video game console) and learn more at Cybertwee.net.

As tech’s overall gender gap evens out, women will have an equal voice in tech culture, too—and the emerging artists among them will use their skills to invent, develop, and grow at the intersection of art and technology.

This August, Microsoft released the Windows 10 Anniversary Update—appropriately named as it came a year after the original Windows 10 release. Windows 10 has shown itself to be functional and friendly across all devices—the perfect OS for businesses with BYOD programs and cross-platform use. Here are a few cool features the Anniversary Update includes that can help your business, whether you’ve already upgraded to Windows 10 or are planning to do so soon.

 

Windows Hello goes mobile

• Windows Hello already lets you sign into your computer with your face, fingerprint, or iris scan. The Anniversary Update takes Hello’s biometric authentication a step further, expanding it to Windows apps and supported websites. Once you have hardware (such as the HP Elite x3) and software that supports Windows Hello, you’ll be able to sign into apps the same way. This also extends to Edge, 10’s browser that offers biometric authentication on supported sites. Basically, get ready to sign into websites with your eyeball.
• The Anniversary Update also lets you sign into your PC with a companion device, such as a smartphone, a multi-use tablet device like the Elite x3, or even a fitness band. (You know, so your eyeball doesn’t get tired of constantly being used to sign in, and you can do some actual work.)

Cortana gets a brain boost

• Microsoft is pouring a lot of effort into making Cortana the virtual assistant that business pros can’t live without. The latest update gives Cortana greater access to the Office, Outlook, and Calendar apps. This insight means you can give it commands like “Send Dave the Excel sheet I worked on this morning.” Or if you create an event that conflicts with something else on your calendar, Cortana will let you know that you’re already booked.
• Cortana is also accessible from the lock screen now. Once this feature is enabled, you’ll be able to access Microsoft’s digital assistant by saying “Hello, Cortana” or by tapping the Cortana icon. From here, Cortana can schedule appointments, find directions, and create reminders.
• Cortana’s mobile capabilities are pretty cool, too. Once you install the Cortana app to your mobile device, it can mirror notifications like incoming calls and low battery warnings to your PC. (You get to choose which app notifications pop up, of course.) And if you’ve misplaced your device, just say “find my phone” and it will locate it on a map. (Hopefully you just left it in the lunchroom.)

The Connect app

• Now you have an incredibly easy way to cast your mobile device to the big screen—no docks or gear required. The Anniversary Update’s new Connect app lets you wirelessly connect your mobile device to a computer using 10’s mobile Continuum feature. Your device’s Continuum desktop just runs on the other computer inside a window. Pretty handy for business presentations and other work-related screen sharing.

Skype preview

• Many offices lean on Skype for their business communications, so it’s nice that the Anniversary Update offers a preview of the new Skype app, which has been redesigned from the ground up for 10. All of Skype’s standard features are included in the release, and you can also try out their “Skype Bots” which were introduced earlier this year. And since Skype’s baked directly into 10, you can reply to a message as soon as a notification pops up without having to open the app.

More cool features

• The Action Center, 10’s notifications hub, now lets users set priority levels for individual apps so they don’t drown in notifications.
• Managing multiple desktops continues to get easier. The Task View interface lets you right-click a window to move it to another desktop instead of dragging it. Even better, you can now pin windows so they appear on all desktops. (Convenient for messaging apps and other things you always want to keep an eye on.)
• Ever get stalled during the day by an automatic Windows update? Now you can set up Active Hours—a timeframe of up to 12 hours that’s off-limits for automatic updates—so you can stay productive.

Microsoft, Windows, Continuum, Skype, Hello, Cortana, Edge, Office, Outlook, and Connect are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.