Right to disconnect  Victoria Police have won the right to disconnect as part of the union's most recent negotiations.  Apart from emergencies, they're not to be contacted outside of work hours unless it’s for a welfare check.  Other unions are likely to follow - with work increasingly encroaching on our home lives, clocking off is getting harder.  Porter appointment to tech portfolio  A follow up on the PM’s cabinet reshuffle last month, that saw Christian Porter, the former attorney general moved to the Industry, Science and Technology portfolio  Tech industry leaders have told the AFR they won’t meet with the minister, invite him to things and will think twice about accepting any government grants.  The principle complaint is the appointment is damaging to a sector that’s working to improve its gender diversity  Other criticism includes: he lacks experience in technology and would be too focused on saving his political career and a defamation fight over the ABC’s coverage of the allegations, to properly lead the sector.  It’s always tricky for business to comment on government, and they usually have a diplomatic line about just sticking to their business… and in this case many industry leaders declined to comment, because of their ties to the government. Facebook  Information belonging to more than 7.3 million Australians was leaked online as part of a massive data dump of 533 million facebook records.  Facebook says the data was scraped due to a vulnerability that the company discovered and patched in 2019.  The leaked data contains phone numbers, Facebook IDs, full names, locations, birth dates, bios and email addresses. It does not contain password information. But that information can be used by cybercriminals to impersonate someone online or get them to hand over passwords or credit card information.  No company should be able to have that much information that can be accessed through a single exploit.  Andrew Laming  The Guardian reports Liberal National MP Andrew Laming operates more than 30 Facebook pages and profiles under the guise of community groups to promote the LNP and attack opponents.  For example, there’s the Redland Bay Bulletin – which uses a similar name to the local news site the Redland City Bulletin – was set up by Laming in October 2015 claiming to be a “community group”. None of the pages include political authorisation disclosures. According to the Australian Electoral Commission, political authorisation is required for information intended to influence the way electors vote in a federal election. Those rules were extended to include social media in 2016.   The MP is is on leave from parliament to undertake empathy counselling following complaints about his behaviour towards women, Canva valuation  Australian start-up Canva is now valued at almost $20 billion australian dollars after raising $US71 million. This makes it one of the fastest growing  The milestone comes with Canva on track to turn over $US500 million this financial year, a 130 per cent... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lots of Uber news Opal card to extend to Uber, taxis and share bikes NSW is letting commuters pay for Ubers, Lime bikes, taxis and ferries with their digital Opal card in a new trial  FYI - uber pool is back in Sydney & Perth  How to cut costs on your ride: Uber pools riders back together  For anyone hoping 2021 would see a return to travel…  WWDC 2021 officially announced, iOS 15 expected WWDC was one of the better virtual confs i attended last year  WWDC is Apple’s developer conference, where they announce the developer beta of the latest operating systems for the Mac, iPhone, Watch and iPad  The focus is on software usually, but Apple often announces hardware too, while the world’s media is paying attention  Do you have any changes you’d like to see in software?  LinkedIn Making a Clubhouse Rival  LinkedIn confirms it's working on a Clubhouse rival, too NFTs go missing People's Expensive NFTs Keep Vanishing. This Is Why Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

SBS reporter Calliste Weitenberg has been leading a double life online. She spent six months creating a fake wellness influencer Mia Wilde aka @ThatCoastalGirl all in the name of uncovering exactly how the influencer economy operates.  On today’s show, Calliste talks us through the highs and lows on being an influencer, how much fake followers cost and what happens when you dupe a marketing agency.  You can catch her full series of Like, Subscribe, Follow 10pm Tuesdays on The Feed, or anytime on SBS on-demand. Read about the experiment here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nine Entertainment is still reeling from a cyber attack that hit the company’s headquarters over the weekend, crippling some operations and stopping shows from going to air. So far the source of the suspected ransomware attack has not been identified.  Scott Morrison’s didn’t win any fans from the tech sector with his cabinet reshuffle yesterday. As James Riley, editor of InnovationAus puts it: the PM has buried the two most controversial Cabinet members by giving them tech-heavy portfolios. Christian Porter has been moved to the Industry, Science and Technology portfolio. While Linda Reynolds becomes the Minister for Government Services and the NDIS.  Remember COVIDsafe? Well, turns out it’s still around and costing about $100,000 per month to run.  Energy companies are working out how to deal with the strain electric vehicles will put on the grid. Origin energy is rolling out 150 “smart chargers” to electric vehicle owners that will coordinate times that their cars are recharged with periods of surplus solar supply. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lots of Slack news  Slack now lets you DM anyone  Slack is starting to roll out a new feature that lets anyone using the service DM each other. Announced back in October, Slack Connect DMs will let Slack users privately message employees outside of their company. This new DM feature builds on Slack's work with Connect, which started appearing last year. Slack quickly removes message invites in its new DM feature over harassment concerns The company says in response to concerns the feature could be used to send abusive messages or harassment with relative ease, it's now disabling the option to send a message alongside an invite. Slack is getting new audio features  Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield says the company will soon introduce new audio features;  Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield said his company would soon add a range of audio features for all users of its work chat app. Terfield said that a feature for leaving audio messages, similar to a function available in messaging apps like Telegram, was available in a beta test. He also said that Slack would soon offer a feature akin to the audio-chat app Clubhouse, which allows users to drop into rooms for conversations without requiring scheduling a meeting or initiating a call. Terfield also said Slack would soon get an ephemeral video message feature commonly known as "Stories," similar to a message format originated by Snapchat and imitated by many, from Instagram to LinkedIn. Amazon has a poop problem  The pandemic-induced boom in online shopping has come with an unhygienic side effect.  The Intercept reports, Amazon’s delivery drivers in the US often don’t have anywhere to go to the bathroom during their shifts. Leaving them to pee in bottles or defecate in bags. Amazon, in a fight with Bernie Sanders on Twitter, said this an urban legend But documents from The Intercept show management is aware of the problem.  This story has some amazing passive aggressive emails from management to their drivers…  Intel to Spend $20 Billion on 2 New Chip Factories in Arizona. Intel announced massive changes in its "Intel Unleashed: Engineering the Future" webcast last week New Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger announced plans for Intel to produce processors for other companies. There are three components of this vision; Intel's in-house manufacturing, Intel using third-party foundries for manufacturing, and the company's new Intel Foundry Services that will produce chips for other companies. Intel expects to build on its existing relationships with third-party foundries, which today manufacture a range of Intel technology - from communications and connectivity to graphics and chipsets. To deliver this vision, Intel is establishing a new standalone business unit, Intel Foundry Services, led by semiconductor industry veteran Dr. Randhir Thakur, who will report directly to Gelsinger. That's a major shift for Intel that could see the company making chips for some of its biggest... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

FRIDAY LINKS: WeWork tells investors it lost $3.2bn last year as it woos them for Spac deal  WeWork is back and plans to go public via a SPAC merger. The paperwork shows the company lost $3.2B last year, which compares with a $3.5B loss in 2019. occupancy rates fell to 47 percent at the close of 2020, a drop of 72 percent from the start of the year. Will there be a co-working comeback?   Richard Stallman returns to the Free Software Foundation after resigning in 2019 “Stallman also had a long history of iffy behaviour that often crossed the line between aloof nerd and straight up fuckwit.” The Sizzle…  And a number of FSF members have asked he be removed again  Free software advocates seek removal of Richard Stallman and entire FSF board Facebook is cool with you threatening to kill a public person  Facebook guidelines allow users to call for death of public figures Apple Wants Epic Games' Australian Lawsuit Thrown Out of Federal Court Among many arguments made, Apple argued that the cases between Epic and Apple are so similar in both California and Australia that it should be settled in the jurisdiction originally agreed upon by the two companies. Super Nintendo World review: sensory overload This is the first place i want to go to overseas  OnePlus Watch has 14-day battery, $159 price tag Not running Android Wear, but a proprietary system  Nintendo’s fancy new switch still using off the shelf products - upscaling  OLED Nintendo Switch reportedly uses new Nvidia chip with DLSS support Why does the homepod have temperature and humidity sensors?  HomePod mini reportedly includes room temperature and humidity sensor, could be enabled through software update Butterfly keyboard class action  Judge certifies class action lawsuit against Apple over infamous MacBook butterfly keyboard Ted Lasso wins writers guild  Ted Lasso wins big at Writers Guild... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thursday 25th  Microsoft in talks to buy Discord for more than $US10 billion  Discord and Microsoft Said to Discuss Deal That Could Top $10 Billion Popular chat client Discord is potentially up for sale, with Microsoft a potential buyer, according to those in the know  The Slack-like service is incredibly popular with gamers, and could easily slot into Microsoft’s Xbox gaming environment, on consoles and PCs Microsoft has another Slack-like chat product in Teams, but that has never really taken off outside of the enterprise - so there wouldn't be much overlap between the two clients The only other tech giant that seems like a suitable purchaser would be Amazon, who could roll Discord into its Twitch game streaming service.  Or, this could all just be rumours to get Discord re-valued for an upcoming IPO  Airtasker goes public  The platform you turn to when none of your friends will help you move is worth more than $400 million dollars. Airtasker listed on the ASX on Tuesday with a market valuation of $255.4 million. By the end of the day, it was valued at $412.5 million.  CEO Tim Fung, who co-founded the company in 2012, held onto his 12.7 per cent stake in the business through the IPO. His share is now worth more than $52 million.  One of the biggest things the company has going for it? Name recognition. In 2020, 99% of Airtasker’s new customers came from non-paid marketing channels.  That means they don’t need to pay the Google & Facebook tax.  YouTube to auto-detect products in videos, serve related links Youtube has a new experimental feature to detect products within a video, and generate links to the websites  The system is a bit of a twofer - training Google’s algorithms on image analysis, and also providing more ways to monetize youtube content.  This seems to be the holy grail of tv marketing, I’ve read similar experiments over the years from network television, smart tvs, Instagram and even youtube in the past  Youtube is already messy enough, do we really want more links and overlays in the service?  Prince Harry appointed chief impact officer at Silicon Valley start-up  Fresh from his separation from the Royal family, Prince Harry is sprucing up his resume.  The royal has been appointed the chief impact officer of BetterUp, a Silicon Valley start-up that provides coaching and mental health assistance for corporate employees. Harry, who has been vocal about his struggles with mental health, used the company’s app prior to joining it. In his new role he will “focus on driving advocacy and awareness for mental fitness” and “diversify Betterup’s community of coaches and customers through strategic planning” Which famous person would you hire for your start-up and what role would you give them? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to The Helpdesk for Wednesday March 24. We all consult Dr Google from time to time. But what’s the best way to manage your mental health online? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to The Helpdesk for Tuesday March 23. The evidence is mounting that Twitter will be adding an “undo tweet” feature. The ability to take back tweets has also shown up on a survey asking Twitter users about features they’d be willing to pay for, as well as in the code for the app, and CNET received confirmation today from Twitter that it is, in fact, being tested. More Twitter news: the company sent out a survey to random users asking if leaders should face more, less, or the same amount of scrutiny as other accounts and if it’s okay for the platform to ban a sitting president or prime minister.  Apple has announced the executives who it wants to take the stand in the case against Epic, and the lineup is, well, Epic. Plus take a trip into Apple’s history…  Venture capital company Spark Capital decided to sever ties with Dispo, the app it just gave a truckload of cash to.  Got a tech question you want answered? Get in touch at Thehelpdesk.com.au Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to The Helpdesk for Monday, March, 22.  Will Apple stand up to China on privacy?  Apple warns Chinese apps not to dodge its new privacy rules Zuck changes his tune of Apple’s anti-tracking features - kinda.  Zuckerberg: Facebook could be in “stronger position” after Apple tracking change  Instagram wants your kids to share pics of their babycinos.   'A bad idea all round': Facebook to launch Instagram for kids  Streaming services spend big on US sports.  NFL media rights deal 2023-2033: Amazon gets exclusive Thursday Night Got a tech question? Get in touch at thehelpdesk.com.au Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to The Helpdesk for Friday, 19th March. Today we catch up on all the stories we missed this week:  Federal Liberal MP calls for EV support, ban on fossil fuel cars by mid-2030s  Elon Musk crowns himself ‘Technoking’ of Tesla AirPods and Apple Watch continue to dominate wearables market but the HomePod has been discontinued  Twitter Hacker Pleads Guilty in Florida Court Judge rules Google has to face lawsuit that claims it tracks users even in Incognito mode Google announces new Nest Hub with Soli 'Sleep Sensing' CBA launches Afterpay rival  Almost a fifth of Facebook employees are now working on VR and AR: report  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Vaccine booking website frustrates users  GP clinics were inundated with phone calls from people trying to book their Covid-10 vaccine yesterday after the federal government’s online booking website failed to launch.  Bookings opened for vaccinations for people in the 1b group yesterday, but the government’s booking page wouldn’t let anyone actually make a booking online.  The Guardian reports, “the booking website told them to call their nearest vaccinating clinic to book an appointment, receptionists had told them they could not take any bookings as they has not yet been told by the government how many doses they would be receiving.”  Many of those people waiting on hold were in their 80s.  At a press conference, Health Minister Greg Hunt insisted the website had not been rushed and was always scheduled to be launched on Wednesday. There are a lot of moving parts here…  FYI the vaccine booking website – accessed via the Department of Health’s eligibility tool Instagram Creeps Blocked Instagram rolling out message restrictions to protect young users Instagram now bans adults from messaging teenagers who don't follow them.  The app will also now show “safety prompts” to teens messaged by adults “exhibiting potentially suspicious behaviour,” offering options to report or block the users.  Instagram is going to give safety notices to teens making sure they know they can restrict, report, and block users. The prompt also gives reminders that say “Don’t feel pressured to respond,” “Only share with people you trust,” and “Your safety comes first.” Amazon’s newest robot cathedral  Amazon is building a colossal warehouse in Sydney’s West and it is ready for the robots to move in.  The fulfillment centre will be Amazon’s biggest in the southern hemisphere, covering 200,000 square metres over four levels, it is the size of 24 football fields. It will be Amazon’s fifth fulfilment centre in Australia, but the first one with the really good robots.   The robots basically do all the heavy lifting and moving the inventory inside the building, and the humans do the picking and the packing.  Expected to be completed for the Black Friday sales in November, and will house 11 million items. Is this enough for Amazon to go from quietly competing to absolutely crushing retail in Australia?  Wikimedia wants big tech to pay Wikipedia Is Finally Asking Big Tech to Pay Up For years now, Wikipedia has made freely available a snapshot of everything that appears on the site every two weeks—a so-called “data dump” for users Today, the Wikimedia Foundation, which operates the Wikipedia project in more than 300 languages as well as other wiki-projects, is announcing the launch of a commercial product, Wikimedia Enterprise.  The new service is designed for the sale and efficient delivery of Wikipedia's content directly to these online behemoths (and eventually, to smaller companies too). seeking the reaction of Wikipedia’s... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tinder will soon let you run a background check on a potential date Tinder is working with a non-profit called Garbo to help customers find out if their potential dating partner has a criminal record. How does it work? Garbo allows people to find out whether someone they are interacting with has a criminal record or other court actions, such as a restraining order with only their name & phone number.  The service is expected to be integrated into Tinder later this year  BUT Hack, which has been following the Tinder story, have confirmed the feature will not available in OZ  Is this just another feature Tinder can charge its users for?  News Corp Australia signs Facebook deal; Nine reaches agreement And a follow up on yesterday’s Media Code story, Facebook has struck content deals with Australia’s two largest media companies — Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and Nine Entertainment. Details are scarce …  Nine, the owner of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, has also signed a letter of intent with the tech giant for use of its news articles, according to industry sources  News Corp signed a multimillion-dollar deal with Facebook for use of news articles from publications such as The Australian, The Daily Telegraph and the Herald Sun and videos from Sky News Australia. So that’s one less drama for Facebook to worry about.  https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2021/mar/16/australia-news-live-pressure-morrison-listen-women-vaccine-delay-albanese-nationals?page=with:block-60501fa38f08b2dc0e123ffb#block-60501fa38f08b2dc0e123ffb The government will amend its controversial online safety bill in the Senate to provide more transparency over how the eSafety commissioner uses their powers, as well as greater review mechanisms over decisions made about content removal, Guardian Australia understands. The Greens announced on Tuesday they would vote against the legislation. Labor MP Tim Watts expressed concerns about the lack of oversight and transparency. Among the changes will be more reporting from the commissioner about how the powers are used, and an internal review scheme. Opinion piece in the Saturday Paper https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/topic/2021/03/13/flaws-new-online-safety-laws/161555400011272  Parliament Is Finally Starting To Understand Video Games Alex Walker at Kotaku has penned a love letter to three federal Labor MPs.  Increased noise and support for the video games industry, particularly from Labor MPs Susan Templeman, Josh Burns and Watts, is at least an encouraging sign. Watts’ support for the sector is well pronounced, but the other members have interesting touchpoints with the video game industry as well. Burns electorate covers the main areas of Melbourne that... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Qantas begins trialling vaccine passport app Justin Hendry, IT News Qantas is looking at introducing a vaccine passport app in preparation for the return of international travel. iTnews reports that the airline is testing the CommonPass app on repatriation flights which logs whether a passenger has either tested negative for COVID or has been vaccinated.  CommonPass is not the only app being trialled. Qantas is also testing one developed by the International Air Transport Association.  While the app will be limited to international repatriation flights, the airline will at some point integrate the functionality into its app. Qantas hopes to resume international travel from late October with passengers requiring COVID vaccinations to board flights. Culture Amp revenue soars, as workplaces face burnout challenge Yolanda Redrup, AFR:  Despite fears the COVID-19 pandemic would put a handbrake on employee engagement software company Culture Amp’s growth, the $US700 million ($903 million)-valued company has recorded one of its best years yet, with revenue climbing 64 per cent. Former AMP Bank CEO Sally Bruce is now helping lead Culture Amp. Eamon Gallagher Figures lodged with ASIC for the 12 months to June 30, 2020, showed Culture Amp benefited as workplaces around the world were forced to grapple with burnt-out employees and low morale during COVID-19 lockdowns. ACCC watching the clock tick as Facebook lags Google in striking news media deals Asha Barbaschow at ZDnet A fortnight after the media code passed through Parliament, Facebook has only signed a revenue deal with one large organisation. Chair of the ACCC, Rod Sims was asked if there was anything that could be done to move this along. During a recent senate inquiry he said: "I'm happy to give it a bit more time and therefore not do anything at the moment.”  According to media reports, Nine and News Corp are close to reaching deals with FB  Netflix password sharing clamp-down could be pandemic bad news Jason Gurwin at The Streamable  Earlier this week, some Netflix subscribers began to notice that it might be a bit harder to “borrow” someone’s password. In the prompt, customers are told that “If you don’t live with the owner of this account, you need your own account to keep watching.” In order to continue, they need to verify the account with a E-mail or Text Code, or create a new account with a 30-Day Free Trial. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Australia extends tech giant probe to Google and Apple browser domination ZDnet:  With the News Media Bargaining Code out of the way, the Australian government has moved its tech giant battle to the browser scene, keeping Google in its crosshairs while putting Apple under the microscope. Led by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the new battle is focused on "choice and competition in internet search and web browsers". The consumer watchdog on Thursday put out a call for submissions, with a number of questions posed in a discussion paper [PDF], centred on internet browser defaults. It claimed Apple's Safari is the most common browser used in Australia for smartphones and tablets, accounting for 51% of use. This is followed by Chrome with 39%, Samsung Internet with 7%, and with less than 1%, Mozilla Firefox. Microsoft and newspapers join forces to fight Google Google accuses Microsoft of 'naked corporate opportunism' Google repeated how its against “proposals that would disrupt access to the open web,” believing that link taxes “hurt consumers, small businesses, and publishers.” The company then makes the case that Microsoft’s participation in the discussion is not being done in good faith, with “self-serving claims” that are “just plain wrong.” They have paid out a much smaller amount to the news industry than we have. And given the chance to support or fund their own journalists, Microsoft replaced them with AI bots. Split Screen: How Different Are Americans' Facebook Feeds? – The Markup Apple sues former employee for stealing trade secrets, leaking information to the media Apple is taking legal action against its former materials lead, Simon Lancaster, over allegedly leaking trade secrets to the media. The lawsuit accuses Lancaster of abusing his “position and trust within the company to systematically disseminate Apple’s sensitive trade secret information in an effort to obtain personal benefits.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Roblox Soars 43% on First Day of Trading as Gaming Booms The games industry had a bumper year last year, with the launch of two new consoles and people locked indoors for a good chunk of the year A record $56.9 billion was spent on gaming last year in the United States, up 27 percent from 2019, according to the NPD Group That all set the stage for Roblox first day of trading, which saw its shares jump by 43%  Roblox is fascinating story - it was started 16 years ago and launched 14 years ago, so it is hardly an overnight success, but it’s still niche enough that many people wouldn’t have heard of the company  The game is sort of like a online version of Minecraft - while minecraft can be played online, you do need to build your own server, so that’s a barrier for most people  Roblox allows users to create their own minigames that others can play. Many of the games have been built by kids who grew up with the game, and know it back to front  One developer, Anne Shoemaker, 21, said she had earned more than $500,000 from the platform, most of it since the pandemic began. She has used some of the money to hire two employees and a dozen contractors, she said. Epic expands app store fight even further with new legal claim against Google in Australia Epic Games is continuing its worldwide fight against Google & Apple’s app stores.  The gaming company has started legal proceedings in Australia against Google, alleging Google is breaching Australian consumer law by abusing its control over the Android operating system. The legal claim follows a similar action against Apple in Australia filed last November, and Epic’s legal fight against app stores now spans the European Union, the UK, and the US At the heart of the matter...Epic says it’s unfair Google and Apple take 30% cut of app revenue and app makers need alternative app stores or alternative in-app payment systems. Facebook Seeks to Dismiss Antitrust Suits, Saying It Hasn’t Harmed Consumers  Meanwhile, Facebook wants the antitrust cases against it to be dismissed.  FB filed two motions this week asking courts to dismiss the lawsuits filed by the FTC and a coalition of state attorneys general last year.  It’s the first move from Facebook’s lawyers in what will be a long legal back-and-forth.  Fire breaks out in OVH building in Lille, France  Millions of European websites were taken down after a fire destroyed parts of a major data centre.  The data centre was located in Strasbourg, in eastern France, and is operated by OVHCloud, a french alternative to AWS and Microsoft Azure.  Why is a fire in your data centre bad?  Tech’s War With News Outlets Flares as U.S. Lawmakers Ready... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Peloton is coming to Australia Cult fitness brand Peloton is coming to Australia The exercise tech company has often been described as “the Apple of Fitness”, due to it’s very shiny marketing, and full stack of hardware and software The exercise bikes feature a large screen for streaming workouts  Bikes will start at AU$2,895 - with a $59 a month subscription on top of that Peloton’s announcement follows a massive December quarter for the company, which saw its revenue grow 128% to AU$1.38 billion The launch is expected in the second half of this year Twitter is taking on Clubhouse, Substack and Patreon with new products The Verge has a profile on Twitter’s Kayvon Beykpour -head of consumer product No new information here, we’ve talked about all the various new products Twitter is working on, including Spaces, and Super Follows Still, it’s a really thoughtful interview and one that product managers and owners should listen to or read  Kayvon talks about needing to shift the culture at twitter from one resistant to change, to one that embraces it.  Amazon is working on a new robot Amazon has more than 800 employees working on a new Alexa powered home robot, with the code name Vesta There’s not a huge amount of detail on what the robot may do, but it is described as being about “the size of two small cats” that roams around the house & will have multiple cameras and screens  Internally, the project has caused some grief due to delays and redesigns, with some worried the device will have limited “mainstream appeal” - or even worse, become another complete dud, like the Amazon Fire Phone  Pete Evans Is Back On Facebook, Which The Company Says Is Fine Celebrity chef and expensive lamp seller Pete Evans is back on Facebook  In November, Facebook banned the page “Chef Pete Evans” for continually breaking the platform's rules on spreading covid and vaccine misinformation.  Evan’s new page is there to support Evan’s senate race, and is called, Pete Evans – Senate – Great Australia Party’ “Facebook has a recidivism policy that prohibits people from creating new Pages that are similar to ones that were removed for violating the platform’s rules.”  But in this case, Facebook seems to think Pete Evans Potential senator is very different to Pete Evans Chef.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Google alternative  https://www.forbes.com/sites/martyswant/2021/03/08/after-building-googles-advertising-business-this-founder-is-creating-an-ad-free-alternative/ Forbes has a good profile on Srid-har Ramaswamy, a former Googler who is now CEO of search engine start up, Neeva Neeva users will pay between $5 and $10 a month to get the search results without ads Ironically, Ramaswamy used to be head of Google’s ad division  The company has just 45 employees, over a dozen from Google Still a long way from being a competitor, but worth keeping an eye on  Esafety The esafety bill is moving it’s way through parliament, and commissioner  Julie Inman Grant has made it clear that she won’t be going after nudity or sexual content on sites for sex workers Sex Industry groups were worried they would become swept up in the new esafety laws - but Inman Grant has said there will be exceptions for sex workers  In the US, when a simialr law made advertising sexual services illegal, many sex workers complained this made the industry far more dangerous.  Meanwhile, Gizmodo has asked is this the return of the porn face scanner by stealth,,?  Sex industry ‘not my concern’: eSafety Commissioner defends proposed new powers https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2021/03/the-online-safety-act-could-bring-in-the-porn-face-scan-by-stealth/  https://www.afr.com/technology/tech-sector-warns-of-dangers-in-rushed-online-safety-laws-20210305-p5788h  Another streaming service is coming to Oz  Paramount+ will launch in Australia later this year  Owned by US media conglomerate ViacomCBS, the streaming service launched in the US and parts of Latin America last week. It’s not totally new - Paramount+ replaces/supersedes CBS All Access which currently operates as 10 All Access here in Australia (because remember that CBS bought 10 a few years back for super cheap) The service will also have shows from MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, and VH1, as well as some original series.  Q. What do you think a streaming service needs to succeed in Australia?  Q. How many streaming services will people subscribe to? Is there such a thing as coming too late to the market?  Wtf is discord?  https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-social-network-without-ads-discord-defies-convention-11615199401 The Wall Street Journal has a great story on Discord today, the little social network that could  The service went from 60m monthly users at the start of 2020, to 725m users today  Discord started as a gaming chat service, popular because of its small resources and low lag  Discord is similar in look... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

https://www.macrumors.com/roundup/imac-pro/ https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-04/nintendo-plans-switch-model-with-bigger-samsung-oled-display Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jack Dorsey is desperate for celebrity parties. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.