Food delivery platform DoorDash has copped a $2,011,320 penalty from the communications regulator for sending more than one million texts and emails in breach of Australian spam rules. The NSYE-listed tech company, which launched aggressively in Australian in 2019 amid complaints from restaurateurs that they’d been signed up to the platform without their permission and… Read more »
Two subsidiaries of social media giant Meta, Facebook Israel and Onavo Inc, have been fined $10 million each for misleading conduct, in breach of the Australian Consumer Law, over a virtual private network (VPN) service that was used to gather data on users and share it with Facebook’s marketing team. Consumer watchdog the ACCC launched… Read more »
Amid an ongoing cost-cutting effort, Twitter has now refused to pay the bills to renew its multi-year contract with Google Cloud, Platformer has reported. We’ve all heard of “the cloud” – but what does it have to do with Twitter? And more to the point, what will the consequences be for Twitter users if Google… Read more »
Apple’s new Vision Pro mixed reality headset has generated a significant amount of buzz. Announcing it at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference, chief executive Tim Cook said the virtual and augmented reality headset will allow users to “see, hear and interact with digital content just like it’s in your physical space […] seamlessly blending the… Read more »
From networking events and panel discussions to fireside chats and an eye-opening workshop, the City of Sydney’s Visiting Entrepreneur Program is tackling the most topical conversations in tech, from AI to sustainability. This month, Sydney will bring together some of the world’s leading global entrepreneurs and tech experts for its annual program of free events… Read more »
Alphabet’s experimental drone delivery service, Wing, is branching out from delivering supermarket groceries in Queensland to meal delivery in a partnership with DoorDash. The two tech companies have team up with property giant Mirvac to launch drone delivered meals from food retailers signed up on DoorDash from Orion Springfield Central shopping centre in Ipswich. The… Read more »
Australian lawyers are seeking app developers to join a class action against Google and Apple over what they claim is an abuse of market power by charging 30% commissions on in-app spending while preventing competitive payment alternatives. The class action reflects similar legal action launched in 2020 by Epic Games, the company behind Fortnite, against the… Read more »
According to predictions made nearly a decade ago, we should be riding around in self-driving vehicles today. It’s now clear the autonomous vehicle revolution was overhyped. Proponents woefully underestimated the technological challenges. It turns out developing a truly driverless vehicle is hard. The other factor driving the hype was the amount of money being invested… Read more »
Why do Uber, Lyft, Didi, OLA, and other ride-sharing companies want to partner with public transport agencies? For Uber and Lyft, the reason is simple: their business plans were based on eventually using driverless vehicles to eliminate their main cost, the labour cost of the driver. But human drivers won’t be replaced for some time.… Read more »
Tech companies are always in the news, usually touting the next big thing. However, the tech news cycle recently hasn’t been dominated by the latest gadget or innovation. Instead, layoffs are in the headlines. In the last year, more than 70,000 people globally have been laid off by Big Tech companies – and that doesn’t… Read more »
If share price is anything to go by, Tesla is in trouble. The market capitalisation of the electric vehicle (EV) company has fallen by 73% from its record high in November 2021, causing concern for investors. On the face of it, there is no crisis. The cars are still the benchmark for performance. The underlying… Read more »
Legal action by the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission against Google over changes to its data privacy policy has been dismissed by the Federal Court in a big win for the US tech company. The court found that Google did not mislead Australian consumers when it changed its privacy policy to expand the scope of… Read more »
Four years of misleading users about cancellation fees if they book a taxi via Uber’s app has cost the ridesharing company A$21 million. That’s roughly Uber’s commission on 3 million $20 rides. The Federal Court ordered Uber to pay the $21 million penalty after the US tech giant admitted it had engaged in misleading or… Read more »
In early November, the Commonwealth Department of Infrastructure invited public comment on proposed Australia-wide “drone delivery guidelines” it has been quietly developing with industry stakeholders. A slick new website – drones.gov.au – boasts of the supposed benefits of delivery drones. It claims they will create jobs, provide cost-efficiency and be environmentally sustainable. The draft guidelines… Read more »
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