Unchecked technological advancement is destroying our shared reality and sewing severe discord in social democracies, 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa has warned. Speaking at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s Sydney Dialogue event last week, Ressa – founder of Filipino news site Rappler and the country’s first Nobel Laureate – described what she called… Read more »
The Commonwealth Bank venture-scaling entity, x15ventures, has launched a new venture targeting Gen Z and Millennials with a brand and deal discovery shopping app that offers cashback rewards Cheddar uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help customers discover personalised brands, authentic content and deals, alongside a rewards program, serving up bite-sized content in the style of… Read more »
After all the time we’ve spent in and out of lockdowns in the past two year, there’s one thing we know for sure – online browsing (the digital replacement for window shopping) has become a national sport. But what might be a harmless activity for the browser can be a frustrating challenge for businesses because… Read more »
Prepaid funerals startup Bare Cremation has fallen foul of consumer watchdog the ACCC just two years after it launched. The venture has been handed a $13,320 infringement notice for allegedly making a false and misleading representation about the price of its cremation services. Friends Cale Donovan and Sam McConkey, co-founded of Bare in 2019, pledging… Read more »
In the 2012 book Why Nations Fail, James A. Robinson and Daron Acemoglu look at why some great nations are destined to fail and some to succeed. One major theme amongst failures is leaders that aren’t prepared to share the success of a nation, and keep all the glory for themselves, eventually leading to revolt.… Read more »
You may have read recently that TikTok allegedly “serves up” sex and drug videos to minors. Media reports have described the video-sharing platform, which is designed predominantly for young people, as an “addiction machine” that promotes harmful content. In an investigation, reporters at the Wall Street Journal created 31 bot accounts on TikTok, each programmed… Read more »
Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has announced the company will change its name to Meta, saying the move reflects the fact the company is now much broader than just the social media platform (which will still be called Facebook). The rebrand follows several months of intensifying discourse by Zuckerberg and the company more broadly on… Read more »
The duo behind Stylerunner have a new startup targeting women’s fashion two years after their online activewear retail venture collaps Twins Sali Sasi and Julie Stevanja will launch a “curated shopping and discovery app”, Her Black Book, next month. The sisters founded the ecommerce site Stylerunner in 2012 with Sasi parting ways with her sister… Read more »
The government is getting ready to hand out $10 million fines for companies mismanaging user information with new legislation targeting social media companies. A draft of the Privacy Legislation Amendment (Enhancing Online Privacy and Other Measures) Bill 2021 – or the Online Privacy Bill for short – was circulated on Monday. The bill aims to… Read more »
NSW is making a play to be at the cutting edge of drug and vaccine development with a new university-based lab and pre-clinical trial space to create early-stage mRNA and RNA-based drugs. mRNA is the new science behind the Pfizer and Moderna Covid vaccines. While Australia has played a key role in research and development… Read more »
The reopening of NSW continues today with masks coming off in the office after the state hit its 80% double dose vaccination target last week. Under the Reopening NSW Roadmap’s 80% settings for people who are fully vaccinated, community sport returns, you can stand to have a drink and there’s no longer a cap on… Read more »
Victoria’s latest lockdown will end at midnight on Thursday as vaccination rates hit key benchmarks. Melburnians, who now have the dubious honour of having endured the longest combined period of lockdowns of lockdowns in the world during the Covid-19 pandemic, will begin to return to a more normal life with the state expected to hit… Read more »
Consumer data right (CDR) startup Adatree, which is powering fintechs in open banking, has built a real-time capability alert system to warn people if they’ve just bought something at a Covid-19 exposure site. As NSW opens up once again, with Victoria to follow within weeks, and politicians saying we must “leave to live” with the… Read more »
Yesterday a colossal data leak from live streaming platform Twitch.tv was posted on controversial internet forum 4chan by an anonymous user. Twitch hosts millions of users who stream their daily activities to a combined audience of tens of millions of people. The platform is used primarily to stream computer game-related content, although users can broadcast… Read more »
Sydney and NSW will reopen faster than planned under revised plans revealed by new Premier Dominic Perrotett. The key changes to the Reopening NSW roadmap from this Monday, October 11, are: 10 visitors allowed in the home (excluding children under 12) Outdoor gatherings increase to 30 (previously 20) Weddings and funerals increase to 100 guests… Read more »
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