Social media ban shouldn’t be judged by its impact on day one
Regardless of workarounds and likely teething problems, the impact of the law will be measured not over days and weeks, but over the much longer term. ⌘ Read more

Senators accuse telcos of Triple Zero ‘cover-up’ over system failures
Almost 100,000 Samsung phones still can’t reliably call Triple Zero, and the inquiry into the system has revealed dysfunctional communications between telcos, regulators and the federal government. ⌘ Read more

‘Time to go’: Calls for UTS VC to resign after staff no confidence vote
The union-run vote comes as controversial, consultant-designed redundancies continue and politicians call for resignations. ⌘ Read more

‘People want me to fail’: The woman in charge of enforcing Australia’s social media ban feels the heat
Julie Inman Grant is battling tech giants and High Court challenges while navigating her 13-year-old daughter’s conviction that the ban will “ruin her life”. ⌘ Read more

TPG reveals second possible Triple Zero death
The telco’s chief executive Inaki Berroeta has told a Senate committee hearing that incompatible Samsung software is to blame. ⌘ Read more

IBM To Buy Confluent For $11 Billion To Expand AI Services
IBM is buying Confluent for $11 billion in a major push to own real-time data streaming infrastructure essential for enterprise AI workloads. It marks Big Blue’s biggest acquisition since Red Hat in 2019. Bloomberg reports: The AI boom has touched off billions of dollars in deals for businesses that build, train or leverage the technology, propelling the valu … ⌘ Read more

TPG reveals new possible Triple Zero death
The telco’s chief executive Inaki Berroeta has told a Senate committee hearing that incompatible Samsung software is to blame. ⌘ Read more

Lenovo’s Next Gaming Laptop May Have a Rollable OLED Screen That Stretches Ultrawide
Lenovo may be preparing to unveil a gaming laptop that uses rollable OLED technology to expand horizontally into an ultrawide 21:9 display, according to a Windows Latest report suggesting the device could appear at CES 2026 in January. The Lenovo Legion Pro Rollable would differ from the company’s existing T … ⌘ Read more

Japan is facing a dementia crisis – can technology help?
Elderly people aged 65 and over now make up nearly 30% of Japan’s population. ⌘ Read more

EU Urged to Soften 2035 Ban on Internal Combustion Engine Cars
Friday six European Union countries “asked the European Commission to water down an effective ban on the sale of internal combustion engine cars slated for 2035,” reports Reuters

The countries have asked the EU Commission to allow the sale of hybrid cars or vehicles powered by other, existing or future, technologies “that could contribute to the goa … ⌘ Read more

How Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora’s From the Ashes expansion aligns with the new film
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora’s From the Ashes game expansion is directly connected to James Cameron’s upcoming film, Avatar: Fire and Ash. 9news.com.au spoke with its creators to learn more about the new game update ahead of its release on December 18. ⌘ Read more

Many Privileged Students at US Universities are Getting Extra Time on Tests After ‘Disability’ Diagnoses
Today America’s college professors “struggle to accommodate the many students with an official disability designation,” reports the Atlantic, “which may entitle them to extra time, a distraction-free environment, or the use of otherwise-prohibited technology.”

Their st … ⌘ Read more

The Anxieties of Full-Body MRI Scans (Not Covered by Insurance)
Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank calls himself “a highly creative hypochondriac” — who just paid for an expensive MRI scan to locate abnormal spots as tiny as 2 millimeters.

He discusses the pros and cons of its “diffusion-weighted imaging” technology combined with the pattern recognition of AI, which theoretically “has the potential to save … ⌘ Read more

From cameras to consoles: the ultimate tech gift guide for Christmas
Our favourite bits of kit make great presents, with options from $50 to $1000. ⌘ Read more

OpenAI Has Trained Its LLM To Confess To Bad Behavior
An anonymous reader quotes a report from MIT Technology Review: OpenAI is testing another new way to expose the complicated processes at work inside large language models. Researchers at the company can make an LLM produce what they call a confession, in which the model explains how it carried out a task and (most of the time) owns up to any bad behavior. Figuring out why … ⌘ Read more

‘World’s first drone war’: Russia-Ukraine war pits technology against manpower
When it comes to weaponry, Russia has strength in manpower despite Ukraine’s early technological edge while Europe’s arms production efforts are running into infrastructure hurdles. ⌘ Read more

A $70 million mirage: Lessons from Australia’s biggest start-up blow-up
Strongroom AI raised $17 million at a $70 million valuation. Three weeks later, investors called the police. ⌘ Read more

Why One Man Is Fighting For Our Right To Control Our Garage Door Openers
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times: A few years ago, Paul Wieland, a 44-year-old information technology professional living in New York’s Adirondack Mountains, was wrapping up a home renovation when he ran into a hiccup. He wanted to be able to control his new garage door with his smartphone. But the o … ⌘ Read more

AI Chatbots Can Sway Voters Better Than Political Ads
An anonymous reader quotes a report from MIT Technology Review: New research reveals that AI chatbots can shift voters’ opinions in a single conversation – and they’re surprisingly good at it. A multi-university team of researchers has found that chatting with a politically biased AI model was more effective than political advertisements at nudging both Democrats … ⌘ Read more

Deep-sea mining tests impact over a third of seabed animals, scientists say
The findings contribute to a controversial debate that pits green technology against the environment. ⌘ Read more

Facial age verification: Can it be fooled and how safe is it?
Scanning a face to guess its age is likely to be a major part of the “waterfall” of methods used to comply with the social media ban. ⌘ Read more

Wider use of facial recognition could see biggest change in policing since DNA, minister says
The Home Office hopes a new public consultation will lead to new laws expanding the use of the technology by more police forces. ⌘ Read more

Wider use of facial recognition could see biggest change in policing since DNA, minister says
The Home Office hopes a new public consultation will lead to new laws expanding the use of the technology by more police forces. ⌘ Read more

Facial recognition could be used more widely by police
The Home Office hopes a new public consultation will lead to new laws expanding the use of the technology by more police forces. ⌘ Read more

After Nearly 30 Years, Crucial Will Stop Selling RAM To Consumers
Micron is shutting down its Crucial consumer RAM business in 2026 after nearly three decades, citing heavy demand from AI data centers. “The AI-driven growth in the data center has led to a surge in demand for memory and storage,” Sumit Sadana, EVP and chief business officer at Micron Technology, said in a statement. “Micron has made the dif … ⌘ Read more

Meta’s AI wrongly bans Australian businesses
Instagram owner’s support systems have been labelled useless as the telecommunications ombudsman says complaints about social media and digital platforms are soaring. ⌘ Read more

Como é que estas palavras não estão trocadas?

Na notícia em https://eco.sapo.pt/entrevista/amazon-web-services-prepara-investimento-em-novo-centro-de-servicos-em-portugal-data-sera-conhecida-em-breve/ , lê-se o título:

“Amazon Web Services prepara investimento em novo centro de serviços em Portugal. Data será conhecida “em breve””

mas depois temos como subtítulo:

“André Rodrigues, head of technology para a Europa do Sul da Amazon Web Services, afirma que a tecnológica está interessada em investir na cloud soberana que o Governo quer implementar.”

Portanto a acreditar nestes textos, a Amazon, quer “investir” na “cloud soberana” do Governo. Mas, claro, isso não faz sentido, a cloud soberana não é uma empresa cotada em bolsa ou algo em que se possa investir… Que poderá então isto querer dizer?

Ora, a notícia propriamente dita diz que “André Rodrigues, head of technology para a Europa do Sul da Amazon Web Services, afirma que a tecnológica está interessada em investir na cloud soberana que o Governo quer implementar. A tecnológica aguarda apenas que sejam “definidas as guidelines sobre aquilo que será a diretriz do governo para a cloud“.”

Ou seja, a Amazon está a pensar em concorrer para ser fornecedor para a nossa cloud soberana: vai tentar que Portugal invista na Amazon, não o contrário.

Esperemos que as diretrizes sejam para uma cloud verdadeiramente soberana - e se forem, então a Amazon não poderá ser fornecedora.

WA’s surrogacy, IVF laws overhauled as legislation passes parliament
Same-sex couples, single people, transgender and intersex West Australians will be able to access assisted reproductive technology and surrogacy, almost a decade after reforms were first promised. ⌘ Read more

Australia’s social media lockout begins as teens face digital exile
Meta will start booting under-16s from Facebook and Instagram on Thursday, while YouTube finally “begrudgingly” confirms compliance. ⌘ Read more

Amazon To Use Nvidia Tech In AI Chips, Roll Out New Servers
AWS is deepening its partnership with Nvidia by adopting “NVLink Fusion” in its upcoming Trainium4 AI chips. “The NVLink technology creates speedy connections between different kinds of chips and is one of Nvidia’s crown jewels,” notes Reuters. From the report: Nvidia has been pushing to sign up other chip firms to adopt its NVLink technology, with Intel, Qualco … ⌘ Read more

What if artificial intelligence is just a ‘normal’ technology?
Its rise might yet follow the path of previous technological revolutions. ⌘ Read more

New satellite images show scale of China’s Philippine Sea flotilla
Private firm Starboard Maritime Intelligence says it has used satellite technology to track down the People’s Liberation Army Navy task group. ⌘ Read more

Colleges Are Preparing To Self-Lobotomize
The skills that future graduates will most need in an age of automation – creative thinking, critical analysis, the capacity to learn new things – are precisely those that a growing body of research suggests may be eroded by inserting AI into the educational process, yet universities across the United States are now racing to embed the technology into every dimension of their curricula.

O … ⌘ Read more

UK ‘Not in Favor’ of Dimming the Sun
The British government said it opposes attempts to cool the planet by spraying millions of tons of dust into the atmosphere – but did not close the door to a debate on regulating the technology. From a report: The comments in parliament Thursday came after a POLITICO investigation revealed an Israeli-U.S. company Stardust Solutions aimed to be capable of deploying solar radiation modification, as the t … ⌘ Read more

Can AI Transform Space Propulsion?
An anonymous reader shared this report from The Conversation:

To make interplanetary travel faster, safer, and more efficient, scientists need breakthroughs in propulsion technology. Artificial intelligence is one type of technology that has begun to provide some of these necessary breakthroughs. We’re a team of engineers and graduate students who are studying how AI in general, and a subset of AI call … ⌘ Read more

Smart cars used as ‘weapons’ by domestic violence abusers
A new eSafety advisory warns Australians about technology-facilitated abuse and provides advice on how to protect themselves from it. ⌘ Read more

AI Can Already Do the Work of 12% of America’s Workforce, Researchers Find
An anonymous reader shared this report from CBS News:

Artificial intelligence can do the work currently performed by nearly 12% of America’s workforce, according to a recentstudy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The researchers, relying on a metric called the “Iceberg Index” that measures a job’s potential to be aut … ⌘ Read more

Black Sesame SoC Support To Be Merged For Linux 6.19
A new SoC vendor and in turn new SoC/platform support is set to premiere in the Linux 6.19 kernel with the initial Black Sesame Technologies C1200 support… ⌘ Read more

‘Thongs aren’t underwear’: The case for an Australian ChatGPT
Sovereign Australia AI wants to build a model that understands Australian culture and values. But does the country really need it? ⌘ Read more

Uber Launches Driverless Robotaxi Service in Abu Dhabi, and Plans Many More
“A year after launching a commercial robotaxi service in Abu Dhabi, Chinese autonomous vehicle technology company WeRide and partner Uber can finally call that service driverless,” reports TechCrunch.
A company official hailed it as “a historic transportation milestone, as the first driverless AV deployment outside of the U.S … ⌘ Read more

Handheld Xbox might not be all it seems, but it’s a great portable PC
As the Xbox brand expands to all gaming platforms, the Xbox Ally X puts its best foot forward with huge performance and a streamlined UI. ⌘ Read more

Europe Fears It Can’t Catch Up in Great Power Competition
European leaders have spent years warning that the continent risked falling behind the U.S., China and Russia in the global contest for economic, technological and military dominance, and officials now believe they have reached that point.

The mood darkened over the summer when Europe found itself on the sidelines as Washington and Beijing negotiated a reset of glo … ⌘ Read more

Less-known social apps surge as teen users look for new home
The likes of Yope and Lemon8 are enjoying an uptick in Australia right now, but they will still be subject to the government’s regulations. ⌘ Read more

Better Technology, Worse Motivation: GenAI’s Mediocrity Trap

While generative AI (GenAI) promises productive efficiency, it can paradoxically lead to lower-quality work. We conducted an experiment with professional illustrators and found that AI assistance flattens the quality curve—it accelerates initial gains but sharply diminishes the returns on sustained effort. Faced with this, a significant number of professionals made a strategic choice: they sacrificed the final quality to save time.

From http://www.jin-li.org/uploads/1/1/4/5/114595093/ai_and_motivation.pdf

I haven’t read this and can’t vouch for it; seems vaguely AI-boostery. Still, the conclusions are interesting. This seems to be the picture that is emerging about generative AI generally: most people don’t like it and find that degrades the quality of work. Coders seem to like it and think that it helps them, but in fact it makes the slower, less productive, and more bug prone.

By all measures it’s a bad technology. We should just be honest about it. There is no need to make excuses for multi-trillion-dollar corporations.

Victoria’s worst-for-business reputation? Atlassian says it hasn’t noticed
The Business Council of Australia has slammed Victoria’s taxes and red tape, but tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes says the criticism doesn’t stack up ⌘ Read more

Inquest finds murder of Lilie James ‘was a premeditated killing’
A NSW coroner has urged young people to consider their use of location-sharing technology after the “senseless” murder of Lilie James at the hands of her ex-boyfriend. ⌘ Read more

Social media ban: A guide for Australian parents
What you need to know, and what you can do. ⌘ Read more

@prologic@twtxt.net AI is slot machines for coders:

• “Before starting tasks, developers forecast that allowing AI will reduce completion time by 24%. After completing the study, developers estimate that allowing AI reduced completion time by 20%. Surprisingly, we find that allowing AI actually increases completion time by 19%–AI tooling slowed developers down.” https://metr.org/blog/2025-07-10-early-2025-ai-experienced-os-dev-study/
  
• “Stack Overflow data reveals the hidden productivity tax of ‘almost right’ AI code”: https://venturebeat.com/ai/stack-overflow-data-reveals-the-hidden-productivity-tax-of-almost-right-ai-code
  

The same intermittent reward operant conditioning that gets people addicted to gambling and thinking that if they follow certain rituals they’ll win “next time” drives people’s beliefs that AI tools are making them more productive when they’re making them less productive. I’m going to guess that a side effect of this is that people think they’re typing less when in the longer term they’re typing the same amount or more when you factor in the productivity loss (as far as I’ve read the studies don’t measure this so I’m only guessing).

People are also being rapidly de-skilled by this technology: the more they use it, the more their actual skills atrophy. “Continuous exposure to AI might reduce the ADR (adesoma detection rate) of standard non-AI assisted colonoscopy, suggesting a negative effect on endoscopist behaviour.” (science speak for saying that radiologists get worse at seeing tumors in scans once they’ve used AI): https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langas/article/PIIS2468-1253(25)00133-5/abstract

Nobody who cares about the future should be using this stuff for anything.

https://fokus.cool/2025/11/25/i-dont-care-how-well-your-ai-works.html

AI systems being egregiously resource intensive is not a side effect — it’s the point.

And someone commented on that with:

I’m fascinated by the take about the resource usage being an advantage to the AI bros.

They’ve created software that cannot (practically) be replicated as open source software / free software, because there is no community of people with sufficient hardware / data sets. It will inherently always be a centralized technology.

Fascinating and scary.

‘Premium prices for a downgrade’: $96.5 million BoM website savaged
Pressure is mounting on the agency and its newly minted chief executive Stuart Minchin after a major cost blowout. ⌘ Read more