‘Fresh face’: WiseTech backs scandal-hit Grok Academy with $8.7m
Both organisations are attempting to move past turmoil that has engulfed them over the past 18 months. ⌘ Read more
PlayStation, Xbox wars out, Netflix, Amazon in: the state of blockbuster games in 2026
As the jousts between PlayStation, Xbox and the Switch disappear, the new frontier looks likely to be a fight for content across all entertainment media. ⌘ Read more
ChatGPT’s biggest rival is setting up shop in Australia
The multibillion-dollar AI start-up, Anthropic, is set to become the latest tech giant to establish a presence on local shores as Australia ramps up efforts to lure foreign investment. ⌘ Read more
Astronauts leave space station in NASA’s first medical evacuation
The four returning astronauts are aiming to splash down on Thursday evening (AEDT) in the Pacific near San Diego. ⌘ Read more
Unions score rare win over AI rollout with Microsoft agreement
The deal follows a wave of AI-linked job cuts at major Australian employers including CBA, Atlassian and WiseTech. ⌘ Read more
Apple’s Gemini deal a win for Google, but will it make your iPhone smarter?
Apple has been extremely cautious when it comes to using AI and is hoping Google’s raw resources will help it close the gap on its rivals. ⌘ Read more
Your colleague that’s happy to do the mundane parts of work: AWS announces frontier AI agents
In Las Vegas, AWS’s re:Invent 2025 conference showcased AI that doesn’t just assist, but acts autonomously, highlighting a profound shift in enterprise technology. ⌘ Read more
From trifold phones to singing lollipops: the best and worst gadgets of CES
From the world’s biggest consumer tech show, here are the best pocketable gadgets, potentially useful future tech, and the products awarded worst in show. ⌘ Read more
In Trump’s America, smart robots and AI mask an uncomfortable future
The world’s largest gadget show promised a future in which technology handles everything. Outside the Las Vegas bubble, reality had other plans. ⌘ Read more
Inside CES 2026: Giant TVs, robots unveiled in Las Vegas
From robots to giant TVs, technology expert Trevor Long reveals the latest household gadgets being unveiled at the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Trevor Long travelled to Las Vegas with support from Hisense, LG, Reolink, LEGO and Samsung. ⌘ Read more
The new TVs vying for your living room (and wallet) in 2026
From pencil-thin OLEDs to screens the size of a small car, there are some genuinely impressive displays coming – albeit at somewhat terrifying prices. ⌘ Read more
From dishwasher to world’s ninth-richest man: Nvidia boss faces his future
Jensen Huang has a simple lesson from running the world’s most valuable company: “Don’t get fired, and don’t get bored”. ⌘ Read more
Travelling to America? Here’s how to protect your privacy in phone searches
US Customs and Border Protection agents have broad authority to look through travellers’ phones, laptops and other electronic devices. Here’s what you need to know. ⌘ Read more
Lego releases the smart brick but how does it work?
Tom Donaldson, head of Lego’s Creative Play Lab, unveils the smart brick at a news conference ahead of the CES tech show in Las Vegas. ⌘ Read more
Lego unveils their new Smart Brick
Touted as changing how kids play with Lego, the Smart Brick is revealed in Las Vegas, and will be sold as part of three new Star Wars Lego sets. ⌘ Read more
Lego unveils ‘Smart Bricks’, its biggest innovation in 50 years
Eight years of development have produced a computer small enough to fit inside a classic 2x4 brick. But do kids really need a microphone and speaker chip inside it? ⌘ Read more
Google’s ‘chess master’ is working on AI’s killer app
A product breakthrough has long eluded Demis Hassabis, but that could change in 2026. ⌘ Read more
@birb@birb https://blog.elftorp.com/feed/
Why a groundbreaking new TV show disappeared without a trace
Choosing high-profile tech boffin James Curran as co-host proved to be disastrous. ⌘ Read more
Salt Typhoon hackers ‘almost certainly’ in Australia’s critical infrastructure
China’s hacking campaign is one of the most effective long-term espionage moves ever seen, a top cybersecurity figure says. ⌘ Read more
Cyber expert gets rare Australian visa by hacking the government
The self-taught British security researcher found a unique way to beat 99 per cent rejection odds for the elite visa. ⌘ Read more
@birb@birb https://nealstephenson.substack.com/feed
A billion chatbot users can’t be wrong … or can they? Let’s ask a human
It’s a job description for the 21st century: human-AI relationship coach. But this job is all about the humans. ⌘ Read more
@birb@birb https://wikimedia.brussels/feed/
I was wrong about Elon. But he was wrong too
A year ago, I predicted that Musk would quit Tesla. He predicted our newspaper would ‘bore its audience to death’. We were both mistaken. ⌘ Read more
Silicon Valley’s billionaire elite can’t engineer our consent
A decade after Peter Thiel backed Donald Trump, the ascent of the “tech right″ has made billionaire founders “evil geniuses” in the eyes of many. ⌘ Read more
Christmas mess? This robot vacuum trick is a game-changer
Previous mop pads had a tendency to drag muck around your floor, but a new innovation may have fixed that. ⌘ Read more
I liked my boyfriend and his man-bun, but had to end it. He didn’t understand public ridicule
Naomi would still be up at 3am without understanding how ridiculous the situation was. Nigel had much more in common with me, apart from his lack of an actual body. ⌘ Read more
Independent report released by Optus shines light on serious issue
An independent report released by Optus shines a light on a serious issue with our modern mobile-reliant communications systems and the Triple Zero Emergency line. ⌘ Read more
‘Inexcusable’: Optus staff face sack after review into Triple Zero outage
The telco’s chairman calls the findings of an independent review into the incident “a sobering read for everyone at Optus”. ⌘ Read more
Fake hero, wrong suspect: Misinformation floods social media after Bondi shooting
Elon Musk’s chatbot said Edward Crabtree – a fictional 47-year-old IT professional – was the hero who tackled one of the attackers and seized his weapon. ⌘ Read more
Desperate vibes as under-16s crowd into Yope and Lemon8
Lemon8, Coverstar and Yope are social media hiding places for Australian under-16s, but for how long? ⌘ Read more
The best video games of 2025, from Ghost of Yotei to Hades 2
There were hundreds of great games released this year, but these are my favourite 15. ⌘ Read more
Some Arctic warming ‘irreversible’ even if we cut atmospheric CO2
Efforts to lower the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere may come too late to prevent long-term changes to the Arctic ⌘ Read more
Mars may once have had a much larger moon
There are two small moons in orbit around Mars today, but both may be remnants of a much larger moon that had enough of a gravitational pull to drive tides in the Red Planet’s lost lakes and seas ⌘ Read more
The great scroll off: Inside Australia’s world-first teen social media ban
How grieving parents, media campaigns, and political opportunism collided to create the world’s most ambitious - and contentious - experiment in digital regulation. ⌘ Read more
Qubits break quantum limit to encode information for longer
Controlling qubits with quantum superpositions allows them to dramatically violate a fundamental limit and encode information for about five times longer during quantum computations ⌘ Read more
‘Missing the mark’: Reddit files High Court bid to overturn teen social media ban
The platform says banning under 16s from social media silences young Australians and makes them less safe online. ⌘ Read more
New antibiotic could stave off drug-resistant gonorrhoea
Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the microbe responsible for gonorrhoea, is developing resistance to most antibiotics, which means we need new drugs to treat the condition. An antibiotic called zoliflodacin might be part of a solution ⌘ Read more
Reddit files High Court bid to overturn teen social media ban
The platform says banning under-16s from social media silences young Australians and makes them less safe online. ⌘ Read more
Disney and OpenAI have made a surprise deal – what happens next?
In a stunning reversal, Disney has changed tack with regard to safeguarding its copyrighted characters from incorporation into AI tools – perhaps a sign that no one can stem the tide of AI ⌘ Read more
Killer whales and dolphins are ‘being friends’ to hunt salmon together
White-sided dolphins seem to help killer whales “scout” and catch Chinook salmon near Vancouver Island, then eat the leftovers ⌘ Read more
Supposedly distinct psychiatric conditions may have same root causes
People are often diagnosed with multiple neurodivergencies and mental health conditions, but the biggest genetic analysis so far suggests many have shared biological causes ⌘ Read more
Earth and solar system may have been shaped by nearby exploding star
A new explanation for the solar system’s radioactive elements suggests Earth-like planets might be found orbiting up to 50 per cent of sun-like stars ⌘ Read more
Cat and mouse: How under-16s are circumventing the social media ban
Most kids on social media will be blocked, but here’s how the most relentless plan to stay. ⌘ Read more
Roman occupation of Britain damaged the population’s health
Urban populations in southern Britain experienced a decline in health that lasted for generations after the Romans arrived ⌘ Read more
We may finally know what a healthy gut microbiome looks like
Our gut microbiome has a huge influence on our overall health, but we haven’t been clear on the specific bacteria with good versus bad effects. Now, a study of more than 34,000 people is shedding light on what a healthy gut microbiome actually consists of ⌘ Read more
Inside the wild experiments physicists would do with zero limits
From a particle smasher encircling the moon to an “impossible” laser, five scientists reveal the experiments they would run in a world powered purely by imagination ⌘ Read more
Genetic trick to make mosquitoes malaria resistant passes key test
The rollout of a type of genetic technology called a gene drive for tackling malaria could be edging closer after a lab study supports its success ⌘ Read more
Oldest evidence of fire-lighting comes from early humans in Britain
An excavation in Suffolk, UK, has uncovered pyrite and flint that appear to have been used by ancient humans to light fires some 400,000 years ago ⌘ Read more