Microsoft unveils $25b AI splurge in Australia, but key details missing
The US tech giant makes its largest-ever Australian commitment to expand AI infrastructure, cyber defences and skills – but stays silent on sites, power and jobs. ⌘ Read more

Pentagon Wants $54 Billion For Drones
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: The US military’s massive $1.5 trillion budget request for the next fiscal year includes what Pentagon officials described as the largest investment in drone warfare and counter-drone technology in US history. The proposed spending on drone and autonomous warfare technologies within the FY2027 budget proposal for the US Department of Defense would … ⌘ Read more

Millions of renters hit by unlawful data collection
The Privacy Commissioner’s landmark ruling comes as Australia’s rental market reaches crisis levels. ⌘ Read more

Who is new Apple CEO John Ternus?
After 15 years in charge Tim Cook has named well-liked Apple engineer John Ternus as his successor. ⌘ Read more

Palantir Posts Bond Villain Manifesto On X
DeanonymizedCoward writes: Engadget reports that Palantir has posted to X a summary of CEO Alex Karp and Nicholas W. Zamiska’s 2025 book, The Technological Republic, which reads like a utopian idealist doodled on a Bond villain’s whiteboard. While the post makes some decent points, it also highlights the Big-AI attitude that the AI surveillance state is in fact a good thing, and strongly i … ⌘ Read more

A 40-year-old storage company just beat Mike Cannon-Brookes’ Atlassian
Atlassian posted its strongest quarter ever, then got kicked out of the Nasdaq 100. The market has stopped rewarding software and started paying for storage. ⌘ Read more

Tech expert Trevor Long tips Apple to launch folding smartphone
It seems more likely than ever that Apple will introduce a foldable smartphone this year, says tech expert Trevor Long. ⌘ Read more

Tech expert Trevor Long tips Apple to launch folding smartphone
It seems more likely than ever that Apple will introduce a foldable smartphone this year, says tech expert Trevor Long. ⌘ Read more

Done and dusted: The best high-end stick vacuums for infrequent emptying
Want a high performing vacuum that you don’t need to be pulling dust out of every day? Here are our top four choices. ⌘ Read more

Remembering Zip Drives - the Trendy Storage Technology of the 1990s
Back in the 1990s, floppy disks “had a mere capacity of 1.44MB,” remembers XDA Developers, “which would soon become absolutely tiny for the increasingly large pieces of software that would come about.”

Floppy disks also felt quite fragile, and while we got “superfloppy” formats that were physically larger and had more capacity, those w … ⌘ Read more

The five buzziest AI office tools, and what they do
From your own personal executive assistant to a way to access all chatbots in the one app, here are five of the fastest-growing AI tools. ⌘ Read more

US Government Now Wants Anthropic’s ‘Mythos’, Preparing for AI Cybersecurity Threats
Friday Anthropic’s CEO met with top U.S. officials and “discussed opportunities for collaboration,” according to a White House spokesperson itedd by Politico, “as well as shared approaches and protocols to address the challenges associated with scaling this technology.”

CNN notes the meeting happens at the same … ⌘ Read more

Mozilla ‘Thunderbolt’ Is an Open-Source AI Client Focused On Control and Self-Hosting
BrianFagioli writes: Mozilla’s email subsidiary MZLA Technologies just introduced Thunderbolt, an open-source AI client aimed at organizations that want to run AI on their own infrastructure instead of relying entirely on cloud services. The idea is to give companies full control over their data, models, an … ⌘ Read more

Inside Canva’s $100 billion gamble on an AI-first rebuild
Melanie Perkins pitched the idea in 2011 and was knocked back by 100 investors. Fifteen years, Canva is finally building it. ⌘ Read more

@movq@www.uninformativ.de But even the same model behaves differently if you upgrade to a newer version. Or it hopefully should, why otherwise would one want to update in the first place? A fixed, predictable output would be the result of us oldtimers doing something with inferior, ancient technology!

Nature Is Still Molding Human Genes, Study Finds
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times: Many scientists have contended that humans have evolved very little over the past 10,000 years. A few hundred generations was just a blink of the evolutionary eye, it seemed. Besides, our cultural evolution – our technology, agriculture and the rest – must have overwhelmed our biological evolution by now. A vast study … ⌘ Read more

$3.1m per job: does the employment case for data centres stack up?
For every $3.1 million invested in data centre infrastructure, according to the industry’s own figures, Australia gets one permanent data centre job. ⌘ Read more

Google Faces Mass Arbitration By Advertisers Seeking Billions
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Alphabet’s Google is facing billions of dollars in potential damage claims as part of mass arbitration tied to the company’s online search and advertising technology businesses, which courts have ruled were illegal monopolies. Advertisers are banding together to seek payouts through mass arbitration pro … ⌘ Read more

Stanford Report Highlights Growing Disconnect Between AI Insiders and Everyone Else
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: AI experts and the public’s opinion on the technology are increasingly diverging, according to Stanford University’s annual report on the AI industry, which was released Monday. In particular, the report noted a growing trend of anxiety around AI and, in the U.S … ⌘ Read more

Roblox reveals sweeping changes amid Australian crackdown
Facing a $49.5 million fine threat and an eSafety investigation, the gaming giant has announced its biggest child safety overhaul – splitting the platform by age. ⌘ Read more

Hisense’s New Backlit RGB LED TV ‘a Shot Against OLED’s Bow’, and Includes a DP Port
“RGB LED TVs have been the talk of the TV world this year,” argues The Verge, with models coming from all the manufacturers.”
And the first one of 2026 is here — the UR9 from China’s Hisense — “the first look at the viability of the new backlight technology outside of demo rooms.” They call it “a step above … ⌘ Read more

France’s Government Is Ditching Windows For Linux
France says it plans to move some government computers from Windows to Linux as part of a broader push for digital sovereignty and reduced dependence on U.S. technology. TechCrunch reports: In a statement, French minister David Amiel said (translated) that the effort was to “regain control of our digital destiny” by relying less on U.S. tech companies. Amiel said that the Fre … ⌘ Read more

This superintelligent AI is so powerful, even its creators are afraid of what it’s capable of
If Anthropic’s new AI tool falls into the hands of bad actors, they could hack pretty much every major software system in the world. And so could your kids. ⌘ Read more

Major Australian crypto company CEO out, jobs cut as bitcoin rout bites
Swyftx, which has sponsored the Brisbane Lions, NRL and Big Bash League, is facing a major slump in Bitcoin prices despite the Trump family’s enthusiasm for crypto. ⌘ Read more

AI slop: The next evolution of wartime propaganda
Alongside the conflict over the strait of Hormuz, the US and Israel’s war with Iran is also being fought on a new front. The world of AI-generated propaganda. ⌘ Read more

Meta has found its footing on AI. Its rival found something much scarier
Meta spent billions rebuilding its AI program and finally has something to show for it. Anthropic, meanwhile, has something it’s not sure anyone should see. ⌘ Read more

Canva embarks on buying spree as AI wave batters rivals
With rivals cratering and Google encroaching, Canva is betting a string of AI acquisitions can cement its place before the IPO window opens. ⌘ Read more

CIA Reportedly Used Secret Quantum Tool To Find Downed Airman in Iran
alternative_right quotes a report from the New York Post: The CIA used a futuristic new tool called “Ghost Murmur” to find and rescue the second American airman who was shot down in southern Iran, The Post has learned. The secret technology uses long-range quantum magnetometry to find the electromagnetic fingerprint of a human heartbea … ⌘ Read more

Memos and confidants allege pattern of dishonesty from OpenAI boss
Secret memos compiled by OpenAI’s former chief scientist allege CEO Sam Altman engaged in a sustained pattern of lying to board members and bypassing safety reviews. ⌘ Read more

AI slop: The next evolution of wartime propaganda
Alongside the conflict over the strait of Hormuz, the US and Israel’s war with Iran is also being fought on a new front. The world of AI-generated propaganda. ⌘ Read more

For every $100 in data centres, $80 leaves Australia almost immediately
Data centres are the infrastructure boom of the decade. But how much of the investment actually stays in the country? ⌘ Read more

How I vibe-coded a web tool in three days with no programming experience
AI chatbots make it possible for people who can’t code to build apps, sites and tools. But it’s decidedly problematic. ⌘ Read more

Tech Companies Are Trying To Neuter Colorado’s Landmark Right-to-Repair Law
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: Today at a hearing of the Colorado Senate Business, Labor, and Technology committee, lawmakers voted unanimously to move Colorado state bill SB26-090 – titled Exempt Critical Infrastructure from Right to Repair – out of committee and into the state senate and house for a vote. … ⌘ Read more

Why billionaire tech bros are buying up media companies
It’s not unusual for ChatGPT maker OpenAI to go on spending sprees. But its latest acquisition is raising some eyebrows ⌘ Read more

14 years and $1.3 billion later, video game Star Citizen is nearing a major milestone
After 14 years, Star Citizen is nearing a major milestone. Creator Chris Roberts speaks with 9news.com.au about the ambition, community, and the billion dollars in funding behind the project — as well as the upcoming single-player campaign, Squadron 42.

The long-awaited game features a cast inc … ⌘ Read more

Why the prices of laptops, phones and game consoles keep rising
The AI tax is making memory more expensive, and it doesn’t show any signs of letting up. ⌘ Read more

Trump’s attempt to protect big tech and remake World Trade Organisation fails
The Trump administration sent its most senior trade official to the WTO’s annual meeting to protect its big tech companies from digital taxes – to no avail. ⌘ Read more

CEO of America’s Largest Public Hospital System Says He’s Ready To Replace Radiologists With AI
Mitchell H. Katz, MD, president and CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals, said hospitals could already replace many radiologists with AI for some imaging tasks – if regulators allowed it. He argued the technology presents an opportunity to simultaneously cut costs and expand access. Radiology Busin … ⌘ Read more

Startup Pitches ‘Brainless Clones’ To Serve the Role of Backup Human Bodies
MIT Technology Review discovered that startup R3 Bio has pitched an ethically and scientifically explosive long-term vision beyond its public work on non-sentient monkey “organ sacks”: creating human “brainless clones” or replacement bodies for organs as part of an extreme life-extension agenda. From the report: Imagine it … ⌘ Read more

Albanese government reaches deal with $550b AI giant in legal battle with Trump
AI giant Anthropic has signed an agreement with the Albanese government while being locked in a legal war with the Trump administration. ⌘ Read more

Oracle Cuts Thousands of Jobs Across Sales, Engineering, Security
bobthesungeek76036 shares a report from the Register: Oracle laid off thousands of employees on Tuesday as it ramps spending on AI infrastructure projects internally and with major technology partners. The layoffs were carried out via email, according to copies of the message viewed by Business Insider. The email told affected workers they … ⌘ Read more

New rules force Telstra to shrink coverage maps by 1 million square km
The telco giant must delete about a third of its claimed coverage under new standards backed by rivals, the ACCC and emergency groups. ⌘ Read more

Five social media giants face crackdown over under-16 ban
Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube are under investigation and facing fines of up to $49.5 million for potential non-compliance with Australia’s world-first social media ban. ⌘ Read more

Five social media giants face crackdown over under-16 ban
Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube are under investigation and facing fines of up to $49.5 million. for potential non-compliance with Australia’s world-first social media ban. ⌘ Read more

Roblox, YouTube caught in major children’s privacy overhaul
A new draft code would give children the right to demand deletion of their data and ban “dark patterns” designed to trick them into sharing more. ⌘ Read more

New Company Hopes to Build Age-Verification Tech into Vape Cartridges
Their goal is to use biometric data and blockchain to build age-verification measures directly into disposable vape cartridges.

Wired reports on a partnership between vape/cartridge manufacturer Ispire Technology and regulatory consulting company Chemular (which specializes in the nicotine market) — which they’ve named “Ike Tech”:

[U … ⌘ Read more

Parents like me are cheering these Facebook verdicts. But it’s not all good news
If these landmark court decisions against Meta and YouTube result in a dilution of free speech, the so-called victory will be hollow indeed. ⌘ Read more

Video shows destruction after Israeli airstrike hit Iran University of Science and Technology campus
Video shows destruction after Israeli airstrike hit Iran University of Science and Technology campus ⌘ Read more

Apple almost went broke – now it’s celebrating 50 years
Apple is now one of the most valuable companies in the world - a market capitalisation of over $3.5 trillion, but a core part of Apple’s history is the time it almost went broke. ⌘ Read more

The best noise-cancelling earbuds for your commute and quiet time
If you’re looking for high-end sound and the ability to drown out (or let in) the background, these are our top picks. ⌘ Read more