Last week the opposition government, who are trying to become the government, introduced policy that would "aim for half of all new cars to be electric by 2030" which prompted the Coalition Energy Minister to scare the bejesus out of tradies Elon Musk, the Department of Energy and Environment, the NRMA, and now by mother of HiLux, Toyota who claims to be well on track to meeting Labor's emission goals, that there'll be an electric HiLux within six years, and they're planning on selling 5.5 million electric vehicles annually by 2030. The Liberal Party has chosen this hill to die on, going so far as to produce Facebook ads aimed at ute lovers.
A fancy new piece of malware (malicious software) called Gustaff installs itself onto your Android phone once you click a link in an SMS then it offers up an executable masquerading as net banking software that will ask for your Australian bank logon. I'm certain everyone reading this is smart enough to know your bank isn't texting you a download link for net banking software you probably already have installed, but do the world a favour and tell your parents, your partner, Tim from work, and your barista, to ignore texts messages from banks and African princes.
VicHealth has come out swinging at the alcohol industry and influencer culture, saying that most of Australia’s top 70 Instagram personalities are under the influence of the alcohol industry. So firstly, there are at least 70 social media influencers in Australia, which is big news. Secondly, they're all shrills for the alcohol industry?! You might think this news is bunk but look around local bars and see all the Aperol Spritz's in girls hands and that's the work of influencers. Maybe the whisky industry could get involved and convince everyone to stop ruining their hooch with cola.
Opal commuters in NSW have been able to tap on and off with contactless payments like Google Pay, Apple Pay, Paywave, Paypass, and your mum's credit card, for a while. But now Samsung Pay users can tap without unlocking their phone. Just tap your updated phone on Sydney Trains, NSW TrainLink Intercity rail services, light rail, Sydney Ferries, but not buses, to experience peak boarding-public-transport-efficiency.
NBN Co has admitted that it may have under-reported the fact that one in ten microwave and fibre transmission links suffer unacceptable levels of packet loss, and that this isn't captured in publicly-reported numbers. Their chief network engineer has gone on to talk about how Netflix's algorithm is more able to handle the fixed wireless packet loss. The NBN situation is getting that bad in some areas that Optus has suggested they institute something like the Mobile Blackspot Program, leasing 5G capacity from telcos, which would to provide 5G coverage in underserved areas.
While Gizmodo was researching a separate story on Facebook, the little social network that could dropped this 40 page slide deck which begins with the juicy "under our current hate speech policy, we allow content that promotes nationalism and separatism" and continues to nut out the absolute horror of a job it is governing two billion people. No wonder Zuckerberg is calling for regulation of his digital house party that has become an almost trillion dollar company, he wants to make morals someone else's job.
Two things to note for Apple watchers today. Firstly, Steve Troughton-Smith is "fairly confident" that the next version of MacOS will contain breakout Music, TV, Books, Podcasts apps, and that everyone's favourite clunker, iTunes, is being put out to pasture. My read is that iTunes will exist in the same way so many legacy apps have done in the past, but it will become neglected and eventually forgotten. Secondly, Apple fanboys the world over have been struck with a new piece of Apple history with the Apple W.A.L.T. Introduced at MacWorld 1993, but never released, the Wizzy Active Lifestyle Telephone. Follow the link for videos and photos of the desk phone the 90s didn't deserve.
Our UI and UX readers will no doubt find that headline the sexiest one they'll read al day, but the important note is that
That's your Wednesday Sizzle, Ant's back tomorrow and I'll be back in your inbox Friday afternoon!
--Josh
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