Disney, Netflix, Amazon and other streaming video services operating in Australia will soon have to start churning out Australian made content as part of the new National Cultural Policy launched today. Details are sparse, but effectively the government wants the same rules that apply to free-to-air TV networks regarding a certain number of hours per year of new Aussie content to be applied to streaming platforms. The plan is for industry consultation "in the first half of 2023" and for a law to take effect by the 1st July 2024. The "industry" (i.e: everyone except the streaming platforms) reckons 20% of local revenue should be spent on Aussie productions - so if Netflix generates $1b/year in revenue here, then they should spend $200m/yr making Australian made TV shows and movies.
Last week the Communications Minister and Social Services Minister hosted a "National Roundtable on Online Dating Safety" with representatives from Match, Bumble and Grindr attending. I don't think I need to go into detail about all the horrible shit that goes on with dating apps, but a study by the Australian Institute of Criminology found sexual violence and harassment via dating apps is way more widespread than most people think. The roundtable was mostly a getting to know you type of thing, but the government did float the idea of yet another set of industry codes plus mandatory background checks and ID checks as one way to limit the problem. Sounds good in theory, but unless it's done properly there's major privacy implications - like a database of marginalised groups, that if leaked, would be a total shitshow.
The USA's Surgeon General (kinda like our Chief Medical Officer I guess?) told CNN recently that "I, personally, based on the data I've seen, believe that 13 is too early... It's a time where it's really important for us to be thoughtful about what's going into how they think about their own self-worth and their relationships and the skewed and often distorted environment of social media often does a disservice to many of those children". Hard not to agree with that take when you consider social media as Instagram or TikTok or Snapchat. When I was 13 I was using forums and IRC regularly and without the internet during my teen years, I think I would have developed into a pretty boring adult. The internet was a very different place in 1997 though.
MusicLM is the latest AI powered behemoth that's going to take away a bunch of creative worker's livelihoods and unleash a fresh torrent of bland AI generated content on the world. Like what ChatGPT did for words and Stable Diffusion did for images, MusicLM is Google's attempt to turn a text prompt into music - e.g: "The main soundtrack of an arcade game. It is fast-paced and upbeat, with a catchy electric guitar riff. The music is repetitive and easy to remember, but with unexpected sounds, like cymbal crashes or drum rolls". They have a few samples on their website. The market for generic sounding, uncreative music is already saturated and easy to access. MusicLM makes it easier to ask for something that suits your needs instead of having to go looking for something?
Hackers is a 1995 American crime thriller film directed by Iain Softley and starring Jonny Lee Miller, Angelina Jolie, Jesse Bradford, Matthew Lillard, Laurence Mason, Renoly Santiago, Lorraine Bracco, and Fisher Stevens. The film follows a group of high school hackers and their involvement in a corporate extortion conspiracy. (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios)
📻 Kill Bill - SZA
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