I don't write about Julian Assange much here as he's kinda transcended being a tech topic, but he is an old school hacker (Suelette Dreyfus' Underground made a big impression on me back in the 90s) I'm sympathetic to. He's had a bit of good luck lately as according to a report in the SMH, the Parliamentary Friends of Julian Assange Group managed to snag a "working breakfast" with US ambassador to Australia, Caroline Kennedy on the topic of the USA dropping its extradition of Julian from the UK (the reason he's still in a UK prison). The Prime Minister recently commented that "enough is enough" regarding Assange and even Peter Dutton agrees, so fingers crossed when President Biden visits Sydney later in May, they can all work something out to bring Julian home at last.
Niantic, the developer of the extremely popular augmented reality game Pokemon Go has a new title for the world to enjoy - Peridot. It's a "real-world adventure pet game where you care for one-of-a-kind adorable creatures, raise them to adulthood as you explore the world together, and re-diversify their species". The little critters look like Pokemon to me, but instead of hunting and fighting them (is that what you do in Pokemon Go?) you have to "pet, play, feed, and teach them tricks to keep them healthy and help them grow" as well as "band together and collaborate with other players around the world" to "breed your one-of-a-kind creatures and discover the infinite possibilities of Peridot archetypes". Gotcha, raise the digital beast and pimp it out. Fun game.
Slow news day, so here's some Elon Musk related news:
Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat has found a unique way to get real (well as real as real is when it comes to war zone reporting) news about Russia's atrocities in Ukraine into Russia - CS:GO. They paid two custom map designers to create a map with a hidden room, so "when a player dies on the de_voyna map, they're able to freely roam the space and find an underground room near a flame (which has symbolic significance as a war memorial). Once they enter, they'll see newspaper headlines about the war in Ukraine—including the massacre in Bucha, where mass graves have been discovered. A map details the locations in Ukraine that Russian soldiers have attacked, and a table lists the number of Russians who have been killed. Another station tells the story of the Ukrainian civilian Yuriy Glodan, whose family was killed by a missile strike while he was shopping for groceries". Innovative.
Stock Photo 55019 (Jason Scott / Flickr)
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