Microsoft will offer refunds after admitting that it “fell short of our standards” by failing to inform users of the Microsoft 365 productivity suite that they could have stayed with a cheaper version of the suite that did not include the tech giant’s Copilot AI features. The move relates to the October 2024 introduction of… Read more »
Australian technology leaders are losing sleep over increasing regulatory complexity, growing damage from ransomware, and the challenges of near-ubiquitous artificial intelligence (AI) and deepfakes, a new survey by cybersecurity body ISACA has found. Generative AI (genAI) and large language models will drive the agenda in 2026, with 64% of Oceania respondents to ISACA’s 2026 Tech… Read more »
After a decade of work, the federal government has committed to finalising formal road rules, regulations, and technical and cybersecurity standards for self-driving cars by 2027, even as autonomous vehicles are already on Australian roads. The new National Road Transport Technology Strategy (NRTTS), including the 2024-27 National Connected and Automated Vehicle (CAV) Action Plan nationwide framework, replaces National Land… Read more »
Artwork created by generative AI (genAI) and other software could be eligible for copyright protection, after a seven-year legal battle ended with a Federal Court ruling that gaming giant Aristocrat can patent game features created by its software without human input. The latest ruling – which follows years of appeals and counter-appeals between Aristrocrat and… Read more »
Concerned about privacy? Your Amazon Echo devices will get creepier next week, when all Alexa conversations will be sent to the cloud after a policy change seemingly intended to feed data to the company’s souped-up generative AI (genAI) revamp. The policy change – which was announced in a recent email to customers – will see… Read more »
Sleep tracking, oxygen saturation, fall detection, mindfulness: today’s smartwatches and fitness trackers are jacks-of-all-trades – but experts believe we’re just getting started, with new sensors and AI-driven analysis soon set to diagnose more disease than doctors do. It’s a big prediction for a device category that only hit the mainstream in 2007, when Fitbit gamified the working… Read more »
Surging demand for artificial intelligence (AI) has driven Telstra to upgrade its international networks, with a planned network using AI and digital twins to manage itself as the carrier chases new revenues in a stagnant telco market – and bolsters security in uncertain times. The company’s business-focused Telstra International division outlined its plans for next-generation… Read more »
The federal government has deprioritised 218 occupations while escalating some 456 others – including a range of cyber security and ICT roles – as it works to boost flagging national productivity by focusing its evolving skilled visa program on the areas of highest need. Designed “to replace complex, out of date and inflexible occupation lists… Read more »
Financial institutions, fintechs, and regulators have welcomed new buy now, pay later (BNPL) rules that will finally treat the sector like other credit providers, with new legislation passed hours before shoppers tapped BNPL to propel Black Friday sales to record-breaking heights. The new regulations will apply corporate regulator ASIC’s National Credit Code (NCC) to a BNPL sector that has… Read more »
Australian mining magnate Dr Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest is a step closer to holding Meta to account for deepfake scam advertisements, after the dismissal of an appeal by the tech giant marked the first time it has failed to hide behind a US law widely seen to provide blanket immunity online. Forrest first discovered his image… Read more »
Up to 2,800 Telstra workers will be retrenched by year’s end, with Australia’s largest telecommunications carrier announcing plans to pare its workforce in an AI-driven “reset” of its enterprise arm including an overhaul of its Telstra Purple services business. The package of reforms is designed to contribute to $350 million in cost savings as the… Read more »
Accounting tricks are helping Big Tech firms avoid paying tax on up to 96.6% of their Australian income, according to a new analysis of Australian Taxation Office (ATO) figures that showed Apple was the worst offender when it came to corporate tax minimisation. The tech giant took $9.3 billion from Australian customers during the 2021-22… Read more »
Carmakers including Kia, Subaru, Mitsubishi and General Motors are providing details of owners’ driving behaviour to insurance companies, leading many drivers to report surges in car insurance premiums despite industry claims that the transmitted data (‘telematics’) helps good drivers pay less. The revelations have stoked a PR firestorm after the New York Times related the experiences of… Read more »
Expanding internet service provider Aussie Broadband is weighing its options after fibre infrastructure operator Superloop rejected as “opportunistic” a proposed acquisition that Aussie said would have created a serious market rival to “incumbents” Telstra and Optus. A merger of the companies – which would have created a “scale player” providing a wider product offering to… Read more »
Advocates believe a perfect storm of competition concerns, new fuel efficiency standards and the axing of archaic parallel-import restrictions could provide “achievable change” that boosts the supply of electric vehicles (EVs) and slashes their prices by around $9,000. That’s the amount Australians are overpaying for EVs, former ACCC chair Allan Fels concluded in a recent analysis of price… Read more »
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