smart business man allocate egg into many baskets . do not put all eggs in one basket
Global tech

The CrowdStrike systems outage is a timely warning on the lessons for managing IT risks

- July 22, 2024 3 MIN READ

Friday’s global IT outage caused by a software update gone wrong highlights the interconnected and often fragile nature of modern IT infrastructure. It demonstrates how a single point of failure can have far-reaching consequences. The outage was linked to a single update automatically rolled out to Crowdstrike Falcon, a ubiquitous cyber security tool used primarily… Read more »

Cyber security

The CrowdStrike Falcon crash – what you need to know and do

- July 20, 2024 3 MIN READ

A massive IT outage is currently affecting computer systems worldwide. In Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, reports indicate computers at banks, media organisations, hospitals, transport services, shop checkouts, airports and more have all been impacted. Friday’s outage is unprecedented in its scale and severity. The technical term for what has happened to the affected computers… Read more »

Business

Researchers found an easy way to detect companies that perform poorly – the number of government grants they receive

- July 18, 2024 3 MIN READ

Australia hands out the best part of A$1 billion per year in grants to businesses. Many of these come with no strings attached, meaning there is no need to evaluate whether the grants boost employment, help the recipients become more efficient, or benefit the nation. To test what good these grants do, my team at… Read more »

Google cloud data centre
AI/Machine Learning

AI has a massive, and growing, carbon emissions problem that’s a long way from being solved

- July 9, 2024 3 MIN READ

Since the release of ChatGPT in November 2022, the world has seen an incredible surge in investment, development and use of artificial intelligence (AI) applications. According to one estimate, the amount of computational power used for AI is doubling roughly every 100 days. The social and economic impacts of this boom have provoked reactions around… Read more »

Cloud representation
Global tech

Why Amazon is building a ‘top secret’ $2 billion cloud for Australia’s military intelligence

- July 8, 2024 3 MIN READ

Amazon has secured a A$2 billion contract with the Australian Signals Directorate – the agency responsible for foreign signals intelligence and information security. A local subsidiary of Amazon Web Services will build a Top Secret Cloud to provide secure data storage for military intelligence. The deal will securely manage top secret data vital to Australia’s… Read more »

Caryn Marjorie
AI/Machine Learning

When an influencer made an AI clone, it turned into a pornbot within a year, without her knowing

- June 26, 2024 4 MIN READ

Caryn Marjorie is a social media influencer whose content has more than a billion views per month on Snapchat. She posts regularly, featuring everyday moments, travel memories, and selfies. Many of her followers are men, attracted by her girl-next-door aesthetic. In 2023, Marjorie released a “digital version” of herself. Fans could chat with CarynAI for… Read more »

Lighter Capital CEO Melissa Widner
Funding

Why subjectivity could be the issue when it comes to VCs backing female founders

- June 21, 2024 < 1 MIN READ

The media depicts a depressing state, but is this painting an accurate picture? The 60 funds we surveyed (please let us know if we missed yours) 1835i, Black Sheep Capital, Folklore Ventures, Macdoch Ventures, Shearwater Capital, Tenacious Ventures, Airtree, Brandon Capital, Galileo Ventures, Main Sequence, Side Stage Ventures, Giant Leap, Marbruck Investments, Significant Early Venture… Read more »

Politics

Here’s what the NSW Budget offers for startups

- June 18, 2024 2 MIN READ

If startups were hoping that after 15 months in power, the NSW Labor government would finally move from cuts to investment in the sector, the state Budget, released on Tuesday, is best summed up by a line from Dante’s Inferno as they enter hell: abandon all hope, ye who enter here. Across the entire budget,… Read more »

Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency has a massive carbon emissions problem – and green alternatives have their own risks

- June 7, 2024 3 MIN READ

As the urgency of climate change ramps up, focus is increasing on digital currencies to address their environmental impact. According to industry forecasts, the global cryptocurrency market is expected to surge to US$4.94 billion by 2030. But the process of mining digital currencies such as Bitcoin requires immense computational power – causing a significant drain… Read more »