food delivery courier
Business

Online food delivery is turning into a massive environmental problem and burgers are the biggest culprit

- January 20, 2021 4 MIN READ

Over the past few years, Australians have embraced online food delivery services such as UberEats, Deliveroo and Menulog. But home-delivered food comes with a climate cost, and single-use packaging is one of the biggest contributors. Our research found Australians placed 27 million online food orders in 2018. By 2024, this number is projected to increase… Read more »

Cryptocurrency

Iran had a massive crackdown on Bitcoin mining, seizing 45,000 machines, after the country was hit by blackouts

- January 19, 2021 < 1 MIN READ

Iranian police confiscated more 45,000 bitcoin mining machines, chewing up around 95 megawatts per hour (MWh) of electricity, because the miners were using cheaper, subsidised power illegally, according to local media agency Tasnim News. To put that in perspective, that’s around half the capacity of South Australia’s Tesla “big battery” plant (aka Hornsdale). Iranian authorities… Read more »

Larry Diamond
Fintech

Zip raised an extra $26.7 million from its eager shareholders

- January 18, 2021 < 1 MIN READ

Buy-now-pay-later fintech Zip has nearly doubled the amount it raised in its Share Purchase Plan (SPP), issuing more than 10 million new shares worth $56,739,524. Zip (ASX:Z1P) set out to raise $30 million through the SPP, but also accepted an extra $26,739,524.95 in oversubscriptions from eligible shareholders, who could subscribe for up to $30,000 worth… Read more »

Cryptocurrency

Yes, a guy has nearly lost $340 million worth of Bitcoin after forgetting his password, but he’s a small part of a $200 billion problem

- January 15, 2021 2 MIN READ

If you’re feeling a bit sad about your fortunes at the moment, spare a thought for San Francisco-based computer programmer Stefan Thomas, who, around a decade ago, made this video and took 7,002 Bitcoins as payment for the job. The New York Times has the sad tale of German-born Thomas – a former CTO at blockchain… Read more »

Other tech

Patient monitoring startup Digitology Healthtech raises $900,000 after the CEO used the medtech to save his own life

- January 14, 2021 2 MIN READ

When Michael Koss landed in India last year to work on developing his joint venture Australian-Indian startup, Digitology Healthtech, little did he realise the important role the technology would play in his own health and saving his life.  Koss is CEO of Health and Patient Services (HPS), which is developing the startup with Indian healthcare… Read more »

Funding

Beforepay raises another $9 million as it looks to IPO

- January 13, 2021 < 1 MIN READ

Beforepay (previously Cheq), the fintech version of a payday lender, has raised $9 million in a pre-IPO round led by Alium Capital. The company is looking to list this year, having now raised around $17 million. Its previous round was $4 million just two months ago, led by Vocus founder and Airtasker chair James Spenceley. The… Read more »

Donald Trump
Global tech

Social media v free speech: A note to Australian politicians – no, you don’t have a right to incite

- January 13, 2021 4 MIN READ

The recent storming of the US Capitol has led a number of social media platforms to remove President Donald Trump’s accounts. In the case of Twitter, the ban is permanent. Others, like Facebook, have taken him offline until after President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration next week. This has led to a flurry of commentary in the… Read more »

Funding

Security industry software platform Guardhouse raises $850,000 in a seed round to take on the UK market

- January 13, 2021 < 1 MIN READ

Security industry tech platform Guardhouse raised $850,000 in seed funding late last year as it prepared to launch in the UK market.   The Sydney startup, co-founded in 2018 by Julian Cartwright, Jack Alpe, Andrew Longworth and Keith Longworth aims to be an to be an all-in-one solution for security industry workforce management to improve workflow between… Read more »

After Hours

A uni student has come up with an app to make it easier to travel in the covid era

- January 12, 2021 1 MIN READ

As people hope to travel again in 2021, a healtchare worker  has come up with a tech solution to help navigate the covid-safe demands of airlines. Erika Harman, a dietician studying for her Masters in Healthcare Innovations at Bond University, developed the app VaxVisa to carry verifiable digital certificates for vaccination and laboratory test results. She… Read more »

Global tech

It took a riot in the US capitol for Facebook and Twitter to finally tackle Donald Trump head on

- January 8, 2021 4 MIN READ

Amid the chaos in the US Capitol, stoked largely by rhetoric from President Donald Trump, Twitter has locked his account, with 88.7 million followers, for 12 hours. Facebook and Instagram quickly followed suit, locking Trump’s accounts — with 35.2 million followers and 24.5 million, respectively — for at least two weeks, the remainder of his… Read more »