### Issue 1809 - Tuesday 21st March, 2023

## In Today's Issue

- ACCC boss gives speech that includes a wishlist of regulations for the tech industry
- Paradox Interactive (the Cities Skylines people) have a new game that's like The Sims
- CSIRO's National AI Centre makes a Responsible AI Network to help businesses not suck at using AI
- Google's got a font that makes it easier for kids to learn to read and write
- Cheap Cygnett laptop powerbank, Blackview Android tablet, Shure SM7B mic, Wowstick electric screwdriver, N5105 mini PC, Hue LED bulb, 16" portable USB-C monitor

## The News

### ACCC boss gives speech that includes a wishlist of regulations for the tech industry

The ACCC's boss gave a speech at Monash Uni this week reflecting on 5 years of the Digital Services Inquiry (wow it's been that long??) saying that she "believes significant new measures are required" to regulate "Big Tech". Some regulation the ACCC would like to see includes "better scam reporting, the introduction of a mandatory dispute resolution processes supported by a new digital platform ombudsman scheme, a requirement to verify certain business users such as advertisers, app developers and merchants, and requiring the disclosure of how reviews on the platforms are verified", as well as "enforceable service-specific codes of conduct that target anti-competitive self-preferencing, tying and exclusive pre-installation arrangements". Busy times ahead for legislators and the tech industry in Australia.

### Paradox Interactive (the Cities Skylines people) have a new game that's like The Sims

Paradox Interactive already ate EA's lunch with Sim City, now it's coming for EA's dinner with a new game called "Life By You" - essentially The Sims, but different. The game "allows players to design and live out the lives of the humans that they create in an open game world where everything is customizable". Unlike the Simlish spoken by characters in The Sims, characters in Life By You will speak in real languages and have conversations generated "based on your human's unique situation". Life By You will be available as an Early Access title on PC via Steam and Epic on September 12th. If you've forgotten how huge The Sims is as a game/entertainment, I will remind you that franchise has sold over 200 million copies since 2000. I also learned today that according to creator Will Wright, "was actually meant as a satire of U.S. consumer culture".

### CSIRO's National AI Centre makes a Responsible AI Network to help businesses not suck at using AI

Australia now has a Responsible AI Network that's part of the National AI Centre, which itself is part of the CSIRO. This network consists of "expert knowledge partners" like "Australian Industry Group, Australian Information Industry Association, CEDA, CSIRO’s Data61, Standards Australia, The Ethics Centre, The Gradient Institute, The Human Technology Institute, and the Tech Council of Australia". It'll aim to provide Australian organisations and businesses "practical guidance and coaching from experts on law, standards, principles, governance, leadership and technology to ensure explainability, fairness and accountability are built into Australian AI systems". A noble aim. Good luck with it everyone.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Google's got a font that makes it easier for kids to learn to read and write

Google's got a new font designed to help Australian kids learn to read and write. They've added "Foundation Fonts" to Google Workspace, which are "state-mandated handwriting styles to teach reading and writing to school children from ages four to nine. Designed by Tina and Corey Anderson, the five Foundation Fonts exemplify proper handwriting for English and other languages using the Latin writing system, and include common math symbols. The regular weight of each font imitates the pencil thickness of handwriting, making the fonts easy for students to recognize as they learn how to write letter shapes". They can also be downloaded from Google Fonts or GitHub and used in other applications.

## Bargains

- Cygnett ChargeUp Pro 25Ah power bank with 100W USB-C output - $130 from Smart Gear Technology
- Blackview Tab 16 11" tablet (UNISOC T616 SoC, 8GB RAM, 256GB UFS, LTE) - $260 from Blackview's Aliexpress store
- Shure SM7B XLR microphone - $620 from Amazon
- Wowstick 1F+ electric precision screwdriver set - $38 from Banggood's AU warehouse
- X2C Mini PC (4x 2.5GbE, Intel N5105 CPU, no RAM, NVMe & SATA slots) - $195 from Topton's Aliexpress store
- Philips Hue A60 E27 White Ambiance Filament Bulb - $29 from Amazon
- 16" 2560x1600 100% DCI-P3 IPS 120Hz touch screen portable USB-C monitor - $250 from HDHIFI's Aliexpress store

## Image Of The Day

Mr. Robot is an American drama thriller television series created by Sam Esmail for USA Network. It stars Rami Malek as Elliot Alderson, a cybersecurity engineer and hacker with social anxiety disorder, clinical depression and dissociative identity disorder. Elliot is recruited by an insurrectionary anarchist known as Mr. Robot, played by Christian Slater, to join a group of hacktivists called fsociety. The group aims to destroy all debt records by encrypting the financial data of E Corp, the largest conglomerate in the world. (USA Network)

## The End

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