Medibank has updated their "cyber incident" page this morning, saying that "it has become clear that the criminal has taken data that now includes Medibank customer data" and that "given the complexity of what we have received, it is too soon to determine the full extent of the customer data that has been stolen". Dunno what's happening now. I assume we are just waiting for the hacker to start their cryptocurrency powered blackmail campaign? According to an article in The Guardian yesterday, someone with "high-level access" in Medibank's network had their credentials stolen. They were sold on a "Russian-language cybercrime forum" and purchased by "another hacker or group of hackers" that then went on a cyber adventure of Medibank's network. Piss poor considering the highly sensitive information Medibank holds.
You can now order an ARM Windows Dev Kit 2023 from Microsoft Australia's online store. For $949 you get what is essentially a Mac Mini, but by Microsoft. Inside is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 SoC with 32GB of RAM, 512GB SSD, wi-fi 6, gigabit Ethernet, 5x USB ports, mini DisplayPort and support for 3x external monitors (2x 4K @ 60Hz). That is a very decent price considering the RAM it comes with. The purpose of this little PC is to encourage developers to make more Windows apps that support the ARM platform, but there's no reason why you couldn't use it as a general PC that uses fuck all electricity and runs practically silent. the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 isn't a speed demon (the limited benchmarks I could find are not kind) but all the Office apps are ARM native and there's a decent x86 compatibility layer.
macOS 13 (aka Ventura) and iPadOS 16 are now out. Arstechnica has a long detailed look at what's new in Ventura and this sentence from the introduction sums up the macOS update neatly - "the throughline for all these features is about making the Mac more welcoming and comfortable for people who come to it through one of Apple's mobile platforms". MacRumours has a neat list of 50 new features in Ventura. Normally I'd link to Federico Viticci's review of iPadOS over on MacStories, but this year he was so engrossed with Stage Manager and its failings that his review on the rest of iPadOS 16 is delayed. Apple also released iOS 16.1 for the iPhone adding new features like Live Activities, Clean Energy Charging and a bunch of other little things.
Bono's published a memoir and in it are details on the U2 iPod and subsequent dumping of their album Songs of Innocence into everyone's iTunes account. Apparently U2 met with Steve Jobs to pitch the use of their song Vertigo in an iPod ad and they wanted to be paid in Apple stock, not cash. Apple didn't want to do that, so Bono proposed a limited edition U2 iPod instead and Apple ran with it. It was weird then and it's weird now. A decade later, Bono met with Eddy Cue, Tim Cook and Phil Schiller, played them Songs of Innocence and told them he wants Apple to pay U2 for the album and give it away to their customers for free "as a gift". Bono doesn't elaborate what benefits this gives Apple or why Apple would agree to this, but there it is. You can read the entire chapter about Bono's experiences with Apple in The Guardian.
Museums Victoria: Supercomputer Model - NEC, SX4, Bureau of Meteorolgy/CSIRO, High Performance Computing Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, 1997
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