The FTC is done with Google and is coming for Microsoft now according to The Verge and Bloomberg. They've asked Microsoft for "information that spans hundreds of pages and culminates over a year of informal discussions with Microsoft competitors and partners", mostly relating to "how Microsoft bundles productivity and security software with its Azure cloud", but also Microsoft's "cybersecurity services, and AI offerings". The FTC hasn't announced anything, so it may never go public now that there's a change of administration over in the USA and it's unsure how Trump and his acolytes will swing on this topic. Satya could buy Trump a large Big Mac Meal and this could all go away, who the fuck knows.
Locally, the Select Committee on Adopting Artificial Intelligence published its final report this week and Senator leading it, ALP's Tony Sheldon, said that tech companies like Amazon, Google, OpenAI and Meta are "pirates" that are "pillaging our culture, data, and creativity for their gain while leaving Australians empty-handed". Some of the report's 13 recommendations include a "new, whole-of-economy, dedicated legislation to regulate high-risk uses of AI", "consult with creative workers, rightsholders and their representative organisations through the CAIRG on appropriate solutions to the unprecedented theft of their work", "require the developers of AI products to be transparent about the use of copyrighted works in their training datasets, and that the use of such works is appropriately licenced and paid for" and much more.
I'm in the market for a new 65" TV so I wrote a blog post to help me decide which one to get. I was surprised how little choice there is in Australia if you want a high quality TV as there's really only 5 brands - LG, Samsung, Sony, TCL and Hisense - selling them. Everyone else is selling old or basic stuff. It's worse if you want an OLED, with only three choices - LG, Samsung or Sony. It gets even more dire as Samsung TVs do not support Dolby Vision, which IMHO makes them useless as there's so much stuff in Dolby Vision these days, including games, that you'd be a bit stupid to get a fancy TV and not also have Dolby Vision HDR available. TLDR: I'm probably gonna get a TCL 65C855 as it's the best value for money by far.
John Howard having internet gambling explained to him while he is building a protective brick wall around Australia, 2000 (Geoff Pryor / National Library of Australia)
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