During a government inquiry examining AI adoption in Australia, Meta was forced to admit that while folks in the EU can opt-out of having their data (posts, photos, comments, etc) used to train Meta's AI models, it doesn't extend that same basic human decency to Australians. When asked by the politicians in the inquiry why the EU gets to opt-out but we don't, Meta responded that they do it in the EU as a "response to a very specific legal frame" - i.e: the EU has superior privacy laws that impact on Meta if they don't abide by them. Australia does not have these laws, so Meta can do whatever it likes. How about that Privacy Act update, hey?
The PlayStation 5 Pro is now a thing. It's the same PS5 we know and love, but with a beefier specs to hit 4K graphics at a consistent 60fps, "advanced ray tracing" and "AI-driven upscaling". Sounds a lot like what AMD/Nvidia do with RTX/DLSS/FSR. Older games can benefit from this spec bump as they should run smoother and get "enhanced image quality". There's also 2TB of storage, Wi-Fi 7 and no more optical disc drive (but one can be purchased separately for $159). The PS5 Pro will go on sale in Australia for $1,199 on November 7th, with pre-orders kicking off on September 26th.
42 state attorneys general over in the USA have signed an open letter asking Congress to implement the Surgeon General's plan for warning labels on social media, similar to those on cigarettes. They reckon that "A surgeon general's warning on social media platforms, though not sufficient to address the full scope of the problem, would be one consequential step toward mitigating the risk of harm to youth". I doubt the yanks were inspired by our local kids and social media posturing this week (which is way worse than a useless but harmless "social media is addictive" label), but it's a worrying trend.
We don't get many Huawei phones over in Australia due to the whole not allowed to have the Google Play Store thing, but their new Mate XT Ultimate "trifold" smartphone looks really cool. It's folded up like a pamphlet into three segments that expands out to a 10.2" screen. When fully folded it's 12.8mm thick - just 4mm thicker same as the iPhone 16 Pro Max. Fuck knows what the durability is like and it will have the same problem all folding devices have with unsightly plastic screens that get deformed, but I reckon the concept is great. Chinese market only and will sell for a whopping A$4,250. I'd love to try one.
PhotoDisc - Object Series 41: InfoMedia 3 (Internet Archive / ShivaShaw)
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