Good morning and happy Friday. Tomorrow begins a long weekend for most Australian states and today we bring you five things to get you up to speed in the world of tech.
1. Google Stadia is on its deathbed
Stadia is not long for this world. Google’s cloud gaming service will persist for a few more months until it shuts down completely in January. The news came via a blog post from Stadia’s general manager, Phil Harrison, where he goes into detail on how Google’s phasing out its cloud gaming service. Google will refund all Stadia hardware purchased through the Google Store, including the marquee controller. Any games and add-on content purchased through the service will also get refunded.
2. Elon’s back on his bullshit
Tesla CEO Elon Musk wrote on Twitter Thursday that his long-promised Cybertruck would be “waterproof enough” to operate as a boat, the day before Tesla will give a demonstration of its artificial intelligence capabilities. In a followup tweet, Musk said he “needs” his company’s big and ugly truck to travel from his still-in-development Texas-based spaceport Starbase to South Padre Island, located off the state’s southwestern coastline. Of course, he could take the bridge.
Cybertruck will be waterproof enough to serve briefly as a boat, so it can cross rivers, lakes & even seas that aren’t too choppy
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 29, 2022
3. A win for green energy in Queensland
The Queensland government is set to spend $4 billion on promoting green manufacturing and hydrogen exporting to put the state on the global renewables stage. InnovationAus is reporting $270 million will go towards pumped hydro projects and by 2035, Queensland is expected to have the largest pumped hydro capacity out of Australia’s jurisdictions.
4. Meta is freezing hiring and cutting costs
Bloomberg is reporting that Meta is reeling it in, freezing hires and going through a cost-cutting restructure. This ends an era of rapid growth for the social media giant and is the first time Meta has announced such cuts and an end to its expansion. Roles that some employees have will not be filled and budgets across multiple teams will be cut. This is in the leadup to Meta’s “Meta Connect” event, where the company will reveal the Meta Quest Pro (otherwise known as Project Cambria).
5. The CIA Wants to Bring Back the Woolly Mammoth
A venture capital firm funded by the CIA has officially placed its bets on bringing back extinct species like the woolly mammoth and the thylacine, according to a public portfolio released this month and spotted by The Intercept. The company is called In-Q-Tel, and its mission (according to its website) is to invest in technologies that bolster the United States’ national security. In-Q-Tel is over 20 years old, but only now have its taxpayer dollars been directed towards the genetically-engineered resurrection of extinct animals, or de-extinction.
BONUS ITEM: Isn’t AI a wonderful thing?
— Weird Dall-E Mini Generations (@weirddalle) September 29, 2022
TGIF. Have a wonderful weekend.