Hello, hope you had a good weekend. There are a few tech things to catch up on this morning, so we’ll get straight to them.
1. Woolworths subsidiary suffers data breach
Online marketplace MyDeal, which is a subsidiary of Woolworths, revealed 2.2 million customer records had leaked from its CRM thanks to a ‘compromised user credential’. Data accessed includes customer names, email addresses, phone numbers and delivery addresses, and in some instances, dates of birth (if provided to purchase alcohol). MyDeal does not store payment, drivers licence or passport details and no customer account passwords or payment details have been compromised. No other Woolworths system was involved in the breach.
2. QLD e-scooter penalties ‘designed to hurt’
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced Friday afternoon that from November 1, tough penalties will apply for those using an e-scooter in the state. The biggest fine will be $1,078 for using your phone while riding, with drink driving the next highest penalty, at $431. The fines are hefty, but state Transport Minister Mark Bailey said, “The fines are going to hurt, they’re designed to”. Be safe out there, folks.
These new penalties come into effect from November 1. pic.twitter.com/HuqV30xnal
— Annastacia Palaszczuk (@AnnastaciaMP) October 15, 2022
3. An Apple tablet-speaker-hub smart display
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman is reporting his well-backed theory that Apple is working on a dock for the iPad that would allow the device to function as a smart display and speaker. Kind of like Amazon’s Echo Show or Google’s Nest Hub (or its newly touted Pixel Tablet). The product is expected to launch soon, but unlike the usual product drops, this one will be pushed out with a little less fanfare.
4. SpaceX will keep funding Starlink internet in Ukraine
After saying he could not keep paying for Starlink satellite in Ukraine, Elon Musk on Saturday literally said “The hell with it” and decided that his company would continue to fund it. He said the loss is around $US20 million a month, which is no small sum. Good to see he’s doing something decent. He could do all this without all the ballyhoo, but.
The hell with it … even though Starlink is still losing money & other companies are getting billions of taxpayer $, we’ll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 15, 2022
5. Nvidia invents new word (and pulls graphics card)
Nvidia is delaunchifying, un-unleasing, decatapulting — OK fine, we’ll use the word the company used — “unlaunching” its 12 GB version of the upcoming RTX 4080 graphics card. Why? Well according to a blog post, the card is “fantastic,” but “it’s not named right. Having two GPUs with the 4080 designation is confusing.” Not helping Nvidia’s attempts to avoid confusing its customers, the company’s short and un-revealing announcement isn’t completely clear about what’s really going on here.
BONUS ITEM: Over the weekend, the hearts of many ached. RIP Robbie Coltrane. There’s no Hogwarts without you, Hagrid.
Have a good week, folks.