Hello and happy hump day. We’ve got a few bits of tech news to share with you this morning.
1. Renewable energy roadmap
The Australian government has unveiled the CSIRO Renewable Energy Storage Roadmap, a plan to see domestic battery manufacturing capabilities thrive and produce output to ensure homes and businesses can “access cheap and reliable renewable energy into the future”. “Large-scale uptake of battery storage and battery manufacturing will be vital in the nation’s transition to net zero and to Australia becoming a world leader in clean energy,” Minister for Science and Industry Ed Husic said, noting that the government recognises the “pivotal role” that cheap, widely available energy storage will need to play in the transition to renewable power.
2. Apple Music Classical goes live
Apple Music Classical, the company’s big venture into a dedicated platform for classical music, finally went live on the App Store overnight. It’s only available on iPhone currently, and though it bears many features that classical fans have been clamouring for, it takes a bit of extra work to listen to classical songs offline. The app was spun out of Apple’s purchase of Primephonic back in 2021, though the company missed its expected release date of 2022. Apple Music Classical finally reared its head earlier this month, promising more than 5 million tracks with 192 kHz, 24-bit Hi-Res lossless audio as well as Apple’s Spatial Audio feature. Users need an Apple Music subscription to access Apple Music Classical, but do not need to pay extra for it.
#AppleMusicClassical is here! Watch as two of the most powerful talents in classical music, @AliceSaraOtt and @kcanellakis, team up to introduce you to the new app. https://t.co/lwnF4Dx4ua pic.twitter.com/cbEbageOha
— Apple Music Classical (@AppleClassical) March 28, 2023
3. Using AI to fight cybercrime
Per a report from the Australian Financial Review, Microsoft is extending its AI game to thwarting cybercrime. The AFR says the tech giant will be introducing new chat tools (OpenAI’s new GPT-4 language system and data specific to the security field) that can help cybersecurity teams ward off hacks and clean up after an attack. The idea is to help security workers more quickly see connections between various parts of a hack, such as a suspicious email, malicious software file or the parts of the system that were compromised, the report notes.
4. (Paid) democracy
Twitter is continuing its descent into disorder and disfunction with CEO Elon Musk leading the platform’s nosedive. Next up: unverified users are set to lose their poll participation privileges and one half of the segregated timeline system will only include verified accounts, according to a (of course) tweet from the billionaire. Though Musk is still clinging to the same bot takeover argument that he once tried to use to wriggle out of his deal to purchase Twitter, it’s obvious he has ulterior motives here. The only way to become “verified” (i.e. gain a blue check) at this point in Twitter’s history is to pay for it.
Starting April 15th, only verified accounts will be eligible to be in For You recommendations.
The is the only realistic way to address advanced AI bot swarms taking over. It is otherwise a hopeless losing battle.
Voting in polls will require verification for same reason.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 27, 2023
5. Aussie data on the dark web and a warning about smart stuff
In the wake of the Latitude Financial Services breach, security firm Trend Micro has said 75.2 per cent of its Australian Identity Protection users were notified that their data was found on the Dark Web, with email being the most common piece of information found in a breach. Identity Protection is a service offered by Trend Micro, so the data is somewhat skewed, but the company reckons it still points to the fact that anything connected to the internet is at risk, including smart TVs, which can serve as gateways to anything connected to the home network. “Australia experienced 118 attacks per connected household in 2022 – almost one attack every two days – highlighting the need for heightened cybersecurity measures across the entire home network,” the company said.
BONUS ITEM: Well then.
Stay dry out there!