Is there anyone out there who *doesn’t* get hacked?
Welcome to another nice Friday!
In some ways, though, it’s a sad occasion, as Byteside’s amazing content producer, Chris Button, is off on another adventure next week. Big thanks to Chris for all his work published on the site, his work behind the scenes and his somber tones on this year’s edition of the High Definition podcast.
Here’s what we found interesting online this week.
Byte page last
PAX Australia 2022 looked different, but does that hurt the show’s future?
The biggest platforms and developers weren’t on the show floor in 2022. But does the spirit of PAX protect it from the changing nature of game marketing?
Google Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro review: because you love Google’s brains
The same price in an inflationary market and some solid updates in camera and features make it a good year to upgrade if you’ve been waiting a few years.
Brain food
Is Spotify’s Podcast Exclusivity Strategy Working?
The open podcast ecosystem isn’t dead yet.
Good analysis of what has gone right and wrong when Spotify has bought successful podcast companies and then forced their existing shows into platform exclusives.
AI tools fail to reduce recruitment bias – study
Artificially intelligent analysis of job applications or videos is “pseudoscience”, researchers say.
Shout it again for those in the back. AI is not biased!
The hottest app right now? One where teenagers have to say nice things about each other
Gas tops Apple’s App Store charts, even though it’s live in fewer than a dozen states.
Always interesting to see where new social apps find penetration. Can positivity win? Or will the kids always find a way to turn good vibes into a new vector for bullying or ostracism?
YouTube is more likely to recommend conservative videos to everyone
There goes Woke Big Tech again, belittling traditional liberal views
Regardless of your preferences, all roads seem to lead to conservative videos.
Everyone wants to be a hot, anxious girl on Twitter
We are more predictable than we thought.
A very interesting look at the Twitter accounts that recreate videos, quotes and trends and bring attention to followers.
Big news
What we know about Medibank cyber attacks and what to do if you are a customer
Medibank, which has more than 3.7 million customers, says a hacker claims to have stolen 200GB of data and provided 100 policies as evidence. Here’s what we know.
I was on the ABC with Richard Glover discussing this yesterday. Perhaps there is a little less identity theft at play here, but there is also a much deeper level of private information that the attackers threaten to exploit. The potential to reveal private medical insights about high-profile individuals is a very nasty threat. And that’s the kind of data we should could rely on an insurance provider to act on our behalf as needed.
Request ‘absolutely necessary’ after Optus breach: Dominello
A national inquiry into identity and data sharing is “absolutely necessary” in the wake of the Optus data breach, according to New South Wales Minister for Customer Services and Digital Government Victor Dominello. With investigations into Australia’s biggest data breach since 2018 now underway by pr…
Along with the above, there really should be audits and investigations that are triggered automatically against companies that hold critical personal data and are affected by a breach. It feels like the news cycle is ready to leave the Optus situation in the past and everyone is just shrugging and moving on. We need real transparency and real accountability when big companies fail when it comes to security.
Your ads, your choice
Today, Google is rolling out My Ads Center, a new way for users to control the ads they see on Search, YouTube and Discover.
New tools will make it easier to control ad tracking without having to turn off other useful features of the Google experience. Progress.
Chrome for Android is getting some tablet-friendly touches
The update brings capabilities like tabs and a drag-and-drop mode, but it’s only for Android tablets.
In other Google news, these new tablet-friendly features are another win for the Android ecosystem. With the Pixel tablet on the way too, delivering a better experience that embraces larger and wider screen formats will help people see the value of choosing such devices.
Jack Dorsey-Founded Bluesky Unveils Roadmap for Decentralized Social Networks – Decrypt
The group, formed within Twitter, is building a decentralized protocol that limits corporate and government influence on social media platforms.
I hadn’t read much into Bluesky before, but this latest update speaks to a social protocol that has great potential as a truly open platform. “Decentralized” doesn’t have to mean crypto. Email is a wonderful decentralized, unified means of communication that anyone can use. Getting it right in a similar way for social could be great.
Meta gives up fight to get $400m Giphy buy approved
Facebook to dump GIF super gallery after just enough trouble from the UK
“OK, you can have Instagram, but a searchable index of GIFs is a bridge too far.”
Secret agents targeting drug cartels in Australia exposed in computer hack
A massive leak of classified government documents has revealed the identity and methods of undercover agents working to stop major drug imports into Australia.
A leak in Columbia has put Australian authorities at risk. The ripple effects of cyber security cross the globe.
USB 4 version 2 doubles the transfer speed to 80 Gbps — even 120 Gbps if you push it
The new data transfer technology may arrive as late as 2023, but you will only get top speeds when you upgrade all cables, peripherals and PCs.
Consider the timeline from here to 2030. A few more generations of USB, all based on the same USB-C port. It seems that we will “save on cables”, but there will certainly be some cables that are more USB-C than others, and knowing which one will become more difficult every year.
