Microsoft warns Russian hackers still trying to break into its systems | Reuters: Given Microsoft's vast customer network, it is not surprising it is being targeted, said Jerome Segura, principal threat researcher at the cybersecurity firm Malwarebytes' Threatdown Labs. He added it was unnerving that the attack was still underway despite Microsoft's efforts to thwart access.
Coalition steps up calls to ban TikTok over links to China - ABC News: The Australian government last year banned the use of TikTok on government devices, but Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said the government had no current plans for a nationwide ban. Ms Rowland stopped short of ruling out such a ban in the future, saying the government would follow the advice of its own security agencies.
New AI paint colors: I trained a neural net from scratch on lists of colors I could find online, and with no prior training on English or any language (and therefore no idea what paint colors were) it managed to reproduce some of the letter combinations in the originals. But it lacked the context to know not to generate colors like these
Defeated CEOs are now conceding hybrid working is here to stay—a year after 62% said they expected a full-time return to office by 2026: KPMG surveyed U.S. CEOs of companies turning over at least $500 million and found that just one-third expect a full return to the office in the next three years. So it's official: Leaders who believe that office workers will be back at their desks five days a week in the near future are now in the small minority. It's a complete 360 on their stance last year, when 62% of CEOs surveyed predicted that working from home would end by 2026.
Sydney's Powerhouse Musuem to shut its doors for repairs amid backlash closure is 'unjustified' - ABC News: Dr Sharp, who also directed London's Science Museum for five years, said he doubted the Powerhouse would reopen in 2027 as promised — given the government has not released a refurbishment plan and the museum has been closed before planning approvals have been given, and a construction contract signed. [...] The arts minister has pledged $250 million for the museum's renovations — half the amount originally promised by the previous state government. But less than $120 million in expenditure has been allocated for the project over four years to 2026-27 in the latest state budget.
The Engineer/Manager Pendulum – charity.wtf: The best frontline eng managers in the world are the ones that are never more than 2-3 years removed from hands-on work, full time down in the trenches. The best individual contributors are the ones who have done time in management. And the best technical leaders in the world are often the ones who do both. Back and forth. Like a pendulum.
Google agrees to settle Chrome incognito mode class action lawsuit | Ars Technica: Google has indicated that it is ready to settle a class-action lawsuit filed in 2020 over its Chrome browser's Incognito mode. Arising in the Northern District of California, the lawsuit accused Google of continuing to "track, collect, and identify [users'] browsing data in real time" even when they had opened a new Incognito window.
RTO Policies Don't Improve Employee Performance or Company Value: Ma compared each firm's financial performance on the stock market before and after implementing return-to-office mandates and found no significant change in either the financial performance or the stock market value. [...] "We found that return-to-office mandates are more common among firms with poor stock performance and stock returns," Ma said
Caro Emerald - The Ghost Of You. Know this one from its use in The Peripheral, and although I watched it a while earlier for some reason this track bubbled back up later.
The HU - This Is Mongol. The Hu and Alice In Chains, what's not to like? :)
VNV Nation - Wait. New single that I played to death.
Up Down Jumper - Boris Brejcha. Came up on a random discovery list in Tidal and got thoroughly stuck in my head.
Anyma & Chris Avantgarde - Eternity. This track was all over social media with its inseparable visuals, but what really impressed me was how they adapted it to a long, narrow venue (clearly not what they'd designed it for). Bit odd to end up on a music playlist because of the lightshow, but it is what it is!
Next three are from an absolutely massive gig, Regurgitator's "Unit" show which was really a mini festival. It was my first gig since Tool, pre-covid! Also it was like a time machine back to Brisvegas in the late nineties, in the very best way.
Butterfingers - Get Up Outta The Dirt
Custard - Girls Like That
Regurgitator - Polyester Girl
Back to the randomness..
Armin van Buuren - Computers Take Over The World. Another one that came up on Tidal, at a time when everyone was talking about AI taking over everything AND I was learning to make music. Also it's very tongue in cheek, self-referential humour for music producers. Bit of a gimme for me, then.
Underworld - and the colour red. Underworld released another amazing track. That's it, that's all they need to do...
VNV Nation - Invictus. Double-dipping VNV as this one got stuck in my head after the album came out.
Big run to the finish with three gigs that happened in the space of about two weeks, which were all amazing in their own ways, so I'm double-dipping all three.
G. Love & Special Sauce was a total wildcard, suggested by a mate. It lead to an improbable night of running into another mate at the venue; and shenanigans ensued that were Very Inner West.
G. Love & Special Sauce - Blues Music
G. Love & Special Sauce - Cold Beverage
Devo's Freedom Of Choice album was one of the first cassettes I had, after my sister dubbed a copy for me. Pretty sure the tape had Scritti Politti on the other side. She was also showing me stuff I might like on VHS-recorded episodes of MTV and Rage - I remember Tears For Fears, The Cure, and lots of totally bonkers Devo film clips.
Somehow though I never quite made it to a Devo gig, nor saw them at a festivale, etc. So when they announced it was their last tour, it had to happen... and it didn't disappoint. They were just as unapologetically weird as I'd hoped.
Devo - Freedom Of Choice
Devo - (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
Followed that up just a few days later with Kraftwerk, which was just amazing. To be able to go see the urtext of electronic music felt like a privilege to me.
Kingsmill the kingmaker: Triple J veteran who shaped Australia's music tastes for decades departs ABC | Australian music | The Guardian: However much you liked or hated his musical taste, at least Kingsmill was a real human being. There are now far fewer niches for tastemakers and cultural intermediaries. Your Spotify feed is programmed by a ghostly algorithm, while the power to launch new artists has been passed to TikTok. As robot playlists and major label tie-ups move inexorably towards the commanding heights of the music economy, it may be that we come to look on Kingsmill's time at Triple J with nostalgia.
St Vincent’s Hospital to be insolvent by April | The Saturday Paper: The SVHA group has $3.6 billion in assets and almost $400 million in cash and cash equivalents at hand, although this is apparently not to be spent to rescue its failing public operation. For those not familiar, this is a situation where the public and private hospitals are literally next door. One rolling in cash, the other broke. You could not get a clearer illustration of why maintaining two entire hospital systems in parallel is ludicrous.
Facebook Is Being Overrun With Stolen, AI-Generated Images That People Think Are Real: In many ways, this is a tale as old as time: people lie and steal content online in exchange for likes, influence and money all the time. But the spread of this type of content on Facebook over the last several months has shown that the once-prophesized future where cheap, AI-generated trash content floods out the hard work of real humans is already here, and is already taking over Facebook. It also shows Facebook is doing essentially nothing to help its users decipher real content from AI-generated content masquerading as real content, and that huge masses of Facebook users are completely unprepared for our AI-generated future.
Microsoft hires former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman | OpenAI | The Guardian: At the end of a dramatic weekend of boardroom drama, the non-profit board of the San Francisco-based OpenAI has installed Emmett Shear, the co-founder of video streaming site Twitch, as the company's third CEO in three days, according to multiple reports. A week later the drama was still going on. Silicon Valley would never have run out of material, honestly.
Aussie electro-mod Datsun 1200 ute - 730kg of rapid brilliance - EV Central. EV swaps are definitely part of the future for car culture. Those who say it will never happen are very silly. It'd be like saying LS swaps wouldn't catch on. People like to keep old cars running, and they like to do things that are different. EV swaps tick a lot of boxes.
Scientists strengthen concrete by 30 percent with used coffee grounds: a team of researchers from RMIT University in Australia have discovered [pyrolized coffee grounds] can be used as a silica substitute in the concrete production process that, in the proper proportions, yields a significantly stronger chemical bond than sand alone
Why do cats love tuna so much? Scientists may finally know | Science | AAAS: umami appears to be the primary flavor cats seek out. That's no surprise for an obligate carnivore. But the team also found these cat receptors are uniquely tuned to molecules found at high concentrations in tuna, revealing why our feline friends seem to prefer this delicacy over all others.
Tim Gurner: Property tycoon got his start with help from boss, grandfather: Anyone with half a memory will know Timbo has form. He became a pre-pandemic meme in property circles as the “Avocado Toast Guy”, suggesting that people priced out of the property market should simply eat less brunch. ... The next time Timbo chunters on about any aspect of economic policy, or about the current predicament of employer-employee relationships, he should be forced to staple to his forehead how he really “made it”. Lord knows there's enough room.
FOGO system 'overwhelmed' by plastics as industry urges public to get behind rollout - ABC News. The RedCycle debacle probably hasn't helped with general levels of engagement with recycling. Food scraps also suffer because the little caddy bins are poorly designed so they sweat a lot; and the compostable bags tear incredibly easily when they get wet. So unless you empty and clean the bin daily (or close to daily) it turns into a disgusting mess... so if you get busy or sick and fall behind you're just tempted to stop using it. It really does reduce the amount of general waste you have though.
What is happening to gas in Victoria and will the rest of the country follow suit? - ABC News. I've no doubt there will be pushback, but ultimately gas stoves make absolutely no sense. Bad for your health, expensive, smelly, dangerous. Gas was better than crappy old electric stoves, but isn't better than modern induction stoves which are fast and responsive. Gas should only be retained as a portable or backup solution, including BBQs.
This is Henson Park - League - Inside Sport: There's no rugby league experience quite like a Newtown Jets home game. The big stadiums will never be able to match the charm, passion and community spirit of a place like Henson, a beacon of suburban footy. Although written in 2018 I'm pleased to say this piece still perfectly describes what it is like attending a game at Henson Park.
Kevin Mitnick Obituary - Las Vegas, NV. Vale Kevin Mitnick. A tumultuous but all too short life. Demonised hacker turned white hat, he inspired so many to be curious and even to go into security as a career.
Tesla's secret team to suppress thousands of driving range complaints. They rigged the cars to show optimistic range during test drives: The company decided about a decade ago, for marketing purposes, to write algorithms for its range meter that would show drivers “rosy” projections for the distance it could travel on a full battery [...] Then, when the battery fell below 50% of its maximum charge, the algorithm would show drivers more realistic projections for their remaining driving range. Then they set up a whole team to stop owners from bringing cars in thinking they were defective because they never got that range: Tesla created the Las Vegas “Diversion Team” to handle only range cases [...] The office atmosphere at times resembled that of a telemarketing boiler room. A supervisor had purchased the metallophone – a xylophone with metal keys – that employees struck to celebrate appointment cancellations.
If this is the best we can hope for, why do we even bother? - The Shot: In Australia’s infantile political theatre, approving a new coal mine and being sad about it is considered a victory for the environment, better and more progressive than approving a new coal mine while gloating about it and/or crash tackling a small child into the dirt. ... We need to constantly ask ourselves where power really lies in Australia, because the Government doesn’t appear to be the answer.
Enhanced Games: audacious plan for sporting event without drug testing | Drugs in sport | The Guardian - something like this seems inevitable, but the promoter's rhetoric is bullshit. Anti-doping agencies aren't anti-science, they are anti-cheating. People aren't doping to advance humanity, they're doping to win by breaking the rules of their sport. People who had past accolades stripped for drugs were cheating and knew it - they're not unsung heroes, they're just cheats. Go nuts with the doped-up olympics - but don't come in with bullshit arguments.