Hello. The historic kickoff to humanity’s return to the Moon is all set for launch next week, but today, we’ve got five bits of tech news to sink your teeth into.
1. Meta, big tech’s biggest copycat, is at it again
It was inevitable. The social media app that is more focused on being every other app than the one people want it to be is now testing ‘IG Candid Challenges’. Aside from the name being woeful, Meta-owned Instagram’s BeReal clone will ping a user (if they sign up for it) when there’s a ‘challenge’ to complete. It’s a picture. You simply take a picture. It’s just an internal prototype at the moment, here’s hoping it stays that way.
2. We laugh, but NFTs are helping the rich get richer
NFTs, the things yet to prove their usefulness, are reportedly making companies like Nike, Dolce & Gabbana, Tiffany, Gucci and Adidas a shitload of cash. According to stats from Dune Analytics, reported by Web3 publication NFT Gators, Nike has amassed nearly $US1.3 billion in transaction volume from secondary trading of its NFTs to add to $US93 million worth of primary sales, while also generating $US92 million in royalties. Why people?
3. Whistleblower puts Twitter on full blast
Over in the Twittersphere, the company’s former head of security (the one who has a storied history of ringing the warning bell about internet security), has now come out full blast against his former employer alleging incredibly lax security at all levels of Twitter that continues to put users’ personal data at incredible risk. Peiter Zatko is reported as saying half of all employees have access to users’ personal data. But that’s just the start. He also spoke about a topic that Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been obsessed with for months: Twitter’s spam bots. Yikes.
4. Phone number verification for god knows why
Staying on the blue bird site, Twitter is now verifying your phone number, but we’re not even remotely sure why. Twitter told TechCrunch that this feature is a way to help people find credible information. They also said that this verification is one part of the process (what process we don’t know), and the verification is being tested with an opt-in setting, but no information was provided on how widespread the test and who can actually see the badge.
5. Telstra CEO flags our cybersecurity strategy as weak
Soon-to-be former CEO of Telstra Andy Penn has criticised the implementation of the former federal government’s lacklustre $1.7 billion 2020 cybersecurity strategy. He told the National Press Club yesterday that “insufficient progress” had been made, even as the threat landscape had become substantially worse. As InnovationAus points out, Penn actually helped develop this strategy. His concerns were apparently never addressed by the former government at the time, either.
BONUS ITEM: a thread for you to spend your morning on.
🚨 Lachlan Murdoch’s camp readying a defamation suit against Crikey; he’s calling the bluff. Story to come.
— Mark Di Stefano (@MarkDiStef) August 23, 2022
See you Thursday.