Happy Friday. Here’s some tech news to kick off your day.
1. Netflix ads start today
Netflix with ads is finally here for Aussies. For $6.99 per month, on the ‘Basic with Ads’ plan, you’ll see an “average” of four to five ads every hour. Basic with Ads will offer users “a limited number of movies and TV shows won’t be available due to licensing restrictions”. You won’t be able to download content for offline viewing, either. And the ads tier won’t work on some devices, including the Apple TV. Netflix earlier this month started emailing Australian accountholders to let them know people using their account could port their data to one they pay for. We’re expecting leachers to be kicked off the platform but this isn’t confirmed.
2. Drones will form a Candy Crush ad
A number of illuminated drones will take to the skies above New York City soon. They’ll do a little dance, flash some bright colours, and remind everyone that Candy Crush has existed for a full decade. The game may have hundreds of millions of monthly players, but it seems its corporate overlords at Activision Blizzard want to seek out the last few poor souls who remain blissfully unaware of its existence. To do so, the company has partnered with a drone advertiser called Pixis to turn New York’s sky into one big ad. The future sucks.
3. Over 76,000 reports of cybercrime
The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) has launched its third annual threat report, revealing that it received over 76,000 cybercrime reports last financial year – a 13 per cent increase from the year before. That means the agency is receiving a report every seven minutes, compared to one every eight minutes the year before. Per the ABC, the average cost of every cybercrime reported has also risen, hitting almost $40,000 for small businesses, around $88,000 for medium businesses and more than $62,000 for large businesses.
4. 3D-printing body parts in space
NASA is leading a plan to bioprint a human knee meniscus in orbit and study the result on Earth. To do it, Engadget is reporting, the group involved will be sending a new 3D printer to the International Space Station, hoping this will lead to treatments for the meniscal injuries that US soldiers all too frequently face. The group hopes to 3D print whole organs in space, although it characterises this as a “long-term” goal.
We’re launching an upgraded 3D bioprinter to @Space_Station to investigate a new treatment that may aid military service members!
The mission is scheduled to lift off NET Nov. 6 at 5:50am ET from @NASA_Wallops. #NG18 https://t.co/45cmcpNnRd pic.twitter.com/DNphhvK5Gd
— Redwire Space (@RedwireSpace) November 2, 2022
5. A compostable myth
A little more science than tech, but alarming nonetheless. Seemingly every corner of our world is now littered with plastics, and only a tiny percentage of it is ever recycled. To mitigate this, many companies are offering items labelled as “compostable” or “biodegradable” plastic — but as new research finds, those may be a misnomer. A new study found that the majority of supposedly compostable plastics didn’t actually break down in home composting conditions.
BONUS ITEM: Déjà vu.
My employee login @Twitter vs. Lettuce
Let’s goooooooooo pic.twitter.com/bgkZiLmH8T— Sheon Han (@sheonhan) November 3, 2022
Have a wonderful weekend.