Good morning. It’s Thursday, which means we have five bits of tech news to chat about.
1. Deliveroo skips out of Australia
Yesterday afternoon news broke that food delivery service Deliveroo had entered into administration. “Deliveroo has taken the difficult decision to leave Australia … we want to thank everyone we have worked with,” the company wrote. Deliveroo landed in Australia in 2015, ahead of Uber Eats. But now, with Foodora leaving our shores a few years ago, too, Deliveroo’s 15,000 riders (and food requirers – now a word) are left with Menulog, Uber Eats and DoorDash.
2. NASA’s Artemis 1 finally leaves Earth
NASA’s Artemis 1 mission is officially underway, with SLS lifting off from Kennedy Space Centre late Wednesday arvo and sending the Orion spacecraft on a 25-day journey to the Moon and back. The launch (after three failed attempts) marks the start of the Artemis 1 mission and kicks off the Artemis lunar program, setting the stage for humans to land on the Moon this decade.
We are going.
For the first time, the @NASA_SLS rocket and @NASA_Orion fly together. #Artemis I begins a new chapter in human lunar exploration. pic.twitter.com/vmC64Qgft9
— NASA (@NASA) November 16, 2022
3. Trouble down under for Tesla
It’s been a busy 24 hours for Tesla, with a recall issued in Australia for Tesla Model S and Model X vehicles over a power steering fault that may increase the “risk of an accident, causing serious injury or death to vehicle occupants and other road users.” Meanwhile, former Tesla Australia director Kurt Schlosser pled guilty to two counts of insider trading at the Sydney Downing Centre Local Court. Both things are unrelated.
4. Musk wants ‘hardcore’ commitment
Still on things Elon Musk.com and the chief twit himself has declared he doesn’t want to be the CEO of anything, actually. But he also gave a warning to Twitter staff: Commit to a new “hardcore” Twitter or leave the company with severance pay. Per The Washington Post, employees were asked to click an icon and respond by Thursday if they wanted to stay.
5. Unified Digital ID moves into pilot
NSW Minister for Customer Service and Digital Government Victor Dominello announced yesterday the state government was moving its Digital ID into pilot phase, allowing customers to opt-in to only verify who they are – without needing to overshare information. Basically, you would use it for example for renting a car, not having to hand over all of your info because this Digital ID already did the checks. “Recent cyber breaches have underlined the need to keep the control of our private information in the hands of the customer, and stop the need for the continual oversharing of our personal details,” Dominello said.
BONUS ITEM: Jimmy Fallon is very much alive. And he’s not too happy about today’s trending hashtags on Twitter.
Elon, can you fix this? #RIPJimmyFallon
— Jimmy Fallon (@jimmyfallon) November 16, 2022
See you tomorrow.