Good morning, let’s jump straight into the handful of things happening in the tech world today.
1. Sydney to Hobart gets an electric yacht
The ABC has reported an electric yacht will set sail for the first time on Boxing Day as part of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race. In the video, Ian Thomson from Ocean Crusaders explains how instead of using diesel to charge the yacht’s batteries, his team is going electric. The engine has been removed, replaced with an electric system that charges via wind, solar and hydrogen. Removing the engine also gives Ocean Crusaders an advantage – it got rid of 400kg in the process. We’re suddenly very excited for this race.
2. What’s this AI app taking over my feed?
Lensa AI is the app taking over your Instagram and Twitter feed at the moment, offering edited portraits of the people you follow, but keep in mind that it’s not the most ethical thing. The app uses a database of collated (actual) art from the internet to generate the images, without crediting the original artist. Artists can remove their art from databases, but it’s handled as an ‘opt out’ process. Read more here.
3. USB-C by December 2024
The European Union has given phone manufacturers a deadline of 28 December 2024 to adopt a common charging cable. While we knew it was coming, the law only just entered what’s called the the EU’s Official Journal, bringing with it an exact date for the mandate. The law will require all tech companies — but really we’re all still talking about Apple — add support for USB-C charging cables in a move that could make USB-C the dominant cable throughout the world.
4. Elon Musk gets viciously booed
Elon Musk, the billionaire who wants nothing more in life than to be adored by legions of fans, was loudly booed by a crowd in San Francisco after he was invited onstage by comedian Dave Chappelle. And the footage is pretty rough, even if you don’t particularly like Musk. We’d embed some of the videos but Twitter has removed them, and Musk is claiming it in fact wasn’t all that bad. Yes it was, sir.
5. Aussie crypto broker enters voluntary administration
Something we missed yesterday was Australian crypto broker Digital Surge collapsing into voluntary administration. As the ABC reports, Digital Surge froze the trading accounts of its 30,000 clients last month and this month, the company entered administration. As the report explains, voluntary administration is generally something a company does when it is either at risk of insolvency or is already insolvent. Interestingly, the last blog post on the Digital Surge website is from a month ago discussing the FTX collapse.
BONUS ITEM: The important thing is coming home.
Have a wonderful Tuesday.