Hello and welcome to Thursday. Here are a few things happening in the tech world we think you should care about.
1. Buh-bye to MyRepublic
Internet service provider MyRepublic this week announced it was exiting the Australian market. It entered into a subscriber transfer agreement with Superloop Ltd, which means all MyRepublic NBN customers will now be under the care of Superloop. The agreement marks the Singapore-based telco’s exit from the Australian broadband market after it launched here in 2016.
2. Google faces child privacy lawsuit
Per a report from Reuters, a U.S. appeals court has revived a lawsuit accusing Google and several other companies of violating the privacy of children under age 13 by tracking their YouTube activity without parental consent, in order to send them targeted advertising. The lawsuit alleged that YouTube content providers such as Hasbro, Mattel, the Cartoon Network and DreamWorks Animation lured children to their channels, knowing that they would be tracked.
3. Apple strike
Something we missed due to the Christmas break was Apple workers in Australia initiating a strike late Friday afternoon. Per Reuters (again), workers were demanding better working conditions and wages. As you’re aware, Friday afternoon was Christmas Eve eve and the strike caused disruptions for Apple’s Santa operations. Apple hasn’t made a statement on the matter.
RAFFWU members at @Apple are striking again today for the most basic conditions. This $3 Trillion company claims to be progressive while refusing to treat workers with dignity. #applestrike #rosterjustice #StandUpFightBack #fightbackwithRAFFWUhttps://t.co/N3g44emOGI
— RAFFWU (@raffwu) December 23, 2022
4. SpaceX finally meets a launch goal
With only a small handful of days left of 2022, SpaceX achieved a major milestone by pulling off its 60th orbital launch of the year — a goal that CEO Elon Musk had been targeting for the space company. A Falcon 9 rocket launched on Wednesday, lifting off at 8:34 pm AEDT from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The rocket carried 54 Starlink satellites, which may have been the first batch of SpaceX’s next generation satellites under a newly acquired licence.
5. No UFO, just weather
News has been spreading quickly across local U.S. sites that a UFO was seen flying over the Las Vegas strip. I’m heading to the strip myself next week for CES so I obviously spent far too much time this morning looking into these claims. Unfortunately, it seems the UFO was not a UFO and was instead a rare weather phenomenon. Bummer.
BONUS ITEM: No caption needed.
yes, please do enlighten me. email me at smalldickenergy@getalife.com https://t.co/V8geeVvEvg
— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) December 28, 2022
See you tomorrow.