Hello and happy Friday. It’s been a big week, one dominated by Apple and its very expensive foray into augmented/virtual reality. But we’ve got a handful of other things we want to share with you before the long weekend. Let’s dive in.
1. CBA limits crypto payments
Starting with the banking-crypto/real-fake money stoush and the Commonwealth Bank is the next Aussie bank (behind Westpac) to limit transfers to high-risk crypto exchanges. Per the Australian Financial Review, the black and yellow bank rolled out a series of fraud protection measures on Thursday that include restricting customers from converting Australian dollars to crypto assets at the behest of scammers. It is understood ANZ also has measures in place to confirm you aren’t being scammed before sending Aussie dollars into a cyrpto exchange.
2. Microsoft OneDrive on the fritz
According to BleepingComputer, Microsoft is investigating an ongoing outage that is preventing OneDrive customers from accessing the cloud file hosting service worldwide, just as a threat actor known as ‘Anonymous Sudan’ claims to be DDoSing the service. Per the report, users who are trying to open the OneDrive website are seeing “Sorry, an error has occurred” and “This page isn’t working right now” error messages. On the status page, currently, Teams and Outlook are on the fritz for Microsoft, but it seems no real end user concerns are being felt.
3. AI Bills from American lawmakers
Heading over to Reuters (it’s becoming a daily thing, eh?), and it’s reporting that U.S. senators on Thursday introduced two separate bipartisan artificial intelligence Bills amid growing interest in addressing issues surrounding the technology. While this is American politics, we all know by now that in the tech space, it’s the U.S. that sets the scene for how the rest of the world tackles (or pretends to tackle) a tech issue. One of these Bills would require the U.S. government to be transparent when using AI to interact with people and another would establish an office to determine if the United States is remaining competitive in the latest technologies. Oh, it seems Mark Zuckerberg is also in his AI era.
4. Be vigilant, it’s probably not the government texting you
Another day, another scam warning from the ACMA. This time, the regulator is warning us to be wary of calls, emails, or SMS claiming to be from an Australian government agency that asks you to urgently update personal information, claim a refund, or make a payment. “This could be a scam,” the ACMA said. Emails and SMS might ask you to click on links to receive a refund, submit tax information or view correspondence. These scams can appear trustworthy, with government logos and genuine contact details to trick you into believing they are real. Common impersonations include MyGov, the Australian Tax Office (ATO), the Department of Home Affairs, or the ACMA. Stay vigilant.
5. Quantum Brilliance opens quantum computing to all
Aussie quantum computing startup Quantum Brilliance has released its software development kit (SDK) so that anybody can work with it. The startup has previously been working on quantum computers using diamonds to cool the machines in room temperature environments, and now, developers can work on applications for the systems using the newly-released Qristal SDK. “We believe this powerful tool will help organisations around the world understand how quantum accelerators can enable and enhance productisation and commercialisation,” CEO and co-founder of Quantum Brilliance Mark Luo said. Super cool stuff.
BONUS ITEM: Our friends at Kotaku Australia woke up super early today to cover off Summer Games Fest – they’ve wrapped everything into a nice little bow for you.
Every trailer from this morning’s Summer Game Fest to enjoy with your breakfast.https://t.co/NikfFkRZXG
— Kotaku Australia (@KotakuAU) June 8, 2023
Enjoy your weekend.