Hi, friends, let’s do this again, shall we?
1. National cyber security coordinator out
Starting locally today and iTnews is reporting that Australia’s first national cyber security coordinator has been recalled by Defence just four months into the role to deal with an unspecified “workplace matter”. Air Marshal Darren Goldie was appointed back in June, charged with the task of doing what he can to “ensure Australia is best positioned to respond to the opportunities and threats of the digital age”.
2. Apple gives iPhone 14 users an extra year of Emergency SOS via Satellite
Good news, iPhone users. A year after introducing the feature to its walled garden, Apple has extended free access to Emergency SOS via satellite to the iPhone 14/14 Pro for another year. As previously expected, you get three years of Emergency SOS via satellite services instead of two. The extension seems squarely for iPhone 14 users, perhaps to get them on the same support timeline as those buying the iPhone 15/15 Pro. iPhone 15 users also get two years of satellite emergency services bundled in with the cost of their devices, which means they’ll have to pay when the deal expires for the iPhone 14.
3. Microsoft to start making its own AI chips
Microsoft will now make its own chips to power Azure, Copilot, and ChatGPT, CEO Satya Nadella announced at the Microsoft Ignite conference Wednesday. The Maia 100 can be used to train AI models and will start rolling out into Azure data centres early next year, reducing the company’s reliance on Nvidia GPUs. The new AI chips are Microsoft’s response to a dwindling supply of Nvidia H100 GPUs, the advanced chips used to train ChatGPT, that Silicon Valley can’t get enough of. Microsoft also is building the Cobalt 100, which will be the most advanced arm CPU on the market, to run Azure.
4. Google CEO says nothing suss going on here
The Guardian is this morning reporting on the current antitrust trial between Google and Epic Games, saying the Search giant’s CEO Sundar Pichai testified that his company does not intentionally stifle competition, as alleged by the Fortnite maker. “Our mission is to provide access to information, to make it universally accessible and useful. Android is unprecedented, there’s never been a free and open operating system that’s reached two and a half billion users,” Pichai is quoted as saying. The trial centres on claims Epic Games has made that accuse Google of abusive, monopolistic practices enacted through its app store.
5. $US90M contract for Starlink with Mexico, and no more being sued for selling your Cybertruck
Ending things today with Musk news and Reuters is reporting his satellite internet service, Starlink, has secured a 1.56 billion peso ($US89.80 million) contract to offer free internet in Mexico until the end of 2026. Elsewhere in Musk land, Tesla reversed course on its initial claims to sue Cybertruck resellers if they flipped their car within the first year of purchase. The first Cybertrucks, which start shipping out in the U.S. on November 30, will no longer have the strict penalties tied to reselling that they once did.
BONUS ITEM: Comes in the form of this little cutie because I need the dopamine and think you might, too.
Bye!!
Image: AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar