It’s Monday again – I tried to stop it, honest, I did. Here’s what’s happening in tech news.
1. Government Mulls Anti-Scam Strategy For Businesses
Should businesses be made to have anti-scam strategies in place to protect consumers? That’s one prospect being considered by the Federal government, as reported by ITNews. If plans go ahead, the intial business sectors targeted would include banks, digital communications platforms and telcos, expanding out to superannuation businesses, digital currency exchanges, payment providers and online marketplaces. The Treasury and the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts (DITRDCA) are now seeking feedback on the proposals.
2. Laser AI Cameras Could Replace Stethoscopes
Quick, you’ve got to cast an actor as a medico in your budget-hope-it-sells-to-Tubi medical drama. How do you make them look like a doctor? Throw a stethoscope round their neck, right? Well, those days could start to look a tad anachronistic if a new invention out of Glasgow university takes over. As reported by The Guardian, the apparatus uses AI and a laser to read your heartbeat from a distance – a nice innovation itself in an age of COVID – and could be used to help detect the early stages of cardiovascular conditions. Bonus trivia: The stethoscope’s had a good long run as a medical instrument, given it was invented all the way back in 1816.
3. Wireless Road Charging Becomes A Reality
Detroit is well known as the motor city, but it’s also just become the wireless-EV-charging-city, with Israeli startup Electreon building the first publicly accessible inductive charging road, as per Car and Driver, by way of Drive. Similar to the kind of wireless charging you might use for your smartphone or other gadgets, the Electreon system uses a system of electric charging pads embedded beneath the asphalt to provide charge to a compatible vehicle. There are a few catches, though – you’ve got to have a car with a compatible receiver fitted, and so far the road only stretches 400m and peaked at 19kW. Still, you’ve got to start somewhere.
4. Could Apple TV+ and Paramount+ Be About To Hook Up?
As The Wall Street Journal reports (by way of Reuters), Apple and Paramount might be about to sign a deal that would see their services offered as a combined bundle costing less than their separate component parts, taking on US competitors who are already doing similar deals for services like Netflix and Max. Smart money says we’re much less likely to see that kind of deal down under any time soon, but if true, it does open up the door for that Star Trek/Ted Lasso crossover that you’ve been dreaming about for years. I can picture Worf now. “Why does this human keep shouting “WHISTLE” at me?”
5. Filmic App’s Future in Doubt As Entire Staff Sacked
Filmic, often heralded as one of the best videography apps for mobile devices… may be no more. The app itself and its parent company were bought out by Italian app developers Bending Spoons a little over a year ago, but, as per PetaPixel, the entire Filmic team – all the way up to its CEO – has been laid off, and all mentions of the Filmic apps are gone from its web site.
BONUS ITEM: I’m in the middle of Doctor Who frenzy right now, because of the specials, so why not enjoy a retro throwback as the fourth Doctor extols the virtue of Prime Computers in an advert series that includes elements that have not, shall we say, dated well at all.