Good morning. I hope we’re all well-rested after the long weekend. Let’s get into the tech news.
1. Canva offers Shield for all
Canva’s anti-deepfake ‘Shield’ technology has been made freely available to other developers, The Australian reports. Shield, a collection of AI tools that can stop the generation and spread of abusive imagery and misinformation, but mostly useable as a malicious prompt detector, can now be used by developers of other products. “Open source has been a huge thing since software has been around but I think the speed at which it moves now, the access that you have to the underlying infrastructure, like servers and all that kind of stuff, enables people to work in the open a lot easier,” Canva co-founder and chief product officer Cameron Adams said.
2. TPG and UTS experimenting with 5G flood sensors
iTnews reports that TPG Telecom and the University of Technology, Sydney are experimenting with 5G sensors to study floods. A new lab has been established and is currently testing sensors on the Parramatta River and the Georges River, with the lab studying how signals can gather weather information without relying on traditional sensors. “Our partnership with UTS in pioneering this 5G network sensing technology underlines our commitment to innovation and our dedication to supporting initiatives that make a meaningful difference in people’s lives,” TPG CTO Giovanni Chiarelli said.
3. SBF sentenced to 25 years in jail
Sam Bankman-Fried, the fallen crypto CEO of collapsed trading platform FTX, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in the company’s demise, per AP. The former CEO was convicted of fraud and conspiracy. Judge Lewis Kaplan said that Bankman-Fried’s testimony on the witness stand was “often evasive, hair-splitting, dodging questions,” and that the sentence was crafted “for the purpose of disabling him to the extent that can appropriately be done for a significant period of time,” and that he “will be in a position to do something very bad in the future. And it’s not a trivial risk at all.”
4. Google to delete billions of Incognito records
Google has said that it will delete “billions” of data records accrued through the use of Chrome’s ‘Incognito Mode’, in settling a class-action lawsuit alleging the tech giant tracks users without their knowledge, per Bloomberg. Google will also change the Incognito Mode disclosure, to make it better known that user data is still being collected, and for the next five years, the private browsing mode will allow users to block third-party cookies. “We never associate data with users when they use incognito mode. We are happy to delete old technical data that was never associated with an individual and was never used for any form of personalisation,” a Google spokesperson said to Bloomberg.
5. Microsoft Teams to split from Office
Reuters has the exclusive on Microsoft splitting its Teams workplace messaging app from its Office suite of products, following the company’s move to separate the products six months ago to avoid an antitrust fine in Europe. Microsoft was said to get an ‘unfair advantage’ over rivals with its Office suite of products bundled with a workplace messenger. “To ensure clarity for our customers, we are extending the steps we took last year to unbundle Teams from M365 and O365 in the European Economic Area and Switzerland to customers globally,” a Microsoft spokesperson told Reuters. “Doing so also addresses feedback from the European Commission by providing multinational companies more flexibility when they want to standardise their purchasing across geographies.”
BONUS ITEM: Thankfully it’s just an April Fools joke.
Something big just dropped pic.twitter.com/32Dl660LYa
— LEGO (@LEGO_Group) April 1, 2024
Have a lovely (short) week.