Good morning, and a happy TGIF to you. Let’s get into the tech news.
1. Telstra steps up climate commitments
Telstra has upped its emissions reduction targets, hoping to reduce company-wide emissions by 70 per cent by 2030, up from a previous commitment of 50 per cent.
Telstra’s Chief Sustainability Officer Justine Rowe wrote in a blog post that the company is moving away from the purchase of carbon credits, and will instead be focusing on decarbonisation efforts.
“This will also deliver additional cost savings over time as we reduce our energy bills,” Rowe wrote. “We’re continuing to support decarbonising Australia’s energy grid for a greener future.”
2. Albanese backs social media age ban
The Coalition made headlines this week with a policy to ban users under the age of 16 from social media apps – which Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has now backed, per The Australian,
“A ban, if it can be effective, is a good way to go,” Albanese said, implying that such a policy would have bipartisan support. However, that “effective” bit goes a long way. Banning a wider demographic of kids from social media, as we’ve written about before, could lead to new issues arising from a lack of trust. Tech solutions enforcing such a ban would need to be explored.
3. Musk wins? Not quite
Tesla shareholders overnight voted in favour of Elon Musk deserving his $44.9 billion pay package, which was previously denied by a Delaware judge. However, per AP, that vote only goes as far as providing ammo for Musk and Tesla, in that shareholders believe he deserves the cash, in an upcoming attempt to overturn the Delaware ruling. A group of Tesla shareholders are also bringing a fresh lawsuit against the world’s richest man, for starting a rival AI company separate to Tesla. Just normal Musk things.
4. Spotify under fire from Music publishers
The National Music Publishers’ Association in America has filed a complaint to the country’s Federal Trade Commission. Engadget reports that the association has accused the music streamer of subverting the music royalty system, with the addition of audiobook content to all plan tiers. The association says Spotify is being dodgy for raising plan costs and citing new audiobook content as the reason, content that subscribers didn’t want in the first place, with the price rises not leading to any additional payments to musicians. “In short, we categorically reject the NMPA’s baseless accusations and will continue to provide consumers incredible value and a best-in-class experience,” Spotify said in a statement.
5. Apple accused of underpaying women
Apple is facing a fresh proposed class action in California, with two women filing the suit and accusing the company of underpaying 12,000 female employees in its engineering, marketing, and AppleCare divisions. According to Reuters, the complaint, the way in which Apple structures pay, which involves “pay expectations”, or is based on the pay from worker’s previous jobs, systematically results in lower pay for women, with performance evaluation systems also caused by the plaintiffs of being biased in favour of men.
“Since 2017, Apple has achieved and maintained gender pay equity and every year we partner with an independent third-party expert to examine each team member’s total compensation and make adjustments, where necessary, to ensure that we maintain pay equity,” Apple said in a statement.
BONUS ITEM: Man, what is in the water over at Duolingo.
WHY IS DUOLINGO COSPLAYING HATSUNE MIKU WHAT THE FUCK DID I MISS???? pic.twitter.com/7IwnukqlMv
— Hatsune Miku (@HatsuneMikuFort) June 12, 2024
Have a lovely day.
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