Hello and thank you for listening to either the Chris Smith Show on www.TNTRadio.live on Wednesdays after the 3.30pm headlines , the ABC Hobart Drive program on Fridays, usually after the song at 5.40pm or Canberra’s Radio 2CC on Saturdays from 10.30am to 11am, with those links letting you listen live on the dates and times mentioned!
The short list of the topics on offer to each show are below, after which is the longer version with all the links, images, videos (where available) and more, so please scroll and read on!
- Australia’s National Anti-Scam Centre warns of scams targeting Matildas fans
- It’s the 25th anniversary of the Apple iMac
- LG has just launched a 27-inch smart TV with touch screen interface in a suitcase for US $999.99 and three hours of battery life, with TV shows, movies, apps, games and music!
- Apple’s warnings about sleeping next to your iPhone, and sleeping on the charging cable are making news headlines!
- Google is improving its search results with generative AI to make the results it delivers smarter and better for users, in what is an ongoing test users can opt-in to test out now, and which will eventually be included in the Google search experience for everyone
- Apple has launched new developer and public betas for iOS 17 today, as we get to less than four weeks before Apple launches the new iPhone 15 range, as we now hit weekly beta updates
- Australia’s National Anti-Scam Centre warns of scams targeting Matildas fans
- ACCC fines Dell $10 million for misstating the price of monitors, ACMA fines DoorDash $2 million for breaking spam laws
1. Australia’s National Anti-Scam Centre warns of scams targeting Matildas fans
Matildas fans are being urged by the ACCC to be wary of scammers ahead of Wednesday night’s FIFA Women’s World Cup semi-final.
The National Anti-Scam Centre has issued the warning, after receiving initial reports of scams targeting Matilda’s fans on social media, including fraudulent ticket sales and fake live-stream links to matches.
“Understandably, Australians are inspired by the phenomenal success of the Matildas, but fans should be very careful when last-minute ticket shopping for hugely popular events such as the World Cup finals,” ACCC Deputy Chair Catriona Lowe said.
“We are already seeing initial reports of scam activity, particularly on Facebook, where scammers are responding to posts from people looking for tickets and using compromised accounts to sell non-existent tickets.”
“There have also been reports of scammers claiming there is a problem with the payment and asking for it to be made again,” Ms Lowe added.
How ticket sale scams work:
- Scammers either post or directly contact consumers, usually via social media, to say they have tickets available for sale. Often, they will send a screenshot showing fake proof of ticket ownership.
-Scammers may also respond to posts from people looking to buy tickets to a major event.
Protect yourself:
- Consumers should only buy tickets from an authorised ticket seller to ensure they purchase legitimate tickets.
Before buying a ticket, consumers should check:
- the authorised seller of tickets for the event
- if there is an official ticket reseller for the event
- that the ticket seller who comes up first in the online search results is the authorised ticket seller and not a reseller who may have paid to be at the top of the list.
Do not purchase from a website beginning with ONLY with “http:” and exercise caution when purchasing from a “https:” site (as the s, for “secure”, doesn’t mean it is real).
Further information on how to spot a scam site can be found on the Scamwatch website. https://www.scamwatch.gov.au/research-and-resources/scam-statistics
Live-stream sport scams:
In addition to ticket sale scams, the National Anti-Scam Centre has also received reports of scammer activity across social media, linking to supposed live-streams of sporting events, including FIFA Women’s World Cup matches.
“This is a relatively new scam that has been circulating on social media, where would-be spectators are prompted to click a link and enter their credit cards details to subscribe to the live-streaming service,” Ms Lowe said.
“In most cases, scammers steal the credit card details and fail to deliver the content signed up for.”
Protect yourself:
- Do some research on the organisation or person you are dealing with before giving anyone your money or personal information.
- Report any scam activity to the platform where it is occurring directly.
Report scams to www.scamwatch.gov.au.
Top tips for avoiding scams:
STOP – take your time before providing money or any personal information.
THINK – ask yourself if the message could be a scam?
PROTECT – act quickly if something feels wrong. Contact your bank immediately if you notice unusual activity or if a scammer gets your money or information and report to Scamwatch.
2. It’s the 25th anniversary of the Apple iMac, the computer that eliminated the floppy disk drive
Remember floppy disks? Younger people don’t, and they still wonder why the “save” icon in Microsoft Word and other apps looks like it does, which is a 3.5-inch floppy disk, something we used long before USB sticks replaced them, along with re-writeable CDs and DVDs, too/
The original iMac in 1998 came five translucent colours – blue, orange, red, purple and green, had the divisive hockey puck mouse, a 15-inch CRT (old fashioned boxy) screen, a CD-ROM drive, two USB ports, an Ethernet port, a 4GB hard drive and 32 megabytes of RAM.
It also heralded the return of Steve Jobs as the true leader of Apple, after he returned in 1997.
2002 saw the launch of a new iMac – it had a domed based and a flat panel display, and looked a bit like the lamp that is animated in the Pixar logo.
The start of the aluminium and glass unibody iMac that we know today happened in 2007, with a higher resolution Retina display added in 2014.
The Mac Pro variant arrived in 2017, and 2021 saw a complete redesign with the addition of the M1 processor, which is based on the iPhone and iPad chip, and is the current iMac sold in stores today.
A new iMac is due this year or next, which will have either the existing M2 chip, or the future M3 chip which is yet to be released.
Here’s a report from MacRumors, and below is Steve Jobs introducing the new iMac in 1998:
3. LG has launched a 27-inch smart touch-screen TV in a suitcase for US $999.99 and three hours of battery life
This 27-inch TV in a suitcase, called the StanbyME GO, is meant to be the ultimate portable entertainment device for anywhere you’re going, be it picnics, family holidays, or just on the outside deck.
The TV can be swiveled, tilted, and rotated while in landscape and portrait orientations and table mode, and there’s a built-in 20-watt speaker which adapts to the screen’s orientation, providing optimal surround sound, and supports Dolby Vision™ video technology and Dolby Atmos® stereo sound.
This new model adds to the existing StanbyME TV that LG launched in its 2023 range earlier this year, which was a 27-inch smart TV on a stand with wheels that you could easily move from room to room in your home, also able to be used on battery power or plugged in.
Now this new TV in a suitcase takes portability to a new level, and in “table top” mode, an image shows it being used to play a board game, so games on the go are definitely possible
It can wireless connect to and stream content from iPhones and Androids, and obviously provides a much bigger and better entertainment experience than you’ll get from your existing smartphone or tablet.
It even has voice recognition technology so you can ask it to change channels, open apps and more.
On the go, you’d connect it to your phone’s hotspot, or a dedicated hotspot, so it really is like a giant tablet running LG’s well regarded WebOS interface.
4. Apple’s warnings about sleeping next to your iPhone, and sleeping on the charging cable are making news headlines – but isn’t this advice that is pertinent to any brand of phone? YES!Apple warns that you shouldn’t sleep with your iPhone and risk it being covered by pillows or blankets, as it needs proper ventilation and could lead to overheating or a fire.
Apple has an ‘Important safety information for iPhone’ section on its site, which I’ve linked to, where Apple also warns that phone users should ‘avoid prolonged skin contact with the charging cable and connector when the charging cable is connected to a power source because it may cause discomfort or injury’.
There’s also the following advice:
“Sleeping or sitting on the charging cable or connector should be avoided.”
Regarding prolonged heat exposure, Apple warns that ‘sustained contact with warm surfaces for long periods of time may cause discomfort or injury’.
Apple continues: “Use common sense to avoid situations where your skin is in contact with a device, its power adapter, or a wireless charger when it’s operating or connected to a power source for long periods of time.
“For example, don’t sleep on a device, power adapter, or wireless charger, or place them under a blanket, pillow, or your body, when it’s connected to a power source.
“Keep your iPhone, the power adapter, and any wireless charger in a well-ventilated area when in use or charging. Take special care if you have a physical condition that affects your ability to detect heat against the body.”
So, really, it’s just common sense, which isn’t too common. Put your phone on a night stand, charge it wirelessly or with a cable that is well away from your bed.
There have also been instances of people holding their phone in their hands above their heads, then falling asleep, and getting a rude awakening with they drop the phone onto their faces!
5. Google is improving its search results with generative AI to make the results it delivers smarter and better for users in its “opt-in” AI-powered “generative search experience”
Three months ago, Google switched on its AI-powered “generative search experience” or GSE in its Google Labs section, which you can see at labs.google.com, which Google demonstrated during its Google I/O developer conference earlier this year.
The goal is to help users better learn and make sense of the information they discover on the web.
The features include tools to see definitions of unfamiliar terms, those that help to improve your understanding and coding information across languages, and an interesting new feature that lets you use the AI power of SGE while you’re browsing to get a faster understanding of the topic at hand.
The experiments in the Google Labs section eventually end up being rolled out to everyone, so these advances are clear examples of how the Google search experience will change and improve.
According to Google’s official blog, the changes include you being able to (the text is from Google’s blog post):
- See definitions within AI-generated responses
When you’re researching something new, or looking for an explanation of a concept, you might come across a term you don’t understand or just might want more information about. To make this easier, we will soon roll out improvements to our AI-generated responses for various topics or questions related to science, economics, history and more. With this update, you’ll be able to hover over certain words to preview definitions and see related diagrams or images on the topic. From here, you can tap to learn more.
- Better understand coding information in AI overviews
Whether you’re a new or experienced programmer, learning more about coding is probably on your running to-do list, and generative AI can be a helpful tool. Starting today, we’ll add new capabilities to SGE so it’s easier to understand and debug generated code.
SGE currently provides AI-generated overviews to help with tasks across a number of programming languages and tools. For example, you can find answers to how-to questions, and see suggested code snippets for common tasks. With our new updates, segments of code in overviews will now be color-coded with syntax highlighting, so it’s faster and easier to identify elements like keywords, comments and strings, helping you better digest the code you see at a glance.
- Use generative AI to learn more easily as you browse the web
When you’re trying to understand the ins and outs of a new topic, you often need to digest long or complex web pages, and it’s not always easy to hone in on specific details. So starting today, we’re launching an early experiment in Search Labs called “SGE while browsing,” available in the Google app on Android and iOS, and coming to Chrome on desktop in the days ahead. Our aim is to test how generative AI can help you navigate information online and get to the core of what you’re looking for even faster.
“SGE while browsing” was specifically designed to help people more deeply engage with long-form content from publishers and creators, and make it easier to find what you’re looking for while browsing the web. On some web pages you visit, you can tap to see an AI-generated list of the key points an article covers, with links that will take you straight to what you’re looking for directly on the page. We’ll also help you dig deeper with “Explore on page,” where you can see questions the article answers and jump to the relevant section to learn more.
An animated screenshot of a mobile phone showing SGE while browsing generating the key points of an article about Route 66 in the Google app.
We think these capabilities can be particularly helpful when you’re learning something new or complex, but they can also come in handy for other tasks like finding a new recipe or researching a big purchase.
“SGE while browsing” is designed to show AI-generated key points only on articles that are freely available to the public on the web. It does not provide key points on articles marked as paywalled, and publishers are in control — they can learn more about how to designate their content as free or paywalled in our Help Center. As always, we’ll use this time in Labs to gather feedback and learn what works best for both publishers and users as we evolve this experiment over time.
If you’re already opted into SGE, you’ll automatically have access to this experiment. If you haven’t already opted in,“SGE while browsing” is also available as a standalone experiment in Search Labs. To try “SGE while browsing” on desktop, make sure you have the latest version of Chrome and then visit Labs.
These latest capabilities are just some of the ways that we are improving our generative AI experience in Search to make searching for and digesting information easier. You can sign up and share feedback on these experiments through Search Labs in the Google app (Android and iOS), or on Chrome desktop.
6. Apple has launched new developer and public betas for iOS 17 today, as we get to less than four weeks before Apple launches the new iPhone 15 range, as we now hit weekly beta updates
Weekly updates for Apple’s iOS 17 betas have finally arrived, showing just how close we are to the new iPhones being unveiled at a forthcoming special event at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino.
I’m still waiting for feedback on how other people are finding the latest version of the beta, but this might finally be the week that I personally install the beta onto the iPhone I use every day, rather than a spare iPhone I use for test purposes.
If you’ve made a full backup of your iPhone using iTunes on a Windows PC or the Finder app on a Mac, and you’re adventurous and tech savvy, now is a good time to jump onto the beta, because if there are problems, they’ll likely be solved with next week’s update.
Apple needs to have as bug-free a version of iOS not just for the public to download and upgrade to, but also to load onto the tens of millions of iPhones 15 models it is getting ready to ship in mid-September onwards to consumers worldwide, which will result in hundreds of millions of sales.
One change Apple made last week was to put the hang up button on the right hand side of the lower part of the screen in a redesigned set of buttons when making a call in the phone app.
This week the hang up button is in the middle, after much uproar on Twitter, especially from left-handed users.
These kinds of changes during the beta cycle are to be expected, it’s the perfect time for Apple to experiment.
7. AI and technology are helping to reverse paralysis, reactive spinal cords, stop tremors, turn thoughts into text and and more
Here’s an article on a microchip helping a paralysed man regain movement in his arm.
Here’s an article on a brain implant helping a quadriplegic move, feel and touch, and here’s another article on the same topic.
Check out these two tweets as well:
8. Finally, the ACCC has fined Dell $10 million for pricing irregularities and the ACMA fining DoorDash $2 million for spam
Here’s the article from the ACCC on its $10 million fine to Dell.
Here’s the article on the ACMA fining DoorDash $2 million for spamming people who had unsubscribed from DoorDash promotions.
