Latest
Privacy watchdog launches inquiry into TikTok’s data collection
The Australian Information Commissioner is scrutinising the company amid claims it has been scraping data without consent from people who don’t even have its app.
- Dominic Giannini
Is a $3745 app-controlled mattress topper a sound sleeping investment?
The Eight Sleep Pod Cover is great at collecting data but is missing a trick on helping you make sense of it all.
- Rachael Bolton
Apple wins appeal court bid to pause US watch ban
The ruling allows Apple to resume selling its Series 9 and Ultra 2 smartwatches in the US at least until another review in about two weeks time.
- Blake Brittain
St Vincent’s Health patients left guessing on hack exposure
The opposition says Australians deserve answers about the cyber breach at the country’s largest non-profit aged care and hospital operator.
- Nick Bonyhady
Collapses, workplace shake-ups and phone outage chaos: 2023’s top tech stories
Take a look back at the biggest tech stories of the year – as well as our reporters’ favourites.
Apple files court appeal as US watch import ban takes effect
Apple also asked for a pause on the ban until a ruling, expected in mid-January, on whether redesigned versions of the watches infringe on Masimo’s patents.
- Josh Wingrove and Mark Gurman
Opinion & Analysis
Deepfakes, fading social media guardrails threaten US election
Generative artificial intelligence tools have made it far cheaper and easier to spread the kind of misinformation that can mislead voters and potentially influence elections.
Contributor
No one can buy Canva now. Other start-ups beware
Any start-up boss hoping to get rich selling their company to a tech giant should learn from Adobe’s failed $US20 billion attempt to buy design app Figma.
Technology writer
The ‘missing middle’ stopping Australia from being a deep tech force
To see bold ambitions in areas like quantum computing, robotics and AI come to fruition, Australia must match rival countries and grow the “M” of its SMEs.
Columnist
Brian Hartzer’s warning to AI wannabes
The former Westpac boss, who is now CEO of Quantium Health, says effective AI use for companies is all about balance.
Columnist
Technology reviews
There’s still time! Last-minute gadget gifts
What would you rather do? Turn up to Christmas empty-handed, or turn up with something last-minute that we can guarantee* isn’t terrible?
- John Davidson
Call us crazy but we love HP’s weird and whacky Envy Move
The brand’s latest All-In-One PC seems utterly bizarre, but only until you pull it out of the box and go to put it down on your desk.
- John Davidson
This Month
- Analysis
- World elections
Deepfakes, fading social media guardrails threaten US election
Generative artificial intelligence tools have made it far cheaper and easier to spread the kind of misinformation that can mislead voters and potentially influence elections.
- Ali Swenson and Christine Fernando
Tech exec raises $3.5m for renewables project
The Funded blog is the home for news on the tech deals that are done in Australia, as soon as we hear about them.
- Paul Smith
The little-known problem in using Ozempic replica versions
In the US, poison information hotlines have reported almost 3000 calls from January to November this year about semaglutide overdoses.
- Nick Bonyhady
In three weeks, Kim had a child and a merger. Here’s her 2024
If 2022 was the year the music stopped in technology, 2023 was spent trying to find a chair that wasn’t taken in the tech sector.
- Nick Bonyhady
There’s still time! Last-minute gadget gifts
What would you rather do? Turn up to Christmas empty-handed, or turn up with something last-minute that we can guarantee* isn’t terrible?
- John Davidson
- Analysis
- The Breakdown
No one can buy Canva now. Other start-ups beware
Any start-up boss hoping to get rich selling their company to a tech giant should learn from Adobe’s failed $US20 billion attempt to buy design app Figma.
- Nick Bonyhady
Battle for takeover target Whispir escalates
A bidding war for communications software business Whispir sent its shares rallying on Wednesday.
- Tess Bennett
Building industry payments firm shelves Aussie ambitions, heads to UK
ProjectPay founder Louise Stewart has won a British grant to get her start-up off the ground there, having felt stymied by the political culture in Australia.
- Hans van Leeuwen
Ex Goldman, Rothschild MD leads raise for logistics tech start-up
Sources said David Acton’s Yarra Private Capital Discovery Fund led the round alongside existing investors King River Capital and Jungle Ventures.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
Apple pause on holiday watch sales points to legal bind it faces
Intellectual property lawyer James Gagen said it’s striking that Apple did not prepare a fallback position to ensure continued supply.
- Rachel Graf
- Exclusive
- Bushfires
‘Very, very anxious’: Bushfire app stops working for the blind
Donna Purcell relied heavily on the Hazards Near Me app to provide early bushfire warnings. It abruptly stopped working.
- Tess Bennett
Inside the frantic months after Nuix hit the ASX – and the skids
Now the subject of legal action by the regulator, new details show what was going on at the top of a hot tech stock which crashed back to earth.
- Jessica Sier
Call us crazy but we love HP’s weird and whacky Envy Move
The brand’s latest All-In-One PC seems utterly bizarre, but only until you pull it out of the box and go to put it down on your desk.
- John Davidson
- Exclusive
- Cybersecurity
Little-used mobile phone feature exposes new scam threat
A newly discovered security risk that exploits 19-year-old mobile phone technology might let scammers bypass identity checks for banking and email.
- John Davidson
- Opinion
- Funding
The ‘missing middle’ stopping Australia from being a deep tech force
To see bold ambitions in areas like quantum computing, robotics and AI come to fruition, Australia must match rival countries and grow the “M” of its SMEs.
- Sally-Ann Williams
BRC Capital faces crunch as investments including Hiro Brands fail
The company is a major sponsor of the Melbourne Rebels, with some directors in the portfolio receiving tax office notices over late payments.
- Zoe Samios and Jessica Sier
Home-deposit-lending start-up digitally altered news article in ads
OwnHome has wiped CBA, its own backer, from ads it is running on Facebook and Instagram, which feature a digitally manipulated version of a Financial Review story.
- Nick Bonyhady
How to steal 25,000 secrets from Facebook
The inside story of how a Wall Street Journal reporter secured one of the biggest leaks of corporate documents in history.
- Jeff Horwitz
BGH Capital to acquire Waterman Capital’s IT biz Fusion5
Street Talk understands the private equity firm is in the final stages of negotiations New Zealand private equity investor Waterman Capital.
- Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport
Morgan Stanley was warned about ‘unusual’ Nuix targets in 2020
The investment bank was a co-lead manager for the software company’s disastrous 2020 float, shortly after which Nuix said it would not meet its forecasts.
- Jessica Sier
