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Web culture

December 2024

Why is my teen talking about ‘ocean aliens’?

A rumour has been circulating online that recent US congressional hearings uncovered the existence of aliens living in our oceans. Could it be true?

  • Rachael Bolton

November 2024

A bitcoin convention in Sydney rings crypto alarm bells

Bitcoin is up almost 130 per cent this year and the US election result put a rocket under crypto. But there are still plenty of ways to lose money in an (unregulated) bull market.

  • James Eyers

September 2024

Vincent Namatjira, Jessica Fox, Ariarne Titmus, Michael Lee.

The 10 most culturally powerful people in Australia in 2024

What does it mean to be Australian right now? These 10 people made the biggest mark on our national culture this year.

  • Michael Bailey

Inside Elon Musk’s mushrooming security apparatus

The world’s richest man has long cultivated a devil-may-care persona. But in private, he has increasingly barricaded himself behind a growing phalanx of armed bodyguards.

  • Kirsten Grind and Jack Ewing

June 2024

Voice notes are a highly divisive medium of communication – but it seems the haters are losing the battle.

Voice notes are taking over the internet. Here are some rules

As billions of the messages are sent daily, the recipient of a one-minute group voice message (directed at someone else) explains how to make them inoffensive.

  • Jemima Kelly
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May 2024

Computer programs seem to have created an image of Jesus as a shrimp, which spread across social media.

The truth behind the dead internet theory

Up to half of all internet traffic could be driven by bots, where computer programs generate posts that are liked or reposted by other programs.

  • Jake Renzella and Vlada Rozova

April 2024

Gmail’s promise – vast storage mediated by powerful search tools – became the promise of virtually everything online.

I used to love Gmail. Here’s why I just quit it

The once-revolutionary email service, which started 20 years ago, has become as cluttered as the rest of the internet.

  • Ezra Klein

February 2024

Apple’s app store doesn’t permit pornography.

Apple is forced to loosen up its nanny state app store

Europe is making the tech giant relax long-held restrictions on what is sold through its app store, including pornography.

  • Shira Ovide

January 2024

Reddit plans to make its Wall St debut.

Reddit reportedly seeks to launch IPO in March

The social media platform’s planned debut would be the first initial public offering of a major social media company since Pinterest in 2019.

  • Echo Wang and Anirban Sen
Mornings and late afternoons are the best times for “deep work”.

How to be less distracted at work

Experts say professionals should limit their phone use and carve out time for uninterrupted “deep work” if they want to become more productive.

  • Euan Black
A banner that riffs on the Revolutionary War era “Join Or Die” cartoon at an Effective Accelerationism (e/acc) rave in San Francisco.

This AI subculture’s motto is: go, go, go

The eccentric pro-tech movement known as Effective Accelerationism wants to unshackle powerful AI, and party along the way.

  • Kevin Roose

November 2023

For many of us, Terminator’s apocalyptic vision of an AI-dominated world is hard to shake.

Will AI kill us all?

AI is just the latest iteration of the many technological challenges humankind has faced throughout history.

  • Tyler Cowen
One of the “godfathers” of AI, Geoffrey Hinton, says the threat to humanity from AI is not a conspiracy.

Godfather of AI stands by extinction warning

Geoffrey Hinton says he never would have had to quit Google if there wasn’t a real threat to humanity.

  • John Davidson

September 2023

Sack staff who repeatedly click on dodgy emails: IT boss

Teaching all staff about cybersecurity is crucial , experts say. But what do you do with staff who refuse to learn?

  • Updated
  • John Davidson

August 2023

Lisa Kozaris

Allens didn’t trust ChatGPT, so it built Airlie

The leading law firm says having its own version of the AI tool will accelerate the drift away from the billable hour.

  • Michael Pelly
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IiNet owner TPG Telecom is selling off iiNet email accounts to The Messaging Company.

TPG Telecom hits delete on email; CFO reshuffle

TPG’s CFO Grant Dempsey resigned on Monday. Meanwhile, people who have email addresses ending in tpg.com.au and iinet.net.au face losing account access.

  • Jenny Wiggins

June 2023

What happens when the god AI arrives

When pioneers in the field of artificial intelligence start to worry about their creations, we should pay attention. But do people really have reason to fear?

  • John Davidson

How email and multitasking ‘madness’ are ruining work

A new surge in productivity from Australia’s office workers should come from giving professionals the chance to focus deeply and think creatively.

  • Tom McIlroy

March 2023

The many ways GPT-4 is impressive but still flawed

The latest iteration of the chatbot is wowing doctors with its medical advice, can describe images, and it’s close to telling jokes that are almost funny.

  • Cade Metz and Keith Collins

February 2023

As the use of cookies and other tracking apps gets harder, advertisers, web publishers and app makers now try to track people through other means, and one simple method is by asking for an email address.

Why everyone wants your email address – and how to get round it

Imagine if an employee of a brick-and-mortar store asked for your name before you entered.

  • Brian X. Chen

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/web-culture-hqt