Here are the actual MacBook Neo colours and details though:

Apple really missed a trick by not calling the MacBook Neo colours Red Pill and Blue Pill.

New from me: Major Australian technology companies Canva and NextDC saw their gender pay gaps more than double in the last financial year – as did the local arm of international data giant Amazon Web Services (AWS), according to new data released on Tuesday. 👇

Anthropic's Claude became the third most popular app on Apple's Australian App Store today, but is still one spot behind OpenAI's ChatGPT - and two spots behind the El Jannah app lol On Android, Claude is now the fourth most popular app on Google Play in Australia - where ChatGPT remains number one

ngl, Samsung's new privacy display tech looks pretty slick, despite the cost. If you can have a built-in protector without needing an annoying sticker, and it's customisable and only slightly decreases brightness, why not? Wonder if Apple will pick it up too, given Samsung is a major supplier... 🤔

WiseTech: 2,000 job cuts, or almost a third of employees. "The era of manually writing code ... is over." CBA: Around 300 cuts. Reduced support and coordination roles "by embedding the capability directly into our software delivery teams". Optus: “Between 200 and 300” cuts, but no tech/AI mention.

Renowned artificial intelligence expert @tobywalsh.bsky.social criticised the Australian government and Big Tech firms for what he argued were inadequate approaches to AI regulation, in a speech at the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday. Read more: ia.acs.org.au/article/2026...

New from me: The average earnings of an ICT manager in Australia dropped in 2025 while wages in other key industry roles continued to rise, new ABS figures show. 💸 “Basically, companies stopped paying people just to watch others work,” tech recruiter Ellis Taylor told @information-age.bsky.social.

This is a masterclass in how to say you're getting into NFTs without saying you're getting into NFTs.

New: While Telstra announced a $1.2 billion half-year profit today, it also confirmed it had cut more than 1,000 jobs in the final six months of 2025. The telco removed 2,356 roles across the 2025 calendar year (more than 7 per cent of its workforce) — and there are further cuts to come in 2026.

Professor @kimweatherall.bsky.social from @sydney.edu.au's Centre for AI, Trust and Governance, on ByteDance's Seedance 2.0 AI vids: "The visuals, and sound, and fluency are impressive. “Do they appear similar to copyright materials? Yes — Spider-Man looks like Spider-Man, Mario looks like Mario."

What could go wrong using AI to help stage a few listing photos?

the computer is using itself vontonks.github.io/poetry

OpenAI researcher who resigned: “People tell chatbots about their medical fears, their relationship problems, their beliefs about God and the afterlife. “Advertising built on that archive creates a potential for manipulating users in ways we don’t have the tools to understand, let alone prevent.”

New from me: Telstra plans to cut more than 600 enterprise staff this financial year, as well as around 200 jobs from its joint venture with consultancy firm Accenture in which some roles will be offshored to India. Full story on @information-age.bsky.social: ia.acs.org.au/article/2026...

Awesome visual feature here from UTS researcher @bronicee.bsky.social on AirTrunk's planned (and huge) 1GW Mamre Road Data Centre in Sydney's west. via @aunz.theconversation.com: stories.theconversation.com/can-australi...

Hearing there might be another round of layoffs happening at Telstra. Got a tip-off?💡 [email protected]

SaaSpocalypse Now?

slop pays, I guess? www.nytimes.com/2026/02/08/b...

Finally got around to watching Grand Theft Hamlet, and it was so good. youtu.be/OloHiBOMPm8?...

unserious www.404media.co/the-doj-reda...

Designer @bonniekatewolf.bsky.social wrote on LinkedIn that she had lost her job in the latest round of Pinterest cuts, despite being "told not to worry” about the prospect of potential redundancies due to the company’s increasing focus on AI. Full story on @information-age.bsky.social:

🦞

Microsoft banned Jeffrey Epstein from Xbox Live in 2013 for “harassment, threats, and/or abuse of other players” that was “severe, repeated, and/or excessive.”

A phenomenon I find interesting is the yearning for corporations to launch copyright nukes on the AI companies. Which is to say there is such a feeling of hopelessness and a kind of legal void around this stuff that many people are demanding someone, anyone, do something about it in court.

Update on this: Apple says it has now released a fix for the Telstra issue, which affected users can trigger in their iPhone settings. See the update at the bottom of our story for details ⬇️

I’m going to be real with you Caitlin - it doesn’t sound like you’re actually a tech-savvy zillennial

New from me: A software update designed to prevent issues with older iPhones connecting to Triple Zero is stopping some Apple devices from reaching Telstra’s network, including for emergency calls. Story on @information-age.bsky.social. 1/2

Tech company advertising has been out of control at this year’s Australian Open. Here are just a few of the ones I’ve managed to capture so far. 1/2 #AusOpen

New: Apple has switched on its hypertension (or high blood pressure) notification feature in Australia, after the nation’s medical regulator approved the technology’s use in December 2025. Details on @information-age.bsky.social: ia.acs.org.au/article/2026...

Quantum pioneer Michelle Simmons on her appointment as a Companion of the Order of Australia: "… I am grateful for the recognition Australia has given us this Australia Day. "It’s a reminder that Australia is behind us — that Australians value and believe in what we are doing."

Does this count www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

lol lmao even

An update on this from The Information: "...from what we can tell, the new Google deal would thoroughly marginalize ChatGPT." www.theinformation.com/articles/app...

This is a funny watch. A Trump Mobile representative apparently told Charlie he could see his account in their system, even though he doesn't have one. He also told him neither he nor anyone else had even seen or held a Trump phone IRL yet — shock horror.

Will Apple's deal to use Google's Gemini for Siri and some Apple Intelligence features impact ChatGPT's current integrations? Apple wouldn't say when I asked, but the whole thing puts OpenAI in a pretty awkward position. Story on @information-age.bsky.social:

New from me: Would you trust OpenAI's ChatGPT with your sensitive medical data? 🤔 The company says ChatGPT Health is 'not intended for diagnosis or treatment', but Australian health literacy expert @kirstenmccaffery.bsky.social worries some users may overly trust its advice. Full story up on IA:

New: Toyota says it is developing new security accessories after seven men were charged with stealing 60 Toyota vehicles from the Brisbane region using a high-tech security exploit. Full story on @information-age.bsky.social: ia.acs.org.au/article/2026...

From a new smartphone with echoes of the past, to classic plastic toys gaining cool new electronics— here are the CES gadgets we think you should know about. 👀 Read more: ia.acs.org.au/article/2026...

Neither of them is a cat, we promise. Story by @lennyeggsbenny.bsky.social:

The Communication Workers Union says Optus bosses need to be held responsible for September 18's Triple Zero outage, instead of more junior staff. "... the fundamental ways in which Optus operates needs to be heavily scrutinised and those at the top need to be held accountable,” they told me.

One example of how Grok is being used to target women. Swedish Deputy Prime Minister Ebba Busch being sexualised, degraded, and humiliated step-by-step by Grok. All the images accurately reflect the prompts provided.

Tesla is no longer the world’s highest selling battery electric vehicle maker after Chinese rival BYD overtook the company in annual sales for the first time, according to sales figures reported on Friday. Read more: ia.acs.org.au/article/2026...

Ex-Meta chief AI scientist Yann LeCun has Lunch with the FT and in one of those instances so rare that you know he didn't sign an NDA, says exactly why as.ft.com/r/e503690d-8...

CSIRO says it welcomes a $233m funding boost announced by the federal government, but maintains it still needs to cut more than 300 full-time roles. The secretary of its Staff Association says the suggestion that a $233m boost will not prevent a single job cut “just fails to pass the pub test”.

⚠️ TWENTY TWENTY SIX ⚠️

After previously trying to get out of a fine in Australia by arguing that it was not Twitter, X is now arguing in the US that it is, in fact, Twitter.

With another year of technology news now behind us, it’s time to look back at Information Age’s most popular stories of 2025 — as read by you. 👀 Read more: ia.acs.org.au/article/2025...

Browsing Shutterstock this morning and someone has already made weird AI images of a fake Bondi Beach memorial. The company says it "does not review AI-generated content for compliance with Shutterstock’s content compliance standards", but AI must not be used to generate false or harmful imagery. 🤷‍♂️

Kids can see stuff on most of the platforms without being logged in, just quietly