Notable journalism and media tidbits for your weekend review
Jörg Fauser: Outsider Among Outsiders
Lamborghini Crisis: Australia crippled by critical shortage of Lamborghinis
Business is calling for urgent government intervention to address crippling shortages of Lamborghinis on the East Coast of Australia, according to an exclusive report in the Australian Financial Review. Michael West reports.
Facial Recognition Technology Down Under
21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: More than 1 in 5 US adults don’t want children.
Your gadgets die quickly by design. It doesn’t have to be that way. Washington Post – “Our analysis of 14 popular consumer devices found most could stop working in 3 to 4 years because of irreplaceable batteries. Here’s how we get the tech industry to design products that last longer — and do less damage to the environment…We the users want electronics that are easy to use, beautiful — and also last a long time. So in my hunt for ways to make tech work better for us, I tried to figure out when 14 of my devices are going to die. Most of them, I discovered, could peter out within three to four years.
And half of them are designed to just be thrown away. You can see all the details in my gadget graveyard. Having to keep buying upgrades and replacements is annoying and it’s bad for our budgets. Even worse, it’s a hidden contributor to our environmental crisis. But I’ve got some ideas for how we can change that by forcing the tech industry to come clean.
Here’s a dirty little secret of the tech industry: “Almost every device these days has a battery that’s going to wear out, and it’s a built-in death clock,” says Kyle Wiens, the CEO of repair community iFixit. Today, there are batteries in everything from your toothbrush to your vacuum cleaner. They are consumable products, like printer ink or tires…
See also Washington Post – Gadget graveyard: We found the hidden death dates on popular devices. “When will your battery die? We calculated the soonest it might happen — and what you can do about it..”
Mashable: “One easy way to up your privacygame and communicate securely online is to start using apps that utilize end-to-end encryption. End-to-end encryption prevents any bad actors from picking up your messages in between you and the person you’re sending a message to. Basically, end-to-end encryption means that your messages are for your eyes and the eyes of your recipient only. End-to-end encryption used to be for the tech savvy and elite only — but more recently, tons of apps and platforms have made end-to-end encryption available to the masses…”