Category: Technology

Alphabet’s Google needs strong measures imposed on it to prevent it from using its artificial intelligence products to extend its dominance in online search, a US Department of Justice attorney said as a trial in the historic antitrust case began. The outcome of the trial could fundamentally reshape the internet by unseating Google as the go-to portal for information online. The DOJ has compared the lawsuit to its past efforts to break up AT&T, Microsoft and Standard Oil. “The time to tell Google and all other monopolists who are out there listening, and they are listening, that there are consequences ... Read more

NSW Rural Fire Service has fitted Starlink to the first 53 of a planned 5000 vehicles under a $69 million project, with 20 vehicles participating in tests. The NSW government committed to equipping the RFS’ operational fleet with Starlink-powered vehicle-as-a-node (VaaN) technology over three years in August last year, saying at the time that installations would start sometime in 2024. An RFS spokesperson told iTnews that a delay in “contract finalisation” had “impacted the start of the design phase” for the project. “There have been some scheduling adjustments typical of large-scale programs, [but] the project remains on track and has met ... Read more

Intel’s quarterly results will offer the clearest look yet at new CEO Lip-Bu Tan’s turnaround strategy for the embattled American chipmaker, and investors are hoping for early signs that he is reversing years of strategic lapses. The company is set to post its fourth consecutive quarterly revenue drop on April 24. Once the dominant force in global chipmaking, Intel has been losing ground to AMD in the personal computer and data centre chip market, while Nvidia has leapt ahead in artificial intelligence. Tan, who quit Intel’s board in August 2024 after disagreements over the firm’s direction, took over as CEO in ... Read more

Sushi Sushi, an Australian chain with 170 locations, is expecting to make “good headway” with a digital transformation that has enabled technology-driven improvements for store operations. Image credit: Sushi Sushi General manager of IT Anthony Sok told an Aussie Broadband investor day presentation that the company has grown from one location in Melbourne in 1998 to 170 locations today, with ambitions to reach 300 stores nationally by FY28. Sok – who joined about a year and a half ago – used his starting months at Sushi Sushi to gain the “trust and respect” of franchisees, which make up 70 ... Read more

The notorious internet messageboard 4chan has been hacked, according to posts circulating online, some of which said that the hacker involved had revealed identifying details of the site’s moderators to the public. The alleged hack first came to light when a defunct section of the site sprang back to life with the words “U GOT HACKED” emblazoned across the top, according to Wired magazine. Alon Gal, co-founder of Israeli cybercrime monitoring company Hudson Rock, said the claim of a hack “looks legit,” citing the publicly circulating screenshots purporting to show 4chan’s backend infrastructure. TechCrunch cited an unnamed 4chan moderator as ... Read more

ANZ Banking Group is continuing to build out a “one-stop-shop” to service the data needs of its risk function and about 2000 personnel. ANZ’s Artur Kaluza, fourth from left, at Google Cloud Next 2025. The data transformation program was first flagged at a Google Cloud Next conference in 2021. Additional details of the Google Cloud-based platform emerged in 2023, including that it would utilise BigQuery in its architecture, and that use cases for risk data included credit decisioning and risk comprehension. Speaking at Google Cloud Next 2025 in Las Vegas last week, head of data strategy and transformation within ... Read more

Woolworths Group has renewed an agreement with Google Cloud for a further five years. The retailer said that it would look “to further strengthen data, insights, and automation capabilities” implemented on Google Cloud through the fresh agreement. Group CIO and managing director of group enablement John Hunt said in a brief statement that Google Cloud has made “strategic contributions across all our business areas.” “Their deep collaboration, initially in setting up our Woolworths Data Platform, has been instrumental in accelerating data visualisation and analytics to transform our workflows and unlock the full potential of our data,” Hunt said. The retailer ... Read more

Google illegally dominates two markets for online advertising technology, a judge ruled, dealing another blow to the tech giant and paving the way for US antitrust prosecutors to seek a breakup of its ad products. US District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, found Google liable for “willfully acquiring and maintaining monopoly power” in markets for publisher ad servers and the market for ad exchanges which sit between buyers and sellers. The decision clears the way for another hearing to determine what Google must do to restore competition in those markets, such as sell off parts of its business at ... Read more

The Queensland government has developed an AI-powered application on Azure to screen budding Olympic athletes using computer vision. Launched by the Queensland Academy of Sport, the custom-built YouFor2032 app features a series of virtual tests to assess prospective athletes’ strength, speed, power, endurance, balance and flexibility. Tests are assessed using video-based markerless motion capture and pose estimation to generate key points from a user’s self-recordings of exercise tasks. The AI maps joint movements and extracts patterns to analyse performance, measuring metrics such as jump height, fingertip reach, and the number of correct push-up repetitions. The data captured by the app ... Read more

A NSW Police firewall security administrator of 17 years, who was let go for installing WeChat on a work computer and allegedly “being dishonest” when confronted, has unsuccessfully sought reinstatement. The administrator, who had privileged access as part of his role, said he used WeChat “for troubleshooting and verifying intermittent internet access issues” and “to keep contactable with my parents”, according to a judgment from the NSW Industrial Relations Commission. NSW Police alleged that WeChat amounted to “unapproved software” and that installing it went against documented policy. The force further alleged that the administrator was “dishonest … when questioned about ... Read more