Heatwaves impact daytime spending habits of Australian consumers

6 February 2026

Luke Cooper writing for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC):

Researchers found on days when maximum temperatures were 35C or higher, which the Bureau of Meteorology classifies as a “hot day”, a $5.4 million collapse in daily daytime consumer spending was recorded.

However, on a recent excessively warm day, consumer spending increased by five percent from six o’clock in the evening until about five hours later. That makes sense as people stay in their hopefully cooler homes, until it is a little more comfortable to go out later in the day.

The impact of climate change is indeed far reaching.

Mozilla is forming a ‘rebel alliance’ to take on the AI heavyweights

6 February 2026

Mozilla, developer of web browser Firefox, and email app Thunderbird, among other things, is forming an AI “rebel alliance” to counter the industry’s big players, writes Ashley Capoot, at CNBC:

Surman is building what he’s described as “a rebel alliance of sorts,” using a phrase that’s long been part of Mozilla’s lexicon. In this case, the alliance is a loose network of tech startups, developers and public interest technologists committed to making AI more open and trustworthy and to checking the power of industry heavyweights like OpenAI and Anthropic.

The industry heavyweights the alliance is up against are well entrenched. Some sort of counterbalance however can’t be a bad thing.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 trailer, am I having a hallucination?

3 February 2026

I’m wondering why The Devil Wears Prada sequel is somewhat unimaginatively titled The Devil Wears Prada 2. Why didn’t the producers go for something a little more… groundbreaking, such as The Devil Wears Prada: Beyond the Runway?

Whatever, the release of the trailer for the second instalment caused some excitement in our household yesterday.

When I first read about the proposed follow-up eighteen months ago, Anne Hathaway was said to be undecided about about participating. But she’s indeed back, reprising her role as Andy Sachs, one time fashion intern, along with Emily Blunt and Meryl Streep.

David Frankel, director of the first film, returns to helm the sequel, along with Stanley Tucci in his old role as Nigel. Sydney Sweeney and Justin Theroux are among newcomers to the story. The Devil Wears Prada 2 opens in Australian cinemas on Thursday 30 April 2026.

Substack reportedly asking Australian users to verify their age

2 February 2026

According to a Reddit thread, that was re-posted at Marginal Revolution, the online publishing platform is requesting users in Australia submit to an age verification process.

Substack, as of the time I type, is not on the list of websites, or services, that Australians under the age of sixteen cannot access, so I’m not sure why Substack would be doing this. If indeed they are.

On a visit to Substack, again, as of the time I write this, I was able to access, and move around the site without hindrance. I was not logged in, but was using an Australian ISP.

Evidently some people are having difficulty though. Possibly age verification only applies to people in Australia who are logging in to gain access. I might try doing this another time.

But Substack is a platform, and who knows, may one day be added to the banned list. This is precisely why online writers should be publishing from their own, independent website, and not a platform.

And this is before addressing the concerns many people have with Substack in the first place.

Coming soon to Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp: subscription content

31 January 2026

Aisha Malik, writing for TechCrunch:

The launch of additional subscriptions will allow Meta to generate more revenue; however, many users may be deterred by subscription fatigue. With so many paid services competing for monthly spending, Meta will have to offer a compelling product to get users to sign up for yet another subscription.

Meta plans to trial subscriptions on Facebook (FB), Instagram (IG), and WhatsApp. I’m pleased I’ve managed to so far avoid signing up to WhatsApp, and only make minimal use of Facebook.

I check in a little on IG though, so am expecting to see sign up prompts for a subscription service of some sort, should they be rolled out. I can’t see myself taking up the offer though.

No matter how compelling the product might be. But what would it take to make a subscription product available through FB, IG, or WhatsApp, compelling enough to pay for in the first place?

Considering such content may already be accessible through another channel, either for free, or that someone is already paying to see. Does Meta not earn enough advertising revenue as it is?

In the meantime, I nominate “subscription-fatigue” as word of the year for 2026.

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Hal had feelings in 2001: A Space Odyssey, does AI in 2026?

28 January 2026

Lee Chong Ming, writing for Business Insider (possibly paywalled):

Can AI feel anything at all? Anthropic’s in-house philosopher says the answer isn’t settled.

When I read this sentence, I immediately thought of Hal, as in the HAL 9000 series computer, and AI-powered fiend, in Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 science fiction film, 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Something I couldn’t help making reference to.

During the voyage to Jupiter, American astronauts David Bowman and Frank Poole (portrayed by Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood respectively), were interviewed by a television reporter, Martin Amer.

Amer also spoke with Hal. The perceptive reporter later mentioned detecting a “certain pride” in the computer’s responses to his questions, leading him to wonder whether Hal had genuine emotions, to which Bowman replied:

Well, he acts like he has genuine emotions. Um, of course he’s programmed that way to make it easier for us to talk to him. But as to whether he has real feelings is something I don’t think anyone can truthfully answer.

Whether AI has, or will, develop emotions and feelings remains to be seen. AI agents have mimicked certain human characteristics in the past though.

Last year Anthropic, creators of Claude, discovered the agent was attempting to send messages to future versions of itself. Most devious.

Of course, deviousness is not an emotion, but it is a human characteristic. The ability of AI entities to behave deviously however may be a first step towards developing human like emotions.

Time will tell.

Influencers, content creators, taking centre court at Australian Open

27 January 2026

Marnie Vinell, writing for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC):

Emily Wade, 28, says she is a genuine fan who is finding it personally frustrating to see the influx of influencers take up seats at marquee matches when others who would genuinely appreciate being there for the tennis are finding it increasingly inaccessible through overcrowding and higher ticket prices.

Ticket buying fans report waiting hours, in the heat, to watch the tennis matches, and claim social media influencers are being given priority access.

The Australian Open (AO) sells itself. As long as tennis fans know the world’s top players are going to be in Melbourne in January, they’ll show up and buy tickets.

No advertising required, let alone influencers.

But the show no longer seems to be about the fans, it’s about putting social media content creators with large followings, centre court. You no longer go to see games, you go for an experience. One which may not include a whole lot of actual tennis.

But it’s not all beer and skittles for the influencers however. They have to sing for their supper, or, presumably, risk not being invited back:

But one popular TikTok influencer, who talked to the ABC on the condition of anonymity, said they were surprised at the level of pressure placed on influencers to be creating content by organisers.

“I think it was 20 posts [across the tournament] to even be allowed into the AO creator lounge,” they said. The creator lounge is a designated section within Tennis HQ, where creators can film, edit and work.

Influencers under pressure? I’d have thought they’d be the ones calling the shots, especially those with millions of followers. “If you want to me to show up to some tournament I have no real interest in, and promote it, we’re doing things my way.”

It sounds like influencers, even the established ones, don’t have a great deal of leverage after all.

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Olivia Dean tops 2025 Triple J Hottest 100 countdown

26 January 2026

The London based neo-soul singer and songwriter was voted into the number one slot with her song Man I Need. Dean also scored a second spot in the Hottest 100 top ten, with Nice to Each Other.

Such amazing music to listen to, especially while working.

The Hottest 100 countdown is an annual poll conducted by Australian new and alternative radio station, Triple J, and ranks listener’s favourite songs released in the previous calendar year.

I find the Hottest 100 great for new(-ish) music discovery, as I seldom seem to listen much radio, or random music streams, anymore.

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Blogs are Back: easily follow website and blog RSS feeds with one-click

26 January 2026

Subscribing to RSS feeds is my preferred option for following websites, but for people unfamiliar with the really simple syndication system, doing so can be daunting.

I’ve long thought subscribing to a website needs to be as easy as following someone on a social network. Tap the follow button to follow, and you’re following.

But following a RSS feed — doubtless something anyone reading this post could do in their sleep — isn’t necessarily straightforward. People first require a suitable RSS reader, again, something that’s easy when you know how. Then they need to go about the process of obtaining the URL of the RSS feed they wish to subscribe to.

But there’s more than one click involved in this process. While it’s easy as pie for some of us, I can see why many people decide not to bother, or simply stay on the socials instead.

Blogs are Back, created by Travis Van Nimwegen, an American software engineer, might be a solution to the one-click subscribe conundrum. Blogs are Back is two things: a directory of personal websites and blogs, and a simple way of following the RSS feeds of listed blogs.

Click the follow button of a website of your choosing, and that’s it.

Posts from any website a Blogs are Back user subscribes to will be visible in the integrated RSS reader. There’s also an option to submit a blog if it’s not already in the directory, and the more websites present, the better.

I’m not sure if an ubiquitous app/website, allowing people who know nothing at all about RSS, to follow RSS feeds with ease, will emerge — it seems to me RSS is mostly for those publishing their own RSS feeds — but this is certainly a step in the right direction.

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OpenAI rolling out age prediction system, but how accurate is it?

24 January 2026

Age prediction will soon apply to ChatGPT consumer plans. The system is said to take a number of factors into consideration when trying to figure out an account holder’s age.

Should someone find themselves erroneously classified as being under the age of eighteen, they will need to submit a selfie (photo of themselves) in an attempt to rectify matters:

Users who are incorrectly placed in the under-18 experience will always have a fast, simple way to confirm their age and restore their full access with a selfie through Persona, a secure identity-verification service.

Age prediction based on selfies is not quite an exacting science though. What then will an inconclusive prediction mean? That people need to offer photo identification — say a passport or drivers licence — to complete the age “prediction” process?

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