Beyond Infinity

As bitcoin steadily loses value from its stratospheric heights of late 2017, other cryptos have gained in value and market prominance. John offers an introduction to the differences between bitcoin and ethereum.

Last heard from on June 10th, NASA's venerable Opportunity rover has entered low power mode as the sky darkens dramatically, reducing solar power at Meridiani Planum to dangerous and unprecedented low levels. Meanwhile, an international flotilla of orbiters takes full advantage to harvest precious information about how dust storms form and behave.

Our weekly news round-up: Trump directs Pentagon to set up "Space Force" to ensure America's continued dominance beyond Earth; Microsoft's Project Natick places environmentally friendly data centres underwater; Google's DeepMind AI learns how to see via a generative query network; Europe's new General Data Protection Regulation is cleaning up the world's email spam problem; Vivo X21 is world's first smart phone with in-display fingerprint sensor; Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission abandons deal with NEC to expand national fingerprint database with other biometric info, such as facial and footprint recognition.

In the first of a three part interview, bee experts Simon Mulvany and Ben Moore compare Australia's honey bee industry with those in Europe and New Zealand. They discuss the big problems caused by the varroa mite and welcome the banning of neonicotinoids, which are widely-used insecticides deadly to bees. Both Simon and Ben are firm believers that social media can be pivotal in raising awareness of the serious dangers facing bees and those who depend on them around the world.

At WWDC 2018, the company foreshadowed changes coming soon in iOS 12, including a new feature called Screen Time which aims to make it easier to curb smart phone addiction. Following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, another big theme was improved privacy. Apple also touted significant improvements to Siri, MacOS, Watch OS 5 and AppleTV. And Facetime will soon allow up to 30 people to share the same video conference call.

With a 6 inch display, the latest Snapdragon 845 SoC, 8GB of RAM and a 90Hz refresh rate, the ROG phone is really more gaming console than phone. It also has some neat add-ons to boost battery life and enhance the gaming experience. For serious gamers, this device sounds like it's got a lot to offer.

To find an alternative to cellophane, NZ biotech start-up Humble Bee looks to mimic the Australian masked bee's nesting material to create a bioplastic.

Our weekly news round-up: Japan moves to tighten regulations on Airbnb; How to save on iPhone storage costs; Juno mission extended by 3.5 years to meet science goals; Continuing headaches for some NBN users; Most popular ridiculously insecure passwords; PageUp HR reveals major breach of clients' personal details.

Ahead of the July 1st introduction of GST on all online purchases, the ecommerce juggernaut now redirects shoppers to its Australian site. Some are disappointed at the reduced choice this change will entail, while others reckon the change will have minimal impact.

Despite their current humble beginnings, the future looks bright for AR/VR developers. John offers his thoughts, forecasting that conventional offices could become obsolete and VR dating the norm.