It has been one year since the launch of Australia's COVIDSafe app and after being launched as "digital sunscreen" by Prime Minister Morrison the app has identified 17 cases and 81 close contacts in New South Wales at a cost of just under $7 million. The app has been downloaded 7 million times, with reports suggesting only 3% of those who tested positive for COVID having downloaded the app. Regardless, COVIDSafe was plagued by poor Bluetooth signal management processing that volunteer developers helped to rectify before the problem returned in a major update late last year. The federal government refused to shift to the Apple/Google Exposure Notification Framework because it did not create a central accessible database like COVIDSafe did. Another case study in poor federal government technology projects.

While chip manufacturing shortages continue, the move toward smaller, faster, more efficient chips has not. Taiwanese manufacturer TSMC, one of the dominant chip makers of the past decade's smartphone revolution, has released an update stating it is on track to move to 4 nanometre and even 3 nanometre scale production in 2022, with 2 nanometre development and even smaller progressing well. A tough year ahead for availability but good to know that isn't slowing down next generation processor scales and the even more amazing chips they will bring.

Apple has released the latest updates for iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch this morning, which includes a major overhaul to how tracking and privacy work for apps. Now you will be asked if you want to allow an app to track your activity across other apps and websites. Facebook has been fighting against these changes, saying they will hurt small businesses that rely on Facebook for targeted advertising. Which is a way of saying that Facebook relies on tracking you everywhere you go online to deliver cheap targeted advertising. Our usual suggestion is to wait a day or two before you update to make sure there's no hidden bugs lurking out there.

Also in Apple updates, macOS 11.3 has been released, which includes a suite of its own updates and improvements. Most importantly, it includes a patch for a zero-day security flaw that would allow apps to run without triggering any security prompts or warnings. So make this update a high priority.

Facebook has rolled out a new music player in its app that allows Spotify music and podcasts to be streamed directly through the Facebook app. The mini player can be embedded in posts and then it will drop to the bottom of the screen and continue streaming directly within the app rather than taking you out to Spotify. At a technical level, it seems the Spotify app is still managing the audio, so if you don't already have Spotify installed you won't get the fancy new experience. As with most new features on Facebook, it takes time to propagate across billions of users so it will slowly reveal itself over coming days.

For design fans, a hat tip to the gorgeous set design used for yesterday's Academy Awards ceremony. The event was very different to recent shows, taking place in an intimate, COVID-safe setting within the amazing Art Deco environment of Los Angeles Union Station. The set was designed by architect David Rockwell with an aim to harken back to the style of early 1930s ceremonies. If you don't watch the Oscars, check out photos of the room where it happened. It was top shelf Hollywood glamour.

In video games, Capcom is releasing a special 60-minute demo this weekend for the upcoming Resident Evil Village release. The demo was originally going to be available for just 24 hours, but after very reasonable complaints the company has extended the demo to run from May 1st to May 9th. The full game's official release date is May 7, that's Friday week.

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