5 things to know in Australia today

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Happy Friday, I hope you stay dry. It’s been a big week in the tech world, here’s the latest.

1. Netflix ad levels are upon us

We finally have some concrete details on Netflix’s long-rumored ad-supported level, this time straight from the horse’s mouth. Netflix’s Basic with Ads will launch on November 4 and will cost $6.99 per month. Basic with Ads will offer users “a limited number of movies and TV shows that will not be available due to licensing restrictions.” Basic with Ads will have 5 to 10 percent fewer titles than its ad-free plans.

2. Medibank suffers ‘cyber incident’

Yesterday the news broke that Medibank had been the victim of a ‘cyber incident’. He said that in response to this incident, the organization took immediate steps to contain it and hired specialized cybersecurity firms. Unlike the Optus data breach we are all familiar with by now, Medibank said at this stage there is no evidence that sensitive data, including customer data, was accessed. Investigations into the cyber incident are ongoing and Medibank said it will provide regular updates.

3. Electric vehicle sales are booming, but we need more

Sales of new electric vehicles in Australia are up 65% in 2022, but adoption still lags far behind other countries (in the UK, one in five new cars is electric). As The Guardian noted, a new report on the state of electric vehicles from the Electric Vehicle Council has said that electric vehicles now account for 3.39 per cent of all new car sales. The largest number of sales occurred in the ACT, where 9.5 percent of all new cars sold were electric.

4. Amazon Same Day Satellite Internet

Amazon is preparing to launch two test satellites for its Project Kuiper satellite internet constellation, as The Verge notes, built to compete with services like SpaceX Starlink and OneWeb. The prototypes, Kuipersat-1 and Kuipersat-2, will go into orbit on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan Centaur rocket in early 2023. Once in orbit, Amazon’s plan is to “provide fast, affordable broadband to users unserved and underserved communities around the world.”

5. No more Microsoft Office

Microsoft is making a major change to its Microsoft Office brand. After more than 30 years, Microsoft Office is changing its name to “Microsoft 365” to mark the software giant’s growing collection of productivity apps. While Office apps like Excel, Outlook, Word, and PowerPoint won’t be going away, Microsoft will now primarily refer to these apps as part of Microsoft 365 instead of Microsoft Office.

BONUS ITEM: As we head into the weekend, we want the bonus item to spark some fun. This corgi is very cute and he hates policemen. There isn’t much more to it.

Have a great weekend.

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