Issue June 2018 - APC (2024)

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For people who love technology, APC is unique: it's the world's longest-published monthly tech magazine. Launched in May 1980, we were there when Apple's Macintosh and IBM's PC were born, and have been at the forefront of tech ever since. With a combination of insights, testing and tutorials APC lets you stay up-to-date with tech as it changes the world.

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In This IssueTech and trustToday’s big tech brands need the trust of their users in order for their products to operate fully. When you use a free product, you’re giving away some of your privacy in exchange, and this access to your data also allows (in theory) for deeper, more useful product personalisation. If we don’t trust Facebook, Google (and, to an extent, Microsoft) their ad-based business models would literally fall apart. While we’ll be taking an in-depth look at user privacy (and what you can do to safeguard yours) in a later issue of APC, most of the big tech companies don’t score very well — either because they collect too much data, or don’t do enough to protect it. In fact, Apple seems to be the only big tech company that doesn’t…2 min

TechnotesAussies are opting for faster NBN plans, but complaints still risingThe number of Aussies opting for the higher NBN speed tiers is increasing, according to the NBN Co’s March 2018 report. More than a million premises have signed up for high-speed broadband in the last four months alone. That equates to 37% of homes and businesses now on the NBN50 option, as compared to just 16% from March last year. NBN Co claims that this surge is due to lower wholesale prices that have allowed resellers (RSPs) to purchase more bandwidth. But while the price cuts have led to easy access to high-speed internet, it’s also increasing congestion during peak hours. According to the report, average network congestion is now higher than what it was in February. That’s not the only problem facing the NBN, though. The number of complaints…3 min

TechnotesMajor tech companies vow to prevent cyber warfareWhile US President Trump’s new national security advisor, John Bolton, has made clear that one of the ways to get back at Russia for meddling in US affairs is to launch “retaliatory cyber campaign”, major global corporations are determined to not let that happen. 34 global corporations, including Microsoft, Nokia, Cisco, HP and Facebook, have signed the Cybersecurity Tech Accord, a pledge to ally together and defend consumers against cyber attacks. The accord states that the coalition “will not help governments launch cyberattacks against innocent citizens and enterprises from anywhere”. The agreement will “empower civilians online” and “improve the security, stability and resilience of cyberspace”, with each company promising to not aid governments bolster their cyber capabilities. The companies have also promised to protect against “tampering and exploitation” of products…3 min

Technotesnumber crunchUS$25 million FORTNITE’S BATTLE ROYALE FOR iOS RAKED IN BIG DOLLARS IN THE U.S. OVER ITS FIRST MONTH While PlayerUnknown’s BattleGrounds’ might be considered the first game to make ‘battle royale’ gameplay mainstream, Fortnite took the popularity of the mode and ran with it — and has managed to gain some serious traction. In its first 30 days, the iOS version has managed to rake in over US$25 million, according to analytics company SensorTower, which predicts it could be grossing more than US$500 million by the end of the year. 5% NUMBER OF WEBSITES STILL USING FLASH PLAYER In July 2017, Adobe officially announced that it will be retiring its Flash technology by 2020, but it may be gone well before then, with less than 5% of websites worldwide still…2 min

TechnotesAI and VR in the real worldBeyond the vivid imagination of Hollywood writers and computer game developers, AI and VR lead pretty peaceful lives. Rather than causing the annihilation of the human race (well, not yet anyway), AI is busily going about many useful tasks, from sifting through documents for certain terms to making up cookie recipes and sorting out Lego pieces. VR, too, has many uses for us squishy humans beyond gaming applications. In fact, it’s these alternative uses for the technology that are the most interesting at the present time. With both AI and VR lending a hand in the medical profession, crime fighting and education, it truly is an exciting area to explore. We’ve touched on virtual reality and artificial intelligence many times in this column, but what the hell, let’s do it…2 min

Issue June 2018 - APC (2024)

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