Australia is planning to pass “world-leading” legislation to protect children from harmful social media use. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the law, which will enforced later next year, will ban under-16s from using social media platforms including TikTok, Facebook, X, Instagram and likely Google’s YouTube.
“Social media is doing harm to our kids and I’m calling time on it,” Albanese said during a news conference on Thursday. Citing how excessive social media use is harming the physical and mental health of children, Albanese highlighted risks to girls in particular from harmful depictions of body image, and misogynist content aimed at boys. “If you’re a 14-year-old kid getting this stuff, at a time where you’re going through life’s changes and maturing, it can be a really difficult time and what we’re doing is listening and then acting,” Reuters quoted the PM as saying.
The island nation is currently testing age-verification systems using biometrics and government IDs to block children under 16 from accessing social media platforms. Reportedly, the legislation will not exempt underage users with parental consent or those who already have active accounts.
The prime minister said the law will tabled in the Australian Parliament later this month and it will come into effect next year, after it is ratified by all lawmakers. “The onus will be on social media platforms to demonstrate they are taking reasonable steps to prevent access. The onus won’t be on parents or young people,” PM Albanese said.
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Australia’s Law Minister Michelle Rowland said the platforms affected by the new law would include Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and X. Rowland added YouTube is also likely to fall within the scope of the legislation.
Industry representative body DIGI called the move dangerous and said it would only encourage children to explore darker, unregulated parts of the internet. Sunita Bose, Managing Director of the body including Meta, TikTok, X and Alphabet’s Google as members, said, “Keeping young people safe online is a top priority…but the proposed ban for teenagers to access digital platforms is a 20th-century response to 21st-century challenges.” Bose said creating age-appropriate spaces and digital literacy was the way forward.
Meta will open an experiential pop-up store for its Ray-Ban smart glasses. This store will allow customers to try out the smart glasses and even get them customized.
Such stores can allow new customers to experience these wearables and the features they offer. Incidentally, Meta tested the “Meta Lab” experience at this year’s Connect 2024. The social media giant boasted that over 90 percent of Connect attendees visited the Meta Lab. What’s even more promising is that the booth managed to convert 25% of the visitors into customers.
The temporary store will open today, on 8th November 2024 in Los Angeles and will be around through the end of this year. In other words, the experiential store for Ray-Ban smart glasses could be an experiment that Meta might replicate on a larger scale later.
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What will the experiential store offer?
The Meta Lab had quite an elaborate setup. It offered a very personalized and interactive experience. The pop-up experiential store for the Ray-Ban smart glasses might not have the same structure and layout. However, visitors to this store can try out the glasses, and even get them customized.
The temporary store will also host local events with various creators, including stand-up comedians. Meta will also conduct live podcasts and cooking classes at the store. It would be safe to presume that the Ray-Ban smart glasses would feature prominently at these events.
Temporary stores or time-bound experience centers have been an emerging concept for tech companies. Opening, staffing, and maintaining permanent storefronts is a very costly affair. Additionally, such stores need to stock, store, and display inventory, which is another recurring expense.
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Meta seems to be experimenting with such temporary stores. The miniature Meta Lab in Los Angeles would close on December 31. However, the company has reportedly planned another such experience center in Phoenix that could open at the end of January 2025.
Meta is collaborating with Ray-Ban for future iterations of smart glasses. If these experience centers prove successful, these companies could lease permanent retail spaces.
Accessory maker 8BitDo has unveiled its second new product in two weeks. After showcasing a latch-on gaming controller for Android phones, the company now has a new version of its Retro Mechanical Keyboard that adds a numpad and new shortcuts. And yes, the $120 accessory still includes those begging-to-be-mashed Super Buttons.
Like its predecessor, the 8BitDo Retro 108 Mechanical Keyboard is inspired by Nintendo’s NES and Famicom consoles. The two variants almost perfectly match the colors of these 1980s gaming machines: white, dark gray and black for the NES-inspired flavor and white and crimson for the Famicom one. Appropriately, the latter has Japanese markings under its English characters.
The keyboard is 22 percent wider than the standard version to accommodate the integrated numpad and other extras. The extended area also includes Windows shortcuts, Calculator, Function Lock and Screen Lock buttons.
Otherwise, the new keyboard retains the features of the 87-key original. That includes using it in wired or wireless modes (including Bluetooth or wireless 2.4G), custom key mapping through 8BitDo Ultimate Software V2 (Windows only), N-key rollover and hot-swappable keys.
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8BitDo
The new model includes the same pair of Super Buttons you’ll get with the smaller variant. These programmable macro keys look like giant-sized versions of the A and B buttons on the NES and Famicom. They connect to the keyboard directly via a 3.5mm jack, and you can string up to four sets together. You can also order Super Buttons (in red, blue or yellow) for $30.24 apiece.
Officially, 8BitDo says the keyboard is only supported for Windows and Android, likely because its customization software is only available for the former. But you can still use it with macOS; you’d just miss out on customizing its keys and macros and receiving software updates.
Harlowe’s Sol 5 is a three-inch extending light that attaches to the MagSafe mount on your iPhone to improve the quality of your photos and selfies. It’s available now for $79 or for $159 as part of a travel kit that includes a softbox diffuser to help reduce harsh shadows.
The Sol 5’s glowing puckis connected to its magnetic mount with a short arm that extends its reach and lets it swivel 180 degrees and angle as needed.That allows the Sol 5 to be used as an indirect light source as well, softening its effect by bouncing it off another nearby surface. But it doesn’t need to be stuck to an iPhone. It can also be used as a standalone light source, or even a flashlight that far outperforms what the iPhone’s LEDs are capable of.
The Sol 5 features an extending, swiveling head for taking selfies using the cameras on either side of the iPhone.Image: Harlowe
In standard mode, the Sol 5 projects 200 lumens of light, but it also has a temporary boost mode that will increase its output to 360 lumens for 30 seconds. Its brightness can be further adjusted using one of two dial controls. The other allows the Sol 5’s color temperature to be adjusted between 2,700K (warmer) and 6,500K (cooler) tints.
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Horlowe claims the Sol 5’s built-in 1,000mAh rechargeable battery will keep it running at full brightness for an hour and 24 minutes, but frequent use of that boost mode will reduce that runtime.
The Sol 5’s optional diffuser can help soften and spread out the light’s illumination.Image: Harlowe
The Sol 5’s softbox accessory can be purchased outside of the aforementioned travel kit (which includes a more robust case for everything) for $39. It attaches magnetically to the light to even out its illumination, which Harlowe says makes it ideal for “portrait, beauty, or close-up shots where softer lighting enhances the subject’s appearance.” The softbox also includes an additional diffusion panel that can be attached to further soften the Sol 5’s output.
Watch: Secret footage shows COP29’s chief Elnur Soltanov discussing gas and oil deals
A senior official at COP29 climate change conference in Azerbaijan appears to have used his role to arrange a meeting to discuss potential fossil fuel deals, the BBC can report.
A secret recording shows the chief executive of Azerbaijan’s COP29 team, Elnur Soltanov, discussing “investment opportunities” in the state oil and gas company with a man posing as a potential investor.
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“We have a lot of gas fields that are to be developed,” he says.
A former head of the UN body responsible for the climate talks told the BBC that Soltanov’s actions were “completely unacceptable” and a “betrayal” of the COP process.
Reuters
Baku is hosting this year’s COP29 United Nations Climate Change Conference
As well as being the chief executive of COP29, Soltanov is also the deputy energy minister of Azerbaijan and is on the board of Socar.
Azerbaijan’s COP29 team has not responded to a request for comment.
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Oil and gas accounts for about half of Azerbaijan’s total economy and more than 90% of its exports, according to US figures.
COP29 will open in Baku on Monday and is the 29th annual UN climate summit, where governments discuss how to limit and prepare for climate change, and raise global ambition to tackle the issue.
The BBC has been shown documents and secret video recordings made by the human rights organisation, Global Witness.
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It is understood that one of its representatives approached the COP29 team posing as the head of a fictitious Hong Kong investment firm specialising in energy.
He said this company was interested in sponsoring the COP29 summit but wanted to discuss investment opportunities in Azerbaijan’s state energy firm, Socar, in return. An online meeting with Soltanov was arranged.
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Azerbaijan has rich oil and natural gas deposits
During the meeting, Soltanov told the potential sponsor that the aim of the conference was “solving the climate crisis” and “transitioning away from hydrocarbons in a just, orderly and equitable manner”.
Anyone, he said, including oil and gas companies, “could come with solutions” because Azerbaijan’s “doors are open”.
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However, he said he was open to discussions about deals too – including on oil and gas.
Initially, Soltanov suggested the potential sponsor might be interested in investing in some of the “green transitioning projects” Socar was involved in – but then spoke of opportunities related to Azerbaijan’s plans to increase gas production, including new pipeline infrastructure.
“There are a lot of joint ventures that could be established,” Soltanov says on the recording. “Socar is trading oil and gas all over the world, including in Asia.”
Soltanov then described natural gas as a “transitional fuel”, adding: “We will have a certain amount of oil and natural gas being produced, perhaps forever.”
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The UN climate science body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, acknowledges there will be a role for some oil and gas up to 2050 and beyond. However, it has been very clear that “developing… new oil and gas fields is incompatible with limiting warming to 1.5C”.
It also goes against the agreement the world made at the last global climate summit to transition away from fossil fuels.
Soltanov appeared eager to help get discussions going, telling the potential sponsor: “I would be happy to create a contact between your team and their team [Socar] so that they can start discussions.”
A couple of weeks later the fake Hong Kong investment company received an email – Socar wanted to follow up on the lead.
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Attempting to do business deals as part of the COP process appears to be a serious breach of the standards of conduct expected of a COP official.
These events are supposed to be about reducing the world’s use of fossil fuels – the main driver of climate change – not selling more.
The standards are set by the UN body responsible for the climate negotiations, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The UN said it could not comment directly on our findings but remarked that “the same rigorous standards” are applied to whoever hosts the conference, and that those standards reflect “the importance of impartiality on the part of all presiding officers”.
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Its code of conduct for COP officials states they are “expected to act without bias, prejudice, favouritism, caprice, self-interest, preference or deference, strictly based on sound, independent and fair judgement.
“They are also expected to ensure that personal views and convictions do not compromise or appear to compromise their role and functions as a UNFCCC officer.”
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Christiana Figueres, who presided over the historic Paris agreement, says doing deals on fossil fuels is a “betrayal” of the COP process
Christiana Figueres, who oversaw the signing of the 2015 Paris agreement to limit global temperature rises to well below 2C, told the BBC that she was shocked anyone in the COP process would use their position to strike oil and gas deals.
She said such behaviour was “contrary and egregious” to the the purpose of COP and “a treason” to the process.
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The BBC has also seen emails between the COP29 team and the fake investors.
In one chain, the team discusses a $600,000 (£462,000) sponsorship deal with a fake company in return for the Socar introduction and involvement in an event about “sustainable oil and gas investing” during COP29.
Officials offered five passes with full access to the summit and drafted a contract which initially required the firm to make some commitments to sustainability. Then it pushed back, one requirement was dropped and “corrections” were considered to another.
The BBC asked Azerbaijan’s COP29 team and Socar for comment. Neither responded to the requests.
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The findings come a year after the BBC obtained leaked documents that revealed plans by the UAE to use its role as host of COP28 to strike oil and gas deals.
COP28 was the first time agreement was reached on the need to transition away from fossil fuels.
Lego’s newest set is an accurate, brick-built recreation of the Endurance
The ship was used on a trans-antarctic expedition led by Sir Ernest Shackleton
It’s made from over 3,000 Lego bricks and is over 31 inches long
Lego’s next Icons set is getting ready to sail, and it might just be the perfect companion build to one of the latest documentaries to hit Disney Plus. The new Icons The EnduranceSet is a 3,011 brick-built recreation of the iconic ship helmed by Sir Ernest Shackleton.
The ship was a trans-antarctic expedition led by Shackleton, which became stuck in the ice in 1915. Miraculously, the crew and Shackleton survived and made it back on the ship’s lifeboats, including harrowing days in Antarctica.
The build lands at 18.5 inches in height and over 31 inches long, complete with ten sails spread across three masts. Plenty of details are taken from the ship itself, which was recently discovered, and you can learn more about it in the documentary. With over 3,000 pieces, you’ll build the ship’s hull, main masts, sails, and more intricate details, including the main rudder, steam engine, and the ship’s wheel. Of course, you’ll make the lifeboats and interior details, including cabins.
Strands is a brand new daily puzzle from the New York Times. A trickier take on the classic word search, you’ll need a keen eye to solve this puzzle.
Like Wordle, Connections, and the Mini Crossword, Strands can be a bit difficult to solve some days. There’s no shame in needing a little help from time to time. If you’re stuck and need to know the answers to today’s Strands puzzle, check out the solved puzzle below.
You start every Strands puzzle with the goal of finding the “theme words” hidden in the grid of letters. Manipulate letters by dragging or tapping to craft words; double-tap the final letter to confirm. If you find the correct word, the letters will be highlighted blue and will no longer be selectable.
If you find a word that isn’t a theme word, it still helps! For every three non-theme words you find that are at least four letters long, you’ll get a hint — the letters of one of the theme words will be revealed and you’ll just have to unscramble it.
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Every single letter on the grid is used to spell out the theme words and there is no overlap. Every letter will be used once, and only once.
Each puzzle contains one “spangram,” a special theme word (or words) that describe the puzzle’s theme and touches two opposite sides of the board. When you find the spangram, it will be highlighted yellow.
The goal should be to complete the puzzle quickly without using too many hints.
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