Australia
Australia’s world-first under-16 year old social media ban has become law, via Sydney Morning Herald: As expected, Albanese gained Coalition support for the social media package, given Dutton called for the age limit in June, but the debate was marked by warnings from the Greens and crossbenchers, as well
Social Media Ban
According to a report from the government Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) in February, just 12% of Australians aged 18-24 accessed the news via news websites on the open web. In comparison, a pretty substantial 46% of Australian's in that age bracket accessed news via closed social
PS5 Pro
Shipping hardware is hard! And sometimes it's hard to guage the scale of an issue. Just look at early shipments of Amazon's new Kindle Colorsoft, many of which had a "yellow band of discoloration" at the bottom of their screens. Amazon announced it was
A look behind triple j's rebrand at the ABC.
A little over a month ago, ABC youth brand triple j relaunched at its One Night Stand music festival. And it was a pretty big rebrand, touching the logo, typeface and general audio style of the station. A pretty big change is the new "J" audio sting that plays often on the station.
Gloss Australia reached out to the ABC for more details on the sonic rebrand, but didn't hear back. On the visual side of things, Howatson+Company, partnering with the ABC, has more info on the visual changes:
Since 1975, national broadcaster triple j has served as a lighthouse for young Australians, actively pushing culture forward and challenging norms through its disruptive programming, shows and events. Yet for the last 15 years, the brand and logo have remained static. To address this, triple j has partnered with Howatson+Company to reinvigorate the brand for today’s listeners.
To make it, a custom variable typeface was designed that changes based on audio and musical inputs. The type was taught to respond to music and sound using algorithmic machine learning, creating a reactive design.
The brand’s most iconic element, the drum, was also updated to reflect the tastes of the station’s youth audience today, featuring a simplified base designed to reference digital soundbars and incorporate a hidden ‘j’.
The rebrand successfully refreshes triple j’s visual world while preserving its core identity as a champion of youth culture and new Australian music.
Kindle
Amazon has announced new Kindle e-readers, though the most interesting one won't arrive in Australia until 2025. The Kindle Colorsoft features "a new light-guide with nitride LEDs that, when combined with our custom algorithms, enhances colour and increases brightness, all without washing details". The colour e-ink
Australia
Warner Bros. Discovery, which operates Max (formerly HBO Max), has been hinting at an Australian launch for months now. And while there was some talk of the company independently launching the service and possibly taking shows away from Foxtel and Foxtel-owned streaming service Binge, WBD may instead be giving Foxtel
PlayStation 30th Anniversary limited editions immediately sell out in Australia.
The best bet going forward is JB Hi-Fi, which are offering a ballot approach to pre-orders.
Otherwise Ebay has scalpers re-selling preorders with huge markups already.
Hideaki Nishino
iPhone 16 Pro Review
Thoughts on the button that isn't a button
Valve
Australia forced Valve to implement a refund policy. Now it won't sell the Steam Deck in the country.
New
In Australia the AirPods 4 without Noise Cancellation are available for $219 AUD. If you want the main new feature of Active Noise Cancellation it'll set you back $299 AUD. From Apple: AirPods 4 feature an entirely new acoustic architecture, low-distortion driver, and high dynamic range amplifier, and
New
The iPhone 16 Pro 128GB is $1799 AUD, 256GB is $1999 AUD, 512GB is $2349 AUD and 1TB is $2699 AUD. The iPhone 16 Pro Max 256GB is $2149, 512GB is $2499 and 1TB is $2849 AUD/ From Apple: With Apple Intelligence, powerful Apple-built generative models come to iPhone in
New
The new iPhone 16 and 16 Plus is "built for Apple Intelligence", which is likely code for a slight RAM increase to 8GB from 6GB in the previous model. There's also a processor bump, the 'Camera Control' camera button and "a big boost
iOS 18 and iPad OS 18 release September 17.
Though Apple Intelligence won't be included in this release. That's expected to arrive in Australia by December.
New
Probably the biggest news of a (quiet) Apple morning, the Apple Watch Series 10 is joining the renewed Apple persuit of thinness over all else. The new model is 10% thinner than the previous 3 generations. In the US Apple is promoting new Sleep Apnea detection features, though it'
The Apple Watch Ultra 2 is also now available in "black titanium".
Available next Friday, September 20 from $1399 AUD. Pre-orders up today.
New: AirPods Max in new colours and USB-C.
From Apple:
AirPods Max are available in five beautiful new colours, including midnight, starlight, blue, orange, and purple, and offer complementary finishes alongside other Apple products like Mac and iPad. Additionally, AirPods Max now feature USB-C charging capabilities, making them more convenient than ever to charge at home or on the go.
The AirPods Max are up for pre-order today for $899 AUD, or you can pick them up in-store starting next Friday, September 20.