Arnold King, writing at In My Tribe; I now read many fewer books than I did ten years ago. This not because of “the phones.” It is not because I have lost my intellectual mojo. It is because alternative sources of information have become more compelling. Essays, streaming video, podcasts, and (like it or not) social...

Kylie, trailer, is a Netflix produced documentary about Australian pop-singer Kylie Minogue. I was writing about the work of Kylie (her family apparently refers to her as Minogue, for the rest of us it’s Kylie) in the earliest iterations of disassociated.

Amelia Hill, writing for The Guardian: Individuals bear at least 80% of the responsibility for their ill health in old age, according to a report aimed at challenging the belief that physical decline is either inevitable or primarily the responsibility of the state. This finding is from the Oxford Longevity Project,...

Piccolo, by Australian app developer Josh McKinnon, tells you what time you can enjoy your last coffee each day, based on your nominated bedtime. Sounds like the coffee drinker’s friend to me. Most apps just add up milligrams. Piccolo runs a one-compartment pharmacokinetic model — the same maths clinicians use —...

The latest version of WordPress (WP), seven, which shipped a few days ago, comes with, according to the accompanying release notes/marketing copy, a number of AI features. I’m yet to see even one of these, despite installing version seven last week now. The only noticeable difference I can discern — to date — is a...

The longlist for the 2026 Miles Franklin award was published on Wednesday 20 May 2026, and includes the following ten titles: Discipline by Randa Abdel-Fattah Elegy, Southwest by Madeleine Watts Fierceland by Omar Musa First Name Second Name by Steve MinOn I Want Everything, Dominic Amerena Little World by Josephine...

The Vanishing Wild, written by Queensland based science writer and photographer Justine E. Hausheer, was published recently. It was the introduction to the book’s subject that caught my eye: Australia is a country celebrated for its wildlife, yet native species are in crisis. In the last 200 years, Australia has...

Congratulations to Trinidad and Tobago based writer Jamir Nazir for taking out the Commonwealth Short Story Prize this year, with his work, The Serpent in the Grove. Since being named winner though, suggestions have emerged that the work is the product of an AI agent. When asked to assess the story, a number of...

Sixty percent of Australian parents reported experiencing psychological distress, according to the results of the Parenting Today survey, conducted late last year by the Parenting Research Centre. It has been suggested the impact on the mental health of parents in Australia is contributing to current record low...

The AI generated result summaries on Google searches, that we’ve become accustomed to recently, sound like they will be a thing of the past when a new search… experience is rolled out shortly. Because your curiosity doesn’t always fit into keywords, we’re also introducing the biggest upgrade to our Search box in...

From the Apple Newsroom: Apple today previewed a suite of accessibility updates that use Apple Intelligence to bring new capabilities to features users rely on every day, including VoiceOver, Magnifier, Voice Control, and Accessibility Reader. Apple also announced on-device generated subtitles for uncaptioned video...

Om Gupta, writing for India Today: The researchers believe smartphones fundamentally changed how young people interact with each other. More time shifted online, while face-to-face socialising declined. According to the study, this reduction in in-person interaction may have contributed to lower fertility rates. The...