A day to pack up our lives and get out: journalist Bill Birtles on fleeing China

As diplomatic tensions between Beijing and Canberra worsened, the ABC’s foreign correspondent and his partner had to leave everything – immediately. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

The ‘artisanal genius’ of creating iPhone-breaking hacks

When the FBI wanted to unlock the iPhone of a shooter following a 2015 mass killing, and Apple refused to help, the bureau had to turn to Aussie expertise. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

Iterable CEO Justin Zhu ousted for taking LSD at work

The fired chief executive said he was experimenting by taking a limited amount of LSD, or microdosing, to boost his focus before a board meeting. He’s not the only business leader to try the drug. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

Full-scale Commodore 64 remake has retro fun for young and old

THEC64 is a comprehensive but easy-to-use emulator box that should please both '80s computer die-hards and curious retro gamers. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

Forget toilet paper, pandemic panic leads to run on $50, $100 notes

Asset means-testing for various government social benefits partly to blame for stockpiling of banknotes. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

Before and after satellite imagery show early impact of NSW (Australia) floods

The bird’s-eye view shows the spread of the inundation by comparing the regions between early March and March 19 | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

Fortnite’s Epic Games takes Google to court in Australia over app payments

The game developer has added Google to its legal fight in Australia after accusing Apple of breaching consumer law in November. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

Did George Orwell Rewrite the End of Nineteen Eighty-Four (2017)

In 2012, I had one of those experiences about which every book collector dreams. I'd spent a beautiful late summer's day in Oxfordshire researching George Orwell's childhood and had arranged to meet a friend in my favourite English pub, The Three Tuns. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

Australia largest one month rise in property prices in 17 years

Some economists believe the RBA may have to start lifting rates as early as next year to deal with house prices, which rose 3 per cent in Sydney and 2.5 per cent in Melbourne last month. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

Facebook to restore news in Australia after last-minute deal with government

The Morrison government will make eleventh-hour changes to its landmark media code laws in a deal with Facebook to restore news content to its platform. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

Europe's sleeper trains wake up to a new era

What is driving the renaissance of the mode of transport celebrated by TS Elliot, Alfred Hitchcock and Agatha Christie? | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

World’s largest battery to be built in Hunter Valley

Australia leads the world in the uptake of solar on homes, but is far behind in commercial solar. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

The other superpowers calling the shots

Australia is embroiled in two major showdowns with superpowers. One is with China. The other is with Google and Facebook. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

‘Stunned’: GameStop trading frenzy causes local mining company shares to soar

A local mining company has been caught up in the investing craze surrounding US company GameStop thanks to its ASX code matching that of the American video game retailer. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

Average lifespan differs by up to 19 years between suburbs in Sydney

The suburbs of Bidwill and Cherrybrook illustrate the big gap in lifespans which has opened up across short distances in Greater Sydney. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

Google exiting Australia could open door for news deals with smaller players

Chairman Rod Sims said Google’s market dominance had created a “take it or leave” bargaining environment but competition could encourage smaller search engines to do deals with media companies. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

First domestic hydrogen battery developed by Australian firm

Governments are declaring hydrogen to be central to the future – and an Australian firm has developed a world first. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

Google threatens to disable search in Australia if media code becomes law

Google Australia managing director Mel Silva told a Senate inquiry that the company would have "no real choice" but to shut down Google Search in Australia if the laws passed. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

Google VP Vint Cerf slams Australia's media bargaining code

Regarded as one of the founding fathers of the internet, Google vice president Vint Cert has attacked the Morrison government's proposed media bargaining code as "deeply flawed". | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

California suspends pollution-control limits to deal with backlog in cremations

The move comes as the nation's most populous state became the first to record more than 3 million known coronavirus infections. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

ACCC considers legal action after Google completes $2.7B Fitbit deal

Australia's competition watchdog is continuing its investigation into Google's acquisition of fitness tracking pioneer Fitbit despite the sale completing on Friday. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

Denmark offers homeowners 20-year loans at a fixed interest rate of zero

The once unthinkable notion of borrowing for two decades without paying interest comes as central bankers across the globe shy away from rate hikes. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

British judge to hand down Julian Assange decision

Supporters of the WikiLeaks founder say the court decision could have profound implications for press freedom. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

Nick Greiner: “straight man” in Trumpistan

In a frank interview before a diplomatic posting in New York, the Liberal elder statesman and former NSW premier discusses Donald Trump and coronavirus, Scott Morrison's prospects and the need for a federal ICAC. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

Chinese steel mills ask for help from Rio and BHP

China’s steel mills are asking BHP and Rio to change the way iron ore is priced. While the miners have surely made all the right sympathetic noises about the price surge, one suspects it wouldn’t have been heartfelt. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

Australia to Take China to the WTO

Trade Minister Simon Birmingham said the government had advised counterparts in Beijing of its intention "to request formal consultations with China." | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

Australian mathematician helps crack 'Zodiac' serial killer's coded message

The 'Zodiac Killer' attacked seven people in San Francisco in the late 1960s, killing all but two of them | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

WeChat Deletes Australian Prime Ministers Message to Chinese Australians

As China and Australia enter a diplomatic stalemate, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has warned the dispute is having a serious economic effect. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

The perfect virus: two gene tweaks that turned Covid-19 into a killer

We thought we had bigger things to worry about than Chinese bat coronaviruses. It is now clear we made a massive mistake. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

China threatens Australia deal due to “unfriendly or antagonistic” media

A deliberately leaked Chinese government document has laid out 14 disputes aimed at pressuring the Morrison government to reverse Australia’s position on key policies. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

Epic Games brings Apple legal fight to Australia

Epic founder Tim Sweeney says Apple's conduct breaches consumer law, iPhone should be opened up to competing app stores and payment methods. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

ASX frozen due to 'market issues'

The ASX has paused trading as the market operator investigates "ongoing market issues". The benchmark index was at near nine-month highs at the open. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

30% of world GDP signed a trade agreement yesterday

Australian business, including the services sector, will now be open to trade with 14 countries through the RCEP. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

Two new mammals discovered in Australia

There are two more reasons to love Australia's fluffiest aeronautical marsupials after the discovery that there are actually three species of greater glider, not one as previously assumed. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

Victoria to build one of the world's biggest batteries near Geelong

Victoria will build the Tesla lithium-ion battery as part of a government push to transition to renewable energy and create jobs as the economy recovers from COVID-19. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

Australian doctors accuse government of failing on climate change

A group of Australian doctors have accused Energy Minister Angus Taylor of harming Australians' health by not taking enough action on climate change. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

Amazon destroys $1.5m of sellers inventory – now homeless

Barak Govani ran a clothing store on LA's famed Melrose Avenue. Then earlier this year he made a big bet on Amazon.com that he now regrets. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

Falling five storeys from a New York rooftop changed my life

One minute he was gazing at the New York skyline, the next he was plummeting five storeys to the ground. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

Tech giants part of a 'galactic empire': Home Affairs boss

Michael Pezzullo says Australia, the US and UK are forming a "rebel alliance" to take on tech giants seeking to disengage from "sovereign international society". | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

Scientists believe mystery object approaching Earth might be blast from the past

A telescope in Hawaii last month discovered the mystery object heading our way while doing a search intended to protect our planet from doomsday rocks. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

Trump's treatments are unproven, unapproved and may cause mania

US President Donald Trump’s medical regime to beat COVID-19 includes unproven supplements, an experimental therapy and a drug that can cause delirium and mania. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

Strikes Across the US

The industrial action has ranged from non-union workers at a meat processing plant and fast-food restaurant workers to academics walking out of universities. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

Global push to strip Beijing of Winter Olympics

The founder of a global coalition of MPs is pushing for the International Olympic Committee to reconsider Beijing's hosting of the 2022 Winter Games. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

China forces 500k Tibetans into labour camps

China is pushing hundreds of thousands of Tibetans into forced labour camps as a campaign to strip Beijing of the Winter Olympics gains momentum. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

McDonald's Sues Hungry Jacks over 'Big Jack' Burger

In a whopper of a Federal Court fight, the fast-food giant says Hungry Jack's has infringed its "Big Mac" trademark with a new "Big Jack" burger. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

Still working from home? Time to start the ‘fake commute’

Damien Lyons buttons up a business shirt, jumps in the car, switches on the radio and hits the road. But he's not actually heading to the office. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

Italy sends help to Banksy's overloaded migrant rescue boat

The Italian coastguard sent help on Saturday to a rescue boat funded by British street artist Banksy after the vessel issued urgent calls for assistance, saying it was stranded in the Mediterranean and overloaded with migrants. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago

Gas is not a transition fuel to a safe climate. That ship has sailed

A former Australian chief scientist argues against the government's push for a “gas-led” recovery. Increasing gas development to displace coal, she writes, is no longer a viable approach to maintaining a safe climate. | Continue reading


@smh.com.au | 3 years ago