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Seamus Byrne

Founder and Head of Content at Byteside.

Google

The zeitgeist according to Google. Here's an interesting post on the things we were searching in 2023. From the Optus outage to the referendum, to our glorious Matildas and Barbie mania.

Xbox

Sea of Thieves finds some chill for casual good times

Safer Seas aims to make Sea of Thieves more welcoming for beginners and laid-back veterans by excluding pesky human pirates from being a concern.

A treasure chest on a beach with a ship in the distance on a sunny day.
New Realities

All the attention on AI might give VR/AR/XR more breathing room to keep iterating and get us somewhere exciting in coming years. Like HTC Vive Ultimate Trackers adding positional data for your limbs for more detailed immersion in virtual spaces. A nice add-on.

VIVE Ultimate Tracker - Full-Body Tracking for Standalone VR
Take physical movements into VR and MR with the first all-in-one positional tracker from HTC VIVE. Track your body and objects to redefine virtual experiences.
Security

Commonwealth Bank has significantly reduced incidents of abusive transactions (where money is sent to someone to send them a threatening message) over recent years. Now it's sharing its machine learning code via GitHub to help other financial institutions do the same. Nice one, CBA.

Home

The LG StanbyME is a very clever smart TV you can wheel to wherever you need it around the home. A 27-inch Full HD touch screen with webOS offering all the important streaming apps built-in. It rotates and tilts to suit your needs and just generally oozes cleverness. At $1,999 it feels like a high utility extra TV that is quite an alternative to sticking an iPad on the kitchen counter.

Games

My relationship with Magic has been all about how much I like a set theme or not. There's so many sets these days it's hard to keep up with every release, but when the right set catches the eye I'm keen.

Wilds of Eldraine is one of those 'love this vibe' sets for me.

A fairy women in a dark moody forest?
Cool key art: the key to my he-art.
Security

It's safest to assume you're about to be scammed online these days. For the less technical, it's hard to keep up with all the types of attacks you need to be wary of and what to watch out for.

Norton's "Phictionary" is a nice way to get an overview of what's what out there. Well worth a look and a share with family members you're worried about.

Art & Culture

A fascinating look at the less obvious pop culture wars playing out online.

Puritanism took over online fandom — and then came for the rest of the internet
It all starts with a Voltron ship war, because of course it does.
Art & Culture

Ever heard of Cuboro? These marble tracks made of beautifully machined wood blocks are amazing.

Sadly, they're wildly expensive so I'll just enjoy watching other people's fancy setups.

Games

Valve pulled off a solid anti-cheat switcheroo that saw over 40,000 accounts banned for using a third-party cheating client. After fixing the cheat, Valve added a special honeypot to identify exactly who was running the cheat before dropping the hammer. Solid crackdownery.

Valve set a trap to catch and ban 40,000 Dota 2 cheaters
The update added a ‘honeypot’ to catch cheaters
Art & Culture

Great summer reads

16 great links to some of the best stories around the web that help you stay on top of what's next in digital.

Cartoon style robot at a table looking at a typewriter.
AI

What will the Canva of AI copy mean for writing?

Every industry has its practitioners who over charge and under deliver. Both graphic design and copywriting have more than their fair share.

A robot sits in the foreground, typing on a weird typewriter. There are rows of more robots, all typing.
Computers

Maintaining a clear sense of the future

In 1999 I completely dismissed the importance of flash memory cards as a storage medium for the future. It taught me big lessons on how to consider a technology's long-term potential.

An advanced robot looks toward a sunset from a mountain above a city skyline.
Technology

Building a 21st Century knowledge engine

ChatGPT reveals the potential for a Knowledge Engine that can speed up our ability to learn.

Building a 21st Century knowledge engine
Byteside Podcast

Welcome to Dragon Talk: D&D's Shelly Mazzanoble & Greg Tito visit Byteside

We're talking to the co-hosts of the official Dungeons & Dragons podcast about their new book looking back at how the show came to mean so much to the D&D community.

Part of the bright red book cover art, saying "Welcome to Dragon Talk: Inspiring Conversations About"
Sponsored

The future of trust and security

Sponsored by IBM. Trust and security have been a big challenge throughout the pandemic, but the events of 2022 have tested these ideas like never before.

The future of trust and security
Byteside Podcast

The future of sound production at Trackdown Studios

From Mad Max Fury Road to The Crown, World of Warcraft to The Boys, Sydney's Trackdown Studios makes big productions sound amazing.

The future of sound production at Trackdown Studios
Twitter

Heavy the bird nest

At the end of the first week of Musk's Twitter, it's hard to put a finger on which part of the chaos engine has been the most damaging to the brand.

Heavy the bird nest
Twitter

Saving Twitter from Twitter

There's never been a company with such a wide gap between its cultural impact and its economic success. Maybe a little chaos makes sense right now?

A blue bird sits, watching a younger blue bird play with a stick. There a plates with nuts near them.
Security

💡 Weekly: Is anyone *not* getting hacked out there?

News rounded up from Google, USB 4, Medibank, Spotify exclusive pods, positive social apps for teens, and AI bias issues in the jobs market.

💡 Weekly: Is anyone *not* getting hacked out there?