Price tag on Elon Musk’s South Australia battery
The cost of South Australia’s Tesla lithium-ion battery has been revealed. In a report released ahead of an initial public offering, renewable energy company Neoen suggested the battery had cost around $90 million. Neoen operates the Hornsdale windfarm where the battery is located and partnered with Tesla on the project. Completed in November 2017, the battery has already made back $10.8 million through the sale of its stored electricity, according to Neoen.
Melbourne teen hacker avoids jail
The Victorian teenager who successfully hacked Apple’s systems has avoided jail time and has instead been sentenced to eight months of probation. The teen was charged with downloading 90GB of secure files after the Australian Federal Police raided his home last year and found a folder named “hacky hack hack". It has also now been revealed that 19-year-old, who cannot be named, is now studying cyber safety and criminology at university.
Telstra refunds $9.3m
Telstra has refunded more than 72,000 customers a combined total of $9.3 million after the ACCC ruled the telco had misled customers into unknowingly signing up for its third-party Premium Direct Billing Program. “Really you didn't have to do much to sign up… you didn't have to put in your credit card details, you didn't have to double-click anything,” said ACCC chairman Rod Sims.
Aussie universities slide in global rankings
Four of Australia’s top six universities have dropped in global rankings. The University of Melbourne is still the highest ranked institution, after retaining its ranking of 32. The University of Sydney climbed up two ranks to now be 59, while the Australian National University (49, down one), University of Queensland (69, down four), Monash (84, down four) and University of New South Wales (96, down 11) all saw rankings drop.
