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• WhatsApp limits users to five text forwards to curb rumours

  Facebook's WhatsApp is limiting worldwide the number of times a user can forward a message to five, starting on Monday, as the popular messaging service looks to fight "misinformation and rumors", company executives have revealed.

• Former spy chief calls for Canada to ban Huawei from 5G networks

  Canada should ban Huawei from supplying equipment to Canadian 5G networks because the security risk is too great, a former spy chief said.

• Strava shifts from Amazon to Snowflake, deepens data offering

  Strava, the hugely popular fitness tracking app, has recently shifted its massive data lake from Amazon Redshift to cloud upstart Snowflake.

• Failed federal biometrics project slammed by auditor

  Management of a major biometric identification project by CrimTrac and, later the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC), was “deficient in almost every significant respect,” a report into the project has concluded.

• Bosch gets green light for automated vehicle tests

  Bosch is the first recipient of a permit under Victoria’s new Automated Driving System (ADS) scheme.

• Telstra boosts subsea network capacity with ICE4 rollout

  An upgrade to Telstra’s Asia Pacific subsea network will deliver a 160 per cent boost to the telco’s fibre capacity and increase port density by 140. Infinera said that the roll out of its Infinite Capacity Engine 4 (ICE4) will also cut Telstra’s power consumption.

• Defence issues $190M worth of IT contracts

  The Australian Department of Defence has issued three technology contracts amounting to $190 million, with Fujitsu and Kinetic IT the big winners.

• The best Linux apps for Chromebooks

  Make your Chromebook even more capable with this carefully selected set of Linux apps for expanding Chrome OS's potential as a business tool.

• Geoscience Australia works to secure positioning infrastructure from hackers

  Geoscience Australia has begun a formal process seeking information that will aid its development of a cyber security strategy to protect a new ultra-precise positioning system.

• Former CSIRO manager faces court over alleged $400,000 spending spree

  A former CSIRO manager today faced a Canberra court for allegedly fraudulently using government funds to make more than $400,000 worth of personal purchases.

• Microsoft launches Azure DevOps bug bounty program

  Microsoft has launched a new bug bounty program focused on Azure DevOps Services.

• Driverless shuttle and ‘smart bus stop’ trial launches in SA

  ​A six month trial which pairs a self-driving shuttle bus and two ‘autonomous smart transit hubs’ has launched at Holdfast Bay in Adelaide.

• Microsoft expands Windows 7-to-Windows 10 app compatibility pledge

  Microsoft this week announced that an application compatibility guarantee it gave to enterprises migrating from Windows 7 to Windows 10 has gone global.

• IBM calls time on Slack-rival Watson Workspace

  The decision means more consolidation for the collaboration market; IBM says its team chat app failed to ‘resonate’ with users.

• Start-up Devvio claims its blockchain can handle 8M transactions a second

  The new blockchain protocol, Devv, was demoed at CES; backers say it outperforms other distributed ledger technologies and traditional financial networks such as VisaNet. Analysts are skeptical.