Written by Daniel Pedavoli

Apprentice plumber’s talent hits competition bullseye

A 20-year-old apprentice plumber, Alec Tompkins, was recently named the winner of Rheem’s Aussie Plumbers’ Hidden Talents competition, winning a $5,000 cash prize and national recognition.

In 2024, Alec was diagnosed with stage 3-4 Hodgkin’s lymphoma and immediately underwent chemotherapy. Once cleared he resumed his plumbing apprenticeship, leading him to enter Rheem’s competition, where he showcased his national shooting skills, obtaining a near perfect score of 99 out of 100.

When speaking to Canberra City News, Tompkins encouraged other apprentice plumbers to enter next year.

Rheem Australia is an IMPACT client.

Amazon cloud outage disrupts millions worldwide
Amazon Web Servers (AWS) experienced a major outage this week, with the issue impacting a wide range of platforms and services, including Snapchat, Reddit, Roblox, Slack, Zoom, Xero and Duolingo.

There have been more than eight million reported issues worldwide, including 418,000 from Australia, and 2,000 companies affected. Amazon confirmed it was not a cyber attack, with servers recovering after nine hours.

The event has demonstrated the risks of having major portions of the internet reliant on a small number of centralised cloud providers, with experts noting how fragile global digital infrastructures can be.

PG-13 style content only for Meta users under 18
From mid-October, Meta users under the age of 18 will, by default, see content limited to a PG-13 style, reducing potential exposure to explicit or inappropriate content. These teen accounts will automatically be set to private with limited interaction options.

Meta’s announcement comes as the company faces criticism over how social media may harm children and young adults. This is in keeping with further restrictions in Australia, ahead of new laws from December 2025, restricting children under the age of 16 from accessing social media altogether.

Some child-safety groups are sceptical about how well the new policies will be implemented and how, on a global scale, these restrictions will work unanimously to create safer online environments for kids.

Peter Alexander takes a nap while AI at the wheel
Sleepwear label Peter Alexander’s new collection has come under fire after featuring AI-generated images of dogs modelling its new pyjama sets. Its “Behind The Fluff” campaign faced staggering backlash with creative revealing distorted dog faces and a misspelt brand name, “Peter Alenander”.

Customers and employees have criticised the use of AI imagery calling it “embarrassing” and questioning why the brand did not undertake a real photoshoot. While the product line appears unaffected, the AI-generated visuals overshadowed the launch.

Peter Alexander is yet to release a public statement.

The end of an era: Paramount axes MTV music channels
After nearly 40 years, MTV music channels, including MTV 80s, MTV 90s, MTV 00s, MTV Club, and MTV Hits will close on 31 October 2025.

Earlier in the year, Paramount, which manages the linear music channels, said it would not renew its distribution deal with Foxtel. The closure is part of a wider global AU$796 million cost-cutting strategy, also affecting UK, Poland, France, and Brazil.

However, the MTV brand is not being completely removed from Australia, with MTV music and entertainment programming moving to its global YouTube channel and Paramount+.