Plus: Why is there so much porn on Australian government domains? ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

February 11, 2025 | Read online
# TPG outage: power problem or settings screw-up? Elon's OpenAI bid and EV tough times Plus: Why is there so much porn on Australian government domains?
Issue 2268 - Tuesday 11 February, 2025
# In Today’s Issue
TPG internet outage: power problems or settings screw-up? Elon Musk wants to buy OpenAI, too Tough times for EVs Why is there so much porn on Australian government domains? Deals on Kogan fans, Lebara and amaysim prepaid SIM packs, Logitech mice, Lenovo laptops, Apple 10.9’’ iPad, Motorola phones and LG 27’’ OLED 480Hz monitors.
# The News
### TPG internet outage: power problems or settings screw-up?
Some TPG staff had a very bad night as the network suffered a major outage for a couple of hours, cutting internet to for tens of thousands of customers and even bringing down the telco’s website (The Guardian). The company blamed a power outage at its Glebe datacentre as a consequence of Sydney’s recent torrential rains (9NEWS) but I’ll be honest, I don’t understand how a power problem explains the spike in BGP announcements noticed by @geoffreyhuntley on X (Reddit mirror) which seems to suggest some kind of fuck up. One piece of speculation from Redditor u/multidollar that sounds interesting: “they did lose power but the restoration was littered with misconfigurations or the routers came back in an undesirable state” (Reddit). Reading about BGP led me down a rabbit hole to Cloudflare’s campaign to move off BGP because it can cause “major Internet disruptions” (Cloudflare). Sounds familiar.
Anyway, you know things are rooted when you need to do your first post in six years.
posted by u/Jaxondevs to r/NBN
### Elon Musk wants to buy OpenAI, too
I feel like that GTA San Andreas meme “ah shit, here we go again” (Know Your Meme) but I can’t ignore the Elon Musk-led bid to buy OpenAI (WSJ, gift link). To recap previous episodes: Musk helped found OpenAI in 2015, but exited in 2018 after his attempt to take over the not-for-profit was rebuffed (Semafor). Since then, OpenAI became insanely valuable and is doing things like developing its own chips (Reuters) and running Super Bowl commercials (The Verge). In response, Musk launched a competitor, xAI and a lawsuit against OpenAI for not really being a not-for-profit (Reuters). Now, the totally-not-jealous-or-mad Musk and a coalition of investors have offered AU$155 billion to buy OpenAI.
Is this just a dick-swinging contest led by a petulant billionaire who simply can’t fathom not getting what he wants? That’s definitely a part of it, but there’s another part, too: the bid makes it harder for OpenAI to lowball its own value as part of its planned transition to a for-profit company (which would presumably have big tax implications). Credit where it’s due: I have no choice but to respect Musk finding time for petty revenge while also dismantling the US government (Bloomberg, $).
### Tough times for EVs
Speaking of Elon, his political partner, US President Donald Trump, continues to strip away incentives for EVs, this time ending federal funding for a domestic charger roll-out (Bloomberg, $). This adds to the 10% tariffs on China which will hit BYD and other Chinese EV companies but also companies like GM and Ford that make some vehicles there (Bloomberg, $). BMW says it is continuing to invest in combustion engine vehicles because of the “rollercoaster ride” that is Trump’s America (Ars Technica). Amid all this turmoil, Treasurer Jim Chalmers has reportedly revived a previously-stalled plan for a road user charge (AFR, $) although I have my doubts if they’ll pass anything before the next election. This comes as domestic EV sales have fallen to a two-year low (Yahoo! Finance). I wanted to write a bit on self-driving cars and robotaxis because there’s a bit of news about, but I’ll hold off until later in the week.
# Oh, Also
### Why is there so much porn on Australian government domains?
Don’t ask me how I found it but there’s a whole bunch of explicit, hardcore pornography listed on Australian government websites. (Mildly NSFW, but nothing too crazy).
Ranging from the National Museum to Victoria’s Hume City Council, spammers have been able to commandeer government domains to direct users to explicit content, presumably to make money from ads served on the page. These are the result of people exploiting ‘dangling’ DNS entries from services that have been abandoned by government agencies and then taken over by enterprising individuals, a cybersecurity expert told me (Crikey, $).
I can’t blame my government IT staff friends too much because I have only recently experienced the trauma of dealing with DNS problems when messing around with the Sizzle.
# Bargains
Electrical & electronics
Adjustable Camera/Phone Tripod (up to 160 Cm) with Remote Control - $9.99 at Kogan Charmast Power Bank 20W 10000mAh Purple $11.73 (Exp), Other Colours (Excl. Black) - $12.63 at Amazon AU Kogan Aura Smart Ring - $99.99 at Kogan Kogan Premium DC Motor Pedestal Fan - $99.99 at Kogan Samsung Galaxy Buds3 White - $139 at Officeworks Bose QuietComfort SC Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones - $249.95 at MYER
Computing
Simplecom CHN436 USB-C and USB-A to 4-Port USB HUB with Gigabit Ethernet - $25 at Storm Computers Logitech G203 Wired Gaming Mouse - $32.30 at Amazon Logitech Lift Vertical Ergonomic Mouse - $72.24 at Amazon Logitech MX Anywhere 3S Graphite Compact Wireless Mouse - $80.74 at Amazon TP-Link Deco X25 (3-Pack) AX1800 Whole Home Mesh Wi-Fi System - $168.98 at Harris Technology ASUS TUF Gaming 1200W Gold PSU - $265.27 at Amazon UK Lenovo ThinkBook 14-IML 14" FHD i5-10210U 16GB Ram 256GB SSD Win11p (used) - $356.15 at eBay Apple 10.9" iPad 10th Gen Wi-Fi 64GB - $519.99 at Costco LG 27GX790A-B 27" OLED 480Hz Monitor - $1,151.28 at LG Edu VIP Program
Mobile
Lebara 30-Day Prepaid Starter SIM - 15GB $7, 100GB $14 at Coles amaysim 28-Day: 50GB Prepaid SIM Starter Pack - $10 at Woolworths Motorola G55 5G 4GB RAM/128GB Storage - $216.51 at Amazon Motorola Moto G75 5G (256GB) with Moto Buds - $361.80 at eBay
# The End
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