Plus: A cute illustrated history of Microsoft’s Solitaire ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

August 19, 2025 | Read online
# iiNet hacked, Trump's Intel shake-down and greedy Google Plus: A cute illustrated history of Microsoft’s Solitaire
Edition 2399
"RCA Spectra70" (Flickr: Laura Moncur)
# The News
### iiNet is the latest Australian company to get hacked in a very dumb way
At least 280,000 iiNet customers have been exposed in a hack of the ISP (Cyber Daily AU). Its owner, TPG, says its order management system was exposed using a stolen employee credential and that hackers were able to hoover up 280,000+ emails, 20,000 phone numbers, as well as 10,000 addresses and 1,700 modem passwords (iiNet)
The Sizzle: Feels like the same old story. An Australian company gets popped — not because of a high-level exploit, but because the company doesn’t have systems that would stop a single staff member’s account from exfiltrating a shit ton (that’s a technical term) of data. Regardless of whether it’s an insider threat or opportunistic scammers getting credentials from elsewhere, this really shouldn’t be happening.
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
### Trump wants to get a little bit of the Intel action
The Trump administration wants to take a 10% stake in an embattled Intel, instead of handing it billions of dollars in grants (Bloomberg, $). The struggling US chipmaker is in line for $16 billion in US government grants for military and commercial production — but apparently the Trump admin is considering just asking for an equivalent amount in equity. Japanese mega-investor SoftBank also just tipped in $3 billion to the company as well (WSJ, gift link).
The Sizzle: Ok, so obviously this is a shake-down. Or, as The Verge called it: gangster tech regulation, like taking a slice of Nvidia’s China sales (Reuters). But am I crazy to think that this is … a good idea? The US government needs Intel to be a competent chipmaker for national security reasons. But instead of Intel having them over a barrel, saying “it’d be a real shame if we went out of business”, the government will get something for handing over billions of dollars. (Naturally, it’s Trump, so there’s going to be some cursed demand like Intel Also Can’t Be Woke Anymore).
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
### Is Google demanding data that it doesn’t need?
Former tech company founder Mike Olson wrote a blog post called Google is watching about the company “demand[ing] access to data it doesn’t need and that we have no reason to share”. His examples were Google’s updated Nest camera app asking for location data from a smartphone, and its Photos service asking for access to all images on a device to take part in a shared album. Olson says the reason it wants that data is because Google is “absolutely rapacious for data that it can turn into money”.
The Sizzle: I think this post might be a bit of a Rorschach test. We’re all pissed off about companies milking more data from us. But, often, there’s at least a reason that the company wants this data. I’m assuming Google asks for access to all images on an iPhone is because, otherwise, the user will have to go back and do the two step process of asking iOS’ approval each next time they want to upload an image. Am I being a Big Tech shill? I am curious what you think!
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
#### Leftovers
Google, AAP in Australian-first AI content deal (The Australian Financial Review, $) Blackbird adds billions to Canva valuation after Figma’s roaring IPO (The Australian Financial Review, $) Telstra tapped for rural and remote AusPost Starlink rollout (ARN) Travel eSIMs secretly route traffic over Chinese and undisclosed networks: study (iTnews) Gamblers Now Bet on AI Models Like Racehorses (WSJ, free) Nudity, new online laws and Tryst.Link (Tryst.Link Blog) People are using ChatGPT to summarize fiction, and it’s everything wrong with AI (TechRadar) T-Mobile claimed selling location data without consent is legal—judges disagree (Ars Technica) Otter.ai is being sued for using journalists' work to train its transcription AI (NPR) LinkedIn is the fakest platform of them all (Prospect Magazine) X's declining Android app installs are hurting subscription revenue (TechCrunch) Grok Exposes Underlying Prompts for Its AI Personas, Even 'Putting Things In Your Ass' (404 Media, $) Roblox is locking down sexual content and access to ‘adult’ locations after lawsuits (The Verge) Raspberry Pi Touch Display 2 Out For Just AU$61 (Phoronix) Boffins say tool can sniff 5G traffic, launch 'attacks' without using rogue base stations (The Register) Firefox 142 To Allow Extensions To Leverage On-Device LLMs For AI Tasks (Phoronix) Apple moves to its seventh iOS 26 & macOS Tahoe 26 developer betas as release looms (AppleInsider) ”What could have been if instead of spending so much energy and resources on developing “AI features” we focused on making our existing technology better?” (Emilio Coppola)
Discuss these links in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
# Oh, Also
### A cute illustrated history of Microsoft’s Solitaire
USA Today has a nice illustrated history of Microsoft Solitaire’s 35 year existence. I remember burning plenty of hours on this as a kid — but didn’t know that it was essentially invented as a ruse to get Windows 3.0 users used to a relatively new input method: the mouse. Fast-forward nearly half a century later, Windows still has Solitaire… except now it comes with advertisements. Ain’t that a sign of the times.
You don’t often see good illustrations about computers and the internet, so I liked this
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
# Bargains
Electricla & electronics
Arlo Essential Indoor 2K Camera (2nd Gen) - $34 at JB Hi-Fi QCY MeloBuds Pro ANC Wireless Earbuds - $42.04 at QCY Official Store AliExpress Edifier NeoBuds Pro True Wireless Headphones - $108 at Cozy Dev REDTIGER F7N Dash Cam 4K with Wi-Fi GPS Front 4K/2.5k and Rear 1080p - $129 at REDTIGER via Amazon AU (Down from $260) Philips Hue Lights Black Garden Floodlight - $217 at Amazon AU ZEN Photoelectric Smoke Alarms Wireless Interconnected with 10-Year Battery 5-Pack - $269 at ZensmokeAlarms Open Air Outdoor Monitor O-1PST - $285 at Air Gradient Bowers & Wilkins PX7 S2e over-Ear Noise Cancelling Wireless Headphones - $429 at WestCoast Hifi Garmin vivoactive 6 GPS Smartwatch (Black) - $442 at Amazon AU MOVA P50 Ultra Robot Vacuum - $1299 at MOVA (Down from $1999) Samsung The Premiere LPU7D 4K Laser Projector - $3399 at Vividstorm Australia
Computing
Mercusys Mr30g Ac1200 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router - $25 at Umart/MSY KeepLink 8-Port PoE Gigabit Network Switch w/ 2x Uplink Ports - AU Plug - $30.21 at KeepLink Store AliExpress ZSUS 10.5" 1920x1280 IPS Portable Monitor - $46.04 at ZSUS Store AliExpress Logitech G G502 Hero Wired Gaming Mouse - $55 at Scorptec Razer Viper V3 Hyperspeed Wireless Mouse - $64.98 at EB Games GL.iNet Routers at GL.iNet via Amazon AU GL-MT3000 (Beryl AX) Travel Router for $103 GL-MT6000 (Flint 2) Router for $176 AMD Ryzen 5 7500F CPU (used) - $127 at CPU TOP Store AliExpress Teclast T50 Mini Tablet 8.7" 120Hz G99 128GB with Case - $134 at Teclast Global Store via AliExpress Logitech G PRO X Superlight 2 Lightspeed Gaming Mouse - $149 at EB Games GL.iNet Slate 7 GL-BE3600 WiFi 7 Travel Router - $191 at GL.iNet Amazon AU Lenovo Xiaoxin Pad 2025 (11" 2.5K 90Hz, 6GB/256GB, Widevine L1) - $194 at Goldway Store AliExpress Lenovo M11 Tablet with Pen and Case - $199 at ALDI Special Buys Surface Laptop 2 Intel i5 8350u 8GB Ram 256GB SSD Win 11 (used) - $229 at Australian Computer Traders Lenovo Xiaoxin Pad Pro 2025 (12.7" 2.9k 144Hz, 8GB/128GB, Widevine L1) - $276 at Lenovo Smart 3C Aliexpress Asus RT-AX82U V2 AX-5400 Dual Band Wi-Fi 6 Router - $299 at JB Hi-Fi Orico OG7000 4TB PCIe Gen4 NVMe SSD - $339 at ORICO G.O.A.T AU via Amazon AU AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU - $412 at Comet Crash Global Store AliExpress Lenovo Legion Y700 Gen 4 (CN ROM, 8.8" 3k, 165Hz, 12/256GB) - $545 at Lenovo Smart 3C Store AliExpress Nebula N3 Mini PC i7-12700 32G DDR4 3200Mhz 512G 2x Thunderbolt4 WinPro - $569 at Origimagic via Amazon AU REDMAGIC Astra 9.06'' OLED Gaming Tablet, 12GB / 256GB, Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 - $862 at Gamegeek via Amazon AU AOOSTAR WTR MAX 11 Bay NAS (AMD PRO 8845HS, DDR5, 6x 3.5", 5x M.2 NVMe, OCuLink) - $979 at Aoostar AliExpress Apple MacBook Air 13.6" Space Grey M2 (8C CPU/8C GPU) 16GB RAM 256 SSD - 30W - $1094 at Harris Technology eBay Gaming PC: AMD Ryzen 5 7500F CPU, 32GB DDR5 RAM, 1TB NVMe SSD, RTX 4060 Ti, Wi-Fi - $1297 at BPC Tech Alienware 16X Aurora Gaming Laptop - $3042 at Dell (Down from $3498) MSI GeForce RTX 5090 32GB VENTUS 3X OC Graphics Card - $3950 at CCPU Computers
Mobile
Lifetime Subscription for Motivated: Habit Tracker - $0 at Google Play & Apple App Store Rolling Square EDGE Smartphone Stand and Charging Kit - $16 at MobileSkin
# The End
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