Plus: Your group chat messages are not legally binding contracts ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

January 20, 2026 | Read online
# Researcher tech ties, Aussie rocket unicorn and even Apple doesn't get the Vision Pro Plus: Your group chat messages are not legally binding contracts
Edition 2484
"Мрежа" by Carbonaro. is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
Mentioned in today’s edition: Meta, Ben Thompson, SpaceX, Android, Duolingo, Microsoft, Threads and the iPhone 17. Plus, deals on ASUS desktops, Soundpeats earbuds and Govee TV backlights.
# The News
### Social media researchers not disclosing tech company links
Close to a third of scientists with social media-related research published in mainstream journals aren't properly disclosing ties to tech companies, a new paper claims (Science). A pre-print article analysing 300 of the most cited papers since 2010 found that half of them had a connection to social media companies, but only 20% declared it (arxiv).
The Sizzle: This gets to a really thorny issue in science and tech. Researchers are encouraged by universities to collaborate with industry, but sometimes this involvement is used to claim they're not independent. Some experts I spoke to during the teen social media ban were painted as shills for their unpaid involvement in social media companies’ academic advisory boards. At the same time, tech companies (and other industries) do have an incredible amount of power to influence research by choosing who to fund and limiting who can access their black-box systems.
I asked friend of the Sizzle and Australia’s greatest science journalist Jackson Ryan about this, and he said this problem isn’t limited to social media researchers:
I'd say in general, conflict of Interests in science are very, very poorly disclosed and I suspect there is little review of COIs during peer review processes in many journals. I can give you a dozen examples in life sciences, medical sciences, tech and engineering where there are clear conflicts of interest that do not get disclosed, some of which I have emailed the authors and publishers about even this week!!!! In that sense, I am not surprised to see this in social media research.
Jackson Ryan via email
Discuss in Slack or Forum.
### Australian rocket startup's valuation soaring (higher than its vessels)
Gilmour Space has cemented its status as a unicorn, locking in a valuation of more than $1 billion in its latest funding round (SmartCompany). As you might remember, Gilmour's previous achievement was a 14 second maiden flight. This was apparently enough to convince investors to chip in $217m in funding, including the $75 million from the National Reconstruction Fund which is paid by you, the taxpayer (NRFC). This comes amid a big rush of money into the global space sector and, maybe, a SpaceX IPO (Reuters).
Discuss in Slack or Forum.
### Not even Apple gets the Apple Vision Pro
With Meta backing away from the metaverse (TechCrunch), I liked this impassioned blog from stud tech analyst Stratechery's Ben Thompson about how Apple doesn't understand the AVP. He says the company's sports content is built for TV (lots of cuts between cameras, etc) which is flashy but terrible for VR, rather than staying in one position and letting people look around which is the point of VR. Have you ever watched anything in VR? Is there something that you think would be a "killer app" viewing experience? Let me know!
Discuss in Slack or Forum.
# Leftovers
Australia:
The telco watchdog is asking what you think about the proposed public outage register Bevan Slattery’s $700m Subsea AI Cable Plan Revealed (Australian Financial Review, $) As @shermozle said on Mastodon, "hypercable sounds a whole lot more exciting than long cable, eh?" FYI you're probably invested in AI whether you want to or not, with Aware Super inking a $460m Data Centre Deal (Australian Financial Review, $) NRFC Invests $20m in AI Neurotech Firm Omniscient (Information Age) From Coal to Code: Keppel to Build a $10 Billion AI Hub in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley (TechAU) Airwallex Hires Influencers to Praise CEO’s ‘Thought Leadership’ (The Sydney Morning Herald, $) lmaooooo "Of all the apps, Duolingo should understand the importance of dialect localisation. That does not mean what they think it means in Australia" - Joanna Holman (@joannaholman) (Mastodon)
Rest of World:
Why the EU Is Ready to Drop High Tariffs on China-Made EVs (Rest of World) Meta Overlooks Ads From Illegal Gambling Sites, Says UK Watchdog (Bloomberg, $) Google Might Turn Sideloading on Android Into a High-Friction Process (Android Authority) Hacker Admits to Leaking Stolen Supreme Court Data on Instagram (BleepingComputer) what was it about the username @ihackedthegovernment gave it away? Google Restores Much-Missed JPEG XL Format to Chromium Code Base (TechRadar) Threads Edges Out X in Daily Mobile Users, New Data Shows (TechCrunch) Can Chemicals Turn My Orange iPhone 17 Pink? Here’s What I Found Out (CNET) Prediction: Microsoft is going to do the funniest thing imaginable (Games By Mason) LFG "Anyone else out there vibe circuit-building?" - Ben Eater (@beneater) (X)
Discuss in Slack or Forum.
# Oh, Also
### Your group chat messages are not legally binding contracts, UK court finds
A UK court has ruled that, no, your shitposts in a group chat are not legally binding (Archive). This came up in divorce proceedings where a soon-to-be-bankrupt husband said in a message to his wife that he was signing over the house to her, something that she would later claim was an official contract.
The wife's lawyer's argument was that having the husband's name in the header above the message counted as a legal signature. The judge disagreed: "I consider that the header within a WhatsApp ‘chat’ identifying the sender is analogous to the email address that is added by the relevant service provider to the top of an email, utilising the sender’s email address...It is, I consider, therefore, properly to be regarded as incidental to the message itself, rather than as forming part thereof."
A follow-up from me: would a newsletter count asfue a contract? Shall we find out?
Discuss in Slack or Forum.
# Bargains
Electronics
Brateck VESA Compatible Tablet Clamp - $5 at MSY (Down from $29) Click 2 Outlet Travel Powerboard PD45W USB Charger & 15W Wireless Charger - $20 at Bunnings (Down from $38) Zyron Powastone 65W GaN Charger w/ 2m 100w USB-C Cable & Case - $30 at Zyron Tech AU (Down from $49.99) SOUNDPEATS Q3 Pro Noise Cancelling Earbuds with FF ANC - $31.99 at via Amazon (Down from $39.99) Govee TV Backlight 3 Lite for 55-65" TVs - $118 at via Amazon (Down from ~$170) Reolink TrackMix with Solar Panel 2 - $291 at Reolink AU (Down from $389.99) Voigtlander Macro APO-Ultron 35mm f/2 Lens for FUJIFILM X-Mount - $778 at B&H Photo Video (Down from $1195)
Computing
Google Gemini Plus Monthly family subscription - $6.90 at Apple Türkiye lol (Down from ~$30) Claude Pro Monthly Subscription - $17 at Claude (Down from $34) Anker 547 USB-C Hub for Macbook - $69.99 at via Amazon (Down from $99.95) ACEMAGIC K1 Mini PC: AMD Ryzen 4300U - $263 at Kamrui eBay (Down from ~$329) Toshiba Portege X40-J 14" Laptop i7-1165g7 16GB RAM 512GB NVMe SSD Win 11 (used) - $439 at UN Tech (Down from ~$650) Flashforge AD5X Multi-Color 3D Printer - $455 at Flashforge 3D Printer eBay (Down from ~$999) Dell Latitude 7430 Laptop: Intel i7-1265u 32GB RAM 512 NVMe Win11 Pro (refurbished) - $860 at Computer and Laptop Sales (Down from $999) ASUS Zenbook Duo UX8406CA - $3199 at ASUS (Down from ~$4099) ASUS ROG G700 (2025) GM700 Desktop - $3499 at ASUS (Down from ~$4500)
# The End
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