Plus: People faking their deaths? The blockchain fixes this. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

May 13, 2025 | Read online
# Tariffs bite, tech ministers named and should autonomous killing machines be allowed in war? Plus: People faking their deaths? The blockchain fixes this.
Issue 2330 - Tuesday 13 March 2025
Flickr: MarkGregory
# The News
### Tariffs impact: iPhone prices up, phone imports and Softbank money down
Americans are still facing enormous 30% tariffs on Chinese imports after the Trump administration made a deal with China to temporarily reduce the taxes on their own citizens (Ars Technica). While the US government keeps fiddling with the tariff knob, the consequences are already hitting. Apple is considering jacking up prices on its new iPhones but won’t say it’s because of tariffs (WSJ, $). Meanwhile, shipments of phones into China — which has retaliatory tariffs — dropped by 50% in March (Reuters). Even OpenAI’s $500 billion “Project Stargate” announced at the White House has been delayed (Bloomberg, $). The thing about the tariffs is that uncertainty kills. When it comes to planning for businesses, even big tariffs are better than ones that constantly change.
### Australia’s new tech ministers named
The Albanese government’s ministry post-election reshuffle has put some new faces in important positions for Australian tech policy (ITNews). Here are the important changes:
Annika Wells is the new communications minister, meaning she’ll oversee the implementation of the teen social media ban and NBN. Tim Ayres will be the new industry, innovation and science minister, putting him in charge of the government’s work on AI and quantum computing. Ex-communication minister Michelle Rowland will move to attorney-general where she’ll be considering whether to take on the second half of privacy reforms. Andrew Charlton will be the assistant minister for science, technology and the digital economy.
One of the first things on their agenda? Dealing with the ballooning number of data breaches as the Information Commissioner reported that they were up 25% in 2024 to their highest ever (OAIC).
### Should it be illegal to use autonomous killing machines in war?
As drones, AI and other autonomous technologies have become bigger parts of war, there are essentially no internationally binding rules about how countries can use these technologies in combat. That’s why countries are meeting at the United Nations this week to try and come up with rules, like banning fully autonomous systems from combat (Reuters). Unsurprisingly governments like Russia, which is reportedly using fully autonomous drones in Ukraine, oppose anything binding. Meanwhile, internal documents from Google show that it worried it wouldn’t know how Israel used its technologies and may even be forced to fight any legal investigation into its use (The Intercept).
#### Leftovers
Toolkit launched to help councils drive EV adoption, and manage charging stations (The Driven) Cyber resilience urged as ransomware costs hit AUD $3 billion (Security Brief) Pixel 9a Review: All round smooth operator (EFTM) Gilmour Space shoots for landmark maiden launch this week (InnovationAus, $) Aristocrat Leisure CEO Trevor Croker’s plans to expand from pokies to virtual games (The Australian, $) Tech Council policy boss stood down after DV charges (AFR, $) New pope chose his name based on AI’s threats to “human dignity” (Ars Technica) Google updating its ‘G’ icon for the first time in 10 years (9to5Google) iOS 18.5 is out now (The Verge) Apple to Lean on AI Tool to Help iPhone Battery Life for Devices in iOS 19 (Bloomberg, $) Saudi Arabia launches AI venture Humain ahead of Donald Trump visit (FT) Slate Auto crosses 100,000 refundable reservations in two weeks (TechCrunch) Just fucking use HTML (Just fucking use HTML) Deepfakes, Scams, and the Age of Paranoia (WIRED, $)
# Oh, Also
### People faking their deaths? The blockchain fixes this
Over the weekend, a video circulated online appearing to show the suicide of the developer of a little-known cryptocurrency, Zerebro. An obituary was posted online for the 23 year old man, Jeffy Yu, followed by the release of a memecoin in his honour. Then the San Francisco Standard went to his parents house and found Yu alive and well (San Francisco Standard). It’s not the first time that a crypto-guy has been suspected of faking his own death (NYPost) — feels like we need to have a better way to track this. Maybe… some permanent, transparent ledger… It could be decentralised… Such a shame that no technology exists like this.
# Bargains
Electrical & Electronics
2-Pack 100W 2m USB Type-C Cables - $10.66 at INIU via Amazon AU Inui 27000 mAh 140 Watt Powerbank - $101 at Amazon LG 83" OLED Evo C4 4K Smart TV - $4206 at LG via EPP & EDU
Computing
15% cashback on Lenovo 15% at TopCashBack Bitdefender Small Office Security (5 Devices) first year free for Westpac Business One or Business One Plus accounts - $0 at Westpac Business One External CD DVD Drive with 4 USB Ports and 2 TF/SD Card Slots - $40 at Amazon ASUS TUF Gaming BE3600 Wi-Fi 7 Router - $157 at AliExpress ASUS RT-AX86U Pro (AX5700) Dual Band WiFi 6 Extendable Gaming Router - $298 at Amazon
Mobile
Lyca unlimited pre-paid plain 28-Day 160GB Data - $15 at Lyca Mobile Belong Mobile Starter Pack - $27 at Coles Kogan Mobile Prepaid 365-Day Plan Medium 200GB for $139 Extra Large 500GB for $199 Samsung Galaxy A25 5G 128GB - $274 at Smarthomestoreau eBay Motorola G75 5G 8GB RAM/256GB Storage & Bonus Moto Buds - $287 at The Good Guys Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge at Samsung Education Store (Pre Order) 256GB for $1479 512GB for $1639
# The End
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