Plus: change your computer’s language to Russian to defeat ransomware ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

June 30, 2025 | Read online
# Aussie gambling innovation, cartel hackers and USB for AI Plus: change your computer’s language to Russian to defeat ransomware
Edition 2363
Flickr: chieftan-y
Good afternoon Sizzlers (and welcome to those who’ve just come on board)! I saw my first movie in the cinemas since my kid was born two years ago. We went to a Sunday midday screening of F1. There’s a lot of tech involved in the movie — it was produced by Apple and captured with some truly incredible cameras — but the thing I came away most impressed with was Hoyts’ "D-BOX MOTION RECLINERS” which transformed every engine growl and snap of the camera into a low grade whiplash for me. AAA+++ highly recommend.
# The News
### Australia is at the cutting edge of dodgy crypto gambling tech
Did you know that one of Australia’s emerging major exports is online cryptocurrency gambling, with three of the world’s biggest five “““““completely legal”””” operating from down under. There’s Stake (Crikey, $), Sportsbet.io/Bitcasino.io — whose founder Tim Heath was almost kidnapped last year (SMH, $) — and new competitor, Shuffle. All are licensed in the small Caribbean island nation of Curacao and are supposed to be blocked from Australian use. But, as friend of the Sizzle Julian Fell reported , Shuffle’s Australian staff have been live-streaming themselves playing on the site (ABC News). Australia has always been on the forefront of gambling (The Conversation) and, fittingly, remains the world-leader in gambling losses (ABC News).
Welcome to pokies for Gen Z
(Also on the topic: The Guardian reports social media influencers like “DegenerateAngelss” are illegally promoting online gambling from casinos in Belize )
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
### Cartels hacking telcos and CCTVs to catch rats
One of the world’s most dangerous drug cartels was able to sniff out and then kill informants using phone records and city surveillance footage obtained by a hacker (The Guardian). Last week, the FBI disclosed that the Sinaloa Cartel tracked one of their staff through Mexico City using call and geo-location data from “obtained” from their phone, and accessing the city’s CCTV cameras. Unsurprisingly, things did not go well for the informants who met with the FBI staff member. Bonus: Earlier this month, I linked to this article about how tech is making spycraft a lot harder (The Strategist).
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
### Introducing ‘USB for AI’ to take power back against big tech
There’s a lot of reasons that AI companies are experiencing a “backlash” (WIRED, $). One that’s been on my mind recently is how AI is putting so much power in the hands of a few companies because they have become the interface to the whole world for some users. (I.E. Like Google, ChatGPT decides how to answer your questions. Unlike Google — at least the Google of yore — it gets you the answer without ever leaving the app. That’s power). That’s why I’ve been interested in the so-called “USB for AI”, MCP (Anthropic) which is a protocol for letting AI speak to other services. Instead of the free-for-all scraping that we’ve been subjected to, MCP set terms for how an AI bot will interact with your website. In fact, this Substack explains how MCP makes various things more interoperable without AI. TLDR: The trend towards doing everything through AI is worrying — but there’s stuff being built that can give us some power back.
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
#### Leftovers
Labor says making big tech pay for news is a ‘key priority’ (AFR, $) ‘I felt degraded’: Abusers are using ChatGPT and generative AI for coercive control (Crikey, $) Australian members of Terrorgram white supremacist network face 25 years’ jail (SMH, $) Government urged to reinstate incentives in Australia’s most successful EV market (The Driven) Australian mDL holograms ‘not a security feature’ despite state guidance (Biometric Update) Woolworths to close MyDeal, move “best deals” to Big W (SmartCompany) 2025 mid-range smartphone camera shootout — great results at a fraction of the cost? (EFTM) The unbearable obviousness of AI fitness summaries (The Verge) People Are Being Involuntarily Committed, Jailed After Spiraling Into "ChatGPT Psychosis" (Futurism) Against AI: An Open Letter From Writers to Publishers (LitHub) Google Photos is a rare example of adding AI features with compromise and care (9to5Google) Android 16 will soon flag fake cell towers and warn you if someone is spying on your phone (TechRadar) Anker just issued a recall on these six power banks – how to see if yours is affected (9to5Google) Bluetooth flaws could let hackers spy through your microphone (Bleeping Computer) Windows 12 release is pushed back at least another year as Microsoft announces Windows 11 version 25H2 (Tom’s Hardware) [United States] Supreme Court Ruling Shifts Ground on Online Age Verification and Free Speech (Tech Policy Press) A.I. Videos Have Never Been Better. Can You Tell What’s Real? (NYT, $)
Discuss these links in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
# Oh, Also
### Changing your computer’s language to Russian to defeat ransomware
Sick of the normal cyber-security advice like “keep your software up-to-date” and “be careful about what links you click on”? Try this one on for size: add the Cyrillic keyboard in your keyboard settings to stop many forms of ransomware. Seriously According to a 2021 post from US cybersecurity expert Brian Krebs (KrebsOnSecurity), many Russian hacking groups behind ransomware attacks design their software so that it can’t be used domestically to avoid local heat from the authorities. “Countless malware strains will check for the presence of one of these languages on the system, and if they’re detected the malware will exit and fail to install,” Krebs wrote. So, here’s a Windows script to make it look like you’ve done that (Github) or just click here.
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
# Bargains
Electrical & electronics
10% off Apple Gift Card bought with Commbank reward points $100 Apple Gift Card for 18,900 Reward Points $200 Apple Gift Card for 36,900 Points Belkin Power Boards at Amazon AU BSV400au2M Power Board 4 Outlet for $24 BSV804au2M 8 Outlet & 2x USB-A for $44.90 Soundpeats PearlClip Pro Ear Clip Earbuds - $54.66 at Zeyuan-AU via Amazon AU TP-Link Tapo C230 Smart Pan/Tilt Home Security Camera - $66 at Amazon AU TP-Link Tapo C410 Kit 2K 3MP Solar-Powered Security Camera KIT - $66.99 at Bunnings JBL Charge 5 Portable Bluetooth Speaker - $144 at Harvey Norman Samsung Galaxy Buds3 Pro Silver - $200 at Officeworks Apple AirPods Pro 2nd Generation with MagSafe Case (USB-C) - $320 at MyDeal Insta360 GO 3 64GB Action Camera - $349 at Allphones eBay XGIMI Mogo 2 Pro Full HD Portable Projector - $465 at JB Hi-Fi Linsar 70 Inch UHD WebOS TV - $549 at The Good Guys eBay Optoma OMA-S Portable Full HD Short Throw RGB Triple Laser Projector 1500 Lumens - $1099 at My Projectors Roborock Qrevo Master Robotic Vacuum - $1449 at Horizon Store Samsung 77" S90F OLED 4K Smart AI TV (2025) - $3795 at The Good Guys Hisense 100" Q7QAU 4K QLED 144Hz Smart TV (2025) - $3888 at Harvey Norman Nikon Z 8 Mirrorless Camera (Body Only) - $5167 at Amazon AU
Computing
CyberPower UT650EG UPS - $68.00 at KS Computer Amazon AU Brateck Dual Monitor Pole-Mounted Gas Spring Monitor Arm - $69 at Centre Com Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE+ Wi-Fi 128GB - Grey - $498 at Harvey Norman Ubiquiti UniFi Dream Router 7 (Wi-Fi 7 Tri-Band) - $509 at Computer Alliance WD_BLACK SN850P 8TB NVMe M.2 SSD for PS5 (with Heatsink) - $1093 at Amazon US via AU ITX Gaming PC at Galapower Ryzen 5 9600x 32GB 6000MHz Cl30 1TB RTX 5070 for $1999 9070 XT for $2199
Mobile
Konec mobile 5G 42B prepaid SIM - $10 at Big W SwanScout Wireless Dual Charging Station for Samsung Mobiles and Watch - $47.68 at Amazon Boost Mobile 290GB Prepaid 12-Month SIM with $60 cashback - $255 at TopCashback
# The End
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