Plus: get a load of these tiny emulators ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

April 28, 2025 | Read online
# Coalition's new anti-EV policy, Hubbl time running out and an unethical AI experiment Plus: get a load of these tiny emulators
Issue 2319 - Monday 28 April 2025
# The News
### Coalition adds new anti-EV policy but gee get a load of this budget EV ute
The Coalition’s war on EVs has continued as the party announced a handful of policies that would make buying and owning an electric vehicle significantly more expensive. Since the backflip over removing EVs from the fringe benefits tax exemption which would add a couple thousand each year (The Driven), its transport minister Bridget McKenzie has earmarked finding a way to make EV drivers pay for using the roads, since they don’t pay the fuel excise (ABC News). While I think there’s probably a debate to be had on whether EV drivers should be tipping into the coffers in some way, the cumulative effect of the Coalition choosing to make owning an EV a much less attractive option. In US EV news, there’s a US$20,000 domestically made, no-frills but modular EV ute that’s going into production next year that’s been getting a lot of hype (The Verge).
It doesn’t have a radio or sound system but you can buy an SUV upgrade kit and other upgrades if you want
### Hubbl’s time is running out
Foxtel’s new owners are already “reviewing” the future of Hubbl after News Corp reported $100 million on its launch (AFR). One of the first bits of business for DAZN, the Saudi-backed sports streamer DAZN that bought Foxtel, is looking at the streaming box to make “a decision about its future” (which is business speak for 🔪🔪🔪). Look, even if a company with no real interest in an over-the-top-box service hadn’t bought the company, I’m not sure Hubbl was long for this world considering how dodgy the whole service was (see below for a typical example of a post in a Hubbl owners Facebook group). Speaking of international companies, Meta continues to make even more money than last year in Australia but only paid a tiny, similar amount of tax because of its multinational tax avoidance schemes (AFR).
### An unethical AI reddit experiment
Reddit’s r/ChangeMyView community has lashed out at university researchers who secretly set up AI accounts which pretended to be a rape victim and an anti-BLM black man on the subreddit (Reddit). Over the weekend, moderators revealed that University of Zurich researchers had revealed they’d run an experiment on r/CMV users using LLMs to respond to people who’d ask them to “change my view”, and even shared their draft research (Google). Predictably, the sub was furious and didn’t buy the researchers’ argument this was the only way to do the study (Reddit). Funnily enough, OpenAI has literally done a similar study on r/ChangeMyView — except the company took real posts, used AI to craft responses, but then used their own internal tests to rate how the AI performed (TechCrunch). As a general rule, I’m not a massive fan of AI pretending to be actual people because it’s not. Getting an AI to reply to people saying “"I'm a male survivor of (willing to call it) statutory rape”? Absolutely not.
#### Leftovers
NSW Police nets Sydney man for alleged unauthorised access of NSW court registry website (ARN) Election battle on Chinese apps intensifies as Liberals target crucial voters (ABC News) Liberals remove TikTok post after influencer calls in lawyers over ‘stolen’ content (The Age) Singapore orders foreigners' Facebook posts removed under election law (ABC News) Did 5G kill the IMSI catcher? A primer on one of the oldest cellular vulnerabilities (Zetier) 4chan is back after a nearly two-week shutdown, but it still has some serious problems (Engadget) A flight carrying hundreds had to divert after someone's tablet got stuck in a business class seat (Insider) When /etc/h*sts Breaks Your Substack Editor: An Adventure in Web Content Filtering (Substack) Only Google Can Run Chrome, Company’s Browser Chief Tells Judge (Bloomberg, $) Is Google’s smart tag network any good yet? (The Verge) Meta’s AI chatbots were reportedly able to engage in sexual conversations with minors (Engadget) Nike is facing a lawsuit from people who bought its NFTs (The Verge) Hegseth had an unsecured internet line set up in his office to connect to Signal, AP sources say (AP News) U.S. attorney for D.C. accuses Wikipedia of ‘propaganda,’ threatens nonprofit status (Washington Post, $) Bitcoin Miners Get Little Relief From Top Cryptocurrency’s Rally (Bloomberg) We’ve unlocked a holy grail in clean energy. It’s only the beginning. (Vox) Tech Workers Are Just Like the Rest of Us: Miserable at Work (WSJ)
# Oh, Also
### How about these tiny emulators?
If you’re looking for something to take the edge off as you’re easing back into the cruel five day work weeks, may I suggest dicking around on Tiny Emus. It’s a website run by one guy who’s been collecting real old school device emulators that can run in browser, and putting the code up on GitHub. Nothing like booting up Space Invaders on C64 to give you something to smile about on a dreary Monday!
# Bargains
Electrical & Electronics
Anker 25W Super Fast Charging USB-C Charger - $16.19 at AnkerDirect AU via Amazon AU Meross Wi-Fi Relay WLAN Switch Relay Module (HomeKit/Alexa/Google) - $25.19 at Shuzu-AU via Amazon Anker 10,000mAh 30W Power Bank Black or White - $26.99 at AnkerDirect AU via Amazon AU TP-Link Tapo C120 2K Indoor / Outdoor Wi-Fi Security Camera - $49 at Amazon AU Belkin 8-Outlet Surge Protection Strip with 2.4 Amp USB-A Charging - $49.99 at Amazon AU Meross Smart Garage Door Opener Remote - $53.96 at Shuzu-AU on Amazon AU Yamaha WS-B1A Portable IP67 Bluetooth Speaker - $59 at Rio Sound Vision Cygnett ChargeUp Maxx Digital 40k Power Bank - $74 at JB Hi-Fi 3x TP-Link Tapo C211 Wi-Fi Security Camera - $101 at Amazon AU UGREEN NEXODE USB C GaN Charging Station at UGREEN via Amazon AU [200W GaN II] for $110 [300W GaN III] for $165 27" LG 27MS500 FHD 100hz IPS Monitor - $139 at ALDI Kensington SD5750T Thunderbolt 4 Dual 4K Dock (RRP $599) - $139 at Horizon Store Kodak PIXPRO WPZ2 Digital Waterproof Camera (RRP $350) - $262 at Amazon US via AU Samsung Galaxy Watch7 BT 40mm - $297 at Amazon Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4 Earbuds (Black Graphite) - $341 at Amazon AU Insta360 X3 360 Degree Action Camera - $499 at digiDirect Ubiquiti Cloud Gateway Fiber 10G Cloud Gateway (Pre Order) - $533 at Mwave KEF Kube 10 MIE 10-Inch Active Subwoofer - $1000 at Premier Audio
Computing
Free Year of OnePass for Catch Connect Customers SanDisk Ultra 256GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive (Price Beat $27.55 @ Officeworks) - $29 at Amazon AU Acer 23.8" Nitro VG0 IPS FHD 100Hz Gaming Monitor - $104 at The Good Guys Samsung 1TB EVO Plus Gen2 Micro SD Memory Card with Adapter - $110 at TEKTURN via Amazon AU Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2 Wireless Mouse - $159 at Amazon AU Tenda MX15 Pro AX5400 Dual-Band Whole Home Wi-Fi 6 Mesh System at Centre Com 2-Pack for $179 3-Pack for $249 Lenovo Tabs at Centre Com Tab 10.1" 128GB for $199 Tab M11 10.95" FHD 4GB RAM/128GB Storage with Pen for $229 Adobe Creative Cloud All Apps Student & Teacher 1 Year Subscription - $232 at Amazon Media AU ASUS RT-AXE7800 Tri-Band Wi-Fi 6E Router - $369 at Amazon AU Ubiquiti UniFi Express 7 Cloud Gateway Tri-Band Wi-Fi 7 Router - $404 at Centre Com ASUS RT-BE92U Tri-Band Wi-Fi 7 Router - $449 at Bing Lee AMD Ryzen 9 9900X 12 Core 24 Thread up to 5.6GHz AM5 CPU - $640 at Amazon US via AU AMD Ryzen 9 9950X CPU - $922 at Amazon US via AU MacBook Pro 14-Inch with M3 Chip, 1TB SSD/16GB - $2396 at JB Hi-Fi Lenovo Legion Pro 7i 16" 275hx 5070ti 32GB RAM 1TB OLED + $1 Monitor, Mouse, Backpack + $562 Points - $3511 at Lenovo EDU Store Gaming PC: 9800x3d, RTX 5090 - $6999 at Radium PCs
Mobile
Free Android Apps at Google Play Store Math Games PRO 15-in-1 for $0 Spelling Master PRO for $0 Spelling Test & Practice for $0 Word Search Mania for $0 Vodafone HMD Pulse+ 4GB RAM/128GB Storage (with $35 Prepaid Starter Kit included) - $99 at Woolworths Kogan Mobile Prepaid Plan Large 365 Days 300GB - $169 at Kogan Lebara Prepaid 360-Day 260GB Mobile Plan - $179 at Lebara Apple iPhone 16e / 16 at JW Computers eBay iPhone 16e 128GB for $928 iPhone 16e 256 GB for $1132 iPhone 16 256GB for $1540
# The End
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