### Issue 2124 - Friday 19th July, 2024

## In Today's Issue

- MediSecure data breach investigation "over", worse than we thought
- Google to officially end goo.gl link shortener on 25th August 2025
- Largest drone delivery service kicks off in Melbourne's eastern suburbs
- Run various LLMs locally with LM Studio
- Friday Forum Update
- Cheap SD card, Logitech ergo keyboard, wi-fi access points & routers

## The News

### MediSecure data breach investigation "over", worse than we thought

MediSecure released more info about their spectacular company killing data breach. 12.9 million Australians are impacted, making it bigger than the Optus breach. Every single shred of information a company who's job it is to process digital prescriptions would have is now out in the wild and ripe for misuse - IHI/Medicare details, medications dispensed, why that person is taking that medication, along with the usual name, DOB, email, phone, etc. But don't worry, the National Cyber Security Coordinator in full military uniform, said they are "not aware of publication of the full data set" and "no one should go looking for or access stolen sensitive or personal information from the dark web". Oh okay, we'll just ignore it then. Nothing to see here.

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### Google to officially end goo.gl link shortener on 25th August 2025

Google already depreciated its goo.gl URL shortener back in 2018, but now they've given a date when all those shortened URLs will stop working entirely - the 25th of August 2025. From August 23rd 2024 goo.gl links will "start displaying an interstitial page for a percentage of existing links notifying your users that the link will no longer be supported after August 25th, 2025 prior to navigating to the original target page". Then on the 25th of August 2025, they'll be broken for good. Link shorteners were a bad idea in the first place, but are you telling me Google doesn't have the resources to maintain this? Bullshit.

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### Largest drone delivery service kicks off in Melbourne's eastern suburbs

Google has commandeered the roof of Eastland shopping centre in Melbourne and will be using it as a base for its Wing drone delivery service via DoorDash. Thanks to changes in aviation regulation, the drones fly around 70m above the ground at up to 110km/h, then descend to around 7m above the drop off target to gently lower the delivery via a tether. The delivery area is about a 7km radius (lots of sevens in this post??). I know a couple of you Sizzle subscribers live in this area, have you noticed any drones buzzing around lately? Any of you got DoorDash installed and can see how much it costs to use?

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## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Run various LLMs locally with LM Studio

LM Studio looks like a nice way to run various open souce LLMs on your PC locally rather than in the cloud. You can choose from a range of different LLMs like Llama 3 or Mistral right on your device and all within a GUI that also lets you change various settings for each LLM. You do need an Apple Silicon Mac or a Windows/Linux PC with a CPU that supports AVX2 (most CPUs since 2013), but don't need a fancy GPU or anything, but a GPU can help speed things up.

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## Friday Forum Update

Here's five interesting discussions over on The Sizzle's paid subscriber forum for you to enjoy over the weekend. If you are not a paid subscriber but want to get involved, visit https://thesizzle.com.au/payme to get onboard.

- wezm lets us know that Boost Mobile is ending the $230 yearly plan in October, leaving only $300 or $365 as recharge options
- Quigly got Windows XP running on an iPad using the new App Store version of UTM SE
- Mitty is refurbishing their 18 year old dog - robotic dog that is
- kjmci is after away to have a dual 4K display setup shared between two computers
- Comrade7391 asks "what dumb measures do you take to enjoy your things?"

## Bargains

- Kingston Canvas React Plus V60 UHS-II 128GB SDXC Memory Card - $33.48 from Amazon UK
- Ubiquiti U7-Pro Access Point - $298.39 from Wireless1's eBay store
- Logitech Wave Keys Wireless Ergonomic Keyboard - $84.99 from Amazon
- TP-Link Festa F65 AX3000 Ceiling Mount Wi-Fi 6 Access Point - $114.40 from Amazon
- NETGEAR Orbi RBK763S AX5400 Tri-Band Mesh Wi-Fi 6 System - $569 from JB H-Fi

## Image Of The Day

This piece of cable is an original portion of the cable which connected for the first time Europe and America in 1858. It represents a pivotal point in the history of telecommunications. (Powerhouse Museum)

## The End

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## Always Was, Always Will Be Aboriginal Land

The Sizzle is created on Wathaurong land and acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia, recognising their continuing connection to land, water and community. I pay my respect to them and their cultures and to elders both past and present.