Plus: Tech is helping with 516 day sausage dog search ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

April 14, 2025 | Read online
# US bid to split up Meta begins, AI has created a 'slopsquatter' risk and Liberals war on EVs Plus: Tech is helping with 516 day sausage dog search
Issue 2312 - Monday 14 April 2025
Hi all, I hope you had a spectacular weekend. Just a little note that during election, things are a bit more hectic for me so some editions might come out a bit later — but only for a few more weeks! CW
# The News
### Does the US really still want to split up Meta? We’ll see soon!
A trial to decide whether to split up Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp will kick off tomorrow in the US (Washington Post, archived). The US government’s FTC is arguing that Mark Zuckerberg’s acquisition of IG in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014 was an anti-competitive attempt to protect its monopoly. The government faces a bit of an uphill battle: it has to convince a judge — which initially dismissed the case for being flimssy before it was refiled — that Meta isn’t competing with other social media apps like TikTok, X, iMessage, and that consumers have been hurt by this behaviour, a complicated task considering the apps are free. Here’s a good podcast on it if you’re interested in diving into the real nitty-gritty (Tech Policy Press). This trial and the outcome of the FTC’s successful illegal monopoly claim against Google will be big tests of just how keen Trump is to break up big tech (The Hill). While those eggheads argue it out in court, in the real world experts are speculating that Trump’s tariffs will lead to even MORE subscriptions (The Verge) and Facebook has largely become TikTok with Craigslist/Gumtree attached (The Atlantic).
### AI coders have created a new security risk: slopsquatters
We all know that AI loves to make up shit and that programmers — from the vibecoding amateurs to the fully cracked pros — are using it bigly in their work. Researchers reckon this has created the potential for a pretty serious security issue with an incredible name: “slopsquatting” (Socket.dev). It’s where an AI hallucinates a software package, and a bad actor takes advantage by registering this non-existent package to insert malicious code. The researchers generated 500k+ code samples and found 205k hallucinated package names (Arxiv)! And, while many of the made up packages were totally unique, plenty of others were often repeated, meaning that people could just squat on hallucinated packages because they know that AI coders will often spit out the same made-up packages for other users.
It’s cool because hallucinations are both totally random (which means you can’t just easily screen for them) but also recur heaps which means when you find one, it’s probably in heaps of people’s code (:
### Liberals’ war on EVs, plus more online election shenanigans
Late last week, the Liberals launched it’s policy to “Abolish Labor’s Unfair Car Tax” (Liberal) which is a plan to cut something that’s not a tax. Their plan is to cut the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard which gives incentives for fuel efficient cars (or EVs), and penalises gas guzzlers which comes into effect in the middle of the year (SBS). The Driven’s Chris Johnson is blistering about it, making the point that it’s hard to pitch a policy as money saving idea if you’re encouraging vehicle makers to make fuel inefficient cars. Elsewhere on the election front: the shadowy third party political campaign groups are getting under the microscope with Advance supplying other anti-Greens groups (The Guardian), the once-mighty GetUp! having a lot of problems (Crikey, $) and neo-Nazis secretly running a news website that’s being shared by politicians (ABC News).
#### Leftovers
Defence’s powerful new supercomputer comes online (InnovationAus, $) Monique Ryan has 'no opinion' on influencers paid to post about politicians (ABC News) Westpac’s $50,000 call centre clash lands bank in PR nightmare (AFR, $) DroneShield shares rocket on new APAC contracts (Capital Brief) 5 years later, Tesla releases official Model 3 Tow Package in Australia (Tech AU) ChatGPT is transforming LinkedIn users into really dull dolls (The Verge) France could pull the plug on Pornhub this summer (Politico) Unmodified Llama 4 Maverick ranks below rivals [Ed’s edit: 32] following Meta cheating allegations (Neowin) Amazon’s satellite launch designed to compete with Musk’s Starlink cancelled (The Guardian) Google Pixel 9A review: a midrange phone done right (The Verge) Adobe Gets Bullied Off Bluesky (Futurism) Apple Readies Pair of Headsets While Still Looking Ahead to Glasses (Bloomberg, $) US tech tariff exemption will be temporary, says Trump (FT, $) China Halts Critical Exports as Trade War Intensifies (NYT, $) Generative AI is learning to spy for the US military (MIT Technology Review)
# Oh, Also
### Tech helps with 516 day sausage dog search
516 days ago, a Dachshund called Valerie escaped from her pen and wandered into the rough bushland on Kangaroo Island. Since then, local police officer Jared Karran has led a hunt to find the lost dog (The Times). The island is quite large so, naturally, the Karran, the owners, and others who have joined the search effort have leaned on technology to help them: using 4G and Starlink to power cameras and building smartphone activated traps.
An incredible graphic from the Times
Despite the odds of a creature like that surviving in the wild, Valerie has been spotted as recently as March in seemingly good health. As a fellow owner of a helpless dog breed — meet Donny the Pug — I wish the searchers all the best and I hope Valerie returns safely.
I would quit my job and become a full-time Donny searcher if I knew he was alive but missing somewhere
# Bargains
Electrical & Electronics
Tonic Wireless Earphones + 5W Wireless Charger Combo - White - $9 at BIG W Bonelk USB-C to USB-C 100W Cable with Wattage Display (1.5m) - $14 at The Good Guys / JB Hi-Fi Click 2 Outlet Travel Power Board with USB. US EU UK AU Adaptors. - $15 at Bunnings Oppo Wireless Charger 15W for $19.95 50W AirVOOC for $44.95 ESR MagSafe 5 Card Wallet with Find My - $37.59 at ESR via Amazon AU Smart Home Security Cameras at Optus Ring Stick up Camera for $39 Arlo Pro 5 2K Wireless Security Camera for $77 Ring Floodlight Cam Wired Pro for $99 iVANKY 4 in 1 Wireless Charging Station Cube - $39.99 at iVANKY AU via Amazon AU UGREEN 100W Nexode PowerBank 12000mAh Portable Charger Smart Digital Display - $59.99 at UGREEN Amazon AU Anker Soundcore Q30 ANC Headphones, Black - $89.99 at AnkerDirect AU via Amazon AU Samsung Galaxy Buds3 Wireless Earbuds - $147 at Skyradar via Amazon AU FiiO BTR7 Bluetooth DAC & Headphone Amplifier - Lightning - $179 at Addicted to Audio GoPro HERO12 Black Camera - $347 at Officeworks TCL 65 Inch P7K 4K QLED Google TV 65P7K - $1026 at Appliances Online Sennheiser HD 800 S High Resolution Headphones - $1899 at Minidisc Hisense C2 Ultra 4K Trichroma Laser Mini Projector - $3800 at VideoPro Samsung QN90D 98" NEO QLED TV - $8067 at Appliances Online
Computing
Riven 2024 VR Remake - $30.57 at Steam TP-Link Gigabit Desktop Ethernet Switch with 8-Port PoE+ - $37.05 at Amazon AU TP-Link Deco E4 AC1200 Whole-Home Mesh Wi-Fi System (2-Pack) - $66 at Amazon AU TP-Link Archer GXE75 AXE5400 Tri-Band Wi-Fi 6E Gaming Router - $164 at Centre Com Crucial T500 PCIe Gen4 NVMe M.2 Internal 2TB SSD - $203 at smarthomestoreau eBay Seagate Exos SATA/SAS Hard Drive (Refurbished) at East Digital 16TB SAS ST16000NM004J for $292 18TB SATA ST18000NM000J for $349 Western Digital Red Plus Hard Drive 10 TB - $354 at Amazon US via AU Lenovo L32p-30 31.5" UHD IPS 60Hz Monitor with LC50 Webcam - $409 at JB Hi-Fi ASUS RT-BE88U BE7200 Dual-Band Wi-Fi 7 Aimesh Router - $474 at Amazon AU ASUS RT-BE96U BE19000 Tri-Band Wi-Fi 7 Router - $797 (US Stock) at Amazon US via AU Epson EcoTank ET-8500 Multifunction Printer - $799 at Bing Lee Samsung 2025 Monitor Pre-Order at Samsung G81SF 27" for $1214 G81SF 32" for $1376 G90XF 3D for $2125 Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5 14" AMD AI 350, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD, 2.8K 120Hz OLED - $1455 at Lenovo AU Education MSI Prestige 13 AI+ Core Ultra 7-258V 32GB/1TB Laptop - $1797 at Officeworks MSI NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 VENTUS 3x OC 16GB GDDR7 Graphics Card - $2213 at PBTECH
Mobile
Vivo Y22S 64GB (Network Locked to Telstra) - $5 at Woolworths eSIM 20GB for 30 Days eSIM - $17.90 at eSIM Outlet Google Pixel 8 Pro 5G 128GB - $37 (Requires $79/m plan) at JB Hi-Fi CMF by Nothing Phone 1 8/128GB - $339 at Amazon AU Oppo Reno13 F 5G 256GB - $599 at Harvey Norman Nothing Phone 3a Pro (Grey Colour Only) - $739 at Amazon Germany via AU
# The End
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