Plus: I made a situation monitor for the biggest conflict in the world (Kyle & Jackie-O) ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

March 12, 2026 | Read online
# Atlassian joins AI layoffs, Pro-Iran hack and Victorian fuel price caps app Plus: I made a situation monitor for the biggest conflict in the world (Kyle & Jackie-O)
Edition 2520
"SM3A- Clervoy with a General Purpose Computer (s103e5189)" by NASA/ESA is licensed under Public domain
Mentioned in today’s edition: Atlassian, Stryker, Yann LeCun, Snapchat, Canva, WhatsApp, Xbox and Kyle and Jackie O. Plus, deals on DJI Mini drones, Samsung TVs and Google Pixel phones.
# The News
### Atlassian joins the AI layoffs because this kind of behaviour is being rewarded
The latest company to jump on the AI-linked layoffs is Australia's own Atlassian, which announced it would lay off 1,600 staff today (Reuters). A blog announcing the decision said the company isn't replacing people with AI, but wants to change who it employs based on AI (Atlassian). Notably, Atlassian's share price has been murdered by the so-called "SaaSpocalypse" and is down 60% in the past 6 months 😬. Don't worry, though, Mike Cannon-Brookes told departing staff "your work will live on in our products".
It’s crazy that the built-in video player for the Atlassian blog wants to put MCB on 1.2x
The Sizzle: Firstly, sorry to any of the Sizzlers who are affected by this, or know people who are affected by this.
As we've been seeing layoffs, I've been in the "companies are probably using AI as an excuse to cover up for the fact that they overhired" camp. I'm also fairly skeptical of the idea that everyone is going to vibe code their own Jira so Atlassian is a dead man walking (although I do think it will place downwards pressure on their margins). But I've decided it's irrelevant whether AI is literally replacing these jobs or making companies drastically more productive. The fact that many company leaders think that's what AI is doing, and the fact that companies are being rewarded for mass layoffs with jumping share prices — well this means that it's going to keep happening.
When it comes to companies — particularly publicly traded ones — market sentiment isn't hypothetical. It affects the money you can borrow, it affects how much your staff with equity are being paid, and, yes, it affects the bonuses of the people in charge. So whether AI is doing the work that staff used to do, or whether it's just a convenient excuse, AI is taking people's jobs.
Related: Atlassian built a tool to migrate Jira users to the cloud and it made the move slower (The Register) and Atlassian’s court foe used to be its biggest cheerleader (AFR, $)
Discuss in Slack or Forum.
### Major medical provider hit by Iran-linked cyberattack. Australian targets yet to be affected
Major medical device and service provider Stryker has been paralysed by a cyberattack by a group claiming to be retaliating on behalf of Iran (WSJ, gift link). Employees of the publicly listed company, which makes medical equipment like joint implants and robotic surgery systems, woke up on Wednesday to find that their laptops and phones were disabled and showed the logo of the pro-Palestinian hacking group Handala.
Meanwhile, pro-Iranian groups apparently have been trying to DDoS Australian websites like Victorian and Tasmanian Police, but, uh, so far don't appear to have been successful (X)
Discuss in Slack or Forum.
### Victorians can see capped fuel prices via an app
It's just a small thing but it's now a legal requirement for Victorian petrol stations to provide a capped fuel price that's published online (TechAU). Anyone can go into the Service Victoria platform to see the maximum next-day price for petrol at the stations around them. Such a simple way to collate and share information that actually puts on try-hard ocker politician voice stops you being slugged at the bowser.
Discuss in Slack or Forum.
# Leftovers
Australia:
Leaked business lobby plan pushed redefining copyright to let AI companies train without paying (Crikey, $) Canva features in new AI consumer web app ranking by Andreessen Horowitz (SmartCompany) Power-hungry data centres to be reined in under a plan to avert blackouts across the grid (News Corp Australia, $) Snapchat told an Australian mother it would not delete her son's account because his listed age was 25 (The Guardian) Coal, gas, and uranium can make Australia an AI safe haven, says Hastie (The Australian Financial Review, $) Remember this when you hear about the green data centre revolution! BMW launches first Neue Klasse EV in Australia at a price to undercut rivals (The Driven) Telstra hits back at claims its mobile coverage is under threat (GadgetGuy) Optus, Vodafone open up free calls to the Middle East (Pickr) Lululemon penalised $702K for email spam breaches (ACMA)
Rest of World:
UK MPs reject call for under-16s social media ban, backing more flexible powers (BBC) Ex-Meta AI head Yann LeCun raises $1 billion to build non-LLM "world models" (Wired, $) WhatsApp introduces parent-managed accounts for pre-teens (BleepingComputer) Microsoft has retired its confused marketing "This Is An Xbox" campaign for the console (Engadget) Microsoft also launches "Xbox mode" for Windows (The Verge) Moscow internet shutdowns test Russia's expanding web controls (Bloomberg, $) Grammarly says it will stop using AI to clone experts without permission (The Verge) Google Messages starts rolling out Trash folder (9to5Google) Thank god Yu-Gi-Oh responds after White House uses anime clips in official videos (Dexerto) Swiss e-voting pilot can't count 2,048 ballots after USB keys fail to decrypt them (The Register) The dead Internet is not a theory anymore (Adrian Krebs)
Discuss in Slack or Forum.
# Oh, Also
### I made a situation monitor for the biggest conflict in the world (Kyle & Jackie O)
You know my thoughts on situation monitoring. But sometimes, just sometimes, there are things that are important enough to need to track closely. One such issue is the conflict that's dominated the Australian media over the last week: the Kyle and Jackie O split. So, to help, I made a specific Kyle and Jackie O situation room so you can be across every development.
Discuss in Slack or Forum.
# Bargains
Electronics
Rough Country Power Bank 10000mAh - $14.99 at Autobarn SoundPEATS Air5 Pro+ Hybrid Driver Wireless Earbuds with xMEMS speaker - $89.99 at Amazon (Down from $136.99) Huawei Band 11 Buy 1 Get 1 Free - $139 at Amazon DJI Mini 3 Series at Amazon Mini 3 for $418 Mini 3 Fly More Combo for $669 ECOVACS DEEBOT N20 Plus Robot Vacuum Cleaner and Mop - $429 at Amazon (Down from $999) Samsung 85" Neo QLED QN1EF 4K Vision AI Smart TV - $1849 at Samsung EPP
Computing
PowerColor Reaper Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB GDDR6 Graphics Card - $529 at Centre Com TP-Link Deco BE65, 3-Pack (BE11000) - $701 at Amazon Gigabyte Radeon RX 9070 XT GAMING OC 16GB GPU - $877 at Smart Home Store eBay
Mobile
12 month price for SIM-Only Mobile Plans at Belong 50GB for $30/M 80GB for $35/M 200GB for $45/M Lyca Mobile 360-Day 30GB/30-Day Prepaid Mobile Plan - $150 at Lyca Mobile (Down from $360) Google Pixel 9 Series with $30/28-day plan at amaysim (Down from $1603) Pixel 9 128GB for $499 Pixel 9 Pro 128GB for $799
# The End
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