### Issue 2104 - Thursday 6th June, 2024

## In Today's Issue

- PsiQuantum had unfair insider advantage over competitors for $1b in govt funding
- Bartender's dev sold app off 3 months ago to questionable company and didn't bother to tell users
- FBI giving out free LockBit decryption keys, Google shuts down more services people liked, Instagram testing unskippable ads
- Giving up online anonymity doesn't solve any problems, introduces new ones
- Cheap Sennheiser headphones, PlayStation 5 consoles & accessories, Google Pixel Watch, fake Airtags

## The News

### PsiQuantum had unfair insider advantage over competitors for $1b in govt funding

A few weeks ago the federal and Queensland governments announced kinda out of nowhere they're giving/investing a billion dollars to a US startup called PsiQuantum to build a "useful" quantum computer in Brisbane - something IBM, Google and major universities haven't been able to do, but our government reckons some random US startup can achieve. Senate estimates last night revealed that the government's due diligence and negotiation with PsiQuantum began in early 2023, months before it established a secretive EoI process (had to be invited to participate and sign an NDA) for other quantum computing companies to throw their hat in the ring for the $1b that PsiQuantum ultimately "won". Very grubby process for what is an insane amount of taxpayer money for a private company in an extremely speculative business with a high chance of failure.

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### Bartender's dev sold app off 3 months ago to questionable company and didn't bother to tell users

Bartender is a simple macOS tool to customise what goes up in the menu bar (those icons in the right top corner near the clock) and has been a faithful servant for many years from an honest developer - or so we thought. MacUpdater noticed that Bartender's app certificate changed, which then sparked a Reddit thread asking questions over who owns it. Someone popped up saying they're the new owner, but didn't say who they are or who they work for. Not long later, Ben Surtees the original developer of Bartender, posted on his blog that he sold the app to Applause three months ago. Applause are a bad company that shove apps they acquire full of spyware dressed up as analytics. Yet another example of technologists failing to understand the concept of consent and burning their reputation in the process.

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### FBI giving out free LockBit decryption keys, Google shuts down more services people liked, Instagram testing unskippable ads

- The FBI managed to get its hands on 7,000 decryption keys to the LockBit ransomware cryptolocker after "disrupting" the operation back in February. They're now offering the decryption keys for free via ic3.gov so if you got hit by this and didn't have backups, there's a strong chance you can get your data back.
- Google is shutting down the VPN service it offers via Google One and will be removing the Timeline feature in Google Maps on the web (so it'll stick around in the iOS & Android apps). I didn't use these features but hey look at that, yet more Google services that lots of people used that are getting sent to the graveyard for an unknown reason.
- Instagram is testing "ad breaks" while using their app that forces you to watch an ad for a few seconds that prevents you from scrolling through posts or tapping through stories. Meta is an advertising company that happens to make technology, so I'm not surprised this is getting tested and would be surprised if it doesn't make it into everyone's account soon.

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## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Giving up online anonymity doesn't solve any problems, introduces new ones

Pretty sure I've mentioned Sam Floreani's story about online anonymity in the past, but it's worth mentioning and reading again. It argues that forcing people to use their "real name" and create social media accounts with 100 points of ID is a terrible idea and we lose more than we gain when implementing these reactionary ideas. They tried it in South Korea and it achieved nothing. We have a Real Name policy on Facebook and people still post death threats and run scams. Researchers have studied cyberbulling and reckon removing anonymity makes almost no difference to the level and severity of abuse. But requiring government ID to use social media makes it difficult for dissidents, activists and protestors to do their work anonymously. It makes life hard for members of the LGBTQ+ community who wish to remain secret. Is it really worth sacrificing these benefits of anonymity when its removal doesn't really solve the thing those in positions of power promise it will?

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## Bargains

- Sennheiser HD599 Special Edition open back headphones - $148.75 from Amazon
- PlayStation 5 Slim Disc/Digital console, DualSense controllers, PS VR2 kit - $674, $589, $79, $699 from Big W
- Google Pixel Watch - $174 at Mobileciti
- 4-pack of knockoff Airtags compatible with Find My - $28 from TomTop

## Image Of The Day

IBM CEO Thomas Watson Jr. and a System/360 computer in 1964. (IBM Heritage)

## The End

📻 Aneurysm - Brontez Purnell

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