Plus: Remote. Controlled. Lawnmower. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

January 29, 2026 | Read online
# Tech tastes AI spend scrutiny, iOS update giveth & taketh away, TikTok US censorship Plus: Remote. Controlled. Lawnmower.
Edition 2490
"University of Texas at Arlington Library, woman working at early version of computers (10003731)" by University of Texas at Arlington Photograph Collection is licensed under CC BY 4.0
Hello! Just a note for tomorrow: I'm planning on ditching the normal format and going longer on AI, both about the state of the tech and industry, as well as explaining how I want to write about it this year! Talk soon - CW.
Mentioned in today’s edition: ASML, Claude, Gavin Newsom, Spotify, TikTok, Meta, Huawei and iOS 12. Plus, deals on Dyson headphones, Logitech keyboards and Xiaomi smartphones.
# The News
### Tech shareholders: we don't mind if you spend $X on AI stuff but you gotta make $X+1 back
When it comes to business — even with all the excitement of AI — it's okay to "spend money" just as long as you're "making more money". That's the vibe from earnings calls of some of the big tech companies this week. It seems like the market hasn't run out of patience for the exploding amount of capital expenditure on AI infrastructure, but, unlike before, it expects these companies to prove they're using it to make money. Here are some summaries of the companies:
Meta plans to double CapEx but it's ok because it's printing money. Zuckerberg announced a big jump in revenue, partly attributed to its AI work (BusinessInsider) In contrast, Microsoft’s growth in revenue wasn't enough to cover its even bigger growth in CapEx so the market isn't happy with it (Yahoo) It was one of the worst earnings in a while for Tesla, which suffered its first ever drop in annual revenue. What's worse is that it's being squeezed on revenue AND profit. Elon Musk's carmaker has gone from having a 23.8% profit margin in 2022 to just 4.9% now. Yikes (Ars Technica) One to file under the "better to make the pickaxes in a gold rush", Dutch photolithography company ASML — which is the sole manufacturer for highly precise tools needed to make top end chips — has done really well and has plenty of bookings for the future (TechCrunch).
Discuss in Slack or Forum.
### Apple giveth (iPhone 5S iOS update) and Apple taketh away (bricked Telstra handsets)
I was going to praise Apple earlier in the week for delivering a new update to iOS 12, an OS that still supports the 13-year-old iPhone 5S (TechSpot). But, then it appears that another iOS update has rendered older iPhones unable to connect to Telstra network anymore (ABC News). Telstra says Apple has identified the bug and stopped rolling out the update until it has a fix (Telstra). So I guess we'll call it a draw for Apple.
Discuss in Slack or Forum.
### Maybe TikTok US is doing censorship?
Looks like I may need to do a mea culpa this week about TikTok US and censorship. American users literally can't send DMs containing the word "Epstein" (NPR) and other users claim that anti-ICE content is also being blocked. Some experts suggest that it's not simply a bug (Ars Technica). Now, California governor and 2028 Democratic presidential nominee wannabe Gavin Newsom is calling for an investigation into this (Guardian). Consider me still skeptical but we'll see.
Discuss in Slack or Forum.
# Leftovers
Australia:
Two interesting companies have registered new federal lobbyists this week: Spotify and Huawei. Music rights body says Australian artists are struggling to find streaming audiences at home (ABC News) Revealed: Australia’s $100 million investment in controversial surveillance giant Palantir (Crikey, $) Australian EV company gets $30m funding boost to develop self-driving vehicles (The Driven) Anthropic's Claude now being offered on Australia's whole-of-government AI platform, govAI (InnovationAus.com, $) Qld teenagers create coding app Code Lab for Sri Lanka students (ABC News) Telco industry CEOs join Board of the Australian Telecommunications Alliance (Australian Telecommunications Alliance)
Rest of World:
Amazon cuts 16,000 jobs globally in broader restructuring (Reuters, $) China hacked Downing Street phones for years (The Telegraph, $) Chrome’s latest feature lets you put your web browsing on autopilot (Android Authority) oooh boy it is wild they're just bunging this into every browser Snap is turning its smart glasses team into its own company (The Verge) The next Signal? WhatsApp launches high security mode (Cyber Daily) Apple Watch useful for detecting AFib after treatment, study reveals (AppleInsider) Confirmed: SoundCloud data breach hit 29.8 million accounts (TechRadar) Tesla discontinuing Model S and Model X to make room for robots (The Verge) UK has launched an "AI skills Hub" that promises to provide 10 million workers with training, but it's actually just a £4.1 million bookmarks site (Mahadk) Bananapedia is a tool that lets you store files hidden in Wikipedia edits but... you probably shouldn't do this (GitHub) This is a writing tool that tracks how you write to prove you're not AI (Auth-Auth)
Discuss in Slack or Forum.
# Oh, Also
### Remote. Controlled. Lawnmower.
This is one of those things that I think is great in practice but I deeply fear what would happen if it got into many people's hands: YouTuber Max Maker custom made his own remote control lawnmower (YouTube).
Why Push When You Can Play? DIY Remote-Controlled Lawnmower
Extra points for dropping the code, too (Pastebin).
Discuss in Slack or Forum.
# Bargains
Electronics
ATH-TWX7 True Wireless Earbuds - $99 at JB Hi-Fi (Down from $369) Dyson Ontrac Headphones - $399 at Dyson (Down from $799)
Computing
Logitech Pebble Keys 2 K380s Bluetooth Keyboard White - $39 at Amazon (Down from $89) Insta360 Link 2C Webcam Black - $189 at Umart (Down from $249) Nighthawk 8-Stream Tri-Band Wi-Fi 6E Router - $269 at NetGear Website (Down from $699) AMD Ryzen 9 7900x Desktop CPU - $477 at Amazon (Down from $879)
Mobile
Xiaomi Redmi Note 15 Pro 8+256GB - $470 at Amazon
# The End
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