Why is Facebook banning posting about Linux? (And what took so long) ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

January 29, 2025 | Read online
# 2259. Apple: ignore chip exploit, look at HomePod with screen, Australia sus on DeepSeek and fuelling AI is now an election issue. Why is Facebook banning posting about Linux? (And what took so long)
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Issue 2259 - Wednesday 29 January, 2025.
# In Today’s Issue
Apple: ignore our chip exploit, get excited for a HomePod with screen Australia sus on DeepSeek Fuelling AI power suck is now an election issue Why is Facebook banning posting about Linux? (And what took so long) Apple cashback deal, plus cheap CPUs at Centre Com, Apple AirPods, Samsung Galaxy A16, Sennheiser HD 650 headphones, Brother laser printer and Roborock robot vacuum and mop.
# The News
### Apple: ignore our chip exploit, get excited for a HomePod with screen
Researchers say that new Apple chips can be exploited by hackers to steal sensitive data like credit card info and encrypted emails (Ars Technica). What’s cool — in a sense — is that one of these attacks works by exploiting the secret sauce that makes affected Apple A- and M- series chips so speedy, specifically the way that chips “predict” data flow and those predictions contain normally protected data (here’s the researcher’s website if you wanna get stuck in). Another thing that Apple has on its plate is shipping its new HomePod that might have a seven-inch screen, according to Apple oracle Mark Gurman (Bloomberg, $). He calls it the “most significant release of the year because it’s the first step towards a bigger role in the smart home” but, if that’s the case, then Apple needs to get those boffins to work because it ain’t lighting the world on fire.
### Australia sus on DeepSeek
Our science minister Ed Husic is reportedly the first Western government minister to raise privacy concerns about Chinese AI company DeepSeek (BBC), soon joined by Housing Minister Clare O’Neil who says our security agencies are looking into it (SBS). Naturally, this follows the US which is doing the same (IT News). As mentioned yesterday, the immediate reaction to a popular Chinese tech thing was to float a ban on national security grounds. What I don’t get is why it’s a national security threat? Sure, the app sends data to China (WIRED) so you can get all excited about that data collection, but the model can be run locally without an internet connection so that nullifies that concern. And, if the argument is that DeepSeek produces propaganda (see the Guardian’s tests), so what? Propaganda ain’t illegal. Even if it was, the cat’s already out of the bag. Good luck banning something that’s already been run on boxes around the world.
### Fuelling AI power suck is now an election issue
Proving that tech news is consuming everything else, I missed that the prime minister is using rising AI energy demands to take a shot at Peter Dutton (InnovationAus, $). At a press club speech last week, Anthony Albanese said the Coalition’s nuclear energy plan “means no capacity to deal with things like data centres and new technologies that will require significant energy resources” because of the party’s (exceedingly optimistic) modelling about electricity demand. He also cited PsiQuantum, the US-based quantum computing company that the federal government invested $470 million in last year which is now subject to an independent review (InformationAge). And another federal government body, the National Reconstruction Fund, has announced a $32 million dollar stake in harrison.ai (AFR, $), an Australian AI company that I reported obtained hundreds of thousands of Australians’ chest x-rays without the patients’ knowledge or informed consent (Crikey, $). Hmm.
# Oh, Also
### Why is Facebook banning posting about Linux? (And what took so long)
In well-overdue news, Facebook is reportedly banning people posting about Linux. Outlet DistroWatch noticed that users were having difficulties posting links to their sites, and that even some of their accounts were being locked and limited for doing so (Tom’s Hardware). The site claims “Facebook's internal policy makers decided that Linux is malware and labeled groups associated with Linux as being “cybersecurity threats”, which seems a bit hyperbolic particularly because a lot of Facebook has been built on and with Linux. But also it seems as though groups with non-DistroWatch Linux discussions have been banned, too.
Perhaps I was too early to declare that 2025 would be the year of Linux on the desktop.
# Bargains
Apple: Up to 10% Cashback ($250 Cap, Product Exclusions Apply) - Cashrewards MSI GT 710 2GD3H 4HDMI 2GB - $41 at Centre Com Verbatim Vi3000 2TB NVMe SSD - $120 at Centre Com Intel Core i3-12100F - $71 at Centre Com Edifier R1700BTs Bluetooth Bookshelf Speaker - $149 at Centre Com Apple AirPods 4 w/ Active Noise Cancellation - $259.99 at hub by triforce Samsung Galaxy A16 5G 128GB - $269 at Catch Boost Mobile Cashback 12-months 365GB SIM with $54 cash back - $320 at TopCashback AU Ubiquiti UniFi Gateway Max - 4x 2.5GbE - $359 at Centre Com Sennheiser HD 650 Headphones - $424.15 at eBay Brother MFC-L8390CDW Colour Laser LED Wireless Multi-Function Printer - $469 at Centre Com ASUS Dual Radeon RX 7800 XT OC Edition 16GB Graphics Card - $671 at Centre Com Motorola Razr 50 256GB - $799 with a $30 minimum 28 day plan at amaysim Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra 128GB - $899 with a $30 minimum 28 day plan at amaysim Roborock S8 PRO Ultra Robot Vacuum and Mop Cleaner - $1360 at David Jones
# The End
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