Plus: did you know that Angry Birds was spying on you? ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

May 08, 2025 | Read online
# NZ's teen social media ban that isn't, Apple AI search and NSW stolen docs register Plus: did you know that Angry Birds was spying on you?
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Issue 2327 - Thursday 8 May
# The News
### NZ isn’t set to get a teen social media ban as Australia figures out our policy
New Zealand’s prime minister has thrown his support behind an Australia-like teen social media ban (The Guardian). The thing that a lot of the international coverage isn’t making clear is that it doesn’t look like it’s actually happening. What’s been proposed is a private member’s bill from one member of one party of the governing coalition, and the other governing parties haven’t supported it. Meanwhile, in Australia, we’ve got just seven months to figure out the details of a plan. The eSafety commissioner has made a call out for people to weigh in on the implementation (eSafety). One suggestion floated has been using Google Wallet to store an “age credential” but, as friend of the Sizzle Josh Taylor reports, it’s not a whole solution considering many teens don’t have a driver’s license or passport (The Guardian Australia) .
### Apple ready to add AI search as a sign of them opening up?
Apple is looking to put AI search options into Safari after its searches through Google dropped for the first time ever (CNN). This downward trend was attributed to the competition of ChatGPT, Perplexity and others by Apple executive Eddy Cue, as part of his testimony in the US antitrust trial into Alphabet. Going back to Apple’s AI problems, this suggests that the right people might be hearing Stratechery’s Ben Thompson’s case that Apple’s best path to continued device domination is to fling the doors open to other AI companies to hook into Siri (Spotify). He’s probably right — but between opening up Siri, maybe losing their grip on the app store and warning signs about the future success of their devices — like dropping Apple Watch sales (Counterpoint) — there’s a case that this is the most vulnerable Apple has been in a long time.
### NSW’s stolen document register is a good tech government stuff
It’s very easy to rag on government tech policy. In fairness, they do make it easy by often being bad at it. That’s why I wanted to shout out the NSW government which has been leaps and bounds the best government when it comes to using technology to make their services easier and better. Like take its plan to introduce a “state register of compromised documents” that would let banks, telcos and government agencies see if people are using stolen documents (InnovationAus, $). It’s not flashy, it won’t make many headlines, some may not even consider it sexy — although I wouldn’t rule it out for some Sizzlers — but this is good stuff government can do using tech.
#### Leftovers
Expressions of interest: Independent Chair, Appointed and Elected Non-Executive Directors 2025 (auDA) News Corp, Nine demand Albanese government force big tech to pay up (AFR, $) Report: Australian firms bat above average in newly released APJ cyber security benchmarks (CyberDaily) Trump to Rescind Global Chip Curbs, Prep New AI Restrictions (Bloomberg, $) Netflix Overhauls Its Home Screen for the First Time in 12 Years (NYT, $) Netflix debuts its generative AI-powered search tool (TechCrunch) What's the carbon footprint of using ChatGPT? (Sustainability By Numbers) U.S. pushes nations facing tariffs to approve Musk’s Starlink, cables show (Washington Post) Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 rumor says it could be the thinnest foldable in the world (The Shortcut) Developer sues Apple to claw back commission payments (The Register) Amazon makes ‘fundamental leap forward in robotics’ with device having sense of touch (The Guardian) Home Assistant 2025.5 released (LWN) Matter update may finally take the tedium out of setting up your smart home (Ars Technica) Uber CEO says changing employee benefits ‘is a risk we decided to take’ (CNBC) US lawmakers criticise UK backdoor order to Apple (IT News) Trump’s CFPB drops enforcement of buy now, pay later rule in latest rollback of consumer protections (CNBC) Pakistan has restored X access after a 15-month ban – here's everything we know so far (TechRadar) What Meta’s dispute in Nigeria means for its millions of users (Rest of World) Vatican deploying high-tech measures during papal vote to ensure secrecy (ABC News) LockBit ransomware gang hacked, victim negotiations exposed (Bleeping Computer)
# Oh, Also
### Did you know that Angry Birds was spying on you?
“Documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden suggest that spy agencies have a powerful ally in Angry Birds and a host of other apps installed on smartphones across the globe,” reads the start of a 2014 story that resurfaced recently (NBC News). The story is a little unclear about how this data is making it into the hands of intelligence agencies but we can probably assume it’s through ad tech. I was thinking 10 years on — would anyone be surprised about this anymore? Probably not. But also, I’m not sure people understand how just about everything they use leaks info about them. For example, a OSINT tool I have access to will check whether an email address is associated with an ABC iView or SMH account. If we’re being honest, there’s no way to live a normal life online and not leave info everywhere.
They’re watching you
# Bargains
Electrical & Electronics
Single Use JB HiFi Coupon for $30 off Minimum $300 Spend Sound Blaster PLAY! 4 - $39.95 at Creative Labs Panasonic Portable AM/FM Radio RF-2400DGN-S with AC Adapter - $52.99 at Amazon AU Fosi Audio K5 Pro Gaming DAC Headphone Amplifier - $71.99 at Fosi Audio Amazon AU INIU Powerbank 25000mAh 100W - $76.49 at Amazon AU TP-LINK ARCHER AX73 AX5400 Dual-Band Gigabit Wi-Fi 6 Router - $159 at The Good Guys Commercial Reolink Trackmix LTE 4G LTE Dual-Lens Solar Security Camera with Auto-Zoom Tracking - $316 at Reolink AU
Computing
Logitech G G502 Hero Wired Gaming Mouse - $56 at Amazon AU Endgame Gear OP1we Wireless Gaming Mouse - $79 at PC Case Gear ORICO IG740 PRO 2TB PCIe Gen4 NVMe M.2 SSD - $187 at ORICO G.O.A.T via Amazon AU Seagate IronWolf Pro 20TB NAS Internal Hard Drive HDD - $611 at Amazon UK via AU Palit GamingPro V1 GeForce RTX 5070 Ti 16GB Graphics Card - $1409 at Centre Com Gaming PCs at Nebula PC R7 7800X3D RTX 5080 32GB 6000MHz CL30 RAM 850W Gold PSU 1TB G4 M.2 for $1798 R5 7500F for $2888 Galax GeForce RTX 5080 16GB Graphics Card - $2049 at Centre Com Gigabyte AORUS GeForce RTX 5080 Master 16GB Graphics Card - $2499 at Centre Com Gaming PC at Evatech RTX5080 48GB RAM 2TB SSD + AMD 9600X/B650M for $3299 Intel 245K/B860M for $3499
Mobile
ZUSLAB Magnetic Case Compatible with Magsafe for iPhone 11-16 - $6.96 at ZUSLAB eBay Google Pixel 9 Pro XL 128GB on JB Hi-Fi/TGG Mobile - $0 upfront on a $99/month 24M SIM Plan at JB Hi-Fi/The Good Guys iPhone 16 128GB on JB Hi-Fi Mobile - $0 on a $99/M 24M plan at JB Hi-Fi Motorola Phones & Bonus Moto Buds at Mobileciti Motorola G75 5G 8GB/256GB & Bonus Moto Buds for $294.30 Edge 50 Neo 12GB/256GB for $447.30 Google Pixel 8 Pro 128GB - $887 at JB Hi-Fi Apple iPhone 16 Pro 128GB - $1519 at Costco (Membership Required) (Price Beat $1443 at Officeworks)
# The End
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