More info on last week’s Twitter security incident & Twitter’s new API
UAE launches Hope, a probe that’ll monitor the atmosphere of Mars
Federal Court agrees with ACCC that Kogan are shifty bastards that price jack prior to sales
NBN Technology Choice upgrade pricing seems to have dropped significantly
This OzEmail starter kit CD-ROM hit me right in the nostalgia spot
Twitter has provided more info about last week's "security incident", stating that 130 twitter accounts were targeted, 45 accounts were compromised and 8 accounts had their entire Twitter data downloaded - none of those 8 were verified accounts so the chances of any juicy DMs from blue ticks being leaked is 0. The New York Times has a detailed article about the inside machinations of these sad hacker groups that target unique usernames for cash and how someone called "Kirk" was the middle man between the "hackers" and Twitter employees. Oh and on the topic of Twitter, they released a new version of their API that lets developers do way more stuff so in theory there could be 3rd party clients that are more fully featured (e.g: proper threading, polls, pinned Tweets, spam filtering, searching, etc.)
I had no idea the United Arab Emirates had a space program, let alone one developed enough to launch a "car-sized probe bound for the planet Mars". Their craft called Hope took off this morning from a Japanese rocket and in early 2021 will begin to orbit Mars. If all goes well, Hope will "analyze the atmosphere and climate throughout the course of each Martian day". The timing of the launch was purposely planned as February 2021 is when Mars will be the closest it gets to Earth for a while, so not only is the UAE getting in on the Mars action, China and the USA are launching craft in the next few weeks to investigate Mars too. I couldn't help but read this and be a little sad that Australia isn't doing anything similar. Surely we have more scientific might than the goddamn UAE.
Kogan has been busted by the ACCC for inflating pricing prior to a sale, then claiming everything's a bargain because you get 10% off, when in reality whatever you wanted is like $5 cheaper than it was a few days ago. The Federal Court agreed with the ACCC so all that's left now is to see how badly the court will punish Kogan for this bullshittery. I know this isn't tech really, but goddamn I hate it when this happens. eBay is the worst offender by far. It wouldn't surprise me if eBay saw this case and didn't want to get in any shit with the ACCC, hence why there's been so few eBay bargains the past few months (also COVID-19).
Gough Lui dug out an OzEmail starter kit from from 2000 and took a deep dive into what's on the CD-ROM. For the youngins reading, these starter kit CDs were handed out for free and contained an app (written in Macromedia Director!) to help you set up a modem to dial in to OzEmail and connect to their servers to sign up for a subscription to access the internet. The CD also contained useful software like a web browser adn email client, because back then most operating systems didn't come with one and you can't just go download one because you haven't got an internet connection! Gough recorded a video of the OzEmail app in action, which has an intro narrated by none other than the king of the wogs, Nick Giannopoulos.
Sandisk High Endurance micro SD cards 64GB/128GB - $14.95/$29.95 from Shopping Square
FFalcon 40F1 40" 1080p LED TV - $269 at JB Hi-Fi
VentraIP is giving away free AU domain names for the first year to new customers
$150 Boost Mobile pre-paid 12m 80GB SIM for $140 from Cellmate or Best Deal Plaza
Cooler Master MasterCase H100 mini ITX case - $39 at Centrecom
Apple AirPods Pro - $310.29 + delivery from Mediaform (could also get Officeworks to price match down to $294.77)
🎶 ***Gamer - Pre.Shrunk
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