always an adventure | https://nilfm.cc/decadv_2025.html

A billion chatbot users can’t be wrong … or can they? Let’s ask a human
It’s a job description for the 21st century: human-AI relationship coach. But this job is all about the humans. ⌘ Read more

I was wrong about Elon. But he was wrong too
A year ago, I predicted that Musk would quit Tesla. He predicted our newspaper would ‘bore its audience to death’. We were both mistaken. ⌘ Read more

My little toy operating system from last year runs in 16-bit Real Mode (like DOS). Since I’ve recently figured out how to switch to 64-bit Long Mode right after BIOS boot, I now have a little program that performs this switch on my toy OS. It will load and run any x86-64 program, assuming it’s freestanding, a flat binary, and small enough (< 128 KiB code, only uses the first 2 MiB of memory).

Here I’m running a little C program (compiled using normal GCC, no Watcom trickery):

https://movq.de/v/b27ced6dcb/los86%2D64.mp4

Next steps could include:

• Use Rust instead of C for that 64-bit program?
  
• Provide interrupt service routines. (At the moment, it just keeps interrupts disabled.)

Silicon Valley’s billionaire elite can’t engineer our consent
A decade after Peter Thiel backed Donald Trump, the ascent of the “tech right″⁣ has made billionaire founders “evil geniuses” in the eyes of many. ⌘ Read more

Lab report: Reading a 4th Edition Research Unix tape image on Plan 9 — http://a.9srv.net/reports/index.html#v4

Christmas mess? This robot vacuum trick is a game-changer
Previous mop pads had a tendency to drag muck around your floor, but a new innovation may have fixed that. ⌘ Read more

Happy birthday Katrina! https://www.uninformativ.de/blog/postings/2025-12-23/0/POSTING-en.html :-)

Wow, @movq@www.uninformativ.de, so many tables. No idea what I expected (I’m totally clueless on this low-level stuff), but that was quite an interesting surprise to me. https://www.uninformativ.de/blog/postings/2025-12-21/0/POSTING-en.html

I liked my boyfriend and his man-bun, but had to end it. He didn’t understand public ridicule
Naomi would still be up at 3am without understanding how ridiculous the situation was. Nigel had much more in common with me, apart from his lack of an actual body. ⌘ Read more

I quit LinkedIn
I recently quit LinkedIn. Ironically, the post I made about why I was
quitting was probably the most viewed thing I ever posted. Haha.

If you need to see my CV it’s right here on my website:

https://hack.org/~mc/cv.html

This is what I wrote back in November:

I’m terminating my account on LinkedIn next week. This is possibly
some kind of career suicide.

I’m very seldom visiting LinkedIn, so I’m probably late to the party,
as usual. Perhaps there has already been a lar … ⌘ Read more

The phone situation
I need to write something about this or I’ll burst.

I have a new phone. It’s an old iPhone SE 2022. Yes, I know. Evil,
evil Apple. Won’t someone please think of the privacy issues? Right,
well, Apple has at least better reputation about these things than
Google does, but we’ll come to that.

It feels like I’m betraying the FLOSS cause. I feel horrible, although
probably not just because of this.

Let’s recap:

• My main phone has been a de-googled (not even microG) Fairphone 4
  with CalyxOS. CalyxOS … ⌘ Read more

Independent report released by Optus shines light on serious issue
An independent report released by Optus shines a light on a serious issue with our modern mobile-reliant communications systems and the Triple Zero Emergency line. ⌘ Read more

‘Inexcusable’: Optus staff face sack after review into Triple Zero outage
The telco’s chairman calls the findings of an independent review into the incident “a sobering read for everyone at Optus”. ⌘ Read more

Fake hero, wrong suspect: Misinformation floods social media after Bondi shooting
Elon Musk’s chatbot said Edward Crabtree – a fictional 47-year-old IT professional – was the hero who tackled one of the attackers and seized his weapon. ⌘ Read more

お知らせ：制御システムセキュリティカンファレンス2026 参加登録開始 ⌘ Read more

Desperate vibes as under-16s crowd into Yope and Lemon8
Lemon8, Coverstar and Yope are social media hiding places for Australian under-16s, but for how long? ⌘ Read more

The best video games of 2025, from Ghost of Yotei to Hades 2
There were hundreds of great games released this year, but these are my favourite 15. ⌘ Read more

Alright, Advent of Code is over:

https://www.uninformativ.de/blog/postings/2025-12-12/0/POSTING-en.html

It’s been quite the time sink, especially with the DOS games on top, but it was fun. 🥳

In case you’re wondering: All puzzles (except for part 2 of day 10) were doable in Python 1 on SuSE Linux 6.4 and ran in a finite time on the Pentium 133. Puzzle 10/2 might have been doable as well if I had better education. 🤣

The great scroll off: Inside Australia’s world-first teen social media ban
How grieving parents, media campaigns, and political opportunism collided to create the world’s most ambitious - and contentious - experiment in digital regulation. ⌘ Read more

‘Missing the mark’: Reddit files High Court bid to overturn teen social media ban
The platform says banning under 16s from social media silences young Australians and makes them less safe online. ⌘ Read more

Reddit files High Court bid to overturn teen social media ban
The platform says banning under-16s from social media silences young Australians and makes them less safe online. ⌘ Read more

Cat and mouse: How under-16s are circumventing the social media ban
Most kids on social media will be blocked, but here’s how the most relentless plan to stay. ⌘ Read more

お知らせ：CyberNewsFlash「React Server Componentsの脆弱性（CVE-2025-55182）について」（更新） ⌘ Read more

I tried making new social media accounts as an under-16. Things are still messy
Most apps will block you if you say you’re under 16, but some don’t seem to be doing much to vet users if they lie. ⌘ Read more

Social media ban shouldn’t be judged by its impact on day one
Regardless of workarounds and likely teething problems, the impact of the law will be measured not over days and weeks, but over the much longer term. ⌘ Read more

Senators accuse telcos of Triple Zero ‘cover-up’ over system failures
Almost 100,000 Samsung phones still can’t reliably call Triple Zero, and the inquiry into the system has revealed dysfunctional communications between telcos, regulators and the federal government. ⌘ Read more

‘People want me to fail’: The woman in charge of enforcing Australia’s social media ban feels the heat
Julie Inman Grant is battling tech giants and High Court challenges while navigating her 13-year-old daughter’s conviction that the ban will “ruin her life”. ⌘ Read more

TPG reveals second possible Triple Zero death
The telco’s chief executive Inaki Berroeta has told a Senate committee hearing that incompatible Samsung software is to blame. ⌘ Read more

TPG reveals new possible Triple Zero death
The telco’s chief executive Inaki Berroeta has told a Senate committee hearing that incompatible Samsung software is to blame. ⌘ Read more

How Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora’s From the Ashes expansion aligns with the new film
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora’s From the Ashes game expansion is directly connected to James Cameron’s upcoming film, Avatar: Fire and Ash. 9news.com.au spoke with its creators to learn more about the new game update ahead of its release on December 18. ⌘ Read more

From cameras to consoles: the ultimate tech gift guide for Christmas
Our favourite bits of kit make great presents, with options from $50 to $1000. ⌘ Read more

The “AOSP Devs” @aosp_devs@aosp_devs year in review:

https://aosp-devs.org/2025/11/30/year-in-review.html

A $70 million mirage: Lessons from Australia’s biggest start-up blow-up
Strongroom AI raised $17 million at a $70 million valuation. Three weeks later, investors called the police. ⌘ Read more

お知らせ：CyberNewsFlash「React Server Componentsの脆弱性（CVE-2025-55182）について」 ⌘ Read more

Facial age verification: Can it be fooled and how safe is it?
Scanning a face to guess its age is likely to be a major part of the “waterfall” of methods used to comply with the social media ban. ⌘ Read more

Meta’s AI wrongly bans Australian businesses
Instagram owner’s support systems have been labelled useless as the telecommunications ombudsman says complaints about social media and digital platforms are soaring. ⌘ Read more

Australia’s social media lockout begins as teens face digital exile
Meta will start booting under-16s from Facebook and Instagram on Thursday, while YouTube finally “begrudgingly” confirms compliance. ⌘ Read more

What if artificial intelligence is just a ‘normal’ technology?
Its rise might yet follow the path of previous technological revolutions. ⌘ Read more

Advent of Code 2025 starts tomorrow. 🥳🎄

This year, I’m going to use Python 1 on SuSE Linux 6.4, writing the code on my trusty old Pentium 133 with its 64 MB of RAM. No idea if that old version of Python will be fast enough for later puzzles. We’ll see.

‘Thongs aren’t underwear’: The case for an Australian ChatGPT
Sovereign Australia AI wants to build a model that understands Australian culture and values. But does the country really need it? ⌘ Read more

Handheld Xbox might not be all it seems, but it’s a great portable PC
As the Xbox brand expands to all gaming platforms, the Xbox Ally X puts its best foot forward with huge performance and a streamlined UI. ⌘ Read more

Less-known social apps surge as teen users look for new home
The likes of Yope and Lemon8 are enjoying an uptick in Australia right now, but they will still be subject to the government’s regulations. ⌘ Read more

Victoria’s worst-for-business reputation? Atlassian says it hasn’t noticed
The Business Council of Australia has slammed Victoria’s taxes and red tape, but tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes says the criticism doesn’t stack up ⌘ Read more

お知らせ：JPCERT/CC ベストレポーター賞 2025 ⌘ Read more

make a rhizome | https://nilfm.cc/rhizomatics.html

Social media ban: A guide for Australian parents
What you need to know, and what you can do. ⌘ Read more

https://fokus.cool/2025/11/25/i-dont-care-how-well-your-ai-works.html

AI systems being egregiously resource intensive is not a side effect — it’s the point.

And someone commented on that with:

I’m fascinated by the take about the resource usage being an advantage to the AI bros.

They’ve created software that cannot (practically) be replicated as open source software / free software, because there is no community of people with sufficient hardware / data sets. It will inherently always be a centralized technology.

Fascinating and scary.

‘Premium prices for a downgrade’: $96.5 million BoM website savaged
Pressure is mounting on the agency and its newly minted chief executive Stuart Minchin after a major cost blowout. ⌘ Read more

Victorian premier demands answers after copper thieves trigger Optus crisis
Jacinta Allan has sought an urgent briefing after another Optus outage left more than 14,000 customers in the lurch. ⌘ Read more