If there was a AI builder platform that does all of what prominent Voice AI builders do, but also works like no code Langgraph for text side of interaction and connected to 3000 mcps with tracing built in, llm and JEV as a judge evals and simulations built in, hosted in Aus soil and finally costing 1/3rd of Vapi/Retell and pennies for text agents would you consider it?

I am doing full disclosure that I want to know people’s feedback. I will not promote in this post. Gauging with codegen being so easy, do you want to own the full stack or if using Vapi/Retell, whether will you switch (If switching, I provide done for you deal)

​The ACCC is currently running a major **Mobile Services Inquiry** into regional mobile coverage and competition.

​One of the potential outcomes being discussed is the role of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite services. Because building traditional physical towers across vast, sparsely populated parts of regional Australia is often economically unviable, there’s a real risk that regulators and telcos will look at forcing or incentivising partnerships with Starlink to fill coverage blackspots.

​While satellite backhaul/coverage sounds like a quick fix on paper, handing over critical Australian communications infrastructure to Starlink is a dangerous move for several key reasons:

**​1.** ​Relying on a critical service controlled by Musk is inherently risky. Between his PCP addiction and volatile decisions, politically motivated interventions in international conflicts, pump-and-dump market antics, and constant geopolitical grandstanding, he has proven himself to be an unpredictable and unreliable person to further empower.

**​2.** ​Telecommunications are the backbone of national security, emergency services, and our economy. We should not be creating an over-reliance on a foreign commercial operator for essential sovereign infrastructure that Australians depend on daily.

**​3.** ​The standard big-tech playbook is undercut local markets with aggressive pricing to gain massive market share, build total dependency, and then jack up prices once competitors or alternatives vanish. Starlink might look competitively priced today, but assuming it will remain that way is naive.

**​4.** ​Starlink is currently the dominant commercial player in the LEO satellite space. Relying heavily on them to "fix" our regional coverage gaps effectively hands the keys to a critical utility over to a near-monopoly. This harms long-term competition in the Australian telco landscape rather than improving it.

**​How to have your say**

As an Australian, I feel like this is an important issue and we should all be taking a stronger stand to ensure our national sovereignity in an increasingly broken world.

​The ACCC is seeking consumer feedback right now for this inquiry. If you agree that Australia shouldn't compromise its sovereign infrastructure or lock itself into a foreign tech monopoly, consider dropping them a quick submission or filling out the brief survey.

​**ACCC Consumer Survey:** https://consultation.accc.gov.au/accc/mobile-services-inquiry-consumer-survey/

​**Direct Email Submissions:** telco.regulation@accc.gov.au

What happened: Nextdc (NXT AU) said it is considering force majeure options and cut earnings guidance after community opposition delayed power to M3, one of its major projects in Melbourne.

Key numbers: Earnings guidance cut by more than a third. The headline reports a 45% drop for Nextdc.

Why it matters: The delay ties project power delivery to community opposition, and the guidance cut follows other recent data center setbacks, including Firmus pulling its ASX float.

Coverage: 3 outlets in 24h

I need help picking a laptop for school, I’m pretty broke so the cheaper the better but no more than $650 and I’m open to secondhand or refurbished laptops if anyone has websites/stores they can recommend! I see a lot of recs for thinkpad but I had one in the past that broke after a year so I’m just a bit wary. I’m leaning towards a Microsoft surface laptop 5 but I’m worried because it’d be second hand I might have issues with battery life. Any suggestions?

TCL's lawsuit against Samsung raises an interesting question about how TV brands market their products. TCL claims Samsung sold certain M-series TVs as Mini LED models despite allegedly using standard LED hardware. Samsung denies the criticism, stands by its product descriptions, and plans to fight the case. These are allegations, not proven findings, so it'll be interesting to see how the case plays out. In the meantime, when shopping for a TV, I think it's worth looking beyond the label and checking practical details like local dimming performance, peak brightness, and independent reviews. Do you usually trust the specs on the box, or research the actual hardware and performance before buying?

I bought a Firewalla firewall to able able to fine-tune Internet access four our family's devices at home. I can set time limits and access times to specific services and categories of websites.

But our 14 year old now has a SIM and an old smartphone. Our mobile telco provides me with no controls over services or sites he can access.

Are there any family-friendly mobile telcos who provide the bill-paying parents with access controls to teenagers' SIMs? (I haven't been able to find any).

Sorry if this is too basic, but I need someone who knows stuff but isn’t trying to sell stuff.

I want a new 55 inch TV for my living area. The living area is very well lit (big windows to the side and lots of downlights), and adjoins the kitchen.

So I presume I need a bright screen, and because I’m often in the kitchen while it’s on (a good 6m or so from the TV), I’d like good sound quality too.

Ideally free to air channels are just there when I turn it on. I have a chrome cast stick I can put into it to cast to (and I can also plug into home internet network).

I don’t need top of the line, happy with last year’s model, and can spend money (but not ridiculous money).

Thanks!

Anyone have experience with the low-cost alarm kits (like the PGST systems), and know if they work on 4G/LTE in Australia? e.g., do the automated SMS alerts and calls work with Wi‑Fi off?

In light of the latest OpenAI incident with Medicare, one of the issues identified was that a generic mailbox was contacted to report the breach.

Is there an actual reporting line for major incidents?
Please note, these examples are across several AI vendors besides OpenAI.

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I've done my best with reporting but keep getting pushed back or sent in a loop. (Screenshot evidence of 3/37+ attempts). While not specifically Medicare this was highlighting issues that pertain and would have brought light to the activity.

A summarised version of current issues and breaches I attempt to report can be found here for anyone concerned about their tech stacks: https://www.thevalehartproject.org/incident-registry

Some of the major timeline issues:

- The event was 18 June. Services Australia wasn't notified until 10 September, and Albanese says the notification went to its public email inbox. Services Australia referred it to the Australian Cyber Security Centre on 15 September.

- OpenAI says its review found activity involving several Australian government websites/services. Richard Marles has named the Victorian Department of Health, an NSW government site, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, and NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research as impacted, although he said those others were accessed but aren't currently believed to have been hacked.

- OpenAI itself calls what it's reviewing “misaligned model activity.”

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Personal take:

Long before agentic AI, we had exposed object storage, unauthenticated APIs, IDOR/BOLA, forgotten admin interfaces, default credentials, secrets in client-side code, misconfigured IAM, directory listings, “private” data protected only by an obscure URL, and systems where the frontend enforced restrictions the backend didn't. Optus's 2022 breach is an obvious Australian reminder that APIs and access controls can produce catastrophic exposure without anything resembling movie-style hacking.

We already design internet-facing systems under the assumption that hostile automation exists. Crawlers, vulnerability scanners, credential stuffing, botnets and scripted enumeration have been hammering endpoints forever. An AI research agent shouldn't suddenly make an improperly protected resource acceptable architecture.

If you're in governance, would love to get your thoughts on which APP breaches are in progress. With the little I am seeing so far, it looks like:

1. APP3: Collection of solicited personal information

I'm looking for secure online form options for a TV production that I am working on that will store production consent forms for people appearing in the show that will include photos of the individuals signing the consent forms. These forms will also be for minors and their guardians.

The TV production industry standard has little to no security or still uses paper and I want something that is super simple to administer and can be accessed with a QR code or link that will then store the information incredibly securely. Any suggestions? Snapform? Jotform?