Issue 2363 - Thursday 24 April 2025

Yesterday’s edition had a broken link for 12-year-old Doom 2 challenge map finally beaten after six-hour, 23K-demon grind (Ars Technica). Sorry!

The News

EU tests its powers with Apple and Meta fines

Apple and Meta have been the first companies pinged under Europe’s new big digital market law with “modest” fines of €500 million and €200 million respectively (Ars Technica). Apple’s violation of the EU’s Digital Markets Act was for banning developers from letting App Store customers know of “alternative distribution channels” in app, while Meta’s was for not allowing users to use an equivalent Facebook/Instagram service that used less of their personal data. Look, I’m a sicko for forcing tech companies to do things for the average punter but even I have questions about forcing Meta to essentially abandon its business model. Naturally, both companies say they’ll appeal and are crying to Daddy Trump (Politico). Relatedly: more EU companies are calling to be less reliant on US tech (The Register) and here’s a case about why Australia should be, too (The Policymaker).

YouTube turns 20 (and yes that means we’re old)

It’s been 20 years since the first video ‘Me at the Zoo’ was uploaded to YouTube (The Hollywood Reporter). Since then, the company says, more than 20 billion videos have been uploaded to the platform which IMO has never been more important than it is today. Here’s a good piece on YouTube’s influence (The Verge). It’s crazy how YouTube has grown from being the world’s greatest collection of movie bloopers and sports highlights — already a crucial resource! — into something that’s at the centre of global culture. It’s swallowed TV, livestreaming, podcasts and short-form videos. In fact, I’m about to write a ‘2025 is the YouTube election’ piece over at Crikey. I think you can make a case that YouTube has become the most important platform on the internet (and a spicier take that acquisition of the video streaming website was the original, digital antitrust sin that cemented Google as a monopoly.)

Anyway, here’s a great YouTube clip of a dark moment in Australian television history.

Amazon and Starlink’s satellite problems

Amazon is struggling to roll out its low Earth orbit satellites because of difficulties producing the technology and getting it into space (Bloomberg, $). Project Kuiper is supposed to have half of the planned constellation of 3,200-ish satellites in orbit by our winter 2026 but is behind schedule. Getting an extension from the FCC normally wouldn’t be a problem but there are fears that Musk might lean on the administration to make life difficult for the Starlink competitor. While these delays might complicate NBN Co’s plans to announce Project Kuiper as its SkyMuster replacement, things aren’t going peachy for SpaceX either: Optus has delayed its Starlink partnership and, reportedly, there are concerns that the spectrum that the telco has been allocated might not actually support voice calls as promised (The Australian, $)

Leftovers

Oh, Also

You wouldn’t download a font, would you?

There are few ads that are burned into my brain like the “You wouldn’t download a car” anti-piracy campaign. I don’t think it was particularly effective but it was certainly memorable.

Well, a Mastodon user Rib did a bit of sleuthing recently and figured out that the campaign literally used an illegally ripped version of a font (Fedi.Rib.Gay)! Incredibly, this wasn’t the only cultural theft associated with the ad. A 2013 ABC article by Dr Karl claims that the ad also stole the music too (ABC). It’s almost as if the music and movie lobby groups don’t really care about artists’ intellectual property…

Bargains

Electrical & Electronics

Computing

Mobile

The End

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The Sizzle is created on Gadigal land and acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia, recognising their continuing connection to land, water and community. I pay my respect to them and their cultures and to elders both past and present.