### Issue 1455 - Monday 20th September, 2021

## In Today's Issue

- Inspiration4 mission lands safely, looks like everyone had a ball
- Russia forces Apple and Google to remove anti-Putin voting app from stores
- Study finds that Bitcoin e-waste is a problem on top of CO2 emissions
- Monday morning bookmark dump of recent gadget announcements
- Cheap Disney+, Blue Yeti Nano USB mic, Canon EOS R6, 8TB & 18TB HDDs, Dell keyboard & mouse, Crucial P5 Plus SSD, Bose Soundlink Revolve II speaker, Telstra iPhone 13 plans, Shelly wi-fi home automation, Optus 500GB data plan

## The News

### Inspiration4 mission lands safely, looks like everyone had a ball

The Inspiration4 crew are back on Earth and doing well after their 3 day joyride into space. Watching the livestream on Sunday morning, it appeared like everything went textbook perfect. The crew were able to walk out of the capsule once it was towed onto a ship and everyone was happy. So far they've raised US$153m for the St. Jude's Children's Hospital. In space, they didn't do all that much except have fun. One of them placed a $4,000 bet from space for the Eagles to win the Super Bowl, rang the NYSE bell, played a ukulele and showed off items from sponsors "like hops for beer, NFTs, pieces of art, and stuffed animals" that will be auctioned off to raise money for the hospital. I reckon there's heaps of rich people (those with $500m+ of net wealth) wanting SpaceX to take them to space for a few days.

### Russia forces Apple and Google to remove anti-Putin voting app from stores

Russia is in the midst of an election and supporters poisoned then jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny have made a "tactical voting app", to help Russians vote in a way that does maximum damage to Putin's chances of re-election. This obviously pissed off Putin, who has "threatened Apple and Google with fines if they didn't remove Navalny's tactical voting app from the App Store and Google Play store" for about a month. That didn't work so they raised "the prospect of retribution against employees of the two technology companies", which did work. Nobody at Apple or Google wants to go to jail over this so the app was removed. Apple even disabled the Private Relay feature in Russia at the same time - a coincidence I'm sure.

### Study finds that Bitcoin e-waste is a problem on top of CO2 emissions

A new study from the Dutch central bank and MIT has found that "the lifespan of bitcoin mining devices remains limited to just 1.29 years", resulting in a growing e-waste problem for Bitcoin, on top of the electricity consumption and CO2 generation issues it already suffers. They found that the unique Bitcoin mining devices, known as "ASICs" (special purpose devices useful for mining Bitcoin but nothing else) are rendered obsolete so quickly that the e-waste generated by Bitcoin mining is "comparable to the amount of small IT and telecommunication equipment waste produced by a country like the Netherlands". Here's the full study if you're keen.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Monday morning bookmark dump of recent gadget announcements

- Canon's got a new fancy camera - the EOS R3. It's mirrorless, has a full-frame 24MP sensor and can shoot at 30fps. A new feature debuting on the R3 is Eye Control AF, "that lets you select an AF position by looking at your subject".
- Nintendo has unlocked Bluetooth audio access on the Switch, meaning you can pair your wireless Bluetooth headphones with the console and play games at the same time. One catch - you can only use two controllers (not 4) when using Bluetooth audio.
- IKEA's got a new Qi-compatible wireless charger - Sjomarke. This one is designed to be fixed under a plastic or wood surface, hidden away, and transmit enough power (at least 5W) to your device. No idea when it'll go on sale here, hopefully soon.
- Safari Mac & iOS users too cheap to pay for YouTube Premium might be interested in Magic Lasso Adblock 3.0, which supports blocking YouTube ads, in addition to the usual range of ad blocking activities. Looks like a good ad-blocker regardless, even if you have YouTube Premium.
- Qualcomm's new aptX Lossless codec promises to provide "bit-exact transfer of CD-quality (16-bit, 44.1kHz) audio over Bluetooth". Impressive considering the low bandwidth (under 1mbit) of Bluetooth. Too bad for iOS devices - you need a Qualcomm SoC in your device to enjoy aptX Lossless.

## Bargains

- 1 year of Disney+ for free if you register for Dreamforce on Salesforce
- Blue Yeti Nano Premium USB Microphone - $99 from Mwave
- Canon EOS R6 Mirrorless Camera, Body Only - $3,599 from Amazon
- 8TB Seagate Ironwolf SATA HDD - $269.10 from Futu Online's eBay Store
- 18TB WD Ultrastar SATA HDD with bonus $55 Newegg gift card - $675.82 from Newegg USA
- Dell KM5221W wireless keyboard & mouse - $48.24 from Dell
- Crucial P5 Plus PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD 500GB, 1T, 2TB - $135, $235, $495 from Shopping Express
- Bose Soundlink Revolve II Bluetooth Speaker - $199 from Myer
- $1200 off any iPhone 13 if you go on a 150GB $99/m Telstra 24m contract at JB Hi-Fi
- Get a $100 Microsoft eGift card for $70 from Harvey Norman if you use Latitude Pay
- 10x Shelly 1 Wi-Fi Home Automation devices - $170 from Smart Guys
- Optus month-to-month 500GB data 5G plan - $65/m for first 12 months

## The End

📻 Glisten - Kills Birds

😎 The Sizzle is curated by Anthony "@decryption" Agius and emailed every weekday afternoon.

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The Sizzle is created on Wathaurong 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.​