### Issue 1490 - Wednesday 10th November, 2021

## In Today's Issue

- Unredacted NBN strategic review from 2013 confirms the MtM was a joke from day one
- Federal government's EV plan isn't even suitable for use as toilet paper
- Windows 11 SE & Surface SE is Microsoft's fresh attempt to combat Chromebooks
- Tim Cook lays down the law regarding sideloading apps on iPhones
- Cheap Blue USB mics, Google Nest doorbell, Vodafone SIM, Creative webcam, refurb Samsung tablets & iPhone SE, Amazon Fire TV, Echo Dot, Kindle, MacBook Air, Microsoft 365, Beyerdynamic headphones, SanDisk high endurance microSD cards

## The News

### Unredacted NBN strategic review from 2013 confirms the MtM was a joke from day one

When the NBN pivoted to the pitiful multi-technology mix the main justification for doing so was cost. Eight years later we finally have evidence from the Coalition's own strategic review showing that was total nonsense. That review said the cost of hooking up HFC to each home would be around $800-$850/premises and FTTN $600-$650/premises. In reality an NBN HFC hookup averages $2,752 per premises and FTTN $2,330. Meanwhile, the report claimed an FTTP connection would cost $4,777 but over in NZ they managed to do it for around A$2,500 per premises. Now NBN is replacing huge chunks of the FTTN network with FTTP upgrades that they reckon will cost $1,500 per premises in top of the $2,330 already paid for the FTTN.

### Federal government's EV plan isn't even suitable for use as toilet paper

Federal government announced its much awaited Future Fuels and Vehicles Strategy yesterday and unsurprisingly, it's a pile of shit. It's supposed to be an attempt to reduce pollution from transport, but doesn't include any of the levers successfully used overseas to improve fleet emissions - strict fuel efficiency and fuel quality standards, a target for sales of zero emissions vehicles and no financial incentives for individuals or businesses to transition to zero emissions vehicles. There is a decent chunk of money thrown to ARENA's Future Fuels Fund for additional EV infrastructure, both public charging stations and 50,000 residential "smart chargers", but no details on yet on how that'll work.

### Windows 11 SE & Surface SE is Microsoft's fresh attempt to combat Chromebooks

Microsoft's got a new version of Windows called Windows 11 SE that is "designed for students and schools", will "ship exclusively on low-cost laptops that are built for K-8 classrooms" and can "talk to Microsoft Intune for Education straight away for setup purposes". It's essentially Windows trying again to counter the success of Chromebooks in the education market thanks to how relatively easy a Chromebook is to administer compared to a full blown Windows laptop. There's also a Surface SE laptop that I reckon looks fantastic, but has such pissweak specs (Celeron N4120 in 2021??) I genuinely think Microsoft hates children. There will be other OEMs making Windows 11 SE laptops (HP, Dell, Lenovo, etc) so hopefully something with a bit more grunt becomes available for the poor children forced to use these things.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Tim Cook lays down the law regarding sideloading apps on iPhones

Bad news for anyone wishing Apple would allow app sideloading - Tim Cook is on the record saying "if you want to sideload, you can buy an Android phone. That choice exists when you go into the carrier shop. If that is important to you, then you should buy an Android phone" then goes on to compare allowing app sideloading to selling a car without airbags or a seat belt. Bit dramatic, but that's Apple's prerogative I guess. In the same interview, Timmy said that he owns cryptocurrency, that "it's reasonable to own it as a part of a diversified portfolio" and he thinks that NFTs are "interesting" but will "take a while to play out in a way that is for the mainstream person". I wonder if he reflects on the energy consumed by cryptocurrency (117TWh/yr just for Bitcoin)?

## Bargains

- Blue Yeti Snowball, Blue Yeti or Blue Yeticaster bundle USB mics - $67/$141/$312 + delivery from CameraClix
- Google Nest Doorbell (Battery) - $298.81 from The Good Guys
- $30 Vodafone pre-paid SIM - $5 from Vodafone
- Creative Live! Cam Sync 1080p V2 Webcam - $59.95 from Creative Australia
- Refurb Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 2020 4G (32GB) or iPhone SE 2020 64GB - $269/$499 from Phonebot
- Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max, Echo Dot (3rd-gen) or Kindle Paperwhite - $88.11/$34.71/$105.91 from The Good Guys
- Apple MacBook Air 13" M1 Chip 8-Core CPU & 8-Core GPU 8GB 512GB - $1554.65 from Wireless1's eBay store
- Microsoft 365 Family Office 6 Users 1 Year Licence - $98 from SaveOnIt
- Beyerdynamic DT 990 or 770 Pro Headphones - $199 from Mwave
- SanDisk High Endurance MicroSD Card 128GB - $23.95 from Shopping Square

## The End

📻 SWEAT - Art vs Science

😎 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.