### Issue 1320 - Wednesday 10th March, 2021

## In Today's Issue

- Cloud security camera vendor Verkada gets hacked wholesale
- The Roam is a new portable Sonos speaker
- Closure date for Australia's dirtiest coal power plant brought forward
- China & Russia to co-operate on building a base on the moon
- Cheap 70" 4K WebOS TV from Aldi, Google Nest Hub, Kogan Mobile 500GB SIM, Audio Technica ATR2100X-USB mic, 22% off digiDIRECT's eBay store

## The News

### Cloud security camera vendor Verkada gets hacked wholesale

I've never heard of em, but Verkada is a popular IP camera manufacturer with a cloud platform used by many companies including Tesla and Cloudflare. Verkada got owned this morning by a hacker calling themselves APT-69420 Arson Cats, who has been going nuts on Twitter posting screenshots of the various cameras they got access to. Camera access is bad enough, but thanks to whatever flaw they used to get access to the cameras, they also got root shell access via a maintenance backdoor to Cloudflare's and Okta's networks. I'm no infosec dork but that sounds bad to me.

### The Roam is a new portable Sonos speaker

Sonos has a new speaker - the Roam. It's a Toblerone shaped unit about the size of a water bottle with a built in battery (good for 10 hours), designed for "pick-up-and-go versatility". It's IP67 rated for dust and water resistance, has Sonos' cool TruePlay room calibration/EQ adjustment tech, supports AirPlay 2, will work over Bluetooth and wi-fi, has Google Assistant & Alex, can charge wirelessly using a Qi charger, supports Sound Swap and of course integrates with all your other Sonos crap. It'll cost $279, is available for pre-order now from the Sonos website and will ship out April 20th.

### Closure date for Australia's dirtiest coal power plant brought forward

EnergyAustralia has told its workers that the coal fired Yallourn power station will be shut down by 2028 instead of the planned 2032 because it can't compete with the increasing amount of renewable energy flooding the market. It is Australia's filthiest power plant - for every 1kWh of electricity it generated, 1.28kg of CO2 emissions were spewed into the atmosphere. EnergyAustralia will be placing a big honking 350MW battery not far from Yallourn that'll act as a ballast for solar and wind generated electricity. Only 18 more coal power plants left in Australia to stick dynamite under and blow the fuck up.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### China & Russia to co-operate on building a base on the moon

Now that the USA has its own ability to launch humans into space (thanks SpaceX) and plans to put humans and a base on the moon it presumably told Russia to go get fucked. It's no surprise then that China and Russia are teaming up to build their own moon base to stick it up the Yanks. According to a memorandum of understanding signed by the two countries, they plan to co-operate on a "complex of experimental research facilities created on the surface and/or in the orbit of the moon" called the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS). Space Race 2.0! Competing moon bases! The future I was promised by 80s speculative fiction picture books is slowly starting to happen.

## Bargains

- 22% off at the digiDIRECT store on eBay for any camera related gear you're after
- Aldi will be selling a 70" 4K TV with WebOS built-in for $799 next week
- Audio Technica ATR2100X-USB USB/XLR microphone - $119 from Cannon Sound & Light
- Google Nest Hub - $99 from the Google Store
- Kogan Mobile (Vodafone MVNO) 500GB data 12m SIM - $285 from Kogan

## The End

📻 Strong Feelings - Dry Cleaning

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