### Issue 1316 - Wednesday 3rd March, 2021

## In Today's Issue

- More Online Safety Bill & Identify and Disrupt Bill feedback the government is ignoring
- Microsoft shows off Mesh, a mixed-reality video conferencing platform using HoloLens
- Jury orders Intel to pay patent troll US$2.18b for patents it hasn't enforced for over 10 years
- Multiple stuffs I saw on the internet
- Cheap Kayo, Binge, Spotify & JB Hi-Fi gift cards, AirPods Pro, Paper Mario for Switch, Yamaha soundbar with subwoofer, Synolody DS920+ NAS

## The News

### More Online Safety Bill & Identify and Disrupt Bill feedback the government is ignoring

Google has submitted its thoughts to government about the Online Safety Bill. They point out they made "several constructive suggestions for amendments" but like everyone else's feedback on the bill, has been totally ignored by government. In its original submission Google wants this law limited to social media and video sharing sites only as the burden for Google's other businesses (cloud hosting mainly) is too high and impractical. Meanwhile, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) is rightfully concerned about the Identify and Disrupt Bill, which it describes as "wide-ranging and coercive in nature" and may "adversely impact the privacy of a large number of individuals, including individuals not suspected of involvement in criminal activity".

### Microsoft shows off Mesh, a mixed-reality video conferencing platform using HoloLens

Microsoft's Ignite conference is taking place online again. It's the main show for Microsoft's wide ranging technology stacks like Azure and Windows. A highlight of the opening keynote was a mixed-reality platform developers can build apps on top of called Microsoft Mesh that takes video conferencing to a new level using Hololens headsets. The demo video has people interacting with 3D holograms and that looks and smells like vaporware to me, but Microsoft have a few technical documents on Mesh and a demo app on their app store so maybe it's not a bunch of hot air? I don't have a HoloLens 2 to try it out.

### Jury orders Intel to pay patent troll US$2.18b for patents it hasn't enforced for over 10 years

Intel has been stung by a Texas jury to pay a patent troll US$2.18b. The troll in question is VLSI Technology, who once upon a time were not a patent troll. They used to be a pioneer in the area of ASICs and one of founding partners in the now mighty ARM, but got subsumed into various conglomerates over time, then spun out as a pure patent portfolio in 2019. Soon as that happened they sued Intel for using their patents relating to "managing clockspeed in an electronic device", a "minimum memory operating voltage technique" and "voltage-based memory size scaling". Sounds like pretty damn common things for any modern CPU to do. Intel sure is sucking the big one lately.

## Stuff I Saw On The Internet

### Multiple stuffs I saw on the internet

- A JSON API for accessing bible verses and passages. For example, http://bible-api.com/romans+12:1-2
- A 1982 broadcast from the ABC explaining the new and exciting compact disc technology.
- A Mac app called TextSniper that'll turn any words in a selected area of an image into text you can copy and paste.
- A Russian's collection of high-resolution photos of MiniDiscs. Not the players, just the blank discs and their cases.
- An Apple XServe turned into a fancy coffee table. I like how the lid was removed an replaced with glass.

## Bargains

- 10% off Kayo, Bing & Spotify gift cards at Australia Post
- Yamaha ATS-2090B soundbar & subwoofer - $399 from The Good Guys
- Paper Mario: The Origami King for Nintendo Switch - $48 at Harvey Norman and Amazon
- 10% off JB Hi-Fi gift cards from The Card Network
- Apple AirPods Pro - $266.90 at Catch if you buy a 15% off gift card
- Synology DS920+ 4-bay NAS - $760.50 from Shopping Express eBay store

## The End

📻 Screens - Weezer

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