### Issue 1506 - Thursday 2nd December, 2021

## In Today's Issue

- Square is now Block
- Qualcomm's new flagship SoC
- Australian Right to Repair recommendations
- Stuff I saw on the internet a while ago and stored in my bookmarks for a day like today
- Cheap Telstra pre-paid SIM, Far Cry 6, Pixel Buds A, Galaxy Buds 2, Pelicon 1120, Seagate 8TB HDD

## The News

### Square is now Block

Less than 24 hours after Jack Dorsey quit as CEO of Twitter, Square, where he is also CEO, has renamed itself to Block. On Twitter, Block said the name "references the neighborhood blocks where we find our sellers, a blockchain, block parties full of music, obstacles to overcome, a section of code, building blocks, and of course, tungsten cubes". Much like how Facebook renamed itself Meta, all the businesses Square operates (Square, Tidal, CashApp, TBD54566975 and soon to be AfterPay) are now under the Block umbrella.

### Qualcomm's new flagship SoC

Qualcomm's got a brand new flagship SoC - the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. It'll be manufactured by Samsung with their fancy "4nm" process, new GPU, 7x CPU cores of various performance, a faster 5G modem (10,000 Mbps support, lol) and a fat 18-bit image signal processor. According to Qualcomm the 18-bit ISP will allow for "three exposure HDR stacking", an "increase of 4 stops in dynamic range" and "5x better night mode shots". In terms of raw power however, Apple's latest SoC is still faster than Qualcomm's still un-released SoC, that's how wide the gap is between them. Should start appearing in smartphones "by the end of 2021".

### Australian Right to Repair recommendations

The Productivity Commission's latest Right to Repair report has suggested that Australia "trial a product labelling scheme within five years for products such as white goods or consumer electronics where people can see information on repairability and the durability of a product". It also recommended "warranty regulations be amended to state that right to remedies under consumer law do not require consumers to have previously used authorised repair services or repair parts", "requiring manufacturers to provide software updates for reasonable periods" and "governments find alternative dispute resolution processes for people with repair issues, to avoid matters ending up in the courts". All good ideas, let's see if any government has the intestinal fortitude to do implement any of it.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

- A collection of "no-bullshit games" for iOS and Android that don't show ads, don't have an in-game currency, don't let you pay to win, don't get impossibly difficult to complete without paying and don't go insane with DLC.
- A list of "ethical, easy-to-use and privacy-conscious alternatives to well-known software". Find replacements for Adobe apps, for Google services and a bunch of other stuff that's popular, but you know deep down is a piece of expensive spyware bloated junk.
- Just another heads up about Ventoy - the bootable USB stick to end all bootable USB sticks. Get a USB flash drive/external SSD/HDD, install Ventoy on it, dump a bunch of ISOs on and off you go. Wonderful software.
- Remember that pinball game built-in to Windows 2000 ME & XP? Someone ripped the original apart and ported it over to various platforms, including the Wii U, webOS, the PS Vita and a version fully playable in a web browser.
- Keyb is a one-handed keyboard for macOS. Good for trying to type whilst holding a baby, "permanent and temporary disabilities, or tasks where you want to keep one hand on the mouse, like gaming or spreadsheets". Very niche, but could be handy for someone out there.

## Bargains

- $300 Telstra pre-paid SIM (365-day expiry, 225GB data, unlimited calls/SMS) - $231 from Auditech
- Far Cry 6 for PS5 - $59 from Amazon
- Google Pixel Buds A - $129 from Telstra
- Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 - $169 from Amazon or JB Hi-Fi
- Pelican 1120 case with foam - $40.36 from Amazon
- Seagate Barracude 8TB 3.5" HDD - $196 from Futu Online's eBay store

## The End

📻 I Ran (So Far Away) - A Flock Of Seagulls

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