### Issue 1249 - Friday 13th November, 2020

## In Today's Issue

- Judge tells Apple to get lost with its bullshit counterclaims against Epic
- Business as usual for TikTok while the US government gets it act together
- Nine's Stan has locked up rugby union & tennis grand slam streaming rights
- All 3rd-party macOS apps were broken for a few minutes because Apple's notorisation server was down
- Cheap Telstra pre-paid SIM, iPhone 12 Pro Max, large LEGO sets, Sonos products

## The News

### Judge tells Apple to get lost with its bullshit counterclaims against Epic

Epic's court case against Apple has progressed, with the judge throwing out Apple's dubious counterclaims. Apple "argued that the introduction of Epic Direct Payments amounted to 'intentional interference' with Apple's legitimate business" and "also sought extra punitive damages for what it considers 'little more than theft' of the 30% commission that it is rightfully owed". Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers was having none of that, telling Apple's lawyers they're "on the losing side of this". The meat of the case, deciding if the 30% cut Apple demands is fair, will be heard in May 2021.

### Business as usual for TikTok while the US government gets it act together

While we are in court related territory, the US Commerce Department will not be enforcing its demand that TikTok be owned by an American company for national security reasons. On October 30th, a judge in Philadelphia said the ban "presents a threat to the robust exchange of informational materials" and exceeds the government's authority under the law (International Emergency Economic Powers Act) they're trying to use to bend TikTok to their will. This decision in Philadelphia has been appealed by the government, but until a court sides with the government, it's business as usual for TikTok. What a shitshow this has been. Classic Trump areas.

### Nine's Stan has locked up rugby union & tennis grand slam streaming rights

Australian sports fans will soon have Yet Another Subscription to shell out for - Stan. They've stitched up a deal with Rugby Australia that will "see Stan Sport become the home of Super Rugby, Super W, Wallaroos games, Shute Shield, Hospital Cup, Mitre 10 & Currie Cup, plus SANZAAR Union home games". Stan Sport will also have a bunch of tennis exclusives like Wimbledon and the French Open. No pricing out yet, but according to Stan's website, the sport stuff will be a paid extra for the existing video service. God help you if you're into cricket, soccer and rugby union, as you'll need Kayo (for cricket), Optus Sports (for soccer) and now Stan Sport (for rugby union).

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### All 3rd-party macOS apps were broken for a few minutes because Apple's notorisation server was down

For a few minutes early in the morning (our time, very much daytime in the USA), macOS users could not launch 3rd party apps because Apple's online certificate status protocol servers shit the bed - probably due to Big Sur's launch. On newer versions of macOS, whenever an app launches it sends a hash of the executable to Apple to check if it the app is notorised/approved by Cupertino. If the app can't be verified as legit, it doesn't open/prompts you for permission to open it. Instead of failing gracefully when macOS couldn't contact the server, apps just hung, waiting indefinitely for a server that shit itself. The outage only lasted a few minutes, but that's piss poor from Apple. Anyway, Big Sur is out (if you can find it on the Mac App Store), here's Arstechnica's in-depth review of what's new.

## Bargains

- Telstra $300 pre-paid SIM starter kit - $256 at Cellmate
- iPhone 12 Pro Max 256GB - $1949.99 at Costco
- 20% off large LEGO sets at Myer, like the Star Wars Imperial Star Destroyer (75252), Volvo 6x6) (42114), Porsche 911 RSR (42096) and more
- Premier Hi-Fi has loads of discounted Sonos gear if that's your thing

## The End

📻 Stayin' Alive - Tropical Fuck Storm

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