# In This Issue

- NBN wants government to set up a grants program for internet blackspots

- Safari to reject HTTPS certificates older than 398 days

- Tim Cook has a bizarre stalker he had to take a restraining order out on

- Japanese imported Nissan LEAF EVs are perfect 2nd cars or city runabouts

- Cheap Samsung T5 500GB external SSD, Google Next Hub Max & Nest Mini, Foxtel Now STB, The Outer World for PC, Telstra 24m contract deals at The Good Guys

# News

#### NBN wants government to set up a grants program for internet blackspots

The NBN is supposed to be complete by the middle of 2020 but it's already asking for more cash to upgrade areas that were left out of the fixed line rollout. NBN wants the federal government to set up a $53m grants program so "some business premises and locations such as schools and hospitals in the non-fixed line footprint could benefit from a fixed-line connection to meet emerging community development, social, health or educational needs" - this is exactly the kinda thing the NBN was supposed to provide in the first place! The city users were supposed to subsidise the rural users so everyone gets a decent level of internet access. Because the city service is so crap, revenue is way lower than expected leaving nowhere near enough money to fund the unprofitable areas and doing nothing to solve the "digital divide" the NBN was supposed to fix.

#### Safari to reject HTTPS certificates older than 398 days

Apple has decided that Safari will no longer deem HTTPS certificates older than 398 days as valid. So if you get one of those 5 year SSL certs for your site/service, Safari will go "nope, this is not valid" and tell all the iOS and Mac users your site is insecure. This only applies to new certificates, current certs will be respected as-is. The apparent aim is to "improve website security by making sure devs use certs with the latest cryptographic standards, and to reduce the number of old, neglected certificates that could potentially be stolen and re-used for phishing and drive-by malware attacks". I guess it makes sense and if you're able to use a service like Let's Encrypt it's a piece of piss. God help you if you aren't using some sort of automatic certificate service.

#### Tim Cook has a bizarre stalker he had to take a restraining order out on

Tim Cook has had to take out a restraining order against Rakesh "Rocky" Sharma who "trespassed onto Cook’s Palo Alto property, attempting to hand-deliver flowers and a bottle of champagne" to the Apple CEO. Before that event, Rocky left weird voicemails on an Apple exec's phone saying he knows where they all live and that "I don't use ammunition but I know people who do" and had rung Tim Cook's doorbell and ran away on a previous occasion. TO make it even weirder, Rocky "continued to tag the Apple executive on his Twitter account, which included sexualized and inappropriate photos of Mr. Sharma with reference to the Apple executive". I know Tim is a gay icon, but this is just deranged.

# Not News

#### Japanese imported Nissan LEAF EVs are perfect 2nd cars or city runabouts

The Good Car Company is doing a series of community bulk buys to try and get the price of electric cars down. They find a bunch of used Japanese Nissan LEAFs and import them into Australia at reduced pricing versus doing it yourself or going through a dealer. They also convert the dash to English and provide a 6m/7000km warranty. The Good Car Company seems focused on Tasmanian communities right now, but if you can get enough people in your group or community I'm sure they'll be interested. They don't state any pricing on their website, but a 2016 30kWh LEAF (good for about 150km) goes for around $20,000 fully landed from Japan so I'd assume they'd be cheaper than that.

# Bargains

- Samsung T5 500GB external SSD - $109 at PC Case Gear or $103.55 price matched at Officeworks

- Google Nest Hub Max + Nest Mini - $349 at JB Hi-Fi

- Foxtel Now set top box with Android TV - $59 + delivery from Dick Smith/Kogan or $53.10 price matched at Officeworks

- The Outer Worlds for PC - $41 from Voidu

- $500 off phones worth more than $999 at The Good Guys if you go on a 24m $65 Telstra contract

🎶 Busted - Hard-Ons

😁 The Sizzle is curated by Anthony "@decryption" Agius and emailed every weekday afternoon. Join us on Slack and chat with other Sizzle subscribers.

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.​