### Issue 1246 - Tuesday 10th November, 2020

## In Today's Issue

- Pegatron busted forcing uni students to make iPhones
- Parler is the #1 social media app thanks to upset Trump fans
- MG ZS is an affordable electric SUV on sale now in Australia
- There's not much difference between the iPhone 12 Pro & Pro Max cameras
- Cheap Sony WH-1000XM4, Ubiquiti gear, Adobe Creative Cloud, 11% off store wide at JB Hi-Fi

## The News

### Pegatron busted forcing uni students to make iPhones

Apple has stopped giving "new business" to Pegatron and placed them on "probation" after an investigation by the Financial Times "found that thousands of student interns had worked overtime to assemble iPhones, in breach of Chinese law". Uni students were coerced into working at Pegatron's Kunshan factory, getting told that if they don't get on the factory floor cobbling together iPhones, they wouldn't graduate. To make matters worse, they worked these students to the bone, forcing overtime on them to keep the iPhones flowing. It doesn't seem to be an innocent accident either, with Apple saying that "the individuals at Pegatron responsible for the violations went to extraordinary lengths to evade our oversight mechanisms".

### Parler is the #1 social media app thanks to upset Trump fans

Social media app Parler has shot to the top spot on app store charts since Trump lost the presidential election. It doubled in size in the last week, going from 1m users to 2m users in just a few days. For those blissfully unaware, Parler is basically Twitter, but with the goal of "a welcoming, nonpartisan Public Square" built in "the spirit of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution". It's attracted a bunch of right-wing personalities who dislike or have been banned Twitter, which in turn gets their followers to come along for the ride. Parler is popular with these cranks because it'll tolerate the bullshit Facebook and Twitter won't - like falsely claiming that the election was stolen, calling for the beheadings of public servants or wanting all your political enemies dead.

### MG ZS is an affordable electric SUV on sale now in Australia

MG has officially launched an electric version of their little ZS SUV in Australia. It's arguably the first affordable electric SUV on the market. It'll sell for $43,990 drive away and do around 250km real-world range (more in start-stop city driving). The Nissan LEAF and Hyundai Ioniq are better cars for roughly the same money, but if you've been hanging for a cheap EV in the SUV body style, this is it. The ZS is roughly the same size as a Mazda CX-3 or a Hyundai Kona. If you do a lot of driving (30,000km+/yr), I dare say the total cost of ownership of the ZS would be lower than a hybrid or petrol engined car. If you're keen for more info, the ZS EV has been out in the UK for over a year, so there's heaps of reviews on YouTube for example.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### There's not much difference between the iPhone 12 Pro & Pro Max cameras

Reviews of the iPhone 12 Mini and iPhone 12 Pro Max are live. The only complaint people have with the Mini is a relatively low battery life due to smaller battery. Personally, I was very interested in the 12 Pro Max camera setup and unfortunately it seems there's fuck all difference despite the specs saying otherwise. Austin Mann, a proper photographer, did an in-depth test of both phone's cameras. The verdict? "I shot in tons of different lighting scenarios, and frankly in many of the scenes both cameras rendered a beautiful image and I could barely see a difference between iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max". Marques Brownlee also couldn't tell much difference between the 12 Pro Max or 12 Pro and gave us the amazing insight that the iPhone 12 Pro Max is "definitely the iPhone you should get if you want the biggest iPhone".

## Bargains

- Sony WH-1000XM4 headphones - $350 from Wireless1
- Ubiquiti UAP-AC-LITE wireless access point - $125.10 from Wireless1 (they have a heap of Ubiquiti gear on sale)
- 24% off Adobe Creative Cloud subscriptions
- JB Hi-Fi will be offering 11% off store-wide (some exclusions, but not many) from 8pm - 11:59pm tonight

## The End

📻 Only Good for Conversation - Rodriguez

😎 The Sizzle is curated by Anthony "@decryption" Agius and emailed every weekday afternoon.

💬 Did you know that The Sizzle has a Slack group? Join in and chat with other subscribers like you.

💳 Paid subscriber looking to manage your billing info? Visit the customer portal.

🌐 Aussie Broadband is the best ISP in Australia. If it's good enough for Simon Hackett, it's good enough for us plebs! Sign up using my referral code (1001031) and we both get $50 credit.

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.​