# In This Issue

- Thunderbolt 4 is pretty much Thunderbolt 3 but with additional security

- Internal audit of civil rights abuses reckons Facebook sucks at preventing civil rights abuses

- Country NSW town Narromine to host flying car startup thanks to NSW incentive cash

- The Sims is getting its own reality TV show/competition, Spark’d

- Cheap DJI Osmo, Sonos Beam, Samsung 4TB SSD, Nvidia Shield TV Pro

# News

#### Thunderbolt 4 is pretty much Thunderbolt 3 but with additional security

Thunderbolt 4 is now a thing. It's not faster than Thunderbolt 3 (still 40Gb/s) and still uses the same USB-C type socket as Thunderbolt 3 - what it does do though is make what is pretty much a "universal cable". From USB 2.0 all the way up to USB4 40, plus DisplayPort and 100W of power, Thunderbolt 4 is literally the protocol that can do it all. If you have a TB4 socket on your device, you can plug basically anything and it'll work at the maximum speed. TB4 will also require "Direct Memory Access protection", to avoid devices plugged in over TB4 from having god mode access to whatever is in RAM (i.e: passwords). Intel has said this requires the CPU to have VT-d support but only Intel CPUs support VT-d, raising questions if AMD and Apple Silicon computers will get TB4. Apple said they "remain committed to the future of Thunderbolt and will support it in Macs with Apple silicon".

#### Internal audit of civil rights abuses reckons Facebook sucks at preventing civil rights abuses

Two years ago Facebook kicked off an audit of its policies and practices relating to civil rights. The audit is now complete and all you need to know are these quotes from its introduction, "unfortunately, in our view Facebook's approach to civil rights remains too reactive and piecemeal", "at this point in history, the Auditors are concerned that those gains could be obscured by the vexing and heartbreaking decisions Facebook has made that represent significant setbacks for civil rights" - this is from a report Facebook itself commissioned, admitting that they're making a shit situation worse. Cheryl Sandberg responded to the report in a blog post, committing to nothing (again), pointing out that no other tech companies have done this kind of audit and wanting other tech companies to do the same, probably so she and Zuck can say "see, not just us!!" as an excuse.

#### Country NSW town Narromine to host flying car startup thanks to NSW incentive cash

The western NSW town of Narromine will be home to "flying car" startup AMSL Aero, who just received $950,000 from the NSW state government's Regional Investment Attraction Fund. AMSL Aero plan to develop electric powered vertical take off and landing vehicles that can move at over 300 km/h with first tests in 2021. The AMSL Aero website is pitching this thing as a way to beat city traffic... by moving it to the sky. Good on AMSL, I hope their weird looking flying car doesn't kill anyone and kudos for getting some tech stuff out in the regions. Hopefully it amounts to more than a $1m PR stunt/pork barrel from the state government. Shit, maybe Uber will use it one day with their Uber Air flying taxi fever dream!

# Not News

#### The Sims is getting its own reality TV show/competition, Spark’d

There's gonna be a Sims reality TV show called Spark'd that'll air on TBS in the USA some time soon. Here's a trailer. Contestants are put in teams, given a goal like creating a story line, or a house, or a character or whatever and the team that wins gets US$100,000, similar to Top Chef or Project Runway. Singer Tayla Parx, YouTube personality Kelsey Impicciche, and game developer Dave Miotke will be the judges (no I don't know who they are either). The Sims 4 will also get in-game challenges at the same time the show is airing on TV so people at home can join in the fun. As long as it's better than Apple's Planet of the Apps (fuck me that was horrible), Spark'd will be fine! I'm kinda looking forward to it.

# Bargains

- DJI Osmo Action 4K Cam - $299 at JB Hi-Fi

- Sonos Beam wireless soundbar - $539.10 at Myer (Woolworths has 10% off Myer gift cards too for an even bigger discount)

- Samsung 860 QVO 4TB SATA SSD - $546.95 after cashback from Online Computer

- Nvidia Shield TV Pro (2019 model) - $365 from Centrecom

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