# In This Issue

- Google, Mozilla & Apple will block Kazakhtan’s mandatory MITM certificate

- New Intel CPUs that’ll slide right in to Apple’s laptop range

- Monash Uni to do 80% of exams online by 2020

- Five bits of gaming stuff clogging my bookmarks

- Cheap 27" monitor, Q Acoustics sound base, Civ 6 DLC, portable 4TB HDD

# News

#### Google, Mozilla & Apple will block Kazakhtan’s mandatory MITM certificate

Google, Mozilla and Apple have joined forces to prevent the Kazakhstan government's plan to monitor internet use. The plan involves "requiring all Internet users to install a root certificate controlled by the Kazakh government into all their devices, allowing it to intercept, decrypt, and re-encrypt any traffic passing through systems it controlled". To thwart this, Firefox, Chrome and Safari will "block the use of the Kazakhstan root CA certificate. This means that it will not be trusted by Firefox even if the user has installed it" - effectively making Kazakhstan's plan futile as when people try install it, it won't install and if it won't install, the internet won't work without the use of a VPN (or a browser that will accept the fucked government cert).

#### New Intel CPUs that’ll slide right in to Apple’s laptop range

Intel has new CPUs that are the exact TDP Apple use in the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air codenamed "Comet Lake". The 7W TDP parts (that go in the MBA) go up to 4C/8T with a single core capable of achieving 4.5GHz, but only support DDR3 RAM. The 15W parts (that go in the 13" MBP) have a 6C/12T option that maxes out at 4.7GHz for a single core and supports LPDDR4X RAM. Both the 7W and 15W CPUs support Wi-Fi 6 (aka 802.11ax) and include fixes for the Spectre/Fallout/etc vulnerabilities. Performance should be slightly better, as you've got more thermal headroom now, but realistically it's a minor bump. If you're hanging for a new laptop though, expect new ones using these CPUs later this year.

#### Monash Uni to do 80% of exams online by 2020

Monash Uni is gonna spend $7m to make the majority of its exams digital. No longer will students have to wrestle with laborious handwriting of essays and teachers will no longer have to decipher shitty handwriting or spend hours marking multiple choice questions. By exam period 2020, 80% of exams will be "e-assessments" and students have to bring their own device to participate (apparently it's too hard to buy enough computers for everyone to use). There will also be paper backups for any tech issues on the day. Personally, I would much rather do an e-assessment, I've pretty much forgotten how to write with a pen/pencil on paper and am much more comfortable typing stuff in that writing it. I'm sure all the youngins at uni are the same.

# Not News

#### Five bits of gaming stuff clogging my bookmarks

- Enjoy this trailer for Hideo Kojima's new game Death Stranding. This game has Mads Mikkelsen, Guillermo Del Toro, Norman Reedus and Nicholas Winding Refn playing characters. Looks really cool.

- HP's new Omen Mindframe Prime gaming headset includes noise canceling, Bluetooth connectivity and a "graphite heat spreader" and "thermoelectric coolers" inside the earcups. Wild.

- Everyone's favourite rocket simulation game, Kerbal Space Program, is getting an all new edition - Kerbal Space Program 2. Crash the Apollo LM over and over with even more realism!

- PC Building Simulator has been a thing for a while, but you needed a PC to play it. Now it's coming to Switch, PS4 and XB1 and has a "full-fledged story mode in which you, the player, take over your uncle's repair shop". I want to play it.

- Also in games I want to play, Tetris Effect looks like heaps of fun. It's the Tetris we know and love right, but "combines the simple, pleasing act of fitting shapes together until they disappear with intense visual backdrops and dynamic music that shifts and bends around your play".

# Bargains

- Kogan 27" 2560x1440 IPS monitor - $270 + delivery

- Q Acoustics M2 Sound Base - $349 from RIO Sound & Vision

- Civ 6: Gathering Storm expansion (it's fantastic) - $18 at DL Gamer

- Seagate 4TB portable HDD - $135.20 at Bing Lee's eBay store

🎶 Ramblin' Gamblin' Man - The Bob Seger System

😁 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.​