# In This Issue

- Google’s delivery drones to start operating in Brisbane soon

- The eSafety Commissioner just ordered its first batch of mandatory site blocks

- Facebook’s getting probed by a bunch of US state attorney generals

- A chat with an OzTam TV ratings box owner

- Cheap Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Extreme Gen 2, Ironwolf 8TB HDD, Aldi Mobile 365 day plan, LG V30+ smartphone, BeyerDynamic headphones

# News

#### Google’s delivery drones to start operating in Brisbane soon

Alphabet's Wing is expanding its services outside Canberra, bringing drone delivered goods to the fine people in the Brisbane suburbs of Logan, Crestmeand and Marsden. The range of stores at launch is pretty small - Extraction Artisan Coffee, Friendly Grocer Crestmead and Browns Plains Hardware - but they'll get more onboard soon. In regards to noise, Wing's apparently made modifications to lower noise and there won't be any night deliveries. If you're keen to give it a crack and live in those Brisbane suburbs, visit Wing's website to express your interest.

#### The eSafety Commissioner just ordered its first batch of mandatory site blocks

After the Christchurch terrorist attack, most Australian ISPs voluntarily decided to block sites like 4chan, 8chan, LiveLeak and Zero Hedge that were showing the gruesome content uploaded by the terrorist. The Australian government has now made those blocks mandatory for every ISP, thanks to the new powers bestowed upon the eSafety Commissioner. There are 8 sites being blocked (government hasn't said which ones) for still containing the terrorist attack content, that will remain blocked or 6 months. If they've removed the content, they'll get unblocked. If they don't they'll remain blocked.

#### Facebook’s getting probed by a bunch of US state attorney generals

The US federal government announced a few months ago that the DoJ and FTC are gonna give Facebook and Google a deep probing to see if they're being anti-competitive. Over the weekend, the attorneys general of Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and the District of Columbia are joining up with the New York attorney general's investigation that will "use every investigative tool at our disposal to determine whether Facebook's actions may have endangered consumer data, reduced the quality of consumers' choices, or increased the price of advertising". God speed US attorneys generals, hit Facebook where it hurts.

# Not News

#### A chat with an OzTam TV ratings box owner

Ever wondered how they determine free-to-air TV ratings? i.e: show (x) had 340,000 people watching it in Melbourne last night? That's done by a company called OzTam and they send a literal black box to people's homes that records what they're watching. TV Blackbox has had a chat with one of the 5,250 box owners in Australia, to ask them what it's like having the power to determine if a TV show lives or dies. It's kinda crazy to think that the entire country's viewing habits can be represented by ~5,000 people. The OzTam box looks weird too.

# Bargains

- Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Extreme Gen 2 (i7-9750H CPU, GTX1650 Max-Q, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, 1080p screen) - $2226.82 from Lenvo direct

- Seagate Ironwolf 8TB SATA HDD - $288.15 delivered for eBay Plus members

- Aldi Mobile will have a new 365 day pack with 160GB of data for $249

- LG V30+ smartphone for just $399 at JB Hi-Fi

- BeyerDynamic DT1990 PRO audiophile headphones - $636.65 shipped for eBay Plus members

🎶 Girl U Want - Devo

😁 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.​