# Issue 803

##### Friday, 25th January 2019

No Sizzle on Monday as it's the Australia Day public holiday. Normal service resumes on the 29th of Jan.

## In This Issue

- My Health Record was faulty for years and nobody noticed
- Google takes Oracle to the US Supreme Court over fair use of Java APIs
- Google wants to strip its US workers of the right to use company email to organise a union
- Tonga's internet cable got sliced and will be stuck with satellite internet for a while
- Apple sacks 200 staff working on robocars plus other Apple related news items
- Use Pi-Hole over a VPN so you can get ad-blocking and a secure connection anywhere
- Tune in to 12745.6kHz with your radio fax and you'll get a news bulletin from Japan to print out
- Cheap Fuji photo printer, Lowepro bags, Joby tripods, electric scooter, electric height adjustable desk, Samsung external SSD, Bose QC35

## News

### My Health Record was faulty for years and nobody noticed

The Guardian got their hands on a leaked report that states there's been an error with My Health Record since 2016 that has resulted in clinics thinking they're updating a patients medical info, but in fact, the data is going into a black hole and not updating at all. It's caused by a certificate error that started when Microsoft pushed out an update to a "framework" MHR uses, but MHR and other EMR software packages just silently failed and nobody knew for years it wasn't working properly. The government reckons it's impacted only "a small number of clinicians", but still, amateur hour stuff or such an important project.

### Google takes Oracle to the US Supreme Court over fair use of Java APIs

Back in 2010 Oracle used Google for using certain Java APIs it reckons it owns the copyright to. Two trials later and two appeals later, the current legal situation is that Oracle is indeed the copyright owner of the API and fair use doesn't apply. Google isn't happy with that decision, so it's asking the US Supreme Court (the highest court in the USA, once it gives a decision there's no more appeals and is considered precedent for future disputes) to decide once and for all if using common programming language idioms is fair use.

### Google wants to strip its US workers of the right to use company email to organise a union

One of the few rights US workers have is the ability to organise workplace action (i.e: a strike, or a union) via workplace email. Enshrined in law is the ability to email your colleagues and stir some shit to get your fair share or opposed sleaze-bag business tactics. Google employees have been using it to great effect and Google management has noticed, asking the USA's National Labor Relations Board to remove that right - presumably so its employees have a slightly harder time communicating with their colleagues. The "don't be evil" motto is well and truly gone.

### Tonga's internet cable got sliced and will be stuck with satellite internet for a while

Tonga has been cut off from the internet following a boat anchor slicing the only cable that links it to Fiji and provides the country with not only internet access, but overseas phone calls too. The only internet access seems to be in the capital city where a single government building has a satellite backup connection. There's queues forming and a 20 minute wait to use the slow connection. Don't take the internet for granted, people - I'll kiss my fibre NBN connection before I go to bed tonight.

### Apple sacks 200 staff working on robocars plus other Apple related news items

Here's a thick dump of Apple related news:

- Apple sacked ~200 staff related to its seemingly futile robocar project. For a company so lauded for its "laser focus", I still reckon this is a big waste of resources.
- Apple will pay the winners of the latest "Shot on iPhone" photography contest to use their photos in Apple's marketing campaign instead of simply offering exposure.
- Microsoft Office is now on the Mac App Store. Needs an Office 365 subscription to use it, but that's okay as it's the best way to buy Office imho.
- Apple unveiled the Macintosh 35 years ago today (well, yesterday, thanks to time zone differences). Sad that the Mac is now the mongrel of Apple's mega iPhone business, but I still love the little battler.

## Not News, But Still Cool

### Use Pi-Hole over a VPN so you can get ad-blocking and a secure connection anywhere

We all love Pi-Hole, the ad-blocking DNS server and would enjoy using it away from home. However, running a DNS server open to the internet is a recipie for disaster as it'll get abused by hackers. The solution is to set up your own VPN server with the DNS server portion using Pi-Hole so not only do you get ad-blocking, you also get a secure VPN connection at the same time! Here's a nifty how-to on setting up a secure VPN using Streisand and ad-blocking via Pi-Hole. I personally use this setup (with a Sydney based EC2 instance) whenever I'm on wi-fi that isn't at home or off my own 4G modem.

### Tune in to 12745.6kHz with your radio fax and you'll get a news bulletin from Japan to print out

Did you know that there's a service offering the news via high frequency radio facsimile for boats out at sea? Gough Lui has a fascinating article about the Japanese Kyodo News station, which every day sends out a radio signal (12745.5kHz) that contains data a radio fax machine can receive and extremley slowly print out a summary of the day's news. It takes about 90 minutes or so to receive and there's 9 bulletins a day. The service has been supplanted by satellite internet services, but Kyodo news still trucks on, sending out daily news to those on the oceans.

### Cheap Fuji photo printer, Lowepro bags, Joby tripods, electric scooter, electric height adjustable desk, Samsung external SSD, Bose QC35

- Fuji Instax Share SP-2 portable photo printer - $98 at Harvey Norman
- Bunch of Lowepro bags and Joby tripods 50% off at the Pentax AU online Store. Free shipping too.
- Relatively cheap electric height adjustable standing desk on eBay. $320 with free delivery to MEL/SYD/BNE.
- A copy of the Xiaomi electric scooter, also $320 on eBay, with free shipping
- Samsung T5 portable SSD, 1TB with USB-C - $240 delivered using the code PELECTRO
- Bose QC35 II wireless noise cancelling headphones - $337.44 delivered from Amazon AU (don't forget Cashrewards!)

That's it, see ya Tuesday!
--Anthony

No Scrubs - Weezer

Aussie Broadband is the best ISP I've used since Internode's glory days. Their CEO gives talks at AUSNOG about their network and they even have network utilisation charts for every NBN POI. Their pricing isn't the cheapest, but if you want an ISP that's fast & reliable, give them a shot. Use my affiliate link or my referral code (1001031) and we both get $50 credit on our next bill.

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 acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia and recognises their continuing connection to land, water and community. I pay my respect to them and their cultures, and to elders both past and present.​

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