# Issue 804

##### Tuesday, 29th January 2019

## In This Issue

- US govt indicts Huawei for selling stuff to Iran and stealing T-Mobile's robot
- TPG decide to cancel building a mobile network, blames AU govt Huawei ban
- There's a bug in FaceTime that lets someone hear you before you answer the call
- PTV launches Myki smartphone NFC trial, but only for Android
- Facebook thinking about integrating Instagram, Messenger and Whatsapp chats
- I wrote about my first month & 3500km owning an electric car
- Steam Link is now available on Raspberry Pi
- Cheap Kayo Sports, TP-Link wi-fi light bulb, Amazon Prime, iTunes, Optus SIM, Fallout 76

## News

### US govt indicts Huawei for selling stuff to Iran and stealing T-Mobile's robot

The US government has thrown two indictments at Huawei overnight. The first is related to Huawei's CFO Meng Wanzhou and how she was involved in "selling US technology to Iran in violation of US sanctions laws" and the other indictment outlines how Huawei stole "cell phone testing technology from T-Mobile". T-Mobile has a robot called Tappy that would simulate real-world smartphone use and spot problems before they hit customers. Huawei wanted to do the same but instead of developing their own system, they tried to sneak in to T-Mobile's lab and stole parts of it, hahaha. Oh and allegedly, Huawei had a bonus program to reward employees who could steal confidential info from competitors.

### TPG decide to cancel building a mobile network, blames AU govt Huawei ban

I dunno if it's a coincidence or not, but the same day the US DoJ throws charges at Huawei and its CFO, TPG decides to call it quits on rolling out a mobile network in Australia. That's right, TPG has decided not to go ahead with being a mobile carrier. They're saying that because the Australian government has blocked any Huawei 5G devices entering Australia, that its plan to upgrade its existing 4G infrastructure to 5G when the time is right, has been made impossible, so there's no point continuing. Some people reckon that's a very convenient excuse to stop building a network while the ACCC is pondering if it will allow TPG and Vodafone to merge.

### There's a bug in FaceTime that lets someone hear you before you answer the call

Someone found an embarrassing bug in Apple's Facetime on the latest version of iOS, which allows a person access to audio and video from your device *before* you answer the call. Technically you could use it to spy on someone without them knowing. You simply call someone, then add yourself to the call and this makes Facetime connect to the other device, even though on the other device it still appears as ringing. Here's a 2 minute video of the bug that makes way more sense than my explanation. I don't know how many people let their iPad or iPhone ring without answering/ignoring it, but it's a shit bug none the less. Apple reckons a fix is coming "this week" and in the meantime, has disabled FaceTime Group calling.

### PTV launches Myki smartphone NFC trial, but only for Android

Remember how Public Transport Victoria said a few months ago that they're goinn to launch a trial of an app that'll let you use a smartphone on public transport instead of a Myki card? Well, that trial is now live and taking applicants. They want 4,000 Android users to sign up to give the app a test run. The app will use the NFC capabilities of the smartphone to emulate a ticket. Just open the app, slap your phone on a reader and off you go. You can even top up via the app. Unless you've got an iPhone. Apple and PTV have apparently been unable to come to an agreement. I'm guessing it's due to Apple wanting you to do all NFC stuff via Apple Wallet but PTV want you to open their app every time.

### Facebook thinking about integrating Instagram, Messenger and Whatsapp chats

Facebook is planning to merge messaging between Instagram, Whatsapp and Messenger. "Each service will continue to operate as a standalone app, but according to the Times, Facebook is rebuilding the underlying infrastructure so that people who might use only one of Facebook’s properties could communicate with others within the company’s ecosystem. All of the apps will support end-to-end encryption as well. Facebook has yet to provide a timeline for when this will happen". Gotta increase that engagement! Honestly, what a mess this would be. They're gonna be just as bad as Google and their ten thousand different ways to chat to someone.

## Not News, But Still Cool

### I wrote about my first month & 3500km owning an electric car

If you don't follow me on Twitter you may not know this, but I got an electric car a month ago! It's a Hyundai Ioniq and I've written up a post for Drive Zero (you can catch all my unpaid EV ranting over there by the way) all about it. The post is more of an FAQ than a story really, answering all the questions I get about it, like "where do you charge it?", "how much does it cost to charge?", "how far can you go?" and stuff like that. The bottom line is that I like the car as it's pretty much the same as any modern Hyundai, but I wish it had more range (350km would be the sweet spot imho) and didn't cost so much to buy (I'll break even on the 5 year TCO versus a Hybrid).

### Steam Link is now available on Raspberry Pi

Steam has released a version of Steam Link for the Raspberry Pi! This means you can grab that Raspberry Pi 3B or 3B+ you're not using, plug it in to your network, plug it in to your TV and play games from your PC on your TV without having to plug the TV into your PC. It basically streams the video from your PC over the network (you want to use Ethernet if possible) to your TV and the controller (Xbox or PS4 controllers work) or keyboard & mouse you've got hooked up to the Raspberry Pi lets you interact with the game. I haven't used the Pi in particular for Steam Link, but I have used Steam's official (but now discontinued) device and it was pretty smooth for a game like Civ (never tried an FPS).

### Cheap Kayo Sports, TP-Link wi-fi light bulb, Amazon Prime, iTunes, Optus SIM, Fallout 76

- If you aren't a Kayo Sports member yet, they're running promo where you only pay $5 for the month of Feb if you sign up before the 4th of Feb.
- TP-Link LB100 wi-fi smart bulb for $18 at Harvey Norman
- Amazon Prime Australia is on sale for $59/yr, good price if you've been contemplating getting it - includes Prime Video too.
- 15% off iTunes cards at Australia Post - only 10 per transaction, so it'll be tough to pay off your $15,000 tax bill to the ATO.
- $30 Optus SIM for only $9 at Woolworths. Keep in mind that for Optus, a month is only 28 days, not 31 or 30 like others!
- Fallout 76 for PS4, Xbox One and PC is only $25 now at Harvey Norman.

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

! (The Song Formerly Known As) - Regurgitator

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.

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