### Issue 1798 - Friday 3rd March, 2023

## In Today's Issue

- Google's Data Safety Labels on the Play Store are useless
- EU to investigate if tech companies should contribute to telco network upgrades
- Xiaomi's latest prototype AR glasses are cool but not cool at the same time
- Life on the Internet, a 13-part documentary series from 1996 sponsored by Sun Microsystems
- Friday Forum Update
- Cheap Dell USB keyboard, Reolink PoE video doorbell, refurb Lenovo mini PC, refurb Dell laptop, Amaysim 12m SIM, Lenovo M10 Tablet 3rd-gen

## The News

### Google's Data Safety Labels on the Play Store are useless

Mozilla have taken "40 of the Play Store's most popular apps by number of global downloads and compared their privacy policies with the information they reported on Google's Data Safety Form" and found "significant discrepancies" in 80% of the apps. The biggest oversight seems to be Google not counting Google as someone app developers have to share data with! Nice little loophole you've got there. It's also worth noting that Google doesn't verify what the developers say in the Data Safety Labels and "anonymised" data (it's arguable that the vast amount of data collected by apps can actually be anonymised) isn't required to be disclosed, so really, what's the point of all this bullshit?

### EU to investigate if tech companies should contribute to telco network upgrades

The EU is investigating if it should force "content and application providers" (i.e: YouTube, TikTok, Netflix, etc) to contribute to the cost of network upgrades for telcos. According to the EU, there "seems to be a paradox between increasing volumes of data on the infrastructures and alleged decreasing returns and appetite to invest in network infrastructure". The telcos argument seems to be that there's so much traffic coming from a handful of sources, that they can't make enough money out of them? Is that right?? My dudes, don't you charge your customers money for access to your network? Why do you not simply increase the price due to the large volume of data? What am I missing here?

### Xiaomi's latest prototype AR glasses are cool but not cool at the same time

XDA Developers got some hands on time with a prototype pair of Xiaomi's Wireless AR Smart Glass Explorer Edition. They're very chunky classes that you look through and computer shit is projected on top of real life. Technologically it's impressive. MicroLED screens with high brightness, relatively light at 126g, totally wireless and with built-in cameras to detect gestures and whatever. Apparently they work very well, best on the market for AR glasses, but they're still a prototype. The author of the article reckons Xiaomi is holding them back because either the battery life sucks (he only had a 30 min demo before the battery died) or they're way too expensive. Also you look stupid wearing them. I wouldn't leave the house with these on.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Life on the Internet, a 13-part documentary series from 1996 sponsored by Sun Microsystems

Jason Scott uploaded Life on the Internet to YouTube a few months ago. It's a "13-part television series covering aspects of the Internet in 1996 to introduce to a general audience" broadcast on PBS and sponsored by Sun Microsystems - who had a lot of skin in the game to get this internet thingy off the ground and in the minds of regular people. It's such an optimistic view of how the internet could be used. Over 25 years later and I think most of it has come to fruition as they described, but none of the bad stuff (misinformation, exclusion of various groups, rampant commercialisation, addiction) was touched upon. Such an innocent time.

## Friday Forum Update

Here's five interesting discussions over on The Sizzle's paid subscriber forum for you to enjoy over the weekend. If you are not a paid subscriber but want to get involved, visit https://thesizzle.com.au/payme to get onboard.

- funcitonretrun is seeking advice on "computerised Personal Knowledge Management tools"
- coljac just got a Fairphone 4 5G imported from Europe and likes it
- Josh needs a table and/or desk thing so they can use a laptop on the couch
- shermozle wants to know if Docker is any good for use on a home server
- jonoabroad needs a coffee grinder that doesn't suck

## Bargains

- Dell Business Multimedia USB Keyboard KB522 - $10 from Australian Computer Traders
- Reolink Video Doorbell PoE - $174.59 from Reolink
- Refurb Lenovo ThinkCentre M720Q Mini PC (i5-8500T, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) - $265.05 from MetroCom's eBay store
- Refurb Dell Latitude 7490 14" Laptop (i5-8350U, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD) - $339.47 from Maxtradinggroup's eBay store
- Amaysim 12m pre-paid SIM with 60GB data - $99 from Amaysim
- Lenovo Tablet M10 3rd Generation - $149 at ALDI

## Image Of The Day

Simon Hackett, 1996. Hackett helped create the Internet Toaster, perhaps the world's first real Internet Cafe, and was Chief Engineer on the first Karaoke Multicast live from the Kennedy Center. (Public Resource / Internet Archive)

## The End

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