### Issue 1865 - Tuesday 13th June, 2023

You can now share The Sizzle with your mates and discuss each news item on the forums! Look for the "share" and "discuss" links under each news item.

## In Today's Issue

- Large chunks of Reddit go into private mode in protest over API changes
- Crack down on password sharing has been good for Netflix
- Debian 12 is live, lots of new Xbox games, Zuck shares thoughts on Apple Vision Pro
- US courts using creepy Covenant Eyes app to put people in jail
- Cheap SSDs, MacBook Airs, TCN gift cards, NUC 13 Pro, Amazon Fire TVs, Massdrop headphones, BeyerDynamic headphones, GL.iNet travel routers, iPad Air (5th-gen), Apple Pencil, Portal for Switch, Firewatch for PS4, Logitech MX Master 3S, iPhone SE, Ryzen 7700 CPU, 8TB Ironwolf HDD, AirPods Pro, HP ProDesk 600 G4 SFF PC, DJI Air 2S done

## The News

### Large chunks of Reddit go into private mode in protest over API changes

If you've logged into Reddit in the last 24 hours there's a high chance one or more of your favourite communities has gone private and you're unable to view any posts. Over 7,000 subreddits, including some big mainstream ones like r/funny, r/gaming and r/music are participating in a protest against Reddit's management jacking up the price of API access, making 3rd party tools for moderation economically unfeasible. The site actually crashed due to so many communities going private at once. Reddit's CEO gave an enlightening AMA on the weekend, saying that "unlike some of the (third-party) apps, we're not profitable", the API costs them "tens of millions of dollars" per year and when asked how he feels about Reddit forgetting about the community, "we'll continue to be profit-driven until profits arrive".

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### Crack down on password sharing has been good for Netflix

Netflix's recent enforcement of its anti-password sharing policy appears to be paying off according to data analytics company Antenna. Their research discovered that Netflix "amassed more new subscriptions in the U.S. between May 25 and 28, shortly after Netflix notified users of the limits, than in any other four-day period since Antenna began compiling such data in 2019". In Canada, "Netflix's paid membership base was larger after its password-sharing limits were rolled out than they were before it, and revenue is growing faster there than in the U.S". Netflix's share price has risen about 16% since the password sharing crackdown started. Netflix is lucky piracy is still too hard for most people.

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### Debian 12 is live, lots of new Xbox games, Zuck shares thoughts on Apple Vision Pro

- Debian 12, code named "bookworm" is out of beta and available to download now from your favourite mirror server. Linux kernel 6.1 LTS is used now. Like previous releases it has 5 years of support. Unlike previous releases, non-free firmware has its own repo and is built in to the installer, so all those pesky proprietary firmware blobs are automatically installed - thank fuck for that.
- Microsoft held an "Xbox Showcase", dumping trailers of dozens of upcoming games. Kotaku has compiled all the trailers in the one spot. Bethesda showed off 45 min of Starfield gameplay, its first new IP in 25 years. There's also an expansion pack for Cyberpunk 2077, a longer trailer for Cities Skylines 2 and Flight Simulator 2024. You can watch the entire thing on YouTube if you've got 2 hours spare
- Zuck wrote a memo to Meta staff with his thoughts on Apple's Vision Pro. He's pleased there's "no kind of magical solutions that they have to any of the constraints on laws of physics that our teams haven’t already explored and thought of". He reckons there's "a real philosophical difference in terms of how we’re approaching this", with Meta's devices "about being active and doing things" compared to Apple's "person sitting on a couch by themself".

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## Something I Saw On The Internet

### US courts using creepy Covenant Eyes app to put people in jail

Wired has a disturbing story about an American bloke put in jail for breaching bail because an app noticed pornhub.com was loaded by the frequently visited tab in Chrome. He was charged with possession of child sexual abuse material (which he and his family deny) and had a ban on using electronic devices in his bail conditions. This was partly enforced by an app called Covenant Eyes that got installed on the devices of his wife, two kids and his mum. This app monitors network activity and "captures everything visible on a device's screen, taking at least one screenshot per minute" and anything it thinks is "explicit" can be flagged for further review by the court. Covenant Eyes bans the use of its app in a "premeditated legal setting", but at least five US states are using it in this way.

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## Bargains

- WD Black SN850X 4TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD - $470.05 from Amazon USA
- WD Black SN850X 2TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD - $219.01 from Amazon Germany
- WD Black SN770 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD - $165.20 from Amazon Germany
- Samsung 990 Pro 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD - $265.57 from Amazon USA
- Samsung 980 Pro 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD - $99.58 from Amazon USA
- Gigabyte AORUS 500GB PCIe 4.0 SSD (with dual sided copper heatsink) - $49 + delivery from Centrecom
- Crucial MX500 4TB 2.5" SATA SSD - $326 from Amazon Germany
- 13" MacBook Air (M1 SoC, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) - $1257 from JB Hi-Fi
- 13" MacBook Air (M2 SoC, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) - $1617 from Amazon
- 10% off physical TCN Kids gift cards (JB Hi-Fi) + $2.95 for delivery
- Intel NUC 13 Pro i5 barebone kit (i5-1340P) - $623.22 from Computer Alliance's eBay store
- Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max or FireTV Cube - $69/$179 from Amazon
- Massdrop x Sennheiser HD 6XX open back headphones - $324 from Drop
- BeyerDynamic DT880 headphones - $199 from BeyerDynamic
- GL.iNet GL-AXT1800 portable Wi-Fi 6 router - $164.25 from Amazon
- iPad Air (5th-gen M1 SoC) 64GB + cellular - $931.32 from Titan Gear's eBay store
- Apple Pencil (2nd Gen) - $162.98 from Allphones eBay store
- Portal Companion Collection for Switch - $13.99 from Nintendo eShop
- Firewatch for PS4 - $8.98 from PlayStation store
- Logitech MX Master 3S wireless mouse - $109.70 from Amazon
- iPhone SE 2022 64GB (direct import) - $599 from Kogan
- AMD Ryzen 7 7700 CPU - $404.82 from Computer Alliance's eBay store
- 8TB Seagate Ironwolf ST8000VN004 3.5" SATA HDD - $199.68 from Computer Alliance's eBay store
- Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Generation) - $320.49 from Titan Gear's eBay store
- HP ProDesk 600 G4 SFF PC (i5-8500, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD, Win11 Pro) - $249 from UN Tech
- DJI Air 2S 4K Drone - $1189 from JB Hi-Fi

## Image Of The Day

Newcastle and The Hunter Region TI99/4A Home Computer Users' Group (Jongleur / Internet Archive)

## The End

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