### Issue 1760 - Monday 9th January, 2023

## In Today's Issue

- Seattle school system taking legal action against social media companies
- Fresh Apple rumours from Mark Gurman and Ming-Chi Kuo, perfect filler for a slow news day
- Optus wants changes to anti-siphoning laws so it can stream Australia's favourite sporting events
- Junkware on computers and websites is elder abuse
- Cheap Canon EOS R5 camera, Alpha Centauri for PC, Xiaomi Mi Band 7, MacBook Air M2

## The News

### Seattle school system taking legal action against social media companies

The Seattle public school system is suing TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Snap and Instagram, alleging "it has suffered widespread financial and operational harm from social media usage and addiction among students. The lawsuit cites factors including the resources required to provide counseling services to students in crisis, and to investigate and respond to threats made against schools and students over social media". No idea if it will go anywhere, but it's novel that a school district has decided to do this. If anyone in society sees the widespread impact of social media on the youth, it's them. Meanwhile, TikTok "is testing new sleep reminders that include the option to set up alerts when it's your bedtime and to mute notifications during the recommended seven hours of sleep".

### Apple rumours, perfect filler for a slow news day

It's a slow news day, so lets roll around in the filth that is Apple rumours as the two grand masters of Apple leaks, Mark Gurman and Ming-Chi Kuo have "news" for us. Kuo reckons Apple's fabled AR/VR headset is absolutely getting released in 2023, likely in November. Apparently "the headset is also experiencing mechanical issues during drop testing". Gurman is slating some time just before WWDC 2023 for Apple to make an AR/VR headset announcement. Gurman also reports that plans for "a high-spec Apple Silicon Mac Pro have been cancelled". An Apple Silicon Mac Pro will basically be the same huge box as the current Intel-based one, with the main selling point over the Mac Studio being expandability - but not for RAM as the Apple Silicon architecture doesn't allow for it.

### Optus wants changes to anti-siphoning laws so it can stream Australia's favourite sporting events

Optus wants anti-siphoning laws tweaked to allow it and others like Kayo and Paramount Plus to stream sports on the anti-siphoning list (e.g: Ashes cricket test match or the Australian Open tennis) for free, without having to register. They claim the law can "stifle innovation in content delivery, stop sports bodies from achieving fair market value for content rights and contains no obligations to stop acquired sports being buried on commercial broadcasters' secondary digital channel". Are we at the point where something like the Ashes or Boxing Day test match is exclusively available on a streaming service is feasible? Would suck for many people who just want to watch their favourite sport being forced into plugging their TV into the internet - if they even have the internet at home!

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Junkware on computers and websites is elder abuse

The Tech Workers Coalition's latest newsletter debates if all the junkware, bloat and straight up crap that gets installed on computers and placed on websites is a form of elder abuse. The article uses the story of someone volunteering as senior's tech support who comes across a person with a brand new computer just loaded up with so much shit that it's unusable out of the box. The senior who got this new laptop thinks they fucked up, but really, it's the tech industry that is causing them unnecessary stress and grief by deliberately making products so goddamn awful that they require decrapifying out of the box. Not using this stuff isn't an option for seniors either. If you wanna keep in touch with family or communicate with the government, you're forced to use technology that's designed with dark patterns, misleading terms and a total lack of consideration for the humans using it.

## Bargains

- Canon EOS R5 camera body - $4935.20 from DigiDirect (there's also $250 cashback from Canon and 5% cashback from Cashrewards)
- Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri Planetary Pack - $2.29 from GOG
- Xiaomi Mi Band 7 - $55 from Aliexpress
- Apple MacBook Air (M2 8-core, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) - $1698 from Officeworks

## Image Of The Day

Set in the early 1980s, Halt and Catch Fire dramatizes the personal computing boom through the eyes of a visionary, an engineer and a prodigy whose innovations directly confront the corporate behemoths of the time. Their personal and professional partnership will be challenged by greed and ego while charting the changing culture in Texas' Silicon Prairie. (AMC Networks)

## The End

📻 Spiders (Kidsmoke) - Wilco

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