### Issue 1939 - Monday 25th September, 2023

## In Today's Issue

- Amazon Prime Video to get ads unless you pay to remove them
- NASA just got a delivery of asteroid dirt
- NFTs are worthless, even the crypto dudes admit it
- Text editing on mobile devices is bad
- Cheap Boost Mobile SIM, Denon receiver, PS5 console, LEGO 42158, Samsung 5K monitor, Anbernic handheld game console

## The News

### Amazon Prime Video to get ads unless you pay to remove them

Amazon's doing a Netflix and will be slapping ads by default into the standard Prime Video service that comes included with the Prime delivery stuff. It'll cost US$2.99 a month extra to get the ad-free version. The ads will start in the USA early 2024, with Australia copping the ads "later in the year". I wonder how long until they follow Netflix's quite successful move to stop account sharing? For shit and giggles, if you paid for Stan, Binge, Prime, Apple TV+, Disney, Paramount, Netflix, Kayo and Optus Sport, on their ad-free and highest quality (4K where available) plans, you're looking at $138.95/m. Suspiciously close to what I used to pay for the top Foxtel plan all those years ago.

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### NASA just got a delivery of asteroid dirt

NASA just received the "largest unspoiled sample of material ever returned to Earth from beyond the Moon, probably on the order of about 250 grams". It is the final stage of the OSIRIS-REx mission, which sent a probe to asteroid Bennu back in 2016, collected the sample in 2020 and landed back on Earth this weekend. Scientists are now hoping to analyse the 250 grams of precious space dirt to try and help answer the question, "the things that are used in biology today, like amino acids that make proteins and nucleic acids that make up our genes — were they formed in ancient asteroid bodies and delivered to the Earth from outer space"? There's more info about OSIRIS-REx on NASA's website if you're keen.

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### NFTs are worthless, even the crypto dudes admit it

Anyone with half a brain already knew NFTs are worthless, but a new report from cryptocurrency analysts dappGambl proves it beyond all reasonable doubt. Over 69,000 out of 73,000 NFT collections now have a market cap of $0. Out of the 8,850 "brand name" NFT collections (i.e: CryptoPunks), 18% are worth $0 and 41% are worth less than US$100. The report also states that "Data from the Block reveals a weekly traded value of around $80 million in July 2023, just 3% of its peak back in August 2021" and "numerous projects now struggling to find buyers following a pessimistic market outlook on their future value". RIP NFTs, fuck off and never come back.

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## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Text editing on mobile devices is bad

Scott Jenson has a deep look at editing text on mobile devices. I know it's niche and sounds kinda boring, but it nails what I've been experiencing pretty much since the first time I touched a smartphone - writing on them sucks big time because the editing UI is so bad on both Android and iOS. I have pretty good motor skills and I struggle with "fat fingers" in all of iOS and Android's text editing modes. Scott reckons the industry thinks text editing is a solved problem on mobile and not flashy enough for Apple and Google to give it any serious attention, so it's unlikely the status quo will improve.

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## Bargains

- Boost Mobile 365-day SIM, 260GB data, unlimited calls & SMS - $243 after cashback via Cashrewards
- Denon AVR-S970H receiver - $900 from Homeaudiosales eBay store
- PlayStation 5 Console - $634.95 from Sony's eBay store
- LEGO 42158 Technic NASA Mars Rover Perseverance - $110 from Amazon
- Samsung Viewfinity S9 27" 5K monitor (S90PC) - $1724 from Harvey Norman
- Anbernic RG405M 4" Android 12 4GB/128GB Handheld Game Console - $235 from Lightinthebox

## Image Of The Day

The Platform for Digital and Quantum Innovation of Quebec (PINQ²) announces the historic inauguration of an IBM Quantum System One Quantum Computer in Bromont, Quebec. (IBM Canada)

## The End

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