### Issue 1864 - Friday 9th June, 2023

No Sizzle on Monday because it's the King's Birthday public holiday in Victoria!

## In Today's Issue

- Apollo dev officially closes down app thanks to Reddit refusing to budge on API costs
- WhatsApp launches "Channels", a one-way broadcast tool
- Louisiana passes another weird internet law, Barracuda email appliances need replacing after hack, Ford & GM to adopt Tesla's charging standard
- Edward Snowden on the 10th anniversary of his legendary whistleblowing
- Friday Forum Update
- Cheap Swoop fixed wireless broadband, Gran Turismo 7, Boost Mobile, PS5 console, Samsung PNY & Lexar SSDs, Dell micro PC, Valve Steam Deck, Netflix gift cards

## The News

### Apollo dev officially closes down app thanks to Reddit refusing to budge on API costs

Apollo's developer, Christian Selig, has called it quits on the popular 3rd-party Reddit app. He posted on Reddit saying the app will shut down on June 30th as "talks with Reddit have deteriorated to an ugly point". While the costs of the new API are exorbitant, the main issue Apollo's creator has is the 30-day deadline. It's just too much for an indie developer like him to handle a total overhaul of his business in such a short time frame. It's much easier to shut it down and move on than deal with the grubs at Reddit who clearly don't want to co-operate. Every other Reddit app, like Narwhal and Reddit is Fun are taking the same approach. Reddit has carved out an exemption for non-commercial "accessibility apps" though. Reddit's CEO is doing an AMA tomorrow about "the latest API updates, including accessibility, mod bots, and third-party mod tools". That's gonna get spicy.

### WhatsApp launches "Channels", a one-way broadcast tool

WhatsApp has a new feature called Channels. They describe it as "a one-way broadcast tool for admins to send text, photos, videos, stickers, and polls" - effectively a blog within WhatsApp. There will be a searchable directory of Channels (opt-in), but you can also be invited to a Channel via URLs sent in chats, emails or posted online. The post history is only stored for 30 days and admins can block screenshots and forwards of content in the Channel. WhatsApp also plans to add ways to "build a business around their channel using our expanding payment services" and add the option for "end-to-end encrypted channels to a limited audience". Channels launches in Colombia and Singapore first, rest of the world "over the coming months".

### Louisiana passes another weird internet law, Barracuda email appliances need replacing after hack, Ford & GM to adopt Tesla's charging standard

- Louisiana has passed bill HB61, which bans an extremely broad range of "interactive computer services" from allowing people under 18 to sign up for their own accounts without parental consent. My immediate gut reaction is "good", but it means the introduction of user age verification and the privacy impacts that brings for all users.
- Barracuda Networks's range of Email Security Gateway (ESG) appliances have been hacked so hard, they're telling customers that the units must be "immediately replaced regardless of patch version level". Looks like the attackers managed to install malware that is persistent, even after wiping the device and re-installing the firmware. Oof.
- Ford and GM are adopting Tesla's fast charging port standard, aka the North American Charging Standard (NACS), on new cars as of 2025. Ford and GM cars get access to all of Tesla's Superchargers natively or via an adapter for CCS1 vehicles. So now there will be a wide range of cars in the US with CCS1 and NACS. What a mess.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Edward Snowden on the 10th anniversary of his legendary whistleblowing

Edward Snowden has given an interview with The Atlantic where he talks about the 10th anniversary of his brave whistleblowing, exposing the global industrial scale espionage the US government was spearheading. He said he has no regrets over what he's done despite living in exile in Russia and views the "widespread use of end-to-end encryption as one of the positive legacies of the leaks". He also said that stuff like "facial-recognition software, AI, and invasive spyware such as Pegasus" make the things he exposed in 2013 "look like child's play". He admits now that digital privacy is "an ongoing process" and "we will have to be working at it for the rest of our lives and our children's lives and beyond". That's depressing, but realistic.

## 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.

- gurgle and others mourn the loss of 3rd party Reddit apps and the Old Reddit interface
- Yours truly kicked off a thread asking if anyone is gonna buy the Apple Vision Pro headset
- Kangaroo is after a desktop mini PC that can do power, video & USB over a single USB-C cable
- The_Hawk mucked around with their little GL.Inet travel router to get around Netflix's password sharing crackdown
- southy wants tips on making a static website hosted on S3 that is dynamically updated via data from an API

## Bargains

- Swoop Broadband fixed wireless (select areas) 250/100 or 500/200 - $89/m or $99/m for 12 months via Swoop
- Gran Turismo 7 for PS5 - $63 from Amazon
- Boost $300 pre-paid SIM (500GB data if activated by 3rd July) - $237 from Catch.ozoffers1 eBay store
- PlayStation 5 Console (disc version) and Two DualSense Wireless Controllers - $799 from Big W
- Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1TB PCIe 3.0 SSD - $77.22 from Computer Alliance's eBay store
- Samsung 980 PRO 1TB/2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD with heatsink - $136.48/$252.97 from Amazon USA
- PNY CS2241 4TB PCIe 4.0 SSD - $274.58 from Titan Gear's eBay store
- Lexar NM790 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD - $144 from BPC Tech
- Dell Optiplex 7060 Micro (i5-8500T, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, wi-fi, Win11) - $248.82 from BNEACTTRADER's eBay store
- Valve Steam Deck 512GB - $1047.50 from Allphones eBay store
- 10% cashback on Netflix gift cards via Zip

## Image Of The Day

Poster shows advertisement for M.I.T. summer computer course - introduction to COBOL programming. (Library of Congress)

## The End

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## Always Was, Always Will Be Aboriginal Land

The Sizzle is created on Wathaurong land and acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia, recognising their continuing connection to land, water and community. I pay my respect to them and their cultures and to elders both past and present.