### Issue 1943 - Monday 2nd October, 2023

## In Today's Issue

- The Raspberry Pi 5 is now a thing
- Europol wants unfetted access to all European digital comms
- Letterbox & Bandcamp have new owners
- Blue light blocking glasses, monitors and apps probably aren't doing much for your eyes
- Cheap Sony & TCL TVs, LG 27" monitor, Amazon Echoes & Eeros, Tamron lens for Sony cameras, bonus Xbox controller with console, Corsair DDR5 RAM, Catch & Boost 365-day SIMs, Ryzen 9 5900X, 10.5" portable USB-C monitor

## The News

### The Raspberry Pi 5 is now a thing

We got a new Raspberry Pi last week. The 5th iteration of the little British computer is very similar to the previous one, but with upgraded specs that make it more competitive in the single board computer market. Notable changes are the inclusion of a proper PCIe port (albeit PCIe 2.0 x1 via a weird FPC connector, M.2 hat coming soon), 5V/5A USB-C PD support, a real-time clock (!), dedicated fan connector & heatsink mounting points for an official active cooler, microSD slot with SDR104 support, dual simultaneous 4K 60Hz output and a power button. Of course, Jeff Geerling got one early and has given his opinions. Tom's Hardware has some benchmarks too. Core Electronics has the 4GB and 8GB RAM versions advertised for $103/$137.50, but not sure about stock levels and exact shipping times besides some time in October.

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### Europol wants unfetted access to all European digital comms

While the EU was discussing a law that would "require digital chat providers to scan client content for child sexual abuse material", Europol (the law enforcement agency of the European Union) wanted "unlimited access to the data produced from the detection and scanning of communications, and that no boundaries be set on how this data is used". In the same meeting "Europol proposed that detection be expanded to other crime areas beyond CSAM, and suggested including them in the proposed regulation". Come on man, I get that you want to solve all crimes, all the time, without leaving your desk, but can you at least pretend to give a shit about the privacy of your citizens???

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### Letterbox & Bandcamp have new owners

Letterboxd has been sold to Tiny, a Canadian company claims to give startup founders "quick, straightforward exits that protect their team and culture and keep their businesses operating for the longterm". In the announcement post, one of the co-founders, Matt, says that "Karl and I are still leading the team, which remains the same, but now has the additional support of a company with vast experience in helping founders through periods of growth, which Letterboxd continues to enjoy. It means we can bring you more of the features you love and deserve, at a sustainable pace". Also in services I love trading owners, Bandcamp now belongs to Songtradr - "a music licensing platform". Epic Games sold Bandcamp after only 18 months of ownership, likely pissed off that Bandcamp workers unionised back in March.

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## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Blue light blocking glasses, monitors and apps probably aren't doing much for your eyes

If you're a glasses wearer you've probably been upsold blue light filtering lenses for your glasses. There's even some monitors that claim to be "eye friendly" by filtering blue light and many devices now automatically "warm" up the colour temp at night time to help sleep. The theory is that displays blast blue light at your eye balls all day when in nature it only happens during daylight. Exposing your eyes to all that blue light for more than day light hours is bad for you. According to this article in The Guardian, all these claims are not backed up by any serious scientific investigation. Sleep might be impacted a little, but it's hard to tell if it's the blue light or the fact you're using a device before bed that stresses you out.

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## Bargains

- Refurb Sony A80J 55" OLED 4K TV - $1299 from Sony's eBay store
- LG 27GP850 27" 2560x1440 IPS 165Hz monitor - $429 at Officeworks
- TCL 85" C845 Mini LED 4K Google TV - $3288 + delivery (free to some areas) at Appliance Central
- TCL 85" P745 4K TV - $1197 + delivery (free to some areas) from Leading Edge Appliances
- TCL TV cashback on about a dozen different TVs
- Amazon Echo Pop, Echo Auto 2nd gen, Echo Show 5 2nd gen, Fire TV Cube - $29/$49/$59/$109 from Amazon
- Amazon eero mesh wifi router 3-pack wi-fi 5/wi-fi 6 - $199.99/$349.99 from Amazon
- Tamron 17-70mm F/2.8 Di III-A VC RXD lens for Sony E-mount APS-C cameras - $961.64 from Amazon Germany
- Buy an Xbox from Microsoft's website and get a free additional controller
- Corsair Vengeance RGB 64GB (2x32GB) 5600MHz CL36 DDR5 RAM - $214.72 from Amazon
- Catch Connect 365-day SIM with 200GB data, unlimited calls & SMS - $150 from Catch
- Boost Mobile 365-day SIM with 260GB data, unlimited calls & SMS - $300 from Boost, $250 after Cashrewards
- AMD Ryzen 9 5900X AM4 CPU - $459 from Amazon
- MUCAI N105A 10.5" IPS portable 1920x1280 USB-C monitor - $94 from Aliexpress

## Image Of The Day

Macintosh. Take It To The Limit. Brochure About High Performance Software from Microsoft, Microsoft Multiplan, Microsoft Chart, Microsoft Word, Microsoft File & Microsoft BASIC (Jongleur / Internet Archive)

## The End

📻 Dust Me Selecta - Gerling

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