### Issue 1644 - Thursday 7th July, 2022

## In Today's Issue

- Apple's new Lockdown Mode protects you against big dog hackers
- Some data on El Salvador's Bitcoin as legal tender experiment
- Drobo is broke, hasn't updated its software in 2 years and has no products to sell
- The Opal C1 fancy webcam is a good compromise between quality and ease of use
- Cheap Metal Gear Solid V for PS4, 10% off Macs & bonus store credit at The Good Guys, Noctua CPU HSF, 2.5gbit NIC, Yamaha soundbar

## The News

### Apple's new Lockdown Mode protects you against big dog hackers

Apple has announced a new feature for iOS 16 - Lockdown Mode. They describe it as "an extreme, optional protection for the very small number of users who face grave, targeted threats to their digital security", that "hardens device defenses and strictly limits certain functionalities, sharply reducing the attack surface that potentially could be exploited by highly targeted mercenary spyware". When enabled it disables a whole bunch of features in Messages and Safari, disables the installation of configuration profiles/enrollment in an MDM, disables incoming FaceTime calls if they're from someone you've never communicated with before and blocks wired connections to the device entirely. This is a big fuck you to NSO Group and law enforcement.

### Some data on El Salvador's Bitcoin as legal tender experiment

The National Bureau of Economic Research has some fresh stats on El Salvador's experiment with making Bitcoin legal tender. Only half of the nation's households bothered to download the Chivo wallet app, despite literal free money as an incentive to grab it. Out of that half, "60% have not made a transaction after spending the free bitcoin that came with the account, and 20% have yet to spend the bonus". Businesses in El Salvador must accept Bitcoin, but only 20% bother to do so. Of those 20%, 88% convert the Bitcoin into dollars. Basically nobody uses it, except for "a small group of consumers, most of whom are banked, educated, young, and male".

### Drobo is broke, hasn't updated its software in 2 years and has no products to sell

Drobo has filed for bankruptcy. I didn't know people still used these direct attached storage arrays, but they're still very popular with the video and photo crowd who are afraid of networks or can't get the bandwidth or latency they need out of an ethernet cable. Drobo hasn't updated any of their software for Apple Silicon (so I think you need to enter Reduced Security Mode on Apple Silicon Mac!), their blog hasn't been updated since 2020 and all their products are "sold out" - so signs aren't looking good, despite someone on Reddit posting an email from Drobo saying that "voluntary Ch 11 reorganization is the best way to fix our balance sheet and we will remain fully functional during the restructuring process".

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### The Opal C1 fancy webcam is a good compromise between quality and ease of use

The Sweet Setup has a nice review of the Opal C1 webcam. Unlike most webcams, the Opal C1 is supposed to give you the quality of DSLR plugged in to your computer but with the ease of use of a normal webcam. There's also a decent quality microphone built in, along with noise cancellation. For that they'll charge you US$300 - expensive compared to a webcam, but pretty cheap compared to a proper camera. The review sums the Opal C1 up as almost as good as a DSLR (not as good), but way easier to use and setup and great software controls. You still need good lighting, but that's a given for any camera.

## Bargains

- Metal Gear Solid V: The Definitive Experience for PS4 - $4.99 on the PS Store
- 10% off Macs at The Good Guys plus free $60 store credit
- Noctua NH-D15S Chromax Black CPU heatsink & fan - $146.81 from PB Tech
- EDUP 2.5gbit PCIe NIC - $35.18 from Amazon
- Yamaha YAS-408 (MusicCast Bar 400) Soundbar - $389 from Amazon or JB Hi-Fi

## The End

📻 The Good Ones - The Kills

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