### Issue 1372 - Tuesday 25th May, 2021

## In Today's Issue

- ACT & SA beef up electric car policy while VIC persists with road usage tax
- iFixit upset with Samsung's lack of progress on smartphone upcycling plan
- Almost 100,000 FTTC NTDs replaced by NBN due to lightning damage in under 2 years
- Multiple things I saw on the internet lately
- Cheap Mi Band 6, Edifier speakers, Bose headphones, Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Gen 2, $700 Good Guys gift card with $99/m Telstra plan

## The News

### ACT & SA beef up electric car policy while VIC persists with road usage tax

Big week for electric cars in Australia if you care about that kinda thing (I do). The ACT government has kicked off free rego for EVs and interest free loans up to $15,000 to buy an EV - in conjunction with existing large discounts on stamp duty. In South Australia, they've come up with a $13.4m plan to install up to 530 fast chargers across the state and opened up a scheme for property owners to register their interest in hosting a charger. Very smart move to have the government connect the money and installers with potential charger hosts. Meanwhile, Victoria is set to debate a EV road usage tax in the upper house today/tonight. If enough crossbenchers think it's a dumb idea then it won't happen.

### iFixit upset with Samsung's lack of progress on smartphone upcycling plan

iFixit has unloaded on Samsung for whiteanting them on an upcycling project. The idea was floated in 2017 and Samsung reached out to iFixit for their endorsement on a range of programs to extend the life of Samsung devices. Stuff like unlocking bootloaders so users can install their own operating systems and an "open source marketplace where users could submit ideas and software for repurposing old Galaxy devices". Over time, Samsung stopped replying to iFixit and the relationship went dead, until Samsung launched a feeble "Galaxy Upcycling at Home" beta in April 2021 that "lets users turn end-of-life Samsung phones into smart home sensors that could be paired with Samsung's SmartThings ecosystem". Here is iFixit's blog post outlining their disappointment with Samsung.

### Almost 100,000 FTTC NTDs replaced by NBN due to lightning damage in under 2 years

Last week we learned that over 10,000 NBN fibre to the curb connection devices (aka the VDSL modem NBN supplies you and is supposed to stay with the house) have been replaced in the Blue Mountains area of NSW due to lightning damage. Thanks to info supplied by NBN to the Senate, we know that the problem of FTTC gear getting fried has been happening for a while. In 2020, over 57,000 NTDs were replaced and 44,300 have been replaced in 2021 already. NBN has also replaced 31,000 FTTC distribution points (the gear in the street pit) and had to replace or remediate almost 50,000 lead-ins (the cable from the pit to the house) in 2021 so far. NBN said they're looking into a permanent solution to the toasted NTDs back in March, but nothing has eventuated yet.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Multiple things I saw on the internet lately

- A basic http server running in a Docker container that comes in at under 500 bytes. Dunno what the fuck you'd use it for, but I like it.
- Someone put a webcam inside a hyper realistic prosthetic human eye that blinks and looks around as you work. It is extremely unnerving sitting on top of a laptop and copying your eye movements.
- The German government has accepted UNESCO's recommendation that the Demoscene be recognised as German intangible cultural heritage, joining Finland in celebrating this unique art form. If the phrase Demoscene means nothing to you, you're in for a treat.
- Microsoft has a range of free pre-configured Windows 10 virtual machines (VMware, Hyper-V, VirtualBox & Parallels)? They're time limited for 60 days but are perfect for testing.
- Carbon Copy Cloner 6 is out as a paid upgrade for existing users. It now supports bootable backups of Apple Silicon Macs! CCC is a vital part of my backup regime. I pair it with Arq, which also got a big upgrade lately.

## Bargains

- Xiaomi Mi Band 6 (global version) - $49 from Banggood
- Edifer R1280DBS active speakers - $169.99 from Amazon
- Bose NCH-700 headphones - $377 from Harvey Norman, JB Hi-Fi and Amazon
- Lenovo ThinkPad E14 Gen 2 (Ryzen 7 4700U, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, 14" 1080p) - $999 from Lenovo
- Telstra $99/m plan with bonus $700 gift card at The Good Guys

## The End

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