### Issue 2040 - Monday 4th March, 2024

## In Today's Issue

- Elon Musk sues OpenAI for not being open enough
- Bitcoin price spikes to an almost all time high
- Apple puts back PWAs in iOS 17.4
- Review of the new 4th-gen Starlink dish
- Cheap Netgear mesh wifi, DJI stuff, Philips & LG OLED monitors, refurb Lenovo SFF PC, Pixel 7a, iPhone 15, Samsung & Acer 4TB SSDs, cheap 100/20 NBN promo, UE EpicBoom speaker, Anker headphone & battery combo, TCN gift cards

## The News

### Elon Musk sues OpenAI for not being open enough

Elon Musk has sued OpenAI, claiming that the huge deal OpenAI has with Microsoft breaks the company's agreement it had with early investors/donors (Musk "gave" OpenAI US$44m back in 2015) like Musk to make major breakthroughs in AI "freely available to the public". The lawsuit claims that instead of making their research and discoveries free for all, OpenAI is actually working on "proprietary technology to maximize profits for literally the largest company in the world" and that OpenAI "has been transformed into a closed-source de facto subsidiary of the largest technology company in the world: Microsoft". Even regulators around the world share Musk's concern, with the UK, EU and US investigating if OpenAI and Microsoft's agreement stifles competition.

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### Bitcoin price spikes to an almost all time high

Bitcoin is unfortunately back. One BTC is hovering around A$97,000 right now, the highest its been in the last five years according to Australian cryptocurrency exchange Coinjar's charts - delightful news for those who have been HODLing since it shit the bed in 2022. It's impossible to know what's really behind the increase in demand for Bitcoin, as it's not like there's a Bitcoin company or a Bitcoin country doing something to justify its value, so the only hypothesis anyone has is that it's due to the availability of Bitcoin ETFs in the wake of the USA's SEC approving them a few months ago and upcoming "halving" of Bitcoin. Every 210,000 blocks the reward miners get for generating new Bitcoin is halved. Meanwhile, Bitcoin miners managed to avoid reporting their energy consumption to the USA's Department of Energy. Cool.

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### Apple puts back PWAs in iOS 17.4

Good news! Apple has backtracked on disabling Home Screen web apps (aka progressive web apps, PWAs) on iOS 17.4 and will continue to ship PWA support the same way it has previously. Dunno what changed Apple's mind, but I hope it was the immense bad vibes they received a beta version of iOS dropped PWA support. Related to Apple's compliance with the Digital Markets Act, Epic, Spotify and a total of 34 companies and organisations sent a joint letter to the European Commission specifically calling out Apple's changes to their business in order to comply with the DMA "disregard both the spirit and letter of the law", making a "mockery of the DMA" and want the Commission to kick Apple up the arse (my words, not theirs - I wish it was theirs) to play fair.

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## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Review of the new 4th-gen Starlink dish

Oleg Kutkov got their hands on the new 4th revision of the Starlink user terminal (aka the dish), tore it down and compared it to the 3rd revision. The new one has a higher IP rating, all-new antenna electronics and in Oleg's testing, achieved higher bandwidth and lower latency, with much lower jitter. These new units don't seem to be on sale outside of the USA yet, but if I was full-time on a Starlink connection, I would be buying one as soon as I can. The much improved jitter means things like live streaming video, any audio calls and video conferencing will be way smoother.

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## Bargains

- Netgear Orbi RBK353 3-pack mesh wi-fi router - $359 from Bing Lee or Amazon
- DJI Mini 4 Pro Fly More Combo - $1410.17 from Camera House eBay store
- Philips 34M2C8600 34" 3440x1440 175Hz curved OLED monitor - $1,349 from Scorptec
- Refurb Lenovo ThinkCentre M720S SFF PC (i5-9400, 16GB RAM, 250GB SSD, 1TB HDD) - $350 from Computer & Laptop Sales
- Google Pixel 7a 5G 128GB or iPhone 15 128GB - $547/$1287 from Officeworks
- Samsung T7 Shield 4TB Portable SSD - $415 from Amazon
- Acer Predator GM7000 4TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD - $408 from Amazon Japan
- 100/20 NBN from Flip Connect - $65/m for the first 6 months
- Dell S2722QC 27" 4K USB-C monitor - $379.50 from Dell
- DJI Osmo Action 4 Adventure Combo - $639 from Amazon
- LG OLED42C3PSA 42" OLED TV - $1510 from Appliance Central
- Ultimate Ears EPICBOOM Bluetooth Speaker - $338 from Amazon
- Anker Soundcore Space Q45 Noise-Cancelling Headphones & Anker 10000mAh Power Bank - $149 from Wireless1
- DJI Goggles Integra - $609 from Amazon
- 1,000 bonus Flybuys points on $50 TCN Gift Cards at Coles this week

## Image Of The Day

Methalox rocket engine firing, Odysseus' landing legs absorb first contact with the lunar surface in this wide-angle snapshot from a camera on board the robotic Intuitive Machines Nova-C moon lander. Following the landing on February 22, broken landing legs, visible in the image, ultimately left the lander at rest but tilted. Odysseus' gentle lean into a sloping lunar surface preserved the phone booth-sized lander's ability to operate, collect solar power, and return images and data to Earth. Its exact landing site in the Moon's far south polar region was imaged by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Donated by NASA, the American flag seen on the lander's central panel is 1970 Apollo program flight hardware. (Astronomy Picture of the Day)

## The End

📻 The Act We Act - Sugar

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