### Issue 2069 - Wednesday 17th April, 2024

## In Today's Issue

- App Store boss Phil Schiller cross-examined in Melbourne court room
- UK to criminalise the generation of deepfake porn
- Marques Brownlee defends his honest reviews of Fisker Ocean EV & Humane AI Pin
- HOEM provides a way for EVs with V2L to power house
- Cheap Bose headphones, Lenovo tablet, ZSUS portable monitor

## The News

### App Store boss Phil Schiller cross-examined in Melbourne court room

Despite several Apple execs hanging out in Melbourne lately, coverage of the Apple vs Epic court case currently taking place in the Federal Court has been virtually non-existent. None of the major news outlets bothered to pay someone to sit in court and take notes on the proceedings. The only news I've seen from the trial are two anecdotes in the AFR regarding Phil Schiller's cross-examination. Apparently nobody at Apple takes notes at meetings because Steve Jobs didn't like people taking notes, so that's why there's so little detail surrounding how Apple comes up with their App Store policies, and that Schiller has no idea if the App Store is profitable because it "is not a report I get and spend time on".

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### UK to criminalise the generation of deepfake porn

The UK is gonna make a law so that "if someone creates a sexually explicit deepfake, even if they have no intent to share it but purely want to cause alarm, humiliation or distress to the victim, they will be committing a criminal offence". That's right - simply creating a deepfake porno of someone that never leaves a computer will be criminalised. I think it's not controversial that non-consensual deepfake porn is awful and should be a criminal offence, but criminalising the creation is a different league. The Hacker News crowd isn't taking it well, comparing it to 1984's thoughtcrimes. Not sure the UK is at that level (yet) but it's certainly an interesting benchmark they've set. Does deepfake porn cause trouble if nobody ever sees it?

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### Marques Brownlee defends his honest reviews of Fisker Ocean EV & Humane AI Pin

I don't watch Marques Brownlee very often, but I'm linking to his latest video today because he's been copping a bit of heat about "bad reviews" that are "killing companies", after his videos on the Fisker Ocean EV and the Humane AI Pin that were so brutally honest and his audience so large, a negative review really might be the death blow a new business. Get the fuck outta here. We aren't talking about scrappy little creators doing a cute hobby project in their garage. These are companies with billions of dollars of investment, large teams and years of work. If your product is so bad that a milquetoast reviewer like Marques says not to buy it, do better before inflicting it on society.

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## Something I Saw On The Internet

### HOEM provides a way for EVs with V2L to power house

Solar Quotes checked out a very interesting device for EV owners that have cars with V2L support. The HOEM is essentially a smart device for your switchboard that lets you plug a car into a house via an ordinary socket. Most V2L setups max out at around 3.5kW so you need to be selective about which circuits you hook it up to and you can't charge the car while it's plugged in, but it's only ~$1000 (plus installation) and is easy for any electrician to install. Could be a convenient way to use the massive battery in an EV as a temporary home backup battery for those living in areas with frequent grid outages.

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## Bargains

- Bose QuietComfort 45 Noise Cancelling Headphones - $279 from Amazon
- Bose Noise Canceling Headphones 700 - $309 from Amazon
- Bose Ultra Open Earbuds - $379 from Amazon
- Lenovo Xiaoxin Pad Pro Android tablet - $418 from Aliexpress
- ZSUS 14" 2160x1440 60Hz IPS portable USB-C monitor - $87 from Aliexpress

## Image Of The Day

These specimens of optical fibre submarine cable are identical to the cable used in the "Tasman 2" communication link between Sydney and Auckland established in 1992. (Powerhouse Museum)

## The End

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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.