### Issue 1612 - Monday 23rd May, 2022

## In Today's Issue

- NSW digital drivers licence has a few security issues
- Qualcomm's new fastest SoC, the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1
- Twitter API makes it easier for 3rd party apps to show chronological timeline
- Stuff I saw on GitHub that looked interesting
- Cheap 34" AOC monitor, Elgato Stream Deck, MUBI subscription, refurb ThinkPad T480s, Learn to Solder kit, Apple & Myer gift cards, Paper Mario, Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, RTX3060 GPU, RX6600XT GPU

## The News

### NSW digital drivers licence has a few security issues

Looks like there's some big fat flaws in the NSW digital drivers licence used by over 70% of people over there. According to Dvuln, the app has "several secure design flaws" that allow hacks to "brute force licence pins, access digital licence data, edit and re-encrypt it to display a different licence photo and details". Bizarrely, Service NSW has responded with that they aware of the exploits, but were unable to confirm if they're working on fixing them, simply saying that "this issue is known and does not pose a risk to customer information". You can read Dvuln's findings in this blog post.

### Qualcomm's new fastest SoC, the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1

Qualcomm's got a new flagship SoC for mobile devices - the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. It's more or less the same as the previous Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, but is now made by TSMC instead of Samsung. Both are on a "4nm" process, but TSMC's is so much better that Qualcomm is able to run it roughly 10% faster across the board, resulting in more performance yet using about 30% less power. Qualcomm reckon it'll go on sale in Q3 this year and most OEMs (Xiaomi, Motorola, OnePlus) are lined up to put in their phones. If you ever needed proof of TSMC's dominance, this is a pretty strong one! I'll be polite and wait for benchmarks before bagging out the Snapdragon compared to Apple's SoC's.

### Twitter API makes it easier for 3rd party apps to show chronological timeline

Third party Twitter clients just got their wish - the Twitter API will now allow them to "retrieve the most recent Tweets and Retweets posted by the authenticated user and the accounts they follow", allowing third party apps to show tweets in a timeline chronologically. Paul Haddad, the developer of Tweetbot reckons that "we'll simply be able to refresh the timeline more often and allow users to scroll much further back in their timeline". The old API "let you request the home timeline 15 times in a 15 minute window, and could return up to 800 tweets. API v2 supports up to 180 requests per user in that same timeframe, and retrieves 3,200 tweets". I never understood why Twitter was so hostile to 3rd-party apps, maybe they've seen the light?

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Stuff I saw on GitHub that looked interesting

- SingleFile is "a Web Extension (and a CLI tool) compatible with Chrome, Firefox (Desktop and Mobile), Microsoft Edge, Vivaldi, Brave, Waterfox, Yandex browser, and Opera. It helps you to save a complete web page into a single HTML file". I just tried it out with an article from The Age and yep, it works, even the images get embedded in the HTML somehow!
- Got Your Back (GYB) "is a command line tool for backing up your Gmail messages to your local computer. It uses Gmail's API over HTTPS". I haven't used this one yet, but backing up your Gmail account is prudent. You never know when Google decides you've done something wrong and blocks your account. Nightmare scenario.
- TeslaMate is "a powerful, self-hosted data logger for your Tesla". It'll generate drive and charging reports, a driving efficiency report, charge energy added vs energy used, battery degradation, charging & drive stats and other relatively useless stats you shouldn't care about unless your car is broken and you need to diagnose a problem.
- Windows 2000 on Docker is "a Docker image for Windows 2000 Advanced Server with SP4". In my humble opinion, the best version of Windows to ever grace God's green Earth. Every version since has been a sloppy regression and an insult to every transistor humanity has fabricated.
- Your Spotify is a "self-hosted application that tracks what you listen and offers you a dashboard to explore statistics about it! It's composed of a web server which polls the Spotify API every now and then and a web application on which you can explore your statistics".

## Bargains

- AOC U34P2C 34" USB-C monitor - $539 from digiDIRECT's eBay store
- Elgato Stream Deck Mk1 - $189 from digiDIRECT's eBay store
- 4 month MUBI streaming movie subscription - $4
- Refurbished Lenovo ThinkPad T480s (i5-8350U, 12GB RAM, 256GB SSD, 1080p) - $549.99 on Bufferstock's eBay store
- Learn to Solder Kits - $9.95 at Jaycar
- 10% off Apple Gift Cards at Card.Gift
- Get 15% bonus value on Myer gift cards from Coles this week
- Paper Mario: The Origami King for Switch or Nintendo Switch Pro Controller - $29/$77 from Catch
- Gigabyte Eagle RTX 3060 - $579 from HT's eBay store
- XFX AMD RX 6600 XT Speedster Qick 308 - $499 from PLE

## The End

📻 We Live Here - Bob Vylan

😎 The Sizzle is curated by Anthony "@decryption" Agius and emailed every weekday afternoon.

💬 Checked out the paid subscriber only forum? It's a tidy little place to discuss tech with like minded Aussies.

👋 Forums not your thing? The Sizzle has a Slack group you can procrastinate in and chat with other nerds bored at work.

💳 Paid subscriber looking to manage your billing info or change email address? Visit the customer portal.

📚 Browse The Sizzle Archive. A few issues are missing and it's not searchable, but it's better than nothing.

## Affiliate Links

Fastmail. Email where you are the customer, not the product. Loads of features, smooth no-nonsense web interface, plus calendar and contact hosting. They've been around for 20 years and I've been a customer for over 10. Use this link and get 10% off your first year and I get around 30c/month you remain a customer.

Aussie Broadband. Great customer service and responsive to community needs (they have an "unofficial" Discord, they publish their CVC!). I've been a customer since 2017 and don't plan on going anywhere. Use my referral code (1001031) to get $50 credit when signing up for an NBN plan and I get $50 credit towards my next bill.

Vultr. All my Australian-based hosting needs (3x VPSes) are handled by Vultr. Easy to use admin interface, automatic backups, built-in firewall, custom ISO support and reasonable prices. Sign up with my link and score US$100 credit. I get US$35 credit if you're active for 14+ days and use at least US$35.

## Always Was, Always Will Be Aboriginal Land

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.