# In This Issue

- Phone towers in Melbourne, Adelaide & NZ getting torched by nutters who think they’re spreading COVID-19

- Melbourne universities set world record for data transmission

- Google testing end-to-end encryption for RCS messaging

- App notarisation is making macOS Catalina slower than it should be

- Cheap AirPods Pro, PS Plus sub, Death Stranding, DualShock 4 controller, 10% off iTunes credit, Sonos Ones, Optus 12m SIM, 12m MUBI & TuneIn Premium subs

# News

#### Phone towers in Melbourne, Adelaide & NZ getting torched by nutters who think they’re spreading COVID-19

Australians indoctrinated by crazy people and/or trolls on Facebook have set fire to mobile phone towers in Adelaide and Melbourne. This trend of destroying "5G towers" (most of the towers set alight aren't 5G) began in the UK, where over 50 towers were destroyed because according to random Facebook groups, COVID-19 is being spread by 5G towers. New Zealand isn't immune either, with over 14 "attacks" on mobile phone infrastructure according to the NZ Telecommunications Forum. Meanwhile, a poll conducted by Yahoo News/YouGov in the USA has found that 75% of Fox News viewers and Donald Trump supporters believe Bill Gates wants to use a COVID-19 vaccination campaign to implant tracking microchips. What the hell is going on?

#### Melbourne universities set world record for data transmission

Monash, Swinburne, and RMIT universities have set a new internet speed record. They pushed 44.2 terabits of data per second over a 75km loop (RMIT's city campus to Monash's Clayton campus) through the same kinds of optical fiber cables the NBN uses. They're using something called a "optical micro-comb" that allows for data to be transmitted with many frequencies of light at the same time. It's still a while away from being commercialised, but how ironic we've got some the best researchers in the world for fibre optic transmission technology, yet our NBN is predominately copper based at the last mile. If we rolled out fibre to the last mile instead we'd have enough bandwidth for decades! Anyway, don't get me started on that ratshit NBN, here's the journal article if you're keen to know more.

#### Google testing end-to-end encryption for RCS messaging

Looks like Google is getting ready to stick it up the Five Eyes spy gang and implement end-to-end encryption for RCS - the successor to SMS. 9to5 Google discovered this in some internal builds of Google Messages that got leaked. RCS is the default messaging protocol in most Android phones now (if your network supports it, which can be hit or miss), so if Google does add end-to-end encryption to RCS and makes it the default messaging format, a huge chunk of text communication becomes invisible to law enforcement. It would be great it Apple added RCS support to iMessage, so when you send a message to an Android user it's encrypted. Apple and Google wouldn't win any friends in government for doing this, but it would put some real weight behind the "we care about your privacy" message Apple loves to spout.

# Not News

#### App notarisation is making macOS Catalina slower than it should be

Are you using macOS 10.15 Catalina and finding things that were once instant are now taking multiple seconds to occur? Stuff like opening files, accessing the keychain or opening downloaded files? Allan Odgaard reckons it's due to app notarisation. Every time you launch an app or do certain things in an app, macOS checks if the app is approved by Apple to do its thing. After the first run the approval/blockage is cached, but often the cache is emptied so it has to get approval again. This happens over the internet to Apple's servers in Cupertino and sometimes that just craps out, so you're waiting seconds for something that should be instant, or worse, your Mac crashes. Jeff Johnson adds some more detail to this annoying "feature" of Catalina.

# Bargains

- Apple AirPods Pro - $327 from Mobileciti’s eBay store using the code PAYIN4 and paying with AfterPay

- PlayStation Plus 12 month subscription - $55.95 at Amazon & JB Hi-Fi (if you’ve never used the Amazon smartphone app, get it and you’ll be able to claim an additional $10 off the subscription!)

- Death Stranding - $34 at Amazon AU & JB Hi-Fi

- PS4 DualShock 4 controller with a free game (lots to pick from!) - $78 at Amazon AU

- Buy App Store/iTunes credit on your iOS device directly from Apple and get 10% off

- Get two Sonos One speakers from the Qantas Store for $498 and 2000 QFF points

- Optus 12m pre-paid SIM with 120GB of data - $150

- Free 12m sub to MUBI and TuneIn Premium if you go on a free 30-day trial of Scribd

🎶 High Rise -Ladytron

😁 The Sizzle is curated by Anthony "@decryption" Agius and emailed every weekday afternoon. Join us on Slack and chat with other Sizzle subscribers.

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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.​