### Issue 1690 - Friday 9th September, 2022

## In Today's Issue

- Commonwealth Ombudsman finds "serious compliance issues" with telco metadata access regime
- Some EV news for World EV day
- Laurene Powell Jobs & friends start the Steve Jobs Archive
- What happens if Facebook just disappeared one day?
- Friday Forum Update
- Cheap Bose & Sennheiser headphones, Gran Turismo 7, Google Pixel 6 Pro 128GB, Nest Hub 2nd Gen, Chromecast with Google TV, Fetch Mini Gen3 or refurb Fetch Mighty, Belkin GaN 108W USB charger

## The News

### Commonwealth Ombudsman finds "serious compliance issues" with telco metadata access regime

A report by the Commonwealth Ombudsman has found "serious compliance issues" with law enforcement and government agency access to telco metadata and content. Most of the issues were coppers getting their hands on the entire "stored communications" instead of "only" the metadata or the officers not clearly having "sufficient information" to make the request in the first place. They made "29 recommendations in relation to 6 agencies" along with "386 suggestions and 116 better practice suggestions across the agencies inspected". Unfortunately this is the third straight year issues have increased, a worrying trend. NSW Police is the least compliant, receiving 9 of the 29 recommendations.

### Some EV news for World EV day

Today is World Electric Vehicle Day, so here's some recent-ish EV related news:

- Google Maps is getting the option to provide "eco-friendly" routes and if you tell Google you're driving an EV, they'll give you the route that uses the least energy. Not sure when it will be available locally.
- ARENA has given $871,000 to Intellihub, who will start a trial of installing 50 kerb side EV chargers on power-poles in the Sydney. This will be very useful for those without off-street parking.
- All the states and territories have registered their support for Victoria in a High Court case against its collection of an "EV tax". The federal government is supporting the plaintiffs Kathleen Davies & Chris Vanderstock.
- The Tesla Model Y was locally tested by ANCAP and it got a 5-star rating, along with "a 98% score in the Safety Assist pillar and the highest Adult Occupant Protection score to date". Handy for when Autopilot drives into oncoming traffic.

### Laurene Powell Jobs & friends start the Steve Jobs Archive

Laurene Powell Jobs, Jony Ive, and Tim Cook announced at the Code conference yesterday that they're starting the Steve Jobs Archive. It's a website collecting media (video, audio, photos, emails, texts, interviews, etc) of Steve. Laurene said "my hope is that the Archive will be a place to draw inspiration from Steve’s life and work, spurring new generations to make their own contributions to our common future". There's not much on there now, but I assume over time they'll fill it up with all the media they can about Steve, including stuff we've never seen before. The archive is also "building programs, fellowships, collections, and partnerships that reflect Steve's values and carry his sense of possibility forward".

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### What happens if Facebook just disappeared one day?

Two years ago (I'm still sifting through my 2,000+ bookmarks) Gizmodo asked a bunch of academics and a VC dude a delightful hypothetical question - "what might happen if Zuckerberg were to suddenly delete all of Facebook". Almost all the responses saw this as a positive thing and fantasise about the prospect of new entrants in the social media area. Perhaps ones that learn from Facebook's mistakes around addiction, black patterns and data hoarding. A few responses touch on lonely people becoming even lonelier if Facebook went away. Some people (maybe millions) actually do use it to nurture friendships. I kinda forget that.

## Friday Forum Update

Here's five interesting discussions over on The Sizzle's paid subscriber forum for you to enjoy over the weekend. If you are not a paid subscriber but want to get involved, visit https://thesizzle.com.au/payme to get onboard.

- oldgregg needs someone to design a logo for their business
- adamxweb has started a list of "Australian based apps, software, and providers" on GitHub
- gabors has an old Asus Eee PC and wants to know if there's anything useful it can do in 2022
- Anthony (not me!) needs a TV for their small boardroom at work
- mattd is selling a nice 27" monitor for a good price if you're in Melbourne

## Bargains

- Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 - $334 from David Jones
- Gran Turismo 7 for PS4 - $44.50 at Target
- Google Pixel 6 Pro 128GB, Nest Hub 2nd Gen, Chromecast with Google TV - $1049/$99/$79 from the Google Store
- Fetch Mini Gen3 or refurb Fetch Mighty - $99 ea from Fetch TV
- Sennheiser HD 250BT wireless headphones - $49 from Amazon
- Belkin BoostCharge Pro 4-Port GaN Charger 108W - $96 from Amazon

## 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.