### Issue 1841 - Tuesday 9th May, 2023

## In Today's Issue

- A glimmer of hope for Julian Assange to return to Australia a free man
- Niantic has a new AR game where you raise and breed virtual pets
- Elon Musk Shenanigans, part 900
- Finnish newspaper makes CS:GO map so Russians can get the truth about Ukraine
- Cheap Rode wireless mic, PCIe SSDs, Sony cashback, Telstra points Amazon Prime, Disney+ cashback, used Dell 22" monitors, GL.iNet router, iPad Pro

## The News

### A glimmer of hope for Julian Assange to return to Australia a free man

I don't write about Julian Assange much here as he's kinda transcended being a tech topic, but he is an old school hacker (Suelette Dreyfus' Underground made a big impression on me back in the 90s) I'm sympathetic to. He's had a bit of good luck lately as according to a report in the SMH, the Parliamentary Friends of Julian Assange Group managed to snag a "working breakfast" with US ambassador to Australia, Caroline Kennedy on the topic of the USA dropping its extradition of Julian from the UK (the reason he's still in a UK prison). The Prime Minister recently commented that "enough is enough" regarding Assange and even Peter Dutton agrees, so fingers crossed when President Biden visits Sydney later in May, they can all work something out to bring Julian home at last.

### Niantic has a new AR game where you raise and breed virtual pets

Niantic, the developer of the extremely popular augmented reality game Pokemon Go has a new title for the world to enjoy - Peridot. It's a "real-world adventure pet game where you care for one-of-a-kind adorable creatures, raise them to adulthood as you explore the world together, and re-diversify their species". The little critters look like Pokemon to me, but instead of hunting and fighting them (is that what you do in Pokemon Go?) you have to "pet, play, feed, and teach them tricks to keep them healthy and help them grow" as well as "band together and collaborate with other players around the world" to "breed your one-of-a-kind creatures and discover the infinite possibilities of Peridot archetypes". Gotcha, raise the digital beast and pimp it out. Fun game.

### Elon Musk Shenanigans, part 900

Slow news day, so here's some Elon Musk related news:

- Twitter has a new policy where they can "purge" your account and free up the username for others to register if you don't log in every 30 days. That's certainly one way to boost MAU stats. I don't want someone taking my Twitter username, so I'll keep logging in.
- The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Musk has a new mantra for Twitter that he's pitching to advertisers - "unregretted user-minutes". How you measure this, dunno, but it's what Twitter is apparently optimising for now.
- Tesla announced that they're building their own lithium refinery in Texas to "produce lithium for about a million vehicles and produce more battery grade lithium than the rest of North American refining capacity combined".
- A group of US Senators sent a letter to Elon describing how Tesla's consumer arbitration agreements have built "a black box around any concerns drivers may have on the safety of Tesla's vehicles", limiting the NHTSA's investigation into Tesla vehicle safety.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Finnish newspaper makes CS:GO map so Russians can get the truth about Ukraine

Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat has found a unique way to get real (well as real as real is when it comes to war zone reporting) news about Russia's atrocities in Ukraine into Russia - CS:GO. They paid two custom map designers to create a map with a hidden room, so "when a player dies on the de_voyna map, they're able to freely roam the space and find an underground room near a flame (which has symbolic significance as a war memorial). Once they enter, they'll see newspaper headlines about the war in Ukraine—including the massacre in Bucha, where mass graves have been discovered. A map details the locations in Ukraine that Russian soldiers have attacked, and a table lists the number of Russians who have been killed. Another station tells the story of the Ukrainian civilian Yuriy Glodan, whose family was killed by a missile strike while he was shopping for groceries". Innovative.

## Bargains

- Rode Wireless Go II wireless mic system - $319.20 from digiDirect's ebay store
- Samsung 980 PCIe NVMe SSD 500GB - $39 + delivery from Centrecom
- Lexar NM790 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD - $79 from BPC Tech
- PNY CS2241 4TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD - $279 + delivery from BPC Tech
- 13% cashback from Sony's online store (no minimum, no cap, some exclusions - i.e: PlayStation) via Cashrewards
- Cash in 24,000 Telstra Plus rewards points for a 12 month Amazon Prime membership
- $15 cashback on an annual Disney+ subscription via ShopBack
- Used Dell P2219H 22" 1080p monitor - $84 from UN Tech
- GL.iNet Slate AX (GL-AXT1800) portable router - $164.25 from Amazon
- Apple iPad Pro 11" (4th-gen) wi-fi 128GB/256GB - $1188/$1334.60 from Wireless1's eBay store

## Image Of The Day

Stock Photo 55019 (Jason Scott / Flickr)

## The End

📻 Fuct - Money

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## 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.