### Issue 1535 - Friday 28th January, 2022

## In Today's Issue

- Neil Young removes all his songs off Spotify beacuse of Joe Rogan
- Apple had an all-time record quarter in terms of revenue
- Kia releases specs and pricing for EV6
- The days of generous solar feed-in tariffs are going and will be gone by 2025
- Friday Forum Update
- Cheap 49" monitor, refurb Bose NC700 headphones, Logitech MX Keys, Audio Technica AT2020 mic, Razer Kiyo X webcam, Red Dead Redemption 2, Ryzen 5900X CPU

## The News

### Neil Young removes all his songs off Spotify beacuse of Joe Rogan

Neil Young is a popular musician that is so pissed off about Joe Rogan "spreading fake information about vaccines" on his equally, if not more popular Spotify exclusive podcast, Mr. Young told his management "to let Spotify know immediately TODAY that I want all my music off their platform", further adding that "they can have Rogan or Young. Not both". Well, Spotify chose Rogan and his 11 million regular listeners. Good on Neil Young for not wanting to give his creative work to a company he disagrees with and good on Joe Rogan for making life difficult for Spotify, because I like seeing mega billion dollar corporations having to decide between art, principles and money.

### Apple had an all-time record quarter in terms of revenue

Just when you think the rich couldn't get richer, Apple posts an all time quarterly revenue record for Q1 2022 - US$123.9b flew out of our pockets and into Apple's bank accounts in October, November and December 2021. There was a profit of US$34.6b on that revenue. A$6,000 a second of profit. You blinked and Apple made six grand of profit. Fuck me dead. Some highlights: Mac revenue is at an all time high - 25% growth compared to Q4 2020 quarter. China now makes up 21% of Apple's revenue - almost the same as Europe's 24%. Services, stuff like iCloud, Apple Music, App Store revenue, etc is now 15% of Apple's overall revenue - but the iPhone is still 58%. Unrelated except for the fact it's an iPhone feature, the beta for iOS 15.4 has an option to use Face ID whilst wearing a mask, at the cost of reduced security.

### Kia releases specs and pricing for EV6

Kia released Australian pricing and specs for their fancy new EV6 electric car. The "base model" EV6 Air clocks in at an RRP of $67,990, has a WLTP range of 528km and has had rave reviews overseas. It's party trick is an 800V battery system, meaning it can add ~370km range in just 18 minutes when hooked up to an 800V charger (which exist on the main inter-capital-city routes in Australia). They'll start shipping next month, but too bad if you want one this year, as "only 500 vehicles were allocated to the Australian market between now and the end of the year", but Kia has received "received no fewer than 1800 firm orders". The ongoing semiconductor shortage, weak EV incentives compared to Europe and battery supply constraints don't make selling an EV in Australia easy.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### The days of generous solar feed-in tariffs are going and will be gone by 2025

You might have heard about a "solar tax"/export tariff (i.e: you pay to export instead of getting paid) possibly getting implemented for residential rooftop solar exports. Because there's shitloads of homes with solar panels now, on a sunny day between 11am and 2pm there's more power getting exported to the grid than the grid can handle and the grid owners don't want to pay for upgrades. The Australian Energy Regulator has released a draft about what to do about this and according to Solar Quotes, it's a pretty reasonable solution. The charges must "only recover costs" and the grid owners have to justify them. There will also have to be "a basic solar export service" available at no charge. Nothing will happen until 2025 at the earliest, 2026 in VIC.

## 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.

- wolfjay is curious about using a projector instead of a TV to improve the aesthetics of their room
- 12vdc is a tall person and wants a nice comfortable office chair that'll see them through a day of work
- coljac has a rant about Bluetooth sucking that I think all of us can identify with
- anthons has tried many weather apps for iOS but still hasn't found one they like
- devraj posted an update on development of their 3rd party client for Hydrawise smart wi-fi irrigation controllers

## Bargains

- PRISM+ X490 PRO 49" curved monitor, 5120x1440 VA panel - $1479 from PRISM+
- Refurbished Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 - $369.95 from Bose
- Logitech MX Keys wireless keyboard - $158 from LogitechShop's eBay store
- Audio Technica AT2020 XLR condenser microphone - $100.64 from Amazon
- Razer Kiyo X webcam - $65 from Mwave
- Red Dead Redemption II for PS4 - $29 from Amazon
- AMD Ryzen 9 5900X CPU - $670.02 from gg.tech365's eBay store

## The End

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