# In This Issue

- People freaked out that COVIDSafe said they tested positive but it was just poorly written UI

- Californian judge tells Uber that their drivers are employees, not contractors

- Blockchain powered Smart Trade Marks are now a thing and the NRL is first to use it

- Woz is turning 70 and putting on what appears to be a live streaming telethon

- Cheap Macs at JB, Woolworths Mobile 12m SIM, some Call of Duty game on PS4

# News

#### People freaked out that COVIDSafe said they tested positive but it was just poorly written UI

Apparently in early versions of COVIDSafe when you pressed the "Has a health official asked you to upload your information" button, it would pop up a screen with a header saying "You have tested positive for COVID-19". Enough people accidentally pressed the button, got freaked out by the "you got the roni!!" message and went to the GP, that the NSW Health department wrote to the federal health department asking them to change the wording. If a DTA insider doesn't write a tell-all book in 5 years time about all the crazy anecdotes like this regarding COVIDSafe's development, I will be very disappointed.

#### Californian judge tells Uber that their drivers are employees, not contractors

A San Francisco Superior Court judge has ruled that drivers for Uber and Lyft are employees, not independent contractors, as determined by California's new "ABC test". They've appealed so nothing will change in the short term, but it's interesting to see the gig economy that was made possible by smartphones, get interpreted differently in the US than it is in Australia. The Australian Fair Work Ombudsman looked into Uber drivers a year ago and came to the opposite conclusion, saying that "Uber Australia does not require drivers to perform work at particular times and this was a key factor in our assessment that the commercial arrangement between the company and the drivers does not amount to an employment relationship".

#### Blockchain powered Smart Trade Marks are now a thing and the NRL is first to use it

IP Australia and the NRL are testing a Smart Trade Mark where punters can look for a "trust badge" on websites to see if who they're dealing with has permission to use the trade mark. Scroll down to the bottom of the NRL's merch website and look for the "Smart Trade Mark" logo. Click it and you get a pop-up saying the trade mark is verified for use on nrlshop.com. Apparently this uses the blockchain somehow to "connect information about the trade mark, such as who the owner is and where it has been used digitally". I think the point is to make sure only the registered user of a trademark can use it online? If someone smarter than me has more info please drop by The Sizzle's Slack channel and fill me in.

# Not News

#### Woz is turning 70 and putting on what appears to be a live streaming telethon

It's Steve Wozniak's 70th birthday today and to celebrate it he's having an online stream that kicks off at 10AM tomorrow. I guess because of COVID-19? Kinda looks like he's running a telethon to raise money for a children's charity and has a shitload of guests lined up. Andy Hertzfelt, Chris Rock, David Copperfield, Shaq, William Shatner and heaps of others. No idea what will be happening but it's Woz so I will watch on with curiosity. Unrelated, but I also found out that Woz is in a US version of Gogglebox - how weird is that? This is a dude living his best life.

# Bargains

- Woolworths Mobile (semi-gimped Telstra network) 12m SIM with 84GB of data - $150, plus 10% off your groceries each month and you can reduce the price by $20 with ShopBack and a further $10 by using a Wish giftcard

- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare for PS4 - $65 from the PlayStation store

- 10% off Macs at JB Hi-Fi until 11:59pm on the 13th of August

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