### Issue 2066 - Friday 12th April, 2024

## In Today's Issue

- Reviews of Humane's AI Pin are brutal
- Apple begins process to end parts pairing on iPhones
- Insta to blur nudes in DMs, DuckDuckGo to sell a "privacy pro" subscription, 4TB SD cards are a thing
- The Internet Archive has backed up Aruba's cultural heritage
- Friday Forum Update
- Cheap Sennheiser soundbar, UE Boom speaker, Terramaster NAS, refurb Dynabook laptop, Big LAN XII tickets, LG 24" monitor, AirPods Max, Logitech mech keeb

## The News

### Reviews of Humane's AI Pin are brutal

Reviews of Humane's AI Pin are now live. As I expected, you can't trust the answers this thing provides or the actions it does based on how it interprets your command. Just like ChatGPT, Gemini or CoPilot, you're regularly given responses that sound true but when you actually pay attention to what it is saying, are wrong in a way that you probably won't realise unless you already know the answer - that's useless at best, dangerous at worst. The AI Pin also runs really hot and shuts down randomly, the projection screen is impossible to see in a bright environment and is slow to respond to commands. If you believe that one day LLMs/AI will be reliable (that's a big if), then Humane's AI Pin is a very early alpha version of what the future might hold.

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### Apple begins process to end parts pairing on iPhones

This might be common knowledge, but Apple has a form of DRM on various iPhone and iPad parts so you can't, for example, take a camera from an iPhone with a busted screen and use that camera in an iPhone with a stuffed camera. It's something indie repair joints and environmentalists have complained about for years but now that the US state of Oregon has passed laws banning this practice, Apple has announced it will start taking steps to stop doing it. It's unknown how old of an iPhone they'll allow this to work on, and we don't know which parts they'll permit to be re-used, but it's better than nothing.

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### Insta to blur nudes in DMs, DuckDuckGo to sell a "privacy pro" subscription, 4TB SD cards are a thing

- Instagram has a new feature to blur nude images sent in DMs, along with a warning message "telling them not to feel pressured to respond, alongside options to block and report the sender". It'll be enabled by default for teenage users and adult users will be "encouraged" to turn it on.
- DuckDuckGo has a US$9.99/m "Privacy Pro" subscription (US-only) that bundles a VPN along with Personal Information Removal that "finds and removes personal details from data broker sites" and Identity Theft Restoration that "helps restore stolen accounts" and can "assist in recovering resulting financial losses".
- It's never been easier to store 4TB of data in your colon thanks to SanDisk's new 4TB SD card. It's not the fastest card around, supporting only Class 10 and V30 speeds, but if you want the most data in the smallest package this is it. You'll have to wait until 2025 as it uses Western Digital's cutting edge BiCS 9 NAND.

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## Something I Saw On The Internet

### The Internet Archive has backed up Aruba's cultural heritage

I adore the Internet Archive and I think a few of you know this because you sent me a link to this story on Wired about them "backing up" an entire country. The IA has worked with the Aruba government to host a digitised version of its "National Library, National Archives, and other institutions including an archaeology museum and the University of Aruba". Those institutions provided the content and digitisation work, while the IA provided software and expertise that was beyond the small island nation's capability. You can check it out in the Aruba Collection. God bless the Internet Archive for providing a haven on the internet for this kinda stuff.

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## 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.

- smeghead let us know about a nice AFL app for iOS that uses the Dynamic Island and can show scores on your lock screen
- Baa bumped the baby tech recommendations thread as they're after any gear that'll make life easier
- lenjet asks about those cheap CarPlay screens on AliExpress/Amazon and if they're any good
- zuccs is after a way to get Spotify Premium cheaper now that the prices are going up ($23.99/m for family)
- netizen is still stumped by a Windows 11 error message stating their "side-by-side configuration is incorrect"

## Bargains

- Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar Plus - $1116 from Amazon
- Ultimate Ears BOOM 3 Bluetooth speaker - $131.74 from Amazon
- TerraMaster F4-423 NAS (Intel N5095, 2x NVMe, 2x 2.5GbE LAN, 4GB RAM, 4x 3.5" bays) - $558.99 from Amazon
- Refurb Dynabook Portege X30w-J laptop (i5-1135G7, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, 1080p touch screen, B-grade) - $339 from Australian Computer Traders
- The Big LAN XII, April 13th, Mitcham VIC - $27.05 BYO PC via The Big LAN
- LG 24MK430H-B 24" 1080p IPS monitor - $112 from Amazon
- Apple AirPods Max headphones - $759 from Amazon
- Logitech MX Mechanical Wireless Keyboard Tactile Quiet - $174.21 from Amazon

## Image Of The Day

There has been talk of hackers everywhere in the media for some time now. And when people say "hackers" in this country, they usually mean members of the Chaos Computer Club Hamburg and its offshoots. Be it the DM 130,000 coup at the Hamburger Sparkasse or the various appearances on Tagesschau, Frank Elstner and elsewhere: they have been widely reported on. Here, for the first time, is a book about them. Not only about the how of hacking, but also about the why. (retroGfx / Internet Archive)

## The End

📻 You Took Everything - Mrs. Piss

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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.