### Issue 1628 - Wednesday 15th June, 2022

## In Today's Issue

- Large Australian retailers sneakily using face recognition tech in stores
- Tasmania to get its very own Bitcoin farm in a former lead & zinc mine
- Gran Turismo movie, Jay-Z's cryptocurrency school, Microsoft adds games to Teams
- Syria, Sudan and Algeria turn off internet while students study for exams
- Cheap Huion drawing tablet, AudioTechnica headphone & mic bundle, Thunderbolt 3 cable, Fire TV Stick 4K Max, Xiaomi battery, refurb HP PCs

## The News

### Large Australian retailers sneakily using face recognition tech in stores

Choice has highlighted the use of facial recognition technologies by Kmart, Bunnings and The Good Guys. Bunnings uses the tech at select stores to "identify persons of interest who have previously been involved in incidents of concern", Kmart for "loss prevention or store safety purposes" and The Good Guys invade customer privacy for "security, theft prevention, and managing and improving the customer experience". Choice reckons "these retail businesses are disproportionate in their over collection of this information", which is likely a breach of the Privacy Act and are referring them to the Australian Information Commissioner, which will probably amount to fuck all as the law and regulator on this stuff is weak as piss.

### Tasmania to get its very own Bitcoin farm in a former lead & zinc mine

The abandoned Que River lead and zinc mine in Tasmania is going to turn into a huge Bitcoin mine after a company called Tasmanian Data Infrastructure purchased it. The actual mine is of no use to the new owners, it's the 40MVA transformer and proximity to a TasNetworks substation, along with the cool climate and cheap hydroelectricity that's attracted them. TDI aims to install three containers, each with 650 ASIC Bitcoin miners inside and eventually the mine will host 10,000 miners. What a waste of good hydroelectricity. Wonder what kind of security this site has? Can't be that hard to manufacture explosives can it? Bob Brown isn't busy these days is he?

### Gran Turismo movie, Jay-Z's cryptocurrency school, Microsoft adds games to Teams

- Sony's gonna make a movie based on Gran Turismo and Neil Blomkamp (District 9, Chappie) is gonna direct it. What the fuck would a Gran Turismo movie be about? "Based on a true story, the film is the ultimate wish fulfillment tale of a teenage Gran Turismo player whose gaming skills won a series of Nissan competitions to become an actual professional race car driver". I will probably watch this when it comes out in August 2023.
- I like Jay-Z's music so it pains me to say that he has been cryptopilled. Mr. Carter hooked up with Jack Dorsey to start "a bitcoin-focused financial literacy project named The Bitcoin Academy" that will operate in the Marcy Houses public housing complex in New York where Jay-Z grew up. They'll teach people "about Bitcoin, how it works, why you should care, and how to build your own financial future". What can possibly go wrong?
- You will soon be able to play Solitaire, Connect 4, and Wordament with colleagues during meetings as Microsoft looks to throw more garbage in the dumpster fire that is Teams. Something about team building and remote working and virtual spaces. Microsoft also wants to add 3D avatars and "immersive meetings" to Teams. Praise Allah that I don't have to use Teams on a regular basis.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Syria, Sudan and Algeria turn off internet while students study for exams

Cloudflare has noticed a few countries deliberately shutting down or restricting access to the internet as secondary school students prepare for exams. They say it's to help kids study and avoid cheating. I doubt it works, but that's the justification. Syrian internet traffic drops to zero on the days before exams. Sudan is similar, but keeps some traffic flowing, likely for public sector/finance reasons. Algeria used to 100% shutdowns, but after realising they were losing US$3.4m of economic activity every hour the internet is down, they've restricted access to certain sites instead of a wholesale shutdown. Can you imagine ACMA telling ISPs in Australia to turn off the internet because the kids are doing the VCE tomorrow? Absolutely mental.

## Bargains

- Huion Kamvas Pro 12 graphics tablet - $349 from Huion
- Audio-Technica ATH-M50x & Antlion Modmic bundle - $199 from Mwave
- Cabletime Thunderbolt 3 USB-C 40Gbps 100W PD Cable 0.5m - $21 from Aliexpress
- Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max - $69 from JB Hi-Fi & The Good Guys
- Xiaomi QB826G 25Ah USB powerbank & charging cable - $129.99 from Amazon
- Refurb HP Elitedesk 800 G2 Mini (i5-6500T, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD) - $179 + delivery from FusetechAU
- Refurb HP Prodesk 400 G5 (i5-8500, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) - $311.22 from bneacttrader's eBay store

## The End

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