### Issue 1725 - Wednesday 2nd November, 2022

## In Today's Issue

- Elon's first Twitter product brainfart is asking for $8/m to get a blue tick
- Tiangong space station is functionally complete with the addition of Mengtian module
- Australian Apple retail workers to strike again after 67% reject Apple's latest workplace agreement
- Albert Park EV owner installs Australia's first private pop-up kerbside charger
- Cheap Creative T60 desktop speakers, Sony A7C camera, Mi Band 7, Kindle Paperwhite, ThinkPad E15, OECK VPN plans, bonus Pixel 6a if you buy a Pixel 7/7 Pro from Optus, Seagate 8TB HDD, Optus 4G wi-fi modem, Sigma 35mm Art lens for Sony

## The News

### Elon's first Twitter product brainfart is asking for $8/m to get a blue tick

Elon Musk has announced the first tangible change on Twitter since he's taken over - increasing the price of Twitter Blue to US$8/m and including account verification (don't know how much actual verification will happen), priority in replies, mentions, and search, the ability to post long video and audio and half as many ads. Not no ads at all, just half the ads, you still see ads even though you're paying. According to Elon this "is the only way to defeat the bots & trolls". I doubt it will do a thing to improve user's timelines, but it's a good excuse to increase the price and entice/force people to pay to be verified, because as the New York Times explains, "Twitter is generating less money per year than what it owes its lenders" in interest for the loans Elon took out to buy it.

### Tiangong space station is functionally complete with the addition of Mengtian module

China has completed construction of its Tiangong ("palace in the sky") space station. It's smaller than the International Space Station, consisting of three modules - Tianhe (core module for life support, living quarters, power, etc), Wentian (science experiments and backups for the core module) and Mengtian (more science experiments, mechanical arm). Tiangong has a design life of 10-15 years and currently has 3 people (Liu Yang, Cai Xuzhe & Chen Dong) onboard. Wikipedia is the best source of info about Tiangong as China's National Space Administration and Manned Space Program English websites have no information about this momentous occasion! Their space program is kicking goals, but their PR game is weak. NASA would have a mini-site and loads of high-res media ready to go, with a live cam and trackers you can stare at for days.

### Australian Apple retail workers to strike again after 67% reject Apple's latest workplace agreement

Apple's Australian retail stores are going back on strike after 68% of them rejected the latest workplace agreement offer in a ballot 87% of Apple's 4,000 retail workers voted in. I don't know exactly what Apple is offering its employees besides "17% above the industry minimum and that full-time workers get guaranteed weekends", but the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union reckons "Apple is insisting on paying less than the minimum Award wage, without set rosters, and without any work/life balance. While inflation is over 7%, Apple refuses any increase for most workers and for others they are proposing 2.8% in November 2023. This is a massive real wage cut". Keep up the fight comrades. Apple can do so much better.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Albert Park EV owner installs Australia's first private pop-up kerbside charger

The first private kerbside EV charger in Melbourne, I think also the first in Australia, just got installed in Albert Park. The in-ground pop-up Kerbcharge unit received approval from the City of Port Philip and was installed in the footpath in front of a home. Unlike other kerbside charging installs (like these lamp posts in Sydney), this unit is for private use. They cut into the footpath and ran a wire to the home owner's switchboard. Only the owner has a key to unlock the bit in the ground that pops up. No mention of cost in the article or on Kerbcharge's website, but I'd estimate it to be at least $7,000. Expensive and not ideal, but it's way better than running a cable along footpath.

## Bargains

- Creative T60 2.0 Desktop Speakers - $109.95 from Creative
- Sony A7C digital camera (body only) - $1959.20 after Sony cashback from digiDirect's eBay store
- Global Version Xiaomi Mi Band 7 - $57 from Hekka
- Kindle Paperwhite 8GB - $199 from Amazon, JB, Officeworks
- Lenovo ThinkPad E15 Laptop (Ryzen 5625U, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) - $887.20 from Lenovo
- 15% off all OECK VPN plans - e.g: 12 months for $106
- Bonus Google Pixel 6a When You Buy a Pixel 7 or Pixel 7 Pro on an Eligible SIM Plan from Optus
- Seagate 8TB IronWolf 3.5" NAS HDD - $240 from Amazon
- Optus 4G Wi-Fi Modem (Alcatel MW41CL) with 15GB 28-day pre-paid SIM - $34 from Optus
- Sigma 35mm F/1.4 DG DN Sony E Art Series lens - $999.20 from digiDirect's eBay store

## Image Of The Day

Bill Gates Unplugged. Software, CD-ROM, 1993. (National Museum of American History)

## The End

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