### Issue 1938 - Friday 22nd September, 2023

## In Today's Issue

- New Surface laptops and updates to Windows 11 that'll jam Copilot AI in every corner
- Optus continues to whinge about streaming services using too much bandwidth
- Cisco owns Splunk, Android 14 turns phone into USB webcam, NSW govt cuts game & Powerhouse museum funding, YouTube tests AI suggestions for creators, WSJ looks at why Apple can't drop Qualcomm
- Kagi has a US$10/m unlimited sesarch plan now
- Friday Forum Update
- Cheap Ultimate gift cards, Sonos One SL pair, Ryzen CPU, Death Stranding for PS5, Belkin 3-in-1 MagSafe charger, PS5 Disc console, Withings smart scale, eufy 2K video doorbell & homebase, TCL TV & soundbar

## The News

### New Surface laptops and updates to Windows 11 that'll jam Copilot AI in every corner

Today is Microsoft's turn to dump a bunch of new announcements on the world. Hardware wise, there's a Surface Laptop Studio 2, Surface Laptop Go 3, Surface Go 4 and Surface Hub 3. Basically the same laptops and tablets as before but with better CPUs and GPUs. On the software side of things, they're gonna shove Copilot everywhere. Windows 11, Microsoft 365, Outlook, Edge, Bing - you name it, it's gonna get "your everyday AI companion". It'll come as part of Windows 11 22H2 on September 26th and also includes an update to the Photos app to do background blur, the Snipping Tool will be able to detect text and copy it (like macOS's Preview), an updated File Explorer UI, an updated Windows Backup, Notepad will auto-save session states, a new version of Outlook for Windows and more.

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### Optus continues to whinge about streaming services using too much bandwidth

In a submission to a senate inquiry on the "influence of international digital platforms", Optus continues ranting that "some streaming services charge customers extra for improved stream quality, streamers do not contribute financially to the costs associated with the traffic carried by telecommunications providers on their behalf", claiming that "up to 80 percent of peak period traffic" was streaming services (i.e: Netflix, Amazon, Apple, etc). Some brain farts Optus came up with include: "a fee, managed by the ACCC", a "negotiated settlement of costs" like the Media Bargaining Code, or a "levy where streamers pay into a central infrastructure fund that's then divided up among telcos".

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### Cisco owns Splunk, Android 14 turns phone into USB webcam, NSW govt cuts game & Powerhouse museum funding, YouTube tests AI suggestions for creators, WSJ looks at why Apple can't drop Qualcomm

- Splunk isn't a household name, but Cisco is and they just spent US$28b to buy Splunk. According to Wikipedia they "produce software for searching, monitoring, and analyzing machine-generated data via a web-style interface".
- Android 14 (coming early October) will allow a smartphone to act as a USB Video Class device that can plug into a computer via USB and act as a classic webcam. The instructions to do this don't seem very user friendly, but it's a thing.
- The NSW state government cut $190m from arts and game development programs in its 2023-2024 budget. This also includes halving the budget for redeveloping the Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo from $500m to $250m.
- YouTube's testing "a new generative AI-powered tool in YouTube Studio that suggests video topics, making the brainstorming process easier for content creators". Here's a suggestion - if you can't think of something to create, don't create anything.
- The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article about the pain Apple has gone through to detach itself from Qualcomm (that Gruber reckons is a "planted narrative from Qualcomm") and make its own LTE/5G radio chip.

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## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Kagi has a US$10/m unlimited sesarch plan now

It's no secret I'm a big fan of the Kagi search engine, having made it my primary search engine on all my devices for a few months now and loving it. Whenever I mentioned it to someone they'd be open to the idea for paying for a not-shit search engine, but freaked out at the concept of a certain number of searches per month and going over it. The vast majority of those people wildly overestimated how many searches they did a month (I rarely did more than 800/m, went over 1,000/m once), but now Kagi has a new plan that gives you unlimited searches for US$10/m or US$108/yr. They also have a US$5/m plan with 300 searches a month and a Family/Duo plan if there's other people close to you that also want to use Kagi. There's never been a better time to see what's out there besides stupid old Google.

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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.

- mkeating had a look at NBN's 2023 annual report
- dstreefkerk is after opinions on Samsung's Frame TVs
- Some interesting stuff for sale at the moment, like Thunderbolt to 10GbE adapters, free Cisco networking gear & cabinet, a Blue Yeti USB mic and more
- Lots of people discussing their new iPhone 15s in this thread
- Ditto this thread about iOS 17 and Apple's other software updates

## Bargains

- Don't forget that you can still get 15% off gift cards that can be used in-store at JB Hi-Fi, The Good Guys and Officeworks.
- 2x Sonos One SL speakers - $499 at JB Hi-Fi
- AMD Ryzen 7 5800X CPU - $279.52 from Computer Alliance's eBay store
- Death Stranding: Director's Cut for PS5 - $29 from JB & Amazon
- Belkin WIZ016AUBK MagSafe 3-in-1 Wireless Charging Pad (black) - $109 from Amazon
- PlayStation 5 Disc Console - $678 at Amazon and JB Hi-Fi
- Withings Body Smart Scale Body+ Smart Scale - $89 from Amazon
- eufy Dual Camera Wireless 2K Video Doorbell with Homebase 2 - $369.75 from Amazon
- TCL C845 65" 4K TV plus a TCL S522W 2.1 soundbar and 6 months free Kayo/Binge - $1737.40 from JB Hi-Fi

## Image Of The Day

Texas Instrument Book: Mastering the TI-99. ISBN: 0744700086 (Jason Scott / Internet Archive)

## The End

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