### Issue 1300 - Tuesday 9th February, 2021

## In Today's Issue

- dshdfghd
- Yet another Google Play Store app hijacked with malware & Apple dev uncovers loads of scam apps raking in big cash
- TGA semi-approve Apple Watch ECG & SpaceX Starlink available for Australian pre-ordering
- Multiple somethings I saw on the internet
- Cheap Dell 27" gaming monitor, iPhone Mini 12, various LEGO sets, Telstra SIM-only 24m contract, Google Nest Wi-Fi 3-pack

## The News

### dsfg4gds

The price of Bitcoin spiked in the last 24 hours, but unlike most other spikes we know why this one happened - Tesla told their investors that they're holding over US$1.5b worth of the cryptocurrency and that they "expect to begin accepting bitcoin as a form of payment for our products in the near future, subject to applicable laws and initially on a limited basis". According to their SEC filing, Tesla simply thought Bitcoin was a good investment and changed its policies in early 2021 to allow it to invest its cash reserve "in certain alternative reserve assets including digital assets, gold bullion, gold exchange-traded funds and other assets". I get the feeling Musky boy is doing this just to impress the memelords he is so fond of.

### Yet another Google Play Store app hijacked with malware & Apple dev uncovers loads of scam apps raking in big cash

Google has taken down an app called Barcode Scanner which had 10 million downloads because of "customers complaining that ads were opening out of nowhere on their default browser". Apparently the developer deliberately installed a persistent adware trojan. Meanwhile, app developer Kosta Eleftheriou has discovered dozens of scam apps on Apple's App Store that generate millions of dollars a year. Shitty devs poorly clone popular apps, juice the App Store rankings by buying loads of fake reviews, slap in overpriced subscriptions and go unnoticed by Apple whilst raking in cash. You'd think that one benefit of having an overlord like Google or Apple controlling every piece of software loaded on our devices is that the software wouldn't try and fuck you.

### TGA semi-approve Apple Watch ECG & SpaceX Starlink available for Australian pre-ordering

Looks like the Therapeutic Goods Administration is getting close to approving the Apple Watch's ECG feature. The irregular rhythm notifications feature has been added to the TGA's register for use here, which works hand in hand with the ECG feature, so you'd assume that the whole kit is coming soon. Also in things other countries have before us, SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet is now available to pre-order for Australians. It'll be $139 a month for unlimited data (during the beta at least), $709 for the dish and router, plus $100 to ship it to you. As a reminder, real world speeds have been around 50-150mb/s and latency between 20ms-40ms. Shitloads better than NBN's Skymuster. If you sign up for this lemme know, keen to see how it works here!

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Multiple somethings I saw on the internet

- A "real-time" PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X stock tracker for Australia. This gets all the console retailers websites in the one spot and auto-refreshes them. Shame it can't notify you when what you want is in stock.
- This virtual tour of the Texas Advanced Computing Center at the University of Texas Austin, which houses the 9th and 25th fastest computer in the world. Pretty cool to wander around the facility that makes these computing beasts tick.
- The USA's National Park Service finally has a single app for all their parks and monuments. Still not as good as their printed maps IMHO, but nice to have it all in the one spot at least.
- Spotify running on a classic iPod thanks to a Raspberry Pi Zero W shoehorned inside with custom software to replicate the original iPod interface. Impressive piece of hacking! All the instructions and software are online if you're keen to make one yourself.
- An app called Controlly that lets you use a PlayStation 4 DualShock controller to do various shortcuts on a Mac. Fully customistable to pick any shortcut and map it to any button on the controller. Dunno what I'd use it for, but surely has to be useful for someone.

## Bargains

- Dell S2721DGF 27" IPS 165Hz gaming monitor - $482.99 from Dell
- iPhone Mini 12 64GB - $1149 at Big W (get Officeworks to price match for an extra 5% off)
- 20% off lots of LEGO sets at Big W's online store
- Telstra SIM-only 24m contract with 40GB/data month & 5G access - $45/m from Telstra online
- Google Nest Wi-Fi 3-pack - $469 from Bing Lee (again, can get Officeworks to price match if you're keen)

## The End

📻 Bambi - Prince

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