### Issue 2206 - Wednesday 30th October, 2024

## In Today's Issue

- New Mac mini is good and cheap
- 44% of NSW insitutions have no data breach policy
- What's going on with Aussie telcos & RCS support?
- 3G network shutdown continues
- Cheap Adobe Creative Cloud, Proton subscriptions

## The News

### New Mac mini is good and cheap

The Mac mini got a big spec bump and a new case, essentially turning it into a little Mac Studio with an M4 SoC. All the specs and shit are on Apple's website, but what surprised me the most is the price - it's not exorbitant for once. With an EDU discount and 10% off Apple gift cards, the base model with 16GB of RAM is just $734. I don't think a brand new Mac that's actually usable has ever been that cheap. The M4 SoC is no slouch either. Amazing value for money, not a phrase you usually hear when talking about Apple. Apple couldn't help being Apple though, and put the power button in a really awkward spot underneath the computer.

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### 44% of NSW insitutions have no data breach policy

A "desktop review" by the NSW Information and Privacy Commission found that 44% of entities that legally have to report data breaches to the government, "did not have a publicly available, published data breach policy or one that could be located". The law came into effect November 2023 and there's a 12 month "transition period", which if you've looked at a calendar lately, would know is coming to a quick end. Of the "94 entities reviewed, 23 councils, 11 NSW government agencies, four state-owned corporations and three universities were found not to have a policy". The commission also found "similar problems with updates to the privacy management policy being either partially complete or non-compliant". I can't believe this shit still isn't taken seriously by these institutions in 2024.

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### What's going on with Aussie telcos & RCS support?

If you're wondering when Aussie telcos will support RCS now that both Android and iOS support it, The Age asked our mobile network operators what their plans are. TPG said "We are currently reviewing the implementation of RCS on iOS18 and are building it into our product roadmap. We will keep our customers updated". Telstra said, "RCS “remains on our radar as we continue to work with our device partners to explore and enable technologies that will improve the experience for customers on Telstra's network" and Optus said "nothing to share at this time". According to a bloke interviewed in the article, "Australia's major telcos were still in confidential negotiations with Google about commercial terms ahead of a likely 2025 launch date". I think this means they're all going to use Google's Jibe platform to enable RCS support?

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## Something I Saw On The Internet

### 3G network shutdown continues

We are over 48 hours into the 3G network shutdown and I'm yet to see a single news article about someone caught out due to their phone not working. I know Telstra at least hasn't shut down the 3G network in Victoria, as an old 3G phone of mine still has signal, but I would have assumed that by now at least one or two states would have no 3G coverage. The bloke that wrote that big blog post about the Emergency Call Service Amendment Determination and lack of VoLTE profiles for overseas phones made a Google Form & public Sheet where you can submit if your phone got shitlisted and see a list of the phones blocked. Telstra has a website where you can enter a device's IMEI and check if it's been blocked yet because it can't call 000.

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## Bargains

- Adobe Creative Cloud All Apps - $43.99/m for 12 months via Adobe
- Proton Mail Plus - $40 for 12 months, bunch of other Proton subscriptions (e.g: Unlimited for $129) also available

## Image Of The Day

NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, both Expedition 71 Flght Engineers, make pizza aboard the International Space Station's galley located inside the Unity module. Items are attached to the galley using tape and velcro to keep them from flying away in the microgravity environment. (NASA Johnson / Flickr)

## The End

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