### Issue 1790 - Tuesday 21st February, 2023

## In Today's Issue

- Google is paying Apple for searches made in the iOS version of Chrome and nobody is admitting to it
- NBN to increase fixed wireless speeds and Starlink tests "global roaming"
- Attorney-General to reform Mandatory Data Retention Regime & close access loopholes
- 300W USB charger, AMD Noise Suppression, iPad power user demo, offline Stack Overflow, Tinyproxy tutorial
- Cheap Bethesda PC games, Coles Mobile, Xiaomi clock temp & humidity sensor, PS5, GL.iNet wi-fi router, WD SSD, Nintendo Switch, Anker USB charger, Audio Technica mic, free Boost Mobile SIM, Samsung 49" monitor

## The News

### Google is paying Apple for searches made in the iOS version of Chrome and nobody is admitting to it

The Register reckons that UK's Competition and Markets Authority has uncovered that Google is giving Apple money for searches done in the iOS version of Chrome. They've paid Apple (and other browser developers) billions of dollars for searches made in Safari in return for being made the default search engine, but Google paying Apple for searches made in Google's own Chrome web browser on iOS is a new discovery. One theory is that Google pays Apple this bizarre fee to ensure Apple doesn't make its own search engine to compete with Google. Neither Apple or Google has confirmed any of this, but would anyone be surprised there would be such a cosy arrangement?

### NBN to increase fixed wireless speeds and Starlink tests "global roaming"

NBN briefly mentioned in a senate estimates hearing last week that they're gonna bump up speeds on fixed wireless connections. There will be two tiers - Home Fast (100/20) with speeds between 100-130MBps down and 8-20MBps up, plus Home Superfast that will be capable of 200-325Mbps down and the same piddling 8-20Mbps up. The download speeds are great and will be super useful for those in the fixed wireless footprint, but what is with NBN and their pathetic upload speeds?! Meanwhile, Starlink is testing a "Global Roaming" service that'll cost US$200/m and "allows your Starlink to connect from almost anywhere on land in the world".

### Attorney-General to reform Mandatory Data Retention Regime & close access loopholes

One of the most batshit crazy aspects of the already batshit crazy metadata retention laws passed in 2015, was a loophole that allowed pissant government bodies like the Veterinary Surgeons Board of WA, Victorian Fisheries, the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority and every local council in the country also has access. After many years of potential abuse, the Mandatory Data Retention Regime is finally getting some love from the Attorney-General. Along with closing this huge loophole, some planned reforms also include forcing telcos to store the data they collect in Australia and further clarifying what is content and what is metadata.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### 300W USB charger, AMD Noise Suppression, iPad power user demo, offline Stack Overflow, Tinyproxy tutorial

- A 300W GaN USB charger. 6x ports. 3x of them are USB-C and support up to 100W output each. The other three a combination of up to 60W each. It's still only a pre-order and will set you back $220 before shipping, but an impressive beast.
- Want the cool noise suppression feature in Nvidia's RTX line of graphics card, but playing for team red (AMD)? Good news - AMD made their own version that's compatible with RX 6000 series GPUs and Ryzen 6000-series mobile CPUs with RDNA 2 GPUs.
- This is an impressive video of someone I would consider a power user of an iPad, going over the new features in iPad OS 16. Absolutely next level stuff. I didn't even know "digital journaling" was a thing people did! A very "aesthetic" setup as the kids say these days.
- Stack Overflow is making an offline version of its website called Overflow Offline that's regularly updated and designed to be used where there's no internet. Handy for people in prisons, South Pole research stations and remote schooling situations.
- Here's a quick tutorial on setting up Tinyproxy on a cheap VPS so you can pretend to be in a different country online. Switch between your various proxies quickly with the SwitchyOmega Chrome extension. Quicker and easier than a VPN if all you want is to bypass geolocation restrictions.

## Bargains

- Build your own bundle of various Bethesda PC games - 3x games for $15.89, 5x for $23.79 from Fanatical
- Coles Mobile 120GB pre-paid SIM - $119 from Coles
- Xiaomi Mi Temperature and Humidity Monitor Clock - $25.60 from Luckymi's eBay store
- PlayStation 5 Disc Console + God of War Ragnarok Bundle - $786.90 from Big W's eBay store
- GL.iNet GL-AX1800 (Flint) Wi-Fi 6 Router - $136.90 from Amazon
- WD Black SN770 1TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD & $20 Mastercard gift card - $119 from Shopping Express Clearance's eBay store
- Nintendo Switch Console - $359.20 from Big W's eBay store
- Anker USB-C (543) Charger 65W 4-Port Slim PIQ 3.0 & GaN Charger - $59.99 from Amazon
- Audio Technica AT2020USB+ Microphone - $99 at JB Hi-Fi
- Boost Mobile 28-day SIM with 45GB data - free + $3 Cashrewards credit via Cashrewards
- Samsung 49" Odyssey Neo G9 Curved QLED 5120x1440 Gaming Monitor - $2099 from Samsung

## Image Of The Day

People stop off a highway near a mobile phone antenna tower to try to get a signal after the area was hit by Hurricane Maria in Dorado, Puerto Rico, on September 25, 2017. The island's already-stressed electric grid was enormously damaged by the storm, and as of early December, two months later, only about 65 percent of the power has been restored, with authorities cautioning that it may take several more months to reach 95 percent. (Alvin Baez / Reuters)

## The End

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