### Issue 1656 - Monday 25th July, 2022

## In Today's Issue

- Huawei gear used by Chinese spies to monitor USA's nuclear arsenal, potentially
- VIC government agencies doing a poor job securing data they give to third parties
- Free electricity during the day is one way to handle the solar duck curve
- Chrome OS Flex is now stable on a bunch of "old" desktop and laptop computers
- Cheap Ryzen CPUs, Apple gift cards, AirPods Pro, Echo Show 8, Microsoft 365, Razer Kiyo webcam, APC UPS

## The News

### Huawei gear used by Chinese spies to monitor USA's nuclear arsenal, potentially

CNN has a story about Huawei "routinely selling cheap equipment to rural providers in cases that appeared to be unprofitable for Huawei — but which placed its equipment near military assets". An example given in the article is Viaero, who service a large, but mostly sparse area in the middle of the USA that also happens to have dozens of ICBM facilities. What a coincidence! On these towers were also security cameras, also provided on the cheap by Chinese suppliers, that "were also inadvertently capturing the movement of US military equipment and personnel". Another nice coincidence! As usual with Huawei there's no concrete evidence their equipment is leveraged by Chinese spy agencies, but we know the USA does it, so the likelihood China does it too is pretty damn high.

### government agencies doing a poor job securing data they give to third parties

The Office of the Victorian Information Commission audited DELWP, DJPR, TAC and WorkSafe Victoria to see how "public sector information" given to third parties is handled. If you don't know, "public sector information" is a phrase used for the vague category of data generated or owned by a department. It's likely not personally identifiable information (PII), but still risky when combined with other data sources these third parties might get their hands on. Anyways, you probably won't be shocked to learn that "none of the organisations were considered 'effective' across all four audit criteria". Lots of "partially effective" going on in OVIC's assessment.

### Free electricity during the day is one way to handle the solar duck curve

Victorian electricity distributors CitiPower, Powercor and United Energy are testing a new tariff with "free" electricity between 10AM and 3PM. The Daytime Saver network tariff is designed to encourage retailers to offer plans that encourage customers to soak up all the excess electricity during daylight hours generated by rooftop solar panels - a problem known as the "duck curve" - instead of the distributor upgrading infrastructure to handle the unused electricity that has to go somewhere. It also allows people that cannot install solar on their roof (renters, apartments, townhouses, etc) to enjoy the benefits of solar energy. I don't know how to get in on this trial tariff, but I would like to!

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Chrome OS Flex is now stable on a bunch of "old" desktop and laptop computers

I know we all loathe Google and they're evil data vultures and whatnot, but you gotta admit Chrome OS is pretty good. A glorified web browser with deep integration into Google's ecoystem is all the computer many people need and Chrome OS Flex lets you do that on any old laptop you've got floating around. Pretty much any Dell, Lenovo or HP laptop made in the last decade is now certified for Chrome OS Flex and will get years of updates. These laptops are also super cheap to buy refurbished off eBay if you just want something basic to browse the web with. If you need to manage a fleet of these things, Chrome Enterprise is US$50/yr per device.

## Bargains

- AMD Ryzen 5 5600, Ryzen 7 5700G, Ryzen 7 5700X CPUs - $237/$371/$377 from PLE
- 10% off Apple gift cards (can be used at Apple's online store or on the App/iTunes store) at Card.Gift
- Apple AirPods Pro with Magsafe Charging Case - $309 from Amazon
- 1,000 Bonus Flybuys Points on $50 or $100 Google Play cards and JB Hi-Fi gift cards at Coles
- Amazon Echo Show 8 (2nd Gen) - $119.40 from Amazon
- Microsoft 365: Family Digital (6 Users, 1 Year) subscription - $98 from SaveOnIT
- Razer Kiyo USB webcam with built-in ring light - $69 from Amazon
- APC BX950MI 950VA UPS - $156.04 from Shopping Express' eBay store

## The End

📻 Judith - A Perfect Circle

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The Sizzle is created on Wathaurong land and acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia, recognising their continuing connection to land, water and community. I pay my respect to them and their cultures and to elders both past and present.