### Issue 1266 - Tuesday 8th December, 2020

## In Today's Issue

- AWS to open Melbourne region in 2022
- Opal digital wallet trial begins in NSW
- Uber gets out of the robocar game
- Tuesday lunchtime bookmark cleaning session
- 10% off JB gift cards, 10% off Nintendo eShop gift cards, 15% off iTunes gift cards, Bose Portable Smart Speaker, Bose 700 NC headphones, 20% store credit at Sydney Tools

## The News

### AWS to open Melbourne region in 2022

In the second half of 2022, Melbourne will be joining Sydney as an additional Australian region for Amazon Web Services. You can shave a few extra milliseconds off accessing AWS services and have dual region redundancy whilst keeping all your crap in Australia. According to iTnews, the Melbourne regional "is expected to offer the same suite of 92 Information Security Registered Assessor Program (IRAP) certified AWS services currently offered in the Sydney region". In a blog post, Amazon said the Melbourne datacentre will be "powered" by 100% renewable energy, by investing in 165MW of renewable energy projects that should cover the datacentre's yearly usage.

### Opal digital wallet trial begins in NSW

Wallet hating New South Welshians will be delighted to know that their public transport ticketing system, Opal, is getting a digital card trial. Unlike the bums in Public Transport Victoria, Transport for New South Wales is doing whatever Apple wants in order for Opal to work on iOS devices. The trial is limited to 10,000 people so if you're super keen, hit up the TfNSW website and tell them you want to be part of the 12-month trial program. Android users take note: Samsung devices with NFC running Android 8+ only.

### Uber gets out of the robocar game

Uber has given up on robocars and given its Advanced Technologies Group to another robocar company, Aurora in some sort of equity swap which ends up in Uber investing US$400m in Aurora. Uber spent over US$1b on the ATG and killed a person trying to develop a self-driving car platform. Aurora has deals with Hyundai, Fiat Chrysler and Toyota to create the software a robocar needs. I always assumed robocars were pivotal to Uber being profitable one day, removing meatbags in the drivers seat as their main expense. I guess not.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Tuesday lunchtime bookmark cleaning session

- Apple Music is now available on Google Assistant so you can listen to Apple Music stuff via your Nest speakers.
- Hewlett Packard Enterprise is leaving Silicon Valley, setting up in Houston. Pour one out for a Valley OG.
- NBN has added a thing to their website to get a quote on what it would cost to upgrade your shit copper to nice fiber.
- I never owned an Amiga, so this article on the fine details that "made the Amiga great" was a fun read. If I was my age back in the 80s, I probably would have rocked an Amiga.
- Hey! Please Unsubscribe is a service you forward your emails to and they'll unsubscribe you from that email. I don't know how high it scales as they're paying a kid $15/hr to do it manually, but I like the idea.

## Bargains

- 10% off Him/Her gift cards at Woolworths, that can be used at JB Hi-Fi
- Bose 700 noise cancelling wireless headphones - $359 from Amazon
- Bose Portable Smart Speaker - $345 from Amazon
- 15% off iTunes gift cards or 10% off Nintendo eShop gift cards at Big W
- 20% store credit when spending between $250-$5000 at Sydney Tools on Thursday

## The End

📻 The Dream - Thee Oh Sees

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