### Issue 1955 - Wednesday 18th October, 2023

## In Today's Issue

- ACCC approves NBN special access undertaking, locks in annual price rises
- Victorian road usage fee declared invalid by High Court
- Rumours of a Signal 0-day are false
- New Apple Pencil, Elgato Teleprompter, Krix LX-7 soundbar
- Cheap Diablo IV, Ultimate eGift Cards, Zero Latency VR (Gold Coast), Sennheiser IE 600/900 earphones

## The News

### ACCC approves NBN special access undertaking, locks in annual price rises

After two years of back and forth between ISPs and NBN, the ACCC has finally approved the NBN Special Access Undertaking - a lengthy document that "sets the rules for how broadband providers will access the NBN over the coming decades and will apply until 2040". According to the ACCC's executive summary of the SAU (the full 368 page SAU is on NBN's website if you're keen), the most popular 50 Mbps wholesale plan price will go up immediately, but the 25 Mbps and 100 Mbps plans will go down a bit. From now until FY2023, wholesale pricing increases will be capped by the Consumer Price Index or 5%, whichever is greater - so expect 5% annual increases to your internet plans as ISPs pass this cost on to us. Awesome.

⬆ Share or Discuss

### Victorian road usage fee declared invalid by High Court

The High Court has declared that Victoria's zero and low emission vehicles road-user charge is invalid because they determined it to be an excise and only the Commonwealth can do that. Here's the High Court's statement and here's the full decision. The decision was released about 30 min ago so the Victorian government hasn't made a statement yet, but you'd assume it puts an end to VicRoads collecting the fee from all ZLEV drivers and hopefully, a refund on the money they illegally collected. It also means that the federal government now has to hurry up and come up with a replacement for the fuel excise at a national level - like it should have done years ago when hybrids and fuel efficient vehicles were already chipping away at fuel excise revenue.

⬆ Share or Discuss

### Rumours of a Signal 0-day are false

You may have seen info floating around the internet that Signal has a zero-day vulnerability that allows for remote device takeovers and the best way to mitigate it is to turn off link previews. Signal posted to Twitter that "after responsible investigation *we have no evidence that suggests this vulnerability is real* nor has any additional info been shared via our official reporting channels. We also checked with people across US Government, since the copy-paste report claimed USG as a source. Those we spoke to have no info suggesting this is a valid claim". No harm in disabling link previews as a precaution, but just goes to show how bullshit can spread quickly.

⬆ Share or Discuss

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### New Apple Pencil, Elgato Teleprompter, Krix LX-7 soundbar

- There's a new Apple Pencil - "Apple Pencil (USB-C)" for $139 that is being sold alongside "Apple Pencil (2nd generation)" for $219 and "Apple Pencil (1st generation)" for $159. The new USB-C one has a sliding cap to reveal the USB-C port but lacks pressure sensitivity, wireless pairing/charging or a double tap tool selection feature.
- Elgato's got a fancy teleprompter designed to take your video production to the next level. Screws on to the lens of your camera and includes software to display text. Also looks like an excellent way to do a video conference while maintaining eye contact with the camera and seeing the other people at the same time. Is available now on Elgato's website for US$280.
- Krix, probably Australia's best speaker manufacturer, is getting into the soundbar game with the LX-7. It's essentially the left, centre and right channels of a surround setup in a soundbar shaped enclosure and is tonally matched to the rest of Krix's speakers. You still need an AVR as the LX-7 doesn't contain an amplifier and it costs $4,995.
⬆ Share or Discuss

## Bargains

- Diablo IV for PC - $82.46 on Steam
- 8% off Ultimate eGift Cards (JB, Officeworks, Good Guys, EB, etc. etc.) at Amazon
- 40% off Zero Latency VR gaming at their Gold Coast location
- Sennheiser IE 900 in-Ear Earphones - $1327.17 from Sennheier's eBay store
- Sennheiser IE 600 in-Ear Earphones - $787.67 from Sennheier's eBay store

## Image Of The Day

The Shine Dome, Australian Academy of Science, Canberra (The Australian National University)

## The End

📻 Hello, Hi - Ty Segall

😎 The Sizzle is curated by Anthony "decryption" Agius and emailed every weekday afternoon.

💬 Checked out the paid subscriber only forum? It's a tidy little place to discuss tech with like minded Aussies.

👋 Forums not your thing? The Sizzle has a Slack group you can procrastinate in and chat with other nerds bored at work.

💳 Paid subscriber looking to manage your billing info, change email address or cancel your subscription? Visit the customer portal.

🎁 Make someone's day and buy them a 12 month gift subscription to The Sizzle.

📚 Browse The Sizzle Archive. A few issues are missing and it's not searchable, but it's better than nothing.

🫂 Friends of The Sizzle is a small group of businesses or organisations operated by Sizzle subscribers. Support your fellow Sizzler!

💔 Tired of my bullshit? Unsubscribe and I'll never speak to you again.

## Always Was, Always Will Be Aboriginal Land

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.