### Issue 1603 - Tuesday 10th May, 2022

## In Today's Issue

- Match Group suing Google over lack of 3rd party payment options on the Play Store
- Apple's manufacturer of MBPs and Mac Studio is struggling with lockdowns & riots
- LNP is floating the idea of a digital skills passport
- Jony Ive's Hermes measuring tape is the funniest thing I've read this week
- Cheap Coles & Boost pre-paid SIMs, Klipsch subwoofer, Fosi Audio amp, Lenovo ThinkPad E15, Samsung The Frame TV, Eufy video doorbell, Rollercoaster Tycoon, Fire TV stick, Samsung microSD & SSDs

## The News

### Match Group suing Google over lack of 3rd party payment options on the Play Store

Match Group, better known for dating apps Tinder and OkCupid, is doing an Epic and suing Google over the requirement to use Google's payment platform in the Play Store for Android apps. Match argues that Google "monopolized the market for Android app distribution with Google Play by riding the coattails of the most popular app developers, Google sought to ban alternative in-app payment processing services so it could take a cut of nearly every in-app transaction on Android". Unlike Apple, Google has dropped its cut to a more palatable 15% and recently began a pilot with Spotify to add third party billing providers on the Play Store, which Match tried to be part of but was told to get lost.

### Apple's manufacturer of MBPs and Mac Studio is struggling with lockdowns & riots

Waiting for a built to order MacBook Pro or Mac Studio to come from China? You might be waiting a little while longer as Quanta, the manufacturer of these machines for Apple (and the sole manufacturer for the MBPs at least), is struggling to ramp up after the latest easing of COVID lockdowns across China. As of early May Quanta's manufacturing output is only at 30% capacity and are hoping to get to 50% capacity "gradually" - no word on when it will hit 100%. According to Tom's Hardware there was a riot in the Quanta factory, regarding "working conditions, with employees doing extended shifts, living, sleeping and eating on the premises". Worker riots tend to reduce output, yep.

### LNP is floating the idea of a digital skills passport

Another day, another tech-related election campaign brainfart from a political party. Today's is a "digital skills passport". The government will work with the Australian Technology Network of Universities to create "a single digital record of university and VET qualifications", that will initially cover "tech skills such as cybersecurity and coding" before getting expanded to other skills after the the $5m pilot program. Apparently this will help close "the skills gap". WA company MyPass seems to be doing this already, but aims it at jobs that have mandatory qualifications, not so much tech jobs that in my experience are hired on the basis of "promise on your mum's grave that you know how to use this (insert app/platform/framework here)? Cool, you start tomorrow!".

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Jony Ive's Hermes measuring tape is the funniest thing I've read this week

Jony Ive has popped up in the news today, appearing as guest editor of the Financial Times' How to Spend it magazine. He published a list of his favourite tools. As you'd expect for someone of Jony's caliber and in a magazine literally called "How to Spend It" in the Financial Times, the tools are exorbitantly priced. 100 quid for a bloody eraser! An $800 torque wrench! The coup de grace however, is a fucken Hermes measuring tape worth US$530, lol. I can just imagine Jony going around the Apple design lab with that obscenity, measuring up the latest designs some underling churned out. Who even knew Hermes had measuring tapes???

## Bargains

- Coles Mobile 365-day SIM with 120GB data - $119 from Coles
- Klipsch R-100SW Subwoofer - $454 from West Coast Hifi
- Fosi Audio TDA7498E 2-ch amplifier - $72 from Fosi Audio
- Lenovo ThinkPad E15 Gen 3 (15" 1080p, Ryzen 7 5700U, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) - $1099 from Lenovo
- Samsung The Frame QLED 4K Smart TV (2021) 65" - $1499 from Samsung
- Eufy Video Doorbell 2k (Battery) Plus Home Base 2 - $270 from Amazon or Bunnings
- RollerCoaster Tycoon Deluxe or Rollercoaster Tycoon 2: Triple Thrill Pack for PC on Steam - $3.99/$7.25 from Fanatical
- Boost Mobile 260GB 365-day pre-paid SIM - $230.66 from catch.ozoffers1's eBay store (look in the OzB comments for this price)
- Amazon Fire TV 4K Max - $64 at JB Hi-Fi
- Samsung 64GB EVO Plus MicroSD Card - $11.95 from Shopping Square
- Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD - $138.10 from Amazon USA

## The End

📻 Nothing Is Always - WAAX

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