### Issue 1568 - Thursday 17th March, 2022

## In Today's Issue

- Google starts ID checks for Australian YouTube users
- Linktree is worth over a billion dollars now
- ESPN broadcast of NBA game is first live volumetric video
- Solar installers love Fronius inverters and Sunpower panels
- Lots of eBay deals in the Afterpay Day sales, cheap Huawei Band 6 and Anker Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro wireless earbuds

## The News

### Google starts ID checks for Australian YouTube users

Google Australia is forcing all users to make a Google account if they want to watch age-restricted videos or download age-restricted content on Google Play and "may be asked to provide additional proof of age when attempting to watch mature content". This is a direct result of the Australian Online Safety (Restricted Access Systems) Declaration. You might think it's no big deal, everyone has a Google account and kiddies shouldn't be watching "mature content", but imagine being a 16 or 17 and wanting a peek at some content that some adult decided isn't for you. What a frustrating time to be a kid. Plus like, Google harvesting and storing more info on you just so you can watch a video or download an app, fuck that noise.

### Linktree is worth over a billion dollars now

The common "link in bio" refrain in people's Instagram posts is now a billion dollar business. Yep, Linktree (an Australian mob, I just found out) got a fresh US$110m investment that values their company at one point three billion United States dollars. LinkTree is literally a webpage you sign up for and chuck on a bunch of links to stuff. Popular with influencer types who want a quick way to link to all their social media, online store, affiliate programs and so on. They make money charging for additional features. Such a simple idea, executed well, that took off beyond anyone's expectations. I'm not jealous or bitter, no not me.

### ESPN broadcast of NBA game is first live volumetric video

Last night's Nets vs Mavericks NBA game is the first volumetric video of a live sports game. What the fuck is volumetric video? I'll let The Verge explain: "110 data capturing cameras placed around the court to carefully track player movement. Then it combines that data in real-time with 3D models that have been built of each player, and renders it, very similar to how things would work while you're playing NBA 2K. That creates the ability for virtual camera operators to show off the action from any angle they want to, as virtual cameras swoop around the floor like drones". Here's a video of the output. It's like a reverse video game.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Solar installers love Fronius inverters and Sunpower panels

Looking to get a solar power system installed at your home, but all the panel and inverter brands leave you confused? Solar Quotes' latest installer survey has you covered. They asked their large panel of installers which panels and inverters they like working with best. The results for inverters are pretty clear - Fronius (installers love em), or if you're on a budget Sungrow. For the panels it was a bit more varied with Sunpower the "if money is no object" recommendation. Trina and Jinko were very close in the value for money area. Sungrow and Jinko panels seems like a good way to achieve quick ROI on the investment.

## Bargains

All the following deals are on eBay and to get the price listed here you need to pay with Afterpay.

- Voll S8 Subwoofer - $170
- Elgato Stream Deck (15 Keys) MK1 - $176
- LG OLED48C1PTB 48" OLED TV - $1695.75 + delivery
- Ubiquiti Unifi Dream Machine Pro - $533.80
- Apple AirPods Pro - $297.97
- Samsung 980 PRO 1TB/2TB M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD - $194.56/$373.06
- Nintendo Switch OLED - $424.15
- Xbox Series S 512GB Console - $424.15
- AMD Ryzen 5 5900X or Ryzen 5 5600X CPUs - $594.15/$284.75
- Dell S2721QS 27" 4K mointor - $319
- Apple MacBook Air 13" M1 8GB RAM 256GB SSD/512GB SSD - $1253.75/$1,554.65
- Apple Mac Mini M1 8GB RAM 256GB SSD/512GB SSD - $913.75/$1,189.15
- Gigabyte RTX 3080 Gaming Box (watercooled GPU in a Thunderbolt 3 external enclosure) - $1444.06
- Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3060 Ti VISION OC 8G R2.0 8GB - $687.65

Non eBay stuff:

- Huawei Band 6 - $69 from Amazon
- Anker Soundcore Liberty 3 Pro wireless earbuds - $209.99 from Amazon

## The End

📻 I Piss Alone - Regurgitator

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