### Issue 1747 - Friday 2nd December, 2022

## In Today's Issue

- Elon gives update on Neuralink (not much) and first customer Tesla Semis leave factory
- Apple refusing Coinbase Wallet's latest update unless they use IAP for NFT transfers
- TrustCor removed as a certificate authority by Mozilla & Microsoft after spyware links exposed
- The Southern Positioning Augmentation Network will give Australians even more accurate GPS
- Friday Forum Update
- Cheap Kmart ring light, 1st-gen Apple Watch SE, Fitbit Inspire 2

## The News

### Elon gives update on Neuralink (not much) and first customer Tesla Semis leave factory

Elon's been busy with some non-Twitter related stuff. Yesterday it was giving us an update on Neuralink, the company he co-founded (i.e: funded) to do brain-computer interface neuroprosthetics. According to Arstechnica, the "most significant difference from years prior is the level of detail involved in the surgical robot" (to implant the device) and that they will conduct human testing in 6 months - but who really believes Elon's timelines for anything? Case in point, the first batch of Tesla Semi trucks were finally delivered to launch customer Pepsi today, three years later than Elon initially claimed. Still, better late than never and as someone that knows fuck all about trucks, it looks like a cool truck.

### Apple refusing Coinbase Wallet's latest update unless they use IAP for NFT transfers

One of the most popular smartphone cryptocurrency wallets, Coinbase Wallet, can't update its app until it removes the ability to transfer NFTs because Apple wants a 30% cut of the "gas" (aka transaction fees) when you transfer an NFT. Coinbase reckon "this is clearly not possible. Apple's proprietary In-App Purchase system does not support crypto so we couldn't comply even if we tried" and that "this is akin to Apple trying to take a cut of fees for every email that gets sent over open Internet protocols". I loathe NFTs as much as the next person, but Apple is once again taking the piss here. Apple had practically nothing to do with this transaction except for the fact the person instigating it did it on an iOS device. Apple has clearly entered the boomer landlord phase of its life.

### TrustCor removed as a certificate authority by Mozilla & Microsoft after spyware links exposed

Mozilla and Microsoft will remove TrustCor Systems as a certificate authority from their browsers after it was revealed TrustCor is involved in operating large spyware SDK. This means any SSL certificate that was signed by TrustCor will no longer be valid in Firefox or Edge (dunno about Chrome). TrustCor was evasive and unconvincing in its answers to everyone's questions about their business setup, so Mozilla and Microsoft decided to revoke TrustCor's CA status. CAs are supposed to be trustworthy organisations considering the role they play in internet security, so having a business that makes spyware also be a root CA is obviously a Bad Idea. I don't thing TrustCor was a very big CA but still, concerning this went on for so long.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### The Southern Positioning Augmentation Network will give Australians even more accurate GPS

Australia has been freeloading off Japan's Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) to enhance the accuracy of GNSS (aka GPS) operations. Because we are in the same longitude as Japan it is essentially "free" to tap into when their satellites pass over us, but it didn't cover all of Australia. Well we won't have to rely on QZSS anymore as back in September Geoscience Australia announced that the Southern Positioning Augmentation Network (SouthPAN) is open for early access. It'll provide accuracy down to 10cm as well as navigation messages. By 2028 it will be a certified "Safety of Life Service". More info that's mostly over my head, is available on the Geoscience Australia website.

## Friday Forum Update

Here's five interesting discussions over on The Sizzle's paid subscriber forum for you to enjoy over the weekend. If you are not a paid subscriber but want to get involved, visit https://thesizzle.com.au/payme to get onboard.

- andyb kicked off a thread to dump your feelings about Elon Musks's takeover of Twitter
- warkolm puts a face to the widespread tech layoffs now that the economy isn't overflowing with cheap debt
- I'm a bite late in mentioning this, but dalan started a thread about the 2022 Advent of Code, a series of "25 coding challenges leading up to Christmas"
- fuzzygel is having problems with the free-to-air EPG in Plex's DVR functionality
- Pete wants us to remember Kathleen Booth, who died recently at age 100. She was the inventor of assembly language and was one of the early researchers into neural networks.

## Bargains

- Anko 12-inch Fill Light Stand - $19 at Kmart
- Apple Watch SE 40mm (1st Generation) GPS + Cellular - $295 from The Good Guys
- Fitbit Inspire 2 Fitness Tracker - $64 from Mobileciti's eBay store

## Image Of The Day

CSIRO researchers have developed a system for rapidly generating text for electronic catalogues. It is unique in that it produces text which is based on specific information about the intended reader - such as educational level, language skills or professional experience. This ensures that the right information is presented to users in a timely and meaningful way, taking account of their needs and interests. (scienceimage)

## The End

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