### Issue 1658 - Wednesday 27th July, 2022

## In Today's Issue

- Coinbase under SEC investigation again, this time for trading unregistered securities
- Russia to quit International Space Station in 2024
- Instagram boss confirms it's turning into a TikTok clone
- Did you know you should get your solar panels serviced every 2 years? I didn't
- Cheap Samsung Endurance microSD cards, Samsung USB-C flash drives, Logitech MX Anywhere mouse, Ryzen 7 5700X CPU, 5% Apple store cashback

## The News

### Coinbase under SEC investigation again, this time for trading unregistered securities

Fresh off one of its senior employees getting indicted for insider trading, Coinbase is under SEC investigation again. The allegation now is that Coinbase "illegitimately let users trade digital assets that haven't been registered as securities". To be fair to Coinbase, this is kind of a legal grey area. Crypto-related projects are often funded by token sales that Coinbase lists on its exchange. These tokens could be interpreted as securities (i.e: shares in a business) as the amount of tokens/coins you own relates to your portion of the business and gives you control over how the business is run, but the tokens/coins themselves are classified as commodities. Sounds like a fucken mess.

### Russia to quit International Space Station in 2024

Roscosmos has announced they "would not be renewing its current commitment to the International Space Station, which ends in 2024". Makes sense considering they aren't exactly mates with the US right now over that whole Ukraine thing. The USA also no longer needs Russia to ferry cargo and humans between Earth and the ISS (thanks SpaceX), so any leverage Russia had is totally gone. Apparently the boss of Roscosmos told Putin that Russia "will begin to form the Russian orbital station" by 2024. Maybe they'll merge it with the Chinese one that's also under construction? Will NASA take control of the modules Russia abandons? Either way, it's sad to see the International Space Station become a bit less international.

### Instagram boss confirms it's turning into a TikTok clone

Today Instagram's boss Adam Mosseri made a little video responding to the Kardashians criticism of Instagram, saying "I need to be honest. I do believe that more and more of Instagram is gonna become video over time". So there you have it folks, Instagram as a place to post fun little photos of your life is dead and there's nothing you can do about it. I can't believe how quickly Instagram and Facebook pissed their pants over TikTok. They should be using this opportunity to get off the algorithmic recommendation treadmill everyone hates and is getting them in trouble with governments around the world as a point of difference against TikTok! Listen to your goddamn users!

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Did you know you should get your solar panels serviced every 2 years? I didn't

According to Energy Safe Victoria, I'm supposed to get the solar panels on my roof serviced every 2 years??? And it's a DNSP requirement (like Powercor, Jemena, etc) that an inspection be done every 5 years??! That's what their new marketing campaign, "Show Your Solar Some Love", is saying. They suggest getting a sparky in to check for a range of items (no corroded or deteriorated parts, switches don't have defects, fittings and cables securely attached, etc.) before your house burns down. It's been 7 years since the no-name, cheapest panels at the time, got chucked on my roof by some blokes who were probably meth. Maybe I should get someone to take a look.

## Bargains

- 5% cashback on the Apple store (including EDU store) via Cashrewards
- Samsung PRO Endurance MicroSDXC 128GB - $34 at Harvey Norman
- 2x 256GB Samsung USB-C flash drives - $87.92 from Amazon UK
- Logitech MX Anywhere 3 Wireless Mouse - $89 from Amzaon
- AMD Ryzen 7 5700X CPU - $369 + credit card surcharge from CentreCom

## The End

📻 Clint - Something For Kate

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