### Issue 1292 - Thursday 28th January, 2021

## In Today's Issue

- /r/wallstreetbets gets knocked off Discord for having too many racist members
- Microsoft, Apple, AMD, Facebook and Tesla Q2FY21 financial results
- Tesla gives the Model S and X big updates and retains big price-tag
- The HFC portion of the NBN is by far the worst, even crappier than FTTN
- Cheap Sandisk 400GB microSD, Sandisk 256GB mini USB flash drive, Google Pixel 4a 5G, $600 off smartphones at JB with a Telstra contract, Coles Mobile 12m SIM, Vodafone $40 SIM & 40% off at Rushfaster outlet

## The News

### /r/wallstreetbets gets knocked off Discord for having too many racist members

The /r/wallstreetbets drama I mentioned yesterday has kicked up a notch with Discord banning them them out of the blue. To Discord's credit they explained why WSB was banned - "we decided to remove the server and its owner from Discord for continuing to allow hateful and discriminatory content after repeated warnings" and made clear that "we did not ban this server due to financial fraud related to GameStop or other stocks". The mods of WSB were not happy, saying Discord "did us dirty and I am not impressed with them destroying our community instead of stepping in with the wrench we may have needed to fix things". It's a good point - these platforms encourage, enable and enjoy the massive growth but do sweet fuck all to help moderators when the burden of that community gets too heavy.

### Microsoft, Apple, AMD, Facebook and Tesla Q2FY21 financial results

Huge day for tech company Q2FY21 financials. Microsoft is up 17% compared to a year ago, with every part of its business up and said that "many of its customers are back to pre-COVID levels of investment". Apple had a record breaking quarter, soaking up US$111.4b of revenue and currently valued at 3.14 trillion Aussie bucks. AMD set an earnings record too, 53% more than this time last year. Facebook's share price dipped a little despite a 22% increase in advertising revenue because there's been a decrease in US & Canadian users. Tesla managed to make its first ever annual profit ($270m off $10.7b of revenue) largely by selling regulatory credits to other automakers that don't make electric cars. Pandemic recession? What recession???

### Tesla gives the Model S and X big updates and retains big price-tag

Tesla has given the Model S and Model X a significant update - the first time since their release many years ago. The cabins of both vehicles are more streamlined and similar to the cheaper Model 3, but unlike the Model 3, the S & X have a second display in the traditional location for a speedometer along with the big touchscreen in the middle of the dash. There's also a third display in the rear console for passengers to gawk at. Other changes include a modest exterior redesign, a full glass roof, a "gaming computer with 10 teraflops of processing power" and a steering wheel cut in half they call a "stalkless steering yoke". They're still very expensive cars, but the most expensive one ($237,000) will move very quickly (Model S Plaid+ 0-100 in 2.1 seconds!!). ETA for Australian release is 2022.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### The HFC portion of the NBN is by far the worst, even crappier than FTTN

The boss of Launtel (a third ISP I'd recommend alongside Aussie Broadband and Superloop) has gone on an epic rant about the HFC portion of the NBN. From his experience, HFC drops out way more often than other technology types, a shortage of NTDs means 2-3 month lead times for a new connection compounded by the fact the damn things aren't fixed to the wall so people take them when they move house, NBN's system can list multiple NTDs in a single property so ISPs have no idea which of the multiple units is active when provisioning a service and so many more I was totally unaware of. What an absolute dog's breakfast compared to the 4000/4000 fibre internet NZ enjoys in the majority of the country!

## Bargains

- 40% off stuff in the Rushfaster outlet store if you're in the market for a new backpack or laptop bag and crap like that
- Sandisk 400GB microSD card - $73.14 from Amazon
- Vodafone $40 prepaid starter pack - $12 at Officeworks
- Coles Mobile 12m 60GB data pre-paid starter pack - $99
- Google Pixel 4a 5G 128GB - $696 at Harvey Norman
- SanDisk 256GB Ultra Fit USB 3.1 flash drive - $40.49 at Amazon
- $600 off any smartphone at JB if you go on a Telstra $99/m 12m contract from a different telco

## The End

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