### Issue 2210 - Wednesday 6th November, 2024

## In Today's Issue

- Mozilla sacks advocacy team at a time we need it most
- Australia cancels plan to build its own satellite communications system
- Netflix ends interactive titles, TGA taking its time approving Apple features, blocked users on X can see your posts now
- Scottish hospital has a gamer in residence
- Cheap HP laptop, Quad Lock stuff, 64GB DDR4 RAM, Apple gift cards, BioShock Collection, RTX4070 Super GPU, Dell 27" 4K monitor, Uniden walkie talkies, Boost Mobile pre-paid

## The News

### Mozilla sacks advocacy team at a time we need it most

One of the few non-browser things Mozilla did that I liked was their advocacy for an open web and industry standards, fighting back against Google and Microsoft and Apple wanting to turn the web into their own little ecosystem designed for their devices. It's sad to learn that the Mozilla foundation reckons advocacy and global programs are "no longer a part of our structure" and shitcanned the teams, adding salt to the wound by saying "advocacy is still a central tenet of Mozilla Foundation's work and will be embedded in all the other functional areas". This is the shit that happens when you turn into an ad-tech company.

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### Australia cancels plan to build its own satellite communications system

A deal worth billions with Lockheed Martin to build "Australia's first sovereign-controlled satellite communication system over the Indo-Pacific ocean region" with "between three to five geostationary satellites, supported by multiple ground stations, an integrated satellite communications management system, and two new satellite communications operations centres" has been abandoned because "we've seen technologies develop which can literally shoot satellites out of the sky", according to the defence minister. The defence personnel minister instead wants a "mesh type arrangement of satellites, which provides greater resilience" - i.e: like Starlink.

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### Netflix ends interactive titles, TGA taking its time approving Apple features, blocked users on X can see your posts now

- Netflix has given up on making interactive TV shows and movies (remember Black Mirror: Bandersnatch?), with Netflix saying "the technology served its purpose". I never liked them anyways.
- Information Age confirms that the reason we don't have the sleep apnoea notifications on the Apple Watch or the hearing assistance stuff on the AirPods Pro in Australia is because the TGA hasn't approved them yet.
- Over on X, if you've blocked someone they're now able to see your posts. They can't interact with the post or DM you, but they'll be able to see it regardless if they're logged in or logged out.

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## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Scottish hospital has a gamer in residence

Lovely video from the BBC about a Scottish hospital charity that's "introduced a gamer in residence for young patients in Glasgow". Steven Mair's job "involves visiting children to play video games with them, preventing boredom and providing some light relief". He said that "playing Mario Kart has improved the mobility of a patient's hand and that it was also a useful tool in distracting the children during medical procedures". What an excellent idea!

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## Bargains

- HP Pavilion Aero 13 laptop (Ryzen 5 8640U, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, 1920x1200 IPS, 1kg) - $868.80 from HP's eBay store
- Quad Lock (smartphone cases, mounts, accessories etc) has a 30% off sitewide sale right now
- Corsair Vengeance LPX 64GB (2x32GB) DDR4 3200MHz C16 RAM - $169 from Amazon
- Buy a $100 Apple gift card from Amazon and they'll add an extra $10 credit
- BioShock: The Collection - $15.99 on Steam
- PNY GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER 12GB graphics card - $837.47 via Smarthomestoreau eBay
- Dell S2722QC 27" 4K UHD USB-C Monitor - $322.73 from Dell
- Uniden UH610-2 Walkie Talkie 2-pack - $79 from Australia Post
- Boost Mobile 365-day SIM with 170GB data, unlimited calls & SMS - $185 from Lucky Mobile

## Image Of The Day

From the 6 March 1971 edition of New Idea (HappySwordsman / Internet Archive)

## The End

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