### Issue 1719 - Monday 24th October, 2022

## In Today's Issue

- Australian government to introduce harsher fines and other edge tweaks for data breaches
- Meta might pull Facebook from Canada if they pass a law like Australia's media bargaining code
- DaVinci Resolve coming to iPad, Pocket Casts is open source, Amazon facing class action over the Buy Box
- Compact discs have existed for 40 years
- Cheap AirPods Pro, Eufy smart scale, Catch Connect SIM, Kogan Mobile SIM, Coles Mobile SIM, Telstra SIM, Logitech MX Anywhere 3 mouse, Samsung S21 FE, refurb Sony earbuds, Logitech C922 Pro webcam, Philips Hue starter kit

## The News

### Australian government to introduce harsher fines and other edge tweaks for data breaches

The government is gonna float the "Privacy Legislation Amendment (Enforcement and Other Measures) Bill 2022" into parliament this week so it looks like they care about people's privacy after the Optus and Medibank data breaches made it an issue. As per Innovation Australia, "the proposed changes would lift the maximum penalty for serious or repeated privacy breaches from its current $2.22m penalty to whatever is the greater of $50m; three-times the value of any benefit obtained through the misuse of information; or 30% of a companies adjusted turnover in the relevant period". They'll also give the "Australian Information Commissioner more powers to resolve privacy breaches, as well as strengthen the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme to ensure that companies provide the Information Commissioner with comprehensive details of precisely what information has been compromised".

### Meta might pull Facebook from Canada if they pass a law like Australia's media bargaining code

Facebook is threatening the Canadian government with leaving the country if it decides to pass an "Online News Act" share revenue with news outlets. Sounds extremely familiar, doesn't it? Australia tried the same thing, Facebook called their bluff, left for a glorious few days, then returned when the media companies shit their pants after traffic to their sites fell off a cliff. Ultimately a weakened version of the law that Facebook could tolerate and the media companies could save face with was passed and called the News Media Bargaining Code. Facebook is using the same arguments (our users don't really give a shit about news, it's way more important to you than it is to us, etc.) with Canada's Online News Act, that going by the info page on the Canadian government's website, is almost identical to ours. Australians, be proud to be on the forefront of enabling rent-seeking behaviours world wide!

### DaVinci Resolve coming to iPad, Pocket Casts is open source, Amazon facing class action over the Buy Box

- Blackmagic Design announced DaVinci Resolve Studio for iPad. Not surprised to see a "desktop" version of this video editing suite on an iPad considering the iPad is pretty much the same guts of a Mac these days. Looks like BM are releasing it module by module rather than the whole suite all at once. It'll be on the App Store Q4 2022.
- Automattic, the recent acquirers of Pocket Casts (my favourite podcasting app for over a decade!), have made the code for the iOS and Android app open source under the Mozilla Public License. It's available on GitHub right now. I don't know how much difference this will make for a mature product like Pocket Casts, but it's a cool thing to do anyways.
- Amazon is facing a £900m class action in the UK over its "Buy Box" feature (the "Add to Cart"/"Buy Now" area). A bunch of online sellers reckon the Buy Box "favours products sold by Amazon itself, or by retailers who pay Amazon for handling their logistics" instead of cheaper offers for the same item.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Compact discs have existed for 40 years

October 1st marked the 40th anniversary of the compact disc. Billy Joel's album 52nd Street was the first disc to go on sale alongside the Sony CDP-101 player in Japan. Here's a video from the ABC's "Towards 2000" showing off this wondrous new technology to an Australian audience. The Quietus has a nice essay on the CD's legacy. It's interesting that we never really topped the quality of a CD for mainstream music listening. Movies progressed to Blu-Ray from DVD and VHS but music moved to online streaming at an arguably lower quality - the rare handful of "hi-fi" releases aside. Selling my CD collection to pay rent in the early 2000s was necessary at the time but damn I miss those shiny circles 20 years later.

## Bargains

- AirPods Pro 2nd Gen - $367 from IIT Support (can get Officeworks to price beat down to $348.65)
- Eufy Smart Scale C1 - $34 from JB Hi-Fi
- Catch Connect (Optus MVNO) 365-day SIM with 60GB data, unlimited calls & SMS - $89 from Catch
- Kogan Mobile (Vodafone MVNO) 365-day SIM with 80GB data, unlimited calls & SMS - $109 from Kogan
- Coles Mobile (Optus MVNO) 365-day SIM with 120GB/200GB data & bonus FlyBuys points - $119/$169 from Coles
- Telstra 180-day SIM with 90GB data, unlimited calls & SMS (must activate by 30/11/2022) - $110 from Auditech
- Logitech MX Anywhere 3 Wireless Mouse - $87 from Amazon
- Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G 128GB/256GB - $777/$877 from Officeworks
- Refurbished Sony WF-1000XM4 earbuds - $201.52 from Sony's eBay Store via Cashrewards
- Logitech C922 Pro Webcam - $95 from Amazon
- Philips Hue White and Color LED Smart Button Starter Kit B22 - $175.03 from Amazon

## Image Of The Day

National Museum of Australia: "This receiver unit was used by CSIRO in the invention of the original Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) prototype. It was developed with other components including a 40 GHZ transmitter unit, an analogue to digital converter, a digital to analogue converter, and a Fast Fourier transfer (FFT) chip. This unit was used to detect the modulated signal and output a pair of baseband analogue (voltage) signals (containing the modulation information) to the ADC unit"

## The End

📻 Hang Around - Tumbleweed

😎 The Sizzle is curated by Anthony "@decryption" Agius and emailed every weekday afternoon.

💬 Checked out the paid subscriber only forum? It's a tidy little place to discuss tech with like minded Aussies.

👋 Forums not your thing? The Sizzle has a Slack group you can procrastinate in and chat with other nerds bored at work.

💳 Paid subscriber looking to manage your billing info, change email address or cancel your subscription? Visit the customer portal.

📚 Browse The Sizzle Archive. A few issues are missing and it's not searchable, but it's better than nothing.

🫂 Friends of The Sizzle is a small group of businesses or organisations operated by Sizzle subscribers. Support your fellow Sizzler!

💔 Tired of my bullshit? Unsubscribe and I'll never speak to you again.

## Always Was, Always Will Be Aboriginal Land

The Sizzle is created on Wathaurong land and acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia, recognising their continuing connection to land, water and community. I pay my respect to them and their cultures and to elders both past and present.