### Issue 1584 - Monday 11th April, 2022

## In Today's Issue

- Elon isn't joining Twitter's board, dunno why exactly
- Tesla's Cyber Rodeo was a cringefest
- The new government should make a Minister of Government Services and the Digital Economy
- Give optical media a second thought when preparing your next backup plan
- Cheap Pixel 6 Pro, Eero 6 & Tenda mesh wi-fi kits, Switch Lite, Fire TV Max, Civ 6 Platinum, 18TB & 5TB external HDDs, bonus Flybuys with Apple gift cards, Viofo dashcams, Edifier speakers, SanDisk microSD cards, Echo Show 8, Audio Technica AT2020USB+ mic, Anker USB charger, North Bayu heavy duty monitor arm, Tile Mate, Last of Us Part 2, ThinkPad E15 Gen 4, Creative Bluetooth soundbar

## The News

### Elon isn't joining Twitter's board, dunno why exactly

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal let loose this afternoon that Elon Musk isn't joining the board after all. Elon's appointment to the Twitter board was subject to a "background check and formal acceptance", to which Elon declined. Parag said in the statement that "this is for the best", which to me sounds like old mate is relieved he won't have to deal with Elon's bullshit - at least formally. I mean, look at Musk's suggestions, they're pure troll material. Oh and he doesn't appear to be Twitter's biggest shareholder anymore, as Vanguard upped their stake to 10.3% late last week.

### Tesla's Cyber Rodeo was a cringefest

Tesla celebrated the opening of its Texas car factory with a "Cyber Rodeo" late Friday afternoon. Half of the event was business as usual stuff, saying the Cybertruck is still on track for 2023 and that they can't keep up with demand for the Model 3 and Model Y, selling over 1 million the last years. The other half was pure nonsense like a "quite futuristic" robotaxi and the Teslabot (now called Optimus) will enter production "hopefully next year" to do "anything that humans don't want to do". There's a video of the event on YouTube if you can handle Elon's off the charts level of cringe (I couldn't).

### The new government should make a Minister of Government Services and the Digital Economy

With an announcement of the federal election date (May 21st, if you've been under a rock), the Australian Information Industry Association lobby group hasn't wasted any time, asking whoever is to make government in a few weeks for a Minister of Government Services and the Digital Economy. The AIIA wants this minister in the cabinet (so they're taken seriously) and would "take responsibility for everything from policymaking on the digitisation of government services and whole of government technology architectures to technology procurement policy; digital identity and data-sharing; the Consumer Data Right; and digital skills initiatives". Sounds good.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Give optical media a second thought when preparing your next backup plan

When was the last time you gave a brain cell of thought towards optical media? This blog post popped up and a cluster of neurons deep in my brain were forced out of retirement against their will. Apparently well burned (low and slow, with error correction and some PAR files), good quality discs (none of that organic compound crap) are still kicking on 12-18 years later. A disk drive might be cheaper per gigabyte, but if you want data stored on something that needs zero maintenance and is 100% offline, maybe re-assess the role of optical media plays in your backup strategy.

## Bargains

- Pixel 6 Pro 128GB/256GB/512GB - $1099/$1249/$1399 from Google
- Amazon Eero 6 mesh wi-fi 3-pack - $369 from JB Hi-Fi
- Nintendo Switch Lite Console - $269 from Amazon
- Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max - $79 from Big W
- Sid Meier's Civilization VI: Platinum Edition - $8.07 from 2game
- Tenda Nova MW5G mesh wi-fi 3-pack - $103.35 from Amazon
- WD 18TB Elements Desktop external HDD - $443.76 from Amazon UK
- 20x FlyBuys points on Apple gift cards (Max of 50,000 points, $50/$100/$200 denominations only) at Coles
- Viofo A119 V3 dashcam - $122.90 from Amazon
- Viofo A129 Plus Duo 16GB EMMC dashcam - $194.90 from Amazon
- Edifier R1280DBs bookshelf speakers - $141.75 from Amazon
- SanDisk Extreme 400GB MicroSD card - $76.84 from Amazon
- SanDisk 256GB Ultra microSD card - $37 from Amazon
- Amazon Echo Show 8 (1st Gen) - $59 from Amazon
- Audio Technica AT2020USB+ microphone - $149 from Amazon
- Anker 60W 6 Port USB Wall Charger - $29.99 from Amazon
- WD Elements SE 5TB Portable HDD - $139 at Officeworks
- North Bayou NB45 monitor arm - $99.95 from AZ
- Tile Mate Bluetooth Tracker (2020) - $19.95 from JB Hi-Fi
- The Last of Us Part 2 for PS4 - $20 from Big W
- Lenovo ThinkPad E15 Gen4 (15.6" 1080p, Ryzen 5 5625U, 256GB SSD, 8GB RAM) - $1066 from Lenovo
- Creative Stage Air Bluetooth soundbar - $54.95 from Creative

## The End

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