### Issue 2190 - Tuesday 8th October, 2024

If you're wondering why today's issue sucks, I have COVID for the first time and feel like shit.

## In Today's Issue

- ALP doesn't plan to privatise NBN any time soon
- Google whipped by Epic in court, has to make major changes to Play Store in US
- Apple Vision Pro is getting a scripted immersive short film
- Maxis Business Simulations
- Loads of cheap stuff in the Amazon Prime Day sale

## The News

### ALP doesn't plan to privatise NBN any time soon

According to David Crowe at Nine, the "national broadband network will be kept in public ownership under a new federal law to be put to federal parliament this week". The plan was always to sell it off once the network is complete (most likely to Telstra), but the last few years has seen the ALP load up the NBN with debt to build more fibre to the premises connections, basically overbuilding the shitty FTTN and FTTC networks. I don't know if the NBN will ever be profitable, so until that happens there's probably no point privatising it as the government would be losing billions.

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### Google whipped by Epic in court, has to make major changes to Play Store in US

A judge in the USA has demanded Google "open up the Google Play app store to competition for three whole years. Google will have to distribute rival third-party app stores within Google Play, and it must give rival third-party app stores access to the full catalog of Google Play apps, unless developers opt out individually". There's also a long list of stuff Google can and can't do to ensure an even playing field for 3rd party app stores and the Google Play Store on Android devices in the US. Pretty wild how Epic comprehensively got what it wanted out of Google but barely made a dent on Apple's App Store.

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### Apple Vision Pro is getting a scripted immersive short film

Apple's released a trailer for its first "scripted immersive video for the Vision Pro". Submerged is written and directed by Edward Berger, is set inside a WWII submarine as its crew deals with a torpedo attack. Same bloke that directed the rather good All Quiet on the Western Front. The full short film will available October 10th, for free, for those of you lucky enough to own an Apple Vision Pro.

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## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Maxis Business Simulations

One of the oldest bookmarks in my collection is the story of Maxis Business Simulations, an off-shoot of the Maxis we know and love for SimCity. They made a game called Sim Refinery for Chevron (the oil company) and was paid $75,000 for it. There were plans for more games, like SimEnvironment "designed to show the spread of pollution and the challenges of toxic waste site cleanup", SimSite "a simulation for managing the closure of a military base", SimPower "a game modeling the operation of a power grid, developed jointly for the Pacific Gas & Electric Company and the Electric Power Research Institute" and SimHealth, which "wasn't meant to accurately simulate the health care system. But instead, it was a way to see what could happen if you rewrote the laws of health care – and then question if that's what you really wanted". I would like to play all these.

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## Bargains

- Samsung T7 1TB Portable SSD - $115.13 from Amazon Germany
- 40mm Apple Watch SE 2nd-gen - $319 from Amazon
- Jabra Elite 10 Gen 2 ANC In-Ear Headphones - $279 from JB Hi-Fi
- Xbox Game Pass Core 12 Months - $67.96 from Amazon
- Creative Live! Cam Sync 1080p V2 Webcam - $29.99 from Amazon
- Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Generation) with Magsafe Case (USB‑C) - $314 from Amazon
- JB Hi-Fi Perks members get $30 off a $300+ spend until the 13th of Oct
- 10x Everyday Rewards Points on Vanilla Mastercards at Woolworths
- Apple iPad Pro 11-Inch M4 Magic Keyboard MWR03ZA/A - $359.10 from Mobileciti
- Samsung 1TB EVO Select (2024) microSD Card - $104.82 from Amazon Germany
- Samsung Galaxy Watch6 44mm LTE - $294 from Amazon
- TP-Link LS1005G/LS1008G or LS105GP/LS1210GP desktop switches - $13.60, $21, $33, $67 from Amazon
- Samsung BAR Plus 256GB/128GB 400MB/s USB flash drive - $24.65/$16.22 from Amazon USA
- Crucial P3 Plus 4TB PCIe Gen4 3D NAND NVMe M.2 SSD - $313.95 from Amazon
- Sony SEL70350G APS-C E-Mount 70-350mm F4.5-6.3 G OSS Zoom Lens - $950.42 from Amazon UK
- Boost Mobile 365-day SIM with 170GB data, unlimited calls & SMS - $153 after cashback via TopCashback
- SanDisk High Endurance 256GB microSDXC Card - $30.98 from Amazon USA
- Nikon NIKKOR Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR Super-Telephoto Lens - $2169 from Amazon

## Image Of The Day

Winter 1983 catalog of gifts, gadgets and candy from Sweet Gum, a candy store in North Miami, Florida. Includes computer-shaped candy, whacky computer t-shirts, ties, desk toys, and even a couple electronics (notably, a Wico joystick). Contains what appears to be doubled pages, but in fact there was an extra page folded into the catalog with a slight "remix" of some of the items and a different form to fill out. (Internet Archive / Jason Scott)

## The End

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