### Issue 1875 - Tuesday 27th June, 2023

## In Today's Issue

- Google's folding Pixel smartphone is out in the USA and it's good but expensive
- Red Hat burns more community goodwill, killing off binary compatible distros for good
- Reddit moderators post list of demands that management continues to ignore
- FBI says install an ad blocker to be safe on the internets
- Cheap HP SFF PC, Ring Indoor camera, Samsung Watch 5, Jabra Earbuds, TCN gift cards, 12m subscription to The Sizzle

## The News

### Google's folding Pixel smartphone is out in the USA and it's good but expensive

Reviews of Google's Pixel Fold smartphone have started to appear on the internet - The Verge, Gizmodo, Marques Brownlee, XDA Developers and Tom's Guide are the reviews I read/watched. The general theme seems to be that using the device's outer screen is great, the physical design is solid and they appreciate that Google optimised a bunch of their apps for the device. However, it is a chunky unit (283g), the battery life kinda sucks, most non-Google apps are not optimised for the larger display. it's expensive (A$2,700!) and like most folding phones, has a fragile screen - as Arstechnica discovered. It's also still not on sale in Australia. That's disappointing as I'd like to borrow one and try it out for myself as I've never used a single screen folding phone, just the 1st-gen Surface Duo a few years ago.

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### Red Hat burns more community goodwill, killing off binary compatible distros for good

Red Hat announced last week that they're pulling the source code for Red Hat Enterprise Linux releases (the beta/test source code still exists, aka CentoS Stream), meaning it's no longer possible to build your own version of RHEL to match the paid versions Red Hat sells. CentOS used to provide this so people unable to pay can lean, tinker and support Red Hat, and what Rocky & Alma Linux have been doing to fill the gap CentOS left. Red Hat's move upset many people, with Jeff Geerling providing a good summary of the beef they have with the decision. Red Hat responded with their own blog post, saying "we do not find value in a RHEL rebuild and we are not under any obligation to make things easier for rebuilders" and that "simply rebuilding code, without adding value or changing it in any way, represents a real threat to open source companies everywhere". Red Hat technically isn't breaking any open source licence agreements, but man, they sure have pissed off a loyal fan base.

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### Reddit moderators post list of demands that management continues to ignore

Reddit's sad and sorry war with its community continues, with a group of moderators from the site's most popular groups posting open letters to Reddit management. The letters are slightly different, but all of them call for Reddit to find ways to make 3rd party apps viable, improve 1st party moderation tools, promise to give mods "no less than one fiscal quarter" warning before making major changes, hire a moderator advocate that occupies a senior-level position within management and many more demands. I'd love to know if Reddit's traffic and/or revenue has been impacted by any of these protests. It feels like management is happy to ride it out and just kick out any misbehaving moderators, replacing them with scabs. It's just business, baby.

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## Something I Saw On The Internet

### FBI says install an ad blocker to be safe on the internets

This is old news from December last year, but the FBI put out a public service announcement saying that to protect yourself from "cyber criminals using search engine advertisement services to impersonate brands and direct users to malicious sites that host ransomware and steal login credentials and other financial information" you should "use an ad blocking extension when performing internet searches". Well if the FBI says to do it, who am I to say no? Pi-Hole, NextDNS, uBlock Origin, Magic Lasso - take your pick, they're all good. Better advice than the Prime Minister saying to turn off your phone for 5 minutes every night, lol.

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## Bargains

- HP Prodesk 600 G3 SFF PC (i5-7500, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) - $99 from Australian Computer Traders
- Ring Indoor Cam - $57 from Optus
- Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 (44mm) LTE - $374 from Amazon
- Jabra Elite 7 Pro wireless earbuds - $164 from The Good Guys eBay store
- 20x Everyday Rewards Points on TCN Gift Cards (JB Hi-Fi one of the stores you can use it) at Woolworths this week
- One year of The Sizzle technology newsletter (new subscribers only) - $48 from The Sizzle

## Image Of The Day

Advertisement for Super International Cricket in issue 20 of Hyper magazine. (Bobinator / Internet Archive)

## The End

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## 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.