### Issue 1657 - Tuesday 26th July, 2022

## In Today's Issue

- Bunnings & Kmart put a temporary hold on customer face scanning
- Telstra tells ACCC that NBN's prices are way too high
- Chess robot revenge, Elon's a dirty dog, the Kardashians miss old Insta, Intel to make chips for Mediatek
- Much hated EVE Online player calls it quits
- Cheap Boost Mobile SIM, JB Hi-Fi gift cards & 10% off store-wide*, Crucial external SSD, Sony A6400 camera, Lenovo ThinkPad E14, Lenovo cashback, Focusright audio interface

## The News

### Bunnings & Kmart put a temporary hold on customer face scanning

Good news! Bunnings and Kmart have joined The Good Guys in pausing their unconsented facial recognition experiments on shoppers. Bunnings re-iterated their bizarre argument that "an individual's image is only retained by the system if they are already enrolled in the database of individuals who are banned or associated with crime in our stores", but doesn't reveal how it built that database in the first place. The EFA explains in this post how Bunnings is shying away from the truth - either deliberately or because whoever they get to speak about it has no idea how the tech works. It's pretty hard to check if someone entering your store is "associated with a crime" without building a "faceprint" of every customer to compare against the faceprints of the ones you want to keep out.

### Telstra tells ACCC that NBN's prices are way too high

In an ACCC submission regarding NBN's updated Special Access Undertaking, Telstra reckons they're able to "offer fixed wireless services in the 50-100 Mbps speed range at a lower price than what they are able to offer on the NBN" and that "price sensitive customers choose not to pay high prices for low-speed NBN plans (50 Mbps and below) and instead take up mobile and fixed wireless for broadband when suitable". You'd think Telstra would be happy about this as that's more margin for them, but even they admit it'll result in a shittier service for everyone as wireless networks get hammered. A group of challenger ISPs (MNF Group, MyRepublic, Southern Phones, etc.) even agree with Telstra! The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

### Chess robot revenge, Elon's a dirty dog, the Kardashians miss old Insta, Intel to make chips for Mediatek

- A robot snapped the finger of a 7-year it was playing chess with. The kid was moving pieces before their turn and got in the way of the robot's move and boom, broken finger. The robot arm looks like an industrial one that probably shouldn't be operated close to humans.
- Elon Musk continues to be unable to keep it in his pants, this time allegedly rooting Sergey Brin's missus. Elon's on Twitter having a sook that "the amount of attention on me has gone supernova, which super sucks". Elon, my brother in Christ, all you ever want is attention!
- The Kardashians are upset, very upset actually, that Instagram has too many videos. Members of the attention desperate clan have simultaneously posted a graphic begging Insta to "(Stop trying to be tiktok i just want to see cute photos of my friends)". They forgot "and flog herbal tea/cosmetics/etc"
- Intel will soon be fabricating "multiple chips for a range of smart edge devices" for MediaTek. I think this they're the first client of Intel's new Foundry Service division? Hopefully this kinda thing helps with the semi-conductor supply crunch that is still going on and is still a pain in the arse.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Much hated EVE Online player calls it quits

I don't normally write about video game community drama, much less about something as lame as EVE Online, but this story is too good not to mention. There's a bloke called Mittani who plays EVE Online and is so reviled, so loathed and generally hated, that people are celebrating his retirement from the game. He is quitting the game because of the harassment he is copping for ignoring "persistent sexual harassment and misconduct" in their game club or something. It doesn't matter, I just love the concept of being so hated by strangers that when you quit playing a video game people are happy about it. Imagine living that life, goddamn. Would it surprise you to learn that this drama was born and spawned in the bowels of Something Awful? No, no it would not.

## Bargains

- Boost Mobile 365-day SIM with 140GB data - $142.65 from mobiletechmart's eBay store
- 10% off JB Hi-Fi, The Good Guys and EB Games gift cards from giftz.com.au
- 10% off store-wide at JB Hi-Fi, typical exclusions (Apple, DJI, consoles, etc) apply
- Crucial X8 2TB Portable SSD USB 3.2 - $249.06 from Amazon UK
- Sony A6400 body & 16-50mm lens kit - $1350.65 from digiDirect
- Lenovo ThinkPad E14 laptop (Ryzen 5 5625U, 16G RAM, 512GB SSD) - $999 from Lenovo
- 14% cashback from Lenovo via Cashrewards (16% if you have an ANZ credit card!)
- Focusrite iTrack Solo audio interface with USB & iOS Lightning support - $171.75 from Belfield Music

## The End

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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.