### Issue 1652 - Tuesday 19th July, 2022

## In Today's Issue

- US government agencies are buying wholesale location data and nobody seems to care
- VIC & NSW want to install green hydrogen truck fueling stations along the Hume
- Snapchat on the web, Aus govt agencies leave Chinese owned datacentre, US banks sue Apple over NFC access, NZ worried about our sweet game dev incentives, Netflix might start enforcing account sharing policy
- M2 MacBook Air is nice, but has thermal throttling and SSD limits the M1 MacBook Air does not
- Cheap TIDAL, Chromecast, ThinkPad, Nokia T20 tablet, Edifier speakers, Lenovo smarthome gear, iPad Air, Amazon Echo Show 8

## The News

### US government agencies are buying wholesale location data and nobody seems to care

The ACLU has published a trove of information detailing how various US government agencies like Customs, ICE and Homeland Security are "buying access to, and using, huge volumes of people's cell phone location information quietly extracted from smartphone apps". Venntel are the data brokers highlighted by the ACLU as collaborators with DHS and CBP, who promote the data as "100% opt-in", provided "voluntarily" and with "permission of the individual" - which we know is total bullshit as nobody is consenting to give their location info to this mob knowing it'll be sold to the cops.

### VIC & NSW want to install green hydrogen truck fueling stations along the Hume

Australia's getting a "renewable hydrogen highway". There's $20m of grants on offer from the VIC and NSW governments to build at least 4 hydrogen fueling stations for trucks (not necessarily cars) along the Hume Highway between Sydney and Melbourne. Hydrogen fueling stations are nothing new or unique - there's quite a few in California - but the catch here is the requirement for renewable/green hydrogen. The grant guidelines say they want "hydrogen produced from electrolysis using 100% renewable electricity or hydrogen produced from steam methane reforming using 100% responsibly sourced renewable biomethane".

### Snapchat on the web, Aus govt agencies leave Chinese owned datacentre, US banks sue Apple over NFC access, NZ worried about our sweet game dev incentives, Netflix might start enforcing account sharing policy

- Snapchat now has a web version. Hit up https://web.snapchat.com and you can do whatever it is people do with Snapchat, which I assume for any adults, is sharing nudes. You gotta be a Snapchat+ subscriber to use it.
- A bunch of Australian government agencies (ASIC, ACMA, Home Affairs) have all moved out of a Sydney datacentre operated by Global Switch - which has a Chinese steel company as its majority shareholder.
- Remember how Australian banks were shitty that Apple wouldn't open up NFC for their apps? USA banks are upset too and are suing Apple over its "illegal monopoly over contactless payments on the iPhone".
- NZ is worried about the combination of Australia's Digital Games Tax Offset and state based incentives luring Kiwi nerds over the Tasman to start their game studios. Australia is doing it to make sure devs don't flee to Canada or France!
- Netflix is experimenting on accounts sharing login details in Latin America, asking them to pay a small fee to add extra users. They're only asking now, but I assume they'll nuke the accounts if they don't pay.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### M2 MacBook Air is nice, but has thermal throttling and SSD limits the M1 MacBook Air does not

Reviews of the new M2-based MacBook Air are out and everyone seems to love it. The perfect laptop, a superior design to the previous model, if a little pricey. But as predicted, it suffers from lower SSD read speeds and thermal throttling just like the M2 MacBook Pro. The Verge covers the Air's SSD "issues" and Max Tech explains the thermal throttling. It's unlikely to be a deal breaker for most people, but if you plan on extracting maximum performance out of the MacBook Air keep it in mind.

## Bargains

- TIDAL HiFi Plus - $3 for 3 months for new customers
- Google Chromecast with Google TV - $71.10 from Big W
- DataCamp (decent quality data science learning materials) is free until the 24th of July
- Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 3 (Ryzen 5 Pro 6650U, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, 1920x1200 screen) - $1791.30 from Lenovo
- Nokia TA-1392 T20 Android tablet - $299 from Amazon or Big W
- Edifier R1700BTs active bookshelf speakers with remote & Bluetooth - $169.99 from Amazon
- 20% off All Lenovo Smart Clocks, Cameras, Smart Lighting and Smart Gadgets at JB Hi-Fi
- Apple iPad Air (4th Gen) Wi-Fi 256GB - $780.20 from Futu's eBay store
- Amazon Echo Gen 2 Show 8 - $99.50 at Bunnings

## The End

📻 Loser - Thick

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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.