### Issue 2151 - Tuesday 13th August, 2024

## In Today's Issue

- Apple forces Patreon creators to give up a 30% cut of their iOS-based subscriptions
- Government announces Trust Exchange digital ID to go inside MyGov
- Trump and Musk broadcast 2 hour back patting session
- The new Ryzen AI 9 HX 370's built-in GPU is a solid 1080p gamer
- Cheap Fuji binoculars, 128GB SD card, Apple gift cards, Google Nest doorbell, Lenovo Snapdragon laptop, refurb Acer mini PC, 8bitdo wireless controller

## The News

### Apple forces Patreon creators to give up a 30% cut of their iOS-based subscriptions

After 10 years flying under the radar, Apple has decided today is a good day to piss off a lot of people and told Patreon any transactions that take place via their iOS app need to kick up a 30% cut to Cupertino. If you've set up a Patreon subscription to someone via the iOS app, what you pay when that subscription renews will automatically be going up 30% as of November unless the creator opts-in to absorb the price hike. As per the App Store rules outside the EU, Patreon is unable to tell users this, so unless you saw this blog post you're probably in for a big surprise. Absolutely nobody is happy about this and it's unclear what value Apple provide in order to take such a substantial cut, which mind you, is on top of Patreon's cut too! Even John Gruber reckons it sucks - you know you've lost the plot when your own mouthpiece can't even spin it in your favour.

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### Government announces Trust Exchange digital ID to go inside MyGov

Bill Shorten gave a speech at the National Press Club this arvo about the next step in the federal government's plan for digital ID - the Trust Exchange (TEx). I haven't watched the entire thing, but based off the pre-speech articles, TEx will "allow individuals to use a credential token stored in their myGov account to verify their identity over a range of services". The token will be "based on identification data already stored by the government, such as passport, visa status, or citizenship status. As the data is from a trusted source but not locally stored, there is no actual exchange of data". I don't know enough about this space to say if it's good or bad, and there's no info about TEx on a .gov.au website, so we will wait and see what the government shits out for us to use. Please don't suck, please don't suck, please don't suck.

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### Trump and Musk broadcast 2 hour back patting session

Elon Musk hosted Donald Trump in a 2 hour voice chat on X (which was late due to technical difficulties, of course) where they talked a lot of shit and were excruciating to listen to. Just two of the smoothest brains you've ever seen sucking each other's dicks. The New York Times made a list of everything they lied about - it isn't a short list. The highlight for me was Musk saying the thinks "the planet can transition to a sustainable energy economy in 50 or 100 years" and that "it's not like the house is on fire immediately", "we still have quite a bit of time" and "we don't need to rush". Bit of a contrast from "climate change is the biggest threat that humanity faces this century, except for AI" and that his motivation with Tesla is to "accelerate the advent of sustainable energy" from a few years ago, hey? I think we can throw Tesla's Master Plan Part 3 in the bin. It was an undergraduate attempt back then and absolutely meaningless now.

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## Something I Saw On The Internet

### The new Ryzen AI 9 HX 370's built-in GPU is a solid 1080p gamer

The previous generation AMD Ryzen mobile Zen 4 (7940HS/8945HS) chips could play a range of games at 1080p in low quality perfectly fine for a casual gamer, but the new Zen 5 based Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 CPU features an upgraded GPU core (RDNA 3.5 based Radeon 890M) and according to first benchmarks, which are pretty much only on YouTube as PC hardware reviewers have given up on the web, it's good! This video shows Cyberpunk 2077 running at 1080p medium got 84fps average, Fortnite at 1080p low sustained an average 104fps and Red Dead Redemption 2 at 1080p "high usage benchmark" settings got to 46fps. I imagine the CPU will perform even better in a mini-PC with better cooling instead of the really thin laptops it's only currently available in. It's also exciting for handheld gaming consoles like Valve's Steam Deck. Thanks TSMC for all this performance in a power sipping little package!

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## Bargains

- Fujifilm Fujinon TS-X 1440 Techno-Stabiscope Binoculars - $1029 from Amazon
- Nextorage NX-F2PRO UHS-II V90 SDXC Memory Card 128GB - $126.94 from Amazon Germany
- 20x Everyday Rewards points on Apple gift cards at Woolworths
- Google Nest Doorbell (battery version) - $170 from Amazon
- Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x laptop (3K 14.5" OLED, Snapdragon X1E78100 ARM SoC, 1TB SSD, 32GB RAM) - $2,237 from Officeworks
- Refurb Acer Veriton N4660G mini PC (i3-8100, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) - $109 from Metrocom
- 8BitDo Ultimate Bluetooth Controller with Charging Dock (White) - $71.99 from Amazon

## Image Of The Day

"The Egg," the huge, round top of the IBM Pavilion at the 1964-65 World's Fair (IBM Heritage)

## The End

📻 Jack White - Tonight (Was A Long Time Ago)

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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.