### Issue 2038 - Thursday 29th February, 2024

## In Today's Issue

- Nintendo sues company collecting money to build Yuzu emulator
- Darwin gets a pro esports facility
- SD Express, Neuromancer TV show, Google adds Gemini to Android Messages
- Should browsers be forced to block things governments say are illegal?
- Cheap Moto smartphone, Switch Pro controller, 100W USB-C powerbank, LG & TCL TVs, refurb Dell laptop, Bose portable PA, Magic Trackpad, high data Optus MVNO plan, DJO Osmo Pocket 3, refurb iPhone 8

## The News

### Nintendo sues company collecting money to build Yuzu emulator

Nintendo found out about the excellent Yuzu, which emulated the Switch on relatively modern GPUs in PCs, so is of course, suing them into oblivion. They claim that they lost 1 million sales of Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom due to Yuzu, which isn't really true as they can't possibly know who would have purchased the game versus just trying it out on the emulator. It wasn't long after Yuzu started a Patreon to raise funds for the emulator's development that Nintendo decided to sue. I get where Nintendo is coming from, but emulation is a great way to preserve these games long term as you can't rely on Nintendo to do it in like, 50 years time for whatever console they're selling then.

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### Darwin gets a pro esports facility

Darwin has its first "gaming and esports development centre", called the Array. It opened last week after winning a grant from the NT government and according to NT Minister for Business and Jobs, will give Darwin a "launch pad" for one of the world's "fastest growing industries". The CEO of Array, Dylan Bennett, thinks Darwin has a unique advantage over other parts of Australia due to its proximity to Asia (the biggest population of esports enthusiasts) resulting in "faster connections". There ya go - move to Darwin if you want sweet pings to Asian game servers! They've also got educational and coworking space facilities, kinda making it a little nerd hub up there.

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### SD Express, Neuromancer TV show, Google adds Gemini to Android Messages

- SD Express is a thing. They're microSD cards that operate at around 800MB/s, faster than a SATA SSD yet the size of a postage stamp. Nothing supports SD Express (yet) and the cards aren't on sale until "later this year", but still, pretty cool.
- I am a bad nerd that's never read William Gibon's Neuromancer. It's something I should do ASAP because Apple has announced they're gonna turn the popular book into a 10-episode TV show. Will I read the book before the TV show comes out? I dunno when the show will air but I wouldn't bet on it.
- One of the very few interesting announcements out of MWC this year is Google saying you'll be able to chat with Gemini directly from the Google Messages app on select Android phones (Pixels and Samsungs), just like it was any old contact. Seems like a very practical way to use an AI chatbot.

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## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Should browsers be forced to block things governments say are illegal?

Here's a hypothetical legal question - should a web browser be required to prevent you from visiting infringing/blocked websites? That's a debate the French are having with a law that in the words of Mozilla, will "force browser providers to create the means to mandatorily block websites present on a government provided list". I get the logic that the policy makers are working through here - we have stuff that's illegal and we have the technology to block things that are illegal, so why not block them? I'm not a fan of pulling out the slippery slope argument, but as Techdirt explains, it starts off with blocking CSAM which we all agree is awful and ultimately anyone with a lobby group can get whatever they want blocked if they whinge hard enough.

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## Bargains

- Motorola G54 smartphone - $187.24 from Allphones eBay store
- Nintendo Switch Pro controller - $79 at Target & Amazon
- UGREEN USB-C powerbank with 100W output - $86.99 from Amazon
- LG OLED65C3PSA 65" OLED TV - $2636 from JB Hi-Fi
- TCL C845 65" Mini LED TV - $1295.40 from The Good Guys
- LG 86UR8050PSB 86" 4K LED TV - $1736 from The Good Guys eBay store
- Refurb Dell Precision 3540 laptop (i5-8365U, 16GB RAM, 256GB NVMe SSD, 1080p 15") - $360 from Bufferstock
- Bose S1 Pro+ portable PA speaker with Bluetooth - $762 from Amazon or Bose
- Apple Magic Trackpad 2 - $152 at The Good Guys (get Officeworks to price beat)
- Circles.Life (Optus MVNO) 300GB/m or 650GB/m & unlimited calls & SMS - $37/$51 per month from Circles.Life
- DJI Osmo Pocket 3 gimbal camera - $790.42 from Allphones eBay store
- Refurb iPhone 8 64GB - $129 + delivery from Coles Online

## Image Of The Day

Robot dress enhanced with exaggeratedly rounded shoulders entirely embroidered with Swarovski crystal jewels and electronic chips in silver and green. Vintage-inspired curved bracelet in acrylic and Swarovski crystals and matching minaudiere with signature Keyhole detail at the ends. Black leather cowboy-inspired mules embellished with a metal toe cap and signature “S”-shaped heels. (Schiaparelli)

## The End

📻 Seneca - Tortoise

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