SpaceX takes first step to make Starlink service available in Australia
The UK’s Conservative party brings forward ICE car ban while our conservatives stick thumb up arse
Dan Houser quits Rockstar Games after extended break from the company
Hisense has an Android phone with an e-ink display, no LCD on it at all
Cheap 50" 4K TV, Bully: Scholarship Edition, Amazon Echo Show 8, Sims 4 expansions, Kayo subscription
ACMA has approved SpaceX's application to be a company that might be allowed to one day beam Starlink satellite radio signals into Australia. Foxtel is whinging about it though, saying that SpaceX's satellites that operate in the 10.7–12.7 GHz frequency ban could interfere with its satellites in the 11.7–12.7 GHz band. I mean, sure, they're right but I don't feel any sympathy for Foxtel. SpaceX still has to have a few more regulatory approvals and get a licence for the spectrum they plan to use, but it's nice to know Australia is on SpaceX's roadmap for service. I can see it being very popular for basically anyone that doesn't have a fixed line NBN connection.
The freshly elected Boris Johnson conservative government has decided to bring forward its plan to ban the sale of new fossil fuel cars by 2040, will do it by 2035 instead and include hybrid & plug-in hybrid cars in the ban. The UK has a goal of being practically CO2-free by 2050 and if cars registered in 2040 have combustion engines in them, they'll still be on the road in 2050, so 2035 the best time to cut them off. I know it doesn't mean much to us here in Australia, but isn't it amazing how a conservative government that's on all other measures just as cruel and dumb as ours, doesn't have the same brain worms over climate change as ours?
I'm a massive fan of the Houser Brothers - the people primarily responsible for my favourite video game franchise, Grand Theft Auto (my favourites in order: 4, San Andreas, Vice City, 5, 3, then the rest). Today Take-Two's investor website (the company that owns Rockstar Games) said that "after an extended break beginning in the spring of 2019, Dan Houser, Vice President, Creative at Rockstar Games, will be leaving the company" and thanking him for his efforts. What's next for Dan, I dunno, but I hope it means he takes his big pile of money and starts making games that aren't GTA or Red Dead Redemption.
You probably know Hisense better for their TVs and maybe fridges, but they also make smartphones. Most of them are nothing special, but the new A5 smartphone doesn't have a colour LCD anywhere on it - it's purely grayscale e-ink, all 5.8" of it. There's Android 9, an LTE radio, front and rear facing cameras, everything you expect on a smartphone, but it's all running on an e-ink screen! Hisense has given the UI a make-over to suit the e-ink display so it looks kinda nice. It also means you can have the screen permaently on and refreshing a small area (time, weather?) without sacrificing battery life. I have no idea what why you'd buy this beyond shits and giggles, but I love that it exists.
No-name Aiwa 50” 4K TV - $299 at Target
Bully: Scholarship Edition - Xbox $7.98 or PC via Steam for $6.99
Amazon Echo Show 8 - $114.50 from Amazon AU
Heaps of discounts on the Sims 4 range of expansions on EA Origin to celebrate 20 years of Sims games
3 months of Kayo for free if you sign up via BetEasy (just in time for AFLW this weekend!)
🎶 Trippin' On a Hole in a Paper Heart - Stone Temple Pilots
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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.