The ban of Chinese tech stuff in the USA grows deeper with new “Clean Network” initiative
Microsoft’s cloud gaming service won’t be on iOS devices because Apple are greedy
Someone leaked a bunch of internal Intel tools and documents, with more to come
Sizzle subscriber business shoutouts
Cheap Logitech MX Master 3, Kingston SSD, Nokia 4.2, Ergo office chair, UniFi access points
The USA's ban of Huawei & ZTE for telco gear has been expanded to "carriers, app stores, cloud computing, and subsea cables" under a new program the US is calling Clean Network. Basically anything Chinese and tech related is being told to get the fuck out of the USA. The most contentious bans come under the "Clean Store" and "Clean Apps" parts of the program. The aim here is to "remove untrusted applications from U.S. mobile app stores" and "prevent untrusted PRC smartphone manufacturers from pre-installing or otherwise making available for download – trusted apps on their apps store". US secretary of state called out WeChat as one of the apps that are "significant threats to the personal data of American citizens". It'll be interesting to see how deep the ethnic cleansing of the Apple and Google app stores goes and if ordinary people notice.
Cloud gaming is becoming a thing with stuff like Google's Stadia (poor rollout notwithstanding) and Microsoft's xCloud service. These work by having a beefy server play your game at super duper high quality, sending low-latency streaming video back to you based off input from your low-spec device. Unless you have an iOS device, because Apple are making the business model of streaming games unviable due to their bloody minded persistence for a 30% cut. Apple said "gaming services can absolutely launch on the App Store as long as they follow the same set of guidelines applicable to all developers including submitting games individually for review and appearing in charts and search". What a ridiculous statement.
A 20GB cache of "various Intel documents and tools" spanning over a decade have been let loose on the web. It appears that one of the partners Intel shares data with so products using Intel bits can be made, is the source of the leak. Some of the data includes "everything from Intel presentation templates to BIOS code and debugging tools, and would represent one of the biggest intellectual property leaks from a chipmaker in years". There's more coming apparently, with the intermediary of the stolen data tweeting that this is just the first release. I'm no chip engineer so don't know how useful this kinda data is, but I imagine there will be a noticeable increase of Intel-related security vulnerabilities over the next few months.
From time to time I like to mention the businesses or projects of Sizzle subscribers as a way to say thank you for subscribing, particularly during "these troubled times" where everyone can use a little help. Chris van Raay is a Sizzle subscriber that runs a business called Groundfloor that specialises in parcel lockers for offices and apartment buildings. No excuses for couriers saying nobody was there to receive the delivery. My mate Alex is also a Sizzle subscriber and runs a catering company totally gutted by the fact there's been no events or public gatherings for months. He's now delivering fucking delicious food across Melbourne daily. I had some last night for dinner and loved it.
Logitech MX Master 3 mouse - $131 delivered using AfterPay on Computer Alliance’s eBay store
Kingston A2000 500GB NVMe SSD - $92 delivered from Centrecom
Nokia 4.2 3GB/32GB smartphone with Android One - $179 + delivery from Kogan
Ergo office chair (AFRDI certified, 10yr warranty, 165kg rated) - $296 from Epic Office Furniture
Ubiquiti UniFi AC Lite/AC LR/AC Pro V2 - $136.80/$161.10/$233 from Futu Online’s eBay store
🎶 2020 - Suuns
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