Twitter bans paid political advertising on its platform
Apple, Alphabet & Facebook financials - everyone’s cashed up.
DJI Mavic Mini is DJI’s latest mainstream drone
Everything you wanted to know about hardware authentication keys but were afraid to ask
Cheap Sony WH1000XM3B, GoPro Hero8 Black, Samsung 82" TV, Google Nest Hub Max, UE Boom 3
Twitter has taken the high ground and decided to ban all political ads on its platform. Not that anyone really used Twitter for political advertising ($3m worth in 2018) but still, good for them. Jack Dorsey tweeted that "a political message earns reach when people decide to follow an account or retweet. Paying for reach removes that decision, forcing highly optimized and targeted political messages on people. We believe this decision should not be compromised by money". When asked on an earnings conference call today if Facebook would follow Twitter, Zuck said despite political ads being only 0.5% of Facebook's revenue, that he doesn't "think it's right for politicians to be censored". Why does Zuck think banning someone from placing an ad is censoring them? That’s not censorship, is it?
A bunch of tech companies spat out their Q42019 financial results today. Apple are still king dick, earning US$64b in revenue last quarter, their highest ever. Alphabet failed to meet market expectations so their share price is down and investors are cranky, but still sucked in US$40.5b of revenue (20% more than the same time last year) - US$34b of which came from advertising. Facebook "only" earned US$17.65b, a 29% increase from last year. Even its user count is up a few percent. Amazing considering the year they've had. Just goes to show you that despite all the bullshit that's gone on in the tech industry around privacy, data collection, political interference and the literal tearing of the fabric that binds society together - these companies aren't even getting a slight dent financially.
DJI has a new drone - the Mavic Mini. It takes the advanced features of the more expensive Mavic Air and Mavic Pro drones and brings the price down to AU$599. The main feature is a 1/2.3" 12mp camera that'll do 2.7K/30fps or 1080/60fps video, which is mounted on a three axis stabilised gimbal under the drone. The Mavic Mini has a 30 minute flight time, weighs 249g with a battery and can be controlled with either the DJI Fly app over wi-fi or an optional controller. Going by these reviews on YouTube, it takes great quality video for the price point and is a piece of piss to use. Looks like a perfect introductory drone for anyone keen to experiment with that style of photography or video. I want one.
Paul Stamatiou has an excellent article outlining what the go is with hardware keys for two factor authentication (aka 2FA). They're a way to add an extra layer of security to online accounts. Instead of relying on the website to send you an SMS with a code to log in to stuff, you can use one of these USB or Bluetooth dongles instead. It's so easy to steal someone's mobile phone number that SMS based 2FA is a bad idea if you're at risk of someone wanting to fuck you over. By using a Yubikey or whatever instead of SMS, you make it way harder for someone to bust in to your account as they would need to steal the physical dongle to gain access - a task beyond most keyboard warriors.
The Good Guys have an eBay sale again:
Sony WH1000XM3B noise cancelling Bluetooth headphones - $316
GoPro Hero8 Black - $476
Samsung 82" RU8000 4K TV - $2796
Google Nest Hub Max - $271.20
UE Boom 3 Bluetooth speaker - $117.60
🎶 Anomaly - Miss June
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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.