Quibi, a new paid streaming service with short videos you can watch in landscape or portrait
Victorian schools to go online only next week, Telstra handing out 4G & Education Dept handing out laptops
Tesla shows off prototype ventilator, SEAT are shipping theirs already
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There's a new streaming video service called Quibi (apparently "quick bites" lol) creating original content for US$4.99/m (with ads, US$7.99/m without ads) that only goes for 10 minutes or less. Yeah, every video on Quibi maxes out at 10 minutes and is designed to be watched in either horizontal or vertical on a smartphone. To me Quibi looks like a middle ground between YouTube and reality show broadcast TV, miles away from HBO style content - Arstechnica reckons Quibi is "a grown-up version of Sesame Street". Adult Sesame Street/Quibi is US-only, but the app seems to work fine in Australia, no VPN required and there's a 90 day free trial if you want to see what the fuss is.
The Victorian state government has said school will need to go full online learning for term 2 as coronavirus physical distancing continues. Luckily, Telstra is providing 4,000 SIM cards & modems for those without internet at home to participate in school online, along with 1,000 SIM cards & modems the Department of Education purchased themselves. Secondary school students will get priority, with those doing VCE at the top of the list. Victoria will also loan out over 6,000 laptops and tablets to students and schools will be allowed to give classroom devices to families as they aren't gonna be used in the classroom any time soon, are they? Amazing how this stuff suddenly became available when for years prior it was tough shit for those who couldn't afford it.
Tesla's engineers have shown off a prototype ventilator cobbled together using car parts. The touch screen is the same as in a Model 3/Y and the computer controlling it all is the same one used for the infotainment system in Tesla's cars. I don't know shit about ventilators but this looks like a way better attempt to be helpful than the useless in hindsight Thai cave rescue mini-subs. Spanish car manufacturer, SEAT (part of the VW empire) is even further along than Tesla in their ventilator efforts, having developed a machine from adapted windscreen wiper motors and gearbox shafts into a certified unit currently being rolled out in Spanish hospitals.
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