Shine wears off COVIDSafe as more people dig into what it does and how it works
Tweet by Elon Musk wipes billions off Tesla’s shares, probably grounds for another SEC investigation
Local e-sports betting ring busted by Victorian police
RetroPie is a fun little project to make use of that Raspberry Pi gathering dust in your box of crap
Cheap Square Enix games, Football Manager 2020, Google Home & Home Max, Yamaha soundbar, Bose headphones, Seagate 16TB HDD, DJI Osmo action cam
So, umm, COVIDSafe - it doesn't actually do anything right now. Over the weekend the ABC was able to confirm that "if a person tests positive to coronavirus today, the information on the mobile application will be of no use to health authorities because the states and territories are yet to finalise how the data can be used". The bureaucrats will sort it out, but until then if you tell the app you've tested positive for COVID-19, nothing happens and contacts won't be informed.
The government still seems hellbent on getting people installing it though (we're at around 4.4m downloads), with the Health Minister tweeting out "Want to go to the footy? Download the app" and the Prime Minister saying that using COVIDSafe is like "putting on sunscreen" and is the “ticket” to easing restrictions. Stilgherrian has a solid piece on ZDNet highlighting how frustrating it is to see the government place so much emphasis on COVIDSafe despite it being one cog in a big machine of solutions and sending the wrong message to the community about their safety as a result.
Meanwhile, nerds bored over the weekend decided to test how the iOS version of COVIDSafe works in the background, as technically iOS doesn't allow for apps to do that. Joshua Byrd gives a simple demo showing COVIDSafe going quiet when the screen is locked - so if you have your iPhone in your pocket, other phones running COVIDSafe aren't gonna detect it. Oh the source code is still nowhere to be seen, with the government telling Josh Taylor that it'll happen in "the coming weeks".
Elon Musk went on another Twitter rant over the weekend that lost him billions of paper dollars. He started off by tweeting out part of the US national anthem, said his girlfriend (musician Grimes, who I thought left him but is apparently pregnant with his baby???) is pissed off with him and that he's going to sell "almost all" of his physical possessions and will "own no house". Crazy stuff, but it was a tweet simply saying "Tesla stock price is too high imo" that triggered a 10% drop in Tesla's stock. If you remember Elon's infamous 2018 tweet, "Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured", you'd know that he got into a heap of shit from the SEC over it and part of his settlement was having someone at Tesla was supposed to review his tweets regarding Tesla's financial situation before they go out - that obviously isn't happening. Let's see if the SEC grows a spine and punishes Elon for constantly pissing on their agreement.
Victorian police have charged a group of 20-year old blokes for match fixing Counter Strike: Global Offensive games in the ESEA-Mountain Dew League. The article doesn't explain what they did exactly, but if it's not something like a bunch of dudes tanking in the game deliberately every now and then, whilst their mate placed bets on the other team to win and distribute the profits to all involved - I'd be surprised. A tale as old as time really and happens in every sport (Mark Waugh anyone?). I didn't even know you could bet on shit like this, but I shouldn't be surprised betmakers slid their greasy bellies towards this market filled with overconfident young men.
Thinking about a Raspberry Pi based project to keep you occupied during lockdown? RetroPie is now available for the latest and most powerful Raspberry Pi 4. If you're not familiar with RetroPie, it's every single gaming console and old school PC platform emulator rolled into one neat little unit. Find some ROMs (I can't tell you where, but use your imagination), plug it in to a TV, get some appropriate controllers and off you go. Jaycar has a bunch of Raspberry Pi gaming accessories like this joystick deck thing you slide a Pi into, or a mini arcade cabinet with a 10" screen. If you've seen any other sweet Raspberry Pi gaming accessories lemme know.
Square Enix Bundle for PC on Steam (Dragon Quest XI, FF XII, Chrono Trigger, Oniaki) - $70.32
Google Home Max smart speaker - $198 at JB Hi-Fi
Football Manager 2020 for PC is $42 on Steam
Bose NC700 or QC35-II headphones - $469.99/$329.33 at Amazon AU
Google Home smart speaker - $74 delivered from Bing Lee’s eBay store
Seagate 16TB SATA HDD (Exos, 7200RPM) - $686.02 from Newegg
DJI Osmo Action 4K Cam - $389 at JB Hi-Fi
🎶 Not Alone - Dub Trio
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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.