Issue 1554 - Thursday 24th February, 2022

In Today's Issue

The News

1Password makes it easier to store cryptocurrency wallet credentials

1Password has added a cryptocurrency wallet feature, making it easier to add this info to 1Password. You could always do this in 1Password using custom fields, but now they have a dedicated template. Ideally wallet info is kept offline so it's harder to get stolen, but I guess storing it in 1Password is better than losing it entirely. 1Password are also partnering with the Phantom wallet (a place to trade Solana-based tokens and NFTs) for deeper integration, so when you make a new Phantom wallet, it'll automatically add store your wallet password, wallet address, and secret recovery phrase. Seen a few people salty about this on Twitter and I loathe cryptocurrency as much as the next person, but I don't see the big deal here.

Intel's new 9W-28W 12th-gen mobile CPUs with performance and efficiency cores

Oh look, Intel has some new CPUs. These are U (9W-15W) and P (28W) series 12th-gen Core CPUs based on the Alder Lake architecture designed to go in thin laptops. The main difference between these CPUs and the previous generation is the use of performance and efficiency cores depending on the task at hand. Laptops should hit the market late-March, hopefully some benchmarks before then. Will be interesting to see how these CPUs compete with Apple's M1 range. Intel also hinted a "multi-device experience" coming to "select Intel Evo Designs". Basically Apple's Handoff feature, but for Windows and Android. Good luck to everyone involved with that and I hope you succeed.

Telstra & Optus don't like potential Privacy Act reforms that allow customers to opt-out of providing expanded personal info

A review of the Privacy Act has seen the Attorney-General think out loud that perhaps the definition of "personal information" should be updated for the 21st century and include stuff like "IP addresses, device identifiers, and location data". Telstra and Optus are not fans. Optus reckon if they are required to allow customers to opt-out of Optus collecting this type of personal info they'll be unable to provide that customer a service. Telstra also fears that "fault finding, capacity planning and optimising network performance" could be impacted. They both dropped a subtle hint that if customers opt-out of providing personal info, it'll "undermine the work of law enforcement agencies (LEAs) as telecommunications data is often used by LEAs in their investigations".

Something I Saw On The Internet

Greedy book publishers still suing the Internet Archive over controlled digital lending

It saddens me to see that Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins and Wiley are still trying to sue the Internet Archive for US$60m and to kill off "Controlled Digital Lending". Libraries (in the US at least, not sure about here) have the legal right to loan works in digital formats, so many libraries, not just the IA, scan their books and loan em out on the internet. They use DRM to ensure only one person at a time can borrow the digital version (or two people if there's two copies of the book, etc). Publishers reckon a library owning a book doesn't mean they can loan out digital copies, just the physical one. If the lawsuit succeeds, the Internet Archive might be on the hook for damages I doubt they can afford.

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The End

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