Australian Border Force managed to pry their way into 822 traveler's mobile phones in 2021 by demanding the device's passcode at the border, taking it away, connecting it to "examination equipment" and returning the device 30 minutes later. A Senate committee asked ABF if they're actually allowed to do this as it sounds pretty harsh to do to someone that isn't under arrest. ABF responded with, "there is no legal compulsion for a traveler to provide a password/passcode or provide assistance to an electronic device at the border". So technically you can refuse, however if you don't comply and the officer thinks there is "a risk to the border", they can then seize the device and stick their snouts in it so you're fucked either way.
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway needs no explanation, but I would love an explanation for their massive investment in HP. Not HP Enterprise (aka HPE) with the servers and business stuff, but HP Inc (aka HPQ), the crappy laptops and printers division. Berkshire now owns 11% of HPQ, valued at around US$4.2b. The share price jumped almost 15% simply based on the fact Warren Buffett is involved. This article on Yahoo! Finance tries to highlight HP's upsides, arguing sales have grown lately (IMHO probably due to the work from home boom that's relatively temporary) but I'm not convinced. Looking forward to the next Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder letter more than usual now.
Two giant nerds, Jeff Atwood (you know him as the father of Stack Overflow) and John Carmack (Doom & Quake), have placed a "friendly bet" of US$10,000 donated to a charity of the winner's choice that "by January 1st, 2030, completely autonomous self-driving cars meeting SAE J3016 level 5 will be commercially available for passenger use in major cities". Jeff reckons this won't happen, John reckons it will happen. If you're unfamiliar with what SAE J3016 level 5 entails, that's basically the ability to fall asleep at the wheel, in "all conditions". I'm on Jeff's side here and agree that lots of people under estimate the difficulty of level 5 driving, but I'll be happy to be wrong.
Here's five interesting discussions over on The Sizzle's paid subscriber forum for you to enjoy over the weekend. If you are not a paid subscriber but want to get involved, visit https://thesizzle.com.au/payme to get onboard.
📻 Bruce Lee - Underworld
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