An update to the Xbox Series X and a new controller were accidentally leaked via court documents made public in the legal fight between the USA's FTC and Microsoft regarding the purchase of Activision Blizzard. The main changes are a larger (2TB) internal drive, wi-fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, a 6nm die shrink so the SoC is more power efficient and no more optical disc drive. The controller has a "two-tone color scheme and will support a direct connection to cloud, Bluetooth 5.2, and a presumably updated 'Xbox Wireless 2' connection. Microsoft also lists 'precision haptic feedback' and 'VCA haptics double as speakers' as specs for the controller. It will also have quieter buttons and thumbsticks, a rechargeable and swappable battery, and modular thumbsticks". Both were set for announcement early next year.
The prolonged process to revise the NBN's special access undertaking (SAU) is almost complete, with most ISPs not happy with it, but ultimately just want to move on as they can see that NBN has no appetite for lowering its wholesale pricing. It's all but locked in now that every year NBN will increase the wholesale price based on the consumer price index, which ISPs will likely pass on to customers. This is really shit. Within 3 years time, assuming CPI hovers around 5%, a $99 plan (which is already twice what it should cost IMHO) will set you back $115 a month, with the price to go up indefinitely. Optus rightfully points out that "end-users who are in a position to consider alternatives may well do so or further downgrade their NBN services instead of taking up poor quality NBN services whose prices continue to increase over the life of the SAU".
iFixit has downgraded its 7/10 repairability score for the iPhone 14 down to 4/10. While they were initially excited about the fresh design on the iPhone 14 (not the Pro, just the iPhone 14) that made DIY repairs much easier, they've now realised it only makes the device's internals easier to replace, not actually repair, due to Apple's use of parts signing. This is a process where if you take the camera from one phone with a broken screen for example and pop it in another phone that needs a working camera, you can't do this because the parts are locked to the original phone and when you boot up the device, will throw a warning about not using genuine parts and block the use of the replaced part. It makes it impossible for independent repair shops and individuals to scavenge parts from other broken devices.
Atari Discovery Xtra - 1991 compilation of 4 games, 6 programs, 4 desk accessories and various support files over 5 disks for the Atari ST (Mikerochip / Internet Archive)
📻 Blue Collar Love (Silver Album Version) - Starflyer 59
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