Issue 308 - Wednesday, 11th January 2017

• Chris Lattner goes from Apple to Tesla
• The AMA reckons the NBN sucks for remote area e-health
• Apple to make servers in the USA, for itself, not for us
• Commonwealth Ombudsman to investigate Centerlink's stupid computers
• Say hello to the National Connected Multimodal Transport Test Bed

• Chrome plugin for REA & Domain to show you which homes have NBN
• Cheap stuff you don't need
• ProctorU is a terrible way to conduct a job interview

NEWS

Chris Lattner goes from Apple to Tesla This may only concern a few egghead programmer types, but it's a semi-big deal for them, like when Patrick Dangerfield left the Crows to go play for Geelong, so I'll mention it. Chris Lattner, the bloke who was one of the lead developers of the LLVM compiler (an important tool for developers), who then went to work for Apple and primarily created the Swift programming language, has left Apple after 11 years, to work for Tesla. At Tesla he will be the Vice President of Autopilot Software. I guess the bloke wanted a new challenge. Self-driving cars seems to be the new hotness in tech. Smartphones are boring now. Discuss

The AMA reckons the NBN sucks for remote area e-health The Australian Medical Association (i.e the doctors union) are saying the NBN sucks for e-health - one of the main reasons the fucking thing was built. The (pipe) dream of being able to do high quality video consults, rich with data from dozens of sensors hooked up to a patient, just won't work on the increasingly congested satellite and wireless services those in the country, who need internet based consults the most, rely on. Even the hospitals and GP clinics themselves are struggling to get proper internet, which is important for radiology, amongst other things. Discuss

Apple to make servers in the USA, for itself, not for us Apple is going to be making computers in America. Computers for use in its own datacenters though, not for us. It applied for a permit with the US government to create a special duty free zone in Arizona to create servers for use in their datacentres across America. The Arizona factory Apple is planning to use was initially going to be where large amount of sapphire coated glass was going to be made - but we all know how that turned out. Discuss

Commonwealth Ombudsman to investigate Centerlink's stupid computers The Commonwealth Ombudsman has decided to investigate what the hell is going on with Centrelink's computer system. If you don't already know, Centerlink introduced a new computer system that's supposed to use the vast trove of government data to find out who's a filthy dole bludger and punish them. Of course, the system is totally fucking fucked and ended up sending honest welfare recipients huge fines and nobody at Centerlink seems to care. These are from last year, but are two great articles outlining what the issue seems to be and how Centerlink's ineptness caused this issue. Or if that's all too many words for ya, this Youtube video of a monkey with a machine gun is pretty spot on. Discuss

Say hello to the National Connected Multimodal Transport Test Bed A section of Melbourne will be covered in sensors to provide data on how busy the area is. The sensors will be installed in the road, traffic lights and even to cars to create a lab headed up by Melb Uni to show off what a connected city can do. It'll also integrate data from VicRoads, PTV, the City of Melbourne and Yarra and traffic info from Here. NBN Co, Telstra, Seimens, Cubic and Ericsson will also be involved. The area will be a 1.2 square km patch that includes Alexandra Parade, Victoria Street, Hoddle Street and Lygon Street. There's not a lot of info besides the government press release (which calls it the National Connected Multimodal Transport Test Bed) and these press releases from October on the Cubic and Melb Uni websites, but it sounds cool. There's not a lot of news today. Discuss

COOL SHIT

Chrome plugin for REA & Domain to show you which homes have NBN Every nerd in Australia knows the hassle of researching what sort of internet is available to any house they move in to. Whilst I would love Domain and/or Realestate.com.au to add this feature natively so people can filter out the properties without fibre NBN, it isn't gonna happen any time soon. The next best thing is nbnm8. Some fucking hero made this Chrome plugin that when used on Realestate.com.au or Domain, will show you the NBN status of the properties you've searched for. Now there's no excuse for moving into a home without fibre optic internet. Discuss

Cheap stuff you don't need Ozbargain goodies: LIFX bayonet B22 white bulbs starting at $31 each with free delivery. Get 10 pack for just $197. Garmin Index smart scale for $160 - has support for Myfitnesspal if you're into that sort of thing. Dell XPS 13 (probably the best non-Apple laptop) using the new 7th-gen Intel CPUs for $1360. 8GB flash drives for $2.50 at Officeworks, if you need to load up on shit ones for ransomware drops on the other side of town. Discuss

ProctorU is a terrible way to conduct a job interview This bloke did a remote job interview for Amazon, who use a system called ProctorU. What a shitshow that was. Just read the article and laugh (or cringe) at how un-realistic and farcical the system is. Amazon changed the system since, but the fact they used ProctorU in the first place just goes to show how perverted the hiring process for some of these big companies is. Discuss

Here endeth the sizzle (until tomorrow!) --Anthony