NEWS
Apple joins the Qi charging standard group Wireless charging may finally come to the iPhone! Apple has confirmed it has joined the Wireless Power Consortium, who lead the development of the Qi charging standard. There's over 200 companies in the consortium and Qi charging is pretty much the standard for wireless charging. IKEA's range of wireless charging furniture uses the Qi standard. Also doing the rounds in the Apple rumour mill, is Apple's apparent order for 160 million OLED panels - meaning the next iPhone may get wireless charging and an OLED screen. I can hear the Samsung fans screaming already. Discuss
Disney sacks PewDiePie for making YouTube videos with too much Nazi and anti-jew stuff YouTube darling PewDiePie (he sounds and acts like an idiot, but he's a big deal, trust me) has lost a lucrative job with Disney because he was chucking in too many Nazi and anti-Jew jokes in his videos. Disney purchased his video creation company for $675m and made him part of the Disney family. Now he's out on his arse, buffeted by millions of dollars and millions of followers. I'm sure he'll find another outlet for his creativity. Discuss
Prices leak for AMD's new Ryzen CPUs Someone's gone and leaked all the pricing and part numbers of the upcoming AMD Ryzen CPUs. The entry level Ryzen 3 1100 CPU (which has 4 cores, 65W TDP and max 3.5GHz clock speed) will start at US$129. The top of the line Ryzen 7 1800X (8 cores, 16 threads, 95W TDP, 4GHz+ max speed) will sell for US$499. Early benchmarks on engineering samples already have the top of the line Ryzen CPU beating Intel's top of the line i7, despite selling for half the price. AMD is back! The AMD Ryzen 5 1400X looks like excellent bang for buck - 8 threads and a 4GHz clockspeed for ~A$260? Sounds great to me. Discuss
Mandatory data breach notification law passes the Senate Remember those mandatory data breach notification laws I mentioned a few issues ago? They passed through the senate today - so it'll all come into effect in 12 months. The Greens tried to cut down the time between when a breach must be reported from 30 days to 3, and to add political parties and businesses with less than $3m in turnover, but failed. Only agencies and organisations covered under the Privacy Act need to comply with this new law. For the some practical details of what this may mean for you, check this out. Discuss
Cameroonian government deliberately cuts internet to its own citizens Spare a thought for the unlucky bastards in Cameroon who have had their internet cut by the government. An English speaking portion of Cameroon is disliked by the Cameroonian government as they're seen as troublemakers, so as punishment for their perceived dissent, they've forced ISPs to cut internet access in those regions. Even though Cameroon may not be as "advanced" as Australia in its use of the internet, it's still a major way people communicate - relatives overseas can't get in touch easily and businesses that need access to online services suddenly can't use them. Imagine if the federal government here decided to kick Queensland off the internet. Like went to the border and just sliced the fibre optic cables - that's what's happened in Cameroon. Discuss
COOL SHIT
Qualcomm has 802.11ax wi-fi SoCs in the oven Qualcomm has announced chips supporting a draft 802.11ax spec. 802.11ax is the follow up to 802.11ac. It's basically everything you know and love about 802.11ac, but better. Faster speeds and greater overall network capacity, so having multiple devices on the one AP doesn't cut client speeds so much. This is made possible due to the mandatory inclusion of MU-MIMO, which is part of 802.11ac, but not standard, so you can't always rely on it being there. 802.11ax also operates on 2.4GHz, whereas 802.11ac did not. Qualcomm's 802.11ax chips won't be out until early 2018 and probably won't appear in devices until a few months after that. Discuss
A glossary for the various types of NBN technologies in use If all the different types of NBN technologies (FTTN, FTTB, FTTdp, HFC, wireless, etc. etc.) have you confused, Gizmodo AU has a glossary of all the terms. Unfortunately there's still no way to find out what type of tech a specific property supports, as NBN removed all that info from their map recently. All you can find out now, is if a property is connected to NBN - which could mean shitty FTTN at 12mbit/sec, congested and expensive wireless, or FTTP at 100mbit/sec - you have no idea. Thanks NBN, thanks a lot. Discuss
Sonos, 21:9 LCDs, Xiaomi batteries & indie game bargains It's been a bit quiet on the bargain front lately, but a few gooduns have popped up today. Sonos Play 5 (2nd gen) speaker for $649 and free delivery. LG 34" 3440x1440 IPS LCD for $730 at MSY. Genuine Xiaomi 10,000mAH PowerBank 2 (thin, quick charge compatible) for $28.95 and free delivery from Sydney. A new Humble Indie Bundle with some great games (Mini Metro, The Stanley Parable, Super Meat Boy) and books, with all proceeds going to charity - you set your own price for this, but they suggest at least US$30. Discuss
Here endeth the sizzle (until tomorrow!) --Anthony
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