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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER 02 - 07 SEPTEMBER, 2024
Hello and Welcome,
Meeting This Week
2024/09/03 — 18:00-20:00 — September, Tue — Main Meeting
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84608773479
Meeting ID: 846 0877 3479
Passcode: SydPCMain
Meetings Next Week
NO MEETINGS
COUNCIL ELECTIONS, SATURDAY, SEPT 14, 2024
Council Elections
Residents across 128 councils in NSW will cast their vote for their local government elections next month.
The NSW Electoral Commission will conduct the elections for 126 councils, while Liverpool and Fairfield City Councils will use a commercial election provider.
Local government elections are held every four years on the second Saturday in September.
When is the local government election?
The election is on Saturday, September 14. Polls open at 8 am and close at 6 pm.
Pre-poll voting will open on September 7. However, voting will not be open on Sunday, September 8.
Telephone and assisted voting applications also open on September 7.
How do I vote?
If you are voting in person, you must vote in your enrolled council area at a polling place.
You can find your local polling place and early polling places using the NSW Electorate's address lookup tool.
You can vote from 8 am until 6 pm on September 14.
You can register for a mail-in vote here.
You cannot vote in person if you are interstate during the election. You must register for a mail-in vote.
— Ed.
Schedule of Current & Upcoming Meetings
First Tuesday 18:00-20:00 — Main Meeting
Third Tuesday 10:00-12:00 — Tuesday Group
Third Saturday 14:00-16:00 — Web Design
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Go to the official Sydney PC Calendar for this month's meeting details.
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ASCCA News:Tech News:
Epson invests in microsatellite company
See the iTWire article by Kenn Anthony Mendoza | Monday, 29 July 2024, at 09:43.
MicroSatellites
Epson and its subsidiary Epson X Investment (EXI) have invested in Axelspace, the holding company of Axelspace Corporation, a startup company that develops and manufactures microsatellites for an undisclosed amount.
The investment was made through a joint fund, the EP-GB Investment Partnership.
Epson and EXI invested in Axelspace because it claimed to have demonstrated competitiveness in the expanding space data and technology utilisation business. It has strong technological capabilities and continues compiling a solid track record.
Moreover, Axelspace wishes to explore the possibility of synergies with Epson's sensing devices.
Complementing this partnership, Axelspace aims to bring "space within your reach" by launching AxelLiner, a business that develops, manufactures, and operates microsatellites, and AxelGlobe, a company that captures and accumulates Earth observation data, sells satellite imagery, and provides analysis and consulting services.
The launch comes as the space industry has reached a turning point and is heading toward rapid commercialisation.
In addition to solutions and businesses that use satellite data, space players are developing high-frequency observation services using microsatellite constellations, providing on-orbit services, and developing space resources.
The number of satellites launched globally is expected to double in the next ten years, and the use of satellite space data and technology is expected to continue growing steadily.
Axelspace is a private-sector satellite manufacturer that operates nine microsatellites.
The company, which simultaneously manufactured four GRUS satellites for its AxelGlobe data service, is accumulating knowledge in volume production.
The on-orbit services sector and the capitalisation of space data and technology using these microsatellites are expected to expand further.
Axelspace will leverage this opportunity by expanding its core businesses and launching an Earth observation platform and one-stop microsatellite services.
Under the Epson 25 Renewed corporate vision, Epson seeks to produce crystal device and semiconductor solutions that capitalise on its efficient, compact, and precise technologies.
Healthy ageing is almost entirely a matter of mindset, and I'm determined to keep mine positive
See the ABC NEWS article by Co-host of ABC News Breakfast, Virginia Trioli | Topic: Ageing | Sat 17 August 2024.
Partying
The most controversial thing about ageing is that it has almost nothing to do with physiology and everything to do with attitude. (Pexels: RDNE Stock project)
My editor has a particularly sly sense of humour. When she suggested looking at some new research revealing that we age dramatically at two critical life stages, I reminded her that it would be my birthday on the day of writing, a birthday that sits uncomfortably close to one of those two turning points.
This didn't faze her. "The good news is that the ageing is behind you, I guess?" my millennial editor cheerfully responded.
Happy birthday to me.
These irresistible years. This outrageous thing of one year older after another keeps happening! Can't anybody make it stop?
Well, yes, I can. It's entirely in my power to make it stop. But I'll get to that in a moment.
The evidence before us today is that, like traffic lights, human molecules appear to have two distinct go/stop moments. Stanford University gathered various genetic samples from over 100 volunteers over seven years. The data showed that most molecules in the human body didn't change over time in gradual, chronological advances. Instead, our molecules and microbes seem to have two big birthday blow-outs, and they crawl out of bed the next day, much older but not wiser.
Those two mitochondrial milestones occur around the age of 44 and again at 60, which explains the earnest language we use around those birthdays about life starting at or beginning again.
None of this applies to me
I'm not going to argue with science, but I will point out that the researchers have missed a few critical ageing moments, including but not limited to surviving your first work team off-site, your first transit through LAX airport and getting your kid started in year seven. Very little in your life will age you as much as those experiences.
But the scientists' point is that these ageing spurts, when our molecules make sudden and significant changes, might explain why spikes in certain health issues occur at certain times, and whether life choices we make at these ages are affecting our health and longevity, too.
(That's a fancy way for the researchers to suggest you're drinking too much in your 40s, which is true.)
Some of this ageing, it seems, might be avoidable — but some of it might not.
None of this, however, applies to me.
Why not? Here's the most controversial thing I could suggest about ageing: it has almost nothing to do with physiological ageing and everything to do with attitude.
Given the indisputable physical realities of healthy ageing, I see it as almost entirely a matter of attitude. I am determined to maintain an uncomplaining and connected attitude that hopefully will keep me from some of the more miserable thoughts about older age.
I'm sure you've seen this lived out: the older person you know who is younger than their years in outlook, mood and disposition — no matter their physical abilities or infirmities — and those who are not.
Keeping active is a significant health factor, but it doesn't always go hand in hand with attitude. I've never seen a more powerful ageing force than the one of negativity, complaint and defeatism. Those with that outlook seem to age before your eyes. And they certainly don't make themselves happy.
The power of attitude
There's a fair bit of evidence on my side. No matter what my molecules might have been deciding to do as I had my birthday martini, research from Harvard to the National Institute of Health and back again has found that a positive mindset powerfully influences outcomes.
And before you join me in outrage that this is glib in the face of the real pain and discomfort of some aspects of old age, substantial research has an answer for that, too: pain doesn't get any better with a miserable outlook and is even attenuated by a positive mindset.
I am not trying to diminish the awful reality of living with chronic pain and the challenges of age, but almost all the newest research and investigations show that mindset is central to the perceived experience and the effect it can have on your state of mind in your older years.
The trainers, coaches and exercise specialists I know (and sometimes work out with) attest to the power of attitude and outlook as a critical ageing factor, even in the face of diminished physical ability. But that's obvious, isn't it?
Take disability as a better example here. People like Kurt Fearnley and Dylan Alcott confronted reduced physical capacity from birth and childhood; both had a choice, with the help of their family and their communities, regarding the attitude they formed about their realities.
I know able-bodied people who are miseries; I know people with chronic conditions who are miseries. And I know people in both situations who always look for the good. I can quickly tell you which ones are getting much more from life.
I've discussed this before regarding grumpy old women (can you detect an anxious theme here?), and it's the same thing: there are dozens of reasons for an older person to let their mindset age with their body, and there are thousands of reasons — and cells, and molecules, and microbes — not to.
This weekend, get well and get through it: why grief doesn't proceed in a straight line through five stages — but life has taught you that already, hasn't it?
ACMA warns ten telcos for not following financial hardship rules
See the iTWire article by Kenn Anthony Mendoza | Friday, 26 July 2024 at 11:27 am.
Telephone Bill Headaches
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) warned ten telcos for not following new rules to protect customers struggling to pay their internet and phone bills.
Under the Financial Hardship Standard, which was announced last February and came into effect on 29 March, telcos must establish a payment assistance policy for customers experiencing financial difficulties and clearly publish the policy on their website.
The ACMA said the rules were developed in response to Communications Minister Michelle Rowland's request to create "an enforceable industry standard that will improve safeguards for telco customers experiencing financial difficulties."
Following the ACMA's audit of 48 telcos, ten were investigated and found to have not published all of the required information to be compliant with the rules.
Bendigo Telco, Business Service Brokers trading as TeleChoice, Dreamtilt, Flip TV, Nu Mobile, Pennytel Australia, Telco Pay trading as Moose Mobile, TelcoPlus, Telecom West, and Uniti Retail breached the rules.
They failed to provide payment assistance policies, which required a statement that customers seeking short-term assistance or domestic violence victims are not required to provide evidence to support their application.
ACMA member and telco consumer lead Samantha Yorke says telcos must support customers going through difficult financial circumstances by ensuring the required information is available online.
"With many people struggling to pay their bills, it's important that telcos inform customers of their right to apply for financial hardship assistance and the options and support services available," Yorke reiterates.
An ACMA report released in May 2023 showed that 2.4 million Australian adults experienced financial difficulty or had concerns about their telco bill in the previous 12 months.
CommsWire reported that the telco industry continues to ignore customers facing financial hardship.
"Payment assistance policies provide an avenue for telcos to put financial management processes in place so these customers can stay connected during difficult circumstances."
"We are closely monitoring telcos to ensure they are following the rules and will not hesitate to act where non-compliance is identified," Yorke says.
Yorke notes that all ten telcos quickly updated their policies during investigations.
If telcos breach the Financial Hardship Standard again, they will be fined up to $250,000 per contravention.
Fun Facts:
APC issue 536 is on sale now!
See the TechRadar Issue by APC Magazine.
Don't miss our new issue.
APC Magazine
From the Copilot button in Windows 11 to AI summaries of Amazon customer reviews, there's no escaping artificial intelligence, and this is only the beginning. The first AI-enabled PCs went on sale recently, new PC keyboards now include a Copilot key, and Google is now showing 'AI overviews' in its search results in the US.
This rapid AI onslaught has annoyed and confused many people who aren't as excited about the technology as tech giants such as Microsoft, Google and Apple — which have launched their own AI system, Apple Intelligence.
But don't be afraid of artificial intelligence — it's more valuable than you think. APC reveals 30 ways free AI tools can improve everything you do on your PC and online.
The handheld PC market has taken off, but can they be used for more than mobile gaming? Barry Collins tests three models. We test the Valve Steam Deck, Lenovo Legion Go, and Asus ROG Ally to see their capabilities as everyday PCs.
In this issue, we look at what we want from Windows 12. With the next version of Windows likely to land before the end of the year, our contributors reveal what new features they want and what old features they'd like to see the back of.
With a close look at one of our favourite peripherals, keyboards are one of the few devices we often overlook as PC enthusiasts. Whenever we price up systems and specs, peripherals are mostly ignored outside of the occasional consideration of screen resolution. Yet, monitors, keyboards, and mice are all integral elements of any good build. We jump into the noisy world of the humble keyswitch, giving you the lowdown on all the latest tech.
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Meeting Location & Disclaimer
Bob Backstrom
~ Newsletter Editor ~
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