24-November 16

WEEKLY NEWSLETTER 18 - 23 NOVEMBER, 2024

Hello and Welcome,

Meeting TODAY

2024/11/16 — 14:00-16:00 — November, Sat — Web Design

Hi Everyone,

Saturday is our last Web Design meeting for the year. We will be live at the SMSA.

At the end of the year, let's anchor ourselves from a CSS position.

I found an article on using CSS only to "attach target elements to anchor elements and positioning and sizing them." I have been dealing with appointments, so I only just found this, so we will be experimenting as we go.

We still need your code snippets for the website, and we could discuss what to do next year.

We will be face-to-face at the SMSA, but here are the Zoom details if you can't.

SPCTUG Zoom Web Design Meeting

Time: Saturday, 16th November, 2024, 14:00 Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney

Join Zoom Meeting

https://­us02­web.­zoom.­us/j/­86141­133224

Meeting ID: 861 4113 3224

Passcode: WebDesign

See you all there.

Steve South

Meeting This Week

2024/11/19 — 10:00-12:00 — November, Tue — Tuesday Group

Meetings Next Week

NO MEETINGS

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:

Google Fined $2.5 Trillion Trillion Trillion

See the InfoPackets article by John Lister on November 8, 2024, at 12:11 pm EST.

Google has confirmed that it currently owes $2.5 decillion dollars in an unpaid fine in Russia and doesn't plan on paying any time soon.

The fine stems from a 2020 judgment. The government-run Russian news site RBC reported on it this week, and Google has confirmed that the details are correct.

The penalty was for restricting the YouTube channels of two Russian media outlets. Those companies successfully sued Google for civil penalties under Russian law.

Further penalties were added for similar bans on Russian media sites in 2022 following the invasion of Ukraine. At that time, Google said that the channels had broken rules against denying, minimalizing, or trivializing violent events and that the invasion fell under that category.

$1,000 Fine Got Out Of Hand

The original fine was just 100,000 roubles, which is the equivalent of just over $1,000 USD today. However, Russian law means the penalty doubles for each week Google fails to pay up.

The current total of the fines is $2.5,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, or 2.5 trillion trillion trillion. Ironically, if Google fails to pay for another four years, the amount will reach $1 googol, which is a huge number (1 followed by 100 zeros) that inspired the company's name.

Google confirmed the fines in its latest quarterly report, noting, "We have ongoing legal matters relating to Russia. For example, civil judgments that include compounding penalties have been imposed upon us concerning disputes regarding terminating accounts, including those of sanctioned parties."

Can't Pay, Won't Pay

Even leaving aside the ludicrous numbers, there's no real prospect of the companies collecting on the fines as Google has no meaningful presence in Russia. Its local subsidiary went bankrupt after Russian authorities took control of its bank accounts following the restrictions on state media.

This severely limits its operations in Russia. Although people there can use free services such as YouTube and the search engine, Google neither sells nor delivers ads nationwide.

What's Your Opinion?

Should tech companies respect the law in all countries where their services are available? Was it worth it for Google to lose its Russian business and restrict its sites? Does it matter that the content was legal in the country where it was uploaded?

Read More »

COPILOT SUMMARY — Google Fined $2.5 Trillion Trillion Trillion

Here's a summary of the article about Google's massive fine in Russia:

1. Google owes an enormous fine of $2.5 decillion dollars in Russia, but it doesn't plan to pay it.

2. The fine started from a 2020 judgment due to restricting YouTube channels of two Russian media outlets.

3. Further penalties were added in 2022 after Google banned more Russian media following the invasion of Ukraine.

4. The original fine was just over $1,000 USD, but it doubles each week unpaid, leading to the current astronomical figure.

5. Google has no meaningful presence in Russia due to its local subsidiary going bankrupt after Russian authorities took control of its bank accounts.

6. Despite people in Russia still being able to use free Google services, the company neither sells nor delivers ads there.

The article questions whether tech companies should respect the laws in all countries where their services are available and if it was worth it for Google to restrict the sites, leading to the loss of its Russian business.

First Australian commercial orbital launch permit issued to Gilmour Space

See the iTWire article by Josh Martinez | Thursday, 07 November, 2024, at 16:44.

The Australian Government has authorised Gold Coast startup Gilmour Space Technologies to launch its Eris 1 vehicle from the Bowen Orbital Spaceport at Abbot Point, Queensland.

The authorisation, an Australian launch permit, is the first ever issued by the Australian Government for a commercial orbital launch vehicle.

Under the Space (Launches and Returns) Act 2018, an Australian launch permit is required to launch from Australian soil to an altitude of more than 100 kilometres.

Gilmour Space CEO and co-founder Adam Gilmour welcomed the news as a major milestone for the local space industry. "With this green light, we will soon attempt the first orbital test flight of an Australian-made rocket from Australian soil."

"Our team is assessing the conditions of the permit and will advise on the anticipated launch date for Eris TestFlight1 in the coming weeks."

The Australian Space Agency described the launch permit as a historic decision that will allow Gilmour to launch Eris 1 for its first test flight.

Eris 1 is a small orbital launch vehicle designed to deliver payloads of about 300kg into low earth orbit.

Eris 1 is 23 meters long and has a mass at lift-off of 34 tonnes. It has three stages and includes novel hybrid propulsion technologies.

In March this year, the Australian Government granted Gilmour a launch facility licence for the Bowen Orbital Spaceport.

In September, the company announced it had completed a major wet dress rehearsal of its Eris launch vehicle, progressing the countdown to T-10 seconds.

The upcoming TestFlight1 will be the first of several planned test launches to reach orbit with Eris, which leverages new propulsion technologies developed by the Gold Coast-based company.

Since launching its rocket program in 2015, Gilmour Space has expanded to over 200 employees, built a local supply chain of more than 300 Australian companies, attracted substantial private investment, gained support from local, state, and federal governments, and actively engaged communities across the region.

Its Bowen spaceport, one of only a few private orbital launch sites globally, will initially provide access to low- and mid-inclination orbits for vehicles.

Read More »

COPILOT SUMMARY — First Australian commercial orbital launch permit issued to Gilmour Space

Here's a summary of the text about Gilmour Space Technologies:

Historic Milestone: The Australian Government has issued the first commercial orbital launch permit to Gold Coast startup Gilmour Space Technologies.

Launch Vehicle: The Eris 1 launch vehicle will be launched from the Bowen Orbital Spaceport in Queensland.

Significance: This marks the first time an Australian-made rocket will attempt an orbital test flight from Australian soil.

Vehicle Details: Eris 1 is a small orbital launch vehicle, 23 meters in length, weighing 34 tonnes at lift-off, and designed to deliver payloads of about 300kg into low Earth orbit.

Company Achievements: Gilmour Space has grown to over 200 employees, built a local supply chain, attracted significant investment, and received support from various levels of government.

Future Plans: The upcoming TestFlight1 will be the first of several planned test launches, utilizing new propulsion technologies developed by the company.

Global Presence: Bowen spaceport is one of the few private orbital launch sites globally, providing access to low- and mid-inclination orbits.

It's an exciting step for the local space industry!

Why I Still Buy Hard Drives for My Windows PC

See the How-To Geek article by Patrick Campanale | Published Nov 8, 2024.

Seagate Ironwolf Hard Disk

Key Takeaways

Hard drives are cheaper per terabyte than SSDs, making them great for mass storage.

Large platter drives are more reliable for long-term data storage.

Desktops often support more traditional hard drives than NVMe drives, making spinning disks a cost-effective choice.

Why do I still buy hard drives for my Windows PC? For starters, the price per TB is way lower when you're looking for mass storage. This, along with a few other reasons, is why your PC should have an old-fashioned, traditional platter hard drive.

Hard Drives Are Still the Best When It Comes to Cost

A quick look at Amazon will show a very telling tale: hard drives are cheap when you only consider the cost per terabyte of storage. I just purchased some refurbished 12TB drives for my server for $93. That puts them at less than $8 per TB. On the other hand, the 2TB NVMe drive I recently got for the same server to use as a cache drive cost me $115 for 2TB. That's $57.50 per TB, over seven times the cost of the platter drive.

These two storage mediums are on different playing fields regarding read-and-write performance. However, the 12TB drive I picked up doesn't have to read or write data fast.

My primary use for large-capacity drives is mass storage. They're for items that I don't need immediate access to, things that are being backed up, archived video files, and so on. Since I don't need to recall these items frequently, putting them on a large spinning disk just makes sense. It's more affordable and easier to get your hands on large single-platter disks than comparably sized SSDs.

In fact, if you want large-capacity SSDs, you're going to pay a premium for them. An 8TB SATA SSD on Amazon costs $600, making it $75 per TB of storage. To fill my server with these drives, or even just to put a few on my desktop, would cost far more than the 12TB platters I love to use.

Data Transfer Speeds Aren't Always the Most Important Thing

While having an NVMe SSD that moves data at several GBps can be nice, that's only sometimes the deciding factor in what storage to buy. Spinning hard drives are more reliable for long-term storage. I know, I know. Spinning drives and reliability in the same sentence? Yes.

Solid-state storage is fantastic for many reasons, but it has some drawbacks. While the industry states that a powered-off SSD should retain its data for at least a year, that's still short. Let's say you fill up a drive with photos and videos of your kids and unplug it to make way for a new drive. The old drive gets labelled and set on a shelf for you to return to in the future. A few years go by, and you go to plug it in. Will the files still be there? They will likely be, but because of how SSD technology works, there's also a chance it might not be.

This problem doesn't typically plague standard platter hard drives. You can have a drive that's been powered off for many years, and the data is still right there, ready for you — so long as no magnets have been in contact with the drive. Generally, standard platter drives are probably more stable over the long term for data storage.

Your Desktop Supports More Traditional Hard Drives Than NVMe Drives

Most motherboards will have four, six, or even more SATA plugs and only one or two NVMe slots. This is one of the main driving factors for using SATA SSD drives over NVMe drives, and it holds for old-fashioned platter drives, too. Even if NVMe drives weren't way more expensive than mechanical hard drives, the ability to plug in another one without worrying about how many ports you have (or free PCIe lanes) is highly convenient. It is a big part of why traditional drives are still an excellent option for mass storage.

Let the drives do what they do best: Use an NVMe drive for your boot, programs, and games, and stick all of your documents, long-term storage, and archival files on a spinning disk. At seven times cheaper per TB, spinning disks for mass storage only makes sense.

Read More »

COPILOT SUMMARY — Why I Still Buy Hard Drives for My Windows PC

Here's a summary of the article "Why I Still Buy Hard Drives for My Windows PC" by Patrick Campanale:

Cost-Effective: Hard drives are cheaper per terabyte compared to SSDs, making them ideal for mass storage.

Long-Term Reliability: Large platter drives are more reliable for long-term data storage.

Compatibility: Desktops often support more traditional hard drives than NVMe drives, making them a practical choice.

The author emphasizes that while SSDs offer faster read and write speeds, they are significantly more expensive. For tasks that don't require high-speed access, such as backing up or archiving data, traditional hard drives are a more economical option. Platter drives also have better longevity for data retention, making them suitable for long-term storage. Additionally, most motherboards have more SATA ports than NVMe slots, allowing for more extensive use of traditional hard drives.

In essence, traditional hard drives offer a cost-effective and reliable solution for mass storage needs.

Fun Facts:

Fun Facts: It's The End Of The Mall As We Know It . . . And I Feel Fine.

See the Forbes article by Steve Dennis | Updated Jun 26, 2017 [ SEVEN YEARS OLD ] 11:17 am EDT.

Typical Large-Scale US Mall

For those promulgating the "retail apocalypse" narrative, a key component of their Chicken Little logic is that malls are dying. Moreover, much of the blame is cast squarely upon the growth of e-commerce. While hyperbole IS the greatest thing ever, there is much more to the story. Let's put this all in a more fact-based, precise and nuanced perspective.

First, in aggregate, regional malls — and their department store anchors — have been on the decline for more than two decades. The first wave of disruption came from the advent and national expansion of big-box category killers and discount mass merchandisers. The most recent wave of disruption has come mainly from the rise of off-price and dollar stores. So, while it's convenient to blame Amazon, the ascent of online shopping is only a tiny piece of the puzzle. And due to rampant over-building, a correction was sure to come anyway.

Second, many dying malls are being killed by other malls. As growing retailers situate their new stores in growing suburban areas with favourable demographics, we often witness a shift in an area's "retail centre of gravity." A mall built in the 1960s or 1970s may lose relevance as more and more retailers locate closer to where a greater density of high-spending shoppers now reside or work. In many instances, a new mall with more desirable tenants has been built during the past decade to capture those sales.

Third, many malls are doing very well. The nation's so-called "A" malls represent about 20% of locations but generate about 75% of total mall volume. With few exceptions, these 270 or so malls have stellar (and growing) productivity and very low vacancy rates. Relatively few of these malls are being impacted by the closing of anchor tenants, and specialty store vacancies are typically snapped up quickly.

Fourth, while closing department stores is hitting "B" and "C" malls disproportionately hard, it's not all bad news for mall owners. Sears has been a dead brand walking for more than a decade. Many JC Penney and Macy's locations have been chronic under-performers for years. As long as these albatross tenants continue operating, the mall operator receives paltry rent from big chunks of their leasable space while generating little incremental traffic. Losing poorly performing retailers often creates new, more profitable opportunities. One scenario is a transformation of tenant mix, usually a dramatic shift to more entertainment venues and/or professional office use. Sometimes, non-traditional retail tenants (think Dick's Sporting Goods or Target) become anchors. Yet another is a complete re-purposing of the entire centre for more lucrative multi-use development.

This is not to say that some malls won't die a painful death, never to return from the ashes — however, the apocalyptic vision painted by some needs to be more accurate. Most higher-end malls will continue to thrive with an approach that looks somewhat familiar. Many others will evolve to be quite different but remain far from hurting, much less dead. Others will be radically transformed into something with vastly higher and better use. Either way, with few exceptions, investors, customers, and employees will be just fine.

Read More »

PS: Recent experience at the Miranda Mall in Sydney:

Looking for a replacement men's wristwatch, I asked several shop assistants at a large department store in the Mall but found the vaguest of answers. Unfortunately, I never did find any watch display. HUGE separate departments catered to men's, women's and children's goods, mainly clothing and toys for children.

In contrast, after only five minutes online at Amazon, I found photographs of hundreds of wristwatches at various prices, from $25 to $3,000+. I decided on an excellent Casio watch with a Solar Battery.

With same-day and free Prime Delivery, it turned out very satisfactory.

Solar-Powered Casio Watch

COPILOT SUMMARY — Fun Facts: It's The End Of The Mall As We Know It . . . And I Feel Fine.

The article "It's The End Of The Mall As We Know It . . . And I Feel Fine" by Steve Dennis provides a nuanced perspective on the so-called "retail apocalypse." Here's a summary:

Decline of Malls: Regional malls and their department store anchors have been declining for over two decades due to competition from big-box stores and discount retailers, and more recently, off-price and dollar stores.

Shift in Retail Centres: Some malls are declining as new malls are built in areas with favorable demographics, shifting the retail centre of gravity.

Thriving Malls: High-end "A" malls, representing about 20% of all malls but generating 75% of total mall volume, are performing well with growing productivity and low vacancy rates.

Opportunities from Closures: The closure of underperforming department stores in "B" and "C" malls can create opportunities for mall owners to transform the tenant mix, introduce entertainment venues, or repurpose the space for more profitable uses.

Future Outlook: While some malls may close permanently, most high-end malls will continue to thrive, others will adapt and evolve, and many will transform into multi-use developments, ensuring investors, customers, and employees are not significantly harmed.

In essence, the article argues that despite challenges, many malls are adapting and will continue to be successful in various forms.

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