decryption

What do you reckon about Optus and its 5G fixed-wireless plans, and their impact on the NBN landscape?

Reckon the big 3 telcos (Telstra, Optus, VHA/TPG) will eat up the NBN's lower end users with aggressive pricing to lure them away from fixed line NBN? And if so, what impact would that have on NBN's profitability and long-term future when the roll-out is complete?

I gave it to a friend who gave me a bit of feedback - "you don't want this back, yeah?" - so I reckon it was okay, hahah

Mate, this is a great question.I remember being so excited when Google launched Gmail and hunting for invites. I lined up for Apple products like a nice little sheep. Now that feels so gross.

These companies are so massive, literally trillion dollar behemoths, and have made their money off the backs of some perverse activities like data mining and abusing their market power. It definitely changed how I write about tech over the years. It seems so naive now, but at the time you'd never think how say, Google's new thing would spy on people, or it collected data, how it could be used against people. Now that's the first thing I consider.

If I had to sum it up, I'm way more skeptical of these companies now, whereas 10 years ago I'd take them at face value.

Has to be one from a sex toy manufacturer many years ago when the iPod was a thing. It would plug in to your iPod and your headphone with a 3.5mm splitter cable and rumble or whatever to the tunes.

I guess this is more common now, but 10 years ago it was pretty damn weird! They even sent me a review unit..

I remember my style being an issue ages ago back when I was running MacTalk. I'd publish an article with a few naughty words in it and get complaints from people saying I don't need to swear so much and that it makes me look stupid. They were probably right.

I try and keep the swearing to a minimum now and save it for when it really has an impact. I do try and use everyday language however. I'm not writing an essay for a professor, it's just a mate talking to mate, so I keep it low-brow on purpose because that's how I talk to people!

Would I split the bargains out to its own free newsletter? I could do that, but it's more effort for possibly little gain. Right now I link direct to Ozbargain instead of the item itself on Amazon/eBay so Sizzle subscribers can read the Ozbargain comments, which are often super useful to get feedback on the deal. If I want to include affiliate links I'd need to link direct to the item, so people would miss out on that Ozbargain feedback. I could add my own feedback/comments instead, but then I'm creating more work for myself.