Apple embraces right to repair, Xbox turns 20, Telstra sells power, Google drops a cool billion: Vertical Hold Ep 355

Why is Apple suddenly playing nice with right to repair advocates? Would it be wise to get your electrons from Telstra at the same time as your phone service? What will Google’s billion dollar Oz investment mean?
Special guests Choice’s Erin Turner (@erinlturner), ZDNet’s Chris Duckett (@dobes) and DigitallyDownloaded.Net’s Matt Sainsbury (@mattsainsb)!

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Usually, around this time of year, the tech news starts to slow down.

Except… not in 2021. So this week we’ve got a trio of guests covering a plethora of tech topics from the big end of town all the way to the sofa in your living room.

From DigitallyDownloaded.net, we’re joined by Matt Sainsbury to talk through the last 20 years of Xbox. 20 years! That makes some of us feel old, but not too many of us feel wistful for that original “Duke” Xbox controller.

Then Choice’s Erin Turner drops in to talk Right To Repair, and specifically Apple. Apple’s a company notorious for expensive repairs — but now it says it’ll sell you the parts, tools and show you the manuals behind repairing your iPhone or Mac. Is there a catch? What will this mean for warranties?

Then Chris Duckett enters the virtual studio to talk Google, Telstra and NBN. Google’s dropping a billion bucks, Telstra wants to drop electrons directly into your home, and Labor’s looking to keep the NBN in public hands for a little longer — but is that a good or bad idea?