### Issue 1484 - Monday 1st November, 2021

No Sizzle tomorrow because it's a public holiday in Victoria. Normal service resumes Wednesday!

## In Today's Issue

- Social media companies took a big revenue hit when Apple asked iOS users if they want to be tracked
- Roblox was down for a few days and isn't saying why, but it wasn't a hack or related to Chipotle
- UN goads Elon Musk on Twitter into donating $6b to solve world hunger, let's see if he does anything
- Got decent smartphones taking up space in a drawer? Donate them to people escaping domestic violence
- Cheap LIFX bulbs, Samsung SSD, JB Hi-Fi gift cards, Blue Yeti X mic, Circles.Life SIM, Oeck VPN

## The News

### Social media companies took a big revenue hit when Apple asked iOS users if they want to be tracked

The Financial Times reckons Snapchat, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook lost almost US$10b in advertising revenue in just a few months thanks to Apple's App Tracking Transparency feature in iOS. Unsurprisingly, when asked, the vast majority of users did not want their activity monitored, stored and analysed across other apps on their device. This change hit apps like Snapchat the hardest as all their usage is pretty much app based and their highest value users (US teens) are generally using iPhones. Apple aren't exactly saints in this area though, using data for advertising that they don't let anyone else use.

### Roblox was down for a few days and isn't saying why, but it wasn't a hack or related to Chipotle

If you have kids in your house, you probably already know this, but Roblox was been down for over 60 hours. They haven't revealed anything at all about what took out one of the world's most popular online games, but did tell The Verge that it was not because of an "external intrusion". Some people thought it was because Chipotle was giving away $1m worth of burritos and the demand for free food broke Roblox's servers, but that's also not the cause. Either way, it's back now so the temper tantrums can end and quality Skinner Box time can resume.

### UN goads Elon Musk on Twitter into donating $6b to solve world hunger, let's see if he does anything

The United Nation's World Food Programme has called out ultra-billionaires like Musk and Bezos, saying that a bee's dick of their wealth could solve world hunger and challenged them to cough up some cash for this noble aim. Musk responded to the UN with a tweet, saying "If WFP can describe on this Twitter thread exactly how $6B will solve world hunger, I will sell Tesla stock right now and do it. But it must be open source accounting, so the public sees precisely how the money is spent". Let me remind you that Musk's net wealth is US$292b. i doubt he'll give over $6b, but hey prove me wrong Elon!

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Got decent smartphones taking up space in a drawer? Donate them to people escaping domestic violence

I reckon many of the people who subscribe to this newsletter would have a pile of old smartphones that are perfectly good, just you can't be bothered to sell them. Perhaps you should donate them to domestic violence victims! A charity called DV Safe Phone is collecting old phones to hand out to people across Australia trying to escape bad situations. One of the first things an abuser tends to cut off is phone access, so the person on the other end of the abuse can't dob them in. Fuck that, give em your old phone.

## Bargains

- LIFX 2-Pack Colour A60 1000lm Smart Bulb - $79 at JB Hi-Fi
- Samsung 500GB T7 Portable SSD - $99 from Amazon or The Good Guys
- 10% off JB Hi-Fi gift cards at Target (perfect for buying a new MBP in their next 10% off sale!)
- Blue Yeti X USB Microphone - $238 from Amazon
- Circles.Life (Optus MVNO) plan with 15GB/m of data for $8.99/m for the first 6 months
- 50% off 6 month plan for Oeck VPN (good for dodging streaming service geoblocks) - $36

## The End

📻 Flame - Sebadoh

😎 The Sizzle is curated by Anthony "@decryption" Agius and emailed every weekday afternoon.

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The Sizzle is created on Wathaurong land and acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia, recognising their continuing connection to land, water and community. I pay my respect to them and their cultures and to elders both past and present.