### Issue 1492 - Friday 12th November, 2021

## In Today's Issue

- The founder of Something Awful, Lowtax/Richard Kyanka is dead
- Scott Morrison admits the government sucks at regulating Big Tech
- Discord's CEO tones down plans to integrate NFTs into Discord
- News from earlier in the week that slipped through the net
- Friday Forum Update
- Cheap Viofo dashcam, Xiaomi Zigbee 3.0 sensors, Logitech MX Master 3 mouse, Optus 500GB data plan, Xiaomi Mi Band 6

## The News

### The founder of Something Awful, Lowtax/Richard Kyanka is dead

Richard Kyanka, better known to the world as Lowtax, took his own life this week. He was the genesis of Something Awful, a dark humor blog and morality-free forum I enjoyed far too much as an impressionable teenager with a developing brain. Looking back it feels a bit gross as to how to mean the community was to harmless weirdos and who I thought was cool, were fucked up individuals. Either way, Something Awful was undoubtedly a big part of internet culture in the early 2000s and the death of its creator is a milestone in the history of the internet I love so much. This oral history of Something Awful by Vice from 2017 explains the legacy Lowtax leaves behind.

### Scott Morrison admits the government sucks at regulating Big Tech

Our Prime Minister spoke at a G20 CEO Summit in Auckland (remotely) and said some interesting things about how the government he leads views tech regulation. The key point, which he's said for a while now, is "the rules that apply in the real world should apply in the digital world" - "we can't treat the digital world like it's the Wild West and it's a lawless space and you can't have business models, which depend on it being that either". But Scotty also said "it's important that those who are creating this digital world are part of that process [of modernising regulation] because if you just leave it to governments to do it, well, they’ll stuff it up. Because they don’t understand it the same way". Bit of an own goal there dude, maybe you should try and understand it before going aroun regulating it???

### Discord's CEO tones down plans to integrate NFTs into Discord

Many people cracked the shits a few days ago when Discord's CEO tweeted a mockup screenshot demonstrating the ability to link your Discord account with a MetaMask/WalletConnect cryptocurrency wallet, normally associated with NFTs. The feedback aimed at Discord potentially catering for scammers and enabling environmental damage must have been loud, as two days later the CEO replied to his own tweet with, "Thanks for all the perspectives everyone. We have no current plans to ship this internal concept. For now we're focused on protecting users from spam, scams and fraud. Web3 has lots of good but also lots of problems we need to work through at our scale. More soon".

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### News from earlier in the week that slipped through the net

- Netflix apparently has games now. They're only on Android or iOS, but they're included in your existing subscription at no extra cost (for now at least). The games look shit as, but hey, it's free.
- Amazon Prime Video now has "Channels" you pay extra for and view within Amazon Prime. The channels are: Acorn TV, AMC+, DocPlay, The Great Courses, Hayu, iwonder, Love Nature, MGM, OUTtv, Paramount+, Shudder and Starzplay.
- Bad news for anyone who pre-ordered Panic's adorable Playdate handheld gaming console - the first batch are delayed due to a batch of dud batteries and future batches are gonna be late due to the semi-conductor shortage.
- Also delayed is NASA's Artemis mission to put humans on the Moon in 2024. It'll now happen "no earlier than 2025" and NASA is blaming Blue Origin's legal bullshit over losing the gig to SpaceX for the delay.
- Apple has added a feature to iCloud allowing you to give up to 5 people access to your account when you're dead. You nominate them when you're alive and if they give Apple a death certificate, they'll be allowed to log-in to your iCloud.

## Friday Forum Update

Here's five interesting discussions over on The Sizzle's paid subscriber forum for you to enjoy over the weekend. If you are not a paid subscriber but want to get involved, visit https://thesizzle.com.au/payme to get onboard.

- codaroma kicked off a discussion about the metaverse that has centered around who actually thinks it is cool?
- nathanb90 wants to know if 8GB of RAM is enough with the Apple M1 SoC or if it's worth paying for the 16GB upgrade
- The_Hawk and others are happy there's more NBN alternatives now that Telstra is selling fixed 5G broadband
- coljac is getting solar panels on the roof of their home and wants to know how to measure generation/consumption and automate appliance use
- bort needs a dashcam and wants one that doesn't suck

## Bargains

- Viofo A129 Duo HD Dash Camera with GPS - $159.95 + delivery from Shopping Square
- Xiaomi Aqara E1 Smart Window Door Zigbee 3.0 Sensor 2 Pack - $33 from GeekBuying
- Logitech MX Master 3 mouse - $119 at CentreCom
- Optus SIM only 500GB plan (includes 5G access) - $65/m for 12 months
- Xiaomi Mi Band 6 Fitness Tracker (Global Version) - $43 from Banggood

## The End

📻 Sludgefeast - Dinosaur Jr

😎 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.