# In This Issue

- Coronavirus still screwing everyone around and will probably do so for a while

- Waymo gets US$2.25b in new investment from strategic businesses

- Microsoft ending MCSA, MCSD and MCSE certification programs

- 3D printed light-up DNA sequence model powered by a Raspberry Pi

- Cheap 500GB Optus 4G, 40GB Kogan 4G, Xiaomi Mi A3 smartphone, Detroit Become Human & Heavy Rain PS4 combo

# News

#### Coronavirus still screwing everyone around and will probably do so for a while

Coronavirus (aka COVID-19 but everyone calls is coronavirus so that's what I'm sticking to) is still spreading and messing with people's routines, including in the tech industry. Many conferences continue to be cancelled, including Google Next & Microsoft's MVP Summit, Facebook and Twitter pulling out of SXSW, the 2020 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Adobe Summit, the Geneva auto show, an IoT in Action event Microsoft was hosting in Melbourne and Nvidia's GPU technology conference. Google Ireland and Twitter have told employees to stay at home. Uber has sent guidelines to drivers on how to avoid spreading or getting the virus. Stanford University's Folding@Home is currently running simulations for coronavirus treatments. Donate your computing power if you can afford it!

#### Waymo gets US$2.25b in new investment from strategic businesses

Waymo (Google/Alphabet's robocar division) has raised US$2.25b of external funding to further its aim of having self-driving taxis zooming around our roads. It seems like the reason for the additional investment is not so much that Waymo needs the money (Alphabet has billions of dollars in cash lying around), but strategic partners. Some of the investors include companies like Magna International and AutoNation. Magna is a huge car parts manufacturer that supplies components to basically every car maker in the world and can even build you cars to spec if that's what you want. AutoNation is a US nation-wide car dealership that sells multiple car brands. Putting these two pieces together would lead me to believe that Waymo is gearing up to develop their own cars and sell them via AutoNation. God speed to them and I hope nobody dies along the way.

#### Microsoft ending MCSA, MCSD and MCSE certification programs

As a former MCSA (Windows Server 2003!) it saddens me to inform you that Microsoft is killing off the Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA), Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer (MCSD) and Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) certifications as of June 30th and won't offer Windows Server 2019 or SQL Server 2019 certifications. Microsoft wants potential students to do "role based" certifications instead, which just happen to neatly align with their Azure certifications. The quality of these certs were always debatable (cert farms for visas, quiz answer downloads, etc) but I found them a good way to get familiar with a new version of a product and have a little piece of paper to prove you have some idea what's going on. The cloud conquers all I guess, on premises stuff is just not in fashion anymore.

# Not News

#### 3D printed light-up DNA sequence model powered by a Raspberry Pi

I foolishly had my DNA partially sequenced via 23andme over a decade ago (it was an earlier time, Google wasn't evil then!) so I could make my own version of this very cool looking DNA sculpture Paul Klinger posted to Reddit, if I had the skill. It uses a Raspberry Pi to parse the DNA sequence (ACTG) to flash a corresponding coloured LED on a 3D printed double helix. I reckon it looks cool and love that it's so personalised - literally someone's genome! Paul has uploaded the code he wrote and some instructions make this happen up on GitHub.

# Bargains

- 500GB of Optus 4G data for $68/m on a month-to-month contract

- Xiaomi Mi A3 (128GB storage) Android One smartphone - $299 at JB Hi-Fi and Officeworks

- 40GB of data on Kogan Mobile (Vodafone MVNO) that lasts 30 days for $4.90

- Detroit Become Human & Heavy Rain PS4 combo digital download - $19.45

🎶 AMOK - Atoms for Peace

😁 The Sizzle is curated by Anthony "@decryption" Agius and emailed every weekday afternoon. Join us on Slack and chat with other Sizzle subscribers.

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.​