### Issue 1778 - Friday 3rd February, 2023

## In Today's Issue

- Alphabet, Apple, Amazon and Meta post their 2022 financials
- Twitter to remove free API access on Feb 9th
- Teams Premium beefs up Microsoft's collaboration app offering with OpenAI's GPT-3.5 & more
- Benro's self leveling camera tripod looks cool
- Friday Forum Update
- Cheap Dell Optiplex micro, Dell 34" monitor, 12" ring LED & stand, Samsung Watch 5, Telstra 24m contract, AirPods Pro 2

## The News

### Alphabet, Apple, Amazon and Meta post their 2022 financials

Financial results for Alphabet, Apple, Amazon and Meta are out and are semi-interesting. Shows how despite the general economy slowing and these companies having a mid-life crisis, they're still insanely profitable and still maintain an incredible amount of wealth at a scale society has never seen.

- Apple had its first drop in revenue since 2019, making 5% less than this time last year. They're blaming iPhone production difficulties in China. Apple also proudly announced that there's 2 billion active iPhones around the world right now.
- Amazon beat its own projections for Q4 2022 sales, but it was the least profitable ever - making only $300m profit compared to $14.3b last year. It also took a $12.7b loss on its investment in electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian.
- Meta has a surprisng 20% jump in its stock price despite telling the market its Reality Labs unit has spent over $1b a month during 2022 on metaverse/VR related stuff. Daily active users hit 2 billion though and they'll spend $40b to buy back stock.
- Alphabet had its 4th consecutive decline in quarterly profit. Alphabet still made a $60b profit in 2022 and Google still prints money with online ads, it's just not as profitable as it was in years past. Google Cloud still makes a loss though.

### Twitter to remove free API access on Feb 9th

Twitter suddenly announced it's gonna disable free access to the API on Feb 9. There will be a "paid basic tier" according to the solitary tweet that is the source of information about this major change, but it didn't include any info on how much that will cost or what limits will be placed on it. This means pretty much every fun or important posting bot (images, RSS importers, etc), utility that improves quality of life (tweet deleters, bulk blockers, etc), research projects and God knows what else are in a state of limbo. Elon hinted at around $100/m for access to the API, which would kill off many of the non-commercial uses, but probably is low enough for the scammers and spammers to justify paying for it despite Elon saying the main reason for this change is to defeat the bots. Like most things Twitter related the last few months, I doubt any thought went into the ramifications of this.

### Teams Premium beefs up Microsoft's collaboration app offering with OpenAI's GPT-3.5 & more

Everyone's favourite workplace collaboration app, Microsoft Teams, has a new premium tier plan that includes OpenAI's GPT-3.5. It's used in a feature called "intelligent recap" that uses GPT-3.5 to "generate meeting notes and highlights even if you weren't present in a meeting". When a "colleague mentions you in a meeting, you'll even get personalized timeline markers to quickly see what was shared and discussed". Other features of Teams Premium include webinars with "registration waitlists, customizable start and end times, and virtual green rooms" and "advanced meeting protections" that'll add "safeguards like watermarking and labeling sensitive content during meetings, or the ability to restrict users from recording meetings and copying text from the meeting chat". Oh and there's an official plug-in for the Elgato Stream Deck.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Benro's self leveling camera tripod looks cool

Camera tripods are boring and pretty much a solved problem - or so I thought until I gazed upon the Benro Theta. It's a goddamn self-leveling tripod. Check out the article and the animated GIF/video inside. The motherfucker adjusts each leg to perfectly line up the camera. Never again will you need to worry that your beautiful image of that sunset, ocean view or majestic piece of architecture has a wonky horizon. The good thing is that it's not even that expensive at around $500, which isn't that bad considering it's also made out of carbon fibre and includes a ball head plus a battery. Unfortunately you can't buy one yet as it's a Kickstarter project. Benro is a proper tripod manufacturer, so I assume this is just them testing the water to see if there's any demand for a self-leveling tripod (umm, yes!) before putting it into production.

## 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.

- warkolm reignited the monitor discussion we seem doomed to discuss for eternity because every monitor out there is compromised in some way or another
- decryption fucked around with a Linux PC as their daily driver for (almost) a week and didn't hate it
- funcitonretrun kicks off a debate on the fallacy of "self-driving" cars that need 100% human attention
- domp needs a beefy NAS that'll also handle Plex streaming for up to 15 users
- Wallamba is selling a mint DJI Mavic 2 Pro & Smart Controller and ritesh has a 24-inch M1 iMac up for grabs

## Bargains

- Dell Optiplex 7070 Micro (i5-9600T, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD) - $351.12 from BNEACTTRADER's eBay store
- Dell S3422DWG 34" 3440x1440 gaming monitor - $552.85 from Dell
- Anko 12-inch fill ring light with stand - $10 at Kmart
- Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 44mm - $375.66 from Amazon
- $700 JB gift card when you sign up for a 24m Telstra contract ($69/m & 100GB data)
- Apple AirPods Pro 2 - $348 from Mediaform (can get Officeworks to price match)

## Image Of The Day

Signed and dated lower right below printed image in black pencil, 'Diane Mantzaris 1991'. Titled lower left below printed image in black pencil, ' 'Exchanging Data' '. Inscribed lower left below printed image in black pencil, '3/55'. (National Gallery of Australia)

## The End

📻 R.E.M. - Be Mine

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

💬 Checked out the paid subscriber only forum? It's a tidy little place to discuss tech with like minded Aussies.

👋 Forums not your thing? The Sizzle has a Slack group you can procrastinate in and chat with other nerds bored at work.

💳 Paid subscriber looking to manage your billing info, change email address or cancel your subscription? Visit the customer portal.

📚 Browse The Sizzle Archive. A few issues are missing and it's not searchable, but it's better than nothing.

🫂 Friends of The Sizzle is a small group of businesses or organisations operated by Sizzle subscribers. Support your fellow Sizzler!

💔 Tired of my bullshit? Unsubscribe and I'll never speak to you again.

## Always Was, Always Will Be Aboriginal Land

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.