### Issue 1844 - Friday 12th May, 2023

## In Today's Issue

- New Twitter CEO announced but identity still a secret & encrypted DMs launch but suck
- Former Ubiquiti employee sentenced to 6 years jail
- Leftovers from Google I/O
- I would like a deconstructed iPhone in a frame to hang on my wall so I can show it off in video chats
- Friday Forum Update
- Cheap Telstra pre-paid, 22TB WD HDD, Onkyo TX-RZ50 receiver, wireless phone charging purse, AirPods Max, ASUS VivoBook 15X

## The News

### New Twitter CEO announced but identity still a secret & encrypted DMs launch but suck

Elon Musk has found someone to take over at Twitter's CEO. All we know is that it's a woman and they'll start in around 6 weeks time. Beats me why you'd announce that you've found someone to be CEO but not tell us their name. The Verge reckons it will be Linda Yaccarino, the current head of advertising and partnerships for NBCUniversal. Musk will step down as CEO and will be "overseeing product, software & sysops". Meanwhile, Twitter Blue subscribers got a new feature - encrypted DMs. It's only for paying subscribers, so if one of those paying freaks DMs a normal, sane user, it will not be encrypted. Also it's not turned on by default and only works on text. Twitter's announcement post even says "when it comes to Direct Messages, the standard should be, if someone puts a gun to our heads, we still can't access your messages. We're not quite there yet, but we're working on it".

### Former Ubiquiti employee sentenced to 6 years jail

Remember the former Ubiquiti employee that tried to extort the company for US$1.9m? He's going to jail for 6 years. Nickolas Sharp was a senior engineer at Ubiquiti and during his final days there before starting a new job, he copied "155 data repositories" and accidentally revealed his home IP when an internet outage disconnected his VPN. When Ubiquiti's security team realised what happened a few weeks later, he said someone was trying to frame him and began posting as a whistleblower, telling journalists that someone was trying to extort Ubiquiti - only that person was him. Eventually he got found out, got arrested and now he's doing serious jail time. Seems like his only motive was greed, despite earning an excellent US$250k/yr at Ubiquiti. Pathetic.

### Leftovers from yesterday's Google I/O keynote that didn't fit in yesterday's newsletter

- A new tool called "About This Image" will be added to "Google Images results, searching with an image or screenshot in Google Lens, or by swiping up in the Google App when you're on a page and come across an image you want to learn more about", as well as "right-clicking or long-pressing on an image in Chrome on desktop and mobile" later this year, will let you know if the image you're looking at was generated by AI.
- Google will proactively search the dark web to see if your Gmail address is listed in any data breach dumps and then prompt you to change your password and add 2FA if not already enabled. It was a feature of Google One in the USA, but will be free in the USA now and "select international markets" eventually.
- Android will get some AI-powered features. Magic Compose will spice up your boring text in the Messages app. Generative AI wallpaper uses a text-to-image diffusion model to made unique wallpapers based on your ideas. Oh and Google redesigned "more than 50" of their apps to support the larger screens of the new Pixel Tablet and Pixel Fold, as well as other large screen devices.
- Google's added "Studio Bot" to the Android Studio IDE. Unlike Github's Copilot, Studio Bot is "a conversational experience" and doesn't actually write the code for you from a prompt, but is more of a fancy Clippy-style assistant. Studio Bot can "help Android developers generate code, find relevant resources, learn best practices, and save time". It uses Codey, a model built specifically for programming languages.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### I would like a deconstructed iPhone in a frame to hang on my wall so I can show it off in video chats

One of the very, very first (I'm talking like first 10) subscribers to The Sizzle has new online store and I while I don't put ads in here, I want to support him and I really like what he's selling! The shop is called The Usual and one of the things they sell are these awesome deconstructed iPhones placed into a frame. If I had to pick one, I'd get the iPhone 4S - absolutely timeless design and in my opinion, the best iPhone. There's also GameBoys, if Nintendo is your thing, and "DIY" kits that include the phone, frame and the tools you need to take it apart and hang it on the wall. Perfect for your nerd lair/trendy office.

## 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.

- Mitty wants a little GL.iNet travel router but can't decide which one
- scottgrot has 1000/50 fibre NBN but can't hit 50Mbps upload and wants answers
- stevegilles wants to convert a bunch of 5K iMacs into external 5K monitors, but needs someone in Sydney to do it for them
- I still need your help/accountability to get more people signing up for a free trial of this damn newsletter
- Bit of chat about the new Dell 6K monitor and other fancy monitors in this long running thread

## Bargains

- Telstra $300 Prepaid SIM Starter Kit - $240 from Auditech's eBay store
- WD WD221KFGX Red Pro 22TB 3.5" HDD - $608.18 from Amazon USA
- Onkyo TX-RZ50 AV Receiver - $2024 from RIO Sound & Vision
- Lilly C Wireless Large Phone Charging Purse - $49 from Pop Phones
- Apple AirPods Max (Space Grey) - $718 from Amazon
- ASUS VivoBook 15X (Ryzen 5 7730U, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, 15.6" 1080p OLED DCI-P3 display) - $1209.60 from Wireless1's eBay store

## Image Of The Day

British computing pioneer Charles Babbage's (1791-1871) Difference Engine No. 1 was the first successful automatic calculator and remains one of the finest examples of precision engineering of the time. It was a decimal digital machine - the value of a number being represented by the positions of toothed wheels marked with decimal numbers. The portion shown here was assembled in 1832 by Babbage's engineer, Joseph Clement. It consists of about 2000 parts and represents one-seventh of the complete engine. This 'finished' portion of the unfinished engine was demonstrated to some acclaim by Babbage and functions impeccably to this day. (Science Museum, London)

## The End

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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.