### Issue 1957 - Friday 20th October, 2023

## In Today's Issue

- NBN hitting 5,000 FTTP upgrades a week, will compete 5G fixed wireless upgrade by end of 2024
- AMD's new Zen 4 Threadrippers are awesome
- Peter Thiel is an FBI informant, Google busted hosting malware ads again, ACMA fines Ticketek for spamming
- iPhone running hot? Get some MagSafe fans & watercooling accessories
- Friday Forum Update
- Cheap Sony camera & lens, 100Ah/120Ah lithium batteries, 16" MBP, Bose & Anker headphones, PlayStation gift cards, EA Sports FC 24, Doom 3, Telstra & Lebara SIMs, Samsung S23 Ultra

## The News

### NBN hitting 5,000 FTTP upgrades a week, will compete 5G fixed wireless upgrade by end of 2024

NBN's CEO said at a CommsDay conference yesterday that around 5,000 premises a week are taking part in their "Fibre Connect" (i.e: FTTN/FTTC upgrades to FTTP) program and that NBN is "extremely focused on driving volumes of Fibre Connect orders". The $3 million dollar a year CEO - yes that's really how much Stephen Rue is paid - also mentioned they are hoping to have the fixed wireless network upgrade to 5G by the end of 2024, enabling speeds of up to 325 Mbps possible and that "competition" is forcing NBN's hand to try and achieve speeds beyond 320 Mbps. Meanwhile, Aussie Broadband has a blog post about the new NBN SAU, explaining why their 50/20 plan is going up to $85/m but the 1000/50 plan is dropping to $129/m.

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### AMD's new Zen 4 Threadrippers are awesome

There's new Threadripper CPUs utilising the latest Zen 4 cores from AMD. The 7000 series Threadripper has between 24 and 64 cores, with the Threadripper Pro 12 to 96 cores. Max TDP is 350W and they both use the sTR5 socket. Besides the beautiful amount of cores available, the main reason to go Threadripper over a Ryzen is the insane amount of RAM you can use. While Ryzen CPUs max out at 192GB, you can access up to 1TB of ECC RAM with the Threadripper and a whopping 2TB with Threadripper Pro. There's also a shitload more PCIe 5.0 lanes (x48 on the Theadripper, x128 on the Threadripper Pro). If you need it, the Threadripper Pro supports AVX-512 instructions, just like an Intel Xeon CPU. These CPUs will go on sale late November (probably via OEMs like Dell, HP & Lenovo first) and if you have to ask how much it costs, you can't afford it.

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### Peter Thiel is an FBI informant, Google busted hosting malware ads again, ACMA fines Ticketek for spamming

- Peter Thiel is an FBI informant according to Business Insider. Thiel has an informant number and passed on information about "foreign contacts and Silicon Valley intrigue" to "Johnathan Buma, a Los Angeles-based FBI agent who specializes in investigating political corruption and foreign-influence campaigns".
- Arstechnica noticed that Google is/was displaying an ad for the KeePass password manager that looks legit, even with a legit looking URL (punycode strikes again!), from a verified advertiser, but is actually malware. They call bullshit on Google's ad verification process if an ad this blatant makes it through their system. Dunno what end users can do about this kinda thing except using an ad-blocker and/or using a search engine that doesn't have ads.
- ACMA fined Ticketek $515,040 SMS and email spam. They apparently "mischaracterised some emails as being non-commercial because they contained event information for ticket holders and therefore [were incorrectly] considered them exempt from spam rules", but ACMA says that "even if the purpose of a message is to provide factual information to customers, if it also includes marketing content, or links to marketing content, it can only be sent with consent".
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## Something I Saw On The Internet

### iPhone running hot? Get some MagSafe fans & watercooling accessories

Chargelab has a list of magnetic cooling devices for your iPhone. These RGB LED infused contraptions use MagSafe to draw power and stick to the back of the phone, running a fan to dissipate heat while you're playing games or any other CPU intensive activity. Some of them have USB charging so you can charge your device while using the fan and playing a game. The pièce de résistance however is the OnePlus 45W Liquid Cooler. That's right, a goddamn liquid cooler like a gaming PC. There's a bit that goes on the bakc of your phone and a large external box with a radiator and pump. Who knew there were people that passionate about phone gaming?!

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## 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.

- zuccs is wondering how to use Arq to backup their Dropbox content when they have more data on Dropbox than capacity on their Mac's SSD
- Pete noticed that Gmail/Google are blocking any emails sent from servers that don't have SPF or DKIM enabled
- loceee found a delightful website stuck in the year 2000 selling virtual reality headsets and accessories
- devraj has developed an indigenous language keyboard app for iOS and Android called Gurray
- warkolm noticed that Starlink is throttling their downloads off a seedbox via SFTP/SCP/HTTPS

## Bargains

- Sony a7 IV mirrorless digital camera - $2,821.32 from Sony
- Sony FE 24-105mm F4 G OSS Zoom Lens - $1,070.23 from Sony
- 12.8V 120Ah Lithium Deep Cycle Battery - $499 from Road Tech Marine
- 12.8V 100Ah Lithium Deep Cycle Battery - $399 from Jaycar
- Apple MacBook Pro 16-Inch with M2 Max Chip, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD (Silver, 2023) - $4457 + delivery from JB Hi-Fi
- Bose QuietComfort or QuietComfort Ultra headphones - $467.46/$552.46 from Myer
- Purchase a $50 PlayStation Gift Card and Receive a Bonus $5 Card.gift Card (Swap for Amazon, Apple, eBay, Uber etc) from Card.gift
- EA Sports FC 24 Standard Edition for Xbox - $76.96 from Microsoft
- Doom 3 is currently free via Prime Gaming
- Telstra 365-day pre-paid SIM with 220GB data, unlimited calls & SMS - $256 from Oz Tech Biz
- Lebara 365-day pre-paid SIM with 21.6GB/m data, unlimited calls & SMS, unlimited calls to 35 countries - $199 from Lebara
- Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra 256GB/512GB - $1797/$1999 from Amazon
- Anker Soundcore Space Q45 headphones - $158.34 from Wireless1

## Image Of The Day

The Pitch Drop Experiment at the University of Queensland holds the Guinness World Record for the longest-running laboratory experiment. I look this photo while visiting the university's small, but interesting physics museum. (The University of Queensland)

## The End

📻 Eliza - Jackson Jackson

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## 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.