Remember how the Pentagon awarded Microsoft a massive US$10b contract to run the military's cloud computing crap and Amazon cracked the shits, suing the Department of Defence arguing that Trump's hate of Jeff Bezos (because he owns the Washington Post, who had a habit of exposing Trump's bullshit) influenced the decision? Well, that contract got torn up today. The Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure program will be re-contested and re-named to Joint Warfighter Cloud Capability. They're gonna ask Microsoft and Amazon to send in new proposals and will "continue to do market research to see if others could also meet its specifications". What a clusterfuck.
Nintendo's upgraded the extremley popular Switch console. The main update is a "larger 7-inch 720p OLED screen, but it also has improved speakers, a Microsoft Surface-like kickstand, 64GB of internal storage, and a new dock with an included ethernet port". Unlike rumours floating around prior to this announcement, the CPU, GPU or RAM are mosly unchanged, so no 4K gaming - but that doesn't mean Nintendo won't sell a "pro" Switch in the near future. The Nintendo Switch (OLED model) has an RRP of A$539 and go on sale October 8th. EB and JB already have pre-orders going if you're keen.
ACMA has found that Telstra "failed to suitably notify almost 50,000 customers that the maximum speeds advertised in their internet plan were not attainable with the NBN infrastructure available to them" - essentially, Telstra customers on FTTN paying for 50mbit or 100mbit and only getting like, 30mbit or 70mbit because the copper in their street/building sucks, were not told by Telstra that they're paying for speeds they can never achieve. ACMA mandates that ISPs have to tell customers when the internet speed they've ordered is impossible for them to deliver and give them the choice to change plan or cancel the connection at no cost. Telstra will have to issue around $25m in refunds to those customers.
AnandTech's taken a bunch of 2021 flagship smartphones, put them in a cage and made them fight to the death. There's no clear winner, as each device has it's own strengths and weaknesses. The Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra has the best "normal" photos thanks to its fat 1/1.12" sensor and would probably be my pick for a smartphone I'd take with me on an overseas holiday (lol remember those???). The iPhone 12 Pro however "is able to achieve results that are far more accurate and pleasing than what other phones are able to achieve with technically superior hardware" due to its superior software processing.
📻 Headbanger - King Tuff
😎 The Sizzle is curated by Anthony "@decryption" Agius and emailed every weekday afternoon.
💬 Did you know that The Sizzle has a Slack group? Join in and chat with other subscribers like you.
💳 Paid subscriber looking to manage your billing info? Visit the customer portal.
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.