### Issue 1695 - Friday 16th September, 2022

## In Today's Issue

- Adobe buys Figma for US$20b, designers worldwide very afraid of what happens next
- Ethereum's "merge" is complete, network operates on proof-of-stake now
- Apple makes iPhone 14's guts easier to feast on, David Thodey to lead review of MyGov, MG giving away cheap EV chargers for hotels
- Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II are the new gold standard for noise canceling wireless earbuds
- Friday Forum Update
- Cheap Samsung SSD, QNAP NAS, Seagate HDDs, Google Pixels, Baseus wireless presenter remote

## The News

### Adobe buys Figma for US$20b, designers worldwide very afraid of what happens next

Figma, "a collaborative web application for interface design" now belongs to Adobe, who will be spending US$20b to acquire the very popular tool. Dylan Field, co-founder of Figma, says it is a "big change", but Adobe buying them is a "partnership that will ultimately benefit you and the Figma platform". The usual stuff about "a huge opportunity for us to accelerate the growth and innovation of the Figma platform", "Adobe is deeply committed to keeping Figma operating autonomously". Who knows what will happen over the years as the Figma team get whiteanted by Adobe, but props to Adobe for shelling out the cash. What a great way to remain relevant and sell more subscriptions.

### Ethereum's "merge" is complete, network operates on proof-of-stake now

Ethereum is no longer a stain on humanity's carbon footprint as the "Merge" took place and the network now uses 99.9% less energy to operate a "US$60 billion ecosystem of cryptocurrency exchanges, lending companies, non-fungible token (NFT) marketplaces and other apps". This means its now no longer possible to "mine" Ethereum (cheap GPUs on Facebook Marketplace!) as the method of verifying transactions is now "proof-of-stake" instead of "proof-of-work" like Bitcoin - which is still using the same amount of electricity as Australian power grid. If you want to learn more about proof-of-stake this is the most popular video on YouTube explaining the concept.

### Apple makes iPhone 14's guts easier to feast on, David Thodey to lead review of MyGov, MG giving away cheap EV chargers for hotels

- Early teardowns of the new iPhones discovered a removable back that makes it way easier to service its insides. Kinda like the iPhone 4S (RIP to a real one). Wouldn't surprise me if the change was influenced due to the self-service repair program.
- Former CSIRO chair and Telstra CEO will be leading an "expansive" review into MyGov. I don't know what they'll be looking into exactly but I'm sure it won't be hard to find flaws. Thodey and his mates will deliver a report to the government by the end of the year.
- MG is offering 3,000 really cheap EV chargers to hotels across Australia. They normally cost $1990 (7kw AC unit with OCPP support) but MG will give them to eligible business for just $330. They gotta find their own sparky to install it.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II are the new gold standard for noise canceling wireless earbuds

There's a new Bluetooth noise cancelling earbud contender - the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II. According to The Verge, they are "objectively the best noise-canceling earbuds you can buy". The noise cancellation and transparency (aka hear-through) performance is better than Apple's AirPods Pro 2 and the Sony WF-1000XM4. Overall audio quality appears to be better too, but that's subjective. Where the Bose fall are the extra features. No fancy 3D audio like the AirPods, no location profiles or foam expanding tips like the Sonys. The Bose buds also lack multi-point Bluetooth support (i.e: remaining connected to multiple devices at once). That said, if your goal is to drown out the world around you, the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II are the ones to get.

## Friday Forum Update

It was another quiet week on The Sizzle forums (I should probably do something about this), so here's some old good discussions you might have missed. If you are not a paid subscriber but want to get involved, visit https://thesizzle.com.au/payme to get onboard.

- A collection of favourite podcasts and YouTube channels.
- Everyone reminiscing about their first home computer.
- Books that Sizzle subscribers were reading a year ago.
- That time a subscriber blasted me for my opinions on Tesla's Autopilot system.
- People sharing their music listening setups.

## Bargains

- Samsung 980 1TB SSD (M.2 PCIe 3.0) - $120.90 from shopping-express-clearance's eBay store
- QNAP TS-464-4G 4-Bay NAS - $744.90 from Shopping Express eBay store
- Buy 2x Seagate Ironwolf HDDs and get a free AirTag, free shipping and a Prezee (can be used in multiple places) gift card
- Google Pixel 6a 5G 128GB (UK import) - $568.87 from Amazon UK
- Google Pixel 6 Pro 128GB - $999 from JB Hi-Fi
- Baseus Wireless Presenter Laser Pointer 2.4GHz Remote Controller USB PPT Pen - $12.99 from eSkybird

## The End

📻 Ritchie Sacramento - Mogwai

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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.