# The Sizzle

### Issue 141 - Friday, 6th May 2016 - And Get It The Conventional Way

- Apple and SAP plan to work together in order to make more cash
- The team who made Siri are working hard on a sequel called Viv
- Heart catheterisation device crashes during procedure due to anti-virus software
- Free Windows 10 upgrade ends July 30th
- Australian ISPs don't want to pay to block content on behalf of Foxtel & Village

- $100 cashback if you sign up for a TPG internet plan
- Nintendo's Miitomo app is a data harvester's delight
- Review of the Triby internet connected fridge speaker e-ink screen thing

NEWS

Apple and SAP plan to work together in order to make more cash
Apple and SAP have teamed up to introduce all of SAP's bullshit into your friendly Apple admin's already increasingly difficult life. SAP is a huge company that makes software that helps other companies run their companies and they have a cloud service called HANA. Apple and SAP are going to make a cool SDK for it and even a training academy for developers so that more apps can hook into SAP's platform - resulting in Apple selling way more iPads.
Discuss

The team who made Siri are working hard on a sequel called Viv
Siri started out as an app for the iPhone made by a company called Siri, that Apple purchased and then assimilated into iOS. A few years later, most of the people from Siri who were working at Apple have left Apple and made an all new version of Siri called Viv. It's similar to Siri in that you talk to it and stuff happens, but Viv's aim is to hook in to a bunch of APIs and get companies to make those APIs so you can do way more stuff by just talking. Essentially making Siri work the way you wish it worked. Make talking to your phone like talking to the computer on the USS Enterprise, I guess. Tea, earl grey, hot.
Discuss

A submission to the FDA has revealed that a Merge Hemo (software used to supervise heart catheterisation) crashed during an operation, due to antivirus software running on the doctor's computer which the Merge Hemo software was running on. Apparently Merge advise users to whitelist its files so any AV software doesn't interfere with the operation of the Hemo software. Am I the only one unsettled by the fact this happened? The doctors rebooted the computer and carried on as normal, but still.
Discuss

Free Windows 10 upgrade ends July 30th
Just a heads up for everyone still on Windows 7 or 8 that hasn't upgraded to Windows 10 - it'll stop being free as of July 30th. So if you want to upgrade to Windows 10 without having to shell out $179, do it soon. Or don't. Some people get really upset when their PC asks them to upgrade to Windows 10. They like Windows 7 and fuck everyone who tries to make them change. 300 million PCs are running Windows 10, join them!
Discuss

Australian ISPs don't want to pay to block content on behalf of Foxtel & Village
The ISPs have had their say in court regarding Foxtel & Village Roadshow's attempt to block naughty websites offering fun TV shows and movies to watch. Telstra has said they they don't really care about the whole copyright infringing bit - that's up to the court to decide, but they do care about how much it'll cost them to meet the demands of the rights holders and that it's unfair for them to have to shell out any cash to meet their site blocking whims. TPG reckon it'll cost them $50 per request, M2 Group (iPrimus, Dodo and others) reckon its between $400-$800.
Discuss

COOL SHIT

$100 cashback if you sign up for a TPG internet plan
Thinking about signing up for a TPG internet plan? Get $100 cashback via Internet Choice. The offer seems a bit convoluted - you have to sign up to TPG with their code, then when your connection is up and working, you need to email them your details to get the $100, which they'll send once they confirm you're hooked up (and once they get their portion of the commission from TPG). Still, $100 is $100!
Discuss

Nintendo's Miitomo app is a data harvester's delight
Nintendo's cute Miitomo app is actually a very effective, under the radar, data mining app. About 10 million people use Miitomo and hang out with their mates on this Nintendo based social network. But the app also asks you questions like, "what are you saving up money for right now?" and "what's your favourite TV show?" - seemingly innocuous questions, but when compiled from such a large audience, is an amazing treasure trove of data for advertisers. If you tell Miitomo that you're saving up for a sweet iPad mini, it can sell that info to ad networks that know who you are by cross referencing the data from Miitomo to say, your Facebook info and start showing you ads for iPad minis or super cheap Samsung tablets that you can afford right now, without having to wait until you've got enough cash for that iPad. I love this and hate it simultaneously, kinda like crpytolockers.
Discuss

Review of the Triby internet connected fridge speaker e-ink screen thing
Arstechnica has reviewed the Triby - an Amazon Alexa connected speaker with an e-ink screen that sticks to your fridge so you can shout stuff at it when you're in the kitchen like "hey buy some more milk" and then milk is added to your Wunderlist or whatever shit this thing hooks up to. There's a few programmable physical buttons that can be assigned to do things like play an Internet radio streams or call people. Interesting device, but like almost everything Amazon related, it's full usefulness is unrealised for us Australians because we do not have Amazon. Boo.
Discuss

Here endeth the sizzle (until Monday!)
--Anthony

The Sizzle is curated by Anthony "@decryption" Agius and emailed every weekday afternoon. Like The Sizzle? Tell your friends!