### Issue 2209 - Monday 4th November, 2024

No Sizzle tomorrow due to the Melbourne Cup public holiday. I'll be back on Wednesday.

## In Today's Issue

- Apple acquires Pixelmator & owns 20% of Globalstar satellite network
- Apex Legends ending support for Linux & Steam Deck
- Intel kicked out of Dow Jones Industrial Average index
- Cool Winamp plugin, encryption app for cloud storage, Powershell script to de-bloat Windows 11
- Cheap UniFi doorbell, Moto G85 phone, TPG 5G home broadband, Bose headphones & soundbar, Dell & HP monitors, RTX4060 GPU

## The News

### Apple acquires Pixelmator & owns 20% of Globalstar satellite network

Popular image editing software developer Pixelmator has been snapped up by Apple, posting to their blog on the weekend that they've "signed an agreement to be acquired by Apple, subject to regulatory approval". There will be "no material changes to the Pixelmator Pro, Pixelmator for iOS, and Photomator apps at this time". What Apple has in mind for the Pixelmator team nobody outside Cupertino knows, but deep down I hope it's a revival of Aperture. Apple also invested US$1.1b for a 20% stake of Globalstar's satellite network - the network they use for the very cool Emergency SOS via Satellite feature on the iPhone.

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### Apex Legends ending support for Linux & Steam Deck

Popular battle royale game Apex Legends is ending support for the Steam Deck and Linux in general. That sounds like a crazy thing to do considering how popular the Steam Deck is, but according to EA "we've identified Linux OS as being a path for a variety of impactful exploits and cheats. As a result, we've decided to block Linux OS access to the game". They reckon "Linux cheats are indeed harder to detect" because "you can freely manipulate the kernel, and there's no user mode calls to attest that it's even genuine". Makes sense, and cheaters do suck when playing online. Shame it means no Linux support though.

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### Intel kicked out of Dow Jones Industrial Average index

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a bit of a financial relic from a long gone era of American manufacturing dominance, but it's still an interesting index as it goes all the way back to 1885. One of the 30 companies the index tracks is Intel and has done so since 1999, but that's changed as of today with Intel being replaced by NVIDIA. It doesn't really mean much in the overall scheme of things - maybe INTC will drop a little more and maybe NVDA will get a little bump - but it's just another indicator of the mess Intel is in and the insane froth NVIDIA is generating.

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## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Cool Winamp plugin, encryption app for cloud storage, Powershell script to de-bloat Windows 11

- Someone made a plugin for Winamp that jiggles all the windows on your desktop to the beat of whatever track is playing. It's supported on Windows 98 and Windows 11. How cool is that?!
- I stumbled upon an app called Cryptomator recently that encrypts your data before it gets uploaded to iCloud/Dropbox/OneDrive, etc. Perfect if you have data you really don't want snooped on.
- Here's a PowerShell script to "remove pre-installed Windows bloatware apps, disable telemetry and declutter the experience by disabling or removing intrusive interface elements, ads and more".

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## Bargains

- Ubiquiti UniFi Protect G4 Pro Doorbell - $499.28 from Amazon
- Motorola Moto G85 Android smartphone - $329 from Lenovo
- TPG 5G home internet (50/20) unlimited data - $44.99/m for first 6 months, then $59.99
- Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones - $449.10 from Amazon
- Dell S2725DS 27" 2560x1440 100Hz IPS monitor - $223.73 from Dell
- PNY GeForce RTX 4060 8GB graphics card - $394.25 from Smarthomestoreau's eBay store
- Bose Smart Soundbar 900 (White) - $800 from Amazon
- HP OMEN 34c 34" 3440x1440 165Hz VA curved monitor - $481.60 from HP's eBay store
- Dell U2723QE UltraSharp 27" 4K IPS Black monitor - $605.07 from Smarthomestoreau's eBay store

## Image Of The Day

Photo Disc 55: Wired Business (Internet Archive / ShivaShaw)

## The End

📻 Victor Le Masne - Parade (Edit)

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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.