# In This Issue

- CORONAVIRUS

- All the info you ever wanted about the new Xbox’s hardware setup

- AMD’s new laptop CPUs are ball tearers

- Young people can suck at the internet just as much as old people

- Cheap PS4 controllers, Kindle & Echo Dot combo, Sims 4, Boost 12m SIM, Corsair DDR4 RAM, Hisense TVs

# News

#### CORONAVIRUS

- Apple has closed all its stores worldwide (except China, as China is coming out the other side of this fucking mess). They put up an FAQ regarding the status of repairs and returns.

- Telstra, Optus and Aussie Broadband have implemented a range of measures to make sure people stuck at home will be able to stay connected.

- NBN will limit non-essential maintenance for the near future, so it doesn’t disrupt anyone’s internet connection.

- LogMeIn has unlocked a bunch of remote access and collaboration features for the next 3 months if your company is too cheap/has no budget to pay for it.

- The US Department of Health and Human Services has been hit with an undisclosed “cyber incident” that is currently under investigation. Of all the times to cop some ransomware, this has to be the worst.

- Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Reddit, Twitter and YouTube put out a joint statement saying they’re going to “jointly combating fraud and misinformation about the virus, elevating authoritative content on our platforms, and sharing critical updates in coordination with government healthcare agencies around the world”.

- Steam “smashed” its all-time record for concurrent users in a 24 hour period last weekend, with 20.3 million people logging on.

#### All the info you ever wanted about the new Xbox’s hardware setup

Microsoft has let loose with all the specs for its upcoming Xbox Series X console. Its got a custom AMD Zen 2 CPU and RDNA 2 based GPU (so kinda like a heavily modified Ryzen APU), 16TB of RAM and a 1TB NVMe SSD. Older Xbox games will work on the new console and even get "automated HDR" so the old games look nicer. The design is basically a featureless black oblong with a big fan at the bottom and a big fan at the top with the parts wedged in between. You can add more storage to the Xbox Series X via NVMe SSDs housed in proprietary external cards so you can't just get an SSD and chuck it in yourself, you gotta use Microsoft's card thingy that reminds me of the PlayStation memory cards from back in the day. Anyway, the new Xbox should be on sale in time for Christmas.

#### AMD’s new laptop CPUs are ball tearers

AMD have officially released Ryzen Mobile 4000 series APUs (aka CPUs with a GPU inside). Normally I'd not bother mentioning the release of a new CPU, but this one is a little special as it's the first time AMD has a faster CPU than Intel in the mobile space that also uses less power - mainly due to AMD/TSMC having a superior chip fabrication process. The king is well and truly dead. Anandtech has way too much technical info on the new CPU, but the juicy stuff is AMD's comparison of the Ryzen 9 4900HS against the Intel Core i9-9880H. 23% faster in Handbrake is nothing to sneeze at considering it'll also likely be cheaper than Intel's CPU too. I can't wait to see some independent benchmarks.

# Not News

#### Young people can suck at the internet just as much as old people

Young people as "digital natives", being able to understand what's bullshit or legit online and participating in online conversations is kinda taken for granted by many businesses and governments - but it isn't true. A research project at the University of Liverpool has found "data literacy" (fancy phrase for how good at internetting you are) is made up of 3 different areas - data thinking, data doing and data participation. Their research found that the youngins who are seen as the most savvy when it comes to social media are actually as bad as boomers when it comes to internet literacy and how their data is used.

# Bargains

- PlayStation DualShock 4 controller - $57 from Amazon AU

- Buy Kindle Paperwhite for (8GB wi-fi model - $199), get a free Echo Dot

- Sims 4 Deluxe ($14.99) and expansions are 75% to 50% off on EA Origin

- Boost 12m 240GB pre-paid SIM - $270 at Coles tomorrow (could even get Officeworks to pricematch if they don’t copy the Coles sale)

- Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 3200 C16 RAM - $117.69 from Amazon AU

- Loads of cheap Hisense TVs on VideoPro’s eBay store (the R8 is their quantum dot fancy one)

🎶 Positive Tension - Bloc Party

😁 The Sizzle is curated by Anthony "@decryption" Agius and emailed every weekday afternoon. Join us on Slack and chat with other Sizzle subscribers.

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.​