### Issue 2183 - Thursday 26th September, 2024

Heads up, there won't be a Sizzle tomorrow because it's my favourite public holiday in Victoria - the day before the AFL Grand Final. See ya Monday!

## In Today's Issue

- Meta's protoype Orion AR glasses have the foundations to be great
- OpenAI looking to end non-profit structure, CTO quits, asks US govt for less red tape to build bigger data centres
- Google complains to European regulators about Azure
- MKBHD's wallpaper app isn't going well
- Cheap 86" TV, PS5 Slim, Bose soundbar, refurb 34" Dell monitor, refurb Acer mini PC, Roblox gift cards, genuine iPhone 15 cases

## The News

### Meta's protoype Orion AR glasses have the foundations to be great

Meta showed off a prototype pair of augmented reality glasses called Orion. It does stuff like the Apple Vision Pro, but looks like a normal pair of glasses instead of ski goggles. As a prototype, the frames are pretty chunky (100 grams), but damn, as someone that has to wear glasses anyways, I would fucking love to augment them with some smart shit like this, I'd pay a few thousand bucks for it too. Orion comes with a wireless wristband to detect gesture inputs along with a wireless "compute puck" you carry with you that does all the heavy lifting. The Verge got a hands on demo and likes it (video here), saying Orion's wristband is "truly of the most magical experience I've had with a piece of new technology", but it's probably years away from being something we can buy. Honestly this is the first gadget I've been genuinely excited about since the iPhone X and it upsets me that it's by goddamn Meta.

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### OpenAI looking to end non-profit structure, CTO quits, asks US govt for less red tape to build bigger data centres

Lots of drama at OpenAI today. They've been a non-profit since inception, but Reuters reckons they're finally dropping that facade, restructuring the company to give Sam Altman shitloads of equity while the non-profit entity owns a "minority stake". Dunno if it's related, but maybe this is a reason why Chief Technical Officer Mira Murati is resigning. That name might sound familiar as she was one of the key instigators in a hilarious attempt to remove Altman from OpenAI that backfired spectacularly a few months ago. There's not many of the original founding crew left at OpenAI except for Altman these days. Meanwhile, Altman has been hanging around the White House begging for policies to reduce the cost and red tape of building more "5 gigawatt" data centres, using some sinophobia to get his argument across the line. To put that into perspective, current electricity demand in the entire state of Victoria is at 4GW right now, and OpenAI wants multiple of these in the US.

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### Google complains to European regulators about Azure

Google's lodged a complaint with the European Commission that centers around the cost of licences to Microsoft software on other cloud platforms. They use the example of companies that already have Windows Server licences on their on-premises computers wanting to use those same licences on their cloud infrastructure, but Microsoft's licence agreement extracts loads of extra cash for that privilege that makes it really expensive versus simply using Azure. Google also claims that Microsoft "introduced additional obstacles over the last few years, such as limiting security patches and creating other interoperability barriers". Interesting that they're doing this in the EU, not the USA, despite both companies being American. I wonder if it's because the EU has more power in this space to actually do something versus the USA?

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## Something I Saw On The Internet

### MKBHD's wallpaper app isn't going well

Marques Brownlee is getting roasted for selling a US$12/m wallpaper app called Panels. Putting aside the fact that paying for what appears to be mostly AI-generated wallpapers is extremely lame (at least pay for some humans creating cool art!), Marques put out a statement on X apologising for "excessive data disclosures" due to the advertisements in the free version of the app and claims its now a "personal challenge" to deliver US$12/m of value. Even Daring Fireball took a dump on Panels, oof. It looks like a lot of the startup bros who dislike Marques for being honest when he roasts their shitty products are taking the opportunity to give him a taste of his own medicine.

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## Bargains

- Linsar 86" UHD WebOS TV (2023) - $999 from The Good Guys
- PlayStation 5 Slim Disc/Digital console - $675/$575 from Amazon or JB Hi-Fi
- Bose Smart Ultra soundbar - $999.95 from Amazon
- Refurb Dell UltraSharp U3415W 34" 3440x1440 IPS 60Hz curved monitor, no stand - $199 + delivery from BPC Tech
- Refurb Acer Veriton N4670G mini PC (i3-10100, 16GB RAM, 250GB SSD) - $199 from Metrocom
- 15% off Roblox gift cards at Coles next week
- Various iPhone 15 genuine Apple cases on clearance at Big W

## Image Of The Day

Stockbyte 136 Business X-Ray (Internet Archive / ShivaShaw)

## The End

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## Always Was, Always Will Be Aboriginal Land

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.