### Issue 1596 - Friday 29th April, 2022

## In Today's Issue

- Declaration for the Future of the Internet wankfest
- Telstra takes 51% chunk of set top box competitor Fetch TV
- Belkin's wireless electricity thing is vapourware, not coming this year actually
- Straight to Spam, for when you need an email to go straight to spam instead of the inbox
- Friday Forum Update
- Cheap Samsung 980 Pro SSD, EV charging cable, Bose soundbar 700, AirPods Pro, Ubiquiti AP, Amazon Echo Show 15, Fire TV Max, Ring Video Doorbell, iPhone 11

## The News

### Declaration for the Future of the Internet wankfest

The US government along with 60 other countries, including Australia, have signed a non-binding statement called the Declaration for the Future of the Internet. These countries "reaffirm the vision of an open, free, global, interoperable, reliable, and secure Internet and reverse negative trends in this regard". It all sounds good. Hard to disagree with making the internet easier to access and cheaper, allowing information to flow freely, protecting privacy and so on, but as Access Now says, "we have seen so many global principles and statements come and go without meaningful progress". I doubt this one is any different.

### Telstra takes 51% chunk of set top box competitor Fetch TV

Telstra is buying 51% of Fetch TV (if the ACCC lets them). According to an announcement on Facebook, "the Fetch team will continue to operate standalone, servicing all of our existing ISP and retail customers as well as Telstra". For now it's business as usual, but over time "Telstra will start to migrate Telstra TV customers onto the Fetch platform". I guess that means the Telstra TV set top box (which was a rebranded Roku device and quite good) is dead? Will also be interesting to see if any of the Foxtel apps or properties (Binge, Kayo, etc) make their way onto the Fetch TV unit.

### Belkin's wireless electricity thing is vapourware, not coming this year actually

You know that wireless electricity thing I mentioned yesterday that Belkin was gonna release some time this year? It's steaming hot bullshit. Belkin told The Verge that "our agreement with Wi-Charge only commits us to R&D on some product concepts so it's too early to comment on timing of viable consumer products". There's no product launch imminent. It looks like Wi-Charge's founder and chief business officer Ori Mor was getting too excited and the story took hold across the internet. Yet another false start for this technology that's been "6 months to a year" away for almost a decade.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Straight to Spam, for when you need an email to go straight to spam instead of the inbox

Inspired by Nathan For You (fucking brilliant show, go watch it!), someone's made Straight 2 Spam. Simply copy the text on the website and paste it into your email so that email ends up in the other person's spam folder. Perfect for the scenarios where you want to say you emailed someone, but you don't want them to actually see the email, or add a delay to when they see it. Delightful.

## Friday Forum Update

Here's five interesting discussions over on The Sizzle's paid subscriber forum for you to enjoy over the weekend. If you are not a paid subscriber but want to get involved, visit https://thesizzle.com.au/payme to get onboard.

- TinBane started a lively discussion about Apple and the the anti-competitive nature of the App Store
- Noblejoker needs a website solution that's easy for novice volunteers to update
- trs80 has a serious illness (possibly terminal) that has them using "multiple thousands" of browser tabs instead of bookmarks as God intended
- TheEther has a cool solution for running a WordPress install on Azure that maintains itself
- I would like to know if anyone still reads blogs and if they do, do they have a favourite

## Bargains

- Samsung 980 Pro 2TB NVMe SSD & bonus $60 Steam credit - $380.97 from Futu Online's eBay store
- 22kw 5m Type 2 to Type 2 EV Charging Cable - $224.10 from EVSE
- Bose Soundbar 700 Black - $880 + delivery from VideoPro
- Apple AirPods Pro with Magsafe Case - $295.05 from MediaForm
- Ubiquiti U6-LR Wi-Fi 6 Access Point 2pk - $546.97 from Shopping Express' eBay store
- Amazon Echo Show 15 - $359 from Amazon
- Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max - $69 from Amazon
- Ring Video Doorbell 4 (2021 Release) - $229 from Amazon
- Apple iPhone 11 64GB - $749 from Amazon

## The End

📻 Dr Love - Bumblebeez

😎 The Sizzle is curated by Anthony "@decryption" Agius and emailed every weekday afternoon.

💬 Checked out the paid subscriber only forum? It's a tidy little place to discuss tech with like minded Aussies.

👋 Forums not your thing? The Sizzle has a Slack group you can procrastinate in and chat with other nerds bored at work.

💳 Paid subscriber looking to manage your billing info or change email address? Visit the customer portal.

📚 Browse The Sizzle Archive. A few issues are missing and it's not searchable, but it's better than nothing.

## Affiliate Links

Fastmail. Email where you are the customer, not the product. Loads of features, smooth no-nonsense web interface, plus calendar and contact hosting. They've been around for 20 years and I've been a customer for over 10. Use this link and get 10% off your first year and I get around 30c/month you remain a customer.

Aussie Broadband. Great customer service and responsive to community needs (they have an "unofficial" Discord, they publish their CVC!). I've been a customer since 2017 and don't plan on going anywhere. Use my referral code (1001031) to get $50 credit when signing up for an NBN plan and I get $50 credit towards my next bill.

Vultr. All my Australian-based hosting needs (3x VPSes) are handled by Vultr. Easy to use admin interface, automatic backups, built-in firewall, custom ISO support and reasonable prices. Sign up with my link and score $100 credit. I get $25 credit if you're active for 30+ days and spend at least $25.

## 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.