### Issue 1633 - Wednesday 22nd June, 2022

## In Today's Issue

- Cloudflare stuffed up a router config, so you have permission to stuff up too
- Metaverse Standards Forum begins work on creating an interoperable metaverse
- Gold Coast based Gilmour Space Technologies has plans for Australian astronauts
- Teclis is a weird little search engine
- Cheap Google Nest Hub, Lenovo Smart Clock, PS5 & Switch controllers, Twitch gift cards, Amazon Music Unlimited, Unraid Pro, refurb MacBook Airs, Amazon Echo Auto, Nintendo Switch Sports, Chromecast, Kangaroo doorbell camera

## The News

### Cloudflare stuffed up a router config, so you have permission to stuff up too

Cloudflare had a huge but brief outage yesterday due that timeless error of errors - a botched router config. 19 of their datacentres, including Sydney were impacted and loads of stuff using Cloudflare's wide range of products just stopped working. Cloudflare's blog has a detailed explanation of what went wrong, even including the router config change they pushed out. It's literally a line in the config put in the wrong spot. Fucking computers. They even admit that despite being "peer reviewed by multiple engineers" and a dry-run taking place, the error was so small nobody noticed until shit hit the fan. Anyone who begrudges Cloudflare for this mistake has never used a computer and those who have, sympathise.

### Metaverse Standards Forum begins work on creating an interoperable metaverse

The Metaverse Standards Forum is now a thing. It "brings together leading standards organizations and companies for industry-wide cooperation on interoperability standards needed to build the open metaverse". Big players such as Microsoft, Meta, Epic, Nvidia, Unity, the World Wide Web Consortium and heaps more. Some notable non-members include Niantic and Roblox, who arguably operate the biggest "metaverse" platforms at the moment and Apple. Their FAQ does not include a "what is the metaverse" question, so I still don't know what the metaverse is exactly. Is it just a massively multiplayer online game but the game bit is optional?

### Gold Coast based Gilmour Space Technologies has plans for Australian astronauts

In an interview today, Gilmour Space Technologies CEO Adam Gilmour said the Gold Coast based company wants to send Australian astronauts into space, set up a transportation system between Earth and the moon, support SpaceX to put people on Mars and build "a complex orbital vehicle system in Australia as the prime contractor leading a group of Australian suppliers" as a "powerful demonstration of advanced manufacturing capability". Launching their Eris rocket successfully from Abbot Point later this year is the first hurdle. God speed. For want of a better analogy, Gilmour Space Technologies is kinda Australia's SpaceX.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Teclis is a weird little search engine

Search engine development has kinda stalled in the last 15 years because, well, Google. But there are little niche search engines around the place and one such curiosity is Teclis - "a search engine for finding interesting, unique results on 'clean' websites. Teclis is not a Google replacement, and works best for research and discovery with broad(er) search phrases". I popped in a few phrases and it seems like mostly Angelfire and Tripod pages. A nice little trip down memory lane for old bastards like me.

## Bargains

- Google Nest Hub 2nd Gen - $81.48 from Allphones' eBay store
- Lenovo Smart Clock 2 or Smart Clock 2 with wireless charging - $63/$74 from Bing Lee's eBay store
- PS5 DualSense Controller or Nintendo Switch Joy-Con - $69/$89 from Big W's eBay store
- 10% off Twitch eGift cards for Amazon Prime members on Amazon
- Free 4 months Amazon Music Unlimited for new users
- 30% off Unraid Pro license upgrades, Basic to Pro and Plus to Pro - US$55.30/US$34.30 from Unraid
- Refurb M1 MacBook Air, 7-core GPU & 256GB SSD or 8-core GPU and 512GB SSD - $1049/$1294 from JB Hi-Fi
- Amazon Echo Auto - $29 from Amazon
- Nintendo Switch Sports - $44 from Big W's eBay store
- Google Chromecast with Google TV - $69 from Big W's eBay store
- Kangaroo Doorbell Camera & Chime - $28 from Harvey Norman

## The End

📻 9PM (Till I Come) - ATB

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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.