### Issue 1609 - Wednesday 18th May, 2022

## In Today's Issue

- Twitter pushing Musk to see acquisition deal through
- Eftpos launches QR code payments
- Apple OS updates, Canva & Atlassian are scabs, AU-SG power cable progresses
- Science says quit social media for a week & improve your mental health
- Cheap Xbox Series S, Eneloop batteries, Jabra 85t earbuds, APC UPS

## The News

### Twitter pushing Musk to see acquisition deal through

Looks like Twitter is going to force Elon Musk to adhere to the contract he signed and buy Twitter, telling the New York Times that "the board and Mr. Musk agreed to a transaction at $54.20 per share", "we believe this agreement is in the best interest of all shareholders" and "we intend to close the transaction and enforce the merger agreement". Meanwhile, Musk wants the SEC to investigate Twitter's claims (placed in their annual reports) that spam accounts are less than 5%. If I was Elon I wouldn't be attracting the SEC to anything I was part of, lest they uncover my deceit. On the topic of deceit, Tesla is holding another "AI Day" on August 19th.

### Eftpos launches QR code payments

Eftpos has launched QR code payments. At the moment you use it via an app called Beem. You add an eftpos card to it, scan a QR code in the shop or on a website to pay via your phone instead of using the card. It's only rolled out a Subway store (yes one) in Sydney and Brisbane right now. On the merchant end this is attractive because it should be cheaper than Visa/Mastercard and allows the merchant to bundle it with rewards programs. One the consumer side, I dunno. I'd love to be able to offer Sizzle subscriptions via eftpos instead of Visa/MC/Amex if it was cheaper. I pay Stripe almost $3,000 a year to take your money, would be nice to keep more of it.

### Apple OS updates, Canva & Atlassian are scabs, AU-SG power cable progresses

- Big bunch of Apple updates dropped recently, a few weeks out from WWDC (which happens on June 7th). Not much new here, but iOS 15.5 adds the safety feature stuff to Messages to detect if an image they've been sent is of a "private body part", then choose if they want to tell an adult what's going on.
- Canva and Atlassian are copping heat for still selling into the Russian market despite the invasion of Ukraine. Some would argue that withdrawing Atlassian's tools from the Russian market would be an act of humanity towards Russia. Anyway, nobody likes a scab, get with the program you billionaire fucks.
- That massive extension cord between Australia and Singapore (via Indonesia) moved a step closer to reality, with the NT government passing a law that'll "provide certainty for the project, and clarify and streamline existing processes, increase project certainty, and support Sun Cable to secure project financing".

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Science says quit social media for a week & improve your mental health

Researchers from the University of Bath have published the results of a randomised control trial on the impacts of leaving social media for a week. 154 volunteers with a mean age of 29.6 were randomly split into two groups. Intervention (don't use social media for a week) and control (no instructions, continue as normal). At the end of that week, they found "significant between-group differences" on "well-being, depression, and anxiety, with the intervention group faring much better on all three metrics". It's one study, albeit a well done one, but it backs up many people's anecdotal evidence. Ease off social media, or take a break from it entirely and you'll feel better.

## Bargains

- Xbox Series S Console - $448 from Amazon
- Panasonic Eneloop Pro 2550mAh AA batteries, 4-pack - $19.95 from Shopping Square
- Jabra Elite 85t wireless earbuds - $179 from Jabra
- APC Easy UPS SMV750CAI 700VA/525Watts UPS - $299 + delivery (or free pickup) from Scorptec

## The End

📻 Living in Hell - Cobra Man

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

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