### Issue 2005 - Friday 12th January, 2024

## In Today's Issue

- Google and Amazon cut more staff, Discord and Unity do the same
- Starlink direct to cell feature works and will be available for T-Mobile users soon, Optus users later this year
- More CES 2024 slop
- Interesting TV mini series about the UK Post Office Horizon scandal
- Friday Forum Update
- Cheap portable Samsung SSD, Razer webcam, wireless CarPlay/Android Autio dongle, Sony A7CII camera, AMD RX7800XT GPU, Moto G54 5G smartphone

## The News

### Google and Amazon cut more staff, Discord and Unity do the same

Google has decided to trim some more fat, sacking "hundreds of workers in several divisions" according to the New York Times. Those divisions include "its core engineering division, as well as those working on the Google Assistant, a voice-operated virtual assistant, and in the hardware division that makes the Pixel phone, Fitbit watches and Nest thermostat". The Google Assistant cuts seem severe, with the team publishing a lengthy list of "underutilised features" that will no longer be supported. Sucks if you relied on any of those! There's been a bit of sackings going on around tech companies this week. Amazon purged its Prime Video, Twitch & MGM divisions, Discord let go of 17% of its staff and Unity said go away to 25% of its staff after sacking thousands last year.

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### Starlink direct to cell feature works and will be available for T-Mobile users soon, Optus users later this year

SpaceX has shown off a photo of two iPhones sharing SMS messages via Starlink's new "direct to cell" service after launching the first 6 satellites with this feature last week. If you haven't been following, this is will allow T-Mobile customers with smartphones that support LTE band 25 to have access to text messaging anywhere in the country with open sky this year and voice calls by 2025. Optus is onboard to have the same thing in Australia later this year, but I don't know which LTE band they'll be using here. SpaceX's press release says that "operators in our network have access to reciprocal global access that allows their users to access the service when they travel to one of our partner countries" Pretty cool stuff. It's fantastic peace of mind knowing that even if I'm in bumfuck nowhere I can at least send a text message.

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### More CES 2024 slop

- TCL's giant 115" mini-LED TV is coming to Australia! Dunno when or for how much (prob mid-year, prob between $15k-$20k), but I really want to buy one to replace the projector in my home cinema. I better start stockpiling discounted JB Hi-Fi gift cards now.
- Sony dragged out their AFEELA prototype EV again, chock full of "smart" things and sensors that Sony and its partners would love to sell to other car makers despite Sony saying they will sell it to the general public in 2026. But hey, this time they drove it on stage using a PS5 controller. Wow!!
- UGREEN, that brand you only ever see on Amazon when looking for a cheap USB or HDMI cable, is getting into NAS hardware. Decent specs, various port arrangements, but no mention on what "Ugreen OS Pro" is. Ideally you can chuck whatever OS you want on it, like TrueNAS, Unraid, or even bog standard Debian or whatever.
- You've seen IKEA's SYMFONISK picture frame speaker, now Samsung has a similar thing called the Music Frame, riffing on its popular "Frame" TVs. They sound pretty good and can even be used with Samsung's TVs as a surround sound setup that supports Dolby Atmos. Perfect for those that hate the look of speakers in their living room but still want half-decent audio.
- Imagine a mouthguard you can wear that'll act as a mouse. That's the MouthPad. Pairs over Bluetooth and has a roughly 8 hour battery life. Looks like a pretty handy assistive device if you've got no hands but want to operate a cursor on a screen or interact with an iPhone/iPad.

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## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Interesting TV mini series about the UK Post Office Horizon scandal

I've mentioned the UK's Post Office Horizon scandal a few times over the years, but now there's a TV mini-series about it called Mr. Bates vs The Post Office. If you're unfamiliar with the Horizon scandal, have a squiz as this article from David Allen Green - "Between 2000 and 2014, hundreds of innocent sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses were held to be liable for non-existent accounting shortfalls recorded on a faulty IT system. For some, this meant heavy personal losses and bankruptcy; for others it also meant criminal convictions; some of those caught up in the scandal have since committed suicide. There seem to have been around 900 convictions that relied on the now-notorious Horizon system, though nobody knows for certain". It's essentially the UK's Robodebt. It was very bad. Going by how much attention this TV show has gathered in the UK, I'd love to see something similar about Robodebt.

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## 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.

- The_Hawk ponders why USB memory sticks are still so slow when SSDs aren't much more expensive yet way faster.
- judges119 is after a new Windows laptop that weighs less than 1.4kg, has stacks of RAM & CPU power and has a 13"-15" display.
- SmiddyP needs a Mac very rarely so is thinking about renting virtual Mac from Zeromac as they need it instead of buying one.
- wolfjay kicked off a thread for the gamers to share their setups and what they play.
- I started a thread for people to post pictures of their sticker adorned laptops because I wanted to post a picture of my T480's sticker collection.

## Bargains

- Samsung T7 Shield Portable SSD 2TB - $218 from Amazon
- Razer Kiyo X Full HD Streaming Webcam - $69 from Amazon
- Mini Wireless Apple CarPlay or Android Auto adapter - $23 from Aliexpress
- Sony Alpha 7C II full frame mirrorless digital camera - $2,545 from Sony's online store after cashback
- PowerColor Radeon RX 7800 XT Hellhound OC 16GB Graphics Card - $829 from PC Case Gear
- Motorola G54 5G smartphone (eSIM, NFC, 3.5mm headphone jack) - $228.01 from Mobileciti's eBay store

## Image Of The Day

1984 Macintosh Manual Wallpaper, a composite of two pages from the 1984 Macintosh Manual (xarph / The Internet Archive)

## 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.