### Issue 1663 - Wednesday 3rd August, 2022

## In Today's Issue

- Tech Council of Australia says we need 653,000 new tech workers ASAP
- One of NIST's quantum-proof encryption algorithms cracked by a single PC in 1 hour
- Logitech & Tencent are making a handheld dedicated cloud streaming device due for sale later this year
- That dude in the UK is still looking for a HDD full of Bitcoin he threw in the bin
- Cheap Polk 5.1 speaker kit, Samsung S24 monitor, Crucial PCIe 4.0 SSD, Lenovo 300 1080p webcam

## The News

### Tech Council of Australia says we need 653,000 new tech workers ASAP

A new report produced by the Tech Council of Australia and Accenture reckons we need 653,000 new tech workers by 2030. 320,000 of those can be reskilled/upskilled workers and 160,000 to be skilled migrants, but that's still a few hundred thousand short of what's required to keep the tech sector growing. The government's top priority to meet that demand is creating 465,000 fee-free TAFE and 20,000 university ICT places. The report also says that "1 in 16 working Australians work in tech jobs, with more software engineers and developers in Australia than solicitors, plumbers, or hairdressers".

### One of NIST's quantum-proof encryption algorithms cracked by a single PC in 1 hour

A few weeks ago I mentioned that "NIST selected four post-quantum computing encryption algorithms to replace algorithms like RSA, Diffie-Hellman, and elliptic curve Diffie-Hellman, which are unable to withstand attacks from a quantum computer". One of those, SIKE, was cracked over the weekend. I don't understand a single goddamn thing about the math involved, but SIKE was defeated by "mathematics published in the 1990s and 2000s", "a single traditional PC" and "about an hour's time". This leaves 3 algorithms left - BIKE, Classic McEliece and HQC - in NIST's search for an algorithm that'll withstand the immense power of quantum computing.

### Logitech & Tencent are making a handheld dedicated cloud streaming device due for sale later this year

Logitech is hooking up with Tencent to make a "dedicated cloud gaming handheld later this year". It'll support Xbox Cloud Gaming and Nvidia's GeForce Now, who are also involved in the development of this device. Think of it like a Steam Deck, but cheaper, longer battery life and possibly thinner, but can only play cloud streaming games. Don't know much else about it except it's a thing Logitech is working on and that it will go on sale this year. Are we are in a golden age for handheld/portable gaming? There's the Nintendo Switch, the Steam Deck, heaps of those Aliexpress emulation devices and of course, iPhones and Android devices.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### That dude in the UK is still looking for a HDD full of Bitcoin he threw in the bin

James Howells threw out a hard drive containing 8,000 Bitcoin back in 2013 and has been searching for it at a Welsh garbage tip for years. His latest attempt is to spend 10 million quid (backed by a hedge fund, lol) and "utilise AI technology to operate a mechanical arm that would filter the rubbish, before then being picked by hand at a pop-up facility near the landfill site", as well as "hire a number of environmental and data recovery experts, and while the search is ongoing employ robot dogs as security so no one else can try to steal the elusive hard drive". 8,000 BTC is currently worth A$263,833,516 so I kinda understand why you'd spend all that time and effort to go hunting for this treasure, even if it feels like the saddest thing on Earth.

## Bargains

- Polk MXT 5.1 home theater pack with 10" subwoofer - $1,587 from West Coast HiFi
- Samsung S4 24" IPS 1080p monitor with built in webcam, Windows Hello support, mic & speakers - $219.12 from CompNowClearance's eBay store
- Crucial P5 Plus 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD - $154.02 from Amazon UK
- Lenovo 300 2MP 1080p webcam - $29 from Officeworks

## The End

📻 Yeah O Yeah - Spiderbait

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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.