### Issue 1660 - Friday 29th July, 2022

## In Today's Issue

- Instagram boss offers to slow changes while they improve the algorithm
- Removal of fringe benefits tax on EVs now in effect
- A dump of Big Tech financial results from the last week
- BeReal is a photo-based social network the kids are getting into
- Friday Forum Update
- Cheap Lenovo X1 Fold, Fosi Audio Bluetooth transmitter/receiver, 14" MBP, Lenovo Legion 5 Pro gaming laptop, Cricut Maker Bundle, Ryzen 5 5600 CPU

## The News

### Instagram boss offers to slow changes while they improve the algorithm

Less than 24 hours since Instagram's boss made a video telling to any people complaining about the increase in videos to suck it up, he is now saying "I think that we need to take a big step back, regroup, and figure out how we want to move forward". He goes on to that the usage data "isn't great" on the new feed design and that Instagram will "temporarily reduce the amount of recommended posts and accounts as it works to improve its personalization tools". While it's great Adam Mosseri is saying these things, it kinda shows how visionless Meta/Instagram is.

### Removal of fringe benefits tax on EVs now in effect

The federal government passed a law yesterday that'll make "any new EV or PHEV purchased after July 1 this year exempt from FBT, provided it's priced under the luxury car tax threshold for fuel-efficient cars, which is $84,916 this year". I'm not an accountant, but the government reckons "savings of up to $9,000 per year on a car valued at $50,000 through these changes" if your car is provided by your employer. Definitely worth looking into if you want a new EV and can get a novated lease salary sacrificed. There's also the removal of tariffs for EVs imported into Australia, which in practice should make EVs from Europe 5% cheaper as there's already no tariffs on cars from the USA, China, South Korea and Japan.

### A dump of Big Tech financial results from the last week

This week saw multiple quarterly financial reports for the big US tech companies published:

- Intel had a 17% decline in revenue compared to last year and gross margin 57% less than this same quarter a year ago. They acutally lost $500m - the first time in "decades", in the middle of a boom time for semiconductors. Oof. Pat Gelsinger is blaming "a sudden and rapid decline in economic activity" and "our own execution issues".
- Apple made more money than the market expected - $83b revenue, $19.4b profit for the quarter. It would have been more if there wasn't an issue with supply of products due to COVID shutdowns in China. There are now 860 million paid subscribers of Apple's services (Music, TV, iCloud, etc), adding 160m in the last 12 months. The iPhone is still 49% of Apple's income.
- Tesla also made more money than the market expected ($16.934b), but its legendary gross margin, which is still shitloads more than other car makers, dropped to 27.9%. The new factories (Berlin, Shanghai, Austin) are ramping up nicely, but like Apple, Tesla is also constrained by lack of part supply from China. They also sold 75% of their Bitcoin holdings.
- Microsoft grew revenue 12% (to $51.9b) last quarter, Windows and Xbox revenue took a hit. PC shipments fell 13% due to "geopolitical tensions, inflation, and continued supply chain challenges", which impacts sales of Windows. Xbox had an 11% dip in revenue due to "lower engagement hours and monetization".
- Alphabet made $69.7b in revenue for a $16b profit - down from $18.5b last year despite more revenue. $40.7b of that $69.7b in revenue came from Search (i.e: ads). The Cloud business grew nicely ($6.2b vs $4.6b a year ago), but lost $858m overall. YouTube's ad growth was miniscule ($7.3b vs $7b), the lowest growth in years.
- Meta's revenue dropped again (by 1%, but still, a drop for a company used to growth every quarter for years) and they're telling the market they predict it to drop again next quarter. Meta shares are worth almost 50% less than they were at the start of the year. Zuck said "this is a period that demands more intensity and I expect us to get more done with fewer resources".

To put all this into context, these companies are still filthy rich and making incredible profits but the profits are less than usual.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### BeReal is a photo-based social network the kids are getting into

With all the talk about Instagram shitting the bed lately, an app called BeReal has gained a fair amount of traction and rising to the top of the iOS App Store charts. It sends a push notification once a day at a random time and you've got 2 minutes to post a photo. You can't post photos outside of that 2 minute window and you can only post when the notification comes in. BeReal takes a photo using the front and rear cameras on your phone to get "a complete snapshot of what the poster is up to at that moment". I signed up and had a look around. None of my "friends" have posted yet (cowards).

## 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.

- Yaakov made an interesting post about installing two-way radios in their car
- Mitty wants a good VDSL2 modem to replace the stock Telstra one
- DanMelbourne needs advice on a gaming rig for their kid
- Noblejoker wants to know why messaging and calling on iOS is sub-par
- jasongi is looking into solutions for a whole house UPS

## Bargains

- Lenovo X1 Fold (i5-L16G7, 8GB DDR4, 512GB, 5G, 13.3" OLED, pen & keyboard) - $1999 from Lenovo, $1633 if you use Cashrewards & sign up for MyLenovo Rewards
- Fosi Audio BT05 Bluetooth transmitter and receiver - US$35 from Fosi Audio
- 14" MacBook Pro (M1 Pro, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) - $2697 from Amazon
- Lenovo Legion 5 Pro (16" 2560x1600, Ryzen 7 5800H, RTX3070, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD) - $2299 from Lenovo
- Cricut Maker Machine Bundle - $459.99 from Costco (need to be a Costco member)
- AMD Ryzen 5 5600 CPU - $229 from Scorptec

## The End

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