> No Sizzle until the 14th of April because of the Easter long weekend. Doesn’t feel like a long weekend does it?

# In This Issue

- Zoom apologises, lays out 90-day plan to fix their platform & hires ex-Facebook CSO

- Western Australia going hard on surveillance tech disguised as coronavirus support

- Vodafone & TPG keen to upgrade copper based NBN products to fibre when their merger is complete

- A vacuum cleaner company’s charitable foundation has nice educational material for your kids

- Cheap Apple TV, Google Home Max, 2TB SSD, Aldi surge protected powerboard, AirPods Pro, Telstra discount for JobSeekers, SanDisk 400GB microSD

# News

#### Zoom apologises, lays out 90-day plan to fix their platform & hires ex-Facebook CSO

Zoom, Zoom, Zoom - what are we gonna do with you? A new blog post has gone up on Zoom's website outlining a 90-day action plan for how Zoom is gonna fix all their security and privacy issues. They even hired former Facebook security chief Alex Stamos to get shit done. Meanwhile, Google has banned its employees from using Zoom and they've copped a fresh lawsuit from shareholders who reckon the CEO should have made it known to them that there were issues with their product when he found out back in 2019.

#### Western Australia going hard on surveillance tech disguised as coronavirus support

Embodying the true meaning of the phrase "not here to fuck spiders" (which apparently many of you have never heard before going by yesterday's use of it here!), Western Australia is gonna spend $3m on 200 GPS-enabled ankle bracelets to track people in self-isolation due to COVID-19. They're also dropping almost $15m for 100 automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras to track cars going around unnecessarily. There's never been a better time to use technology to track your citizens.

#### Vodafone & TPG keen to upgrade copper based NBN products to fibre when their merger is complete

Vodafone Australia's CEO told a virtual CommsDay Summit that "Australia’s digital future depends on having many more fibre connections and freeing ourselves from copper delivery of broadband" and a merged Vodafone & TPG would "deploy fibre to Australian homes, including potential co-investment with NBN Co, to replace copper with fibre". Basically turn those sad FTTN premises and not-so-sad but still relatively slow FTTC premises into proper FTTP connections. There’s absolutely no formal announcement, but the fact TPG/Voda are contemplating this for one day in the future (the Libs will flog off NBN Co by 2022, trust me) is an interesting development.

# Not News

#### A vacuum cleaner company’s charitable foundation has nice educational material for your kids

I don't have kids but lots of you probably do and you're stuck with them at home for the foreseeable future (my condolences). The James Dyson Foundation has created 44 "challenges" that teach kids science and engineering topics using stuff around the house. They look pretty fun to me. No, I'm not volunteering to work on them with your children. If you've found any learning materials (particularly STEM related) kids can work on while they're housebound, please let me know so I can share them with other Sizzle subscribers.

# Bargains

- Apple TV 4K 32GB - $199 from Officeworks

- Google Home Max - $199 from the Google Store

- Crucial MX500 2TB 2.5" SATA SSD - $340 from Futu Online's eBay store using the code PAINTED15

- Bauhn 8-plug surge protected powerboard with dual USB ports - $25 at Aldi

- Apple AirPods Pro - $368.98 from Costco's online store if you're a Costco member

- Telstra is taking $20/m off bills for those on the JobSeeker payment for 6 months

- SanDisk 400GB microSD card (good for the Nintendo Switch/SD card slot on a laptop) - $85.95 + delivery from ShoppingSquare

🎶 Heads Will Roll - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

😁 The Sizzle is curated by Anthony "@decryption" Agius and emailed every weekday afternoon. Join us on Slack and chat with other Sizzle subscribers.

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.​