# Issue 860

##### Thursday, 18th April 2019

No Sizzle Friday & Monday because Jesus died then came back to life. Normal Sizzle returns on Tuesday the 23rd of April.

## In This Issue

- Massive IT outsourcing shop Wipro got hacked and so did its customers
- Most of the Samsung Galaxy Fold review units have broken screens
- Microsoft didn't sell some cops facial recognition tech because they acknowledge it'll harm minorities
- UK porn age verification law starts July 15th
- Founder of Foxconn to run for Taiwanese presidency because the sea goddess Mazu told him to
- The 3-2-1 backup rule is good and you should follow it
- I want Logitech's new bluetooth noise canceling headphones with boom mic and wireless charging
- Cheap surge protection powerboard with USB, 2TB portable HDD, GTX 1660 GPU, Samsung SSD cashback, Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Surface Pro 6

## News

### Massive IT outsourcing shop Wipro got hacked and so did its customers

According to Brian Krebs, Wipro, one of the world's laregst IT outsourcing firms got absolutely, totally, comphrensively owned by hackers (assumed state-sponsored), for many months. Not only was Wipro owned and had info stolen, but the hackers then used Wipro's privledged access into their clients systems to then hack their clients. Wipro is a massive company too - with 170,000 employees (mostly based in India), US$8b in revenue and clients in basically every industry. Would you trust your company's IT security to a company that couldn't secure their own systems? I don't think so.

### Most of the Samsung Galaxy Fold review units have broken screens

Samsung's fancy folding smartphone has been sent to the usual reviewer suspects over in the USA and after only two or three days of use, almost every single one of them is experiencing major issues with the display such as flickering, or one of the sides not displaying an image. There appears to be some sort of protective film over the screen that shouldn't be removed, but looks just like those stickers on the phone you're supposed to remove. Samsung said they're looking into it.

### Microsoft didn't sell some cops facial recognition tech because they acknowledge it'll harm minorities

Microsoft actually put in action what they've been talking about for months and decided not to sell facial recognition technology to a "Californian law enforcement agency". Microsoft rejected the deal because in their opinion "it would lead to innocent women and minorities being disproportionately held for questioning because the artificial intelligence has been trained on mostly white and male pictures". Hopefully that law enforcement agency doesn't just go to Amazon or Google, listens to Microsoft when they say the tech isn't up to scratch and ditches the idea of using this face scanning police state shit.

### UK porn age verification law starts July 15th

A new law in the UK kicks off on July 15th that forces porn sites to actually verify someone is 18 before they log on - a user simply clicking "I'm 18, let me in" isn't enough. The British Board of Film Classification hasn't specified exactly how a site should verify a user's age, but most websites will ask for government ID or a credit card number as proof of age. Some might develop a smartphone app. If the porn site doesn't do this verification, it'll be added to a blacklist that UK ISPs have to block user access to. VPNs are gonna get very popular in the UK I reckon.

### Founder of Foxconn to run for Taiwanese presidency because the sea goddess Mazu told him to

The founder and chairman of Foxconn, Terry Gou, decided to retire earlier this week and today said he is running for president in Taiwan. I know this is very loosely related to tech, but the country's richest person, who built their wealth off tech manufacturing, claims that the sea goddess Mazu came to him in a dream and told him that she "doesn't want Taiwanese society to be so difficult". Terry also said that Mazu nurtured him from a child to a grown man and that he is Mazu's godson. Cool.

## Not News, But Still Cool

### The 3-2-1 backup rule is good and you should follow it

I've mentioned it many times before, but the 3-2-1 backup rule is important so I'm gonna mention it again! The idea around the 3-2-1 rule is to have 3 copies of your data, on two different local local devices or mediums and 1 off-site. This Backblaze article explains it well. There's no one-size-fits-all backup solution (someone who uses a laptop needs a different setup to someone using a desktop, ditto Mac vs Windows, or someone with shit internet vs. good internet), but here's a link explaining my backup strategy. It's from 2015 and I've added Carbon Copy Cloner, use Backblaze B2 instead of Google and moved stuff from Mega to OneDrive, but the core concepts are the same.

### I want Logitech's new bluetooth noise canceling headphones with boom mic and wireless charging

Logitech has made the Bluetooth headset I've always wanted - the Zone Wireless. It's not one of those uncomfortable and inaccurate tiny things that go in your ear, it's a proper pair of headphones that goes over your head, with a boom mic that's placed right next to your mouth so speech is clear. You can pair it to a smartphone and a computer, plus it's supposed to sound half decent for music, with noise canceling for a busy office environment. It can even charge with a Qi wireless charger! The only downside is price - RRP is AU$320. It'll probably be like $220-$250 in stores, but still, I like it.

### Cheap surge protection powerboard with USB, 2TB portable HDD, GTX 1660 GPU, Samsung SSD cashback, Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Surface Pro 6

- ALDI's got a surge protector powerboard with nice wide plugs and a handy 2x USB ports for $25.
- 2TB external portable Western Digital HDD for $77 at Harvey Norman.
- ASUS GeForce GTX 1660 OC 6GB GPU for $279 at Scorptec.
- Cashback on a wide variety of Samsung SSDs right now if you're in the market. 1TB 860 QVO SSD is $160 at MSY, take $20 and it's just $140.
- $388 for a Nintendo Switch delivered from Amazon AU. If you can't wait for shipping, Harvey Norman has it for the same price and free pickup.
- Microsoft Surface Pro 6 with i5 CPU, 128GB SSD & 8GB RAM, plus type cover for $1169.10 at The Good Guys.

That's it, see ya Tuesday!
--Anthony

March of the Pigs - Nine Inch Nails

Aussie Broadband is the best ISP I've used since Internode's glory days. Their CEO gives talks at AUSNOG about their network and they even have network utilisation charts for every NBN POI. Their pricing isn't the cheapest, but if you want an ISP that's fast & reliable, give them a shot. Use my affiliate link or my referral code (1001031) and we both get $50 credit on our next bill.

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

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