### Issue 1296 - Wednesday 3rd February, 2021

## In Today's Issue

- Jeff Bezos relinquishing CEO role at Amazon to focus on his other passions
- Apple & Hyundai electric car rumours get spicier, includes Porsche now
- Microsoft publicly announces its love for the mandatory media bargaining code
- Back on my fibre optic submarine cable bullshit in 2021
- Cheap Melbourne Museum membership, Tenda Nova mesh wi-fi kit, AirPods Pro Max, no-name 1080p webcam, Capcom Home Arcade, Alienware 38" gaming monitor

## The News

### Jeff Bezos relinquishing CEO role at Amazon to focus on his other passions

Jeff Bezos is stepping down as CEO of Amazon. The new big dog will be Andy Jassy and Bezos will be the Executive Chair of the Amazon Board where he will "focus my energies and attention on new products and early initiatives". The reason for stepping down given in his memo to Amazon employees is pretty simple - "Being the CEO of Amazon is a deep responsibility, and it's consuming. When you have a responsibility like that, it's hard to put attention on anything else" and old mate wants to "focus on the Day 1 Fund, the Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin, The Washington Post, and my other passions". Fair enough aye. Seems to have come out of nowhere though, maybe another Saudi blackmail attempt he couldn't thwart???

### Microsoft publicly announces its love for the mandatory media bargaining code

In what would be a shock to nobody, Microsoft has come out in full support of the media bargaining code and is spruiking itself as a replacement for Google should they follow through on their threat to ditch search in Australia. In a public statement, Microsoft's president Brand Smith said that "the code reasonably attempts to address the bargaining power imbalance between digital platforms and Australian news businesses" and "while Microsoft is not subject to the legislation currently pending, we'd be willing to live by the rules if the government designates us. Microsoft will ensure that small businesses who wish to transfer their advertising to Bing can do so simply and with no transfer costs. We will invest further to ensure Bing is comparable to our competitors". The statement then takes a jab at Google, saying that "while other tech companies may sometimes threaten to leave Australia, Microsoft will never make such a threat". Looks like the government is inadvertently giving the VPN reseller industry a stimulus package.

### Apple & Hyundai electric car rumours get spicier, includes Porsche now

Ming-Chi Kuo, one of the more accurate Apple analysts has corroborated the noises made lately that Apple will sell an electic car based on Hyundai's new E-GMP platform. Hyundai is to Apple's automobile dreams as Foxconn is to their iPhone juggernaut, but with the boring mechanical stuff left to the Koreans - which honestly, is the best of both worlds. A car with the build quality and reliability of a Hyundai, but kitted out and designed by Apple? Sign me up, shut up and take my money, etc. etc. The projected timeline is 2025, which Kuo reckons is "a tight schedule". Apple also quietly poached Porsche's lead chassis designer. It smells to me like the car is a real project, but will it actually happen? I bloody hope so.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Back on my fibre optic submarine cable bullshit in 2021

The oldest thing sitting in the section of my bookmarks labelled "Share With The Sizzle" is this 2018 video by Motherboard, who interview a Danish bloke working for Telia and is responsible for submarine cable land station maintenance. The cable he babysits is TAT-14 which was decomissioned just a few weeks ago after 19 years of service. It's all so non-descript. A brown brick building in an industrial estate, packed full of network equipment. A single black cable coming from the beach into the building via a hole in the wall carried terabits of data traffic across the Atlantic ocean. If this kinda thing interests you (I fucken love it), you'll dig Beatty Lane-Davis' talk from NZNOG20 where he gives a great technology overview of subsea cables.

## Bargains

- 20% off Melbourne Museum membership (I've been a member for over a decade, love the Melbourne Museum - support it!) for 2021
- Tenda Nova MW6 mesh wi-fi 2-pack - $99.70 from Amazon
- Apple AirPods Pro Max - $809 at Rosman Computers
- Zi Qian 1080p USB webcam (I have one, it's ok, gets the job done) - $22.98 from Amazon
- Capcom Home Arcade Console (apparently these are hackable) - $199+delivery from The Gamesmen
- Alienware AW3821DW 38" 3840 x 1600 144hz IPS G-SYNC/FreeSync curved gaming monitor - $1637.22 from Dell's eBay store

## The End

📻 Awake // Sedate - SOM

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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.​