### Issue 1548 - Wednesday 16th February, 2022

## In Today's Issue

- Akamai spends US$900m to buy Linode and combine "edge" with "cloud"
- Chrome OS Flex is an official version of Chrome OS for old PCs and Macs
- Intel and AMD complete acquisitions, NBN keeps embarrassing us, AEC braces itself for federal election hot takes online
- Google's search engine sucks, time to blow it up
- Cheap Kogan Mobile prepaid, Fitbit Charge 5, Cyberpunk 2077, iPad Mini, WD 10TB HDD, Jabra Elite 3 earbuds

## The News

### Akamai spends US$900m to buy Linode and combine "edge" with "cloud"

Old school CDN provider Akamai (they probably do other things now, DDoS protection I guess?) has purchased indie server host darling Linode for US$900m. Akamai reckons "the opportunity to combine Linode's developer-friendly cloud computing capabilities with Akamai’s market-leading edge platform and security services is transformational for Akamai". I doubt Akamai would fuck with too much of the secret sauce that makes Linode popular - could even be a good thing. Linode services in Akamai's POPs? Yes please! They're usually very well connected, particularly in Australia. Hopefully they remain relatively affordable.

### Chrome OS Flex is an official version of Chrome OS for old PCs and Macs

Google has released a beta of Chrome OS Flex, an official version of Chrome OS that works on PCs and Macs that were not originally branded as Chromebooks. You can use it standalone and log in with your personal Google account, or the device can be enrolled in Google's Chrome Enterprise Upgrade and managed like cattle on an outback station. An excellent way to breathe new life into an old computer (but check the compatibility list first) when all you need is a good web browser. I don't know what took Google so long to do this after buying Neverware and its CloudReady product in 2020, but here we are.

### Intel and AMD complete acquisitions, NBN keeps embarrassing us, AEC braces itself for federal election hot takes online

- Intel purchased Tower Semiconductor, an Israeli based company that designs and manufactures its own semiconductors around the world. Intel will now leverage Tower's factories and knowledge to boost its own 3rd party design and manufacture capabilities.
- AMD's received regulatory approval for its purchase of Xilinx for US$53b. Xlinx invented the Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) and along with Altera (that Intel own) are the biggest players in that programmable chip space. This gives AMD a strong stream of revenue outside of its wheelhouse of CPUs and GPUs.
- NBN only managed to upgrade 20 premises from FTTN/FTTC to FTTP out of a possible 525 as part of its fibre upgrade trial. The trial could be impacted by the upcoming federal election as it's not allowed to make "large decisions" during the caretaker period.
- NBN is thinking about removing CVC charges for 100mbit plans as way to boost uptake, but wants to increase that flat-rate fee once a year inline with inflation plus 3% for two years to make up for lost revenue. NBN once again throwing shit at the wall and seeing what sticks.
- "Major social media platforms" have given the AEC "assurances" they'd "allocate more resources for monitoring election disinformation and misinformation for the upcoming Australian federal election". Hope they protect our democratic process from boomers spreading lies about the AEC on Twitter and Facebook.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Google's search engine sucks, time to blow it up

DKB argues quite successfully that Google's search engine has gone to shit. The first page of results is usually loaded with ads, artificial intelligence related bullshit that tries to guess what you want and misses the mark most of the time, or is pure SEO nonsense like a shop, blog spam, Pinterest or Quora. I also do the trick they mention of adding "site:reddit.com" to the end of my search query in order to find results that aren't from someone trying to sell me something. Seems to me like the time is ripe for someone to do to Google what Google did to Altavisa/Lycos/Yahoo when I was a kid.

## Bargains

- Kogan Mobile (Vodafone MVNO) 365-day plan with 500GB data, unlimited calls & SMS - $180 from Kogan (or $160 if you use Latitude Pay)
- Fitbit Charge 5 fitness tracker - $188.96 from The Iconic (pay with ZipPay and get 20% cashback)
- Cyberpunk 2077 for PS4 - $29 from Amazon
- Apple iPad Mini 6 WiFi 64GB - $691.15 from Allphones eBay store (affiliate link)
- WD WD101EFBX Red 10TB SATA HDD - $339 + shipping from Umart
- Jabra Elite 3 bluetooth earbuds - $88 from Amazon

## The End

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