### Issue 2180 - Monday 23rd September, 2024

## In Today's Issue

- Three Mile Island nuclear power plant to re-open and feed Microsoft's data centres
- Rumours that Qualcomm is interested in acquiring Intel
- Jony Ive confirms working on AI hardware, X gives in to Brazilian courts, myGovID will soon be myID
- Australia's got a new cheapest electric car and it doesn't suck
- Cheap Denon AVR, WD 4TB SSD, MSI monitor, DJI drone, Apple TV+, HP gaming laptop, QLD e-bike rebate, Lenovo cashback

## The News

### Three Mile Island nuclear power plant to re-open and feed Microsoft's data centres

Infamous nuclear power plant Three Mile Island in the US state of Pennsylvania is re-opening because Microsoft needs more electricity to power its massive data centers. The power plant will be renamed "Crane Clean Energy Center" and isn't dedicated purely to Microsoft's needs, pumping electricity into the grid as a whole, but Microsoft's agreement to purchase all of the plant's 835MW of electricity for 20 years is what's making it financially viable to spin up again. It'll cost US$1.6b to refurbish the plant, which sounds ridiculously cheap for a 50 year old nuclear power plant. This is better than re-opening a coal power plant, but damn this AI stuff really needs a lot of energy. Is it worth it?

⬆ Share or Discuss

### Rumours that Qualcomm is interested in acquiring Intel

Also in things I never would have imagined happening a few years ago, there's strong rumours that Qualcomm wants to buy Intel. That would have been unfathomable previously, but due to Intel's share price becoming the dictionary definition of "shit the bed" lately, Qualcomm reckons it can find enough cash to buy Intel, its patents, its factories and presumably, its engineering talent too. At least Qualcomm is US based so any deal would keep the US government happy. It's far from being real, but it's real enough that people are going "you know what? Maybe Qualcomm and Intel getting business married wouldn't be the worst thing in the world". Could also be the nail in the coffin for x86 as I can't see that happening as long as Intel remains independent.

⬆ Share or Discuss

### Jony Ive confirms working on AI hardware, X gives in to Brazilian courts, myGovID will soon be myID

- In a puff piece for the New York Times, Jony Ive confirmed that he's working with Sam Altman on a hardware project. Dunno if it's within OpenAI or something separate, but it's a thing that's real enough that Jony isn't embarrassed to admit to. Also news to me is that LoveFrom, Ive's design consultancy, pulls in US$200/m a year from clients like Airbnb and Ferrari.
- X has "capitulated" to the Brazilian Supreme Court and will take down 3000-ish accounts the court wants removed ("prominent right-wing Brazilian commentators"), pay the fines it gathered during its recalcitrant period and name a formal representative in the country. It seems the tipping point was the government just taking US$2m from Starlink's bank account.
- myGovID will be rebranded to myID in November as to "resolve confusion between the myGovID app and myGov, following a recommendation from the myGov user audit". Nothing else is changing, just the name, so if you already use myGovID to log into government stuff you don't have do to anything. I only realised today that you can use myGovID instead of SMS 2FA to login to myGov. That sounds useful.

⬆ Share or Discuss

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Australia's got a new cheapest electric car and it doesn't suck

MG slashed the price on their little MG4 pure electric hatch back, making the starting price $30,990 drive away nationally for the base model Excite 51 that has around 350km of WLTP range. There's dealers selling lightly used ones even cheaper on Carsales, like $26,888 in WA and $29,888 in VIC. Get it on a novated lease (this calculator has more info than you could ever want to work out if a lease is worth it) and you're paying even less! Unlike MG's other cars, the MG4 isn't a heap of shit and apparently, a very nice drive. 350km of range might not sound like much, but my Tesla gets just above 400km (probably more like 380km now) and it's heaps for 95% my driving. Just make sure you can charge at home, otherwise you're in for a world of pain.

⬆ Share or Discuss

## Bargains

- 15% cashback at Lenovo's online store (uncapped) via TopCashback
- $500 rebates on e-bikes thanks to the QLD state government
- Denon AVR-S970H AV receiver - $999 from Kogan
- Western Digital Black SN850X 4TB M.2 SSD - $407.21 from Amazon Germany
- MSI PRO MP2412 23.8" 1080p VA-panel monitor - $79.05 from Amazon
- DJI Mini 4 Pro - $1049 from Amazon
- Get 2 months free Apple TV+ (new and returning subscribers) via Flicks.com.au
- HP Victus 15.6" 15-fa1113TX gaming laptop (i5-12500H, RTX4050 GPU, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD) - $1,119.20 from HP's eBay store

## Image Of The Day

Apple Computer iPod Hello Brochure from 2001 (Internet Archive)

## The End

📻 Osees - Arena Of Blood

😎 The Sizzle is curated by Anthony "decryption" Agius and emailed every weekday afternoon.

💬 Checked out the paid subscriber only forum? It's a tidy little place to discuss tech with like minded Aussies.

👋 Forums not your thing? The Sizzle has a Slack group you can procrastinate in and chat with other nerds bored at work.

💳 Paid subscriber looking to manage your billing info, change email address or cancel your subscription? Visit the customer portal.

🎁 Make someone's day and buy them a 12 month gift subscription to The Sizzle.

📚 Browse The Sizzle Archive. A few issues are missing and it's not searchable, but it's better than nothing.

🫂 Friends of The Sizzle is a small group of businesses or organisations operated by Sizzle subscribers. Support your fellow Sizzler!

💔 Tired of my bullshit? Unsubscribe and I'll never speak to you again.

## Always Was, Always Will Be Aboriginal Land

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.