 | Edition 2487 |
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 | "ComputerCraft CraftOS 1.8" by Ogidya is licensed under Public domain |
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Hello! Just noting that the Sizzle will be off for the public holiday. Seeya on Tuesday! |
Mentioned in today’s edition: Airwallex, Google, Neal Mohan, Tesla, Windows 7, Atlassian, GrapheneOS, Adobe Acrobat, Max Woolf and Kagi. Plus, deals on Sennheiser earbuds, Alienware keyboards and the iPhone Air. |
The News |
Australian fintech startup Airwallex accused of not doing 'basic' checks to stop funding child sex abuse |
One of Australia's hottest fintech companies, Airwallex, has been pulled up by the financial crimes watchdog over fears its platform is being used to fund child sexual abuse (ITNews). Yesterday, AUSTRAC ordered the company, now headquartered in Singapore and San Francisco, to appoint a special auditor over concerns it was being used by "money mules" accounts that facilitate criminal transactions (AUSTRAC). Airwallex denied the accusations and welcomed the audit (AFR, $). |
The Sizzle: Airwallex has been a hot company, backed by some of Australia's biggest VC funds, and was reportedly set for a potential IPO this year (AFR, $). Not a lot looked like it could stop its rise — but claims that it's not even meeting the most basic anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financial requirements is a pretty legit one. Fintech has always been a sector that investors love in theory because, if successful, it offers an incredible business model (clip the ticket) and a limitless addressable market. The problem, of course, is that there's a lot of regulation in finance, with good reason. I've always heard whispers about some of the cowboy-esque philosophy at Airwallex, so I wouldn't be surprised if there's more to come on this. |
Discuss in Slack or Forum. |
The rise and fall of custom Android ROMs |
Remember in the early days of smartphones when it was an open question what "ROM" — or custom Android OS — you might roll with? 9to5Google has a nice piece and video on the former popularity of ROMs the endlessly customisable CyanogenMod or dodgy forks imitating the look of iOS. Custom ROMs fell to the wayside because phone makers and telcos stopped getting away with selling locked handsets that don't get updates, and because vanilla Android got better. |
 | this isn’t a custom ROM but a custom launcher but tbh I couldn’t be bothered tracking down a proper picture because it’s friday |
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Discuss in Slack or Forum. |
The Sizzler Say: Sizzler vollies, thanks to Apple's PDF viewer and a cool music production set up |
I probably shouldn't be surprised, but it turns out quite a few Sizzlers shared on the forum how they've been involved in volunteer firefighting or in developing mapping tools. Gtch on Slack responded to my disgust towards Adobe Acrobat with some words of thanks for Apple's built in PDF reader. If the Trump-Greenland stuff has you interested in alt-US tech options, shermozle posted on the forum about how the EU's version is going. Jackie posted his sweet new music production set-up on Slack. Thank you again to everyone from Canva who messaged me. I'm still on the lookout for more - send me a msg on Signal @cmw.69 if that's you, we'll talk completely confidentially.
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As always, if you wanna get involved (or even be able to read what’s on Slack) you can join the Slack server and forum via these links. |
Discuss in Slack or Forum. |
Leftovers |
Australia: |
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Rest of World: |
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Discuss in Slack or Forum. |
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Oh, Also |
You're in the terminal vibecoding. I'm here playing with colourful balls. We are not the same. |
Everyone seems to be spending a lot more time in the terminal these days. Me too. Not because I'm gooncoding with Claude Code or whatever, I've found something much more valuable: a CLI-based physics simulator with thousands of balls (made, as it turns out, by a former colleague of mine, Max Woolf!) |
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Discuss in Slack or Forum. |
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Bargains |
Electronics |
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Computing |
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Mobile |
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The End |
😎 The Sizzle is written by Cam Wilson and emailed every weekday. It was created by Anthony “decryption” Agius. |
🤖 We love robots at the Sizzle but this newsletter has always been and will always be written by humans for humans. Also by Aussies for Aussies — so all prices are in dollarydoos, of course. |
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Always Was, Always Will Be Aboriginal Land |
The Sizzle is created on Gadigal 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. |
