Plus: use your excess browser tabs to play Pong ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

February 21, 2025 | Read online
# Microsoft's quantum leap doesn't faze Aussie company, police want to keep hacking powers & our first home-grown rocket launch Plus: use your excess browser tabs to play Pong
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Issue 2276 - Friday 21 February, 2025
Folks, have a spectacular weekend! And a special shout-out to Sizzler Bhakharvadi for surviving our journey together.
# In Today’s Issue
Microsoft’s quantum leap big if true, but the Australian-government backed business not fazed We need hacking powers we rarely use: police Australia’s first homegrown rocket launch set for next month Use your browser excess tabs to play Pong Deals on Samsung, Soundcore and Yamaha wireless earbuds; half price pre-paid Yomojo SIMs kits, LG monitors and OLED TVs; gaming PCs and Samsung 77’’ 4K Smart TVs.
# The News
### Microsoft’s quantum leap big if true, but the Aussie-government backed business says it’s not fazed
Microsoft says it has made a quantum computing breakthrough with its Majorana 1 computer chip (Microsoft). Its secret sauce is the “topological” approach which, the company claims, is a much more viable method than what its competitors are trying. I frankly found the marketing speak from Microsoft and much of the reporting impenetrable, so let me point you to this write-up from University of Melbourne’s Stephan Rachel that does a good job of explaining what’s happening and how significant it is (The Conversation). TLDR: A cool method if it pans out, but Microsoft has yet to prove its claims fully. Oh and remember PsiQuantum, the quantum computing startup that was given nearly a $1 billion by Australian governments in a huge bet on a single company in a notoriously speculative field? Well, it wants you to know that it is unfazed about Microsoft’s announcement and is still planning on building its big computer in Brisbane (AFR, $). I will say, one thing that quantum computing has going for it: the hardware always looks cool as hell.
Microsoft’s Majorana 1 is pretty
### We need hacking powers we rarely use: police
Police and intelligence bodies want to keep their recently granted powers to take over online accounts, surveil networks and delete stuff off computers that they’ve sparingly used since receiving them (Yahoo). In a hearing reviewing the powers, the agencies made the case that they need the three warrants given to them under the Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Act 2021. (Home Affairs has a brief summary of the powers if you’ve forgotten). The Law Council of Australia and the Human Rights Law Centre, on the other hand, reiterated their concern that the laws are too powerful and broad (Cyber Daily). One major sticking point: the threshold for applying for the warrants is crimes that carry three years imprisonment — a surprisingly low bar for powers that are ostensibly only to be used on the most “serious” crimes.
### Australia’s first homegrown rocket launch set for next month
The first Australian-built and owned orbital rocket is aiming to attempt a launch next month (AFR, $). After a two-year approval process, Gilmour Space has received the green light to launch its Eris rocket with plans to do so in late March (the company says it won’t say exactly when because its founder “wants to first book accomodation for his staff” before everyone else gets in lol). Also in space news: I’m heartened to hear that Australias academics are keeping an eye on the “city destroyer” asteroid that might hit Earth in eight years (ABC News). And Elon Musk has installed his SpaceX goons in the US’ aviation regulator (WIRED, $). Considering both how things are going in both the aviation industry (AP) and in SpaceX (BBC), maybe it’s not a great time to bring ‘em together.
# Oh, Also
### Use your excess tabs to play Pong
A little insight into my process: My scrounging for content to feed the Sizzlers starts with 21 Chrome tabs including my RSS reader, a few tech news aggregation sites, and a lot of outlets. I open up a tab for each of the stories that I think could be included in each edition and proceed to read them all. By the end of each edition, I still have dozens of tabs open that didn’t make it into the edition but are still interesting or might make it into a future one. Sometimes I don’t have time to read them before the next day, so I start the process again in a new window. By the end of the week, I’m burdened by hundreds of tabs across several browsers, waiting to be read. Now, a use for them: Pong. Not to be outdone by the person who made a version of Flappy Bird that runs in a favicon (Mewtru blog), an industrious programmer named Nolen Royalty — previously best known for the game One Million Checkboxes — has shared the code for running the old school computer game Pong using only 240 Chrome tabs (Eieio.games).
eieio.games
# Bargains
Electrical & Electronics
Soundcore by Anker, Sport X10 True Wireless Earbuds - $84.99 at Amazon AU x Yamaha TW-E7B True Wireless Earbuds - $92 at Amazon x ASUS ROG Strix Scope RX Red Key Mechanical Wired Optical Gaming Keyboard $99 + Delivery ($0 SYD C&C) @ JW Computers - $99 at JW Computers Samsung Galaxy Buds3 - $137.99 at Amazon AU Sony ULT WEAR Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones - $169.15 at Sony eBay Store Google Pixel Watch 3 WiFi at MyMobile 41mm $437, 45mm $496. Apple 10.9" iPad 10th Gen Wi-Fi 64GB - $489.99 at Costco NEBULA Capsule 3 GTV Projector - $829.99 at Amazon AU LG StandbyME Smart Touch Screen (27ART10AKPL) + Bonus Matching Speaker (XT7S) - $1,280 at Amazon LG OLED C4 TV (2024) 65" - $2520 at Appliance Central LG 55" OLED evo G4 4K Smart TV (2024) + SG10TY 3.1ch 420W Dolby Atmos Soundbar - $2,158 at VideoPro LG 55" OLED G4 4K Smart TV (2024) & SG10TY 3.1ch 420W Dolby Atmos Soundbar $2780 - $2780 at Harvey Norman Samsung 77" S90D OLED 4K Smart TV (2024) - $3599.40 at Samsung Government Portal
Computing
HP Wireless (Link-5) Keyboard T6U20AA - $19 at Australian Computer Traders ASUS ROG Strix Scope RX Red Key Mechanical Wired Optical Gaming Keyboard - $99 at JW Computers SFZ 14.1" FHD Portable Touchscreen Monitor - A$107.85 at AliExpress KLEVV 4TB C910 NVMe M.2 SSD - $269 @ Umart / MSY HP FX700 4TB 7200MB/s PCIe NVMe Gen 4x4 SSD - $296.65 at eBay Lenovo IdeaPad 5 2-in-1 R7-8845HS, 16GB DDR5, 512GB, R780M, 14" WUXGA OLED 400nits Touch $1139.90 - $1139.90 at Lenovo EDU Store LG 38" Ultrawide Monitor (3840x1600, IPS, 144hz, HDR, G/Free sync, inbuilt KVM w/ USB C PD) - $1559 at Amazon Gaming PC: AMD R7-7800X3D, RTX 5070 Ti GPU, B650 Wi-Fi Mobo, 32GB RAM, 1TB NVMe SSD, 750W Gold PSU - $2799 at TechFast
Mobile
1/2 Price 30-Day Prepaid Mobile for The First 3 Months at Yomojo $9.95 8GB, $12.25 25GB, $14.95 40GB, $19.95 75GB, $24.95 100GB Belong Mobile 160GB/Month Starter Pack - $27 at Coles Optus X Pro 5G - $139 at Coles
# The End
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