 | Edition 2513 |
|  | "Computer motherboard magnified by water" by Therringshaw is licensed under CC BY 4.0 |
| Mentioned in today’s edition: Tim Cook, OpenAI, Markiplier, Motorola, Canva, OpenClaw, Elon Musk and Iron Lung. Plus, deals on Sennheiser headphones, AMD CPUs and Optus prepaid SIMs. | The News | Apple refreshes its budget iPhone and mid-range iPad, leaves laptops for later | Apple has released its iPhone 17e and refreshed its iPad Air, clearing the way for a bigger announcement on laptops later this week (Engadget, Engadget). As expected, the budget version of the iPhone 17 (Apple) and the upgraded mid-range iPad (Apple) are evolutions, not revolutions. The 17e gets the ceramic backing of the 17, MagSafe, the new Apple modem, and a storage & speed bump while remaining at the same price in Australia (Pickr). The new iPad Air is completely identical to the old one, except with a new chip and memory bump at the same price (Pickr). Tim Cook has foreshadowed that there'll be more product upgrades over the week -- with some new laptops expected to drop tomorrow or Thursday (Bloomberg, $) | The Sizzle: The 17e is a fascinating phone because it's in no man's land. The 17e remains pretty expensive and, if you're going to shell out that much, why not splash out a few more bones for the superior iPhone 17? The upgraded iPad is particularly unoriginal for a product line that has lacked purpose other than "bigger and slightly cheaper iPhone for young/old person". With the touchscreen MacBooks expected to come out later this year (not this week), I wonder if there's a world in which the iPad ever gets phased out? Probably not, since they're such a money maker. And, hey, if people keep buying em, don't fix what ain't broke. | Discuss in Slack or Forum. | We're getting more privacy Android phones, Starlink 2.0 and a phone that comes with a little guy | From some rather boring device updates to some more exciting stuff, Mobile World Congress is happening in Barcelona at the moment and there's some pretty groovy stuff being announced. Here's some of the stories that caught my eye: | The privacy-focused Android fork GrapheneOS will come to Motorola phones, after the foundation behind it signed a deal with the phone-maker. (Motorola) Speaking of Motorola, we've got a good look at its new premium Razr Fold which looks sweet (Verge). Starlink is launching its second gen satellites which it claims will offer up to 150 Mbps in ideal conditions (Engadget) Our very own Telstra has been promoting its "AI-enabled self-healing network" which it claims will cut down outage times by automating the detection and repair of connectivity problems (TechAU). And uh, Honor released, um, a phone that comes with a little guy? (CNET)
|  | hello little guy |
| Discuss in Slack or Forum. | YouTuber's indie film tops Aussie box office | This is pretty late but I really wanted to note it: last month, a completely self-written, self-financed movie from a YouTuber topped the Australian box office (Numero). YouTuber Markiplier adapted a 2022 indie video game Iron Lung that he once played on his YouTube channel into a 125-minute sci-fi/horror film of the same name. Although it's gotten mixed reviews, the movie, filmed on a budget of ~US$4 million, has grossed $50m+ worldwide thanks to the social media-led, word-of-mouth campaign where fans requested that cinemas screen the film and subsequently attended in droves. | | Not only has it paved a new path for independent creators, Markiplier claims to have broken a world record for most blood in a film (Deadline). Very cool! | Discuss in Slack or Forum. | Leftovers | Australia: | | Rest of World: | | Discuss in Slack or Forum. | | Oh, Also | Paying your tax late is an OPSEC issue | South Korea's tax office made a teeny, eensy, US$4.8 million mistake. Late last month, its National Tax Service conducted a search relating to a "delinquent taxpayer" (Asia Business Daily). No doubt proud of its staff efforts, it posted a picture to social media of the raid which, seemingly unbeknownst to them, depicted both the hardware crypto wallets and secret passphrases belonging to the aforementioned taxpayer. Subsequently, these wallets were drained of their contents. | | OK, well, better pay your taxes next time, then, hey? | Discuss in Slack or Forum. | | Bargains | Electronics | | Computing | | Mobile | | | 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. | 🗣️ Have any feedback, a tip or just want to chat? Send me an email or Signal message. I promise to reply! | 💬 Want to hang out with other Sizzlers? There’s a subscriber-only Slack server and forum if you want to procrastinate and chat about tech-related news. | 🌐 The Sizzle is on Bluesky, Mastodon and LinkedIn if you’re feeling social. | 💳 Paid subscriber looking to manage your billing info, change email address or cancel your subscription? Visit the Beehiiv customer portal. | 🎁 Make someone's day and gift them a 12 month gift subscription to The Sizzle. | 💔 Don’t want this any more? I won’t take it personally. There’s a unsubscribe button at the bottom of this email or here’s a guide. | 🦺 The Sizzle has been tested to meet and exceed ISO 3533 standards. | 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. |
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