Optus and TPG really don't want the government to sell the NBN to Telstra and are lobbying the communications minister hard not to do it. TPG told The Age that "if NBN Co was sold to Telstra, it would be like someone selling their house but continuing to charge the new owners rent. The new owners then renovate and expand the house, and sell it back for less than they paid to the original owners". The law currently prohibits the sale of NBN to a telco that does infrastructure and retail - hence all the manouvering lately by Telstra to re-jig their business structure, making TPG and Optus' worst nightmare a legit concern.
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has unveiled a plan he says will "put the silicon back into Silicon Valley". The main plank of Intel's renassiance lies in building a new US$20b semiconductor factory in Arizona that'll be dedicated for third party use and making it a core part of their business going forward. Intel Foundry Services will be a standalone business unit that would compete head on with TSMC. There's never been a better time for Intel to take making chips for other companies seriously, as demand for semiconductors is huge right now and despite Intel's latest dropping of the ball, they're still better than just about anyone at turning grains of sand into complex devices.
Following up from yesterdays news that Richard Stallman is back on the board of the Free Software Foundation, an open letter signed by former FSF members, X.org foundation board members, Debian project members, the Open Source Initaive, GNOME executive director and hundreds of others has called for "the entire Board of the FSF to step down and for RMS to be removed from all leadership positions". They highlight Richard's various problematic statemnets on the age of consent, defending pedophilia ("there is little evidence to justify the widespread assumption that willing participation in pedophilia hurts children"), examples of transphobia and "a history of mistreating women and making them feel uncomfortable, unsafe, and unwelcome". Truly bizarre stuff.
📻 Crucifire - Desert Sessions
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