ACMA's 5G mmWave spectrum auction wrapped up earlier this week, with a total of $647m raised for slices of the 26 GHz band. As usual, Telstra, Optus and TPG scored the most (150, 116 & 86 slots for $276m, $227m & $108m respectively), with Perth telco Pentanet and UK-based Dense Air scrounging around for some 5G scraps. If you aren't familiar, mmWave spec 5G is the variant of 5G telcos have been promising will deliver those massive multi-gigabit speeds. The catch of mmWave is that the 26 GHz band can't really penetrate into buildings, so its only good outdoors or spread in buildings in a similar fashion to wi-fi. The licenses take effect later this year, but don't expect any live, public mmWave setups for a while yet.
Bad news for the safety of any elections taking place in NSW, as the state's electoral commissioner is claiming their IT systems are struggling to comply with the ASD's "Essential Eight" cybersecurity mitigation strategies - things that the government claims is the bare minimum you should be doing to make sure you don't get hacked (e.g: ban non-approved apps from running, patch your apps & operating systems, use multi-factor auth, restrict admin accounts, really basic stuff!). According to the commissioner "only with additional funding now can the commission ensure these systems are capable of delivering the 2023 state general election".
The International Olympic Committee has announced the Olympic Virtual Series - a range of e-sports events hosted by various international sport federations. Competitions in Gran Turismo, Zwift, eBaseball Powerful Pro Baseball 2020, Virtual Regatta and an as yet unknown rowing game will take place between May 13th and June 23rd. Dunno who will be invited to compete, what the prizes are and when the specific events will happen. FIFA, the International Basketball Federation and International Tennis Federation are also keen to get involved in future versions of the virtual Olympics. Seems to me like this is the IOC throwing shit at the wall and seeing what sticks.
I regularly wonder what the fuck happens to my online presence when I inevitably die. I could be in a massive car crash tomorrow (we've seen what happens when you use Tesla's Autopilot...) and my wife would have a hell of a time tying up all the loose ends I've got going on the internet. This article from The Guardian has some tips on what you can do to prepare your digital self so if the worst does happen, the people left behind won't be at a total loss on how to clean up the mess you left on the internet. It's kinda weird to think that my wife will log on to Twitter to tell everyone I'm dead, and probably try to figure out send an issue of The Sizzle to let you know I'm dead. Hopefully she never has to do that. Have a good weekend everyone!
📻 Alice - Superchunk
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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.