Snapchat's got some fancy augmented reality glasses as part of its Spectacles range. These "new, lightweight display glasses are made for creators and enables them to overlay what are called 'Lenses' directly onto the world through immersive AR". Snapchat reckons these Lenses "transforms how its community interacts with the world around them through access to contextual information and richer augmented reality experiences". You'll be able to walk around God's green Earth and overlay everything with Snapchat filters. What a time to be alive. No ETA on when you can buy one, but if you're interested in developing "experiences" for these AR glasses you can let Snap know via their website. Hopefully they have an option for prescription glasses wearers as I'd love to try them out.
The Queensland government is supporting Australian rocket company Gilmour Space Technologies to build a launch pad at Abbot Point in the Whitsundays. Apparently Queensland's "easterly facing position, proximity to the equator" make it an ideal place to launch rockets and the Abbot Point site in particular gives Gilmour's customers a "a range of valuable orbits, inclinations, and altitudes that they will require". They're also working on securing a site in South Australia to give them a range of options depending on the orbits their customers require. How sick would it be to go on a holiday to the Whitsundays and catch a rocket launch at the same time? Seeing a live rocket launch is on my bucket list!
Epic reckons if it's good enough for Apple to give Mac users a choice of where to download their software (the internet, 3rd party app stores like Steam/Epic or Apple's own Mac App Store), why not give the same choice to iOS users? When Apple's software engineering head Craig Federighi was thrown this question on the witness stand last night, he compared the Mac to a car that needs training and a "certain level of responsibility", whereas iOS is "something where children — heck, even infants — can operate and be safe in doing so". Going on to say that there is "a level of malware on the Mac that we don't find acceptable" and that if the same level of security was applied to iOS, "with all those devices, all that value, it would get run over to a degree dramatically worse than is already happening on the Mac". Maybe Apple should warn Mac users of these incredible risks prior to buying one?
Just a quick shoutout to Sizzle subscriber Michael Meloni's new email newsletter Screw The Noise. Every day he digs up great jobs in the digital/tech space across Australia. In today's issue for example there's a job to be Film Victoria's manager of games and digital content, a video producer at Perth's Scitech Science Centre and heaps more. If you're in the mood for a new gig or like to keep an eye on what work is available, subscribe now. It's free! I love seeing Sizzle subscriber projects so if you've started something and want to show it off please get in touch and if I like it I'll pop it in the Sizzle for everyone to check out.
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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.