Issue 1463 - Friday 1st October, 2021

In Today's Issue

The News

Waymo & Cruise allowed to operate robotaxis in San Francisco

The Californian DMV has approved Cruise and Waymo using their robotaxis to pick up paying passengers in parts of San Francisco. Cruze's cars will be limited to operating between 10pm and 6am, and can't go faster than 30mph. Waymo is allowed to operate at any time of the day at a max speed of 65mph and in rain and light fog. Both also won't need a safety driver. Literally a driverless car will come pick you up and take you somewhere starting now in San Francisco. Sure, there will be funny mishaps posted to YouTube like we saw with Waymo in Phoenix, but handling the city driving of a place like San Francisco with its bizarre street layouts and varied weather (compared to Phoenix at least) compared to Phoenix is next level.

New logos to tell you what speed & power a USB-C cable can handle

The USB Implementers Forum has come up with a range of "Certified USB Type-C Cable Logos" that are designed to "demystify the USB-C 2.1 and USB Power Delivery (USB-PD) 3.1 standards". The logo will now show either speed and/or data transfer speed - e.g: a 40 Gbps 240W USB certified cable. The use of the logos isn't mandatory and necessarily doesn't mean you won't get a counterfeit piece of junk cable off Amazon that you then have to take the post office to return and get a refund - but on products from reputable brands (i.e: Anker, Belkin, Amazon Basics etc) the logos should make it easier to determine the speed and wattage a USB-C cable can tolerate.

Friday news dump

Something I Saw On The Internet

iPhones participate in Find My iPhone network even when turned off

Maybe not a surprise to us dorks, but for most people, when they turn their iPhone off, they kinda assume the damn thing is off. With modern iPhones (iPhone 11 and newer), that isn't the case if you've enrolled the device in Find My iPhone (i.e: almost everyone). Apple's popped a chip in the iPhones called the "Always On Processor" and it runs its own real-time operating system, RTKitOS. It enables stuff like waking the iPhone up when tapped/moved or allowing Siri to operate when the phone is asleep. It also turns the iPhone into a big AirTag - even when turned off - using some special combination of Bluetooth and the U1 chip.

Friday Forum Update

Here's five interesting discussions over on The Sizzle's paid subscriber forum for you to enjoy over the weekend. If you are not a paid subscriber but want to get involved, visit https://thesizzle.com.au/payme to get onboard.

Bargains

The End

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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.​