Two bits of housekeeping today.
1. Raj will be writing tomorrow's newsletter because I need to take the day off. Also Monday is Labour Day in VIC, so I will absolutely not be working. So Raj to write tomorrow, no issue Monday, I return writing on Tuesday.
2. Footy (AFL footy) is back tonight! Josh has set up a tipping comp on ESPN's footytips.com.au for any Sizzle subscribers that want to join in (password is dghdf5h). North for Premiers 2024, I have a good feeling about this season.
Apple and Epic's shitfight has entered a new era, with Apple terminating Epic Games Sweden AB's developer account on day one of the DMA coming into effect. Apple's lawyers sent Epic a letter stating they believe Epic is "verifiably untrustworthy" and was using its "contractual right" to terminate Epic's developer account - which means it is unable to spin up its own app store (or even publish anything on Apple's App Store). Basically, Apple hates Epic and told them to get fucked, despite Phil Schiller asking just two weeks ago for Epic to provide "written assurance" that it will "honor its commitments", to which Epic said yes to. I get why Apple would be salty about Epic and might be touchy about Tim Sweeney's rants on X about how Apple treats developers, but come on Apple, you gotta have a thicker skin than that. I can't wait to see how the EU's DMA regulator interprets this.
It's no secret that Google's search results are pretty crap lately, so they've announced some changes. Google will refine "some of our core ranking systems to help us better understand if webpages are unhelpful, have a poor user experience or feel like they were created for search engines instead of people" - also known as AI-generated sludge. They're also "strengthening our policy" on "producing content at scale to boost search ranking", "consider very low-value, third-party content produced primarily for ranking purposes and without close oversight of a website owner to be spam" and consider "expired domains that are purchased and repurposed with the intention of boosting the search ranking of low-quality content" as spam too. It's not gonna get me to go back to Google after enjoying Kagi for months now, but at least Google is trying.
Research conducted by UNSW and the Consumer Policy Research Centre has found "70% of Australians feel they have little or no control over how their data is disclosed between companies" and that "most consumers have no understanding of common terms in privacy notices, such as hashed email address or advertising ID". The Australian Privacy Foundation doesn't think that simply informing or educating consumers about how businesses handle their data is good enough and want it made clear that "information that singles an individual out from the crowd is personal information" and want a "fair and reasonable test for data handling, instead of take-it-or-leave-it privacy consents". Still waiting for the government to cough up some draft legislation seven months after it responded to the Privacy Act review.
Some of you know that I have a hobby scanning old magazines and chucking them up on the Internet Archive. I've slowed down lately as I'm kinda bored of it, but gear up again when something exciting comes my way - like a 99% complete collection of Atomic magazine! I loved reading this mag back in the day so I'm quite pleased I've been able to make it available for other nerds of my vintage to get all nostalgic over. I also got my hands on issue 1 of Australian Net Guide from March 1996 and wrote a blog post about how "woke", for want of a better term, it is. A 1996 magazine published by Kerry Packer and sold in supermarkets that had feature articles on cybersex, the rights of indigenous people and 5 pages of LGBT support resources! I just can't imagine that happening now without a lot of hysteria from the usual suspects.
Artist's rendition of what the final Blue Gene/L machine will look like installed at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab in early 2005. (IBM Research / Flickr)
📻 Melody Experiment - Blonde Redhead
😎 The Sizzle is curated by Anthony "decryption" Agius and emailed every weekday afternoon.
💬 Checked out the paid subscriber only forum? It's a tidy little place to discuss tech with like minded Aussies.
👋 Forums not your thing? The Sizzle has a Slack group you can procrastinate in and chat with other nerds bored at work.
💳 Paid subscriber looking to manage your billing info, change email address or cancel your subscription? Visit the customer portal.
🎁 Make someone's day and buy them a 12 month gift subscription to The Sizzle.
📚 Browse The Sizzle Archive. A few issues are missing and it's not searchable, but it's better than nothing.
🫂 Friends of The Sizzle is a small group of businesses or organisations operated by Sizzle subscribers. Support your fellow Sizzler!
💔 Tired of my bullshit? Unsubscribe and I'll never speak to you again.
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.