NEWS
Atlassian's IPO goes very well and lots of people are rich
Atlassian completed their IPO on the NASDAQ overnight, the biggest ever by an Australian company on the US stock market and the largest tech IPO in Australian history (even though Atlassian is financially headquarted in London and is listing on a US exchange, not the ASX). The initial IPO price was $21/share, which peaked at $28.50/share during trading and closed at $27.78 - a 32% increase. This values Atlassian at AU$8b. Apparently around 100 employees are now paper millionaires, thanks to employee share programs. The two co-founders are now multi-billionaires, becoming two of the richest people in Australia.
You can get insurance for cyberbullying now
Are you afraid of cyberbullying? Would you be left out of pocket if your online reputation is tarnished unfairly? Chubb Insurance in the UK is offering insurance against the consequences of being trolled. If you cough up for the insurance, you'll be able to claim up to £50,000 of expenses (including "hire a forensic specialist to trace the origins of the trolling") relating to recovering from devastating owns and blistering hot takes against your person. The definition of cyberbullying according to Chubb: "three or more acts by the same person or group to harass, threaten or intimidate a customer". This could so easily be defrauded.
Ford investing US$4.5b to develop electric cars
Ford have announced a big push into making electric cars. Seeing the writing on the wall, Ford are investing US$4.5b into developing 13 electric cars by 2020. This is great news for those of us who want the mass production of electric cars to happen sooner rather than later. It still saddens me that Toyota are wasting their time with hydrogen and hybrids instead of pulling their finger out and devoting all their resources into a AU$30,000 Corolla with 300km of range. Gimmie one of those, as I'll never be able to afford a Tesla. Maybe Ford will release a $30,000 Focus with 300km of range and Toyota will end up the Walkman to Ford's iPod.
Qualcomm releases previews of their latest flagship Snapdragon 820 SoC
Qualcomm were comprehensively dacked by Apple (like undies pulled down as well - a full dacking, it was bad) in the latest generation of smartphones SoCs. The Snapdragon 810 didn't suck entirely, but Apple made an SoC so nice, that the 810 looked bad in all the benchmarks you could throw at it. The Snapdragon 820 is Qualcomm's attempt to pull their pants up and regain the confidence to look its fellow classmates in the eye once again. Anandtech and Tom's Hardware have deliciously nerdy previews of the SoC you'll be seeing in all the flagship Android phones come mid-2016.
GoPro dribble out more info on their much awaited drone and release an Apple Watch app
GoPro have given us a glimpse of their plans for a drone camera, taking on the popular DJI series of drones after a joint partnership failed. GoPro's attempt will be called Karma and is expected to be out in the first half of 2016. It's rumoured to have a built in gimbal for smooth footage and record at 4K. GoPro have also announced Apple Watch support for their products, allowing you to stop and start recording, and even view footage from the GoPro on your wrist.
COOL SHIT
A teardown of Apple's smart battery case
Here's iFixit's teardown of Apple's weird looking battery case for the iPhone 6. Surprisingly, the battery inside isn't just excess stock of a battery used in other Apple products, but is a unique battery size not in use by Apple elsewhere. At least for your $165 it's well made and has proper charging hardware, unlike the $20 ones off eBay. Tim Cook gave his opinion on the case yesterday, saying the hump is a design feature, not a mistake.But he would say that, wouldn't it? Tim ain't gonna say "fuck me, Jony screwed this up, why was this even released? How did I not notice" is he?
How AMD rose to the top and how Intel kicked them back down
It might hard for some of you youngins to remember, but AMD were once the kings of the CPU hill. For a few years AMD managed to trump Intel at its own game, producing processors that ran cooler and faster, for less money. But Intel managed to claw back to it's leader of the pack position it sees itself in now. AMD is a shadow of its former self, barely hanging on for profitability. The story of how Intel did this and how AMD lost so much is on Hackaday. ARM better watch their backs.
Too many tech bargains to summarise into a single sentence
I'm gonna smush all these bargains into a single paragraph. 10% off all Macs at JB right now. Oppo R7 smartphone for just $272 at DSE's eBay store. 10% off all eBay purchases over $100, as well as 3% cashback via Cashrewards. 25% off iTunes credit at Kmart. I love to bargain and from feedback about The Sizzle, you love bargains too.
Here endeth the sizzle (until tomorrow!)
--Anthony
The Sizzle is curated by Anthony "@decryption" Agius and emailed every weekday afternoon. Like The Sizzle? Tell your friends!