NEWS
Microsoft shows off new features and Linux support in Windows 10 at Build conference
That's right, Linux command line support in the next version of Windows 10. Microsoft has partnered with Canonical to bring an Ubuntu like subsystem to Windows. It's not virtualisation or emulation, but porting bash and other GNU tools over to Windows. There's even apt and emacs. Hell has truly frozen over. Also at Build, Microsoft unveil Windows 10 - Anniversary Edition, which has a bunch of new features, like superior Surface Pen input support, extensions in Edge (finally) and Cortana on the lock screen, to name a few.
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Hundreds of Australians have already pre-ordered the Model 3, sight unseen, price unknown, specs TBA
Tesla won't be unveiling the Model 3 until 2:30PM tomorrow (watch it live!), but around 100 people lined up at each of the Sydney and Melbourne Tesla stores to plonk down $1500 to reserve the right to order one. I'm surprised at how popular it was, I honestly didn't think that many people would put in a reservation before the unveiling. I did a bit of spit-balling on the Model 3 up on Reckoner recently, that might interest ya. Elon Musk has posted a mysterious tweet to whet your appetite.
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Apple introduces Safari Technology Preview
It's a beta version of Safari that's verified by Apple so it works with all the iCloud features like password and bookmark syncing. Takes advantage of the latest WebKit tech and is fast and stuff, but is also a beta and might not render some pages properly. Think of it like the iOS public betas, but you can run old Safari and new Safari side by side.
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Nintendo gives in to Gamer Gate turds by sacrificing a woman's career to placate them
Alison Rapp was the target of a woman hating Internet lynch mob because she works at Nintendo as a marketing manager. Nintendo were going to release a game where you can adjust the boob size of female characters (yes, really) and when Nintendo decided that wasn't cool (duh), these man-babies took it all out on Alison because, well, she's a woman who works for Nintendo. They doxxed her, harassed her at work, contacting Nintendo asking for her to be fired and generally being distasteful, rude and threatening. Nintendo, instead of telling these dickheads to fuck off, sacked Alison instead, but denying these turds were the reason why she was fired. Ugh.
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APX-West, a new fibre cable between Perth and Singapore
Hooray, we're getting a new submarine cable out of Australia to the world! The APX-West cable will go from Perth to Singapore, via Jakarta, allowing a lower latency path for traffic to South East Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Singtel and Telstra have signed a memorandum of understanding with SubPartners to buy capacity on the cable, which starts construction in July and should be completed in 2018. APX-East will be 4,600km long with 4 fibre pairs and a total system capacity of 32 terabits per second. SubPartners is also building APX-Central (between Perth and Sydney, via Adelaide, Melbourne and Hobart) and APX-East (between Sydney and Hermosa beach in California). The CEO of SubPartners is also the co-founder of PIPE (which has since been sold to TPG).
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COOL SHIT
iPhone SE teardown
Chipworks has ripped open an iPhone SE and it looks like Apple raided the parts bin, reusing many of the ICs from previous iPhones. The CPU, RAM, NFC, 6-axis sensor and audio chip are the same as the iPhone 6s. The touch screen controller from Broadcom and TI are from the iPhone 5s and the radio stuff from Qualcomm (MDM9625M & WTR1625L) was first seen in the iPhone 6. There's a couple of chips not seen before in an iPhone too, like a new Apple/Dialog power management IC, a Skyworks power amp and a microphone from AAC Technologies.
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CNBC tried to be helpful by making a form to test your password, that stored your password
There's a long running joke that only an idiot would use a website that claims to check if your credit card is stolen by entering your credit card details. Well, CNBC made that website under the guise of improving your password strength. The innocent article had a form which asked for your password and would show how easy or hard it is to crack. The form wasn't using a secure transport method (no SSL), it shared the passwords with it's ad network partners and then stored them in a Google spreadsheet once submitted! There's no other identifying info (like a username) and CNBC has taken the site down, but still, how dumb do you have to be to 1. use the site and 2. make the site thinking it's actually a way to help users create a secure password?
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25 years of Linux
Linux was unleashed on the world 25 years ago by it's Finnish creator Linus Torvalds and IEEE Spectrum has a neat little history of all the events before and after Linux's introduction and a Q&A with Linus himself. Despite what you think of the Linux/Open Source community and Linus himself, there's no doubting the impact the movement has had on computing. The notion of sharing your code and building upon the work of others is now ingrained in IT culture. The spirit of just doing something for the love of it, giving it away, yet still making a living is one of the unique things IT can do that other industries often can't.
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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!