NEWS
Nintendo Switch to go on sale March 3rd
Nintendo just announced more detail on their new Switch console (I'd link to Vooks, but their site is cooked, hah). It'll go on sale on the 3rd of March, world wide and cost US$299 (prob AU$399). Good news for Australians is that it won't be region locked, so that you can buy games from overseas and play them fine on your AU console. The Nintendo YouTube channel has trailers for a new Mario game, Splatoon 2, Mario Kart 8, a new Zelda and two games designed for the Switch called ARMS and 1-2 Switch. EB is taking pre-orders if you're keen.
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Village Roadshow has plans to block more naughty websites
The CEO of Village Roadshow is very happy that the law he paid the government to make is finally bearing fruit and is starting to get cocky. In an interview, Graham Burke has said that his company will go after pirates "big time" and that there's "a list as long as my arm" of sites he wants blocked on Australian internet connections. I mean, sure, the workaround to access these blocked sites takes about 5 seconds but sure, go waste your company's energy on this bullshit instead of making good content, that's cheap and easy to access, good luck with that you rent seeking fuckwit.
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Apple is gonna make its own Netflix
While Village Roadshow is busy paying off governments to get DNS blocks, Apple is gonna make its own Amazon/Netflix style self-funded and produced video content. The Wall Street Journal is planting the seed via an Apple controlled leak (how else does this get into the WSJ?) that the shows will be of "Westworld" and "Stranger Things" quality - not some low rent bullshit. Apple has already confirmed a six episode Dr. Dre series (lol) and a show based around Car Pool Karaoke, but this is a whole different level, apparently.
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Cellebrite got owned
A hacker managed to bust in to Cellebrite and get 900GB of stuff that includes customer info and technical info on how Cellebrite's products work. Don't recall the name Cellebrite? They're the Israeli company that helped the FBI crack in to that iPhone when the FBI said "there's no way at all possible, Apple needs to make a backdoor for us". And that is why you don't make a secret program or backdoor for someone you want to trust, because even the best of us get hacked and then that shit is out there for everyone to take advantage of.
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Google cans its solar powered flying internet access point
Alphabet isn't gonna make solar powered drones to distribute internet access. Funnily enough, it was costing too much and wasn't working properly. At least they tried. This is the just the latest of the "moonshot" projects Alphabet has killed off - with Project Ara getting canned in September last year (that modular smartphone thing), Google Fibre being put on "pause" in October, and their rumored attempts to sell Boston Dymanics (those guys making the creepy dog robots).
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COOL SHIT
Australian innovators can't get any cash from real estate and mining obsessed investors
The first paragraph of this Bloomberg story should make any Australian with a brain either smash the nearest object to them or shed a tear: "For the cost of a Sydney home, Paul Evans would be able to market an electric car engine that could help put Aussie innovation back on the map. In risk-averse Australia, most investors would prefer to buy a house." A bloke has a kick arse invention, but can't get any cash to grow his small company into a big one, locally. Now he has to go overseas to make all his work worthwhile. What a damn shame. This is the axial flux induction motor the article (which is mainly about the poor state of Australian VC investment) is talking about.
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Cute Mac shaped Apple Watch stand
Look at this cute Apple Watch stand. It's a little classic Mac that makes the watch's screen the screen of the Mac! If I had an Apple Watch, I'd buy this. Maybe get a mate in the US to get you one though, shipping the little bastard from the US is AU$62! For an AU$21 item!
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10gbit internet coming to Adelaide's CBD in the near future
A few months ago I mentioned Adelaide was thinking of building a 10gbit fibre network in its CBD. That's getting a step closer to reality, with Adelaide City Council putting out a call for someone to build it. It's going to be part of the Gig City initiative, which has been nothing but positive for the other cities involved around the world. The council hopes it will attract more tech companies to Adelaide and help the existing advanced manufacturing and defense companies compete with global players. It'll also allow Adelaide to do more "smart city" type stuff. It's not supposed to be for homes in the area, so don't like, move there so you can get a sweet 10gbit pipe into your apartment in North Adelaide (how nice would that be though? North Adelaide is pretty).
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Here endeth the sizzle (until Monday!)
--Anthony
The Sizzle is curated by Anthony "@decryption" Agius and emailed every weekday afternoon. Like The Sizzle? Like it on Facebook!