In This Issue


News

Zoom apologises to users for the tsunami of security issues

Zoom has taken notice of all the attention from security researchers lately and apologised to their customers for being so sloppy. They're going to freeze all new feature development and focus on cleaning up their app. Zoom has also clarified how encryption in their product works. Meanwhile, someone made a Zoom war-dialler that automatically tests to see if randomly generated Meeting IDs are active so you can log in and flash your dick or whatever it is that people do these days.

Wheels start turning on regulation of spectrum for 6GHz wi-fi

The USA's FCC has kicked off the regulatory dance required to make 6GHz wi-fi (aka Wi-Fi 6E) a thing. It's pretty much the same as the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands we know and love but is a single chunk of spectrum between 5.925–7.125GHz, enough for 7 completely non-overlapping 160MHz wide channels. The wider the channel, theoretically the more bandwidth (i.e: transmission speed) you can pump through your wi-fi network. For comparison, 5GHz channels can go up to 80MHz wide. In ACMA's last 5-year spectrum outlook (page 22), they said they'll watch what the FCC does regarding 6GHz wi-fi and go from there.

New 45W mobile Intel CPUs & mobile Nvidia GPUs

Not wanting to let AMD hog all the attention with their impressive Ryzen 4000 mobile CPUs, Intel has released details of new 10th-generation 45W TDP H-class CPUs designed to compete with AMD's latest. Intel's plan is to basically ramp up clockspeed and provide excellent single/dual core performance. If thermal conditions are absolutely perfect, the i9-10980HK can go up to 5.3GHz, with other CPUs in the range able to clock up to 5.1GHz and 5GHz. Nvidia simultaneously announced mobile versions of the RTX 2080 Super & RTX 2070 Super. There's never been a better time to play games on your laptop.


Not News

Remember the HP TouchPad?

Tedium has an excellent story about the ill-fated HP TouchPad - an iPad competitor that ran WebOS, which HP purchased from Palm. Reviews compared it very favourably to the iPad, with most people impressed by how Palm managed to implement smooth multi-tasking and multi-touch gestures well before Apple did. Unfortunately HP squandered all the good work Palm did as a change of management decided HP should be nothing but a sad clone of IBM or SAP instead of trying to make innovative consumer products like Apple or Microsoft. RIP WebOS, you never had a chance to thrive.


Bargains


🎶 Minor Threat - Minor Threat

😁 The Sizzle is curated by Anthony "@decryption" Agius and emailed every weekday afternoon. Join us on Slack and chat with other Sizzle subscribers.

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.​