AMD's got new CPUs to fill out the medium-to-low end of their product stack to better compete on price with Intel's latest. The Ryzen 7 5700X, Ryzen 5 5600, and Ryzen 5 5500 are Zen 3 based CPUs. The Ryzen 3 4100, Ryzen 5 4600 and Ryzen 5 4600G are Zen 2 CPUs built on the current 7nm process. All of these are designed to be under US$300. The most interesting CPU in this announcement is the 8-core Ryzen 7 5800X3D, which AMD reckons is "The World's Fastest Gaming CPU" thanks to a whopping 96MB of L3 cache. Expect these CPUs to filter down to your favourite PC store by the end of April. They'll all work with existing AM4 mobos too - even the 300 series chipsets, pending a BIOS update.
Queensland has joined the club of states offering a $3,000 subsidy for buying an electric car, starting July 1st. The state already had reduced stamp duty, so this new bonus is nice, as is an extra $10m to add more rapid chargers to the Queensland Electric Super Highway. It is capped at cars priced less than $58,000 - quite different to other states like NSW & VIC where the limit is more like $68,000, which means Austraila's most popular EV, the Tesla Model 3, is ineligible for the subsidy because the government did not want to subsidise people "who can easily afford well-off vehicles". EV Central has a list of Australian EV incentives.
This could be good news or bad news depending how you see the world, but Mark Zuckerberg was on a panel at South By Southwest yesterday and said "we're working on bringing NFTs to Instagram in the near term", adding that "I'm not ready to kind of announce exactly what that's going to be today. But over the next several months, the ability to bring some of your NFTs in, hopefully over time be able to mint things within that environment". Also on the topic of NFTs, Zuck said that "the clothing that your avatar is wearing in the metaverse, you know, can be basically minted as an NFT and you can take it between your different places". Mmmm, I can't wait.
Junkee has a great article highlighting how important the internet is for LGBTIQ people, which the government, influenced by disingenuous "save the children" groups, are slowly eroding. Whilst not LGBTIQ, I understand how important having a place on the internet to call your own is for kids. As a shy, moody teenager with immigrant parents in a working class suburb that didn't really have much in common with the other kids at school, the internet in the late 90s and early 2000s was one of the few things to give me joy. Constant surveillance of what I was up to, ratting me out to teachers, parents or the government, or those places shutting down entirely would have been devastating.
📻 Moon - GODTET
😎 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 or change email address? Visit the customer portal.
📚 Browse The Sizzle Archive. A few issues are missing and it's not searchable, but it's better than nothing.
Fastmail. Email where you are the customer, not the product. Loads of features, smooth no-nonsense web interface, plus calendar and contact hosting. They've been around for 20 years and I've been a customer for over 10. Use this link and get 10% off your first year and I get around 30c/month you remain a customer.
Aussie Broadband. Great customer service and responsive to community needs (they have an "unofficial" Discord, they publish their CVC!). I've been a customer since 2017 and don't plan on going anywhere. Use my referral code (1001031) to get $50 credit when signing up for an NBN plan and I get $50 credit towards my next bill.
Vultr. All my Australian-based hosting needs (3x VPSes) are handled by Vultr. Easy to use admin interface, automatic backups, built-in firewall, custom ISO support and reasonable prices. Sign up with my link and score $100 credit. I get $25 credit if you're active for 30+ days and spend at least $25.
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.