Bit of NBN news today. The ALP confirmed that if they take government at the next election they'll keep the current government's planned upgrades to the fixed wireless portion of the NBN. In addition to that, the ALP will "work with NBN Co to examine the feasibility of reducing congestion on its seven most clogged-up satellite beams". Cool, I guess, for the 3 people left on it not using Starlink by then. NBN announced 50 Victorian suburbs that will be upgraded from FTTN to FTTP (if the premises orders at 100mbit+ plan), which is being funded by the Victorian government.
In 2016 the ASX started to update the CHESS system (records shareholdings and manages settlement of transactions) with "distributed ledger technology" (aka blockchain). Today the ASX announced today that the project is delayed for the fourth time. Originally planned to go live in April 2021, it was pushed back to April 2022 then April 2023. The April 2023 date is still the target, but in a release to the market, ASX said "there is a strong likelihood of delay to the go-live date". Overhauling CHESS is a massive project so I'm not surprised it's going pear shaped, blockchain or not.
As emergency declarations giving the federal government power to do all kinds of stuff related to handling the COVID pandemic end soon, what happens to the much maligned COVIDSafe app? A Department of Health spokesperson told iTnews that "government has no plans to discontinue the app at this time" and that "no changes are currently planned to the operation of the COVIDSafe contract tracing app following the lapse of the determination made under the Biosecurity Act 2015". Beats me why the government is keeping it alive, everyone I know deleted it off their phone over a year ago.
Ryan Broderick has came up with the "Reverse Idiot Funnel" as a way to explain how clear nonsense and bullshit news stories by some weirdo on the internet end up spreading as conspiracy theories that never seem to go away - like anti-vaxxers for example. There's this interplay between stupid Facebook users (normally retired school teachers, dunno why they're so susceptible to this), Fox News and Russian/Chinese state media that all reinforce each other's bullshit so strongly, that what would have previously been dismissed immediately as a mentally ill person's hallucinations are now taken seriously. What a time to be alive.
📻 Nervous Wreck - Rot TV
😎 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 US$100 credit. I get US$35 credit if you're active for 14+ days and use at least US$35.
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.