Elon Musk has put his quest to buy Twitter "temporarily on hold". He tweeted over the weekend that deal has hit a snag, "pending details supporting calculation that spam/fake accounts do indeed represent less than 5 percent of users", but he is still "committed to acquisition". Matt Levine over at Bloomberg reiterates that Musk has a binding contract and that contract "does not allow Musk to walk away if it turns out that 'spam/fake accounts' represent more than 5% of Twitter users". Musk is up to something dodgy, as usual.
Work on Victoria's digital drivers licence is still dragging on. At a committee hearing the government services minister was unable to answer if the digital licence project is included in the $167m set aside for it and 20 other "new online services" ($167m!) to go online between 2022 and 2024, simply saying that "conversations are ongoing". So it looks like the soonest Victoria will have a digital drivers licence is 2024 while other states (NSW, SA, & QLD) are either active now or ready for 2023.
The once reputable hi-fi and home theater brand Onkyo has been slowly dying, but this week had the final nail slammed into its coffin. All the good stuff was sold off to Sharp and Voxx International back in September, with the rest of Onkyo filing for bankruptcy last week. The Onkyo name will live on via the Sharp and Voxx joint venture, but it'll likely be slapped on shit products like the sad sight of Polaroid or Kodak on a 24-pack of AAA batteries for $5 at Cheap as Chips.
📻 6L GTR - The Chats
😎 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.