Sheryl Sandberg has resigned as Chief Operating Officer at Meta and is leaving the company. For 14 years she was supposedly the adult in the room alongside Zuck, growing the business from something relatively minor to the behemoth Frankenstein it is today and central to most of its controversies. Sheryl is also known for her popular "Lean In" book and movement posing as feminism and women's workplace empowerment, but is just the usual corporate diarrhea, just in pastels and high heels. Don't know what she's doing next and to be honest, who cares.
Microsoft's pulled out of negotiations to provide a "Top Secret" version of Azure for Austraila's Office of National Intelligence. The system would have stored the most secret of info for our intelligence agencies and has been on the boil since 2020. Microsoft hasn't explained why they are no longer interested but Innovation Australia reckons "told the ONI in April that it could not meet the requirements of the proposed platforms nor the timelines for delivering it" and that a "shortage, specifically security credentialled skills, made the task impossible". There's also rumours Microsoft is just getting out of the top secret cloud stuff in all markets except the USA. Everyone involved is shitting themselves apparently, as there's no plan B.
This post from the boss of small-ish electricity retailer Energy Locals does a good job explaining what the hell is going on with electricity pricing at the moment. From his point of view it boils down to greed from fossil fuel generators and suppliers. One half is the lack of (possibly on purpose) maintenance on coal plants, creating a shortage of power in the grid. The other is the coal mine and gas field owners taking advantage of the situation in Ukraine to raise their prices for fuel to the power plants, despite the fact their supply costs have nothing to do with Ukraine or Russia. Unfortunately, it's gonna get worse before it gets better.
📻 We Don't Know What Tomorrow Brings - The Smile
😎 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.