Fellow Sizzle subscribers and my friends, Assembly Four, are matching donations made to Digital Rights Watch before June 30th. I've donated $200 because the work DRW does is vital to fighting back against the perverted turning of the technology we love getting used against us.
With the repeal of abortion rights in the US, there are dozens of areas where it's illegal to get an abortion. These states are not afraid to use all the tools at their disposal to enforce the law, and one of those tools is compelling tech companies to hand over data on people the state suspects had an abortion and use that data as evidence to prosecute not only for the abortion, but even assisting in an abortion (transport, medical assistance etc.). It's not hard to imagine how data collected by Meta, Google, Apple, Microsoft and others can be abused by the state. What a bleak state of affairs.
Bit of space related news today. NASA launched a rocket from the Arnhem Space Centre today, marking the first commercial space launch by NASA in Australia. The BBIX rocket will go "300km in space carrying an atmospheric observation/sensing platform to observe the AlphaCentauri A & B constellations". Meanwhile, SpaceX has moved a prototype of the Super Heavy booster portion of Starship (the bit that lets this beast escape gravity) to the launch pad in Texas - presumably to do a test in the near future, hopefully this year. Super Heavy has thirty-three Raptor 2 rockets in its arse so it'll be a spectacular sight when they light those fuckers up.
ANZ is celebrating that its A$DC stablecoin has been used by "Victor Smorgon Group used A$DC to purchase tokenised Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) known as BCAU from Zerocap". Zerocap got the BCAUs from BetaCarbon, which takes the ACCUs and backs them as digital tokens. Can someone more into this stuff read ANZ's press release and tell me how this is better than Victor Smorgon Group just using Australian dollars to buy the carbon credits directly from without the various groups (ANZ, Zerocap, BetaCarbon) clipping a ticket along the way? I can't see any benefit cryptocurrency or even a blockchain brings here.
There's a new Hays IT Salary Guide. 91% of the 4,425 employers surveyed reckoned there is a skills shortage and 88% of them expect to increase salaries - but only 51% of employers plan to increase salaries above 3%. Inflation is currently 5.1% in Australia so you're actually giving your employees a paycut during a time when you admit there's a shortage of skills you need! To further highlight how dumb/shortsighted IT employers are, only 18% of them think upskilling employees is a solution to a skills shortage, but training is the top benefit employees want from their employer. The report also has a list of common IT jobs and the market rate for full time work in each state. If you're getting paid less than this, ask your boss for more money or change jobs.
📻 Gevaert - Modulhater
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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.
