A group of privacy organisations, including Digital Rights Watch and Electronic Frontiers Australia, want a permanent Joint Standing Committee on Digital Affairs in federal Parliament. They argue that "A dedicated standing Committee would allow for a better allocation of time, resources and expertise and help develop a more sophisticated understanding of digital and technology policy. Existing portfolio committees are overworked and their broad remits mean that they neither have the capacity nor time to proactively interrogate emerging tech issues". Makes a lot of sense to me. Get on it Albo.
A 21-year old Massachusetts Air National Guard member was arrested by the FBI yesterday as they reckon he's the person responsible for leaking Top Secret documents related to the Russia-Ukraine war and other US espionage activities in a Discord channel. Jack Teixeria had access to this info in his role as "cyber transport systems journeyman", but was also the admin of a gaming group called "Thug Shaker Central" - a collection of 20-30 young men that "came together over a shared love of guns, racist online memes and video games". Allegedly he posted the documents just to impress his mates and/or win some sort of online argument. Amazing.
Intel and Arm announced this week that they're gonna work together to make Arm's SoC designs compatible with the next generation of Intel's manufacturing process, dubbed 18A. This is a big deal as for all of Intel's history they've very rarely let anyone except themselves use their manufacturing facilities, let alone the cutting edge stuff. It's a sign Intel is taking its plan to be a neutral chip maker like TSMC more seriously. It'll also add a huge chunk of manufacturing capability to the market, hopefully making high end SoCs cheaper and more readily available as it's not only Samsung and TSMC doing all the work. Who knows, maybe there will be an Apple SoC made by Intel one day.
Chris Best, Substack's CEO and co-founder was on The Verge's Decoder podcast last night and it was a shitshow. When asked about moderation of the new Notes feature, Chris refused to say Substack would ban something as straightforward as overt racism (!!), justifying that choice with weak as piss "we believe in free speech" statements. On Substack's recent funding failure, he justified asking Substack customers to invest without seeing recent financial information, because he has invested in companies without seeing their financial information. There's some clips of the interview on TikTok. I've never felt more confident that my decision to self-host everything Sizzle related was a good one.
Here's five interesting discussions over on The Sizzle's paid subscriber forum for you to enjoy over the weekend. If you are not a paid subscriber but want to get involved, visit https://thesizzle.com.au/payme to get onboard.
On March 7, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell, scientist, inventor and innovator, received the first patent for an 'apparatus for transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically' a device he called the telephone. On March 10, 1876, three days after his patent was issued, Bell and his assistant, Thomas Watson, made the first successfully transmitted message. Pressing the receiver against his ear, Watson heard Bell's message: 'Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you'.
This is one of two telephones used by Bell in a demonstration between Boston and Salem, Mass., Nov. 26, 1876. It features an iron diaphragm, two electromagnets and a horseshoe permanent magnet. Unlike other so-called box telephones in the Smithsonian collection, it does not have a wooden cover. The Smithsonian collected this telephone primarily for its role in the Boston to Salem demonstration; it was acquired in 1923 from American Telephone & Telegraph Co. The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History has a collection of almost 1,000 objects that are used to explore the origin and development of telephone technology. This box telephone, as part of that collection, helps experts understand and present the history of telephony. (National Museum of American History)
📻 Too Cold to Hold - Bass Drum of Death
😎 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, change email address or cancel your subscription? Visit the customer portal.
📚 Browse The Sizzle Archive. A few issues are missing and it's not searchable, but it's better than nothing.
🫂 Friends of The Sizzle is a small group of businesses or organisations operated by Sizzle subscribers. Support your fellow Sizzler!
💔 Tired of my bullshit? Unsubscribe and I'll never speak to you again.
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.