Thanks Raj for handling The Sizzle in my unplanned absence. He might pop up again randomly next week.
Now that a bunch of scientists have a crack at trying to make LK-99, that material from South Korea that was hyped as a viable room temperature superconductor, Nature is now saying LK-99 probably is not the superconductor of our dreams. A lab in Germany managed to make "pure, single crystals of LK-99" and determined that "LK-99 is not a superconductor, but an insulator with a resistance in the millions of ohms — too high to run a standard conductivity test" and that "the hints of superconductivity seen in LK-99 were attributable to Cu2S impurities, which are absent from their crystal". I don't know what that means, but I do know that handheld quantum computers, gigawatts of electricity over hair thin cables and maglev trains are not happening any time soon.
Telstra announced their results for the 2022-2023 financial year yesterday and they made a bumper $2.1b profit, up 13.3% compared to last year. The mobile phone part of the business made up almost half of Telstra's revenue and ARPU for postpaid is up, along with profit margins. Despite this, Telstra still plans to jack up the price "in line with the consumer price index", blaming it on an increase in the costs of doing business. Mentioned in the results is a neat stat that mobile data use is up 35% and 41% of Telstra's mobile traffic is on 5G. Telstra also decided that it will not be selling off its majority stake in InfraCo Fixed (the holding company that owns all of Telstra's fixed line infrastructure - Amplitel is the holding company that owns all its mobile phone towers) saying that there is "strong customer demand for our infrastructure". No shit. People need internet and Telstra has a lot of internet.
I've been using Linux regularly for over 20 years, but I still forget how to do basic stuff at the command line. Oh-heck combines GPT-3 and the command line to help you remember how to do stuff. Simply type, oh-heck "how do I stop all the running Docker containers then delete them?" and it'll ask GPT-3, present the prompt to you and ask if you want to do it. How cool is that?! AI finally good for something, unlike the stupid blockchain. It costs money (US$4/m) which makes sense considering the GPT-3 API isn't free. Works on macOS as well if you're a Terminal jockey in the walled garden.
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.
Your Fun & Knowledge Telephone Book - an educational book by Telecom Australia from the 1980s. (cuddlyloner)
📻 The Only Thing They Fear is You (From "Doom: Eternal") - FamilyJules
😎 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.
🎁 Make someone's day and buy them a 12 month gift subscription to The Sizzle.
📚 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.