Good news for Chromebook fanciers - Google has promised that "all Chromebook platforms will get regular automatic updates for 10 years — more than any other operating system commits to today". Starting in 2024, "if you have Chromebooks that were released from 2021 onwards, you'll automatically get 10 years of updates" and for Chromebooks released before 2021 and already in use, "users and IT admins will have the option to extend automatic updates to 10 years from the platform's release (after they receive their last automatic update)". 10 year old computers (i.e: Intel Core i5-3000/4000 series CPUs) are still very usable!
Distributed energy expert and consultant Jon Sibley discovered that Tesla has registered with AEMO (the mob that co-ordinate the electric grid in Australia) to become a "Market Customer", one of the main steps in becoming an energy retailer. According to Jon, "one option is Tesla becoming the FRMP for its large-scale battery and public charging assets. Tesla would need to also register as a scheduled generator for large-scale battery purposes (noting IRP changes could change AEMO's registration definitions). Another more interesting option is Tesla becoming an electricity retailer to sell energy services directly to end customers, potentially with a EaaS/MaaS angle".
WhichCar Australia has a great article about why EV chargers are do damn unreliable. With the exception of Tesla's Supercharger network, it's a disappointingly common experience to rock up to a rapid charger in your EV only find that despite the app or website saying that the charger is available and operational, it's fucked. Chargefox's CEO explains that part of it is simply 1st-generation units not being as robust as expected in Australian conditions. Another part of it is a a convoluted repair process due to "limited local parts supply, component shortages, and an extended diagnosis-to-repair cycle that regularly takes two or three attempts". Things are getting better though, with the network operators learning from their mistakes.
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.
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