Apple's got some new iPads. iPad Pro is now sporting a M4 SoC, fancy "state-of-the-art tandem OLED technology" in 11" or 13" screen sizes with the option of a nano-texture coating, is now "the thinnest Apple product ever" (thinner than the USB-C connector), a new Magic Keyboard and Smart Folio and a new Apple Pencil Pro. Very fast, very expensive, same old iPad OS. iPad Air gets an M2 SoC and now has a 13" screen variant. The M4 SoC is the most interesting announcement here, with Apple claiming the "M4 can deliver the same performance as M2 using just half the power" thanks to TSMC's latest and greatest N3E process. The M4 Ultra is gonna be a beast. Only thing missing from this iPad announcement is an iPad mini update, poor little baby.
Superannuation fund UniSuper's customer-facing systems have been stuffed since April 29th, but yesterday they finally provided an update beyond "it's broken". According to a statement provided by Google to UniSuper & iTnews, "the disruption of UniSuper services was caused by a combination of rare issues at Google Cloud that resulted in an inadvertent misconfiguration during the provisioning of UniSuper's private cloud, which triggered a previously unknown software bug that impacted UniSuper's secondary systems. This was an unprecedented occurrence, and measures have been taken to ensure this issue does not happen again". Service should start returning to normal tomorrow apparently. Shit happens, computers suck, everyone's money is safe, but that's a hell of a bug Google!
The first chunk of data from a pilot run of the National Audit of Mobile Coverage is now public. It's a program funded by the government and operated by Accenture to try and get real-world signal quality across the country for Telstra, TPG and Optus instead of relying on telco coverage maps that are usually just guesses. The aim is to drive on over 180,000km of roads every year for three years, as well as gather data from "static devices" in 77 locations across the country, "some Australia Post assets" and "crowdsourced" data. Right now only the crowdsourced data is available and the results are what you expect. Telstra has the most coverage (still leaves a lot to be desired IMHO), Optus not that far behind and TPG doing the bare minimum outside of capital cities. Would be nice to get more info on where the crowdsourced data is coming from. Accenture's website doesn't have much data on that.
Graphics Bonanza (ShivaShaw / Internet Archive)
📻 I'm Invisible - Surgical Meth Machine
😎 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.