decryption

When I started TAFE (the equivalent of community college in the US I assume?) in Australia in 2003, one of the subjects in the electronic engineering course was to study and program a Z80. I was awful at it, but it was a good introduction to how a computer works. I wonder if they're still using this CPU as a way to teach the fundamentals of computers?

I have an EX30 in Australia and it's been excellent in regards to its driver attention system. Never had any false alerts. If anything it's not accurate enough as when I look away it sometimes doesn't warn me! Crazy how we can have such different experiences in the same vehicle, presumably with the same software.

Execs where I work seem to think we will just keep writing stuff, LLMs will scrape it and that will influence what people see in their version of Google/ChatGPT/etc. So nothing changes in their mind, just that the audience is a bot, not a human. As a writer, this sucks.

You mentioned in the post that you "received a stack of 4 Pi marketing brochures and articles". Do you plan to scan these and place them on your website or the Internet Archive? I'd love to read them!

16GB would be plenty. I've got like a dozen services running on an 8GB i7-4970 and it's only using 5GB of RAM right now.

I'm surprised it's only 65%. There's hardly anywhere to fuel these things up and the price of hydrogen isn't exactly a bargain.

That explains the cheap DDR4 DIMMs on AliExpress. Can get 2x 16GB DDR4-3200 DIMMs for A$252 delivered to Australia. A local PC store has same spec “name brand” RAM for around $380-$400.

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mssanU1

My experience is that bosses read my blog, then when they or a fellow manager need to hire someone, have reached out to me asking me to apply. So it cuts both ways - maybe your shitty boss sees you blogging and sharing your experience, but a good boss will see that and go "I want this passionate and curious person to work for me".

Volvo Cars is still publicly traded. Ticker symbol is VOLCAR B on the Swedish NASDAQ: https://au.finance.yahoo.com/quote/VOLCAR-B.ST/

Geely owns around 79% of the shares, with the rest split up between pension funds and private equity.

I have been stung by the exact same socket name bullshit from Intel and it is infuriating.

This is what I am hoping Apple does with iOS and the Mac. iOS becomes the mainstream operating sytem and Mac is the "pro" operating system.

Apple did! The Game Porting Toolkit does (I think) what you're talking about and what Steam did for Linux.

https://developer.apple.com/games/game-porting-toolkit/

Why it hasn't taken off, I have no idea.

I have a 2024 Volvo EX30, driven it about 11,000km. It uses the same computer system platform as the EX90 and while it's not fantastic (my previous Tesla is superior), it's better than most EVs I've driven and hasn't given me any problems. I love the car, so it's a shame the more expensive and "luxury" EX90 is plagued by these issues.

That said, Volvo Canada really needs to lift its game and just give the guy a new car already. Hope the bad PR and lawsuit gets Volvo to realise their mistake, apologise and refund him.

Did not expect this post to get so popular - I added a bunch more images I found I was saving for a second post on a rainy day, so go back and reload the page for more 1-bit pixel art goodies :-)

I wish I knew what Acius was or is too!

Yep, I upscaled them by 400% so they’re easier to view on modern displays.

That little replica Mac is very cute - the flying toaster screensaver is a nice touch. Is that running on a Pi Zero or something?

Totally agree. I recently re-read Revolution in the Valley (Andy Hertzfeld's memoir of working on the Mac) and I absolutely got same same vibe you described. It's also hard not to be in awe of someone like Bill Atkinson - RIP legend. I just wanted to experience first hand the work this team made, rather than just reading about it, looking at screenshots or using it via an emulator. Maybe I'll learn something, or worst case, just a sense of appreciation of the shoulders of the giants we stand on.

Oh hell yeah, that's top of my list once I crack open the case (waiting for a long T15 driver to arrive!) and poke around inside. I've got a lot of friends who have done it before, so I'll give them the board and and some money and some chocolate/beer (depending on the friend!) and ask for help with recapping the logic board.

Thanks for that info! I'm keen to get stuck into HyperCard stacks running on their native environment (not in an emulator) - so many people love HyperCard and miss it, so I look forward to seeing what the fuss is.

I've been on tirzepatide for 8 weeks (2.5mg then 5mg) and have a very similar conclusion as you. I started off at 160kg 8 weeks ago and now I'm down to 145kg. No other change in my lifestyle except eating radically less. Two 500-calorie-ish meals a day and some fruit as a snack, that's about it.

For decades I've struggled with diets but tirzepatide is the only thing that's made me stick with it. Will power alone wasn't enough, but with tirzepatide I'm very confident I'll get down to a under 100kg for the first time since I was a teenager, within a few months.

The new Tesla Powerwall 3 is $13,600

https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/powerwall-3-launch/

Two of those is $27,200 minus installation and some solar panels to feed them (but the PW3 does have 3x 6.6kW solar MPPTs built-in unlike previous ones, so all you need to do is connect the panels directly to the PW3 and then the PW3 to your home).

That's correct. I wouldn't recommend a custom ROM to an average smartphone user, but when you have someone in your life that's dedicated to tech support and you have custom needs, it's a good idea IMHO.

I consider helping my family with their tech stuff a privilege, not a burden. They help me with so much, why wouldn't I want to guide and support them on things I am knowledgeable about?!

Great list! Thanks for sharing. Noting how many developers work on the device is a nice addition.

My Dad likes his non-Google phone very much! He never had a smartphone in the first place so doesn't use any apps, social media, internet banking, etc. But does like having an easy to use on-screen keyboard. If a "dumbphone" existed with a large touch screen instead of the little 1" screen with a numpad, that would be great.

Agreed - this is a good solution for people that don't want or need any of that stuff. You'd be surprised how many people out there don't do any form of internet banking at all and simply manage their money in the bank branch or over the telephone directly to the bank. For the elderly, it's a great idea to remove their internet banking (or not give them access to it in the first place) and protect them from scammers.

Not sure how you get in on the IPO, but once they list on the LSE it'll be quite trivial to buy shares on the usual platforms like Stake, SelfWealth, CommSec, etc. Not much different than buying on the ASX.

Born and bred, baby! I don't live there now, but do miss it sometimes.

I scanned this old Aussie magazine about the Internet from back in 1996 and was surprised how the first topic was about cybersex and had many articles in it that would now be considered "woke". The internet was really more leftist back then!

I've been publishing The Sizzle - a general tech newsletter that comes out daily and has an Aussie take on the last 24 hours of news - for almost 8 years. 1,300 people pay me A$60/yr to read it. There's a 30 day free trial (no credit card needed, unsubscribe any time via a one click link in every email) at https://thesizzle.com.au