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The News

AI will help productivity. It’s a shame what it’s doing to reality

Government senior figures are promising “light-touch” AI regulation (AFR, $) as an OpenAI exec visits Australia with a prediction that the tech will make our economy $115 billion bigger (AFR, $). Sure! I mean, these numbers are all made up but we’re seeing everyone from teachers (TechSpot) to adult performers (The Verge) starting to use the technology.

One thing that these reports never consider is the social cost of this technology — like the impact of losing the ability to tell what’s real. In May, four of the YouTube’s top 10 channels featured AI in every video (Sherwood News). And at the same time that Reddit is selling data to AI companies, its platform is being flooded with fake AI content to target users or, increasingly, the AI bots ingesting it (9to5Mac). I reckon there’ll be a big desire for online spaces quarantined from AI content. Until then, let me share a few tips for spotting fake online content:

Written: The em dash, “—”, used to be a telltale sign that either content was written by ChatGPT or a tortured journalist, but the latest tip is AI loves “isn’t just x — it’s y” (X dot com).
Music: Garbage Day’s Ryan Broderick says “A typical bass line in most music repeats to create a groove, AI basslines tend to meander and never repeat.”
Video: This handy video suggests looking at things like video length (AI video tends to be quite short), teeth (ChatGPT still struggles) and for general continuity/video logic.

Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.

When an Xbox isn’t really an Xbox

For those who don’t pay much attention to gaming, you probably figure a Xbox is a console that plays Xbox games. And, increasingly, you’d be wrong! Recently, Microsoft put out a third-party Xbox VR headset (Xbox) and a handheld (Xbox) that can play some sub-section of Xbox games but aren’t really Xboxes. A founding Xbox team member has even called Microsoft's desire to produce Xbox consoles “dead” (Shortcut). So while the Xbox CEO said last year there will be future Xbox consoles (Rolling Stone) it looks like Microsoft is positioning Xbox to become “the Windows for gaming, but not Windows”.

Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.

Cassette players are so back

The Verge alerted me to a new product by Maxell — the once-well known cassette brand — which brings the cassette player into 2025. The suitably inscrutably named MXCP-P100 has Bluetooth, USB-C charging and a rechargeable battery but, sadly, is only available in Japan now for about $140 bucks. I have no reason to buy this but… I can’t pretend like I’m not tempted! I’d love to hear what older tech you think is ready for a facelift?

Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.

Leftovers

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Oh, Also

Using Wi-Fi as … a motion detector?

A US telco support article was circulating social media today because it outlines how its Wi-Fi routers can function as motion detectors (Xfinity). As it turns out, there’s actually a growing number of products that work by analysing Wi-Fi signals to pick up disruptions that indicate movement (MIT Technology Review). The reason it’s not used more is that Wi-Fi is less reliable and has worse definition than cheapo motion sensors, but very cool to know that it could be used that way (although it does open up some uncomfortable possibilities of ways companies can get more data).

Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.

Bargains

Electrical & Electronics

Computing

Mobile

The End

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