Mentioned in today’s edition: Chris Bowen, EVs, Canva, Amazon, Claude, OpenAI and IPv6. Plus, deals on Audio Technica headphones, Sony TVs and LG monitors.

The News

EVs are so hot right now. Should we care that it's because of the price of fuel?

Suddenly, there's a lot of love for EVs. Chris Bowen is out talking about how EVs are saving 15 million litres of fuel a week, reducing our reliance on fuel reserves (AFR, $) and hitting record shares of new car sales (The Driven). He's also spruiking electric trucks, as the federal government is reportedly working with the states to fix the interstate road standards issue affecting them (SMH, $).

The Sizzle: A new survey says about half of people considering buying an EV are doing it to save on fuel, with about two-fifths also saying they want to do it for environmental reasons (The Driven). There's been a long debate in the climate movement about whether it's worth leaning into cost savings to get people to do green things because, well, what happens when you want people to consider the environment when things cost more? Shouldn't you instead focus on convincing them to do things for the environment? But personally, I'm a pragmatist on these things. It doesn't matter why people do the right thing as long as they do it. If a blocked Strait of Hormuz gets people to make the decision that helps us overall — I'll take it!

P.S. I've previously Sizzled about the government's plan to cut back on the EV subsidy in next month's budget. It's not looking like a great idea at the moment! Will be one to watch.

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Teen social media ban trial ignored privacy watchdog's warnings that it was overstating how it protected people's privacy

As age verification rolls out everywhere despite its flaws (The Verge), I reported today that the privacy watchdog raised concerns that Australia's teen social media ban tech trial was overstating how the technology protects people's privacy (Crikey, $). Emails show that the OAIC told the people behind the trial that their report was using Australian legal terms but didn't assess them against those legal standards or even do technical testing of the technologies, like facial analysis. The trial's organisers ignored many of those concerns and still published the report that was used to justify plowing ahead with the ban.  

Related reading: Europe’s Online Age Verification App Is Here (WIRED, $)

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AI is the new toy in Australia's massive Defence spending toybox

Artificial intelligence companies are big winners in the federal government's new plans to splurge more money on defence over the next decade (InnovationAus, $). After only being mentioned once in the 2024 Defence strategy, the new National Defence Strategy says that AI is one of six priorities for innovation, alongside things like long-range fires and high-energy lasers (hell yeah) (Defence). The new plan commits another $50b+ over the next 10 years, with more money also going to cyber and space (InnovationAus, $). Interestingly, CyberDaily notes that cyber is less prominent this time around. Either way, it's all great news for defence contractors! 

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Leftovers

Australia:

Rest of World:

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Oh, Also

Why does IPv6 traffic drop and spike at the same time every week?

This week, Google says the amount of IPv6 traffic tipped over to 50% for the first time (Google). What caught my eye in this announcement was the seemingly steady routine of IPv6 traffic ticking up and down every week. As it turns out, other people noticed this pattern and say it's because traffic from businesses — which are more likely to be on legacy IPv4 — drops over the weekend as people log off and go home! 

I hope all of you get to log off from IPv4 and onto IPv6 early this afternoon. 

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Bargains

Electronics

Computing

The End

😎 The Sizzle is written by Cam Wilson every weekday. It was created by Anthony “decryption” Agius.

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