Plus: How to easily scrub personal information from Google ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

February 27, 2025 | Read online
# Amazon's AI Alexa catch-up, Apple's government run-ins and podcasts on YouTube and in politics Plus: How to easily scrub personal information from Google
Issue 2280 - Thursday 27 February, 2025
A little shout-out to Sizzlers Joan, Jamie, Alan, Paora, Nathan and Alex who’ve sent me emails this week. I love to hear from my Sizzlers 🥰
# In Today’s Issue
Amazon playing catch up with AI Alexa Apple’s government run-ins Podcasts are big on YouTube and in this year’s election How to easily scrub personal information from Google Plus deals on power banks, JBL and Sonos smart speaker, TP-Link routers, Motorola phones and TCL, Samsung and Sony TVs.
# The News
### Amazon playing catch up with AI Alexa
Amazon is finally catching up with the generative AI hype with its Alexa Plus, an update primarily for its voice assistants (Amazon). The company showed it doing all the things that you would assume AI that was plugged into Amazon’s product family could do (The Verge). It’s free for existing Amazon Prime subscribers works with most existing Alexa devices, and will use other LLM models if it thinks they’re more appropriate than Amazon’s own in-house model Nova which sounds clever. It’s set to roll out for Australians later this year (The Australian, $). The context is that Amazon massively dropped the ball when it came to AI voice assistants. It already has 600 million Alexa devices in homes, which is an incredible head start, but the business unit has never turned a profit despite spending $10s of billions over the years mostly because people use Alexa devices for things that don’t make money like checking the weather (Ars Technica). Then, Amazon was caught completely flat-footed by the generative AI boom and has only now released this product after a notoriously tortured development process (Washington Post, $). Will Alexa Plus change its fortunes? I’m not sure but the first hurdle is whether Alexa Plus products actually work, so stay tuned. Bonus, non-tech tidbit from today: Amazon owner Jeff Bezos has now decided that his Washington Post will only publish opinion supporting “personal liberties” and “free markets” (CNN). Glad to see things are going well in the US!
### Apple’s government run-ins
Apple’s having a funny week. It pledged to spend US$500 billion in the US over the next four years (Apple). For those playing at home, that’s equal to one Project Stargate (Sizzle throwback) which I’m sure is totally coincidental amount and nothing to do with the Trump’s affection sweepstakes. But its shareholders also voted down a proposal to rubbish its DEI initiatives (The Guardian). And Apple says it’s fixing a featur— I mean, glitch that caused its voice-to-text to transcribe racist as “Trump” (NBC) which, as pointed out by Sizzler Kathy, doesn’t seem like a normal accident. Oh and Trump’s new head of intelligence and legit whacko Tulsi Gabbard said she had no idea about the UK’s attempt to break Apple’s encryption but opposed it anyway (Apple Insider). Outside the US, the tech giant finally reached an agreement with Indonesia to be able to sell its phones there after being banned for failing to meet a local requirement to use 40% local parts when making its phones (ABC News). For a company as global as Apple, the trend of countries getting more willing to enforce their own rules must be a huge headache.
### Podcasts are big on YouTube and in this year’s election
More than a billion people have watched podcast content on YouTube, the company says (YouTube). I know that Joe Rogan et al. are big and that most people treat it like just popping on the TV in the background, but I still don’t personally use YouTube to watch the many podcasts I subscribe to, nor do I understand why. Is it the discovery? Is it the fact that YouTube has such a familiar and easy to use UI that people just revert to it rather than going to Podbean or BuzzSprout or whatever? If you watch podcasts on YouTube, I want to hear from you! (Also as a teaser: is there any interest in a Sizzle podcast? 👀 ) One place where podcasting is really taking off is the Australian federal election media circuit. As noted by my Crikey colleague Crystal Andrews (Crikey, $) , Albo’s turned up on podcasts of Abbie Chatfield, the Betoota Advocate, the Grade Cricketer and Mark Bouris — if you don’t know their names, just know they’re all relatively big, generally non-political podcasts — and Dutton has been doing similar rounds. The takeaway is that, like in the US, the erosion of mainstream media and growth of independent media means that politicians no longer have to face the gauntlet of critical journalistic interviews to reach big audiences. They’re probably more likely to be served up to Aussie voters by the YouTube algorithm.
# Oh, Also
### How to easily scrub personal information from Google
The update to Google’s Results About You is a good reminder to tell you to use it (Engadget). Released in 2022 but only made available in Australia last year, Google offers this tool that will search its services for personal information about you and request its removal. It doesn’t work for everything but it can. I doubt I have to tell any of you considering how switched on Sizzlers are, but let me use this opportunity to remind you: there are very few good reasons for your personal details to be available on the internet, and a lot of ways it could be used by the wrong person to make your life hell. Take a minute, log into Results About You (Google) and save yourself a future headache. It’s very easy.
# Bargains
Electrical & Electronics
Anko 3 Ring RGB Pixel Table Lamp - $5 at Kmart ESP32 38-Pin Wi-Fi + Bluetooth Development Board - $5 at Zaitronics VisionSync 8k DisplayPort 1.4 Cable 1m (VESA Certified) - $10.89 at VisionSync Amazon AU ZYRON PowaVolt 65W GaN 3 Charger 2-Port with 45W PPS - $23.99 at Zyron Tech AU Soundcore by Anker A20i TWS - $27.99 at AnkerDirect AU via Amazon AU Monster 4-Socket Surge Protection Powerboard - $29 at The Good Guys JBL Wave Flex Earbuds (Black) - $41 at The Good Guys Fetch Mini 4K Gen 5 - $48 at Telstra Laser 20000mAh 100w Powerbank - $69.00 at Mwave TP-LINK Tapo RV20 Max Plus Robotic Vacuum and Mop - $249 at The Good Guys JBL Xtreme 4 Portable Bluetooth Speaker - Black - $271 at Amazon AU SHOKZ OpenRun Pro 2 or OpenRun Pro 2 Mini - $280.99 at Soundz Store Australia Bose QuietComfort Ultra Wireless Noise Cancelling Bluetooth Earbuds - $290 at Amazon AU Polk Audio Magnifi Mini AX Soundbar & Subwoofer - $399 at Masimo Kogan Sonos Era 300 Wireless Smart Speaker - $495 at The Good Guys Dyson Supersonic Nural Hair Dryer (Ceramic Patina/Topaz) - $499 at Amazon AU ELEGOO Centauri Carbon - CoreXY FDM 3D Printer (pre-order)- $699.99 at ELEGOO AU LG 420L Bottom Mount Fridge GB-455UPLE - $799 at Betta Home Living TCL C755 Mini LED TV at Harvey Norman 65" for $1194, 75" for $1434, 85" for $1994, 98" for $3994 Samsung 55" OLED S90D - $1603.60 at Samsung Westpac Store Sony K85XR70 85" BRAVIA 7 4K Mini-LED TV - $3435 at The Good Guys
Computing
Wavlink Aluminum Mini Dock For MacBook Pro 2016+ USB-C 3.0 Hub - $5 at Vinnies Victoria TP-Link Archer AX10 AX1500 Wi-Fi 6 Router - $69 at JB Hi-Fi Lenovo ThinkCentre M710q Tiny PC - $108 at Bufferstock (Refurbished) Seagate One Touch 1TB Portable External Hard Drive - Blue - $96 at Amazon AU Belkin 14-Port Triple 4K Display USB-C Docking Station With 65W PD For Windows/Chrome OS - $99 at i-Tech Cooler Master GM2711S 27" QHD Ultra-Speed 180Hz IPS Gaming Monitor - $248 at JW Computers ASUS TUF Gaming VG27AQ1A 27" QHD IPS 170Hz 1ms Gaming Monitor - $248 at Scorptec TP-Link Deco X55 Dual-Band Mesh Wi-Fi 6 AX3000 System 3-Pack - $279 at Amazon AU Brother MFC-L8690CDW Colour Laser MFC - $509 at Amazon AU
Mobile
Motorola E14 4G 2GB RAM 64GB Storage Unlocked - $98 at JB Hi-Fi Motorola G75 8GB RAM/256GB Storage & Bonus Moto Buds - $376.04 at Sydney Mobiles eBay
# The End
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