Plus: The new AI benchmark is whether it can make something like the Space Jam website ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

December 09, 2025 | Read online
# Reddit ban challenge, slow Samsung and Robotaxi down under? Plus: The new AI benchmark is whether it can make something like the Space Jam website
Edition 2468
"Laughing in Computer Lab" (Flickr: UC Irvine)
# The News
### Does the government want the good or bad news about the teen social media ban first?
Reddit, X and Bluesky will kick teens off their platforms under social media ban beginning tomorrow — but at least one of them isn’t going down without a fight. Reddit will comply with the law but is also preparing to join a constitutional challenge over its inclusion, the AFR reported this morning. We got a peek of their arguments when friend of the Sizzle Josh Taylor got his hands on a letter sent by Reddit about its “legally erroneous inclusion” to eSafety (Guardian Australia). Meanwhile, I wrote that Google’s decision to comply with the ban on YouTube doesn’t mean it’s ruled out a legal challenge (Crikey, $).
Also, the government is going to light up landmarks green and gold and play a video of the Prime Minister in school classrooms nationwide to mark the ban coming into effect tomorrow. (i’m not sure it’s completely fair but I will say these efforts aren’t exactly helping dispel the charges of government overreach!)
PM Albanese delivers a message to kids ahead of the social media ban | 9 News Australia
The Sizzle: Cards on the table, I don’t think the most extreme predictions of failure will happen tomorrow. I wrote last week that millions of age checks will be done by data analysis, meaning that many, if not most, Australians won’t notice the ban happening. Yes, there will be a lot of noise, a lot of embarrassing failures, etc, but I think after the first hump, this will all fade into the background as people largely move on.
That’s not comforting to me because I’m more worried about the people whose problems won’t be heard. The kids excluded, vulnerable people unable to figure out the systems, etc. I’ll have more to say on this, but I don’t think success for the ban will be measured about how people are affected tomorrow. It’s how it affects people a week, month, year from now.
Further reading: ‘Everyone got paid’: How Wippa’s pro-teen social media ban group cashed in on its success (Crikey, $)
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
### Samsung is dropping the ball on protecting its users
Samsung is dragging its feet rolling out crucial patches to dangerous Android exploits despite warnings that these are being used to attack people (Forbes). More than a week ago, Google put out a red alert that two exploits are being used for “limited, targeted exploitation” and promised to give source code to manufacturers for a patch shortly after (Forbes). Two days later, it had rolled out an update for all Pixel users (Forbes). But Samsung, which produces a third of all Android devices as its biggest manufacturer, has still not done so. Nor has it released even its November patches yet, I think? Crazy!
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
### Is Elon eyeing Australia as one of the next Robotaxi destinations?
Tesla’s Robotaxi app has launched in Australia, stoking speculation that we might be one of the next places on the list for the Elon Musk-owned carmaker’s autonomous driving ambitions (The Driven). A reader of great Australian EV outlet The Driven tipped them off to the app now being in the Australian iOS App Store — but the service is still limited to Austin, Texas.
only a little bit outside
Anecdotally, when I broke the story that Waymo was beginning talks to trial in Australia, I’d heard second-hand from someone in the industry that both Waymo and Tesla were serious about trying to launch something here in 2026. Add this to the evidence column!
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
#### Leftovers
Australia:
Airwallex exec feared China staff were pushing to access client data (Australian Financial Review, $) Immutable late accounts reveal $72m loss despite big revenue growth (Australian Financial Review, $) New Cloud Policy: Accelerating secure, modern government services (Digital Transformation Agency) ‘People want me to fail’: The woman in charge of enforcing Australia’s social media ban feels the heat (SMH, $)
Rest of the world:
Google Says First AI Glasses With Gemini Will Arrive in 2026 (Bloomberg, $) Subaru joins controversial list of carmakers experimenting with infotainment system pop-up ads (TechRadar) FUCK OFF Meta to offer choices on personal Facebook and Instagram ads (The Verge) The Military Almost Got the Right to Repair. Lawmakers Just Took It Away (WIRED, $) Home Office kept police facial recognition flaws to itself, UK data watchdog fumes (The Register) ICEBlock creator sues Trump administration officials saying they pressured Apple to remove it from the app store (The Verge) How to put Tailscale on a jailbroken Kindle (and why you should) (Tailscale)
Discuss these links in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
# Oh, Also
### The new AI benchmark is whether it can make something like the Space Jam website
Yesterday, I shared a blog about how popular AI service Claude was unable to recreate the iconic Space Jam website from 1996. Well, don’t I have egg on my face! Some other guy was able to use Claude with a bit more of a pro set-up to code a replica.
it’s perfect
Look, honestly, I’m not super impressed that you can recreate something beautiful. The true test is whether you can come up with something unique that’s as beautiful and distinctive as the 30 year old website for a movie about cartoons playing basketball.
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
# Bargains
Electrical & Electronics
Oontz Ultra by Cambridge Soundworks Bluetooth Speaker - $38.72 at Gizmoo (Down from $88) 2x Vornado Pivot Personal Desk Fan - $44.50 at Vornado (Down from $89) Reolink RLC-823S1, 4K 360° Auto-Tracking PoE Camera with 5X Optical Zoom - $278 at Reolink AU (Down from $429.99) FiiO K13 R2R Desktop DAC & Headphone Amplifier - $399 at Addicted to Audio Apple Watch Series 11 GPS, 42mm - $627 at Amazon (Down from $677) LG B5 48" OLED TV - $821 at LG DJI Mini 5 Pro Drone Deals at Videopro DJI Mini 5 Pro for $1097 Fly More Combo (DJI RC2) for $1647 Combo Plus (DJI RC2) for $1757
Computing
$200 AmEx Statement Credit if you spent $800+ at Dell FANGOR 15.6" 1920x1080 IPS Portable Monitor - $76.49 at Amazon AU Lexmark B3442DW Mono Duplex Laser Printer - $99 at Centre Com Suneast UHS-II SD Card V60 Memory Card (V60 Silver, 1TB) - $205 at Amazon AU Patriot Memory Viper Venom DDR5 6000MT/s CL36 32GB (16GBx2) UDIMM RAM - $282 at Umart via BIG W Market HP EliteBook X360 1030 G4 13.3" Laptop Touch i7-8565u 16GB 256GB W11p - $335 at Max Direct Computer (Used) PowerColor Radeon Graphics Cards at Centre Com PowerColor Radeon Reaper 9060 XT 16GB for $539 PowerColor Radeon Reaper RX 9070 for $799 PowerColor Radeon RX 9070 XT Reaper 16GB Graphics Card - $959 at Centre Com
# The End
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