Plus: An app to show you which country you’d hit if you went straight ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

August 22, 2025 | Read online
# AI (bad) vibe shift, China's 74 minute internet outage and the Sizzler Say Plus: An app to show you which country you’d hit if you went straight
Edition 2402
"Sir Galahad's first pictures... This is my favorite picture of him." (Flicker: jennifer mcgee)
Hi all, just noting again that I will be flying to India tomorrow morning. I’m planning on continuing to Sizzle from there, so there should be no interruptions to your normal service. I’m going to try include some tech coverage of the sub-continent while I’m there! - CW
# The News
### Vibes have shifted in the AI industry. Is the bubble bursting?
The AI vibe has shifted in the last two weeks. The launch of OpenAI’s long-awaited GPT-5 was a disappointment to many and has led to speculation of a plateau in LLM capabilities (Decrypt). After offering researchers hundreds of millions of dollars, Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta has suddenly announced a hiring freeze (WSJ, gift link). An MIT report which says that 95% of companies are getting “zero return” from AI is apparently freaking out Wall Street (Gizmodo). Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt — who had been a big AI booster — is now saying Silicon Valley needs to “stop obsessing over superhuman AI” (NYT, $). And even the CBA is reversing a decision to replace 45 workers with AI (ABC News).
The Sizzle: Is the bubble bursting? Is AI dead? Should we take our money out of banks and put it under our mattress before the financial system collapses? It’s bizarre (and somewhat satisfying) to see a sudden about-turn from people who are on the hook for billions for AI expenditure and have been speaking about the tech in hushed tones as if it is a wrathful god.
My sense is the diminishing returns from raw LLM training means there’s a shrinking patience to endlessly sink resources into training them. The AI guys are switching their hats from “spiritual oracle” to “sensible C-suite suit who hunts in spreadsheets for how to grow margins and cut costs”. They’ve already convinced people like Treasurer Jim Chalmers to “make AI a national priority” (InnovationAus, $). Now they’re trying to convince everyone that they can make money.
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
### China’s Great Firewall blocked the internet for 74 minutes
Two days ago, China went dark to the rest of the world for 74 minutes (Toms Hardware). According to a site that monitors China’s Great Firewall (GFW Report), there was an outage that disrupted the standard port for HTTPS traffic, TCP port 443, for a bit more than an hour before returning.
The Sizzle: As noted in the Register, there was “no obvious reason China decided to block port 443” (The Register). Other common ports weren’t blocked, either, which makes people suspect it was an accident.
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
### The Sizzler Say
The “is this a valid email?” quiz got a lot of responses and, honestly, confusion. Quilgy recommended a cute focus app from YouTuber Hank Green which makes a “Focus Friend” who does nice little activities just as long as you stay focused and don’t use your phone! artywah responded on Slack about the decline of online spaces for kids by saying that the same thing has happened with the ABC’s offerings — and recent cuts to their Innovation Lab means that it won’t be launching new online offerings for children any time soon. On the forum, the endless search for smart home devices continues with a thread about the best smart plugs. Let’s just say people weren’t surprised about the real estate underquoting leaderboard.
(FYI - Sizzle Slack links will only work if you have joined the Slack server here)
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
#### Leftovers
Rushed teen social media ban lacks ‘critical’ measure, government’s own emails reveal (Crikey, $) ACMA moves to disrupt scam websites faster (ACMA) ASIC expands scam website takedown capability (Cyber Daily) Chalmers agrees to make AI a national priority (InnovationAus, $) Unions laud AI breakthrough on copyright with big tech (The Australian, $) News Corp discredits AI payment talks between ACTU, Tech Council (Capital Brief, $) Australian livestreaming platform Kick broadcast a man’s death – could it face repercussions from regulators? (The Guardian) In a first, Google has released data on how much energy an AI prompt uses (MIT Technology Review) US DOJ to back off some money transmitter cases, a shift backed by crypto industry (Reuters) Whistleblower Alleges Meta Artificially Boosted Shops Ads' Performance (Adweek, $) Tesla is dragging its feet in reporting FSD and Autopilot crashes to the government (The Verge) Trump and Melania’s Scammy Meme Coins Have Lost Almost All Value (The New Republic) Javier Milei’s government will monitor social media with AI to ‘predict’ future crimes (EL PAÍS English, $) Is the Flipper Zero the next big car theft gadget? (The Verge) Wired and Business Insider remove AI-written freelance articles (Press Gazette) AI giants race to scoop up elusive real-world data (Rest of World) AppleStorm: A Look Into The New macOS Malware (Lumia Security)(Lumia Security)
Discuss these links in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
# Oh, Also
### An app to show you which country you’d hit if you went straight
I love when some guy makes an app because his wife asks a question like “what country would we hit if we went straight”.
Ben Gross’ Leascope (iOS only sorry) will not only let you point your phone to know where you’d end up if you kept going straight — it’ll show you which country that would be in several different historical eras.
Holy Roman Empire lol
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
# Bargains
Electronics & electrical
Twelve South Butterfly SE 2-in-1 Qi2 Charger - $90 at Officeworks Zemismart Matter Thread Roller Shade Rechargeable Motor Home Assistant Smartthings Control - $112 at Zemismart Dreame D10s Robot Vacuum Cleaner and Mop - $199 at Dreame Official AU via Amazon AU eufy Security Solocam S220 (4-Pack) with Homebase 3 - $699 at The Good Guys
Computing
PNY 256GB EliteX-PRO60 Class 10 U3 V60 UHS-II SDXC Flash Memory Card - $74.69 at Amazon DE via AU SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7X Gaming Headset, White - $242 at Amazon Lexar 1TB Play PRO microSDXC Express Memory Card - $271 at digiDirect via eBay AMD Ryzen 9 5950X CPU - $409 at Binary Tech Store AliExpress Gaming PC: R5 7500F, 1TB M.2 SSD, 16GB 6000Mz RAM, Bonus US$20 SteamCard at Nebula PC RX 7600 for $898 RX 9060 XT 8G for $948
Mobile
OnePass Mobile 365-Day 280GB 4G Prepaid Mobile Plan - $169 at OnePass Mobile (Down from $240) Vodafone 365 Days Long Expiry Plan 200GB - $199 at Mobilexpress Au (Down from $250) Telstra Prepaid SIM Starter Kit, 12-Month Plan, 165GB Data & 135GB Bonus - $299 at Oz Tech Biz (Down from $350) iPhone 14 128GB Midnight with Bonus Apple 12W USB Power Adapter - $795 at HT via Kogan
# The End
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