### Issue 1978 - Tuesday 21st November, 2023

Thanks to three generous Sizzle subscribers (Bart Reardon, mvyrmnd & someone else that wishes to remain anonymous), I am able to increase the amount donated to Cafs for each person you refer to The Sizzle during Sizzlethon 2023 to $4 for the first 250 referrals. That means if we manage to get 250 people onto a 90-day free trial of The Sizzle, I will be able to donate $1,000 to Cafs! So if you haven't already got a unique URL to share with your mates, stop reading this and visit https://sizzlethon.thesizzle.com.au now.

## In Today's Issue

- More OpenAI management nonsense that'll probably end up as a 90 minute low budget Netflix movie
- Victorian government IT project transparency dashboard not updated for over a year
- Uni teachers might resort to using ChatGPT for student feedback
- The Luddites deserve more credit than they get in popular culture
- 39 things you may not need to buy, but they're cheap

## The News

### More OpenAI management nonsense that'll probably end up as a 90 minute low budget Netflix movie

Satya Nadella has added yet another twist to OpenAI's management saga, tweeting last night that "we're extremely excited to share the news that Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, together with colleagues, will be joining Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team" - but according to "multiple sources" the Verge has spoken to, it isn't a done deal as Sam & Greg are "willing to return to OpenAI if the remaining board members who fired him step aside". Meanwhile, Altman's replacement, Mira Murati who was the CTO, only lasted a few days before being replaced by Emmett Shear, the former CEO of Twitch and a friend of Sam Altman. Oh and 738 of 770 OpenAI employees sent a letter to the OpenAI board demanding that all board members resign and Altman and Brockman return, or they'll leave to join Altman and Brockman wherever they end up. What a fucking mess.

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### Victorian government IT project transparency dashboard not updated for over a year

Back in 2018 the Victorian government set up a dashboard to show the status of IT projects valued at over $1m as an attempt to be transparent and accountable in the face of constant budget blowouts. Fast forward 5 years later and that dashboard hasn't been updated in over 12 months. Projects like WorkSafe's data analytics initially budgeted at $1.17m blew out last year to $25m, Barwon Health's automated rostering system was given $3m in 2018 but still isn't complete, as is a case management system for the Magistrates' and Children's courts valued at $89m that started in 2016. It wouldn't be so bad if the only problem is projects spending more than planned, but they aren't even getting done, let alone on time, and the system the government itself created to expose these failings isn't even being used!

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### Uni teachers might resort to using ChatGPT for student feedback

The ABC has a story today about the University of Tasmania cutting the time they'll pay for marking student work and one of the anonymous teachers they interviewed said "I'm seriously considering getting ChatGPT or Artificial Intelligence (AI) to write the feedback for me" and that "the way things are going, the uni wants to save money wherever it can, so yes we'll be using AI in no time for marking and feedback". It would be easy to cast ChatGPT as evil here, but the real blame is on UTAS not giving their staff enough paid time to do their work properly. Using tools readily available to save time, even if that tool results in subpar, perhaps even discriminatory, output is a symptom, not the cause.

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## Something I Saw On The Internet

### The Luddites deserve more credit than they get in popular culture

Friend of The Sizzle, Samantha Floreani, has another banger of an opinion piece worth a read. They write in Overland about Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech, a book about the Luddites and how modern society has misunderstood these people are dumb idiots against technology. The Luddites provide a historical example of "organised and rational working-class solidarity against the technological manifestations of power, profit and labour exploitation". They weren't anti-technology for the sake of it, but anti-technology because it came at the expense of our humanity.

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## Bargains

- 10% off Macs at JB Hi-Fi - stack with 15% off TCN gift cards at Coles tomorrow for massive discount (e.g: 14" M3 Pro MacBook Pro for $2,834.19)
- Drop ENTR mechanical TKL keyboard - $96.31 from Amazon
- Logitech MX Mechanical Mini Wireless Keyboard for Mac - $138.20 from Amazon
- Pixelmator Pro for macOS - $39.99 (50% off) from the Mac App Store
- Dell Optiplex 3060 Micro PC (G550T, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD) - $99 from MetroCom's eBay store
- Fanxiang S880 4TB PCIe 4.0 SSD - $233.99 from Fanxiang's eBay store
- LG 49" 49GR85DC-B 240Hz curved 5120x1440 monitor - $1,399 from LG
- SMSL SU-1 DAC - $102 from Amazon
- Dell U2723QE 27" 4K monitor - $510.30 from Futu Online's eBay store
- Logitech MX Anywhere 3S wireless mouse - $94.07 from Amazon (can get Officeworks to price beat)
- Apple Watch Ultra 2 - $1,329.05 from digiDirect (can get Officeworks to price beat)
- Minisforum UM790 mini PC (Ryzen 9 7940HS, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD) - $999.89 from Amazon
- Apple iPhone 12 Mini 128GB/256GB - $899/$999 from Amazon
- Leetcode Premium Annual Subscription - $197 from Leetcode
- Logitech M720 multi-device wireless mouse - $39 from Bing Lee's eBay store
- Telstra 365-day prepaid SIM with 220GB data, unlimited calls & SMS - $244 from Oz Tech Biz
- Coles Mobile 365-day prepaid SIM with 160GB data, unlimited calls & SMS to 15 countries - $125 from Coles
- Amaysim 365-day prepaid SIM with 140GB data, unlimited calls & SMS to 28 countries & 2000 bonus Everyday Rewards points - $125 from Woolworths
- Bose SoundLink Flex Bluetooth Portable Speaker - $129 from Amazon
- SAF Aranet4 Home: Wireless Indoor Air Quality Monitor - $270.27 from Amazon
- Bose QuietComfort SE Headphones - $278 from Amazon
- SONOS Roam Portable Bluetooth Speaker - $186 from JB Hi-Fi
- Recertified Seagate 3.5" Exos X20 18TB or X16 14TB SATA HDDs - $359/$239 from Pongobyte Computers
- Seagate Exos X20 ST20000NM007D 20TB 3.5" HDD - $491.33 from Newegg (FYI dubious warranty situation)
- Samsung Fit Plus 256GB flash drive USB-A or Samsung USB-C 256GB flash drive - $35.78/$31.32 from Amazon USA
- TeamGroup MP34 4TB PCIe 3.0 SSD - $249 + delivery from PC Case Gear
- Fetch Mini 4K PVR - $159 from Fetch
- Sennheiser HD 660 S2 Headphones - $594 from Amazon
- Bowers & Wilkins PX7 S2E or PX8 Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones - $479/$799 from David Jones
- LG 34WP60C 34" 3440x1440 160Hz curved monitor - $349 for new MyLG members
- Bonus 10% Amazon credit on Xbox & Roblox gift cards via Amazon
- Bonus 15% Amazon credit on PlayStation gift cards via Amazon
- Seagate Expansion Desktop 14TB External Hard Drive - $388 from Amazon
- TP-Link LiteWave Gigabit Switch 5-port/8-port - $16/$25 from Amazon
- Sony 55" A95L Bravia XR QD-OLED 4K Google TV - $4,495
- Echo Dot 5th Gen with or without clock - $59/$47 from Amazon
- Amazon Echo Show 15 - $295 from Amazon
- Adobe Creative Cloud All Apps Subscription - $43.97 for the first 12 months
- Philips Hue Play White and Colour Ambiance Smart LED Bar 2 Pack Base Kit - $138.99 from Amazon
- Epson EcoTank Photo ET-8500 Multifunction Printer - $755 from Amazon

## Image Of The Day

A photo of me (brown jacket looking weird) sitting in front of the Sydney Apple Store the morning of its grand opening in 2008. The man showing off Mac is Adrian Franulovich, owner of MacMedic (best place to get your Apple gear fixed in Sydney) and now President of the Australian Computer Museum Society. (I don't know who took this photo but it was in my photo library)

## The End

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The Sizzle is created on Wathaurong land and acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia, recognising their continuing connection to land, water and community. I pay my respect to them and their cultures and to elders both past and present.