### Issue 1770 - Monday 23rd January, 2023

## In Today's Issue

- Google joins Microsoft, Meta and Amazon in making large job cuts
- Elon appears in court & Bloomberg has emails proving he directed fake Autopilot video
- eSafety Commissioner starts issuing legal requests for cyberbullies to apologise to victims
- Google pissing their pants over ChatGPT & OpenAI
- Cheap Lenovo smart bulbs, Samsung SSDs, LG 49" monitor, Logitech Lift mouse, eBay, JB & Google Play gift cards, smart door/window sensors, Q Acoustics speakers, Crucial laptop RAM, Intel Arc A750 GPU

## The News

### Google joins Microsoft, Meta and Amazon in making large job cuts

Google's seen Microsoft, Meta and Amazon trim their workforce to keep investors happy and decided to get in on the action, announcing 12,000 fresh job cuts in an email and blog post over the weekend amounting to around 6% of their entire workforce. Sundar Pichai said in the memo that these cuts will "sharpen our focus, reengineer our cost base, and direct our talent and capital to our highest priorities". I will remind you that all these companies have made immense profits the last quarter, have huge cash reserves and could easily absorb any softening in market conditions for a decade or more - but investors want the share price to go up (or not drop) and this is an easy way to keep them happy. Much easier than using all these people to develop new products or services. Think I'm being cynical? Check out this letter TCI Fund Management sent to Sundar demanding staff cuts.

### Elon Musk appears in court & Bloomberg has emails proving he directed fake Autopilot video

Elon Musk made a quick 30 minute appearance in court late last week in the case about his "funding secured" tweet from 2018. He admitted that he ignored advisors and investors telling him to stop tweeting about the Saudi-funded take over deal of Tesla and that "just because I tweet something does not mean people believe it or will act accordingly". A judge has already ruled that the actual tweet about the funding being secured was bullshit, that's sorted. He will be back in court this week to answer more questions about if he knew they were bullshit (probably) and if he mislead Tesla investors (that's the only skill he's got). Meanwhile, Bloomberg has emails that show Elon was directly involved in faking the then-impressive 2016 Autopilot demo video, "even going as far as to write the text shown at the beginning that claimed the car was driving itself".

### eSafety Commissioner starts issuing legal requests for cyberbullies to apologise to victims

On the one year anniversary of the Online Safety Act becoming law, the eSafety Commissioner announced they've "probed over 1,680 cyberbullying complaints in total and made over 500 informal requests for online platforms to remove content", along with "6 formal Removal Notices to online service providers" under the Adult Cyber Abuse scheme that also included "investigating over 2,400 complaints and making 450 informal requests for removal". The bigger news is that they've "issued its first End User Notices compelling recipients to remove serious cyberbullying material targeting another child" - these are requests by eSafety to the person doing the bullying telling them to stop and apologise and if they don't do that, "may result in enforcement action against the recipient".

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Google pissing their pants over ChatGPT & OpenAI

Google is apparently very concerned about ChatGPT and OpenAI threatening its cash cow search business, so concerned in-fact, that they've dragged Larry and Sergey out of semi-retirement and put the poor bastards back on the tools. The New York Times is quoting a lot of nameless people "familiar" with the situation, but at its core, Google is worried that the primary purpose of a search engine these days - giving people answers to questions - will be usurped by Open AI's tools, turning Google search into even more of a useless SEO laden wasteland than it already is. Larry and Sergey have "pitched ideas to put more chatbot features into Google's search engine" that will get demoed some time this year. I can't wait for the AI wars, I'm sure everyone will put ethics before profits.

## Bargains

- Lenovo Smart White Bulb B22 2 Pack (2022, Tuya) - $9 at JB Hi-Fi
- Samsung 1TB Portable SSD T7 USB 3.2 Titan Gray - $129 from Bing Lee's eBay store
- LG 49" 49WL95C-WE 5120x1440 curved monitor - $1699 from Wireless1
- Logitech Lift Vertical Ergonomic Mouse Graphite - $89 from Amazon
- 5% cashback on eBay gift cards from Shopback
- CoRui Zigbee/Tuya Smart Window Door Sensor - $7 from Aliexpress
- Google Nest Doorbell (Battery) White - $219 from Bing Lee
- Q Acoustics passive speakers 3010i, 3020i, 3030i, 3050i - $279, $384, $489, $979 from Addicted to Audio
- 10% off JB Hi-Fi gift cards & Google Play gift cards at Coles
- Samsung 980 Pro 2TB NVMe M.2 SSD - $287.92 from Amazon USA
- Crucial 16GB RAM SODIMM DDR4 3200MHz - $66.30 from Shopping Express eBay store
- Asrock Intel Arc A750 Challenger D 8G OC Graphics Card & bonus CoD: Modern Warfare 2 - $369 at MSY

## Image Of The Day

A microwave tower as part of the original AT&T Long Lines network (Spencer Harding)

## The End

📻 MSYA - Yetzt

😎 The Sizzle is curated by Anthony "@decryption" Agius and emailed every weekday afternoon.

💬 Checked out the paid subscriber only forum? It's a tidy little place to discuss tech with like minded Aussies.

👋 Forums not your thing? The Sizzle has a Slack group you can procrastinate in and chat with other nerds bored at work.

💳 Paid subscriber looking to manage your billing info, change email address or cancel your subscription? Visit the customer portal.

📚 Browse The Sizzle Archive. A few issues are missing and it's not searchable, but it's better than nothing.

🫂 Friends of The Sizzle is a small group of businesses or organisations operated by Sizzle subscribers. Support your fellow Sizzler!

💔 Tired of my bullshit? Unsubscribe and I'll never speak to you again.

## Always Was, Always Will Be Aboriginal Land

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.