### Issue 1749 - Tuesday 6th December, 2022

## In Today's Issue

- Stack Overflow full of garbage quality ChatGPT generated answers to questions, bans them
- New Zealand to get its own News Media Bargaining Code, Facebook threatens to "remove news" if USA does it
- 2nd-gen Starlink satellites get FCC approval, TikTok & Twitter might join News Media Bargaining Code, full sized Square Kilometer Array construction begins
- Calling random phone numbers to see what's on the other end sounds fun
- Cheap Amazon Echo Show 5, Apple TV, iPhone 14, Xbox Series S, Boost Mobile, Samsung portable SSD, TeleGeography maps, Samsung microSD cards, FIFA 23 game, Telstra mobile plan, Sony camera

## The News

### Stack Overflow full of garbage quality ChatGPT generated answers to questions, bans them

Stack Overflow has already banned answers generated with ChatGPT. If you're unfamiliar with ChatGPT, it's like Stable Diffusion but with words. It takes a complicated artificial intelligence software package and makes it a piece of piss for regular people to use. Just give it a prompt on the OpenAI website and it generates what I've heard some people call "fluent bullshit". Stack Overflow agrees, finding that ChatGPT's answers have a "high rate of being incorrect", but because they "look like they might be good and the answers are very easy to produce", Stack Overflow is getting flooded with junk responses to user questions that has "effectively swamped our volunteer-based quality curation infrastructure". Stack Overflow say the ban is temporary, but don't seem to mention what criteria they'll use to lift the ban.

### New Zealand to get its own News Media Bargaining Code, Facebook threatens to "remove news" if USA does it

NZ wants its own version of our News Media Bargaining Code. Their Broadcasting and Media Minister said that "New Zealand news media, particularly small regional and community newspapers, are struggling to remain financially viable as more advertising moves online. So it is critical that those benefiting from their news content actually pay for it" - the same argument our government used at the time to justify the code. Related, Meta told Congress that if a similar law is passed in the US, "we will be forced to consider removing news from our platform altogether" because governments "fail to recognize the key fact: publishers and broadcasters put their content on our platform themselves because it benefits their bottom line — not the other way around" - the same argument they used in Australia against the code. Who said Australia is no longer innovative? We are leading the world in rent-seeking legislation!

### 2nd-gen Starlink satellites get FCC approval, TikTok & Twitter might join News Media Bargaining Code, full sized Square Kilometer Array construction begins

- FCC authorised SpaceX to launch 7,500 2nd-gen Starlink satellites featuring inter-satellite laser links for lower latency and higher bandwidth connectivity. SpaceX wanted 30,000, but the FCC is concerned about science missions and radio astronomy, along with the issue of orbital debris and space safety, so will further deliberate on allowing SpaceX to send up the rest.
- A report from the federal Treasury has raised the issue of TikTok and Twitter being made a "designated" platform as part of the News Media Bargaining Code, as they get more popular and refuse to negotiate with media companies. Nine told the ACCC that TikTok had a "rapidly growing and unfair market power" and was an "unavoidable business partner" for news in Australia.
- After years of design, planning and pathfinder projects, construction of the full scale Square Kilometer Array radio telescope has begun in South Africa and the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory near Boolardy in Western Australia. We host the low-frequency part of the antenna, which is made up of "131,072 small Christmas tree shaped antennas spread across a distance of up to 74km". Absolutely massive project.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Calling random phone numbers to see what's on the other end sounds fun

A Finnish security researcher "used wardialing to call a bunch of numbers and recorded the first 60 seconds of audio received while staying quiet myself. This produced call recordings I could analyze to learn more about systems in the telephone network". After excluding number ranges they didn't want (premium numbers, private individuals, etc), they made 56874 calls in 40 days, only 74 of which were "interesting". I don't think they're very interesting myself, but I liked the project. Calling every number to find out what's on the other end for no reason than curiosity is worth it, even if the outcome was more or less "yeah there's not much happening".

## Bargains

- Amazon Echo Show 5 (2nd Gen) - $47.20 from digiDirect's eBay store
- Apple TV 4K 128GB (Ethernet & wi-fi) or 64GB (wi-fi only) - $211.65/$186.15 from The Good Guys eBay store using ZipPay
- Apple iPhone 14 128GB - $1232.49 from Mobileciti's eBay store using ZipPay
- Xbox Series S - $379.06 from The Gamesmen's eBay store using ZipPay
- Boost Mobile pre-paid SIM 365-day & 260GB data - $206.51 from LuckyMobile's eBay store using ZipPay
- Samsung T7 1TB portable SSD - $121.55 from Bing Lee's eBay store using ZipPay
- 50% off TeleGeography Internet Infrastructure Maps - $187 from TeleGeography
- Samsung 128GB PRO Plus or 256GB EVO Plus microSD card - $32.38/$34 from Amazon
- FIFA 23 for PS4/PS5 - $33.99/$44.99 from Aldi
- $700 JB Hi-Fi gift card with Telstra $69 100GB/m 24-month plan via JB Hi-Fi
- Sony Alpha A7S III Body - $3,830.40 from digiDirect's eBay store

## Image Of The Day

Submarine Cable Map 2022. This new edition depicts 486 cable systems and 1,306 landings that are currently active or under construction. (TeleGeography)

## The End

📻 Way Down The Line - The Offspring

😎 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.