Plus: you need to see Meta’s bizarre VR dumped support group ad ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

February 17, 2025 | Read online
# Tardy tech tax Trump excuse, Google fingerprint backflip and Aussies love Dr ChatGPT Plus: you need to see Meta’s bizarre VR dumped support group ad
Issue 2272 - Monday 17 February, 2025
Hello! I hope you had a good weekend. Two things I did that you might be interested in: I wrote about the tech I use to write the Sizzle and I forced a good friend to do an Excel challenge as part of his bucks party.
# In Today’s Issue
Trump excuse for tardy tech tax Google’s fingerprinting backflip starts now Australians love Dr ChatGPT Meta’s bizarre VR dumped support group ad Deals on Anker USB-C charger, Meross HomeKit garage door opener, Seagate external SSD, Logitech bluetooth headset, Samsung Watch 7, Kindle Paperwhite, TCL 75’’ 4K Mini-LED TV, HP laptops, Samsung Galaxy S24 and S25s, micro and gaming PCs, Samsung and Lenovo tablets.
# The News
### Trump excuse for tardy tech tax
Australia has “decided to go slow” on plans to tax the tech giants because of fears that Trump will slap tariffs on Australia, the government is reportedly saying (Nine papers, $). I’ve always thought the news media bargaining code was bizarre policy: a link tax trying to fix journalism’s broken business model in a weird, indirect and unfair way. The Albanese government promised that it would redo the scheme and it’s still technically possible that it’ll pass something, but it looks increasingly like it won’t happen before the election.
Trump is a convenient excuse but, to me, the code is a prime example of the Albanese government being too slow. Here’s the timeline for those playing at home:
the government released a review of the code in 2022 (Treasury); the government said it would accept the review’s recommendations in 2023 (Treasury); Meta confirmed the worst-kept secret that it would not renew deals under the code in February 2024 (Facebook blog) and those existing deals ran out towards the end of last year; The Albanese government only announced its code 2.0 — a levy this time — in December (Nine papers, $), a month after Trump was elected.
Trump is definitely a barrier, but he’s only an impediment to passing the law because the Albanese government left it until the last minute and now we might not get anything at all. While we’re on this topic — Meta and TikTok have given the government a kick for letting YouTube escape its teen social media ban (Capital Brief, $)
### Google’s fingerprinting backflip starts now
I feel like it hasn’t gotten much attention, but Google’s backflip to let advertisers use fingerprinting has now come into effect (BBC). In 2019, Google said “we think it’s bad that consumers have no choice over what data advertisers use to target them so we’re banning fingerprinting” (Google) which, as a refresher, is when advertisers use a combination of clues about a user like their IP, screen size, etc. to figure out who they are so they can profile and target them with ads. Compared with cookies — which you can clear so that advertisers don’t know you were shopping for extra small condoms or whatever you don’t want people to know about — fingerprinting is much harder to shake. Your online habits are stamped on your forehead and follow you everywhere.
In a significantly less forward-facing announcement last December, the company decided that it was “refreshing our platform program policies” (Google) to allow fingerprinting. Predictably, advertisers are happy (Ad Exchanger) but there are questions about whether doing so is even legal? I might ask our privacy commissioner so watch this space.
### Australians love Dr ChatGPT
Speaking of “sensitive data that advertisers and others would love to find out about you”, one in ten Australians has asked ChatGPT health questions according to a survey published in the Medical Journal of Australia (Wiley). Under the age of 44, that number jumps to about a quarter!
According to those who had asked Dr ChatGPT, nearly two-thirds had asked “questions that would typically require clinical advice” — probably not the best source of high-risk. Among those who hadn’t used it but knew about ChatGPT, 40% said they would consider using it for health advice in the next six months. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that I do not expect this to end well for both privacy and health reasons. Meanwhile, NSW has kiboshed plans to use AI as part of bail hearings because trial models did not follow all the instructions that it was supposed to help judges stay across, leading the NSW Judicial Commission to find “no evidence of a pressing need for AI solutions” (Information Age).
# Oh, Also
### Meta’s bizarre VR dumped support group ad
Sorry to share a social media post but you really need to see this to believe it. Amid the AI hype, you might have forgotten that Meta is still big into the metaverse (remember… “meta”). For Valentine’s Day, the company released a promo video to promote its VR “game” Meta Horizon Worlds. Bluesky user @nathievr.bsky.social shared it (Bluesky mirror) and it’s certainly something.
Here’s the original Instagram video embedded:
metahorizon |
metahorizon
Add a comment... |
It begins as a virtual support group for people who’ve been dumped by text (or worse) in a fake high school gymnasium and only gets weirder from there… We’ve strayed so far from the Apple dancing commercials.
# Bargains
Electricial & Electronics
Anker 30W Type-C Charger - $24.99 at Amazon Lexar JumpDrive Dual Drive D400 (USB-C & USB-A) 128GB - 2 for $29.98 at Costco LISEN Ultra Slim 5000mAh 18W USB C (7.5W Wireless) Magnetic Power Bank - 2 for $41.98 at Amazon Meross Smart Garage Door Opener (HomeKit Compatible) - $53.96 at Amazon Creative "Outlier Free" Wireless Bone Conduction Headphones - $59.95 at Creative Store Logitech Zone 300 Wireless Bluetooth Headset with Noise-Cancelling Microphone - $75 at Amazon Mobvoi Ticwatch Pro 5 - $209.99 at Amazon Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 - $226 at Samsung Kindle Paperwhite 7" 12th Generation 2024 16GB eReader - $276.03 at eBay Insta360 Go 3 32GB - $373.80 at digiDirect Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Wi-Fi - 128GB $479.40 and 256GB $599.40 at Samsung TCL 75" C755 4K UHD QD Mini-LED TV (2024) - $1542 at Bing Lee for NSW, ACT, Victoria and Queensland.
Computing
20% off (Max Discount $1000) at HP eBay Store Logitech Lift Vertical Ergonomic Wireless Mouse - $61.40 at Amazon Samsung 24" S36GD 100Hz VA FHD Curved Monitor - $108 at Amazon MSI PRO MP161 E2 15.6 Inch Full HD Portable Monitor - $157.21 at Amazon UK GMKtec G5 Mini PC Intel N97 12GB DDR5 512GB SSD Windows 11 Pro - $189.99 at Amazon Seagate One Touch 2TB USB-C External Portable SSD (Black) - $199.72 at Amazon Samsung T7 2TB Portable SSD International Version (Titan Grey) - $245.70 at Amazon US Lenovo Tablet M11 4G LTE G88, 8GB/128GB, 11" WUXGA IPS 400nits 90Hz, microSD, Pen, 7040mAh - $246.05 at Lenovo education store Lenovo Tab Plus G99, 8GB/256GB, 11.5" 2K IPS 400nits 90Hz, microSD, 8600mAh Batt, JBL Audio - $312.55 at Lenovo education store GMKtec Nucbox M6 Mini PC AMD Ryzen 5 6600H 16GB DDR5 512GB SSD Windows 11 Pro - $329.99 at Amazon SanDisk 2TB Extreme PRO Micro SD Card + SD Adapter - $372.90 at Amazon Germany WD Blue 8TB 3.5" Internal Hard Drive 2 - $379.08 at Amazon US ASUS RT-BE88U BE7200 Dual-Band Wi-Fi 7 Router (on backorder) - $509 at Amazon Gaming PCs at Nebula PC Ryzen 5 8400F, RTX 4060, 16GB RAM, 1TB M.2, 650W Silver PSU: $1048 RTX 4060 Ti: $1248 Gaming PC - Intel Core i5-14400F CPU, 16GB DDR4 RAM, 1TB M.2 SSD, RTX 4060 GPU - $1049 at GALAPOWER Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5 R7-8845HS, 32GB DDR5, 1TB SSD, Radeon 780M, 16" 2.6K IPS 350nits 120Hz, 84Wh Battery - $1368 at Lenovo Alienware AW3225QF 32" 4K 240Hz QD-OLED Gaming Monitor - $1511.20 at Amazon HP Victus 16.1" FHD Gaming Laptop: Intel Core i5-13500HX, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD, RTX 4070 GPU - $1799.20 at eBay
Mobile
Habit Tracker Productify Pro (in-app) - $0 at Apple App Store Xiaomi Redmi 12 256GB (Black) - $174.50 at digiDirect Samsung Galaxy A35 5G 128GB - $299 at Telstra Samsung Galaxy S24 FE 5G at amaysim with at least a $30 28 day plan at amaysim Unlocked 128GB $749 256GB $849 Samsung Galaxy S25 256GB - $1,099 with at least a $30 28 day plan at amaysim Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra 256GB - $1649 at PhoneX AU
# The End
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