### Issue 2047 - Thursday 14th March, 2024

## In Today's Issue

- US Congress passes TikTok ban, Senate undecided
- OpenAI considers letting Sora make artistic nudes, 5 out of 45 Pulitzer Prize entries used AI & Microsoft launches Copilot for Security
- Aquent's 2024 Salary Guide is out, how do you compare?
- Speedometer 3.0 is a new cross plaftform web browser benchmark
- Cheap Samsung 256GB flash drive, Apple TV, AirPods Pro, CatchConnect & Boost 365-day SIMs, RTX4070, Pixel Watch, refurb Dell laptop, Lego, Ring doorbell, Sony earbuds, Xbox controller, TCL TV, Anker powerbank, Ryzen APU, Steam Deck, Moto G84, TP-Link 10GbE NIC

## The News

### US Congress passes TikTok ban, Senate undecided

TikTok is one step closing to getting banned in the USA, with Congress easily passing a bill that mandates ByteDance flog TikTok to a US company or cease operations in the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave. Now it enters the Senate where things are a bit more divided, with many Senators worried it'll impose limits on free speech that could be constitutionally illegal and weighing up how hard their constituents will complain if TikTok is taken away as it could negatively impact businesses that rely on it for marketing and just upset a disturbingly large cohort of society that absolutely loves this God forsaken app. Still feels pretty wild to me that the USA is probably gonna ban a social media platform.

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### OpenAI considers letting Sora make artistic nudes, 5 out of 45 Pulitzer Prize entries used AI & Microsoft launches Copilot for Security

- OpenAI is still on the fence about allowing its Sora video generation AI tool to conjure up nude people. Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati old the Wall Street Journal he's "not sure" about nudity, but admits "there are creative settings in which artists might want to have more control over that".
- 5 stories out of the 45 finalists for the 2024 Pulitzer Prize (kinda like an Olympic gold medal but for journalism) have disclosed that AI was used in their creation. We don't know to what extent AI was used, so it could be something relatively benign like analysing data or transcribing interviews.
- Microsoft is launching a new "Copilot for Security" that is "informed by large-scale data and threat intelligence, including more than 78 trillion security signals processed by Microsoft each day, and coupled with large language models to deliver tailored insights and guide next steps". Microsoft's really going all in on this Copilot stuff aren't they?

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### Aquent's 2024 Salary Guide is out, how do you compare?

It's a slow news day, so worth checking out Aquent's 2024 Salary Guide for "100+ job roles across marketing, design, and technology" that just got released. With the ol' cozzie livs getting up there and employers refusing to give wage increases above inflation, there's never been a better time to see if what you're getting paid stacks up to current market levels. Some common ones for Sizzle readers: UX Designer - $100,000. Email Marketing Specialist - $90,620. Social Media Manager - $75,000. Community Manager - $82,450. Full-Stack Developer - $90,000. Scrum Master - $150,000. Thanks Artywah over in The Sizzle's Slack group for bringing it to my attention! It's open for all Sizzle subscribers not just paying ones, so jump on in.

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## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Speedometer 3.0 is a new cross plaftform web browser benchmark

Of all the benchmarks that are performed when a new CPU or SSD or whatever comes out, the most important one to be is how fast web browsing is. Yes I know it's not exactly a computationally taxing activity, but considering how damn much of the stuff I do on my computer and smartphone is in a web browser, it's a much more useful metric to me when gauging a computer's performance than video editing or gaming. That's why I'm excited about Speedometer 3.0 - a massive update on previous Speedometer benchmarks that make it easy to compare browser performance across platforms and devices. On my M1 Pro MBP, Chrome (25) beat Safari (22.4) and flogged my beloved Firefox (17.8). But on my Ryzen 9 7900 box running Windows 11, Firefox (26) just beat Edge (25.7) and was barely beaten by Chrome (26.4). Could be all the extensions I have in Firefox on the Mac that makes it so comparatively slow.

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## Bargains

- For every 90-day free trial of The Sizzle given away, I will donate 50c to Digital Rights Watch - $380 raised so far! Tell all your friends again!
- Samsung MUF-256DA/AM USB-C flash drive 256GB - $35.14 from Amazon USA
- Apple TV 4K 64GB/128GB - $169.15/$193.80 from Techciti's eBay store if you pay with Afterpay
- AirPods Pro 2nd-gen USB-C Magsafe case - $305.15 from Techciti's eBay store if you pay with Afterpay
- Complete the Microsoft AI Skills Challenge and get a code to redeem one free certification exam via Pearson Vue
- Catch Connect 365-day SIM with 60GB data & unlimited calls/SMS - $89 from Catch
- Galax GeForce RTX 4070 12GB GPU - $794 + delivery from Umart's eBay store if you pay with Afterpay
- Google Pixel Watch 4G LTE 40mm Matte Black and Silver - $249 from Telstra
- Refurb/Used Dell Latitude 5500 laptop (i5-8365U, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD, 1080p 15.6") - $190.90 from Bneacttrader's eBay store
- 20% off Lego at Big W's online store
- Ring Video Doorbell (2nd-gen) - $109.60 from Amazon
- Sony WF-1000XM5 Noise Cancelling Earbuds - $319 from JB Hi-Fi
- $30 off $300 minimum spend at JB Hi-Fi
- Xbox Wireless Controller - $58.99 from Mobileciti
- TCL 65" C845 Mini LED 4K Google TV (2023) - $1369 from Powerland's eBay store if you pay with Afterpay
- Anker 737 140W (PowerCore 24K) Power Bank - $131.93 from Wireless 1's eBay store if you pay with Afterpay
- AMD Ryzen 5 8600G APU - $330.65 from Shopping Express's eBay store if you pay with Afterpay
- Valve Steam Deck 64GB - $592.89 from Dick Smith's eBay store if you pay with Afterpay
- Boost Mobile 365-day SIM with 170GB/260GB data, unlimited calls & SMS - $182.75/$236.60 from Auditech's eBay store if you pay with Afterpay
- Motorola Moto G84 smartphone - $296.64 from Mobileciti's eBay store if you pay with Afterpay
- TP-Link TX401 10GbE PCIe NIC - $87.55 from HT's eBay store if you pay with Afterpay

## Image Of The Day

There has been talk of hackers everywhere in the media for some time now. And when people say "hackers" in this country, they usually mean members of the Chaos Computer Club Hamburg and its offshoots. Be it the DM 130,000 coup at the Hamburger Sparkasse or the various appearances on Tagesschau, Frank Elstner and elsewhere: they have been widely reported on. Here, for the first time, is a book about them. Not only about the how of hacking, but also about the why. (retroGfx / Internet Archive)

## The End

📻 Stick - Ovlov

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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.