Plus: Do kebabs get worse the closer you get to a train station? A GIS investigation. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

February 28, 2025 | Read online
# New AI models underwhelm, Apple's step towards OS-level age verification & estimates final wrap Plus: Do kebabs get worse the closer you get to a train station? A GIS investigation.
Issue 2281 - Friday 28 February, 2025
Enjoy your weekend Sizzlers!
# In Today’s Issue
New AI models underwhelm, despite being overpriced Apple’s first step towards OS-level age verification Privacy watchdog staff slashed, Centrelink AI tests and Defence data delays: final estimates wrap-up Do kebabs get worse the closer you get to a train station? A GIS investigation. Deals on HDMI cables, wireless USB adaptors, Logitech mice and webcams, Sonos and Samsung soundbars, Narwal robot vacuum and mop, Samsung and Hisense smart TVs, GALAPOWER mini gaming PCs and more.
# The News
### New AI models underwhelm, despite being overpriced
Still reeling from the DeepSeek R1 release, the big western AI companies have dropped a few new models in the last few weeks: Open AI’s “more natural” feeling non-reasoning model GPT 4.5 (OpenAI), Anthropic’s “hybrid reasoning” model Claude 3.7 (Anthropic) and xAI’s Grok 3 with features like “sexy mode” — don’t ask — and is “not woke” (xAI). These updates feel very minor. The most substantial differences come from new features like Elon Musk deciding models should tell people how to make chemical weapons of mass destruction (X). Meanwhile, the technical improvements coming out of the companies’ massive training costs aren’t really moving the needle and are also expensive for users. Even big AI boosters admit “everything is a little bit better and it’s awesome, but also not exactly in ways that are trivial to point to.” (X) There’s some tricky wording in OpenAI’s own materials that would lead people to believe it had made progress on the ‘ AI generating bullshit’ problem, but doesn’t actually say that:
“Early testing shows that interacting with GPT‑4.5 feels more natural… We also expect it to hallucinate less.”
OpenAI
From the outside, it seems like these companies assumed the fundamental flaws with generative AI large language models that make them unsuited to many tasks were fixable. So far, all the money and compute has been unsuccessful. This doesn’t mean the technology isn’t useful, but it does place a ceiling on just how useful it can be.
### Apple’s first step towards OS-level age verification
Apple is making it possible for apps to check a child user’s age as verified by a parent (The Guardian Australia). The company announced it will introduce this iOS API along with a handful of other new child safety features (Apple paper, Apple Insider write-up). I hate to agree with Meta, Snap et al., but I’ve always thought that operating system-level age verification makes way more sense than having every dinky little app need to ask for your birth certificate, especially since Apple and Google already have a lot of the information it would require to verify someone’s age. Apple’s announcement comes amid the on-going development of Australia’s teen social media ban which, as I’ve been reporting on, continues to have some baffling, seemingly arbitrary decisions. Like deciding that WhatsApp is a messaging app but Snapchat isn’t, despite having near identical features (Crikey, $).
### Privacy watchdog staff slashed, Centrelink AI tests and Defence data delays: final estimates wrap-up
Senate estimates is finished, almost certainly for last time for this parliament. Here’s some tech-related highlights:
Services Australia confirms it is testing machine learning to catch identity theft and deciding which debts to go after (IT News), following an Information Age report that discovered the trials, but says they’re “non-decision making”. Employment Department secretary Natalie James says she won’t pause the welfare mutual obligation system despite apologising for IT faults that caused 1300 people to be illegally penalised and admitting that she is not satisfied that some of the department’s computer programs are acting lawfully (InnovationAus, $). The Office of the Australian Information Commission has lost 30% of its staff, going from 200 in July to just under 140 full time staff because of a funding drop-off (InnovationAus, $). Cool, not like we have any privacy issues to deal with atm. The long-awaited OneDefence Data platform — that is supposed to bring together the Defence Department’s datasets (Defence Minister, 2022) — has yet again been delayed (ITNews) until March or April at a “minimum viable capability” level. Hmm…
# Oh, Also
### Do kebabs get worse the closer you get to a train station?
I love kebabs. I also love empirical research. I particularly love people putting an enormous amount of time into something and publishing the results on the internet for no real benefit. So that’s why I was smitten with this blog post that solves a question posed in a French TikTok posted to the GIS subreddit: "The closer to the train station, the worse the kebab" - A "Study" (jmspae.se)
Paris by kebab shop by James Pae
I won’t spoil the results but I appreciate the thoroughness.
# Bargains
Crest 8K High Speed HDMI Cable with Ethernet 1.5m - $3 at The Good Guys Soundcore by Anker P20i TWS - $27.99 at Amazon Soundcore by Anker A30i TWS - $35.99 at Amazon Bose SoundLink Flex 2nd Gen Bluetooth Speaker - $160 at Amazon Audio Technica AT-LP60X Fully Automatic Belt-Drive Stereo Turntable - $164 at The Good Guys Sonos Era 100 - $258 at The Good Guys DJI Osmo Action 4 Standard Combo - $291 at The Good Guys Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones - $418 at The Good Guys Epson EcoTank Pro ET-5150 Colour Inkjet Multifunction Printer - $434 at Amazon DeLonghi Magnifica S Automatic Coffee Machine ECAM12122B - $448 at Amazon Sonos Sub Mini - $466 at The Good Guys Roborock Q5 Pro+ Robotic Vacuum Cleaner - $479.98 at Costco Samsung S800D/S801D Ultra Slim Soundbar - $499.99 at Costco Sonos Beam Gen 2 - $528 at The Good Guys TCL 55" C755 Mini LED TV - $785 at The Good Guys Sonos Arc Soundbar White - $834 at The Good Guys TCL 75" C655 4k QLED Google TV - $1099 at Costco Dyson V15s Detect Submarine Complete Vacuum - $1099 at Dyson Narwal FREO X Ultra Robotic Vacuum & Mop Cleaner - $1299.99 at Costco Samsung 75" Q60D QLED 4K Smart TV (2024) - $1355 at JB Hi-Fi Hisense 65" Canvas S7NAU 4K QLED Smart TV 2024 - $1424 at The Good Guys
Computing
Mercusys AC1300 High Gain Wireless USB Adapter - $12 at Amazon Logitech Signature M650 Mouse Left Handed - $26 at Amazon Logitech C922 Pro Stream Webcam - $74 at Amazon Brother Toner Cartridge TN-253 Cyan/ Yellow/ Magenta - $91.20 at Officeworks Apple Pencil (USB-C) - $106 at The Good Guys ASUS VA27EHF 27" FHD 100Hz IPS Adaptive-Sync Eye Care Gaming Monitor (Back Order) - $138 Crucial T500 2TB PCIe Gen 4 NVMe M.2 2280 SSD - $185.97 at Amazon Crucial T500 2TB PCIe Gen4 NVMe M.2 SSD (Back Order) - $199 at Amazon Samsung 870 EVO 4TB 2.5" SATA Internal SSD - $366.75 at Samsung Woolworths EPP Mini Gaming PC at GALAPOWER Ryzen 7 7800X3D RTX 5070 Ti for $3299 Ryzen 7 9800X3D RTX 5080 for $4299
# The End
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