### Issue 1891 - Wednesday 19th July, 2023

Just a quick heads up that tickets are on sale for PyConAU 2023, taking place in Adelaide August 18th to 22nd. It's a great event for those not just working with Python, but interested in programming in general. They didn't pay me to mention it (the opposite actually - I paid them to be a sponsor!), I just like the community and the organisers are nice people that subscribe to The Sizzle.

## In Today's Issue

- Latest Australian Digital Inclusion Index includes First Nations people for first time
- USA creates a certification program for consumer smart/IoT gadgets
- Meta's new LLM is open source and apparently quite good
- A blog post explaining how writing online is easier than talking in meatspace for some people
- Cheap Cygnett 100W USB charger, Binge/Kayo gift cards, Tuya wi-fi IR blaster, Logitech & Cherry mech keebs, Xiaomi temp/humdity sensors, refurb Apple TV, 8BitDo Ultimate controller, 10% Lenovo cashback

## The News

### Latest Australian Digital Inclusion Index includes First Nations people for first time

The just released 2023 Australian Digital Inclusion Index is the first one to include data on First Nations people. In major cities the gap between First Nations people and the rest of Australia is small, but in regional areas it's huge. Also 9.4% of Australians (millions of people!) are "highly excluded", meaning they're basically off the grid when it comes to computers, the internet and access to digital services. While overall Australia improved its "digital ability", those on the lowest incomes are going backwards. I strongly recommend browsing the full report - it's enlightening to see how access to the things we take for granted as computer loving dorks is either a luxury or simply unobtainable for a large portion of Australians.

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### USA creates a certification program for consumer smart/IoT gadgets

The USA has cooked up a label that smart device vendors can voluntarily slap on their products - the US Cyber Trust Mark. The program aims to "recognise smart products that meet cybersecurity criteria from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which include the use of unique and strong default passwords, data protection, software updates, and incident detection capabilities". There will be a national database that consumers can use to compare various devices and make a somewhat informed decision before purchase. Kinda like those energy consumption labels on appliances, but for smart house gadgets. Would be nice if it was mandatory, but it's better than nothing and may introduce a baseline minimum set of not-shit specs for a product sector notorious for lax security practices.

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### Meta's new LLM is open source and apparently quite good

Meta has "open sourced" its new LLaMA 2 large language model and made it free for commercial and research use. This is kind of a big deal as it bucks the trend of OpenAI and Google keeping their LLM models locked up. It's not as open as you expect though, as you still gotta fill out a form and ask Meta for permission to download the code and abide by their "community license agreement" - so there's still some strings attached. Qualcomm is working with Meta to develop SoCs that will support processing LLaMA 2 on device too. Interconnects.ai has a heap of technical info on LLaMA 2 that goes totally over my head. Their assessment is that it's almost as good as GPT-4, impressive for a "free" LLM model people can tinker with.

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## Something I Saw On The Internet

### A blog post explaining how writing online is easier than talking in meatspace for some people

Jesse Meadows published a short blog post that hits the nail on the head about why I'm a writer, not a podcaster or a YouTuber and the general discomfort I have with talking to get my ideas across. "Typing what I wanted to say felt easier than speaking — a messy process ripe with accidents and missed opportunities for me. I never felt like I could express what I wanted to with my mouth, because I got too overwhelmed by emotion and action. Everything happened all at once and as soon as I caught up, it was over, and I hadn't said what I wanted to. But online, things were different".

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## Bargains

- 10% cashback at Lenovo's online store via Cashrewards
- Cygnett PowerMaxx 100W multi-port GaN USB charger - $79 at JB Hi-Fi
- 10% off Binge/Kayo gift cards at Woolworth's gift card online store
- S18 WiFi Tuya Smart IR Blaster/Controller - $7 from Aliexpress
- Logitech Signature K855 wireless mechanical keyboard - $99 from Centrecom
- Refurb Dell Optiplex 3060 micro PC (i5-8400T, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) - $225 from UN Tech
- Cherry MX 2.0S RGB mechanical gaming keyboard with palm rest - $99 + delivery from Mwave
- Xiaomi Bluetooth temp & humidity sensor 4-pack - $28 from Aliexpress
- Refurb Apple TV 4K 3rd Gen 128GB Wi-Fi + Ethernet - $209 from Apple
- 8BitDo Ultimate Bluetooth Controller with Charging Dock - $78.96 from Amazon

## Image Of The Day

For decades, Cintel has been the leader in film scanning technology. Now the new Cintel Scanner G3 HDR+ advances the art of film scanning even further! The new Cintel Scanner G3 HDR+ features a completely redesigned light source that allows real time HDR film scanning in Ultra HD. The new model also retains the great features of the Cintel Scanners, such as digital servos, gentle capstan drives, advanced color science, 35mm and 16mm film support and an elegant architectural design that can even be wall mounted! The Cintel Scanner is perfect for unlocking vast archive film libraries for conversion into new Ultra HD masters so they can be uploaded for streaming and online distribution! (Blackmagic Design)

## The End

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