### Issue 1797 - Thursday 2nd March, 2023

Quick heads up about two conferences happening in Melbourne during in March that Sizzle subscribers are involved in organising. First up is Everything Open, a gathering of open source people sharing their passions, put on by the Linux Australia team. Later in the month is /dev/world and X World, the Apple University Consortium's yearly shindig. Both great events put on by great people in the best city in Australia.

## In Today's Issue

- Tesla's investor day was a bit of a let down, mostly re-iterates old announcements & achievements
- Meta's company wide AI team, Open AI unleashes new ChatGPT API, Microsoft's Kosmos-1 multi-modal model
- My Health Record has an app, Optus and Mastercard make a digital ID thingy, TikTok to limit minors to 1hr/day of use
- Toyota's new executives to "get real" on EVs and praises Tesla's Model Y manufacturing
- Cheap Optus 4G modem, Samsung Galaxy Watch4, LG OLED TVs, DJI smartphone gimbal, open box M1 iMacs, 3-pack Xiaomi 30W USB chargers, EV charging cable, LIFX smart bulbs, Samsung 980 Pro SSD

## The News

### Tesla's investor day was a bit of a let down, mostly re-iterates old announcements & achievements

Tesla held their "Master Plan 3" investor day this morning. If you've read The Big Switch by Saul Griffith, that was basically the first 30 minutes. Electrify everything is feasible and Tesla wants sell a shitload of batteries along the way. Then there was a bunch of executives talking up Tesla's achievements in manufacturing which to a layperson like me, seem impressive. Elon returned and re-iterated his robotaxi/"full self driving" nonsense and showing a video of cyborgs that he said will outnumber humans if "assuming the things I'm saying are true". No firm date for the Cybertruck and no information regarding a lower priced car beyond a quick mention that they're working on "a next generation vehicle" that'll be built in Mexico. The entire event is up on YouTube, all 4 hours of it.

### Meta's company wide AI team, Open AI unleashes new ChatGPT API, Microsoft's Kosmos-1 multi-modal model

Mark Zuckerberg has made yet another product announcement that feels like a brainfart. This time it's "a new top-level product group at Meta focused on generative AI to turbocharge our work in this area". This team will "focus on building creative and expressive tools. Over the longer term, we'll focus on developing AI personas that can help people in a variety of ways". I can't wait. Meanwhile, Open AI has announced that Whisper (speech to text) and ChatGPT (aka "gpt-3.5-turbo") are now available via their API and their partner in crime, Microsoft, has shown off Kosmos-1 - "a multi-modal model that can reportedly analyze images for content, solve visual puzzles, perform visual text recognition, pass visual IQ tests, and understand natural language instructions" - something that's key to artificial general intelligence.

### My Health Record has an app, Optus and Mastercard make a digital ID thingy, TikTok to limit minors to 1hr/day of use

- There's a My Health Record app on Google & Apple's app stores now. It took 16 months to build, cost $2.1m and allows you to "view and download key health information that you, your healthcare providers or representatives have uploaded". Probably should have been available day one.
- Optus has partnered with Mastercard to enable Optus customers to "create a secure and reusable identity via the My Optus app on their personal device". Right now it's only for Optus customers, but eventually, the ID created there will be able to be used with other "identity providers of an appropriate standard".
- TikTok will add "default screen time restrictions" for "every account known to belong to someone under 18". After the first hour of use each day, the app will pop up a warning saying its time to log off and to come back tomorrow. It can be disabled in the app's settings or made permanent if you pair your kid's account to your account.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Toyota's new executives to "get real" on EVs and praises Tesla's Model Y manufacturing

Automotive News has a great article about Toyota's generational change of leadership and explores how it will try to move this behemoth of a company towards manufacturing electric vehicles, after betting on the wrong horse in hydrogen. In it is a quote that will be used by every Tesla fanboy you know - "taking the skin off the Model Y, it was truly a work of art" - said by a Toyota executive after doing a teardown of a vehicle made in Tesla's Austin factory using the much hyped giga casting process. Another Toyota executive called it "a whole different manufacturing philosophy" and that "we need a new platform designed as a blank-sheet EV". Very high praise from the masters of manufacturing. If I was Tesla I would be very proud hearing that.

## Bargains

- Optus E3372 4G USB Modem with 4GB starter SIM - $9 at Coles
- Samsung Galaxy Watch4 40mm - $249 at JB Hi-Fi
- LG OLED42C2PSA 42" 4K OLED TV - $1,196 from The Good Guys
- DJI OM 4 SE Mobile Gimbal with Case - $99 from D1 Store
- Open Box/Returned 24" M1 iMac - $1614.05 from CompNow's eBay store
- Xiaomi 30W Turbo Charge/QC 3.0 USB charger 3-pack - $19.95 from LuckyMi's eBay store
- Type 2 to Type 2 EV Charging Cable 22kW 3-Phase 5 Metre - $220.50 from EVSE Australia
- 50% off a large range of LIFX wi-fi smart LED bulbs from Clear Deals
- Samsung 980 PRO 2TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSD with Heatsink - $271.94 from Amazon UK

## Image Of The Day

A dashboard of Snowy Hydro's generation assets on display at the Snowy Hydro Discovery Centre in Cooma, NSW (Me! I took this photo)

## The End

📻 Rebellion (Lies) - Arcade Fire

😎 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.

🎁 Make someone's day and buy them a 12 month gift subscription to The Sizzle.

📚 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.