### Issue 1967 - Friday 3rd November, 2023

## In Today's Issue

- Sam Bankman-Fried found guilty of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering
- UK government hosts AI Safety Summit at legendary Bletchley Park
- Microsoft blocks unauthorised Xbox accessories, Starlink's cashflow is breakeven, Mastodon gets lists feature
- Dogs can sniff out electronics now and dob you in to the cops
- Friday Forum Update
- Cheap digital cameras, monitors, SSDs, wireless earbuds, powerbank, speakers & thermal printer

## The News

### Sam Bankman-Fried found guilty of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering

After a month long trial, the jury in Sam Bankman-Fried's trial took less than four hours come to the decision that he is guilty on all charges, "including wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering". Sam will be sentenced March 28th, 2024. In a very brief nutshell, the crypto exchange FTX used money belonging to customers to fund a trading firm called Alameda Research (very illegal), which was the equivalent of a Sportsbet account for SBF but instead of a cheeky lobster on the Roos to beat the Eagles, it's a few billion on random real estate, political donations and crypto startups. When the shit hit the fan (his bets didn't work out but he owed customers money), SBF and mates tried to cover it all up and when the law came, his mates quickly turned and blamed SBF for everything. His defence was basically "I tried my best but fucked up", but nobody believed it so here we are. TIME has a solid article outlining how it all played out. Expect a Hollywood movie about FTX and SBF in 3-5 years.

⬆ Share or Discuss

### UK government hosts AI Safety Summit at legendary Bletchley Park

British PM Rishi Sunak hosted an AI Safety Summit at the famous Bletchley Park this week where representatives from the 28 countries, including the USA, China and Australia signed the Bletchley Declaration - 1,137 words to say that AI has potential but could also be bad, so we should be thoughtful about it. Also at the summit, Rishi Sunak and Elon Musk had a fireside chat about AI. Whole video is up on Musk's X account if you're keen. I'd try and summarise what the conversation between these two smooth brains entailed but it doesn't matter so fuck it, we all have better things to do. The Guardian took a stab at trying to interpret meaning from Sunak's shindig - go read that if you care - but ultimately what these people say is kinda meaningless as the technology progresses without the people actually involved in the creation of AI systems stopping to contemplate the ramifications.

⬆ Share or Discuss

### Microsoft blocks unauthorised Xbox accessories, Starlink's cashflow is breakeven, Mastodon gets lists feature

- Microsoft has blocked "unauthorised" accessories and controllers from working with the Xbox. Nobody got a heads up about this, an update dropped one day and now accessories that worked fine and people enjoyed using no longer work. Even giving Microsoft the benefit of the doubt that they did this to ensure a certain level of quality because there's a lot of shitty 3rd party controllers out there, this still sucks.
- Musk said on X that Starlink is now at break even cashflow. Fuck knows if its true as SpaceX is privately owned, but that's cool. What's not cool are the increasing claims from astronomers that Starlink is fucking up their research. The radio quiet zone in outback WA is no longer quiet as Starlink blasts its signal there at a higher intensity than other satellites.
- Mastodon's Android app and web interface got a new update that brings follower lists. From the announcement blog post: "you now have the ability to create custom lists and categorize your follows based on specific topics or interests, while removing them from your home feed", "this not only helps in decluttering your home feed but also allows you to engage with certain topics on your own terms, when you are ready".

⬆ Share or Discuss

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### Dogs can sniff out electronics now and dob you in to the cops

Did you know that the AFP have "technology detection dogs" that are "able to sniff out tiny electronic devices such as USBs and SIM cards, which are easily concealed due to their small size"??? I only learned about this when they arrested the mushroom killer (alleged) and an article briefly mentioned that they got in dogs to try and find any electronics she may have stashed in her home. A US criminal lawyer's blog reckons "all electronics use a compound called triphenylphosphine oxide (TPPO), which covers the circuit boards in electronics to prevent overheating. Another common compound is hydroxycyclohexyl phenyl ketone (HPK), which can be found in CDs, DVDs, Blu-Rays, and floppy disks. Electronic sniffing dogs are trained to detect these chemical compounds, then alert their handlers to these compounds". Something to keep in mind should you need to avoid your gear getting nabbed by the cops.

⬆ Share or Discuss

## Friday Forum Update

Here's five interesting discussions over on The Sizzle's paid subscriber forum for you to enjoy over the weekend. If you are not a paid subscriber but want to get involved, visit https://thesizzle.com.au/payme to get onboard.

- Minkshaman's data sharing SIMs with Optus have been jacked up in price and they're looking for affordable alternatives
- davo67 is after an email service that allows for someone else to manage the account, but is cheaper than Office365/Exchange or Fastmail
- artywah recently bumped the long running jobs thread if you're looking for work or have a role you need filled
- alicec posted about a conference in Melbourne coming up soon that'll discuss the archival and preservation of native digital content
- wezm's thread about cheap ways to get YouTube Premium has unsurprisingly kicked off again now that YouTube's increased the price

## Bargains

- Fujifilm X-T5 digital camera (body only) - $2,399.20 from DigiDirect's eBay store
- Nikon Zf camera with 40mm f/2 lens - $3,191.20 from DigiDirect's eBay store
- Dell P2222H 22" 1080p monitor - $129 from Dell
- Philips 27E1N5800E 27" 4K monitor - $319 from JB Hi-Fi, $303.05 if you are a JB Hi-Fi Perks member
- Samsung 990 Pro 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD with heatsink - $153.30 from Samsung
- Refurb Sony WF-1000XM3 noise cancelling Bluetooth earbuds - $100.62 from Sony's eBay store
- INIU B5 20,000mAh powerbank - $35.70 from INIU
- Xianwei 13.5" 3000x2000 portable USB-C monitor - $160 from Aliexpress
- Edifier R1280DB active bookshelf speakers with Bluetooth - $98 from Amazon
- Vretti TP6-S thermal printer - $21 from Vretti

## Image Of The Day

The boot of my car in 2013, packed full of Radeon 7950 GPUs I purchased in bulk with the intent to mine Litecoin. (I took this photo!)

## The End

📻 Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues - Mclusky

😎 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.