The News

Teen social media ban exemption for ‘low-risk’ platforms scrapped in a political deal

The teen social media ban was supposed to let teens use low-risk social media platforms, but this was changed just before the legislation was brought into parliament because of a political deal between the major parties (Crikey, $). The law was originally written to let tech companies get exemptions from the ban if they met certain conditions, for example if they got rid of potentially harmful features like recommendation engines, push notifications and AI chatbots. Now, I found out that removing these carve-outs was a condition of the Coalition supporting Labor’s bill so it could pass parliament.

The Sizzle: If the rules of our online world are to change, then we should, as Sizzler Sam put it in the Guardian this week, “have the opportunity to participate in meaningful public debate about such significant changes.” The point of this exemption was to pressure tech companies to improve their platforms if they wanted to keep Australian teens as users. But instead we got backroom, last minute deals and questionable trials (tryst dot link) which led to worse decisions, and damaged our trust in the people who make these decisions.

Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.

Trump’s AI Action Plan gave the AI guys everything they wanted

The White House has put out its “AI Action Plan”, which is a document that lays out a vision of getting rid of any regulation of the AI industry while simultaneously promising to use state power to regulate stuff it doesn’t like (Ai dot gov). With a goal of making the US the world leader in AI, the plan wants to stop states from passing laws on AI, to fast-track AI infrastructure, to remove consideration of things like diversity or climate change in government risk management and to ban AI contractors from working with government unless they are “free from top-down ideological bias” (PDF). Oh and Trump seemed to ad-lib and say that AI companies don’t need to worry about copyright, either (Deadline).

The Sizzle: Big Tech got what it wanted from their Guy. All of this is like the AI industries’ wish list, plus a few Republican sweeteners. Make no mistake: the stuff about “bias” is all about powerful people ensuring their preferred type of bias is being parroted by AI. Buyer beware, though — Trump isn’t going to be the President forever and maybe the next administration’s idea of “bias” is different, and it could come back to bite the AI industry.

Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.

Wireless charging go event faster go weeeee

Wireless charging is getting faster as iPhones and major Android phones adopt an updated Qi standard (EFTM). The name of the Qi v2.2.1 standard isn’t sexy but the fact that it will support 25W is pretty hot (PDF). It’s being touted as a 70% improvement.

The Sizzle: For some reason I was always skeptical of wireless charging. I love my 5M long cords, and the safety of that click as it plugs in so you know it’s charging. But over the past year, wireless chargers have snuck into my life and there is something so easy, breezy, fun, about just being able to whack my phone on a mat and get some juice.

Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.

Leftovers

Discuss these links in the Sizzle Slack or forum.

Oh, Also

Finally, an app for guys who just love their wives

As many of you know, I’m a Wife Guy. I don’t mean a guy who has a wife, I mean a Wife Guy (a good explanation here). One of the key frustrations of the Wife Guy is that a lot of the internet is built for the single people: they’re always posting about their dates or their funny experiences on dating apps.

Finally, I’m really excited to share with you, an app built for people like me (and maybe us): Tender, the Tinder-like app that only shows pictures of your partner and only lets you swipe right to say that you love them. God bless.

Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.

Bargains

Electrical & electronics

Computers

Mobile

The End

😎 The Sizzle is written by Cam Wilson and emailed every weekday. It was created by Anthony “decryption” Agius.

🤖 We love robots at the Sizzle but this newsletter has always been and will always be written by humans for humans.

🗣️ Have any feedback, a tip or just want to chat? Send me an email or Signal message. I promise to reply!

💬 Want to hang out with other Sizzlers? There’s a subscriber-only Slack server and forum if you want to procrastinate and chat about tech-related news.

🌐 The Sizzle is on Bluesky, Mastodon and LinkedIn if you’re feeling social.

💳 Paid subscriber looking to manage your billing info, change email address or cancel your subscription? Visit the Beehiiv customer portal.

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

💔 Don’t want this any more? I won’t take it personally. There’s a unsubscribe button at the bottom of this email or here’s a guide.

🦺 The Sizzle has been tested to meet and exceed ISO 3533 standards.

Always Was, Always Will Be Aboriginal Land

The Sizzle is created on Gadigal 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.