 | Edition 2372 |
|
|
The News |
Bluesky is going to start age-gating features until you verify your age |
Bluesky will soon restrict UK users from seeing adult content and using DMs unless they’ve verified their age (Bsky). The platform is introducing the rules in response to the UK’s Online Safety Act and will use Epic Games infrastructure to let people do face scans, use a credit card or upload ID to prove their age (Engadget). |
The Sizzle: We’re going to see a lot more of this! As far as things go, I think age-gating adult content and DMs is a less worse option than age-gating the whole platform. Still, there’s going to be a lot of people pissed off that it’ll be harder to do normal things online without taking some pretty intrusive steps. Pay attention to what gets declared “adult content” because overzealous platforms are incentivised overly limit access to things like sexual education content because they only care about avoiding being fined. |
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum. |
Teachers are not happy about Big Tech’s AI classroom push |
A open letter from teachers has criticised the use of generative AI in teaching as a “threat to student learning and wellbeing” (OpenLetter dot earth). The letter, which includes a lot of Australian signatories, says that there’s a “massive push to position these productions as essential to students’ future livelihoods” despite a lack of evidence that it helps. Meanwhile, Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic have pledged millions of dollars to train hundreds of thousands of teachers to use AI in teaching (CNN). |
The Sizzle: One of the most under-covered stories in tech is how Big Tech has truly infiltrated Australian (and many other countries’) classrooms. Even before we start to conceive about the role AI should play in education — a big discussion — we also should be be really wary of companies pushing their products into our schools. Hear me out: what if we funded education so they didn’t need corporate interests to pick up the bill? |
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum. |
What Sizzlers (and Cam) have been saying |
As much requested, a few highlights from the Slack and Forum this week |
The Hawk on the enduring value of forums. gtch on Doordash’s expensive technical problem. Meski on being a Qantas hack victims after not using an account for two decades. jpwarren’s creative solution to wealth inequality. Mkeating with a delightfully visceral response to a horny bug.
|
And just to update: interview went well yesterday! It airs in November, so there’s nothing to show until then but I spoke with redacted well-known ABC host for like 90 minutes, so I’m sure they’ll end up with 10-15 good seconds they could use. |
 | I actually took two jumpers to have a choice, but ended up ditching a yellow one. |
|
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum. |
Leftovers |
Australia is quietly introducing 'unprecedented' age checks for search engines like Google (ABC News) Antisemitism envoy praises Elon Musk’s X for using AI to ‘root out hate’ (Crikey, $) In Nov last year, I reported that an encrypted messaging app Sessions was forced to move offshore after the AFP visited… I got emails around Sessions, including that the AFP wanted to keep an eye on them because of "their stated commitment to privacy". (Josh Taylor) Latest eSafety research reveals social media use is widespread among kids – and so are the harms (eSafety) Telegram is suggesting the eSafety Commissioner sent its demands for information to the wrong postal and email addresses and it never received them. (LinkedIn) These art collectors have lost $250k on NFTs. They still love them (AFR, $) CBA using facial recognition logins to verify disputed payments (IT News) Australia takes another step toward a central bank digital currency (IT News) Work begins on IoT labelling scheme to boost awareness (InnovationAus, $) Hyundai’s potential next electric SUV spotted testing in Sydney (The Driven) AI-generated child sexual abuse videos surging online, watchdog says (The Guardian) Apple Plans New MacBook Pro, iPhone 17e and iPads by Early 2026 (Bloomberg) Samsung says its trifold phone should launch ‘this year’ (The Verge) Grok 4 is live — Elon Musk introduces 'smartest AI' and addresses antisemitic posts (Toms Guide) Cops’ favorite AI tool automatically deletes evidence of when AI was used (Ars Technica) YouTube’s ‘Trending’ section is about to disappear (The Verge) At last, a use case for AI agents with sky-high ROI: Stealing crypto (The Register) Swedish bodyguards reveal PM’s location on fitness app (Politico) Kagi’s news app: Kite (Kagi) One day you turned off XP for the last time and didn't even notice (Reddit)
|
Discuss these links in the Sizzle Slack or forum. |
|
Oh, Also |
How to get ChatGPT to give you a free Windows 10 key |
Researchers have found a new game to play with ChatGPT: ask it to imagine a string of numbers so you try guess it. Here’s the fun bit: if you can’t guess it, you tell the bot that you give up and it’ll give you a free, working Windows 10 serial number (0din dot ai).
Giving up at a guessing game is a new method of jailbreaking AI because it predicts that it’s supposed to tell you the number it was “thinking” of. The trick is you get to tell it what type of number it should think of — Windows 10 keys, credit card numbers, etc. |
 | If you ask Grok, though, it just gives me the number 1488? |
|
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum. |
|
Bargains |
Electrical & electronics |
|
Computing |
|
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. |
