Fresh back on Australian soil after a year abroad, your tech news is delivered by the increasingly incapable hands of Josh Withers today. Apologies if there are traces of banana in today's email.
Elon Musk live-streamed a demo of Tesla's latest "Full Self-Driving" software over the weekend. This version relies entirely on AI, eschewing hand-coded rules and LIDAR in favour of cameras. It only attempted to run a red light once, and the former acting CEO of Twitter doxed the CEO of Meta just a little bit. Neural networks trained on large volumes of driving data power the AI, which handled turns, roadworks, cyclists, speed adjustments, and obstacles effortlessly. This is likely the version Tesla has been advertising for test drivers in Brisbane. Despite Musk's clear rule-breaking, police will not be issuing a ticket at this time, as no officer witnessed the incident.
Next week I'm assuming that Apple will announce it's next event where the iPhone 15 will be released, and because most of the news floating around the news-o-sphere today is about rumours I've rounded a few of them up for you: We're looking at a green iPhone 15 option alongside a new gray but no gold. The iPhone 15 Pro Max is what everyone sitting at the big kids table is expecting to ride Apple to new financial heights this year with a fancy periscope camera despite the high-end model to be likely delayed until October but then Ming thinks it won't be delayed. The new iPhone Pro models will run on a new A17 chip, which shares a solid bloodline with the Mac-focused M3 Apple silicon chip which means the phones will get WiFi 6E which means if you have a router that supports it (my brand new Eero 6+ I scored on Prime Day doesn't) then your router and phone can chat over a new un-congested 6GHz channel, so that's nice, and you might even get Thunderbolt on the Pro models. Either way it's also rumoured that Apple is dropping leather, for pleather so there goes your cow-killing iPhone summer plans.
It's a slow news day in the tech press, something we should all be happy for - I'm guessing all the real journalists are having a week off before crazy ol' iPhone etc September rears its head. So with that justification out of the way, let old man Withers from the amusement park tell you why I think putting your whole life on Google isn't the wisest move, and it starts with this article by Ryan Broderick at The Verge. Ryan argues that Google's cultural relevance is on the downward side of the bell curve. I've felt fairly allergic to hinging my life on GMail, Google Docs, Drive, and co. for a while because I've always felt that when Google's search dominance fades - and everything fades eventually - its loss leaders will quickly become former services or expensive services. So I jumped early. Anywho, enjoy the read and try Fastmail, DuckDuckGo, Firefox, Nextcloud, Tinylytics, and whatever else doesn't have a G in front.
I've never been too impressed with the computer graphics of video games. They look great, I get it, but the pinnacle of my computer gaming experiences was sitting in front of a CGA monitor typing on a keyboard playing text-based computer games. So, seeing this YouTube video of a ChatGPT API endpoint running on a TRS-80 fills my cup a plenty more than a high fps does today - almost as much as rotating sandwiches does.
Dick Smith Electronics promotional sticker from the 1980s for the console/home-computer Wizzard, a rebadged VTechs "CreatiVision" games system. (Jongleur / Internet Archive)
The BT Tower is a grade II listed communications tower located in Fitzrovia, London, owned by BT Group. The main structure is 581 feet (177 m) high, with a further section of aerial rigging bringing the total height to 620 feet (189 m). Upon completion in 1964, it overtook the Millbank Tower to become the tallest structure in London until 1980, when it in turn was overtaken by the NatWest Tower. It was opened in 1965 by Prime Minister Harold Wilson who viewed it as a monument of a Britain shimmering in the "white heat of technology". (Steve Lawson / Flickr)
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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.