Mentioned in today’s edition: Discord, Telstra, Anthropic, Trump, Signal, Grok, Microsoft Co-work and Ray-Ban Meta. Plus, deals on JBL soundbars, Asus gaming mice and Apple iPhones.

The News

Australia is all in on age verification. So how is the teen social media ban going?

As Australia introduces age verification for adult websites, games and AI, an early survey suggests that 70% of teens are currently getting around the social media ban (Courier-Mail). There wasn't a lot of widespread media coverage until Monday — although Sizzlers knew all about it — but the new industry codes came into effect yesterday (ABC News). At the same time, a News Corp survey of close to 300 10-16-year-olds found that more than two-thirds are getting around the ban by using family members' faces, wearing disguises, and creating new accounts. 

The Sizzle: With the proviso that News Corp's survey is pretty small, and noting that I assume age check systems will continue to improve, it's time to start pointing out that just about every issue with the age check tech seems to be coming to pass: face scans are being fooled, kids are finding workarounds like using their families, and there's some migration to services that aren't doing the same restrictions (like Discord, mentioned in the article).

We should be doing more to protect kids against age-inappropriate content. I think it's good to ensure that kids aren't accidentally exposed to porn on X, or whatever. There's clearly wide support for that. The issue has always been: how well do these systems work? The answer so far appears to be: not very well. And it has consequences. Doing this costs money, they create privacy concerns, they backfire and limit people's access unfairly. And while News Corp is blaming the companies, those tech companies, along with many others, warned of these exact problems prior to the ban! I'm sure tech companies can do more, but I worry that the teen social media ban is turning out to be safety theatre. It's pretending to do something about improving online safety for young people, but actually just wastes our time and effort while leaving the real problems unaddressed. 

Discuss in Slack or Forum.

What does mobile phone signal "coverage" mean? Well, depends on whether you're Telstra or everyone else

Telstra's coverage map could halve under the new standards proposed by the telco watchdog (ITNews). ACMA has put out draft rules that establish the minimum requirement of mobile phone signal strength that can be considered "coverage", rather than letting telcos choose their own level (SMH, $). Their proposed level, -115dBm, is higher than Telstra's proposed -122dBm. And Telstra's competitors TPG and Optus say that Telstra's levels would include a million square kilometres of area where people "probably" can't place calls. TPG even claims it tested 20 locations advertised by Telstra as having "full coverage" and was unable to place a call lol. ACMA plans to lock in the new rules by 30 June. 

Discuss in Slack or Forum.

Anthropic sues the Trump administration, reveals how much money it makes

A quick update on the Anthropic-Department of D̶e̶f̶e̶n̶s̶e̶ War stoush: Anthropic is suing over the Trump administration's "supply chain risk" declaration in two courts (CNBC). A group of OpenAI and Google DeepMind employees have filed a statement in court in support of Anthropic (TechCrunch). The AI company claims in court docs that the move will cost it "billions" (WIRED, $). Even juicier, the court docs give some financial insights: that Anthropic's sales "exceed $5 billion", and that it has spent "over $10 billion" to train and run its models. Hmm.... 

Related AI financial news: CNBC reports that OpenAI pulled its support for the big Oracle Texas data centre because it will have outdated GPUs by the time it launches, leaving Oracle with a bunch of outdated tech. Is that good?  

Discuss in Slack or Forum.

Leftovers

Australia:

Rest of World:

Discuss in Slack or Forum.

Oh, Also

I can't use the new Apple emojis in this title because it will break the newsletter

OK I know that all you Android folk have had these for a few months, but the forthcoming iOS update, 26.4, has the new cohort of emojis from Unicode's Emoji 17.0 list (Emojipedia) .... and I am excited. Distorted face is already a clubhouse favourite, but I think using being able to use the Bigfoot for awkward moments and the ballerina for gloating will be a drastic improvement in my life. 

Discuss in Slack or Forum.

Bargains

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. Also by Aussies for Aussies — so all prices are in dollarydoos, of course.

🗣️ 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.