 | Edition 2511 |
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 | "Yamaha KUVT2" by Bushido Senshi is licensed under CC BY 4.0 |
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Folks, have an incredible weekend! |
Mentioned in today’s edition: AusAlert, Telstra, Gemini, Daniela Amodei, macOS, Netflix, WiseTech and Android. Plus, deals on Thrustmaster racing wheels, Apple Watches and Samsung Galaxy phones. |
The News |
WOOOP WOOP ⚠️ THIS IS AN EMERGENCY AUSALERT ⚠️ WOOP WOOP |
150 days from today, all of our phones will cry out at once in a test of the federal government's new alert system (ABC News). Starting in October, Australia will have a new mobile phone-based national alert system called AusAlert (AusAlert). The alert will force anything with a SIM card to make a loud alarm sound, overriding any do not disturb mode, and show an alert. The system can target these alerts down to a 160 metre radius for local alerts. Some lucky local areas will get a test of the alert system in June. |
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The Sizzle: AusAlert was scheduled to be rolled out a full two years ago but, hey, better late than never. I actually got a little thrill reading about this. It's not exactly the sexiest thing in the world but I imagine it takes an incredible amount of design to implement something like this -- and, given Australia's propensity for natural disasters, I'm glad to have it. Let's just hope they don't overuse it, like in South Korea (StackExchange). |
Two tangentially related stories: Telstra is sunsetting its legacy ADSL services, per CommunicationsDay, and one analyst firm is predicting that smartphone sales will decrease 13% in 2026! |
Discuss in Slack or Forum. |
Google just exposed thousands of people's Gemini API keys |
In one of the silliest things I can remember recently, Google has essentially convinced thousands of people to expose access to their Gemini Google Cloud accounts (TruffleSecurity). Apparently Google previously advised people that it's fine to share their Google Cloud API keys publicly because it was limited to uses like identifying projects for billing... Then, when Gemini came along, Google set it up to work from those existing API keys. This had the side effect of exposing what's happening in that Gemini instance or letting people whack some usage on there — not great if you published this key online! |
It's kinda like if Visa gave you a prepaid debit card with a limit to give away as a present, and then after the fact decided to convert it into a credit card without telling you. Not great! |
Discuss in Slack or Forum. |
The Sizzler Say: what LinkedIn knows about you, worst bit of macOS and ICT manager pay |
Did you know you can find out what LinkedIn has inferred about you? Here's James in the Slack sharing what he found There's been some movement in the post your vintage AV/TV thread on the forum Timo on Slack has nominated the worst bit of macOS Brett emailed saying it's not a surprise that ICT manager salaries are falling: "It’s such a SMB role, and they just see it as a cost centre, not a value-add. Add to that that every time you advertise for an IT role, there are hundreds of applicants so there is obviously an oversupply, and we know what that does to salaries..." Who has recommendations for what to do in San Fran? Let shermozzle on the forum know Sizzler funwithstuff shared on the forum that he has written a book called AI for Creative Production
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Discuss in Slack or Forum. |
Leftovers |
Australia: |
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Rest of World: |
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Discuss in Slack or Forum. |
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Oh, Also |
Woolworths will stop its voice AI assistant from rambling about its "mother" |
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Didn't expect that I would be writing about it this week: read this Sizzle story about the interesting "personality" quirks of Woolworths’ voice AI assistant... |
Discuss in Slack or Forum. |
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Bargains |
Electronics |
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Computing |
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Mobile |
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The End |
😎 The Sizzle is written by Cam Wilson and emailed every weekday. It was created by Anthony “decryption” Agius. |
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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. |
