Issue 2334 - Monday 19 May 2025

The News

Telstra’s coverage lie

Telstra has been caught out inflating its mobile network claims after Vodafone called out the telco (ABC News). Telstra’s claimed it had a “mobile network coverage area of 3 million square kilometres covering 99.7 per cent of the Australian population”. This coverage relied on someone using “antennas and other special equipment”. Without, Telstra’s actual coverage is about 1.9 million km², and Telstra updated its website to specify this after it was contacted by Vodafone in May. (FWIW Telstra’s coverage remains a million km² bigger than Vodafone’s). While its coverage area is honestly irrelevant to the vast majority of people in most situations, it’s pretty shitty behaviour to lie like this (and yes, it is a lie to claim something with a ridiculous, unsaid qualifier).

Inside Apple’s AI problems

There’s a great Bloomberg long read from Apple Oracle Mark Gurman about why the world’s most valuable company has completely biffed generative AI so far (Bloomberg, gift link). It’s definitely worth a read, tracing back to Steve Jobs’ infatuation with Siri which was released just after he died to internal squabbling now. The newsy bits are that Apple apparently has a pretty good ChatGPT-style bot competitor that it hasn’t released yet. Beyond the palace intrigue, it seems really clear that Apple’s DNA makes it unsuited for the generative AI boom: companies like OpenAI are messy, iterative and careless while Apple is known for its polish and intentionality. Also on Apple: Epic Games says Apple has blocked the return of Fortnite to iOS (The Verge) but it’s unclear why, so take the idea that it’s ignoring a court order with a grain of salt.

Tesla tests FSD in Australia

Nearly five years after Tesla released its “““““full self-driving””””””, the company has released a video of it in action in Australia (The Driven). The footage shows the car driving through Melbourne, complete with a hook turn (after a delivery driver rides their bike through a red light). The video includes a note that it was filmed in a prototype vehicle being driven by an engineer. Even still, seeing a right-hand-drive version of Tesla’s driver assistance system is new. It seems like before too long, you’ll be able to pay $10,000~ to upgrade your Tesla (TechAU). Given the continued plunging sales for the Elon Musk-led carmaker (AFR, $), the upgrade can’t come soon enough.

Leftovers

Oh, Also

If you have a shit house DIY smart home set up, you’re not alone

People always start out using Home Assistant with the best of intentions. I mean, what’s more enticing than the promise of a fully integrated, smart, automated house. But as we all know — including some of our own Sizzlers — executing these dreams is often easier said than done.

I recently came across a blog post about someone’s “real-life, constantly evolving experiment” Home Assistant set up, complete with half-working automations and “disaster” dashboards (Frenck). They even publicly apologise to their wife and kids for how broken it is. Anyway, it turns out the author is Franck Nijhof, the lead engineer of Home Assistant. So if you feel bad that your set-up is a bit wonky, you’re not alone.

Bargains

Electrical & Electronics

Computing

Mobile

The End

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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.