Issue 2323 - Friday 2 May 2025

Folks, thank heavens it’s Friday. Have a great weekend, vote early and vote often. And I’m looking forward to getting back to normal Sizzle programming on Monday - CW

The News

Let’s get this over and done with

Let’s get this over and done with: the election is tomorrow and I’ve said enough about it. Many of you have already voted. If you haven’t, here are a few things that might be interesting to think about on the way to the ballot box.

The end of the password is actually here

Microsoft is now making new accounts “passwordless by default”, instead prompting users to use passkeys, push notifications and security keys (The Verge). Similarly, Mastercard is enrolling all new Australian cards in its passkey and one-click check out programs (Information Age) There’s been talk for a long time about getting rid of passwords but somehow I always doubted we’d ever get to this point. We’re all more primed to be post-password than I realised — think about how many of us are using FaceID or equivalent. Also, for the record, I hate services that only offer logging in via an email one time password instead of a password. Sizzlers: I’d love to hear if you’re post-password? Send me some mail!

Elon Musk’s Aussie boss is careful when talking about looking for his Tesla replacement

I’m sure you’re all familiar with this, but sometimes I forget that the richest man in the world who is BFFs with the most powerful man in the world has a boss: the Australian chair of Tesla, Robyn Denholm. Yesterday, she denied the report I included in yesterday’s Sizzle that the electric carmaker’s board was looking for a new CEO, i.e. firing Elon Musk (WSJ). She told the AFR that it was “absolutely false” that Tesla had contacted recruitment firms for a new CEO (AFR, archived) which is very specific wording.

It would probably be a dereliction of directors duties if Tesla’s board wasn’t at least considering Musk’s position given everything that’s happening with the company and the man (YouTube). Anyway, Denholm is not only in charge of Musk but also holds a number of other influential Australian tech positions too and, in my opinion, still doesn’t get the close coverage that someone of her stature and responsibilities deserves.

Leftovers

Oh, Also

What did they think would happen when you combined an AI chatbot with a social media network?

A few days ago, Meta held an event around its AI offerings. One of the features it was launching was a social feed for its standalone Meta AI app. I wrote in the Sizzle Slack that I thought this was a smart idea — no one yet has nailed the social aspect to AI and it could be a way to make people more familiar with it.

A former colleague of mine, Katie Notopoulos, quickly noticed an obvious problem: “I’m getting the sense that people using Meta AI don’t realize they’re posting to a public feed (this was a random post I saw, along with her voice)” she wrote on Threads (Threads).

The PMs at Meta probably should have designed a better UI to avoid problems that were obviously going to arise from combining AI chatbot with a social media platform.

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.