| | Hello! | The Sizzle will be back tomorrow. I’ve spent the last few days putting some elbow grease into the things behind the scenes so that Sizzle will run smoothly this year. Also, I’ve been tinkering on some new Sizzle toys I am planning on rolling out soon. | By the way, sorry for not flagging that the Grok deepfake email I sent out on Tuesday was just a story and not a full edition. | Talk soon! CW | P.S. Here are a few more interesting links to tide you over until tomorrow: | A hacker dressed as the Pink Power Ranger deleted three white supremacist websites live onstage at a conference. (Someone has alsoshared the user list of one of the sites, a dating platform, at okstupid.lol and it looks like there’s a few Australians on there). This was from late last year but I literally lmao’d that the government’s new SMS Sender ID Register was running for weeks without actually verifying docs showing that people had the right to use the SMS sender names. It sounds like a lot of people, like this guy, have spent the Christmas break fucking around with Claude Code which is getting a lot of hype for its “agentic coding” abilities. Coding seems like the main domain where AI is meeting the hype — which goes some way to explain why the tech industry is so in on AI. This sounds like hell to me but was at least interesting to read: I wanted a camera that doesn’t exist — so I built it. Here’s something on the value of friction: “Tech companies are succeeding in making us think of life itself as inconvenient and something to be continuously escaping from, into digital padded rooms of predictive algorithms and single-tap commands: Reading is boring; talking is awkward; moving is tiring; leaving the house is daunting. Thinking is hard. Interacting with strangers is scary. Risking an unexpected reaction from someone isn’t worth it. Speaking at all — overrated. These are all frictions that we can now eliminate, easily, and we do.” And here’s a post that uncomfortably reminded me of my own holiday smart home experiences:
|  | can’t argue with results |
| | 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. |
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