 | Edition 2379 |
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Hello perverts (which is apparently a common opener for scam emails), I hope you’re having a great week. Enjoy the edition! |
The News |
Turns out Australians quite like the internet |
Just about every Australian says the internet is improving their lives, according to an annual snapshot by the .au domain administrator (auDA). auDA’s 2025 Digital Lives of Australians found that: |
We feel increasingly comfortable and capable online, with the vast majority of us using the internet for learning new things (86%), accessing services (85%), connecting with our local communities (60%), and even improving our work-life balance (64%). AI use is really taking off (56% have used AI for any purpose, up from 45% last year). This is most pronounced among young men (75% have used it). With more of our lives online, we’re more worried about cyber-security and about two-thirds of us would feel more comfortable with AI if it was better regulated.
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The Sizzle: It’s always interesting to dig into these things because sometimes it reminds you that, amidst the justifiable doom and gloom, a lot of people get a lot out of going online. We should always be cautious about risks and potential harm, but it’s nice to take a beat and say, actually the internet is pretty neat. |
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum. |
Here’s the big tech questions for the Albanese government |
The politicians are back in Canberra this week and they’ve got a fair bit on the agenda. InnovationAus’ Joseph Brookes has listed some of the big tech decisions to be made on things like the second half of promised privacy reforms, AI rules, the ‘ex ante’ competition rules, news media bargaining codes, and heaps of other government tech policies (InnovationAus, $). Meanwhile the mining lobby is saying that unions shouldn’t have a say over how companies use AI (The Australian, $). |
The Sizzle: The Albanese government punted a lot of the big, tough decisions about how to regulate tech in Australia until after the election. It got re-elected with a big majority, so it has a lot of power to do what it wants. The question is: What does it actually want to do? |
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum. |
Tesla’s set to launch more self-driving features in Australia and authorities are ready to remind you that you’re still responsible for driving |
Tesla’s ““““full-self-driving - supervised”””” feature is just about to be released in Australia and faces no “regulatory blockers”, the Elon Musk-led carmaker says (TechAU). Tesla has been showing off testing in Sydney and Melbourne for its more advanced semi-autonomous driving functions and is in its final stages, its Australian director says (LinkedIn). Meanwhile, state and federal authorities are preparing for its release by preparing warnings that anyone using the features is still liable for the vehicle’s actions, according to FOI’d documents (TechAU). |
 | Tesla Australia & New Zealand @TeslaAUNZ |  |
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FSD Supervised testing in Sydney, Australia | |  | | | 2:46 AM • Jul 17, 2025 | | | | | | 4.13K Likes 643 Retweets | 248 Replies |
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The Sizzle: I got my hands on the FOI’d documents — which also include details of another “Chinese vehicle manufacturer” trying to get regulatory clarity — which you can see for yourself here. I have to admit, it’s darkly funny that regulators’ first response to Tesla’s FSD-S release is: “we need to remind people not to kill themselves with this.” |
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum. |
Leftovers |
For some parents, the teen social media ban doesn’t have to be perfect to be worthwhile (Crikey, $) Analyst brought in as govt readies My Health Record overhaul (InnovationAus, $) ASIC sues Fortnum Private Wealth over alleged cyber security failures (Cyber Daily) The AI royalties model is broken by design (Capital Brief, $) Microsoft releases emergency patches for SharePoint RCE flaws exploited in attacks (Bleeping Computer) Apple mistakingly sent out the macOS Tahoe public beta, now pulled (Apple Insider) UK Might Abandon Effort to Create Backdoor to Encrypted Apple Data (PC Mag) Google shows off the Pixel 10 less than a month before its launch (Engadget) Galaxy Z Fold 7 sales are massively better than Fold 6, outselling Flip 7 in South Korea (The Shortcut) OpenAI says ChatGPT users send over 2.5 billion prompts every day (The Verge) OpenAI is getting closer with the UK government (Engadget) Musk's X says it won't cooperate with 'politically motivated' French probe (Reuters) Exclusive: Meta, X and LinkedIn appeal unprecedented VAT claim by Italy (Reuters) YouTube wipes out thousands of propaganda channels linked to China, Russia, others (CNBC) WhatsApp is dropping its native Windows app in favor of an uglier web version (The Verge) Mark Zuckerberg Is Expanding His Secretive Hawaii Compound. Part of It Sits Atop a Burial Ground (WIRED, $) Spotify Publishes AI-Generated Songs From Dead Artists Without Permission (404 Media, $) What Went Wrong Inside These Recalled Power Banks? (Lumafield) Intel announces end of Clear Linux OS project, archives GitHub repos (Bleeping Computer) I just deleted my entire social media presence before visiting the US – and I'm a citizen (The Register) I’m Tired of Talking About AI (Paddy Carver)
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Discuss these links in the Sizzle Slack or forum. |
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Oh, Also |
Did OpenAI crush some young nerds dreams in Australia? |
Last week’s International Maths Olympiad hosted by the Australian Maths Trust in the Sunshine Coast has been at the centre of furore that has taken over the AI world over the past few days. The TLDR is: |
An OpenAI researcher posted that its AI had smashed 5 out of 6 of the questions on this year’s Olympiad. Later, Google, too, announced that its own model smashed it, too. People are mad that OpenAI essentially self-graded its own performance and, even for Google, that their performance on the test isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison to humans. Worse yet: apparently OpenAI was supposed to wait a week until after the Olympiad (which finished late last week) to announce the results so the actual kids competing could have their time to shine. Someone is even claiming that OpenAI posted before the Olympiad’s opening ceremony had even finished.
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So everyone’s mad that AI companies are taking the limelight from mathletes in what is an unfair comparison. But, notably, I don’t know if anyone’s actually spoken to the Australian organisers. I’ve been trying to get onto them but haven’t managed so far — will let you know if I hear back! |
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum. |
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Bargains |
Electrical & 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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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. |
