Mentioned in today’s edition: Bernie Sanders, Google, Canva, Microsoft Teams, DoorDash, Elon Musk, GrapheneOS and AirPods Max 2. Plus, deals on Alienware monitors, Apple AirTags and Vodafone prepaid plans.

The News

Australia will speed up data centre approval if you use renewables, ration water and pledge allegiance to the flag

Data centre approval will be fast-tracked for companies that pay for renewable power, let local businesses and research access compute, and "prioritise Australia's national interest" 🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺 (news dot com dot au). That's the gist of the federal government's new guidelines for "Expectations of data centres and AI infrastructure developers" (Dept of Industry). These guidelines set out 5 expectations around water, power, local jobs, access for Australian R&D and, of course, serving the national interest. While these aren't strict requirements, the federal government says projects that hit these expectations will be "prioritised" through the federal-state approvals to get built. 

The Sizzle: Tech companies want to build their data centres in Australia because we're relatively politically stable, we've got the know-how to build them, and our energy is cheap (renewable energy, of course,  ᵇᵘᵗ ᵃˡˢᵒ ᶠᵒˢˢᶦˡ ᶠᵘᵉˡˢ). One way of thinking about data centres is that they're kind of similar to coal mines: they make a lot of money for their owners that goes offshore, there's a lot of jobs for the local community in building them up, but not many once they're up and running, and they compete for resources with the local community. It makes sense, then, that we have some rules about what Australia gets in return (if we do in fact want to build them). 

While these "expectations" are pretty good principles, I'm not surprised outfits like the Tech Council and Data Centres Australia have thrown their support behind this plan because of one key word: "expectations". It's great for these companies to have certainty, but also I bet it's even nicer to know that they aren't actually required to hit all 5 expectations. But, based on the backlash that's already happening in America around their data centres, I think it would be wise for companies to try and earn social licence, to avoid steamrolling through and actually contribute back to countries like Australia. Because when you don't, suddenly you get things like Bernie Sanders calling for AI moratoriums and anti-AI protests. 

Two related stories to why AI companies might need to win back social licence: Australian companies predict AI will cut one in five jobs within two years (Oz, $) and Australian tech royalty still among nation’s wealthiest in new rich list (SmartCompany)

Discuss in Slack or Forum.

Android's sideloading hoops revealed, while privacy version refuses to do age verification

Google has released the details on how Android side-loading will work in the future, which includes a 24 hour wait (9to5Google). Meanwhile, the Android privacy fork, GrapheneOS, is refusing to add age verification into its system (Tom's Hardware). This seems to be in response to a Brazilian law that came into effect this month, and a California law beginning next year, that will require every OS to collect their users' ages. 

Discuss in Slack or Forum.

Another AI company has been exposed as a) not AI and b) doing big fraud

The latest company promising to use AI but is just allegedly doing fraud is Delve, a US compliance company with some big tech clients (TechCrunch). An anonymous but comprehensive Substack post claims that while Delve says AI has sped up its systems, it actually saves time by making up a lot of compliance evidence like proof of audits (Substack). Delve also apparently left their Supabase storage bucket exposed, which allowed people to scrape all their reports and calculate that they were 99.8% similar (TrustCompliance).

Discuss in Slack or Forum.

Leftovers

Australia:

Rest of World:

Discuss in Slack or Forum.

Oh, Also

Surf YouTube like it's TV

There are simply too many choices for content. So, enjoy ChannelSurfer which brings back the old experience of flicking through channels, but using YouTube instead of TV. 

Discuss in Slack or Forum.

Bargains

Electronics

Computing

Mobile

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.