Plus: Download the games that have been censored ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

August 04, 2025 | Read online
# Tesla Autopilot death, a lot riding on AI and rolling laptop that screams Plus: Download the games that have been censored
{{OPEN_TRACKING_PIXEL}}
Edition 2388
"Doing some computer work comfortably naked in my "backyard office"." (Flickr: Jim Tighe)
If that photo doesn’t kick start you this week, I don’t know what will!
Just a note to say that the book’s launch went well last week, and thanks for putting up with me being pretty busy! CW
# The News
### Tesla partly responsible for wrongful Autopilot death: court
Tesla was partially responsible for the death of a pedestrian and the serious injury of another by a car with Autopilot engaged, a Miami court has found (Ars Technica). In a first for the company, the Elon Musk-run carmaker has been ordered to pay part of a $500M penalty because a Tesla using Autopilot ran a stop sign, went through an intersection, and hit two people by the side of the road. Tesla says it plans to appeal.
The Sizzle: Tesla is on the hook for a third of the pay-out for selling a vehicle “with a defect that was a legal cause of the damage”. This seems to be because plaintiffs’ lawyers successfully argued (with the assistance of the driver, who wasn’t sued) that the car was sold with the claim it would help avoid or stop errors — meaning that it’s not enough for Tesla to say the driver was at fault. Every legal jurisdiction is different so hard to know how relevant the precedent will be elsewhere but you can bet other lawyers are paying close attention.
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
### There is A Lot riding on AI making money eventually
WSJ’s columnist Christopher Mims had a jaw-dropping chart in his piece this week showing how much money tech companies are funnelling into AI infrastructure (WSJ, gift link). Pulling together all the capital expenditure from the Magnificent 7 tech companies — primarily Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon — shows they’re buying actual things, like chips and cords and land and factories, at a rate higher than the dot com boom as a percentage of GDP.
Line go up
The Sizzle: I gulped when I read this sentence:
Capex spending for AI contributed more to growth in the U.S. economy in the past two quarters than all of consumer spending
Neil Dutta, head of economic research at Renaissance Macro Research, citing data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
There’s a lot of talk about how big tech has a lot riding on AI. Now, it appears as though the biggest economy in the world — and therefore the rest of us — is pretty dependent on this, too. Yikes.
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
### I want the Rolling Laptop That Screams
For those of you crying out for some of the new folding, rolling energy taking over the mobile market to come to computers, meet the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6. The Verge reviewed this “actually good” laptop with a screen that rolls up to get bigger. Click a button, and the 14.7 inch (2000×1600) screen grows to become 16.7 inches (2000×2350).
Tall boy
The Sizzle: I actually love it. It’s got a few kinks because of its form factor (like weirdly placed speakers) but I am smitten by a laptop that has a small form factor that can get bigger! Also, I love that it screams: “If you start closing the lid with the screen extended, or you move the screen while it’s rolling, the laptop emits a high-pitched tone.” It’s time to bring weird back to laptops!
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
#### Leftovers
Applications open for auDA’s 2025 Community Grant Program (auDA) Jim Chalmers: Australia and the AI revolution – turning algorithms into opportunities (Guardian Australia) - CTRL + F “copyright” = no results found ASIO boss confirms multiple defence industry companies targeted by foreign espionage (CyberDaily) How TikTok outplayed YouTube over the social media ban (AFR, $) NBN to offer 2,000/200 Mbps next month (TechAU) AI chatbots are becoming popular alternatives to therapy. But they may worsen mental health crises, experts warn (Guardian Australia) Privacy regulator ‘has had a gutful of warnings always being ignored’ by industry (Mi3) Google just got a minimum one-week emergency stay before it has to change Android app store policy. (The Verge) Bitcoin now worth $14.5 billion quietly stolen from Chinese mining pool in 2020: Arkham (The Block) Google is going to keep some existing goo.gl links working! (Google) ChatGPT Chats Were Indexed Then Removed From Search but Still Remain Online (Growtika) A.I. Is About to Solve Loneliness. That’s a Problem (New Yorker) The Tech Mogul Behind Trump’s Truth Social Used To Own Porn Domains (Forbes) Meta brought AI to rural Colombia. Now students are failing exams (Rest Of) If you search for Linux on DuckDuckGo, the icon changes to a penguin (r/Linux) I asked chatgpt to enhance the only picture of my grandfather smiling and it turned him into Nelson Mandela (r/ChatGPT)
Discuss these links in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
# Oh, Also
### Download the games that have been censored
As indie game platform Itch begins to bring some NSFW games back on its platform (Aftermath), a handful of other gaming-related platforms and creators have banded together to release some of the games for free. Freedom to Buy lets people download these games that are being targeted by various groups as a way of making sure they don’t disappear — for the next hour or so!
As one Bluesky user Ashley Lynch put it “These are all objectively awful games, but that's not the point. It's the principle that these games should be available.”
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
# Bargains
Electronics & electrical
Lorex 4K UltraHD Wired IP Security Camera POE Model E841CA at Officeworks for $49 Casio A700W-1A for $68 at Amazon AU ZMI Cuktech 25000mAh 210W Power Bank PB250 for $99.99 at Mostly Melbourne Xiaomi ZMI 210W Powerbank 25000mAh QB826 Global Version for $129.99 at Mostly Melbourne Ddpai Dash Cam Front and Rear 4K+1080p Includs 64GB MicroSDCard for $139.99 at Amazon GKU 4K 3 Channel Dash Cam for $149.99 at Amazon Prime Sennheiser HD 560s Open Back Headphones for $211 at Amazon AU Q Acoustics Speakers at Addicted to Audio Q3010i for $219 Q3020i for $299 Q3030i for $399 Tineco Floor ONE S5 Smart Cordless Wet Dry Vacuum for $379.99 at Tineco
Computing
TM680 RGB Hot-Swappable Mechanical Keyboard Barebone at Cozy Dev Wired for $34.99 Wired + Bluetooth for $49.99 Samsonite Xenon 3.0 Laptop 15.6" Backpack for $89 at Luggage Direct Jginyue B650i Night Devil AM5 Mini-ITX Motherboard for $107 at Infinity PC Parts Store Teclast P50AI (11" 90Hz, Android 15, 6GB/128GB, Widevine L1, Video Out) for $125 at Teclast Official WD SN740 2TB PCIe Gen4 NVMe M.2 2230 SSD for $171 at Global Brand Choice Store Lexar NVMe SSD at BPC Tech NM990 PCIe Gen 5x4 2TB for $269 NM990 PCIe Gen 5x4 4TB for $549 NM790 PCIe Gen 4x4 4TB for $355 Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Wi-Fi 128GB for $499 at Samsung Aoostar WTR PRO 4 Bay NAS (Ryzen 7 5825u) for $569 at Aoostar-AU Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra Wi-Fi 256GB + Ultra Book Cover KB Slim for $936.32 at Samsung EDU Lenovo Legion Go S SteamOS - Ryzen Z2 GO CPU, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD for $999 at Lenovo Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra 256GB Wi-Fi + Keyboard Case for $1349.10 at Samsung MacBook Pro M3 14" at Officeworks 8GB/512GB for $1494 8GB/1TB for $1694 Alienware 16 Aurora Gaming Laptop: Intel Core 7-240H, RTX 5060, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD for $1999 at Dell MacBook Pro M3 Pro at Officeworks 14" 18GB/512GB for $2094 14" 18GB/1TB for $2194 16" 18GB/512GB for $2294 16" 36GB/512GB for $2494
Mobile
Free 3GB of Global Data at Roamless (52 Countries, eSIM, Data Valid for 180 Days, New Signups Only) Optus 65GB 28 Days Plan for $17 at Optus Google Pixel 9 Pro Fold 256GB on $99/M for 24 months plan for $97 at JB Hi-Fi Kogan Mobile Prepaid Medium (365 Days Flex | 240GB) Voucher - eSIM Included for $149 at Kogan Lebara 180 GB 360‑Day Long‑Expiry SIM for $159 Telstra Pre-Paid SIM Starter Kit 310gb Data 12 Months expiry for $284 at Mobilexpress AU Google Pixel 8 5G 128GB (Obsidian) for $549 at LavaTech Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge Jetblack 512GB for $1229.40 at Samsung Education Store / Commbank Yello
# The End
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