The News

The Sizzle goes to Canberra! (And teen social media ban changes + p*rn age checks)

You might be wondering why you’re getting such an early serve of the Sizzle! I’m driving down to Canberra this morning to go see eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant deliver a speech ‘Swimming between the digital flags: helping young Australians navigate social media’s dangerous currents’ (Speech excerpts on Bluesky).

The news that’s getting attention is that Inman Grant will call for YouTube to be included under the teen social media ban (Guardian Australia) and that the new communications minister Anika Wells will agree (AFR, $). It was frankly puzzling that it was exempted but, even still, just remember the ban is only on teens having accounts so they’ll still have access to YouTube. The bit that’s getting less attention is that Inman Grant will “move to establish” internet regulations about handling adult content for hosting providers, search engines and even telcos (The Australian, $). Age checks for p*rn are coming.

I (might) get a chance to ask the eSafety Commissioner a question after her speech. What would you ask? Let me know!

Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.

Watch out pedestrians, Tesla’s autonomous cars are on the road

Tesla’s long-awaited ““““unsupervised robotaxi rides”””” have hit the roads in Austin, Texas (TechCrunch). Unlike its further-along rival Waymo’s cars which are equipped with the LIDAR sensor, Musk’s carmaker has delivered on its promise to do autonomous driving using only cameras by the end of the month. Technically. The service isn’t open to the public, it’s heavily limited to a small area and, while technically there’s no one driver, every ride has a Tesla “safety monitor” sitting in the front seat (The Verge). One video of a early ride showed it driving into the opposite lane (YouTube) but, hey, nobody’s perfect.

Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.

I hate bring your own device to work policies

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies are supposedly becoming more popular at work (TechRadar) and, honestly, I think it’s a nightmare for everyone involved. For workers, you’ve gotta cede some access to your phone or laptop which makes things messy — if you ever get in a fight with HR, how you use that device could be used against you — and it makes it harder to have that separation between home and work. Employers might save some money but then you’ve got the nightmare of having to manage this fleet of random devices. As I was chatting with Sizzler Kagenzo, same goes for school BYOD policies. What do you think? Prefer to work using something other than a 4 year old Chromebook? Or are you a stickler for work giving you the equipment you need to get the job done? Email me!

Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.

Leftovers

Discuss these links in the Sizzle Slack or forum.

Oh, Also

Explore Wikipedia with your ears

I come bearing gifts for those of you who used to — or still do! — love being sucked into a vortex of knowledge after clicking the “random article” Wikipedia button. Firstly, experience the many different sounds on Wikimedia with Wiki Radio, which randomly serves up audio from Wikimedia like a New Welsh folk music or the call of the hippolais polyglotta. Or, if you want to sink your teeth into something a bit more substantial, Wikipedia Radio will find random spoken word articles to share with you. Enjoy!

Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.

Bargains

Electrical and electronics

Computing

Mobile

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.