Plus: fun games that demonstrate how LLMs do (and don't) work ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

July 03, 2025 | Read online
# More Microsoft layoffs, AI meeting bots and curious data centre pledge Plus: fun games that demonstrate how LLMs do (and don't) work
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Edition 2366
# The News
Flickr: inskydiamonds
### Will the last Microsoft employee turn the light off on their way out?
Microsoft is laying off another 9,000 employees (Bloomberg, $). The cuts, which are apparently across “teams, geographies and tenure”, brings its total number of job cuts to 15,000 — or close to 7% of its global workforce — since May. The Xbox team’s cuts are reportedly particularly savage (Engadget), seemingly because of gaming industry-wide factors and Microsoft’s decision to back away from being a console-maker that I wrote about earlier this week. In funny timing: Linux has apparently hit a 5% share of the US desktop market for the first time ever (Mastodon) while, as I linked to earlier this week, Windows is losing users (Tom’s Hardware),
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
### People are sending AI bots to meetings
There’s a great Washington Post article about people sending their “AI helpers” to meetings instead of going themselves (Washington Post). For those not familiar, a common feature amongst various AI companies like Otter’s products is to have a bot sit in on video/audio calls so it can transcribe what is said. Some companies want to take this further by eventually having AI representatives who will act on the “real” person’s instructions. Obviously this is insanely dystopian. Imagine turning up to a meeting where you speak to a bunch of non-responsive AI bots. Also, I don’t love people unilaterally introducing AI bots into conversations. But can I say that I can see the appeal of using it to (somewhat passive aggressively) deal with meetings that you don’t need to be in — or that should have been an email instead?
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
### A big Australian AI centre investment that smells a bit odd
A story about “Australia’s largest AI data centre” being built in Tasmania has caught my eye (ABC News). Both Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockcliff and opposition leader Dean Winter welcomed a promise from Firmus Technologies to spend $2.1 billion on the first phase of a data centre that it says will be operational from the start of next year (Cyber Daily AU). The company, which is apparently just about to finish raising $280 million of investment (AFR, $), is founded by three men — including Oliver Curtis, who spent a year in jail for insider trading (AFR, $). It’s a beautiful story of rehabilitation, truly the Australian dream! Anyway, this combination of a buzzy industry, big investments and promises and the people behind it has me thinking we should keep an eye on this…
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
#### Leftovers
NBN Co to "rationalise" [Ed’s note: stop supporting] some access technologies entirely (IT News) Qantas hack: Electronic Frontiers Australia boss says ‘Enough is enough’ (Cyber Daily AU) Australia may not face Trump wrath over big tech levy (AFR, $) Venture capital’s $6b ticking clock could reshape Aussie tech (Capital Brief, $) OpenAI’s ‘productivity’ garbage is an age-old scam that’s long crippled Australia (Crikey, $) OpenAI's Australian lobbying machine takes shape with Kate Pounder hire (Capital Brief, $) Websites hosting major US climate reports taken down (AP) Jury says Google must pay California Android smartphone users $314.6m (The Guardian) After years of rumors, Apple now has a production prototype iPhone fold (AppleInsider) FaceTime in iOS 26 will freeze your call if someone starts undressing (9to5Mac) NimDoor crypto-theft macOS malware revives itself when killed (Bleeping Computer) No one likes meetings. They’re sending their AI note takers instead. (Washington Post) Three former Ubisoft executives are convicted of sexual and psychological harassment (The Verge) A Group of Young Cybercriminals Poses the ‘Most Imminent Threat’ of Cyberattacks Right Now (WIRED, $) This is about Scattered Spider Canada bans Hikvision amidst security fears (TechRadar) Racist AI-generated videos are the newest slop garnering millions of views on TikTok (Media Matters) Exploiting the IKKO Activebuds "AI powered" earbuds, running DOOM, stealing their OpenAI API key and customer data. (MGD Productions) Guest Post: How I Scanned all of GitHub’s “Oops Commits” for Leaked Secrets (Truffle Security)
Discuss these links in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
# Oh, Also
### Fun games showing how LLMs do (and, importantly, don’t) work
A cool thing that’s come out of the brains at QUT is their GenAI Arcade, a cool collection of games that tries to demonstrate how AI does — and doesn’t — work. It’s got things like the “sort-of-calculator” that shows AI’s struggles with maths, “milkless” which challenges you to get an AI trained not to talk about to … err … talk about milk, even a LinkedIn content generator (which is probably a bigger indictment on LinkedIn than AI. Definitely a cool resource to send to people to help understand these concepts!
Great maths!
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
# Bargains
Electrical & electronics
Kogan Smart Tag Tracker for Google's Find My Device (4-Pack) for $53.99 at Kogan 50% off Blink Outdoor 4 with Sync Module at Amazon AU 1 Camera for $75 2 Cameras for $140 3 Cameras for $200 Apple Airtag 4-Pack for $136 at Amazon AU Laser 1080p Cinema Projector Outdoor Bundle 2024 for $235 at The Good Guys Garmin Vívoactive 5, Health and Fitness GPS Smartwatch, Amoled Display, Navy for $259 at Amazon AU Apple AirPods 4 with ANC for $259 at Landmark Computers TCL 65" C7K QD Mini LED 4K 144hz Google TV for $1276 at JB Hi-Fi TCL C8K 4K UHD Premium QD-Mini LED Google TV (2025) at JB Hi-Fi 65" for $1596 75" for $2236 85" for $3196 98" for $5596 TCL 75" C8K 4K UHD Premium QD-Mini LED Google TV (2025) for $2290 at Videopro Valerion VisionMaster Pro 2 4K RGB Triple Laser Projector + Ceiling Mount for $3909.15 at Vividstorm Australia TCL 98" C8K Premium QD-MiniLED 4K UHD Google TV (2025) for $5590 at Appliance Central
Computing
Samsung PRO Plus Sonic The Hedgehog + Adapter, 256GB microSDXC for $35.68 at Amazon US via AU TCL Nxtpaper 11 LTE 128GB Tablet - Dark Grey for $224 at Harvey Norman AOC Q27G3ZE 27" QHD Fast IPS 240Hz 0.5ms Gaming Monitor for $319 at Centre Com AOOSTAR WTR PRO 4 Bay NAS (N150, 4x 3.5", 1x NVMe, 2x2.5G, HDMI/DP/USB-C) for ~$370.63 at China Box AliExpress Asus 14" Zenbook Ryzen 5 16/512GB Laptop for $1147 at Officeworks
Mobile
Nothing Phone (3) 12GB/256GB on JB Hi-Fi Mobile $99/M 24M SIM Plan (in-Store Only) for $109 upfront at JB Hi-Fi Apple iPhone SE 5G 3rd Gen 64GB (refurbished) for $249 at Phonebot Apple iPhone 16 128GB Pink Colour for $958.55 at Officeworks Apple iPhone 16 Pro (White Only) 128GB for $1460 at Officeworks Nothing Phone (3) with Bonus $200 JB Gift Card at JB Hi-Fi 256GB for $1509 512GB for $1689
# The End
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