Plus: Would you let your pasta sauce surveil your family dinners? ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

April 22, 2026 | Read online
# EU's replaceable** batteries, RentTech platform broke privacy rules and NSW gov insider breach Plus: Would you let your pasta sauce surveil your family dinners?
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Edition 2547
Mentioned in today’s edition: Pixel 10 batteries, Tim Cook, Samsung, Meta, 2Apply, Sam Floreani, Disney+ and Prego. Plus, deals on CUKTECH power banks, Corsair SSDs and amaysim prepaid plans.
# The News
### EU will force phonemakers to put replaceable*** batteries in their devices soon
The EU's deadline for mandatory replaceable batteries in mobile phones is fast approaching, but it might not be what some people hope (Olive Press). In 2023, the EU introduced a new rule to curb electronic waste that forces all portable device makers to ensure that their batteries can be removed without "specialised tools or assistance" by early 2027 (EU).
The Sizzle: A few articles about the looming deadline went viral this week, with people assuming it means they would soon be able to hot-swap their Pixel 10 batteries. But, as 9to5Google points out, the wording of these rules and some exemptions means that Samsung and Google probably won't have to change their existing phone designs which still require specialised tools, solvents and heat to remove.
This is of course the challenge of designing regulations that need to apply to a million things in a million situations, at the same time as companies say they couldn't possibly do something... until they're forced to and it turns out that they can! The silver lining is that these rules appear to force Apple to abandon building its phones so you can only remove the batteries with proprietary tools, which should make it easier to replace them. Take the W!
Discuss in Slack or Forum.
### RentTech platform slapped for breaking privacy rules
A RentTech platform broke Australia's privacy rules by unnecessarily collecting data on prospective renters, according to the privacy watchdog (OAIC). The OAIC has fired off a warning shot about this kind of behaviour, noting the power imbalance between renters, landlords and their representatives. It's built on an investigation into InspectRealEstate's 2Apply platform which not only found that it extracted info like gender and citizenship status — clearly, crucial info — but also noted that it was doing things like using biased language and bundling requests for consent to things.
I asked The Sizzle's resident RentTech expert for her reaction:
Will be interesting to see if they try to push back - like I can imagine them trying to make an argument that some of that information is reasonably necessary (e.g. for assessing tenant ‘risk’ or to meet the expectations of the landlord)
Sam Floreani
Discuss in Slack or Forum.
### NSW Treasury staff member allegedly stole a whole lot of confidential files
A NSW Treasury staff member nicked 5,600+ sensitive documents from across the state government, the NSW government claims (ITNews). The staff member allegedly responsible was arrested this week on charges relating to computer hacking crimes. There's not much information on the purported motive. What little we know is that the transfer was flagged by security systems; and that the man worked in the Treasury's commercial teamswhich negotiates big government contracts.
Discuss in Slack or Forum.
# Leftovers
Australia:
Finder redundancies: 54 jobs cut in global job cuts (SmartCompany) Directors, execs, investors to be vetted under new data centre rules (The Australian Financial Review, $) Australian semiconductor manufacturing start up Syenta raises US$26 million (iTnews) eSafety asks gaming giants what they are doing to prevent grooming and radicalisation (eSafety Commissioner) Darkweb markets: A complete Aussie identity costs as little as $200 (Cyber Daily) Disney+ adds ads, raises prices locally (Pickr) Datacentre finance corner: Blackstone's AirTrunk plans its first data center-backed bond (Bloomberg, $)
Rest of World:
Meta to start capturing employee mouse movements, keystrokes for AI training data (Reuters,) Meta is sued over scam ads on Facebook and Instagram (Wired, $) Anthropic's Mythos model is being accessed by unauthorized users (Bloomberg, $) AI job cuts hit Wall Street (The New York Times, $) Elite law firm Sullivan & Cromwell admits to AI 'hallucinations' (Financial Times, $) UK probes Telegram teen chat sites over CSAM sharing concerns (BleepingComputer) French govt agency confirms breach as hacker offers to sell data (BleepingComputer) Anthropic removes Claude Code for some Pro (US$20/m) subscribers (Where's Your Ed At) Mob boss John Gotti's grandson is headed to prison for a USD1.1 million COVID fraud and crypto scheme (CoinDesk) This Scammer Used an AI-Generated MAGA Girl to Grift ‘Super Dumb’ Men (Wired, $) Tim Cook's impeccable timing (Stratechery)
Discuss in Slack or Forum.
# Oh, Also
### Would you let your pasta sauce surveil your family dinners?
Prego — like, the pasta sauce brand — is releasing a voice recorder that looks like a pasta jar lid that they're hoping people will use to record their conversations over the dinner table (Campbells). Why? 1. Why not. 2. The explicit mission is to record the conversations of "everyday Americans" for preservation in America's Library of Congress. Anyway, I think it's US only and they're only selling 100 of them as part of a bundle that includes some pasta and pasta sauce, obviously, but I'm sure you could find your way to get one if you really want it.
Discuss in Slack or Forum.
# Bargains
Electronics
CUKTECH Power Banks at Mostly Melbourne CUKTECH Mini 30W for $22.99 CUKTECH No.15 SE for $34 ZMI QB826 for $99.99
Computing
Corsair Force MP600 PRO LPX 2TB NVMe PCIe X4 Gen4 M.2 (2280) SSD with Heatsink - $290 at Amazon Asus RT-BE92U Tri-Band Wi-Fi 7 Router (EU Stock) - $325 at Amazon
Mobile
amaysim Prepaid Mobile Starter Packs at Woolworths $35 Starter Pack for $12 $40 Starter Pack for $15 $99 Starter Pack for $49 $270 Starter Pack for $199
# The End
😎 The Sizzle is written by Cam Wilson every weekday. It was created by Anthony “decryption” Agius.
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