Plus: do you bank at Starbucks? ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

May 29, 2025 | Read online
# Bunnings says it didn't need facial recognition consent, Nvidia riches and post-GPT schooling Plus: do you bank at Starbucks?
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Flickr: dmuth
Issue 2342 - Thursday 29 May 2025
Sorry for running a bit late today! I was responding to all the emails, forum and Slack posts about suggesting self-hosting email when I actually meant just using a custom domain. As punishment I will be subjecting myself to self-hosting the Sizzle (which means I’ll be hand-delivering future editions).
# The News
### Bunnings says it didn’t need to ask permission to use facial recognition
Bunnings reckons it didn’t need permission to use facial recognition technology across dozens of its stores because it was using it on sus people (Biometric Update). The hardware giant is defending against the Information Commissioner’s case that it broke Australian privacy laws by using FRT at 63 stories. Documents obtained by FOI show Bunnings claims it was only capturing and comparing facial data from customers who were accused of abusive behaviour, and that it was unreasonable to ask them for consent (MLex, $) but commissioner Carly Kind ain’t buying it. In the US, AI surveillance company Flock is letting immigration agents search footage from the cameras installed by customers like local councils and businesses (404Media, $).
Somehow I don’t think facial recognition is going to help with this guy (photo shared by Bunnings)
### Nvidia is making off like a bandit from the AI boom
It’s seriously hard to comprehend how much money Nvidia is making off the AI hype. Initially, there were export restrictions on top level AI chips. Then, when Nvidia came up with some B+++ chips that it could sell to China, the Trump administration decided to ban their exports too at a cost of about US$8 billion. Despite this, Nvidia beat expectations with $44 billion in earnings this quarter — were up 73% year-on-year — at a gross margin of 61% (CNBC). And if you thought it was just their data centres, Nvidia’s gaming and robotic divisions both saw 42% and 72% growth respectively. But despite rockstar CEO Jensen Huang’s lobbying for access to the $50b Chinese market, the Trump admin continues to crack down on anyone supplying anything related to chips — now telling US semiconductor design software companies with Chinese customers to knock it off (FT, $).
### If kids are using ChatGPT to cheat, what should we do?
Following on from a previous Sizzle edition where we mentioned how every student is cheating using ChatGPT, I came across this newsletter where well-known US jazz historian Ted Gioia came up with some suggestions for how schools should respond (The Honest Broker). These boil down to ‘get your kids off the dang computer’! I think this is certainly part of how schools should start thinking about it. But also — I know this sounds crazy — maybe we should think of teaching and students’ capabilities on tasks that can’t easily be replicated by AI or will need to be even more important with AI. i.e. understanding how to judge the quality of information or how to talk/write like a real person. What do you think schools should do?
#### Leftovers
Australian Telecom Superloop’s Portal Access Allegedly Offered for Sale (Daily Dark Web) AustralianSuper introduces multi-factor identification but ART and Cbus drag their feet (The Australian, $) Ex-Blockchain Global director sought over $20m debt (AFR, $) Hacking crew targeting Australian websites by hijacking DNS MX entries and compromising enterprises in minutes (Risky Business Podcast on YouTube) Property Council misfires on call for NSW data centre strategy (InnovationAus, $) Japan Post launches 'digital address' system (Japan Times) Tesla Adds Real-Time Charging Alerts With iOS Live Activities -- More Coming (Not A Tesla App) Apple to Launch iOS 26, macOS 26 in Major Rebrand Tied to Software Redesigns (Bloomberg, $) Thank fuck Discord launches a virtual currency (Engadget) xAI to pay Telegram $300M to integrate Grok into the chat app (TechCrunch) - “It's unclear when the feature will be available again or if the "pause" has anything to do with "XChat," the company's yet-to-be-launched chat platform” X is 'pausing' encrypted DMs (Engadget) New Deepseek model (Hugging Face) US will ban foreign officials to punish countries for social media rules (The Verge) The Switch 2 May Signal the End of Physical Games (WIRED, $) Surface Laptop 13-inch review: a little less for a little less (The Verge) Durable OPPO A5G lands in Australia with long battery life and VOOC fast charging (EFTM) The Decline of Battery Life (Brain Baking) - I don’t agree with the conclusion because I think people clearly are fine with the power vs battery trade-off, but defs interesting to think about how expectations have changed. I am disappointed in the AI discourse (Steve Klabnik) - “What is breaking my brain a little bit is that all of the discussion online around AI is so incredibly polarized.”
# Oh, Also
### Do you bank at Starbucks?
A 9NEWS story about the fact that there’s $30 million on toll e-tag accounts that haven’t been used in at least six months (LinkedIn) reminded me of a similar story: in 2016, a report on where Americans kept their money revealed that Starbucks held $1.2 billion from customers on their Starbucks cards (MarketWatch). This meant that the company had more money on hand than many banks — and all of it was being essentially lent to them free by customers. And, because most credit that isn’t used within a year will never be used, the company pockets $200 million each year (MarketWatch). Moral of the story? Don’t use gift cards if you can avoid it.
# Bargains
Electrical & Electronics
JBL Endurance Run 2 Wired in-Ear Headphones - $18.00 at Amazon AU TP-Link Tapo Wi-Fi Security Cameras at Amazon AU C201 1pk - 3 for $65.25 C200 2pk - 3 for $128 Oral-B Io2 Electric Toothbrush - Black - $69.00 at eBay Shaver Shop Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max - $89 at Amazon AU TP-Link Tapo C530WS Pan/Tilt Outdoor Wi-Fi Camera - $103 at Amazon Au Skullcandy Method 360 ANC Wireless Earbuds Black (Membership Required) - $139.73 at JB Hi-Fi Business Square Hardware at Square Shop Stand/Kiosk for $119 Terminal for $259 Register (Save $300) for $799 eufy C210 2K Home Security Camera Bundle Kit 4-Camera Pack - $379 at Bunnings Warehouse Technics AZ100 True Wireless Noise Cancelling Bluetooth Earbuds - $399 at Amazon AU Eufy Security Solocam S220 with Homebase (2 Pack) - $549 at JB Hi-Fi TCL 75" P7K QLED 4K UHD Google TV (2025) (Was $1495) - $1295 at JB Hi-Fi TCL 65" 65C7K 4K UHD QD-Mini LED Google TV (2025) (Price Match @ JB Hi-Fi) - $1679 at Appliances Online LG G5 4K OLED EVO AI Smart TV at Harvey Norman 55" for $3116 65" for $3756 77" for $5596 83" for $7196
Computing
Mercusys AC1200 Bluetooth PCIe Wi-Fi Adapter - $15.90 at Amazon AU ORICO M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure 10Gbps USB 3.2 Gen2 - $17.99 at ORICO G.O.A.T via Amazon AU TP-Link AC600 Nano Wi-Fi & Bluetooth USB Adapter - $19 at Amazon AU SanDisk 256GB Extreme microSDXC Card - $30.37 at SwiftOrder Amazon AU Silicon Power Ace A55 1TB 3D NAND 2.5in SATA III SSD - $73 at MSY Anker Powerconf C202 Webcam - $89.95 at Goodbuyz via MyDeal Mionix Wired Gaming Mouse with Bonus Mionix Mousepad - $119 at Talnoch LG UltraGear 27" (27GS75Q-B) 1440p 200Hz IPS Gaming Monitor - $329 at LG Australia RTX 4060 TI eBay Plus ATL - $508 at eBay Ubiquiti Unifi Dream Wall All in One Internet Gateway - $1099 at Scorptec
Mobile
Samsung Galaxy S24 8GB RAM/256GB Storage - $637 at Kogan eBay Apple iPhone 16 Pro 256GB - $1797 at JB Hi-Fi
# The End
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