 | Edition 2349 |
| | The News | Apple’s developer-fest fiddles around the edges while kicking the AI can down the road | Apple’s developer conference kicked off with an F1-themed video intro (Instagram). It’s a fitting choice considering that, for the most part, what was announced is mostly some new paint and tinkering around the edges — although I think there’s some exciting stuff for power users. Here are my big takeaways from WWDC 2025: | The big announcement was the Liquid Glass visual refresh that will be uniform across Apple OS (Apple). The look — called “the grandchild of Mac OS X Aqua and Windows Vista Glass” by artywah in the Slack — is going in the opposite direction to Android but I reckon it’s a big bet from Apple on the future being VR/AR where you don’t want too much UI. macOS 26 (or Tahoe) will get native support for linux containers (Apple Insider) and new Spotlight features including a redesign, custom commands and being able to run shortcuts (TechCrunch). As expected, no upgrade to the woeful Siri but Apple is opening up access to its on-device LLM for developers (Apple). I’m personally excited to see what developers can do with free gen AI access that’s also private because it’s on device — although I do really fear for how this is going to suck up battery life. Apple is ending support for the Intel Macs with the release of Tahoe (The Verge). Some long overdue updates to iPadOS like proper multi-tasking (WIRED, $) and some stuff to CarPlay too (The Verge) Aaaand heaps of other little things like live translation in calls/text messages, iMessages getting a few more features, a new gaming app, etc. If you want all the nitty-gritty, here’s the Verge’s liveblog and I embedded the keynote vid below.
|  | WWDC 2025 — June 9 | Apple |
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| Why LA’s self-driving taxis became a protestor target | If you’ve been watching waves vaguely everything that’s happening in LA, there’s been an unexpected target of protestors: Waymo’s self-driving cars. After people allegedly hailed the self-driving taxis to their doom (X) the Google-owned company shut down operations in downtown LA (LA Times). It’s hard to say exactly why protestors were attacking Waymos; the company said that it doesn’t think the cars were “intentionally targeted, but rather happened to be present during the protests”. On the other hand, it’s well-known that police have been able to access footage from Waymos (404 Media, $) which are stuffed full of cameras and other sensors, so it’s also likely that people aren’t excited to see these surveillance machines driving through their protests. |  | SHOCKING FOOTAGE: Self-Driving Waymo Cars Set On Fire During Anti-ICE Demonstrations In Los Angeles |
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| The future of the open web? Some cool new fediverse things | Last week was FediForum, a virtual conference for people building stuff on the fediverse (WeDistribute). | Bounce, a soon-to-launch tool that promises to make it simple to port your Bluesky account, including posts, following and followers, to Mastodon (TechCrunch). Bonfire Social, an app that essentially makes a custom social media platform, built on the fediverse, that almost makes it feel halfway between Mastodon and Slack (Bonfire) Channel.org, which is almost an RSS reader but for the fediverse, Bluesky and, naturally, RSS (Channel.org)
| I’m very pro-fediverse in theory but I still don’t recommend telling your uncle to join Mastodon because of the high barrier to entry. It’s one thing to be excited about a protocol, but most people don’t give a shit. These new products offer a glimmer of hope that maybe open web social media platforms can also be good to use. | Leftovers | Drone trial rolled out at Port Lincoln airport in Australian first (Glam Adelaide) Qld finally reveals its position on $1b PsiQuantum quantum deal (AFR, $) OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT: Australia could be ‘compute hub’ (The Australian, $) Space Machines and UTS to build Aussie space factory (Capital Brief) How did you get my number? Inside the shadowy world of data brokers (The Guardian Australia) Why TikTok will likely get another lifeline as sell-or-ban deadline looms (New York Post) OpenAI claims to have hit $10B in annual revenue (TechCrunch) Getty argues its landmark UK copyright case does not threaten AI (Reuters) Alibaba, Tencent Freeze AI Tools During High-Stakes China Exam (Bloomberg, $) YouTube Loosens Rules Guiding the Moderation of Video (NYT, $) Fairphone 6 leak reveals more modular design (The Verge) Bruteforcing the phone number of any Google user (Brutecat)
| | Oh, Also | Finally, the ATO answers whether feet pic income is taxable | It’s almost that time of year folks: tax time! And while Sizzlers already know that a Sizzle subscription can be claimed as a deduction given that it is crucial information re: the Australian and international tech regulation and business trends, there might be some confusion about other common tax rules like… is feet pic income taxable income? The answer, according to a screenshot of an official Australian Tax Office advertisement posted to the r/Australia sub-reddit, is yes (Reddit). Funnily enough, I had a look at the surprisingly vibrant ATO forum and it turns out this is a common question! |  | The combination of text and image is particularly visceral |
| | Bargains | Electrical & electronics | | Computing | | Mobile | | | The End | 😎 The Sizzle is written by Cam Wilson and emailed every weekday. It was created by Anthony “decryption” Agius. | 🗣️ Have any feedback, a tip or just want to chat? Send me an email or Signal message. I promise to reply! | 💬 Want to hang out with other Sizzlers? There’s a subscriber-only Slack server and forum if you want to procrastinate and chat about tech-related news. | 🗣️ The Sizzle is on Bluesky, Mastodon and LinkedIn if you’re feeling social. | 💳 Paid subscriber looking to manage your billing info, change email address or cancel your subscription? Visit the Beehiiv customer portal. | 🎁 Make someone's day and gift them a 12 month gift subscription to The Sizzle. | 💔 Don’t want this any more? I won’t take it personally. There’s a unsubscribe button at the bottom of this email or here’s a guide. | 🦺 The Sizzle has been tested to meet and exceed ISO 3533 standards. | Always Was, Always Will Be Aboriginal Land | 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. |
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