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2250. Australia gains from US car and chips bans, Musk wins friends in China but not down under and fediverse Instagram

Why does the Australian Open look like Wii Sports?

Author

Cam Wilson
January 15, 2025

Issue 2250 - Wednesday 15th January, 2025

In Today’s Issue

  • Aussies win US car, AI chips bans

  • Elon Musk: China’s friend, our foe?

  • What if Instagram but on the fediverse

  • Why does the Australian Open look like Wii Sports?

  • Cheap Motorola bluetooth tracker 4 pack, FL Studio lifetime license, Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones, iPhone 14 and 16; and LG TVs.

The News

Aussies win from US car, AI chips bans

America is set to ban cars with Chinese or Russian-linked software and hardware (Ars Technica) in 2027 and 2030 respectively. Uncle Sam has, as usual, cited “national security” for the justification for this but it will no doubt be a boon to their domestic auto industry. Like the TikTok ban, I find it hard to get worked up about that idea that the CCP would know that I’ve been lazily driving to the gym instead of running, especially when local carmakers are the big offenders when it comes to sharing driving data with third parties (New York Times, $). There’s been some grumbling for a similar ban in Australia in the past (News.com.au) but no real movement on that. The biggest impact will likely be more Chinese EVs, presumably cheaper, in Australia if they can’t sell ‘em in the US. Let the record show that I will happily pledge allegiance to Xi Jinping if it means I can buy a BYD for sub-$20k.

Also on the US trade front, remember earlier in the week when I said the US was announcing new restrictions to stop China’s AI development? Well, Australia is being explicitly exempted from those restrictions which will affect the export of high-end computer chips and sharing closed-weight (a.k.a. not open source) AI models (InnovationAus, $). Here’s a link if you want to rawdog the rule (US federal register). Who cares about AI development — I want to thank you, Mr President, for granting Aussie gamers access to Nvidia H100s which apparently can be used in consumer devices if you somehow get your hands on one (Reddit)!

Elon Musk: China’s friend, our foe?

Am I really going to have to keep writing about this guy? The answer is, unfortunately, yes. Elon Musk continues to be at the centre of everything including the looming TikTok ban as he has apparently emerged as China’s preferred buyer (Bloomberg, $). At first I thought this was bullshit floated to support a proposed 270 day delay on the “sell or be banned” order (The Verge). I mean, I know why Musk would want it, but why would ByteDance or China want him to have it? Then I remembered, Musk is closely tangled up with China which is both the largest non-US market and a major manufacturer for Tesla (ABC News, InsideEVs). China has massive leverage over Musk so it makes total sense that he’s their least-worst candidate for buying TikTok’s US arm.

Meanwhile, Anthony Albanese has warned Musk not to interfere in our upcoming election (SMH, $) because we have anti-foreign interference laws like… requiring foreign people lobbying politicians to go on a register? And… banning foreign individuals from donating (but not their Australian local subsidiaries)? I bet Musk is shaking in his boots. Personally, I do think there’s a problem that a radicalised (BBC) and politically active billionaire controls an influential social media platform, has an enormous megaphone on that platform, has no issue with putting his finger on the scale, and is intimately intertwined with Australian critical infrastructure, not to mention his influence over the incoming US administration. Ah well, what can ya do.

What if Instagram but on the fediverse

If you’re looking for a non-MAGA image-based social media app like Instagram, Pixelfed might be what you’re looking for. It’s an open source, decentralised platform built on ActivityPub (which powers Mastodon) that just launched iOS and Android apps (Engadget). Apparently, as well as following Pixelfed users, the app lets you follow Mastodon users to see their image posts (Reddit) although you do need to create a native account rather than logging in with Mastodon. It’s still quite small — Pixelfed said 11,000 new users had joined in the last day — but thanks to the magic of using open protocols that are interoperable with others, it doesn’t feel empty. Oh while I remember, a prediction: if there’s a US TikTok ban, the big winner won’t be new players like Chinese social media app RedNote which has reportedly picked up half a million new users (The Guardian). It will be Meta for Instagram Reels and Google with YouTube Shorts.

Oh, Also

Why does the Australian Open look like Wii Sports?

The Australian Open has figured out a way to broadcast their tennis matches on YouTube — thank god — but it doesn’t look like you might expect. Viewers were surprised to see that the official tournament account was streaming the matches using Wii Sports-like digital avatars as a way of getting around broadcast rights restrictions (Kotaku). It looks fine from a sports viewing-perspective, I guess, but there’s something deeply funny about these professional athletes competing while looking like a 2014 video game.

Apparently the NFL has done a similar thing, too (Sony). I’m personally surprised that this is allowed. Legally, it doesn’t seem to be transformative. Would the Sizzle be able to broadcast the AFL grand final if I put a Snapchat filter over the players’ faces? Business-wise, I’m sure the Open’s broadcast partners aren’t too excited about it. After all, the only thing in media that’s kept any value is exclusive, live sports. But if anyone can broadcast a very similar version for free, I’m not sure that’s a great outcome for the Australian Open or anyone else. Plus, here’s a headline that will surprise no one: ‘Almost 10,000 images of tennis balls plunge up to 90% in value as Australian Open appears to ditch NFTs’ (The Guardian).

Bargains

The End

😎 The Sizzle is written by Cam Wilson and emailed every weekday afternoon. It was created by Anthony “decryption” Agius.

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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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