The South Australian department of education has developed its own AI powered chatbot. The proof of concept runs on its "private cloud" Azure instance and is currently operating as an 8 week trial in "several" secondary schools across the state. They hope to learn "how it is being used and the impact it can have on teaching and learning" and use the results to "inform consideration of broader implementation and provide valuable insight as the department explores its strategic priorities". They told the federal government's inquiry on AI use in schools that there are "significant potential benefits in education". This is probably a better approach to AI than putting your head in the sand and trying to ban it.
Microsoft is changing up its very popular Game Pass subscription. As of September 14th, all of the Xbox Live and Game Pass subscriptions will be shitcanned and replaced with Game Pass Core, Game Pass Console, Game Pass PC and Game Pass Ultimate. Game Pass Core goes for $10.95/m, replaces Xbox Live Gold and provides a "core" of 25 "high quality games" on tap. The Console & PC variants give you "hundreds" more games for either your Xbox or your Windows box and Ultimate bundles the console and PC versions into one subscription if you play on both platforms. I'm sure Game Pass is fucking up the gaming industry somehow, but damn it's a good deal and it's what got me to buy an Xbox Series X instead of a PS5.
A video titled "24 hours + of pure black screen in HD!" has racked up 40.2 million views on YouTube. It's a black screen with no audio, why the hell are people watching it? Apparently people play this video "so that my laptop doesn't shutdown while downloading games", or "so I can have music open on another tab at night and have this open so the screen with the music on it wont shine so bright in my room" and someone even said it is "the perfect video to cast to your tv when you're too tired to get up and turn it off". Wow, okay. That's certainly an approach to those problems I had not considered.
The increasing commercial demand for Dolby Atmos mixes has led to Forbes Street Studios in Sydney's Woolloomooloo joining the spatial audio movement, by creating an immersive mixing environment in its main studio – complete with a 9.1.4 Genelec Smart Active Monitoring system. (Genelec)
📻 St. Charles Square - Blur
😎 The Sizzle is curated by Anthony "decryption" Agius and emailed every weekday afternoon.
💬 Checked out the paid subscriber only forum? It's a tidy little place to discuss tech with like minded Aussies.
👋 Forums not your thing? The Sizzle has a Slack group you can procrastinate in and chat with other nerds bored at work.
💳 Paid subscriber looking to manage your billing info, change email address or cancel your subscription? Visit the customer portal.
🎁 Make someone's day and buy them a 12 month gift subscription to The Sizzle.
📚 Browse The Sizzle Archive. A few issues are missing and it's not searchable, but it's better than nothing.
🫂 Friends of The Sizzle is a small group of businesses or organisations operated by Sizzle subscribers. Support your fellow Sizzler!
💔 Tired of my bullshit? Unsubscribe and I'll never speak to you again.
The Sizzle is created on Wathaurong 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.