Smart homes are getting smarter: Look into the future. New millimeter-wave (mmWave) tech detects movements so subtle, the sensors know when you’re breathing. You’ll be able to program them to dim the moment you plop down on the sofa for movie night. (Yeah, I thought that, too.) I wonder if you stop breathing, will your lights call 911?
Why Trump and tech CEOs are together
© Ifeelstock | Dreamstime.com
This past week, someone called me a “f***ing MAGA c***” in the comments for my newsletter, The Current. That reader didn’t leave a name (surprise) and clearly didn’t appreciate what I said about Stargate: “[The] announcement by President Trump, along with the biggest tech CEOs, is the most consequential technical project of the century.”
First, let’s address a question that lit up my inbox on Inauguration Day: “Why are all the tech CEOs surrounding President Trump?”
Inauguration: A reflection of the times
The presidential inauguration is a time capsule of who and what matters most in America. Seats go to the most powerful: Former presidents, military leaders, Supreme Court justices and others handpicked by the incoming president.
On Trump’s guest list? Tech titans including Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Google’s Sundar Pichai, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Tesla’s Elon Musk, Oracle’s Larry Ellison, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son and Apple’s Tim Cook. Fun fact: Five of the top 10 richest people in the world were there, representing a combined net worth of over $900 billion.
It wasn’t long ago steel magnates like Andrew Carnegie or automotive tycoons like Henry Ford were center stage. Today, it’s tech CEOs. Why? Because government policies on data privacy, antitrust and AI shape entire industries. In other words, tech is driving our economy.
Stargate is a moonshot
This $500 billion investment, led by Larry Ellison, Sam Altman and Masayoshi Son, is the most ambitious AI project ever. Think of it as the tech world’s Apollo program, building a massive AI infrastructure and energy solutions to drive breakthroughs.
Stargate is expected to create hundreds of thousands of jobs and revive U.S. chip production, which has fallen to just 12% of global manufacturing.
Revolutionizing medicine and more
Stargate’s AI is going to change medicine, for starters. It will detect biomarkers and DNA mutations signaling diseases like cancer, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s many years before symptoms appear. It will also revolutionize:
- Agriculture: Optimizing crop yields and robotics in farming.
- Education: Personalized learning for every student.
- Transportation: Self-driving cars, trains and faster air travel.
Face control on Chromebooks
This is incredible: Google’s new AI feature lets people control Chromebooks using only head and mouth movements. It’ll allow folks with motor impairments to move a cursor, select options and write type emails via text-to-speech. See it in action. So cool.
$150 million
Asking price for Tom Brady’s mansion, complete with a basement bunker. The former NFL superstar bought a lot on Florida’s Indian Creek Island for $17 million in 2020. Property costs there skyrocketed thanks to Jeff Bezos, who bought three properties (paywall link) on the manmade barrier island.
It’s a TikTok account with 2.9 million followers that ranks sticks found in nature, from wizard staffs to twisted pieces of wood. It started as an inside joke between two buddies, Boone Hogg and Logan Jugler. They made a TikTok account, and, 12.5 million likes later, even celebs like Lin-Manuel Miranda are in on it.
Bill Gates swayed back and forth when I interviewed him: That was years ago. Now, the Microsoft co-founder believes he might’ve been diagnosed with autism if he’d been a kid in today’s world. In a recent interview, he explained autism once had a narrow definition but now includes a broader spectrum of conditions. Gates also mentioned his biggest regret: His divorce.
👎 IG snitch: Instagram now shows your friends all the videos you’ve liked. When scrolling through the Reels tab, you’ll notice small bubbles with your friends’ profile pictures and a little heart overlay in the bottom left corner. I’ll keep you posted if they add an option to turn it off.
The clock is TikTokking: President Trump is cooking up a plan to buy TikTok. The U.S. sovereign wealth fund would involve private equity players and taxpayer money. Communist China’s government refuses to include the algorithm with the sale, which is what makes TikTok so valuable. But U.S. tech titans say they can come up with their own.
🤯 Shocking AI news: DeepSeek, a Chinese company loaded with young, ambitious talent, is causing massive panic in Silicon Valley by releasing multiple AI models 50 times more efficient than the best American ones. DeepSeek’s models outperformed Meta’s Llama 3.1, OpenAI’s GPT-4o and Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet 3.5 in everything from complex problem-solving to math and coding accuracy. Here’s the kicker: They built DeepSeek with $5.6 million; OpenAI spent $5.4 billion per year.
410 megapixels
What Canon managed to cram into a 35mm full-frame sensor. For perspective, it has a 24K resolution, 198 times sharper than HD. And no, it’s not coming to the consumer market anytime soon. It’s going to be used for surveillance so photos can be enlarged without losing their detail.
How this wildfire victim reunited with his dog
🎶 You’re simply the best: Tina Turner passed away in 2023, but a new song has been released with the 40th-anniversary edition of “Private Dancer.” The “lost” tune, “Hot for You Baby,” was cut from the original tracklist. Critics say it’s meh, but I think it’s classic Tina Turner and those amazing legs of hers! Take a listen and see what you think.
Isn’t this just cable? We’ve come full circle. Comcast’s new $70 monthly Sports & News TV streaming bundle includes live NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB games; over 50 channels, like ESPN, CNN and ABC; a Peacock subscription; and access to over 100 free streaming channels. If you want it, hit the Xfinity Stream app on your phone (iOS and Android) or smart TV.
✈️ Faster flights? Yes, please: If all goes well, an XB-1 commercial plane nicknamed the “Son of Concorde” will hit Mach 1, or about 767 miles per hour, and break the sound barrier next week. How will it feel as a passenger? No extreme g-forces — just a slight pull as it reaches supersonic speeds. You’ll be finishing your peanuts in the baggage claim!
Keep calm and robot on: This is something. OpenAI’s new Operator AI agent is like having a real personal assistant. Prompt it with something like, “Find me a family-friendly campsite at Joshua Tree this weekend,” and it’ll look up options, select dates, check pricing and even book it for you if you give the OK. Right now, it’s only available with ChatGPT Pro accounts ($200 per month). I’m going to try it next week when I have a spare moment.
I take mine every day: Collagen is scientifically proven to help increase bone density, support cartilage regrowth, smooth wrinkles, strengthen nails and make your hair thicker. Hit my special link to get 45% off.
🚗 Here’s the kind of math I like: For car dealerships, a 60-day supply of vehicles is healthy. All across the country, some are hitting 75 days’ worth of supply, and that means they’re much more likely to negotiate with you. Nissan, Dodge, Ram and Jeep are the most oversupplied brands right now (paywall link). Pass this along to someone looking for a new car!
Apple Intelligence was supposed to make Siri better: So far, it’s worse. Someone asked the iPhone assistant to name the winners of all 58 Super Bowls, and it only got 34% of ‘em right. This is basic stuff. When asked, “Who won Super Bowl 16?” Siri replied, “Do you want me to use ChatGPT to answer that?” Until updates roll out, Siri isn’t worth your time.
😱 If you’re looking for info on Reddit, heads-up: There are at least 1,000 malware-infected sites that look just like Reddit. It starts with Google search results that lead to phony threads. Once you’re there, a bogus comment links to WeTransfer to download the program. If you do that, all bets are off; hackers get your login credentials, passwords and more.
$620,000
The new max pay for Walmart’s regional store managers. Quite the raise from last year’s $570,000 cap. That’s thanks to bigger bonuses and stock grants. Even on the lower end of the pay spectrum, you’re looking at $420,000, a boost from $320,000. Now, that’s if you snag your full bonus, but it, too, is also rising from 90% of base pay to 100%.