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Stop pretending billionaires built the future
6 days ago
- High taxes on the rich in mid-20th century America led to greater economic equality and innovation, such as the GI Bill and NASA funding.
- Tax cuts since the 1980s have increased wealth inequality and stagnant wages, linking innovation primarily to billionaire incentives.
- Historical evidence shows innovation thrived during periods of high taxation and government investment, not billionaire payouts.
Painting the sides of railroad rails white to reduce derailment
11 days ago
- Union Pacific painted rails white in high-heat areas to reflect sunlight and reduce rail surface temperature by about 20 degrees, lowering the risk of thermal misalignments.
- This innovative method blends European rail techniques with U.S. highway striping practices, applied using a high-rail truck and paint sprayer.
- The approach contributed to a broader safety strategy, helping Union Pacific achieve its best-ever full-year derailment incident rate in 2025, a 19% year-over-year improvement.
- The initiative represents a culture of safety innovation, combining proven practices, continuous monitoring, and practical thinking to strengthen rail safety.
- Rail is consistently the safest way to move freight over land, with incident rates far lower than trucking when measured by gross ton-miles.
Microsoft Comic Chat is now open source
12 days ago
- Microsoft Comic Chat, an IRC client that turned conversations into comic panels, is now open-source on GitHub.
- Originally released in 1996, it introduced Comic Sans font and used AI-like rules to generate character expressions and gestures from text.
- Developed by David Kurlander and team, with art by Jim Woodring, it represented innovative, playful early web experimentation.
- The open-source release includes original code and AI-powered modernization examples, preserving software history for community exploration.
- Comic Chat reflects 1990s internet optimism, encouraging unconventional creativity in online communication.
1X's NEO hand is genuinely impressive. The economics are brutal
14 days ago
- 1X's NEO hand features 25 degrees of freedom, tendon-driven actuation, and force transparency, enabling advanced manipulation like assembling LEGO, playing video games, and zipping jackets.
- The hand's design avoids 'write-only' issues through low gear ratios (5:1 to 15:1), allowing it to sense touch and force, with tactile sensors that detect slip and shear for precise control.
- 1X uses teleoperation for some demos, with plans for Scheduled Expert Mode, but this model could incur high labor costs, estimated at over $100 million annually for 10,000 units.
- Priced at $20,000 or $499/month, NEO likely sells at a loss per unit, with potential hardware losses in hundreds of millions, despite raising $137 million, far less than competitors like Figure AI ($1 billion+).
- 1X bets on vertical integration, manufacturing components in-house to reduce costs and improve capabilities, but faces challenges in reliability verification, software development, and funding constraints.
- The hand is a breakthrough in robotics, setting a new standard for humanoid robots, but 1X's business viability depends on scaling production, managing costs, and advancing AI to match the hardware.
NEO's Hands – An API to the Physical World
19 days ago
- 1X announces Bill Nash as new CFO, bringing financial leadership experience from ambitious tech companies.
- Breakthrough 25 Degree of Freedom (DOF) tendon-driven hands for NEO humanoid platform achieve near human-level dexterity, strength, safety, and reliability.
- These hands are designed to remove hardware limitations, making data the only barrier to robot capabilities.
- NEO can perform tasks like assembling LEGOs, using tools, grasping delicate objects, and communicating via sign language.
- The hands feature force transparency, backdrivability, and high-resolution tactile sensing for real-time feedback.
- They are IP68 waterproof, food-safe, and built for durability with millions of test cycles under high loads.
- Deep vertical integration of motors, sensors, and tendon systems enables rapid iteration and performance.
- Production capacity aims for 10,000 hands this year, scalable to support large-scale data collection for AGI development.
You're already living in the Chinese Century
19 days ago
- China's industrial plan aims to shift from 'Made in China' to 'Created in China', emphasizing quality and branding.
- Over 200 Chinese companies are developing humanoid robots, far exceeding the US count.
- Donghai county dominates the global crystal trade through capitalist hustle and live-streaming.
- Cloned 'super cows' in China produce nearly double the milk of typical American cows.
- China's battery industry leads globally, with over 80% of cells made there and factories expanding worldwide.
- Chinese electric vehicle sales are projected to vastly outpace US sales by 2025.
- China's space mission to the moon is more streamlined compared to NASA's complex plans.
- China is the largest textile manufacturer, producing massive clothing waste annually.
- Gene-editing scientist He Jiankui continues work privately after imprisonment, dubbed 'China's Frankenstein'.
- Crowdsourced sci-fi novel 'The Morning Star of Lingao' explores altering history through time travel.
- China set a world record for drone shows, replacing traditional fireworks.
- Women in China use AI companions and cosplayers for romantic relationships, dominating the market.
- China's algorithm registry regulates AI risks, creating a detailed map of the AI ecosystem.
- Chinese company Broad Group can erect a 10-story building in hours.
- China's renewable energy revolution is chaotic and competitive, driven by market forces rather than state control.
- China installed more solar capacity than the rest of the world combined in early 2025.
- Chinese police use DNA and facial recognition to help adoptees reunite with birth families.
- Chinese apps are essential within the Great Firewall, shaping digital experiences.
- Animated film 'Ne Zha II' became a billion-dollar hit in China, ignored by American audiences.
- China has more surveillance cameras than the rest of the world combined, challenging privacy notions.
- Homegrown Chinese products like sneakers and tech are trending, influencing global tastes.
- Smartwatches from Little Genius drive social competition among Chinese children, leading to hacking and dating.
- China's high-speed rail network far exceeds Amtrak's, with extensive mileage.
- Labubu, a Chinese collectible toy, gained global popularity, with expansion into manufacturing and film.
The Most Important Cheque in Economics
19 days ago
- A 1990 check for $576.07 settled a famous bet between economist Julian Simon and biologist Paul Ehrlich over resource scarcity.
- Ehrlich predicted that population growth would make metals like copper and tin scarcer and more expensive, while Simon argued human ingenuity would make them more abundant.
- Over a decade, despite a 19% population increase, the inflation-adjusted price of a basket of five metals fell by about 36%, proving Simon correct.
- The bet highlighted a key error: viewing resources as fixed gifts of nature rather than as matter combined with human knowledge and innovation.
- Simon emphasized that the ultimate resource is the human mind, which, when free to experiment and trade, can solve scarcity through invention and efficiency.
- The lesson is that prophets of permanent scarcity often underestimate human creativity and overestimate physical limits, a relevant insight today.
- The debate reflects two visions of humanity: people as mere consumers depleting resources versus as problem-solvers who create new wealth and expand possibilities.
Tiny data centre used to heat public swimming pool
20 days ago
- A small data center is used to heat a public swimming pool in Devon.
- The data center is free for the council-run leisure center, with electricity costs refunded.
- Heat is captured via oil and transferred to the pool water, saving thousands of pounds.
- Other pools have signed up, addressing rising energy costs that have led to pool closures.
Funding Your Own Disruption
24 days ago
- Kodak invented digital camera tech in 1975 but shelved it, dismissing its potential due to profitable film business.
- Netflix pivoted to streaming in 2007 while its DVD-by-mail service was still profitable and growing.
- The BCG Growth Share Matrix explains the strategic choice: reinvest Cash Cow profits into Question Marks to nurture future Stars.
- Kodak defended its Cash Cow (film) despite accurate internal predictions of digital takeover, leading to bankruptcy in 2012.
- Netflix intentionally diverted attention from its DVD business to fund streaming, treating disruption as inevitable.
- Netflix's Qwikster misstep in 2011, splitting services, caused backlash but was quickly corrected, highlighting the importance of fast feedback.
- Key takeaway: Success depends on funding disruption early, when mistakes are affordable, not just recognizing trends.

innovation

Stop pretending billionaires built the future

Painting the sides of railroad rails white to reduce derailment

Microsoft Comic Chat is now open source

1X's NEO hand is genuinely impressive. The economics are brutal

NEO's Hands – An API to the Physical World

You're already living in the Chinese Century

The Most Important Cheque in Economics

Tiny data centre used to heat public swimming pool

Funding Your Own Disruption