#26012 Secret Banker, Starlink kill switch and DocGPT

The "Wonder Material" Economy

Graphene, a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice, is over 200 times stronger than steel by weight while maintaining superior electrical conductivity. As industries race to integrate this material into semiconductors and renewable energy storage, the global graphene market is projected to grow from $380 million in 2022 to nearly $1.5 billion by 2030.

If you thought the first week of 2026 was quiet, CES in Las Vegas just proved that "quiet" isn’t in Big Tech’s vocabulary. The show floor was crawling with the fruits of the new Boston Dynamics and Google DeepMind marriage, showing off Atlas robots that now have Gemini-powered "brains", which basically means they can reason through industrial tasks instead of just doing backflips for likes. Not to be outdone in the "tech that lives on your body" category, Meta debuted a neural wristband that lets you "handwrite" text on any flat surface using muscle signals. It’s perfect for those of us who want to look like we’re conducting an invisible orchestra while actually just responding to an email about brunch. Meanwhile, Amazon is aggressively shoving "Alexa+" into everything from BMWs to Bosch coffee machines and Oura rings, clearly hoping that if we hear her voice in enough places, we’ll eventually stop asking her to "stop" and just surrender to the smart-home hive mind.

Humanity’s quest to find an "Earth 2.0" just got a massive upgrade, as NASA announced a slew of tech proposals to move forward with the Habitable Worlds Observatory. This is the first mission specifically designed to snap direct photos of Earth-like planets around Sun-like stars, essentially a cosmic selfie stick for our neighbors. In more immediate space news, NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope reached a major assembly milestone, preparing for its mission to unmask the secrets of dark energy and map the universe’s expansion. For a bit of "doing okay" energy, Portugal officially became the 60th nation to sign the Artemis Accords, pledging to keep space exploration peaceful and cooperative. It’s nice to know that while we’re still figuring things out on the ground, we’re at least trying to be on our best behavior among the stars.

It’s been a week of high-stakes geopolitical drama and heavy headlines. In Washington, the U.S. administration sent shockwaves through the international community by announcing a withdrawal from dozens of U.N. entities, including a cornerstone climate treaty and bodies focused on gender equality. Over in South America, tensions reached a boiling point with "Operation Southern Spear," as U.S. strikes in Venezuela and naval blockades dominated the news cycle, leading to a state of emergency in Caracas and the release of over 100 political prisoners. Meanwhile, in the Middle East, widespread protests in Iran continue to face a brutal crackdown, with activists reporting staggering casualty numbers and total internet blackouts. On a slightly more hopeful note, the UN World Court has officially opened landmark hearings on the Rohingya genocide case, signaling a long-awaited push for legal accountability on the global stage.

Our Money, Our Risk, Real Investment, No Advice

The Global Seesaw and the Bitcoin Bounce

It has been a week where the map of the financial world looked like someone was playing a very expensive game of Whac-A-Mole. While some regions were busy popping champagne at record highs, others were essentially trying to find where they parked their car in a fog of geopolitical uncertainty and trade talk jitters.

A $1000 bet on a global basket a week ago would have grown by about $8 overall, leaving you with a cool $1008. Your American and European stocks provided the heavy lifting, with the S&P 500 and the Stoxx 600 both flirting with all-time highs and adding about 0.5% and 0.9% respectively to your pile. Meanwhile, your Indian stocks acted as the party pooper, dragging the Nifty 50 down about 2.2% as foreign investors fled the scene amid tariff fears. Your Bitcoin slice acted like a caffeinated squirrel in a maze; it dipped hard toward $77,000 early on before pulling a dramatic U-turn to end the week up nearly 1% at $81,000. It was not a jackpot, but the combined resilience of the West and the crypto comeback kept your head above water.

The global market is currently like a family road trip: the kids in the back are fighting over the radio and one tire is slightly flat, but the driver is determined to reach the beach before sunset.

Boston Dynamics, the company famous for making robots do backflips and parkour better than most Olympians, is officially putting its toys to work. CEO Robert Playter just confirmed that the "Atlas" humanoid robot is fully committed to production for 2026 and work on shop floors in 2028.

They’re spinning up a dedicated factory with the capacity to churn out 30,000 robots a year. The first batch wil be cutting its teeth at a Hyundai plant in Georgia, doing the unglamorous stuff like sorting parts and moving heavy boxes. Playter was very clear: these bots are built to be "superhuman", stronger, more heat-tolerant, and safer in dangerous spots than you or I could ever be…but in the end they are tools.

My Take: It’s about time. For years, we’ve watched these robots dance to "Do You Love Me" and thought, "Cool, but can it help pay the rent?" Now we know the answer: Yes, by working in a car factory.

The jump to 30,000 units is the real jaw-dropper here. That’s not a pilot program; that’s an invasion (the helpful kind, supposedly). Playter also had to do the obligatory "don't worry, it's not Skynet" press tour, promising that these things are too busy struggling with basic tasks to plot a coup. I’m mostly just relieved they’re finally doing the boring, backbreaking work instead of training for Ninja Warrior. If a robot wants to lift 50-pound brake pads in a 100-degree warehouse so I don’t have to? Be my guest.

Why It Matters: This is the moment humanoid robots graduate from "tech demo" to "GDP contributor." If Boston Dynamics can actually hit that 30,000 figure, it changes the economics of manufacturing overnight, especially for countries with shrinking labor forces. It also heats up the tech cold war with China, which is racing to dominate this exact space. We’re moving from "robots are coming" to "robots are here, and they have a shift schedule."

Video: New Atlas Humanoid Robot Reveal at CES 2026

This video gives you a look at the latest Atlas updates discussed at CES 2026, showing exactly how much more "human" the movement has become compared to previous versions.