Show me the incentive and I will show you the outcome - Charlie Munger
💡 Did you know?
The Quantum Advantage in Atomic Timekeeping
The precision of modern global positioning systems (GPS) relies on atomic clocks, which utilize the vibrations of cesium atoms to measure time within a fraction of a nanosecond. The transition from laboratory curiosities to industrial tools is now a reality; as of 2026, the first commercial transportable optical lattice clocks, such as the Aetherclock OC020, have entered the market. These devices are roughly 250 liters in volume, the size of a small refrigerator, providing a 100-fold increase in precision over the cesium standards that currently underpin global networks. The most advanced optical lattice clocks have reached a level of stability where they would neither gain nor lose a second over the entire age of the universe (approximately 13.8 billion years).
Tech Talk
Grab your neural bands, folks, because the $650 billion AI arms race is officially in "pre-order a small country" territory. As of this week, the Big Four (Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft) have collectively signaled they’re dropping that eye-watering sum on data centers and AI infrastructure for 2026. While you were probably just trying to remember your password, Meta unveiled a "neural band" that lets you type on flat surfaces by reading your muscle signals, perfect for when you want to look like you're playing an invisible piano in a Starbucks. Meanwhile, ByteDance launched Seedance 2.0, an AI that supposedly turns a script into a short film with one click, and Apple’s Tim Cook is declaring the company "all in" on AI with a massive investment push. Oh, and a Unitree humanoid robot just walked 130,000 steps in -53°F snow, proving that even in a frozen wasteland, the machines are still getting their steps in better than we are.
Science Scoop
Science is having a "high-definition" moment this week, with researchers at Caltech and USC unveiling a breakthrough imaging system that combines ultrasound and light to create vivid 3D images of tissue and blood vessels without radiation. It’s basically giving doctors X-ray vision without the cosmic side effects. In space news, NASA is celebrating the FDA clearance of a new lithotripsy device designed to break up kidney stones in microgravity, a huge win for astronauts who would prefer not to deal with "space stones" while orbiting Earth. And for a bit of "humanity might be okay" energy, a new study revealed that certain deep-sea plankton are pulling way more carbon out of the atmosphere than we realized, quietly acting as the ocean's tiny, unsung climate heroes.
The Rest of the World
The geopolitical stage is currently a mix of high-stakes drama and "pardon me?" headlines. In a massive bit of legal housekeeping, Ryan Wesley Routh was sentenced to life without parole for his 2024 assassination attempt on Donald Trump. Across the pond, Peter Mandelson stepped down from the UK House of Lords after the "Epstein files" continued to leak like a sieve. For those looking for a reason to smile, the Westminster Dog Show crowned a Doberman Pinscher named Penny as "Best in Show," proving that being a "good girl" is still the most stable currency we have.
Our Money, Our Risk, Real Investment, No Advice
We pledged approx. €2000 for you to see the ups 😀 and downs 👎. Anyone else wondering if the drop in Bitcoin has reached its “this-is-fine” phase yet?
Also a nice input to my Machine Learning Model :-)
February 4 to February 10 2026:
Greetings from the trenches. We started the week with a tech tantrum in the States and ended it with Bitcoin deciding to test the laws of gravity. Meanwhile India and Europe just stood there looking slightly confused but mostly holding their ground. If you were looking for a smooth ride you probably should have stayed in bed.
The $1000 Investment Story
A $1000 bet on a global basket a week ago would have shrunk to roughly $981 by today. Your American, european and Indian stocks provided a modest bit of padding to soften the blow as the S&P 500 clawed back from its mid week tech dip and India celebrated a trade deal, while your Bitcoin slice acted like a base jumper who realized halfway down that they forgot to pack a parachute. It was not a jackpot, but at least the traditional side of your portfolio stayed in the house while the crypto wing went out for a pack of cigarettes and hasn't come back yet.
Fund Summary
The global market is currently like a family dinner where everyone is smiling for the photos but the uncle in the crypto shirt is crying his eyes out in thecinside. It is a time for keeping your hands inside the vehicle and your eyes on the exit signs.
The 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy are officially bringing "skimo". short for ski mountaineering, into the fold. This is the first entirely new sport added to the Games since skeleton returned in 2002. It involves athletes skinning up mountains, carrying their skis on their backs for steep foot climbs, and then hurtling back down. There are three medal events: men’s and women’s sprints and a mixed relay. While the sport has prehistoric roots and a deep history in Europe, it’s only now making the leap from a niche mountain hobby to the global stage.
My Take: Because standard downhill skiing clearly wasn't exhausting enough, we’ve decided to reward the people who actually enjoy the "going up" part. Italy being the host makes sense since they’ve been doing this for centuries, probably just to get to the grocery store. It’s high-intensity, slightly chaotic, and perfect for anyone who thinks a regular marathon is a bit too relaxing.
Why It Matters: This is "human-powered" sports and a pivot away from the infrastructure-heavy events that usually bankrupt host cities. By adding skimo, the IOC is trying to stay relevant with the outdoor endurance crowd while nodding to traditional alpine culture. If you’re a fan of watching athletes redline their heart rates while navigating ice and rock, this is your new favorite obsession. For everyone else, it’s a reminder that some people really do find new ways to make gravity their personal enemy.
The EU’s AI Act has officially moved into its "enforcement era," and it is already cracking heads. We are a year past the ban on "unacceptable" tech like social scoring, and now the heavy lifting begins for high-risk categories. The European AI Office is fully operational and has launched its first big investigation into X’s Grok chatbot over synthetic media concerns. Meanwhile, new rules hitting this August require every AI-generated image or clip to carry a digital "birth certificate" (watermarking). Heavyweights like Meta are simply holding back their best tech from Europe to avoid the headache, while others are spending hundreds of thousands just on audits.
My Take: Europe is essentially playing the world’s most expensive game of "Who’s the Boss?" with Silicon Valley. They’ve decided that if you want to sell to 450 million people, you have to show your homework. It’s a bold move, but it’s created a weird digital divide where the US gets the cool toys and Europe gets the safety manuals. Meta’s "strategic exclusion" is basically them taking their ball and going home because they don’t want to deal with the AI Office’s vibe. It’s classic Brussels: regulating things so hard that the startups they’re trying to protect end up spending their entire seed round on lawyers instead of engineers. But again, who is supposed to protect the unspecting user? It is easy to point to Brussels and complain, but remember the same Brussels has kept lot of food additives, sugar drinks out of our pantry! Read more here.
Why It Matters: This isn't just a European problem. Because the EU is the first to plant a flag, dozens of other countries are already copy-pasting these rules. We are seeing the birth of a "regulatory tax" on innovation. For tech giants, it means re-engineering products from the ground up to be "sovereign." For everyone else, it means the era of "move fast and break things" is dead, replaced by "move slow and check your watermark." If you’re in tech or finance, watch the Grok investigation closely; it’ll set the precedent for whether a company is legally responsible every time an AI decides to hallucinate.
If you are affected by this, get in touch with us. We can help you with the first checks.
The European Commission just hit the emergency brake on Meta. Regulators issued "interim measures" that force the company to stop using WhatsApp user data to train its AI models within the EU. This is a rare, aggressive move that halts the data harvesting immediately while a full antitrust investigation plays out. Brussels is worried that Meta is using its massive messaging monopoly to give its own AI an unfair head start.
My Take: Meta really thought they could just scrape your family group chat drama to teach their chatbot how to sound human. Europe decided to play goalie instead. Usually, the EU waits five years to issue a fine that Meta pays with couch cushions. This time they are blocking the exit before the car even leaves the driveway. Meta is already recycling the "stifling innovation" script. It is the same old song. They want the data for free and they want it now. Regulators are finally realizing that once the AI is trained, a fine doesn't actually fix the competitive damage.
Why It Matters: This changes the playbook for Big Tech in Europe. Regulators are shifting from "pay us later" to "you cannot start." If Meta cannot use its biggest data goldmine, their AI products in Europe will be objectively worse than the versions everywhere else. It creates a digital border that might force other tech giants to rethink their entire rollout strategy for the continent.
🌎 February 11, 1990: Nelson Mandela was released
On February 11, 1990, Nelson Mandela was released from Victor Verster Prison in South Africa after 27 years of incarceration, marking a decisive turning point in the global struggle against apartheid and racial oppression. His release unlocked negotiations that led to South Africa’s first multiracial elections in 1994, helped dismantle a legal system that had disenfranchised tens of millions of Black South Africans, and became a powerful symbol for human rights movements worldwide, reshaping international norms around sanctions, reconciliation, and transitional justice.
PODCAST OF THE WEEKThere may be no better formula for living the best life you could possibly live.
Peter Kaufman is someone you probably never heard of, and that's by design.
He's the Chairman and CEO of Glen Air and Aerospace company that he's led since 1977.
Some of the things that stuck with me:
The “frog in the well” knows nothing of the mighty ocean.
We see this constantly in our world today. A brilliant engineer builds a complex product nobody wants because they don't understand human behavior.
A talented marketer destroys a brand because she doesn't understand its history or its relationship with customers.
IN OTHER NEWS
Perplexity launches model council. When you select Model Council in the main Perplexity interface, your query runs across three of the models available on Perplexity at once, such as Claude Opus 4.6, GPT 5.2, and Gemini 3.0. A synthesizer model reviews the outputs, resolves conflicts where possible, and gives you one answer that shows where the models agree and where they differ.
I just built an app for tracking timezones: Use it here for free: https://www.timeswitchr.com/
Germany orders €536M in AI strike drones from startups. Germany's defense ministry is moving forward with a €536 million initial order for AI-enabled strike drones from two domestic startups, marking the country's first-ever acquisition of loitering munitions as it accelerates its military buildup in response to the threat from Russia.
Microsoft finds single prompt can strip AI safety guardrails. A team of Microsoft researchers has demonstrated that a single unlabeled prompt can completely remove safety protections from 15 different artificial intelligence models, exposing what they describe as the "fragility of current AI model alignment techniques”.
Wishing you a productive week ahead!
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