The US government’s Intel stake has quadrupled to $36 billion, following a $27 billion paper gain. In AI news, Instacart co-founder Apoorva Mehta launched Abundance, a $100M-seeded hedge fund powered by thousands of AI agents. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is lobbying against AI regulation in six GOP-led states. Lastly, Europe’s economic reliance on US technology and finance continues to deepen.
🧠 Artificial Intelligence
Thinking Machines Lab hires most researchers from Meta; headcount hits ~140.
Thinking Machines Lab (TML) has been significantly recruiting researchers from Meta, which appears to be the startup’s primary source of new talent. Alongside this expansion, TML has reached a headcount of approximately 140 and recently secured a multibillion-dollar cloud partnership with Google.
Anthropic’s Project Deal: Claude models trade employee belongings in marketplace experiment
Anthropic’s “Project Deal” experiment used Claude AI agents to negotiate the exchange of personal belongings on behalf of its employees. The study found that while advanced models achieved objectively better trading outcomes, participants were generally enthusiastic about the experience.
- Anthropic’s Project Deal: Claude models trade employee belongings in marketplace experiment — anthropic.com
Education must go beyond the mere production of words
Generative AI poses a risk to education by potentially substituting polished linguistic output for genuine learning and character formation. The author argues that while AI can assist with language-based tasks, true education requires the deep engagement of critical inquiry and the development of authentic understanding.
- Education must go beyond the mere production of words — ncregister.com
⚖️ Policy & Regulation
Trump administration lobbied against AI regulation in 6 GOP-led states, lawmakers say
The Trump administration is lobbying against legislation intended to regulate artificial intelligence in at least six Republican-led states, including Florida and Utah. This effort has highlighted a division within the GOP between the White House’s industry-friendly agenda and state-level proposals for AI safety guardrails and transparency.
Europe’s reliance on US tech and finance is self-inflicted by overregulation (The Economist)
Europe is experiencing a transition from concerns about American cultural influence to a growing economic dependency on United States-based firms. This reliance is increasingly evident in the dominance of American technology, payment networks, and energy sources across the continent.
- Europe’s reliance on US tech and finance is self-inflicted by overregulation (The Economist) — economist.com
💰 Business & Finance
US govt’s Intel stake quadruples to ~$36B, a $27B paper gain since Aug 2025 (Bloomberg)
The value of the US government’s stake in Intel Corp. has quadrupled to approximately $36 billion, marking an unrealized gain of nearly $27 billion since August. This surge follows a resurgence in the chipmaker’s sales and efforts by CEO Lip-Bu Tan to repair relations with the White House.
- US govt’s Intel stake quadruples to ~$36B, a $27B paper gain since Aug 2025 (Bloomberg) — bloomberg.com
Instacart co-founder Apoorva Mehta launches AI-run hedge fund Abundance with $100M seed funding
Instacart co-founder Apoorva Mehta has launched Abundance, a hedge fund that utilizes thousands of AI agents to automate research, stock selection, and trade execution. Backed by $100 million in seed funding, the firm’s technology aims to perform many of the functions traditionally handled by fundamental portfolio managers.
- Instacart co-founder Apoorva Mehta launches AI-run hedge fund Abundance with $100M seed funding — bloomberg.com
💻 Software & Development
Turbo Vision 2.0 – a modern port
Turbo Vision 2.0 is a modern, cross-platform port of the classic text-based user interface framework, supporting Linux, Windows, and DOS. The library features Unicode support and provides reusable widgets that simplify development by abstracting away platform-specific terminal complexities.
- Turbo Vision 2.0 – a modern port — github.com
Firefox Has Integrated Brave’s Adblock Engine
Firefox has integrated Brave’s open-source, Rust-based ad and tracker blocking engine, adblock-rust, into its codebase as a prototype for advanced content blocking. While currently disabled by default and requiring manual configuration via about:config, the engine enables sophisticated network request and cosmetic filtering.
- Firefox Has Integrated Brave’s Adblock Engine — itsfoss.com
(Blender) Cosmology with Geometry Nodes
This article explores the use of Blender’s Geometry Nodes for cosmological research, particularly in studying Cosmic Microwave Background radiation. By treating mesh elements as parallel processing units, the tool allows researchers to efficiently perform computation, visualization, and algorithm debugging for complex scientific data.
- (Blender) Cosmology with Geometry Nodes — blender.org
“Plain text has been around for decades and it’s here to stay.” – Unsung
The article explores the resurgence of ASCII-based diagramming and UI design tools, such as Mockdown and Monodraw, which utilize the enduring power of monospace plain text. These tools offer intentional visual constraints and serve as useful interfaces for tasks ranging from source code diagramming to interacting with generative AI.
- “Plain text has been around for decades and it’s here to stay.” – Unsung — unsung.aresluna.org
Replace IBM Quantum back end with /dev/urandom
An investigation into a Q-Day Prize submission reveals that a claimed quantum attack on ECDLP using IBM Quantum hardware can be replicated using random bitstrings. By replacing the quantum backend with /dev/urandom, the researcher demonstrated that private keys were recovered at identical rates, suggesting the original results do not demonstrate a measurable quantum advantage.
- Replace IBM Quantum back end with /dev/urandom — github.com
🔌 Hardware & Peripherals
New 10 GbE USB adapters are cooler, smaller, cheaper
New 10 GbE USB 3.2 adapters offer a smaller and more affordable alternative to expensive Thunderbolt options. However, these adapters require a USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 port to reach full 10 Gbps speeds, with performance dropping significantly on lower-bandwidth connections.
- New 10 GbE USB adapters are cooler, smaller, cheaper — jeffgeerling.com