TRW Issue#70
10 Charts on How the World is Changing / Where Geniuses Hide? / The Risks of Geoengineering / The EU Non-Bubbly Economy / The VC Funnel Explained
Hello there 👋
I'm Edo, and welcome to the 70th issue of Tech Readings of the Week!
Every Sunday, I curate a digest of tech insights for non-tech folks and aspiring founders. From data-driven trends to tech leaders' opinions, with a pinch of startup wisdom, I help you cut through the noise and stay ahead of the curve.
Ready to dive in? Let's go! 🚀
In Today's Issue 👇
Ten Charts That Capture How the World is Changing
Where do geniuses like Einstein, Socrates, and Beethoven hide today?
Should Geoengineering Alter Global Climate?
A Visualization of Europe's Non-Bubbly Economy
The Ultimate Guide to Navigate the VC Funnel
👓 Essays & articles
10 charts that capture how the World is changing - from Prediction Markets to VC Distributions, Gen Z Finances to Space Launches (Digital Native)
OpenAI's new defense contract completes its military pivot - a new partnership with Anduril, announced today, will deploy AI on the battlefield. It represents an overhaul of the company’s position in just a year (MIT Technology Review)(€)
Where geniuses hide today - where are our Einsteins, our Darwins, our Maxwells, our Newtons, our Aristotles, our Socrates? Why is there no more music as acclaimed as Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony? (Uncharted Territories)
Geoengineering could alter global climate. Should it? - scientists and companies increasingly support blocking some sunlight to avoid the worst impacts of global warming (Undark)
How the Ukraine-Russia war is reshaping the tech sector in Eastern Europe - startups in Latvia and other nearby countries see the mobilization of Ukraine as a warning and as inspiration. They are now changing consumer products—from scooters to recreational drones—for use on the battlefield (MIT Technology Review)(€)
The confusing reality of AI friends - inside the surprisingly meaningful, unexpectedly heartbreaking, and deeply confusing reality of AI relationships (The Verge)
What China’s critical mineral ban means for the US - the nation has signaled it's prepared to hit back harder still, in ways that could inflict serious economic pain on its biggest economic rival. (MIT Technology Review)(€)
Protecting undersea internet cables is a tech nightmare - A recent, alleged Baltic Sea sabotage highlights the system's fragility (IEEE Spectrum)
Tech predictions for 2025 and beyond - we've entered an era of unprecedented societal challenges and rapid technological advancements. Harnessing technology for good has become both an ethical imperative and a profitable endeavor (All Things Distributed)
Why I regret using 23andMe: I gave up my DNA just to find out I’m British - I gave away my genetic information to a now imploding company for results that inspired nothing but ambivalence (The Guardian)
📊 Reports & Data
A visualization of Europe's non-bubbly economy - the Draghi task force has a lot of work ahead of it (The Geek Way)
2024 SaaS Benchmarks: the surprising state of SaaS - key takeaways from the 2024 SaaS Benchmarks Report (Mostly Metrics)
The State of Impact 2024 - insights on impact-oriented startup ecosystem, venture capital landscape, and climate tech trends (Dealroom)
📚 Founder's Toolkit
TRW's collection of free fundraising resources for founders!
The ultimate guide to navigating the VC investment funnel - from deal sourcing to exits, insights for entrepreneurs and investors to navigate each stage with confidence (Going Vc)
The religion of Ramp - how the fintech became one of the fastest-growing startups ever (Every)
The definitive product positioning framework - Anthony Pierri on how to choose your target customer segment (Growth Unhinged)
📰 ICYMI
Meta plans to build a $10B subsea cable spanning the world, sources say - (Tech Crunch)
Latest US strike on China’s chips hits semiconductor toolmakers - (Reuters)
Mark Zuckerberg seeks ‘active role’ in Trump tech policy - (The Guardian)
OpenAI confirms new $200 monthly subscription, ChatGPT Pro, which includes its o1 reasoning model - (Tech Crunch)
NASA delays first crewed flight to the moon in over 50 years - (CNN)
Copilot Vision, Microsoft's AI tool that can read your screen, launches in preview - (Tech Crunch)
Meta joins the nuclear-powered AI fray - (Axios)
Ex-Google CEO wants to learn about brains by infecting them - (Bloomberg)
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger resigns after struggling to turn around chip maker - (WSJ)
Tesla CEO Elon Musk loses bid to get $56 billion pay package reinstated - (CNBC)
Google’s DeepMind tackles weather forecasting, with great performance - (Ars Technica)
💎 Shitpost of the week:
Great job, you made it to the end!
High five 🙌
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Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next week.
Edo