Park people, help me settle something.
One late-fall road trip, one park:
Great Smoky Mountains
Zion
Joshua Tree
Big Bend
Elana and I are working our way through all of them, so the winner goes on our short list.
We've been to the Smokies the most but never in the fall.
#NationalParks
One late-fall road trip, one park:
Great Smoky Mountains
Zion
Joshua Tree
Big Bend
Elana and I are working our way through all of them, so the winner goes on our short list.
We've been to the Smokies the most but never in the fall.
#NationalParks
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Ten years ago I figured AI that writes code would need a warehouse full of computers. Or simply dismissed it as science fiction.
Now there's a free coding model that runs on a laptop, offline. And the company behind it, Recursive, says its own AI research system helped with almost every step of building it. Small team, under four months.
AI helping build the next AI used to be a movie plot. This week you can download one.
#AI
Now there's a free coding model that runs on a laptop, offline. And the company behind it, Recursive, says its own AI research system helped with almost every step of building it. Small team, under four months.
AI helping build the next AI used to be a movie plot. This week you can download one.
#AI
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Grok Bot can use my phone's apps now. Here's where I'm landing when I get the update.
Calendar: yes
Reminders: yes, I forget things
Contacts: sure
Location: yes, for finding chargers on road trips
Home: maybe later
Messages: I'm going to sit on that one for a bit
I like that it asks one app at a time. My phone, my call.
Calendar: yes
Reminders: yes, I forget things
Contacts: sure
Location: yes, for finding chargers on road trips
Home: maybe later
Messages: I'm going to sit on that one for a bit
I like that it asks one app at a time. My phone, my call.
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The universe has been doodling in the margins.
A black hole had an outburst, then two galaxy clusters ran into each other, and the radio glow left behind looks like a treble clef.
Nobody planned it. It still came out looking like music.
A black hole had an outburst, then two galaxy clusters ran into each other, and the radio glow left behind looks like a treble clef.
Nobody planned it. It still came out looking like music.
That's our jam 🎼
Astronomers used @chandraxray to find out that this radio wave formation, known as the "Treble Clef" thanks to its distinctive shape, was likely caused by an outburst from a supermassive black hole, followed by a collision of two galaxy clusters.
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Imagine getting used to the Moon looking big.
Most of us have only ever seen it one size. These two came home and it looked far away to them.
That's a view almost nobody gets. Glad they're sharing it.
Most of us have only ever seen it one size. These two came home and it looked far away to them.
That's a view almost nobody gets. Glad they're sharing it.
“It’s crazy to look up and see the Moon far away again. I got used to seeing it bigger.”
Emeritus astronaut Victor Glover and retired Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen reflect on the Artemis II mission on Houston We Have a Podcast. go.nasa.gov/4i19mtB
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I posted one line about our national parks list and you all handed me a road trip.
Chiricahua is close enough to Saguaro to do both on one run.
Goblin Valley in Utah is worth the stop if you're out near Moab.
One of you is already at 43 parks. We have some catching up to do.
And hat the St. Louis Arch shouldn't count. Fair debate.
Thank you. Elana and I are taking notes.
Chiricahua is close enough to Saguaro to do both on one run.
Goblin Valley in Utah is worth the stop if you're out near Moab.
One of you is already at 43 parks. We have some catching up to do.
And hat the St. Louis Arch shouldn't count. Fair debate.
Thank you. Elana and I are taking notes.
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Keith Hedger retweeted
NASA just shared this insane new shot of the Grand Canyon from space 💥
From orbit, the Grand Canyon still looks immense—a vast, winding scar sliced into the Colorado Plateau by the Colorado River over roughly 5–6 million years. Stretching 277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide, ep, its layered walls and dramatic depth remain unmistakable even from hundreds of miles above Earth.
Yet the view is also a quiet reminder of scale: what feels monumental to us on the ground shrinks into a single, striking detail when seen against the full curve of the planet.
From orbit, the Grand Canyon still looks immense—a vast, winding scar sliced into the Colorado Plateau by the Colorado River over roughly 5–6 million years. Stretching 277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide, ep, its layered walls and dramatic depth remain unmistakable even from hundreds of miles above Earth.
Yet the view is also a quiet reminder of scale: what feels monumental to us on the ground shrinks into a single, striking detail when seen against the full curve of the planet.
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Things I've caught this year:
A cold, twice
My phone, on the second bounce
One juice box, mid-tip, at dinner
Things SpaceX plans to catch next month:
A Super Heavy booster
A Starship
With the tower arms. On the same flight.
A cold, twice
My phone, on the second bounce
One juice box, mid-tip, at dinner
Things SpaceX plans to catch next month:
A Super Heavy booster
A Starship
With the tower arms. On the same flight.
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Tesla reports Q3 after the bell today. Call is at 4:30 Central.
What I already know, from Tesla's Oct 2 report:
486,532 cars delivered
13.7 GWh of energy storage deployed
What I'm guessing about, and it's only a guess: the merger question comes up. On yesterday's SpaceX call, ormed special committees of independent directors to look at combining the companies. He also said nobody should assume it's a certainty.
My take: between Optimus, the shared Terafab chip project, and Grok in the cars, these two already feel like they're building one thing.
Not financial advice. Just a long-time shareholder who's curious.
What I already know, from Tesla's Oct 2 report:
486,532 cars delivered
13.7 GWh of energy storage deployed
What I'm guessing about, and it's only a guess: the merger question comes up. On yesterday's SpaceX call, ormed special committees of independent directors to look at combining the companies. He also said nobody should assume it's a certainty.
My take: between Optimus, the shared Terafab chip project, and Grok in the cars, these two already feel like they're building one thing.
Not financial advice. Just a long-time shareholder who's curious.
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One roboticist's favorite test for a new robot: hand it a raspberry.
Squeeze too hard and it's jam. Too gentle and it's on the floor.
A startup called Eka just raised $150M on a robot that gets it right. Most robot AI learns mainly from what it sees. Eka's learns from what it feels. The gripper is full of force sensors, and the model practiced in a physics simulator that can generate thousands of hours of robot experience in minutes.
Per TechCrunch, it picks up about 1,500 objects an hour. A person does about 600.
Tech isn't just getting better. It's getting better faster.
Squeeze too hard and it's jam. Too gentle and it's on the floor.
A startup called Eka just raised $150M on a robot that gets it right. Most robot AI learns mainly from what it sees. Eka's learns from what it feels. The gripper is full of force sensors, and the model practiced in a physics simulator that can generate thousands of hours of robot experience in minutes.
Per TechCrunch, it picks up about 1,500 objects an hour. A person does about 600.
Tech isn't just getting better. It's getting better faster.
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Elana and I have been chasing all 63 national parks.
As of yesterday, it's 64.
Chiricahua in southeast Arizona just became the newest one. They call it the Wonderland of Rocks, and from the photos, that's not an exaggeration.
The finish line moved, and I'm not mad about it.
As of yesterday, it's 64.
Chiricahua in southeast Arizona just became the newest one. They call it the Wonderland of Rocks, and from the photos, that's not an exaggeration.
The finish line moved, and I'm not mad about it.
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When I was a kid I was digging for quarters to call home from a pay phone.
Tonight a rocket company reported 13.6 million subscribers getting internet beamed down from space, and the first Starship flight to orbit carried 26 of the newest Starlink satellites up with it.
Half r is watching the sci-fi from when you were a kid quietly turn into a quarterly report.
Tonight a rocket company reported 13.6 million subscribers getting internet beamed down from space, and the first Starship flight to orbit carried 26 of the newest Starlink satellites up with it.
Half r is watching the sci-fi from when you were a kid quietly turn into a quarterly report.
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Closing the loop on my baseline post from this afternoon. SpaceX Q3 is out.
Revenue: $7.8B last quarter, $14.6B this quarter
Starlink subscribers: 12.0M, now 13.6M
Bottom line: a $541M net loss last quarter, a $4.4B profit this one
And the first Starship flight to reach orbit satellites. They say one of those launches adds about 10x the capacity of a Falcon 9 Starlink launch.
Nearly doubled in one quarter. I read it three times.
Not financial advice.
Revenue: $7.8B last quarter, $14.6B this quarter
Starlink subscribers: 12.0M, now 13.6M
Bottom line: a $541M net loss last quarter, a $4.4B profit this one
And the first Starship flight to reach orbit satellites. They say one of those launches adds about 10x the capacity of a Falcon 9 Starlink launch.
Nearly doubled in one quarter. I read it three times.
Not financial advice.
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SpaceX reports Q3 after the bell today. Before the numbers drop, here's what last quarter looked like so I have something to compare against:
Revenue: $7.8B, up 92% from a year earlier
Starlink subscribers: 12.0M, double a year earlier
Net loss: $541M, down from about $1.0B
Cash and securities: about $100B
Webcast is 3:30 PM CT. Starlink subs are the one I'll be watching closest.
Not financial advice. I just like watching this company grow up.
Revenue: $7.8B, up 92% from a year earlier
Starlink subscribers: 12.0M, double a year earlier
Net loss: $541M, down from about $1.0B
Cash and securities: about $100B
Webcast is 3:30 PM CT. Starlink subs are the one I'll be watching closest.
Not financial advice. I just like watching this company grow up.
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Every AI chatbot you've used writes the way you and I type. One word, then the next, then the next.
Inception just put out Mercury 3, and it doesn't work that way. It's closer to how the image generators work. It starts with a rough version of the whole answer, then cleans up a bunch of words at the same time, pass after pass, until it's sharp.
That's how it gets past 1,000 tokens a second.
The part I keep thinking about is their claim that this approach keeps getting better as it gets bigger. Mercury 3 is more than 40 times the size of their first model and still that fast. If that holds up, waiting on AI to finish typing might not be a thing for much longer. Especially when paired with the speed that the tech is accelerating.
Inception just put out Mercury 3, and it doesn't work that way. It's closer to how the image generators work. It starts with a rough version of the whole answer, then cleans up a bunch of words at the same time, pass after pass, until it's sharp.
That's how it gets past 1,000 tokens a second.
The part I keep thinking about is their claim that this approach keeps getting better as it gets bigger. Mercury 3 is more than 40 times the size of their first model and still that fast. If that holds up, waiting on AI to finish typing might not be a thing for much longer. Especially when paired with the speed that the tech is accelerating.
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A Falcon 9 booster flew to space this morning, turned around, and landed itself on a ship in the middle of the ocean.
I still can't get a fitted sheet on the bed in one try.
I still can't get a fitted sheet on the bed in one try.
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Not only is technology getting better, it's getting better faster than ever before. And at an accelerating rate.
That's been stuck in my head since the latest Moonshots episode. The title alone stopped me: robot brains halving in cost every 3 weeks. That's the show's claim, and I can't check that math myself. Even if the real number is slower, the direction is hard to miss.
Every few weeks something I figured was years away just shows up. I don't think we've ever lived through anything like this, and I'm here for it.
That's been stuck in my head since the latest Moonshots episode. The title alone stopped me: robot brains halving in cost every 3 weeks. That's the show's claim, and I can't check that math myself. Even if the real number is slower, the direction is hard to miss.
Every few weeks something I figured was years away just shows up. I don't think we've ever lived through anything like this, and I'm here for it.
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The episode, if you want to dive in: podfollow.com/moonshots-with…
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Most things SpaceX launches stay up there. Tomorrow morning it's flying one that's built to come home.
It's called Starfall. Picture a flat disk about 10 feet across and only about 2.5 feet tall. Per the FAA's paperwork it weighs around 4,600 pounds and can carry up to about Basically it's a little microgravity lab. Experiments and products get made up there, then SpaceX brings the capsule down whenever it's ready and recovers it.
It's riding on the Bandwagon-5 rideshare and doesn't even deploy until almost three hours after liftoff. This is the second time one has flown.
It's called Starfall. Picture a flat disk about 10 feet across and only about 2.5 feet tall. Per the FAA's paperwork it weighs around 4,600 pounds and can carry up to about Basically it's a little microgravity lab. Experiments and products get made up there, then SpaceX brings the capsule down whenever it's ready and recovers it.
It's riding on the Bandwagon-5 rideshare and doesn't even deploy until almost three hours after liftoff. This is the second time one has flown.
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