Good day valued readers,

We hope this week's carefully curated selection of news finds you well. In this edition, we cover the latest developments across investing, finance, crypto, AI, and other topics to help you stay informed.

As always, our goal is to provide you with a professional, unbiased roundup of noteworthy news to augment your understanding of what's happening in the world. We take pride in hand-selecting articles from trustworthy sources across a diverse range of industries.

Please enjoy this week's newsletter. We're grateful for the opportunity to share these insights with you and look forward to continuing to be a valuable resource.

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Investing and Finance

This week we analyze key economic trends like the outperformance of the US economy compared to the rest of the world and the factors driving it. We also look at surging commodities like uranium, the mixed performance of mining stocks, and Alibaba's value increase after stock purchases by Jack Ma. Other topics include the massive growth of Blackstone's data center empire, declining Nordic birth rates despite family-friendly policies, and the rise of AI-powered smartphones.

For market outlooks, we examine whether stocks are still attractive at all-time highs and the IMF's upgraded growth forecast for Russia. Finally, on the tech front, we cover Amazon's terminated acquisition of iRobot, Microsoft's soaring profits from AI and cloud computing, and calls for the Fed to cut interest rates to relieve economic pressures on Americans. A diverse sampling of business, economic, technology and market stories.

1. Why the US economy is doing so much better than the rest of the world - Read more

2. Uranium prices have quadrupled. So why are mining stocks lagging? - Read more

3. Alibaba gains $13 billion in value after billionaire cofounder Jack Ma buys $200 million worth of shares - Read more

4. Blackstone Is Building a $25 Billion Empire of Power-Hungry Data Centers - Read more

5. Birth rates are falling in the Nordics. Are family-friendly policies no longer enough? - Read more

6. The generative AI smartphone age is here - Read more

7. Amazon terminates iRobot deal, Roomba maker to lay off 31% of staff - Read more

8. It's time for the Fed to cut interest rates and bring relief to Americans who 'cannot afford to pay rent,' - Read more

9. Should You Invest in Stocks at All-Time Highs? - Read more

10. IMF raises Russia growth outlook as war boosts economy - Read more

11. Microsoft profit soars 33% on AI, cloud-computing investments - Read more

Crypto News

This week we look at the future scale potential of bitcoin as it reaches new adoption milestones like Visa enabling crypto withdrawals globally. Major developments include BlackRock's bitcoin ETF hitting $2B assets under management and analysts predicting dates for an Ethereum ETF approval. We also examine bitcoin's volatility if stocks sell-off, upgrades to Coinbase's stock, and Vitalik Buterin's thoughts on AI's role in crypto.

On the blockchain side, Belarus is building a CBDC platform while Ethereum saw a spike in interacting addresses on its network. Overall a collection of bullish news on crypto adoption and prices, the growth of blockchain platforms, and predictions of further mainstream integration like ETF approvals.

1. How Big Can Bitcoin Get? - Read more

2. Visa enables crypto withdrawals on debit cards in 145 countries - Read more

3. Bitcoin Is Pure Anarchy - Read more

4. BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF First to Reach $2B in AUM - Read more

5. Bitcoin May Drop to $15,000 If Stock Market Sees a 50% Sell Off - Read more

6. Bloomberg Analyst Announces New Possibility and Date for Ethereum Spot ETF Approval - Read more

7. Coinbase Stock Upgraded by Oppenheimer Amidst Crypto Market Recovery - Read more

8. Ethereum Founder Vitalik Buterin Says AI Can Be Like "A Player in a Game" for Crypto - Read more

9. Belarus develops blockchain platform for central bank digital currency (CBDC) - Read more

10. Ethereum (ETH) Network Explodes With 484,000 Interacting Addresses - Read more

Artificial Intelligence

This week we explore various AI developments including using AI news presenters, tracking alien tech with ML, and ChatGPT for resumes. Major topics are Elon Musk's AI startup raising billions to rival OpenAI and predictions that generative AI is just a phase before interactive AI. We also look at the Microsoft-OpenAI partnership, Neuralink implants, ChatGPT security issues, and AI being used for fake political robocalls. On the business side, workers want more AI training and costs are rising for Google and Microsoft's AI plans. Overall a diverse mix of stories on the pros and cons of expanding AI capabilities and applications, key partnerships, and worker impacts. You can read more below.

1. TV channels are using AI-generated presenters to read the news. The question is, will we trust them? - Read more

2. Machine learning could help track down alien technology. Here's how - Read more

3. How To Use ChatGPT To Write Your Résumé, With 3 Step-By-Step Prompts - Read more

4. Elon Musk’s AI start-up seeks to raise $6bn from investors to challenge OpenAI - Read more

5. DeepMind’s cofounder: Generative AI is just a phase. What’s next is interactive AI - Read more

6. The Inside Story of Microsoft's Partnership with OpenAI - Read more

7. Elon Musk claims the first human patient has received a Neuralink brain implant - Read more

8. ChatGPT is leaking passwords from private conversations of its users - Read more

9. Microsoft’s and Google’s AI plans clouded by concerns of rising costs - Read more

10. Fake Joe Biden robocall tells New Hampshire Democrats not to vote Tuesday - Read more

11. A majority of workers want AI training from their companies - Read more

Top Article Picks this week

This week's selection covers a range of fascinating topics, from the surprising business model behind OnlyFans to debunking common myths about sleep. We explore controversial ideas like digitizing everything and living forever, as well as thought-provoking lifestyle pieces on the FIRE movement, re-imagining the work week, and important milestones to reach by age 30. With quick reads on travel hacking the world and recent smart things, there's something for every interest.

Tech entrepreneur Bryan Johnson believes death is optional and is spending millions to develop an anti-aging system called Blueprint, which includes taking over 100 pills daily, wearing devices to monitor his health, and outsourcing decisions about his body to doctors and algorithms. While some experts think modest life extension may be possible, they are highly skeptical of Johnson's claims and warn his intensive regimen could be dangerous. Johnson argues this algorithmic approach is necessary for human survival in an AI future, but it raises questions about whether we may lose part of our humanity in the process. Read about this in article 5 below.

1. The secret of OnlyFans: It's much more than porn / 10 min - Read more

2. The Danger of Digitizing Everything / 3 min - Read more

3. Popular myths about sleep, debunked / 6 min - Read more

4. The FIRE Movement / 7 min - Read more

5. The Man Who Thinks He Can Live Forever / 21 min - Read more

6. I’ve been employed in tech for years, but I’ve almost never worked / 18 min - Read more

7. The Five-Day Office Week Is Dead / 5 min - Read more

8. 15 Milestones Everyone Needs to Reach by Age 30 / 10 min - Read more

9. He visited every country in the world — without flying. Here’s how much it cost / 4 min - Read more

10. Smart Things I’ve Read Lately / 5 min - Read more

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Book of the week

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