What I Wrote Last Week

New Bank of America Rewards Program – A Great Strategic Move

Business

People Loved the Dot-Com Boom. The A.I. Boom, Not So Much. I was not there when fire or electricity was invented, nor was I old enough to understand what was going on with the dot-com boom. This time, though, the hostility to AI is justified in my view. For two reasons. One is that the champions of AI are obnoxious, loud and thin on concrete evidence. We have heard bold promises and predictions for over three years now. Nothing much has materialized. What’s to make us believe that any prediction will come true? Yet, the AI proponents never shy from hyping the technology to the sky. The second reason is that AI believers want to use the technology to minimize the humanity side of our species. Who wants to adopt something that makes us less human?

What I saw inside Apple’s chip supply chain. Every time I see photos of a chip fab or supplier, I am baffled by how technologically advanced we become. Turning sands or rocks into wafers that, once installed with chips, power every device we use in our life. It’s remarkable.

Netflix and Apple TV Join Forces to Stream Formula 1 Thrills. The partnership is surprising and interesting. I did not see it coming. Plus, Apple got the whole season of Drive To Survive for the US market while Netflix gets to broadcast the Canadian GP. While not one of the three races held in the US? Does it imply that the latest season of Drive To Survive is not deemed as valuable by Apple?

David Ellison Used Political Ties, Deep Pockets to Buy Warner Bros. This reads like a novel. AT&T bought Warner Bros with billions of dollars and sold it at a loss. Now, Paramount is spending more than $100 billion to buy the whole company again while being neck deep in debt. The only way this could happen is David Ellison’s rich father and his political connections. Even if the deal goes through, I don’t know an unproven executive can manage a company this size that is saddled by a mountain of debt.

How grocers are bringing AI to their back-end operations. Instead of jumping on the hype bandwagon, businesses should be intellectually honest and practical on what AI can deliver. Consumers don’t buy in the hype, yet, but these are examples of how grocers can use AI to find efficiencies and value in operations.

Amazon tries its low-cost approach to winning the AI race. ““Boston-based drug-discovery firm Nimbus Therapeutics has been experimenting with Nova to help the company discover molecules that could become future medicines. The company tested a number of AI models before settling on Amazon’s, in part because it was easier to train, cheaper than competitors and returned results quickly, said Leela Dodda, the company’s director of computational chemistry. “One thing that really struck us was how cheap Nova was,” Dodda said. In the company’s tests, the results were as accurate as a version of Anthropic’s Claude at one-tenth the price, he said.”

Other Stuff I Find Interesting

Statement from Dario Amodei on our discussions with the Department of War. Hats off to Anthropic and Dario Amodei for sticking to their values and beliefs.

Electric buses are passing a brutal cold-weather test in Wisconsin. It’s very cool to see this experiment succeed in Wisconsin. I gotta admit that when it comes to electric buses, I wouldn’t think of Madion, Wisconsin out of all the places. It did not go smoothly, but I am glad they stuck with it and provided an example of what is possible to other cities.

The Latest Destination for Bagels Isn’t New York. It’s Singapore. It’s tough to introduce a new dish in a country that has practically endless food offerings from different cultures. But it seems some trailblazers managed to bring bagels to the Singaporean consumers.

Inside the Birthplace of Your Favorite Technology. “Bell Labs’ most far-reaching idea — information theory — forms the bedrock of computing. The mathematical framework, known as the “Magna Carta of the information age,” provided a blueprint for sending and receiving information with precision and reliability. It was the brainchild of Claude Shannon, a brilliant eccentric whom the A.I. start-up Anthropic named its chatbot after.”

What's the world's most effective solution to stop desertification?pic.twitter.com/a8VzHGSwmP

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) February 22, 2026

Stats

Walmart reported that customers who used its AI-powered shopping tool had a basket 35% bigger than that of customers who did not use the tool

Walmart grocery penetration reaches record-breaking 72%

Food-at-home prices are predicted to rise 2.5% in 2026

US toy sales increased by 6% year over year in 2025