Jeff’s Note: A moment of your time before we move on to today’s AMA issue of The Bleeding Edge…
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The last few weeks have been nothing short of remarkable.
For any of us who have been following the progress being made by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), you probably feel like I do … completely shell-shocked.
Elon Musk has been leading a team of sharp software engineers to find fraud, corruption, and gross inefficiencies in U.S. government agencies. And he has been sleeping on the floor of his government office at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which is adjacent to the White House.
All in the name of efficiency and with a sense of urgency. It’s impressive. Musk is volunteering and is taking the work just as seriously as he does missions to the moon or Mars or autonomous cars or robots.
And whether you wanted to know or not, we’re seeing how the sausage has been made, and it’s not good news at all. The carpets are being lifted, and what’s underneath is very dark.
And almost every single day, the DOGE team has been able to find more than $100 million of savings from absolutely absurd programs/contracts or outright fraudulent activities at various government agencies.
It’s now crystal clear why we’ve had such terrible inflation and $2 trillion deficits. These programs are just ways to extract wealth from the taxpayers by the political elites and the deep state.
It makes me want to puke, and it also has me excited because it means that the U.S. government can clearly eliminate the fiscal deficit, get inflation under control, bring interest rates down, and reduce the overall cost of living.
There is a bright future ahead. It’s hard to believe that the DOGE team has made so much progress in just four weeks. We’d think that everyone would be celebrating the elimination of fraudulent or wasteful spending. After all, it’s taxpayer dollars that have been going out the doors.
But if we try a Google search for something like “DOGE success reducing deficit,” we get nothing but negative articles popping up. It’s not because there aren’t positive articles, it’s because all the negative ones are being amplified, and all the positive ones are being suppressed (i.e., we can’t find them).
Take Reuters, for example – one of the very worst places to go for accurate information. This is how it positions DOGE: “Musk’s DOGE cuts based more on political ideology than real cost savings so far.”
It’s complete nonsense, of course. But when we understand that Reuters was paid $9 million by the Department of Defense for “Active Social Engineering Defense (ASED) Large Scale Social Deception (LSD)”, then it all makes sense.
The fancy language on the contract simply says that Reuters was paid by the government to deceive us all. And that’s exactly how the $472.6 million spent through the Internews Network was used. For social engineering and social deception. Just disgusting.
And for anyone who pays taxes in the U.S., we all paid for it. And similar things are happening in other countries around the world.
For anyone who would like to take the “red pill” and follow the progress daily, you can go to https://www.doge.gov to do so. The website also has a section on “Savings” where we can get a transparent and accurate update of progress being made.
It’s the only place to find out what’s really happening because the mainstream media isn’t reporting on it.
Why should we care?
Well, if we want inflation to come down, interest rates to drop, our disposable income to increase, and healthy economic and market conditions… this needs to happen. And the more progress made by DOGE, the better the next few years will be for everyone.
Here’s to a more efficient future…
Jeff
I don’t recall any information on the runtime an Optimus robot has on a full charge. Do they require frequent battery swap-outs, or recharging at a charging station? How quickly do they recharge? What is their effective run-time?
– David C.
Hi David,
There’s no simple answer to your question because the answer really depends on the tasks that the Optimus is performing.
Tesla’s Gen 3 Optimus is designed with a 2.3 kWh battery pack. It consumes about 100 watts of power if it is “on” and idling and about 500 watts when it is walking. Like any device, the specific activities will impact battery life.
In that way, it’s very similar to the battery life of our smartphones. Playing video-intensive games or streaming video to our phones drains our batteries more quickly than exchanging texts or e-mails.
With that said, the general design parameter is for Optimus to run up to eight hours on a single charge. As a rough estimation, if Optimus were running at full power (i.e., 500 watts) constantly, it would probably last for around four hours, and if running at an average of 250 watts, it would probably get to the eight-hour runtime.
But what is so unique about autonomous robotics is that they will know precisely when they need to “refuel.” Optimus will be able to walk to a charging dock or plug into a wall charger when its energy is low and recharge without the need for human intervention.
Tesla hasn’t released any specifics on charging time yet, but that’s something we can figure out. If we assume a 220/240-volt charger and the size of the battery pack (2.3 kWh), charging should take no longer than an hour.
With these kinds of specifications and the autonomous software running on Optimus, they’ll be able to put in a full day’s work for normal activities.
Hi Jeff,
Absolutely great stuff you write about. We absolutely love it. I can’t wait to get my Bleeding Edge essay each day. I have a very simple question.
We are all thrilled about the big dollars to be invested in our economy with the new Trump initiatives and all the overseas jobs that will be brought onshore… however, I am wondering if, in a couple of years, this will create an overheated economy, inflation, and high interest rates. It almost sounds like overkill. What do you think???
– Mike C.
Hi Mike,
Thank you. We really do have a lot to look forward to right now, given all of the incredible developments that are unfolding.
The inflation we’ve been punished with has been the result of the combination of poor economic policy and multi-trillion annual fiscal deficits, which resulted in the “printing” of trillions of dollars.
As we’ve seen in the last few weeks, these policies are quickly being reversed. From what we’ve seen already from Musk and his team at DOGE, they will easily be able to reduce the fiscal deficit by $1 trillion (note: it is currently $2 trillion for this fiscal year, and there is already more than an $800 billion deficit in the first four months of the fiscal year).
Given what we are learning about the level of corruption, fraudulent entitlement payments, and gross inefficiencies, there is a clear path toward eliminating the deficit entirely.
That’s a long way of saying that inflation will subside, interest rates are going to drop dramatically, and the U.S. dollar will get stronger relative to other fiat currencies as a result.
We’ll see higher levels of productivity, lower unemployment rates, and strong GDP growth. Economically, the biggest challenge will be labor shortages in certain industries. And that’s where automation, autonomous tech, and robots will be of great utility.
With these developments – combined with low interest rates – we can expect to see increased levels of investment by private capital and increasing valuations on asset prices. If anything overheats, it will be the stock markets due to more speculative investments.
For self-directed investors, there are going to be some amazing investment opportunities in the years ahead. And as the backlog of high-quality, high-growth private tech companies waiting to go public opens up, we’re going to have an entirely new group of companies to invest in within the next 12–24 months.
I hope this message finds you well.
I’m curious about the current state of metaverse glasses. Are there notable improvements being made, and is development progressing actively? In your opinion, when might we see a version suitable for mass adoption – perhaps something as lightweight and compact as a pair of reading glasses?
Thank you for your insights!
– Dale C.
Hi Dale,
Thanks for writing in. It’s been a few months since I’ve written about advancements in augmented reality technology.
I covered this topic more deeply in a September issue last year called The Bleeding Edge – The Next Computing Interface…
The idea of being able to “interface” with our computing systems hands-free – just by using our voice, eyes, and hand gestures – feels liberating.
The first keyboard, in the form of a typewriter, was invented in 1868. And those keyboards became commonplace in the 1880s.
Now, here we are more than 150 years later, and we’re still pounding on our keyboards, even if they are virtual keyboards on our smartphones.
I think we’re overdue for a change.
This was shortly after Meta released new details about its prototype Orion AR glasses.
I highly encourage readers to read through the issue linked above. It offers more insight as well as great visuals for Orion’s tech – particularly how well Meta’s AR software integrates with Meta’s multi-modal artificial intelligence (AI).
And Meta’s announcement got people buzzing about the potential for an entirely new interface for how we connect with and utilize our devices. There was just one problem…
While the software and use of AI with Orion are exciting and easy to understand, arguably the most important advancement with Orion is its lens technology.
Meta took a big step in developing optics for Orion using silicon carbide (SiC), a material typically used for producing semiconductors for high-power applications.
Orion’s silicon carbide lenses help keep the AR glasses lighter weight and enable a 70-degree field of view when using the glasses. While that might be a long way from our ability to see about 180 degrees with our eyes, it’s quite good for AR technology.
This is an impressive prototype with incredible potential. And while bulky, the form factor isn’t bad, and we can expect more miniaturization over the next couple of years.
There is one problem, however… it costs roughly $10,000 to produce them.
Also, to your question, there is an urgency with regard to timing.
As I pointed out above, the way we “interface” with our devices hasn’t fundamentally changed since the advent of the keyboard. Consumers are quite ready for a change. And because Meta isn’t the only tech titan with a horse in the race, it’s now a question of who will be first to market…
This is an entirely new user interface for computing systems.
For decades now, personal computers have been dominated by Microsoft and, to a much lesser extent, Apple software. It’s either Windows or MacOS as our operating systems for our laptop and desktop computers.
The same is true with smartphones. Alphabet’s (Google’s) Android OS dominates the global market for smartphones with Apple a far distant second with its iOS.
These three companies define and control how we interface with our computers and our smartphones. With the advent of augmented reality software and its user interface, there is a massive opportunity to redefine which company, or companies, control and dominate the augmented reality operating system.
And the value of that is more than a trillion dollars.
The reality is that the technology is here, but the biggest challenge for the industry is to bring the manufacturing costs down for devices like Orion. For mass market adoption, we really need to see products with a great user interface, great quality, and a price point of around a few hundred dollars.
That’s why Meta has been focused on its bridge product – the collaboration with Ray-Ban for its Meta AI smart glasses. These sync with Meta’s generative AI and allow for voice commands with the smart glasses.
Ray-Ban Meta AI Glasses | Source: Ray-Ban
Beijing-based XREAL is also producing some impressive AR glasses in its latest generation, priced around $500. Given the added processing power, the form factor, shown below, is larger than Ray-Ban’s, but it is a big step in the right direction.
XREAL One | Source: XREAL
The industry is really close. The technology is available now. And with the further miniaturization of electronic components and the rapid improvements we’ll see with AI this year – as well as decreased manufacturing costs for advanced lens technology – we can expect to see prices drop into mass-market range for high-end AR glasses within 24 months.
It won’t be long now.
Please pass this on to Jeff Brown.
There appears to be some technology that if applied to AI (and many other applications) the requirements for hyperscale data centers could be dramatically reduced. I would very much appreciate it if Jeff would investigate this technology and provide his opinion on its applicability.
I have no connection to the company in the attached brochure, but I have been a subscriber to Jeff’s publications for years and believe his investigative work and opinions.
– Clayson L.
Hello Clayson,
I hesitate to answer questions like this about companies that really aren’t worth exploring. I don’t want to give them “airtime,” but at the same time, I respect your question and want to help out my subscribers.
The company that you’re referring to in the PDF that you sent to me is FractalWeb, LLC. According to the CEO’s LinkedIn page, it has been around since 1985.
There are red flags everywhere. The website is full of fluff and offers no information about the company officers/executives, no specifics on the technology, no press releases, no dates on blog posts, and sweeping proclamations that Fractal Computing and the Fractal Web will result in:
With the wave of a wand… data centers are no longer necessary. I’m being sarcastic, of course.
This isn’t serious at all. If the company were raising capital, I would be deeply concerned it was a scam. There are no known backers of the company. There have been no institutional venture rounds, and it’s not worth us exploring any further.
Needless to say, there is nothing of substance here that would suggest hyperscale data center infrastructure growth will be impacted in any way. Investment forecasts in data center infrastructure are continuing to increase, and by 2029, annual expenditures will exceed $1 trillion a year to keep up with demand.
Anyone who says otherwise is selling something.
That’s all for today’s AMA. Thank you to everyone for writing in. My team and I love hearing from you. And if you have any questions or comments for us, you can reach us right here.
Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend,
Jeff
The Bleeding Edge is the only free newsletter that delivers daily insights and information from the high-tech world as well as topics and trends relevant to investments.
The Bleeding Edge is the only free newsletter that delivers daily insights and information from the high-tech world as well as topics and trends relevant to investments.
