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Broadband / Telco

🇨🇦 CRTC seeking new Broadband Fund proposals to help improve Internet services for Canadians - The CRTC is seeking new Broadband Fund proposals to help improve Internet services for Canadians. Access to reliable, affordable, and high-quality Internet services is essential for Canadians to stay connected with their families and communities, access virtual health care and online education, and so much more.

My Take: “Through the Broadband Fund, the CRTC contributes to a broad effort by federal, provincial, and territorial governments to connect underserved rural, remote, and Indigenous communities across Canada.”

🇨🇦 Price war among Canadian telecoms fueling a race to the "bottom" — TD Cowen - "We have not assumed any increase in net subscriber growth because, in our view, all carriers showing similar price aggression is simply a race to the bottom with no net winner on volume,” Valentini warns.

🇨🇦 Market Outlook: Canadian telecoms struggle as pricing battle intensifies - A deepening price war among Canada’s major telecom providers is weighing on growth, with aggressive discounting failing to deliver meaningful gains.

My Take: “Deep discounting, including $25 wireless plans, is eroding revenue without improving subscriber growth.

• Analysts have downgraded major telecom stocks, with no Buy ratings across the sector for the first time in decades.

• Lack of population growth and increased competition from a fourth carrier are limiting industry-wide expansion.

• A CRTC decision banning activation fees could remove tens of millions in revenue per carrier.

• Telecom companies are pursuing asset sales and cost discipline to manage debt and navigate ongoing pricing pressure."

“I’ve never had no Buy ratings in the sector. I don’t have a Buy on any of the cable or telecom names right now. It’s a pretty challenging environment.”

CEO Andy Jassy’s 2025 Letter to Shareholders - We’re also trying to close the digital divide for rural communities. There are billions of people on the planet who lack high-speed internet access, and millions of businesses, governments, and other organizations operating in places without reliable connectivity.

My Take: They get the “rural and remote” thing - “we understand that rural customers are often de-prioritized by logistics and telecom providers because remote communities are more expensive to serve. While other companies have been backing away from these customers, we’ve been running to them. We’ve committed over $4 billion to expand our rural delivery network.”

and

“We’re also trying to close the digital divide for rural communities. There are billions of people on the planet who lack high-speed internet access, and millions of businesses, governments, and other organizations operating in places without reliable connectivity. If you don’t have broadband connectivity, you can’t engage in many of the digital activities (e.g. education, business, information retrieval, shopping, entertainment, etc.) that people take for granted in metropolitan locations. Over the last seven years, we’ve built a low Earth orbit satellite network (Amazon Leo) and put more than 200 satellites into space (which is the third-largest low Earth orbit network operating today). With a few thousand more satellites launching in the coming years, the constellation is expanding rapidly. Apart from enabling this connectivity, Leo will offer three unique benefits. First, the performance will be stronger (about six to eight times better on uplink, and two times better on downlink) than what customers have access to now. Second, this performance will come at a lower cost than alternatives. And third, Leo will seamlessly integrate with AWS to enable enterprises and governments to move data back and forth for storage, analytics, and AI.”

Oh, and “While Amazon Leo is officially scheduled to launch in mid-2026, we already have meaningful revenue commitments from enterprises and governments.”

When you read the “Who will control the control plane of the world” article below, remember this article.

Global telecom capex set to fall in 2026: Dell’Oro - Dell’Oro forecasts a 2% decline in global telecom capex in 2026, followed by modest growth at a CAGR of around 1% through 2030

My Take: Operators are holding back on investment because current networks are “good enough” for today’s traffic, and they’re focusing on efficiency until the next big cycle (likely 6G). Telecom isn’t scaling infrastructure aggressively right now, even though future demand (driven by AI) is expected to increase. Good enough to sell good enough services to subscribers. The article says “sufficient’. I say “good enough.”

Hyperscalers flex fiber muscle as telcos watch supply lines shift -As hyperscalers pour billions into AI infrastructure, they are no longer just major buyers of optical fiber — they are increasingly shaping how and where it gets made. Corning’s move to expand its fiber manufacturing facility in North Carolina, which broke ground this week, is backed by Meta as an anchor customer.

Fiber Is the New Bottleneck: Why AI Data Center Returns Are Now at Risk - Dark Fiber Scarcity, Hyperscaler Supply Lockups, Site Selection Failures, Underwriting the Delay Risk, Where the Geography Breaks Down

My Take: Once upon a time there was lots of fiber, but then. Communication from users to data centres was focused on north-south traffic. But now that data centres are communicating with data centres, things have evolved to drive demand for east-west traffic - fibre-hungry, high-speed traffic. I guess it’s time to buy shares in Corning and others? 🤔

As more copper wire thefts knock out service, some point fingers at scrap yards - In early January, a bold telephone wire heist left about 135 people without phone services for about two weeks in Clarendon, a rural area of southern New Brunswick, between Fredericton and Saint John.

My Take: Same answer as always.. Chances are there isn’t any fiber coincident to the copper - ‘cuz it’s a great application of fiber sensing to detect tamper and then deploy the attack drones.

Cisco report flags AI wireless security risks, talent shortages - AI creates a security paradox — firms report increasing attacks but AI-driven defenses will automate threat isolation. A massive talent drain is hitting the industry as organizations see wireless IT experts pivot toward specialized AI and cyber roles. Upgrading to Wi-Fi 7 improves security and support for AI workloads.

My Take: AI isn’t just adding capability, it’s adding vulnerability at the same time, and security systems aren’t keeping up. I think someone I know recorded a podcast about something like this. Check it out.

Opinion: Who will control the control plane of the world? - The assumption that the West can compete with China’s infrastructure ambitions through a loosely coordinated ecosystem — shaped by free-market incentives rather than central direction — is becoming increasingly implausible.

My Take: “Control is not about ownership — it is about where decisions are made.” “China is operating as if the future has already arrived — aligning network, cloud, AI, energy and even space into a unified control architecture. The West, by contrast, has rarely been more divided.”

🇨🇦 Provinces and territories call for improved mobile coverage reporting, as telcos push back - Wireless companies are opposing a new standard for mobile data reporting, though provincial and territorial governments say changes are necessary to fill coverage gaps across the country.

My Take: There’s a growing gap between what telecom networks claim they deliver and what users actually experience, and regulators are starting to push back. We can get a signal to a space capsule 300,000km away, but on Earth? Not so much - and I don’t think satellite-based D2D is the answer — indoors, and all that.

FCC Router Ban Threatens U.S. Internet Security, Leaves 109M Homes at Risk and Industry Facing Billions in Replacement Costs - The FCC’s definition of “consumer grade” routers includes ISP-issued devices, which Parks Associates estimates makes up approximately 70% of the router installed base among US home internet households. The remaining 30% of the router installed base were purchased at retail, with Netgear, Amazon Eero, TP-Link, and Google Home among the leading consumer brands.

My Take: Why is the online world so quiet about this? Is everyone expecting waivers? Is this hype, or not a real issue? Will Canadian ISPs be able to pick up the US stuff on the cheap at a garage sale? ;)

Google sees end-to-end telecom dominion span from Android to agents - To understand Alphabet’s current potential from a telecom perspective, it helps to connect the dots. Picture GFiber as the backbone, with Gemini as the brain connected to Google Cloud’s nerve zones, tethered to an Android smartphone.

My Take: Google is trying to control the entire telecom stack, from Android phones to cloud infrastructure to AI agents running inside networks. The goal is to create a “single thread of intelligence” where AI manages and optimizes everything behind the scenes.. “And with our telco partners, we're trying to make the network invisible”.. Is that a good thing?

QUICK HITS:

• Commerce Department strikes $2B FirstNet deal to boost 5G, reduce costs for public safety

• Europe Gets Serious About Age Verification Online

• AT&T maps its AI-grid edge game with Nvidia, Cisco, Microsoft

• AT&T CTO casts doubt on AI compute at the far edge

• T-Mobile Eyes Uniti Fiber Assets as Expansion Strategy Continues

• 🇨🇦 Freedom Mobile to ramp up spending on network infrastructure

Regulatory

CANADA (2026-04-03 to 2026-04-09)

ISED published results from its 2026 residual spectrum auction covering PCS, AWS, and 3.5 GHz bands, revealing which carriers picked up additional mobile spectrum assets in markets where capacity matters most. More significantly, ISED opened a priority window for Indigenous communities to access spectrum licenses in cellular and PCS bands before general availability—a move that could introduce new competitors in regional markets and force incumbents to rethink their coverage strategies and partnership approaches. The CRTC launched a consultation on tightening numbering management practices, seeking input on how to crack down on inefficient use of phone numbers by carriers who hoard blocks without deploying them. Rogers also lost its broadcasting license for the Langford-Sooke area, though that's unlikely to move markets. Watch whether ISED's 2.5 GHz band plan consultation (comments now in) leads to material changes that require network reconfigurations for mid-band 5G deployments.

UNITED STATES (2026-04-03 to 2026-04-09)

The FCC opened the entire 900 MHz band for broadband by creating new 3 MHz and 5 MHz paired channel licenses, giving operators fresh spectrum options for private networks and rural coverage beyond the traditional narrowband industrial use cases. The Commission also proposed sweeping Lifeline program reforms to combat fraud, which could materially change compliance costs and subscriber enrollment procedures for carriers banking on those subsidies—expect tighter eligibility verification and potentially lower subscriber counts if implemented as proposed. NTIA launched a web portal for commercial space launch frequency coordination (mostly administrative) but more importantly continues examining GPS interference risks from L-band satellite direct-to-device services, which could derail some satellite-to-smartphone business models if interference proves real. The FCC also floated banning imports and sales of previously-authorized equipment now deemed national security risks, which would be a retroactive policy mess if adopted. Keep an eye on whether the Lifeline reforms stick and how aggressively NTIA moves on satellite-GPS interference—both have real revenue implications.

House Dems raise 'deep concern' over Starlink's BEAD wins
Tarana says Starlink’s BEAD antics “pulled the rug out” from NTIA
House Dems: States May Need to ‘Reconsider’ SpaceX BEAD Awards
Consultants Urge BEAD ‘Rainy Day’ Fund To Cover Gaps

UNITED KINGDOM (2026-04-03 to 2026-04-09)

Ofcom released Q4 2025 complaint rankings for broadband, mobile, and pay-TV providers—the usual quarterly scoreboard that mostly confirms who's already known for lousy service. The regulator published its annual Online Safety Act section 128 report showing use of technology notices to force removal of terrorism and child abuse content, signaling Ofcom is willing to flex those powers even if the compliance details remain opaque. Beyond that, this week was dominated by routine statistical releases: affordability tracking, news consumption surveys, podcast usage data, and children's media literacy research. Nothing here changes the competitive landscape or forces operators to adjust strategy. The most consequential UK developments remain whatever's happening behind closed doors on network security requirements and the implementation details of online safety enforcement, neither of which surfaced publicly this week.

My Take:

Fiber Optic Sensing

Today, Texas811 introduced Texas811 Guardian™, a groundbreaking technology created to prevent underground utility damage before it occurs.- Guardian offers a new vision: a network of real-time excavation-monitoring systems that improve safety, reliability, and protection for underground infrastructure.

My Take: It’s like OneCall but with added intelligence.

🇨🇦 City of Toronto upgrading all street lights to LED by 2035 - to make sure all the construction is coordinated so you don’t see a crew coming in to dig up your road once for hydro, second time for track laying, third time for watermains … we’ll coordinate all of it and do it in one shot,”

My Take: From my LinkedIn post on the matter..

It's great that the City of Toronto is replacing ageing infrastructure before it fails, as well as moving to more efficient lighting solutions. It also seems there's actually some planned construction coordination to ensure a "dig once" outcome..

But will they install multi-use conduit at the same time? Are they running fiber to all those lighting poles for small-cell 5G antennas, traffic sensors, EV charging, and environmental monitors?

Is Toronto's streetlight upgrade also laying the groundwork for Distributed Fiber Optic Sensing (DFOS) technology that essentially turns a fiber cable into a continuous microphone, listening to everything happening underground and at street level?

Things like early warning on water main stress, illegal excavation, ground movement near transit infrastructure, and traffic anomalies, before they become expensive emergencies.

WIth 86% of Toronto's underground street lighting infrastructure already past its useful life, and with the City coordinating a decade of street-level construction across multiple agencies, the important question worth asking is..

Are they thinking beyond just the lights?

Or are they in the dark?

Integrated Acoustic Sensing Enhances Optical Network Security - Researchers Tang, Rao, Wu, and their colleagues have successfully demonstrated a novel approach combining distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) with passive optical networks (PONs), specifically targeting human intrusion monitoring with an unprecedented level of seamless integration. This pioneering work not only promises to revolutionize how we detect unauthorized human presence in sensitive areas but also represents a significant leap toward more efficient, cost-effective, and scalable surveillance infrastructures.

My Take: “The system employs advanced signal processing techniques that isolate and interpret the subtle backscatter variations used for acoustic sensing while simultaneously handling the robust data traffic of the PON. This hybrid approach effectively transforms a standard fiber optic communication network into a dual-purpose infrastructure capable of delivering both high-speed data and real-time intrusion detection.”

What’s Happening In Space?

Starlink broadband speeds increase in 2025, but they’re still not great - Sue Marek, Ookla’s editorial director and author of the new report, said Starlink speeds have improved quite a bit, “The uplink has been where satellite has struggled," she said. "It’s what usually keeps them from meeting [the FCC minimum speeds].”

My Take: Starlink is still worse than fiber at around 133 Mbps versus 1 Gbps with weaker upload speeds, but for many users, that doesn’t matter if it’s reliable, easy to install, and works anywhere. Good enough at the right price is good enough. The real shift is that Starlink is expanding beyond its original use case and starting to compete in places it wasn’t expected to.

It’s Unanimous: Space Already Functions as Critical Infrastructure - Space may not officially be the United States’ 17th critical infrastructure sector. But in practice, experts across government, academia, and industry say it already functions as one — deeply embedded in the systems that power modern life.

My Take: Space isn’t optional or the last resort anymore. It’s a foundational layer on which everything else depends, but it’s still being treated as an emerging industry rather than core infrastructure.

Skylo, Rakuten, Viasat, Telesat execs discuss satellite as a threat to telecom - A panel of satellite experts discussed the excitement (and perhaps some trepidation) in the telecom world from the entrance of direct-to-device (D2D) satellite connectivity.

My Take: Satellite doesn’t need to beat telecom outright, it just needs to take enough of the edge to matter. Once it owns the customer in even a few use cases, the rest of the model starts to break.

SpaceX Accuses Amazon of Debris Violations at FCC | KeepTrack X Report - The sharpest story in low Earth orbit this week is not a launch or a milestone — it is a regulatory brawl. SpaceX has formally accused Amazon of violating orbital debris rules in a letter to the FCC, escalating a simmering dispute over who controls the most valuable altitude bands in LEO. Amazon pushed back, saying it will revise its deployment plans while denying any safety risk, but the fight has drawn scrutiny to a broader question: whether collision-avoidance obligations are being weaponized as competitive tools.

My Take: “SpaceX argued that Amazon’s current methodology for spacing and deorbiting satellites creates unacceptable collision risk in the altitude shells both companies share, and called on the FCC to intervene before Amazon launches additional batches.” Some other interesting tidbits in there as well. Like the “extremely close approach of 43 meters.”

Here's How Much Starlink Costs in 2026 (and How to Decide If It's Worth It) - SpaceX's satellite internet service is a revelation, but Starlink's mixture of plans and equipment options can make signing up confusing. We break everything down to make your choices easy.

My Take: “in my day…” Starlink didn’t have tiers. One price. No speed guarantees. It just delivered what it could. Now they’re acting like any other ISP selling tiered services to more than just the truly rural and remote. Apples-apples, and all that.

Beyond Rural Coverage: Starlink Gains Ground in Certain US Urban Areas - Five states now have more Starlink users in urban areas than rural ones, according to a new report from Speedtest.net owner Ookla.

My Take: It was never supposed to be this way ;)

Insurance is Commercial Space Nuclear’s Biggest Headache - Lots of challenges face commercial space nuclear missions—but experts at an industry seminar on Thursday only called one a “show stopper”—insurance. 

My Take: Where’s what’s-her-name from Progressive? Flo? Isn’t that her name?

100 GB from Deep Space. Not Over Radio. Over Light. - The O2O system (Orion Artemis II Optical Communications) quietly crossed 100 gigabytes of data transmitted to Earth. In four days. From deep space. Via laser. Not a lab test, not a low Earth orbit demo. An actual crewed mission, 380,000 km out, streaming data home over a beam of infrared light.

My Take: I had an article on all the cool Artemis tech last week, but this one still amzes me. Amaze, amaze, amaze.

Sceye Is Testing Out Its Stratospheric Cell Tower. Could base stations 20 kilometers in the sky reduce latency? - Later this year, a certain airship will lift off from New Mexico to embark on a Pacific crossing for its longest flight yet. But the real test won’t begin until it arrives in Japan. There, the airship’s builder, New Mexico-based Sceye, and its funder and partner, the Japanese telecom giant SoftBank Corp., plan to test the craft’s mettle as a floating cell tower 20 kilometers in the sky.

My Take: Companies like SoftBank are testing high-altitude airships that act as floating cell towers in the stratosphere, positioned between ground networks and satellites to offer better coverage and lower latency. The winners won’t be the ones with the best tech, they’ll be the ones who make all the layers work together seamlessly.

The State of Satcom 2026 - With SpaceX and Amazon storming into the satcom market, traditional players and startups alike are realizing they can’t compete directly with these growing giants—and are pivoting to find creative new ways to play in the crowded market.

My Take: A once slow, protected industry is now being disrupted fast by companies with more capital, better launch capabilities, and direct-to-consumer strategies. When a few players control launch, capital, and distribution, everyone else is forced to find a niche or get pushed out.

NASA Johnson - Flikr - Artemis Photo Stream

My Take: Wanna see all the pictures from the Artemis II mission? Check out this Flickr feed.

Prepaid Carrier US Mobile to Offer Starlink Home Internet Bundle - The carrier's CEO says the plan is to bundle Starlink's residential broadband service, although access to cellular Starlink Mobile will come later, too.

My Take: Convergence. The companies that win will bundle everything into one seamless network and make the underlying tech invisible, as long as it’s at the right price point.

QUICK HITS:

• Atlas V rocket launches its heaviest-ever payload, sending 29 Amazon internet satellites to orbit

• Chinese satellite with robotic 'octopus arm' passes key refueling test in orbit — making longer-lived space assets more likely

• Globalstar bets on industrial automation and AI for private 5G

• Considering Starlink Standby Mode? Switching Back Could Cost You $1,500

• NTIA Unveils Space Launch Frequency Coordination Portal

Data Centres

🇨🇦 We found every data centre in Canada - From the building boom in Alberta to a host of legacy facilities near Toronto and Montreal, our reporting reveals the scale of Canada’s data centre industry—and the challenges it faces

My Take: 309 facilities across the country and a growing wave of massive AI-focused projects, especially in Alberta. It highlights that while Canada wants to compete in AI, success depends less on ambition and more on access to energy, infrastructure, and real demand.

Cisco sizing up the data center space race, says CEO Robbins - Cisco is exploring entry into the space race. CEO Chuck Robbins is a big believer in the future of space data centers, and the company is starting to look into products for that emerging market.

My Take: What once sounded unrealistic is now being discussed at the highest levels of major infrastructure companies. Space is finally becoming part of the AI conversation.

Musk wants SpaceX IPO to fund AI space data centers. Microsoft's undersea setback sounds warning. - Five data center specialists told Reuters that what went wrong for Microsoft is a cautionary tale for SpaceX because although both projects ​are a world apart geographically, they share key similarities: they both rely on modular units that are expensive to deploy and cannot be expanded, repaired or upgraded - features considered critical by the AI industry.

My Take: Pretty much says it all. Orbital data centres are not without their challenges! Nothing good was every easy.

AI companies are building huge natural gas plants to power data centers. What could go wrong? - Microsoft said on Tuesday that it’s working with Chevron and Engine No. 1 to build a natural gas power plant in West Texas that could grow to produce 5 gigawatts of electricity. This week Google confirmed that it’s working with Crusoe to build a 933 MW natural gas power plant in North Texas. And last week, Meta announced that it was adding another seven natural gas power plants to its Hyperion data center in Louisiana, bringing the site to 7.46 GW of capacity — enough to power the entire state of South Dakota.

My Take: Bring your own power, and make everyone else pay as a result of your demand.

Maine is considering a ban on data center builds - Maine is considering becoming the first state to put a pause on new data center construction. Yahoo Finance Tech Editor Dan Howley and Market Domination's Josh Lipton break down the details.

My Take: They’ll just move somewhere else.

Half of planned US data center builds have been delayed or cancelled, growth limited by shortages of power infrastructure and parts from China — the AI build-out flips the breakers - The trade-war between the U.S. and China has forced server makers out of the People's Republic, greatly reducing reliance of American companies on producers from Tianxia. However, China remains the world's largest producer of electrical equipment that is required to build power infrastructure inside and outside of AI data centers. To that end, shortages of power delivery equipment, including devices from China and other countries, are slowing project timelines, Bloomberg reports.

My Take: Everyone thinks the AI race is about chips and models, but it’s really about power. If you can’t plug it in and get fiber to it, none of the hype matters.

QUICK HITS:

• Investors press Amazon, Microsoft and Google on water, power use in US data centers

• The race to put AI in orbit

• 🇨🇦 The truth about Wonder Valley, Kevin O’Leary’s data-centre dream

• Google to finance $5B Texas AI data center for Anthropic

Enabling AI

Anthropic says Claude Code subscribers will need to pay extra for OpenClaw usage - According to a customer email shared on Hacker News, Anthropic said that starting at noon Pacific on April 4 (today), subscribers will “no longer be able to use your Claude subscription limits for third-party harnesses including OpenClaw.” Instead, they’ll need to pay for extra usage through “a pay-as-you-go option billed separately from your subscription.”

My Take: AI companies are starting to separate “core usage” from “ecosystem usage” because external tools are driving way more compute demand than expected. This is really about cost control and margins, not just pricing tweaks. Tokens, tokens and more tokens. No more free rides.

In Japan, the robot isn’t coming for your job; it’s filling the one nobody wants - Physical AI is emerging as one of the next major industrial battlegrounds, with Japan’s push driven more by necessity than anything else. With workforces shrinking and pressure mounting to sustain productivity, companies are increasingly deploying AI-powered robots across factories, warehouses, and critical infrastructure.

My Take: I’m OK with this. They’re also coming for the jobs that people want. I keep seeing Amazon ads saying “we pay $24.50/hr” or whatever it is. Do they really need people to stuff a box and tape it closed?

Anthropic Claims Its New A.I. Model, Mythos, Is a Cybersecurity ‘Reckoning’ - The company said on Tuesday that it was holding back on releasing the new technology but was working with 40 companies to explore how it could prevent cyberattacks.

My Take: This piece explains how Anthropic has built a powerful new AI model called Claude Mythos that is so advanced at finding software vulnerabilities that they are not releasing it publicly. Instead, they are sharing it with a small group of major tech players to help secure systems before bad actors can exploit them.

QUICK HITS:

• 🇨🇦 Ontario Welcomes Microsoft’s AI Infrastructure Expansion

• Broadcom, Google, and Anthropic ink massive compute and silicon deals

This and That!

China moves to regulate digital humans, bans addictive services for children - The Cyberspace Administration of ‌China's proposed rules would require prominent "digital human" labels on all virtual human content and prohibit digital humans from providing "virtual intimate relationships" to those under 18, according to rules published ​for public comment until May 6.

My Take: Wait, so will robots be walking around with signs that say “I’m a robot” or is this for online creations looking to get intimate with real people? Either way, is it sad that we now need this type of regulation, or was it just a matter of time?

The final days of the Tesla Model X and S are here. All bets are on the Cybercab - Musk isn’t filling the void left by the Model X and Model S with a traditional EV; he ditched plans to produce a lower-cost EV that was expected to be priced around $25,000. Instead, Musk is placing his bets on the Optimus robot, which has yet to go into production, and the Cybercab, an all-electric two-seater autonomous vehicle that was first shown as a concept in 2024.

My Take: Chinese EVs will take his customers, unless they want to ride on a robot.. or something,

Remote Work Isn’t the Problem—Poor Management Is, New Study Finds - Managers need better training to supervise remote teams.

My Take: You know who you are, althouh you won’t admit you’re the problem.

The Combat Survivor Evader Locator (CSEL) - one of the most ingenious survival communication tools ever developed for modern combat operations.
Seamlessly integrated into a soldier’s or aircrew member’s tactical gear, the CSEL provides secure, satellite-based communication with command elements—without relying on traditional voice radio that can be intercepted or geolocated.

My Take: I don’t think you can buy this on TEMU. Looks expensive. This is what was used to locate the US fighter pilots shot down in Iran.

How Temu Hacked US customs to sell you $4 T-Shirts - Today's breakdown: how Temu built a $20B business on a customs hack, and how they pivoted when US customs caught on to it…

My Take: This is actually quite interesting, and another reason why China is kicking butt in some areas. Quite the loophole.

State of the Global Workplace 2026 - The State of the Global Workplace report features annual findings from the world's largest ongoing study of the employee experience. The 2026 edition finds that global employee engagement fell to 20% in 2025, its lowest level since 2020, costing the world economy an estimated $10 trillion in lost productivity.

My Take: Ain’t nobody got time to read these reports, so I asked NotebookLM for for some assistance.

Gallup’s 2026 State of the Global Workplace report provides a comprehensive analysis of the evolving relationship between employees and their work environments during the emergence of the AI revolution. While technological tools like large language models are being rapidly deployed, the findings indicate that organizational performance remains stagnant without effective leadership to guide implementation. A significant decline in manager engagement has contributed to a broader slump in global workforce morale, resulting in massive lost productivity costs for the world economy. The research highlights a sharp disconnect between individual AI use and company-wide success, emphasizing that human management is the essential factor for realizing technical gains. Additionally, the report tracks global trends in mental wellbeing, showing that while life evaluations have slightly improved, stress and job market anxiety remain high in many regions. Ultimately, the data suggests that the future of work depends less on the power of software and more on engaging and training the people who operate it.

Blame crappy managers. Always their fault.

Intel joins Musk's Terafab AI chip project to power humanoid, data center goals - The announcement comes months after Musk laid out plans for Tesla to build a massive artificial-intelligence chip fab to power the EV-maker's autonomous ambitions, ​and suggested the company could work with Intel.

My Take: When is Elon going to be a guest Shark on Shark Tank?

Inside the stealthy startup that pitched brainless human clones - After a two-year investigation, I found evidence that a small startup called R3 Bio had been laying the groundwork for what it called “brainless clones.” That is, a newborn version of you. Except without consciousness. Instead, the real you would use this copy of you as a source of a perfectly matched kidney or liver. Or one day, have your head transplanted onto this youthful double.

My Take: I think there are a bunch of brainless clones walking among us already. In any case, this is pretty creepy. Spare parts Jason. At least I’d be able to replace my sarcasm.

Diagnostic dilemma: Teenager's hives turned out to be caused by rare water allergy - In a rare medical case, a teenage girl suddenly began breaking out in hives whenever she was exposed to water.

My Take: H2Oh my!

Infographic Of The Week

My Take: 17 of the world’s 20 tallest buildings are in Asia, led by China and Malaysia.

Movie/Streaming Recommendation

IMDb: 6.5/10

JMDb: 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿/10 (gloriously unhinged is an understatement)

They Will Kill You is a gloriously unhinged midnight movie that prioritizes spectacle over substance — and mostly gets away with it. Released March 27, 2026, the film follows Asia Reaves (Zazie Beetz), an ex-convict who infiltrates The Virgil, a lavish Manhattan high-rise secretly run by a Satanic cult, to rescue her estranged sister. Beetz is an absolute force, elevating Asia far beyond the typical "final girl" into a fully realized, weapon-wielding avenger.

Director Kirill Sokolov, channelling shades of Tarantino and Sam Raimi, turns every frame into a blood-soaked visual feast. The action sequences — particularly a standout fire-axe rampage — are inventive and well-choreographed, drawing enthusiastic laughs and gasps from audiences. Patricia Arquette and Tom Felton make delightfully sinister cult members, adding absurdist fun to the mayhem.

The film's biggest weakness is its thin story. Once the supernatural twist of cult immortality deflates the tension, the plot struggles to stay compelling. The supporting cast is criminally underused, and the social commentary barely registers beyond one knowing punchline. Still, for fans of cartoonish, high-energy genre cinema, They Will Kill You delivers exactly what it promises — a WTF-worthy thrill ride that doesn't overstay its welcome at 95 minutes.

Until Next Time

Jason’s Industry Insights is produced by Verity Aptus.

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