Overview
Black Friday brought a reminder that markets still run on hardware, not magic, as CME halted futures due to a cooling issue. In tech, Google’s TPU push is putting fresh pressure on Nvidia while engineers grumble about benchmark theatre. Games had a comeback story with Hytale’s raw early access plan. SpaceX packed another rideshare. On the culture side, sneakers deflated, football fans argued about app latency, and Saka celebrated a life milestone. There were sober notes too, from warnings about prediction markets and conflict to Apple’s response to tragedy in Hong Kong.
The big picture
Markets cool off for real
CME paused futures and options across stocks, currencies, and commodities after a data centre cooling snag at CyrusOne. It hit a low-volume holiday session, so liquidity wobbled but systemic risk looks contained. The hiccup sparked the usual jokes and a burst of crypto takes about single points of failure.
Google’s TPUs take aim at Nvidia
Google’s TPUv7 is pitched as matching Blackwell on peak FLOPs and memory, with lower total cost and open PyTorch support. The headline buyer is Anthropic, lining up roughly a million chips across buys and rentals to fuel Claude training and cut API prices. Big buyers across Meta, xAI, OpenAI and others could reduce GPU capex, while TPUv8 variants target Rubin-era scale with 3D torus networks.
Engineers push back on benchmark theatre
A former DeepMind scientist’s critique landed: Gemini 3 feels fine for web dev demos, less so for real-world coding. Gemini 5.1 Pro is called brilliant but flaky. Replies point to steadier options such as Claude or Cursor’s composer-1 when shipping code matters.
Hytale is back, warts and all
After a rocky journey through acquisition, cancellation, and a buyback, Hytale is heading to early access on 13 January 2026. The team is blunt about the state of the game, promising a true early access with modding tools on day one. A $20 price was floated as a fair entry point.
140 rides to orbit on a single Falcon 9
Transporter-15 loaded up small satellites for sun-synchronous orbit. SpaceX’s rideshare programme keeps lowering the bar to space access, with slots advertised from about $300k per 50 kg. The photos tell the story, from the dusk ignition to the fairing packed with payloads.
Sneakers deflate, jokes inflate
The sneaker resale market slump drew gallows humour. With fewer releases trading above retail and buyers pulling back, the bubble narrative is now familiar: too much supply, tighter wallets, and the harsh physics of scuffed shoes as collectibles.
Football, phones and personal news
Two posts tackled a common myth. Apps can beat TV broadcasts by a few seconds due to transmission delay, but they do not outpace events in the stadium. Meanwhile, Saka’s engagement lit up timelines, Chelsea got a boost with Cole Palmer set to start, and Messi’s kids carting a Ballon d’Or to training gave everyone a smile.
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From India, with code
Dream11’s Harsh Jain opened up HorizonOS, the homegrown stack that keeps fantasy sports running at national scale in India. It is pitched as free for builders who need battle-tested modules for payments and high-traffic apps.
Prediction markets meet conflict risk
A stark warning about crypto markets tracking wars. If bets start steering money toward armed groups, the line between forecasting and financing erodes. The thread calls for guardrails before incentives get perverse.
Market history on the house
Michael Burry shared his 1999 writings free of charge, including notes on value investing through the dot-com frenzy and a contrarian Apple bet. It lands as he warns about an AI bubble, inviting readers to revisit how long corrections can grind on in real terms.
Apple reacts to tragedy in Hong Kong
Tim Cook offered condolences and pledged donations after a deadly fire in Tai Po. It fits Apple’s pattern of rapid support during disasters and underscores the company’s long links to the region.
Why it matters
The CME outage shows how centralised market plumbing can wobble from simple physical faults. Expect more pressure on exchanges and data centre partners to add redundancy and communicate faster when outages hit.
TPUs gaining ground is not just a chip story. If buyers diversify away from Nvidia, model training costs fall and open frameworks gain momentum. That could broaden access to serious compute for labs and startups.
Engineers’ pushback on benchmark chasing is a useful reset. If teams optimise for scores over stability, builders will migrate to tools that ship without fuss.
Hytale’s honesty about an unfinished build sets expectations. Early access can work when creators are upfront and give modders the keys from day one.
Transporter rideshares keep the space economy moving. Lower launch costs mean more climate sensors, comms payloads, and niche experiments can fly.
The sneaker downturn and concert pricing angst both point to tighter consumer budgets. Brands that read the room on price and scarcity will hold trust when hype cools.
Football’s timing debate is a basic media literacy lesson. Understanding feed delays saves headaches, and it is a reminder that data infrastructure shapes how we watch sport.
Opening up HorizonOS fits a wider pattern of countries building their own digital stacks. If the docs and community are strong, India’s developer base stands to gain.
Prediction markets brushing against conflict zones is a red flag. Regulators and platforms will need clear lines before speculation fuels harm.
Burry’s archive is a nudge to remember market cycles. Stories from 1999 are not relics, they are playbooks for spotting excess and surviving the hangover.
