Welcome to the weekend.

Prime Numbers

35 — Global sales of electric vehicles increased 35% in 2023.

336,000,000 — On New Year's Day, the U.S. population was nearly 336 million — up nearly 2 million (0.53%) from a year ago.

2,230 — In a new analysis of 709 volunteer Facebook users over the last three years, 186,892 different companies at some point sent their data to Facebook. On average, 2,230 different companies shared data about these participants.

The Perfect Weekend 

How do you plan the perfect weekend? Behavioral researchers and time-management coaches suggest breaking it into six components: sleep, hobbies, socializing, exercise, work and chores, and unscheduled time. Using recommendations from experts and federal guidelines, we came up with this equation. These numbers aren’t hard and fast though; stay flexible and make the math work for your life. The perfect weekend equation: Sleep (7 to 9 hours x 2 + ≤ 20 to 60 minutes napping) + Hobbies (~ 2 hours) + Socializing (0 to 2 events) + Exercise (≥ 45 minutes) + Work (≤ 2 hours) + Unplanned time (~ 3 to 4 hours) = A Great Weekend. Wall Street Journal (7 minutes)

Nusantara

Joko Widodo, Indonesia's president, grew up in a riverside slum and lacked family or military ties when he entered politics. As governor of Jakarta, he canvassed poor neighborhoods to understand their needs: cleaner air and water, and less traffic. He worked to raise sea walls, improve transport and build artificial islands to protect the sinking city. However, Jakarta remained vulnerable to flooding. So Widodo is now using his presidential power to construct a new capital called Nusantara on Borneo 800 miles away. This move abandons Jakarta, which cannot be saved from rising seas. Widodo's career has focused on building, from his early work in carpentry through his time as mayor. But Jakarta's issues have proven too great, necessitating a dramatic new start on another island. He’s taking on an ambitious project to create a new green, walkable capital called Nusantara on the island of Borneo. New York Times (22 minutes)

Tech Founders’ New AI Moonshot 

Tech founders such as Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn), Tom Preston-Werner (GitHub) and Ben Silbermann (Pinterest) are quietly investing in a new artificial intelligence (AI) category. They’re seeing unprecedented returns, but the returns aren’t financial — they’re existential. The category is called AI for humanity, a movement championed by AI-powered nonprofits. In Reid Hoffman’s words: “Whether climate change, inequality, pandemic outbreaks, or criminal justice reform, AI offers us our most promising path forward to face these head on.” As these tech leaders rally behind AI-powered nonprofits, they look to Fast Forward — an organization uniting the tech community to see our biggest problems solved with AI. Hoffman continues, “Fast Forward has been a powerful partner for my team and me as we look at the best of the best not-for-profits that are employing AI for good.” Join the movement. Learn more about AI for humanity here. Fast Forward (Sponsored)

Empire AI

Cutting-edge AI research should not be limited to large tech companies. We need our academic institutions to be on equal footing. To that end, New York State is investing $275 million, along with more than $125 million from universities and philanthropy to build a state-of-the-art AI computing center called Empire AI. The goal is to promote responsible AI research and create jobs focused on public good applications. This effort will give New York academic institutions the resources to compete with large tech companies in cutting-edge AI research. It's one of the largest government investments in an AI facility, and other states may follow suit. With top AI talent, New York is positioning itself as a leader in the field, along with California and Massachusetts. AVC (4 minutes)

Blockchain and Content

Fox Corp. has debuted a new blockchain platform called Verify to help media companies track how their content is used online. Fox plans to use Verify to negotiate deals licensing its vast media content to AI companies for training models like ChatGPT. The company is in talks with other media firms to also use Verify, which would give them leverage when dealing with AI platforms. The Verify protocol is a database of cryptographically signed media content that establishes its origin and history. Ultimately, Fox hopes Verify can verify content from publishers across the web, though it's unclear if rivals will adopt the platform. Axios (5 minutes)

Super-Efficient Solar

In November 2023, perovskite tandem solar cells, which layer traditional silicon cells with perovskite materials, broke another world record for solar efficiency. Perovskite solar technology has continued to surpass its own efficiency records over the past decade. Perovskites absorb different wavelengths of light than silicon, so together they can utilize more of the solar spectrum. While silicon cells max out below 30% efficiency, perovskite tandems have exceeded 33% in the lab. If scaled up, perovskite tandem cells could potentially produce more electricity at lower cost than legacy solar cells. MIT Technology Review (5 minutes)

Warren G and Kenny G

I can’t believe this exists. You have to check out this banging live performance of Warren G’s “Regulate” featuring Kenny G on the sax. Jimmy Kimmel (3 minutes)

Should We Work Together?

Hi! I’m Kyle. This newsletter is my passion project. When I’m not writing, I run a law firm that helps startups move fast without breaking things. Most founders want a trusted legal partner, but they hate surprise legal bills. At Westaway, we take care of your startup’s legal needs for a flat, monthly fee so you can control your costs and focus on scaling your business. If you’re interested, let’s jump on a call to see if you’re a good fit for the firm. Click here to schedule a one-on-one call with me.

Founder Fridays

Check out my other email, Founder Fridays — a Friday morning briefing helping startup founders and operators scale smarter.

Weekend Wisdom

Quality is not an act, it is a habit. -Aristotle