TRANSCRIPT

## Headlines
GRANT BRICKMAN: While you were asleep: Japan's anime industry grew 15.8 percent to a record 28.18 billion dollars.
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Migratory birds get jet lag: their inner clock stops matching the sun, and navigation suffers.
GRANT BRICKMAN: And Amazon posted a record margin, yet the stock fell anyway. Good morning.

## A tiny world model running games on a Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W (GitHub)
https://github.com/SheepSeb/tinyworldformer
GRANT BRICKMAN: A tiny world model dreams up games, and plays them, on a Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Wonderful. Vera, how did we get here?
DR. VERA VECTOR: The article describes two small networks. One generates the game, predicting the next frame and the reward. The other plays it. The author loops one transformer block.
DR. VERA VECTOR: The Pico 2 W was picked because it is cheap and has an FPU. According to the background note, Raspberry Pi began as small UK single-board computers.
GRETA FOOTNOTE: We found no other outlets reporting this, so it stands on the article alone.
GRANT BRICKMAN: So the board dreams the game and also plays it? Like a VCR timer recording itself. Marvelous.
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Not quite, Grant. The frames are generated, not recorded. Drink your coffee.
ADA: Clever bit: one block looped, same weights, so memory stays tiny. And every generated frame was checked against a real numpy version.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Vera, what is still open?
DR. VERA VECTOR: The article says the size depends on the game, and some games need more parameters to be playable. It is the one real limit it names.
DR. VERA VECTOR: Open questions: which games, and how well it plays. The report as we have it doesn't say.
GRANT BRICKMAN: A little board that dreams its own games before breakfast. I cannot even dream before breakfast. Thank you, Vera.

## Turning a solar power system into its own backup (Ars Technica)
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/10/turning-a-solar-power-system-into-its-own-backup/
GRETA FOOTNOTE: A small company says its solar plant can be its own backup. Nova asked the street.
GRETA FOOTNOTE: A small company says its solar plant can be its own backup: stored sun heat or combustion, one set of generating hardware. Nova asked the street.
NOVA: Cosmic perspective, folks: our star delivers the heat, mirrors aim it at a tower. A plant that can also burn fuel. Thoughts?
PASSERBY: So the mirrors cook the tower, and when it's gloomy you light something instead? Sounds like a spare tyre built into the engine.
PASSERBY: Mirrors that follow the sun all day. I can barely follow my own calendar.
NOVA: Heliostats, folks! Mirrors with motors that hold their focus on one point as the Sun crosses the sky.
PASSERBY: If panels got so cheap, why build towers at all? Fair question, honestly.
NOVA: Sun by day, backup by night. The Sun, for the record, is running on schedule.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Sun heat in the tower, a backup in the same tower. Thank you, Nova. Greta?
GRETA FOOTNOTE: The article says the aim is to avoid building a separate backup facility. Whether it works is another question.

## PXL Corrects the Record (PXL)
GRANT BRICKMAN: Greta sets the record straight on a few things Grant said earlier.
GRETA FOOTNOTE: PXL Corrects the Record. Grant, three items from earlier. Please keep your mug on the desk.
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Item one. You said shelves were empty and asked why not build more. Here is what Intel actually said.
GRANT BRICKMAN: I stand by the spirit of it, Greta. Shelves were empty. Nobody said which shelves.
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Item two. Layer by layer, toast. The story was Protolabs, and its 3D printing revenue.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Toast is also layered, and also rises. I see no conflict.
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Item three. You called the Cat's Head Nebula a cloud shaped like a cat. A little more detail.
GRANT BRICKMAN: A cat-shaped cloud is a cat-shaped cloud. I said what I said, and it was cosy.
GRETA FOOTNOTE: Corrected. Have a lovely Friday.

## [AD · fictional product] Oxygain
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GARY: every breath a point to gain!
GARY: In and out and in again,
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## Weather
STORMY BYTES: London first: 10 degrees and clear sky right now, high of 15, low of 9, and a 0 percent chance of rain. Dry and cheerful, folks.
STORMY BYTES: Paris: 7 degrees, clear sky, high of 15, low of 7, and a 0 percent chance of rain. Croissant weather, officially.
STORMY BYTES: Berlin: 7 degrees and fog right now. Today's high is 11, low 7, 0 percent chance of rain, but drizzle is on the card. Fog and drizzle, pick one!
STORMY BYTES: Madrid: 12 degrees and overcast now, climbing to a high of 22, low of 11, with a 0 percent chance of rain. The big climber of the morning.
STORMY BYTES: Rome: 12 degrees, mainly clear, high of 20, low of 9, and a 3 percent chance of rain. Almost no rain. Almost.

## Real or PXL?
GRANT BRICKMAN: Correct! The real one. I suspected as much; I have a nose for software, and a second coffee.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Ha! PXL made that one up, and it fooled you. A lesser anchor would admit it fooled him too. I won't.
GRANT BRICKMAN: Time's up! The real headline waited patiently for you, like a pager on a nightstand.

AI-written satire. The text of the news items comes from the linked articles.