Hey folks!

Quick question before we dive into today’s newsletter - Do you want to be a millionaire or retire before you’re 40?🤔 If the answer is yes, there’s one thing you absolutely must avoid and that is falling for shady stock market scams.

And luckily, Abid Hassan from Sensibull is here to break it all down for you so you don’t fall for these traps.

It’s one of our most fun videos on Finshots yet, and you can watch it by clicking here. 

And with that out of the way, let’s jump into today’s Sunny Side Up stories, shall we?

Robots.

Have you ever seen them move like a human—smoothly, naturally, with a bit of flair?

No, right? They are usually stiff, jerky and, well… robot-y.

But NVIDIA, Google DeepMind, and Disney Research are working to change that with something called Newton. And no, it’s not a robot—it’s an open source physics engine, basically the brain behind the moves.

Let us explain…

NVIDIA’s CEO Jensen Huang recently introduced 'Blue', a shiny droid with some Star Wars-style movements. But the real magic wasn’t the robot, it was Newton. This simulation tool helps robots understand the real world—not just by seeing it, but by feeling it. Think of it as giving robots a sense of touch and balance. So whether it’s holding a sandwich or assembling a chair, Newton teaches robots how squishy, hard, slippery, or crumbly stuff actually behaves.

It even teaches them how to move like us through different types of motion. Perpetual ones like walking (movements that keep going without stopping). Periodic ones like waving (repeating actions in rhythm). And episodic ones like picking something up and putting it back down (actions with clear start and end).

And the best part is all this learning happens in simulation before the robot steps in the real world. 

So all that means smarter robots, quicker learning, and way less trial-and-error in real life. And this is huge because until now, robots were awkward learners. But Newton gives them a virtual playground to fail, learn, and improve. Just like humans do.

And if robots can now learn to move like us… who knows, maybe one day they’ll learn to dance like us too? 😄

Here’s a soundtrack to put you in the mood 🎵

Maand by Bayaan

Thanks for the lyrical recommendation, Sanjay Jacob!

What caught our eye this week 👀

Would you like banking on time?

Imagine a place where every time you help an elderly person with their groceries, walk them to a doctor’s appointment, or simply spend an hour keeping them company, you're not just doing a good deed but also earning hours for your own future. Hours you can cash in when you’re old and need help.

Well, there actually is a place that’s seeing this happen and it’s none other than Switzerland.

The Swiss government has introduced something called a “Time Bank.” The idea? It’s beautifully simple: Young people volunteer their time to support senior citizens today and in return, they earn "time credits" that can be redeemed when they require assistance themselves.

And the initiative has gained traction. In St. Gallen, over 50,000 hours have already been volunteered to support elderly and many countries including Japan, Spain, New Zealand are welcoming such initiatives.

Wow. It’s not money, it’s time. A kind of social currency that works on empathy and reciprocity.

And the idea is a timely one. You see, globally, we’re aging faster than we can prepare for. By 2030, 1 in 6 people in the world will be aged 60 years or over, and by 2050, over 2 billion people will be aged 60 or older. And in India, we’ll have over 345 million senior citizens by then – almost double from what we have now. And with families becoming smaller, nuclear, and more scattered we can see why the traditional joint family support system isn’t as robust as it used to be.

Now, India does have a strong culture of caregiving and respect for elders—but that doesn’t always translate into available help. Especially in urban areas where time is scarce and loneliness is rising. So, could a "Time Bank" work in India?

Well, we do have a few building blocks. India already runs the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act and we also have NGOs and state-led schemes offering home-based elder care. But most of it is reactive, not preventive or future-facing. And a system where you earn future care through today’s service could nudge young Indians to engage more consciously with aging.

It can reduce the burden on healthcare and elderly homes, it can build stronger intergenerational bonds, and it could shift care from being a charity to a system of mutual respect and investment. And if implemented well, it could even be integrated with existing systems where time credits can be stored securely and accessed nationwide. Or what if students earned community credits for college by helping senior citizens? What if companies gave paid time off to employees who volunteered in elderly care?

The options are many and perhaps, like the Swiss, we could start banking some time too.

Infographic 📊

This Day in Financial History 📜

March 22, 1993: Intel announces the Pentium processor

On this day, Intel introduced the world to its Pentium processor, a chip that gave personal computers a much-needed speed boost. 

But before we move further ahead, would you mind checking what processor is running your laptop right now?

Moving on, for the uninitiated, the Pentium was essentially a microprocessor or, in simple words, the brain of a computer. Also known as CPUs (central processing units), these microprocessors are responsible for executing all the instructions—whether it’s opening an app, loading a webpage, or running a game, it controls the flow of data and instructions to carry out a range of tasks.

Before the Pentium came along, Intel’s 486 processor was running the show. But the Pentium took things to a whole new level.

For starters, it was way faster. Unlike the 486, which processed one instruction at a time, the Pentium could juggle multiple instructions simultaneously. Add to that an improved floating-point unit (FPU), and suddenly, complex mathematical calculations, crucial for gaming and graphics, became a breeze.

But the Pentium wasn’t just famous for its innovations. It also made headlines for one of the biggest tech blunders. While it was marketed as having faster floating-point calculations, a year after its launch, a math professor, Thomas Nicely, conducting research on prime numbers, discovered that the Pentium occasionally got division calculations wrong. When he ran the same calculation on older computers (not using the Pentium processor), the results were accurate. This confirmed that the issue was specific to the Pentium-run computers.

Public disappointment forced Intel to recall and replace the faulty chips, costing Intel a jaw-dropping $475 million (over a billion dollars today!). 

But despite the hiccup, the Pentium brand lived on, evolving over multiple generations and playing a key role in shaping modern computing. Then came the 1990s dot-com boom that led to an explosion in PC and server demand, driven by the internet revolution. Intel’s Pentium chips were at the heart of most personal computers.

And the rest is history. We say this because if you had checked your processor by now, chances are it is from Intel!

Readers Recommend 🗒️

This week, our reader Santhoshi Andalam recommends reading Orbital by Samantha Harvey. 

Santhoshi tells us this book is about 6 astronauts orbiting the Earth – 16 times every 24 hours for 9 months – collecting data, observing the atmosphere and doing all the astronaut things. You might think it's about space endeavours from the title of the book but it isn't. It's simply about the Earth (not in a science-y way) in the eyes and words of 6 people who are completely isolated from everyone and everything. 

Interesting, isn’t it?

Thanks for the rec, Santhoshi.

That’s it from us this week. We’ll see you next Sunday!

Until then, send us your book, music, business movies, documentaries or podcast recommendations. We’ll feature them in the newsletter! Also, don’t forget to tell us what you thought of today's edition. Just hit reply to this email (or if you’re reading this on the web, drop us a message: morning@finshots.in).

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