Zhubajie’s Pink October, A Chill Week, and My New Favorite Tech Find
Resting, recharging, and discovering Tesla’s latest, all while prepping for big things at Qilu!
Val’s Sunday morning random thoughts
Hi everyone, and welcome to the first edition of this weekly newsletter, where we’ll talk about tech, books, life, and other cool stuff. So, grab a coffee, and let’s dive in!
Life
This week has been pretty laid-back. A friend visited me from Luxembourg, and I ended the week with a more relaxed schedule, which has added some extra work for me this weekend!
The next few weeks will definitely require more effort, so it was important for me to rest and recharge to avoid burnout!
Books
This week, I’ve been reading “Abroad in Japan,” a book by YouTube creator Chris Broad.
I hadn’t heard of him before; a friend recommended the book. I enjoyed it as a refreshing break from all the personal development books I’ve been reading lately. Following Chris’s journey as he arrives in Japan and battles culture shock to settle down definitely made me miss traveling.
Learning and Productivity
This week I applied for the French “Entrepreneur-Student” status to work on my startup, Qilu. This special status allows students with a startup idea to spend more time working on their business. I hope this leads to great things!
Tech talk
I had to share with you my thoughts on Tesla’s event, "We, Robot." If you haven’t watched it, Tesla unveiled two new vehicles: the Robotaxi (aka Cybercab) and the Robovan. They also showcased Optimus in an amazing new light.
These vehicles have wireless charging and feature pedal-less, wheel-less interiors. While it’ll take many years for them to hit the streets, and even longer to see them in France, I’m curious to hear what people think. I’ll also be closely following Tesla’s stock on Monday, as it took a hit before the market closed on Friday.
The event staff was surprising too—the waiters were actually Optimus robots! While it was impressive to see them interact with guests and serve beverages, there are still doubts about whether they’re as advanced as Elon Musk claims, especially after he asked the guests to “be nice to the Optimus robots.”
Another cool tech discovery I made this week is NotebookLM, a Google Lab product that transforms your PDFs into podcasts. There’s more to it than that, but something about using AI to create a podcast feels quite groundbreaking. I encourage you to try it! A fun use case is to upload your resume and hear two podcast hosts talk about you in a positive, caring way. Talk about a confidence boost!
If you have some free time this week, I highly recommend listening to Lenny’s Podcast episode where he interviews Raiza Martin, the PM in charge of NotebookLM. You can check it out here: Lenny’s Podcast Interview with Raiza Martin.
That’s all for this week’s newsletter. If you enjoyed it or have any comments, please reply with advice! I appreciate all constructive feedback—I’m new to this and would love to improve over time. Thank you!
- Val