Good morning.

It’s Thursday, December 11, the part of December where everyone pretends they’re “wrapping up the year” while wrapping gifts they panic-bought last night. 

On this day in 1944, Brenda Lee was born. Yes, the voice behind “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.” Fun fact: she recorded that iconic holiday anthem at 13 years old. Meanwhile at 13, most of us were… not rockin’ around anything except questionable fashion choices and early-onset embarrassment. Johnny Marks, the guy who wrote it, is also responsible for “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “A Holly Jolly Christmas,” meaning he basically owns the soundtrack to every mall in America from November 1st to December 26th.

Today’s issue was brewed with caffeine, crumbs of ambition, and the festive delusion that we’re all “almost done” for the year. Enjoy the read!

Today’s stories:

• MacKenzie Scott accelerates unprecedented billionaire philanthropy

• Google revives smart-glasses ambitions for 2026

• Moss survives brutal space exposure effortlessly

• Early humans mastered fire 400,000 years ago

• SantaCon returns with citywide festive chaos

• Couple fills home with 621 Christmas trees

• Amazon pours billions into India’s AI surge

• McDonald’s pulls disastrous AI holiday ad

• SpaceX gears up for record-breaking IPO

• Silver hits record highs on rate optimism

• ChatGPT tops U.S. App Store rankings

• ElevenLabs hits $6.6B on voice tech

  and more…

Stocks popped on Wednesday after the Fed delivered yet another rate cut—and hinted it’s not done easing. The Dow ripped +1.1% to 48,057, the S&P 500 climbed 0.7% and flirted with a fresh record, and the Nasdaq added a modest 0.3%.

The Fed wrapped its meeting with a third straight quarter-point trim, dropping rates to 3.5%–3.75%. Translation: Jerome Powell’s basically rolling out the red carpet for 2025’s market rally.

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Musk Preps Biggest IPO Ever

SpaceX is prepping an IPO that could raise over $30 billion, which would make it the biggest listing ever. Elon Musk wants a $1.5 trillion valuation — because subtlety has never been his thing. The IPO could land in 2026, maybe 2027 if markets act weird (or Musk does). Just the rumor sent other space stocks flying: EchoStar popped 12%, Rocket Lab jumped too. Everyone loves free hype. SpaceX’s power move is fueled by Starlink, which is printing money and gearing up for direct-to-phone service. The Starship moon-and-Mars rocket adds extra drama, as usual. Revenues are expected to hit $15B next year and $22–24B in 2026. Most of it comes from Starlink carrying the company on its back.

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Amazon drops $35B on India’s AI boom. Amazon is throwing $35 billion at India’s AI and cloud market by 2030 — because Big Tech has decided India is the next big playground. This comes on top of the $40 billion Amazon has already poured into the country. The money will go toward AI tools, digital upgrades, exports, and job creation. Amazon claims the plan will create 1 million jobs, boost exports to $80 billion, and bring AI to 15 million small businesses. Basically: AI for everyone, everywhere. India’s AI spending is exploding, but the country lacks enough computing power to run big models — which is exactly where Amazon sees its opening. The move follows Microsoft’s $17.5 billion AI pledge in India, proving that Big Tech is now competing to buy as many data centers on the subcontinent as humanly possible.

Silver breaks $60 on rate-cut hype. Silver just hit a record $60 an ounce, thanks to expected Fed rate cuts and investors sprinting toward anything shiny. Gold is rising too, because every time the economy looks shaky, people suddenly remember precious metals exist. Lower rates make cash boring, so investors pile into silver — especially since gold is now too expensive for most normal humans. Tech demand is also pushing prices up. EVs, solar panels, and advanced batteries need tons of silver, and supply can’t keep up because most silver is mined as a by-product of other metals. Add tariff fears and stockpiling in the US, and prices climb even faster.

AI voices just minted another billion-dollar company. AI voice startup ElevenLabs just hit a $6.6 billion valuation. The company started when two Polish engineers got fed up with terrible movie dubbing — relatable — and now it’s profitable and doubling its value in under a year. A new $100 million tender offer led by Sequoia, ICONIQ, and a16z shows investors are all-in. ElevenLabs now powers everything from Fortnite characters to customer service bots, and is battling OpenAI for the title of “voice of the robots.” The CEO says the real money isn’t even in voices anymore, which is funny considering voices just made him billions.

MacKenzie Scott’s donation spree hits $26B. MacKenzie Scott just revealed her total donations for the year: a casual $7.2 billion. That brings her giving since 2020 to $26 billion across more than 2,700 gifts. She’s now firmly in the “elite billionaire philanthropist squad,” right next to Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates, and Warren Buffett. This year, she gave to over 180 groups focused on DEI, education, disaster relief, and humanitarian work, continuing her streak of giving money away faster than most billionaires spend it.

America’s Most Downloaded App

Apple dropped its annual download charts, and ChatGPT is officially the most downloaded iPhone app of 2025 in the U.S. Yes — people are now choosing a chatbot over Instagram, TikTok, and even Google Maps. The ranking shows how deeply AI has taken over everyday life — and how OpenAI is quietly prying users away from Google’s search empire. More people are now typing their questions into a chatbot instead of a browser. Google executives are surely having a lovely week. Earlier this year, ChatGPT became the most-downloaded app globally, so this wasn’t exactly a surprise — just a confirmation that AI is everyone’s new toxic best friend. As for games: Block Blast! topped free downloads, Minecraft ruled paid games, YouTube was the No. 1 free iPad app, and Roblox is still raising an entire generation.

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Google tries glasses again. Google says its first AI glasses drop in 2026, meaning we’re all one step closer to having tiny robots sitting on our noses. They’re teaming up with Gentle Monster and Warby Parker so at least you can look cute while getting bossed around by Gemini. There’ll be two models: one with no screen, just Google whispering answers in your ear, and one with a secret display only you can see, perfect for directions or ignoring people in real time. Google also showed off Xreal’s Project Aura, a wired XR pair that sits somewhere between glasses and a cyberpunk helmet. Meta still leads the smart-glasses race thanks to Ray-Ban, but Google wants in — so it’s throwing up to $150 million at Warby Parker.

Moss lives through space. A tiny moss just survived nine months outside the ISS, proving it’s tougher than every houseplant you’ve ever killed. Scientists expected it to die instantly in the vacuum, radiation, and temperature swings of space. Instead, it came back to Earth ready to grow like it took a spa day. Moss is ancient and famously hardy, so researchers launched spores to the ISS after testing them in fake-space conditions. The spores powered through everything. 

McDonald’s AI Christmas ad deleted.  McDonald’s dropped an AI-made Christmas ad in the Netherlands, and the internet immediately lit it on fire. The 45-second spot was a jumble of warped faces and stitched-together nonsense, earning reviews like “creepy,” “poorly edited,” and “the most god-awful ad of the year.” Three days later, McDonald’s yanked it and called the whole thing “an important learning moment,” which is corporate code for “never again.” The ad was made by TBWA\Neboko and The Sweetshop, joining the growing parade of brands using generative AI for holiday campaigns. Instead of festive cheer, viewers got uncanny characters and the vibe of a tech demo gone rogue. The backlash also revived fears about AI wiping out creative jobs. No actors, no crew, just a computer generating digital nightmares. A very modern Christmas miracle.

Ancient humans made fire way earlier than we thought. Scientists in Suffolk just found evidence that humans were making fire 400,000 years ago — a full 350,000 years earlier than anyone thought. Turns out our ancient cousins were way ahead of schedule. The discovery includes scorched earth and fire-cracked hand axes, suggesting early humans weren’t just borrowing natural fire — they were lighting it themselves. This happened at a time when brains were getting bigger and some human species were brave (or dumb) enough to move into colder northern climates like Britain. Researchers say this changes everything. Fire was a major evolutionary upgrade: warmth, cooking, safety, social life, basically the first version of “community building.” The fire-makers weren’t Homo sapiens, though. Likely early Neanderthals, based on fossils elsewhere in Europe. So yes, Neanderthals were mastering fire while modern humans were still thousands of years away from existing. Inspiring.

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Thousands of Drunk Santas Incoming

SantaCon NYC is back — the annual day when thousands of adults dress like Santa, elves, and unstable gingerbread cookies, then roam midtown bars from 10am to 8pm. It’s either the most “festive fun ever” or the city’s longest collective cry for help. Depends who you ask. The event hits midtown on Saturday, December 13, with about 65 bars joining the chaos. It’s loved, hated, and definitely loud. Most venues are free; the bigger ones need a $17 ticket, which goes to charity. If you want to skip lines like a VIP elf, there’s a $360 ticket that gets you perks and a SantaCon badge you’ll probably lose by noon. Whether you join the chaos or flee the scene, consider this your warning: SantaCon is coming.

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Germany’s most festive couple needs an intervention. A couple in Germany just set a new world record by stuffing 621 Christmas trees into their house. Their home now looks like Santa’s workshop after an energy drink binge. Susanne and Thomas Jeromin turned every room — living room, kitchen, office, bedroom — into a glowing forest of tinsel, lights, and “maybe this is too much but we’re doing it anyway” energy. Even the washing machine has a tree next to it, because why not. There are giant candy canes, mountains of ornaments, and enough plastic Santas to scare off the real one. 

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TikTok of the day: watch here

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