I’d like to run more in-person workshops. We are starting with AI. If you’d like to attend, meet other members of the community and help us plan them better, please help me by responding to this short poll.

A freak accident in Gesundbrunnen last week. After extremely strong winds, a falling flower pot killed a 61-year-old. It reminded me of a very windy day in Melbourne. I have seen broken flower pots lying crushed on the sidewalk and thought: I could have been walking there moments ago. So, for a while, I stopped walking close to the edge of high residential buildings. What a tragedy. I do feel sorry for everyone involved. And I am back at keeping a distance.

Male German citizens who were afraid to need to report to Bundeswehr if they wanted to leave for more than 3 months can freely book their 3-month Cape Town retreat again breath easier: the defense ministry has issued a blanket exemption making travel approval unnecessary for as long as service remains voluntary.

I find it hard to believe, but Tiergarten tunnel is indefinitely being closed on weekdays between 21:30 and 5:45. Not because of construction, but because the monitoring center at Tempelhof doesn't have enough staff to monitor it. What a city. What a time to be alive. TIL that German regulations require continuous surveillance for tunnels over 400m

Here is some good news for all of us: the solar power expansion is surpassing all expectations. The solar capacity was 228 GW in 2015, providing 1% of the world’s electricity. It was at 2,919 GW in 2025 (about 10%). The war in Iran will surely accelerate it even more. According to DW, “if it continues at current rates, global capacity could hit 9,000 GW by 2030 — enough to meet more than 20% of the world's energy demand.” Not directly related, but:

For the film lovers, a list of 10 must-see Berlin films through the ages.

BVG's 2025 numbers: U-Bahn reliability dropped to 94.34% (from 98% in 2023), mainly due to vehicle shortages. The new trains entering service since September have bumped the lines U1–U4 from ~88% back above 95%. Buses and trams actually improved: buses at 99.5%, trams at 98.6%.

But there is a bigger issue: BVG needs to hire 5,500+ drivers by 2030, mostly for buses, just to keep up with retirements! They've been doing 1,000+/year since 2023 and need to maintain that pace. I guess it’s time for autonomous buses?

Two street renamings in May: the square in front of the Abgeordnetenhaus becomes Margot-Friedländer-Platz, and the Hofjägerallee gets renamed Helmut-Kohl-Allee. It runs from the Siegessäule towards the CDU headquarters.

Stats: German inflation rose to 2.7% in March, the highest since January 2024. Energy prices up 7.2% YoY, with fuel +20% and heating oil +44.4% due to the Iran conflict. Core inflation held at 2.5%. [more]

Berlin's BVG may buy only 762 instead of 1,500 new U-Bahn cars, with no further purchases planned after 2030 [more, €]

Cineplex Titania in Steglitz is selling old cinema seats for €5 each [more, €]

Only 8 of 24 dry toilets in Berlin parks will remain in operation after pilot project [more]

What’s the difference between a prayer, meditation and self-affirmations? Can you pray as an atheist? A good insight into the science of belief.

Who doesn’t love a good list? This one is from Daniel Frank, and it’s 50 ideas for life that he repeatedly shared. I love a good film, so I picked this one: “Watching well-regarded films is probably the most effective way to broaden your emotional horizons, which is one of the most important things you can do.”

The biggest self-help lie is that it’s all about mindset. A great video.

Outside interests #1: It’s almost funny. “Meta removes ads for social media addiction litigation.” [more]

Outside interests #1: Vinted (Vilnius, marketplace) reached €1.1B in revenue (+38%), while profit fell 19% to €62M due to expansion investments. [more]

German corporate bankruptcies reached their highest level since 2005 with over 4,500 insolvency filings in Q1. March alone saw 1,716 (+17% vs February), affecting ~54,000 jobs. Construction and retail hardest hit. [more] [more]

Langdock (Berlin, AI) reached $25M ARR just six months after hitting $10M, serving over 6,000 customers globally with a team of 40. [more]

Code University (Berlin, education) has grown from 80 to over 600 students, generating over 120 startup formations with ~10% of students founding companies. [more]

Doctolib (also Berlin, healthtech) completed a secondary transaction at a €3.6B valuation, down from €5.8B. New investors joined, but no fresh capital was raised. [more]

Taco Bell is coming to Germany in Q4 2026, opening first locations in Stuttgart, Cologne, and Frankfurt. Berlin, Hamburg, and Munich not yet confirmed. [more] It’s already their second try.

SAP (Walldorf, enterprise software) stock halved from its record high of €283, making it the worst-performing DAX stock this year. CEO Christian Klein warned of "short-term pain" during the AI transformation. Separately, SAP and Deutsche Telekom were selected to develop a central citizen app for German government services. [more] [more]

TeamViewer (Göppingen, remote support) reported its first revenue decline in Q4 2025, with subscribers falling 5% YoY to 631,400. [more]

Adidas (Herzogenaurach, sportswear) will lose its 25-year partnership as UEFA Champions League ball supplier after 2027. Nike takes over at over €40M/year (nearly double the previous deal). [more]

Gilead acquired Tubulis (Munich, biotech) for up to $5B, securing cancer research technology. The Munich location will be retained. [more]

Cohere (Toronto, enterprise AI), valued at $7B, is in talks to merge with Aleph Alpha (Heidelberg, AI). [more]

German new car registrations rose 5.2% in Q1 to nearly 700,000. March EV sales surged 66% to 70,663 units, reaching 24% market share and overtaking petrol cars for the first time. The new income-dependent purchase subsidy of up to €6,000 and record fuel prices are key drivers. Tesla more than quadrupled March sales to 9,000+ units. [more] [more]

Porsche (Stuttgart, automotive) delivered ~61,000 vehicles in Q1, down 15% YoY. China fell 20%, Europe 18%. 2025 profit after tax dropped 91.4% to €310M. [more]

Nextcloud (Stuttgart, open source) reached profitability as a European alternative to Microsoft 365. [more]

Legora (Stockholm, legaltech) opened a Munich office following a $550M Series D, scaling from 40 to over 400 employees globally. [more]

Reddit: I kinda agree. One of Germany’s greatest treasures and another thing that Swabians do extremely well. I love it with butter. On the other hand, I think Curry wurst is the wurst, the most overrated wurst ever. Fight me. Someone added this video from Jan Böhmermann.

Reddit: Offensively expensive, but worth it: buy it for life items. Regular readers will know I often link to similar threads, and I just can’t wait to have enough space for a rice cooker.

elsewhere: A report from dynomight what happened after he stopped drinking for a year. It’s so true that alcohol really affects sleep. Spoiler alert: he still isn’t drinking.