Musk has no idea what is he talking about, says Facebook head of AI – Outlook India

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Musk has no idea what is he talking about, says Facebook head of AI

San Francisco, May 14 (IANS) Facebooks Head of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has slammed Tesla CEO Elon Musk over his understating of AI, saying he has no idea about the Artificial general intelligence (AGI) technology.

Reacting to a CNBC report that cited research community and CEOs as saying that Musk''s confidence is misplaced as far as AI is concerned, Jerome Pesenti who is Head of AI at Facebook said Musk is distracting people from real issues.

"I believe a lot of people in the AI community would be ok saying it publicly. @elonmusk has no idea what he is talking about when he talks about AI. There is no such thing as AGI and we are nowhere near matching human intelligence," tweeted Pesenti.

"My point is that AGI is a meaningless concept, don''t even talk about it. There are a lot of risks related to AI, he talks about the wrong ones (machines taking over) distracting us from the real issues (eg fairness)," Pesenti continued.

Musk has been speaking frequently on AI and has called its progress the "biggest risk we face as a civilization", saying that if not regulated or controlled soon, AI could become an "immortal dictator" and there will be no escape for humans.

Pesanti said that lots of people are talking about fairness and AI.

"There is even a conference for it https://facctconference.org. It hasn''t reached broader awareness because it''s just drowned out by all the AGI/singularity nonsense," he said on Wednesday.

Multiple AI researchers from different companies told CNBC that they see Musk''s AI comments as inappropriate.

"A large proportion of the community think he''s a negative distraction," an AI executive with close ties to the community was quoted as saying.

Another AI scientist said Musk is "not always looked upon favourably" by the AI research community.

In a documentary on AI, Musk said recently: "At least when there''s an evil dictator, that human is going to die. But for an AI there would be no death. It would live forever, and then you''d have an immortal dictator, from which we could never escape".

"If AI has a goal and humanity just happens to be in the way, it will destroy humanity as a matter of course without even thinking about it. No hard feelings," Musk told Chris Paine, the director of the new documentary, titled "Do You Trust This Computer?"

Musk has always been a critic of AI and asked for stiff regulations to curb the technology.

In a tweet, Musk said that people should be more concerned with AI than the risk posed by North Korea.

"If you''re not concerned about AI safety, you should be. Vastly more risk than North Korea," Musk had tweeted.

Musk has also quit the board of OpenAI, a non-profit AI research company he co-founded that aims to promote and develop friendly AI that benefits the humanity.

In a public spat with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg who is a big advocate for the AI technology, Musk said: "I''ve talked to Mark about this (AI). His understanding of the subject is limited".

Zuckerberg replied: "I think people who are naysayers and try to drum up these doomsday scenarios -- I just, I don''t understand it. It''s really negative and in some ways I actually think it is pretty irresponsible".

In February this year, Musk said he has now hired AI as a subordinate that "reports directly" to him daily.

"Join AI at Tesla! It reports directly to me & we meet/email/text almost every day. My actions, not just words, show how critically I view (benign) AI," tweeted the Tesla CEO.

For him, AI can only do ''benign'' tasks and those jobs too are being evaluated critically by him.

During a recent presentation about his company Neuralink''s brain-machine interface technology, Musk said: "Even in a benign AI scenario, we will be left behind.

"Hopefully, it is a benign scenario. But I think with a high-bandwidth brain-machine interface we can actually go along for the ride. And we can effectively have the option of merging with AI," Musk told the gathering.

--IANS

na/

Disclaimer :- This story has not been edited by Outlook staff and is auto-generated from news agency feeds. Source: IANS

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Musk has no idea what is he talking about, says Facebook head of AI - Outlook India

This Week’s Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through May 9) – Singularity Hub

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BIOTECH

With CRISPR, a Possible Quick Test for the CoronavirusCarl Zimmer | The New York TimesA team of scientists has developed an experimental prototype for a fairly quick, cheap test to diagnose the coronavirus that gives results as simply as a pregnancy test does. The test is based on a gene-editing technology known as CRISPR, and the researchers estimated that the materials for each test would cost about $6.

IBM Now Has 18 Quantum Computers in Its Fleet of Weird MachinesStephen Shankland | CNETEighteen quantum computers might not sound like a lot. But given that each one is an unwieldy device chilled within a fraction of a degree above absolute zero and operated by PhD researchers, its actually a pretty large fleet. In comparison, Googles quantum computers lab near Santa Barbara, California, has only five machines, and Honeywell only has six quantum computers.

An AI Can Simulate an Economy Millions of Times to Create Fairer Tax PolicyWill Douglas Heaven | MIT Technology ReviewThe tool is still relatively simple (theres no way it could include all the complexities of the real world or human behavior), but it is a promising first step toward evaluating policies in an entirely new way. It would be amazing to make tax policy less political and more data driven, says team member Alex Trott.

Spot the Robot Is Reminding Parkgoers in Singapore to Keep Their Distance From One AnotherJames Vincent | The VergeThe robot is fitted with cameras that will be used to estimate the number of visitors to the park, but Singapores National Parks Board (NParks) says it wont collect personal data or use the video to identify individuals. If the trial is successful, NParks says the robot could be deployed full-time during peak hours in the park.

In the Future, Touchscreens Will Be Obsolete. This Lab Designs Whats NextLuke Dormehl | Digital TrendsConductive paint that turns regular, boring walls intoenormous touch-sensitive panelsat a cost of $1 per square foot? Of course! Asmartwatch that uses laser projectionto extend its touchscreen all the way up your arm? No problem! A device for simulating touch in virtual reality byturning humans into living marionettes? Youve come to the right place!

How Much Energy Does It Take to Blow Up a Planet?Rhett Allain | WiredSo, on orders from Emperor Palpatine, a Xyston-class Star Destroyer fires a super powerful beam from space andblows up the planet Kijimi. Just like that. I know what youre thinking: How much energy would it take to blow up a planet? Of course, its just an academic question. Im sure youre not a Sith lord with bad intentions, so Ill show you how to figure this out.

Image credit:Joel Mbugua /Unsplash

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Volvo Will Add Lidar for ‘Eyes-Off-the-Road’ Self-Driving Cars on Highways – Singularity Hub

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Its 2020. Why cant we binge Netflix as our cars drive us down the highway? Well, weve made progress, but not at the pace once promised. While some cars offer automated driving modes, youre not to take your eyes off the road or hands from the wheel. Volvo wants to remedy that.

The company isnt promising 100% self-driving cars in the near future. Instead, theyll make mainstream cars that reliably drive themselves on highwaystotally autonomously, no human attention needed. For a brand built on safety, and in light of autopilot accidents in recent years, its notable the company thinks thats possible in the not-too-distant future.

To make it happen, Volvo said this week that it would begin adding lidar to production cars in 2022. Theyll also develop self-driving software to integrate lidar, cameras, radar, and back-up vehicle control systems. Once the software, dubbed Highway Pilot, is deemed safe, itll be sent out as an update to customers who opt in.

While Volvos autopilot aspirations are notable, the fact theyre integrating lidar into cars aimed at the mainstream is perhaps even more interesting.

The most advanced self-driving cars (think Waymo) use lidar to navigate. Its the spinning can you may have seen slapped on top of a self-driving Lexus or minivan. Lidar shoots lasers into the immediate environment to create a real-time, high-fidelity, 3D map of a cars surroundings. Lidar is better quality than cameras or radar, but its also clunky and, historically costing upwards of $75,000 per unit, can itself be as pricey as a luxury car.

Which is why its mostly been used in self-driving car trials as opposed to production cars. Though Audi has offered lidar in some models, its been short range and low resolution, somewhat limiting capability.

Volvos lidar will be made by Luminar and is reportedly cheaperunder $1,000 when produced at scaleand sleeker, without sacrificing too much on critical capabilities like resolution and range. So, while Waymo cars still rock the can, Volvo will integrate lidar into its models much more seamlessly (see the image at the top of the article).

There is a catch, however.

Luminars lidar is fixed and can only scan 120 degrees. To get 360-degree coverage, like Waymo, Volvo would have to integrate multiple units into its cars. This would, of course, raise the cost (though maybe not too much, relative to lidar systems that run tens of thousands of dollars). In this iteration, at least, Volvo appears to believe front-facing lidar combined with cameras and radar is enough to safely automate highway driving.

There are already autopilot systems available.

In Teslas, for example, a simple version of their autopilot software matches the cars speed to traffic (an option thats fairly widely available in many cars at this point) and steers within a lane. More advanced features include lane change and navigation between highway on- and off-ramps (this ones still in beta). Critically, all this must be supervised by the driver, who isnt technically supposed to remove their hands from the wheel. (A detail thats been sadly underscored by multiple high-profile accidents.)

But this is where Volvos plan differs. Soon, your Volvo will be able to drive autonomously on highways when the car determines it is safe to do so, Henrik Green said in Volvos press release. At that point, your Volvo takes responsibility for the driving and you can relax, take your eyes off the road and your hands off the wheel.

Volvo says full autonomous driving will be limited in the beginning to certain areas and conditions. Likely, this means theyll map particular stretches of road to help the software navigate. Over time, theyll expand the areas where its available with software updates.

So, while todays cars have some degree of what industry jargon labels level 2 autonomy (which requires supervision) Volvo is aiming for level 3 autonomy (unsupervised in some situations). The car would do the driving, but the driver has to be available to take control at any time. Not full automation across the board, then, but a step in that direction.

It is worth noting that Audi had similar, albeit more limited, plans for its lidar system to enable autonomous driving at low speeds on highways. But the company recently scrapped the feature due to regulatory challenges and liability concerns. If its lidar is more capable, Volvo may succeed where Audi fell short, but that success will depend on more than technology.

Even if Volvos plans dont come together as planned, they may lead to wider integration of lidar in production cars, which could improve even basic driver assist and safety features.

Youd be forgiven if youre a little underwhelmed.

Four or five years ago, the tenor of the conversation was different. After Googles self-driving project (now Waymo) made impressive progress early last decade, mainstream automakers were eager to jump on board. No one wanted to be left out.

This led to billion-dollar investments, headline-making partnerships, and aggressive predictions and timelines for full autonomy. Since then, however, many large automakers have recalibrated expectations and added years to timelines.

Still, more advanced self-driving trials continue in urban and suburban areas. Waymo has now driven over 20 million miles in the real world and adds another 8 million a day in simulations.

In the companys Phoenix trial, theyve removed safety drivers in some cars, and participants can hail a true self-driving ride. But when this will be rolled out more widely is uncertain. It could be soon-ish; it could be several years or more. In the meantime, niche usessuch as low-speed, geofenced applications and trucking, which Volvo is also developingappear to be more imminent than mainstream roll-outs.

Which isnt too surprising.

Its a long slog between early dreams and widespread availability. Like all long slogs, its easy to question the reason one started slogging in the first place and when well get there. Full autonomy in the real world is hard. There are just so many edge cases that cant be anticipated, and earning the trust of regulators and the public at large takes time.

But self-driving tech is moving ahead and finding its way into real applications. If Volvo delivers on its promises, your car might soon shoot lasers as it drives you down the highway.

Image credit: Volvo

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Why the new normal after COVID-19 could have tycoons and startups fleeing tech hubs like Silicon Valley – Yahoo Finance Australia

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The absolute dominance of Silicon Valley might face its biggest challenge yet staring down the barrel of a brave new world of tech.

As virus fears sent the Valley's billionaire founders into doomsday mode, many were quick to trade the tech bubble for greener pastures, jumping on their private jets en-route to New Zealand.

While some have picked Waiheke Island near Auckland, known as the "Hamptons of New Zealand", others have gone further afield in the land of the long white cloud.

Speaking from Queenstown on the South Island, Jason Wilby has been in prime position to witness their flood into town.

"Right now I'm sitting with a view of the airport. All of the 747s stopped landing about six weeks ago but I can't believe how many private jets are still coming in. Half of Silicon Valley seems to be flying into their boltholes and bunkers it's quite bizarre," the co-founder of insurance platform Open told Business Insider Australia.

"Peter Thiel has got a house up on the hill over my shoulder. I think Bezos has a place around here as well. It really is a long list of the who's who."

It's unsurprising given the immense resources each has at their disposal they have opted for a country that boasts some of the cleanest air and water in the world over a US state as well-known for its wildfires and for its droughts.

But ecology aside there are places one would rather be and then there are places one can reliably find work. Those in the tech sector with big ambitions have for years had little choice but migrate to hubs like San Francisco, London, Tel Aviv and increasingly second-tier cities like Sydney and Vancouver.

Those established hubs have successfully traded on the magnitude of the companies headquartered there to attract some of the brightest talent in the world. However, if there's any sector that should be able to optimise remote working, surely it's the companies who invented the software and hardware that makes the thing itself possible.

"These hubs are predicated on the false idea that if you want to earn good money you have to live in those tier-one cities and you have to trade off a lifestyle for a career," Wilby said.

It was something Wilby, who also founded Huddle Insurance, had in mind when establishing Open, deciding to buck the trend by opening its second office on the Sunshine Coast as an alternative to Sydney.

"Everyone is competing for the best talent and trying to attract bright minds and high performing teams, but we wanted to challenge the idea you have to be in a tier-one city to do that," he said.

"We're just an hour from a major city in Brisbane where you have a load of skilled and experienced professionals and graduates. We've got a team of 20 who can love where they live and love what they do without giving up something major."

Looking back, he says it was the right decision joining other startups and entrepreneurs up north.

"We have people who have relocated to the Sunshine Coast, not just to work with us, but from all over the world. We regularly meet software engineers from the US and all over," he said.

"When we hold events we might get 50 talented individuals attend as opposed to the 100 we may have got elsewhere but they're very much of the same calibre and pretty diverse."

It was a testament that the strategy was working, with the Open team managing to be split across its different offices and being "more productive than ever" during the current COVID-19 shutdown.

With Wilby calling the shots from Queenstown for the moment, he can see it becoming an increasingly attractive proposition for startups and tech companies in a post-COVID-age.

"In Queenstown, you can bump into engineers from Facebook and Google, entrepreneurs based down here making all kinds of businesses, people from Singularity great talent is always attracted to great destinations," he said.

While giants like Google are hardly going to forfeit the billions they've spent on refitting factories and aeroplane hangers, smaller companies and startups could be less inclined to try to compete on digs.

Instead by decentralising, they can compete on location and offer regional towns and cities an opportunity to diversify, with Queenstown a prime example. With tourism responsible for more than half the local economy, a pandemic like COVID-19 has effectively knee-capped local industry. But, if it can continue to attract new industries, a town like Queenstown can thrive in any weather.

Story continues

For tech workers themselves it offers an opportunity to get away from living in some of the most artificially expensive places on earth. With sky-high cost of living and population density driving residents out of cities like New York and San Francisco prior to the outbreak, the current crisis may further accelerate the trend. Silicon Valley, for example, is already seeing it take effect.

In an ultra-urbanised Australia, it could be a way to ease the strain placed on major cities by increasing employment opportunities outside. with much of the population confined to just a few major cities, it could be a resolution.

"I think the resolution is an economic one but also a social one. It's a reality in Sydney that you have people who think they have no choice but to save and save so they can one day buy a one-bedroom apartment. But they can work from wherever they fancy and have a beach house or a farm or a pool or whatever it is," Wilby said.

"I'm not saying we're going to see a mass exodus from the cities but I do think we're going to see more people choosing to live and work somewhere they love."

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Why the new normal after COVID-19 could have tycoons and startups fleeing tech hubs like Silicon Valley - Yahoo Finance Australia

League of Legends Patch 10.10 update: The biggest patch so far – PC Invasion

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Its that time again where we take a look at what the future ofLeague of Legends has in store for us with patch 10.10. This is one of the biggest patches this year with a major overhaul, and most probably meta changing. Anyway, without further ado, lets get into the changes!

Annie will have her Summon: Tibbers (R) aura damage increased from 10/15/20 to 10/25/40. Alongside this, Tibbers armor and magic resist increase from 30/50/70 to 40/70/100.

Fiddlesticks will have his passive changed. If Fiddlesticks is pretending to be an effigy (as in, standing still after a few seconds out of combat), his next ability will fear enemy targets. There will be an added buff icon when this effect takes place. To balance this change, the time itll take to pose as an effigy has been increased from 1 second to 2 seconds.

Alongside thisLeague of Legends change, Fiddlesticks Bountiful Harvest (W) will have its reduced damage to minions decreased from 60% damage reduction to 40% damage reduction.

Irelia will have her Flawless Duet (E) stun increased from 0.75 seconds to 1 second.

Katarinas dagger AP ratio will increase from 55/70/85/100% to 55/66/77/88%.

Luxs Lucent Singularity (E) will have its slow duration increased from 0.25 seconds to 1 second. A new effect has been added where enemies affected by Luxs Lucent Singularity will remain slowed for 1 second after exiting the damaging zone or after being damaged by Lucent Singularity.

Maokais base mana decreased from 377.28 to 375. Bramble Smash (Q) mana cost has increased from 50 to 60.

Not all changes have been added to the PBE server yet. There are still more changes to come, and Ill be updating this article till then. Below is the original tweet detailing the planned future changes for League of Legends patch 10.10.

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League of Legends Patch 10.10 update: The biggest patch so far - PC Invasion

Elon Musk | SpaceX

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Elon Musk leads Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), where he oversees the development and manufacturing of advanced rockets and spacecraft for missions to and beyond Earth orbit.

Founded in 2002, SpaceXs mission is to enable humans to become a spacefaring civilization and a multi-planet species by building a self-sustaining city on Mars. In 2008, SpaceXs Falcon 1 became the first privately developed liquid-fuel launch vehicle to orbit the Earth. Following that milestone, NASA awarded SpaceX with contracts to carry cargo and crew to the International Space Station (ISS). A global leader in commercial launch services, SpaceX is the first commercial provider to launch and recover a spacecraft from orbit, attach a commercial spacecraft to the ISS and successfully land an orbital-class rocket booster. By pioneering the development of fully and rapidly reusable rockets and spacecraft, SpaceX is dramatically reducing the cost of access to space, the first step in making life on Mars a reality in our lifetime.

Elon also leads Tesla, which makes electric cars, giant batteries and solar products.Previously, Elon co-founded and sold PayPal, the world's leading Internet payment system, and Zip2, one of the first internet maps and directions services, which helped bring major publishers, including the New York Times and Hearst, online.

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Elon Musk | SpaceX

Elon Musk v public health: a timeline of the Tesla factory standoff – The Guardian

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On Monday 11 May, Elon Musk attempted to fashion himself into a hero of the anti-public-health movement when he dared authorities to arrest him for restarting production at Teslas northern California car plant, in defiance of the local shelter-in-place order. Neither Musk nor anyone else was arrested, but his action placed state and local officials in the difficult position of figuring out whether and how to enforce coronavirus restrictions against a litigious billionaire who is also a major employer.

On Tuesday, his cause gained the support of another hot-headed executive with an overactive Twitter account: Donald Trump. California should let Tesla & @elonmusk open the plant, NOW, the president tweeted on Tuesday morning. It can be done Fast & Safely!

By Tuesday evening, Musk and the local government appeared to have reached a compromise. How did we get here? Heres a handy timeline of what led up to Musks meltdown May:

6 March

On the day that global confirmed cases of Covid-19 surpass 100,000, Musk declares on Twitter: The coronavirus panic is dumb. The tweet sets the tone for Musks approach toward the deadly pandemic, repeatedly downplaying the risk of the virus and opposing public health measures.

11 March

16 March

Six counties in the San Francisco Bay Area become the first locales in the US to order all non-essential businesses to close and require residents to shelter in place. Included in the coordinated public health order is Alameda county, home to Teslas only US car factory, in the city of Fremont.

Musk emails his employees to say that he plans to continue working, signaling that he does not plan to shut the factory.

On Twitter, Musk promotes chloroquine, an unproven treatment for Covid-19 that would become the darling of Fox News and Trump before being largely abandoned amid reports of dangerous cardiac side-effects.

17 March

The Alameda county sheriffs office announces that Tesla is not an essential business and therefore can only maintain minimum basic operations under the public health order. Tesla does not comply.

18 March

Musk tweets that Tesla will manufacture ventilators if there is a shortage. There is no indication that Tesla ever took any steps to do so, though Musk tweets about having a long engineering discussion with the medical device maker Medtronic on 21 March.

19 March

Under pressure from local officials, Tesla agrees to halt production at its Fremont factory by 23 March a week after the public health order.

On Twitter, Musk predicts that there will be probably close to zero new cases of Covid-19 in the US by the end of April. He also asserts falsely that children are essentially immune to the virus.

Californias governor, Gavin Newsom, issues a statewide shelter-in-place order.

23 March

31 March

Musk tweets an offer to ship FDA-approved ventilators to hospitals. The devices turn out to be BiPap machines, which are commonly used to treat sleep apnea, rather than the much more expensive mechanical ventilators that hospitals use to intubate severely ill patients.

Bay Area officials extend their shelter-in-place orders through 3 May.

26 April

Musk promotes a YouTube video by two California doctors using misleading statistics to argue against shelter-in-place orders. The video is removed by YouTube for promoting harmful misinformation, and the doctors are jointly and emphatically condemn[ed] by the American College of Emergency Physicians and the American Academy of Emergency Medicine.

27 April

Bay Area officials again extend their shelter-in-place orders, this time through the end of May. Tesla is forced to call off plans to reopen its plant on 4 May.

28 April

Musk adopts the rhetoric of anti-lockdown protesters in a late-night Twitter rant, tweeting, FREE AMERICA NOW and Give people their freedom back! He also falsely describes the shelter-in-place restrictions as de facto house arrest.

29 April

Musk unleashes another rant during Teslas quarterly earnings call with investors, declaring public health measures fascist and demanding: Give people back their goddamn freedom.

Tesla beats analyst expectations for the quarter, delivering its third straight quarterly profit despite the major coronavirus disruptions.

1 May

Another Twitter diatribe by Musk wipes about $13bn off Teslas market value, after he declares that he plans to sell almost all physical possessions, including his house(s), and then opines that Teslas stock price is too high imo. Teslas stock price drops about 9% following the tweets.

4 May

Musks partner, Claire Boucher, a musician who performs as Grimes, gives birth to the couples first child, a son named X A-12.

7 May

Newsom announces new rules to allow some non-essential businesses, including some manufacturers, in California to reopen on 8 May. He also says that local rules supersede statewide rules, if they are stricter.

8 May

9 May

Tesla sues Alameda county, alleging that the countys continuing shelter-in-place order is unconstitutional.

On Twitter, Musk declares that Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately and threatens to stop manufacturing in Fremont. Musk also attacks the local public health officer, Dr Erica Pan, calling her unelected and ignorant.

County officials say they have been working with Tesla on a safety plan to allow the factory to reopen.

11 May

Tesla resumes production at the Fremont factory in defiance of the public health order. Musk tweets, If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me.

Alameda county officials tell Tesla that it is violating the public health order and say they hope it will comply without further enforcement measures.

12 May

Late in the evening, Alameda county announces that it has received Teslas safety plan and agreed that Tesla can begin to augment their minimum business operations this week in preparation for possible reopening as soon as next week. The county says it will work with the local police force to verify Tesla is adhering to physical distancing and that other safety measures are in place.

Musk tweets a photo of an ice-cream sundae with the message, Life should be lived. The photograph was posted on Instagram by a food blogger in 2017 and re-shared by the Italian restaurant chain Buca di Beppo that same year.

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Elon Musk v public health: a timeline of the Tesla factory standoff - The Guardian

Elon Musk’s First Wife Justine Musk Talks Their Messy Divorce

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In the late spring of 2008, my wealthy entrepreneurial husband, Elon Musk, the father of my five young sons, filed for divorce. Six weeks later, he texted me to say he was engaged to a gorgeous British actress in her early 20s who had moved to Los Angeles to be with him. Her name is Talulah Riley, and she played one of the sisters in 2005's Pride and Prejudice. Two of the things that struck me were: a) Pride and Prejudice is a really good movie, and b) My life with this man had devolved to a clich.

At least she wasn't blonde. I found that refreshing.

When I first met Elon, I wasn't blonde, either. I was an aspiring writer in my first year at Queen's University in Ontario, Canada, sprung from a small hometown and recovering from a difficult case of first love with the older man I'd left behind. I liked older. I liked poetic and rebellious and tortured. I liked a guy who parked his motorcycle beneath my dorm-room window and called my name through the twilight: Romeo in a dark-brown leather jacket.

Elon wasn't like that. A fellow student a year ahead of me, he was a clean-cut, upper-class boy with a South African accent who appeared in front of me one afternoon as I was leaping up the steps to my dorm. He said we'd met at a party I knew I hadn't been to. (Years later, he would confess that he had noticed me from across the common room and decided he wanted to meet me.) He invited me out for ice cream. I said yes, but then blew him off with a note on my dorm-room door. Several hours later, my head bent over my Spanish text in an overheated room in the student center, I heard a polite cough behind me. Elon was smiling awkwardly, two chocolate-chip ice cream cones dripping down his hands. He's not a man who takes no for an answer.

"Elon's wealth seemed abstract and unreal, a string of zeros that existed in some strange space of its own."

He was a scientific type, at home with numbers, commerce, and logic. I was not the only woman he pursued, but even after he transferred to Wharton he kept sending roses. When he'd return to Queen's to visit friends, I found myself agreeing to have dinner with him. Once, in the bookstore together, I pointed to a shelf and said, "One day I want my own books to go right there." I had said this before to a girlfriend, who laughed and spun on her heel. But Elon not only took me seriously, he seemed impressed. It was the first time that a boy found my sense of ambition instead of my long hair or narrow waist attractive. Previous boyfriends complained that I was "competitive," but Elon said I had "a fire in my soul." When he told me, "I see myself in you," I knew what he meant.

After I graduated, I taught ESL in Japan for a year Elon and I had by then gone our separate ways. Back in Canada I took a bartending job, worked on my novel, and debated whether to go back to Japan or to grad school. One night I heard myself tell my sister, "If Elon ever calls me again, I think I'll go for it. I might have missed something there." He called me one week later.

After graduation, he'd moved to Silicon Valley. He was sharing an apartment in Mountain View with three roommates and building his first dot-com company, Zip2. I soon flew out for the first of many visits. One night, over dinner, he asked me how many kids I wanted to have. "One or two," I said immediately, "although if I could afford nannies, I'd like to have four."

He laughed. "That's the difference between you and me," he said. "I just assume that there will be nannies." He made a rocking motion with his arms and said, happily, "Baby."

Then he took me to a bookstore and handed me his credit card. "Buy as many books as you want," he said. No man could have said anything sweeter.

Two years later two months before our January 2000 wedding Elon told me we had an appointment with a lawyer who was going to help us with a "financial agreement" that the board of his new company wanted us to sign. When I looked at him, he said quickly, "It's not a prenup."

Although I'd been dating a struggling 20-something entrepreneur, I was now engaged to a wealthy one. Elon had sold Zip2, which partnered with newspapers to help them get online, in 1999, the year before, and was worth about $20 million overnight. He bought and renovated an 1,800-square-foot condo: We now had a place of our own. He also bought a million-dollar sports car a McLaren F1 and a small plane. Our day-to-day routine remained the same (except for the addition of flying lessons), and Elon's wealth seemed abstract and unreal, a string of zeros that existed in some strange space of its own. I made uneasy jokes that he was about to dump me for a supermodel. Instead, he proposed, getting down on bended knee on a street corner.

Most of his newfound fortune he rolled over into his second company, an online banking institution, X.com, that later became PayPal (the online payment company). It was this board that was supposedly urging him to get a "financial agreement." What I didn't understand at the time was that Elon was actually ushering me into a period of "mediation," which, I now know, means anything done or spoken is confidential and cannot be used in a court of law. But I had no time to research mediation, or learn that it rarely serves the interest of the less powerful person in the relationship. Years later, I came to learn these things. But two months after our wedding, I simply signed the postnuptial agreement. I trusted my husband why else had I married him? and I told myself it didn't matter. We were soul mates. We would never get divorced. A life without Elon was unthinkable, something I'd realized a few months before he proposed, as we napped together one spring afternoon before a friend's wedding. With my arm slung across his chest, I felt that he was my own private Alexander the Great.

Still, there were warning signs. As we danced at our wedding reception, Elon told me, "I am the alpha in this relationship." I shrugged it off, just as I would later shrug off signing the postnuptial agreement, but as time went on, I learned that he was serious. He had grown up in the male-dominated culture of South Africa, and the will to compete and dominate that made him so successful in business did not magically shut off when he came home. This, and the vast economic imbalance between us, meant that in the months following our wedding, a certain dynamic began to take hold. Elon's judgment overruled mine, and he was constantly remarking on the ways he found me lacking. "I am your wife," I told him repeatedly, "not your employee."

"If you were my employee," he said just as often, "I would fire you."

By the time eBay bought PayPal in 2002, we had moved to Los Angeles and had our first child, a boy named Nevada Alexander. The sale of PayPal vaulted Elon's net worth to well over $100 million. The same week, Nevada went down for a nap, placed on his back as always, and stopped breathing. He was 10 weeks old, the age when male infants are most susceptible to SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). By the time the paramedics resuscitated him, he had been deprived of oxygen for so long that he was brain-dead. He spent three days on life support in a hospital in Orange County before we made the decision to take him off it. I held him in my arms when he died.

Elon made it clear that he did not want to talk about Nevada's death. I didn't understand this, just as he didn't understand why I grieved openly, which he regarded as "emotionally manipulative." I buried my feelings instead, coping with Nevada's death by making my first visit to an IVF clinic less than two months later. Elon and I planned to get pregnant again as swiftly as possible. Within the next five years, I gave birth to twins, then triplets, and I sold three novels to Penguin and Simon & Schuster. Even so, Nevada's death sent me on a years-long inward spiral of depression and distraction that would be continuing today if one of our nannies hadn't noticed me struggling. She approached me with the name of an excellent therapist. Dubious, I gave it a shot. In those weekly sessions, I began to get perspective on what had become my life.

"'If you were my employee,' he said just as often, 'I would fire you.'"

We were breathing rarefied air. The first crowded apartment we'd shared in Mountain View seemed like ancient history from our 6,000-square-foot house in the Bel Air hills. Married for seven years, we had a domestic staff of five; during the day our home transformed into a workplace. We went to black-tie fundraisers and got the best tables at elite Hollywood nightclubs, with Paris Hilton and Leonardo DiCaprio partying next to us. When Google cofounder Larry Page got married on Richard Branson's private Caribbean island, we were there, hanging out in a villa with John Cusack and watching Bono pose with swarms of adoring women outside the reception tent. When we traveled, we drove onto the airfield up to Elon's private jet, where a private flight attendant handed us champagne. I spent an afternoon walking around San Jose with Daryl Hannah, where she caused a commotion at Starbucks when the barista asked her name and she said, blithely, "Daryl."

It was a dream lifestyle, privileged and surreal. But the whirlwind of glitter couldn't disguise a growing void at the core. Elon was obsessed with his work: When he was home, his mind was elsewhere. I longed for deep and heartfelt conversations, for intimacy and empathy. And while I sacrificed a normal family life for his career, Elon started to say that I "read too much," shrugging off my book deadlines. This felt like a dismissal, and a stark reversal from the days when he was so supportive. When we argued over the house or the kids' sleeping schedule my faults and flaws came under the microscope. I felt insignificant in his eyes, and I began thinking about what effect our dynamic would have on our five young sons.

In the spring of 2008, eight years after our wedding, a car accident served as my wake-up call. The moment of impact seemed suspended in time: The details of the other driver's face, looking at me in horror as she held a cell phone to her ear, were so clear it was like the distance between us didn't exist. There was a crunch of metal as her car plowed into mine, and when we skidded to a halt, my first thought wasn't, Thank God nobody's hurt. It was, My husband is going to kill me. And in my mind's eye, I could suddenly see myself: a woman who'd gotten very thin, and very blonde, stumbling out of a very expensive car with the front-left wheel smashed in.

I barely recognized myself. I had turned into a trophy wife and I sucked at it. I wasn't detail-oriented enough to maintain a perfect house or be a perfect hostess. I could no longer hide my boredom when the men talked and the women smiled and listened. I wasn't interested in Botox or makeup or reducing the appearance of the scars from my C-sections. And no matter how many highlights I got, Elon pushed me to be blonder. "Go platinum," he kept saying, and I kept refusing.

"I had turned into a trophy wife and I sucked at it."

Not long after the accident, I sat on our bed with my knees pulled up to my chest and tears in my eyes. I told Elon, in a soft voice that was nonetheless filled with conviction, that I needed our life to change. I didn't want to be a sideline player in the multimillion-dollar spectacle of my husband's life. I wanted equality. I wanted partnership. I wanted to love and be loved, the way we had before he made all his millions.

Elon agreed to enter counseling, but he was running two companies and carrying a planet of stress. One month and three sessions later, he gave me an ultimatum: Either we fix this marriage today or I will divorce you tomorrow, by which I understood he meant, Our status quo works for me, so it should work for you. He filed for divorce the next morning. I felt numb, but strangely relieved.

Eight years after I signed the postnup, I began to understand just what I'd done. I had effectively signed away all my rights as a married person, including any claim to community property except our house, which was to be vested in my name once we had a child. But my lawyer is presenting a legal theory that could render the postnup invalid. A postnup, unlike a prenup, requires a complete financial disclosure because of something called "marital fiduciary duty": the obligation of one spouse to be honest and straightforward in financial dealings with the other. Around the time we signed the agreement, Elon was involved in a significant merger between X.com and a company called Confinity. Together, the two became PayPal and raised the value of Elon's X.com stock by millions of dollars more than what he reported on the postnup. Whether this was deliberate or an oversight, according to my lawyer, it could render the contract fraudulent, and thus invalid if it weren't for the protection of mediation confidentiality. That period ended not when we left the lawyer's office or when we got married, but only once we'd signed. The question that will determine the outcome of our divorce case, which has been winding its way through the California legal system for more than two years, is a legal one: Should mediation confidentiality trump marital fiduciary duty, or vice versa? Two years after our separation, we ended up in court. The judge ruled in Elon's favor, but stressed that the case was "a long cause matter" and immediately certified it for appeal. Resolution is at least a year away.

In the months after our separation, I dyed my hair dark and cut it. I also developed a friendship that gradually deepened into romance with a man I'd known casually for years. One night he took me to a reading of Eve Ensler's new play. "This is power-woman central," he said, as we watched Arianna Huffington hold court in the front row. As he pointed out other prominent women in the audience, I realized the kind of social world I'd been living in: The females who populated it were the young wives and girlfriends of wealthy men, or the personal assistants who catered to them. Women disappeared after some point in their 30s, and any female ambition other than looking beautiful, shopping, and overseeing the domestic realm became an inconvenience. Being in that audience, watching that staged reading, I felt myself reclaim the freedom to write my own life.

Although I am estranged from Elon when it comes to the children, I deal with his assistant I don't regret my marriage. I've worked through some anger, both at Elon for rendering me so disposable, and at myself for buying into a fairy tale when I should have known better. But I will always respect the brilliant and visionary person that he is. I also can't regret the divorce (our case was bifurcated, which means that even though the property issues aren't settled, our marriage is legally dead). Elon and I share custody of the children, who are thriving. I feel grounded now, and deeply grateful for my life.

And something unexpected happened: Throughout the divorce proceedings, his fiance and I discovered we liked each other. People were puzzled that I didn't want to poke chopsticks in her eyeballs. "It's kind of like a French movie," observed a friend, and I sent Talulah an e-mail:

I would rather live out the French-movie version of things, in which the two women become friends and various philosophies are pondered, than the American version, in which one is "good" and one is "bad" and there's a huge catfight sequence and someone gets thrown off a balcony.

She responded, Let's do as the French do.

She is, by all accounts, a lovely, bright, and very young person, and better fitted to my ex-husband's lifestyle and personality than I ever was. Although she had dark hair when she and Elon first met, she is now blonder than I've ever been.

Justine Musk is the author of Bloodangel, Lord of Bones, and Uninvited. She lives in Los Angeles with her five sons and two dogs.

Originally posted here:

Elon Musk's First Wife Justine Musk Talks Their Messy Divorce

Tesla’s Elon Musk expected to unveil ‘million-mile’ battery later this month – Pocket-lint

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Tesla plans to announce a cheaper, longer-life battery for its Model 3 sedan.

The battery will first launch in China sometime later this year, or maybe even early next year, but the goal is for Tesla to bring down the cost of its electric vehicles. According to Reuters, Tesla CEOElon Musk has been telling investors he will reveal more advanced battery technology in late May. He's reportedly teasinga battery that is low-cost and designed to last for a million miles of use.

Dubbed the million-mile battery, it's being jointly developed by Chinas Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) and Tesla's team of academic battery experts. The new battery is said to leveragelow-cobalt and cobalt-free battery chemistries, plus chemical additives, materials, and coatings, all of which should help reduce stress and allow the battery to store more energy, longer.

Future batteries, with even better energy density and storage capacity and lower cost, will be rolled out to Tesla vehicles beyond China.

With more than one million EVs capable of connecting to and sharing power with the grid, Musk is also planning to harness Tesla's global fleet so that the company can "achieve the status of a power company" like Pacific Gas and Electric in the US, Reuters said.

Finally, Tesla reportedly plans to use a highly automated battery manufacturing process to cut labor costs and increase production. In fact, it'll use terafactories 30 times the size of the companys massive Nevada gigafactory. Tesla is also looking into using recycled metals like nickel, cobalt, and lithium, and it will use CATL's exclusive, inexpensive way of packaging battery cells.

Add it all up, and Tesla is clearly focused on scalingbattery production and improving the cost per kilowatt-hour of the batteries.

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Tesla's Elon Musk expected to unveil 'million-mile' battery later this month - Pocket-lint

What would Elon Musk name you? This website may have the answer – Hindustan Times

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Elon Musk announcing that his son is named X A-12 Musk created quite an online chatter. In fact, the tech giant, during a podcast interview, also revealed the meaning of the unusual name and how to pronounce it. Now, a creative mind, Richard Reis, has come up with a website which, taking a cue from X A-12, guesses what Elon Musk would have named you if he was your dad.

Reis shared about the website on Twitter and wrote, I just launched the @elonmusk name generator on @ProductHunt! Get your name Elonified. He also announced the existence of the site while replying to a tweet by Elon Musk.

Heres the tweet Reis shared on his profile:

The idea sat well with people and now many are trying to get the Elonified version of their names and the results are very interesting. A few also changed their profile name to the new name the website generated.

Here are some such posts Reis retweeted:

If you are wondering what your name would be, you can see that in a few easy steps. To start with, visit the website https://elon-name.netlify.app/?ref=producthunt. You will have to type your name in the search bar, then press generate and voila!

So, what name would Elon Musk give you?

The rest is here:

What would Elon Musk name you? This website may have the answer - Hindustan Times

Elon Musk reflects Silicon Valley’s ‘move fast and break things’ culture – San Francisco Chronicle

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Some might be shocked that Elon Musk had openly defied the local governments shelter-in-place order, a move that helped force the county to allow him to reopen the Tesla factory in Fremont next week, risking the safety of workers and the public to make luxury cars. We arent. While Musks move may be controversial, the attitude behind it is too common in Silicon Valley.

Silicon Valleys foundational ethos is to move fast and break things. When Facebook first made that their motto, Mark Zuckerberg meant to capture his companys, and Silicon Valleys ethos of radical innovation that if you werent moving fast enough to break things, youd be left behind. But weve come to understand that for too many Silicon Valley firms, moving fast means breaking things at other peoples expense. And permission is not necessary.

Musks impatience to reopen the Tesla factory puts workers at unnecessary risk, and could still lead to dozens or hundreds of COVID-19 deaths via community spread. Zuckerbergs impatience about spreading unvetted news and political ads through Facebook has spread misinformation, undermined confidence in the media, and threatened our very democracy.

Startups like Lime flooded San Franciscos streets and sidewalks with e-scooters in the spring of 2018, seemingly overnight. Despite a cease-and-desist letter from the city attorney around unlawful public safety impacts and thousands of citizen complaints, companies continued to operate until the city instituted a permit program balancing mobility and climate goals with safety and public space protections.

Just last week the state attorney general and city attorneys from San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego filed a groundbreaking lawsuit against Uber and Lyft, alleging these corporations broke laws regarding minimum wage, paid sick days, workers compensation, unemployment insurance and more.

Uber, Tesla, Google spinoff Waymo and others are competing to put driverless cars operated by artificial intelligence on our streets, with little pause on live testing after fatal accidents. Under the hood of that experiment is the growing question of AI systems being rapidly deployed in health care, hiring, criminal justice, and education with little guidance.

Move fast and break things has made a virtue of disregard for our well-being and safety. And the consequences are particularly disturbing when these things broken are actually peoples lives.

Take, for example, the on-demand independent contractor model embraced by Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and Instacart. In their rush to dominate the market, theyve rejected the employer-based protection of their workers that we expect. Last week, we released the results of a large survey of ride share and food delivery workers in San Francisco, the heart of the gig economy.

We found that the gig economy, a supposed emblem of Silicon Valley entrepreneurship and opportunity, is actually impoverishing drivers. Shockingly, 20% of drivers we surveyed might be earning nothing once estimated expenses are accounted for. And 13% of food delivery drivers use food stamps to feed themselves, 32% reported sleeping in their car and 21% of workers had no health care, despite San Franciscos health care security law.

In this, Silicon Valley has not been so innovative after all, but replicated a common pattern of generating poverty jobs in the pursuit of profit.

What would be innovative is a public health system that eradicates the racial inequities in poor health and vulnerability. Or a food production and distribution system that generates living-wage jobs. Or a reliable public information and voting access system to ensure a well informed and engaged public drives our democracy.

Perhaps it is time for Silicon Valley firms to slow down and stop breaking things, and instead help create a California that works for all.

Chris Benner is director of the Institute for Social Transformation, and a professor of Environmental Studies and Sociology at the University of California Santa Cruz. Kung Feng is executive director of Jobs with Justice San Francisco.

Originally posted here:

Elon Musk reflects Silicon Valley's 'move fast and break things' culture - San Francisco Chronicle

Nobody tells Elon Musk what to do. Maybe that’s the problem – San Francisco Chronicle

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The notoriously willful CEO Elon Musk is picking a fight over his companys Fremont plant. Tesla and its workers will be the worse for it.

Owen Thomas | on May 13, 2020

Photo: Gabrielle Lurie / The Chronicle

Tesla has reopened its Fremont car factory in defiance of county rules prohibiting car manufacturing during shelter-in-place.

Welcome back to Tech Chronicle. The attention economy never closed, but I hope this fine newsletter will reopen your eyes to the tech worlds many challenges.

The four words no one in Silicon Valley wants to hear: You cant do that.

In tech, rules arent meant just to be broken, but disrupted, subverted, refactored and routed around.

Why is Elon Musk insisting on illegally restarting production of electric cars at Teslas Fremont factory, when official permission for a safe resumption of manufacturing seems tantalizingly close?

Having studied Musk for decades, I can only conclude that he doesnt like being told what to do, whether its following rules for officers of publicly traded companies or obeying local health orders.

There is some value to his defiance. When Musk invested in Tesla 16 years ago, electric cars seemed hopelessly uneconomical, unsexy, unwanted. Musk ousted Teslas inconvenient founders, took control and with some help from the federal government got vehicles on the road that woke peoples imagination of what might be possible. He forced automakers in Detroit and Tokyo to take electric cars seriously. That the electric car market seems viable today is a real achievement.

Photo: Frederic J. Brown / AFP / Getty Images 2019

Elon Musks showmanship, like his November unveiling of the battery-powered Cybertruck, has helped sell Tesla vehicles.

But its one thing to break unwritten rules, and another to break written ones. That is what Musk is doing by insisting on reopening Teslas car plant before proving to local health officials satisfaction that it can be done safely. (Those who have worked on automotive assembly lines doubt the work can be done at a social distance and wearing protective equipment.)

Musk has 34 million followers on Twitter, and his provocations play well with his base there. But Teslas future car buyers are another matter. The Bay Area is a big center for electric vehicles. Its also a region where local shelter-in-place orders, despite the short-term economic pain, are popular and for the most part voluntarily adhered to. Musks conspiracy theories about the coronavirus pandemic first he doubted the seriousness of the disease, then dismissed the need for protective measures are unlikely to win him new customers outside his current fan base.

Photo: Jae C. Hong / Associated Press 2019

Musks tweets have often landed him in trouble.

Its also unlikely to make recruiting easier. The pitch for working at Tesla is that youre making the world a better place and saving humanity. How does putting co-workers at risk of infection fit into that vision?

Musk has said that hes going to pick up Tesla and move it out of the Bay Area, factory, headquarters and all. For his electric-car rivals, thats an open invitation to start poaching engineers now. Theres no rule against that.

Owen Thomas, othomas@sfchronicle.com

I attribute everything that has gone wrong to coronavirus. Quibi CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, trying to convince the New York Times that starting a streaming service that doesnt play on TVs is a microbes fault

It would have been Google I/O this week. Oh well. Cisco reports earnings Wednesday, if you want to hear from another videoconferencing vendor thats not Zoom on why theyre not Zoom.

Alex Kantrowitz on Twitters move to make working from home permanent. (Fun fact: Twitter used to have an account for its office called @twoffice that appears to be defunct.) (BuzzFeed News)

Dominic Fracassa on Jack Dorseys donation to the Give2SF fund, which I guess makes up for the money Twitter employees wont be spending locally. (San Francisco Chronicle)

Brian Heater on how the iPhone has become Hollywoods favorite new camera. (TechCrunch)

Tech Chronicle is a weekly newsletter from Owen Thomas, The Chronicles business editor, and the rest of the tech team. Follow along on Twitter: @techchronicle and Instagram: @techchronicle

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Nobody tells Elon Musk what to do. Maybe that's the problem - San Francisco Chronicle

Go read this Wall Street Journal story about Elon Musks personal finances – The Verge

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In one of a series of wild tweets posted last week, Elon Musk stated he would be selling almost all physical possessions and that he would own no house. He appears to be actually following through with that promise, as chronicled in a great story in The Wall Street Journal about Musks personal finances that you should go read.

According to the WSJ, despite being worth an estimated $39 billion on paper:

...he has to borrow, sometimes a lot, to pay for his lifestyle and business investments without liquidating shares that help him maintain control of the companies he runs. About half his Tesla stock is pledged as collateral for personal loans, an April 28 financial filing shows. Maintaining his equity stakeabout 20%, or around $29 billion at its current valuationis important for him to keep control over the Silicon Valley auto maker.

Musk also doesnt take a salary at Tesla, but he apparently became eligible for stock options worth more than $1 billion this week. To get that money, he will need an eye-watering $592 million to exercise the option, according to the WSJ. Its not clear if Musk has the money on hand to exercise that option or if the money raised from the house sales will be used to help pay for the sum. Mr. Musk said he wasnt selling his possessions because he needs the money, the WSJ reported.

The article also lists a few times Musk has said hes cash poor. Heres one example:

Before Tesla went public, Mr. Musk told a judge during a contentious divorce with his first wife that he had run out of cash and had taken on emergency loans from friends to support his family and pay living expenses.

Heres another:

Last year, Mr. Musks ability to access cash came up again during a defamation lawsuit over comments he made about a man involved in the rescue of a Thai soccer team from a flooded cave in 2018. A lawyer in the case said in a filing that Mr. Musk had described himself as financially illiquid.

The whole article has a lot of history about Musk, interesting information about his finances backed up by regulatory filings, and numerous quotes from Musk himself, and I sincerely recommend taking 10 minutes to read it in full.

Oh, and if you were wondering the status of Musks houses: he has listed three California mansions for sale and plans to sell four other houses in Bel-Air, according to the WSJ. Once the houses are sold, Musk does not know where I will stay yet, but will probably rent a small house somewhere, he said in an email to the WSJ.

Follow this link:

Go read this Wall Street Journal story about Elon Musks personal finances - The Verge

Elon Musk and Grimes’ Baby Tops This Week’s Internet News Roundup – WIRED

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As of this writing, it's been about two months since most of the United States started sheltering in place to slow the spread of the coronavirus, since bars and restaurants closed, since schools closed, since the Covid-19 hospitalization numbers started to rise in New York. It's been a long time, but it's felt even longer. Meanwhile, one-in-five Americans has filed for unemployment since mid-March, and even though the majority of them expect to get their jobs back eventually that eventuality might be pretty far off if people keep crossing state lines to go to restaurants. Speaking of reopening, the White House rejected the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions reopening guidelines because they werent lenient enough. Still, at least drug dealers are being inventive in the face of international lockdowns. But those are just the broad strokes of the last week. What else have folks been talking about online? For starters, all of this.

Ad Infinitum

What Happened: Who could have foreseen that the President of the United States really wouldn't like an ad taking him to task for his Covid-19 response? Oh, thats right, everyone.

What Really Happened: As the coronavirus continues to dominate headlines and control the world, attention continues to be paid to President Trump's response to the pandemic and his administration's handling of it. It's a response that has seen a shortage of coronavirus tests, questionable comments about injecting disinfectant, and a lot of miscommunication on proper guidelines. Then, last week, this ad appeared summing up where things are right now as the result of the Trump administration's efforts.

As explained above, the video came from The Lincoln Project, a political action committee dedicated to, in their words, holding accountable those who would violate their oaths to the Constitution and would put others before Americans. What some people might not know about The Lincoln Project, however, is that its a group funded by a number of Republicans, including Kellyanne Conways outspoken husband, George. For anyone wondering if the president saw it, he did.

As might be expected, President Trumps middle-of-the-night tweetstorm, made headlines, because of course it did. But it also sparked another question: How did Trump even see the ad? There's actually a theory out there about that.

The president's response, however, didn't dissuade those responsible for The Lincoln Project.

The Takeaway: If Trump was hoping his tweets would slow the spread of the ad, they didn't.

Wherefore Are Thou, Task Force?

What Happened: Last week, word started to spread that the Trump administration might wind down the coronavirus task force. Once that word got around, though, the plan shifted.

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Elon Musk and Grimes' Baby Tops This Week's Internet News Roundup - WIRED

Elon Musk reveals how Covid-19 has impacted use of Tesla Superchargers – The Driven

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Tesla CEO and co-founder Elon Musk has shared an interesting chart that reflects how the various stay-at-home measures to contain Covid-19 across different global regions has reduced use of Tesla DC Superchargers.

Breaking the globe up into North America (NAM), Europe, the Middle-East and Africa (EMEA), China and Asia-Pacific (APAC), the chart shows three very big dips first China, then in tandem, North America and the Europe/Middle Eastern continent (Tesla does not have outlets in Africa, and two only in the ME UAE and Jordan).

The dips in these three regions are significant. China, North America and Europe all saw a dip of as much as 70% from before governments responded to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Notably, Chinas supercharger use saw a 10-week turnaround from when Supercharger use first dipped. Now, it seems more or less back to normal, albeit with what seems to be a monthly peak.

North America and Europe on the other hand have started to recover, going by Supercharger use but still have a fair way to go.

Standing out like an annoying blip is Asia Pacific, where Supercharger use only reduced by about 15%. In the Asia-Pacific region (excluding China), Tesla sells vehicles in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

Tesla Supercharger usage by region pic.twitter.com/1y2zL2Jizt

Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 14, 2020

In response to a breakdown of how the chart could be interpreted (that 1. China is back at around 90%+ of its previous trend 2. APAC barely even flinched 3. North America and EMEA saw almost identical pullbacks to China and to each other and both are starting to recover), Musk replied, Exactly.

Exactly

Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 14, 2020

But there are some deeper takeaways, that perhaps are better explained by the numbers of Superchargers in different regions.

Looking at Teslas own Supercharger map, it is clear to see that there are far larger numbers of Superchargers in North America, Europe and the Middle East, and China.

Therefore, there are more Superchargers not being used, perhaps equating to larger dips in non-use.

From an Australian perspective, while Australia does not have a shelter-in-place order such as in the US, it has had a lockdown on all but essential travel. Of course, Australia (and New Zealand for that matter) is a very limited market both in terms of electric vehicles and Tesla Superchargers so not much impact overall for the Asia-Pacific region.

Other regions in the Asia-Pacific however notably Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan did not have shelter-in-place measures as noted by the Japan Times.

With very low infection numbers for Hong Kong and Taiwan in particular (1,041 and 440 respectively according to data collated by John Hopkins), it might be presumed Musk is sharing the chart to bolster his argument that North America be allowed to return to work.

Bridie Schmidt is lead reporter for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She specialises in writing about new technology, and has a keen interest in the role that zero emissions transport has to play in sustainability.

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Elon Musk reveals how Covid-19 has impacted use of Tesla Superchargers - The Driven

Tesla (TSLA) Stock Is a Winner, but Its Valuation Is Getting Stretched – Yahoo Finance

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With all the controversial headlines surrounding CEO Elon Musk, it has almost been forgotten that Tesla (TSLA) has finally been turning a profit. The EV pioneer surprised many when it followed 4Q19s swing into the green with another beat in its recent 1Q20 report.

Following an investor relations meeting with Tesla, Deutsche Banks Emmanuel Rosner noted, We found Teslas message to be positive, reiterating that order backlog for its vehicles continues to grow due to limited ability to produce vehicles currently, and that its pace of capacity expansion will be the main driver of volume growth over the next few years.

Model 3 production rates in China have been upped from 150k to 200k a year with the goal of producing 4k a week, firmly in the companys sights. Holding production back was a reliance on battery packs previously shipped from Reno. The cells are now sourced locally from LG and by the end of the year Tesla anticipates China Model 3 components will almost all be localized.

Tesla has indicated that due to increasingly strong demand in Q1, deliveries were on course to reach an all-time high outpacing even the 112k units delivered in 4Q19 until COVID-19 bought production to a standstill. With the backlog of orders for current models, the biggest in the companys history, Tesla believes it has a strong pipeline of deliveries regardless of near-term conditions.

Following Musks Tweet storm, in which he vowed to move Teslas California based Fremont factory elsewhere if not permitted to resume operations, local government has given Tesla the go ahead to restart production (albeit in a limited capacity).

While management provided few details about its 2Q/2020 outlook, it believes Fremont production can ramp back up very quickly given its experience in China and that the supply chain is already coming back online, Rosner summarized.

Despite the positive takeaways, Rosner maintains an $850 price target on Tesla shares, which implies a modest upside of 6%. With limited upside potential, the analyst rates TSLA a Hold. (To watch Rosners track record, click here)

When considering Teslas prospects, the Street takes a similar view. A Hold consensus rating is based on 8 Buys, 9 Holds and 10 Sells. With an average price target of $603.58, the analysts project downside of 25%. (See Tesla stock analysis on TipRanks)

To find good ideas for stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks equity insights.

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Tesla (TSLA) Stock Is a Winner, but Its Valuation Is Getting Stretched - Yahoo Finance

Check Teslas impressive chart of pandemics impact on Supercharger use – Electrek

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Elon Musk released an impressive chart of the impact of the pandemic on Tesla Supercharger use over the last few months.

With stay-at-home orders and travel restrictions being put in place in many markets, gasoline sales are way down.

Unsurprisingly, electric car charging station usage is also way down.

Musk decided to release an interesting chart of the usage of Teslas Supercharger network in different regions over the pandemic.

The chart shows that Teslas Supercharger network in China saw a massive reduction in use in late January through February:

Interestingly, the chart shows a V shape recovery in Supercharger usage in China and a second wave of slower use in April.

In comparison, restrictions in Europe and North America happened about a month later, resulting in a similar rapid drop in Tesla Supercharger usage, but the recovery has been different.

It is a much slower recovery as restrictions are slowly being lifted in some North American and European markets.

Most interestingly, the Asia Pacific, which in this case excludes China, saw only a small drop in February, and it was not only back to normal but kept hitting new highs.

Its important to note that for most Tesla owners, Superchargers are not the main way for them to charge their cars.

Most owners charge their vehicles at home and only periodically charge at Supercharger stations mainly to travel longer distances, like road trips.

This is really interesting.

Of course, this pandemic is a much more complex issue than anything that can be explained by a Supercharger usage chart, but its still interesting data.

Its insane how quickly Supercharger usage recovered in China compared to what is happening in Europe and in North America.

But thats not as impressive as APAC though without China, I assume that it mainly consists of Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, and those have been smaller markets for Tesla.

Nonetheless, the small slowdown in usage seems to indicate a significantly different impact than in the other markets.

What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.

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Teslas readying a million mile battery that could greatly lower the cost of EVs – The Verge

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Tesla is getting ready to introduce a long rumored lower-cost, longer-lasting battery for its electric vehicles in China sometime later this year or early next year, according to a new report from Reuters. The battery which has been colloquially called a million mile battery in reference to how long it can last in a car before breaking down is being co-developed with Chinese battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd (CATL) and was designed in part by battery experts recruited by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Tesla is already the industry leader when it comes to squeezing range out of lithium-ion batteries in electric cars, and its expected to reveal more about the new technology at an upcoming Battery Day for investors. Musk told investors and analysts earlier this year that the information will blow your mind. It blows my mind. The company originally planned to hold the event in April, but has had to reschedule it until at least late May thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. The company held a similar event focused on self-driving technology in April 2019.

The battery is expected to lower the cost per kilowatt hour (the unit of energy most commonly used to measure the capacity of the battery packs in modern electric vehicles) to under $100. Many experts believe that reaching that mark would allow Tesla or other automakers to sell electric vehicles for the same prices as gasoline-powered ones, thereby making them far more accessible. General Motors is also trying to hit that mark in its work with battery maker LG Chem, as it recently shared during its own big EV Day event in March, though the automaker is not expected to get there until the mid-2020s.

General Motors said last month that its new generation of batteries will use 70 percent less cobalt, an expensive and precious material that is often mined by workers who are subject to brutal conditions. Musk has long sought to remove cobalt from the equation entirely, and Tesla is getting closer to doing that in its work with CATL, according to Reuters.

Information about Teslas next-generation batteries has steadily trickled out over the last year or so thanks to the experts Musk hired and their public works, like patents, academic papers, and university presentations. The group has been funded by Tesla since 2016, according to Reuters.

Tesla has also bought up a small handful of companies that are contributing to its battery advancements, like Maxwell Technologies. And its former CTO, JB Straubel, is leading a battery recycling company called Redwood Materials that Reuters says is an affiliate of Teslas.

These acquisitions, along with the collaboration with CATL, could help Tesla blunt any deterioration of its relationship with longtime battery partner Panasonic. The Japanese giant has helped Tesla create batteries at its Gigafactory in Nevada for years, and it also operates inside the former SolarCity plant in New York where it helps Musks company make solar panels. But Panasonic is ending its involvement at the New York factory at the end of this month and will be out of the plant in June.

That Tesla is reportedly planning to bring the technology to China first demonstrates the nations importance when it comes to electric vehicles. Its not only the leader in electric vehicle sales, but its home to a big chunk of the EV supply chain, too. Tesla also recently opened a new Gigafactory in Shanghai. Its the first foreign automaker to run a wholly owned automotive factory in the country, after the Chinese government relaxed its rules in 2018.

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Teslas readying a million mile battery that could greatly lower the cost of EVs - The Verge

Tesla owner stops carjacking, thanks to connected Model 3 and dumb thief – Electrek

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A Tesla owner stopped a carjacking, thanks to his connected Model 3 preventing the thief from leaving with the car or even exiting it.

The Barstow Police Department announced yesterday that a carjacking suspect had been arrested, and they shared an interesting story about the crime on their Facebook page:

On May 8, 2020, at approximately 10:20 a.m., officers were dispatched to the 400 block of East Fredricks Street regarding a vehicle theft in progress. The reporting party stated that while he was sitting inside his Tesla T3 vehicle, a subject opened the drivers side door and began screaming at him to get out of the car. The subject made the victim get out of his vehicle and then attempted to steal it. The victim stated that he was able to use his cellular phone to turn the vehicles engine off and lock the subject inside of the vehicle. As officers arrived on scene, they observed a subject, later identified as Charlie Smith, in the drivers seat of the vehicle. Officers made contact with Smith and placed him under arrest. When officers placed Smith under arrest, they observed that he was sweating profusely and was twitching and blinking his eyes rapidly. Smiths behavior was also erratic and combative. Smith was placed under arrest for carjacking and being under the influence of a controlled substance.

It sounds like there was some miscommunication between the police and the Tesla owner since the vehicle doesnt have an engine and it cant be turned off with the app.

While I dont know for sure, heres what I think actually happened.

The owner was using his Model 3 with his phone. When the carjacker kicked him out of the car, he got out of range with the phone, which prevented the car from being put in drive hence leading to the comment about turning the engine off.

As for locking the thief in, I am not sure what he means by that because you cant really lock someone inside the car. You should always be able to use the manual release, which people sometimes even use inadvertently.

However, it sounds like the thief was on some drugs, and he might not have been able to get himself out because of his state of mind.

A previous report showed thatstolen Tesla vehicles in the US have almost all been recovered: 112 out of 115.

In Europe, they have some more sophisticated thieves that manageda string of Tesla vehicle thefts through relay attacks, and most vehicles havent been recovered.

In response to those attacks,Tesla started rolling out extra layers of security with improved cryptography key fob and optional PIN to Drive feature.

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Tesla owner stops carjacking, thanks to connected Model 3 and dumb thief - Electrek

Tesla Model X with extreme mileage racked up $29,000 in repair/maintenance and thats good – Electrek

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In the latest installment of our series on the highest-mileage Tesla Model X (and one of the highest mileage EVs in the world, we look into how a Model X with over 400,000 miles racked up $29,000 in repair and maintenance and why thats good.

Just over 2 months ago, I bought one of the cheapest and most high-mileage Tesla Model X vehicles ever.

With over 400,000 miles (650,000 km), Its one of the highest-mileage electric vehicles in the world and serves as a great case study for the longevity of electric cars, in general, and Tesla vehicles in particular.

Its why we are posting a series of articles and videos about the vehicle and this episode is about the repair and maintenance history of the Model X.

The reason why this 2016 Model X already has over 400,000 miles on the odometer is that it was owned by Tesloop who used it to transport customers between Los Angeles and San Diego for years.

Tesloop kept a good tally of the maintenance and repairs done on the Model X, which they called Rex. You can see the full history further down and heres a video I produced about it:

Sponsor: Thanks to United Chargers for sponsoring this episode of the Electrek High-Mileage EV series. United Chargers has for mission to accelerate EV adoption by making charging affordable to everyone and thats why their Grizzl-E charger starts at just $399. While the price is inexpensive, the charger is not cheap. It is made in Canada and features a sturdy aluminum casing that is rated NEMA 4 air and water tight. It can be installed on any breaker from 20 to 50-amp and comes with a choice premium cable for cold climates. It works great with electric car, but its especially works great with Tesla vehicles since it can take advantage of the 10 kW level 2 charging capability in Tesla cars. For that price, I dont know of a better deal. It even comes with United Chargers Easy Plug, which holds your connector and acts as a cable management system.Visit the Grizzl-E website and start charging faster without breaking the bank with a Grizzl-E home charging station. You can also find their products on Amazon.

$29,000 in repairs sounds like a lot, especially in less than 4 years, but its actually quite good when you keep in mind that it has over 400,000 miles, which is more mileage than the average car over its total lifetime.

Most cars would take 20 years or more to reach that kind of mileage if they even can, and that would add up to just $1,450 per year in repair and maintenance.

Now it looks even better when we get into the details and see that about $9,000 of the total was used to replace tires.

Tesloop didnt often change all the tires at once, which makes it harder to get a clear look at how long the tires lasted, but the Tesla Model X ended going through 42 tires over the 400,000 miles.

That adds up to just over 10 full cycles of tires or one set every 40,000 miles, which is not great, but its not bad either. Some people will get more than that and others less depending on how nice you are to your tires.

Now lets move to the big tickets items that contributed to the $29,000 starting with the one that worries me the most: the middle row seats.

Back in 2018, after more than 200,000 miles on the vehicle, the middle row seats started malfunctioning and they were replaced at a cost of $5,375.90.

Aesthetically speaking, Tesla did a beautiful job with the second-row seats in the Model X configured for 6 people. The T-shaped stands are quite stunning, but the mechanism to move them back and forth as well as tilt them to create more room in the back has proven to be problematic.

They had to be replaced at just over 230,000 miles, but they are working fine now. With that kind of cost to replace them, I am a little worried about them breaking again. Ill keep you posted.

The second biggest item is a $3,389.83 charge for MCU (Touchscreen) Replacement and Chargeport Door replacement. It happened somewhat recently mileage-wise at 373,000 miles around this time last year.

It had an error and the screen went blank. I am not too worried about that since Tesla has started offering MCU upgrades and even though it has limited benefits for AP1 vehicles, it could be a good solution for this vehicle in the future, especially if they can also fix the yellow lines on the sides, which have come back on this unit.

We are talking about big numbers here, but they all need to be put in the perspective of the vehicle having over 400,000 miles on the odometer.

Overall, $29,000 is nothing over 400,000 miles for a $100,000 vehicle.

Most vehicles dont get to that kind of mileage in the first place so its hard to get a good comparison, but Ive heard of BMW and Mercedes-Benz owners getting similar tallies over half the mileage.

Also, Model X is probably not the best example of electric vehicles when it comes to repairs. It has been described as the Faberg egg of cars. There are a lot of complex components that can cost more to repair.

But overall, I think it bodes well for high-mileage Tesla vehicles when it comes to repair and maintenance. You just need to be ready to buy some rubber.

Even things like the 12-volt battery, which has been a problem with Tesla vehicles in the past, have performed decently well on this Model X. It had to be replaced three times over the lifetime of the car, which is nothing to worry about at 400,000 miles.

Heres the full service history of my high-mileage Tesla Model X:

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Tesla Model X with extreme mileage racked up $29,000 in repair/maintenance and thats good - Electrek