❝ In many ways, Tesla — Elon Musk’s lightning rod of a car company — is the perfect allegory for modern Silicon Valley. The ongoing psychodrama of personalities drowns out the amazing technical achievements that are happening all around us…
As usual, this has been a real “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” kind of week for Tesla. It had a disastrous earnings report card, and Elon keeps creating all the wrong sorts of headlines. But in the middle of this maelstrom, the company announced a new chip that is going to eventually become the brain for their electric car. This chip is not just any chip — it will be able to make sense of a growing number of sensors that allow the car to become better and better at assisted (if not fully automated) driving…
❝ Tesla’s module is based on two AI chips — each one made of a CPU, a GPU, and deep learning accelerators. The module can deliver 144-trillion operations per second, making it capable of processing data from numerous sensors and other sources and running deep neural network algorithms. Ian Riches, an analyst with Strategy Analytics, told EE Times that this is “effectively the most powerful computer yet fitted to a production vehicle.” And Tesla is going to make a next-generation module that will be more powerful and will consume a lot less power.
As usual, Om Malik provides more depth, analysis and understanding than most of his peers. Please, RTFA, gather in another chunk of insight into Elon Musk’s apparently endless journey to reinvent the automobile along with any other software and hardware he bumps into in his young life.
Eideard 
Elon Musk wraps testimony in SolarCity trial after denying he set acquisition price https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/13/elon-musk-testifies-for-second-day-in-solarcity-trial.html
Elon Musk’s testimony in Tesla lawsuit paused as lawyer vomits in jury box : The civil suit concerns Tesla’s $2.6bn merger with SolarCity https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/elon-musk-tesla-lawsuit-attorney-vomit-b1883491.html
“Elon Musk Tweeted Some Big Personal News. Now, Nobody Wants to Talk About It” (except this guy) https://www.inc.com/bill-murphy-jr/elon-musk-tweeted-some-big-personal-news-now-nobody-wants-to-talk-about-it.html
Boxabl casita https://www.boxabl.com/
(Fox News): Elon Musk says Biden treats Americans ‘like fools’ after president meets with GM, Ford execs on electric cars : It’s not the first time that Musk has taken shots at Biden. https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/elon-musk-biden-americans-fools-gm-ford-electric-cars
“Biden Is A Damp Sock Puppet In Human Form”: Elon Musk Reacts To Post
Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, apparently was miffed after the US President excluded the name of the electric vehicle manufacturer in a Twitter post where he said, “Companies like GM and Ford are building more electric vehicles here at home than ever before.” (NDTV India) https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/joe-biden-is-treating-americans-like-fools-tesla-ceo-elon-musk-2734358
Musk says ‘Canadian truckers rule’ ahead of drivers’ protest over COVID-19 vaccine mandate (The Hill) https://thehill.com/policy/technology/591746-musk-says-canadian-truckers-rule-ahead-of-drivers-protest-over-covid-19 Musk’s dislike of vaccine mandates and other COVID restrictions is well documented. He told Time Magazine that while he and his eligible children are vaccinated, state-imposed requirements to get a jab represent an “erosion of freedom.” https://fortune.com/2022/01/27/elon-musk-twitter-freedom-convoy-canadian-truckers-rule-covid-vaccine/
“Elon Musk is a security risk : Like other absurdly rich people, Musk wants privacy and security for the elite and control and subjugation for the poor.” https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/2/15/elon-musk-is-a-security-risk
Musk challenges Putin to ‘single combat’ over Ukraine, Russia responds: ‘Weakling’ (FOX) https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/elon-musk-putin-single-combat-ukraine-russia-responds-little-devil
A Twitter shareholder on Tuesday filed a securities fraud lawsuit against Elon Musk, alleging that the billionaire Tesla CEO’s late disclosure of his stake in Twitter cost shareholders money and saved Musk around $143 million.
Marc Bain Rasella filed the suit and seeks to represent all investors who sold Twitter stock between March 24 and April 1. He argues that because Musk waited days to declare his purchase of Twitter stock, he depressed the share price and ripped off others who sold Twitter stock.
Under securities laws, Musk was supposed to alert the Securities and Exchange Commission within 10 days after purchasing 5% or more of Twitter’s stock.
But Musk did not file his SEC paperwork until April 4, or 11 days after he was supposed to, and by that point, Musk had amassed a more than 9% stake in the social media company.
Musk did not return a request for comment. https://www.npr.org/2022/04/12/1092453756/elon-musk-saved-143-million-by-reporting-twitter-stake-late-shareholder-suit-cla
Elon Musk on Wednesday offered to personally acquire Twitter in an all-cash deal valued at $43 billion. Musk laid out the terms of the proposal in a letter to Twitter Chairman Bret Taylor that was reproduced in an SEC filing.
Twitter confirmed receipt of the offer in a Thursday morning press release. “The Twitter Board of Directors will carefully review the proposal to determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interest of the Company and all Twitter stockholders,” the company wrote. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/04/elon-musk-offers-to-buy-100-of-twitter-for-43-billion/
Musk is the world’s wealthiest person, with a net worth around $270 billion, according to Forbes. He is offering to buy Twitter shares in cash, but the SEC filing notes that the deal is contingent on “completion of anticipated financing,” suggesting that he could borrow against his shares in Tesla or SpaceX in order to finance the deal.
Twitter’s board of directors has adopted a limited-term shareholder rights plan called a “poison pill” that could make it harder for Elon Musk to acquire the company.
The “poison pill” provision, announced in a press release Friday, preserves the right for Twitter shareholders other than Musk to acquire more shares of the company at a relatively inexpensive price, effectively diluting Musk’s stake. The provision will be triggered if Musk (or any other investor) acquires more than 15% of the company’s shares. Musk currently owns around 9% of Twitter’s shares.
The move marks an effort by Twitter’s board to wrest back some control in the deal after Musk’s stunning acquisition offer. The poison pill — a corporate anti-takeover defense mechanism — won’t necessarily stop Musk’s bid in its tracks, but it could make buying the company more expensive or force Musk to the negotiating table with the board. https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/15/tech/twitter-elon-musk-poison-pill/index.html
‘Crazy Elon’ Musk making major push in Twitter bid — but now he’s facing federal heat https://nypost.com/2022/04/16/elon-is-crazy-like-a-musk-but-hes-facing-federal-heat/
“…but he (Elon Musk) keeps taking on the woke corporate status quo (and the SEC, which he called “bastards” last week), something that I understand has riled up Dems who at least for now control Congress and thus the various federal regulatory agencies.
Are they looking to derail Elon from owning maybe the most important social-media platform on the planet? Are they afraid he might reinstate Donald Trump on Twitter, the politician the left hates even more than Vladimir Putin? Are they worried conservative voices might get equal billing as those on the left with Elon running the show?
You know the answers to those questions, so you shouldn’t be surprised Crazy Elon is in the crosshairs.”
The amount of data Elon Musk would have access to if he privatized Twitter ‘cannot be compared to anything that has ever existed’: report https://news.yahoo.com/amount-data-elon-musk-access-234826338.html
7AM MDT, tomorrow morning, 18th
Elon Musk Says He Could Make “Catgirl” Sex Robots If He Wanted To https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-catgirl-robots
“When the World Is at the Whim of One Billionaire : How Elon Musk is asserting his influence through stakeholder capitalism.” (NYT 4/18/22) https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/18/podcasts/elon-musk-twitter.html
Inside Elon Musk’s mystery plan for Texas (E&E News 5/10/22) https://www.eenews.net/articles/inside-elon-musks-mystery-plan-for-texas/
Elon Musk says Twitter banning Trump was “morally wrong and flat-out stupid” : Musk confirms he would reverse Trump’s Twitter ban if he completes acquisition. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/05/elon-musk-would-let-trump-back-on-twitter-says-ban-was-morally-wrong/
In a tweet last night, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO pointed to a media statement from Russian space chief Dmitry Rogozin. The statement, which has been picked up by the Russian media, accuses Musk of providing SpaceX’s Starlink internet equipment to the Azov Special Operations Detachment, a part of the Ukrainian military that’s been credibly linked to neo-Nazi movements — an ugly situation that Russia has cited as part of its justification for it widely-condemned invasion of its neighbor.
In the statement, Rogozin broadsided Musk for “supplying the fascist forces in Ukraine with military communication equipment” and demanded that he “answer in an adult way” in spite of his desire to “play the fool.”
In a followup tweet, Musk said in a probable joke that if he dies “under mysterious circumstances, it’s been nice knowin ya.” https://futurism.com/the-byte/musk-rogozin-threat
Elon Musk said he’s putting his $44 billion takeover of Twitter “temporarily on hold,” saying that he wants more details about how many of the social platform’s accounts are bogus or spam.
The Tesla and SpaceX mogul said he needs to make sure the fake accounts “do indeed represent less than 5%” of Twitter’s users, as the company has estimated.
Musk tweeted about putting the massive deal on hold early Friday, sharing a recent Reuters news story about the takeover. He later added a reply stating, “Still committed to acquisition.” https://www.npr.org/2022/05/13/1098741154/elon-musk-twitter-deal-hold-pause
The question of fake Twitter accounts has to do with how the company tracks the number of “monetizable daily active usage or users” — essentially, the accounts it shows ads to, when people or organizations access Twitter on any given day.
According to new research: A surprising number of websites are collecting some or all of your data as you type it into a digital form. https://homes.esat.kuleuven.be/~asenol/leaky-forms/
Elon Tells Twitter: Prove That Bots Aren’t a Big Deal, or I Sink This Buyout
The billionaire said on Tuesday that the deal to buy Twitter “cannot move forward” until the company proves that bots are less than 5% of users. https://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-twitter-tesla-deal-bots-ceo-cant-go-forward-1848935698
Twitter board says it will ‘enforce the merger agreement’ despite Elon Musk’s latest move (5/18/22) https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/17/tech/twitter-board-elon-musk-reliable-sources/index.html
“Elon Musk has lost $49 billion since first offering to buy Twitter for $44 billion” https://fortune.com/2022/05/19/elon-musk-net-worth-fall-49-billion-since-offering-to-buy-twitter/
“…The fall in Tesla stock came alongside a wider market tumble, which saw the S&P 500 drop 4% over the course of the day. But the electric vehicle maker also faced its own unique headwind Wednesday, as it was excluded from the S&P sustainability ESG index due in part to claims of racial discrimination and poor working conditions at Tesla’s California factory.
Musk took to Twitter saying “ESG is a scam,” adding that S&P had “lost their credibility” and he would be switching his political support from Democrat to Republican.”
Elon Musk@elonmusk 12:44 PM · May 18, 2022
“In the past I voted Democrat, because they were (mostly) the kindness party.
But they have become the party of division & hate, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican.
Now, watch their dirty tricks campaign against me unfold …”
(Fox News): “The Tesla CEO provided some insight into the reasoning for his political switch, claiming that Democrats aren’t necessarily controlled by the people but by special interests.
“The issue here is that the Democrat Party is overly controlled by the unions and by the trial lawyers – particularly the class action lawyers,” he explained.” https://www.foxnews.com/media/elon-musk-lights-twitter-announcement-hell-vote-republican-next-election