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Elon Musk lays out his vision for Tesla's future at the company's Investor Day 2023
CEO Elon Musk announced his "Master Plan part 3" at Investor Day 2023, detailing the company's ambitions at establishing a sustainable electric economy.
250,000 car deliveries in one quarter can't save Tesla from dwindling revenue
Tesla announced on Wednesday that automotive revenue declined by more than 13 percent following last quarter's record-breaking sales, despite ending the quarter with "the highest vehicle production month" in company history.
HQ Trivia makes a surprise return
HQ Trivia -- the once-popular mobile game that turned your random knowledge into a few bucks -- abruptly shut down earlier this year after an investment deal fell through. As such, players that still had the app on their phones were probably surprised to receive a push notification last night alerting them to the start of a new broadcast. HQ Trivia, it seems, is back. For now, at least, as the hows and whys are unclear -- although the game's founder did say last month he was searching for new investment. All we know, as reported by The Wall Street Journal, is that an anonymous investor has stumped up the cash to get the game, dubbed "Chapter Two" back on its feet. Games will be held every day at 9pm ET, apparently, and each game this week will include a donation towards coronavirus-related efforts -- a nice gesture that suggests there might be big money behind the new push. Who knows how long it'll be around for, but it's certainly something to do while you're stuck indoors.
Google thwarts shareholder challenge to its China search plans
If investors and employees were hoping to prompt cultural change at Alphabet during the company's shareholder meeting, they were likely disappointed. Voters at the meeting rejected all shareholder proposals, including a resolution that would have required a human rights impact assessment before Google went forward with a censored Chinese search engine. Backers like Azzad Asset Management were concerned China could "weaponize" search data to expand mass surveillance and other human rights abuses.
Investment firm sues Uber's Kalanick to oust him from board
It has been only a couple of days since Uber co-founder Garrett Camp promised that former CEO Travis Kalanick would not be coming back to the company as CEO. Now Benchmark Capital, an early investor with a seat on Uber's board, is suing Kalanick for fraud. The complaint seeks to invalidate an earlier vote to expand the board with three seats, one of which Kalanick assigned himself to after stepping down as CEO. Benchmark claims that it would never have voted for the board expansion in June of last year had it known of Kalanick's "gross mismanagement and other misconduct at Uber."
Activist investor wants to replace all Yahoo's directors
In many ways, Yahoo is the internet's metaphorical grandparent. We don't visit nearly enough, and we're all avoiding thinking about what might happen to it. Well, it looks like an equally metaphorical rich Aunt is stepping in and taking care of that for us. The WSJ reports that "activist investor" Starboard Value LP is coming good on an earlier threat of getting rid of Yahoo's existing directors, and putting forward nine new ones, of its choosing, in their place.
Brad McQuaid looks for 'angel investors' for Pantheon
With less than half the funds raised for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen and only eight days to go in his Kickstarter campaign, Visionary Realms CEO Brad McQuaid appears to be looking for alternate sources of funding for the game. "If anyone knows an angel investor or other type of investor who might be interested in investing in [Visionary Realms], please let me know," McQuaid tweeted on Wednesday. Even with this plea, McQuaid said that he and his team would not abandon the project even if the Kickstarter goal isn't met: "NOT giving up on [Kickstarter]! People are super excited about Pantheon, as are we. This game is going to be developed one way or another! Whether we meet [the Kickstarter goal] or not, we will have all of the [Kickstarter] info on our site and the ability to pledge there. Pantheon has amazing momentum behind it right now, and we're going to keep it that way!"
Google forms the Glass Collective to invest in eye technology entrepreneurs
Google believes that it's naive to build a wearable technology like Google Glass and expect successful businesses to simply materialize from thin air; those firms will need a financial nudge, too. Accordingly, Google is forming the Glass Collective to invest in projects centering on its eyewear. The partnership will see Google Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers unite on seed funding for those US-based startups which show promise in areas like communication and navigation. The group hasn't named any targets for its cash, but it's obviously very early days for both Glass and the Collective -- Google needs more developers in the field before it can shower companies with support. Update: According to TechCrunch, Google mentioned during the event that it hopes to get Glass hardware into developers hands "in the next month." Since it started preregistering folks at last year's I/O event, we'd also hope they will arrive in time for this year's Google I/O and inevitable skydive-to-stage live stream.
Liveblog of Apple 4Q 2012 earnings call
Today's the day for Apple's fourth-quarter 2012 earnings call. We'll be liveblogging the event, providing commentary on the event as it occurs. The fun starts at 5 PM ET sharp. Apple will be providing an audio stream of the earnings call, and the recording will be available for two weeks after.
Yahoo starts selling half of its Alibaba stake as promised, sends $3.65 billion to giddy shareholders
Anyone who's been holding on to Yahoo shares through thick and thin is about to reap the rewards of that patience. As the company promised, it's starting to sell back half its stake in Alibaba, closing the first stage of the deal with the equivalent of $7.6 billion in pure revenue. The struggling search and content firm 'only' pockets a net $4.3 billion after taxes and other overhead costs, but it won't even see that much in its bank account: it's purposefully sending $3.65 billion of that money to shareholders, both to inspire new confidence and (unofficially) to head off activist investors like Dan Loeb that might otherwise want a coup d'état. If share owners plan on using the second stage of the sale to fund a vacation to Maui, though, they'll need to wait. Yahoo's deal prevents it from selling half of its remaining 23 percent stake unless Alibaba files for an initial public offering, and there's no guarantee that investors will see another dime of the proceeds.
Beats buyout of MOG worth $14 million, splits company not-so-neatly into two
More official details are emerging from Beats Electronics' acquisition of MOG, and they paint a considerably messier picture of the deal than we saw just a day ago. HTC (which has a big stake in Beats) has confirmed that the move into streaming music was worth $14 million -- not a whole lot considering that MOG had raised $33 million through its entire independent lifetime. The low price might come as the result of Beats being very surgical with its deal. The Jimmy Iovine- and Dr. Dre-founded outfit is taking control of the core audio service as a separately-managed company, while the ad and music blog components are mostly left untouched. MOG's loss of independence is coming on a very ignominious note as a result, but it could be good news for subscribers anxious about the service's future as well as HTC phone owners wondering just where Sense UI's Beats integration might go next.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says mobile apps the top focus, we say it's about time
Facebook has been making a lot of promises during a tour to drum up interest in its ever-nearing IPO, but the one gadget-heads have been wanting to hear the most, a commitment to its mobile apps, has been elusive -- until now. Everyone's favorite hooded CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, is telling investors in his home 'burg of the San Francisco Bay that mobile is front and center in his company's plans. We're hoping that means new app features, although Zuck is likely referring to money-making as well: shareholders are jittery knowing that Facebook makes most of its money on web ads that it's not running on smartphones and tablets. Paid titles in App Center will go a long way towards scratching that itch, mind you. As for us, we'll just be happy if Facebook takes less than a year and a half to produce a major tablet app.
HP shareholders ask why company isn't more like Apple
Meg Whitman, CEO of HP, had to defend herself against Apple during HP's annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday, says a report from AppleInsider. More than one investor mentioned Apple's innovation and asked HP whether it is equally innovative. Another individual asked Whitman why HP didn't have retail stores like Apple which lets customers get a computer on the spot and not wait three weeks for a shipment. Whitman said HP was founded on the "power of innovation" and created "disruptive technology" back in the day, but admitted the company recently has favored incremental evolution. She says HP has "to place some bets on disruptive or revolutionary innovation." Whitman is in a tough spot as the head of a struggling company. She took over after the company kicked out CEO Mark Hurd and then removed Léo Apotheker from the CEO position, following his suggestion that HP might spin off its PC business.
Liveblogging Apple's 'cash balance' conference call
Apple's already told us exactly what to expect on this so-called 'cash balance' conference call, but what they hey -- we'll be liveblogging it just in case Appel slips in that "one more thing." You know, that "thing" about spending a few billion on an Apple-shaped spacecraft for kicks and giggles. The call will get underway at 9AM ET, and we'll have quotes from CEO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer, as well as any juicy questions from the media. March 19, 2012 9:00 AM EDT
Fisker Karma battery poses 'potential safety issue' for about 50 autos, fix already in tow
Fisker has seen its fair share of delays on its Karma EV in the past, and now ''fewer than 50" of the vehicles -- which if you'll recall, cost over $100K -- are at risk for battery malfunction. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, A123 (the company which supplies the car's power pack) has issued a memo to customers and stakeholders, noting that "in rare circumstances" the car's batts could short-circuit due to coolant leakage from "misaligned hose clamps." A123 further explained that's already begun repairing the Karma's in question, and doesn't expect to experience to strain its relationship with Fisker due to the problem. Notably, Bloomberg also reports that 25 of the automobiles get assembled daily, with about 225 currently en-route to showroom floors -- a far cry from the company's earlier estimates for the 2011 production year. You'll find A123's full PDF memo at the source link below.
Selena Gomez talks tech with TUAW
Before 2011, you probably only knew who Selena Gomez was if you had teenagers or younger children. But this year the young woman who plays Alex on Disney's Emmy Award-winning Wizards of Waverly Place has made her way into the mainstream spotlight. In the last twelve months she's starred in her second feature film, been hounded endlessly by paparazzi because she's dating one of music's biggest stars, was active in her role as a UNICEF ambassador, released (with her band) her third studio album while touring around the globe with them, and hosted the EMAs. And almost as if she's trying to squeeze everything possible into this year, she'll be working until the stroke of midnight on December 31st in New York where she'll be performing at MTV's live New Year's Eve special. Disney has also announced that the series finale of Wizards of Waverly Place will air in early January. All that would be a lot for anyone, yet there's still one more thing that Selena has done this year. This past November the 19-year-old pop star from Texas also became a tech venture capitalist. Along with CrossCut Ventures and a group of ten other seasoned investors, she took part in a first round of funding for the iPhone and Android app Postcard on the Run. The app, which I reviewed a few days ago, lets users turn any digital image on their iPhone into a physical postcard that can be instantly sent to anyone in the world. I've recently been finishing up a book on the cult of celebrity in America (and for research, reading way more Daily Mail gossip than could possibly be considered healthy), so when I saw Selena Gomez's name pop up on one of my tech news feeds instead my celebrity news feeds, I was taken aback. The November announcement said that Selena had become an investor in an iPhone app. But for the life of me I couldn't figure out why a nineteen year old who has so much other stuff going for her right now felt the need to do something so -- well, compared to all she's done -- so relatively small; not to mention something most others in the tech industry don't do until their late 20s or early 30s. Don't get me wrong, Postcard on the Run is a very good app. It's actually one of my favorites. But that's all it is -- a single app. And if you're doing it for the money, why not invest in a bigger app, or a developer who has lots of apps? I mean, Ashton Kutcher I get. He's another celebrity who is also a prominent tech VC. But his strategy is fairly obvious. Lots of investments (not to mention endorsement deals with tech-friendly companies like Nikon). Big portfolio. Big profits. But a single app with a first time developer? And at 19? So I contacted Selena's representatives and she agreed to an interview with me early last week. What I found out was something all of us reading this are familiar with. It's why some of us are developers and all of us are users. You get into it because you love the product. Because you can't stop talking about it and you want to be part of it -- any way you can. That's exactly what happened to Selena. In September she was stuck on her tour bus between performances; she came across Postcard on the Run in the App Store and started sending postcards with it. "I have my iPhone with my all the time that's why I think Postcard on the Run is such a great concept. The one thing people have with them at all times is their phone and the app makes it so easy to send cards and keep in touch with people in a more personal way," she tells me. "I got excited about something and wanted to be a part of it." At first I think "what's wrong with email?" but then, perhaps channeling a bit of my mother, I do have to admit a physical note is more personal than an electronic one. I ask Selena if she thinks there's room for both traditional and electronic greetings in the future? Does one mean more to her than another? "I really think it can be a combination of both," she says. "There's something really nice and special about sending and receiving mail the old fashioned way. Who doesn't like getting things in the mail?" A Twitter fan base of 9 million. Check. 25 million "Likes" on Facebook. Check. Likes to wait for something in the mail? Uh, check. Who knew? After deciding she wanted to get involved it was time to contact the app's creator, Josh Brooks. I ask her if Josh thought someone was playing a prank on him at first. I mean, if I got an email from "Selena Gomez" saying she wanted to help any way she could on my next book project, I wouldn't take it too seriously. She laughs at my question, but shrugs off the suggestion. "I actually talked to my stepdad about it and he and I reached out to Josh directly," she says. "But yeah, Josh was pretty excited." For his part, Josh tells me that he didn't disbelieve the email, but he did admit to using Google for what it does best. "And so I checked it out and everything made sense. It was way interesting and we had a couple more emails and then hopped on the phone." When asked how long it took from that first email to the time she officially came on board Selena says, "Not very long at all. I guess it took three or four weeks." But the timing turned out to be serendipitous. Before Selena contacted Josh, he already had a number of angel investors committed along with CrossCut Ventures, and they were looking to finish up the financing so he could take the app further. Though Selena nor Josh are releasing individual investment numbers, the closing round that Selena invested in was $750,000. I asked Selena why so many celebrities seem to be getting into tech investing. From an app developer's standpoint, it's good press. But besides financial incentive, is there any other reason for the celebrity to do it? "I can't speak for others but for me, having grown up in the 'digital age' it feels like a natural," she says. "I'm always on the go, and the one thing always with me is my phone and I'm excited about being part of a technology that helps people stay in touch in a real way. Postcard on the Run's technology has the added benefit of working in conjunction with projects or initiatives I'm working on directly." As she tells me about the features of the app, you can tell her love for Postcard on the Run is clear. "I genuinely like [POTR's] approach to the online/offline space. It's super simple -- that's key." Like anyone else, I understand liking a product and wanting to get involved, but I ask Selena what an actress and singer could bring to an iPhone app? Especially one that had it's territory invaded by Apple and its Cards app. I mean, she's already conquered television, movies, and music. Did she really feel like she needed another challenge? But this is where she gets back to that something no one can argue with: "I don't think it's as much about taking on Cupertino, but creating a product that people will use, love and share." In other words, worry about the product, not the competition. As for what she can contribute, Selena doesn't pretend to be a Silicon Valley wiz or tech titan. She openly admits that -- at least in the app world -- she's still a fresh face. "This world is somewhat new to me, but Josh and I have a really comfortable relationship. We're constantly in touch regarding everything from product updates to looking at new ways to incorporate Postcard on the Run into other projects and campaigns. More than anything, at least for now, our main goal is build the profile of the company." And with star power like Selena's, building the profile of the company shouldn't be much of a problem. I ask her how her name recognition has affected download numbers, to which she modestly replies, "There's been a jump." When I asked others who know Selena what she is really like I got answers of "great person," "super sweet," "family oriented," and "She's one of the most warm individuals at her level that I've ever met." Add "humble" to that list too. So I ask Josh how much Selena's involvement has helped. "Selena's strength is not only her ability to reach a younger audience, but it's also to speak to just a different culture that is so digitally friendly. I almost look at her as an ambassador to Postcard on the Run as she can help carry our voice to a different audience," he tells me. "When she makes an announcement about Postcard on the Run you see [download] spikes that are ridiculous. It's out of control. It's tens of thousands of downloads as a result of her supporting or pushing out something cool that's happening with Postcard on the Run. People really want to engage with her and she has fun doing it." There's the boastfulness I was looking for. But Josh, who has a deep history in the talent and music industry, is also earnest in his reply about Selena's role as a creative advisor as well. "If you're between the ages of 16 and 22 your skill sets are just different than ours. She personifies this really interesting, multi-thread of a talent like no other. She's extremely real and genuine about how she sees this stuff working." For now, Selena is happy working to help make Postcard on the Run a success and told me she has no other plans for any other app investments at the moment. She'll be busy performing and promoting well into 2012. However, if you're hoping to get her attention with your app she did tell me she generally likes word games and photo apps. Just make sure those apps are built out of a passion and not solely for profits. Note: Love Selena? Love postcards? Check back the Tuesday after Christmas for a sweet promotion and giveaway from Selena, Postcard on the Run, and TUAW!
Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo being replaced to soothe frustrated investors?
Well, here's a surprise: Reuters says Nokia might consider replacing CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo in order to please unhappy shareholders who don't see the cellphone giant effectively competing in the smartphone market. The report is mostly based on analyst chatter and doesn't provide any hard sources, but we've certainly seen analysts swarm around blood in the water like this in the past, so it's not totally out of the question -- especially given core concerns about Symbian^3 delays, stagnant profit growth, and (uh oh) competing against the iPhone. What's more, OPK pledged to build up Nokia's US presence when he took over, and he's obviously failed to deliver on that promise -- US marketshare has fallen from 20 percent to 7 percent, prompting one analyst quoted in the Reuters piece to wonder if "Nokia really has the desire to fix the problem." Ouch. That's a lot of big questions with no easy answers -- OPK is scheduled to speak to shareholders next week, we'll see what he has to say.
TUAW Liveblog: Apple Q2 2010 Earnings Call
The fun is just beginning... listen along here. <a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=ee068590cb" >TUAW Q2 2010 Results Liveblog</a>
Adobe says iPhone / iPad adoption and 'alternative technologies' (cough, HTML5) could harm its business
Adobe might continue to crow about Flash and its importance on both the desktop and mobile devices, but there's no lying to investors, and the company is pretty blunt about the threat of the iPhone and iPad in the end-of-quarter Form 10-Q it just filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission: it flatly says that "to the extent new releases of operating systems or other third-party products, platforms or devices, such as the Apple iPhone or iPad, make it more difficult for our products to perform, and our customers are persuaded to use alternative technologies, our business could be harmed." Now, Adobe has to make doom-and-gloom statements in its SEC filings -- it also says that slowing PC sales or a failure to keep up with desktop OS development could harm its business -- but the timing is crazy here, since just yesterday Apple changed the iPhone OS 4 SDK agreement to block devs from using the upcoming Flash CS5 iPhone cross-compiler to build iPhone apps. What's more, Apple's also using HTML5 for its new iAd platform, which could potentially undo Flash's stranglehold on online advertising as well. Yeah, we'd say all that plus the recent push for HTML5 video across the web -- and from Microsoft -- could harm Adobe's business just a little. Better hope that final version of Flash Player 10.1 is everything we'd hoped and dreamed of, because Adobe's going to have to make a real stand here.
Palm posts $22m Q3 loss, says it liked its chances against Droid had Verizon launch been sooner
Palm gave us a heads-up back in late February that its upcoming earnings report wouldn't exactly be cause for celebration, and today the news has become official: the outfit recorded a net loss of $22 million during its fiscal Q3, which still looks rosy compared to the $98 million loss it suffered this quarter a year ago. All told, the firm shipped 960,000 smartphones in the period, which represents a 23 percent uptick from Q2 2010 and a nearly 300 percent increase compared to this quarter in 2009. Unfortunately, sell-through wasn't exactly stellar, with just 408,000 units changing hands -- that's a 29 percent decline from last quarter and a 15 percent drop year-over-year. We get the impression that it's waiting for carriers to get down to replenishment levels, but it's hard to say when that'll happen. Jon Rubinstein, Palm's chairman and CEO, was obviously not thrilled about the news, but he's mirroring statements made to employees just over a fortnight ago with this quote: "Our recent underperformance has been very disappointing, but the potential for Palm remains strong. The work we're doing to improve sales is having an impact, we're making great progress on future products, and we're looking forward to upcoming launches with new carrier partners. Most importantly, we have built a unique and highly differentiated platform in webOS, which will provide us with a considerable - and growing - advantage as we move forward." We're listening into the earnings call right now, and so far we've heard a few choice quotes. Jon mentioned that Palm has "aggressive roadmaps on the software front that we're working on," and that there were "no changes to our planned carrier launches." We'll let you know if he introduces the Pixi 2 or anything. Update: The call's over. PreCentral points out a choice quote from Rubinstein: We had an arrangement with Sprint that when we launched with Sprint that they would invest in marketing and carry the product and for that they would get an exclusive for a period of time. That really determined when we could do our launch at Verizon. I agree with your premise that if we could have launched at Verizon earlier, prior to Droid, that we would have gotten the attention that the Droid got and since I believe that we have a better product, I think we would have even done better. In other words, Palm -- regardless of Verizon's positioning -- feels like the Pre Plus could've been a legitimate contender as a halo phone for the carrier had it been able to launch sooner, though that opportunity has obviously long since passed. We're not so sure we agree that the Droid and the Pre Plus play in quite the same space, but if nothing else, we like the chutzpah -- now it's time to deliver some new hardware.
