Business

Tesla Blamed Owners For Parts It Knew Were Defective

Reuters reports: Records and interviews reveal for the first time that the automaker has long known far more about the frequency and extent of the defects than it has disclosed to consumers and safety regulators. The documents, dated between 2016 and 2022, include repair reports from Tesla service centers globally; analyses and data reviews by engineers on parts with high …

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“Rioter Central” Platform Parler To Relaunch In 2024

NBC News reports: Parler, one of the Trump-era social media apps that featured little content moderation and became popular among conservatives, has been sold again and is planning for a relaunch early next year ahead of the 2024 presidential election, its new owners said Monday. The app, known for its use by participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, will …

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High Lead Levels Found At Ecuador Applesauce Plant

The Washington Post reports: A U.S. inspection of a plant in Ecuador that manufactured pouches of contaminated applesauce linked to at least 125 cases of suspected lead poisoning in children found “extremely high” levels of the metal in a key ingredient: cinnamon. The Food and Drug Administration said Monday that samples of cinnamon from the plant that were tested contained …

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Apple Halts Sales Of Apple Watches In Patent Dispute

CNET reports: Apple will pause sales of its Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 smartwatches in the US this month as the result of an ongoing legal battle with health tech company Masimo. The US International Trade Commission, the federal agency that handles trade-related mandates, previously issued an order that would prohibit Apple from importing the Series 9 and …

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Crypto Moguls Raise $78M To Influence 2024 Election

Politico reports: A trio of super PACs backed by cryptocurrency executives and investors said Monday that they’ve raised $78 million as part of a major new push to influence the 2024 elections. The campaign, which has support from venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz, U.S. crypto exchange Coinbase and Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, marks of a revival of the digital asset …

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Target Shoppers Fume Over New Self-Checkout Limit

The Messenger reports: Target’s new self-checkout policy has been met with criticism online, as customers complain that the 10-items-or-less limit is creating problems due to the store’s lack of staff. When this new policy was introduced in late November, John Mulligan, chief operations officer at Target, said it was meant to create shorter wait times for customers. However, for some, …

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Attacks Spur BP To Pause Shipments Through Red Sea

CNN Business reports: BP said Monday that it would pause all shipments through the Red Sea because of increased attacks on vessels by Houthi militants in Yemen. “In light of the deteriorating security situation for shipping in the Red Sea, BP has decided to temporarily pause all transits through the Red Sea,” the company said in a statement. “We will …

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Feds Fine Southwest Record $140M For 2022 Meltdown

The New York Times reports: The Transportation Department on Monday announced a $140 million fine against Southwest Airlines over a meltdown last winter that disrupted travel for about two million people during the holiday season. Of the $140 million, Southwest Airlines will pay $35 million to the federal government. For the remaining amount, the department is giving the airline credit …

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Musk’s Mommy Is “Furious” About FCC Subsidy Snub

Mediaite reports: Maye Musk, the mother of billionaire X/Twitter owner Elon Musk, complained to President Joe Biden on Wednesday after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) opted not to give Musk’s Starlink nearly $900 million in government subsidies. After FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr protested the decision and accused his agency of joining a “growing list of federal agencies engaging in the …

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FCC Won’t Reinstate $900M Subsidy For Musk’s SpaceX

Reuters reports: The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday reaffirmed its 2022 decision to deny SpaceX satellite internet unit Starlink $885.5 million in rural broadband subsidies. The FCC said the decision impacting Elon Musk’s space company was based on Starlink’s failure to meet basic program requirements and that Starlink could not demonstrate it could deliver promised service after SpaceX had …

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Tesla Recalls Two Million Vehicles For Autopilot Fix

The Washington Post reports: Tesla is recalling more than 2 million vehicles to fix Autopilot systems that U.S. safety regulators determined did not have enough controls to prevent misuse. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Tesla’s method of ensuring drivers are still paying attention while the partially automated system is activated is “insufficient.” The recall comes after a years-long …

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Bloomberg: Twitter Ad Sales Down $1.5B Over 2022

Bloomberg News reports: Elon Musk’s X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, is on track to bring in roughly $2.5 billion in advertising revenue in 2023 — a significant slump from prior years, according to people familiar with the matter. X generated a little more than $600 million in advertising revenue in each of the first three quarters of …

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Tesla Again Vows To Sue Buyers Who Resell Cybertruck

Ars Technica reports: Tesla has revived a contract clause that says the electric carmaker could sue Cybertruck buyers for $50,000 or more if they resell during their first year of ownership. As we reported a month ago, the Cybertruck-only clause was added to the public version of Tesla’s Motor Vehicle Order Agreement Terms & Conditions and then deleted after the …

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Musk Appeals To Supreme Court In Tesla Tweets Case

Ars Technica reports: Elon Musk yesterday appealed to the Supreme Court in a last-ditch effort to terminate his settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Musk has claimed he was coerced into the deal with the SEC and that it violates his free speech rights, but the settlement has been upheld by every court that’s reviewed it so far. In …

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McDonald’s Targets Starbucks With Spinoff Chain

CBS News reports: McDonald’s said it is opening a new chain called CosMc’s that will focus on coffee and other drinks, a step that is viewed as a challenge to Starbucks and Dunkin’ as the fast-food giant seeks to boost afternoon sales. The company opened its first CosMc’s location in Illinois on Thursday. The rationale for the restaurant stems for …

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Authorities Warns Of New Holiday Gift Card Scam

The New York Daily News reports: According to authorities who uncovered the scheme during their “Operation Bad Elf” crackdown, a shocking number of gift cards were found to have been tampered with. Police say thieves have been stealing gift cards, replacing the barcodes with their own, and putting them back on the shelves. “When the consumer goes to check out, …

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Retail Group Retracts “Organized Shoplifting” Claim

The New York Times reports: A national lobbying group has retracted its startling estimate that “organized retail crime” was responsible for nearly half the $94.5 billion in store merchandise that disappeared in 2021, a figure that helped amplify claims that the United States was experiencing a nationwide wave of shoplifting. The group, the National Retail Federation, edited that claim last …

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Ex-Twitter Exec’s Lawsuit: I Was Fired For Objecting To Musk Ending Sharing Our Info With Law Enforcement

Reuters reports: A former executive at Twitter Inc, now called X Corp, has filed a lawsuit claiming he was fired after Elon Musk acquired the company for objecting to budget cuts that would prevent the company from complying with a U.S. government settlement over its security practices. Alan Rosa, who was Twitter’s global head of information security, filed the lawsuit …

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UK May Require “AI Face Scan” To View Online Porn

Ars Technica reports: AI face detection now counts among the tools that could be used to help adult sites effectively estimate UK user ages and block minors from accessing pornography, the UK’s Office of Communications said in a press release on Tuesday. The only foreseeable problem, Ofcom noted: There’s little evidence that the AI method of age estimation will be …

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Factory Plans To Produce 10,000 “Humanoid Robots”

Axios reports: A factory planning to pump out 10,000 two-legged robots a year is taking shape in Salem, Oregon — the better to help Amazon and other giant companies with dangerous hauling, lifting and moving. Agility Robotics says that its RoboFab manufacturing facility will be the first to mass-produce humanoid robots, which could be nimbler and more versatile than their …

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