Elon Musk all the time, Google layoffs, and Saudi Arabia's troubled megacity: The week's most popular stories
Tesla’s Elon Musk is richer than Amazon’s Jeff Bezos — again
After playing a game of leap frog with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg earlier this month, Elon Musk’s net worth has surpassed Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s own immense wealth.
Google is laying off hundreds as it moves ‘Core’ jobs abroad
Google laid off at least 200 staffers on its “Core” team in California, CNBC reported Wednesday. Some of those jobs are relocating to its offices in India and Mexico, the outlet said.
Saudi Arabia is building a megacity in the desert. It’s not going well
Over the last several years, Saudi Arabia has been working on a massive infrastructure project that its leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (or MBS) hopes will transform the Kingdom and its relationship with the outside world. The Neom project is a series of developments that are currently under construction in the nation’s Tabuk region. Saudi leaders hope the project will attract foreign visitors while also helping to modernize the country through innovative technological development and applications.
MicroStrategy stock plunges after it lost $53 million and said it will buy more Bitcoin
MicroStrategy reported a net loss of $53.1 million, or 3.09 a share, in its first-quarter earnings report but plans to buy more Bitcoin later in the year. Following the news, the stock of the business analytics software company plunged over 16% in the afternoon.
Elon Musk laid off Tesla’s Supercharger team. Here’s what that means and why it matters
Tesla’s sudden move to lay off most of its Supercharger division shocked the electric vehicle industry, halted construction plans, and left pretty much anyone paying attention baffled.
Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet terminals keep working in places they’re not supposed to
Starlink satellite internet terminals are reportedly still operating in unlicensed places, despite the company’s warning last month that the service would be shut down by May 1 in those areas.
Elon Musk’s California bashing is costing Tesla sales
After years of Tesla Elon Musk bashing California, it seems that residents have had enough — and they’re ditching Tesla.
The Supreme Court rejected Elon Musk’s challenge to the SEC’s ‘muzzle’ on his tweets
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s challenge to what he has called a “government-imposed muzzle” on his tweeting privileges.
A Tesla employee slept in his car and showered at the factory to work more. He got laid off
Tesla laid off at least 10% of its workforce earlier this month, and in typical Tesla fashion, the Texas-based automaker made sure the layoffs were done in an organized fashion with plenty of communication and a clearly defined strategy. Just kidding. The layoffs were so poorly executed that security was forced to scan employees’ badges at the door to figure out who had been laid off. And, apparently, that included a guy who had taken to sleeping in his car and showering at the factory so he could work longer hours.
Hertz is ditching even more electric cars
Hertz is ditching more of its fleet of electric vehicles, which it says are unreliable and more expensive than gas-guzzlers, as it reports a $392 million loss for the first quarter of 2024.
Florida and Texas have a surging supply of houses — but people aren’t buying
Florida and Texas are getting inundated with new houses, which is stagnating price growth. But that doesn’t mean people are buying.
An Ivy League school just announced its first AI master’s degree
As tech companies race to build the world’s leading generative artificial intelligence technologies, they’re choosing from a very small talent pool. The pickings are so slim that staffers at ChatGPT-maker OpenAI have a median salary of nearly $1 million.
T-Mobile just bought Mint Mobile for $1.3 billion — and Ryan Reynolds could clear a cool $300 million
T-Mobile officially finalized the $1.35 billion deal to acquire Mint Mobile, according to a press release from the telecom company. The deal was first announced in March 2023 but had to clear regulatory approval.
Electric cars are dying fast and the repair industry is lagging
When you were a kid and you had a little radio control car that you zoomed around the kitchen floor or built jumps for in the back yard, did you throw it away when the batteries died? For many owners of early electric vehicles from a decade or more ago, that seems to be the answer to electrical issues. If your 2012 Tesla Model S shits the bed, should you throw it to the scrappers, or invest some time and money and get it back on the road? Unfortunately, the demand for mechanics who can take apart the battery pack and repair a dead cell has vastly outstripped supply.
Why do planes have those curved winglets?
Millions of consumers trust airlines with their lives each day, but few passengers understand how these massive flying tubes stay airborne and why they look the way they do. I don’t remember jets having winglets when I was a kid, but on a recent work trip I took notice of the winglets on all the planes at the airport. Winglets are the vertical tips at the end of a plane’s wing, and they serve a few important functions.
Biden is facing political pressure to make gas more expensive
Cheap gas is becoming politically expensive for President Joe Biden during a challenging election year. Pressure is building on Biden to ramp up sanctions enforcement against Russia, Iran, and Venezuela, Bloomberg reports — three major oil producers whose supplies have tamped down rising crude prices despite OPEC production cuts and a U.S. production glut.
The owner of the ship that struck Baltimore’s Key Bridge is being sued — again
A Baltimore publisher is suing the owner and operator of the DALI, the cargo ship responsible for the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse on March 26.
You actually shouldn’t use your face or thumb to unlock your phone. Here’s why
Last week, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in California released a ruling that concluded state highway police were acting lawfully when they forcibly unlocked a suspect’s phone using their fingerprint. You probably didn’t hear about it. The case didn’t get a lot of coverage, especially because the courts weren’t giving a blanket green light for every cop to shove your thumb to your screen during an arrest. But it’s another toll of the warning bell that reminds you to not trust biometrics to keep your phone’s sensitive info private. In many cases, especially if you think you might interact with the police (at a protest, for example), you should seriously consider turning off biometrics on your phone entirely.
Netflix and other streamers can charge you forever. Here’s how
Millions of Americans pay for Netflix, doling out anywhere from $6.99 to $22.99 a month. It’s a common belief that you can get out of recurring charges like this by canceling your credit card. Netflix won’t be able to find you, and your account will just go away, right? You wouldn’t be crazy for believing it, but it’s a myth that canceling a credit card will stop your recurring charges.