Tag: Elon Musk

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Elon Musk bashes Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings, feels threatened by female character

Elon Musk is not a fan of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

The controversial Tesla CEO took to Twitter on Labour Day to slam the buzzworthy Prime Video series, claiming that creator J.R.R. Tolkien is “turning in his grave” over it.

“Almost every male character so far is a coward, a jerk or both. Only Galadriel is brave, smart and nice,” tweeted Musk.

He’s referring to the Elven warrior played by Morfyyd Clark, who some have taken issue with for being a tough warrior. In Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, set thousands of years later, Galadriel (Cate Blanchett) is portrayed as a more regal and serene character.

It should be noted, though, that only two episodes of The Rings of Power‘s eight-episode first season have been released so far, and Amazon is planning at least four more seasons. Therefore, it’s quite premature to already be getting upset about the show’s depiction of characters.

In recent years, Musk has also leaned into his edgelord “anti-woke” persona, so it’s not entirely surprising that a powerful female character would bother him so much. It’s also unclear how much of Musk’s comments are driven by his feud with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, whose Blue Origin spaceflight company is a direct competitor to Musk’s own Space X. Musk is so juvenile as to wrongfully call a man a pedophile over a wounded ego, so it certainly doesn’t seem like it would be beneath him to also insult The Rings of Power to slight Bezos.

Musk isn’t the only one who’s taken umbrage over The Rings of Power. Over the past week, people have been review bombing the series, largely due to racist backlash over people of colour among the cast. This has led Amazon to add a 72-hour delay on Prime Video user reviews.

Of course, there are completely valid reasons to dislike anything, The Rings of Power included, but people like Musk certainly don’t seem to have any. As beloved The Sandman writer Neil Gaiman tweeted in response to all of this, “Elon Musk doesn’t come to me for advice on how to fail to buy Twitter, and I don’t go to him for film, TV or literature criticism.”

Image credit: Amazon

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Elon Musk points to Twitter whistleblower’s allegations as another reason to drop acquisition

Elon Musk says allegations brought forward by former Twitter executive Peiter “Mudge” Zatko are another reason for his agreement to buy Twitter to be terminated.

A recent filing with the SEC, dated August 29th, states the allegations show Twitter breached six separate provisions, giving Musk the right to terminate the agreement.

You can read more about Zatko’s allegations here.

“The facts supporting these breaches, which were withheld from the Musk parties but known to Twitter as of the date of the merger agreement and at the time of the July 8 termination notice, provided additional bases to terminate the merger agreement as of that date and provide additional bases to terminate the merger agreement today” Musk’s legal team states in the document.

The August 29th document isn’t the first termination letter Musk’s team has filed to back out of the deal to buy Twitter. The first one, filed July 8th, is similar to the most recent letter, as pointed out by The Verge. Both letters contain accusations that Twitter misled the SEC, with the second one including Zatko’s allegations.

In response, Twitter states the August 29th letter is “invalid and wrongful under the agreement.”

“It is based solely on statements made by a third party that, as Twitter has previously stated, are riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies and lack important context. Contrary to the assertions in your letter, Twitter has breached none of its representations or obligations under the agreement.”

A Judiciary Committee will investigate Zatko’s explosive allegations on September 13th. 

Source: SEC Via: The Verge 

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Elon Musk to provide Neuralink progress update on Halloween

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is planning to show off the progress Neuralink has made on October 31st, which happens to be Halloween.

Musk tweeted about the progress update on August 22nd. This comes roughly two years after the company installed brain-machine interface implants in pigs, and a little over a year after the company showed off a video of a monkey playing Pong with its mind. We’re not entirely sure what Musk has up his sleeve this time, and beating something like a monkey playing Pong with its mind is going to be tough.

Back in February 2021, Musk said that Neuralink is awaiting FDA approval to initiate human trials. Back then, he said that if things go smoothly, the trials should begin at the end of the year, but that did not end up happening. It could be that Musk is finally ready to talk about or announce the initial human trials.

This comes only two days after Musk approached brain chip startup and Neuralink rival Synchron about a potential investment. The Stentrode is Synchron’s first operational device, and it is designed for patients with paralysis to control digital devices through thought.

It is currently unknown if the deal involves collaboration between the two companies or if Musk aims to extend his acquisition spree.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: @elonmusk, Via: CNET

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Tesla to increase price of FSD Beta in the U.S., Canada might follow

Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced yesterday, Sunday, August 21st, that the cost of the company’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta will increase on September 5th, 2022. “After wide release of FSD Beta 10.69.2, price of FSD will rise to $15k in North America on September 5th,” wrote Musk in a Tweet.

Musk added that those who order FSD before September 5th would only pay the current price, which is $12,000 USD, while those who order the software later would pay the increased $15,000 USD price. While it currently isn’t confirmed if the price hike will impact Canadian customers too, if it does, Canadians would have to pay a higher price than the current $12,800 CAD. The price of FSD Beta has gone up from $5,000 USD ($6,518 CAD) upon launch to $15,000 now, in multiple increments over the years.

Musk abolished Tesla’s PR (public relations) department back in 2020, so we aren’t able to confirm if the price hike will make its way to Canada.

Source: @elonmusk

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Judge orders Twitter’s former head of consumer product to hand over documents

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s legal battle with Twitter seems to be making progress.

Judge Kathleen St. Jude McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery ordered Twitter to comply with Musk’s lawyer’s motion requesting documents from 22 Twitter employees who presumably have information about how the company analyzes bot and spam accounts. McCormick decided that out of the 22 individuals, Twitter only has to “collect, review, and produce documents” from one individual — Kayvon Beykpour, former head of consumer product at Twitter, as shared by The Verge.

Beykpour joined Twitter in 2018 and was asked to leave earlier this year in May by CEO Parag Agrawal. He is likely to have information regarding the bot conundrum that Musk is looking for

Additionally, according to Insider, Musk’s lawyers also filed an additional confidential motion to compel earlier this week, and his team is looking to force Twitter into handing over more information about Twitter’s user data, and how the company collects and analyzes it.

The back and forth is part of a lawsuit that Twitter filed against Musk last month for backing out of his $44 billion Twitter acquisition deal.

“Musk refuses to honor his obligations to Twitter and its stockholders because the deal he signed no longer serves his personal interests,” said Twitter at the time. “Musk apparently believes that he — unlike every other party subject to Delaware contract law — is free to change his mind, trash the company, disrupt its operations, destroy stockholder value, and walk away.”

However, Musk emphasized that Twitter has failed to provide accurate information regarding the number of bots on the platform. Twitter says that spam bots comprise less than five percent of its total user base, whereas Musk argues otherwise, claiming that roughly 20 percent of the platform’s users are spam bots. 

Via: The Verge

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Musk’s Twitter deal should proceed as long as reliable proof that its userbase is real is provided

The ongoing saga between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Twitter continues.

In a tweet published last weekend, Musk states that the Twitter acquisition should proceed if the company can provide substantive proof that its userbase is real. “If it turns out that their SEC filings are materially false, then it should not,” Musk says.

Musk’s $44 billion USD (about $60 billion CAD) deal hinges on whether Twitter can provide the data and information necessary to provide an accurate look at how many fake and spam accounts are on the platform. This has been a prevalent contingency following the news of the acquisition in April. Musk is to take ownership of the company for $54.20 USD (roughly $69.60 CAD) per share in cash.

In July, Musk’s legal team wrote a letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In it, it says that Musk wishes to “make an independent assessment of the prevalence of fake or spam accounts on Twitter’s platform.” Musk attempts to gain proof that fake and spam accounts represent less than five percent. This ask from the Tesla CEO has not been fulfilled.

However, the Twitter Board commits to closing the deal and is pursuing legal action to ensure the acquisition closes.“We intend to close the transaction and enforce the merger agreement at the agreed price and terms,” Twitter said in an earlier statement.

“According to Musk, he — the billionaire founder of multiple companies, advised by Wall Street bankers and lawyers — was hoodwinked by Twitter into signing a $44 billion merger agreement. That story is as implausible and contrary to fact as it sounds,” Twitter now states.

Twitter also attributes Musk as a factor in its lowered revenue during its Q2 2022 earnings reports alongside issues within the ad industry.

Musk believes that spam accounts make up roughly 20 percent of its total user base. It does appear as though Musk is looking to terminate the acquisition. However, Musk continues to claim the deal should close. Musk did file a countersuit in July against Twitter. A trial between the two is set for October 17th, 2022.

Musk is a prominent user on Twitter and has over 100 million followers. He is a self-proclaimed advocate for free speech and says he hopes to instill that onto the social media platform.

Source: Reuters

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Smoking pot with Joe Rogan lead to random drug tests for Elon Musk and SpaceX

After smoking pot on Joe Rogan’s podcast back in 2018, Elon Musk and the “whole of SpaceX” had to undergo random drug testing for a year, as required by the federal government, the world’s richest man revealed during an episode of the ‘Full Send’ podcast.

Even though the Joe Rogan podcast took place in California, where cannabis is legal recreationally and medically, it isn’t legal federally in the United States, and SpaceX has federal-government contracts. Musk said that he got a “lot of backlash” for getting high on the podcast, including from SpaceX competitors. Following his appearance, Musk had to have random drug tests to prove that he isn’t an addict.

“I had to have like random drug tests and stuff after that, to prove that I’m not like a drug addict,” said Musk. “They drug tested me for everything, and randomly. It wasn’t like ‘pick a day.’ I had like a whole year of random drug tests.”

Additionally, the whole of SpaceX had to go through random drug tests during the time. Back in 2019, SpaceX had roughly 6,000 employees, though it is uncertain how many of them had to go through drug tests.

Musk also talked about his kids, crypto, Neuralink, his viral tweets, video games, climate change and more on the controversial podcast hosted by Canadian Nelk founder and prankster Kyle Forgeard.

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Twitter v. Musk trial will start October 17th

Pack your bags for Delaware, folks! The Twitter v. Elon Musk trial is set for October 17th and will wrap by the 21st in Delaware’s Court of Chancery.

Judge Kathaleen McCormick issued the official schedule (via The Verge) following back-and-forth from the Musk and Twitter legal teams, featuring tons of legalese complaining about trial dates and other stuff. Most recently, that included a letter from Musk’s lawyers complaining that Twitter was being difficult during the pre-trial process.

Twitter initially wanted an earlier start date in September, while Team Musk wanted the trial to start in 2023. McCormick chose October, so then Twitter requested that the trial start on October 10th, and Team Musk fought for October 17th, arguing the extra week would be crucial to preparation. Twitter, on the other hand, wanted the earlier start date because it blames Musk for the company’s lower-than-expected Q2 revenue. It’s also worth noting the merger agreement has a ‘drop-dead’ deadline of October 24th, which may also be a factor in Twitter pushing for an earlier trial.

And so, here we are with a settled date. The decision should appease Musk’s lawyers’ complaints about Twitter’s lack of cooperation since there are now official deadlines for filing counterclaims, documents, discovery, witnesses and more — those interested can view the whole schedule here.

As a quick refresher, this whole debacle is about Musk’s offer to buy Twitter. Musk wants out of the deal based on claims that Twitter has more spam bot activity than it said it does. Twitter sued Musk, alleging his spam bot complaint was manufactured to get out of the deal.

Moreover, Twitter’s lawsuit points out that Musk removed a diligence condition from the agreement that would have given him access to non-public information about Twitter, and the company says it gave Musk more information about bots than the company owed him based on the agreement.

Some wonder why Twitter is fighting to make the deal go through when Musk no longer wants the company, and management under Musk would likely be terrible (employee morale plummeted after the Musk deal was announced, Twitter says in the lawsuit that employee attrition increased after it signed the merger agreement, and Musk publicly said he planned to lay off Twitter employees). The short answer is that Musk’s $44 billion USD (about $56.4 billion CAD) offer is too good to pass up, and shareholders stand to make a premium off the sale — especially given the recent stock price drop.

Anyway, we’ll likely see plenty more filings and legal complaining from Twitter and Musk over the next few months leading up to the October 17th trial start. It’s going to be a long few months.

Via: The Verge

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Twitter is testing a weird pre-created status feature

Twitter is testing a new status feature that allows users to assign several pre-written labels to their tweets.

If this sounds strange and somewhat useless, you’re not alone. A spokesperson for Twitter recently confirmed to TechCrunch that the social network is testing the functionality in the United States and Australia.

“For a limited time, we are testing a feature that allows you to add a status topic from a predetermined list to your Tweets to provide more context for your followers. So whether you are about to drop a hot Tweet thread, share your shower thoughts, or have a bad case of the Mondays, your Tweets can better convey what you are up to,” said the Twitter representative.

These canned statuses also have an accompanying emoji and include thought-provoking updates like “Hot Take,” “Vacation Mode,” “Unpopular Opinion,” (which would be very useful for me), and of course, “Case of the Mondays.” This feature likely aims to allow Twitter users to save characters in their tweets, but unfortunately, you can’t create custom statuses. This means you won’t be able to add My Chemical Romance lyrics to your darkest tweets like you’re using MSN in 2003.

Back in April, developer Jane Manchun Wong first uncovered Twitter’s status feature, stating that its internal codename at the social media giant is “Vibe.”

It’s unclear if this new status feature will receive a wider rollout or if the social media platform aims to also test it in Canada. Other recent in-development Twitter features include ‘Unmentioning” contacts from conversations, mixed-media tweets and downvotes.

Twitter and frequent Twitter shitposter Elon Musk are currently embroiled in a legal battle surrounding the latter’s failed attempt at acquiring the social media giant.

Source: TechCrunch, @coolranchzaku Via: The Verge

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Elon Musk’s lawyers claim Twitter is being difficult in the pre-trial process

In the latest bout of Twitter v. Elon Musk, Musk’s lawyers claim Twitter is making the pre-trial process difficult and want the Delaware Chancery Court to make it play nice.

In a letter to Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick, who will decide the case, Musk’s lawyers outlined three main issues and calls on the court to resolve them.

First is the issue of the trial date. Team Musk claims the lack of a trial date is giving Team Twitter room to “delay all other scheduling discussions” and prevent the case from being trial-ready by October. Musk’s lawyers want the trial to start on October 17th, while Twitter wants to start on the 10th.

Here’s the thing — Team Twitter wants an earlier start date. The social media company pushed for the earliest possible start on the grounds that Musk’s ongoing shenanigans are hurting the company. Team Musk, on the other hand, wanted the trial to start early next year. McCormick chose October.

Next up: Team Musk is once again complaining that Twitter isn’t producing documents and data. This loops together the second and third issues cited in Musk’s lawyers’ letter to McCormick. Once again, Musk is after Twitter data — presumably, given that Musk keeps banging on about it, Twitter’s firehouse data, which was the central part of Musk’s complaints about Twitter having more spam bots than it said.

In the letter, Team Musk says it needs all that information by August 1st and requested McCormick compel Twitter to produce said data.

It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out. The Verge suspects there will be a lot more legal complaining in the coming weeks in back-and-forth filing from both sides. Team Twitter will likely respond to the Team Musk letter with its own filing about how Musk is being just as difficult.

How McCormick responds to all this may give us a clue to how the whole thing will play out — will she put up with the shenanigans or put a stop to it?

Source: The Verge