Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis sent a letter to Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Tuesday explaining why Florida is the best state to host his multi-billion dollar electric car company.

Musk in recent months has grown increasingly frustrated with the high taxes and stiff shutdown orders impacting his factory in Alameda County, California. So much so, he has threatened to relocate his factory.

In the two-page letter, Patronis made his case as to why Florida is the right prescription for all his woes.

With Tax Day Upon us you must be saying to yourself, What are you thinking?, Patronis wrote. No doubt, youve got to wonder whether all those taxes you pay in California are really worth it. As Floridas Chief Financial Officer, Im here to remind you that there is no time like the present to consider moving your businesses to the Sunshine State. Youre passion for changing the world for the better can best succeed in a state that supports and promotes free enterprise.

Patronis used more than flattery to lure the Spacex CEO. He also made a fiscal case as to why Florida is the best landing pad for the business in the country.

As a Florida resident you wouldnt be subject to state income taxes, Patronis continued. Also, depending on how many of your businesses are organized, you may realize up to a 50% savings on Corporate Income taxes as Floridas 4.4% corporate income tax is half of Californias 8.84% rate.

Patronis also highlighted the states overall financial health in comparison to California. Florida has yet to touch its Budget Stabilization Fund. California, however, has already burned through $9 billion of its rainy day fund.

For a successful businessman like yourself, California has no problem raising taxes and fees in poor economic times, so prepare yourself, for the inevitable shakedown by politicians and bureaucrats who have never had to worry about making payroll, Patronis explained.

The letter from Patronis to Musk does not come as a cold call. On Twitter, Patronis has frequently reached out to Musk, sending pictures of Floridas white sand beaches while mentioning the fiscal highlights of the state.

Patronis even launched a website inviting Floridians to add their name to an online welcome card for Musk.

Join me in inviting Elon Misk to Florida where he can reopen Tesla without lawsuits and the threat of imprisonment, the welcome card said in May.

Patronis has been a public and vocal critic of high tax states. In recent weeks, he casted stones at the tri-state area, who he describes as the Haven of High Taxes.

As he told Musk, Florida would never do such a thing.

Unlike California, Florida wont take your business for granted, Patronis wrote. California leaders arent interested in helping your success; theyre interested in your submission to their authority.

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'What are you thinking?': CFO Jimmy Patronis invites Elon Musk to Florida on Tax Day - Florida Politics

The Bitcoin scam as it appeared on Elon Musk's Twitter feed.

Bitcoin scammers targeted the Twitter accounts of Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Kanye West, Barack Obama and other famous tech executives, entertainers and politicians on Wednesday in what appears to be a large-scale hack. Apple, Uber and other businesses were also caught up in the sprawling hack, which Twitter later attributed to a social engineering attack on its employees.

Twitter accounts with millions of followers seemed to have been compromised, raising concerns about whether the company is doing enough to protect the security of its users. While cryptocurrency scams aren't a new problem for Twitter, the size of Wednesday's attack is unusual.

Stay in the know. Get the latest tech stories from CNET News every weekday.

"I'm feeling generous because of Covid-19," a now-deleted tweet from Musk's account reads. "I'll double any BTC payment sent to my BTC address for the next hour. Good luck, and stay safe out there!"

Similar tweets were sent through the Twitter account belonging to Gates, the billionaire philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder. "I am doubling all payments sent to my BTC address for the next 30 minutes. You send $1,000, I send you back $2,000," the tweet, which was deleted, read.

This is the scam tweet sent from Bill Gates' account. (The Bitcoin address has been removed from this screenshot.)

The scam tweets would periodically vanish, only to reappear minutes later.

A spokesperson for Gates confirmed the tweet wasn't sent by the billionaire.

"We can confirm that this tweet was not sent by Bill Gates. This appears to be part of a larger issue that Twitter is facing. Twitter is aware and working to restore the account," the spokesperson said in a statement.

Obama's account tweeted a message similar to the one shared by the Musk and Gates accounts. In a tweet sent to his 120 million followers, Obama's account tweeted that the former president was giving back because of the novel coronavirus and that he would double all bitcoins sent to his address for the next 30 minutes.

It wasn't immediately clear how the hack was conducted or how many accounts were impacted, although Twitter did provide an update late Wednesday, indicating that while its investigation into the hack was ongoing, the company had determined it to be the result of a "coordinated social engineering attack."

"We detected what we believe to be a coordinated social engineering attack by people who successfully targeted some of our employees with access to internal systems and tools," Twitter said in a tweet. (For tips on how to secure your Twitter account, see this CNET story.)

But for the hack's first two hours, Twitter didn't have a handle on the incident. In a tweet, the company said some users might not be able to tweet or reset their password as they reviewed and tackled the problem. Twitter also began removing tweets of screenshots showing internal tools that were possibly used in the attack.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted Wednesday evening that it was "a tough day for us at Twitter" and promised to share the company's findings when it completed its diagnosis of the hack.

Some users who tried to tweet got an error message, saying this appeared to apply only to verified users with "blue checks."

"This request looks like it might be automated. To protect our users from spam and other malicious activity, we can't complete this action now. Please try again later," the message read. Twitter didn't respond to questions about whether only verified accounts couldn't tweet.

Twitter has now removed this restriction. Users with verified accounts are now able to tweet again, but Twitter Support stated that functionality may "come and go."

"We're working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible," the tweet read.

The scam tweets end with a link pointing to where unsuspecting readers can send bitcoin. As of Wednesday afternoon, a spot check of the BTC address from the tweets shows a total received of 12.30776555 BTC, or roughly $113,572.

The Wednesday hack isn't the first time that Twitter accounts have been compromised by scammers. In 2018, hackerstook control of the verified Twitter accounts of Target and Google's G Suite. In that attack, hackers exploited a third-party marketing service, not its own system, according to the company.

Even Dorsey hasn't been immune from hacking. In 2019, Dorsey's account was compromised and the hackers tweeted out sexist, racist and anti-Semitic comments. Twitter said there was a security issue with Dorsey's mobile provider that allowed the hackers to compose and send tweets from his account via text message. In a tactic known as SIM swapping, a hacker bribes an employee of a mobile provider to get them to switch the numbers tied to the SIM card. That allows them to bypass security measures such as two-factor authentication.

Politicians urged others not to fall for the Bitcoin scam, and some reached out to Dorsey for answers. Shortly after the hack occurred, Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, asked Dorsey in a letter to respond to questions such as whether the attack threatened the security of President Donald Trump's account and its impact on the security of other users.

"I am concerned that this event may represent not merely a coordinated set of separate hacking incidents but rather a successful attack on the security of Twitter itself," he said in the letter. "A successful attack on your system's servers represents a threat to all of your users' privacy and data security."

On Thursday, Sen. Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, called on Twitter to explain how the hack happened.

"While this scheme appears financially motivated and, as a result, presents a threat to Twitter users, imagine if these bad actors had a different intent to use powerful voices to spread disinformation to potentially interfere with our elections, disrupt the stock market, or upset our international relations," Markey said in a statement. "That is why Twitter must fully disclose what happened and what it is doing to ensure this never happens again."

Musk and Gates weren't the only high-profile accounts that appear to have been compromised. Scammy tweets were seen in the feeds for fast food chain Wendy's, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, philanthropist Warren Buffett, musician Wiz Khalifa, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and celebrity Kim Kardashian. Scammers also appear to have targeted athletes, such as former professional boxer Floyd Mayweather, and even a popular parody account for God, along with cryptocurrency businesses.

"ALL MAJOR CRYPTO TWITTER ACCOUNTS HAVE BEEN COMPROMISED," tweeted Cameron Winklevoss, co-founder of the Gemini cryptocurrency exchange. "We are investigating and hope to have more information shortly."

"WARNING: @Gemini's twitter account, along with a number of other crypto twitter accounts, has been hacked," added Tyler Winklevoss, echoing his twin brother and Gemini co-founder's concern. "This has resulted in @Gemini, @coinbase, @binance, and @CoinDesk, tweeting about a scam partnership with CryptoForHealth. DO NOT CLICK THE LINK! These tweets are SCAMS."

Tesla didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. In the US, #hacked was trending along with Bitcoin and #twitterhacked.

See more here:

Twitter hack hits Elon Musk, Obama, Kanye West, Bill Gates and more in Bitcoin scam - CNET

File photo of Tesla CEO Elon Musk. (Image Source: Reuters)

Elon Musk has said his mysterious brain-computer chip startup Neuralink could help cure mental conditions like addiction and depression.

In 2019, Neuralink said that it had developed a "sewing machine-like" device which could connect brains to the computers, even though not much has been revealed about the working of the technology, The Independent reported. Musk had founded the startup Neuralink in 2016. More on Neuralink is expected to be revealed on August 28, Musk has said.

ALSO READ: Elon Musk is Now the Seventh-Richest Person in the World After Surpassing Warren Buffett

Responding to a query on Twitter on the device's ability to help cure depression and addiction, Tesla boss Musk said that it can help that also. This is both great and terrifying, he said. "Everything weve ever sensed or thought has been electrical signals. They early universe was just a soup of quarks and leptons. How did a very small piece of the universe start to think of itself as sentient? he said in a tweet.

The device is likely to be used in conditions like Parkinsons and in the long-term, it will delve into artificial intelligence, competing with humans. To insert the device in the brain will require removing part of the skull and the device with its electrode threads will be fitted in the brain, according to reports.

More here:

Great and Terrifying, Says Elon Musk on Neuralink Brain Device's Ability to Cure Depression - News18

Twitter CEO and Co Founder, Jack Dorsey addresses students at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), on November 12, 2018 in New Delhi, India.

Amal KS | Hindustan Times | Getty Images

Twitter said late Thursday that about 130 people were targeted in a cyberattack that took control of high-profile accounts to promote a bitcoin scam.

"Based on what we know right now, we believe approximately 130 accounts were targeted by the attackers in some way as part of the incident," the social media firm tweeted.

"For a small subset of these accounts, the attackers were able to gain control of the accounts and then send Tweets from those accounts."

The hack, which took place on Wednesday, compromised the accounts of several prominent figures in business and politics.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden and former president Barack Obama were all affected, as well as the corporate accounts of Apple and Uber.

The accounts were seen posting tweets trying to convince people to send them bitcoin, with the promise of sending back double the funds in return.

Previously, scammers have used the names and profile pictures of people like Musk to lure people into sending them cryptocurrency. But on Wednesday, all of the accounts involved were genuine and belonged to the people targeted.

"These attackers were the equivalent of stealing a McLaren F1, taking it for a joyride and then crashing it into a telephone pole 4 minutes later," Alex Stamos, the former chief security officer of Facebook, told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Thursday.

"There is so much more damage that could have been done."

According to blockchain analysis firm Elliptic, the hackers received $121,000 from over 400 payments to three separate bitcoin addresses. Roughly half of those payments were made from U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchanges, Elliptic added.

Twitter said it believes the hack was what it called a "coordinated social engineering attack" on its employees in other words, insiders at the company were tricked into handing over access to internal systems and tools.

"The biggest area of risk for almost any company is the insider threat," said Stamos. "To operate your business, you have to provide data and access to thousands and thousands of employees."

On Thursday, Twitter said it was "working with impacted account owners and will continue to do so over the next several days."

"We are continuing to assess whether non-public data related to these accounts was compromised, and will provide updates if we determine that occurred," the company said.

It's not clear how much control the hackers had over the profiles they compromised for instance, whether they gained access to users' direct messages and other sensitive information. However, the company said there was no evidence the attackers accessed users' passwords, adding: "Currently, we don't believe resetting your password is necessary."

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is now looking into the attack, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.

A Twitter spokesperson said the firm had nothing further to add.

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Twitter says 130 people were targeted in hack that hijacked accounts of Elon Musk, Joe Biden - CNBC

Elon Musk has once again taken to Twitter, providing an update on the Tesla Gigafactory in Berlin currently being constructed. The infamously eccentric and absolute meme-lord of a billionaire CEO offered a sunny concept rendering in addition to what are either, a) real clues about the end product, or b) just more shitposting, as per the usual.

The most notable of these clues/shitposts involved a possible indoor/outdoor rave space on the roof. Which sounds like a joke at first but only provokes doubt when you consider Musks tendency to operate on, how shall we put this unconventional cerebral frequencies. That and the fact he publically took it to a poll earlier this year (which yielded an overwhelming 90.2% vote in favour of said Tesla Gigafactory Berlin rave space).

Our prediction? Rave space or not, Musks own tracks RIP Harambe and Dont Doubt ur Vibe, as well as a bit of Rammenstein apparently, will be blasted on repeat. So locals can look forward to that if nothing else, I suppose.

Musk went on to answer a handful of queries, of which the following additional details were revealed:

The Tesla Gigafactory in Berlin is scheduled for completion sometime in July of 2021, with the automaker having previously stated its desire to kick-off production around this time. Incidentally, as noted by Robb Report, this date coincides with the European launch of the Model Y.

Visit link:

Tesla's Berlin Gigafactory Will Apparently Have A Rooftop Rave Space - Boss Hunting

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How were Twitter accounts of Bill Gates, Elon Musk and others hacked? - The New Indian Express

Elon Musk has revealed more details about his mysterious brain-computer chip startup Neuralink, claiming that it could be used to help cure addiction and depression.

Mr Musk founded Neuralink in 2016, though few details about how the technology will work have been revealed. After receiving more than $158m (125m) in funding, Neuralink announced in a 2019 presentation that it had developed a sewing machine-like device capable of connecting brains directly to computers.

More information about Neuralink will be revealed on 28 August, Mr Musk said on Thursday, prompting Twitter user Pranay Pathole to ask the billionaire entrepreneur what future capabilities could be expected.

Sharing the full story, not just the headlines

Can Neuralink be used to retrain the part of the brain which is responsible for causing addiction or depression? Itd be great if Neuralink can be used for something like addiction/ depression, he asked.

Mr Musk replied: For sure. This is both great and terrifying. Everything weve ever sensed or thought has been electrical signals. The early universe was just a soup of quarks and leptons. How did a very small piece of the universe start to think of itself as sentient?

In the short-term, Neuralink will be used to treat brain diseases such as Parkinsons, while the long-term ambitions for the technology is to allow humans to compete with artificial intelligence.

An early version of the system has already been tested on animals, and human trials are expected to begin at some point this year.

Ultimately, Mr Musk hopes to achieve some sort of symbiosis with AI, to a degree that would make human language obsolete.

This could occur within the next five to 10 years, Mr Musk told the Joe Rogan Podcast earlier this year. You wouldnt need to talk, he said. You would be able to communicate very quickly and with far more precision.

Such an eventuality is not entirely far-fetched, according to leading scientists in the field of brain-computer interfaces. A 2019 report by the Royal Society outlined how neural interfaces could allow people to communicate silently by reading each others minds.

A robot designed by Neuralink would insert the 'threads' into the brain using a needle

Neuralink

A fully implantable neural interface connects to the brain through tiny threads

Neuralink

Trials of Neuralink's fully implantable neural interface system will begin in 2021

Neuralink

Neuralink says learning to use the device is 'like learning to touch type or play the piano'

Neuralink

A robot designed by Neuralink would insert the 'threads' into the brain using a needle

Neuralink

A fully implantable neural interface connects to the brain through tiny threads

Neuralink

Trials of Neuralink's fully implantable neural interface system will begin in 2021

Neuralink

Neuralink says learning to use the device is 'like learning to touch type or play the piano'

Neuralink

People could become telepathic to some degree, able to converse not only without speaking but without words through access to each others thoughts at a conceptual level, the report stated.

Not only thoughts, but sensory experiences, could be communicated from brain to brain. Someone on holiday could beam a neural postcard of what they are seeing, hearing or tasting into the mind of a friend back home.

Trials of Neuralinks fully implantable neural interface system will begin in 2020(Neuralink)

There have also been doubts about the technology, with the renowned linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky questioning whether it would be possible to communicate using only thoughts.

Developing methods by which if Im thinking of moving my hand, you might be able to pick up the electrical signals that say hes trying to move his hand, thats conceivable, Mr Chomsky told the website Inverse in 2017, shortly after the project was made public.

But he added: Trying to find out what Im thinking, lets say, theres no way of developing technology because we dont understand how to proceed. The technology... is just nowhere near advanced enough.

More here:

Elon Musk claims mysterious brain chip will be able to cure depression and addiction: Its both great and terrifying - The Independent

Twitter shares sank Thursday, a day after hackers gained access to more than a dozen high-profile accounts, including those of Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Joe Biden, former President Barack Obama, Elon Musk and the corporate account ofApple.

The accounts displayed tweets telling followers to send bitcoin to a specific address.

Share prices were down more than 5% in Thursday's premarket.

Musk was the first hacking victim Wednesday, when a tweet was posted early in the afternoon on the Tesla CEO's account promising to double any payments sent to a bitcoin address.

Twitter said late Wednesday its investigation uncovered an operation that targeted Twitter employees to gain access to internal systems and tools.

"We detected what we believe to be a coordinated social engineering attack by people who successfully targeted some of our employees with access to internal systems and tools," the company tweeted from a support account.

"We know they used this access to take control of many highly-visible (including verified) accounts and Tweet on their behalf."

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said that the company feels terrible about the hacked accounts.

Other accounts hacked included former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, musicians Kanye West and Wiz Khalifa, Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett, reality TV star Kim Kardashian, the Cash App corporate account, and Uber's corporate account.The bitcoin-related tweet was Apple's first ever tweet, although the account had placed ads in the past.

Rachel Tobac, CEO of cybersecurity firm SocialProof Security, told NBC News the attack was likely the largest Twitter had ever seen. "We are lucky the attackers are going after bitcoin (money motivated) and not motivated by chaos and destruction."

Theresa Payton, a former White House chief information officer and current CEO of Fortalice Solutions, warned that information such as direct messages may have been stolen from the affected accounts and could be released or used in the future.

"They're going to need to apologize to the VIPs and to the individuals who were defrauded and fell for the scam," Payton told CNBC. "The next thing they're going to need to do is to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation, and they're going to need to share what they can about who the attackers were and how they pulled this off."

Mel Shakir, a managing director at DreamIt Ventures and a veteran of the IT security industry, said high-profile users like those attacked on Wednesday should be using as many security options as possible, including biometric authentication like fingerprints, or using hardware keys instead of text messages for two-factor authentication. "Passwords are inherently insecure. But Twitter has provided all the security options that are available," Shakir said.

Earlier Wednesday, several cryptocurrency accounts simultaneously linked to a phishing site called CryptoForHealth.Cameron Winklevoss, co-founder of Gemini, a cryptocurrency market, said in a tweet: "ALL MAJOR CRYPTO TWITTER ACCOUNTS HAVE BEEN COMPROMISED." In the past, one popular cryptocurrency scam on Twitter involved attackers changing their display name and avatar to match Elon Musk, then they would reply to his tweets pretending to be him asking for bitcoin. But on Wednesday, the accounts tweeting about bitcoin were real.

All hacked accounts on Wednesday were verified.The tweets on Wednesday appeared to have been sent through a web browser accessing Twitter.com, not an app or third-party software. Around 3:15 p.m. PT, Twitter blocked all verified accounts from tweeting in an attempt to regain control. They were reactivated at 5:41 p.m. PT.

Here's a sampling of the tweets. Many have been deleted.

Apple's Twitter account was hacked.

Jeff Bezos' Twitter account was hacked.

Mike Bloomberg's Twitter account was hacked.

Barack Obama's Twitter account was hacked.

NBC News reporter Kevin Collier and CNBC's Lora Kolodny contributed to this report.

Clarification: The Wendy's tweet, while similar to the false tweets, was not identical and appears to have been a joke issued by the account itself.

See more here:

Hackers targeted Twitter employees to hijack accounts of Elon Musk, Joe Biden and others in digital currency scam - CNBC

Hackers appear to target Twitter accounts of Joe Biden, Elon Musk, Kanye West, others in bitcoin scam

Messages appearing on their accounts showed statements about bitcoin and promised to double payments sent to a bitcoin wallet address.

A screenshot of a tweet posted on the Twitter account of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

SAN FRANCISCO - The Twitter accounts of several major companies and notable individuals were compromised on Wednesday in an apparent widespread hack involving a bitcoin scam.

The accounts of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former U.S. President Barack Obamaand former Vice President Joe Biden were among those targeted.

Messages appearing on their accounts showed statements about bitcoin and promised to double payments sent to a bitcoin wallet address.

One of the posts on Musks account appeared at 4:17 p.m. ET reading: Im feeling generous because of Covid-19. Ill double any BTC payment sent to my BTC address for the next hour. Good luck, and stay safe out there!

The tweet was then deleted, and quickly replaced by a related post.

Feeling grateful doubling all payments sent to my BTC address! You send $1,000, I send back $2,000! Only doing this for the next 30 minutes, the Tweet read.

A screenshot of a tweet posted on the Twitter account of former Vice President Joe Biden.

Similar posts on the accounts of Gates, Bezos and others echoed these messages, with an identical BTC address attached.

Bezos, Gates and Musk are among the 10 richest people in the world, with tens of millions of followers on Twitter. The three men are worth a combined $362 billion, according to the latest calculations by Forbes magazine.

Among the political figures targeted, the hack mostly appeared to target Democrats or other figures on the left, drawing comparisons to the 2016 campaign. U.S. intelligence agencies established that Russia engaged in coordinated attempts to interfere in those U.S. elections through social media tampering and various hacks, including targeting the various campaigns and major party organizations.

The Biden campaign said that Twitter's integrity team locked down the account within a few minutes of the breach and removed the related tweet.

Obama's office had no immediate comment.

In a tweet, Twitter noted only that it was aware of a security incident impacting accounts on Twitter. The San Francisco company said it is investigating and promised an update shortly. It did not reply immediately to requests for comment.

A spokesperson for Gates told Recode, We can confirm that this tweet was not sent by Bill Gates. This appears to be part of a larger issue that Twitter is facing. Twitter is aware and working to restore the account.

The accounts of Uber, Apple, Squares Cash App, rapper Kanye West and his wife Kim Kardashian were also targeted.

Within hours of the tweets appearing, nearly 300 people had fallen for the scam and sent more than $100,000 to the wallet, according to the New York Times.

Twitter told users that they may not be able to tweet or reset their passwords while the incident was being reviewed. One Twitter user noted that verified accounts "are now on lockdown and unable to tweet."

Tom Warren ofThe Vergelater posted saying that verified users were able to tweet again.

This story was reported from Cincinnati. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Hackers appear to target Twitter accounts of Joe Biden, Elon Musk, Kanye West, others in bitcoin scam - FOX 13 Tampa Bay

Musk has dropped ample hints that plans are afoot to set up more Tesla Gigafactories in Asia, "but not in China".

There is a tide in the affairs of Tesla Inc as billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk seeks out new frontiers for his company to conquer. And the Indian Model 3 aficionado couldn't be happier.Even as

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As Tesla gears up for fresh India foray, a perfect mascot for Atmanirbhar Bharat waits in the wings - Economic Times

Its safe to say that privacy concerns, especially in todays digital era, are unquestionably valid. With new video recording technology making it easier to identify people at a glance (whether they like it or not) and concerns that your smart speakers are eavesdropping on you, it may feel like youre bordering on slightly paranoid around modern technology.

After all, even though there have been cases of smart speakers picking up on intimate conversations, theres absolutely no risk of them overhearing private things without your consent, right? Even though its been documented that these devices including Cortana, Alexa, Siri, and Google Home have listened in relationship spats, criminal activity, and even HIPAA-protected data, youre totally in the clear.

Oh yeah. The thing is, everything that gets broadcast into your smart speaker? Theres a completely random chance that someone back at headquarters may decide to sift through it in order to improve AI learning.

And while most of the time these conversations are totally benign, it doesnt change the fact that a complete stranger is getting an earful of your private life. In fact, these transmissions? Are actually completely admissible in court, as several murder cases have already demonstrated. Their key evidence was none other than poor Alexa herself.

But wait, wait. These smart speakers can only get your information if you activate them, and that requires you to clearly enunciate their names. Right? Um. Not exactly. Even though you may think that you need to speak crisply into the speaker to activate it, it turns out that these devices are highly sensitive to any suggestion that you might be talking to them. Its almost like your dog when you even remotely glance at his bag of doggie treats in the corner: one crinkle and Fido comes running, begging for some kibble and ready to serve you.

Its the same for your smart speakers. As it turns out, there are over a thousand words or phrases that can trigger your device and invite it to start recording your voice. These can range from the perfectly reasonable (Cortana hearing Montana and springing to attention) to the downright absurd (Alexa raising her hackles over the words election and unacceptable). Well, crap. Now what?

Its no secret that someone is listening in on your conversations. Thats been clearly documented, researched, dissected, and even accepted at this point. However, if you thought that theyd only listen to it if you gave them implicit permission by activating your device (which, to be fair, should not even count as permission in the first place), you were wrong.

So whats a privacy-loving person to do? Just suck it up and try to choose between the lesser of two evils? On one hand, yes, these smart speakers are super convenient and can make your life easier. On the other?

Well, if youre a fan of your privacy, then perhaps these devices arent meant for you. At this point, youve got little recourse. These companies will continue to use your data, and theres nothing stopping them from spying on you. That is, unless you prevent them from doing it in the first place.

If you want to keep your private conversations private, either unplug your smart speaker when youre not using it, or dont get one in the first place. Otherwise, youll continue to give your implied consent that youre totes cool with them butting in on your personal life, and theyll continue to be equally totes cool with using it without your permission.

Continued here:

Elon Musk wants to connect your brain to a computer this year - The American Genius

Elon Musk, who immigrated to the United States, was once the holder of an H-1B visa. Imagine a world where due to United States exclusionary immigration policies, Musk was forced to go to our economic competitor: China. It may be difficult to think of China being the beneficiary of the global headquarters of Tesla and SpaceX. However, this is the path the Trump administration has carved out for our country.

Recent actions by the White House limiting H-1B visas and the latest move from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement forcing international students to leave the country unless enrolled in in-person classes harm the innovation economy and place severe limits on a post-pandemic economic recovery for San Diegans and all Americans. Although the administration on Tuesday rescinded the decision to have foreign students leave the country, it is still symbolic of how it views foreign talent.

President Donald Trump is betting on his supporters believing in the long-held myth that foreign-born talent displaces domestic talent. Nothing can be further from the truth. For example, a 2017 study showed that U.S.-born workers gained $431 million as a result of the H-1B visa system in 2010.

In fact, a 2019 study found an astounding 45% of Fortune 500 companies were founded or co-founded by immigrants or the children of immigrants. You may recognize some of the names: Google, Intel, Apple and the aforementioned Tesla.

The increasingly hostile immigration policies from the White House are putting the growth of the innovation economy at severe risk. A study by UC San Diegos Gaurav Khanna drew a direct correlation between H-1B visa holders and accelerated innovation in U.S. companies via newer and better product development. It is especially important during the novel coronavirus pandemic that the innovation industry be allowed to access global talent, which is critical to the research and development sectors ability to develop drug therapies for COVID-19 treatments and in the global race for a vaccine.

The regional innovation economy in the past few years has realized the importance of foreign students to the San Diego economy. They have chartered Tech San Diego, deploying dedicated resources to help companies source talent from regional universities. Whether through internships, which often lead to full-time employment, or scouting graduating students for the best and the brightest, access to university talent is an important economic development differentiation for the region. If the administration ultimately gets its way in limiting foreign talent, this differentiator is at risk of being decapitated.

Although the administration has rescinded the immediate decision to send students home, we need to be prepared to protest any similar schemes to limit foreign students. UC San Diego has 9,000 foreign students and 2,000 recent graduates. These students and alumni enrich the region in countless ways beyond economic benefits. When they are there, they are able to see firsthand why San Diego is the technologies perfect climate.

The students make lifelong connections to our region. And while some will stay in the community, the ones that return to their countries yield often surprising benefits in linking their region with San Diego.

They return to their homeland with an affinity for their time in the U.S and act as unpaid ambassadors of good will. Nationally, over 1 million students attend U.S. colleges and universities annually and, by one study, they yielded an estimated economic impact of $41 billion and created support for more than 450,000 U.S. jobs during the 2018-2019 school year. There is also a question of fairness; for many of these students, it is a lifelong dream to attend a top U.S university like UC San Diego or San Diego State University. To simply state that they cannot attend college remotely during this global health crisis is neither fair nor safe.

So what do we do? First, we should be increasing the number of H-1B visa holders while at the same time making sure access to H-1B visas are fair and that no company is exploiting foreign workers. The process of securing an H-1B visa should be simplified and more accessible to small and midsize innovation companies.

The administration has been talking about merit-based immigration. While increasing H-1B visas is a good first step, we need to welcome foreign students from abroad and instead embrace their talent as an innovation and economic driver. All non-native graduates from accredited universities should be fast-tracked to a worker visa and incentivized to remain in the U.S.

Rather than having an adversarial position on immigration, immigration could be an economic partner in assisting new talent to remain in the United States. We need to finally end the drumbeat that foreign talent replaces domestic talent, as a chorus of studies have shown the positive economic and cultural benefits foreign talent brings to our nation.

Lets embrace our future foreign talent. Your own job may depend on it.

Carroll is the executive director of Tech San Diego, an association trade group representing the regional innovation economy. Website: techsandiego.org. He lives in San Diego.

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Kevin Carroll: Hostile immigration policies from the White House are putting our innovation economy at risk - The San Diego Union-Tribune

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is now the seventh-richest person in the world, surpassing legendary investor Warren Buffett, as Tesla's stock continues to skyrocket.

Musk surpassed Buffett on Friday after Tesla shares hit an all-time high, giving Musk a net worth of about $70.5 billion, roughly $1 billion more than Buffett, according to Bloomberg's calculations.

Tesla shares continued to surge Monday and hit anothernew high. The shares jumped 12% in morning trading and brought the company's market valuation to $325 billion, making it the 10th-largest U.S. stock by market value.

Investors now believe that Tesla could report a fourth straight quarter of GAAP profits when it posts second-quarter results on July 22, meaning it could be considered for inclusion in the S&P 500.

The company's stock is up more than 300% for the year.

-- CNBC's Robert Frankand Pippa Stevens contributed to this report.

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Elon Musk is now worth more than Warren Buffett as Tesla stock continues to break records - CNBC

Tech billionaire Elon Musk has announced that its most secretive brain-computer interface technology startup Neuralink will provide a key update on its progress on August 28.

To help paralysed people control devices and empower people with brain disorders, Neuralink last year unveiled tiny brain threads in a chip which is long lasting, usable at home and has the potential to replace cumbersome devices currently used as brain-machine interfaces.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Musk may announce human trials for the Neuralink technology that has been successful on mice and even apes.

If you cant beat em, join em Neuralinks mission statement, Musk tweeted on Thursday. Progress update August 28.

In February this year, Musk promised an awesome update by Neuralink.

The profound impact of high bandwidth, high precision neural interfaces is underappreciated. Neuralink may have this in a human as soon as this year, Musk had tweeted.

Wait until you see the next version vs what was presented last year. Its awesome, he added.

The technology has a module that sits outside the head, behind the ear, and receives information from threads embedded in the brain.

Controlled by an iPhone app, the chip called N1 sensor with just a USB port coming out can have as many as 3,072 electrodes per array distributed across 96 threads each thread smaller than the tiniest human hair.

The chip which will be wireless in the future can read, transmit high-volume data and amplify signals from the brain.

This has the potential to solve several brain-related diseases. The idea is to understand and treat brain disorders, preserve and enhance your own brain and create a well-aligned future, Musk told the audience at the launch event last year.

Founded as a medical research company in 2016, Neuralink has hired several high-profile neuroscientists from various universities.

The company is focused on creating devices resembling tiny sewing machines that can be implanted in the human brain to improve memory or more direct interfacing with computing devices.

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Elon Musk to reveal more about brain-computer tech on August 28 - Express Computer

I rather liked the Polestar 2, though many of the obstacles of electric motoring remain including a decent and affordable network of fast chargers.

Im impatient and annoyed that we are still struggling with basics like this, said Ingenlath at the launch, access to electricity should be open to all, there needs to be a universal system.

Mission impossible? Perhaps, but maybe this mercurial boss could call on the services of his alter ego

THE FACTS

Polestar 2

TESTED five-door executive car, with twin 150kW AC synchronous permanent-magnet electric motors with 400-volt, 78kWh gross (75kWh net) lithium-ion LG Chem battery comprising 324 pouch cells in 27 modules mounted under the floor and in transmission tunnel. Four-wheel drive.

PRICE/ON SALE 49,900 (before PiCG), 54,900 as tested with 5,000 Performance Pack/now. Lease deals from 564 a month for 3 years and 10,000 miles a year with a 3,384 deposit

POWER/TORQUE 408hp (2 x 150kW) @ 4,350rpm and 487lb ft (2 x 330Nm) from 0-4350rpm

TOP SPEED 127mph

ACCELERATION 0-62mph in 4.7sec

RANGE 292 miles WLTP (high)

EFFICIENCY 3.89 miles per kWh

CO2 EMISSIONS zero at tailpipe, well-to-wheels 37.2g/km

VED 0

VERDICT When the history of the battery-electric performance car is written, Polestar will be seen as coming in second place to Tesla but thats often a good place to be in automotive terms. The market is small but growing fast and this likeable car could catch the wave thanks to a more familiar layout for those who have struggled with Teslas unashamed disruptive design (and so-so reliability). Roadside charging, however, is still an issue in a disorderly market and there are few signs that will be changing soon.

TELEGRAPH RATING Four stars out of five

THE RIVALS

Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus, 46,990

The dual-motor, all-wheel-drive version of the Model 3 has a quoted WLTP range of 348miles, a top speed of 145mph with 0-60mpg in 4.4sec. Excuse the pun but Tesla polarises opinion like no other. The design is either clean or featureless depending on your standpoint. We have found test models to have ill-fitting panels, although the high-current Supercharger network (you have to pay per use with a Model 3) is a pretty big bonus given the state of roadside charging in the UK.

Audi eTron Sportback, about 79,900

Based on Audis curiously bloodless eTron and built in Belgium, the Sportback was intended to introduce a bit of vim to the eTron range as well as reducing the SUV bulk, at least to the eye. The technology is faultless including the virtual door mirrors and the performance from its 402bhp/490lb ft, 95kWh battery, two-motor drivetrain is terrific on paper. Unfortunately, however, Audi, while keeping its German press garage open all lockdown, has not sought to bring any examples to the UK. So youll have to wait for our impressions.

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Polestar 2: the electric car that could give Elon Musk sleepless nights - Telegraph.co.uk

In very un-Elon Musk fashion, the brain behind gorgeous electric cars, spacey possibilities (and realities) and plenty of off-the-wall comments came across as uncharacteristically vanilla on social media this weekend.

His more than 35 million Twitter followers were left mostly agreeing after the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX teased something juicy, but the revelation was rather obvious.

Selling weed literally went from a major felony to essential business (open during a pandemic) in much of America & yet many are still in prison. Doesnt make sense, isnt right, he posted after tweeting earlier that he was about to say something that will probably get me into trouble, but I feel I have to say it.

The reactions were not of surprise, but more acknowledgement of something that has been generally accepted for quite some time. As chatter picked up steam, the basic support for his tweet transformed into opinions around cannabis legalization in the U.S. and social and racial inequality, as well as plenty of cheeky tweets and images of stock prices plunging.

Musks connection to cannabis is nothing new. Weed was on Musks mind when he tweeted the stock is so high lol around Christmas time when Tesla shares hit $420, a none-too-subtle nudge, nudge, wink, wink to the unofficial cannabis holiday. Then, of course, there was the infamous appearance on Joe Rogans podcast in September, 2018, when Musk smoked some weed and investors were forced to watch as Tesla stock closed down six per cent.

Musks midnight tweet is only baffling insofar as its painfully obvious. Still, he doesnt quite seem to understand the full context of what hes only now coming to understand. For instance, earlier last week, U.S. Senator Corey Booker linked racial inequality in cannabis enforcement to protests that have continued in America and around the world.

As a result of the work of activists, many U.S. states have decriminalized certain charges or backed away from incarceration for weed possession for personal use. That said, its undeniable that the War on Drug disproportionately affected people of colour, and the convictions remain a barrier to advancement.

Want to keep up to date on whats happening in the world of cannabis? Subscribeto the Cannabis Post newsletter for weekly insights into the industry, what insiders will be talking about and content from across the Postmedia Network.

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A midnight tweet from Elon Musk was presented as groundbreaking, but it was merely stating the obvious about cannabis - The GrowthOp

Elon Musks Boring Company is officially applying to extend its Loop tunnel system at the Las Vegas Convention Center to its first casino on the Strip.

Last year, we reported onthe Boring Company announcing a new proposed Loop system of tunnels for approval in Las Vegas.

The project was initiated by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), which operates the citys massive convention center.

They are currently expanding the already gigantic venue with a new section to open in 2021, and they need a new way to move people between all their different halls.

In May 2019, the LVCVA chose the Boring Companys $50 million project to act as its new official people mover.

Last month, The Boring Company announced that it completed the excavation of both tunnels for the project.

They are now seeking approval to move beyond the convention center and connect to a first casino: Encore At Wynn.

Clark County Commissioner Richard Tick L. Segerblom made the announcement and shared this image of the planned expansion:

Wynns hotel and casino is the closest hotel on the strip to the convention center.

The Boring Companys Loop at the convention center will move people between the different halls at high speed with Tesla vehicles inside the underground tunnels.

Its going to be owned and operated by the convention center, but Musk has always had the ambition to expand it to the Las Vegas Strip and even the airport, which would also increase the value of the convention centers own Loop.

Musk recently said that The Boring Company would expand to the rest of Vegas, and he wasnt kidding.

We dont have a timeline for the expansion of the Loop, but we will keep you updated if we get more information.

As I previously stated, I could see The Boring Company link the convention center loop to the airport and then have casinos and hotels pay to have side tunnels reach their facilities.

The Wynn is close enough to the convention center that they can just start digging from there.

The Boring Companys machine is already there, as they are done with it at the convention center now that they are working on the stations.

Therefore, I think this could happen quickly. Exciting.

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Elon Musks Boring Company applies to extend Las Vegas Loop to the Strip - Electrek

National nonprofitBig Green, run by Elon Musk's brother Kimbal, is teaming up with Hazon: the Jewish Lab for Sustainability in Bloomfield Hills to bring food education and outdoor learning gardens to Michigan classrooms.

HazonExecutive Director Wren Hack gets ready to help participating schools plant produce.

Big Green was founded in 2011 by Kimbal Musk and Hugo Matheson; theywere inspired to use school gardens as a way to help kids increase their preference for nutritious foods, develop healthier responses to stress and improve their academic performance.

Ava Jackson,Big Green program manager, said nonprofit leaders brought the organization to Michigan last year with a goal of building 100 gardens by 2020. She said she is excited this summer to partner with Hazon.Hazon is working to build a movement that strengthens Jewish life and contributes to a more environmentally sustainable world for all.

Beginning the week of June 22,the organization will plant six to seven garden beds per participating school with beans, squash and carrots crops. Ferndale Public Schools will be participating at each one of its five schools; Oak Park, Hazel Park and Southfield Public Schools are also participating.

For additional information and to get involved, visithazon.org/regions/detroit.

-Submitted bySari M. Cicurel

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Bloomfield Hills organization partners with Elon Musk's brother to bring gardens to local schools - The Oakland Press

With 35.5 million followers on Twitter, Elon Musk is right up there as one of the most followed entrepreneurs in the world. His following on the micro-blogging site is more than that of many Hollywood celebrities, sports personalities, Heads of States, and even Pope Francis. On Tuesday, the Tesla CEO announced he is steering clear of the social media platform 'for a while.'

Musk is one of the most active entrepreneurs on Twitter and has used the platform to not just make announcements related to his companies but also interact with followers - making observations and replying to queries. Not all of his followers may be his fans but the eccentric personality of Musk - especially on Twitter- has almost always divided opinions.

"Off Twitter for a while," Musk wrote in what could be his last tweet for some time now.

And as usual, the words were met with contrasting opinions. And almost every reply was either sarcastic or bordering on humorous. For instance, there were many who wondered if Musk is finally leaving for Mars, a planet he hopes to send a million humans to by 2050.

Many others thought it was about time that Musk took some time off Twitter.

Still others were at their roasting best and flayed Musk.

Musk was also called out on Twitter for not speaking up against racism even as several US cities have seen widespread demonstrations against the killing of George Floyd killing. Some questioned why he invited Donald Trump to the SpaceX launch at a time when the US President had, they say, espoused hardline measures against protesters.

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Elon Musk goes off Twitter and Twitter can't keep calm - Hindustan Times

Elon Musk has made news after tweeting his opinion that colonizing space is the way to protect the light of consciousness. Now that Crew Dragon has delivered two astronauts to the International Space Station, SpaceX is likely to receive NASA certification to continue flying as part of NASAs Commercial Crew Program. Soon, Starship, Musks prized rocket, will shine.

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Back here on Earth, Musk has touted his Crew Dragon progress as the return of spaceflight from American soil; before now, astronauts have relied on Russian rockets for some time. We may live in a golden age of satellites and low Earth orbits, but that hasnt translated to sustained investment in human spaceflight.

What SpaceX has accomplished is huge, but its the bunny hillits the chalet next to the bunny hillof Musks ambitions for interplanetary travel and long-term colonization of the Moon and Mars.

Thats where the light of consciousness idea comes in. Yes, Musk has really been on a tear of hot takes straight from the Volcano vape. But the search for extraterrestrial life, and the seemingly astronomical odds of finding intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, makes the idea much less trivial and more existential. And until we know for sure that someone is out there, humans are the only known sentient and conscious beings.

In a way, the debate over consciousnesswhat it is, what it isnt, and how it distinguishes humans from other animalsmirrors the age-old debate over souls. Whether you think of higher consciousness as a soul or just a mind, no one can say for sure if its separate from your body, which mind-body dualists believe, or part of your physical body, which materialists believe.

And we live in a moment when scientists are attempting to turn these millennia-old debates into measurable experiments. In 2019, the Templeton World Charity Foundation, a big-questions nonprofit with global interests, announced a plan to shorten the research cycle on beginning to untangle questions of consciousness. To do that, they began funding scientists and philosophers who can work together to start designing experiments that may answer existential questions.

If this sounds like underwater basket weaving, think again. Whether or not someone is conscious, and what that term means, threads through our society from the most cutting-edge science to simple legal questions of human rights. And what Musk calls the light of consciousness is, as of today, still an almost complete mystery. Hes just the latest space travel enthusiast to voice the opinion.

When NASA first sent probes into space, the agency included date and location for anyone who might eventually find these bodies in space. Then, with Voyager I and II, NASA included the legendary Golden Record, which is filled with descriptions of mathematics and world languages as well as images of scientists, musical instruments, and daily life around the world. Even thinking about these items traveling through space fills us with wonder.

And what is wonder if not, as philosopher Jesse Prinz wrote in 2013, the most human emotion? Other higher primates feel it, too, but only humans capitalize on it to build institutions and artwork and entire ways of life. Why is that? As Prinz explains:

Indeed, it could be that an ambitious plan to live in space is as much a symptom of the light of consciousness as a means to preserve it.

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Elon Musk: Starship Will 'Protect the Light of Consciousness' - Popular Mechanics