Tesla chief Elon Musk called coronavirus a "pandemic" on Twitter five days before the World Health ... [+] Organization officially designated it as one.

Topline: Tesla CEO Elon Musk received the most likes and retweets during the past 7 days on Twitter, according to data compiled by the social media tracking firm NewsWhip, for his dismissive March 6 Tweet claiming the coronavirus panic is dumb, before the virus had upended industry and American life, showing just how much can change in seven days.

Big number: 15%. Thats how much Teslas stock price has dropped during this weeks massive sell-offs.

Key background: Over the last few months, coronavirusofficially named COVID-19has spread quickly from Wuhan, China to the rest of the world, with Italy, Iran and South Korea dealing with the most severe outbreaks outside of China. In the U.S., state and local governments have begun limiting large gatherings of people to fight disease transmission. According to the New York Times, more than 135,000 cases have been confirmed worldwide and nearly 5,000 have died as of Friday. Critics have slammed the Trump administrations response to the outbreak, accusing Trump of downplaying the threat of the virus, and flubbing his national address on the crisis, while the administration has faced heat for creating botched test kits and then being too slow in making working kits available.

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Twitters Most-Liked Tweet Of The Week: Elon Musk Calls Coronavirus Panic Dumb - Forbes

Elon Musk has never been particularly shy about, well, anything. He'sknown for sharing his thoughts about competitors, critics, and the products his companies produce. Sometimes, you might argue, he shares more than he should. However, it's usually worth paying attention to what he has to say.

On Monday, Musk was onstage at the Satellite 2020 conferenceand shared his thoughts about the future of innovation. Specifically, Musk said he believes "technology does not automatically improve."

Sure, that doesn't sound overly profound, until you start to unpack it and realize that most of us do assume that the next versionof something will automatically be better than the previous. As Musk points out, however, that's not necessarily the case. In fact, often it'sthe opposite.New is not always the same as better.

As an example,Musk had a few choice words for Apple, especially when it comes to the iPhone:

I'm an iPhone user, but I think some of the recent software updates have like been not great, certainly feeding into that point. It, like, broke my email system ...which is quite fundamental.

That's a fair assessment.

Musk is likely referring to the release of iOS 13, which was widely criticized as a result of a number of bugs and flaws. In fact, the Department of Defense even encouraged people not to upgrade their devices because of the problems. One of the worst problems related to the Mail app, where the list of messages would show "No Sender" instead of whoever actually sent you the message.

Apple didn't become one of themost valuable companiesin the world by making poorly designed products. On the contrary, it has long beenknown for its product design and the relationship between device and software. Still, even the big guys get it wrong on occasion.

That's because sometimes, in our effort to innovate, we break things--including things that people depend on.The changes you make--even in the name of innovation--have a real impact on your customers'lives.

Obviously, technology improves as a result of the innovation and work done by the people who design and build it. It doesn't just happen on its own. That's an important lesson for every entrepreneur.

The future of technology depends on the people who build it, and their acknowledgment that innovation doesn't just happen. It requires discipline and a commitment to the overall user experience. That doesn't mean that every innovation will be a home run,but your job is to build something that adds value for your customers.

And, by the way, Musk is right: Breaking email doesn't add value to anything.

Published on: Mar 11, 2020

The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

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With 5 Words, Elon Musk Just Told Us What He Really Thinks About the Future of Innovation - Inc.

On the hot topic of Starlink, Musk shut down the idea that SpaceX is considering splitting it off for a potential IPO.

We are thinking about that zero, Musk said. He emphasized the key focus with Starlink is on making it work, as he namechecked the failed LEO operations in the late 1990s such as Teledesic, ICO, and Iridium (the first inclination). We need to set the stage of LEO constellations. Guess how many LEO constellations didnt go bankrupt zero, Musk said. Iridium is doing OK now, Teledesic and others went bankrupt. We are focusing on making it not go bankrupt.

The SpaceX founder believes the world had an insatiable appetite for bandwidth, and he said he doesnt think Starlink would destroy the business plans of other satellites.

Also, in terms of Starlink, Musk said he did not see it as some super threat to telcos.

It will serve the hardest to serve customers. 5G is great for high density situations, but it is not great for the countryside. So, any kind of sparse environment, 5G is not well suited. Starlink will serve the 3% to 4% hardest to reach customers for telcos. So, I think it will be actually helpful and take a significant load off the traditional telcos. We wont have a lot of customers in [Los Angeles], for example, he said. We are targeting latency of below 20 milliseconds. Bandwidth is a very complex question. Somebody will be able to do all the things they want to do without noticing anything. The ground equipment looks like a UFO on a stick. It will have actuators on it, so it can improve the pointing accuracy. You dont need a specialist to install it. Point at sky and then plug in.

With Starlink looking to launch lots of satellites, there have been concerns raised from astronomers regarding Musk said, I am confident will not cause any impact in whatsoever in terms of astronomic discoveries. We will take corrective action if it is above zero. When the satellites are first launched, they are tumbling a little bit, and havent stabilized. Now, they are on orbit, I would be impressed if someone could tell me where all of them are. It cant be that big of a deal.

SpaceX launched its fifth batch of Starlink satellites on a Falcon 9 on Sunday, but did not complete the booster landing, which would have been its 50th successful landing. Photo: SpaceX

When Musk reflected on his career, he said if he could go back, he would make a far fewer mistakes. Hindsight is 20/20. I have made so many foolish mistakes, I have lost count. Simple mantra, management by rhyming. If the schedule is long, the design is wrong. The acid test is how long will it take for this to fly. If it takes too long, dont do it.You need to simplify your product as much as possible. How does a smart engineer make a dumb mistake? You optimize something that does not exist. A lot of times you should say this is the wrong question. Your goal is to make your design less wrong over time, Musk said.

As to the value of a college education, Musk said You dont need college to learn stuff. You can learn anything you want for free. There is a value that colleges that have, can someone work hard at something, and annoying homework assignments and get it done. That is the main value of college. I think colleges are not for learning, they are for fun and doing your chores. I dont consider going to college as evidence of exceptional ability. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, they all dropped out.

While Musks words may not have been music to the ears of colleges across the United States, one of the other main themes of his fireside chat was talking about Starship, as human spaceflight draws ever closer. However, while progress on this front is likely imminent, Musk talked about an accelerated rate of progress needed if we are to have resettlement on Mars. He said, I hope I am not dead when resettling on Mars happens. But, if dont improve our rate of progress, I will be dead. It has taken 18 years to get the first people ready. We have to improve our pace of innovation a lot. I dont want to be dead [to see this happen.] It is great that we are about to launch people to orbit. It has been a long time 18 years. But, we havent done it yet. Unless we improve our rate of innovation dramatically, we wont be able to have a base on the moon or a city on Mars.

In terms of some of the significant challenges facing Starship, Musk said SpaceX has a big focus on Starship in terms of new technology development. We need a whole new architecture, and that is what Starship is about. It needs to be completely re-usable. It needs to be re-launched an hour after landing. It is like commercial aircraft. The only thing you expect to change on a regular basis is propellant. It has got to be fast. We are building a production line. Designing rockets is not that hard. The hard part is building a production line, and that is 1000 percent harder, maybe more. Production and manufacturing is something I see as very under-appreciated in the U.S.

See the rest here:

Elon Musk Talks Starlink, 5G, Education and More at SATELLITE 2020 - Aviation Today

It seems one of the most unlikely relationships in the celebrity world may have turned into a blissful love story. When Grimes and Elon Musk first met, nobody would have thought theyd gel considering the formers stance on how she felt about billionaires and political power in general. Then again, since everyone knows opposites usually attract, maybe it wasnt so unusual.

One thing Grimes has said, though, is Musk is more in tune with her beliefs than people think. Apparently this is the reasoning behind her agreeing to get pregnant with him in recent months.

Yes, its now confirmed Musk is indeed the father of Grimes yet-to-be-born and future genderless baby, something creating plenty of online chatter. With Musk already a controversial international figure and Grimes an equal one in music, one might wonder what this child will experience later in life.

In a recent interview with Paper Magazine, Grimes (aka Claire Boucher) said she and Musk are more politically simpatico than some might think. Part of this comes in the extensive work he does in helping the environment and progressing technology/science.

There is a good argument to be made there, despite his billionaire status and penchant for supporting politicians from the Republican party. Grimes says Musk kind of changed her outlook on the good billionaires can do when they have the right purpose in life. It is true Musk has done some good, if also arguably wasting money on things people dont needlike his controversial Tesla Cybertruck.

Living with Musk probably isnt easy either when hes working long days to keep his Tesla company operating at full capacity. Add to that Grimes own full schedule touring around the world and it doesnt seem like a love story headed to a perfect conclusion.

Having children can change everything, though. Once Grimes gives birth to their child this fall, its going to be interesting to see if both will truly settle down for a while.

Those familiar with Grimes songs will know she wrote one called So Heavy I Fell Through the Earth, supposedly mirroring the tragedy of getting pregnant. To her, the whole process is like a violation of the womans body, including sacrificing ones power in capitulation to a man. Clearly, her beliefs in wanting to stay independent of that have changed, particularly due to her admitted love for Musk.

Some might think its an ill-fated situation since Grimes admitted to Page Six she worries how being pregnant will affect her life. Since she says she enjoys working in the night, being pregnant wont be easy on her body. Plus, she also has anxiety about whether her child will inherit her once-wild ways as a teen.

Some billionaires with world influence arent the types to settle down with kids. There isnt any track record of that happening well, or at least without serious breakups later. Then again, Musk does have kids from a prior marriage and claims to be a good dad.

If its true Grimes tamed her wild streak, it seems hard to believe shell be able to tame herself completely either. Everything seems to say these two dynamic notables livingtogether might lead to disaster down the road. Adding a baby to this equation might be the magic formula for couples who really stay together.

Read more here:

Grimes Reveals Elon Musk Is Indeed the Father of Her Baby - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

Even during this time of crisis and despair for many in the world, the scammers are still hard at work trying to swindle crypto from innocent victims.

If you remember during the crypto boom of 2018, the scammers used to go around twitter using misspelled @elonmusk accounts trying to scam victims into sending them crypto. After the hype died down, most of them crawled back into their caves.

As the world is dealing with the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 the scammers are back at it, exploiting unsuspecting victims. This time they claim Elon Must and Tesla are hosting a crypto giveaway and all you need to do in order to enter is to send them 0.1-10BTC to their address

While most of us crypto OGs wont fall for a scam like that, the average Joe will be easily fooled. Heres an example of such an offer as a reply to one of Donald Trumps tweets:

*backup photo in case tweet gets removed:https://gyazo.com/3d2d2ec879b3ac199025178b8185f635

If you head over to the website bitcoingives.info you will see a medium post supposedly written by Elon Must himself:

If you click the Elon Must profile on the page it will take you to Musks official medium profile, just another tactic to deceive their victims.

Scrolling down you will see links to enter the giveaway. The links are for BTC, ETH, and LTC.

The way the scam works is they ask you to send them roughly $500 worth of BTC, LTC, or ETH in order to enter the fake giveaway.

To trick you even further, if you take a look at the transaction history for each address, you will see a payment of around $500. Heres an example of a $1,600 payment to their ETH address:0x7f0dD36F14f21a10f560caa3d7567f483613BaaF

Dont be fooled! This is just the scammer sending himself money to legitimize his offer.

Before I could even write this article, this domain has been flagged by Google Chrome as a dangerous domain, and will display a warning if you try to access it. We can only hope that these scammers are caught and punished appropriately.

There should be zero tolerance for this kind of behavior during a vulnerable time like this.

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Elon Musk Crypto Giveaway Scams are Still Rampant - The Merkle Hash

Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, speaks with US Air Force Lieutenant General John Thompson, commander Space and Missile Systems Center commander at Space Pitch Day in San Francisco, California.

US Air Force

ORLANDO, Fla. SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk urged the Air Force to prioritize innovation and encourage industry competition as the service seeks to create the nation's newest military branch the Space Force.

In a conversation with the top U.S. Air Force officer on space research and acquisition at the Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando last week, Musk said the commercial space industry must try harder to develop reusable rockets. SpaceX is currently the leader in that effort.

"Creating a fully reusable system and having that be in volume production and volume launch that's super, super hard," Musk told Air Force Lt. Gen. John Thompson, adding that designing one-use rockets was "quite easy."

He described Starship, the next-generation rocket SpaceX is developing, as having reusability potential, which would make it the culmination of his vision ofsending people to and from the moon and Mars.

"The vehicle we are working on right now, which is quite difficult, is Starship and that has the potential for full reusability," Musk said Friday, adding that the program was doing well.

An artist's rendering of SpaceX's Starship rocket on the moon.

SpaceX

"But I think it would be great to have other companies as well do full reusability. I think competition is a good thing," he said.

"The Joint Strike Fighter, there should be a competitor ... that's a controversial subject but I don't think it's good to have one provider," Musk said of Pentagon's most expensive weapons system.

He later elaborated on Twitter that the F-35 competitor should be a drone.

"The competitor should be a drone fighter plane that's remote-controlled by a human, but with its maneuvers augmented by autonomy. The F-35 would have no chance against it," he wrote of the Lockheed Martin jet.

Read more: Elon Musk tells a room full of Air Force pilots: 'The fighter jet era has passed'

Throughout his discussion with Thompson, Musk warned that the United States was at risk of falling behind other nations if it did not prioritize innovation.

"This is not something that was a risk in times past but is a risk now," Musk said. "I have zero doubt that if the United States doesn't seek innovation in space it will be second in space."

Musk also predicted that the Chinese economy will eventually surpass the United States' by at least two-fold.

Read more:Elon Musk says Chinese economy will surpass US by 2 or 3 times: 'The foundation of war is economics'

"A thing that will feel pretty strange is that the Chinese economy is probably going to be at least twice as big as the United States' economy, maybe three times," Musk said.

"The foundation of war is economics," Musk said. "If you have half the resources of the counterparty then you better be real innovative. If you're not innovative, you're going to lose."

Read this article:

Elon Musk urges US military to prioritize space innovation and industry competition, or risk falling behind - CNBC

Teslas summon feature calls your car from a parking space to pick you up. Its fairly slow and not without challenges, but it can be incredibly helpful for disabled people or those times when you just dont want to get soaked by a rainstorm.

But Elon Musk just hinted at something much more useful coming soon:

Reverse smart summon.

A close-up of a Tesla

Smart summon gets your car from its parking spot. Reverse smart summon drops you off where you want to go, then parks your car for you. Thats potentially extremely helpful and a massive time saver.

Weve all had the scenario: youre going somewhere for lunch, and its busy. You only have limited time, so you need to find a parking spot quickly, get in the restaurant, and get seated. But ... it takes 10 minutes to find a parking spot.

Now, potentially, you can offload that tiresome task onto your car.

Screen shot of Elon Musk's tweet about reverse smart summon.

There are a few caveats to mention, of course.

Currently, smart summon requires that you have line-of-sight of your car, and you need to continually confirm that the car is operating safely by pressing and holding a button in the Tesla app. Releasing that button stops the car. And, even with this limitation, the car isnt always perfectly aware of its circumstances.

Clearly, having to watch your car find its own parking space doesnt save you any time at all ... especially if the car is slower than you.

However, Musk says Teslas cars are getting smarter, faster: its working on a rewrite of its Autopilot software that reportedly involves significantly more AI, which will then help Teslas learn faster and become more capable. As that happens, as autonomous drivings safety record improves and as legislation catches up we likely be able to have our cars drop us off and pick us up.

And that will eventually be much more than just at a restaurant.

Eventually, your Tesla will be able to drive anywhere across the country to meet you, charging itself along the way. It will sync with your calendar to know exactly when to arrive.

But the timetable might be a little longer than we like. Musk does have a history of over-promising when it comes to timelines, so take it with a grain of salt.

That quote above is from Teslas blog in 2016.

Obviously, were not even close to that yet in 2020.

The rest is here:

Elon Musk Just Teased A New Tesla Feature Thats Way More Useful Than Smart Summon - Forbes

Elon Musk lended public support to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey whos being pressured to step down by an activist investor. Just want to say that I support @Jack as Twitter CEO. He has a good heart, Musk tweeted, using a heart emoji because thats how middle-aged billionaires communicate.

On Friday it was reported that Paul Singer, the billionaire founder of Elliott Management, took a stake in Twitter with the intent of making a number of changes at the micro-blogging platform. Elliott has a more than $1 billion stake in Twitter, according to CNBC, and has nominated four new board members.

Bloomberg reports that Twitter executives met with representatives from Elliott Management for the first time last week. Dorsey was absent, even though he was the main topic of conversation. One change Elliott hopes to make is the removal of Dorsey, whos been accused of being inattentive to Twitters earnings potential as he splits his time as CEO of Square where 85 percent of his wealth resides. The Twitter / Square CEO has also been criticized for moving too slowly, with a preference for talking instead of doing. Dorsey hasnt helped himself by saying hed like to temporarily move to Africa this year.

Dorseys return as CEO of Twitter in July 2015 was met with advice from Elon Musk. I wouldnt recommend running two companies, said the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX. Twitter shares have since fallen 6.2 percent, while Facebooks have gained more than 121 percent, according to Bloomberg.

Musk and Dorsey were last seen bromancing each other at a company meeting in January, where Musk was projected onto a giant screen in front of thousands of Twitter employees. If you were running Twitter, Dorsey asked, what would you do? Musks response was get rid of the bots.

Others want to get rid of the CEO, which just might happen.

Excerpt from:

Elon Musk lends support to Twitters embattled CEO: he has a good heart - The Verge

From building PayPal and SpaceX to running one of the world's most disruptive automobile companies, Elon Musk has a number of impressive accomplishments under his belt. And he's only 48 years old.

In a 2013 TED talk, the billionaire entrepreneur revealed his "secret sauce" to achieving extraordinary things: "First principles" thinking, a decision-making strategy in which you "boil things down to their fundamental truths and reason up from there, as opposed to reasoning by analogy."

Of course, Musk acknowledges that reasoning by analogy or "copying what other people do with slight variations" is something we have to do throughout most of our lives. "Otherwise, mentally, you wouldn't be able to get through the day," he said.

The term "first principles" was coined more than 2,000 years ago by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, who believed that the best way to understand a subject is to break it down to its most fundamental principles.

In a 2012 interview with Digg founder Kevin Rose, Musk explained how to apply the first principles method, using the cost of car batteries as an example:

Step 1: Identify the problem and its common assumptions.

"Somebody could say, 'Battery packs are really expensive, and that's just the way they will always be. Historically, it has cost $600 per kilowatt hour," Musk said, referencing the "common assumption" about car batteries.

Therefore, he continued, most people would just accept that "it's not going to be much better than that in the future."

2. Break the problem down to its fundamental truths.

This is often the most difficult part, and the key is to ask the right questions by challenging the common assumptions. Keep digging deeper and deeper until you are left with only the fundamental truths.

"With first principles, you say, 'What are the material constituents of the batteries? What is the stock market value of the material constituents?' It's got cobalt, nickel, aluminum, carbon, some polymers for separation and a seal can," explained Musk.

It takes a lot of effort, but if youre trying to do something new, its the best way to think.

Then, he continued, "you'd break that down on a material basis and say, 'If we bought that on the London Metal Exchange what would each of those things cost?' It's like $80 per kilowatt hour."

3. Use the fundamental truths to plot a new course.

Fundamental truths are like building blocks. Once you've gathered them, you can use them to create an entirely new and innovative solution.

With the batteries, "you just need to think of clever ways to take those materials and combine them into the shape of a battery cell," Musk said. "Then you can have batteries that are much, much cheaper than anyone realizes."

Musk has referenced the value of first principles thinking several times. "I think it's important to view knowledge as sort of semantic tree," he wrote in a 2015 Reddit AMA. "Make sure you understand the fundamental principles, i.e., the trunk and big branches, before you get into the leaves/details, or there is nothing for them to hang on to."

In a 2014 commencement speech at the University of Southern California, he offered a similar piece of advice: "Don't just follow the trend. It's good to think in terms of the physics approach the first principles," he said. "This is a good way to figure out if something really makes sense, or if it's just what everybody else is doing."

He added: "It's very hard to do. You can't think that way about everything. It takes a lot of effort, but if you're trying to do something new, it's the best way to think. It's really a powerful, powerful way of thinking."

First principles thinking isn't just for building rockets or electric vehicles. It can be used to fix problems in your daily life, whether it's related to personal relationships, work, finances or anything else.

Too often, we make major life decisions based on outdated or false information. But in a rapidly changing world, historical truths and experience may not always work, which is why it's sometimes necessary to take a step back and use the first principles approach to create a more customized and creative solution.

Tom Popomaronis is a leadership researcher, commerce expert, cross-industry innovation leader and VP of Innovation at Massive Alliance. His work has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, Inc. and The Washington Post. In 2014, Tom was named one of the "40 Under 40" by the Baltimore Business Journal. Follow him on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Don't miss:

Check out: The best credit cards of 2020 could earn you over $1,000 in 5 years

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Elon Musk calls this a 'powerful, powerful way of thinking'but is 'hard to do.' Here's how it works - CNBC

The news struck like a thunderbolt: SpaceX might IPO Starlink.

For years, investors have sought a viable way to invest in Elon Musk's space start-up, SpaceX. Alphabet's 2015 investment in SpaceX, giving the internet giant a partial stake in the space company, suggested one way. (Currently the only way.) But what investors really wanted was a way to own SpaceX directly.

Problem is, Elon Musk is not all that interested in IPO'ing SpaceX. He doesn't want to cede control of the company and risk short-term-focused investors derailing his plans to colonize Mars, for one thing. And with SpaceX's satellite launch business reporting positive EBITDA (and even occasional positive GAAP profits), he doesn't really need the money an IPO would generate. Result: A near-term IPO of SpaceX probably isn't in the cards.

But an IPO of Starlink might be.

This was the upshot of a recent column by CNBC space maven Michael Sheetz, who reported that "SpaceX is considering spinning off its Starlink satellite business and may have an IPO for the unit in the next several years."

Apparently, it was SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell who spilled the beans. Speaking to a group of investors in Miami earlier this month, Shotwell conceded that although SpaceX itself might not go public anytime soon, "Starlink is the right kind of business that we can go ahead and take public."

Even more than that, she said, SpaceX is "likely to spin out" Starlink and take the subsidiary public.

So how might that work? Let's begin with a few assumptions.

Elon Musk is on record as estimating that it might cost $10 billion to build his imagined network of 12,000 Starlink internet broadband satellites to orbit Earth. (If he builds the bigger theoretical version of Starlink, comprising 42,000 satellites, it might cost a bit more, but for now let's just stick with the assumption of 10 bills.)

Now, a recent stock sale at SpaceX placed the company's implied, private valuation at $36 billion. Assuming SpaceX can hold on to that valuation through an IPO, all it will need to do is spin off Starlink for a market capitalization of just one-third of SpaceX's total market valuation, and this should generate all the cash SpaceX needs to complete Starlink -- and begin selling internet access to essentially every human on Earth.

How likely are investors to value Starlink at one-third the valuation of SpaceX as a whole?

Well, consider. With 36 planned rocket launches this year, SpaceX is by far the biggest privately owned rocket-launching company on planet Earth. It's so popular, says CNBC, that market analysts believe SpaceX has access to "an unlimited amount of funding" anytime it wants to sell shares of itself, or float its own debt.

Problem is, one of the ways SpaceX became so big, and so popular, was by offering rocket launches at prices cheaper than almost anybody else can manage. (Maybe India can. Perhaps China. But we now know for a fact that SpaceX's big competitors Roscosmos, Ariane, and America's own United Launch Alliance cannot.) As a result of charging so little for its launches -- and as already mentioned above -- SpaceX's launch business isn't generating a whole lot of profit.

But Starlink will generate profit. Simply gobs of it.

In fact, internal SpaceX documents from 2015, obtained by The Wall Street Journal, confirm that SpaceX expects to generate $4 billion from selling Starlink internet access as early as next year -- and perhaps as much as $22 billion a year by 2025. If SpaceX's estimates are anywhere near correct, then spinning off Starlink at a valuation of even $12 billion (one-third of current SpaceX market cap) would offer investors the bargain of a lifetime -- the chance to buy an Elon Musk company at a P/E of about 0.5 times estimated 2025 earnings.

For comparison, and for context, at its current market capitalization of $143.6 billion, Elon Musk's only publicly traded company today -- Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) -- sells for more than 13 times estimated 2025 earnings (according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence).

Judging from the example provided by Tesla, chances are good that investors would line up to buy a Starlink IPO at valuations several times the 0.5 times needed to fund Starlink. More than that -- they'd clamor for a piece of the action.

My prediction, therefore: SpaceX will in fact spin off and IPO Starlink -- just as soon as Musk has evidence confirming that his profits estimates are correct. And when that happens, this IPO will be a smashing success.

See the rest here:

Is This Elon Musk's Next IPO? - The Motley Fool

Home / News / Tesla Cybertruck: Elon Musk reveals production version will look "slightly better"

When Elon Musk pulled the covers off the Cybertruck late last year, it was both the best and worst thing to happen in the automotive world since the game-changing Fiat Mulitpla.

And just like Fiat's questionable Multipla, the Cybertruck featured aesthetics that divided the masses, as it looks like something taken straight out of a dystopian-punk movie.

Those that disliked the Cybertruck's simplistic exterior will be happy to hear that the American brand will alter its looks before the truck releases something that had to change to comply with international safety laws.

When asked on Twitter if the overall look would remain the same upon release, Musk replied by saying that it'd be "slightly better". Take what you will from these two words, but we're guessing that he means that the truck will appeal to more people.

As aforementioned, these changes were bound to happen as the harsh exterior of the Cybertruck wouldn't have much give in the event of a crash. Pedestrian safety was the main concern here.

On top of this, Musk recently used Twitter to reveal that the Cybertruck will feature a payload calculator that is able to inform drivers of the maximum towing load in different situations.

Active ride height and active damping are two additional features that the CEO claimed were "game-changing for a truck or any car with a high max/min weight ratio.

With a scheduled release of late 2021 for the tri-motor model, Tesla has given itself more than enough time to fine-tune the Cybertruck's details, and make it a game-changer in the electric truck/ute segment.

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Tesla Cybertruck: Elon Musk reveals production version will look "slightly better" - NZME

CARLETON, P.E.I.

Trout River Industries may have found an in with one of the most cutting-edge companies in the world.

In an interview with the Journal Pioneer, the president and the founder of Trout River Industries give the gist of their November phone conversation with officials with The Boring Company.

When they called us, they said, We are sitting around watching your videos right now, said Darrin Mitchell.

They watched all our videos on YouTube and called us up and said, We think you might have the solution were looking for.

The Boring Company, owned by Elon Musk of the Tesla and SpaceX companies, completed a test tunnel near Los Angeles, Calif., and was working on a transportation loop under the Las Vegas Convention Centre. Paving the tunnels floor proved to be a challenge, though.

Trout River Industries, an Island-owned business, builds live-bottom and shuttle floor trailers for trucking industries around the world.

Mitchell and company founder Harvey Stewart made their way to L.A. where they toured the test tunnel and agreed they could build a modified trailer to travel it.

"You dont get that phone call every day so, when you do, you hop on a plane and make stuff happen, said Mitchell. He added he was stoked about supplying a technological solution to a world leader in innovation.

The modified trailer was built and delivered. This week it started supplying asphalt to a small paving machine.

Its tight quarters, Stewart explained. The drilled tunnel is 14-feet in diameter and once re-enforced the opening is just 12 feet in diameter. A traditional trailer just wouldnt fit.

They asked if we could help them out because there was no way to get the asphalt and the gravel in the tunnel after theyd dug the hole, Stewart said.

The Boring Company had bucketed the gravel and asphalt in for the test tunnel.

The trailer, delivered with bold Trout River and The Boring Company decals on the sides, has its own diesel motor power source.

The decals are strategic.

We just figured, if (Musk) is at a press release somewhere, someday, hes going to go, whats that'? Mitchell said.

Its us. Dont forget us; were the one that helped you, Stewart said.

If the Boring Company had not been pressed for time, Trout River wouldve used an electrical power source, keeping with plans the Tesla founder has in mind for the tunnels. A 15-minute walk across the Las Vegas Convention Centre can be trimmed to a minute in the tunnel using compatible autonomous electric vehicles, capable of reaching speeds of 165 miles per hour.

The Boring Company attached the trailer to a truck which had to be cut down to fit in the tunnel. It did not have an external power supply and Trout River installed a diesel engine to power the live-bottom floor.

Mitchell and Stewart are hoping their test unit will be the first of many sales to Musks suite of companies.

If it works, wed like to be part of it. If it doesnt, were awfully glad we got this far (because) I think it just highlights a lot of our ability to innovate, said Mitchell.

And our ability to respond, said Stewart.

In a video they shot before shipping off the trailer, they joke about finding a way to get the trailer into space, a reference to Musks SpaceX tests and experiments. The flame-throwers they attached for the video were removed prior to shipping.

Theres a lot of pride in knowing our Island innovation has value all over the world, Stewart said.

We have been involved in wind turbine projects but this this may be the biggest green project yet.

Theyre still waiting feedback on how well the modified trailer performs. They might get to see for themselves, soon, as they will be back in Las Vegas March 10 to 14 for ConExpo, North Americas largest construction equipment trade show.

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P.E.I. connection to an Elon Musk project - The Telegram

NASA has roped in billionaire Elon Musk to help it probe a nearby asteroid that contains enough gold to make everyone on Earth a billionaire.

Musk's rocket-building outfit SpaceX will join forces with the space agency to fire an uncrewed spacecraft to the solid metal blob 16 Psyche as early as 2022.

"The Psyche mission will journey to a unique metal-rich asteroid, also named Psyche, which orbits the Sun between Mars and Jupiter," Nasa said in a statement.

"The asteroid is considered unique, as it appears to largely be made of the exposed nickel-iron core of an early planet one of the building blocks of our solar system."

Psyche, which is 120 miles wide, is loaded with heaps of platinum, iron and nikel.

In total, it's estimated that the object's various metals are worth a mind-boggling 8,000-quadrillion (that's an eight followed by 18 zeroes).

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That means if we carried it back to Earth, it would destroy commodity prices and cause the world's economy worth 59.5trillion to collapse.

If all goes well, a Nasa/SpaceX mission to the asteroid will launch in summer 2022 from Cape Canaveral.

Fortunately, the space agency is taking the trip for scientific purposes and isn't planning on conducting any mining.

Instead, the Psyche probe will be loaded with equipment to examine the probe's composition.

What do we know about quadrillion pound asteroid Psyche?

Nasa reckons 16 Psyche is a survivor of violent hit-and-run collisions between planets which were common when the solar system was forming.

That means it could tell us how Earths core and the cores of the other terrestrial planets were formed.

It's hoped the probe will arrive at the hunk of metal in 2026.

We've known about Psyche for a while, but its potential to wreak havoc on Earth's economy was recently touched upon by a veteran miner.

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Scott Moore, who heads up EuroSun Mining, said the sheer amount of gold in the asteroid threatens to throw the gold industry into chaos.

"The 'Titans of Gold' now control hundreds of the best-producing properties around the world," he told Oil Price.

"But the four to five million ounces of gold they bring to the market every year pales in comparison to the conquests available in space."

Two space mining companies backed by big-name investors are gearing up for a gold rush after asteroid ownership was made legal in 2015.

Deep Space Industries and Planetary Resources each have their eyes on the 2011 UW158 asteroid which is twice the size of the Tower of London and worth up to 4.5trillion.

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MARS MYSTERYNasa photo reveals strange hole in Mars 'that may contain alien life'

PATTY FROM THE PASTAncient Romans 'invented the beef burger' and this is their recipe

INCOMING!Asteroid nine times the size of the Empire State Building to skim past Earth

PRO-E-TEINFirst known 'alien' protein 'unlike anything on Earth' found inside meteorite

PALE BLUE DOTNasa reveals photo of Earth from 4BILLION miles away taken 30 years ago

In other news, an asteroid nine times the size of the Empire State Building will skim past Earth next month.

It recently emerged that an asteroid obliterated early human civilisations in a catastrophic collision with Earth 13,000 years ago.

And, scientists have discovered a "Super-Earth" 31 light-years away that humans could one day colonise.

What do you think Nasa will find on Psyche? Let us know in the comments!

We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online Tech & Science team? Email us at tech@the-sun.co.uk

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Golden asteroid could make everyone on Earth a billionaire and Nasa has hired Elon Musk to visit it - The Sun

In December 2018, Mumbai-based Exseed Space created nothing short of history by being the first private commercial organisation in the country to launch a satellite in space via Elon Musk-led SpaceX.

The company, now rechristened Satellize, did what was considered unthinkable at one time - slashing down the cost of building a satellite. So, while earlier satellites would cost Rs 1,000 crore each to build and launch, Satellize's technology brought this down to under Rs 10 crore each. These make them radically affordable both for the private and public sectors, says Mahesh Murthy, Founder & Director, Satellize.

The company has an interesting story behind how it all started. Mahesh Murthy and Asshar Farhan, the founders of Satellize, go back a long way. They first met as quizzers and debaters while at rival schools in the year 1980 in Hyderabad where bonding over steaming cups of Irani Chai only seemed natural. 15 years ago, a company that Farhan co-founded was acquired by Geodesic, a company that Murthy had co-founded.

Flashback then to five years ago when Murthy and Farhan jointly mentored a space startup called Dhruva Space. After the governments Electronics Development Fund contacted Murthy in 2017, he called Farhan and a brainstorming session on a fund for space followed soon enough.

We believed it might be a hard sell to raise a fund focused around space back then - and decided to do a startup to prove the point that world class space startups can be built in India. One of the first things we did was to acquire the assets of Dhruva Space and kick off Satellize in 2017, he recalls.

Chart: Typical cost of various components in a satellite launch. A first mover The founders vision was to become a leader in spacecraft manufacturing. Satellize claims to build satellites that offer high performance at radically lower costs. We have launched two already and are the only Indian firm to do so. Moreover, we have experience launching on both SpaceX and ISRO platforms. No other company in Asia has either, asserts Murthy. Companies, he says, tend to buy them in constellations of dozens each. ISRO is a world leader in launching them with a market share of over 30%.

The founders draw attention to how what was once being achieved through large satellites at phenomenally high costs can today be made possible via nanosatellites. And they can do it all - earth observation, remote sensing, optical imaging and communication - at highly reduced costs.

India has over 150,000 trained people with hands-on space expertise - except there was no private space industry in India that existed earlier. Specifically, no one was making nanosatellites, one of the fastest-growing parts of this sector. The world is moving towards smaller, more affordable satellites called nanosatellites about the size of a few coffee cups, reveals Murthy.

Their satellites are beneficial for imaging, communication and other data gathering purposes. A range of use cases such as helping detect diseases on farms and increasing crop yields; monitoring road and infrastructure construction; helping cities govern themselves better and detect intruders via sea, forest or land; picking up distress calls of teams in remote mountainous areas for search and rescue operations are possible via Satellize. We have partners within and outside the group who help us offer customers the entire solution from one single source - from payload manufacturing, satellite assembly and rocket launches, to ground station coverage, data analysis and insight sharing, he highlights.

Asshar Farhan and Mahesh Murthy, the founders of Satellize The India opportunity The opportunity for India is waiting to be tapped and a space strategy can be a gamechanger for both government and private companies, feels Murthy. Satellize is currently working with several state governments and central bodies to help re-shape their approach to solutions by using new space technology.

Murthy is of the firm belief that India needs to up the quantum of its nanosatellites to make a qualitative difference. India launches a few hundred nanosatellites a year. Just a couple every year are of Indian origin. Even if we were to make 10% of the nanosatellites that India launches - that alone is a $100m revenue base. When you add other satellites that are launched from the US, New Zealand, Europe, China and other nations, even a 10% share of this market quickly takes potential revenues way past the $ 1 billion mark, he reasons. Besides this, the revenue potential available in the rest of the space ecosystem is also immense. As per estimates, space is expected to be a trillion dollar sector in 5 years and Indian companies can vie for a chunk of this pie. Despite such potential, however, the space startup faced a lot of resistance in 2018 when they tried to get a launch slot on an Indian rocket as there was no precedent. We even had spies from Indian intelligence agencies vetting us before ISRO gave us a go ahead, adds Murthy.

They tried for over a year where they had to solve a wide range of issues from insurance and liability to clearance for spectrum and ensuring the payloads worked before finally being cleared to launch on SpaceX. This was a blessing in disguise because knowing that we had successfully launched on SpaceX then helped ISRO to understand our capabilities and welcome us as a partner and customer in India, he gushes.

Spacing it out wellThe founders are enthused by the response and have plans lined up for the innings ahead. On the anvil are plans to launch 8 more payloads in the next three months. We hope to launch 10 more payloads in 2020, most of them being commercial. We aim to be one of the world's leading players in this business by 2022. It's hard to say what this means in revenues - but it's not likely to be a small number. We hope to grow sustainably at over 50% a year over the next 2 to 5 years, he candidly states.

The startup has made steady progress. Murthy says that they now get regular calls from ISRO and other government agencies to advise them on various aspects. Potential customers also feel exhilarated to know that they can have their own space-based assets for Rs 10 crore.

All this is making Satellize come closer to what they had envisioned of kick-starting the private space revolution in India. The going ahead, then, looks better than what they had even expected. The support for our vision is already there overseas - and is growing in India. We are beginning to see the centre, various states and private industries show interest in working with us, he says.

Murthy gives food for thought before signing off by talking about helping to build the future of humanity even in space. This stems from all the ecological issues on earth at present which, the founders believe, may warrant a better alternative for people of the planet. And that is, a life off-planet. We don't know how and when that might happen - but we would like to do our bit to make this possible, with affordable technologies for space, reveals Murthy, with a conviction clear enough to narrate their future leanings in space.

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A satellite for only Rs 10 crore, with a little help from Elon Musk and ISRO - Economic Times

Old photos of Elon Musk and Amber Heard taken when they were dating raised suspicions that the actress also physically abused him during their relationship, as she did with Johnny Depp.

The unearthed pictures show the Tesla founder sporting a bruise and a cut under his right eye. The shiner is clearly visible despite the different angles the images were taken.

In the photos, Musk and Heard were walking together holding hands, although a source claimed the gesture is just a front and that they were only keeping up with appearances. The "Aquaman" actress also did not look too happy in the pictures.

According to Sausage Roll, the images were taken after they split, and before news of their breakup made headlines. Musk reportedly called it quits with Heard because he could no longer take her "manipulative and selfish behaviour."

"He ended it a week ago. He'd heard certain things about her behaviour that didn't sit well with him," the source said, adding, "Amber can be very manipulative and selfish. Elon's back in Los Angeles while she's licking her wounds in Australia."

The appearance of the bruise led fans to suspect that Heard was also physically violent towards Musk during their short-lived relationship. She may have struck him too, just like how she admitted to hitting her ex-husband Johnny Depp in the leaked audio recordings. Netizens believe that she may have hit Musk during a fit of rage after he broke up with her.

Musk and Heard dated for under a year after she filed for divorce from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" actor. There were rumours though, that they were already seeing each other while she was still married to Depp.

The pictures may be even more damaging to Heard's reputation amid her ongoing legal battle with her ex-husband. Depp filed a defamation suit against her, and belied her claims that she was a victim of domestic abuse.

The pictures come following leaked audio recordings of her conversations with Depp revealed that she turned physically violent during their arguments. So much so, that the actor had to leave to avoid turning their room into a "crime scene." As for Musk, he is said to be a relaxed person and avoids drama at all cost. He is not the confrontational type, so there is no way of confirming if he was also a victim of Heard's alleged physical violence.

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Elon Musk sports a black eye in old photos with Amber Heard - International Business Times UK

Elon Musk did it again. Once again, he has gone viral with his quirky conspiracy theories, this time about himself.

In a fresh tweet, the Tesla CEO discloses that he is in reality a '3,000-year-old vampire' who is tired of living through all these centuries with 'false identities'.

The story goes as such: Elon Musk tweeted about Spacex preparing for the Starship SN1 tank. He also mentioned that there were certain glitches earlier and they have now been fixed to build a heavy duty, custom planisher.

Following this tweet, a Twitter user then replied asking why had he not incorporated the same settings earlier, suggesting the billionaire a look into time travelling "to save time".

Along with the reply, the user also shared a photo of Canadian fighter pilot Raymond Collishaw, who was born in 1893 and whose face seems to have an uncanny resemblance to Musk and jokingly adding why he was in Canada in 1914.

The Twitter banter then took place between the two and Musk had a witty comeback to it. He added to the tweet saying he was indeed a vampire and that he has lived through several centuries.

And this was enough for users to start a series of comments on his tweet and some also agreed to him and found it "believable".

There were also some who were caught in disbelief in Musk's joke:

This is not the first time that Tesla CEO has been seen going viral for his hilarious tweets. For instance, earlier, Musk pushed a zombie apocalypse joke where denied being involved in it. The billionaire has been known to show off his "superpowers" quite often.

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Elon Musk says he is a 3,000-year-old vampire. Twitter has a field day - Livemint

The flow of one of Southern Californias key sources of water the Colorado River has steadily declined by about 20 percent over the past century, and could continue to do so as the climate changes.

Thats according to a new study from the U.S. Geological Survey, recently published in the journal Science.

It's a worrying sign, since we get about 25 percent of our water from the river.

WHERE'S IT GOING?

The decline can be primarily linked to rising temperatures in the Colorado River Basin, which have increased by roughly 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit since 1913.

The amount of precipitation thats fallen has remained pretty much the same, but much more of it has come down as rain rather than snow during that time. That's a problem for a number of reasons.

For one, snow is a crucial source of long-term water storage, slowly dolling out runoff, and keeping rivers flowing as the weather warms throughout the year.

Second, since snow reflects energy from the sun away from the Earth. When its not there, the Earth heats up faster, the snow melts quicker, and runoff coming down the river evaporates and is taken up by plants at a higher rate.

That means less water for us.

HOW BAD COULD IT GET?

The studys authors estimate a further decrease in runoff of between 1431% by 2050 as the world continues to warm.

In the case where theres more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, you have a larger decline of the flow than in the case where you have a smaller concentration of gases in the atmosphere, said Chris Milly, senior research scientist with the USGS.

A big caveat: its notoriously difficult to predict precipitation patterns. While the amount of water falling from the sky has stayed relatively consistent over the past 100 years, theres no guarantee itll continue to do so at the same rate as the climate changes.

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Elon Musk's SpaceX Is Headed To San Pedro - laist.com

Elon Musks Boring Company announced on Twitter that its third-generation boring machine, which is supposed to have had its ability greatly improved to dig tunnels fast and cheap, is now working.

The Boring Companys mission is to reduce traffic in metropolitan areas by improving the technology of boring tunnels and developing a fully electric and autonomous transport system that works well inside those tunnels.

For its first test tunnel in Los Angeles, the company basically bought an existing boring machine, which it named Godot, in order to learn more about the process of digging tunnels.

After completing the mile-long test tunnel, the Boring Company bought a second machine and modified it. This second-generation boring machine is called Line-Storm.

At a launch event in December 2018, CEO Elon Musk said that the company is working on its third-generation gorging machine called Prufrock.

For that machine, they are working to increase the power of the machine by a factor 3, modifythe cutter design, and add an automated segment erection system.

Musk said existing tunnel boring companies spend only about 10 minutes mining per hour, as the rest is spent installing the reinforcement and deploying all the logistics behind: power, dirt removal, etc.

They see a potential 15x improvement in the speed of boring versus the next-best boring technology by engineering a system that automatically takes care of that at the same time as they dig.

At the time, Musk said that the new system would be ready relatively soon.

Now just over a year later, the Boring Company has shared an image of a boring machine with the caption Prufrock is alive:

It presumably means that the new boring machine is completed, and it even looks like it is being deployed, though they didnt confirm the location.

The news comes just after the Boring Company completed its first of two tunnels for its Las Vegas Loop project, which is expected to become the companys first full commercial project when it goes into operation later this year.

To me, it looks like the Las Vegas project was more about deploying a Loop system than boring super-fast and efficiently.

Its going to be a fairly small loop system, and it will give the Boring Company the opportunity to demonstrate its concept on a small scale.

But while that was the focus of the project, I am glad that they are also independently working on their tunnel-boring technology, which is required to reduce the cost of tunnels and achieve the companys mission to reduce traffic.

It will be interesting to see what kind of speed the Boring Company can achieve with Prufrock.

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Elon Musks Boring Company announces third-generation machine is working - Electrek

During a launch event in December 2018, Elon Musk announced that its company is working on a third-generation gorging machine, named Prufrock.

The Boring Company has deployed its unique tunnel boring machine and it integrates a few great innovations, so the dream of ultra-high-speed tunnels for transporting vehicles underground is even closer.

Unlike other attempts of traditional tunnel boring machines (TBM), Prufrock is expected to be able to dig quicker and make a difference.

To share the amazing news, the Boring Company has shared an image of a boring machine saying Prufrock is alive, on Tweeter.

Now that the machine is ready, the Boring Company completed its first of two tunnels for its Las Vegas Loop project, which goes into operation this year and it will be the companys first fully commercial project.

The project will offer the company the opportunity to show off its concept on a limited extent while working on their tunnel-boring technology which hopefully will improve traffic in metropolitan areas.

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Elons Musk Boring Company Announced Its Third Gen Machine is Working - TechTheLead

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk has shared some additional information about the production-spec Cybertruck on Twitter, revealing that some styling changes will be made.

To say the Tesla Cybertruck has been controversial would be an understatement, with many criticizing its simplistic exterior design. Quizzed on Twitter if the overall look of the electric pickup will remain, Musk said itll be slightly better.

Read More: Tesla Cybertruck Scores 535,000+ Reservations, Over $50 Million In Cash

Just what this means is unclear. However, a number of safety groups around the world have said the design of the Cybertruck presented back in November will need to be altered if its to hit the market. One of the matters debated online regarding the Cybertruck was related to the vehicles stainless steel body and how it will perform in crashes. It has been promoted as being very rigid and seemingly incapable of crumpling like the body of a normal car.

Design aside, Musk has also revealed that the Cybertruck will be equipped with a payload towing calculator that will inform owners how much they can carry depending on the driving scenario. In addition, the outspoken chief executive says the pickup includes active ride height and active damping that are game-changing for a truck or any car with a high max/min weight ratio.

Tesla has a lot of time up its sleeve before the Cybertruck reaches the hands of customers. In fact, production of the range-topping Tri-Motor model isnt scheduled until late 2021, while the cheaper dual-motor and single-motor variants are penciled in for 2022.

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Elon Musk Says Production-Spec Cybertruck Will Look Slightly Better - CarScoops