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The Tesla Model S had a big TV appearance on the popular HBO comedy series, Curb Your Enthusiasm. Throughout the new season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Seinfeld’s co-creator Larry David who plays a version of himself in the show has been tooling around in a new BMW i3, rather than his usual Toyota Prius. However, the Tesla Model S became a centerpiece in LarryÂ’s escapades thus begging the question, was this advertisement by Tesla in the form of a product placement? When walking up to Jeff GarlinÂ’s (Jeff Greene in the show) house, Larry sees a shiny red new Tesla Model S in the driveway. David: “Wow look at this thing” Garlin: “New Tesla.” David: “Nice, whoÂ’s i…

Renowned mutual fund manager and investment icon Ron Baron of Baron Capital is well-known for his conservative, long-term approach to stock picking over his 46 year career. HeÂ’s been compared to Warren Buffett (both for his investing style and outstanding track record) and recently created a bit of a stir when he predicted Tesla stock could hit $1,000 by 2020. Elon Musk being interviewed by Ron Baron at the 2015 Baron Capital conference (Image: Baron Funds) Baron Funds second quarter commentary (via Valuewalk) includes a letter from Ron Baron highlighting some fascinating insights surrounding Tesla. To understand businesses, Baron notes the importance of, “the in…

Nestle (+1.79%) is caving into the schoolyard bully (that would be activist investor Daniel Loeb) and accelerating its $20.8 billion share buyback plan over the next three years. The move may artificially boost Nestle’s stock price, but by taking out debt to do so, it could hurt its credit rating. Ever since Loeb planted his 1.3% stake in Nestle back in June, it has been quick to meet the hedge fund manager’s demands. Accelerate share buybacks? Check. Set margin targets? Nestle also announced yesterday it would raise operating margins from 15.8% this year to 18.5% by 2020 (Unilever hovers around 20%). Growth through M&A? Nestle just purchased …

Facebook introduced new transparency tools on its news feed and invested $1 billion in a Virginia data center.

Qualcomm (+0.46%) was fined over $700 million by the Taiwan Fair Trade Commission.

If you thought Amazon’s retail domination would slow down any time soon, you were mistaken. Just a day after it announced it’ll let Prime shoppers try on clothing at home for free before charging them, Goldman Sachs notified clients that Amazon is inching toward a wholesale partnership with Nike. Until now, Nike has only been available on Amazon through third-party sellers. Competitors Adidas and Under Armour already sell directly to Amazon, but Nike is one of the many brands that have held out, likely because of Amazon’s rampant counterfeit problem. According to Goldman Sachs, Nike is “close to commencing a direct relationship selling product on Amazon.com.” Th…

Bayer—the chemical company that sold heroin before we realized that’s not okay—is selling a portion of its crop-science business to BASF (a chemical company that never sold heroin) for $7 billion. BASF was happy to accept Bayer’s Europe and North America seed business, which generated $1.5 billion in revenue last year. And Bayer was equally as thrilled. The deal was a must for the maker of Aspirin to raise money and comfort antitrust regulators before an upcoming $57 billion acquisition of Monsanto…a bigger seed operation… This deal is the latest in a wave of consolidation in the chemical industry. Dow Chemical and DuPont—two 100+ year-old companies—recently syn…

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk hosted a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) earlier this afternoon and spent several hours drinking whiskey, trolling the audience, answering some great questions, and generally having a blast. He revealed a vast array of fascinating new details about SpaceXÂ’s giant new rocket (BFR), its upper stage spaceship (BFS), and much more. All of MuskÂ’s answers from the AMA have been collated and organized by category below. YouÂ’ll want to shy away from the AMA page itself, currently clocking in at more 10,000 comments. When useful, particularly dense and technical responses have been summarized in italics for a broader audience. Living on Mars Q: Obviousl…

(CNN)Reinforcements from other regions are helping firefighters contain more of the largest wildfires devastating Northern California, though strong winds expected over the weekend could challenge those gains, a fire chief said Friday. Meanwhile, officials are making grim discoveries -- victims burnt beyond recognition -- as they search blackened ruins of some of the 5,700 homes and business that have been destroyed. "Some of (the remains) are merely ashes and bones," Sonoma County Sheriff Rob Giordano said at a Thursday evening news conference. "And we may never get truly confirmative identification on ashes. When you're cremated, you can't get an ID." Thi…

A unique orange-colored Tesla Model 3 was spotted driving around the westside of Los Angeles on Thursday, October 12. Tipsters sent us a photo of the Model 3, which is likely decorated in a full-car vinyl wrap, parked in front of the Manhattan Beach Pier on Thursday morning. The same car in orange was spotted later in the day by our very own Marco Papa, Supercharging at the Tesla Design Center in Hawthorne, and then again in New Mexico hours later. A photo of the vehicle was posted under the Instagram account ‘mymodelthreeÂ’. ItÂ’s possible that a new Model 3 owner whoÂ’s either a Tesla employee or a family member of the employee living on the east coast too…

Tesla has reportedly fired an estimated 400 to 700 workers that failed to meet their performance benchmarks, including Fremont factory workers, managers, engineers, administrative staff, and sales positions. The dismissals took place this week and comes a week after Tesla announced that it had reached an all-time best quarter for Model S and X deliveries, but fell short on meeting its Model 3 guidance. A Tesla spokesperson confirmed this week’s dismissals, noting that the departures were not layoffs and a result of company-wide performance reviews. “As with any company, especially one of over 33,000 employees, performance reviews also occasionally result in employee depa…

When Tesla first announced in October of 2016 that all new Model S and Model X vehicles being produced would be equipped with a suite of eight surround cameras, twelve ultrasonic sensors and a forward-facing radar with enhanced processing, the vision for a fully autonomous future suddenly seemed more real and within grasp. Dubbed Autopilot 2.0, TeslaÂ’s new hardware suite would facilitate the development of Enhanced Autopilot features: a more advanced version of TeslaÂ’s first Autopilot driving-assist feature, before reaching Full Self-Driving capabilities. Tesla CEO Elon Musk stuck to the narrative that Autopilot 2.0 would far exceed the capabilities of Autopilot 1.0…

Tesla has once again made the list of Top 30 Global Experience Brands, beating out Ferrari, Mercedes Benz and BMW for the second year in a row to take the title for best automotive brand experience. The list was compiled by New York-based Group XP, a leading experience consultancy. Companies with unparalleled brand presence like Disney, Coca-Cola, McDonaldÂ’s, Apple, and Tesla, among 25 other recognizable companies, were scored based on four unique dimensions: Create, Deliver, Engage and Strive. “Our lives are defined by experiences and today people are as demanding of an experience as they are of a purchase. The businesses that have responded to this shift in e…

One distinct competitive advantage often considered for Tesla is the companyÂ’s complete commitment to an electric vehicle future. Their cars donÂ’t sacrifice anything in the design process — theyÂ’re built from the ground up to take advantage of a wholly unique electric vehicle architecture. And, according to Reuters, “Electric motors are smaller than petrol or diesel engines, so electric vehicles designed from scratch can benefit from better interior packaging which allows a bigger passenger space.” ItÂ’s reported that, “There are two ways to make battery-driven vehicles: use a clean-sheet design like Tesla, or a traditional vehicle platform that can use all t…

Precisamente ahora que tu ya te has ido Me han dicho que has estado engañándome ¿Por qué de pronto tienes tantos enemigos? ¿Por qué tengo que andar disculpándote? Si ellos están mintiendo, por favor defiéndete Yo sé que no lo harás, pues dicen la verdad Es una pena siempre seguirás doliéndome Y culpable o no ¿Qué le puedo hacer ya? Miénteme como siempre, Por favor miénteme Necesito creerte Convéncerme Miénteme con un beso Que parezca de amor Necesito quererte Culpable o no No tengo ya derecho a reprocharte nada Pues nada queda ya de ti, de ayer Qué pena, nuestra historia pudo ser fantástica Y ahora dime…

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SpaceX might soon become neighbors to a new high-density apartment complex to be built directly across the street from the Elon Musk-led space company. The Hawthorne city council has approved plans for development of 230 small apartments that will include restaurants and walking paths on the 2.5-acre lot near Crenshaw Boulevard and Jack Northrop Avenue. In a 3-2 vote cast late Tuesday, city council supporters Angie English, Haidar Awad and Olivia Valentine approved the proposed six-story project by Blackwood Real Estate, despite strong opposition by SpaceX and Hawthorne Mayor Alex Vargas. Vargas along with Councilman Nilo Michelin have previously raised concerns …

Proceed with caution when using foil for cooking. If youÂ’re baking fish, roasting vegetables or preparing a piece of meat for dinner tonight, chances are that youÂ’ll wrap your food in aluminium foil. What you may not realise is that some of the foil will leach into your meal – and this could be bad for your health. Research that I conducted with a group of colleagues has explored the use of aluminium for cooking and preparing food. Aluminium doesnÂ’t just appear in foil: it is the most popular cookware material used by people in developing countries. Pots and pans are lined with it and it is found in some kitchen utensils like large serving spoons. C…

Former NASA astronaut and International Space Station commander, Leroy Chiao, explains what it might feel like to ride inside SpaceXÂ’s human-transport rocket and travel across the world in roughly 40 minutes. The Elon Musk coined BFR or Big Falcon Rocket is the serial tech entrepreneurÂ’s latest vision for a city-to-city transportation system that would use rockets to transport passengers at speeds upwards of 18,000 mph (27,000 km/h), or over 30 times the speed of todayÂ’s passenger airliner. Musk revealed details for his concept of a multi-planetary rocket during a recent presentation given at the International Astronautical Congress conference in Adelaide, Au…

Following Elon Musk’s recent video posting of a Model 3 being flanked by robots on a production body line, Tesla’s CEO is back with another video this time showing Model 3 body panels being produced in actual speed. “Stamping Model 3 body panels (real-time)” reads the description on his Instagram video. Tesla’s ubiquitous red-painted Kuka robots named after X-men superheroes are seen doing a carefully orchestrated dance of feeding sheets of metal into a high-pressure stamping machine. We’ve previously documented the strategic blend of aluminum, mild steel and ultra high-strength steels being used throughout Model 3’s body structure. What appears to be an aluminum sheet b…

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Volkswagen CEO Matthias Mueller said that Tesla isn’t a threat to the company, as it continues to expand into the EV market and values the “great future” of the diesel engine as well. “We canÂ’t compare apples with pears. Tesla is a company that sells less than 100,000 units and we sell 10 million. Currently, Tesla burns a 3 digit million amount and weÂ’ve got results of 12 to 13 billion euros per year, so I think we have to be realistic here,” he said. Mueller said the company, in addition to aiming to produce 1 million battery powered vehicles by 2025, will be forging ahead with diesel technology despite the recent emissions scandal. “The diesels we …

“1 billion people in virtual reality.” Zuckerberg on Facebook’s new Oculus Go headset. Just imagine: you can pet your virtual cat, while you hang with your virtual friends, and eat your virtual food. The possibilities are virtually endless.

The U.S. men’s soccer team has a lot more to answer to then just coach Bruce Arena. The USMNT failed to clinch a berth to the World Cup for the first time since 1986, even though it had a 93% chance to qualify entering Tuesday’s match. But while the show will go on in Russia next summer for 32 other teams, some TV networks will feel the pinch from the U.S.’ absence. Specifically Fox Sports. The network will lose up to $20 million in revenue after locking in a two-tournament, $400 million contract for broadcasting rights (FIFA said “no take backs”). Shares of Fox’s parent, 21st Century Fox, didn’t handle the news well either, falling 2.2%. Here’s the thin…

Round four of the Nafta negotiations kicked off yesterday, but this time, negotiators are trading in their peace pipes for nunchucks. That’s because a few aggressive U.S. demands could prompt Mexico and Canada to walk away from the table: Proposing a “sunset” provision, which would terminate Nafta after five years unless the countries actively renew it. Introducing an “auto rules of origin” clause requiring Nafta-made cars to source over 50% of their content from the U.S. Gutting the “Investor State Dispute Settlement,” a system that allows private corporations to sue foreign governments. Weakening the ISDS would create more uncertainty for U.S. com…

Kroger’s one-upping Pfizer by floating the potential sale of its convenience store business. You may know Kroger as the country’s largest grocery chain, but it also operates almost 800 convenience stores under various brand names—Turkey Hill Minit Markets, QuickStop, and our go-to for a late-night beef jerky run, Loaf ‘N Jug. And those jerky runs have served the grocer well. The stores account for nearly $4 billionof Kroger’s $115 billion in revenue, with consistent same-store sales growth the last four years. But Kroger is looking to revamp after losing more than a third of its market value this year (you might have heard that Amazon acquired Whole Foods). Th…

The International Monetary Fund (IMF), a body of 189 countries working to keep the global economy in check, released its annual report, the World Economic Outlook. The diagnosis? All vital signs look good. The IMF predicts the world economy will grow 3.6% by the end of 2017 and 3.7% the following year (compared to 3.2% in 2016). For you macro nerds out there, that would be the fastest growth this decade and brings us back to the 30-year global average. So nothing to worry about, right? Uhhh, maybe. What’s a yearly checkup without the doc taking your blood pressure? Confidence in the global economy and low borrowing costs saw the G20 nations pile up $13…

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SpaceX has once more accomplished what the launch industry long dismissed as infeasible, conducting their third commercial reuse of a recovered Falcon 9 booster. This particular mission was tasked with launching the 5,200 kg SES-11/Echostar 105 communications satellite into a geostationary transfer orbit. Once it makes its way into the final geostationary orbit, the satellite can be expected to provide communications services to North America in the form of digital television. After the Falcon 9 booster separated from the second stage, it conducted a rapid 180 degree flip in order to orient itself towards the landing target, an autonomous spaceport drone ship (ASDS) s…

In a fascinating article in Institutional Investor, Michelle Celarier writes that Tesla [NASDAQ: TSLA] is: “the biggest short in the U.S. market; about 27 percent of Tesla’s free float is short, for a value as high as $10 billion” according to S3 Analytics, a firm that tracks short sales. That said, “the stock has soared more than 1,300 percent since Tesla went public in 2010. It is the first automaker to go public since Ford in 1956, making it one of the darlings of the post-financial-crash bull market.” Photo credit: Tesla It turns out that one of the most notorious Tesla shorts is Mark Spiegel. And Spiegel hasn’t even driven a Tesla yet. He says, “I’m more into spo…