Archive for the ‘Elon Musk’ Category

Dozens of Tesla Cybertrucks vandalized by someone who really doesn’t like Elon Musk – The Verge

Elon Musk may have just won approval for a $56 billion pay package from his adoring supporters, but someone in Fort Lauderdale is clearly not a fan of the controversial CEO. Last week, dozens of Tesla Cybertrucks were defaced with the words Fuck Elon in black spray paint, according to InsideEVs citing local news reports.

Police say that 34 stainless steel trucks were tagged with the message, which was discovered on Friday. The Cybertrucks were being stored in the public parking lot, without any fencing or security, likely being held because of a previously reported problem with the windshield wiper. Tesla is also experiencing an inventory pileup as a result of cooling demand for its electric vehicles.

Local news reports that the spray paint was easily removed, with a few trucks still showing some black smudges. But thanks to a few social media accounts, we can still experience the uncensored images as much (or as little) as we want.

The graffiti is either a sign of growing discontent with Musk and, by extension, Tesla, or its just the work of a lone crank who saw a bunch of Cybertrucks in a parking lot and was inspired to do some redecorating.

The Cybertruck has certainly been a polarizing addition to Teslas lineup, thanks to Musks demands that the vehicle look like some sort of postapocalyptic, Blade Runner-inspired fever dream.

In the months since its release, the truck has racked up its fair share of problems, from complaints about build quality to disappointment about its range to a massive recall over a faulty accelerator pedal. The most recent problem a containment hold on deliveries to fix a malfunctioning wiper blade is just the latest sign that the most hyped vehicle in modern history is going through a lot of growing pains.

My prediction: Musk starts to sell special edition Fuck Elon decals for the Cybertruck, much like he did for the infamous broken window demonstration. The guy hasnt met an insult he cant monetize.

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Dozens of Tesla Cybertrucks vandalized by someone who really doesn't like Elon Musk - The Verge

Elon Musk blasts Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy over ‘Star Wars’ going woke – New York Post

Elon Musk blasted Lucafilm president Kathleen Kennedy for putting the Star Wars franchise in jeopardy by pushing woke propaganda in the latest spinoff The Acolyte which has drawn criticism over its lead characters being spawned by lesbian space witches as part of the storyline.

Shes more deadly than the Death Star! Musk wrote in response to a post on X that pictured Kennedy as a franchise killer alongside other Empire death machines.

Kennedy who has been president of Lucasfilm since Disney bought the film and production company founded by Star Wars creator George Lucas in 2012 has defended her decision to name Leslye Headland to direct The Acolyte, which is currently streaming on Disney+.

In a response to another post on X that said Kennedy hired Headland because she had struggled as showrunner due to a male-dominated fanbase, Musk wrote: Kathleen Kennedy is super bigoted against men.

The Post has sought comment from Kennedy.

Shes more deadly than the Death Star!

Lucas, who launched the famed franchise before selling his company to Disney for $4 billion, has in large part stayed away from any involvement with any of the Star Wars spinoffs.

Headland, the first woman to create a TV series for the franchise, has sought to make The Acolyte more diverse by casting minority actors including Amandla Stenberg, who identified as nonbinary and gay, and Korean star Lee Jung-jae.

The narrative in The Acolyte that has raised hackles implies that powerful witches belonging to an all-female coven led by Mother Aniseya, played by actress Jodie Turner-Smith used the force to generate female offspring that star as the twin main characters, played by AmandlaStenberg.

Kennedy backed Headland, telling The New York Times: My belief is that storytelling does need to be representative of all people.

She said that supporting Headland was an easy decision for me.

Kennedy said it was terrifying to receive backlash from the male dominated fan base which has reacted negatively to recent Star Wars films and TV series promoting female stars including Daisy Ridley, who played Rey in the sequel trilogy The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker.

Headland responded to the criticism, telling The Hollywood Reporter last week that she didnt think The Acolyte was queer with a capital Q.

Disney has drawn criticism in recent years for introducing woke content to appeal to a broader audience.

Kathleen Kennedy is super bigoted against men

Last year, South Park, the animated satire put out by cable channel Comedy Central, mocked Disney for pandering to audiences by promoting diversity in franchises including Star Wars and Indiana Jones.

In one South Park episode titled Joining the Panderverse, the show took aim at Kennedy, who was accused of ordering the producers of her franchise projects to put a chick in it and to make her lame and gay!

In 2021, Disney fired actor Gina Carano, star of Star Wars spinoff series The Mandalorian, after a series of social media posts, including one which compared the political climate in the US to the period in Nazi Germany.

Musk, the Tesla boss who has been critical of Disney, announced earlier this year that he was backing Caranos lawsuit against the company.

Carano, the former MMA star who played Cara Dune in the spinoff, alleged that she was booted from the series because she espoused conservative views.

She is asking the court to order Disneys Lucasfilm unit to reinstate her in the role and seeks compensatory damages of up to $75,000 plus emotional distress and punitive damages to be determined at trial.

Last year, Musk blasted Disney CEO Bob Iger after his company halted advertisements on his X platform due to the proliferation of hate content.

Go fk yourself, Musk said when asked his reaction to brands pulling their ads from his site.

Musk attempted to clarify the comment last week, saying it was not aimed at all advertisers as his social media company tried to woo back companies that have left the site.

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Elon Musk blasts Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy over 'Star Wars' going woke - New York Post

Elon Musk Blasts Boeing CEO as Its Troubled Spacecraft Trapped Astronauts on Space Station – Futurism

When he's right, he's right. Fresh New Faces

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is taking potshots at Boeing's embattled CEO David Calhoun, accusing him of being a clueless executive who lacks the necessary expertise.

Musk took aim at Calhoun's business background, arguing that "the CEO of an aircraft company should know how to design aircraft, not spreadsheets."

As Business Insider points out, it's a valid argument. Calhoun has a bachelor's degree in accounting from Virginia Tech University, with no engineering background whatsoever.

The news comes as Boeing is struggling to return its plagued Starliner spacecraft, which is currently docked at the International Space Station, back to Earth. NASA announced last week that the date of its return journey has been pushed back indefinitely, following the discovery of several helium leaksaffecting its thruster system.

Meanwhile, Musk's SpaceX has launched a total often successful Crew Dragon missions to the ISS over the last five years. The spacecraft was developed under the same NASA Commercial Crew contract.

In other words, Boeing isn't just struggling greatly with its avionics department, but even its cursed spacecraft project continues to stumble. Maybe Musk is right that new leadership is long overdue.

Under Calhoun's leadership, Boeing has gone through crisis after crisis, from two 737 Max 8 crashes that resulted in 346 people losing their lives in 2018 and 2019 to an ejected "door plug"that forced another passenger jet to make an emergency landing earlier this year.

Since then, several whistleblowers have come forward, accusing Boeing of lacking safety standards.

In short, it shouldn't come as a surprise that Calhoun is planning to step down at the end of this year, given his abysmal track record. Musk is arguably right to call for an exec who actually knows his way around an aircraft or spacecraft.

Musk isn't alone in thinking that Boeing needs new leadership with at least some engineering chops.

"To fix Boeing's issues the company needs a strong engineering lead as its head coupled to a governance model which prioritizes safety and quality," Emirates president Tim Clark told CNBC in March, shortly after Calhoun announced his resignation.

But finding a new head who's willing and capable of cleaning the astronomical mess Calhoun will leave behind is easier said than done. The company faces a barrage of lawsuits, with prosecutors now recommending that the Justice Department file federal criminal charges against the company following the two deadly 737 Max 8 crashes.

Several candidates have since turned down Boeing's offer, indicating it's an incredibly unpopular job. And who could blame them, given the sheer scale of the company's troubles?

More on Boeing: Boeing's Cursed Starliner Seems to Be Stuck on the Space Station Indefinitely

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Elon Musk Blasts Boeing CEO as Its Troubled Spacecraft Trapped Astronauts on Space Station - Futurism

Elon Musk’s SpaceX Wins $843M NASA Contract to Bring Down the International Space Station – The Daily Beast

NASA has handed Elon Musks SpaceX an $843 million contract to make a vehicle that will bring the International Space Station out of orbit in a few years time when the trailblazing laboratory is retired.

The space administration on Wednesday announced that the billionaires company has been chosen to develop and deliver the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle, the spacecraft which will guide the ISS on its fiery journey through the Earths atmosphere.

The SpaceX vehicle will provide the capability to deorbit the space station and ensure avoidance of risk to populated areas, NASA said. The government agency, which will oversee the deorbiting mission when it takes place, has previously said it expects the station to break up during the intense heat of atmospheric re-entrywhich will also likely vaporize most of the stations hardwarewhile some denser or heat-resistant components will survive and splash down into an unpopulated area of the ocean.

The ISS, which has been operated by space agencies in the U.S., Canada, Russia, Japan, and Europe since 1998, is expected to reach the end of its operational life in 2030. All of the agencies have committed to continue operating the station until the end of the decade except for Russia, which is committed until 2028. NASA did not disclose exactly when the deorbiting will take place.

The orbital laboratory remains a blueprint for science, exploration, and partnerships in space for the benefit of all, said Ken Bowersox, NASAs associate administrator for space operations mission directorate.

The news comes as the inaugural crew of Boeings Starliner spacecraft remain aboard the station. The two astronauts were originally scheduled to spend around eight days at the ISS after blasting off on June 5, but mechanical issues with Starliner have seen their return date repeatedly delayed.

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Elon Musk's SpaceX Wins $843M NASA Contract to Bring Down the International Space Station - The Daily Beast

Fake Elon Musk livestreams promoting crypto scams keep popping up on YouTube – Mashable

Is there any end in sight to fake Elon Musk livestream scams on YouTube?

Over the weekend, Engadget reported on a YouTube broadcast featuring Elon Musk talking at what appears to be a Tesla conference-type event. The livestream had over 30,000 viewers at one point according to Engadget.

One problem: It wasn't real. The fake live event is part of an ongoing cryptocurrency scam on YouTube.

The scammers that take part in this particular scheme appear to focus solely on YouTube to perpetrate their fraudulent activity.

The idea behind it is simple. Scammers broadcast a video of Elon Musk speaking at some event as a livestream. Oftentimes, these broadcasts feature real video of Musk on a loop. The audio can be either a fake AI generated voice that sounds like Musk or real audio from a Musk speech that's generic enough that it can be just about anything.

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The on-screen graphics, however, portray the event as a live talk from Musk about cryptocurrency. These often include links or QR codes to the crypto scam, urging viewers to get in on this opportunity before the livestream ends.

There's another crucial element to this scam. These live videos are often being streamed on hijacked YouTube channels that people are already subscribed to. These hacked channels can have hundreds of thousands of subscribers, so there's a built-in audience that YouTube notifies because a channel that these users are subscribers to just went "live." The scammer usually changes the name of the YouTube channel in order to make it appear like an official Musk or Tesla-related account.

In this particular case over the weekend, the hacked channel had more than 10,000 subscribers and was also verified by YouTube. The channel was renamed "Tesla" with the YouTube handle "@elon.teslastream."

While Engadget viewed the livestream with as much as 30,000 concurrent live viewers at one point, it's unclear how many of those were actual real people. YouTube often promotes and recommends livestreams based on how many users are currently watching the stream. Its possible that a chunk of that viewership were bots in order to game the YouTube algorithm into pushing the video into users' feeds.

While Musk and Tesla are most commonly utilized to push these YouTube livestream crypto scams, scammers have altered the strategy a bit at times. For example, in April, Mashable reported on a SpaceX version of this scam that weaponized the solar eclipse in order to perpetuate their crypto scheme on YouTube.

Nearly four years ago, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak actually sued YouTube over Bitcoin scam livestreams that were using his likeness. So, this has clearly been going on for quite a while now. And, unfortunately, it looks like these fake YouTube livestream schemes are going to continue on, at least for the foreseeable future.

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Fake Elon Musk livestreams promoting crypto scams keep popping up on YouTube - Mashable