Mediaboss Marketing

Illustration: Jason Torchinsky

Over 12,000 Tesla Model Ss and Xs built between 2012 and 2018 have had failures of their Media Control Units;the computer system that runs the big center-stack touchscreen and controls all kinds of things, from rearview camera displays to some HVAC functions to even the little clicking sound when the turn indicators are on. These units have been failing at an alarming rate, making cars almost underivable and costing thousands of dollars to repair. The NHTSA has started an engineering analysis, and it seems that its all because of a questionable design.

The issue is quite well-known in the Tesla community and has been covered by other media outlets like our pals over at Ars Technica. Fundamentally, this is what the issue seems to be: in the MCU there is something called an 8GB eMMC NAND flash memory module.

This is essentially the same sort of flash memory as you may have as the main storage device in your computer or as a little USB flash drive. These units are fast and work extremely well, but they have a limited number of times they can have data written to them.

For most of the contexts we interact with flash memory, like with USB thumb drives, were never likely to come anywhere near the write cycle limit of the device. But, for embedded systems where data is being written and read automatically, over and over, this limitation becomes a much greater issue.

Figuring out the lifespans of such memory chips is a big deal, and seems to be at the root of what Tesla misjudged.

G/O Media may get a commission

The chip in the MCU has log files written to it on a regular basis, and Teslas original estimates expected the unit to last between 11 and 12 years, what they considered to be a reasonable life of the car.

That hasnt proved the case for many cars. As the NHTSA report states (emphasis mine):

On June 22, 2020, the Office of Defects Investigations (ODI) opened Preliminary Evaluation PE20-010 to investigate incidents of media control unit (MCU) failures resulting in loss of rearview camera in model year (MY) 2012-2015 Tesla Model S vehicles equipped with the NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor with an integrated 8GB eMMC NAND flash memory device. EMMC NAND flash devices have a finite lifespan based upon the number of program/erase (P/E) cycles. The subject MCU allegedly fails prematurely due to memory wear-out of the eMMC NAND flash. Tesla used the same MCU with the Tegra 3 processor in approximately 159 thousand 2012-2018 Model S and 2016-2018 Model X vehicles built by Tesla through early-2018. In response to ODIs Information Request (IR) for PE20-010, Tesla provided ODI with 2,399 complaints and field reports, 7,777 warranty claims, and 4,746 non-warranty claims related to MCU replacements. The data show failure rates over 30 percent in certain build months and accelerating failure trends after 3 to 4 years-in-service.

The likelihood of failure seems to be correlated with how much the car has been driven since thats when logs get written to the flash memory, though this is not always the case with the failures, which can vary pretty wildly.

Heres more description from the NHTSA report:

According to Tesla, for subject vehicles equipped with the NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor with an integrated 8GB eMMC NAND flash memory device, the eMMC NAND cell hardware can fail when reaching lifetime wear, for which the eMMC controller has no available blocks to recover.

With this failure mode, the only recovery available is a replacement of the eMMC device, achieved by physical part replacement of either the MCU assembly or visual control module subcomponent. Tesla provided the effects of MCU failure on vehicle function which result in loss of rearview/backup camera, loss of HVAC (defogging) setting controls (if the HVAC status was OFF status prior to failure.)

There is also an impact on the advanced driver assistance support (ADAS), Autopilot system, and turn signal functionality due to the possible loss of audible chimes, driver sensing, and alerts associated with these vehicle functions.

There are precedents for addressing defects that result in loss of either backup camera, defogging, or turn signal functions under Investigation: EA 20-003 Open Resume Page 2 of 2 safety recalls. Tesla has implemented certain Over-The-Air or OTA updates to subject vehicles to mitigate the effects of MCU failure.

These updates include firmware changes to reduce memory usage of the subject memory card, improve eMMC error correction and storage management strategies, changing the control logic for turn signal activation, and defaulting the HVAC system to Auto (71.6F) for drives after MCU failure to address windshield defogging. Tesla indicated that the MCU failures are likely to continue to occur in subject vehicles as vehicles continue.

Tesla has only repaired these by swapping the entire MCU, which can cost between $2,000 and $5,000. The basic issues are shown well here in this video:

In there, you can see that the memory chip is not removable this could be because the permanent ones are generally a bit better at dealing with vibration and harsher environments, but its not really clear, as theres another flash memory unit used to store the logfiles Tesla service uses, and that one is stored on a removable SD card:

To Teslas credit, earlier this month (November 9, three days before the NHTSA started their engineering analysis and about five months after the NHTSA opened their investigation) it finally announced a warranty adjustment program for people who have had cars affected by this issue.

Refunds could also be available to anyone who paid to have the unit replaced prior, so if thats anyone reading this who enjoys using money to exchange for goods or services, you should probably look into that.

Heres what I cant stop thinking about, though: why did this have to happen? Telsa knows this flash memory should be thought of as a consumable since it has a limited number of write cycles and they knew they would be writing a lot of data to it as the car drove, so if you know that, why design such a part to be integrated into an expensive component?

They didnt do this for the Gateway Log memory module, that removable SD card; why wouldnt that have worked for this? Or why wouldnt some sort of volatile buffer dynamic RAM have been used, and that would get written to the flash at regular, known intervals, allowing for much more control over the life of the chip?

Ive reached out to Tesla to ask these questions, but, of course, the chances of them writing me back are roughly the same as the chances of me finding a Kruggerand under my tongue.

I know the engineers at Tesla are smarter than me, and I know many of you in the comments are smarter than me, too. Im hoping a smarter person will explain why a consumable component like that, one that could directly affect the use of the car significantly in case of failure, would be made so expensive and difficult to replace.

Theres gotta be a reason, right?

At least Tesla seems to be helping with the warranty claims for this. Its a little late, but its very welcome.

Read the rest here:
NHTSA Opens Investigation Into Widespread Tesla Media Control Unit Failures And The Cause Seems Weirdly Preven - Jalopnik

A business trying to make money off mansions full of TikTok influencers has gone public on the stock market through an unusual deal. It involves a former Chinese health care company, and if that sounds confusing, well, we can explain.

Social media entrepreneurs have rushed to find ways to make money from stars on popular platforms like TikTok. West of Hudson Group, for one, operates a network of content houses where many prominent young influencers live.

Houses like these function as management companies, taking a percentage of revenue from the creators living in them. The influencers often dont pay rent, but produce content for brands and promote products as a form of in-kind rent.

Dozens of influencer houses have arrived in the Los Angeles area over the last year, and the companies that run them have been searching for sustainable business models. Going public, though, is a new strategy.

West of Hudson was acquired this week by Tongji Healthcare Group, an entity in Las Vegas that was incorporated by a Chinese hospital in 2006 but had no assets at the end of 2019.

The deal was a reverse takeover, in which a private company (in this case, West of Hudson) is acquired by an already-public one (Tongji Healthcare) but ends up in control. The deal closed on Wednesday.

There were more maneuvers behind the scenes. Before the reverse merger, Tongji itself was acquired by the investors who control West of Hudson, a New Jersey real estate operator named Amir Ben-Yohanan and his business partners.

What it all adds up to is that the combined company, which has applied to be renamed Clubhouse Media Group, is now listed on the so-called pink sheets market, where tiny public and often speculative companies trade. On Friday, Tongjis stock closed at $2.30, 38 percent below its August high.

Extremely low priced stocks known as penny stocks are extremely volatile. While sophisticated investors may dismiss such a risky investment, inexperienced investors, many of whom are active on online trading platforms like Robinhood, have an appetite for them, and for companies in the thick of social media trends.

Influencer content houses often revolve around drama. Many last only a few months before internal conflict or a dispute between talent and management leads to their disintegration. (In July, The New York Times reported that several content houses, including the ones owned by West of Hudson, were shopping around reality shows, using drama as a selling point. None have been sold.)

Clubhouse, the primary influencer house in West of Hudsons network, was co-founded in March by Mr. Ben-Yohanan, Christian J. Young and Daisy Keech, a social media influencer. Its first location, in Beverly Hills, has expanded into a network of influencer mansions including Clubhouse Next, Clubhouse for the Boys, Clubhouse Malta and Not a Content House.

It may be hard to attract investors in the public markets, however.

In the first six months of the year, West of Hudson had revenue of nearly $96,000 but a loss of $983,000. Mr. Ben-Yohanan, the companys chief executive who controls 62 percent of the stock, according to a recent securities filing, provided it with a loan of just over $1 million. The company can draw nearly $4 million more from him, according to the filing, which also said Tongji said may need to raise money in the markets to finance operations and grow.

In an interview, Mr. Young said the company was looking at options for raising capital in both the debt and equity markets, but declined to give more details.

According to the Tongji filing, Mr. Ben-Yohanan founded West of Hudson Properties, a New Jersey real estate company that owns or manages over $300 million in multifamily properties. He is listed as the tenant on two of the main Clubhouse properties, according to the filing, which added: While Mr. Ben-Yohanan intends to assign these leases to the Company in the future, there is a possibility that Mr. Ben-Yohanan may not assign these leases in the near term, or at all.

A call to West of Hudson Properties seeking comment from Mr. Ben-Yohanan was not returned. In addition to being chief executive, he is listed as Tongjis principal financial and accounting officer.

Financials aside, companies associated with social media trends are proving attractive among new, young investors. Zach, a 12-year-old investor who has established a following on YouTube and Twitter, is one of many young people who have gotten into stock trading, largely by watching YouTube videos. Theres a lot more young people in the stock market than people think, he said.

He trades stocks under his parents names (they monitor his usage) using a U.K. investing platform called Trading 212. He said that hed need to look at the companys financials before determining if it was a sound investment, but could see others his age being interested.

For most kids who invest in the stock market, theres interest in new kinds of social media trends and companies like TikTok and wanting to invest in things like that, Zach said. A company thats affiliated with high-profile social media stars, he said, is 100 percent something theyd be interested in.

Trading in penny stocks has surged this year. After the Covid pandemic shuttered sports leagues earlier this year, many frustrated sports bettors moved to the stock markets. The shift coincided with a widespread move initially pioneered by trading app Robinhood toward cutting trading fees, which further encouraged speculation in lower priced shares.

Such stocks, however, often have bleak business prospects and weak management teams. And with little professional trading activity or analysis, penny stock prices are volatile and driven by rumor and speculation in online message boards, with little concern for the fundamental likelihood of the business making money.

Through October, some 23 percent of shares traded in American stock markets were priced under $5, according to the New York Stock Exchange. In the same period in 2019, they accounted for around 14 percent of trades.

See more here:
Clubhouse, the - The New York Times

Let our journalists help you make sense of the noise: Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter and get a recap of news that matters.

Fueled by new tools to easily funnel grassroots dollars to candidates,as well as whats become known asfundraging, the 2020 election was already historically expensivethe federal election alone likely cost near $14 billionand its far from over. Since election night, a renewed battle has been raging in Georgia where both Senate seats are up for a runoff in January because no candidate got more than 50 percent of the vote, and donors are rushing in with wallets wide open. An estimate on Friday by nonpartisan advertising analysis firm AdImpact found that at least $206 million has been spent on political media between the primary and general elections and now the runoffs. And that might be lower than the true number.

On top of the $206 million in pre-November 3 spending, AdImpact estimates that since November 6when the Senate race between incumbent Republican David Perdue and his Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff was officially sent to a runoffadvertisers have spent at least $80.1 million on the race (and that apparently doesnt count money flowing to the other runoff race, between Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler and Democratic challenger Raphael Warnock, which is a special election to fill the Senate seat vacated by Republican Johnny Isakson). Democrats have put in slightly more during this period$42.9 million to $37.2 million. Those sums include spending by the campaigns and major party groups, but AdImpact found that just the Perdue and Ossoff campaigns have already pre-booked another $67 million in spending by January 5a number which can rise.

Still, the total spending is likely much higher, as these estimatesdont reflect the money that is being spent on media by outside groupssuper-PACs and dark-money groups that dont disclose their donorswhich will likely add tens of millions of dollars more. In the Perdue and Ossoff race, about $113 million has been spent by outside groups (that includes before and after November 3 according to OpenSecrets.org).While Democrats seem to hold the edge in the spending by campaigns and by affiliated party groups (like the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and its Republican counterpart), the outside spending has favored Perdue, with outside groups spending at least $62 million to barrage Ossoffs campaign with negative ads. Though outside groups favoring Ossoff havent been shy, dropping at least $34.2 million attacking Perdue,they are clearly outgunned for the moment.

More here:
Big Cash Is Continuing to Flood Into the Georgia Runoffs that Will Determine Senate Control - Mother Jones

Matthew Sheffield started his first conservative website in 2000, dedicating it to criticizing the former CBS News anchor Dan Rather, who Mr. Sheffield believed was a partisan liberal and not critical enough of President Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Mr. Sheffield then went on to help create NewsBusters, another right-leaning website that criticized the mainstream media for liberal bias. Later, he became the founding online managing editor of the Washington Examiner, another popular outlet for conservative views.

I basically built the infrastructure for a lot of conservative online people and personally taught a lot of them what they know, he said.

But Mr. Sheffield, who is 42 and lives in the Los Angeles area, grew disillusioned in recent years. He said facts were treated as an acceptable casualty in the broader political war. The end justifies the means, said Mr. Sheffield, who hosts a politics and technology podcast called Theory of Change and is writing a memoir about growing up in a strict Mormon family. He now blames right-wing media for undermining faith in American democracy by spreading unsubstantiated claims by President Trump and others that the election was rigged. Through websites and platforms like Facebook and YouTube, Mr. Sheffield said, right-wing media has created an environment in which a large portion of the population believes in a different reality.

In a recent interview, edited for length and clarity, Mr. Sheffield discussed how it got to this point.

What are some of the most important things about right-wing media that people dont understand?

Almost all right-wing support in the United States comes from a view that Christians are under attack by secular liberals. This point is so important and so little understood. Logic doesnt matter. Fact-checking doesnt matter. What matters is if I can use this information to show that liberals are evil. Many of them are not interested in reporting the world as it is, but rather to shape the world like they want it to be.

A recent poll suggests about 70 percent of Republicans now believe the election was rigged. Can that be blamed on right-leaning media when President Trump is spreading misinformation about the results?

They go along with whatever he says. Before Trump won in 2016, conservative media was actually, finally, starting to develop a marginal sense of independence. But once he became the president all of that just fell apart. Now you cant have a conservative outlet unless you worship Donald Trump. Your business will be destroyed. You cant have a career in conservative media if you are against Donald Trump, with only a few exceptions.

Would this be possible without Facebook and social media platforms?

Facebook is the primary protector and enabler of the far right in the United States, without question. The company has sheltered and promoted this content for years. Mark Zuckerberg even now says that Steve Bannon calling for beheadings is not justification to ban him. Zuckerberg was also fine with tolerating Holocaust denial until he was called out for it.

Do you see a way out of this, or will the problem get worse?

The first step is to get people to improve their information diet. If youre eating nothing but candy or toxic food you are going to get sick. If you can improve your news diet to include things that you like but also other things that might be challenging to you then you are going to have a much better understanding of life. In the information age, the people who control the information control the age. That is something that the right-wing media apparatus has figured out.

See the article here:
A former right-wing media creator on how a different reality became so prominent. - The New York Times

A Industrial Control Transformers Market Research Report :-

Garner Insights released a new market study on Industrial Control Transformers Market with industry data Tables, Pie Chat, Graphs & Figures spread through Pages and easy to understand Detailed analysis. At present, the market is developing its presence. The Research report presents a complete assessment of the Industrial Control Transformers Market and contains a future trend, current growth factors, attentive opinions, facts, and industry validated market data. The Report mainly includes sales, revenue, trade, competition, investment, forecast and marketing of the product and the segments here include companies, types, applications, regions, countries, etc.

Topmost Leading Manufacturer Covered in this report: General Electric, Hubbell Incorporated, Rockwell Automation, Inc., ABB, Boardman Transformers, Eaton, Emerson, SNC, MCI, Lakshmi Electrical Control Systems Limited, .

Get a Sample PDF Report: @ https://garnerinsights.com/Global-Industrial-Control-Transformers-Market-Insights-Forecast-to-2025#request-sample

Product Type Segment Analysis:<10 KV, 1.2.4 10-30 KV, 1.2.5 > 30 KV, .

Application Segment AnalysisPower Plant, Industrial, Other, .

Industrial Control Transformers Market Research Report presents a detailed analysis based on the thorough research of the overall market, particularly on questions that border on the market size, growth scenario, potential opportunities, operation landscape, trend analysis, and competitive analysis of Industrial Control Transformers Market. This research is conducted to understand the current landscape of the market, especially in 2020. This will shape the future of the market and foresee the extent of competition in the market. This report will also help all the manufacturers and investors to have a better understanding of the direction in which the market is headed.

Geographically it is divided into seven prime regions which are on the basis of sales, revenue, and market share and growth rate.United States, EU, Japan, China, India, Southeast Asia.

Get discount on this report: @ https://garnerinsights.com/Global-Industrial-Control-Transformers-Market-Insights-Forecast-to-2025#discountWith this Industrial Control Transformers market report, all the participants and the vendors will be in aware of the growth factors, shortcomings, threats, and the lucrative opportunities that the market will offer in the near future. The report also features the revenue; industry size, share, production volume, and consumption in order to gain insights about the politics and tussle of gaining control of a huge chunk of the market share.

Table Of Content

Read Complete Report With TOC: @ https://garnerinsights.com/Global-Industrial-Control-Transformers-Market-Insights-Forecast-to-2025

Contact UsKevin ThomasEmail: [emailprotected]Contact No:+1 513 549 5911 (US) | +44 203 318 2846 (UK)

Original post:
Know Worldwide specifications of the Industrial Control Transformers Market 2020 - Cheshire Media