Elon Musk says Facebook gives him the “willies”

Monday March 26, 2018 12:03 pm PDT by Dave Lee

It’s not a political statement and I didn’t do this because someone dared me to do it. Just don’t like Facebook. Gives me the willies. Sorry.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 24, 2018

Last week Elon deleted the Tesla and SpaceX pages on Facebook, joining in on #deletefacebook.

Would be very interesting to hear more from Elon directly on why Facebook gives him the willies.

Tim Cook joined in commenting on Facebook recently (via ZDnet):

“This certain situation is so dire and has become so large that probably some well-crafted regulation is necessary,” Cook said. “The ability of anyone to know what you’ve been browsing about for years, who your contacts are, who their contacts are, things you like and dislike, and every intimate detail of your life — from my own point of view, it shouldn’t exist.”

Tesla joins efforts for open-source chip design

Monday March 26, 2018 10:03 am PDT by Dave Lee

According to The Information (behind paywall):

RISC-V, which is anchored by a nonprofit foundation, is gaining popularity among companies frustrated by the limitations and high costs of current chip designs such as those offered by Arm. Tesla recently joined the RISC-V Foundation, and also is considering RISC-V, which is free to use, for its new chip efforts, said a person familiar with the matter.

More about the RISC-V open source technology:

More than 80 tech companies including Google, Qualcomm and Samsung have joined together to develop a new open-source chip design that offers a much cheaper way to build chips for new technologies like autonomous vehicles. If the effort succeeds, it could seriously undercut SoftBank-owned Arm Holdings, which has been trying to extend its dominance in smartphone chips into new areas.

Tesla ranks #5 in LinkedIn’s Top Companies List

Thursday March 22, 2018 11:03 am PDT by Dave Lee

Tesla ranked #5 in LinkedIn’s list of companies where professionals most want to work. Only four companies ranked higher: Amazon (#1), Google (#2), Facebook (#3), and Salesforce (#4).

Tesla doesn’t make small bets, one reason it attracted 500,000 job applicants in 2017. Last year, the company built the world’s biggest battery, while CEO Elon Musk announced plans for electric semis and the world’s fastest production car. Its challenge now is ramping up production of its mass-market Model 3 sedan. Such ambitions require an ever-growing team, from scientists to roofers. Tesla’s known for quick decision-making: Engineers can ship code “without eight layers of approval,” one former employee told LinkedIn. Global headcount: 37,000