250,000 car deliveries in one quarter can’t save Tesla from dwindling revenue

The supply chain issues that have wracked the rest of the automotive industry for more than a year appear to have finally caught up with Tesla. The EV automaker announced on Wednesday’s Q2 investors report that its automotive revenue has declined by more than 13 percent following last quarter’s record-breaking mark despite ending the quarter with “the highest vehicle production month” in company history. 

Per the company, Tesla produced 258,580 vehicles last quarter and delivered 201,304 of them. During last quarter’s investor call, CEO Elon Musk estimated that the company could increase its annual deliveries by 60 percent in 2022. To date, the company has delivered 564,743 vehicles and would need to sell another 935,257 of them by year’s end to meet that goal. 

This could prove challenging given that the company produced nearly 18 percent fewer vehicles this quarter than last (though still up 27 percent year over year). COVID-related lockdowns shuttered the Shanghai Gigafactory for most of Q2, though ramping production at the newer Austin and Berlin-Brandenburg plants have helped offset the closure. Austin has begun producing vehicles with the company’s new 4680 battery cells and the Berlin Gigafactory notched a production rate of more than a thousand vehicles in a single week during the last three months. 

“It is worth emphasizing that we have enough 2170 cells to satisfy all vehicle production or the remainder of the year,” Musk said. Tesla had generally managed to avoid the supply chain woes that have hamstrung the automotive industry since the start of the pandemic — until now. The MSRP of a Model Y long-range currently sits just under $66,000, that’s 30 percent higher than it cost in 2021. Tesla is continuing to focus on “production readiness” for its long delayed Cybertruck, Musk noted during the call, with production starting by “middle of next year.”

The company was sure to point out that its total revenue grew 42 percent year over year to $16.9 billion, operating income had improved year over year to $2.5 billion (with an impressive 14.6 percent operating margin) and is currently sitting atop a $18.9 billion pile of cash.

This is thanks in large part to Tesla’s liquidating 75 percent of its Bitcoin holdings (worth $936 million) over the past three months. The company invested $1.5 billion in the digital pseudo-currency in February 2021 and sold off a 10 percent stake a couple months later. Tesla’s backing of Bitcoin, much as with Musk’s pet Dogecoin currency, helped to further mainstream the crypto schemes. Musk reportedly had “a super bad feeling about the economy” in June. “We have not sold any of our Dogecoin,” Musk said.

Jury finds Tesla just ‘1%’ responsible for a Florida teen’s crash

Tesla is receiving minimal blame for a fiery 2018 crash in South Florida, which killed two teenagers and injured another. A jury today found Tesla just one percent responsible for the crash, reports the AP, which means it’s only responsible for paying $105,00 of the $10.5 million awarded to the teen’s family. 90 percent of the blame was placed on the teen driver, Barrett Riley, while his father James Riley received nine percent of the blame.

According to an NTSB investigation, Barrett Riley was driving at 116 mph in a 30 mph zone near Fort Lauderdale Beach. The agency concluded he most likely lost control of the vehicle. James Riley initially sued Tesla over the crash, claiming that it would have been survivable if the electric car’s lithium ion batteries hadn’t “burst into an uncontrollable and fatal fire.” He also noted that the company removed a speed limiter that was meant to keep the vehicle under 85 mph. An investigation later found that his son had asked a Tesla dealership to remove that limiter.

Tesla lawyers argued that Riley’s parents were negligent by allowing him to drive the car, despite his record of reckless driving and speeding. They denied negligence on the company’s part. After the crash in 2018, Tesla released an update allowing drivers to set their own speed limits, a feature initially dedicated to Barrett Riley.

‘Minecraft’ studio wants nothing to do with NFTs

Don’t expect to buy a creeper skin as an NFT (non-fungible token) and plug it into your Minecraft server in the near future. Mojang has taken a firm stance against the massively popular game’s involvement with NFTs and blockchain tech. “[To] ensure that Minecraft players have a safe and inclusive experience, blockchain technologies are not permitted to be integrated inside our Minecraft client and server applications, nor may they be utilized to create NFTs associated with any in-game content, including worlds, skins, persona items or other mods,” the developer said in a statement. It will soon update the game’s guidelines accordingly.

Minecraft has a marketplace where people can sell their creations for others to use. Mojang notes that some companies recently started offering NFTs that are connected to the game. There are some NFTs associated with Minecraft skin packs and world files that people can buy. The studio said it might have been possible for players to earn Minecraft NFTs for activities completed inside the game or elsewhere. Mojang is not on board with any of that.

“Each of these uses of NFTs and other blockchain technologies creates digital ownership based on scarcity and exclusion, which does not align with Minecraft values of creative inclusion and playing together,” it said. “NFTs are not inclusive of all our community and create a scenario of the haves and the have-nots.”

While Minecraft server owners are allowed to charge for access, Mojang rules state that everyone should have access to the same functionality and content. “NFTs, however, can create models of scarcity and exclusion that conflict with our guidelines and the spirit of Minecraft,” the studio said.

Mojang also expressed concern about the speculative nature of NFTs and noted that some have been sold at “artificially or fraudulently inflated prices.” Given that Minecraft has millions of young players, it probably wouldn’t be a great look for the game to support NFTs. “The speculative pricing and investment mentality around NFTs takes the focus away from playing the game and encourages profiteering, which we think is inconsistent with the long-term joy and success of our players,” Mojang said.

The studio and its parent company Microsoft have good reason to be wary of NFTs and blockchain tech. For one thing, there has been an overwhelming backlash from the broader gaming community against those technologies. For another, cryptocurrency prices have plummeted and the NFT market has dried up. Even the erstwhile leader in the blockchain gaming space, Axie Infinity, was the target of a major hack (with victims losing out as a result) and its daily player numbers have plummeted by over two thirds in the last few months.

Some other major players in the gaming industry have already shied away from NFTs and the blockchain. Last October, Steam banned games that enable cryptocurrency and NFT trading. Sony recently announced a PlayStation rewards program that includes digital collectibles. However, it emphasized that these could not be traded and the program does not involve NFTs or the blockchain.

However, Mojang isn’t completely rejecting the blockchain. The studio said it will monitor the evolution of the technology to “determine whether it will allow for more secure experiences or other practical and inclusive applications in gaming.”

Biden’s latest climate change actions expand offshore wind farms

President Biden is still unveiling measures to combat climate change, and his newest efforts are aimed at preventing environmental crises. The President has outlined a string of executive actions that, notably, include the first "Wind Energy Areas…

Apple’s latest iOS and macOS updates offer more control over live sports

Apple may be several weeks away from releasing iOS 16, macOS Ventura and other major updates, but that isn’t precluding one last hurrah for current-generation software. The company has released iOS 15.6, iPadOS 15.6 and macOS 12.5, all of which provide more control over live sports in the TV app. You can restart matches already in progress, and you’ll find typical playback options like pause, fast-forward and rewind.

The new software also fixes a Safari bug that could revert a tab to a previous page. You can expect the customary round of security patches (most of which fix holes allowing arbitrary code), including equivalents for older macOS versions like Big Sur and Catalina. Equally new watchOS 8.7 and tvOS 15.6 releases, meanwhile, deliver bug and security fixes to Apple Watch and Apple TV users alongside generic “improvements.”

The timing suggests these may be the last significant updates for existing software. Apple has historically shipped major versions of iOS, macOS and other software as soon as September, and there aren’t hints of iOS 15.7 or similar upgrades on the horizon. The company is shifting its priorities, and the modest changes in these latest updates reflect that changing focus.

App developers can now suggest Alexa routines for you

At an Alexa developer event, Amazon revealed some tools that will make it possible for developers to create Alexa routines and suggest them to users. With user permission, they can use the Alexa Ambient Home Dev Kit to integrate their devices and services with other products more seamlessly.

For instance, they might suggest a routine that instructs a robot vacuum cleaner to get to work after you leave home and arm your security system. The dev kit will also allow for changes made in one app to be replicated elsewhere. So if you rename a room in the app you use to control your smart lights, Alexa and other compatible connected services can automatically update the room’s name on their end too.

Another set of APIs is all about home states for scenarios such as Home, Vacation, Dinner Time and Sleep. Modes and settings can sync between devices and services based on the situation. So, when you go to bed, the home state function can make sure certain electronics turn off, the doors lock (it they haven’t already) and the thermostat adjusts the temperature to your preferred nighttime setting.

Allowing companies to create routines could be both a timesaver for consumers and open up their eyes to some smart home possibilities that they might not have previously considered. Amazon says there are now more than 300 million smart home devices that folks have connected to Alexa, so there are a lot of opportunities to improve or streamline people’s lives. That is, as long as they’re willing to put their faith in Amazon, a company that doesn’t exactly have a spotless track record when it comes to privacy in the home. While Amazon laid out more of its vision of the “ambient home” during the event, it said it’s years away from truly bringing that to fruition.

Other announcements the company made include more ways it’s playing nicely with alternative voice assistants. Universal Device Commands (UDCs) and Agent Transfers (ATs) will allow for simultaneous wake words on the same device, so that it can support multiple voice assistants. With UDCs, developers will be able to let users issue a command “using any compatible voice service’s wake word, even if the service was not originally used to initiate the request.” If a voice service can’t handle a request, it can be transferred to another assistant through ATs. Amazon expects both capabilities to be enabled on the cloud side in the next 12 months. In addition, certain Skullcandy headphones will be able to handle Alexa and “Hey Skullcandy” requests simultaneously.

Apple’s AirTag four-pack is on sale for $89 right now

Now’s a good time to pick up a few AirTags while you can get a four-pack for one of the best prices we’ve seen. Amazon has the multipack of Apple’s Bluetooth trackers for $89, or 10 percent off their usual rate. While the bundle briefly dropped to $85 on Prime Day last week, this $89 sale price is still a good deal, especially for those that have more than one item they’d want to keep track of with the gadgets. If a single AirTag is enough for you, you can pick one up for $27.50 right now.

Buy AirTag (4 pack) at Amazon – $89Buy AirTag (1 pack) at Amazon – $27.50

While Apple has competition from Tile, Chipolo and even Samsung to a degree in this space, those steeped in the Apple ecosystem will find a lot of advantages to AirTags. They pair quickly and seamlessly when placed next to iPhones, and then you can label them and track their locations using Apple’s Find My network. You can force your AirTag to emit a chime, which should help guide you to your missing things, and those who have newer iPhones can use the ultra-wideband feature to be guided to their things using on-screen directions.

A slight downside to AirTags is their lack of keyring hole, which makes them a bit less versatile than competing trackers on their own. You’ll have to buy a holder of some sort if you want to hook the AirTag to your keys, but the coin-sized devices can easily slip into a bag or wallet without taking up too much space.

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US Postal Service to boost purchases of electric vehicles

WASHINGTON (AP) — The US Postal Service plans to substantially increase the number of electric-powered vehicles it’s buying to replace its fleet of aging delivery trucks, officials said Wednesday.

The Postal Service anticipates boosting electric vehicles from 20 percent to 50 percent in its initial purchase of 50,000 vehicles — with the first of them rolling onto delivery routes next year. It also proposes buying an additional 34,500 commercially available vehicles over two years, officials said.

The proposal, to be posted in the Federal Register on Thursday, came after 16 states, environmental groups and a labor union sued to halt purchases of next-generation delivery vehicles under the initial plan that was skewed heavily toward gas-powered trucks.

The new environmental proposal effectively pauses the purchases at 84,500 total vehicles — 40 percent electric — even as the Postal Service seek to buy up to 165,000 next-generation vehicles over the next decade to replace aging delivery trucks that went into service between 1987 and 1994.

Future purchases would focus on smaller amounts of vehicles in shorter intervals than the original 10-year environmental analysis, officials said. 

The goal is to be more responsive to the Postal Service’s evolving operational strategy, technology improvements and changing market conditions, the Postal Service said in a statement. A public hearing on the new proposal will be held next month.

The next-generation delivery vehicles are taller to make it easier for postal carriers to grab packages and parcels that make up a greater share of volume. They also have improved ergonomics and climate control. 

DALL-E’s powerful AI image generator is now available in beta

You no longer have to be part of a small club to try OpenAI’s clever DALL-E image generator. The consortium has launched a beta that will make DALL-E available to 1 million people from a waitlist in the weeks ahead. If you get in, you’ll receive 50 free image credits in your first month and 15 every following month. Each credit offers four pictures based on one original prompt, or three if you offer an edit or variation prompt. A bundle of 115 credits is available for $15 if the freebies aren’t enough.

The beta also expands the usage rights to include commercial projects. You can print the images on shirts or children’s books, for instance. OpenAI will still reject DALL-E image uploads that include realistic faces, named content (like a specific person or venue) and “explicit” material, though. The consortium is still concerned that people might abuse the technology for misinformation, deepfakes and other harmful purposes. 

DALL-E garnered buzz thanks to its ability to generate eye-catching images based solely on a casual description. It doesn’t require that you provide every last detail. You can also tweak certain parts of an image to achieve an intended effect. It’s both a showcase for AI’s potential as well as a surprisingly capable creative tool — you don’t need to know the first thing about art to produce something special.