Yearly Archives: 2013

Developer warns: Take Twitter “write access” at your own risk

"When the right individual or organization Tweets, it can have the power to move global financial markets and major economies, as well as incite mass chaos – all with a single, well-placed, 140 character missive. We’ve seen as much recently when a single Carl Icahn tweet raised Apple’s market cap by $17 billion and another by a hacked Associated Press Twitter account that caused an estimated $135 billion to evaporate from the S&P 500 Index. In an era when everyone from disgruntled teens to war-minded nations are looking for ways to inflict pain, Twitter is an increasingly attractive target." Continue reading →

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World’s costliest auctioned car ‘in Swiss hands’

"The most valuable road car ever sold at auction, a candy red Ferrari convertible that fetched $27.5 million at a sale in the US last weekend, was acquired by a Swiss buyer, a report says. The unidentified successful bidder acquired the 300-horsepower NART Spider sports car, built in 1967, at an auction in Monterey, California. The car was previously owned by Eddie Smith Jr., the son of Eddie Smith Sr., an American multi-millionaire from North Carolina who bought the car new in 1968 after travelling to the Ferrari plant in Modena in northern Italy. With a 3,866cc V-12 engine and five-speed transmission, the two-seater was only one of 10 such models made." Continue reading →

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Over 50% Of Electric Cars Sold In US Are In 5 Cities

"Here’s the list: Los Angeles, California; San Francisco, California; New York City; Seattle, Washington; Atlanta, Georgia. Georgia offers a tax credit for electric vehicles that is equal to 20% of the vehicle’s cost, up to a maximum amount of $5,000. California has many charging stations, which might have contributed to its presence in the list above, but it also offers a $2,500 incentive for electric vehicles. New York City has its own EV policies that surely helped stimulate EV adoption a bit, but the fact that it is the largest city in the US (by far) is also surely a factor." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingOver 50% Of Electric Cars Sold In US Are In 5 Cities

Tesla Outsold Buick, Fiat, Land Rover, Lincoln, and Mitsubishi in Q1 and Q2

"The state of California has just released its new vehicle sales numbers for the first half of 2013, and the big winner so far is the Tesla Model S, with 0.6% of the overall market share. That may not sound like much, but – in California – it’s more than Buick (0.5%), FIAT (0.5%), Land Rover (0.5%), Lincoln (0.3%), and Mitsubishi (0.3%) did in the same time, with stronger dealer networks, more existing customers, and a lower initial pricetag! Also of note in the California New Car Dealers Association (CNCDA) report, hybrids accounted for just over 7% of overall sales for the first time, up from 6.2% in 2012 and 4.8% in 2011." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTesla Outsold Buick, Fiat, Land Rover, Lincoln, and Mitsubishi in Q1 and Q2

British Politicians Aim To Ban Non-Hybrid Cars By 2040

"While some American politicians may take issue with the government’s investment in green automobiles, it pales in comparison to the debates taking place in England. There, the Liberal Democrats have proposed a bill that would outlaw all non-hybrid cars from English roads by 2040. It sounds insane, but stranger things have happened. Ambitious but left with a lot of blanks to fill, one of the key components of the Liberal Dems Britain of the future is eliminating all but ultra-low emissions non-freight vehicles from British roads. That would mean only hybrids, electric cars, or super-efficient diesels would be allowed to drive British streets." Continue reading →

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Tesla Motor’s Model S is the safest car ever tested

"Tesla Motor’s fully electric luxury sedan, the Model S, isn’t just the best car ever tested by Consumer Reports. It is also the safest car ever tested by U.S. regulators. The Tesla Model S has earned a 5-star safety rating, both overall and in each individual category, from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The car has a Vehicle Safety Score (VSS) of 5.4 stars, a better than perfect score. The car has received glowing reviews, but with a base price of about $70,000 it is too expensive to be enjoyed by most Americans. Tesla hopes to begin selling a cheaper fully electric SUV, the Model X, in 2014." Continue reading →

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Elon Musk condemns the ‘perversion of democracy’ in Texas

"Tesla sells its cars directly to consumers, but state law currently prohibits Tesla from operating its own a dealership. Car makers are not allowed to sell vehicles directly to the public in Texas, they must sell through independently-owned franchises. 'This happens all the time,' said Bill Wolters, the president of the Texas Automobile Dealers Association, which lobbied against the bill. 'Someone wants an exception to the franchise laws. If we made an exception for everybody that showed up in the legislature, before long the integrity of the entire franchise system is in peril.'" Continue reading →

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Why Texas Bans the Sale of Tesla Cars

"Tesla CEO Elon Musk plans on opening 50 new Tesla stores in the next year. And taking a page from the Apple playbook, Musk is selling his product directly to consumers. No hard sell. No commission for employees. And uniform prices at every store. That’s a dig at the traditional middlemen in the car-buying experience: the car dealers. Musk wants to cut them out completely. So Musk is declaring war on car dealers, but car dealers are also declaring war on Musk. They have already successfully booted him out of Texas and there is anti-Tesla legislation pending in North Carolina, Colorado and Virginia." Continue reading →

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The Verdict on The World’s Fastest “Train”

"Consider the motivation behind Musk’s Hyperloop: California’s new so-called high-speed rail system, which Musk calls a 'bullet train to nowhere.' Rumored to cost $70 billion, Musk asks why California – one of the world’s largest economies, home of Silicon Valley, and with some of the world’s greatest tech companies – 'would build a bullet train that’s both one of the most expensive per mile and one of the slowest in the world.' Comparing it to the Hyperloop, he says, 'The train would be both slower, more expensive to operate (if unsubsidized) and less safe by two orders of magnitude than flying, so why would anyone use it?'" Continue reading →

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NASA begins selling shuttle launch platforms

"Nasa is selling three huge mobile platforms used to launch the Apollo moon missions and the space shuttle – adding to the list of historic facilities and equipments it wants private industry to take over, including a shuttle launchpad and its landing runway. The massive steel structures – 7.6 metres high (25ft) 49 by 41 metres on top – were originally built in 1967 for the Apollo moon programme’s Saturn rockets, then modified for the space shuttles, which flew from 1981 until 2011. The Kennedy Space Centre launchpad has attracted competing bids from the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, co-founder of Paypal and chief executive of electric car company Tesla Motors." Continue reading →

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