#SGGQA 039: NVIDIA Ends GPP, Tesla vs Contractors, Net Neutrality Vote May 9, LG G7 Reactions – Monday Morning Tech Chat!

Get your tech week started off right!

NVIDIA kills the GPP amid backlash and bad press, but still doesn’t disclose what the program included. Nokia is selling Withings health hardware back to Withings. I share my reactions to LG G7 reactions. Facebook matching algorithms might be helping extremists and terrorists find each other. Cambridge Analytica is re-branding as Emerdata. Tesla Motors is looking to cull contractors, but is rapidly improving battery manufacturing.

There’s a HUGE vote for Net Neutrality heating up May 9th, here’s the recent news on the federal front, state initiatives in Connecticut, New York, and California. Plus we take a look at some of the lies ISPs use to push anti-competition legislation in city and state governments.

Download this week’s podcast – SGGQA 039 (RSS subscription links below)

Stories this week:

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September 16, 2014September 16, 2014

Tesla Wins in Massachusetts Supreme Court Direct Sales Lawsuit

It’s been a long fight for Tesla in MA, but yesterday the state’s highest court thew out the lawsuit which would have blocked Tesla from selling electric vehicles directly to consumers.

The Massachusetts State Automobile Dealers Association sued Tesla citing the state’s franchise law, but the court ruled that Tesla was not violating the spirit of that law. The franchise law was written to protect franchise owners from direct and unfair competition against a parent company, a relationship which does not exist for Tesla. Justice Margot Botsford wrote:

The law “was intended and understood only to prohibit manufacturer-owned dealerships when, unlike Tesla, the manufacturer already had an affiliated dealer or dealers in Massachusetts”.

“Contrary to the plaintiffs’ assertion,” she added, “the type of competitive injury they describe between unaffiliated entities is not within the statute’s area of concern.”

Tesla is current fighting similar statutes in several other states including Texas, Arizona, Maryland, and recently an ugly public fight in New Jersey. If the state laws there are similar to MA’s, then this case might set the stage for Tesla’s future legal strategy.

March 30, 2014

Corrupting User Moderated Web Sites: Reddit – r/Technology bans Tesla stories?

An interesting meltdown happened this weekend on social news site Reddit. The popular site is divided into different categories, and the subreddit dedicated to Technology let slip they had banned stories related to the electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla.

Reddit’s reputation is based on an almost obnoxiously user-generated democratic etiquette. On the ground level, users submit stories, and other users vote up or down for those stories to become more or less visible. With each subreddit, users also comprise the “governing bodies” responsible for maintaining order. This allows the people who actually own Reddit and keep the servers running to have a somewhat hands-off approach to Reddit’s daily operations. It also paints Reddit as being “pure”, a meritocracy, not owned by a corporate interest pushing some kind of commercial or political narrative.

Of course people are fallible and corruptible.

Reddit user canausernamebetolon posted that he had discovered an odd quirk in r/Technology, that stories with the word Tesla in the title were not showing up on the subreddit. Asking a moderator why that was, he was told “Battery cars aren’t ‘technolgy’ any more than normal cars are” [sic]. After pushing for more clarification, the user was banned from r/Technology with the following reply:

Car stories should be submitted to car-related subreddits. Please inform your supervisors in the Tesla Motors Marketing department.

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February 5, 2014

CBS Interviews Elon Musk: Tesla Model S completes cross country road trip in 76 hours

This is a giant leap for EV’s!

Handily answering concerns about range and charge time, two Model S Tesla sedans have completed a cross country road trip starting in LA and arriving in New York a little more than three days later.

Tesla’s Supercharger stations quickly recharge or swap batteries on the Model S, making electric vehicles a more attractive solution for people who drive long distances. More Supercharger stations need to be built for the system to appeal across the country, but this is fantastic progress considering how non-existent the infrastructure for EV’s was even just a couple years ago.

Now hopefully I’ll NEVER have to field that inane question from people here in LA “B-b-b-but what if I suddenly and unexpectedly want to road trip to Vegas like I never do?”

Interview below.

December 3, 2013December 2, 2013

German Federal Motor Transport Authority Gives Tesla Clean Bill of Health Following Vehicle Fires

Posted on the Tesla website yesterday, the German Motor Authority (KBA) reviewed the Tesla data provided following the incidents in Seattle, Tennessee, and Mexico. The KBA has the power to perform investigations and initiate recalls.

They’ve concluded that no manufacturer defects were found and Tesla was not responsible for the vehicle fires. This could’ve been a disaster for Tesla as Germany is aggressively pushing alternative energy and electric vehicles. As Tesla sock has already taken a hit, a move from the KBA would likely have tainted Tesla’s reputation for an entire generation of consumers.

Instead, Tesla got a fist bump and a “we cool”, so hopefully this will help their reputation recover in Europe. Nice timing indeed as the Model X Sport Crossover should start delivering next year.

It also leads me to wonder why vehicle fires in internal combustion engine cars aren’t covered as viscerally in the media as the three fires Tesla Model S sedans have encountered…

Read the full statement at the Tesla blog.

September 18, 2013

Tesla working towards self-driving cars by 2017

Sign me up. I’m sold. I used to love hitting the open road, but after living in LA for a couple years I’m done. All the wasted time sitting in zombifying traffic I could be spending on ANYTHING ELSE. There’s no more romance for me. The car is no longer a gadget I cherish, but a necessary evil.

Unless of course I no longer had to drive it myself anymore.

The dream of science fiction robot taxis is getting closer and closer to becoming a reality, and geek sweetheart Tesla is getting into the game. Joining companies like Google, CEO Elon Musk is promising “auto-pilot” features on Tesla automobiles in 3-4 years. Color me stoked!

Four years is a tremendously fast time table to get functionality like this tested and refined for general use, but Musk has demonstrated a unique drive in getting ambitious projects off the ground, and we can always hope that at some point, rather than having multiple companies producing competing systems, they might at some point pool their resources to provide true standards to the public.

In addition to freeing me up to utilize my commute more effectively, this could also help to curb the problems we face with distracted driving. It’s a win-win all around.

(via Reuters)