Elon Musk Buys Twitter

[Edge-]

Elon Musk’s robotaxi event proves a flop, driving Tesla shares down 7%

He has a very steep hill to climb. Especially considering the competition.

Ok, so it was a fucking movie set, rofl. I saw some of the clips this morning and kept thinking, "Did they fucking build a movie set for this shit?"

Also the taxi looks ugly and stupid like they cannot break free of traditional car design to imagine how an all-electric, purpose-built robo-taxi could look like. I've seen one good concept in SF that actually looks functional and well designed, bidirectional and the entire body is the cab, not the wasted space for where traditional engines and and shit go. Haven't seen the bus concept, but I do love techbros reinventing busses and everything too.

I enjoyed the Well Fargo analyst pointing out that Elon had extremely minor functionality going in a tightly controlled movie set when comparing to Waymo, who are operating in the real world (albeit with some issues). Even if I think those things are stupid as fuck because "it's a car with a ton of attachments". The first wave of self-driving vehicles is so fucking boring and depressing.

[Rasulis]

Ok, so it was a fucking movie set, rofl. I saw some of the clips this morning and kept thinking, "Did they fucking build a movie set for this shit?"

Also the taxi looks ugly and stupid like they cannot break free of traditional car design to imagine how an all-electric, purpose-built robo-taxi could look like. I've seen one good concept in SF that actually looks functional and well designed, bidirectional and the entire body is the cab, not the wasted space for where traditional engines and and shit go. Haven't seen the bus concept, but I do love techbros reinventing busses and everything too.

I enjoyed the Well Fargo analyst pointing out that Elon had extremely minor functionality going in a tightly controlled movie set when comparing to Waymo, who are operating in the real world (albeit with some issues). Even if I think those things are stupid as fuck because "it's a car with a ton of attachments". The first wave of self-driving vehicles is so fucking boring and depressing.

There is a self-driving bus service already. It's a free shuttle service along a fixed route that loops around Treasure Island. The shuttle makes several stops, connecting residential neighborhoods with stores, community centers and ferry landing. I think the island has a population of around 1,000 to 2,000.

We tried it. No steering wheel and no driver's seat. There is an attendant. It's pretty cool. Not perfect though. It made a couple of sudden breaks during the ride for no reason.

The boring part was probably by design. I took my parents on Waymo from my place to my sister's place, and my mother was definitely weirded out.

[Edge-]

https://thehill.com/policy/technolog...l-on-x-report/

Former President Trump’s campaign worked with Elon Musk’s X to prevent links to hacked campaign materials from circulating on the social media platform last month, according to The New York Times.

After independent journalist Ken Klippenstein shared a link to the materials allegedly obtained in an Iranian hack of the Trump campaign, X suspended his account and blocked links to his Substack, where Klippenstein posted the materials.

An X spokesperson said at the time that Klippenstein violated its rules by posting “unredacted private personal information,” including Sen. JD Vance’s (R-Ohio) addresses and the majority of his Social Security number.

The news that X and the Trump campaign had coordinated to take down links to the materials — a 271-page document compiled by the campaign to vet Vance — prompted one Democratic congressman to express concern.

“So @Jim_Jordan and @SpeakerJohnson, when is the @Weaponization hearing about Trump and @ElonMusk censoring free speech on this platform?” Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) wrote on X.

The House Judiciary’s weaponization subcommittee has held multiple hearings focused on the Biden administration’s alleged efforts to censor conservative speech online.

The materials Klippenstein published last month appear to have been obtained in a hack of the Trump campaign earlier this year. The campaign revealed in August it had been hacked, and the FBI later confirmed Iran was behind the breach.

Do is this an "in kind" donation or something? Seems like it might be if Leon is making operational decisions with the intent of benefitting one political campaign over another, as he's very explicitly and expressly stated his intent is.

[Rustedsaint]

Feel like Twitter is broken for me atm, it’s all pro trump posts or other magatards shit. Even when I turn off my vpn

[postman1782]

Feel like Twitter is broken for me atm, it’s all pro trump posts or other magatards shit. Even when I turn off my vpn

Nope, Elon made it that way, doesn't matter if you have the people blocked, you still see posts by magatards. He even has a list of people that can't be banned or blocked like Libs of Tiktok, himself, Tucker Carlson.

[Elegiac]

Nope, Elon made it that way, doesn't matter if you have the people blocked, you still see posts by magatards. He even has a list of people that can't be banned or blocked like Libs of Tiktok, himself, Tucker Carlson.

While the state of Twitter is very shitty I will point out that it is still entirely possible to curate your feed.

I don’t ever see Musk or MAGA related shit because of the very useful practice of blocking anyone who mildly annoys me; and that includes annoying leftists who put Musk and MAGA related shit all over their timelines and think it’s activism, to say nothing of the gore videos from Gaza.

[Jessicka]

While the state of Twitter is very shitty I will point out that it is still entirely possible to curate your feed.

I don’t ever see Musk or MAGA related shit because of the very useful practice of blocking anyone who mildly annoys me; and that includes annoying leftists who put Musk and MAGA related shit all over their timelines and think it’s activism, to say nothing of the gore videos from Gaza.

I tried this, but periodically I’d get a whole lot of Nazi spam that would need blocking. Every 2-3 days or so. It became too time consuming a part of the apps use to be bothered to continue with it. Nobody wants to spend so much of their doomscrolling on blocking.

Facebook does the same thing, but less frequently.

[Elegiac]

I tried this, but periodically I’d get a whole lot of Nazi spam that would need blocking. Every 2-3 days or so. It became too time consuming a part of the apps use to be bothered to continue with it. Nobody wants to spend so much of their doomscrolling on blocking.

Facebook does the same thing, but less frequently.

It may also be that I only use it on browser and have extensions to help clean up the feed, tbh: auto-muting blue checks does wonders.

[Breccia]

Trump to put Musk in charge of trimming bureaucratic fat: ‘Secretary of cost cutting’

Speaking with Maria Bartiromo on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures *ding*, Bartiromo asked Trump about the looming national debt in the context of Trump’s various tax proposals, which he said would be addressed with “growth.”

She then asked him which federal agencies would be on the chopping block in a second Trump turn, to which Trump said Musk would be better suited to answer the question.

“You’ve also said that there’s a lot of fat in government that you would want to part of,” Bartiromo said. “So, what agencies would you want to shut down?”

“Let me have you ask another person that, because I’m going to have Elon Musk. He is dying to do this. You know, he’s a great business guy. You think of him for science and rockets,” Trump said, before touching on Musk’s latest developments, adding: “He’s developed a new screw. Screws are difficult. It’s made out of titanium, and it’s so exciting.”

“But you know what? He’s a great business guy, and he’s a great cost-cutter. You’ve seen that. And he said, ‘I could cut costs without affecting anybody,’” Trump said.

“So he will be in the Cabinet?” Bartiromo asked.

“Not in the Cabinet. He doesn’t want to be in the Cabinet; he just wants to be in charge of cost-cutting,” Trump said. “We’ll have a new position: Secretary of Cost Cutting. OK? Elon wants to do that.”

Well, you know the deal.

@Flarelaine I formally request (again) you merge this thread with the Trump thread. Trump and Musk have now both decided to make Musk an election issue, and he did it on purpose in public.

And no, he's not joking.

“We have incredible people. [Musk is] running a big business, you know, you can’t just say, ‘Oh, I think I’m going to the Cabinet.’ You know, other people can, he can’t,” Trump said, likely alluding to divestments Musk would need to make business-wise.

“And besides that, I want him to send a rocket up to Mars. He’s made me a promise, he’ll get to Mars before the end of my administration. Which will be long before, hopefully, China or Russia,” Trump continued.

Earlier in the interview, Trump, unprompted, brought up Musk’s endorsement. He talked about Musk at his Butler, Pennsylvania, rally two weeks ago.

“We have the endorsement of Elon, as you know,” Trump said. “Elon Musk, who’s great. He’s a great guy. He had such a good time. He put the black hat on.”

“Dark MAGA,” Bartiromo replied.

“He calls it Dark MAGA,” Trump said. “How cool is that? He’s a great guy. He’s given us a really powerful endorsement. He’s out campaigning in Pennsylvania today. He’s actually campaigning because he says if we don’t win, we’re not going to have a country.”

EDIT: Also not only is that FOX News, but the Washington Examiner, who did not once say "this was a joke".

Sorry. Our hands are tied. Well, I suppose it's possible that some Trump supporter will publicly admit Trump was joking, and that he won't actually make Elon Musk a WH employee. Despite, you know, saying it on purpose in public on FOX News.

But we both know they won't do that.

Therefore, again, I formally request that due to Trump and Musk's actions demanding it, this thread be merged with the Trump thread. I don't make the rules.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

@Flarelaine I formally request (again) you merge this thread with the Trump thread. Trump and Musk have now both decided to make Musk an election issue, and he did it on purpose in public.


Therefore, again, I formally request that due to Trump and Musk's actions demanding it, this thread be merged with the Trump thread. I don't make the rules.

Except not everything Musk does is Trump related and not everything Trump does is Musk related. Currently, Musk is going hard for Trump...but that's just going to be until the election. After the Election, whether Trump wins or loses, the situation will be different.

Musk will go back to his normal shitcock billionaire antics either way. If Trump loses, the Trump thread will probably start to fade away. If Trump wins, we'll have plenty to discuss there without adding Elon's fucking bullshit into the mix.

If this thread should be merged with anything...it should be the "Should Billionaires even exist" thread... because Musk isn't the only shitty billionaire. And, while i don't think there's really such a thing as a "good" billionaire, there are some that are most certainly much worse than others.

[postman1782]

While the state of Twitter is very shitty I will point out that it is still entirely possible to curate your feed.

I don’t ever see Musk or MAGA related shit because of the very useful practice of blocking anyone who mildly annoys me; and that includes annoying leftists who put Musk and MAGA related shit all over their timelines and think it’s activism, to say nothing of the gore videos from Gaza.

Not anymore on Twitter.

[Muzjhath]

I tried this, but periodically I’d get a whole lot of Nazi spam that would need blocking. Every 2-3 days or so. It became too time consuming a part of the apps use to be bothered to continue with it. Nobody wants to spend so much of their doomscrolling on blocking.

Facebook does the same thing, but less frequently.

Do you use the "for you" bullshit or your actual feed?

[diller]

Not anymore on Twitter.

For the n'th time, I don't get anything on my timeline that isn't in line with the stuff I use twitter for (which isn't politics), goes both for Following and For you.

I don't use any addons aside from an ad-blocker.

[Flarelaine]

@Flarelaine I formally request (again) you merge this thread with the Trump thread. Trump and Musk have now both decided to make Musk an election issue, and he did it on purpose in public.

Even if I agree that the motion has grounds, the forum engine is rather outdated and messing with large threads tends to wreak havoc. These two are among our busier threads.

Also, while there is a strong overlap in their activities, the Venn diagram is still not a circle.

[Jessicka]

Do you use the "for you" bullshit or your actual feed?

It was a long time ago, but I remember this conversation. I think the only difference was less direct Nazi and conspiracy theory bullshit only to have it replaced with retweets of it from bots, which I presume had been set up with similar interests, and of course there was no let up in the comments in threads.

[Breccia]

Even if I agree that the motion has grounds, the forum engine is rather outdated and messing with large threads tends to wreak havoc. These two are among our busier threads.

Also, while there is a strong overlap in their activities, the Venn diagram is still not a circle.

Okay, that's fair. And I'll stop asking.

Also, I can't help but notice that nobody said Trump was joking. I think it's fair to say, then, that Trump supporters do not think Trump was joking. They really want Musk to have a "Cabinet" position.

[Edge-]

https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/13/...we-robot-event

Not politics related but IMO emblematic of his political pursuits as well: The recent event revealing the Tesla cab and "bus", the one held on a Hollywood studio lot so yes it did look like a movie, the one where Tesla impressive rolled out a fleet of robots that were taking drink orders and showing very impressive capabilities in a busy, chaotic atmosphere.

Except those weren't autonomous robots there were people behind the scenes operating them, too. Because with Leon, anything he's directly involved with includes heavy doses of BS and fakery. This is the guy that Donald wants to put in charge of "efficiency", the guy who overpaid and spend $44B for Twitter, did a 9/11 on its value, and now has a $8B company that sucks up all his time and effort and energy and attention - when he's not claiming credit for the success of his other companies that can actually get shit done without having to coddle the manchild with too much money.

[Paranoid Android]

The New York Times has been able to confirm coordination between the Trump Campaign and Elon Musk’s Twitter, exposing what may be the largest election interference scheme in history.

https://x.com/MeidasTouch/status/184...2DwpYnf-A&s=19

Alright a somewhat dramatic tweet here, but posting for source.

From article.

Earlier this year, there was reporting of hacked material obtained by a foreign power from the Trump campaign. According to the New York Times, the Trump campaign connected with Twitter to prevent the circulation of links to the released material and, as a result, Twitter actually suspended the reporter's account and blocked links to the material at issue.

Oh look Trump campaign contacted Twitter to prevent something posted.

Wasn't this elmo and the Right whole outrage of withholding information.

[Surfd]

Wasn't this elmo and the Right whole outrage of withholding information.

I seem to recall the reich-wing pitching a total meltdown fit over the possibility that the government may have tried to get social media to stop amplifying the hunter biden laptop stuff, so yes, 100%.

[Jastall]

It's also definitely funny that the idea that Twitter's previous board might have favored the Democrats was the very death of free speech itself, but now that the new CEO directly promotes right-wing ideals, forces them on the userbase as much as he can, censors according to his heart's content, and all but campaigns for his favorite candidate those same criticisms are nowhere to be found. All very unexpected, of course.