A lot of things have been going on in the tech world, but its been a pretty busy past week for me. Below is a quick update on some interesting news.
Tesla Gets Funding
After a round of layoffs and reports of a very tenuous cash position (9 million in the bank), Tesla Motors was able to raise $40 million. Unlike previous fund raising efforts, this round is convertible debt, meaning its a loan unless the investors want to convert it to equity.
Its still an uphill climb for Tesla who announced they are delaying production on their next car model and focusing solely on delivering Tesla Roadsters in higher quantities.The good news is that a $200 grant from the Department of Energy is believed to be around the corner in 2009 which should be the financial push needed to ramp up production as needed.
AOL Users Heavily Skew Old, White, Rural, and Conservative
Sites like Twitter and Youtube became hot beds of election activity, the majority of which was in support of President elect, Barack Obama.
While cutting edge technology user groups seemed to almost all skew towards Obama, dial up internet provider AOL allowed their users to vote (results below). AOL’s image problem continues to grow as its clear its subscribers are a far ways off the pulse of America.
Speaking of Technology and the Election
A very interesting story came out of Austin as back up Longhorns Center, Buck Burnette was kicked off football team. Why you ask?
After Obama’s win, Buck updated his facebook status that was a two pronged sword of bad judgement that included a racial slur and a hostile threat towards Obama.
I have seen this coming for awhile. You have Josh Jarboe getting kicked off of Oklahoma for rapping about violence on youtube, and this is not the first incident involving facebook in college football.
Universities need to understand that social media like Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, myspace, and hell even Yardbarker is a popular way to communicate but is very much public facing. Athletic departments should be wise to implement social media policies and coaching to avoid expulsions like Burnette and Jarboe.
Apple Engineering Superior for Phones too
It blows my mind to think about the Apple and their success with the Iphone. Here is a company who has never made a phone. They decide to take the plunge and develop the Iphone. With all the scrutiny on them, they deliver with a great product. Despite never making a phone ever…..they pretty much made what consumers consider the best phone out there made by all vendors with much more extensive expertise.
But guess what, it doesn’t end there as apparently the Iphone is more dependable then other smart phones as well. This reliability only helps Apple who is really pushing the value proposition of the App Store with great effectiveness.
