Tech

In this articleNEEDUKAESVSTTSLATesla CEO Elon Musk announced in 2015 that the electric-vehicle company would be getting into the energy business. Now, it’s starting to take off. On its Q4 2020 earnings call, the company said its battery deployments increased 83% in 2020, particularly thanks to the popularity of the Megapack, which stores energy for utilities.Renewable energy such as solar and wind need battery storage for when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining. As nations around the world set goals to transition to renewables, demand for these large-scale storage systems is on the rise. Grid-scale battery storage is expected to become a $15 billion market by 2027, according to Grand View Research.CNBC visited PG&E’s Tesla Megapack site in Moss Landing, California, and learned why energy storage systems like Tesla’s could be everywhere in a future of renewable power. Watch the video for a look inside Tesla’s energy business.

In this articleTSLATesla CEO Elon Musk speaks during the unveiling of the new Tesla Model Y in Hawthorne, California on March 14, 2019.Frederic J. Brown | AFP | Getty ImagesTesla started using the cabin cameras in some Model 3 and Model Y vehicles to make sure drivers are paying attention to the road when they use driver assistance features, according to release notes obtained by CNBC.Their Model 3 and Model Y cars already had driver-facing cabin cameras, but the company’s owners manuals said they were not used for driver monitoring. Instead, Tesla’s systems required drivers to “check in” by touching the steering wheel, which is equipped with sensors.Now, Tesla is telling drivers their cabin cameras have been switched on for driver monitoring in new vehicles that lack radar sensors, according to Kevin Smith, a second-time Tesla buyer in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Smith says he took delivery of a 2021 Tesla Model Y crossover on Thursday.The technical changes come amid regulatory scrutiny of Tesla vehicle safety in the U.S. and abroad. The company is facing dozens of federal probes into the underlying causes of Tesla-involved crashes in the U.S., some of which may have involved Autopilot.Elon Musk’s auto business sells its driver

DoximitySource: DoximityUber offered it to drivers. Airbnb did it for hosts. Now Doximity is providing it to doctors, but in a much bigger way.In its IPO prospectus on Friday, health-tech company Doximity, which is often described as the LinkedIn for doctors, said it’s allocating up to 15% of shares in the offering for physicians through a “reserved share program.”That means eligible doctors can get stock at the same price as the select group of institutional investors, who so often benefit from the IPO pop because they get early allocation and don’t have to wait for trading to begin. Doximity hasn’t yet said how many shares it plans to issue or at what price. To qualify for the program, members must meet certain thresholds of activity.”We aspire to be the world’s largest physician-owned technology company, and our IPO reserved share program is intended to both thank our members and kickstart the process,” co-founders Jeff Tangney, Nate Gross and Shari Buck wrote in the founders’ letter portion of the prospectus.Airbnb, which went public in December, set aside up to 7% of shares in its IPO for hosts on the platform. After the stock popped 112% in its debut, hosts who bought the

Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., left, and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass.Bill Clark | CQ Roll Call | Getty Images; Jemal Countess | Getty ImagesA new federal bill seeks to demystify how social media platforms determine which posts users see, without touching a law that has become a lightning rod in Congress.The Algorithmic Justice and Online Platform Transparency Act of 2021, announced by Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., on Thursday, seeks to expose and address social injustices that are exacerbated by algorithmic amplification online.In this particular usage of the word, “algorithms” are parts of software programs that sites like Facebook, Twitter and Google use to determine which content and advertisements to show users. The bill would prohibit platforms from using algorithms that discriminate based on protected characteristics like race and gender, empower the Federal Trade Commission to review platforms’ algorithmic processes, and create a new inter-agency task force to investigate discrimination in algorithms. Platforms would also have to explain to users how they use algorithms and what information they use to run them.”It is time to open up Big Tech’s hood, enact strict prohibitions on harmful algorithms, and prioritize justice for communities who have long been discriminated against

When pandemic lockdowns swept the country in Spring 2020, there were concerns that the booming podcast business might take a pause — the dramatic decline in people commuting meant fewer people listening on the go. Podcast downloads did initially decline, 10% between February 25 and March 25, but instead of that decline accelerating, digital audio rebounded, and 2020 catapulted a new generation of social audio companies into prominence.The new format — live conversations — emerged as an audio trend that has social media giants stepping up efforts to keep their control over internet experiences. One of the audio upstarts, Discord — which started as a chat platform for gamers and has been around since 2015 — saw its popularity explode. Meanwhile, Clubhouse, which launched during the pandemic, quickly scaled its user base to number in the millions and its valuation into the billions.Defying expectations, podcasting revenue continued to grow and eMarketer had to revise its 2020 estimate from a 1% decline in the time U.S. adults spend with audio, to 8.3% growth, for about an hour and a half a day. Clubhouse claims users spend over one hour, on average, on the app daily.While people may have been commuting less,

Box CEO Aaron Levie sat down with CNBC’s Josh Lipton this week to talk about the company’s feud with activist investor Starboard Value. Starboard has made several accusations against Box, claiming the cloud company is underperforming.In the interview, Levie discusses his plans to return value to shareholders and says he’d be open to selling the company if it made sense to do so. He also highlights Box’s latest quarterly results to show the company is performing well, despite Starboard’s claims.Watch the video above to hear highlights from the interview and Levie’s thoughts on the activist shareholder battle within his company.

Bitcoin mine uncovered during Black Country industrial unit raid that was stealing thousands of pounds worth of electricity from the mains supply.Source: West Midlands PoliceLONDON — An illegal bitcoin mine has been found by police in the U.K. who were looking for a cannabis farm.The mine — located in an industrial unit on the outskirts of the English city of Birmingham — was stealing thousands of pounds worth of electricity from the mains supply, West Midlands Police said Thursday.Police searched the unit in Sandwell on May 18 on the back of intelligence that led them to believe it was being used as a cannabis farm.Lots of people were visiting the unit at various points of the day, police said, adding there was lots of wiring and ventilation ducts visible A police drone also detected a lot of heat coming from the building.These are all “classic signs” of a cannabis farm, police said. However, officers found a bank of around 100 computers and zero cannabis on entering the building.”It’s certainly not what we were expecting,” Jennifer Griffin, Sandwell police sergeant, said in a statement. “It had all the hallmarks of a cannabis cultivation set-up and I believe it’s only the second

Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Tom Brady celebrates after winning the Super Bowl LV, February 7, 2021.Brian Snyder | ReutersSeven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady said he’s a “big believer” in cryptocurrencies, confirming that he’s purchased digital coins.”I don’t think it’s going anywhere,” Brady said at the CoinDesk Consensus 2021 forum on Thursday. “I’m still learning so much. It’s definitely something I’m going to be in for a long time.””How we pay for things now is very different from how we paid for things when I was a kid,” Brady said. “At the end of the day it’s transactions and how they’re happening between people in the space of three to four feet … it’s not exchanging dollar bills anymore, it’s passing along technology.””The world is changing, we all just have to understand it’s constant change and you can either be ahead of the curve or behind it and I’m choosing to be ahead of it,” he added. “As someone who wants to be on the forefront of things, I’m going to help create the trend and adopt it and recognize this is where the world is heading.”Brady didn’t say which coins he’s bought, but he’s indicated an interest in bitcoin. Earlier

In this articleSWIAnnette Riedl | Picture Alliance | Getty ImagesThe Russian hackers thought to be behind the catastrophic SolarWinds attack last year have launched another major cyberattack, Microsoft warned Thursday.Microsoft said in a blog post that the hacking group, known as Nobelium, had targeted over 150 organizations worldwide in the last week including government agencies, think tanks, consultants, and non-governmental organizations.They sent phishing emails – spoof messages designed to trick people into handing over sensitive information or downloading harmful software – to more than 3,000 email accounts, the tech giant said.At least 25% of the targeted organizations are involved in international development, humanitarian, and human rights work, wrote Tom Burt, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of customer security and trust. “These attacks appear to be a continuation of multiple efforts by Nobelium to target government agencies involved in foreign policy as part of intelligence gathering efforts,” said Burt.Organizations across at least 24 countries were targeted, Microsoft said, with the U.S. receiving the largest share of attacks.The breach has been discovered three weeks before President Joe Biden is scheduled to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva.It also comes a month after the U.S. government explicitly said that the SolarWinds hack was carried

Elizabeth Holmes, founder and former chief executive officer of Theranos, center, exits U.S. federal court in San Jose, California on May 6, 2021.Nina Riggio | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesIn the case of Elizabeth Holmes apparently all publicity isn’t good publicity.Attorneys for the former Theranos CEO are citing widespread negative coverage as a reason to expand selection for the pool of jurors in her upcoming criminal fraud trial.A 21-page motion filed late Thursday spelled out example after example of highly descriptive and unflattering stories in the past several years about Holmes.”The publicity is pervasively negative,” lawyers for Holmes said. Adding she is, “routinely referred to in derisive and inflammatory terms that are directly relevant to the wire fraud charges in this case. Media coverage describes her as a ‘fraud,’ ‘fraudster,’ ‘con artist,’ ‘disgraced Theranos founder,’ ‘scam artist,’ and a ‘raging psychopath.'”Holmes is asking for expanded jury summons and has proposed a written jury questionnaire. Lawyers for Holmes wrote, “media coverage also trades on prejudicial tropes and recurring themes, often relating to Ms. Holmes’ demeanor, voice, and physical appearance.” They say the negative publicity traces back to at least 2015, and has “focused intensely on Ms. Holmes personally, not simply on the