Month: January 2023

Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson | Youtube)

Elon Musk is headed to trial next week over his infamous tweet claiming he had secured funding to take Tesla private at $420 a share. A 10-day civil trial with jury selection scheduled for Tuesday, January 17, is set to begin in US District Court for the Northern District of California.

The class-action lawsuit alleges Musk harmed investors with this tweet from August 7, 2018: "Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured." Additional statements by Musk and Tesla reinforced the false impression given by Musk's going-private claim, the lead plaintiff says.

"As a result of the turmoil in the prices for Tesla stock, options, and bonds caused by Musk and Tesla's statements, investors lost billions of dollars from August 7, 2018 to August 17, 2018," lead plaintiff Glen Littleton's trial brief in October said. "These damages include losses resulting from the effect on the prices of Tesla securities immediately following the August 7, 2018 tweets, that was then corrected from August 8, 2018 to August 17, 2018 as the falsity of the tweets was realized by investors... Absent Musk and Tesla's fraudulent statements, these losses would not have been suffered by Tesla investors."

Enlarge / Artist's conception of the community reaction to WotC's proposed license changes. (credit: WotC)

Dungeons & Dragons publisher Wizards of the Coast (WotC) has backed away from some of the most controversial portions contained in leaked drafts of an update to its decades-old Open Gaming License (OGL) following widespread fan outrage over the proposed changes.

For instance, WotC now says directly that any content already released under the previous version of the OGL will "remain unaffected" by the update. That contradicts language in a leaked draft of the license update suggesting that the earlier version of the OGL "is no longer an authorized license agreement."

The updated version of the OGL also will "not contain... any royalty structure," WotC writes, despite draft language calling for a 25 percent royalty on annual revenues above $750,000. The now-removed royalty language was "designed to apply to large corporations attempting to use OGL content" and wasn't intended "to impact the vast majority of the community," the company writes. "However, it’s clear from the reaction that we rolled a 1."

Enlarge / LG recalled the 86NANO75UQA and three other 86-inch 4K LED TVs. (credit: LG)

LG Electronics (LGE) issued a recall of four models of its 86-inch 4K TVs on Thursday due to tip-over concerns. The recall affects 52,000 TVs sold between March and September 2022 with the model numbers 86NANO75UQA, 86UQ7070ZUD, 86UQ7590PUD, and 86NANO75UQA.

The recall notice from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) says the TVs "can become unstable while on the assembled stand, posing serious tip-over and entrapment hazards that can result in injuries or death to children and others." The recall applies to TVs sold by Amazon, Best Buy, Costco, Walmart, and other brick-and-mortar stores for $1,100 to $1,900.

The recall notice says owners of the affected models should detach the TV from its stand and place it somewhere safe and away from kids. It also advises customers to contact LGE "for instructions on how to inspect the unit and to obtain replacement screws and stand parts, including help from a technician for a free repair."

Enlarge / Can big price cuts stop Tesla's share price slide? More of its cars now qualify for US tax credits, at least. (credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Image)

At a time when every other automaker is having trouble building enough electric vehicles to satisfy demand, Tesla is seemingly having the opposite problem. Overnight, the Texas-based automaker slashed prices by thousands of dollars for some models in an effort to spur demand. Earlier this month, the company's share price—which had already slumped by 70 percent in 2022—was further affected when Tesla announced it had missed its annual production goal by 20 percent.

Now, the cheapest Tesla you can buy—the Model 3 RWD—has dropped to $43,990, a $3,000 savings compared to 2022's prices. The Model 3 Long Range is currently unavailable, but the Model 3 Performance is $9,000 cheaper than before, at $53,990.

You can still buy a Model Y Long Range from Tesla, and in five-seat configuration, it's now $12,000 cheaper than yesterday, at $53,990. An even bigger discount applies to the Model Y Performance, which is now $13,000 cheaper, at $56,990. Adding a third row of seats to either of these Teslas carries a $4,000 premium.

Enlarge / Can big price cuts stop Tesla's share price slide? More of its cars now qualify for US tax credits, at least. (credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Image)

At a time when every other automaker is having trouble building enough electric vehicles to satisfy demand, Tesla is seemingly having the opposite problem. Overnight, the Texas-based automaker slashed prices by thousands of dollars for some models in an effort to spur demand. Earlier this month, the company's share price—which had already slumped by 70 percent in 2022—was further affected when Tesla announced it had missed its annual production goal by 20 percent.

Now, the cheapest Tesla you can buy—the Model 3 RWD—has dropped to $43,990, a $3,000 savings compared to 2022's prices. The Model 3 Long Range is currently unavailable, but the Model 3 Performance is $9,000 cheaper than before, at $53,990.

You can still buy a Model Y Long Range from Tesla, and in five-seat configuration, it's now $12,000 cheaper than yesterday, at $53,990. An even bigger discount applies to the Model Y Performance, which is now $13,000 cheaper, at $56,990. Adding a third row of seats to either of these Teslas carries a $4,000 premium.