elon musk

If Grumpy Cat is the biggest news of all, is SXSW in trouble?

AUSTIN, Texas -- Talk to just about anyone who has been at South by Southwest this year, and there's really no doubt what was the biggest news of all: Grumpy Cat.

On the one hand a sweet little cat with a facial expression that looks annoyed, and on the other one, of the biggest Internet memes of the last year, Grumpy Cat has been the unquestioned biggest star of SXSW, thanks to Mashable, which managed to bring the famous kitty to the world's most important interactive conference so that tons of her biggest fans could meet her.

Never … Read more

Elon Musk at SXSW: 'I'd like to die on Mars, just not on impact'

AUSTIN, Texas -- SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk wowed a capacity SXSW crowd here today with the first public showing of a video of a rocket capable of blasting off and then returning safely and gently to the ground. And he later added he hopes to one day travel (perhaps one-way) to Mars.

The video of the company's Grasshopper rocket, filmed just about a day-and-a-half ago, demonstrates one of SpaceX's key propositions: That it can develop reusable rockets at a fraction of the cost of a traditional NASA mission, and that it can bring them back down … Read more

Tesla CEO: NYT review cost us $100M in value -- Bloomberg

The New York Times/Tesla debacle may have cost the car maker $100 million in value, Tesla's CEO told Bloomberg.

Elon Musk, speaking on Bloomberg TV, said "a lot" of people canceled orders for Tesla's Model S following a scathing New York Times review.

"It probably affected us to the tune of tens of millions, to the order of $100 million, so it's not trivial," Musk said. "I would say that refers more to the valuation of the company. It wasn't as though there were 1,000 cancellations just due to … Read more

Tesla sales up 500 percent in Q4, sees profit ahead

Tesla lost $89.9 million after charges as sales soared 500 percent sequentially to $306 million in the fourth quarter. At the same time, management delivered a bullish forecast for the company's first quarter.

"In the first quarter of 2013, we expect to generate slightly positive net income, on a non-GAAP basis," CEO Elon Musk said in a letter to shareholders today. He added that Tesla expects "to be near breakeven on cash flow from operations."

Musk wrote in a post co-authored with Chief Financial Officer Deepak Ahuja:

These targets would be achieved through a … Read more

Tesla's Elon Musk lambasts New York Times article

Tesla's CEO Elon Musk has become incensed over a news article critical of the all-electric car that was published in The New York Times last week.

"I do not think this is a he said, she said situation," Musk told Bloomberg West in an interview today. "It is really black and white. The facts are the facts."

The tussle got started after New York Times reporter John Broder wrote an article about taking the Tesla Model S out on a test drive in the East Coast's freezing weather. He claimed that the car couldn'… Read more

Elon Musk's plan for life on Mars

Stunning views, lots of elbow room, and complete custom living are just a few of the benefits of space settlements -- and we might just be closer to attaining them than you'd think.

Elon Musk, founder of the private space transport company SpaceX, earlier this month outlined plans for the colonization of Mars, something he says can get under way in the next 10 to 20 years with the first manned mission to the Red Planet. If the first settlement is designed to build and sustain additional settlements, colonization could proceed from there quite rapidly, he explained at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London, as reported by Space.com.

Following a first manned mission, Musk next envisions sending a small team of 10 people to Mars, along with construction supplies to build transparent domes.

Still, the process of building citylike colonies to sustain long-term habitation is expensive and challenging. Unveiling some of his planning specifics, Musk stressed the importance of a reusable rocket to keep costs down. … Read more

Elon Musk says Apple likely to lose out to Google

A couple of months ago, Apple could do no wrong. Now it's become the tech punditry's favorite pinata.

The latest to take a swipe: none other than Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk. Musk was quoted at a government-sponsored roundtable in London held last week saying that Apple will likely lose out to Google in the smartphone business "because (former Apple CEO Steve) Jobs is out of the picture."

He added that "it really makes a difference who runs the company. (Google CEO) Larry Page is quite good and probably in the long run will … Read more

Popular Mechanics honors breakthrough innovations

What do Elon Musk, Leap Motion, Microsoft Surface and Windows 8, Autodesk 123D, and Dow Solar's PowerHouse Solar Shingles have in common?

They are all among the winners of Popular Mechanics magazine's eighth Breakthrough Awards. Awarded each year by a panel of the magazine's editors, the honors go to people and products that are seen to be leading the world of science and commerce forward.

This year's product winners are: The North Face Powder Guide ABS Vest and Backpack; the Lytro camera; Autodesk 123D; Microsoft Surface and Windows 8; Ford's 1-liter EcoBoost engine; Dow PowerHouse … Read more

All aboard for Mars, just $500,000 a ticket

Not long ago, word leaked of a plan that could take anyone with an extra $150 million on a trip around the moon. So SpaceX founder Elon Musk's assertion today that he hopes to be able to take people on a round-trip to Mars for $500,000 signals a much better deal.

Musk told the BBC that he expects to unveil details of his plans sometime later this year or in early 2013. Essentially, though, Musk believes that with its Falcon 9 launcher and Dragon spacecraft, SpaceX may already have the base infrastructure in place that could get paying … Read more