From 2020, an article about remotely operated humanoid robots stacking shelves in Japanese convenience stores

CNN September 2020:

This week, Lawson deployed its first robot in a convenience store, in Tokyo. FamilyMart trialled the same robots last month, and says it plans to have them working in 20 of its stores by 2022.

...

The Model-T robot — named after the Ford automobile that pioneered assembly line production in the early 20th Century — is controlled by shop staff remotely. A human “pilot” wears a virtual reality (VR) headset and special gloves that let them “feel” in their own hands the products the robot is holding. Microphones and headphones allow them to communicate with people in the store.

...

In theory, the robot could be controlled from anywhere in the world, says [a Telexistence representative].

...

This makes recruitment easier and offers potential for hiring overseas in places with lower labor costs, says [the representative] 

At Tesla, a job listing for Unreal Software Engineer, Virtual Reality Teleoperation, Tesla Bot 

Teslas can record a lot more video than I appreciated

Reuters (much of the article is about Tesla employees sharing video):

“People who walked by these vehicles were filmed without knowing it. And the owners of the Teslas could go back and look at these images,” said [a member of the Dutch Data Protection Authority]. “If a person parked one of these vehicles in front of someone’s window, they could spy inside and see everything the other person was doing. That is a serious violation of privacy.”

...

At one point, Teslas on Autopilot were having difficulty backing out of garages and would get confused when encountering shadows or objects such as garden hoses. So some data labelers were asked to identify objects in videos recorded inside garages.

...

“I sometimes wondered if these people know that we're seeing that"

...

“Any normal human being would be appalled by this” 

Later, reviewing the Model 3, the auto-headlights were going spastic. I asked PR for a comment. They asked me at what times I experienced the issue -- so that the engineers wouldn't have to scrub through my entire 7 days of driving footage. All recorded, apparently.

— Tim Stevens (@Tim_Stevens) April 6, 2023

Today's funny posts

I'm still stuck on the Disney earnings call earlier this week where they said they would cut portion sizes in the theme parks for the same price & justified it by saying everybody was too fat anyway pic.twitter.com/Z8ECDm39Z4

— Jenny Nicholson 🎃👻🦇 (@JennyENicholson) November 13, 2021

Supposedly this is what happened when a Tesla had to interpret a flatbed truck transporting traffic signals

And this is why you don't do public beta tests!

Tesla Model 3 display - showing constant traffic lights whilst going 130km/h on the highway!

via https://t.co/MXhddRfjgM pic.twitter.com/rAAYPuY9TP

— Sascha (潘賞世) Pallenberg (@sascha_p) June 2, 2021

The author posted this video in the comments. It's a truck full of traffic lights. pic.twitter.com/h2LwyL65ck

— FSD in 6 months (@FSD_in_6m) June 2, 2021

Flooded plain of Tesla chargers; Careful on Twitter, lest you summon a malevolent spirit; Can I "squirt" you a song from my Zune?

Possibly one of the most striking pictures of the flooding I've been sent — the Tesla electric vehicle stations in Wokingham are now underwater.

I feel like there is a point about climate change hidden here... 🌍 pic.twitter.com/2Eaf3JARqR

— Megan Baynes (@megbaynes) December 21, 2019

Boosting this, but also would like to note the increasing crossover between guidelines for safely interacting with the Algorithm and those for safely interacting with the Fair Folk/demons/malevolent ghosts. https://t.co/tDEQpz2IzF

— Kwisatz Haterade (@lowbeyonder) December 2, 2019

I like where he drives over a child sized pylon with out noticing. https://t.co/Drx4zHdEiz

— Anthony Ryan (@printtemps) December 9, 2019

Remember: when designing the Zune, Microsoft included the ability to share songs with other Zune users by way of proximity to each other. That functionality was named "squirting." As in, "Here, mom. Let me squirt you that track we were listening to in the car."

— Jesse Harlin - Black Lives Matter (@oogew) December 16, 2019

(For real)

Tesla Cybertruck paper toy

Download.

Tesla Cybertruck is ready to destroy Jared-Syn

Uhh...I don't think that was part of the script 😂 #Cybertruck #Teslatruck LIVE🔴https://t.co/ZWTiS4BCk1 pic.twitter.com/Kazv1nt2Ap

— Shacknews (@shacknews) November 22, 2019

Official site.

Placing stickers to lure Teslas into oncoming traffic; A MLB award for the club that best keeps player salaries down; Luring employees by offering pollution bonuses

Silicon Valley’s Emotiv headsets watch your brain to help increase workplace productivity https://t.co/mY2geLWuDN pic.twitter.com/HHd3vNhsK6

— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) April 2, 2019

"Crashed Tesla vehicles, sold at junk yards and auctions, contain deeply personal and unencrypted data including info from drivers’ paired mobile devices, and video showing what happened just before the accident"

CNBC:

Many other cars download and store data from users, particularly information from paired cellphones, such as contact information. The practice is widespread enough that the US Federal Trade Commission has issued advisories to drivers warning them about pairing devices to rental cars, and urging them to learn how to wipe their cars’ systems clean before returning a rental or selling a car they owned.

But the researchers’ findings highlight how Tesla is full of contradictions on privacy and cybersecurity. On one hand, Tesla holds car-generated data closely, and has fought customers in court to refrain from giving up vehicle data. Owners must purchase $995 cables and download a software kit from Tesla to get limited information out of their cars via “event data recorders” there, should they need this for legal, insurance or other reasons.

"CHP uses Autopilot to stop a Tesla Model 3 [going 70 mph] with a sleeping driver at the wheel"

LAT:

After a second unit caught up to block any traffic coming from behind, the original car sped up to get in front of the Tesla, then gradually slowed to a stop.

The cameras and computer algorithms of the vehicle’s self-driving system did their job, slowing to avoid ramming the officer’s car.

"As Tesla races to meet Model 3 deadline, factory pressures and suspicions grow"

WaPo:

To speed up car production, Musk said Tesla is now testing an unconventional alternative, raising a giant tent structure on the Fremont grounds and building a new factory line inside from warehouse scrap.

The “pretty sweet” tent, Musk said on Twitter, is “more comfortable” and “way better” than the factory building, and Musk on Twitter congratulated the team for building an “entire new general assembly line in 3 weeks (with) minimal resources.”

Needed another general assembly line to reach 5k/week Model 3 production. A new building was impossible, so we built a giant tent in 2 weeks. Tesla team kfa!! Gah, love them so much ♥️🚘💫

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 19, 2018

"A Tesla sedan in Autopilot mode crashed into a parked Laguna Beach Police Department vehicle Tuesday morning"

LAT:

"Thankfully there was not an officer at the time in the police car," Cota said. "The police car is totaled."

Profile of Lakers GM (and former player) Rob Pelinka

SI:

On weekends, his dad drove him to the South Side so he could taste real competition. After graduating from Lake Forest in ’88, he earned a coveted spot in the Schlitz League.

Pelinka and Maurice Cheeks formed the backcourt for Luster Premium Hair Products. Mark Aguirre and Kendall Gill played for Seville Motel, Tim Hardaway and Nick Anderson for First Chicago Bank, Ken Norman for Johnnie Walker Red, Kevin Duckworth for Seduction By Rodney. But they were all fodder for the powerhouse from Playboy, fronted by Michael Jordan, Doc Rivers and Terry Cummings.

...

Doubleheaders unfolded every Sunday and Monday night from mid-July to mid-August at Illinois Institute of Technology. Admission was free. Once, a gunman strode onto the floor, and Pelinka was so stunned by the ringing shots he forgot to hit the deck. A teammate had to tackle him.

...

During Pelinka’s hourlong commute in his self-driving Tesla, he watched college clips on Synergy Sports

Link roundup

1. "At least 100 workers at the construction site for Tesla Motors Inc.’s battery factory near Reno, Nevada, walked off the job Monday to protest use of workers from other states, a union official said."

“It’s a slap in the face to Nevada workers to walk through the parking lot at the job site and see all these license plates from Arizona and New Mexico,” Koch said in an interview. Those who walked out were among the hundreds on the site, he said.

2. "The Pentagon has a new secret weapon to neutralize sites containing chemical or biological weapons: rocket balls."

These are hollow spheres, made of rubberized rocket fuel; when ignited, they propel themselves around at random at high speed, bouncing off the walls and breaking through doors, turning the entire building into an inferno.

3.  Tiny camera drone wraps around your wrist like a watch when not in use.

"TONIGHT, TESLA MAKES its cars autonomous. Well, semi-autonomous"

Wired:

And it did it with an over-the-air update, effectively making tens of thousands of cars already sold to customers way better.
...
in Autopilot, you keep your hands on the steering wheel. Well… you don’t have to keep your hands on the steering wheel. You can rest them on your knees (resting on knees, palms up, fingertips touching the wheel is advised), or keep one pinky on the wheel. And okay, you can take your hands off altogether for a moment. But after a few seconds, your car will give you a little message, asking you to touch the wheel in some capacity.