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Tesla Slashes FSD Price to $99/Month in US

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Tesla has slashed the price of its Full Self-Driving (FSD) software subscription to $99 per month, down from $199 per month, as the electric vehicle maker aims to boost adoption of its advanced driver assistance system ahead of first-quarter earnings. The price cut comes a couple of weeks after Tesla launched a free one-month trial of FSD for every customer in the U.S. with a compatible Tesla. The FSD price cut comes the same week that Tesla released more tweaks to its latest V12 version of the software to certain users. More drivers with FSD doesn’t only mean more money for Tesla. Tesla might also be angling for more training data so it can meet CEO Elon Musk’s promise to unveil a Tesla robotaxi in August.

FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison for Fraud and Money-Laundering

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Earlier this month, U.S. prosecutors from the Department of Justice called for a “necessary” 40 to 50-year sentence for him. Prior to its collapse, FTX was one of the top crypto exchanges by volume, behind Coinbase and Binance. Bankman-Fried testified that he didn’t defraud FTX customers or use their funds, but that Alameda “borrowed” that capital from the exchange. Prosecutors strongly argued Bankman-Fried made a number of false promises internally and externally and was responsible for the loss of billions of dollars for thousands of FTX investors. And as a result, Bankman-Fried will be spending quite some time behind bars.

Free FSD Beta Driver-Assistance Trial: Tesla’s Latest Offer for US Customers

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Tesla is about to start giving every customer in the U.S. a one-month trial of its $12,000 driver-assistance system, which it calls Full Self-Driving Beta, provided they have a car with the compatible hardware. The company is also reportedly mandating, at CEO Elon Musk’s request, that prospective buyers are given a demo of the software before they purchase a new Tesla. The full-court press to promote FSD Beta software, an upgraded version of the Autopilot system that comes standard in all Tesla vehicles, is happening at an interesting moment for the company. It’s the end of the first quarter of 2024, and Tesla usually pulls out all the stops — including having executives help deliver cars to customers — to meet or beat its sales goals. The decision to temporarily increase access to the FSD Beta software comes as Tesla has been rolling out a new “V12” version of the software that ditches the previous code in favor of a system that runs entirely on neural networks.

“Trial By Fire: Atomos Space’s Maiden Voyage into Orbit”

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Few missions more acutely embody the maxim “space is hard” than Atomos Space’s first demonstration mission, which the company has managed to pull back from the brink of disaster — more than once. That demonstration mission, dubbed Mission-1, launched to orbit on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on March 4. Deployment was nominal, and Atomos received its first ping from the spacecraft seven minutes after deployment. After pulling some strings, they were able to get on the phone with the chief systems engineer of satellite communications company Iridium. Atomos’ spacecraft were moving too fast, and in direct opposition, such that they couldn’t perform the data “handshake” with those Iridium satellites to actually transmit information back down to Earth.

Apple Faces DOJ Lawsuit: What Lies Ahead?

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The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Apple Thursday, accusing the company led by CEO Tim Cook of engaging in anti-competitive business practices. The allegations include claims that Apple prevents competitors from accessing certain iPhone features and that the company’s actions impact the “flow of speech” through its streaming service, Apple TV+. This is not the first time Apple has faced legal action from the DOJ. In 2012, the agency sued Apple for conspiring with publishers to increase ebook prices, a lawsuit that was not settled until 2016. Morgan Stanley analysts said Friday that the current lawsuit could also favor Apple, as many similar allegations have already been ruled on by a judge in the Apple vs Epic case, with the ruling stating that Apple does not violate antitrust laws.

Google Pay Expands QR Payment Offerings to Local Indian Merchants Following Successful Trial Period

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Google said Thursday it plans to roll out the SoundPod, its portable speaker designed to instantly validate and announce successful payments, to small merchants across India over the coming months. The Google Pay expansion in India, where the company is among the mobile payment market leaders, comes even as the firm winds down some of its payments apps in the U.S. The sound-box was invented to serve small Indian merchants unable to afford regular point-of-sale devices but accepting of UPI payments. The company said merchants who use SoundPod to process 400 payments in a month will get $1.5 in cashback. Reliance, India’s largest firm by market cap, also began testing a similar device at its campus last year, TechCrunch earlier reported.