Stop Online Piracy Act is a bill that was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in October 2011 by Lamar Smith (R-TX). This Act would allow the Department of Justice and copyright holders to seek court orders against websites accused of copyright infringement that would prevent online ad networks and payment facilitators from doing business with those websites. Opponents in this bill believe that this is Internet censorship. Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, PayPal co-founder Elon Musk, and Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang oppose the bill. Their letter will appear as a paid ad in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other newspapers.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has invested $75 million into Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX). SpaceX is led by CEO Elon Musk. NASA is investing in SpaceX as part of the Commercial Crew Development (CCDev2) effort. NASA’s CCDev2 effort is to accelerate the availability of space transportation to their crew as they get prepare to retire the Space Shuttle. [socaltech]
Earlier this week Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has a successful Dragon space capsule launch. The Dragon is expected to be the first commercial spacecraft to make a round trip in low Earth orbit. Space.com designed an infographic that makes it easy to understand how the Dragon works. Check it out below:
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX), the American space transport company founded by PayPal co-founder Elon Musk has raised $50 million according to an SEC filing. “Existing investors expressed an interest in making an incremental investment and we accommodated their request,” stated a company representative. This puts SpaceX at a total of $200 million. Previous investors include Elon Musk, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and the Founders Fund. [BusinessInsider]
Panasonic has invested $30 million into Tesla Motors and will receive a 2% stake in the electric car company. This investment was sent to Tesla about a week after the grand opening of Tesla’s factory. Tesla has been using Panasonic cells for their Tesla Roadster battery packs.
Late last month, the New York Times wrote an article about how Elon Musk is broke. “About four months ago, I ran out of cash,” said Elon Musk, co-founder of PayPal and the head of Tesla Motors.
Nissan has released official images of the Nissan Juke. At the front of the Juke, there is six pairs of lights including head lamps, fog lights, and large round auxiliary lights. The interior is inspired by a fuel tank of a motorcycle too [CNET].
Kia Ray Concept
Below is a picture of the Kia Ray, a natural gas-powered vehicle that debuted at the Chicago Auto Show. Under the glass hood is a 153 horsepower and 1.4 liter direct-injection engine [AutoMobileBlog].
Patrick Crashes GoDaddy Car In 12 Car Pileup
In her debut at the NASCAR Nationwide race, Danica Patrick crashed the GoDaddy Chevy Impala in a 12 car pile-up.
Saab Approved For $545 Million Loan
Saab has been approved for a $545 million loan. “We are extremely pleased with the decision by the EIB as this was a crucial component in enabling the acquisition of Saab to proceed. Months of hard work have paid off, said Victor Muller, Spyker’s CEO. “We cannot wait to close this transaction now as soon as practically possible. We extend our gratitude to the EIB officials who have worked relentlessly to make this happen.” [eGMcarTech]
Musk Flying Around In Private Jet
Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk flew his private jet to Washington D.C. over 12 times since last year according to Autospies. Some of these trips were intended to request government public financing. This is ironic because GM, Chrysler, and Ford executives were heavily criticized by members of Congress for doing the same thing. Musk flew in a Dassault Falcon 900 and landed in Washington in mid-June of 2009. Around that time is when Tesla was given a $465 million loan from the DoE. Tesla is planning to raise an additional $100 million in an IPO. [AutoSpies]
Elon Musk and Martin Eberhard are both co-founders of Tesla Motors. About five to six years after starting the company, the two had a falling out. Eberhard accused Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk and the company of slander, mismanagement, and for delivering a damaged Roadster vehicle. Eberhard left the company in 2007 and it was rumored that Musk forced him out. However Eberhard was promised a first edition $109,000 Roadster, but it was delivered with a dent.
The media even reported that Musk accused Eberhard of Tesla’s financial problems which led to delayed products. Eberhard filed a lawsuit against Tesla for costs and damages as a result. Now it sounds like Musk and Eberhard wants what is best for the company. The lawsuit has been dropped and the company can now focus stronger on product development and delivery.
Financial settlements were undisclosed, but it is safe to assume that the company was hardly affected. Tesla Motors has a fat wallet after receiving a major investment by Daimler and the government.
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