In today’s issue we discuss Elon Musk launching Tesla’s new Cybertruck, TikTok dodges ban in Montana, Lacey Chabert launches her new Hallmark TV show called Celebrations with Lacey Chabert, OpenAI’s Sam Altman buys $43 million dollar super-private Hawaiian estate mansion, and $500 Super Shoes are making runners break new records.
 

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Die Hard Is A Christmas Movie - Change My Mind

Business

The day is finally here. Elon Musk’s Cybertruck deliveries have begun, and it only took 4 years to sort of deliver on his promises to make an affordable futuristic electric pickup truck. Kudos for coming through on the ‘futuristic’ part, but WoW that price!

When Elon Musk originally revealed the design of his new Cybertruck he touted it in 2019 as being affordable with a target launch price of $30,000. Now 4 years later the Cybertruck hits the market at a 50% price increase costing consumers $60,990.

So what happened? Well, reality, which Elon Musk isn’t a big fan of. You see, when you design a completely new vehicle from the ground up, things take a lot longer and cost a lot more. This isn’t a new concept. Ask any startup founder! But Elon Musk isn’t just any startup founder. The man has a huge track record of successive startups that grow to be behemoths!

According to Jessica Caldwell, a research analyst at Edmunds, “This is going to appeal to definitely a wealthier clientele that can afford the price point and they want something that is unique and quirky. That just isn’t a large segment of the population that can afford that especially where interest rates are.”

The Cybertruck is entering the market late considering others such as the Rivian, Ford, and GMC have already come out with all-electric versions of their own trucks.

GMC Hummer EV (yes, that Hummer) is priced toward the higher end costing around $96,000, along with Rivian’s R1T which starts at $73,000, then we have Ford’s F-150 Lightning on the lower end of the price scale starting at $50,000.

The Cybertruck’s new body material and unconventional, futuristic styling has added complexity and costs to production. That’s an understatement. Originally Elon Musk promised that the windows would be practically bulletproof, and to prove his point Tesla’s chief designer Franz von Holzhausen took a metal ball to demonstrate the truck’s unbreakable “armor glass” window, but spoiler alert: it shattered and left a crater sized imprint on the broken but not shattered glass.

Fast forward to today and the glass in the new Cybertruck will NOT be bulletproof, but it also doen’t shatter. At the launch event on Thursday the same Franz von Holzhausen threw a ball at the Cybertruck window and it bounced off without smashing the glass. How’s that for progress?

Tesla Cybertruck delivery event: Everything Elon revealed about the EV pickup

Tech

In a quote mistakenly attributed to Voltaire, the famous British writer Evelyn Beatrice Hall said "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

I’m all for freedom of speech, and generally have a Libertarian laissez faire approach to the government’s involvement in limiting businesses. One state has been grappling with how to regulate TikTok, going as far as to attempt to ban the app state-wide, but they’ve run into some issues with the Dr. Evil-esq plan. A federal judge has blocked Montana’s TikTok ban, which would have been the first of its kind in the United States.

To understand what’s going on here you have to go back to May of 2023 when Governor Greg Gianforte signed into law the SB 419 bill  presenting it as a way to help “our shared priority to protect Montanans from Chinese Communist Party surveillance.”

Well ok then.

TikTok is pleased as you can imagine, but this isn’t the end of the issue. So how did we get here in the first place? The TL;DR of it is Montana of all places wanted to be the 1st U.S. state to ban TikTok, which is owned by the China-based tech giant ByteDance. Oh, and there’s that nagging rumor/fact that the Chinese government may-or-may not have access to all of TikTok’s Chinese and U.S.-based users. So there’s that.

So earlier this year U.S. lawmakers raised questions about the relationship between the Chinese government and the app’s parent company ByteDance when they grilled TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew during a congressional hearing. These layers, who had no idea what a TikTok was until they asked their grandkids, all the sudden were concerned that the Chinese Communist Party may be able to access the data of U.S. citizens. Nothing gets American’s blood pumped quite like lawmakers painting the Chinese as poised to steal your data, even if they aren’t completely wrong on that point.

During the Trump administration there was even talk about “forcing” ByteDance to sell their U.S. subsidiary known as TikTok, but the company floated a new plan to try to reassure the national security concerns with their “Project Texas” initiative (named I imagine in homage to The Alamo, but I digress). This plan was intended to ensure that the data of U.S. citizens remains in the country via a partnership with enterprise tech giant Oracle who would store all of TikTok’s U.S. based user’s data in their own datacenter located in, you guessed it, Texas.

This plan went nowhere, as did the plan to force ByteDance to sell TikTok. So all of this has emboldened Montana to take matters into their own hands and try to ban the app in their state, but they failed.

TikTok has rapidly increased its revenue generation in the past few years, generating $9.4 billion in 2022. I’m guessing this might have a little something to do with how they are funding their lobbying efforts to prevent their app from being banned.

So for now teenagers all across Montana can doom scroll TikTok until their heart’s are content.

Federal judge blocks Montana’s TikTok ban, which would have been the first of its kind

Entertainment

I don’t know if it was when Lacey Chabert started in Mean Girls, or when she posed for Maxim magazine, but somewhere along the way I fell in love with her (as an actress, I’m a happily married man). I’ve been a fan of Lacey ever since she appeared in my favorite show as a teenager, Party of Five. I’ve probably seen all her movies, which brings me to her new unscripted TV program called Celebrations with Lacey Chabert on the Hallmark channel.

The show describes how Lacey Chabert “surprises kids, families and adults who are making a positive impact in their communities by throwing them the celebration of a lifetime. Chabert will also executive produce the 10-episode series, which will debut late next year on Hallmark Media’s subscription streaming service. Chabert will work with party planners, family members and volunteers to create one-of-a-kind events in three days.”

I will definitely be tuning in for that.

Lacey Chabert To Star In New Unscripted Program For Hallmark Media

Real Estate

When he’s not getting fired by the board of OpenAI, joining their biggest investor’s company, then getting rehired by the new board, Sam Altman splurges on some pretty sweet real estate. His latest purchase was a $43 million dollar super-private Hawaiian estate mansion 12-bedrooms that he purchased through an LLC controlled by his family office in 2019.

It’s located in a pretty prime location, right next to the rebuilt royal temple home of Hawaii’s King Kamehameha I, who was the first ruler of the Kingdom of Hawaii and lived there until his death in 1819.

Sam Altman went on $85M real estate shopping spree, including ultra-private Hawaii estate

Sports

Super shoes sound like something out of a ‘90’s SyFy movie, but for elite runners that are shaving minutes off their BRs and helping athletes to break records.

These new carbon-plated “super shoes” are changing the running world, and they don’t come cheap. Some cost as much as $500 a pair. Nearly all elite marathon runners are wearing these shoes that are made by both Adidas and Nike.

Welcome to the new shoe wars! (that should be the name of a TV show)

Super shoes have ‘blown distance running into a new stratosphere.’ Are they benefitting the sport?

So much news, so little time. Until tomorrow we’re signing out.

— Chris