Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

Here’s the second part of Elon Musk’s ‘master plan’ for Tesla | Recode Daily: July 21, 2016

Self-driving, all-electric everything.

Asa Mathat

.Last night, Elon Musk unveiled the second part of his "Master Plan," 10 years after introducing his first one. The details: Teslas will use solar-powered roofs (hence the SolarCity deal) to integrate with batteries, and the company will eventually make electric cars and buses. Additionally, the whole fleet will be self-driving, and Tesla owners will be able to rent out their cars for money when they aren't using them.
[Johana Bhuiyan | Recode]

.Last night, Ted Cruz refused to endorse Donald Trump onstage at the convention, and he got booed severely for it. Before that, conservative pundit Laura Ingraham gave what looked like a "sieg heil" salute to an image of Donald Trump. Tonight, Peter Thiel will get onstage to make the argument for Trump, much to the horror of Silicon Valley .
[Andrew Desiderio | The Daily Beast]

.On the new Recode Media podcast with Peter Kafka, media entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk talks about why he "cannot wait" for the startup bloodbath that he sees around the corner. What's more, he says that investors (including him) are the ones who deserve the blame.
[Eric Johnson | Recode]

.As part of Airbnb's efforts to get a handle on the pervasive discrimination that happens on its service, the company has added former Obama administration Attorney General Eric Holder to an outside team contracted to help write its new anti-discrimination policy.
[Noah Kulwin | Recode]

.Didi Chuxing and Uber are burning crazy amounts of cash to compete against one another in China, and some investors in both companies are getting tired of it. A number of institutional investors in both companies are pushing the ride-hailing giants to sign a truce with one another in the country.
[Alex Barinka, Eric Newcomer and Lulu Yilun Chen | Bloomberg]

Social
By Noah Kulwin
A friendly reminder.
Messaging
By Kurt Wagner
Messenger is the third Facebook app to hit that benchmark.
Culture
By Noah Kulwin
Jeff Bezos will probably live long, and boy, has he prospered.
Social
By Kurt Wagner and Noah Kulwin
Bitmoji for the win.
Apple
By Walt Mossberg
Pokémon Go may be a sensation, but the novelty of the App Store is over.
Third Eye Blind, that deeply corny Bay Area band from the 1990s, did a funny thing this week. They trolled Republican National Convention attendees by playing only new material and shouting on behalf of LGBT rights. "How's it Gonna Be" is a legitimately excellent song of theirs. They've earned our respect this week.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

See More:

More in Technology

Podcasts
Are humanoid robots all hype?Are humanoid robots all hype?
Podcast
Podcasts

AI is making them better — but they’re not going to be doing your chores anytime soon.

By Avishay Artsy and Sean Rameswaram
Future Perfect
The old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemicThe old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemic
Future Perfect

Glycol vapors, explained.

By Shayna Korol
Future Perfect
Elon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wantsElon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wants
Future Perfect

It’s not about who wins. It’s about the dirty laundry you air along the way.

By Sara Herschander
Life
Why banning kids from AI isn’t the answerWhy banning kids from AI isn’t the answer
Life

What kids really need in the age of artificial intelligence.

By Anna North
Culture
Anthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque messAnthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque mess
Culture

“Your AI monster ate all our work. Now you’re trying to pay us off with this piece of garbage that doesn’t work.”

By Constance Grady
Future Perfect
Some deaf children are hearing again because of a new gene therapySome deaf children are hearing again because of a new gene therapy
Future Perfect

A medical field that almost died is quietly fixing one disease at a time.

By Bryan Walsh