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On Wednesday, October 22, Tesla released its third-quarter earnings with a side of begging from CEO Elon Musk. The report and subsequent investors’ call was pretty standard. Tesla announced $28.1 billion in revenue, a 12% increase year-over-year (YOY) from $25.2 billion. A majority of Teslas revenue came, unsurprisingly, from automotive sales, which grew 6% YOY to $21.2 billion. Quarter three was the last push for U.S. customers to buy Tesla vehicles before the federal EV tax credit expired. However, it wasnt enough. Tesla failed to meet Wall Streets predicted $26.4 billion in total revenue, according to consensus estimates cited by CNBC. Its reported earnings per share also failed to make the mark, reaching 50 cents adjusted instead of the estimated 54 cents. Teslas net income fell 37% YOY to $1.37 billion and its operating income dropped 40% to $1.6 billion. The company blamed the latter on greater operating expensesdue to AI and other R&D projectsalong with increased deliveries and each vehicle costing more overall, thanks to factors like higher tariffs. Tesla shares (Nasdaq:TSLA) were down roughly 4% in premarket trading on Thursday. The stock price is up 15.74% year to date, slightly underperforming the Nasdaq Composite’s growth of 17.94%. Musk wants more control as he focuses on robots AI was one of the main topics of conversation in Teslas earnings call, while Musk also focused on robotaxis and his plan for Optimus humanoid robots. The call ended with a plea from Musk and CFO Vaibhav Taneja. On November 6, investors will vote on a $1 trillion compensation package for Muskwhich would be contingent on the company hitting certain milestones. Notably, the extra income would be in the form of Tesla shares, providing Musk with greater control over the company. “[There] needs to be enough voting control to give a strong influence, but not so much that I can’t be fired if I go insane,” Musk said. He then took aim at proxy firms Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis, both of which are encouraging investors to vote against the new package. I just don’t feel comfortable building a robot army here and then being ousted because of some recommendations from ISS and Glass Lewis, who have no freaking clue, Musk stated. I mean, those guys are corporate terrorists.
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In the midst of a federal government shutdown, the U.S. government’s gross national debt surpassed $38 trillion Wednesday, a record number that highlights the accelerating accumulation of debt on America’s balance sheet.It’s also the fastest accumulation of a trillion dollars in debt outside of the COVID-19 pandemic the U.S. hit $37 trillion in gross national debt in August this year.The $38 trillion update is found in the latest Treasury Department report, which logs the nation’s daily finances.Kent Smetters of the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Wharton Budget Model, who served in President George W. Bush’s Treasury Department, told The Associated Press that a growing debt load over time leads ultimately to higher inflation, eroding Americans’ purchasing power.The Government Accountability Office outlines some of the impacts of rising government debt on Americans including higher borrowing costs for things like mortgages and cars, lower wages from businesses having less money available to invest, and more expensive goods and services.“I think a lot of people want to know that their kids and grandkids are going to be in good, decent shape in the future that they will be able to afford a house,” Smetters said. “That additional inflation compounds” and erodes consumers’ purchasing power, he said, making it less possible for future generations to achieve home ownership goals.The Trump administration says its policies are helping to slow government spending and will shrink the nation’s massive deficit. A new analysis by Treasury Department officials states that from April to September, the cumulative deficit totaled $468 billion. In a post on X Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that’s the lowest reading since 2019.“During his first eight months in office, President Trump has reduced the deficit by $350 billion compared to the same period in 2024 by cutting spending and boosting revenue,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement, adding that the administration would pursue robust economic growth, lower inflation, tariff revenue, lower borrowing costs and cuts to waste, fraud and abuse.The Joint Economic Committee estimates that the total national debt has grown by $69,713.82 per second for the past year.Michael Peterson, chair and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, said in a statement that “reaching $38 trillion in debt during a government shutdown is the latest troubling sign that lawmakers are not meeting their basic fiscal duties.”“Along with increasing debt, you get higher interest costs, which are now the fastest growing part of the budget,” Peterson added. “We spent $4 trillion on interest over the last decade, but will spend $14 trillion in the next ten years. Interest costs crowd out important public and private investments in our future, harming the economy for every American.”The U.S. hit $34 trillion in debt in January 2024, $35 trillion in July 2024 and $36 trillion in November 2024. Fatima Hussein, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
It looks like Im walking on Nerf darts. Twenty-two foam nubs protrude from the bottom of this shoe. When I slide it on, it almost feels like Im walking on bubble tapeor like, with every step, an octopus tentacle is suctioning to my foot. Even through a thick cotton sock and all that foam, I can feel textures underfoot. I sense the individual blades of grass on a soccer pitch, and dragging my sole along a textured running track feels a bit akin to licking the roof of my mouth. Am I calmer? Perhaps. Im certainly more mindful. But I also wonder if Id notice this sensation in an hour. This is Nike Mindthe companys first foray into apparel that puts your brain before your body, hacking your physiology to change your state of mind through applied neuroscience. Available January 2026 in two flavors (a slide called Mind 01 and a sneaker called Mind 02), the new line was designed to help amplify that dialogue between your brain and your feet, says Matthew Nurse, chief science officer at Nike. [Photo: Nike] But in fact, the possibilities behind Mind are much larger. For 45 years, Nike has been focused on tools to enhance physical performance. Now its considering how the things we wear can measurably change the way we feel. [Image: Nike] Using apparel to change how we think Nurse calls the human body one big sensory antenna. Everything around us is stimuli that ultimately affects our brain, and designers are now taking a closer look at how we can apply the past 20 years of neuroscience (in a field often dubbed neuroaesthetics) to their work. Nike is positioning Mind as a sensory intervention in an athletes pregame ritual, a way to calm down in the locker room before a big competition. What the designers have really done is create a sort of automated mindfulness that prompts you to get outside your own head and feel the world around you. [Photo: Nike] Theres a unique, specific utility for athletes, says Nurse. [But] if you just need some Zen on the way to work, if you just need something on the way home, we’re hoping this is going to work for you, too. Seven years ago, the company began building its Mind Science team of neuroscientists that would have the specialization required to bring product to market. First, the Nike team built a prototype: a sock with 40 pressure points pushing right into your foot. Why 40? The team felt that figure represented the ceiling of what your foot could perceive. It was a good proof of concept, but it wasnt really a shoe. So they kept iterating. The effort that went into the nodes themselves is extraordinary. Nike used computer modeling to iterate and simulate different geometries that it then tested IRL with athletes and EEGs. The work sounds almost silly until you poke at one of these nodes with your finger and realize its not just a piston that runs up and down. It actually captures different angles, more like a video game controllers thumbstick. Thats what gives the sensation so much fidelity. When Nike brought that Mind prototype to its manufacturers in Korea, they found their original design would take 41 steps (including gluing each node by hand) to turn into a shoetoo many steps for reasonable mass production. Over time, the team simplified the shoe to 22 nodes, and reconfigured the whole design so it could be produced in just two steps. Seeing the Mind deconstructed reveals all of its industrial design efficiencies. The midsole looks like a chunk of foam honeycomb. Into it slip the nodes, which Nike figured out how to produce in just two molded pieces (it looks a lot like one of those reusable bubble tape fidgets that were so popular with the kids a few years ago). The project also required Nike to reimagine the strobea thin fabric layer in the insole that helps make the shoe feel flexible. The problem, Nike found, was that it also absorbs the sensations of the ground (and one designer pointed out that this is even true for barefoot shoes like Vibram). So the team created a new, elastic version that wouldnt dampen sensation. [Photo: Nike] The shoes have now been tested on 2,000 athletes, doctors, nurses, and physical therapists for more than 100,000 hours on the job and in Nikes own research lab. In many cases, people were connected to EEGs to measure their brain patterns. Nike confirmed that the Mind boosts activity in the somatosensory cortex (which processes touch) and increases in alpha wave frequencies (the same signals in your brain that increase during meditation). When I ask Nurse how much of a boost they see in alpha wavesand if the shoe reaches levels akin to meditationhe says it would still be too much to call the shoes meditation light. When I ask if the effects might wear off over time, as people are more habituated to the footwear, he agrees thats possible, but notes the shoes dont disappear from your senses like a pair of glasses on your face. Because those nodes have been designed to constantly fire as you shift, on and off. What we hear from people is, if you’re standing a while, maybe you stop paying attention for a litle bit, but then [you move and] suddenly you’re aware, says Nurse. We also hear that even while people are sitting, they notice they’re just probing more. . . . You’re almost searching and exploring that feedback, because it’s new and novel. [Photo: Nike] The future of Nike Mind Mind is a fascinating product. I found the slides, which I tried in an imperfect size, to be subtle enough that I almost didnt notice. But the full sneaker felt far more activating, and I would be tempted to try them without a sock. Whats certain is that these are early days for this field, and even Nurse admits that Nikes first Mind products are just a hint of whats possible. Nurse calls Mind 01 and 02 chapter one of the feet. He notes that Nike has other chapters were interested in [beyond] the feet, with a most definite emphasis of whats possible across our skin. As for the experience of calm, its simply one sensation Nike designers are after, knowing that in different parts of your day, the goal is not always to be full Zen. You can imagine where we’re headed, Nurse says. You start thinking about tapping into [all sorts of] sensory systems. . . . Youve got a whole body.
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