Technology

Tesla will make electric vehicle batteries with cobalt-free cathodes, it announced during its Battery Day event today. The announcement came as part of the company’s move to make batteries in-house instead of purchasing them. Musk didn’t give a timeline for going to a zero-cobalt battery. Cobalt is the most expensive material used in batteries, so eliminating it from the mix was expected help to electric vehicles become as affordable as those that run on gas. Tesla now says it can make a $25,000 electric vehicle — $10,000 less than its cheapest model — because of the improvements it’s made to its batteries, including axing cobalt. “It’s absolutely critical that we make cars that people can people can actually afford,” Musk said today. “Affordability is key to how we scale.” The “blood diam...

At Tesla’s Battery Day event, CEO Elon Musk made some big announcements: the company’s moves toward eliminating cobalt in its batteries, a new Plaid powertrain for the Model S that could get to speeds of 200 mph, and a new cathode plant to streamline its battery production. And, with the new battery technology, Musk has said Tesla will make a $25,000 car. The socially-distanced outdoor event had Musk and other presenters addressing Tesla shareholders in parked cars, who honked their horns to indicate their approval of the speakers’ remarks— almost like a drive-in movie/shareholders meeting. Here are the main takeaways from Tesla’s 2020 battery day: Tesla plans to manufacture its own “tabless” batteries, which will improve its vehicles’ range and power. The new batteries will be produced in...

If you are planning to design your very own Xbox controller ahead of the Xbox Series X and S launch on November 10th, you might want to act fast. Microsoft is temporarily shutting down its Xbox Design Lab on October 14th. Announced back in 2016, Xbox Design Lab brings a lot of flexibility and personal flair to the Xbox One controller. For $80, you have access to over 40 different color options for the various parts of the controller, adding up to over a million different combinations in total. A couple years ago, I designed one for a close friend and was amazed how much customization I could do; it didn’t feel like I was just creating another color variant, but a truly unique personalized product. My friend loved it, telling me they thought I’d bought a rare controller online. But starting...

Tesla plans to build in a new cathode plant for its batteries in North America, to help reduce supply chain costs and simplify cathode production, CEO Elon Musk said today at the company’s battery event. The current process is not efficient, Musk said, and it’s making improvements to the process that will make cathodes 76 percent cheaper, and produce zero wastewater. The new process will eliminate many of the intermediate steps involved in cathode production, and it plans to diversify the cathodes it uses, because of low nickel supply. Musk didn’t get into specifics of where and when the new plant would be built, but he said at the start of his presentation that he wanted a Gigafactory on every continent. The company said in July it was building its next US factory in Austin, Texas, and Mu...

Tesla announced that it will dramatically reduce the cost of its battery cells and packs — which means the company’s new goal is a $25,000 electric car. The company’s CEO Elon Musk said its new “tabless” battery cells, as well as by changing the materials inside the cell, will allow Tesla to “halve” the price per kilowatt-hour, which will make electric cars roughly the same price as combustion engine ones. The price per kilowatt-hour (kWh) is the unit of energy most commonly used to measure the capacity of the battery packs in modern electric vehicles. Those prices have been falling dramatically over the last decade, from $1,100/kWh in 2010 to $156/kWh in 2019, a drop of 87 percent. Experts predict that the price will hit $100/kWh by 2023, but Musk said Tesla will kick off a three-year pro...

Tesla’s “Battery Day” event, held on September 22nd, 2020, was a showcase for Elon Musk to show off his company’s latest battery improvements. Tesla unveiled plans to develop a “million mile” battery that could last an electric car’s entire lifetime on the road. It also outlined plans to dramatically reduce the cost of its battery cells and packs to $100 per kilowatt-hour, at which point experts believe electric cars will become comparable in price to combustion engine vehicles. Tesla is already the industry leader when it comes to squeezing range out of lithium-ion batteries in electric cars, but its ability to continue to innovate on its battery technology helps explain why the company’s stock prices have soared in recent months. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Da...

Today, Microsoft launched pre-orders for its upcoming next generation console, the Xbox One X. Sorry, I meant the Xbox Series X. Can you blame me? There’s only one word of difference between the two names, and it’s the one in the middle. There are also three X’s. I might not be the only one who gets them confused, though. (Microsoft itself has, but I digress.) Despite today being pre-order day for the Series X (reminder: the new one), the One X (the old one) had a banner day on Amazon as well, at one point up 747 percent on Amazon’s “Movers & Shakers” sales charts. Note that Amazon’s charts only cover the past hour: it wasn’t #4 all day. It’s not hard to imagine how people could end up buying the wrong console. If you search “xbox series x” on Amazon, the top two search results are for...

Studio Ghibli has released a treasure trove of 400 free-to-use images from eight of its classic movies. The images, which are available on the studio’s website, come from From Up On Poppy Hill, Ponyo, Spirited Away, The Tale of The Princess Kaguya, The Secret World of Arrietty, Tales From Earthsea, When Marnie Was There, and The Wind Rises. Studio Ghibli says it will release images from all of its films over time. “From this month, we will provide scene photos of all Studio Ghibli works in sequence,” reads a Google-translated message at the top of the Studio Ghibli website. “This month, we will provide 8 works, mainly new works, for a total of 400 pieces. Feel free to use it within the bounds of common sense.” Ghibli movies are renowned for their incredible art, so this collection is a rea...

An internal Amazon email seen by The Verge confirms that its Prime Day shopping event will take place October 13th and 14th, and that the company will make an official announcement September 27th. In a separate internal email, Amazon warehouse workers were told no new vacation requests would be accepted between October 13th and October 20th, which suggests that the company needs all hands on deck for Prime Day. An Amazon spokesperson said in an email to The Verge that the company has not announced any dates for Prime Day. “Stay tuned for more details on Prime Day,” the spokesperson said, adding that customers can ask Alexa devices to keep them updated about Prime Day. The e-commerce giant is keeping a tight lid on any leaks about this year’s Prime Day, which was postponed from July due to ...

Steam has added a big update to its experimental news hub feature: the ability to actually browse gaming news from a list of publications curated by Steam’s Curator system. The first collection of sources includes “top sites serving players across seven languages,” the company wrote in a blog post. And the whole thing is free. Obviously, the list of publications and sources is customizable, and alongside articles and blurbs players will be able to view videos and other media directly in Steam’s hub. The idea is that the hub should be totally personalized, so you’ll have control over what sources you see (while also, of course, being able to discover new outlets you might enjoy). It’s an interesting move from Steam: the platform is already kind of an everything store for gaming, and a robus...

Google is shutting down paid Chrome extensions offered on the Chrome Web Store, the company announced today. That means that developers who are trying to monetize their extensions will have to do so with other payment-handling systems. As of Monday, developers can no longer make new paid extensions, according to Google — though that’s cementing a policy that has already been in place since March. And that policy follows a temporary suspension of publishing paid extensions in January after Google noticed an uptick in fraudulent transactions that “aim[ed] to exploit users.” Google will gradually phase out other functionality over the coming months, and on February 1st, Google says that existing extensions can no longer charge customers using the Chrome Web Store’s payments system. Here’s the...