Ukraine security agency: Starlink puts Ukrainian soldiers at ‘increased risk’
A Ukraine security agency says Starlink, which has helped Ukraine keep its battlefield communications live, puts Ukrainian soldiers at “increased risk” from cyber-spies who belong to a Russian-led espionage group in occupied Crimea. The group has been known to Western security agencies for almost a decade. After a Russia sympathizer was jailed for plotting to disrupt Western arms supplies by blowing up transport infrastructure, Ukraine’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-UA) urged soldiers to install advanced anti-hacker software, saying:
Computers located outside the [computer security] protection perimeter, in particular those that use Starlink terminals to access the Internet, are at increased risk.
The CERT-UA warning comes as the agency shed fresh light on the actions of an espionage-focused hacker gang known in the West as Gamaredon, whose members were described by CERT-UA as “former ‘officers’ of the State Security Service of Ukraine” who “betrayed their military oath and began to serve the FSB [spy agency] of Russia.” (The SSSU says Gamaredon is led by five Russian intelligence agency officers.) Immediately before Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Gamaredon “tried to compromise a Western government entity in Ukraine” according to US cyber security company Palo Alto Networks.
Musk announces formation of xAI
Musk announces the formation of a company called xAI. The startup is geared toward artificial intelligence and employs several engineers who have worked for companies like Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI. Along with the amount of funding it has, xAI’s specific objectives are unclear, as is exactly what it will focus on regarding AI. The company’s website says its goal “is to understand the true nature of the universe,” but adds that more information will be forthcoming “over the next couple of weeks and months.” Musk:
Announcing formation of @xAI to understand reality
Announcing formation of @xAI to understand reality
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 12, 2023
SpaceX breaks reusable rocket launch record
SpaceX breaks its own record, after successfully completing a 16th mission with a reusable rocket. The company launches 22 Starlink satellites aboard the Falcon 9 rocket from the Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida. It is the 16th launch and landing for the B1058 Falcon 9 rocket booster. SpaceX says it hopes the booster can be used a further four times before finally being scrapped. There are now more than 4,000 active Starlink satellites in orbit around Earth, delivering high-speed internet to users. After the satellites are deployed, Musk writes on Twitter:
Looks like we can increase Raptor thrust by ~20 per cent to reach 9,000 tons (20 million lbs) of force at sea level… And deliver over 200 tons of payload to a useful orbit with full and rapid reusability. Fifty rockets flying every three days on average enables over a megaton of payload to orbit per year – enough to build a self-sustaining city on Mars.
Musk proposes ‘dick measuring contest’ with Zuckerberg
After calling him a “cuck” on Twitter, Musk proposes a “dick measuring contest” with Zuckerberg, adding a ruler emoji to his tweet.
I propose a literal dick measuring contest.
I propose a literal dick measuring contest 📏
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 10, 2023
Musk: ‘Zuck is a cuck’
Replying to screenshots of Zuckerberg laughing at burger chain Wendy’s telling him to go into space to ‘really make Musk mad’, Musk replies:
Zuck is a cuck.
In US slang, a ‘cuck’ is a weak or servile man, that is often used as a contemptuous term for a man with progressive political views. It has its roots in cuckold, a term for a man who watches his wife having sex with another man.
Zuck is a cuck
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 9, 2023
Twitter threatens legal action over Threads
Twitter threatens to take legal action over Threads, with an attorney from Twitter describing it as a “copycat” and claiming that it is developed by former Twitter employees using the company’s trade secrets. The attorney writes:
Twitter has serious concerns that Meta Platforms has engaged in systemic, willful, and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property. The company plans to strictly enforce its intellectual property rights.
Meta declines to comment on the letter, but director Andy Stone responds on Threads:
No one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee — that’s just not a thing.
Zuckerberg: Thirty million users join Threads
Zuckerberg says thirty million users have signed up for Meta’s newly launched Threads app on its first day, The app allows users to post up to 500 characters, and has many features similar to Twitter. When asked on Threads whether the app will be “bigger than Twitter”, Zuckerberg said:
It’ll take some time, but I think there should be a public conversations app with 1 billion+ people on it. Twitter has had the opportunity to do this but hasn’t nailed it. Hopefully we will.
Musk: Tesla could achieve ‘full self-driving’ this year
Musk says Tesla could realize “full self-driving” vehicles “later this year.” During the opening ceremony of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, the entrepreneur says via video link that although he has been wrong in previous predictions about autonomous driving, he feels like Tesla is closer to it than ever.
In terms of where Tesla is at this stage, I think we are very close to achieving full self-driving without human supervision. This is only speculation, but I think we’ll achieve full self-driving, maybe what you would call four or five, I think later this year. I feel like we’re closer to it than we ever have been.
No one is further along in General autonomy than Tesla
"Tesla will achieve full self driving later this year." Elon Musk
— Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) July 7, 2023
Yaccarino: Twitter ‘often imitated’ but never duplicated
After the release of Threads, Yaccarino tweets that the Twitter community is “often imitated,” but never duplicated. Many Twitter users have taken to the platform to point out similarities between Threads and Twitter, with Zuckerberg himself even taking several shots at Twitter.
YOU built the Twitter community. And that’s irreplaceable…This is your public square. We’re often imitated — but the Twitter community can never be duplicated.
On Twitter, everyone's voice matters.
Whether you’re here to watch history unfold, discover REAL-TIME information all over the world, share your opinions, or learn about others — on Twitter YOU can be real.
YOU built the Twitter community. 🙏👏 And that's irreplaceable. This…
— Linda Yaccarino (@lindayacc) July 6, 2023
Twitter: Rate limits are to eleminate bots
Twitter says recent rate limits on Twitter are implemented to detect and eleminate bots and only a small percentage of users are affected:
To ensure the authenticity of our user base we must take extreme measures to remove spam and bots from our platform. Any advance notice on these actions would have allowed bad actors to alter their behavior to evade detection.
The company says these actions intend to prevent data scraping from users and state that the restrictions are temporary:
Currently, the restrictions affect a small percentage of people using the platform, and we will provide an update when the work is complete. As it relates to our customers, effects on advertising have been minimal.
Threads appears on app stores for pre-order
Threads becomes available for pre-order on iPhone and Android, in advance of its expected launch on Thursday, July 6. Screenshots on the Apple App Store show that Threads looks much like Twitter: users can use their Instagram username to post text with or without images. Meta:
Threads is where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow. Whatever it is you’re interested in, you can follow and connect directly with your favorite creators and others who love the same things — or build a loyal following of your own to share your ideas, opinions and creativity with the world.
Musk, Zuckerberg invited to fight at the Colosseum
Italy’s minister of culture reaches out to Zuckerberg and Musk to offer them to have their fight at the Colosseum. Musk tweets:
Some chance fight happens in Colosseum. Need to work on my endurance
and posts a clip from the movie “The Life of Brian”. It is not clear where in the Colosseum the fight could actually take place. While it could once hold tens of thousands of people, it can no longer host more than a few hundred people inside special temporary seating, and it has hosted few large events in recent times.
Need to work on my endurancehttps://t.co/jjh7uxfwC6
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 30, 2023
Musk’s mother disapproves of Zuckerberg cage fight
Maye Musk disapproves her son’s proposed cage fight with Zuckerberg and asks Musk’s followers to stop encouraging this match. On a tweet showcasing Musk training for the fight, she replied:
Sorry, I can’t click a like on this
Sorry, I can’t click a like on this.🫣🧐 https://t.co/iYzs9ub2Yb
— Maye Musk (@mayemusk) June 28, 2023
Musk’s father: ‘crazy fight’ is a ‘no-win situation’ for Musk
Musk’s father Errol calls the cage match with Mark Zuckerberg a “crazy fight” and a “no-win situation” for his son. He says the Musk family is worried about it, and thinks Musk has gotten himself into this situation as a result of “high school behavior.” Asked whether Musk can “handle himself,” Errol says his son earned a purple belt in Japanese Karate Association, but “does not know how to go for the kill.”
The thing is if this crazy fight goes ahead, if Elon beats this guy, Elon will be called a bully, being so much heavier and taller, while if he loses the humiliation would be total. It’s a no-win situation for Elon. Wins, he’s a bully. Loses, he’s a loser.
White denies Musk-Zuckerberg fight is a ‘gimmick’
Dana White denies that the Musk-Zuckerberg fight is a “gimmick.” In a video on Twitter, White can be seen wearing a UFC-branded t-shirt with the words ‘ZUCKERBERG -VS- MUSK’ on it. In the video’s comments section, some people suggest that the fight is a publicity stunt, to which White says:
This isn’t a gimmick fight. Gimmick is MMA guys going to Boxing and getting beat. We have seen it already and know how it ends. This is a fight between 2 of the most powerful / richest guys in the world. Who will win? Who has seen this before? NOBODY. It’s also a crossover fight that literally EVERY EVERYONE will watch.
Keep watching MMA vs. Boxer in boxing. Apparently u love those fights even though u KNOW EXACTLY who’s gonna win. All good.
— danawhite (@danawhite) June 25, 2023
White: Musk-Zuckerberg ‘cage match’ PPV would cost $100, bring in over $1 billion
White says he spoke with both billionaires about their cage match challenge:
Mark Zuckerberg hit me up first and said ‘is he serious?’
The Tesla CEO told him:
Yeah, I’m dead serious.
White says he is in the early stages of planning the fight, but said the $100 pay=per-view cost would bring three times more revenue than Conor McGregor-Floyd Mayweather in 2017, which brought in more than $600 million (Mayweather took home $275 million, McGregor 85 million .
This would be the biggest fight ever in the history of the world, bigger than anything that’s ever been done. It would break all pay-per-view records. I think it triples [Mayweather-McGregor]. There’s no limit on what this thing can make. I don’t think either one of them needs the money. These guys would raise hundreds of millions of dollars for charity. If these guys are serious, I make fights that people want to see. That’s what I do for a living.
Biographer: Musk lacks empathy in ‘demon mode’
Musk biographer Walter Isaacson says Musk can enter into “demon mode” to become highly productive. After shadowing the entrepreneur for two years at home and in the workplace, Isaacson says Musk has a “maniacal sense of urgency” and a “dark streak” that can intimidate his employees. He thinks Musk’s criticism of employees is “problematic” about 20% of the time. Isaacson says going into “demon mode” causes Musk to be “dark” and act “with a real lack of empathy,” and says Musk told him that prioritizing empathy to a single person over a larger goal at hand is “egotism.”
He’d go dark and I’d know that he was just going to rip that person apart.
Peterson asks Musk if he’ll fight Zuckerberg naked
While reposting an article about the Musk-Zuckerberg cage match, Jordan Peterson asks Musk on Twitter whether they will fight naked or clothed. Peterson has been tweeting about the match between Musk and Zuckerberg in recent days and now that he is asking this, he also suggests that there should “be oil involved.” The article headline mentions Musk challenging Zuckerberg to the match, to which Peterson replies:
Naked or clothed? @elonmusk
And there should definitely be oil involved 🙂
And there should definitely be oil involved 🙂
— Dr Jordan B Peterson (@jordanbpeterson) June 22, 2023
Andrew Tate to Musk: ‘I will train you’
Former professional kickboxer and light-heavyweight champion Andrew Tate offers to train Musk for his cage fight against Mark Zuckerberg, whom Tate calls “the enemy clans leader.”
I will train you @elonmusk. You will not lose.
Tate was banned from Meta’s platforms in 2022 and is currently on house arrest after being criminally charged with rape and human trafficking in Eastern Europe. Musk has not yet responded.
Meta banned me everywhere for telling the truth about vaccines.
But now we can restore honour with a strike at the enemy clans leader.
I will train you @elonmusk.
You will not lose.
— Andrew Tate (@Cobratate) June 22, 2023
Musk: Twitter ‘didn’t have a choice’ but to obey Indian government
In response to Dorsey’s claim that the Indian government asked him to block Twitter accounts covering the 2020-21 farmers’ protests, Musk says Twitter had no choice but to obey. The platform has to follow the laws formulated by governments, he says, or else they will shut it down. But, Musk adds that even though Twitter has to comply with regulations imposed by different governments, it will strive to ensure that users continue to have access to a platform with “the freest speech” possible.
Twitter didn’t have a choice, but to obey local government laws. We cannot apply America to Earth. There are different rules and regulations for different forms of governments, and we will do our best to provide the freest speech that is possible under the law.