News of the Cyber World

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Another EV Epic Fail Thanks to Biden

EV Disaster: Fisker, Once Promoted by Joe Biden, Hits Bankruptcy Snag

Troubled electric vehicle company Fisker’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings have encountered a significant obstacle, as American Lease, the company set to purchase Fisker’s remaining fleet of SUVs, may back out of the deal due to technical issues.

TechCrunch reports that Fisker’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy process has hit a major snag. American Lease, a New York-based leasing company that agreed to purchase Fisker’s remaining fleet of over 3,000 electric Ocean SUVs, has filed an emergency objection to the liquidation plan. The objection stems from Fisker’s revelation that it may be unable to transfer crucial vehicle information to a new server not owned by the bankrupt company.

The purchase agreement between Fisker and American Lease, approved in July, has been a lifeline for the struggling EV startup. American Lease has already paid “tens of millions of dollars” to Fisker, enabling the company to fund its bankruptcy proceedings and settle debts. The funds have also been crucial in preparing Fisker to liquidate approximately $1 billion in assets that were previously under the control of an insolvent Austrian subsidiary.

Breitbart News previously reported on Joe Biden’s cozy relationship with Fisker:

In 2009, Biden promised that $529 million in new Department of Energy loan guarantees to Fisker Automotive to produce electric cars in Delaware would provide “billions of dollars in good, new jobs.” Four years later, Fisker filed for bankruptcy — without producing a single car in the U.S.

As Breitbart News reported at the time, Fisker was granted the loan guarantees to produce a hybrid sports car called the “Karma” for the luxury auto market, with a price of $103,000. High-profile political figures lobbied for the deal. Fisker filed for bankruptcy failed in 2013 and taxpayers lost $139 million on the venture. Republicans noted: “The jobs that were promised never materialized and once again tax payers are on the hook for the administration’s reckless gamble.”

Along with failed solar panel manufacturer Solyndra, Fisker was one of the highest-profile failures of the stimulus, which Biden oversaw, and which he has touted on the campaign trail as proof of his ability to handle America’s economic recovery.

However, last week Fisker informed American Lease that transferring the vehicle information to a new server might not be possible. This week, the startup confirmed that the transfer is indeed unfeasible. American Lease’s lawyers emphasized the significance of this development, stating that the leasing company “cannot overstate the significance of this unwelcome news, conveyed to it only after it has paid [Fisker] tens of millions of dollars under the Purchase Agreement.”

The inability to transfer the vehicle information to a new server poses a significant problem for American Lease, as the company requires this data to operate the SUVs once Fisker is dissolved. In light of this revelation, American Lease is requesting a delay in the bankruptcy court hearing scheduled for Wednesday and is seeking permission to conduct “expedited and targeted discovery” of Fisker and its representatives to determine when the startup became aware of this critical issue.

Rocket Booster Caught by Big Chopticks

Viral Video: In a First, SpaceX ‘Catches’ Megarocket Booster After Test Flight

SpaceX successfully “caught” the first-stage booster of its Starship megarocket Sunday as it returned to the launch pad after a test flight, a world first in the company’s quest for rapid reusability.

The “super heavy booster” had blasted off attached to the Starship rocket minutes earlier, then made a picture-perfect controlled return to the same pad in Texas, where a pair of huge mechanical “chopsticks” reached out from the launch tower to bring the slowly descending booster to a halt, according to a livestream from Elon Musk’s SpaceX company.
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“Folks, this is a day for the engineering history books,” a SpaceX spokesperson said in a voiceover on the company’s livestream, after the booster was safely in the tower’s grasp and company staffers had erupted in cheers.

“The tower has caught the rocket!!” SpaceX founder Musk posted on X.

Liftoff occurred at 7:25 am (1225 GMT) in clear weather. While the booster returned to the launchpad, the upper stage of Starship was due to splash down in the Indian Ocean within the hour.

During its last flight in June, SpaceX achieved its first successful splashdown with Starship, a prototype spaceship that Musk hopes will one day carry humans to Mars.

NASA is also keenly awaiting a modified version of Starship to act as a lander vehicle for crewed flights to the Moon under the Artemis program later this decade.

SpaceX said its engineers have “spent years preparing and months testing for the booster catch attempt, with technicians pouring tens of thousands of hours into building the infrastructure to maximize our chances for success.”

Teams were monitoring to ensure “thousands” of criteria were met both on the vehicle and at the tower before any attempt to return the Super Heavy booster.

Had the conditions not been satisfied, the booster would have been redirected for a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, as in previous tests.

Instead, having been given the green light, the returning booster decelerated from supersonic speeds and the powerful “chopstick arms” embraced it.

Disney's Massive Data Breach

Disney Faces Class Action Suit over Massive Data Breach

The Walt Disney Company is facing a large class action lawsuit over the massive data breach the company suffered in July when more that 1.1TB of its customers’ private data was stolen by hackers.

The suit was filed on October 3 in Los Angeles Superior Court by Scott Margel against Disney and Disney California Adventure, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The paper notes that thousands of Disney and former Disney customers have signed onto the suit, all of whom are charging Disney with responsibility for losing their “highly sensitive personal information.”

The breach occurred after the Russia-based hacktivist group “Nullbulge” found a way to access Disney’s Slack, its internal employee communication and workflow system, which then gave the hacktivist group access to the data. The group reportedly also gained access to Disney’s Cruise Line information which contained the passport numbers, and other personal details of cruise crew members.

Customers also say Disney has not told them about the full extent of the breach and they simply don’t know how much of their personal information was taken.

Other information stolen by the hackers include granular revenue details about Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu, the Wall Street Journal reported in July.

The Hollywood Reporter writes that the “leaked information includes a trove of internal communications from Disney, images, logins, studio information, ad campaigns and other information, almost all appearing to be from the Salesforce-owned communications platform Slack.”

The hacking incident could not have come at a worse time for Disney as the entertainment giant has been undergoing round after round of layoffs and consolidation or elimination departments and branches. Just last month hundreds of corporate employees found their jobs on the chopping block

The company has also experienced stiff rounds of revenue loss. Things are so bad for the company’s theme parks that Disney shares were downgraded on news of loses at its parks couple with its still struggling streaming service.

AI Comedy or Tragicomedy? AI Tells Man Girlfriend is Breaking up with Him

Dystopian Future: Man Learns Girlfriend Is Breaking Up with Him from AI

A software developer in New York City discovered his girlfriend was breaking up with him when his iPhone delivered an AI-generated summary of her texts.

Ars Technica reports that Nick Spreen, a software developer based in New York City, learned that his girlfriend was ending their relationship through an AI-powered text message summary on his iPhone. The early test version of Apple’s upcoming Apple Intelligence feature summed up the content of several breakup texts, coldly stating, “No longer in a relationship; wants belongings from the apartment.”

Spreen shared a screenshot of the AI-generated message to X (formerly Twitter), which quickly went viral. He confirmed the authenticity of the message, noting that it arrived on his birthday. The AI summary feature, set to fully launch with iOS 18.1 in the fall, is currently available as part of the iOS 18 public beta test.

Apple Intelligence works similarly to a simplified version of ChatGPT, analyzing incoming text messages and generating a concise summary of their contents. Spreen’s experience marks the first known instance of an AI-mediated relationship breakup, but it’s unlikely to be the last as AI message summarization becomes more prevalent across various tech platforms.

While some may find the idea of receiving bad news through an AI summary to be impersonal and insensitive, society’s tolerance for technological progress in communication has evolved over time. In the early days of SMS texting, breaking up via text message was considered rude and unusual. However, as texting became more commonplace, attitudes began to shift, with some even endorsing the practice as a legitimate way to end a relationship.

Spreen’s experience with the AI-generated breakup summary elicited mixed feelings. He acknowledged that the AI’s involvement added a level of distance that wasn’t entirely unwelcome, likening it to a professional personal assistant offering support during a difficult situation. However, he also described the experience as “unreal and dystopian.”