Slate Motors: The $20,000 Modular EV Truck for DIY Enthusiasts

Google's Financial Performance and YouTube's Role

• 📈 Alphabet reported a 46% net income increase, partly due to an $8 billion investment in SpaceX, with overall revenue up 12% year-over-year.
• 📺 YouTube is highlighted as a resilient and growing business unit, with overall revenue up 10.3%, outpacing advertising growth, and YouTube Music and Premium topping 125 million subscribers.
• 💡 Subscriptions are becoming a crucial alternative revenue source for Google, mitigating concerns about potential declines in advertising revenue.
• 🤖 Google AI Overviews are now used by 1.5 billion users per month, contributing to a 9.8% rise in search revenue.

Slate Motors: A New Approach to Affordable EVs

• 🚚 Slate Motors has announced a modular EV pickup truck, the Slate, with a base price potentially under $20,000 after federal tax credits.
• 🛠️ The vehicle is designed for DIY customization, coming with essential components and offering numerous aftermarket options for personalization.
• 🔋 The base model features a 52.7 kWh battery offering around 150 miles of range, with an optional 84.3 kWh battery for up to 240 miles.
• 🚗 The Slate is rear-wheel drive only and includes a Tesla NACS port for charging, with a maximum charging speed of 120 kW.
• 🌐 The truck's composite body is dent-resistant, and customization options include wraps for color, as it is not painted from the factory.

Intel's Challenges and Apple's Production Shifts

• 📉 Intel reported flat revenue in its first earnings call under CEO Pat Gelsinger, with expectations for lower revenue next quarter and planned workforce reductions.
• 🤝 CEO Pat Gelsinger is exploring potential partnerships with TSMC.
• 🇮🇳 Apple reportedly plans to shift all iPhone production for the US market to India by 2026 to navigate potential tariffs and expand its manufacturing base there.

AI Advancements and Tech Briefs

• 🚀 Baidu upgraded its Ernie language model to 4.5 Turbo, making it 80% cheaper, while OpenAI launched a lightweight version of its Deepseek tool for all ChatGPT users.
• 🎧 Netflix will offer subtitle options showing only spoken dialogue, excluding audio cues, for new English originals.
• 🚫 Facebook is reducing the reach of spammy content and making it ineligible for monetization.
• 🔒 Microsoft has mitigated an issue where its machine learning models mistakenly flagged Adobe emails as spam.
• 🌌 Toshiba Europe successfully transmitted messages using quantum key distribution cryptography over a commercial network for the first time, a significant advancement for future communication security.
• 💻 Microsoft has released its optional, encrypted Windows Recall feature to all Copilot Plus PC users.