10 things in tech you need to know today
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1. Tesla just hit a $1 trillion valuation. The move makes Tesla the second-fastest company to ever reach the milestone valuation, just slightly behind Facebook. How it got there.
- Helping drive Tesla's valuation was news that rental-car company Hertz placed an order for 100,000 of its cars - the largest single purchase of electric vehicles ever. More on Hertz's new fleet of rental Teslas.
- Elon Musk had a big day, too. The Tesla CEO's wealth jumped by $36 billion, the largest single-day gain ever recorded. It makes him $100 billion wealthier than Jeff Bezos.
2. The Facebook Papers dropped. A consortium of 17 US news organizations reviewed Facebook documents leaked by whistleblower Frances Haugen, and released a flurry of reports starting Monday morning - from its fading popularity with teens to failures in addressing hate speech.
- Wall Street was apparently unfazed. Facebook shares rose more than 2% in extended trading Monday after the company reported better-than-expected third-quarter earnings.
3. Lambda School promises a fast path to a lucrative tech career - but leaked documents suggest otherwise. The documents indicate Lambda School's job-placement rates are far lower than advertised - only 30% of 2020 graduates were placed in qualifying jobs, compared to the advertised placement rate of 74%. Read our exclusive report on Lambda School.
4. Blue Origin unveiled plans for an outer space "business park." Calling it "Orbital Reef," the company plans to deploy the space station, which would have room for commerce, research, and space tourism, between 2025 and 2030. What could be included in the galactic business park.
5. The NTSB wants Elon Musk to limit where Tesla's Autopilot can be used. In a fiery letter to Musk, the head of the National Transportation Safety Board urged him to restrict Autopilot use to certain types of highways where it's safest. See the NTSB's other recommendations.
6. A New York Times reporter said hackers used a "zero-click" tool to get inside his phone. The Times' Beirut bureau chief who is writing a book on Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, said hackers were able to breach his phone without any action from him. Here's how certain "zero-click" hacks work.
7. PayPal says it isn't buying Pinterest. In response to reports saying the payments company was buying Pinterest, PayPal announced it isn't eyeing an acquisition at the moment, causing shares in the social-media site to tumble. Get the full rundown here.
8. A worker's email to Jeff Bezos exposed massive payroll issues. The employee wrote that Amazon was underpaying her $90 a month, sparking an internal probe that found the company was shortchanging some employees. More on the email and subsequent investigation.
9. Cisco is changing the structure of its sales teams. Insiders told us Cisco's large portfolio - and salespeople's limited knowledge of other products - confuses customers, so it's reorganizing to have technical specialists sell a broader variety of products. Get the scoop on Cisco's revised sales roles.
10. Unsealed court documents revealed a string of explosive new allegations against Google. Google boasted it had stymied privacy regulation, and struck a deal with Facebook that was "suboptimal" for publishers, the complaint alleges. Here are five of the biggest new claims included in the unredacted suit.
Compiled by Jordan Erb. Tips/comments? Email jerb@insider.com or tweet @JordanParkerErb.
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