10 things in tech you need to know today
Happy Monday, readers. On the docket today, we've got the latest on the Elon Musk Twitter poll everyone's talking about and a sneak peek at Volkswagen's iconic bus - reimagined as an EV.
Without further ado…
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1. The verdict is in: Twitter users want Elon Musk to sell 10% of his Tesla stock. Musk, Tesla's CEO, took to Twitter on Saturday to ask followers if he should sell off some of his stock. The answer was a resounding yes.
- "I will abide by the results of this poll, whichever way it goes," Musk tweeted after launching the poll. More than 3.5 million people voted, with 57.9% voting yes.
- Sen. Ron Wyden, the author of the billionaires' income tax proposal, responded to the poll, saying: "Whether or not the world's wealthiest man pays any taxes at all shouldn't depend on the results of a Twitter poll." Read more of his comments here.
- It remains to be seen if Musk will actually part with his stock. If he does, it'd amount to around $21 billion. Here's everything we know about the poll - and its results - so far.
In other news:
2. Facebook's researchers found the app is bad for 360 million of its users. A report by The Wall Street Journal found that the site's own team of researchers said the app hurts sleep, work relationships, or parenting for about 12.5% of users. How one in eight users are affected by Facebook.
3. Amazon might put prescription drugs and lottery tickets in its cashierless grocery stores. According to internal documents, Amazon could use medicine and lotto tickets to boost traffic and revenue. The company is considering self-service pick-up lockers or a kiosk for automatically dispensing medications. Read more in our exclusive report.
4. We have a recap of week nine of the Elizabeth Holmes trial. A former lab co-director said she was uncomfortable with the "lack of clarity" about the lab, and the jury heard testimony about investments from Henry Kissinger, the DeVos family, and Walmart's heirs. Here's what else you may have missed.
5. An engineer who interviewed with Google three times explains how to land a job. After interviewing with - and being rejected by - Google three times, Rick Viscomi learned from his mistakes and ultimately nabbed a job at YouTube. From practicing interviews to framing his passions as strengths, he explains how he finally got the job.
6. Companies are using robots to write thank-you notes to their employees. Described as "gratitude robots," the bots are created by Handwrytten, a company based in Phoenix - and can write notes and holiday cards with custom messages. See how gratitude robots work.
7. Inside Zillow's two weeks from hell. Leadership at the real-estate giant had positioned house-flipping as the future of Zillow - but it flopped. Within a span of weeks, Zillow went from betting big on home-flipping to cutting 2,000 people and losing $10 billion in value. We have an inside look at what happened.
8. What comes after the Switch? Nintendo is working to figure that out. Now that the Switch has been out for five years, Japanese gaming giant Nintendo is working on a console that will succeed it. What we know about the "20xx next-gen device."
9. Volkswagen is reviving its iconic bus as an electric vehicle. The bus, an icon of the 1960s and 1970s, is coming back as an electric model - and VW just offered a peek at what the production version will look like. Check out the electric VW bus.
10. Uber might dispatch New York's yellow cabs from its app. Thanks to a driver shortage, NYC Uber app users could potentially see yellow cabs as another option alongside "UberX." Here's a look at what we know so far.
The week ahead:
- PayPal, Virgin Galactic, Roblox, and others are reporting their Q3 earnings today. Keep up with earnings here.
- The COP26 climate conference continues through Nov. 12.
- Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen is appearing before the European Parliament today.
Curated by Jordan Parker Erb in New York. (Feedback or tips? Email jerb@insider.com or tweet @jordanparkererb.) Edited by Michael Cogley in London.