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Tesla Motors in Bad Need of Funding

Posted on October 31, 2008 11:26 AM by Rob Williams

Tesla's roadster might be one of the most talked-about cars in the industry, but the company seems to have bitten off more than it can chew. The CEO has admitted that the company is down to having $9 million in the bank, which is nowhere near as much as is required to deliver all of the cars pre-purchased or those with a down-payment.

To date, less than fifty of these sportsy electrics have been delivered to customers, which is far less than the 1,200 that have been ordered. Some customers have paid for their car outright, while others have paid down-payments of at least $5,000. This could be a huge problem if it was unlikely that investors were going to give up on the company, but CEO Elon Musk expects $20 million worth of funding to become available next week.

Things are not looking that great for the Silicon Valley startup, and unless sales begin to further improve or prices begin to go down, customers are going to become much more interested in more modest offerings once they become available, especially once Detroit manages to get their own electrics out the door.

Do the math: If Tesla has $9 million in the bank, and requires another $20 million to get to positive cash flow over the next nine months, then it is burning at least $3 million a month. And that's after it laid off 24 percent of its workforce and announced plans to shutter its Detroit office.

Source: Valleywag


First Fully-Functioning Artificial Heart Valued at $182,000

Posted on October 31, 2008 10:22 AM by Rob Williams

We might be enjoying a day where hearts being ripped out of chests seems like a lot of fun, but the sad reality is that many people die each year due to heart-related cancers, and we desperately need a solution. Saying that "many people die" is a gross understatement though, as the official number is actually above 17 million worldwide... every single year.

French inventors might have a solution, though. They've created the world's first fully functional heart, which uses aerospace technology to a great degree. As you'd expect, the cost for one of these is not low, at $192,000, but if it's a matter of life or death, money might not be your main concern. There's little question that most people don't have that kind of money lying around though, so hopefully if the invention takes off, material prices would continually go down.

The heart uses electric sensors to both monitor and control the heart rate and blood flow, making it a very hands-off operation. If all goes according to plan, having one of these "installed" inside of you should feel no different than having a regular heart transplant, except this replacement will likely last a lot longer. So if you want to potentially live longer, start saving up some coinage, as this is something that I'd highly doubt would be covered by any insurance.

In the past there have been artificial hearts, like the much hyped Jarvik heart, however they were only a temporary fix while awaiting transplant. The key problem was that they could not adjust their pumping like a biological heart, and could only be adjusted externally. This limited their usefulness.

Source: DailyTech


Tech Roundup - October 31, 2008

Posted on October 31, 2008 2:45 AM by Rob Williams

    Memory & Storage
  • Patriot Extreme Performance Viper Series PC2-8500 4GB - Modders-Inc

    Peripherals & Gadgets
  • Logitech Digital Precision PC Gaming Headset - ocaholic
  • Logitech Pure-Fi Anytime iPod Alarm Clock - i4u
  • Microsoft Arc Mouse - EverythingUSB

    Chassis & Power Supplies
  • Antec Skeleton Open Air Case - Pro-Clockers
  • Cooler Master UCP 900W & 1100W - InsideHW
  • SilverPower SP-S850 Power Supply - Bjorn3D
  • Thecus N4100 Pro NAS - TweakNews


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