Apple to pull blood oxygen 'tools' from their Watch if appeal fails!

This is a big move. Apple has modified the software and 'algorithms' in the Apple Watch 9 and Ultra 2 in ways that they say removes anything that poses a conflict with Masimo's patents, which is the core of the import ban problem. The modifications have been submitted in an appeal to the ITC to allow Apple to resume importation of the watches to the USA.

And if the appeal fails? Apple says their next step is to remove SpO2 monitoring from their Watches in the U.S. market!

This could have quite an extreme effect. I think it would really hammer Watch sales, and also bolster sales of fitness/sports watches from competitors like Fitbit (owned by Google) and Garmin. Exercise enthusiasts want SpO2 information! I specifically bought my wife an Apple Watch two years ago because her medical condition warrants monitoring that data point.

Now, on top of that, if the appeal fails, Apple will withdraw REPAIRS of older model Watches that currently have SpO2 monitoring which violates the Masimo patents! It's unclear exactly what this means: if my wife's watch needs a new battery, will Apple remove the SpO2 sensor if we send it in? That seems to me it would be ripe for a law suit if that were not the point of the repair.

Apple really needs to be slapped upside the head for what they've done, the proper thing to do would be to pay a licensing fee to Masimo and just put all this behind them. I really would like to know why this hasn't been done. There's tons of licenses and patents behind major tech devices like phones and smart watches, this is not an uncommon thing to do. So why won't Apple bend their neck a little bit and get it done? They've wasted a huge amount of time and money to avoid doing it.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-14/apple-to-shutter-121-person-san-diego-ai-team-in-reorganization

Hertz is dumping its EV fleet: want a used Tesla for $21,000?

I mentioned this in a previous post about a German rental car company that was selling off its Tesla stock. Hertz has now decided to get rid of its entire electric car fleet and you can now buy Teslas for as low as $21,000. The final price may be lower than that: the age of the car may qualify it for further Fed (and possibly State?) rebates. Many cars have 80,000 or so miles on them, Tesla gives you 100,000 miles free charging on their Supercharging network.

But these cars have been rental cars, which means they've been driven hard, and frequently by idiots, so that definitely needs to be kept in mind.

Hertz is dumping them, specifically the Teslas, for two major reasons. But let's back up a step first. When Hertz started buying Teslas, the initial announcement was that Hertz was going to buy 100,000 units. That sent Tesla's valuation to over a trillion dollars. And it never happened. The purchase was going to be phased over time, because Tesla was incapable of delivering that many cars in one swell foop - and in the end, no where near 100,000 cars were delivered to Hertz, I have no idea what the final number was. And once the cars arrived and began to be rented, the problems started happening.

The biggest problem is the car itself: it's so damn fast. And it's not the speed per se, it's the acceleration. 0-60 in under 3 seconds? Now a Tesla BUYER may have experience with super-fast cars. They know what they're getting in to. Renters? Not so much. Dad from Podunk, USA wants to play with the toy! And shunts it into the corner and bends it up a little bit. At least he got the insurance as part of the rental agreement and doesn't have to worry about that aspect.

Except Hertz now has a bent-up Tesla that not only they can't rent, it's costing them money instead of earning it, and Teslas are infamous for taking a very long time for replacement parts to put them right after accidents! If my Subaru gets bent, which has happened on two occasions, it'll be back in service in less than a week once the parts arrive. A Tesla? It can be down for MONTHS. Most of Tesla's parts production goes into new cars, not servicing repairs. That is a lot of lost revenue! Very bad cost vs revenue equation tilt for a rental company!

That's the first major reason Hertz wanted to get rid of the Teslas.

The second is something Elon started doing last year. He started slashing the prices on his cars to move sales as they were kinda flagging. Except Hertz was on a contract, and he was devaluing the fleet that they had already purchased! This completely wrecked Hertz's financials, and they were just coming out of bankruptcy! Again, not a good equation.

So Hertz decided that electric vehicles weren't a great proposition, and over the next year or so will be dumping their fleet. This is the first tranche of vehicles being sold in the USA, it's not exclusively Teslas: there's Nissans and some other EVs represented, too.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tesla-cars-used-hertz-discount-ev-fleet/

Wayne LaPierre, the head of the NRA, resigns ahead of the start of the NRA corruption trial!

Huh. Can't imagine why he'd do that! On January 5th, he stepped down before the trial began on the 8th. He has been accused of diverting NRA funds to support a lavish lifestyle. The NRA moved its headquarter from New York State to Texas in an effort to avoid prosecution, but that isn't really going to make a difference as the law suit was already in motion. The only thing it'll do is increase their travel costs.

From the article: "In December, a judge ruled against the NRA’s bid to have New York Attorney General Letitia James’ probe into the organization dissolved, the trial is set to begin on Jan. 8. Among the remediations sought by James was the removal of LaPierre from his position as a chief executive of the anti-gun control organization.

In 2020, James filed a lawsuit against the NRA alleging that LaPierre and other top-level executives at the organization had engaged in “illegal conduct because of their diversion of millions of dollars away from the charitable mission of the organization for personal use by senior leadership.” The lawsuit sought the full dissolution of the NRA, as well as restitution payments for violations of New York tax laws.

Yes, she's seeking the potential dissolution of the NRA! Wouldn't that be something! For years, the NRA has been taking in a lot more money from corporate sponsorship than it has from individual memberships, something that I find pretty sad.

Years ago, not long after LaPierre became head of the NRA, they wanted to make a TV commercial of him shooting guns. Makes sense, right? Head of the NRA, shooting guns? It's a natural! So they take him out to the range, camera crew, bunch of guns! Easy peasy!

The guy was a menace. Didn't know the first thing about gun safety. Was unsafely waving loaded guns around in all directions, endangering everyone around him. Finally they had enough and they scrapped the idea of the shoot before it became an actual shoot.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/wayne-lapierre-resigns-nra-corruption-trial-1234941163/