Friday afternoon CNBC reported that "heightened speculative trading by retail investors" (later referred to as "GameStop mania") had "continued to unnerve the market." The Dow Jones Industrial average lost 620.74 points, or 2%, to 29,982.62, the first time the 30-stock gauge has closed below the 30,000 mark since Dec. 14....

The market also experienced the highest trading volume in years as the mania heated up. On Wednesday, total market volume hit more than 23.7 billion shares, surpassing the level during the height of the financial crisis in 2008. Thursday also saw extremely heavy trading with more than 19 billion shares changing hands.
But Forbes reports that experts "seem in broad agreement that the bull market can rage on." "The market is not broken, but recent events have revealed some cracks," says Commonwealth Financial Network Chief Investment Officer Brad McMillan, who thinks one likely result of the week's frenzy could be that the price of options — which helped fuel some of the outsized meme-stock demand — rise to help curb "price hacking" in the future. McMillan eschews concerns from other experts that the Reddit-fueled price mania could be a sign the market is in the middle of a bubble akin to the dot-com era in the late 1990s, but he says "crackdown" by regulators is likely.
CNN pointed out that the tagline of Reddit's forum is "like 4chan found a Bloomberg terminal illness" — and cited two more reactions:

- "We've seen how social media can be manipulated to expose fault lines in our democracy," said Arthur Levitt, Jr., the former chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, in an op-ed [titled "Danger Lurks Beneath Reddit Day Traders' GameStop Triumph"]. "Are we certain the same isn't happening in our financial markets? Time to find out."

- "I think it's a real example of what we're already seeing with the way media has been upended," said Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian in an Instagram video this week. "All of these big institutions have been challenged, quietly and sometimes loudly, at moments, for the last 10 years with the rise of social media."

Meanwhile, CNBC's stock pundit Jim Cramer advised the traders who'd helped spark the runup to grab their profits now: "Take the home run. Don't go for the grand slam. Take the home run. You've already won. You've won the game. You're done," Cramer said on "Squawk on the Street."

"Please don't lose a lot of money on GameStop," added the "Mad Money" host.

Cramer, who's being treated in the hospital for a pinched nerve, said he called into CNBC in hopes of making sure people recognize the potential downside risk in GameStop and other soaring short squeezed stocks. "Don't let them get hurt. It's our job" to make sure people know they may get burned if the stock price collapses, he said....

Cramer said he was concerned about the stability of the rest of the U.S. equity market the longer the frenzied trading continued...

"I'm not saying that Reddit is good or bad, or that the shorts are good or bad," he said. "I'm just saying that the government has to step in and at least try to address the situation so the rest of the market isn't panicked by four stocks that are heavily shorted."

Elon Musk confirmed that the new Tesla Roadster has been delayed from 2021 to 2022 -- a good two years behind the original schedule set all the way back in 2017. Electrek reports: When first unveiling the next-generation Tesla Roadster in 2017, Musk said that it will come to market in 2020. Tesla started taking reservations for the impressive electric supercar with a 0-60 mph in 1.9 seconds and over 600 miles of range at the unveiling event. People who wanted to be first in line to get the vehicle had to put down between $50,000 and $250,000 in deposits. The vehicle program was later delayed as the CEO said that it wasn't a priority for Tesla.

Last year, Musk hinted at Tesla Roadster being delayed all the way to 2022 as the automaker focuses on the Cybertruck. Now the CEO confirmed that the production of Tesla's new Roadster won't start until next year: Musk wrote on Twitter today: "Finishing engineering [of the new Tesla Roadster] this year, production starts next year. Aiming to have release candidate design drivable late summer. Tri-motor drive system and advanced battery work were important precursors."

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Mediacom, a cable company with about 1.4 million Internet customers across 22 states, is telling heavy uploaders to reduce their data usage -- even when those users are well below their monthly data caps. Mediacom's fastest Internet plan offers gigabit download speeds and 50Mbps upload speeds with a monthly data cap of 6TB. But as Stop the Cap wrote in a detailed report on Wednesday, the ISP is "reach[ing] out to a growing number of its heavy uploaders and telling them to reduce usage or face a speed throttle or the possible closure of their account." Mediacom told Ars that it is contacting heavy uploaders "more frequently than before" because of increased usage triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. The company said that heavy uploaders "may be under their total bandwidth usage allowance but still have a negative impact on Mediacom's network."

Mediacom's terms and conditions say the company charges $10 fees for each additional block of 50GB used by customers who exceed the data cap. But users may be warned about their usage long before they risk overage fees. One user in East Moline, Illinois, who described the predicament on a DSLReports forum in early January, said they paid for the 6TB plan "to make sure we wouldn't go over the cap" and had never used more than 4TB. Another gigabit user in Missouri named Cory told Stop the Cap that the 6TB monthly cap "is way more than I will ever use, but I still received a warning letter claiming I was uploading too much. I discovered I used about 900GB over the last two months, setting up a cloud backup of my computer. At most I can send files at around 50Mbps, which they claim is interfering with other customers in my neighborhood. I don't understand." Mediacom is blaming the pandemic for its hidden limits on uploaders. "When contacted by Ars, Mediacom pointed to cable-industry statistics showing 31.8 percent growth in downstream traffic and 51.1 percent growth in upstream traffic since the pandemic ramped up in March 2020," reports Ars.

SoftBank Group Chief Executive Masayoshi Son said on Friday he expects mass production of self-driving vehicles to start in two years. From a report: While in the first year the production of units won't be in millions, in the next several years the cost per mile in fully autonomous cars will become very cheap, Son said, speaking at a virtual meeting of the World Economic Forum. "The AI is driving for you. The automobile will become a real supercomputer with four wheels." SoftBank has stake in self-driving car maker Cruise, which is majority owned by General Motors, and has been testing self-driving cars in California. It has also funded the autonomous driving business of China's Didi Chuxing.

An airport for flying cars will thrust the English city of Coventry into the future later this year, with a project aimed at demonstrating how air taxis will work in urban centres. From a report: Urban-Air Port, a British-based start-up, has partnered with car giant Hyundai Motor to develop the infrastructure required for when flying cars take to the skies to ferry around people and goods. From November, visitors to Coventry will be able to see what a flying car airport looks like and see a passenger-carrying drone and an operational electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicle on the landing pad. Urban-Air Port was selected by a government programme aimed at developing zero-emission flying and new air vehicles, winning a 1.2-million-pound ($1.65-million) grant to help fund the temporary installation of the airport in Coventry city centre.

Reddit is growing its role in the Ethereum ecosystem, with the goal of building out scaling tools for the blockchain network. From a report: The social media platform announced this week that it was expanding its work with the Ethereum Foundation to provide development resources to scaling tools. In the announcement, posted to the Ethereum subreddit, Reddit employee u/jarins said the move increases its commitment to the technology, and echoes its long-held "decentralized ethos." "In this new stage of our partnership, immediate efforts will be focused on bringing Ethereum to Reddit-scale production," the announcement said. "Our intention is to help accelerate the progress being made on scaling and develop the technology needed to launch large-scale applications like Community Points on Ethereum."

This partnership could result in Reddit working on layer 2 scaling tools or pushing projects from a prototype stage to production. Reddit development resources, including a developer team, would be involved in this work. Ultimately, the idea is a project like Reddit's Community Points feature could be capable of supporting the site's millions of users (Reddit has over 50 million daily users as of press time, according to Wednesday's announcement). "Our blockchain efforts will be led by Reddit's Crypto team," the announcement said, adding the company currently has job openings for backend engineers.

Xiaomi, the world's third largest smartphone maker, today unveiled "Mi Air Charge Technology" that it says can deliver 5W power to multiple devices "within a radius of several metres" as the Chinese giant invited customers to a "true wireless charging era." From a report: The company said it has self-developed an isolated charging pile that has five phase interference antennas built-in, which can "accurately detect the location of the smartphone." A phase control array composed of 144 antennas transmits millimeter-wide waves directly to the phone through beamforming, the company said, adding that âoein the near futureâ the system will also be able to work with smart watches, bracelets, and other wearable devices. A company spokesperson said Xiaomi, which has previously introduced 80W and 120W wireless charging tech, won't be deploying this new system to consumer products this year.

Android users in the U.S. will soon gain access to betting and gambling apps through the Play Store, Google announced Thursday. CNET reports: As of March 1, online casino games, sports betting, lotteries and daily fantasy sports apps will be allowed in certain states. You can see a complete list of what types of gambling apps are allowed in each state on Google's support website.

To be eligible, app makers must complete a gambling application form, comply with state and country laws where the app is being used and have a valid gambling license for each state or country it wants to operate in. These apps must be rated adult only and display information about responsible gambling. Apps must also ensure they prevent minors from being able to use the app, and the app cannot be a paid app on Google Play or use Google Play in-app billing. Other countries gaining access to betting and gambling apps include: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Romania, Spain, Sweden and the UK.

According to The Verge, Google has removed nearly 100,000 negative reviews of the Robinhood app from the Google Play Store. From the report: After some disgruntled Robinhood users organized campaigns to give the app a one-star review on Google's Play Store and Apple's App Store -- and succeeded in review-bombing it all the way down to a one-star rating -- the company has now deleted enough reviews to bring it back up to nearly four stars. Robinhood came under intense scrutiny on Thursday, after the stock trading app announced it would block purchases of GameStop, AMC, and other stocks made popular by the r/WallStreetBets subreddit, and some users have already replaced their deleted one-star reviews with new ones to make their anger heard.

It's not outside Google's purview to delete these posts. Google's policies explicitly prohibit reviews intended to manipulate an app's rating, and the company says it has a system that "combines human intelligence with machine learning to detect and enforce policy violations in ratings and reviews." Google says it specifically took action on reviews that it felt confident violated those policies, the company tells The Verge. Google says companies do not have the ability to delete reviews themselves. On Apple's App Store, Robinhood has a 4.7 rating, and we didn't see any reviews newer than Wednesday.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: In response to Comcast imposing a data cap on Massachusetts residents, state lawmakers have proposed a ban on data caps, new fees, and price increases on home-Internet services for the duration of the pandemic. The legislation was filed on Tuesday this week by Democratic state representatives Andy Vargas and Dave Rogers. Vargas called the bill a "response to Comcast Internet data cap plans," while Rogers said the goal is "to push back at Comcast and any other service providers who try to raise prices or fees during a pandemic." Verizon FiOS and RCN also provide Internet service in Massachusetts but do not impose data caps.

Vargas and Rogers previously led a group of 71 Massachusetts lawmakers who urged Comcast to halt enforcement of its 1.2TB monthly data cap, arguing that the cap hurts low-income people and is unnecessary because of Comcast's robust network capacity. While Comcast already enforced the data cap in 27 states for several years, the cable company brought the cap to the rest of its territory -- an additional 12 states including Massachusetts and the District of Columbia -- this month. Comcast is easing-in enforcement so that the first overage charges for newly capped customers will be assessed for data usage in the April 2021 billing period. The Massachusetts House has a 128-30 Democratic majority. Besides Vargas and Rogers, the bill so far has 21 cosponsors, most of whom just signed on today.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: General Motors said Thursday it would phase out petroleum-powered cars and trucks and sell only vehicles that have zero tailpipe emissions by 2035, a seismic shift by one of the world's largest automakers that makes billions of dollars today from gas-guzzling pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles. The announcement could put pressure on automakers around the world to make similar commitments.

G.M. said that its decision to switch to electric cars was part of a broader plan to become carbon neutral by 2040. Its announcement came a day after Mr. Biden signed an executive order to step up the fight against climate change, including a directive for the federal government to electrify its large vehicle fleet. "General Motors is joining governments and companies around the globe working to establish a safer, greener and better world," Mary T. Barra, G.M.'s chairman and chief executive, said in a statement. "We encourage others to follow suit and make a significant impact on our industry and on the economy as a whole."

G.M. said it would increase the use of renewable energy, and would eliminate or offset emissions from its factories, buildings, vehicles and other sources. The company plans to spend $27 billion over the next five years to introduce 30 electric vehicles, including an electric Hummer pickup truck that it expects to start delivering to customers later this year. The company said it was working with the Environmental Defense Fund to build charging stations for electric cars and to convince drivers to switch to electric cars.

Tesla has unveiled refreshed versions of its Model X and Model S cars, revealing that both are equipped with gaming hardware supporting "up to 10 teraflops of processing power." This theoretically puts a car within the ballpark of a new generation console. From a report: The Tesla models, priced in excess of $80,000 and shipping in March, are fitted with hardware to power Tesla Arcade, an in-car gaming system that is already available in current Tesla models. The difference is that previous models are only able to run less demanding games such as Cuphead and Cat Quest, while the promotional materials for the new Tesla models show The Witcher 3 displayed on the 17" central console. This suggests a significant step up for the car's gaming potential. Specifics on how powerful the car's gaming rig is isn't easy to tell, as the quoted "up to 10 teraflops of processing power" can't be directly translated to the power of a PS5, which is capable of 10.28 teraflops. The accompanying components must also be taken into account, and Tesla has offered no details on the full specs of the hardware. It's unclear if Nvidia or AMD GPUs are being used, or if it all comes from Tesla's own system-on-a-chip. And while The Witcher 3 is an impressive game by... err... car standards, it's very much a last-gen experience now. Theoretically, though, the system in the new Teslas is capable of strong gaming performance.

A long-simmering public dispute between Facebook and Apple has neared a boiling point. The Information: With the aid of outside legal counsel, Facebook for months has been preparing an antitrust lawsuit against Apple that would allege the iPhone-maker abused its power in the smartphone market by forcing app developers to abide by App Store rules that Apple's own apps don't have to follow, according to two people with direct knowledge of Facebook's efforts. The legal preparations by Facebook signal that the feud between the companies could further escalate, though ultimately Facebook may decide not to file a suit. Its executives are facing internal resistance from some employees over its public campaign against Apple, a fight that recently has centered on a change to iPhone software that will make it harder for Facebook and its advertisers to track people across apps.

Now Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is attempting to build a broad legal case arguing that Apple's rules for app developers -- which force them to use Apple's in-app payment service, for instance -- make it harder to compete against Apple in areas such as gaming, messaging and shopping. While Facebook could seek monetary damages in a lawsuit, the more meaningful outcome for the company and every other app developer would be material changes to Apple's iPhone restrictions. A similar antitrust case against Apple filed last fall by game maker Epic also seeks changes to Apple's business model rather than monetary damages. Facebook has considered inviting other companies to participate in its prospective lawsuit against Apple, said three people with knowledge of the talks.

Thelasko shares a report from CNET: Navistar, the company formerly known as International Harvester, announced on Wednesday that it's partnering with GM and OneH2 for a "complete solution for customer implementation of a zero-emission long-haul system," which is a fancy way of saying an entire ecosystem devoted to electric trucking. The group will work together on the trucks themselves, in addition to the ancillary stuff required to keep them operating.

It starts with the trucks, which in this case will be International RH Series hydrogen fuel-cell electric trucks. Each RH Series semi will get two GM Hydrotec fuel cell power cubes, each of which contains more than 300 hydrogen fuel cells in addition to the management systems that run the whole show. Navistar plans to have these trucks ready for commercial purchase in the 2024 model year, with test models operating in a pilot phase by the end of 2022. The hope is that these trucks will pack a range of 500 miles or more with a fueling time of less than 15 minutes and Navistar hopes that its propulsion system will sport a per-mile cost similar to diesel.

When it comes to the fuel itself, that's where OneH2 comes into play. Navistar will rely on the company for the production, storage and safe delivery of the compressed hydrogen required to power the trucks. To deepen the partnership, Navistar announced that it will purchase a minority stake in OneH2, as well. OneH2 doesn't just deal in gas-station-style fill up locations; the company has a mobile fueling solution, too, which should help in the early stages as the US' hydrogen fuel infrastructure is still very much in its infancy. [...] Navistar has chosen J.B. Hunt Transport to be in charge of its vehicles during the pilot program. J.B. Hunt, a name you've likely seen on the highway, will put Navistar's GM-powered International models on dedicated routes to see how these vehicles perform in place of traditional diesel-powered semi trucks.

Just months after their first passenger testing, Virgin Hyperloop today unveiled its vision for the future hyperloop experience. Yahoo Finance reports: The newly-released concept video takes the viewer step-by-step through a hyperloop journey, from arriving at the portal to boarding the pod. Virgin Hyperloop worked with world-class partners across disparate industries -- including Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) for the portal designs, Teague for the pod designs, SeeThree for the video and animation, and Man Made Music for the score and sonic identity -- to design a comprehensive, multi-sensory passenger experience that surpasses that of any other form of mass transit.

Far from a dystopian future where dark colors, stark lighting, and screens abound, Virgin Hyperloop's counter narrative is a more optimistic view of the future: a greener, smoother, safer, and more pleasant mass transit experience. "We leveraged decades of experience designing how people and things move across various modalities -- taking some of the best aspects from aviation, rail, automotive, and even hospitality to create a new and better passenger experience that is distinct to Virgin Hyperloop," said John Barratt, CEO & President, Teague. "Recessed seat wells provide a greater sense of space, while the raised aisle is a touch of the unexpected and unique. Bands of greenery and wood textures subvert the aesthetic of typical mass transit materials with something optimistic and fresh. All lighting in the pod -- including the unassuming information displays -- are dynamic and adjust based on traveler activity and journey milestones."

"Through proprietary research and a design thinking approach to creating sound and sonic solutions for Virgin Hyperloop, Man Made Music was able to address a myriad of potential challenges for this new mode of transportation, from how to evoke a sense of privacy and space to an enhanced sense of safety and calm," said Joel Beckerman, Founder and Lead Composer at Man Made Music. "We respond to sound quicker than any other sense, so sound actually drives the multi-sensory experiences. The sonic cues of the Virgin Hyperloop identity system serves as a guide for passengers throughout their experience while instilling confidence, safety, and clarity -- you 'feel' it rather than 'hear' it. Just like a great movie score, it tells you the story. We know when we've got it right when you don't notice the sound at all: the interface is humanized in ways that are both fresh and familiar."

Yesterday, Clash announced it was acquiring Byte, a short-form video app launched by Vine cofounder Dom Hofmann. The announcement comes "at a time when TikTok itself now appears to be here to stay," reports CNN. From the report: Dubsmash, another TikTok competitor with a similar algorithmic feed serving up entertaining videos, was acquired last month by Reddit. Meanwhile, Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, which launched a TikTok clone called Reels days after then President Donald Trump said he would ban TikTok, recently admitted "TikTok is ahead." He also hinted at a need for Instagram to simplify or consolidate its video product offerings.

Clash was one of the many competitors that seemed poised to benefit from TikTok's troubles. Like TikTok, Clash lets users upload short videos set to music and offers an algorithmic feed serving up content it thinks you'd like. Byte offers a similar experience, except with hidden follower counts and likes. [...] The Byte app will "continue to have the same great in-app experience" Clash said, but it will add new ways to monetize and other features. Clash said it's working on ways for its creators to earn money directly on the platform, including from viral videos and top fans giving payments on a regular basis, which it hopes will help it stand out in a crowded market.

According to The Verge, Discord has banned the r/WallStreetBets server for allowing "hateful and discriminatory content after repeated warnings." It did not ban the server for financial fraud. We have also learned that Reddit's WallStreetBets subreddit has been set to private. Here is Discord's full statement: The server has been on our Trust & Safety team's radar for some time due to occasional content that violates our Community Guidelines, including hate speech, glorifying violence, and spreading misinformation. Over the past few months, we have issued multiple warnings to the server admin.

Today, we decided to remove the server and its owner from Discord for continuing to allow hateful and discriminatory content after repeated warnings.

To be clear, we did not ban this server due to financial fraud related to GameStop or other stocks. Discord welcomes a broad variety of personal finance discussions, from investment clubs and day traders to college students and professional financial advisors. We are monitoring this situation and in the event there are allegations of illegal activities, we will cooperate with authorities as appropriate. UPDATE: Reddit says the subreddit's moderators were the ones to make it private. According to The Verge's Dieter Bohn, the mods now say that "We are unable to ensure Reddit's content policy and the WSB rules are enforceable without a technology platform that can support automation of this enforcement. WSB will be back."

UPDATE #2: r/WallStreetBets is back!

Stories to help you get caught up:
Former SEC Chairman Calls For an Agency Investigation Into Online Stock Trading Platforms
AMC Spikes 260% as Day Traders Ignite Shorted Stocks like GameStop, BlackBerry, and Bed Bath & Beyond
GameStop Jumps After Hours As Elon Musk Tweets Out Reddit Board That's Hyping Stock
GameStop Stock Jumps To New Record
Gaming the System: How GameStop Stock Surged 1,500% In Nine Months

Apple yesterday released a new version of iCloud for Windows 10, and based on multiple reports and the update's release notes, it appears Apple is introducing an iCloud Passwords extension designed for Chrome, which will allow "iCloud" Keychain passwords to be used on Windows machines. MacRumors reports: As noted by The 8-Bit and a few other sources, the update adds support for an "iCloud" Passwords Chrome extension." After installing version 12 of "iCloud" for Windows, there's a new "Passwords" section in the app with an "iCloud" Keychain logo. When attempting to use the feature, though, the "iCloud" app prompts users to download a Chrome extension, but the extension is broken and clicking to install leads to a broken web page.

This is likely a bug that will be addressed in the near future, and it sounds like when it is functional, Windows users will be able to access their "iCloud" Keychain passwords on their Windows machines through the Chrome browser. It's not clear if Apple will offer this extension for Mac machines in the future as well, and it appears to be limited to Windows at this time.

During its fourth-quarter earnings announcement, Tesla unveiled the long-rumored refresh for its Model S sedan. CNET reports: On the outside, the Model S has a new front bumper with slightly different intakes, a tweaked rear diffuser and new 19- and 21-inch wheel designs. All of the exterior trim is now finished in black to match the Model Y, but the paint color palette remains the same, with white being the only no-cost option. The interior is the star of the show, though. It's been completely redesigned, marking the Model S' first major update since its debut in 2012. There's a large 17-inch central screen much like that of the Model 3 and Model Y, but the S retains a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster in front of the driver, as well. Tesla says the new center screen is basically a gaming computer with 10 teraflops of processing power, and the released images show it running the popular fantasy RPG game Witcher 3.

Most radical is the new steering wheel. It isn't exactly a wheel anymore, instead looking like a yoke right out of Star Wars or Knight Rider. There are no stalks, either, meaning the turn signals, lights and other typical features are now controlled by touch buttons on the "wheel." There's more carbon fiber or wood trim covering parts of the dashboard and door panels, and the door cards and center console have been redesigned for more storage space and better looks. The rear seats look more sculpted and have a new fold-down armrest with cupholders. Rear-seat passengers get an 8-inch screen that offers the same infotainment and gaming functions as the main screen, and it even works with wireless gaming controllers. The Model S has three-zone climate control, a 22-speaker audio system, heated seats all around (and ventilated front seats), ambient lighting and a glass roof as standard. White, black and beige remain the only interior color options. The maxed-out "Plaid Plus" model, which comes in at $139,990, features over 1,100 hp and will hit 60 mph in under 2 seconds. "It also boats a sub-9-second quarter-mile time, a top speed of 200 mph and a range of over 520 miles," reports CNET.

An anonymous reader writes: GitLab, the increasingly popular DevOps platform, today announced a major update to its subscription model. The company is doing away with its $4/month Bronze/Starter package. Current users will be able to renew one more time at the existing price or move to a higher tier (and receive a significant discount for the first three years after they do so). The company's free tier, it is worth noting, is not going away and GitLab argues that it includes "89% of the features in Bronze/Starter."

To ease the pain, Bronze users will be able to renew their existing subscription before January 26, 2022 for an additional year at the existing price. They can also opt to move to the Premium tier at a discounted price for the next three years, starting at $6/user/month in Year 1, but that price then goes up to $9/user/month and $15/user/month in Year 2 and 3 respectively. For new users, the Bronze package is no longer available, starting now. With this change, GitLab now offers three tiers: Free, Premium and Ultimate (it's also doing away with the "Silver/Premium" and "Gold/Ultimate" naming). "The Bronze tier, we were selling at a loss," GitLab founder and CEO Sid Sijbrandij told TechCrunch. "We were just losing money every time we sold it -- just on hosting and support. To be a sustainable business, this was a move we had to make. It's a big transition for our customers but we want to make sure we're a sustainable company and we can keep investing."