The self-driving car that's 50 years oldThe self-driving car that's 50 years old
The self-driving car that's 50 years old - TheIndianSubcontinent News

Write comment (97 Comments)
A musical instrument for astronauts and other newsA musical instrument for astronauts and other news
A musical instrument for astronauts and other news - TheIndianSubcontinent News

Write comment (91 Comments)
'Virtual reality cured my fear of heights''Virtual reality cured my fear of heights'
Image copyrightFay NugentImage caption Fay celebrating her achievement at a rooftop bar

Fay Nugent developed a fear of heights in her 30s.

"It began after I went on a girls' weekend away," she says.

"We had gone on an adventure activity called a tree-top walk.

"I managed to climb up to do it - but then when it

Write comment (98 Comments)
What is Amazon Prime Day UK How you can get involved in the huge 2018 discount event
Everything you need to know about Amazon's biggest annual sale event - from the very best deals to how to sign up for Prime membership

Write comment (95 Comments)
Best Amazon Prime Day 2018 deals revealed as retailer gears up for midday start to discounting bonanza
Shoppers can ready themselves for 36 hours of mega deals across home, tech and fashion from the online giant starting from noon today

Write comment (93 Comments)

Elon Musk seems not only intent on burning all the goodwill he earned for trying to help last weekThai cave rescue, but rolling around in its ashes, too. In a series of extraordinarily offensive, now deleted tweets, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO called a British diver who participated in last weekdangerous rescue mission a &pedo guy,& adding in another tweet &bet ya a signed dollar ittrue.&

Elon Musk tweets he&ll &bet ya a signed dollar& that Thai cave rescuer is a &pedo&

Elon Musk tweets he&ll &bet ya a signed dollar& that Thai cave rescuer is a &pedo&

[Screenshots taken by Jon Russell, TechCrunchvery own British expat guy who lives in Thailand (sus).]

Musktantrum was triggered by an interview the diver, Vern Unsworth, gave CNN International last Friday, in which he called the small submarine Musk had SpaceX engineers build a &PR stunt& and said Musk could stick it &where it hurts.& Though the submarine was intended to help the 12 boys stranded with their soccer coach navigate flooded cave passageways, Unsworth, who helped plan the rescue operation and recruited other cave diving experts, said it &had absolutely no chance of working.&

Unworth added that Musk &had no conception of what the cave passage was like. The submarine, I believe, was about 5 foot 6 long, rigid, so it wouldn&t have gone round corners or round any obstacles. It wouldn&t hadn&t have made the first 50 meters into the cave from the dive start point.& When the reporter mentioned that Musk had gone into the cave on Tuesday, Unsworth said he was &asked to leave very quickly. And so he should have been.&

The rescue mission, made even more challenging by monsoon season, claimed the life of a Thai Navy seal before all boys were saved last week.

This is not the first time that Musk has clashed with a member of the cave rescue team. As confirmation came in that the last group of boys and their coach had been freed on July 10, the head of the rescue mission, Narongsak Osatanakorn, told reporters that &although [Musk&s] technology is good and sophisticated itnot practical for this mission.&

In response, Musk dismissed the credentials of Ostanakorn, who led the joint command center coordinating the operation and is former acting governor of Chiang Rai, the province where the cave is located. In a tweet he said Ostanakorn was &described inaccurately as ‘rescue chief'& and &is not the subject matter expert& (the Columbus Dispatch reportsthat Ostanakorn holds a Masterdegree from Ohio State University, where he studied geodetic engineering and surveying).

Though Musktweet about Ostanakorn was sharply criticized, many still gave him credit for his efforts. After all, engineering a submarine in a few days to save a group of children is an impressive and laudable feat. While Musk is known for going on strange Twitter rants, however, his attack on Unsworth is an entirely different stratosphere. In addition to defaming Unsworth in a particularly heinous way, the implication that a British diver would only go to Thailand, one of the worldtop diving destinations, for child sex tourism is problematic and arguably racist, as many have pointed out.

TechCrunch has contacted SpaceX for comment on Muskremarks.

Write comment (94 Comments)