Tesla gets green light to start producing EVs in China

Chinaindustry ministry has added Tesla to a government list of approved automotive manufacturers, a designation that allows the electric automaker to begin producing vehicles in the country.

Tesla inclusion on the list published by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology was reported by Reuters. A Chinese tech site also reported the news and provided a screenshot of MIITapproved automakers. Tesla is the first automaker listed.

TechCrunch has reached out to Tesla and will update when the company responds.

Tesla is building a $2 billion factory in Shanghai, its first manufacturing facility outside the United States.

In July, Tesla wrote in itsquarterly earnings letter to shareholders that Model 3 production was on track to begin at its Shanghai factory by the end of the year. Starting production by November would be a critical milestone for the automaker if it hopes to continue to increase sales and avoid the high cost of shipping and tariffs.

Tesla wrote at the time that machinery was moved into the factory during the second quarter in preparation for the first phase of production.

The company also said in July that &depending on the timing of the Gigafactory Shanghai ramp, we continue to target production of over 500,000 vehicles globally in the 12-month period ending June 30, 2020.&

Tesla has said the production line at the factory in China will have a capacity of 150,000 units annually and will be a simplified, more cost-effective version of the Model 3 line at its Fremont, Calif. factory. Tesla also said this second-generation Model 3 line will be at least 50% cheaper per unit of capacity than its Model 3-related lines in Fremont and at its Gigafactory in Sparks, Nev.

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Windows 7 Pro end of life gets closerWindows 7 Pro end of life gets closer

Microsoft has announced that it will begin notifying Windows 7 Pro users regarding its plan to stop updating the operating system from January 14, 2020.

Windows 7 Home users already started to receive these notifications in March. Now they'll start showing up on the devices of the operating system's professional users.

However, in its announcement,

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Image caption The TheIndianSubcontinent made a range of content, including educational VR content

The TheIndianSubcontinent has disbanded the team it created to make virtual reality (VR) content, saying its funding has ended.

It comes as Google halts sales of its Daydream View headsets, admitting it does not see

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Fortnite Chapter 2 finally launches - here's a look at the new map
While the Fortnite Chapter 2 patch notes for the update are yet to be released, the map gives us a hint of what to expect

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Analysis paralysis

Sales and marketing decide they need to track all user interactions with served ads, says pilot fish on the scene. How long do users stay on the ad? Which parts (and sub-parts) of the ad do they tend to hover over? Anything and everything that can be captured will be captured.

One of the tech guys modifies the ads to send this information in real time to a server, which then writes it to a cloud-based storage facility. No one knows how much data is going to be generated, and the cloud option will allow for expansion as needed.

Once the code is finished and deployed, it generates tons of data, all accessible to sales and marketing for analysis. The tech guy moves on to other tasks.

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Since it was founded by journalist Jessica Lessin in 2013, The Information has stood out in the tech news landscape for its focus on an ad-free, subscription-driven business model (a focus that seems increasingly prescient).

Now, the upcoming launch of an app called Ticker suggests that the company is looking to expand its audience while maintaining that subscription model.

The Information describes Ticker as its first consumer app. The assumption is that anyone whocurrently paying the $399 annual fee for an Information subscription needs it for their job — whether they&re an investor, entrepreneur or some other professional in the tech industry.

The new app, meanwhile, is designed for anyone who might be interested in keeping up-to-date with the latest tech news, and itpriced much more affordably, at $29 per year. (Information subscribers will get access as well.)

The Information ticker app

Apparently the app was inspired by the Briefing section of The Information website, which offers quick summaries (often drawn from reporting by other publications) of major tech news.

Ticker, meanwhile, will include a section called Today with summaries of the daytech headlines — similar to Briefing, but written for a consumer audience. It will also include a calendar highlighting upcoming IPOs, conferences and other events that readers might want to know about. (Not included: The Informationfull articles and original reporting.)

&More and more, we&ve been hearing from readers who don&t have a business reason to follow tech but are finding it more and more central to their lives,& Lessin said in a statement. &We are launching Ticker for them — giving them access to the best summaries of the most significant news, written by our team at The Information.&

The company plans to launch Ticker later this fall. In the meantime, you can sign up here.

The Information launches a media startup accelerator

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