Elon Musk’s itchy Twitter finger has got him in trouble again. The Tesla CEO’s Twitter use is supposed to be closely monitored since he reached a settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for a different tweet-first, justify-later controversy — last August, Musk tweeted that he had sufficient funding to take Tesla private. But on Feb. 19, Musk told his 25 million Twitter followers that Tesla would “make around 500k” cars in 2019; four hours later, he clarified: Tesla was merely on pace to hit that number at the end of the year, given its current production rate. Yesterday, the SEC asked a federal judge to hold Musk in contempt; that could jeopardize the deal struck last September, which notably required Musk to step down as chair of the electric car company and pay a fine of $20 million. [Theodore Schleifer / Recode]
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After an exposé by The Verge detailed the disturbing working conditions of Facebook’s US content moderators at Arizona-based Cognizant — contract workers make about $28,000 a year; some develop severe anxiety, PTSD, and burnout from witnessing hours of graphic violence and sexual activities; and a few have been radicalized by the conspiracy videos and memes seen each day — Facebook said it is adjusting its compliance and audit processes for its third-party contractors. [Casey Newton / The Verge]
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella defended his company’s $479 million contract with the US military to supply its HoloLens augmented reality systems after receiving a letter from more than 100 employees saying that they “did not sign up to develop weapons.” Nadella said he will continue to engage with employees’ concerns, but that the company will not “withhold technology from institutions that we have elected in democracies.” HoloLens AR technology overlays virtual graphics onto a headset-based lens; the second iteration of this device (costing a cool $3,500) was unveiled recently. “Microsoft was awarded the contract to supply ‘Integrated Visual Augmentation System’ prototypes to the US military in November. The company could eventually deliver more than 100,000 headsets under the contract.” [Charles Riley and Samuel Burke / CNN]
At MWC Barcelona, Microsoft debuted its $3,500 HoloLens 2 mixed-reality headset. Dieter Bohn gets an inside look at the device, “which is only being sold to corporations, not to consumers — it’s designed for ‘first-line workers,’ people in auto shops, factory floors, operating rooms, and out in the field fixing stuff.” Here’s a detailed walk-through of the new, improved HoloLens experience. At MWC, the usually tightly controlled Microsoft surprised the industry by committing to being open in what it calls “the third era of computing”; HoloLens inventor Alex Kipman said the company believes in an open app store model, an open web-browsing model, and an open API surface area and driver model. That’s a big change from Microsoft’s usual tight control of its platforms. [Dieter Bohn / The Verge]
Amazon named former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi to its 11-member board. The e-commerce giant has been criticized for its male-dominated board, but appears to be attempting to rectify the imbalance: Nooyi is the second woman appointed this month; Starbucks COO and former Sam’s Club CEO Rosalind G. Brewer was named a director on February 4. Nooyi’s appointment brings the total to five women on Amazon’s board. [Matt Day / Bloomberg]
It’s Uber, for doctors! Better check that star rating. The New York Times reports that a host of new startups are entering the health and wellness field, offering on-demand services straight to consumers: “Heal, DispatchHealth, MedZed, Dose Healthcare, and Pager will send a doctor or a nurse practitioner to a person’s home or workplace to treat nonemergency problems like strep throat or a sprained ankle.” Feeling a little short of fluids after a rough night out? I.V. Doc will hook you up with vitamin drips. Can’t be bothered to ride your Bird to a CVS? Capsule will deliver prescriptions. And for those feeling really lazy (but still wanting to work out), GymGuyz will send a trainer and dumbbells to your door. Snicker all you want, but the $3.5 billion health services industry could use a little disruption. [Janet Morrissey / The New York Times]
Top stories from Recode
Chart: How the definition of “journalist” is changing. The plight of journalists might not be that bad if you’re willing to consider a broader view of “journalism.” [Rani Molla]
This is cool
The future is here, almost: Virtual travel becomes more of a reality.
The future of gaming is subscription.
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