If you’re a fan of tech, you might want to watch the recap of TechCrunch‘s recent meeting with Elon Musk. Besides catching up with a familiar face, you’ll also learn what else is in store for the SpaceX and Tesla founder. This includes his new YouTube channel, how he’s planning to fund his startups, and his upcoming trip to Mars. You’ll even see what’s coming next for Neuralink, one of Musk’s most successful startups.
Elon Musk’s YouTube video strategy
Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is implementing a video strategy to take on YouTube. The video site is owned by Alphabet, the company that also owns Google.
Currently, Twitter doesn’t allow videos longer than a minute. This is because of the site’s technical limitations. It also lacks the backend needed to support large numbers of long-form uploads. So, Musk wants to solve the problem by allowing users to upload longer content.
To do this, he’s making several tweaks to the site. In addition to introducing the paid-for service Twitter Blue, he’s also considering a video strategy that will see the site host full-length videos.
The new feature will let users post up to 42 minutes of video. However, it’s unclear if subscribers will be able to monetize their content.
Another change to the site is a “super follows” feature that allows users to pay to get exclusive tweets. In exchange, they’ll receive a blue tick that shows they’re a verified account. Several top-tier influencers have complained about this.
Going to Mars
The notion of sending humans to Mars has been around for a while, and there are numerous organizations and governments that have plans for a human mission to the Red Planet.
In fact, the idea of going to Mars has been on the radar since the late 1940s. As a result, a lot of scientific research has been done to figure out how to best send humans to the Red Planet.
There is a wide array of reasons to go to Mars, from searching for life to understanding the planet’s history to preparing for future human expeditions. For example, some moons may be enriched with rare elements, and this could open up new avenues for manufacturing and resource distribution.
In fact, the idea of sending humans to Mars has been the subject of numerous science papers, as well as movies and television shows. However, it will take some serious technology to achieve this goal.
Neuralink’s new videos coming in a month or so
If you’ve been keeping up with Teslarati’s coverage of Elon Musk’s venture Neuralink, you’re probably aware that the company has some big plans for the future. The startup is hoping to create an implantable brain device that can control a computer with brain signals. It’s also developing spinal cord implants to help paralyzed people move.
Since its beginnings more than five years ago, the company has been working to improve human-computer communication. For this reason, the company’s events are usually designed to serve as recruitment opportunities. In fact, last month, the company advertised a range of jobs on Twitter.
Although the company has a relatively small number of employees, it’s already made a lot of progress. Among other things, the startup has worked to recruit scientists. They’ve submitted most of their paperwork to the FDA, and have been preparing to begin human trials.
Although the prototype hasn’t been marketed, it’s been put to use in several different experiments. One of the more prominent is the one conducted by Neuralink, where a monkey played Pong with a brain implant. That particular experiment caused some controversy. A PETA executive accused the company of using the monkey “miserably.”
Another animal rights group, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, wrote a 700-page letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture in which they criticized Neuralink’s methods.
VC firm Andreessen Horowitz backed startups with Musk’s companies
When Elon Musk decided to take Twitter private, he approached two prominent VC firms for backing. One, Andreessen Horowitz, invested $400 million in the deal.
Other companies that Andreessen Horowitz invested in were Oculus VR, Instagram, GitHub, Pearl Health, Simple Things, Airbnb and Facebook. These startups were all valued at less than $1 billion when the investment was made. The firm’s investment in Coinbase, however, became its biggest ever. Its shares have dropped 80% this year.
Since its founding, Andreessen Horowitz has raised more than $35 billion. Although its investments have largely performed well, the firm has also come under scrutiny for its results.
Marc Andreessen cofounded the web browser Netscape, and later founded Loudcloud, which sold to Hewlett-Packard for $1.6 billion. Later, he was accused of sexual misconduct by a Google employee.
Finally
As a result of these incidents, Andreessen is now known for his contempt for the media and his unwillingness to publicly defend himself. In 2009, he shared war stories with Ben Horowitz.
