THE EV BUBBLE CONTINUES TO DEFLATE: Honda And Sony Are Killing Their Two Afeela Electric Cars.

Sony surprised everyone when it dabbled in the car scene at CES 2020 with an electric sedan, followed a year later by an SUV. The tech giant teamed up with Honda in 2022, establishing the Sony Honda Mobility (SHM) joint venture to bring these concepts to production. However, that’s no longer happening, as neither the sedan nor the SUV will ever go on sale.

Development of both vehicles has come to an abrupt end, although the decision is not entirely surprising. Earlier this month, Honda canceled two of its own EVs and a third model that was supposed to resurrect the Acura RSX. In a joint statement released today, Honda and Sony said the automaker’s sweeping changes to its electric car strategy are also affecting the Afeela-branded models intended for sale by the joint venture.

Afeela? Really?

“FOOD FOR THOUGHT,” INDEED:

YES:

GET OFF MY LAWN: Newly purchased Vizio TVs now require Walmart accounts to use smart features.

Since 2024, Vizio TVs have required a Vizio account, which a Vizio OS website says is necessary for accessing “exclusive offers, subscription management, and tailored support.” Accounts are also central to Vizio’s business, which is largely driven by ads and tracking tied to its OS.

A Walmart spokesperson confirmed to Ars Technica that Walmart accounts will be mandatory on “select new Vizio OS TVs” for owners to complete onboarding and to use smart TV features…

The representative wouldn’t confirm which TV models are affected. We wouldn’t be surprised to see the requirement for a Walmart account eventually expanded to apply to all newly purchased Vizio OS TVs or already-purchased devices through an update.

Walmart’s representative said the Walmart account integration is “designed to respect consumer choice and privacy, with data used in aggregated, permissioned, and compliant ways” but didn’t specify how.

“Trust us,” they explained.

THE PRESS KNOWS THIS, AND FEATURES THEM REGARDLESS:

And by “regardless,” I mean, “because.”

THAT’S DIFFERENT BECAUSE SHUT UP:

BIG MONEY: Space stocks rally on reports of SpaceX’s imminent IPO filing.

Space stocks soared Wednesday following a report that Elon Musk’s SpaceX could file to go public as soon as this week.

Satellite designer AST SpaceMobile and Rocket Lab both jumped about 10%. Rocket maker Firefly Aerospace, which went public in August, climbed 16%. York Space, an aerospace company that held its IPO in January, rose 5% on the news.

According to the Information, the highly anticipated stock market debut for SpaceX could raise over $75 billion. CNBC previously reported that it could be the biggest IPO ever, seeking a $1.75 trillion valuation.

Orbital AI data centers and self-sustaining lunar cities don’t build themselves for free, you know.

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: President Trump Is One of Many People Skipping CPAC This Year. “There are no tea leaves to be read in President Trump being a no-show at CPAC. In fact, there never was any tea in the first place. MAGA is fine and CPAC just ain’t the party that it used to be.”

MINNESOTA IS A MONEY LAUNDRY FOR FOREIGNERS:

And its Democratic Party rulers are entirely complicit.

ANYBODY WHO CAN SCREAM OR KEEP REPEATING “I CAN’T BREATHE,” IS BREATHING:

IT’S MY THURSDAY ESSAY FOR VIP SUBSCRIBERS: Here Comes Skynet.

“Our product is used, on occasion, to kill people,” Palantir CEO and cofounder Alex Karp told Axios in 2020, and this year, the company’s artificial intelligence software helps the U.S. military target, sort, locate, and strike Iranian military targets at scale.

“At Palantir we were built to give our warfighters… an unfair advantage,” Karp said at his company’s developer conference last week. “It was, ‘Yeah, we’re going to really F- our enemies.’ And I take great pride in that.”

And he should.

Within a week of President Donald Trump’s GO! order for Operation Epic Fury, the mainstream media was already abuzz with reports of “How Palantir and Anthropic AI helped the US hit 1,000 Iran targets in 24 hours.”

“The platform generated real-time targeting insights and prioritized strike locations,” the Money Control report said, but the reality is so much more impressive than just that.

Much, much more at the link.

NEXT!

CHANGE: