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Business

Apple’s Search for an Autonomous Vehicle Partner Continues. Who It Could Choose.

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Apple has been secretive about its electric-vehicle ambitions.


Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Apple’s search for an auto maker to join the tech giant’s project to build autonomous vehicles continues, following reports that discussions have dissolved with

Nissan.

Shares in the Japanese auto giant tumbled near 3% in Tokyo trading.

Apple

shares were not traded in the U.S. on Monday due to the Presidents Day holiday.

The back story. There has been speculation over Apple’s vehicle ambitions since 2015, when The Wall Street Journal reported that it was gearing up to take on Tesla. The iPhone maker has been highly secretive about its plans for “Project Titan,” confirmed in 2016, which has evolved to encompass self-driving, or autonomous, electric vehicles.

Analysts have suspected that the Silicon Valley giant would partner with an existing auto maker to break into the capital-intensive vehicle industry.

On Feb. 8, Korean auto makers

Hyundai

and

Kia

said they were no longer in talks with Apple over an autonomous electric-vehicle project, following widespread press and analyst speculation that a deal was near. That news had sent Hyundai stock down more than 6% and shares in Kia down 15%—eliminating a combined $8.5 billion in market value from the two companies.

The next day, Nissan’s chief executive Makoto Uchida was pressed in an earrings call on whether the company had been approached by Apple about a collaboration. Uchida avoided addressing Apple directly, but indicated that Nissan could partner with technology companies on building the next generation of cars.

Also read:An Apple Car Could Disrupt the Auto Industry as Much as the iPhone Upended Tech. Here’s What to Know.

What’s new. Nissan confirmed on Monday that it was not in talks with Apple, but said it was open to exploring collaborations and partnerships to accelerate the vehicle industry.

The Financial Times had reported earlier that there were discussions between the two groups over a partnership, but that talks had stalled over possible branding. According to the report, the discussions did not reach senior management levels.

A source close to Nissan told Agence France-Presse that “when you make a product under the Apple brand, you give your soul— and your profit margins— to Apple,” and that Nissan was “not interested in giving Apple the best that we offer.”

Plus:Apple iCar Is a Terrible Idea. Here’s Why.

Looking ahead. It makes sense that Apple would partner with a strong auto maker to realize its electric-vehicle dreams. With Nissan crossed off, following Hyundai and Kia, that list is narrowing.

On Feb. 7, just before Hyundai and Kia confirmed they were not involved with Apple, veteran technology analyst Daniel Ives of investment firm Wedbush, said it was a matter of “when not if” Apple entered the electric-vehicle race. Ives put the chances at 85% that the tech giant would announce a relevant partnership or collaboration within the next three to six months.

Ives singled out Hyundai as the most likely choice, with

Volkswagen Group

—which also makes Audi and

Porsche

—as the next best bet. With Hyundai out, investors should keep an eye on the German giant. The analyst also floated Tesla and

Ford

as possible candidates.

Barron’s has contacted Apple and Nissan for comment.

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Health

Florida continues to outpace rest of country with new mutant COVID-19 cases

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ORLANDO, Fla. – Florida continues to lead the nation in the number of documented COVID-19 variant cases tied to the U.K. with nearly 380 cases of the B.1.1.7 variant, according to the latest information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Now with 379 documented cases, the Sunshine State has twice as many U.K. variant cases as California, which has 189 as of Sunday night, according to the CDC database. Texas has 49 cases, both Illinois and North Carolina have 23 cases each and Maryland has documented 22.

The number of mutant cases is expected to grow as more labs are brought on to sequence virus samples and track variants.

Florida has tripled the number of U.K. variants in under a month. Three weeks ago, Florida had reported 125 UK variant cases.

Whereas mutant cases are on the rise in the Sunshine State, Florida is reporting a downward trend in overall COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths related to the virus, the latest Department of Health data shows.

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The CDC updates its variant database three days a week at 7 p.m., however, the agency says it likely does not include all the data.

[TRENDING: 1 dead in Rolls Royce crash | Mom, boyfriend arrested after toddler drowns | How to get the vaccine in Fla.]

“The cases identified above are based on a sampling of SARS-CoV-2-positive specimens and do not represent the total number of B.1.1.7, B.1.351, and P.1 lineage cases that may be circulating in the United States and may not match numbers reported by states, territories, tribes and local officials,” a disclaimer under the map reads.

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The virus variants first detected in Brazil, P.1, and South Africa, B.1.351, have also been reported in the U.S. but in far fewer numbers. Just 16 cases of the Brazilian variant have been documented and so far, only three cases of the South African variant have been reported in the U.S.

The British variant is more contagious and is believed to be more deadly than the original, while the South Africa one may render the vaccines somewhat less effective. The ultimate fear is that a variant resistant to existing vaccines and treatments could eventually emerge.

However, the true dimensions of the problem in the U.S. are not clear because of the relatively low level of sequencing.

The mutant cases have likely been here all along and multiplying but the CDC began identifying and tracing the variants late last year. The CDC has been racing to catch up detecting the variants after falling behind.

Viruses mutate constantly. To stay ahead of the threat, scientists analyze samples, watching closely for mutations that might make the coronavirus more infectious or more deadly.

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Less than 1% of positive specimens in the U.S. are being sequenced to determine whether they have worrisome mutations. Other countries do better — Britain sequences about 10% — meaning they can more quickly see threats coming at them. That gives them greater opportunity to slow or stop the problem, whether through more targeted contact tracing, possible adjustments to the vaccine or public warnings.

After the slow start, public health labs in at least 33 states are now doing genetic analysis to identify emerging coronavirus variants. Other states have formed partnerships with university or private labs to do the work. North Dakota, which began sequencing in early February, was the most recent to start that work, according to the Association of Public Health Laboratories.

The CDC believes a minimum of 5,000 to 10,000 samples should be analyzed weekly in the U.S. to adequately monitor variants, said Gregory Armstrong, who oversees the agency’s advanced molecular detection work. And it’s only now that the nation is hitting that level, he acknowledged.

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President Joe Biden, who inherited the setup from the Trump administration, is proposing a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package that calls for boosting federal spending on sequencing of the virus, though the amount has not been detailed and other specifics have yet to be worked out.

“We’re 43rd in the world in genomic sequencing. Totally unacceptable,” White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Business

Texas grid continues to be pushed to limit by extreme cold that could lead to rolling outages: ERCOT

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One day after record-breaking energy use across the state of Texas, managers of the state’s power grid placed the system into an emergency alert stage.

Early Monday morning, ERCOT declared an “energy emergency alert one” also called an EEA 1, as the first of three alert phases. In this phase, the state looks to get electricity from other grids. The second stage shuts down large industrial users who’ve agreed to cut power in an emergency. The third phase is rotating outages.

Electricity use Sunday night shattered a previous record set in 2018 as exteme cold weather and frozen precipitation blanketed the entire state, crippled transportation and put most of the state below freezing.

The last time the state had to implement rolling outages was in 2011 when another major storm brought cold, ice and snow as far south as the Rio Grande Valley.

The 2021 storm is poised to bring even colder temperatures to the Lone Star State for a longer period of time.

The CEO of Texas’ Electric Reliability Council of Texas, better known as ERCOT, announced Sunday that the supply of natural gas to power plants was limited, and half of the system’s wind turbines had frozen, keeping at least 12k megawatts offline. ERCOT has a grid condition alert system that is now in ‘conservation alert’ status as consumption spikes across the state.

Outages typically last anywhere from 15 minutes to one hour. The rolling blackouts could repeat, all the way through Tuesday morning according to ERCOT officials.

Rolling blackouts are expected across the entire state. Experts say they are necessary to avoid turning off power to places like hospitals, police stations, fire stations, water and wastewater treatment facilities.

ERCOT in 2011 had to cut power to at least a million Texas homes during a record-breaking cold snap that year.

The similarities to the two situations are hard to miss: Both systems brought significantly colder temperatures, left roads unpassable with ice and snow, and led to some power facilities going offline due to the cold, leaving the state without enough power. In 2011, the state imported power from Mexico, according to ABC13 reporting at the time.

ERCOT officials said that lowering heaters to 68 degrees, closing shades to help keep heat in, and turning off non-essential appliances and lights can help conserve energy during the cold.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Saturday warned that all of Texas faces an unprecedented winter storm and issued a state disaster declaration. President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for the state of Texas and ordered federal assistance to supplement state and local response efforts

FROM SATURDAY: Gov. Abbott urges power conservation, says demand may exceed supply

ABC13 answers your top winter weather questions

Copyright © 2021 KTRK-TV. All Rights Reserved.



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World

Uttarakhand glacier disaster: Details emerge of terrifying moments before avalanche struck as search for survivors continues

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Rana was lucky. He saw the disaster unfold from above in the village of Raini, where he was building a new railroad for the Hyderabad-based Rithwik Railway Company. But several of his co-workers below were unable to see the danger down the road.

Those from the higher vantage point screamed to warn them.

“The five or six people who heard them ran. Some people were saved,” Rana said.

The rest are among the nearly 200 people still missing after part of a glacier collapsed on Sunday in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, causing a massive avalanche that tore through a mountain gorge and crashed through a dam.

Authorities were able to save a handful of individuals immediately after the disaster, and another 126 people from the nearby Niti Valley were rescued by helicopter.

Three days after the tragedy, the search for survivors continues. So far, the bodies of 32 people have been found — and as the clock keeps ticking, hope is dimming for those still unaccounted for.

A handful of villages in the remote region, where roads are few and far between, are now cut off from the outside world, including Rana’s home of Pan, where his wife is stuck.

It’s not exactly clear what caused the piece of the glacier to fall off, triggering the avalanche. Indian Home Minister Amit Shah told parliament a landslide triggered a “snow avalanche” that spread across 14 square kilometers (5 square miles), causing flash floods.

Manish Mehta, a senior scientist at Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, who is inspecting the site with four colleagues, said preliminary evidence shows a “huge rock slide” near the glacier may be to blame for triggering the avalanche. The scale of the ensuing flash flood was unprecedented, he added, and could affect “more than 100 square kilometers (38 square miles).”

Dr. Dan Shugar, a professor with the University of Calgary’s Department of Geoscience, said in a tweet Tuesday that analysis “suggested a landslide that took out part of a hanging glacier.”

“The glacier that we think collapsed is a very steep, hanging glacier. It is not a typical valley glacier, with low gradient/slope, that sometimes have lakes at the terminus,” Shugar said, adding that the landslide likely contained both bedrock and glacier ice. “It descended a steep slope and likely disintegrated when it hit the valley floor.”

Authorities described Sunday’s landslide as a freak event, yet the ecologically sensitive Himalayan region is prone to flash floods and landslides. Himalayan glaciers are also vulnerable to rising global temperatures because of man-made climate change.

As the ice melts, glaciers become unstable and start to retreat. A 2019 study found Himalayan glaciers are melting twice as fast as last century, losing almost half a meter (1.6 feet) of ice each year.

Others have pointed to construction along the state’s rivers, which in recent years have seen an increasing number of hydroelectric dams, projects and infrastructure connecting them, such as roads and new developments.

Dozens of workers building a series of underground tunnels for a new power plant near the dam were trapped by the avalanche Sunday, including Virendra Kumar Gautam. That day, at about 11 a.m., he and his team heard shouts from outside the tunnel, telling them to evacuate.

He ordered his team to move. After traveling about 50 meters (164 feet), Gautam recalled, “suddenly a flood entered, glacier and water entered in full force.”

Gautam and the others climbed emergency ladders built into the walls. Their section of the tunnel was only about 4.5 meters (14.5 feet) tall, but water quickly reached about 3.5 meters high (11.5 feet).

“I kept helping people climb up and telling them that they would survive and shouldn’t worry, everything will be fine,” he said.

Gautam was right. The water level suddenly reduced, he said, becoming shallow enough for the group to pass and climb about 350 meters (1,150 feet) up the emergency ladders to the surface.

Gautam said it took his team about 90 minutes, but eventually they made it to safety.

Others were not so lucky, however. There are still people trapped in the tunnels, and authorities say those inside may not have survived unless the debris somehow blocked the water and left enough air in the tunnels for the men to breathe.

Vidhyadhar Maletha, an employee at Prithak company overseeing rescue efforts, said the four side tunnels and the main tunnel have all been filled with debris.

He said they have cleaned out about 90 meters (295 feet) of debris, and the height of the tunnel has dropped by 25 to 30 meters (82 to 98 feet). But mud and boulders are still blocking the way.

“There is too much debris,” Maletha said.

CNN’s Helen Regan, Esha Mitra, Manveena Suri, Swati Gupta, Radina Gigova and Vedika Sud contributed to this report

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US

FBI, Florida authorities pursuing leads as water-treatment hacking investigation continues

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The FBI, Secret Service and Florida law enforcement are searching for one or more suspects they say tried to change the make-up of a local town’s water in a failed attempt to add a potentially caustic chemical by remotely accessing the computer system at a treatment plant that services the entire city, officials said.

A plant operator at the Oldsmar water treatment facility thwarted a hacker’s attempt to elevate the amount of sodium hydroxide in the water to “dangerous levels” on Friday afternoon, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said during a Monday news conference. Federal partners have since joined forces in probing the case.

HACKER TRIED TO POISON FLORIDA WATER SUPPLY NEAR SUPER BOWL, POLICE SAY

The FBI and Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office had no updates in the case as of Tuesday morning. 

“Right now, we do not have a suspect identified but we do have leads that we’re following,” Gualtieri said Monday. “We don’t know right now whether the breach originated from within the United States or outside the country. We also do not know why the Oldsmar system was targeted and we have no knowledge of any other systems being unlawfully accessed.”

Oldsmar is approximately 15 miles from Tampa and is home to just under 15,000 people.

The hacker first breached the system at approximately 8 a.m. Friday, but only did so momentarily before logging off. A plant operator on duty noticed the “brief” remote access, but wasn’t particularly concerned because supervisors “regularly” access the computers remotely to monitor the system, officials said.

But around 1:30 p.m. that same day, “someone again remotely accessed the computer system, and it showed up on the operator’s screen with a mouse being moved about to open various software functions that control the water being treated,” Gualtieri said.

In this screen shot from a YouTube video posted by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri speaks during a news conference as Oldsmar, Fla., Mayor Eric Seidel, left, listens, Monday, Feb. 8, 2021, in Oldsmar, Fla. (Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office via AP)
((Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office via AP))

The hacker took over the system for anywhere from three to five minutes, he said. They opened a function that controls the amount of sodium hydroxide in the water – changing the amount from 100 parts-per-million to 11,100 parts-per-millions, Gualtieri said.

“This is obviously a significant and potentially dangerous increase. Sodium hydroxide, also known as lye, is the main ingredient in liquid drain cleaners,” he continued. “It’s also used to control water acidity and remove metals from drinking water in the water treatment plants.”

The hacker left the system shortly after changing the parts-per-million, and officials say the plant operator “immediately reduced the level back to the appropriate amount.”

JUDGE RULES BROWARD SCHOOL DISTRICT HAD NO RESPONSIBILITY TO WARN STUDENTS ABOUT PARKLAND SCHOOL SHOOTER

The treatment plant provides water directly to Oldsmar’s businesses and residences, officials said, but the affected water would not have made its way to the Oldsmar public until 24 to 36 hours later and was checked multiple times before it did. Oldsmar’s water system is no longer capable to being accessed remotely, Gualtieri said. The public was never in danger.

Sodium hydroxide is often used to manage acid levels in water, and can cause burns or irritation, among other adverse reactions when it reaches a certain level.

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Following Monday’s announcement, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio said he would ask the FBI “to provide all assistance necessary.”

He added: “This should be treated as a matter of national security.”

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Business

Former baseball superstar Alex Rodriguez files to form $575 million SPAC as IPO craze continues

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Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images

  • The former baseball superstar Alex Rodriguez is joining the SPAC craze and launching one of his own.
  • Rodriguez is set to lead Slam Corp., which is seeking to raise $575 million in its public debut.
  • Slam will seek to acquire a firm in sectors including sports, media, and wellness, a filing said.
  • Sign up here for our daily newsletter, 10 Things Before the Opening Bell.

The former baseball superstar Alex Rodriguez is the latest high-profile name to throw his hat in the SPAC ring by launching a “blank check” company called Slam Corp., a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission said.

SPACs – special-purpose acquisition companies – are investment vehicles that raise funds from investors that are then used to acquire a private company and take it public.

The filing said that Rodriguez would lead Slam as its CEO and that it would seek an acquisition within the “sports, media, entertainment, health and wellness and consumer technology sectors.”

“We will seek to acquire a multibillion-dollar asset with a leading market position in an attractive industry,” the filing said.

Unlike Billy Beane’s Redball Acquisition Corp., Slam is not seeking to acquire a professional sports team, the filing said. Redball recently failed in an attempt to take the parent company of the Boston Red Sox public.

According to the filing, Slam is seeking to raise up to $575 million with the sale of stock and warrants at $10 per share.

SPACs have been all the rage since last year as the COVID-19 pandemic upended the traditional IPO roadshow. According to data from SPAC Insider, 248 blank-check companies raised $83 billion in 2020, while 118 SPACs had raised $35 billion so far in 2021.

Even former Trump administration officials are launching one: Wilbur Ross, the former commerce secretary, is heading a new SPAC with Larry Kudlow as a director.

Slam will trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol SLAM once the deal is completed, the filing said.

Read more: Investors are flocking to trade Dogecoin and other hot digital tokens on Voyager, a platform with no Robinhood-style restrictions. Its CEO says Bitcoin will hit $100,000 this year – and shares 3 other cryptocurrencies to watch.

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Business

GameStop shares slide below $90 as Reddit rout continues and investors lose billions

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GameStop’s stock price gyrated in early trading on Wednesday, briefly sliding below $90 as shares in the video game retailer continued to lose altitude after a spectacular rally over the last week. The dip suggests that the popular WallStreetBets Reddit stock market discussion board that has helped drive the run-up may be losing its magic to move the market.

The GameStop tumble followed a large reduction in short interest on the stock, which measures how many of the company’s shares have been borrowed to sell. Many had pointed to that previously high level of short interest, and the fact that hedge funds and others betting against the video game retailer had been squeezed, as a reason GameStop’s shares had soared.

GameStop shares were trading at $93.12, up 3%, as of 10:25 a.m. Eastern time. The stock price had been as high as $483 only last Thursday — a plunge of more than 80% in less than a week.

“These things can last longer than people expect, but when they unwind they can unwind pretty fast,” said Ross Mayfield, investment strategist at Baird. “When it’s complete speculation mania and gambling, someone is going to be left holding the bag.”


GameStop, Reddit and the Battle of Wall Stree…

04:22

The drop in GameStop shares, which fell 60% on Tuesday alone, could result in significant losses for some of the individual investors who had ridden the positive stock market suggestions posted on WallStreetBets. The forum has soared in popularity in the past week, swelling to 8 million members. GameStop’s shares hit an all-time high of $483 on Thursday amid social media chants of buy, buy, buy. 

Since then, GameStop’s 81% stock-price dive has erased nearly $29 billion in the company’s stock-market value, which at its height last week was $35 billion. On Tuesday that stock market value, or market capitalization, sank to $6.3 billion.

The share prices of other companies that have gotten boosterish mentions in WallStreetBets have suffered steep drops as well. Shares of movie theater chain AMC Entertainment fell 40% on Tuesday to just under $8 each. That stock had been as high as $20 last week. BlackBerry’s shares, which had climbed to $28 last week, tumbled 21% on Tuesday to $11.50, while Koss slid 43%.

The acting chairwoman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Allison Herren Lee, told NPR on Monday that the stock market regulator is looking into different aspects of the sudden rise in GameStop shares, including whether brokers acted appropriately and whether there had been any market manipulation. She also warned against companies trying to raise money by selling shares at prices that seemed to be inflated by social media driven traders and were not sustainable.

CBS MoneyWatch reported on Monday that the moderators of the WallStreetBets discussion board had recently detected a “large amount” of bot activity in the stock-recommendation content being posted to its group.


Robinhood resumes limited trading of GameStop…

15:02

Naked Brand Group, which sells intimate apparel for both men and woman, on Monday announced it had sold more than 29 million shares in a follow-on offering at $1.70 each, raising $50 million for the company. The company, which is based in Auckland, New Zealand, is in the process of closing all of its stores in favor of online sales.

Naked Brand’s shares had traded for as little as 7 cents each as recently as November. In its offering document, filed with the SEC, the company said its stock price had experienced “extreme volatility” in recent weeks. It said the price swings appeared to be driven by social media chatter as well as “short interest” in the company, as well as other factors.

On Tuesday, shares of Naked Brand fell to 91 cents each, a 45% drop from Monday’s offering price. A spokesman for Naked Brand did not return a request from CBS MoneyWatch for comment.

—The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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