This is one of the best reasons to start a startup: Because no mainstream company believes in the product category yet, and you know that the product category needs to become huge in order for civilization to advance in the direction of self-sustaining and space-faring.
This is why I started a computer eyewear company http://epiphanyeyewear.com (before Google Glass!). I have spoken with the world experts on Volumetric 3D display tech (such as the amazing Dr. Kurt Akeley of Lytro), and it is evident that a display as realistic as physical reality can be built with today's technology. I am determined to make this happen, and I know it will revolutionize education, human augmentation, and also energy-independence (we will have to construct and transport fewer physical things when we live in a virtual world).
Thanks! 2nd generation "in the lab" does video out, but in our user testing, video recording/sharing/streaming has been the main use case, and since manufacturing is always very very involved, we think the sane thing to do is to ship MVP hardware with really slick software, then scale our customer base, before shipping more hardware features later.
It'll be awesome if you can do HDMI video on that nice variable shading sunglasses platform. Looking forward to 2nd-gen. Is there a mailing list I can sign up for?
Yes, there is a livestreaming feature! You need to connect the glasses to a compatible tablet over USB, and then you can livestream from the glasses through the tablet to our social site https://yougen.tv, or to your Facebook wall (!), or to third-party apps.
Whether he founded it or just funded it the basic premise of what he says is true: We can't expect science and technology to advance if we rely on companies whose very business model depends on the status quo remaining as it is.
Never knew about this! I dislike how history gets rewritten in ways that benefit those with power and influence like this, so I really appreciate you having put together these links for us.
Agreed what is impressive to me is that history gets rewritten in front of our very eyes. I was a fan of the Tesla Roadster since the beginning. the Tesla company blog was written by Eberard himself.
And all of the suden everything changed lawsuits and confidentiality agreements and PR firms are trying to rewrite history.
But there is plenty of people that was alive when the company started.
That so-called history is just wrong. First, Wikipedia is not a primary source. Martin Eberard is a primary source and he says that Elon Musk is a co-founder. The last time I checked there is no rule that says you can't be co-founder and investor at the same time.
Also your link doesn't even state that JB as a co-founder which is just ridiculous.
"After persuading Marc Tarpenning, a software jockey and Eberhard's business partner in his previous companies, to join him, they INCORPORATED Tesla Motors in JULY 2003."
"It took Eberhard and Ian Wright,VP of vehicle development, only two hours during a February 2004 meeting to get Musk onboard."
X.com merged with Confinity. Only after the merger did the resulting company name itself PayPal. One can reasonably call all of the founders of X.com and all of the founders of Confinity "founders of PayPal".
Musk is a co-founder and currently head of product design at Tesla Motors. He oversaw development of the Tesla Roadster ( their first product ). Musk's interest in electric vehicles extends long before the creation of Tesla.
Musk began by hiring Martin Eberhard as CEO and a management team and provided almost all of the capital for Tesla's first two funding rounds, giving him a controlling interest from the start. As a result of the financial crisis in 2008 and a forced layoff at Tesla,[28] Musk was forced to assume the additional responsibility of CEO.
Wikipedia also states Tesla was founded 2003.
In 2003, two independent teams, consisting of Martin Eberhard, Marc Tarpenning and Ian Wright on the one hand, and Musk and JB Straubel on the other, both sought to commercialize the T-Zero prototype electric sports car created by AC Propulsion.
Tom Gage, the president of AC Propulsion, suggested that the two teams join forces to maximize the chances of success. They agreed to merge their efforts, with Musk becoming chairman and overall head of product design, Eberhard becoming CEO and Straubel becoming CTO.
-
I personally think he rightfully deserves all the credit given to him now. Electric cars are not a new invention the commercialization of them is new and also a unique success in this field.
"After persuading Marc Tarpenning, a software jockey and Eberhard's business partner in his previous companies, to join him, they INCORPORATED Tesla Motors in JULY 2003."
"It took Eberhard and Ian Wright,VP of vehicle development, only two hours during a FEBRUARY 2004 meeting to get Musk onboard."
CNN Money: Tesla's wild ride
http://cnnmoney.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?expire=-1&...
Going where nobody else will and slogging through the swamp of sorrow to come out the other side clean can be an amazing strategy... if it pans out.
If it works out you look like a hero, if it doesn't you look like a fool.
I look at it as picking the mountain you want to climb. You can't climb every mountain at once. Some are taller than others, some might have amazing views at the top, or gold hidden inside, and some have bears that will eat you alive. Most importantly, you can't climb two mountains at once and it takes time to get down off of one mountain to climb the next.
Elon Musk is pretty good at picking mountains to climb, but he also has the resources to climb them and the will do to so. He reminds me a lot of Richard Branson or Donald Trump. When you have ambition, talent, and capital you can make a lot happen.
This is why I started a computer eyewear company http://epiphanyeyewear.com (before Google Glass!). I have spoken with the world experts on Volumetric 3D display tech (such as the amazing Dr. Kurt Akeley of Lytro), and it is evident that a display as realistic as physical reality can be built with today's technology. I am determined to make this happen, and I know it will revolutionize education, human augmentation, and also energy-independence (we will have to construct and transport fewer physical things when we live in a virtual world).