Tom walton

Investor | Entrepreneur | Family man | Building businesses, supporting communities, and creating lasting impact.

[Tom walton @Tomwaltt]

Your name is an asset. Protect it with the same discipline you use to protect your finances.

[Tom walton @Tomwaltt]

Different ideas sharpen your own thinking.

[Tom walton @Tomwaltt]

Wisdom often begins with understanding before responding.

[Tom walton @Tomwaltt]

The best decisions often take years to prove their value.

[Cointelegraph @Cointelegraph]

🤖 JUST IN: OpenAI says the top 10% of enterprises use plugins twice as often and skills six times as often as typical firms.

[Cointelegraph @Cointelegraph]

🇺🇸 JUST IN: The CFTC will discuss crypto regulation, AI agents and prediction markets at its inaugural Innovation Advisory Committee meeting on Aug. 20.

[Cointelegraph @Cointelegraph]

⚡️ JUST IN: KPMG U.S issues Tether the largest inaugural financial audit in its history.

Every gold bar was physically counted, with reserves exceeding liabilities by $6.814 billion.

[Cointelegraph @Cointelegraph]

🚨 LATEST: The Blockchain Association has backed Custodia Bank’s Supreme Court bid for direct access to the Federal Reserve’s payment system.

https://t.co/W0Nmfuto85

[Cointelegraph @Cointelegraph]

⚡️ NEW: A single Powerball ticket sold in Illinois won Wednesday’s $1 billion jackpot, payable as a 29-year annuity or a $450.5 million lump sum.

What would you choose?

[Cointelegraph @Cointelegraph]

🎙️ "I don't think DeFi exists anymore outside of very small niches."

@rkbaggs sat down with @AndreCronjeTech, founder of @flyingtulip_, to talk about the evolution of DeFi and how immutability has gone from a feature to a bug.

#CHAINREACTION

[Chuck Cook @ChuckCook]

Unsupervised!

[Chuck Cook @ChuckCook]

So my first impression of my @robotaxi unsupervised experience in ATX today.

I was picked up at the Westin downtown. Initial wait was estimated at 4 mins. The pin was right out front of my hotel so I was hopeful. But what actually happened is that the @Robotaxi couldn't find a spot to pull over and pick me up. After 10 minutes of looping a two block loop around the hotel, I decided to move the pin because it couldn't change spots on its own for some reason.

Once I was in the robotaxi, it was great! Smooth and polished ride in a clean model Y. Drove just like I am familiar with v14. Didn't feel
like anything new that could have been v15. I did get a security email alert on my phone from Spotify asking if a new device was just logged in. Happened on both rides.

Pull over and drop off at La Barbeque was good, just a few feet away on a side street.

Pickup from La Barbeque was in almost the exact same side street spot and was fine.

Getting back on the road wasn't quite as smooth as we were trying to turn left without an arrow at a light that only allowed 3-4 cars through on each green light. It needed to be aggressive and go into the intersection so it could at least continue after the light turned red. It didn't at first, it took three light cycles with us being first in line to finally nudge into the intersection and push through the yellow after the right away traffic passed.

The drive back on the main road again perfect and pleasant.

The drop off back at the Westin exposed the looping problem again. The pin was once again in front of the Westin Downtown and it couldn't find a spot to pull over again. It rerouted to try the same thing three times. With all the lights and traffic this took almost 25 mins before it tried something else. On the fourth try it decided to drop me off at the Courtyard Marriott two and a half blocks away.

While a bit disappointing, none of this surprised me. It felt like my car trying to park in my last first impression video. Terminal maneuvers are just not refined yet. I can understand one pass not working but repeating the same thing over and over felt silly to me. But that is what my car would have done too.

I left detailed feedback in the app and also called support at the end of the drive asking them to flag my drive for analysis. I hope this feedback helps the team.

[Chuck Cook @ChuckCook]

These are the FSD feedback controls I wish we had. I have always wanted to be able to tag, when FSD does an amazing job at something. Especially when it surprises me. This clip was taken out of the video below of a Cybercab found with the door open. First good look like this I have seen of the Cybercab Testing UI.

[James Cat @TSLAFanMtl]

As I do every quarter, I am sharing a line-by-line breakdown of my forecast vs actuals. This quarter was odd because while I only missed the overall revenue number by 1.7% and the overall cost number by 2.2%, they were in opposite directions...so the impact was additive.

Operating expenses also grew more than expected mostly due to the R&D line. R&D grew by +$425M on a QoQ basis - this increase was unusually high.

Adding these up = big miss on the bottom line estimate. No one said forecasting is easy :)

[James Cat @TSLAFanMtl]

Been away for awhile, but I'm back 👋😸.

[James Cat @TSLAFanMtl]

Iran has Trump by the 🍒...and that means gas prices stay high, as does demand for Tesla vehicles.

[James Cat @TSLAFanMtl]

Ok. Well, looking at this strictly from an commercial and financial operations perspective (i.e. I am not discussing impact on $TSLA share price), I think a merger makes a lot of sense. Some very very high-level thoughts:

1. Efficiency

The combined entity would benefit from a lot of efficiencies - in R&D, in talent management, in shared services, etc. No need for 2 different finance departments, HR departments, IT departments, supply planning, demand forecasting, etc.

Tesla and SpaceX engineers and innovative thinkers would more easily share ideas/cross-polinate each other's projects, benefitting both. Tesla and SpaceX are already highly efficient with capital - this will get even better.

2. Scale

The combined entity would have greater purchasing power for raw materials etc and lower both companies' respective costs, boosting profitability and value.

3. Branding & Customer Experience

Merger could mean better customer experience due to better integration and visibility of each company's products, potentially creating a common product ecosystem, and enabling cross-promotion.

I also think both companies would benefit from synergy on branding, awareness, and perceived value from the consumer - which would enable higher pricing power and differentiation for each company's products.

4. Management

Since Elon is managing both companies, he can align both companies' priorities/long-term goals - ensuring that both companies are working towards things that benefit each other. He is already doing this, but having everything under one roof and one management team would make it easier to implement.

[James Cat @TSLAFanMtl]

MEOW. 🥇🐈

[Zack @BLKMDL3]

I really hope I can drive a Model Y L soon- from what I saw in the showroom it seems like an excellent product.

Would love to experience the adaptive suspension and most importantly the new ImmersiveX sound system.

[Zack @BLKMDL3]

You can now get up to $3,500 off a new Tesla in California with the MyFirstEV Incentive!

Eligible Tesla Model 3 and Model Y inventory cars may qualify for up to a $3500 incentive if you are eligible, funds are limited so order now.

Here are the criteria: