On the Christmas Week 2021, we present a snapshot of all that is Tech in Our World as we look forward to the privilege to serve:

SCENE AND HEARD

CRYPTO

CULTURE

Minting Takes Manhattan: An NFT Gallery Sells Millions Even Before the Art Is Made

By Margaux MacColl

The art was worth at least $7 million, and it hadn’t even been created yet.

It was the opening night of non-fungible token artist Tyler Hobbs’ show “Incomplete Control” at the Bright Moments gallery in Soho. The gallery, lit by candles and LCD screens, hosted a crowd of about 100 crypto influencers, venture capitalists and traditional art connoisseurs. They sipped champagne while waiting to see if their tickets were worth it; they had all prepaid anywhere from $120,000 to $400,000 to acquire a Hobbs original.

Throughout the night, each of the ticket holders would be escorted to the elevator (wallpapered with mantras like “you can’t spell culture without cult” and “fear kills growth”) and led to a gray cement basement. Using their own laptop, they’d “mint” their own Hobbs original, spinning the artist’s code into a one-of-a-kind NFT. At around 8:15 p.m., the works of art would be unveiled one by one on screens around the gallery—not just to the buyer, but to the artist as well.

READ THE FULL STORY

ELON VS. EVERYONE

“Tesla Is Not as Cool as It Used to Be”

By Bradley Berman

When Joseph Kwong decided to buy his first electric vehicle in 2014, the choice was a no-brainer. Kwong, chief executive of EVEN Recharge—a startup developing neighborhood EV charging solutions—lives in Fremont, Calif., a few miles away from Tesla’s main factory. He was thrilled to plunk down $83,000 to buy his first Tesla Model S. “I knew that I was overpaying for the car,” he said. “But I believed in EV technology, and I appreciated what Tesla was doing.” Three years later, Kwong re-upped his commitment to Tesla by adding a second Model S to his garage.

However, over the years, Kwong slowly piled up a list of complaints about the cars. The sensor-driven windshield wipers wildly flap when there’s barely a drizzle, but sometimes won’t budge during a deluge. There’s the driver-assist feature that cost him about $5,000 and never worked. And he calls Tesla’s Smart Summon feature “a joke that I wouldn’t trust to use even in an empty parking lot.” He now takes Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s promises for groundbreaking features with an SUV-size grain of salt. “Tesla cars are never really finished and never will be,” Kwong said. “A Tesla is always a beta car.”

So last spring Kwong sold his 2014 Model S and leased a brand-new Volkswagen ID.4 all-electric SUV. He doubts he will buy another Tesla in the future. Among the tech-savvy, early-adopting set in Silicon Valley, he’s not alone.

READ THE FULL STORY