Technologies

Elon Musk says Tesla will move headquarters to Texas

The Tesla CEO has been focusing more on operations in Texas for both the automaker and his space exploration company, SpaceX.

Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk has announced plans to move the electric-car maker’s corporate HQ from California to Texas.

«I’m excited to announce that we’re moving our headquarters to Austin, Texas,» Musk said Thursday during a shareholders meeting. The carmaker is currently based in Palo Alto, California.

«Just to be clear, we will be continuing to expand our activities in California,» he said. «This isn’t a matter of Tesla leaving California.»

Musk said in December that he’d personally move to Texas and also tweeted in May 2020 that he’d be moving Tesla’s headquarters to Texas or Nevada «immediately.»

Musk began developing a Tesla gigafactory in Texas in the summer 2020, and the state is also one of the locations for operations by SpaceX, another of Musk’s companies. Musk has pressed engineers, technicians and builders interested in working for the spacerocket builder to relocate to Texas. «Please consider moving to Starbase or greater Brownsville/South Padre area in Texas and encourage friends to do so!» Musk tweeted in March.

The move comes on the heels of a series of clashes with Alameda County officials last year over the forced shutdown of Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California, over concerns for worker safety. Musk eventually ignored the order and reopened the factory after downplaying the severity of the pandemic, daring officials to arrest him. No arrests were made, but Musk did tweet that Tesla would be suing the county for «acting contrary to… our Constitutional freedoms and just plain common sense.»

Tesla isn’t the only tech powerhouse attracted to the Lone Star State. Business software and services company Oracle said in December it’s changing its corporate headquarters from the Silicon Valley area to Austin to provide its workers «with more flexibility about where and how they work.» Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, a descendant of the pioneering Silicon Valley company, said in 2020 that it’s moving its headquarters from San Jose, California, to Houston.

Tesla could immediately be reached for comment, as the company dissolved its public relations department last year.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Friday, Oct. 31

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Oct. 31.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Happy Halloween! Today’s NYT Mini Crossword features the word «BOO!» in a square on the last line of the grid. That’s not just a Halloween greeting, it’s part of the answer that spans both 9-Across and 10-Across, so read the answers to both those with the «boo» in the middle to solve it. And then, the puzzle-makers use that «BOO!» again, to help make the answer to 3-Down. Read on for all the answers, complete with added boos. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Buffalo hockey player
Answer: SABRE

6A clue: «I’ll have the ___» (frequent customer’s order)
Answer: USUAL

7A clue: Contents of a volcano
Answer: MAGMA

8A clue: Adjust to a new environment
Answer: ADAPT

9A clue: With 10-Across, last car on a train
Answer: CA

10A clue: See 9-Across
Answer: SE

(The «Boo!» shown in the grid helps make the word CABOOSE)

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: «Poison» shrub
Answer: SUMAC

2D clue: Carne ___
Answer: ASADA

3D clue: Imaginary cause of fear
Answer: BUGA

(The «Boo!» shown in the grid helps make the word BUGABOO)

4D clue: Accessible alternatives to staircases
Answer: RAMPS

5D clue: Make extremely happy
Answer: ELATE

Technologies

Live-Action ‘Call of Duty’ Movie Reportedly Being Co-Written by Taylor Sheridan

The Yellowstone co-creator will reportedly team up with Peter Berg on the Paramount film.

Yellowstone, Landman and, now, Call of Duty. Taylor Sheridan, co-creator of the aforementioned hit shows, will co-write Paramount and Activision’s upcoming live-action video game adaptation, according to a report from Variety on Thursday.

Peter Berg will also co-write and direct the movie, which was announced last month. Berg previously directed films including 2018’s Mile 22, 2012’s Battleship and 2013’s Lone Survivor, while Sheridan’s movie credits include 2016’s Hell or High Water and 2017’s Wind River. Berg, Sheridan and David Glasser will produce the Call of Duty film.

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Call of Duty is a first-person shooter military video game series that debuted in 2003. CNET senior writer David Lumb calls it «arguably the biggest shooter franchise in gaming, with millions of players picking up every year’s new entry to the series.»

Lumb said the franchise is known for its bombastic single-player campaigns, which feature globe-spanning plots that rival those of the Mission Impossible films. «A Call of Duty movie has a lot of material to draw from,» Lumb said.

He also noted that Berg’s direction of Lone Survivor would fit the grim military heroism of Call of Duty, while Taylor Sheridan’s spate of neo-Western films and shows could lend a frontier adventurism to the film.

«Their collective works seemingly harmonize with the jingoistic pro-military tune of Activision’s shooter franchise — which is probably a good thing for Call of Duty fans,» Lumb concluded.

A release announcing Paramount and Activision’s film deal teased that it’ll be «designed to thrill its massive global fan base by delivering on the hallmarks of what fans love about the iconic series, while boldly expanding the franchise to entirely new audiences.» It didn’t include cast or plot information.

The update follows recent news that Sheridan is leaving Paramount for NBCUniversal. Paramount did not immediately respond to a request for comment.