Elon Musk’s brother buys Intel’s fireworks-replacing drone biz

As Intel tries to enact an ambitious comeback plan, the semiconductor giant has been offloading some divisions that aren't key to its core chipmaking business. The latest to get shunted off is the company's PR-friendly drone-powered light-show business, and the buyer is… Elon Musk's brother. Yes, that's right: Kimbal Musk has …

[DS999]

Drone shows have seen an uptick in the US

Because of how severe the drought is out west, where they've had to cancel fireworks shows due to the risk of wildfires.

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: Drone shows have seen an uptick in the US

Yeah, there's a slightly smaller chance of burning Lithium batteries falling from the sky :-)

[Anonymous Coward]

Pity I'm too young to retire...

"They are equipped with the best hardware and software ever created"

Well, the rest of us engineers might as well just give up then? It appears the word "yet" is sadly under-used these days.....

[TeeCee]

Re: Pity I'm too young to retire...

More to the point, these supercomputers must be a right waste of money if you can run better software on an Intel drone.

Not just hype but bullshit too.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Pity I'm too young to retire...

I think there might be a caveat with "existing at the moment".

Which in typical business fashion likely glosses over some inconvenient facts; i'd suspect that if you looked you'd find a situation along the lines of:-

A) The batteries on all the drones need replacing in the next 2 years, but the drones built in such a way that means that it's nigh on impossible without replacing the entire drone, or;

B) A competitor has a better version in the pipeline that their business doesn't have any response to.

Solution: sell the company to somebody willing to pay more than the management thinks it's worth who doesn't bother doing any due diligence checking before the company value collapses.

[Claverhouse]

Strange Times

Krzanich, Intel's sixth CEO, was forced out by the company's board in 2018 for having a "past consensual relationship" with an employee.

.

The New Puritanism gallops ahead in all directions to encompass all of time and space.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Strange Times

Regardless of your view of the relationship, I believe it was against company rules, which the CEO is in charge of. If the boss breaks the rules, then the boss has to go, either voluntarily or otherwise. If the boss stays, it's one rule for the boss, a different rule for everyone else, which is not how the world should work.

[TonyJ]

Re: Strange Times

"...If the boss stays, it's one rule for the boss, a different rule for everyone else, which is not how the world should work..."

It's not how government should work either, and yet...

[Spazturtle]

Re: Strange Times

Companies should have no legal power to dictate who you can or cannot have a romantic relationship with in the first place.

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: Strange Times

In most, probably the vast majority of case, yes. But you have to be careful of "vested interests" so as not to be accused of favouritism etc. It doesn't look good if the person shagging with the boss suddenly gets promoted ahead of better candidates or an unexpected pay rise.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Strange Times

It's to prevent corrupt power relationships inside the company - so usually applicable to staff with significant power as managers.

The British PM is a great example - how much has his Mrs been shaping policy? And who elected her?

[Anonymous Coward]

That's exactly the kind of company I'd buy, if I was a meglomaniacal evil genius with plans to attach laser beams to AI-powered murder-drones and use them to seize power tbh

[Anonymous Coward]

As someone else speculated, could be the batteries are getting old. In which case the drones are well suited to going out in a blaze of glory (LiPo batteries make great incendiaries).