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Verne Troyer just got a Tesla Model S for Kids and says it’s a beast

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Among the Tesla-related merchandise that has been released over the years, very few could compete with Radio Flyer’s Tesla Model S for Kids. The electric miniature vehicle has been a hit among Tesla enthusiasts, mainly due to its features and its similarity to the actual Model S. Just recently, Verne Troyer, one of Hollywood and YouTube’s beloved stars, shared a video of himself unboxing and test driving the ridiculously cool miniature car. Needless to say, it was pretty epic.

Verne Troyer has made a name for himself by starring in several successful film franchises such as “Austin Powers,” where he played the part of Mini-Me in “The Spy Who Shagged Me.” He also played Griphook the Goblin in the blockbuster film “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” Troyer has since appeared in many movies and TV shows, though currently, the Hollywood star has been busy maintaining his YouTube channel for his almost 400,000 subscribers, where his trademark wit and humor became his brand.

Troyer’s recent Model S for Kids video featured all of the humorous antics his social media followers have come to expect from the Hollywood veteran. At the start of the video, Troyer, who stands at 2-feet-8-inches, remarked that the miniature EV’s box was far too huge and heavy for him to move. Not long after, Troyer began his “unboxing” of the Model S for Kids, where he gave a surprisingly complete rundown of the miniature vehicle’s features.

During the course of the video, Troyer showed off the miniature car’s frunk, Tesla-branded charger, and its battery pack. The Austin Powers star also took special notice of the Model S for Kids’ dual power mode, which allows users to select between a low-speed setting that goes 2.5 – 3.0 mph and a high-speed mode that manages 5.5 – 6.0 mph.

True to his witty nature, Troyer selected the miniature vehicle’s high-speed mode, telling the camera that he was a “Speed Demon.” He then began a quick demonstration of the car’s performance, showing off its acceleration and drifting capabilities. By the end of the video, Troyer could be seen driving away on his miniature Tesla, giving the cameraman the same salute he gave as Mini-Me way back in “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.”

Overall, Troyer’s recent YouTube video has been a huge hit, gaining thousands of likes and hundreds of positive comments soon after it was uploaded. In the r/TeslaMotors subreddit alone, hundreds of Tesla enthusiasts thanked the Hollywood star for his light-hearted, feel-good YouTube video. Some even encouraged Troyer to put several modifications to his miniature car, such as rubber wheels and an upgraded electric motor.

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The Tesla Model S for Kids is arguably one of the most interesting pieces of merchandise that are affiliated with the iconic electric car maker. The miniature vehicle is fully featured with functioning lights, an audio aux system, a functioning frunk, and a charging system that is an impeccable replica of the one found in the full-sized Model S. Recently, Radio Flyer, the company which manufactures the vehicle, even released an updated version of the mini electric car, featuring the Model S’ facelifted design.

The Model S for Kids is currently available at Tesla’s online store for a pretty reasonable price of $499.00. 

Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

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Tesla Cybertruck targets job site crews with new Tailgate Utility Track and Bed Gear Box accessory

Tesla launched a $350 tailgate track and a $985 lockable Bed Gear Box for Cybertruck.

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Tesla Cybertruck construction site

Tesla’s Cybertruck team added two more items to the Tesla Shop, targeting job site crews and owners who use the truck bed for actual work rather than just showing it off. The official Cybertruck X account posted the Tailgate Utility Track and the Bed Gear Box within minutes of each other, part of a five item batch that also included a reflective jacket, a spray paint hat and an updated reflective tee.

The Tailgate Utility Track runs $350 and turns the folded down tailgate into another mounting surface. It’s a single aluminum track with a T-slot for sliding accessories and two L-track attachment points, plus two load stops included in the box. The pitch is straightforward: strap down oversized cargo, like lumber or a cooler, that hangs off the back of the bed without it sliding out mid-drive. It bolts onto the existing tailgate and works on every Cybertruck trim.

The Bed Gear Box costs $985 and is a different kind of accessory. It’s a lockable aluminum storage box, 55.78 inches long, 19.8 inches wide and 7.79 inches tall, that mounts to the bed’s L-track rails and comes with two internal bins for smaller items. According to Tesla, at just over 57 pounds empty, it’s meant to stay in place rather than come in and out with each trip, giving owners a factory-fit alternative to loose totes for tools, recovery gear or emergency supplies. Tesla’s listing notes that Long Range and Dual Motor AWD Cybertrucks need the L-Tracks accessory installed separately before the Gear Box will mount, since L-tracks come standard only on certain configurations.

Tesla Cybertruck bed gear box accessory

Tesla Cybertruck bed gear box accessory

Both accessories lean on the idea Tesla has been building toward since Elon Musk first described the Cybertruck’s third-party attachment strategy at the 2023 shareholder meeting, when he said the truck would ship with mounting points so outside companies, and Tesla itself, could keep adding gear without redesigning the bed. That’s the same L-track backbone underneath the tailgate shield and jumpseats Tesla launched last year, and the off-road armor package that arrived through the same X account in 2025.

Owners looking to round out the rest of the L-track ecosystem, cargo dividers, MOLLE panels, bed racks and similar gear, can find a wider range of options through our Cybertruck accessories collection.

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Elon Musk says he knows how to save Earth for a billion years

Elon Musk says sentient AI satellites launched from the Moon could keep Earth livable forever.

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Elon Musk spent part of his weekend describing a plan to keep the planet livable for roughly a billion years, and it starts with satellites that can think for themselves.

In a post on X, Musk argued that swapping fossil fuels for solar and wind power will not be enough to protect humanity from what he called extremely severe extinction events, the kind that occur roughly every 100 million years. His fix is what he called sentient satellites, or solar-powered satellites, controlled by AI, that would sit in a fixed spot between Earth and the Sun after being launched off the Moon using a giant electromagnetic catapult instead of rockets.

The satellites’ onboard AI would make continuous, small adjustments rather than waiting on human instructions. The mass driver is Musk’s proposed way of getting the raw material there cheaply by using an electromagnetic launch track built on the Moon, where lower gravity and no atmosphere make it far easier to fling cargo into space than it is from Earth.

Musk shared a Grok generated estimate suggesting roughly 5 percent of Florida’s land, or about 1.68 million acres, could face regular flooding by 2070 under a high sea level rise scenario, and said humanity has about 50 years to act before coastal living looks very different than it does today.

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This is not the first time Musk has floated the idea. He raised a similar concept in November, describing a solar powered AI satellite constellation that could make tiny adjustments to incoming sunlight to fine tune Earth’s temperature. Musk has also tied planetary risk to his broader vision at SpaceX, where his compensation package is explicitly linked to establishing a self-sustaining Mars colony, one he has described as an insurance policy against the kind of extinction event he referenced this weekend, and where he has said humans could set foot within five to seven years.

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Police sergeant recounts his Neuralink journey with Elon Musk’s brain chip

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A former Vancouver police sergeant with ALS accounts his journey to become a patient for Elon Musk’s Neuralink wireless brain-computer interface technology.

“I’m texting you from my brain right now.” That was the first message Lee Marten sent after waking up from Neuralink surgery, five hours and one migraine after dozens of threads were stitched into his motor cortex.

Marten, a former Vancouver police sergeant, is one of the first Canadian ALS patients to receive Neuralink’s N1 brain implant, and the 26th recipient overall. He tells his story in a first-person account published by Maclean’s.

Marten recounts how he was a healthy, athletic Vancouver police sergeant until April 2022 when symptoms of muscle twitching and balance loss, were followed by a bad fall that broke his leg. He would eventually be diagnosed with ALS in early 2025 at the age of 47. ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a fatal neurodegenerative disease that progressively destroys the motor neurons controlling voluntary muscle movement, eventually taking away a patient’s ability to walk, speak, swallow and breathe. There’s no cure, and most patients live two to five years after diagnosis.

He describes the devastation of the diagnosis and how he began preparing for it while connecting with other young ALS patients through a WhatsApp group called Young Guns. Through that group he learned about a Neuralink clinical trial at Toronto Western Hospital and, after a roughly seven-month vetting process (physical assessments, psychiatric evaluation, a final interview with the Neuralink team), was accepted this past April as the trial’s 26th recipient and the first Canadian ALS patient to get the N1 implant. He recounts the May surgery in detail, including the robotic system that stitched 64 threads into his brain, and describes the app, Link, translating his neural signals into cursor control, which he was using within hours of waking up.

Marten walks through what daily use looks like, including weekly “brain training” exercises, a real-time neural-activity display, charging the implant via a beanie-mounted MagSafe charger, and using the implant for emailing, texting, social media, and gaming via a “Magic Box” that connects it to other devices. He also gives brief context on brain-computer interface history and quite candid about Musk, calling him “divisive” but saying he found him “easy to admire.

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The piece closes on a heavier note, with Marten seeking to pursue medical assistance in dying as his symptoms progressed, noting that he’ll be able to communicate his final words to his family through Neuralink rather than facing a silent decline. He expresses hope the data from his case will help future ALS patients, even without a cure in his own lifetime.

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