News
Trump’s tech meeting focused on jobs, education, and more
Yesterday’s meeting of the most influential technology leaders and the Trump transition team focused on several topics related to our national economy and its intersection with the technology sector.
YouTube featured a 3-minute or so live stream of Trump’s welcome to his top tier technology guests. The tension was palpable, as many present had not supported a Trump 2016 Presidential bid and now foresee less technology sector spending with Trump in the White House. Moreover, according to Andrew Bartels, a Forrester principal analyst, recent Trump appointments, such as cabinet secretaries, “are explicitly hostile to the mission of their agencies.” With a Trump administration leading the country, Forrester Research has cut back its growth estimate for the U.S. tech market in 2017 to 4.3 percent from 5.1 percent.
The individuals present often held dichotomous views on issues like net neutrality, dissemination of fake news, censorship, and antitrust issues. For example, the president-elect’s vocal stance on immigration, which could limit H1-B skilled worker visas as part of a clampdown on cheaper foreign labor, could create difficulties for companies like Facebook and Microsoft, as a change in their hiring practices would elevate their expenditures and affect their overall profitability.
Conversely, areas of agreement for the group of tech entrepreneurs were corporate tax cuts and repatriation of capital being held abroad, reports CBS News.
One topic at the 90-minute meeting between Trump and the tech CEOs was how to create a U.S. economy with home-grown and high-paying jobs. IBM CEO Ginni Rommety recently wrote an op-ed piece in USA Today discussing their company plans to hire 25,000 people in the U.S. and invest $1 billion over the next four years in “new collar” jobs via employee vocational training. “We are hiring because the nature of work is evolving – and that is also why so many of these jobs remain hard to fill.”
-->That “evolving” workforce demands new training, which was another important topic of conversation at the Trump tech summit. The U.S. workforce will require employees with skills that are relevant to jobs such as cloud computing technicians and services delivery specialists.
This focus on becoming a reflexive workforce was contained in remarks that Jeff Bezos of Amazon later issued. In a statement, he related how he “shared the view that the administration should make innovation one of its key pillars, which would create a huge number of jobs across the whole country, in all sectors, not just tech — agriculture, infrastructure, manufacturing — everywhere.”
That innovation will be crucial to obtain one Trump administration goal of higher pay across U.S. jobs, as the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that the area of highest job creation at the end of 2015 was home health aides, who earn less than $25,000 per year. That barely exceeds the U.S. poverty level for a family of four.
Those present included Elon Musk; Jeff Bezos of Amazon; Tim Cook of
Apple; Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook; Larry Page and Eric Schmidt of Alphabet, Google’s parent company; and Satya Nadella of Microsoft.
“This is a truly amazing group of people,” the president-elect said in a conciliatory gesture. “There’s nobody like you in the world. In the world! There’s nobody like the people in this room.” The tech leaders smiled politely at the president-elect, recognizing that the tech summit could provide a boost to big-cap technology stocks, which have lagged in an otherwise surprisingly robust post-election rally.
-->Future Trump administration quarterly meetings with the select tech leaders will be organized by Mr. Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner.
News
Tesla Model 3 and Model Y named top car buys in Norway
Despite growing competition from European and Korean brands, both models stood out for their balance of price, performance, and everyday usability.
Norway’s annual roundup of the best car purchases featured Tesla’s two main sellers this year, with the Model 3 and Model Y securing top positions in their respective segments.
Despite growing competition from European and Korean brands, both models stood out for their balance of price, performance, and everyday usability. The verdict comes as electric vehicle adoption remained above 95% of new vehicle sales in the country.
Tesla Model 3 strengthens its value position
Among compact EVs, the Tesla Model 3 maintained its position as the best overall buy thanks to its strong blend of performance, efficiency, and updated features. Reviewers noted that every trim offered compelling value, especially with the all-electric sedan’s improved cabin ergonomics and the return of the turn-signal stalk, which was one of the few previous complaints among drivers.
The Model 3’s mix of long-range capability, low operating costs, and responsive handling has continued to set the benchmark for compact EVs in Norway. While competitors from Hyundai, Volkswagen, and Peugeot have narrowed the gap, Tesla’s price-to-capability ratio has remained difficult to beat in this segment, Motor.no reported.
“The Model 3 clearly offers the best value for money in the compact class, no matter which version you choose. Now it also gets the turn signal lever back. This eliminates one of the few flaws in a driving environment that many believe is the best on the market,” the publication wrote.
-->Tesla Model Y claims its crown
The Tesla Model Y emerged as Norway’s top family-car purchase this year. The latest refresh introduced improvements in ride quality, styling, and interior materials, allowing the Model Y to deliver a more premium driving experience without a substantial price increase.
Reviewers praised its spacious cabin, strong safety profile, and practical range, all of which reinforced its appeal for families needing an all-purpose electric crossover. The Model Y remains especially notable given its continued popularity in Norway even as Tesla faces declining sales in other global markets.
“The Model Y is back as the winner in the family class. The upgrade in the new year was even more extensive than expected. It is a slightly more elegant and significantly more comfortable Model Y that solidifies its position as Norway’s best car purchase in the most important class,” the Norwegian motoring publication noted.
News
Tesla Giga Berlin is still ramping production to meet Model Y demand: plant manager
Tesla Gigafactory Berlin has expanded to two full shifts, as per the facility’s plant manager, and a lot of it is due to Model Y demand.
Tesla Gigafactory Berlin has expanded to two full shifts, as per the facility’s plant manager, and a lot of it is due to Model Y demand. While registrations in some countries such as Sweden have fallen sharply this year, the company’s sales in other key territories have been rising.
Giga Berlin shifts to two shifts
Giga Berlin factory manager André Thierig told the DPA that the facility has been running two shifts since September to manage a surge in global orders. And due to the tariff dispute with the United States, vehicles that are produced at Giga Berlin are now being exported to Canada.
“We deliver to well over 30 markets and definitely see a positive trend there,” Thierig said.
Despite Giga Berlin now having two shifts, the facility’s production still needs to ramp up more. This is partly due to the addition of the Tesla Model Y Performance and Standard, which are also being produced in the Grunheide-based factory. Interestingly enough, Giga Berlin still only produces the Model Y, unlike other factories like Gigafactory Texas, the Fremont Factory, and Gigafactory Shanghai, which produce more than one type of vehicle.
Norway’s momentum
Norway, facing an imminent tax increase on cars, has seen a historic spike in Tesla purchases as buyers rush to secure deliveries before the change takes effect, as noted in a CarUp report. As per recent reports, Tesla has broken Norway’s all-time annual sales record this month, beating Volkswagen’s record that has stood since 2016.
-->What is rather remarkable is the fact that Tesla was able to achieve so much in Norway with one hand practically tied behind its back. This is because the company’s biggest sales draw, FSD, remains unavailable in the country. Fortunately, Tesla is currently hard at work attempting to get FSD approved for Europe, a notable milestone that should spur even more vehicle sales in the region.
Tesla is launching a crazy Full Self-Driving free trial, which will enable owners who have not purchased the suite outright to try it for 30 days.
There are a handful of stipulations that will be needed in order for you to qualify for the free trial, which was announced on Thursday night.
Tesla said the trial is for v14, the company’s latest version of the Full Self-Driving suite, and will be available to new and existing Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, and Cybertruck owners, who will have the opportunity to try the latest features, including Speed Profiles, Arrival Options, and other new upgrades.
🚨 Tesla is launching a free 30-day trial of Full Self-Driving in North America for owners.
It includes every model, but you need v14.2 or later, and you cannot have already purchased the suite outright. https://t.co/8CNmxxOkVl
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) November 27, 2025
You must own one of the five Tesla models, have Full Self-Driving v14.2 or later, and have an eligible vehicle in the United States, Puerto Rico, Mexico, or Canada.
The company said it is a non-transferable trial, which is not redeemable for cash. Tesla is reaching out to owners via email to give them the opportunity to enable the Full Self-Driving trial.
Those who are subscribed to the monthly Full Self-Driving program are eligible, so they will essentially get a free month of the suite.
Once it is installed, the trial will begin, and the 30-day countdown will begin.
Tesla is making a major push to increase its Full Self-Driving take rate, as it revealed that about 12 percent of owners are users of the program during its recent earnings call.
Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja said during the call:
“We feel that as people experience the supervised FSD at scale, demand for our vehicles, like Elon said, would increase significantly. On the FSD adoption front, we’ve continued to see decent progress. However, note that the total paid FSD customer base is still small, around 12% of our current fleet.”
Earlier today, we reported on Tesla also launching a small-scale advertising campaign on X for the Full Self-Driving suite, hoping to increase adoption.
Tesla Full Self-Driving warrants huge switch-up on essential company strategy
It appears most people are pretty content with the subscription program. It costs just $99 a month, in comparison to the $8,000 fee it is for the outright purchase.
Tesla Model 3 and Model Y named top car buys in Norway
Tesla Giga Berlin is still ramping production to meet Model Y demand: plant manager
