Azzie's Blog

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  • My Smart Home and Home Assistant Configuration

    My smart home has various devices within my local network. For the most part, I try to keep my devices as local and offline as possible, accessible only via my local network and through digital smart assistants with online devices on my network. I try to avoid purchasing devices that require internet access to operate correctly.

    This post is divided into several sections for different types of connectivity. These are primarily Cloud, Matter, Zigbee, and Bluetooth.

    Cloud

    The worst of the bunch are the devices that require internet connectivity to interact with and the ability to reach external cloud services and have limited functionality without it and can expose security vulnerabilities. They tend to require proprietary applications to interact with them, and the cloud services can occasionally go down or be discontinued, rendering the devices useless.

    • Smart Speakers
    • Smart Phones
    • Smart Watches
    • Smart Televisions
    • Computers
    • Doorbells and Video Cameras
    • Robot Vacuum Cleaners
    • Hydroponics

    Smart speakers typically have internet connectivity and are always listening for a wake word that triggers further verbal interactions. I personally use the Amazon Alexa ecosystem as my primary smart speaker setup. While there are some local-based Smart Speakers, Alexa functions well for the most part. I have several Echo Dots that I use to control the various devices on my network, set timers and alarms, some notifications and reminders, and currently have Alexa Plus for AI interactions as well.

    Most modern smartphones tend to come with smart assistants with wake words, in my case Gemini and occasionally Google Assistant. While presently, Google Assistant is still utilized on Android Auto, Gemini has recently been integrated with my Google TV Streamer television. From past experience, I have avoided dedicated Google Home / Nest devices with wake words as they would share the wake work with my smartphone and sometimes trigger back and forth conversations with itself across devices. The Google TV Streamer is internet connected but doesn’t support wake words and can be interacted with via a dedicated Voice Assistant button on the remote. The Google TV Streamer and my Google Pixel are both in the Google ecosystem but can be interacted with in various ways with Home Assistant, such as automations for when I am watching or listening to media, or trigger automations when I am home or away. My Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 also supports Google Assistant and possibly Google Gemini with some firmware updates, or Bixby which I never utilized as I do not use Samsung SmartThings ecosystem.

    My Hisense television is intended to be internet connected and comes with Roku firmware. Due to privacy concerns with smart televisions, I do not connect it to the internet and use it solely offline, with my Google TV Streamer and my Asus ROG Ally handheld device running Windows docked to it. Occasionally, I will update its firmware via USB, but for the most part, I do not use the Roku ecosystem and utilize its features solely offline.

    My Asus ROG Ally and Lenovo ThinkPad devices currently both run Windows. I occasionally will interact with them locally on my network via Sunshine and Moonlight which use the Nvidia streaming protocol that works well for gaming over a network, as well as RDP. I have some Home Assistant integrations that let me interface with my Windows devices over MQTT messages, such as to control the power states of my devices.

    My Home Assistant instance runs on a virtual machine on Proxmox on my Intel NUC. I have several VMs on the NUC, but in terms of my smart home, the Home Assistant Operating System is absolutely the most prominent to mention. The various I/O including the built-in Bluetooth, ethernet, and USB ports allow for a reliable smart home configuration.

    My Doorbell can be interacted with relatively offline, with some connections performed through third-party HACS (Home Assistant Community Store) integrations, but functionality like answering the doorbell remotely requires internet connectivity and a proprietary mobile application, though some ecosystems like Google Home and Amazon Alexa may support some interactions. I have a video camera through the same manufacturer which does support completely offline local communication via ONVIF similar to the doorbell but can interface with voice calls and one-way video calls similar to the doorbell when over a stable internet connection. My Robot Vacuum has some Matter support (discussed below) but requires internet connectivity to configure the device initially, and handle room mapping and some interactions as well as firmware updates. This particular robot vacuum does not have any cameras, unlike many other robot vacuum cleaners which have major security risks from online intruders and critical vulnerabilities. All three of these devices can be controlled at limited capacity locally through Home Assistant with the third-party integration, as well as online through an official integration.

    The absolute worst of the bunch is my hydroponics system, which for all interactions (other than a few basic power controls via physical buttons), interfaces directly cloud services for all interactions. It cannot connect to Amazon Alexa or Google Home ecosystems, and the only reason it has a Home Assistant integration at all is because the proprietary mobile application has the API endpoints and interactions exposed when it is reverse engineered. The manufacturer refuses to allow local control via websockets or REST requests, and while it runs on an ESP32 Espressif chip, there hasn’t been enough demand for anyone to write or flash custom firmware to allow for local control of the device for power states or timers and alerts. There are other smart hydroponic systems that have similar functionality but are in other ecosystems, but for the time being, the device lives isolated on my network in a VLAN. All major controls of my device are available via the Home Assistant integration, so I do not have the proprietary application installed on my smartphone.

    Matter

    To avoid as much online interaction as possible, a major form of connectivity I use is Matter, a newer technology that standardizes connections over Wi-Fi as well as Thread. While I do have a Thread Border Router built into my Google TV Streamer, I don’t actively use it as I do not have any devices that support Thread or Matter over Thread. Therefore, all my Matter devices are connected via Wi-Fi.

    • Matter-supported A29 lightbulbs
    • Matter-supported smart plugs
    • Matter-supported robot vacuum cleaner

    The lightbulbs are multicolor, and the brightness can be adjusted. The plugs do not have energy tracking but are generally convenient. The bulbs automatically turn on when their lamps are plugged in, which means in the event of a power outage, they are turned on. The plugs are configured to return to their last state after a power outage. Unfortunately, the plugs change their MAC addresses each time they are plugged in, which tend to make them difficult to keep track of on the Wi-Fi network. The vacuum unfortunately depends on a manufacturer-supported application but can be added to Matter fabrics through the application. As of the time of this writing, only the Home Assistant and Amazon Alexa matter fabrics support Matter 1.2 which allow for robot vacuum cleaners. Google Home is in the process of expanding support and claims to have app-only support for control, with Google Assistant / Gemini to follow soon but I have yet to see it function as intended.

    All of my Matter devices are on a ‘fabric’ initiated via the Home Assistant app and my Android phone, which creates a separate fabric from Google Home. After I add the devices to Home Assistant, I remove the Android phone Matter fabric and then add it to the Amazon Alexa and Google Home fabrics. Fabrics are the networks that Matter devices can be controlled across. This means that if an online Amazon Alexa device such as the Echo lineup or Google devices like the Google TV Streamer are on the network, they can control the devices via those services online, routed through the fabric. Matter-enabled devices don’t require connecting to external cloud services for control. While the devices typically can only operate on 2.4ghz networks, they also require IPv6 to be enabled.

    Matter typically allows for manufacturers to serve firmware updates through fabrics.

    Zigbee

    Having a Zigbee coordinator connected to my Intel NUC host of my Home Assistant installation allows for controlling over a Zigbee network. These are low-power devices that don’t depend on other forms of connectivity like Wi-Fi or Bluetooth and can be controlled by Home Assistant automations and such as long as the gateway is connected. They tend to run off batteries and can usually last for many months without replacements.

    The Zigbee2MQTT addon for Home Assistant allows for messaging with Zigbee devices and the rest of Home Assistant efficiently, though the Zigbee Home Automation (ZHA) addon is available as an option as well. I tend to have a more stable experience with Zigbee2MQTT.

    • Zigbee-enabled smart switches for toggle-rocker switches
    • Zigbee-enabled motion sensor
    • Zigbee-enabled vibration sensor

    The Zigbee devices require a gateway or coordinator in order to be controlled, though some devices can also act as Zigbee routers to improve a mesh network. I don’t believe any of my devices currently have support as routers. Due to the fact that I only have a Zigbee coordinator connected to my Home Assistant host device, I cannot directly control the devices through Amazon Alexa or Google Home, as I do not have any devices that act as coordinators on those networks such as the Echo Plus or Google Nest Hub. In order to get around this, I use a middleware tool for Home Assistant called Home Assistant Matter Hub to serve device entities over the Matter protocol over my network. Thus, my Zigbee-enabled smart switches are served to the Google Home and Amazon Alexa Matter fabrics as simulated Matter devices. Amazon Alexa has been having issues with newer releases, so I use a slightly older but stable release of Matter Hub.

    The motion sensor and vibration sensors are only connected to Home Assistant and are used with automations. The motion sensor will turn on some lights in certain areas during certain times. The vibration sensor has a pair of automations where one tells Home Assistant that my non-connected laundry machine has started running, and a second one tells it that the laundry has completed a cycle, triggering push notifications to my phone as well as verbal alerts via Amazon Alexa devices.

    Bluetooth

    Some of my Bluetooth devices operate with standard Bluetooth protocols, while most utilize BLE, also known as Bluetooth Low Energy, which is a modern form of the Bluetooth protocol that is energy-efficient but also extremely convenient.

    Most of my Bluetooth devices are battery powered, though a few are plugged in.

    • BLE generic LED strips
    • BLE Finger-Bot devices
    • BLE Trackers
    • Shelly Blu Button
    • Smart Fitness Scale
    • Smart Watches
    • Remotes and Game Controllers

    The LED strips are typically low cost and were included with furniture, such as my nightstand and my liquor cabinet and are considered generic. The manufacturers for these light strips provide poorly implemented mobile applications for controlling them and they tend to have no security, so thankfully they are only lights. Some of the strips come with infrared remotes, while others have physical buttons to perform minimal controls. There are several HACS integrations for controlling these BLE devices by replicating the outgoing Bluetooth signals snooped from the officially provided applications. I currently use Elkbledom which works with the LED strips, though they work with another integration Elkbledob by another developer. While I don’t use any mobile applications currently, I want to note that an Android developer made an excellent application called Elkotrol to control these generic ELK lights with Bluetooth signals without having to use the official sketchy applications. The lights tend to get disconnected, or take a few tries to turn on or off.

    SwitchBot is a company that makes an assortment of convenience devices to simulate human fingers that operate often over BLE. They also have hubs to enable Matter support on these devices, but this is unnecessary as Home Assistant can control them directly. This includes finger-bots, retro-fitted smart locks, and more. Home Assistant has direct control of many SwitchBot devices through an official integration built into Home Assistant.

    Bluetooth device trackers have been around for a while, but Tile was the first major one with a large ecosystem and crowdsourcing of location information. I have a Tile Mate tracker on my keychain, as well as a credit card shaped Tile Slim in my wallet. Each has buttons that when pressed will ring my smartphone even if it is on Silent or Do Not Disturb modes. Some ecosystems support ringing Tile devices, including the official application as well as Google/Alexa ecosystems. While Home Assistant doesn’t support ringing Tile devices, it does support the location-tracking functionality as sensor information.

    My Shelly Blu Button Tough 1 that I have on my keychain can act as a tracker as well to broadcast location, but I do not have that setting enabled in order to conserve battery, and because I anyways have a Tile on my keychain already. It supports the BTHome protocol to send encrypted BLE messages, where Home Assistant has the decryption key and can trigger different automations based on button press patterns.

    My fitness scale of choice is an Etekcity scale, and it is designed to work with a proprietary application for syncing fitness information to ecosystems common on mobile devices (Google Health Connect, Apple HealthKit) but I instead use a HACS integration so it can send my fitness data directly to my Home Assistant. While the mobile Home Assistant app can listen for data via Google Health Connect, it doesn’t presently have the ability to log tracked data there. As I prefer my data to be stored on Google Fit, I used another HACS integration to sync the data from my scale to Garmin’s ecosystem through their API. From there, the more-reputable Garmin mobile app will store my data to Google Health Connect and therefore end up in Google Fit. While it takes extra steps, it means I don’t need to use a less-trusted application for tracking my health data. I previously attempted to use FitBit’s developer API, but Google has been slowly ending support for FitBit after acquiring the company as they are leaning to push Android Wear for their .

    My Smart Watches I have I wear occasionally. I have a Galaxy Watch 5 that I have written about in the past, as well as a FitBit Versa 4. I don’t actively use the Galaxy Watch much but it supports Wi-Fi, BLE and LTE connectivity and is fully supported by Android Wear applications including Google Fit. The FitBit Versa 4 is an interesting case, as it is a Google created smart watch that supports BLE, but has Amazon Alexa as a built-in voice assistant via the mobile FitBit application. The health data obtained from wearing it can be synced to the FitBit app via BLE and then synced to Google Health Connect.

    My remotes include but are not limited to the Google TV remote that comes with the Google TV Streamer. It can be found if lost similar to Tile devices via a press of a button on the Google TV Streamer itself, as well as the Google Home application which can act as a remote for the Streamer as well. The physical remote itself is tied to the Google ecosystem. I have programmed the YouTube button on the remote to act as a play/pause toggle, and the Netflix button to open an application of my choice as I do not subscribe to Netflix. The wildcard button allows me to change the input devices on my TV. Other Bluetooth remotes I have include the Roku remote included with my Hisense TV for the rare interactions that I cannot do with the Google TV Streamer over CEC. While I do not have an Xbox game console, I do have Xbox gamepad controllers that have Bluetooth functionality that connect to my Asus ROG Ally which is currently running Windows. I do not currently have any Nintendo Wii devices, but I am considering reobtaining a Wii Remote as well as the Wii Balance Board, both of which interact with devices over Bluetooth, though the remote requires two infrared lights to detect positioning, such as the poorly named “sensor bar”, or two candles reflecting back light to the infrared reader on the remote.

  • Amazon – How to get FSA/HSA Eligible Reciepts

    For some reason, Amazon.com keeps making it more and more difficult to document receipts that FSA/HSA providers will accept for eligible purchases. Here’s how I approached the situation in mid-2025. The solution is at the bottom of this post.

    I need to print a receipt. I go to my computer and visit the Amazon.com site, find my order, and view the invoice for the order. FSA/HSA labels are missing! My provider won’t accept that.

    Next, I try the Amazon mobile app on my phone. Go to the orders page, find the right order, view the invoice for the order. FSA/HSA labels are there, but no way to successfully print… The link at the top to print the page breaks on the mobile app.

    So then I consider, this is just a webpage, what if I visit the Amazon.com website in my mobile browser. Repeat all the previous steps and the printing mechanism works, I can save a PDF if I wanted to. But I don’t want to, I want to do it on my computer, as that is more convenient when dealing with taxes and insurance. I shouldn’t need dependence on my phone for insurance filings. So, I save the link to the Invoice and send it to my PC.

    Of course, it’s the same link as from the beginning, but Amazon renders it differently, so the FSA/HSA labels are missing when viewed on the computer like before. I noticed it would render correctly if I used my browser Developer Tools and turned on Device Emulation.

    The Solution

    We need to use a user-agent switcher on the computer browser to make it think it’s a mobile device.

    Quick solution, if using Microsoft Edge, Chrome, or other Chromium-based browsers (Opera, Brave, etc.):

    1. Visit the Invoice Page of the product you need the proper receipt for.
    2. Press Control-Shift-I (or command-option-i on mac) or otherwise navigate to your Inspect Element / Developer tools on your browser.
    3. Press Control-Shift-M (or command-option-m on mac) or click the icon at the top left, maybe hover over the icons to see which one is the correct one to click.
    4. Once it’s toggled, you can print the page with the labels.

    Other solution, if you have a User Agent switcher browser extension, you can use that, I confirmed switching mine to Android worked. These tools tend to be useful when doing development for cross-platform projects, or just getting around limitations like here.

  • Elon Musk and Tesla: Communication and Legal Issues

    The following essay was written as a group project in Fall of 2019. For privacy reasons, I will not disclose the names of the additional authors without their permission. The essay had a presentation as well.

    Introduction and History of Tesla

    Imagine a world that focuses on digital currency in place of physical cash, cars that solely run on electricity eliminating the need for gasoline in our everyday travels, underground tunnels that will efficiently and effectively transport vehicles at speeds up to 150 miles per hour and going from our basic moon landings to trying to colonize Mars. As you may know, we are almost in this futuristic-sounding society already, but we have ways to go. Perhaps this introduction has guided you to think of one gentleman who is trying to bring us to this utopian, or dystopian if you aren’t a fan of the idea of living on another planet, society and that person is Elon Musk. Elon Musk has a profound portfolio and has accomplished much success through his companies including PayPal, Tesla, and SpaceX, but is unceasing in his efforts to carry out his current and future goals. To give you an idea of how hard and how much Elon Musk works, he could be found sleeping on the floors at his factories, pulling 120-hour work weeks because of how much he believes in what he does and how highly determined he is to get done what needs to be done. It has gotten him to his current place today, but he isn’t finished with his creative ideas just yet.

    With Elon Musk’s SpaceX company, they have already prospered literally above and beyond what was unimaginable in the past. SpaceX has privately funded their first and their other rockets to go into orbit, their rocket “Falcon 9” is the first rocket to land back on Earth to be reused allowing for cheaper space expeditions, and the successful attempt to reusing their rocket ship by flying it back into space is just key highlights of some of their achievements. One current goal that SpaceX aims towards is putting a human on the big red planet Mars, and at the rate that they are going with the development of new technologies, they might be able to pull it off. Elon Musk’s other company, Tesla, has made a revolutionary impact on our daily commutes allowing us (those who can afford a Tesla vehicle) to drive without the need of gas, implementing autopilot mode, and install other hazard preventing features to make driving safer. For Tesla to continue making such an impact, they have made their patent for eco-friendly technologies to be open source for other car manufacturers to use “in good faith” helping cut the use of harmful substances that are being emitted into our Earth’s atmosphere. Specifically, Elon Musk stated the following on the 12th of June 2014:               

    Tesla Motors was created to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport. If we clear a path to the creation of compelling electric vehicles, but then lay intellectual property landmines behind us to inhibit others, we are acting in a manner contrary to that goal. Tesla will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use our technology.

    With this statement and proof of action, it is safe to assume that this is a continuous goal that Tesla and Elon Musk hold dearly and will do anything in their power to make EV cars a standard. Today we hear about, read and even see more electric and hybrid cars cruising around putting a spotlight on this improved form of transportation from Tesla. That is all because of Elon Musk’s work ethic and dedication to what he wants to see a change in the world.

    While Elon Musk goes through extremes and yet continues to carry out his goals, he is still a human being that makes errors or poor judgment calls. Sometimes these mistakes aren’t as harmful, but in certain cases his judgment costs him and his companies a lot of money, resources, and clout. One drastic mistake that Elon Musk made had caused Tesla a loss of approximately $20 million (Fottrell, 2018). How did Elon Musk get into a position where he could make such a negative impact on a company? It all started with the EV1.

    The EV1 was the first electric car and was essentially declared a dead project by General Motors in 2003. The Tesla Motors company, founded with Elon Musk and several other entities as co-founders, adopted the idea of an electric vehicle. Elon Musk, who later became the chairman of Tesla in 2004 and then the CEO in 2008, was determined to improve the failures of the EV1. He wanted to focus on affordability, scalability, and sustainability. Taking all of this into consideration, he then incorporated these ideologies into the Tesla branding. Elon Musk focused the initial project on using lithium-ion batteries to lower the price and build off parts from other car companies. The resulting initial vehicle of the company was the Tesla Roadster (Thompson, 2017). The Roadster would start production the same year Elon Musk became CEO of Tesla. After two years, on the 29th of June 2010, Tesla became a public company for $17 per share. The company was able to offer a little over 13 million shares raising about $226 million. With such success, Tesla has been able to introduce us to their highly futuristic, autopiloted, sleek-looking vehicles. They include the Model X Crossover SUV released in 2015 and the Cybertruck that was just announced in November of 2019.

    There is a lot that goes into the process of making a successful company such as Tesla. Behind these successes are the motives that drove the company to where they are today. Tesla’s ability to produce an environmentally friendly vehicle and getting its customers to buy into its mission to change the world all started within the environment of the company.

    PEST Analysis of Tesla

    From a technological standpoint to a political point of view, there are many ways one can measure the impact of Tesla and how they accomplished so much. As in any business or organization, politics are inevitable whether it be for better or for worse. Tesla as a company has a varied economic standpoint that demonstrates how successful they are, and the cultural trends that they created. Many factors in how the company behaves define how it became a success or failure, and how it affected the rest of the economy.

    Tesla had some funding from the government which allowed them to continue their production of Tesla vehicles. However, Tesla wanted to use this funding to minimize carbon emissions that came from the company’s operations and products which they have succeeded in doing. They were also able to take part in new global free trade agreements allowing the company to work internationally. This would also decrease carbon emissions worldwide because Tesla as a company would operate outside the North American region.

    Tesla wanted to focus on economic factors of their business making their products cheaper for customers yet efficient. The company was able to decrease battery and renewable energy costs. This, in a way, allowed the company to push a social standard that is still in a rapid change today. Tesla wanted to and continues to market the increasing of low-carbon lifestyles. As Tesla would not only be selling their products, their customers would also be supporters in the fight against climate change by choosing an electric vehicle as an ingenious marketing strategy.

    From a social standpoint, the company had a clear focus on environmental friendliness which brought in a large following of enthusiasts. This aligned with many trends in reducing the environmental impact and support of people who focused on these beliefs. This associated the company with the popular trend of lowering personal carbon footprints with more environmentally friendly lifestyles. With more people realizing that renewable energy could be an option for vehicles and day-to-day life, they had the opportunity to increase interest and preference in the trend and make it into a more permanent lifestyle.

    Another social focus that Tesla had was bringing the company to new and developing markets and lower-income cities. Making Tesla vehicles more affordable would allow more people to adopt this new low carbon lifestyle. The more people who could afford this vehicle and want to make a positive impact in their everyday life, the more Tesla would be able to market themselves in their unique niche which is electric vehicles. Despite the price though, the technology is highly advanced and continues to be improved as time goes on.

    With the rapid changes in technology, Tesla often finds themselves taking advantage of the opportunities that come along with it. They can build vehicles that are much more efficient than traditional automobiles, vehicles that can last longer, have safer driving mechanisms could be added or expanded, and even reducing the costs even further for customers. With this technology evolving so fast, there can be negative impacts that Tesla may run into. The main problem is that the technology that is developed today will most likely be obsolete soon. For example, the charging cables being used to give electricity to the vehicles will change to better ones and not allowing current Tesla users to continue driving their vehicles. The chargers being created in the future will eventually not be backward compatible with older Tesla models, thus enforcing planned obsolescence when Tesla no longer decides to support their older vehicles.

    Legal Troubles

    As of recently, Elon Musk has been known for legal troubles, which date back to August of 2018. Many of these are because of the laws and protocols the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has in place about disclosure. Musk posted a tweet about Tesla that violated settlement agreements that public companies need to follow. Elon Musk’s strong influence within the company as a spokesperson had allowed him to cause this havoc. Specifically, Elon musk had expressed an idea in “taking Tesla private”, and claimed that funding for the plan was secured, in a public Tweet, along with several more follow-up Tweets on the matter. The SEC filed a lawsuit alleging that Musk had misled the investors on the security of the funding and that the messages being conveyed to the investors were false and reckless. Musk was able to keep Tesla in the settlement. However, his title as board Chairman was stripped, and he and Tesla were both fined $20 million.

    Later, after another tweet from Musk, the SEC once again came after him. They asked a federal judge to hold Elon Musk in contempt for violating the court settlement on tweets about the company. Musk’s tweet said, “Tesla made 0 cars in 2011, but will make around 500k in 2019.” The SEC was outraged by this false and inaccurate information. Musk tweeted hours later that he meant to say “annualized production rate at end of 2019 probably around 500k, ie 10k cars/week. Deliveries for the year still estimated to be about 400k.” The SEC argued that Musk did not have his first tweet “checked and approved” before it was sent out to his over 20 million followers, as he was acting as the spokesperson of the company.

    To sum up the situation, Elon Musk should not have been allowed to tweet matters on his company without it being approved first. He provided significant amounts of false information on his public Twitter account and to his many Twitter followers as well, which includes a lot of Tesla’s investors and caused much concern.

    Communication by Tesla

    Elon Musk’s Tweet about taking Tesla private at four hundred and twenty dollars a share would make the price of the company over seventy billion dollars. Soon after the tweet, the price of Tesla’s stock went up from three hundred and fifty-five dollars to three hundred and seventy dollars just moments after the tweet was published (Holt, 2018). When Elon Musk was asked about the tweet of Tesla going private, he confirmed that he was seriously looking to make Tesla a private company compared to a public company; It was and still is a public company. The tweet also needed a confirmation due to Elon Musk’s April fool’s tweet stating that Tesla was going bankrupt.

                Within a timeframe of a couple of weeks from August 7th to the 23rd, the price of Tesla’s shares dropped by twenty-one dollars and two cents (Ferris, 2018). While Tesla stock shares have always fluctuated, this was a dramatic loss of company value that affected its investors and could have been prevented with better communication efforts. In 2018, Tesla’s stock was very volatile and 

    Legal Conflicts

    Because normally social media can be viewed as a speech delivery, any content being discussed on the platform on United States soil would be covered by the First Amendment of the US Constitution (U.S. Const. amend. I). Even if the platform has terms and policies in place on how it can be used, anything being said on closed social media platforms such as Twitter would also be covered by the Constitution from a legal standpoint. However, what Elon Musk tweeted on August 7th, 2018, does not apply under what would be defined as violations of free speech, as the First Amendment only applies when the freedom of others is not violated. When there are public businesses with investors, while not only do they have their own rules applied to operations of communication, their investors’ freedom must not be violated either. When investors buy stock in a company, they can expect certain rules to be followed, including the proper verification and communication of information that is deemed factual. Misinformation and fraudulent activity cause the stock market to fluctuate negatively. While Elon Musk can tweet for his own merits under the First Amendment, when he is representing Tesla and providing misinformation, declaring privatization of the company can be considered a violation of the freedom of the choices of the investors as it creates preventable disruption in the free market, and thus the First Amendment would not apply to the scenario, other than to the investors.

    The SEC regulations that applied to this incident were how Elon Musk publicized the information. Thus, the SEC issued a complaint that he didn’t know the certainty of the transactions in place, or openly discuss the deal terms and price that would be applicable when privatizing the company, his statement had no basis of fact and therefore was misleading to the investors (Securities and Exchange Comm. v. Musk, 2018). The SEC’s complaint also included that since Elon Musk’s twitter account was deemed to the stock market as a platform for announcements by Tesla since Tesla didn’t control the disclosure or procedures in place, there was no real way to determine the validity or completeness of the relevant announcements.

    In turn, the settlements between Elon Musk, Tesla and the SEC were determined that Elon Musk needed to step down as Chairman and be replaced and couldn’t be re-elected as Chairman of Tesla for three years. (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, 2018) Tesla would also need to expand their boards and committees to oversee how the communications of the company. There was also a large fine of forty-million dollars to be distributed to harmed investors, half from Tesla and half from Elon Musk himself.

    Communication Efforts

    Within the settlement between Elon Musk, Tesla, and the Securities and Exchange Commission, Tesla and Musk agreed that Elon’s future tweets and communications would be monitored and pre-approved by Tesla to prevent future incidents of this kind. Despite this, Musk went on to insult the Securities and Exchange Commission as early as October 4th and he continued to mock the SEC in his tweets. For Tesla to settle the chaos that Musk has created, the company’s press has discussed his privatization of Tesla tweet in further detail. Not only that, but a copy of the email Elon Musk had sent to all his employees has been posted along with future communications with him. The Tesla Board Directors replaced Elon Musk with Robyn Denholm as chairman of Tesla in compliance with the settlement with the SEC.

    Lessons to be Learned

    This incident could have been prevented by having public statements about the company to be screened and checked before being posted by an official designated spokesperson. These screenings would have included checking for anything drastic or dramatic when related to the company’s financial assets, status, or worth. Because of how quickly social media content can reach a large audience even before it hits traditional news media, it is essential to be cautious when discussing these sorts of topics. Because there are laws and regulations in place for public companies and how they communicate actions such as becoming private entities, it is essential that messaging is compliant, whether by social media or press release, to prevent drastic stock changes that affect and harm investors.

    Tesla and other companies should be encouraged to be strict on their public communication policies to prevent future instances like this one. Reckless communication by an unofficial spokesperson on behalf of a company is not at all recommended and it could potentially be unlawful. Public appearance and reputation of a company is often derived by how they communicate

    Social media has many benefits, but not only with big companies, but smaller startups and just individuals can learn from this incident. Don’t post what you don’t want your employers to see. Not only that but just in general, be conscientious about what you post online. When something is uploaded on the internet, it is generally archived there forever. This doesn’t apply to only Twitter, but other social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit as well. Another lesson that could be learned from this situation is to not post what you do not know or just stay away from online controversial discussions in general. Although Elon Musk may have had some understanding of what he was doing and saying, nothing was confirmed. If he were to have abstained from posting his taking Tesla private tweet, he could have avoided fines, saved so much time, and wouldn’t have had to deal with upset and confused investors.

    References

    Holt, K. (2018, August 7). Elon Musk made Tesla stock spike with hint the company will go private. Retrieved from https://www.engadget.com/2018/08/07/elon-musk-tesla-stock-420/

    Howell, E. (2019, August 20). Elon Musk: Private Space Entrepreneur. Retrieved from https://www.space.com/18849-elon-musk.html 

    Kissinger, D. (2019, February 19). Tesla, Inc. PESTEL/PESTLE Analysis & Recommendations. Retrieved from http://panmore.com/tesla-motors-inc-pestel-pestle-analysis-recommendations

    Siddiqui, F. (2019, April 26). Elon Musk and the SEC resolve dispute over the Tesla CEO’s tweets. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/04/26/elon-musk-sec-resolve-dispute-over-teslas-ceos-tweets/?noredirect=on

    Blankenship, M. (2018, October 24). Securities Fraud or Elon being Elon? The Forty Million Dollar Tweet. Retrieved from http://www.kentuckylawjournal.org/index.php/2018/10/25/securities-fraud-or-elon-being-elon-the-forty-million-dollar-tweet/

    (2019, August 21). Elon Musk. Retrieved from https://www.biography.com/business-figure/elon-musk

    Paul, K. (2019, July 25). Tesla shares tumble amid $408m loss and another high-profile departure. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/jul/24/tesla-elon-musk-earnings-report-shares-loss

    Reuters. (2019, August 20). Walmart sues Tesla over solar panels it says caused multiple fires. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/aug/20/walmart-tesla-lawsuit-solar-panels-fires

    Reuters. (2019, April 26). Tesla’s Elon Musk reaches deal with SEC over Twitter use. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/apr/26/tesla-elon-musk-sec-twitter-deal

    Wu, A. (2019, June 25). Tesla’s Got the Keys: A History of Its Success. Retrieved from https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/061915/story-behind-teslas-success.asp

    Sandler, R. (2019, August 27). Amazon Is The Second Company To Report Tesla Solar Panel Fire. Retrieved from https://forbes.com/sites/rachelsandler/2019/08/26/amazon-also-experienced-tesla-solar-panel-roof-fire

    de Haas, B. (2019, August 23). David Einhorn: Elon Musk Should Step Down. Retrieved from https://www.gurufocus.com/news/934792/david-einhorn-elon-musk-should-step-down/r/caf6fe0e0db70d936033da5461e60141

    Van Boris, B., Robinson, M., Bain, B., & Hull, D. (2019, February 25). Elon Musk Faces U.S. Contempt Claim for Violating SEC Accord. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-25/elon-musk-faces-u-s-contempt-claim-for-violating-sec-accord

    Eisler, M. N. (2016). A Tesla in every garage? IEEE Spectrum, 53(2), 34-55.

    Neate, R. (2019, February 26). Elon Musk could face contempt charge over ‘inaccurate’ Tesla tweet. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/feb/25/elon-musk-tesla-judge-contempt-sec

    Boudette, N. E. (2018, October 2). Unraveling a Tesla Mystery: Lots (and Lots) of Parked Cars. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/01/business/tesla-cars-questions.html

    Hull, D., & May, P. (2016, August 12). 2014: Rocket Man: The otherworldly ambitions of Elon Musk. Retrieved from https://www.mercurynews.com/2014/04/10/2014-rocket-man-the-otherworldly-ambitions-of-elon-musk

    Tech, R. C. (2018, March 29). Tesla: A Changing World. Retrieved from https://seekingalpha.com/article/4159888-tesla-changing-world

    Smith, D. (2019, August 16). Tesla sells more than just cars. Here are some of the company’s surprising ‘lifestyle’ products, from wireless chargers to surfboards. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-lifestyle-products-2018-8#the-limited-number-of-tesla-surfboards-sold-out-quickly-and-some-were-soon-available-on-ebay-for-up-more-than-twice-the-price-5

    Elon Musk Settles SEC Fraud Charges; Tesla Charged With and Resolves Securities Law Charge. (2018, September 29). Retrieved November 21, 2019, from https://www.investor.gov/additional-resources/news-alerts/press-releases/elon-musk-settles-sec-fraud-charges-tesla-charged.

    U.S. Const. amend. I.

    Ferris. (2018, October 5). Tesla is down 7% thanks to Elon Musk’s tweets – he’s all but wiped out the gains Tesla got for settling with the SEC. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/05/tesla-shares-drop-nearly-5percent-after-musk-mocks-sec-on-twitter.html.

    Security Exchange Comm. v. Musk [2018]1:18-cv-08865-AJN (Southern District Court of New York).

    Gelles, D. (2018, August 25). Why Elon Musk Reversed Course on Taking Tesla Private. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/25/business/elon-musk-tesla-private.html.

    http://panmore.com/tesla-motors-inc-organizational-culture-characteristics-analysis Tesla’s Corp. Culture goals

    https://www.investor.gov/additional-resources/news-alerts/press-releases/elon-musk-settles-sec-fraud-charges-tesla-charged Summary and Source for basic SEC case details

    https://www.npr.org/2019/02/25/698008458/sec-says-tesla-chief-elon-musks-tweets-violated-court-settlement Musk’s Violation of Settlement

    Sec settlement: https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2018-226

    Tesla Blog Post

    https://www.tesla.com/blog/taking-tesla-private

    https://www.tesla.com/blog/update-taking-tesla-private

    https://www.tesla.com/blog/staying-public

    possibly relevant post-crisis: https://www.tesla.com/blog/announcing-robyn-denholm

  • Karaoke List

    This is a list of the songs I’ve sang at karaoke nights.

    Haven’t Met You Yet – Michael Bublé
    Friends in Low Places – Garth Brooks
    Beer Can’t Fix – Thomas Rhett, John Pardi
    Come and Knock on My Door – Three’s Company
    Chandelier – Sia
    Tequila – The Champs

  • National Society of Collegiate Scholars Application Personal Statement

    During my experiences in college, I find what is most engaging is when I tutor other students and help them succeed. By helping others, I also help myself improve and become a better person that is more prepared for the future. One day, I aim to become a teacher who inspires students to achieve things that we cannot imagine at this time.

  • Content Affected by the 2023 WGA Writer’s Strike

    This list is only of television shows that I actively watch and was affected by, and am either current on or near current. It doesn’t include any that I have paused watching (such as Young Sheldon, The Sandman, and Not Dead Yet) or plan to watch (such as Night Court 2023, Good Omens, and The Mandalorian). Data sourced from Wikipedia.

    • 9-1-1 (season 7 pushed to midseason)
    • 9-1-1: Lone Star (season 5 pushed to midseason)
    • Abbott Elementary (season 3 delayed indefinitely)
    • Cobra Kai (season 6 production halted)
    • Community: The Movie (filming delayed)
    • Euphoria (season 3 delayed)
    • Fire Country (season 2 delayed)
    • The Good Doctor (season 7 delayed)
    • The Handmaid’s Tale (season 7 writing suspended)
    • The Last of Us (season 2 delayed)
    • The Night Agent (season 2 production delayed)
    • Outer Banks (season 4 production delayed)
    • The Rookie (season 6 pushed to midseason)
    • So Help Me Todd (season 2 delayed)
    • Stranger Things (season 5 filming halted)
    • That ’90s Show (season 2 filming suspended)
    • Wednesday (season 2 delayed)
    • The White Lotus (season 3 delayed)
    • Will Trent (season 2 delayed to midseason)
    • You (season 5 production delayed)

  • OpenRGB Configuration

    For the Redragon K585 keyboard:

    Color Wave: Go With the Stream (rainblowflicker side to side)
    Spectrum Cycle: The Trial of Light (cycle betweeen colors)
    Reactive: Pass without trace (pressed keys light up)
    Reactive Ripple: Ripple graff (lights ripple from pressed key)
    Rainbow Circle: Fast and the furious (lights flicker inward or outward)
    Static: Normally on (lights are stationary in an assorted or solid pattern)

  • Software that is missing Dark Theme

    This is a list of software that for some reason at the time of writing, still doesn’t have a dark theme option for the user interface.

    This can include desktop applications as well as mobile applications

    • FileZilla FTP Client (may have workarounds depending on device)
    • Wolfram Mathematica (has a workaround only for documents)
    • Microsoft Excel (has a dark theme but not for documents natively)
    • Epic Games Launcher (no consistent UI, blinding after purchases)
    • Amazon Shopping
    • PayPal (neither website or mobile application)
    • Dunkin’ Donuts (requires light theme for barcode scanners)
    • Credit Karma
    • MyStudyLife

  • Class Action Lawsuits

    This is a list of some lawsuits, some of which I received a settlement for.

    Equifax Breach$12.65
    Google Plus Profile$2.15
    Plaid$35.97
    TD Bank$15.13
    Epi Pen$134.56 + $44.98
    Qualcomm–
    Meta$28.97
    OnePlus$15.50 + $20.50 coupon
    Dude Products–
    Luxottica AccuFit$84.81
    Google–

  • The Internet Archive as an Educational Technology Tool

    Foreword: This essay was written in November of 2020. I’m publishing it today, March 20th, 2023, in solidarity with the Internet Archive. More information about the Hachette v. Internet Archive lawsuit can be found on the Electronic Frontier Foundation website, the Library Futures website, and the Battle For the Libraries website by the advocacy group Fight For the Future.

    The Internet Archive is a useful technology tool that has several factors to consider ethical usage for educational purposes. I am for the use of the Internet Archive for usage in an educational context because the content that might be used by an instructor would be specifically chosen and relevant to course material. Content that is used for educational purposes would be considered under Fair Use, as no one is profiting financially, but rather learning and engaging with content that might otherwise be unobtainable. Webpages that may no longer exist, videos and software that may otherwise be unobtainable, and books and newspapers that are difficult to obtain would still be able to be referenced.

    Some arguments for using the Internet Archive for educational materials is the belief that information wants to be shared and that information wants to be free. By using materials that would otherwise be more rare or difficult to obtain for educational purposes, it can enlighten minds to think differently. Because specifically chosen content would be used under Fair Use, there would be freedom to apply and use the material as seen fit to the instructor to benefit the students and would be ethical from a contractual standpoint of the law. Students could benefit from viewing different eras of information from a unique perspective.

    Some arguments against using the Internet Archive for educational material is that there could be information that publishers may have wanted to obtain a profit when used or educational purposes. By using the Internet Archive to obtain these materials, one is circumventing the systems provided by the publisher. Fair Use and copyright often overlap and can be viewed as grey area from a legal standpoint. While typically information is preferred to be available for lower-cost or free for educational purposes, creators of content have put work and effort into the creation, and therefore their labor would not be compensated for, which can be seen as an ethical problem.

    In conclusion, using the Internet Archive for educational purposes is a good practice if done carefully and correctly. Content should be relevant to course material and used as such. Because of the free and open atmosphere of the Internet Archive, one still needs to apply how they use the material, crediting the authors and creators, and not circumventing them. Materials obtained from the Internet Archive should typically not be sold or used for profit unless they are in the Public Domain or especially have a license to do so. In an educational context, this is an unlikely occurrence, as generally the only profit would be gained knowledge.