Elon’s First Tunnel, Switch Saves Nintendo, $1,000 Tea Infuser Company Shuts Down (Surprise, surprise)

Byte Size #9: Elon’s first picture of The Boring Company’s tunnel is exactly that — boring, but the implications are endless.

The very first look at The Boring Company’s proof-of-concept tunnel under LA.

Elon provided the first real-life look at The Boring Company’s first tunnel under LA, via a picture on Twitter.

• The picture itself isn’t incredibly interesting. Some notable elements include paneled walls, cables, hanging circuitry, lighting, and preliminary tracks.
• Elon’s vision with The Boring Company is to build a network of hyperloop tunnels under major cities to vastly expediate travel by avoiding surface traffic.
• The current LA tunnel is being dug under Hawthorne, near SpaceX headquarters in California. Elon has city council approval to do so. It’s being tested as a proof-of-concept before larger scale operations begin.

Nintendo Switch sales set to surpass lifetime Wii U sales in just its first year.

• The Switch has breathed new life into Nintendo’s financial health, as the company says the Switch will outsell the Wii U in just its first year.
• Unit sales have exceeded expectations: Nintendo revised its first year estimates to 14 million units, from an initial 10 million
• The Wii U, considered a commercial flop, sold just over 13.5 million units across its entire lifecycle.

Teforia, the Juicero of tea infusing, shuts down.

• Teforia, a startup that sells $1,000 internet-enabled tea infusers, annouced it would be ceasing all operations.
• Teforia’s main product was an internet-enabled tea infuser that brewed proprietary pre-packaged teas called “Sips” (think Keurig capsules). By connecting to the internet, the infuser would be able to recieve precise brewing instructions.
• Juicero, a similar startup that sold $800 internet-enabled juicers, shut down earlier this year after a video was published showing its proprietary juice packs could be squeezed by hand, questioning the actual value provided by the $800 machine.
• While the company cites difficulties in the smart kitchen hardware space, perhaps they simply overestimates the number of people willing to pay US$1,000 for a tea infusers. I’d rather have an iPhone X.
• Until November 3 , you can still buy a Teforia infuser, now priced at $200.