Episode notes
Tesla's federal crash report on a July 2025 New Jersey stop-sign wreck that killed 82-year-old Stephen Field marks driver assist as verified engaged, then blacks out the software version as confidential business information. The investigation is open; the filing does not prove the system caused the crash. Also: Broadcom pulled the public VMware disk-copy kit, so leaving is harder but not impossible; researchers say current LG TVs can collect viewing data and record audio while the screen looks off, and an Apple TV does not stop that; Tesla stopped Solar Roof tiles and certified installers say they are stuck with the cost. The side of tech news nobody talks about.
Hosts: Alex & Jordan
Show: Chief Skeptic Officer — The side of tech news nobody talks about.
Drop: Daily at 7:00 A.M. America/New_York
Episode date: 2026-09-08
In this episode
Assist on, version black — A 2019 Model 3 ran a stop sign in Buena Vista Township, New Jersey, on 6 July 2025 and killed Stephen Field, 82. Tesla confirmed driver assist was on, then redacted the software version. That is not a finding of fault.
Public kit, missing page — Broadcom's public VDDK pages 404'd as of 25 August. Support told Platform9 the kit is no longer available for use or download. Partners still get APIs. Other copy methods still work.
Dark screen, still a computer — Researchers found LG TVs collecting viewing data through an Apple TV, and microphone audio while the set looked off. The writeups tell owners to unplug.
Tiles gone, crews remain — Tesla stopped Solar Roof tiles in August. About 3,000 US systems exist. Some certified installers told Electrek they sank six figures into training and tools. Tesla says warranties and parts continue.
Links
AI disclosure
This episode was created with artificial intelligence. Alex & Jordan are AI hosts; their voices and conversation are generated with AI. Research and editorial judgment shape the skeptic angles; we do not invent quotes, scores, or viral claims about the news.
Transcript
Alex and Jordan, turn by turn. Tap a line to jump in the player.
0:00
Alex
A Tesla ran a stop sign in New Jersey and killed an 82-year-old man. Tesla's report says its car logged driver assist within 30 seconds of impact.
0:10
Jordan
Broadcom removed the public download for a disk kit that many tools use to copy virtual machines off VMware.
0:18
Alex
Researchers say current LG televisions can collect viewing data and record audio while the screen looks off.
0:26
Jordan
Tesla stopped making Solar Roof tiles, and certified installers say they are stuck with the cost.
0:33
Jordan
That's the board. Stay for the audit. We open those up. Today's Chief Skeptic Officer.
0:48
Jordan
What if there was an AI that researched the tech news, checked the sources, and asked what the tech news is not telling you?
0:56
Alex
That's us. I'm Alex.
0:59
Jordan
And I'm Jordan.
1:00
Alex
You're listening to Chief Skeptic Officer. The side of tech news nobody talks about.
1:06
Jordan
Every day at seven A.M. New York time. Wherever you get your podcasts.
1:11
Alex
The crash happened on July 6, 2025, in Buena Vista Township, New Jersey. A 2019 Tesla Model 3 went through a stop sign and hit a Honda Civic that was turning left.
1:22
Jordan
The Civic driver was Stephen Field. He was 82. He died. The Tesla driver and three passengers went to the hospital with moderate injuries.
1:32
Alex
Tesla's report to the federal safety agency marks the driving helper as "Verified Engaged."
1:40
Jordan
Meaning Tesla's own car log says the helper was on at some point within 30 seconds of impact.
1:47
Alex
Right. It does not say the helper was on at the exact stop-sign moment. And it does not say the helper caused the crash. The investigation is still open.
1:58
Alex
Now look at the paragraph on the card. Tesla blacked out the crash story, the software version, and whether Tesla considered that road an approved place to use it. Tesla called those details confidential business information.
2:11
Jordan
And the software version matters because Tesla sells more than one driving helper.
2:17
Jordan
Autopilot is the highway helper that mostly keeps you in a lane. Full Self-Driving is the package Tesla sells for city streets and stop signs.
2:26
Alex
But some older Autopilot cars also have a stop-sign feature. Since Tesla hid the software version, this filing does not tell us which product was in the car.
2:37
Jordan
That is what people on Hacker News caught. Electrek leaned toward Full Self-Driving. The filing cannot settle it.
2:45
Alex
I am in the middle of a logging migration. If a vendor's own log confirms a feature appeared in the 30-second window but hides the version, I do not close the incident.
2:55
Jordan
No. The missing field is the question.
2:59
Jordan
Then there is this number. Tesla logged a pre-crash speed of four miles an hour.
3:06
Alex
That does not mean the impact happened at four miles an hour. It is one logged snapshot, not a proven impact speed.
3:15
Jordan
So the public gets a time window, but the software name is...
3:20
Alex
A trade secret, according to Tesla.
3:23
Alex
A man is dead. The public file says Tesla's car logged driver assist within 30 seconds of impact, then hides the field that names the software. That is the part Tesla chose to protect.
3:36
Jordan
Broadcom pulled the public download for VMware's disk-copying kit, called VDDK.
3:42
Alex
Give me the non-server-room version.
3:45
Jordan
A virtual machine is a computer stored as software files. This kit lets another tool read those files so it can back them up or copy them somewhere else.
3:56
Alex
Broadcom's developer page now says, "The page you requested couldn't be found."
4:02
Jordan
ShapeBlue checked on August 25 from several countries. The kit's public pages all showed a 404, which means page not found.
4:12
Alex
No public warning. No note telling users what to do next. The download was simply gone.
4:18
Jordan
Platform9 says Broadcom customer support gave this answer: the kit is "no longer available for use or download."
4:27
Alex
That is Platform9 quoting a support reply. Broadcom did not publish it as an announcement.
4:34
Jordan
And approved partners can still get access for backup products.
4:38
Jordan
So the public door closes. The partner door stays open.
4:43
Alex
If your moving plan says, "Download the kit," it now...
4:47
Jordan
Stops at a missing page.
4:50
Alex
That is useful lock-in. You do not need this kit to keep running VMware. You need it when you want to leave quickly.
4:59
Jordan
Wait. Other ways to copy the machines still work, right? @after 450
5:02
Alex
Yes. Some other copy methods still work, including Proxmox's own import.
5:10
Jordan
Okay. Then "Broadcom blocked every exit" is wrong.
5:16
Alex
Yes.
5:18
Jordan
That changes it. Broadcom removed one common public route and kept access for selected partners. Leaving is harder, not impossible.
5:29
Alex
People on Hacker News call it a cost added on the way out. Other comments point to the copy methods that remain.
5:35
Jordan
Both can be true. You can still leave, but Broadcom took away a familiar public route and kept the partner route.
5:43
Alex
Your machines are still yours. The public kit for moving them is now a missing page.
5:52
Jordan
Malwarebytes has the headline in front of us: LG television flaws could let attackers listen in, even in standby mode.
6:01
Alex
Separate the two issues for me.
6:04
Jordan
First, the business LG already runs. Researchers tested current LG televisions and found a feature sampling what was on the screen or in the audio, even when the picture came through an Apple TV.
6:16
Alex
So an Apple TV box does not turn the panel into a dumb monitor.
6:21
Jordan
Right. The LG television is still a computer connected to the internet.
6:27
Alex
The highlighted line says LG Ad Solutions has data from 216 million LG smart televisions around the world, including 49 million in the United States.
6:38
Jordan
That is LG's ad inventory. It is not proof that all 216 million sets did everything in this test.
6:48
Alex
Good. So what did the researchers actually see?
6:52
Jordan
The test television scanned the home network for devices and nearby Wi-Fi names. It held microphone audio while the screen looked off. When the researchers unplugged the internet cable, data stayed on the television and uploaded after they reconnected it.
7:07
Alex
They also used test phrases about Social Security numbers and credit cards.
7:13
Jordan
And those test phrases later appeared as plain text in the television's memory. That does not prove it picked up random household speech about those subjects.
7:24
Jordan
Priya works night shifts. Our living-room television spends half its life looking off while she sleeps odd hours. So it looks off, but it...
7:34
Alex
Is not necessarily asleep.
7:38
Jordan
That changes the room. The dark screen looks like furniture. The computer behind it may still be working.
7:44
Alex
The second issue is webOS, LG's television software. Researchers say they found a security hole that could let an attacker run code.
7:53
Jordan
But they reported the hole to LG, and the details are not public yet. We do not know that every LG television is being hacked.
8:02
Alex
The data collection is documented. The security hole is reported, but still private.
8:08
Alex
What do the writeups tell owners to do?
8:11
Jordan
Unplug Ethernet and make the television forget Wi-Fi. A privacy toggle does not stop a computer from being a computer.
8:19
Alex
The least smart setting is a cable on the floor.
8:24
Jordan
LG sells advertisers a picture of the household. In the researchers' test, the same television had a microphone and a map of nearby devices. That is one box in the living room, not two separate gadgets.
8:38
Jordan
Tesla stopped shipping Solar Roof tiles in August. Its Solar Roof web address now sends people to ordinary solar panels instead.
8:47
Alex
Tesla says existing warranties will continue and parts will remain available.
8:52
Jordan
Which matters. About 3,000 Solar Roof systems are already on homes in the United States. Owners need repairs for years.
9:00
Alex
The number on the card is about 3,000 systems across seven years. At the peak, Tesla installed 21 to 32 a week. Elon Musk had promised 1,000 a week.
9:11
Jordan
That gap should have warned everyone.
9:14
Alex
Maybe. But Tesla also built a certified-installer program around the product.
9:21
Jordan
Yes. Roofers paid to send crews to the West Coast for training. They bought special tools and learned a hard install. Some told Electrek they put hundreds of thousands of dollars into it.
9:32
Alex
Those are reports from some installers, not an average across the whole program.
9:38
Jordan
Fair. Several would not speak by name because they still sell Tesla panels and Powerwall batteries.
9:44
Jordan
The headline says installers are facing six-figure losses. Tesla stopped the tiles, but the trained crews and half-built sales plans did not disappear.
9:54
Alex
So Tesla promised them a market, and then...
9:59
Jordan
Then the product vanished before the training paid back.
10:03
Alex
Is that just the risk of becoming a dealer for somebody else's product?
10:09
Jordan
It is a risk. Tesla also pushed the hardest part onto those dealers. A local roofer owns the crew, the ladder, the customer call, and the weather delay. Tesla keeps the brand and sells the easier panels and batteries.
10:22
Alex
Plus a warranty promise covering roughly 3,000 roofs.
10:28
Jordan
While local shops hold tools for a tile they cannot order. Some also have jobs that need redesigning because the planned product is gone.
10:37
Alex
Owners on Hacker News say their roofs still work well. That matters too. A discontinued product is not the same as a failed product.
10:45
Jordan
It can be a good roof and a bad deal for the people trained to install the next one.
10:52
Alex
Tesla says it will honor parts and warranties. The contractors doubt that a 25-year roof can live on a promise after production ends.
11:01
Jordan
The product stopped. The local cost did not.
11:05
Alex
That's our audit for today. Find us wherever you get your podcasts, Chief Skeptic Officer, every day at seven A.M. New York time.
11:14
Jordan
Tell us what you're skeptical about. Drop it in the comments, the angle you can't stop chewing on.
11:19
Alex
Stay curious. Stay skeptical.
11:23
Jordan
Doubt both.
