This week, some thoughts on the Tesla Model 3, Google makes Nik photo editing software free, and what old media can do to you. But first, Uber is coming back to Vancouver, but it’s not what you think.

Pitch your idea to an investor this Thursday with Uber

Uber will be back in Vancouver tomorrow. But the company won’t be in town to lobby politicians or the general public, and least not overtly. This time, it’s all about UberPitch.

Uber will be rolling around with investors in cars, giving people in Vancouver’s downtown core a chance to pitch those investors with their money-making idea.

Between the hours of 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., entering the promo code “PITCHYVR” into the Uber app on your smartphone will put you in a car with 15 minutes to sell your start-up.

The investors participating are:

• Ryan Holmes, founder of Hootsuite
• Boris Wertz of Version One Ventures
• Ray Walia of Victory Square Ventures
• Shafin Diamond Tejani of Victory Square Labs
• Mike Satterfield of Yaletown Partners
• Manica Gautam of Campfire Capital
• Fraser Hall of Vancouver Founder Fund
• Jay Rhind of Vancouver Founder Fund
• Vijay Grover of Telus Ventures

Photo editing software from Google now free

Once available at a cost of about $500 (most recently the price had come down to about $150), the Nik Collection of photo editing plug-ins is now free, courtesy of Google, which acquired the company in 2012.

There are seven plug-ins, including filters for enhancing and modifying photos, and sharpening and noise reduction tools. They are best used as plug-ins that modify existing photo software, including Lightroom, and Photoshop.

The Nik apps work on OS X and Windows, but Mac users should note that it does not work with the new Photos app.

It may be that Google has chosen to release this software for free because the apps will no longer be updated or supported – the company just discontinued Picasa as it tries to move users to Google Photos – but this is only speculation.

Man arrested for failing to return ‘Freddy Got Fingered’ on VHS

Last week, a North Carolina man was arrested on a misdemeanor warrant for failing to return a rented VHS. James Meyers rented the comedy flop, written, directed, and starring Canadian Tom Green, in 2002.

The store closed long ago, but the warrant never expired. When Meyers was pulled over for a broken tail light, a police check resulted in the arrest.

Tom Green told Australian television program, The Project, that he called Meyers and had a laugh about the incident. Green has also offered to pay the fine. “If it’s 200 bucks of course I’ll pay it for him, just for the principle of the thing,” Green told the New York Daily News.

Thoughts on the Tesla Model 3

So last week we got our first look at the Tesla Model 3.

It looks cool (i love the glass roof), it’s priced (for now) at US$35,000 (at today’s rates that’s Cdn$46,000), and it will have a range of at least 345 km (Elon Musk has suggested that the range is likely to improve by the time the production cars are available).

One weird thing about the new vehicle is it’s complete lack of an instrument panel. There is no speedometer or tach above the steering wheel.

More than 250,000 people around the world have pre-ordered one. That was at least double what Musk expected. In a Twitter reply last Saturday, he wrote, “No one at Tesla thought it would be this high before part 2 of the unveil.”

Musk gave us a hint of what “part 2” will be all about in another Twitter reply during the same impromptu Twitter AMA on the weekend.

“Wait until you see the real steering controls and system for the 3. It feels like a spaceship.”

Wait here while I go open my PayPal account.

Tesla Unveils Model 3 from Tesla Motors on Vimeo.