A lie about 1,000 tubes

One of the Nanox promoters now wants the CEO removed to an Executive Chairman role, for various reasons.

One of the reasons - the 1,000 magic x-ray tubes that vanished (the 10 fake Nanox.Arc "produced" in November 2020, and the 25 fake Nanox.Arc "produced" in March 2021 were already addressed on this blog).

So, yeah, on the March 2, 2021 results call, the CEO insisted:

So again, just to clarify, for 2021 shipment, which is 1000 units, we are all set. We have secured actually everything we need in terms of chips and tubes and actually metal parts for the system. So for the 1,000 systems that we intend to make and ship this year or latest first quarter of next year, we are set.

He said today that the tube "supplier" is having some problems finishing and testing those tubes.  Poof, 1,000 tubes vanished.  Actually, they were never real - as discussed on this blog, Nanox has no ability to obtain the chips that are supposed to go into these proposed tubes, because the Japanese university labs it claims to be renting prohibit commercial use.   Moreover, the tube assembly Korean "facility" that Nanox showed in a video during RSNA 2020 was labeled "R&D," with no apparent vacuum sealing capabilities - so no assembly there either.

Update May 12, 2021:  Of course, it was not a thousand tubes.  Each of the first 1,000 Nanox.Arc devices is now supposed to have 5 tubes, bringing the number of disappearing tubes to 5,000 (plus spares).

Doubting the doubter

Doubter71050722 tweets this morning that the CEO sold 750,000 shares after the Q4 results call, and everyone on Twitter doubts him.  Stock even shoots up nearly 30% pre-market.

But he provides a link to the emailed forms on the SEC website.

He also notes that the CFO also sold 40,000 shares.

 

Now, why are they in such a rush to sell, if the "FDA approval" (as the CEO likes to mislead and misbrand the supposedly-pending FDA clearance) were to come within "two weeks" of March 2,  that is, on March 16, tomorrow?

Update (March 17, 2021):  Director Onn Fenig follows the CEO and CFO lead and sells all his 12,573 shares.  But the CEO insists at the Oppenheimer conference today that "FDA approval" will be coming any day - he is an artist!

Update April 5, 2021:  Nanox got clearance for a Nanox.Cart (an ugly device).

Nanox CEO caught lying again

According to Nanox CEO, 

SK Hynix is one of the largest MEMs manufacturers in the world. 

That is an outright lie.  Here is the ranking of the top 30 MEMs manufacturers in the world.  SK Hynix is nowhere to be seen.

Source:  Yole via EETImes.eu

Quick credibility check

It is easy to spot that Nanox' management is not familiar with this simple thing called the truth.  Here is a quick example.  Today's press release announces:

With [the RSNA 2020] demonstration, we brought X-ray technology, which had not seen material technological advancements since its discovery more than 120 years ago, into the 21st century.

But Nanox own technology white paper states:

Modern X-ray and the evolution of radiologic modalities started in 1913 by introducing tungsten filament to the cathode part of the “Coolidge” tube, which supplied far better reliability than the preceding technologies. Over a hundred years later, X-rays continue to be generated by electrons supplied by heating tungsten filaments. The history of radiology is the history of the “Hot Cathode” invented by Mr. Coolidge.

1913, by the way, was just 108 years ago.  And X-rays were discovered in 1895, according to the same paper.

So, which one is it?    Did X-ray technology see a material technological advance after the discovery of X-rays but prior to RSNA 2020, or not?  The white paper says, yes, in 1913, when the hot-cathode technology introduced by GE completely obliterated the cold-cathode technology that Roentgen used and that Nanox now pretends to use.  The press release says no way!  Which one (press release or white paper) should we believe?   Which one (Coolidge or Poliakine) advanced X-ray technology?

Update:  By the way, Nanox cannot say that this is a simple mistake or misunderstanding, as Nanox claims that the Chair of its Advisory Board is Morry Blumenfeld, who was a GE employee.

You can't have it both ways

Even the best artists (scam artists included) slip sometimes - they are human, after all.  Let's take a listen to what the CEO has to say in the Nanox "vision" video released in late November ahead of RSNA 2020:

"Our mission is to democratize medical imaging, to make it way more available.  There are simply not enough machines today - it is too expensive - expensive to buy, expensive to maintain, expensive to operate, and therefore not very practical." (starting at 47s)

So, medical imaging  is not practical and accessible today?  

Here is what he wrote in his March 30, 2020 blog post:

In Israel, as in practically every country in the world, we have a real shortage of [COVID-19] testing kits.  Lung scans on the other hand are accessible, cheap, and the results are immediate - a critical factor in patient outcomes and in preventing the spread of the infection.

He can't have it both ways.  Chest (or lung) radiographs represent the majority, about 40%, of all imaging procedures performed worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (Communicating Radiation Risks in Paediatric Imaging, page 16).  The CEO states that they are accessible, cheap, and with immediate results in practically every country in the world.  So, it seems there are enough medical imaging machines, they are not expensive, and they are easy to operate and quite practical, no?  Poof goes Nanox vision!

In his blog post, he also states that Nanox machines

can be installed not only in medical facilities but also in offices and even retail locations, so people don’t need to drive hours to get to a scanning machine.

But Nanox now admits that is not possible - Nanox proposed machines leak radiation - and any potential deployments of those proposed machines, in the unlikely event that they ever become real, is at risk due to:

the inability or unwillingness of potential customers to invest in the required safety infrastructure, including customary X-ray shielding, to allow the Nanox.ARC to be safety[sic] operated (page 17, prospectus)

 

Asking stupid questions

So, a stupid question arose today in a discussion about what would be a plausible defense by a scam artist.

Question: Did Nanox CEO graduate from Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, or not?

Checking English-language internet sources left me confused.  This one says he only attended the Academy, that is, he did not graduate.  Another one says he received a Degree in Industrial Design there.

In a November 2020 blog post, the CEO states:

When I submit my bio (prior to lectures or interviews), my educational background often surprises people. I do not have a degree in machine engineering, computer engineering, or in any type of engineering for that matter. I studied arts and design at the Bezalel Academy of Arts in Jerusalem.

So, he did not graduate, after all?

According to a Muddy Waters report,

Charismatic CEO Poliakine appears to have no formal training in radiology, physics or medicine—or to have even finished college. His only academic credentials seem to be a two-year stint he spent at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. Our investigators contacted a Bezalel administrator who confirmed that he did not graduate (page 42)

In his blog post he essentially describes himself as a modern Leonardo Da Vinci, "the great artist and innovator," but with the inclination to ask stupid questions:

This is something I do all the time: go into new areas and ask stupid questions. I have no choice: I am not an established scientist or a researcher with formal education. So I go in and ask the kind of questions that people who’ve been in this field for a while would not consider asking. 

Essentially, he is paraphrasing Meredith Perry of the fraud uBeam (now, SonicEnergy).  The problem in the real world, of course, is that if people take time to answer all the stupid questions, there is no time left for anything else.

It is a great defense, though  - I did not know what I was signing or talking about - I am an artist.  And an artist is allowed to pretend to be something more:

I am a technologist. I want to tell you about the technology of Nanox... (02:05 in the RSNA 2020 demo)

 

And then to lie outright that Wilhelm Roentgen used a hot filament to discover X-rays (Nanox own technology white paper, published just a few days prior, states that the hot filament was introduced by GE's Coolidge, many years after Roentgen's discovery)... 

The dictionary seems to define technologist as an expert in a particular field of technology, not just an artist.