#airecall — Public Fediverse posts

Weekly output: Qualcomm’s problematic 6G pitch, Android feature drop, United Airlines app, Google display-ads case

I have rarely appreciated having a Monday off as much as I do right now–only a few days after a nine-day stretch in which I traveled from home to San Diego and back and then to Orlando and back and then to Dublin and back. Because of all that travel, I didn’t get around to posting photos of last weekend’s trip to see the launch of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope until Friday and spent part of Saturday afternoon writing a post that I couldn’t finish Friday.

Patreon readers got an extra this week: a post published Monday about how T-Mobile’s recent fondness for retroactive rate increases should have me researching my alternatives, except that I have yet to do much in the way of that.

8/31/2026: Qualcomm’s 6G Pitch Has Efficiency Covered. Privacy Is Another Story, PCMag

I already had qualms about Qualcomm’s understanding of people’s privacy concerns in its early marketing for 6G. The “6G Leadership Day” event the company staged in San Diego–with Qualcomm covering my airfare, lodging and ground transfers there–did not dispel my sense that this firm is having a read-the-room problem.

9/1/2026: Latest Android Feature Drop Helps You Keep Tabs on Items Without a Tracker, PCMag

I had barely enough free time Sunday to write this post from an advance copy of Google’s announcement.

9/1/2026: Flight Cancelled? United App Adds New Standby Options to Get You Moving Faster, PCMag

When I think of United and flight delays, Newark comes to mind–so I picked a photo of UA jets at EWR to illustrate this. And then I spent more time than planned Wednesday at my original home airport, courtesy of flight delays.

9/3/2026: Google Dodges Forced Breakup in US Display-Ads Case, PCMag

This news dropped while I was somewhere over the Atlantic, but since nobody at PCMag had covered it by Thursday morning I was able to write this later that day during the slower moments of the Identity Week conference in D.C.