#ast-spacemobile — Public Fediverse posts

Starlink Mobile challengers back proposed telco-led D2D joint venture

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://spacenews.com/starlink-mobile-challengers-back-proposed-telco-led-d2d-joint-venture/

AST SpaceMobile may use ULA’s Vulcan

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://spacenews.com/ast-spacemobile-may-use-ulas-vulcan/

Weekly output: Google I/O teaser, satellite-to-phone services, passkeys, connected-home considerations, Matter

I’m spending a few days in cooler confines–Monday morning, I head to Vancouver for the second year of Web Summit’s conference there. And just like last year, I won’t have enough time to do much wandering around British Columbia’s largest city and taking in its stunningly beautiful mountains-and-sea scenery, because I have three panels to moderate over Tuesday and Wednesday (with the conference hosts paying for my hotel and reimbursing my airfare).

5/5/2026: Google Teases I/O Pregame Event. How to Watch ‘The Android Show’ on May 12, PCMag

This was one of the shortest posts I’ve written for PCMag, owing to the paucity of information in the brief teaser video Google published.

5/7/2026: FCC Chair: Starlink Isn’t Enough. We Need at Least 3 Satellite-to-Phone Services, PCMag

I spent Wednesday afternoon at the wireless trade group CTIA’s annual summit in Washington. Most of the talks on the program didn’t yield anything too newsworthy, but Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr’s appearance met that bar even though he didn’t talk about his clumsy attempts to leverage the FCC’s broadcast licensing authority to punish TV shows and TV hosts for being mean to Republicans.

5/7/2026: Passkey-Adoption Report Finds Many Orgs Don’t Know How to Quit Passwords, PCMag

I had an advance copy of this FIDO Alliance survey but didn’t have time to write it up in advance; fortunately, Thursday did have enough idle time for me to get this post written and filed.

5/8/2026: Smart Homes In Practice: Bridging Design, Integration, And Market Promises With Real Human-Centered Living Outcomes, Smarter Infrastructure Summit

I had a brief trip to Chicago–well, its suburb Rosemont–for this small conference. I was a late addition to this panel, in which moderator Lisa An Wong quizzed me and architect Stephen Yas and connect-home integrator Corey Ardell about ways to get homes and the appliances in them thoughtfully wired.

5/9/2026: Matter Smart Home Standard Still Looks Immaterial At Retail, Smarter Infrastructure Summit

The title of this talk I did mirrors the story I did for PCMag almost three years ago; that post caught the attention of the conference organizers, and the chance to revisit the topic and get in some practice with doing a solo presentation led me to accept their travel-expenses-covered invitation.

FCC throws out satellite spectrum challenges as D2D dealmaking heats up

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://spacenews.com/fcc-throws-out-satellite-spectrum-challenges-as-d2d-dealmaking-heats-up/

FCC clears AST SpaceMobile constellation as launch setback clouds ramp-up

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://spacenews.com/fcc-clears-ast-spacemobile-constellation-as-launch-setback-clouds-ramp-up/

AST SpaceMobile's BlueBird Satellite failed to achieve optimal orbit in launch on April 19, and it will be "deorbited".

The full-size mobile-broadband satellite was carried to space by Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket, and it successfully separated from the launch rocket and powered on but was placed into a lower orbit than planned.

AST SpaceMobile is building a space-based cellular broadband network accessible directly from standard, unmodified smartphones. https://www.pcmag.com/news/blue-origin-rocket-launches-then-loses-ast-spacemobile-bluebird-satellite #Space #ASTSpaceMobile #BlueOrigin #NewGlenn #Satellite #SpaceCraft #BlueBird #DirecttoDevice #BroadBand #Cellular

Weekly output: Internet Archive, Roblox parental controls, Google travel-search tools, T-Mobile yanks free WiFi from United flights, Mark Vena podcast, talking to local user groups, AST SpaceMobile

LAS VEGAS–I’m typing this from a press room in the Las Vegas Convention Center barely three months after I spent too much time in that facility for CES. Credit or blame for this trip goes to a different Washington-area trade group, the National Association of Broadcasters. Tuesday, I will be moderating an NAB Show panel about the state of content creation that features two people who are better at Instagram than me: Juliana Broste and my fellow former USA Today columnist Jefferson Graham.

4/13/2026: Journalists Applaud the Internet Archive’s Role In Preserving the Public Record, Fight for the Future

A staffer with Public Knowledge e-mailed me a few weeks ago to ask if I would be willing to sign a letter supporting the Internet Archive’s efforts to preserve the history of the Web and possibly provide a quote about how I’d used the Archive. Having repeatedly relied on the Archive’s Wayback Machine to link back to my own past published work, I said I would be happy to do that–having already donated $100 to that San Francisco non-profit in January.

4/13/2026: Roblox Adds Account Restrictions for Younger Users, Expands Age Verification, PCMag

I attended a press roundtable Monday morning featuring some Roblox trust-and-safety executives, allowing me to enrich this writeup of the platform’s changes with quotes from that conversation.

4/15/2026: T-Mobile Grounds Free In-Flight Wi-Fi Benefit for United Airlines Passengers, PCMag

I had the dumb luck to see this change firsthand on a flight from Denver to San Jose Tuesday, then needed the rest of that day to get some responses from T-Mobile and United. The airline’s switch to free Starlink connectivity will fix this problem, but we are months away from that rollout reaching a significant fraction of United’s mainline fleet.

4/17/2026: Like It or Not, Google Wants to Be Your AI Travel Buddy This Summer, PCMag

I wrote up this post off an embargoed copy of Google’s announcement that we had to correct the next day because I had missed two of the finer points of this bundle of news. In my halfhearted defense, it is more work than you might realize keeping track of Google’s ongoing efforts to infuse AI into its existing services.

4/17/2026: How NTT Research’s Upgrade 2026 Helps Silicon Valley Get Ready for The Future, Mark Vena

My industry-analyst pal had do a quick video from NTT Research’s Upgrade conference in San Jose, Calif.–with that firm covering my travel costs–about some of its initiatives.

4/18/2026: 2026 Consumer Electronics Show and Lots More!, Potomac Area Technology and Computer Society/Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Personal Computer User Group/Washington Apple Pi

Despite that title–picked by the organizers at PATACS, pronounced “Pat-Aces”–I spent more time talking about other topics. Among them: my switch from Evernote to Obsidian just in time for CES, the sad state of tech policy in Washington, and my takes on self-driving cars and what’s befallen the Washington Post. As I have in previous appearances before these folks, I showed up with a bag of trade-show swag and gave away all of it.

4/19/2026: Blue Origin Rocket Launches, Then Loses AST SpaceMobile BlueBird Satellite, PCMag

I watched the third launch of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket on my phone as I was walking up to the security checkpoint at Dulles early Sunday morning, started writing up what I thought was a successful launch, then learned–via painfully slow inflight WiFi–that New Glenn’s second stage had failed to deliver AST’s mobile-broadband BlueBird satellite to the intended orbit. This is a real black eye for Blue that should outweigh its achievement in reflying a New Glenn booster and then landing it on a barge in the Atlantic.

UPDATE: After a good-looking launch and landing for Blue Origin's first twice-used #NewGlenn rocket booster, AST SpaceMobile reports that its satellite was put into an orbit that's too low to sustain operations. https://www.geekwire.com/2026/blue-origin-uses-a-recycled-rocket-to-launch-satellite-for-ast-spacemobile/ #Space #BlueOrigin #NG3 #ASTSpaceMobile

@AkaSci Let's see how much of those ~6100 kg survives reentry..

Their FCC filings for FM1 said "The majority of FM1 including its components and the phased array will burn up on re-entry."

https://apps.fcc.gov/els/GetAtt.html?id=371450&x=

#ASTSpaceMobile #BlueOrigin #SpaceDebris

#ASTSpaceMobile:
"
During the New Glenn 3 mission, BlueBird 7 was placed into a lower than planned orbit by the upper stage of the launch vehicle. While the satellite separated from the launch vehicle and powered on, the altitude is too low to sustain operations with its on-board thruster technology and will de-orbited.
"
https://feeds.issuerdirect.com/news-release.html?newsid=5941043598547951&symbol=ASTS

19.4.2026

#BlueBird7 #BlueOrigin #BO #CapeCanaveral #LC36 #NewGlenn #Rakete #rocketry #Raumfahrt #SpaceFlight

Blue Origin aces rocket reuse, but satellite goes awry
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture used a previously flown New Glenn rocket booster to send a satellite into space today, marking a first for the company.

After it aced its second launch, the first-stage booster — nicknamed “Never Tell Me the Odds” — made yet anoth
https://cosmiclog.com/2026/04/19/blue-origin-aces-rocket-reuse-but-satellite-goes-awry/
#GeekWire #ASTSpaceMobile #BlueOrigin #Broadband #NewGlenn #Satellites #Space

#BlueOrigin was able to stick the landing at sea with a previously flown rocket booster - which is a first for the #NewGlenn launch system. However, the satellite that was launched didn't reach its intended orbit, and the company says it's assessing the situation. https://www.geekwire.com/2026/blue-origin-uses-a-recycled-rocket-to-launch-satellite-for-ast-spacemobile/ #NG3 #ASTSpaceMobile #Space

Third New Glenn launch suffers upper stage malfunction

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://spacenews.com/third-new-glenn-launch-suffers-upper-stage-malfunction/

#BlueOrigin:
"
New Glenn’s Third Mission Slated for April 19
"
".. date for New Glenn's third mission, slated to launch no earlier than Sunday, April 19, 2026, from LLC 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station .. launch window will be open from 6:45 a.m. – 8:45 a.m. EDT / 10:45 – 12:45 UTC. .. coverage on BlueOrigin.com will start 30 min. prior to launch."

https://www.blueorigin.com/news/new-glenn-ng-3-mission

16.4.2026

#ASTSpaceMobile #BlueBird7 #BO #CapeCanaveral #LC36 #NewGlenn #Rakete #rocketry #Raumfahrt #SpaceFlight

Weekly output: Android updates, disposable tech, Starlink Mobile, AST SpaceMobile

I got back from MWC Barcelona Thursday, and this coming Friday I’m off to Austin for SXSW. I’m returning to that talkfest after a year off because for the first time since 2019, I’ll be contributing to the banter on the program–I’m moderating a panel about, of all things, video-game culture.

3/3/2026: Android Gets Location-Tracking Features That iOS Users Have Had for Ages, PCMag

This was the only post I had a client publish this week that I easily could have written from home. Instead, I filed it from the press room at MWC Barcelona–and then a late clarification from a Google publicist required me to send a revised paragraph to my editor in a Slack message I sent from the Barcelona metro.

3/4/2026: Slow Tech Uprising, Back Market

I moderated this panel about disposable tech at an event hosted by Back Market that also featured a screening of Dandora: A Fast Tech Story, a short film produced by that refurbished-gadgets marketplace. With four other people on stage–Joy Howard, Back Market’s chief marketing officer; Alexander Kuscher, a senior director for ChromeOS at Google; Carolina Milanesi, president and principal analyst at Creative Strategies; and Gaia Vince, a science writer–the 40 minutes allotted for our conversation before taking audience questions went by fast.

3/4/2026: At MWC, SpaceX execs tout Starlink V2 – and a key carrier partner for it, Light Reading

My telecom trade-pub client asked me to cover SpaceX’s portion of this keynote Monday. The rest of my schedule that day, combined with jet lag leaving me in a sleep-deprived haze, meant I had to finish writing it Tuesday, but that extra time also allowed me to get a quick demo of Starlink’s wireless emergency alert system from a few SpaceX executives at the company’s MWC exhibit.

3/4/2026: AST SpaceMobile Has Big Cellular Satellite Plans for 2026. Can It Deliver?, PCMag

My last appointment on the show floor Tuesday was with AST president and chief strategy officer Scott Wisniewski, who talked about that satellite startup’s plans to bring a direct-to-cell service to market this year for carriers including AT&T and Verizon. For that to happen, both AST and its launch providers will need to step up their pace dramatically.

Telus invests in AST SpaceMobile to expand D2D coverage in Canada

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://spacenews.com/telus-invests-in-ast-spacemobile-to-expand-d2d-coverage-in-canada/

Deutsche Telekom aims to bring Starlink Mobile V2 to Europe in 2028

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://spacenews.com/deutsche-telekom-aims-to-bring-starlink-mobile-v2-to-europe-in-2028/

AST SpaceMobile wins $30 million contract for military  broadband demo

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://spacenews.com/ast-spacemobile-wins-30-million-contract-for-military-broadband-demo/

AST SpaceMobile ontvouwt de grootste commerciële communicatie-antenne
De eerste next-generation communicatiesatelliet beslaat een oppervlakte van 223 vierkante meter.
#ASTSpaceMobile #BlueBird6 #Bluewalker3 #communicatiesatelliet #LVM3 #MobieleTelefonie #spacex #starlink
https://www.kuuke.nl/ast-spacemobile-ontvouwt-de-grootste-commerciele-communicatie-antenne/

Blue Origin to reuse New Glenn booster on next launch

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://spacenews.com/blue-origin-to-reuse-new-glenn-booster-on-next-launch/

RE: https://mstdn.social/@TechCrunch/115939305736669688

#BlueOrigin is targeting late February for the third launch of #NewGlenn. But it won’t be heading to the moon, it chose to launch the #ASTSpaceMobile satellite instead of its own #robotic lunar lander

#BlueOrigin:
"
New Glenn-3 to Launch AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird Satellite
"
".. New Glenn-3 (NG-3), will carry AST SpaceMobile’s next-generation Block 2 BlueBird satellite to low Earth orbit. The launch is scheduled for no earlier than late February from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. .."

https://www.blueorigin.com/news/new-glenn-3-to-launch-ast-spacemobile-bluebird-satellite

22.1.2026

#ASTSpaceMobile #BlueBird #BO #NewGlenn #NewGlenn3 #NG 3 #Raumfahrt #satcom #Satelliten #Satellitenkommunikation #SpaceFlight #TeraWave #USA

Musk pierde la carrera del móvil espacial: su modelo de saturación orbital es ecológicamente ruinoso y depende de tecnología que no existe. AST SpaceMobile, con 90 satélites y aliados clave, tiene la ventaja.
#ElonMusk #SpaceX #ASTSpaceMobile

https://pletnet.io/elon-musk-el-fracaso-anunciado-del-modelo-de-fuerza-bruta/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=jetpack_social

Weekly output: LocalSend, Mark Vena podcast, AST SpaceMobile launch

I hope you all are enjoying the liminal time between Christmas and New Year’s–or, as I’ve come to think of it over the last 25-plus years, my last moments of occupational tranquility before work returns with force in the form of CES.

(I’ve used some of that semi-idle time to write an extra post for Patreon readers about the free trips that I didn’t take in the last quarter of this year.)

12/22/2025: This Free App Makes Transferring Files Between Devices Ridiculously Easy, PCMag

Quizzing LocalSend’s developer via e-mail taught me a lesson in how namespaces and nations can mix. As in: He goes by Tien Do Nam, in Vietnam last names come first, he lives in Berlin, so I thought to ask for his surname. He replied that the correct full name is Do Nam Tien, while his German documents list him as Tien Do Nam.

12/24/2025: Ep 117 SmartTechCheck Podcast — Trump’s impact on tech, AI data centers and energy, FCC and Google, Mark Vena

As the token Washingtonian on this podcast, I took up the first item on the agenda. My take on President Trump’s tech policy wasn’t all bad–it looks like the government is in line to save tens of billions of dollars in broadband-buildout costs, assuming that Amazon Leo satellite broadband comes online on schedule–but I can’t call it anything close to good overall.

12/24/2025: AST SpaceMobile Launches Its Most Powerful Direct-to-Cell Satellite Yet, PCMag

Was I going to use this post as an opportunity to remind PCMag readers about India’s impressive spaceflight ambitions? Absolutely.

#AirDrop #ASTSpaceMobile #BEAD #BlueBird #broadbandBuildout #D2D #directToDevice #directToCell #IndiaSpaceProgram #LocalSend #lowEarthOrbitBroadband #LVM3 #MarkVena #QuickShare #satelliteBroadband #Starlink #TienDoNam

#ASTSpaceMobile:
"
AST SpaceMobile Announces Successful Orbital Launch of BlueBird 6, the Largest Commercial Communications Array Ever Deployed in Low Earth Orbit
"
"The BlueBird 6 mission lifted off at 10:25 p.m. EST on December 23 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India. .."

https://feeds.issuerdirect.com/news-release.html?newsid=4645472761706619&symbol=ASTS

24.12.2025

#BlueBird6 #India #Indien #ISRO #LVM3 #LVM3M6 #Rakete #Raumfahrt #satcom #Satelliten #Satellitenkommunikation
#SDSC #SpaceFlight

Indian rocket launches AST SpaceMobile’s next-gen BlueBird 6 satellite

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://spacenews.com/indian-rocket-launches-ast-spacemobiles-next-gen-bluebird-6-satellite/

AST SpaceMobile sheds more light on sovereign direct-to-device plan for Europe

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://spacenews.com/ast-spacemobile-sheds-more-light-on-sovereign-direct-to-device-plan-for-europe/

Vodafone und AST SpaceMobile: Deutschland wird Betriebs­zen­trum für Satelliten-Netzwerk https://www.computerbase.de/news/internet/vodafone-und-ast-spacemobile-deutschland-wird-betriebszentrum-fuer-satelliten-netzwerk.94964/ #Vodafone #ASTSpaceMobile