#astspacemobile — 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/

Starlink Mobile challengers back proposed telco-led D2D joint venture

https://web.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.

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.

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.

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.

AST SpaceMobile Weighs FCC Win Against BlueBird 7 Setback And Valuation

Find your next quality investment with Simply Wall St’s easy and powerful screener, trusted by over 7 million…
#NewsBeep #News #Space #ASTSpaceMobile #Satelliteconnectivity #satelliteconstellation #Science #SimplyWallSt #UK #UnitedKingdom
https://www.newsbeep.com/uk/577262/

AST SpaceMobile Weighs FCC Win Against BlueBird 7 Setback And Valuation

Find your next quality investment with Simply Wall St’s easy and powerful screener, trusted by over 7 million…
#NewsBeep #News #Space #ASTSpaceMobile #AU #Australia #Satelliteconnectivity #satelliteconstellation #Science #SimplyWallSt
https://www.newsbeep.com/au/662769/

AST SpaceMobile Weighs FCC Win Against BlueBird 7 Setback And Valuation

Find your next quality investment with Simply Wall St’s easy and powerful screener, trusted by over 7 million…
#NewsBeep #News #Space #ASTSpaceMobile #AU #Australia #Satelliteconnectivity #satelliteconstellation #Science #SimplyWallSt
https://www.newsbeep.com/au/662769/

AST SpaceMobile Weighs FCC Win Against BlueBird 7 Setback And Valuation

Find your next quality investment with Simply Wall St’s easy and powerful screener, trusted by over 7 million…
#NewsBeep #News #Space #ASTSpaceMobile #CA #Canada #Satelliteconnectivity #satelliteconstellation #Science #SimplyWallSt
https://www.newsbeep.com/ca/661139/

AST SpaceMobile Weighs FCC Win Against BlueBird 7 Setback And Valuation

Find your next quality investment with Simply Wall St’s easy and powerful screener, trusted by over 7 million…
#NewsBeep #News #US #USA #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Space #ASTSpaceMobile #Satelliteconnectivity #satelliteconstellation #Science #SimplyWallSt
https://www.newsbeep.com/us/635600/

AST SpaceMobile Weighs FCC Win Against BlueBird 7 Setback And Valuation

Find your next quality investment with Simply Wall St’s easy and powerful screener, trusted by over 7 million…
#NewsBeep #News #US #USA #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Space #ASTSpaceMobile #Satelliteconnectivity #satelliteconstellation #Science #SimplyWallSt
https://www.newsbeep.com/us/635600/

https://www.europesays.com/ie/471999/ Have AST SpaceMobile’s Ambitious 2026 Launch Plans Hit a Roadblock? #ASTSpaceMobile #BlueOrigin #ContinuousCoverage #Éire #IE #Ireland #LaunchVehicle #Science #Space

https://www.europesays.com/ie/466134/ A Look At AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) Valuation After FCC Satellite Approval And BlueBird 7 Launch Setback #ASTSpaceMobile #ASTS #Éire #FairValue #fcc #IE #Ireland #Science #SharePrice #Space #TheBlueBird #TotalShareholderReturn

The satellite chessboard is shifting: Amazon's $9-11B Globalstar deal is making headlines, but it may not deliver broadband direct-to-device. Meanwhile, AST SpaceMobile is quietly operating the only scaled solution capable of it.

The market may be reading this wrong. 🛰️

https://post.kapualabs.com/5axs2dn6

#SatelliteComms #ASTSpaceMobile #Telecom #Apple

The satellite chessboard is shifting: Amazon's $9-11B Globalstar deal is making headlines, but it may not deliver broadband direct-to-device. Meanwhile, AST SpaceMobile is quietly operating the only scaled solution capable of it.

The market may be reading this wrong. 🛰️

https://post.kapualabs.com/5axs2dn6

#SatelliteComms #ASTSpaceMobile #Telecom #Apple

The satellite chessboard is shifting: Amazon's $9-11B Globalstar deal is making headlines, but it may not deliver broadband direct-to-device. Meanwhile, AST SpaceMobile is quietly operating the only scaled solution capable of it.

The market may be reading this wrong. 🛰️

https://post.kapualabs.com/5axs2dn6

#SatelliteComms #ASTSpaceMobile #Telecom #Apple

AST SpaceMobile Is Impossible to Ignore Right Now. Here’s What to Do With It.

Shares of AST SpaceMobile (NASDAQ: ASTS) have risen 280% over the past year. That’s incredible when you compare…
#NewsBeep #News #Space #ASTSpaceMobile #CA #Canada #Science #Servicerevenues
https://www.newsbeep.com/ca/625211/

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 throws out satellite spectrum challenges as D2D dealmaking heats up

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

https://www.europesays.com/people/38886/ Jeff Bezos’ rocket failure could delay NASA’s 2028 moon mission #Artemis #ASTSpaceMobile #BlueOrigin #FailedMission #JeffBezos #nasa #ToddHarrison

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/

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

https://web.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

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

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

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

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

https://www.europesays.com/people/34549/ Jeff Bezos’ Rocket Company Faces Setbacks in Its First Commercial Launch. This Partner’s Stock Is Slumping #ASTSpaceMobile #BlueOrigin #JeffBezos

https://www.europesays.com/people/34224/ Blue Origin loses satellite in setback for Jeff Bezos’s moon rocket #ASTSpaceMobile #BlueMoonLander #BlueOrigin #BoosterRocket #Falcon9Rocket #JeffBezos

https://www.europesays.com/people/34010/ Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin nailed rocket landing, but failed to deliver satellite #ASTSpaceMobile #ASTSpacemobileFailure #BlueOrigin #BlueBird7 #BoosterLanding #JeffBezos #NewGlennFailure #NewGlennLanding #ProjectKuiper #SatelliteFailure #SpaceRace #SpaceX

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 declared lost following New Glenn launch
https://atlas.whatip.xyz/post.php?slug=ast-spacemobiles-bluebird-7-declared-lost-following-new-glenn-launch
Rocket nailed it, satellite didn't: AST SpaceMobile loses BlueBird 7 despite New Glenn's historic flight
#astspacemobile #bluebird #newglenn #satelliteconstellation

AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 declared lost following New Glenn launch
https://atlas.whatip.xyz/post.php?slug=ast-spacemobiles-bluebird-7-declared-lost-following-new-glenn-launch
Rocket nailed it, satellite didn't: AST SpaceMobile loses BlueBird 7 despite New Glenn's historic flight
#astspacemobile #bluebird #newglenn #satelliteconstellation

AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 declared lost following New Glenn launch
https://atlas.whatip.xyz/post.php?slug=ast-spacemobiles-bluebird-7-declared-lost-following-new-glenn-launch
Rocket nailed it, satellite didn't: AST SpaceMobile loses BlueBird 7 despite New Glenn's historic flight
#astspacemobile #bluebird #newglenn #satelliteconstellation

AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 declared lost following New Glenn launch
https://atlas.whatip.xyz/post.php?slug=ast-spacemobiles-bluebird-7-declared-lost-following-new-glenn-launch
Rocket nailed it, satellite didn't: AST SpaceMobile loses BlueBird 7 despite New Glenn's historic flight
#astspacemobile #bluebird #newglenn #satelliteconstellation

AST SpaceMobile Addresses Today’s Orbital Launch of BlueBird 7 on the New Glenn Launch Vehicle

MIDLAND, Texas, April 19, 2026–(BUSINESS WIRE)–AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (“AST SpaceMobile”) (NASDAQ: ASTS), the company building the first and…
#NewsBeep #News #Space #ASTSpaceMobile #AU #Australia #BlueBird #forward-lookingstatements #governmentapplications #orbitallaunch #Science
https://www.newsbeep.com/au/617861/

AST SpaceMobile Addresses Today’s Orbital Launch of BlueBird 7 on the New Glenn Launch Vehicle

MIDLAND, Texas, April 19, 2026–(BUSINESS WIRE)–AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (“AST SpaceMobile”) (NASDAQ: ASTS), the company building the first and…
#NewsBeep #News #Space #ASTSpaceMobile #AU #Australia #BlueBird #forward-lookingstatements #governmentapplications #orbitallaunch #Science
https://www.newsbeep.com/au/617861/

https://www.europesays.com/ie/443714/ AST SpaceMobile Addresses Today’s Orbital Launch of BlueBird 7 on the New Glenn Launch Vehicle #ASTSpaceMobile #BlueBird #Éire #ForwardLookingStatements #GovernmentApplications #IE #Ireland #OrbitalLaunch #Science #Space

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

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

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

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

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