Weekly output: satellite-to-phone usage map, BEAD buildout blues, anti-scam Android updates, best inventions of 2026, inflight WiFi (x3), unlocked smartphones, Zayo, Blue Origin
Just three days after returning from one transatlantic trip, I’m heading back across the pond–this time, to Milan for the Consumer Technology Association’s CES Unveiled event there. I’m doing one onstage interview for CTA, while the Italian Trade Agency is covering my airfare and lodging.
10/12/2026: Where Are People Using Cellular Satellite Services? This Map Will Show You, PCMag
Ookla offered me an advance look at this map showing where their software has observed direct-to-device connections from satellites (mostly Starlink) to phones, plus an interview with a product-management VP who offered more insight than I would have gotten from any press release.
10/12/2026: A BEAD ‘Twilight Zone.’ ISPs Annoyed by Delays With Broadband Funding Rollout, PCMag
This post provided an excellent reminder that watching a livestream of a conference panel is a poor substitute for attending in person–after watching this discussion at the AnchorNets conference in Crystal City, I interviewed the attendee who had vented about his experience with the federal broadband-buildout program, then talked to one of the panelists later in the day.
10/14/2026: Google’s Latest Android Updates Use AI to Clamp Down on Mobile Scams, PCMag
This post took very little time to write, which was a good thing considering that I had to write it between podcast interviews at an AI conference in Dublin.
10/15/2026: The Best Inventions of 2026, Time
My parents subscribed to Time when I was in high school, so it was neat to get my first byline there–five of them, in the form of profiles for this annual package. In order of their appearance on this long list: Bluetooth Auracast broadcast audio, the Gigs OS prepaid wireless service platform, TransUnion’s Branded Call Display, Lightmatter’s Guide photonics engine for data centers, and Major League Baseball’s Automated Ball-Strike Challenge system.
10/15/2026: Almost Half of United Airlines Departures Now Feature Starlink Connectivity, PCMag
I thought I’d write this post via Starlink on my Aer Lingus flight home from Dublin, but instead jet lag had me awake in the middle of the night. Then I did use that inflight broadband to field a request for a correction–an advance copy of United’s press release had the wrong address for their Starlink tracker, which United’s PR rep promptly brought to our attention.
10/15/2026: Southwest Airlines Updates Starlink Flight Plan, Will Upgrade Entire Fleet, PCMag
I updated the piece I wrote in February with this news about Southwest’s decision to install Space’s broadband across its entire fleet.
10/16/2026: The best way to get great airline WiFi — and why you might not want to, The Washington Post
I wrote this to reject the notion–one you see all the time on X–that Starlink is the only inflight WiFi that matters, and that any airline unwilling to install it deserves to have its planes crushed into beer cans. I thought this piece would draw more comments given how strongly many people feel about Elon Musk, by which I mean how much many people hate Elon Musk, but as you can see it did not.
10/16/2026: Buying a phone from a wireless carrier has limits. There’s another option., The Washington Post
This week’s tech tip was inspired in part by my mother-in-law shopping for a new iPhone; I pointed out that by buying a new model at the local Apple Store, she could get it unlocked, get a trade-in on her old iPhone, and have somebody at the Genius Bar help with transferring over everything from the old phone.
10/16/2026: How Zayo is trying to keep its cool in an overheating data center market, Light Reading
I wrote this the previous week, itself a week after I’d interviewed the CTO of this telecom-infrastructure firm at SCTE TechExpo in Atlanta, and then it took a little more time to get the piece edited and published.
10/16/2026: Blue Origin Unveils Plans for Massive Upgrade to Its Florida Facilities, PCMag
I thought I’d have a low-key Friday, and then Blue Origin announced these plans for a serious expansion of its Cape Canaveral infrastructure–some of which I’d seen in the distance at the end of August.
#AnchorNets #android #BEAD #BlueOrigin #BluetoothAuracast #callerID #CapeCanaveral #dataCenters #directToDevice #EutelsatOneWeb #GigsOS #howToBuyUnlockedPhone #inflightWiFi #Lightmatter #MLB #NewGlenn #Ookla #photonics #satelliteRoaming #scamTexts #SCTETechExpo #Southwest #SpaceCoast #Starlink #StarlinkMobile #Time #TransUnion #UA #UnitedAirlines #unlockedPhones #WN #Zayo
