SpaceX received approval to launch 7,500 Starlink satellites from the Federal Communications Commission on December 1. The FCC only partially approved SpaceX’s request, as the company aims to launch 30,000 Starlink “Gen2” satellites into low Earth orbit.
“Our action will enable SpaceX to begin deployment of Gen2 Starlink, which will bring next-generation satellite broadband to Americans nationwide, including those who live and work in areas traditionally unserved or underserved by satellite systems. terrestrial,” the FCC wrote.
This FCC approval is vital to the recently announced partnership between SpaceX and T-Mobile in August. Dubbed “Coverage Above and Beyond,” the two companies aim to use Starlink’s Gen2 satellites with T-Mobile’s midband spectrum, which is roughly equivalent to their 3G network.
Note, connectivity will be 2-4 Mbps per cellular area, so will work fine for texting and voice calls, but not high bandwidth
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 26, 2022
As Elon Musk points out, these speeds are mostly only useful for texting and voice calls, but have the potential to eliminate mobile dead zones in “more than half a million square miles of the United States”. .
“The important thing about this is that it means there’s no dead zone in the world for your cell phone,” Musk said. “We are incredibly excited to do this with T-Mobile.”
A T-Mobile spokesperson also clarified this with the Washington Post.
“We don’t claim to cover rural America with this,” the T-Mobile spokesperson said. “This partnership aims to go beyond the limitations of cellular networks and the wireless industry today to eliminate the mobile dead zones that are often the result of land use restrictions, field boundaries and the vastness of America.”
According to the announcement, “the vast majority of smartphones already on T-Mobile’s network will be compatible with the new service using the device’s existing radio. No additional equipment to buy. It just works.
The feature, according to T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert, will be included in the company’s “most popular” wireless plans.
Smartphone Tesla
On cellphones and Musk, the Twitter CEO recently claimed that Apple is threatening to remove Twitter from its App Store.
Apple also threatened to remove Twitter from its App Store, but won’t tell us why
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 28, 2022
This was cleared up a few days later, with Elon Musk tweeting that the “misunderstanding” had been “resolved”.
Good conversation. Among other things, we resolved the misunderstanding regarding the potential removal of Twitter from the App Store. Tim was clear that Apple had never considered doing this.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 30, 2022
The controversy — if you can call it that — raised an interesting sentiment to which Musk responded: building his own smartphone.
I sure hope it doesn’t come to that but, yeah, if there’s no other choice, I’ll make an alternative phone
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 25, 2022
Rumors have been circulating since early 2021 about a Tesla smartphone, often referred to as the Pi model or Pi phone. Tesla and Musk have been particularly quiet on the subject, but that hasn’t stopped enthusiasts from speculating on features. . Some seem likely, such as satellite internet, vehicle control features on Tesla models, and even astrophotography – powerful AI-assisted cameras for photographing the night sky. Other speculations are arguably a little more outlandish: solar charging, crypto-mining, communication with colonists on Mars, and Neuralink support to name a few.
Neuralink: Interface with the brain
Another of Musk’s ventures is Neuralink – implants that would allow the human brain to connect to a computer. Neuralink is seeking government approval to begin testing on human subjects. The company tested the implants on monkeys at the University of California, Davis Primate Center (UC Davis) earlier this year.
Neuralink revealed a monkey playing the computer game ‘Pong’ in April with the implant, but was forced to face animal cruelty charges after a US nonprofit sent a letter to the department American Agriculture. Neuralink confirmed that monkeys died during testing, but maintained that no animal cruelty occurred and that “all new medical devices and treatments must be tested on animals before they can be ethically tested on humans”.
Twitter could take on YouTube
Besides cellphone makers, another sector Musk could enter is video hosting. Twitter currently only allows video files up to 512MB and requires longer videos to be cut down to 2 minutes and 20 seconds. A currently unverified source, “Wong”, said that Twitter Blue will increase these limits to 2 GB and 2 hours – leaving some to wonder if Musk intends to take on the juggernaut that is YouTube.
Source: Wong
— T(w)itter Takeover News (@TitterTakeover) November 30, 2022
Twitter Blue Labs – an early access testing program – lists longer video downloads among its features to 10 minutes, but can see a significant increase in that time if “Wong” is correct.
Regardless of speculation about which industry Musk will enter next, his newest venture, Twitter, is trying to win over businesses after losing half of its top advertisers within weeks of taking office. Advertising accounts for around 90% of Twitter’s revenue, leaving the social media company with no choice but to keep brands coming back.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Twitter’s new plan is to match advertiser spend with “100% added value” for those spending between $500,000 and $1 million through the end of the year. Basically a “buy one, get one free” ad space on Twitter.
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