All posts tagged: Starlink

Pentagon Disturbed as Its Fleet of Drones Is Left Bobbing in the Ocean When Elon Musk’s Starlink Fails

Pentagon Disturbed as Its Fleet of Drones Is Left Bobbing in the Ocean When Elon Musk’s Starlink Fails

Published by José Betancourt

Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech Two dozen unmanned surface vessels — autonomous boat drones, basically — were left floating in the Pacific ocean after a massive outage of SpaceX’s Starlink internet service left them adrift. That event, first reported by Reuters, left the experimental robots disconnected and bobbing in the ocean for nearly an hour off the coast of California. It was one of several Pentagon experiments disrupted by the Starlink blackout, according to Reuters. That global outage left millions of Starlink customers in the dark back in August of 2025, dealing a blow to the company’s image as an always-on satellite internet provider. While service was eventually restored, the incident left customers frustrated and analysts concerned. According to the company website, Starlink offers “high-speed, low-latency internet with more than 99.9 percent average uptime and reliable connectivity around the globe.” That remaining 0.1 percent clearly represents a lingering pain point, though. Pentagon officials, who are increasingly leveraging Elon Musk’s pet internet company to …

Amazon Delays Launch of Leo, Its Satellite Network and Starlink Rival

Amazon Delays Launch of Leo, Its Satellite Network and Starlink Rival

Published by skeptic

Amazon’s Leo satellite network is facing delays, CEO Andy Jassy announced on Thursday. In a letter to shareholders (PDF), Jassy said the service is now expected to launch “mid-2026.” He also said that companies such as Delta Airlines, JetBlue, AT&T, NASA and more have committed to using the service when it is available. Amazon Leo (which stands for low Earth orbit) is a satellite communications network that aims to provide high-speed — and affordable — internet service around the world. If successful, it could be a prominent competitor to Elon Musk’s SpaceX and its Starlink service. But to get there, Amazon will have to find a way to make up for lost time.  Currently, there are more than 10,000 SpaceX satellites in space. Amazon Leo has just under 250. Amazon is also currently facing a tight deadline from the Federal Communications Commission, which ordered the company to have around 1,600 satellites in space by July. Amazon has since formally asked for an extension until 2028, but the FCC has not yet announced its decision.  Watch this: Amazon’s Project Kuiper Internet Satellites …

Amazon CEO takes aim at Nvidia, Intel, Starlink, more in annual shareholder letter

Amazon CEO takes aim at Nvidia, Intel, Starlink, more in annual shareholder letter

Published by skeptic

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy’s annual shareholder letter reads something like a Kendrick Lamar diss track, if the rapper was a corporate-speak talking CEO and not a poetic Pulitzer-prize winning musician. Meaning, you have to know the history to understand all of the competitors Jassy takes aim at, alongside cute personal stories about his unrealized dream of being a sportscaster and watching hockey games with his dad. Of course, Jassy doesn’t throw the gauntlet down directly. He takes a more nuanced approach. For instance, in his challenge to Nvidia, he writes, “We have a strong partnership with NVIDIA, will always have customers who choose to run NVIDIA” and will always support these chips in its cloud. But he also says: “Virtually all AI thus far has been done on NVIDIA chips, but a new shift has started.” AWS customers, he says, “want better price-performance” meaning Amazon’s own home-grown Trainium AI chips. Jassy says demand is so high for this chip that capacity for the newest one, Trainium3, is nearly sold out. Remarkably, he says that capacity …

To the Moon and beyond: Artemis II and humanity’s reach into space

To the Moon and beyond: Artemis II and humanity’s reach into space

Published by Jenni Sidey

In April 2026, NASA’s Artemis II mission carried four astronauts around the Moon and back, sending Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen farther from Earth than any humans before them. The Orion spacecraft, launched on the Space Launch System rocket, did not land on the lunar surface. It was not meant to. The mission was a test, built to find out whether Orion could safely carry people into deep space and bring them home again. Still, its biggest result was hard to miss. Artemis II reached about 252,756 miles from Earth’s surface, setting a new record for human distance from home and reviving a part of space travel that had gone quiet for more than half a century. That is why the mission feels bigger than a single flight. Artemis II did practical work, checking life support, navigation, and the demands of a trip around the Moon. It also did something older and more emotional. It made the history of space travel feel unfinished. One way to understand that history is to …

Streaming Wars Takes to the Skies as Starlink Internet Gets on Planes

Streaming Wars Takes to the Skies as Starlink Internet Gets on Planes

Published by Daniella Wilson

Earlier this week, I woke up my phone and opened the YouTube app, watching some sports highlights, before switching to Netflix and finishing an old episode of Arrested Development. It was wholly unremarkable, save for the fact that we were cruising at 32,000 feet. United Airlines is in the midst of installing Starlink internet across its fleet, and this was a demo flight, meant to demonstrate how the SpaceX-powered satellite internet service can deliver broadband as fast as you can get at home, even when cruising at 580 miles per hour six miles above the earth. But United’s push to bring free high-speed internet to its aircraft also underscores what will become a new reality as other airlines follow: The streaming wars will soon take to the skies. Flyers, once limited to what was licensed on the seatback screens (assuming they were even on a plane that had them), will soon be able to bring their own entertainment, be it TikTok, YouTube, Netflix, or Fortnite. And airlines are going to adapt accordingly. “It’s about optionality,” …

A former Thiel fellow’s startup just launched a drone it says can replace police helicopters

A former Thiel fellow’s startup just launched a drone it says can replace police helicopters

Published by skeptic

When I speak to Blake Resnick, he’s walking around his drone startup’s newest office space in Seattle—a cavernous 50,000-square-foot facility that, Resnick estimates, won’t be fully set up until later in the year—potentially November. Still, the big (and for now, largely empty) building offers the promise of a fast-growing company intent on conquering its particular industry. The industry in question is public safety and the startup is Brinc, which sells drones to police and public agencies across the U.S. The company wants to be the “DJI of the West,” as Resnick has put it—a nod to the Chinese drone manufacturer and a signal that Resnick wants Brinc to become equally synonymous with the tech it sells. A former Thiel Fellow — a prestigious program that funds young entrepreneurs to skip or defer college — Resnick founded Brinc in 2017 and not long afterward garnered interest from then-OpenAI founder Sam Altman, who ultimately served as one of Brinc’s first seed investors. Since then, Brinc has enjoyed a number of funding rounds and, as of its last, …

I finally switched to Starlink — it fixed my rural internet and costs less than I expected

I finally switched to Starlink — it fixed my rural internet and costs less than I expected

Published by skeptic

I’d been with the same local cable provider for many years. The service worked, the price remained predictable, and switching to satellite internet felt like a hassle involving upfront costs I was not interested in paying. Then, slowly, my provider hiked the rates. With each passing year, the service seems to degrade as the bill grows. My neighbor couldn’t stop talking about his Starlink setup, and I decided to try it. Worst case, I’d send it back within the 30-day window. I didn’t send it back. Related I separated my 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands and I should have done it sooner A simple router setting was holding back my home network’s full potential, and I wish I’d made this change sooner. What made me finally pull the trigger? One bill undid years of cable inertia. The yearly rate hike became the tipping point that prompted me to explore alternatives. The rate hike wasn’t dramatic. It was the principal, the reminder that I was stuck in a relationship with a company that lacked the incentive to …

Why the world’s militaries are scrambling to create their own Starlink

Why the world’s militaries are scrambling to create their own Starlink

Published by skeptic

An illustration showing some of Starlink’s 10,000 satellites xnk/Shutterstock Starlink’s satellite constellation provides a reliable internet connection to almost anywhere on Earth, conferring an advantage on the modern battlefield. But it is also run by controversial billionaire Elon Musk, presenting a risk to militaries that could easily find themselves cut off. So, now countries are racing to build their own version. The Starlink network consists of almost 10,000 satellites that offer internet connections across most of the planet via small dishes on the ground. The company says it has more than 10 million paying civilian customers, but the service is also used militarily. Modern warfare is a data-intensive business, with intelligence, video feeds and drone control instructions being beamed back and forth 24 hours a day. Unlike radios, which can be easily jammed by adversaries, Starlink’s signals point straight up from ground stations to space and are relatively robust. And because receivers are cheap, they can be issued to small military units and even used on remotely operated ground and aerial drones. But in a …

Best Battery for Starlink Mini? PeakDo LinkPower 2 Adds 5 Hours

Best Battery for Starlink Mini? PeakDo LinkPower 2 Adds 5 Hours

Published by skeptic

The PeakDo LinkPower 2 offers a compact and efficient power solution tailored for Starlink Mini users, combining extended runtime and versatile charging options. Phones & Drones highlights how this battery delivers up to five hours of continuous use, surpassing its predecessor’s four-hour limit, thanks to smart power management. Additionally, the inclusion of a full metal heat sink ensures effective cooling during prolonged operation, making it a dependable choice for outdoor setups or extended connectivity needs. In this guide, you’ll explore how the PeakDo LinkPower 2 supports dual charging capabilities with its magnetic DC input and USB-C port, allowing simultaneous device charging. You’ll also discover its real-time monitoring features via Bluetooth, allowing you to track battery performance with precision. Whether you’re working remotely, camping, or navigating unpredictable conditions, this breakdown will help you understand how the device balances portability, durability and functionality for a variety of scenarios. Portable Power for Starlink TL;DR Key Takeaways : The PeakDo LinkPower 2 offers up to five hours of runtime with smart power management and advanced cooling via a full …

This 3-in-1 adapter for the Starlink Mini made all the difference for its power delivery

This 3-in-1 adapter for the Starlink Mini made all the difference for its power delivery

Published by skeptic

Stargear 3-in-1 Cable for Starlink Mini ZDNET’s key takeaways The perfect way to power your Starlink Mini, no matter the source! You can use the stock power supply, a 12V car supply, and USB-C power There’s a built-in digital display that also incorporates a handy power switch. Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. The Starlink Mini is an excellent piece of equipment, and it has performed far beyond my expectations. The hardware is second to none, and after many months of heavy use, being dragged around the world and left out in the rain, snow, frost, and burning sun, the dish still looks and functions like new. The only thing I needed to change was how it was powered.  Also: This off-grid internet system is my secret weapon for winter storm outages The kit assumes you’ll be using a mains outlet, but in off-grid situations, mains outlets are either scarce or, when connected to a portable power station, not the most efficient way to use the limited power available. I like to …