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/

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