Weekly output: LocalSend, Mark Vena podcast, AST SpaceMobile launch

I hope you all are enjoying the liminal time between Christmas and New Year’s–or, as I’ve come to think of it over the last 25-plus years, my last moments of occupational tranquility before work returns with force in the form of CES.

(I’ve used some of that semi-idle time to write an extra post for Patreon readers about the free trips that I didn’t take in the last quarter of this year.)

12/22/2025: This Free App Makes Transferring Files Between Devices Ridiculously Easy, PCMag

Quizzing LocalSend’s developer via e-mail taught me a lesson in how namespaces and nations can mix. As in: He goes by Tien Do Nam, in Vietnam last names come first, he lives in Berlin, so I thought to ask for his surname. He replied that the correct full name is Do Nam Tien, while his German documents list him as Tien Do Nam.

12/24/2025: Ep 117 SmartTechCheck Podcast — Trump’s impact on tech, AI data centers and energy, FCC and Google, Mark Vena

As the token Washingtonian on this podcast, I took up the first item on the agenda. My take on President Trump’s tech policy wasn’t all bad–it looks like the government is in line to save tens of billions of dollars in broadband-buildout costs, assuming that Amazon Leo satellite broadband comes online on schedule–but I can’t call it anything close to good overall.

12/24/2025: AST SpaceMobile Launches Its Most Powerful Direct-to-Cell Satellite Yet, PCMag

Was I going to use this post as an opportunity to remind PCMag readers about India’s impressive spaceflight ambitions? Absolutely.

#AirDrop #ASTSpaceMobile #BEAD #BlueBird #broadbandBuildout #D2D #directToDevice #directToCell #IndiaSpaceProgram #LocalSend #lowEarthOrbitBroadband #LVM3 #MarkVena #QuickShare #satelliteBroadband #Starlink #TienDoNam

Weekly output: FCC independence, Starlink mobile-broadband ambitions, TAE + TMTG, best WiFi hotspots

In addition to wrapping up my holiday shopping far later than I expected, this week saw me mostly finish migrating from Evernote to Obsidian after management at the note-taking app I’ve used since 2010 elected to impose a 92 percent rate increase.

12/18/2025: FCC Scrambles to Edit Website After Chair Refuses to Say Agency Is Independent, PCMag

Here we have yet another case of the 2025 version of FCC chair Brendan Carr taking a position on a tech-policy issue explicitly rejected by an earlier model year of this man. But this time around, the Trump-loyalist chairman made his heel turn even more obvious by apparently ordering up a hasty edit of the commission’s about-us page.

12/19/2025: SpaceX Exec Tips ‘Real’ High-Speed Cellular Starlink, With 15K More Satellites, PCMag

This story started with my attending a space-telecom conference in D.C. two Mondays ago, then I needed to educate myself much more about SpaceX’s ambitions for direct-to-device broadband from a future generation of Starlink satellites.

12/19/2025: Trump’s Truth Social to Merge With Fusion Startup You’ve Probably Never Heard Of, PCMag

Will the Trump family still be so enthusiastic about TAE Technologies if their backing somehow helps it finally commercialize fusion power generation and in so doing hammers the last nail into the coffin of the coal-fired power plants so beloved by our scientifically-illiterate president? (Answer: That question is probably irrelevant, because coal is already so uncompetitive that this administration’s fossil-fuel fetishists feel compelled to issue orders to keep obsolete coal plants online on a fake “emergency” basis.)

12/19/2025: The Best Wi-Fi Hotspot, Wirecutter

I updated the “What to look forward to” section of this guide–last updated almost a year ago–to note how AT&T has added two newer models to its lineup. One of them looks like an immense improvement over our previous pick from that carrier.

#ATTHotspots #BrendanCarr #cleanPower #D2D #directToDevice #directToCell #FCC #FCCIndependentAgency #FranklinA70 #fusionPower #SpaceX #Starlink #TAE #TMTG #TrumpMediaTechnologyGroup #TruthSocial #WiFiHotspots

Mobile Private Networks are a great opportunity for direct-to-device satellite operators to secure and grow their enterprise business

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://spacenews.com/mobile-private-networks-are-a-great-opportunity-for-direct-to-device-satellite-operators-to-secure-and-grow-their-enterprise-business/

SpaceX’s D2D deal spurs space bulls

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://spacenews.com/spacexs-d2d-deal-spurs-space-bulls/

China promotes direct-to-device satellite services with new guidelines and licensing

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://spacenews.com/china-promotes-direct-to-device-satellite-services-with-new-guidelines-and-licensing/

Hey, Smashwords authors. We have up until June 29 to enroll in the Summer / Winter Smashwords promotion.

#Smashwords #Draft2Digital #D2D

#Draft2Digital is removing the #PayWhatYouWant option from #Smashwords, so I fear soon the only option to offer pay what you want is my payhip shop:

https://payhip.com/b/8fEB

Most people pay $0 and that's OK, the story is available online for free, but for those who WANT to tip me, I like the "pay what you want" option and I'm sad that #D2D decided to remove it.

Right now, Zeus & Hera's first time is still pay what you want on Smashwords:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1001384

#writerslife #indieAuthor