Weekly output: Trump Mobile, Facebook passkeys, SpaceX Starship explosion, Reebok earbud-carrying smartwatch

I spent this week in a different federal district–Mexico City, where I traveled to cover the Electronics Home Mexico tech trade show as a guest of the show’s organizers. (As in, they’re covering my travel expenses.) I now have no business travel planned until early August, and I’m fine with that.

6/17/2025: 5 Things to Know About the New Trump Smartphone, Washingtonian

Washingtonian’s Kate Corliss texted me while I was on my way to MEX, and then we talked during what was supposed to be a short layover at IAH that then dragged on for hours. I’m glad she used this line: “So if you sign up for that, you’re paying a Trump tax for wireless service with your favorite guy’s name on it.”

6/19/2025: Facebook Finally Lets You Sign in With a Passkey, But Not Everywhere, PCMag

Once again, Facebook is excluding users of its Web site from a new feature, which strikes me as seriously unhelpful in the context of a security upgrade like this.

6/19/2025: Another SpaceX Starship Explodes, This Time on the Test Stand, Not in Space, PCMag

As I was getting ready to go to bed Wednesday night, I saw that a static fire of Starship’s upper stage had gone disastrously awry and put in a pitch to cover that in PCMag’s Slack. When I woke up, my editor had green-lit the idea, and I had it written before breakfast.

6/21/2025: Tired of Losing Your Earbuds? This Smartwatch Lets You Stash Them Inside a Hidden Compartment, PCMag

The first of two pieces from this trade show featured an unlikely find on the show floor that one of the other journalists on the trip had suggested as worth a look.

#CDMX #earbuds #ElectronicsHomeMexico #FacebookPasskeys #MexicoCity #passkeys #Reebok #smartwatch #SpaceX #Starship #T1Phone #TrumpCult #TrumpMobile