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.

#ToxicWaste from screens ends up in endangered #dolphins, study finds

Gene-altering chemicals found in humpback dolphins and finless porpoises, raising alarm they may end up in human food chain

by Tara Russell
Wed 25 Feb 2026 08.00 EST

Excerpt: " 'The presence of #LCMs in their brains is a major red flag,' He said. 'If these chemicals can cross the blood-brain barrier in dolphins, we must be concerned about the potential for similar effects in humans who are exposed through contaminated seafood or even drinking water.'

"#ElectronicWaste is a growing problem around the world, with 62m tonnes of it generated each year. The main culprit is '#FastTech' – cheap and often poorly manufactured items viewed as disposable, including devices that use LCMs.

"To reduce the damage, the researchers said people should try to extend the life of their #electronics through #repairs and disposing of them using certified #EWaste recycling methods."

Read more:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/25/toxic-waste-from-screens-ends-up-in-endangered-dolphins-study-finds

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/cVdai

#RepairReuseRestore #EWaste #Pollution #OceansAreLife #WaterIsLife #RepairCafes #RightToRepair #PlannedObsolescence #CheapElectronics #LCDs

TokenDagger – A tokenizer 2-4x faster than OpenAI's Tiktoken

https://github.com/M4THYOU/TokenDagger

#HackerNews #TokenDagger #Tokenization #OpenAI #Tiktoken #FastTech #GitHub

Fast Tech

https://chaos.social/@gsuberland/114485304658708399

#HackerNews #FastTech #Innovation #Technology #News #HackerNews

TinyKVM: Fast sandbox that runs on top of Varnish

https://info.varnish-software.com/blog/tinykvm-the-fastest-sandbox

#HackerNews #TinyKVM #Varnish #Sandbox #FastTech #Virtualization

"Att kalla en produkt för koldioxidneutral samtidigt som man bidrar till en ond cirkel av ”fast tech” – prylar som snabbt blir föråldrade och måste bytas ut – är som att plantera ett träd i en skog som brinner. Det blir mer av en symbolhandling än något som gör skillnad på riktigt. Apple borde istället fokusera på att göra sina produkter mer hållbara och reparerbara, så att de inte behöver bytas ut varje år."

#apple #FastTech #5Rs #LessIsMore

https://www.etc.se/debatt/hej-siri-hur-kan-vi-goera-iphones-mer-haallbara-h54dc59d?utm_source=rss