Amazon wants to launch 5,105 satellites that would beam voice, data, and emergency service directly to smartphones beyond the reach of cell towers

Good news! More space junk? Just kidding! Competition is good, more competition is better!

"Amazon asked federal regulators for permission to launch 5,105 satellites that would beam voice, data, and emergency service directly to smartphones beyond the reach of cell towers, starting in 2028."

"... 5,100 satellites that would provide direct-to-device (D2D) services using Globalstar spectrum. ..."

"Key takeaways

• Amazon Leo has proposed a new constellation of up to 5,105 satellites to connect compatible mobile devices directly from space.
• Leo will partner with mobile network operators to extend mobile connectivity services globally, with satellite deployment beginning in 2028.
• The Leo network will use advanced signal-processing technologies to make efficient use of spectrum and minimize interference.

..."

Thursday, July 30, 2026 - Join The Flyover

Amazon files application for direct-to-device satellite constellation

How Amazon Leo plans to connect mobile devices from space (original news release) "Amazon Leo has filed with the FCC to deploy up to 5,105 new satellites designed to use Globalstar’s spectrum to bring voice, data, messaging, and emergency services directly to mobile devices."

Source

Israeli Electricity Authority halts server farm permits after applications reached 27,000 megawatts

Amazing stuff!

"The Electricity Authority announced today that it was halting permits for server farms for at least the next 140 days. "So far, the power system has committed to 1,500 megawatts in connections to server farms. If the entire commitment is taken up, it will represent 10% of power consumption in the economy at the beginning of the next decade, which will position Israel as one of the leading countries in this field. ..."

Electricity Authority halts server farm permits - Globes "The Authority suspended the grant of permits for 140 days, after applications reached 27,000 megawatts."

40 Years of Wireless Evolution Leads to a Smart, Sensing Network

Recommendable! One of the authors is Vint Cerf (co-inventor of the Internet)!

"... The story of wireless connectivity is often told in speeds and standards—megabits per second, latency, and spectrum bands. But these generational shifts in device specs obscure a deeper pattern. Each generation, from 1G to 5G, rewrote the relationships between three elements: the Devices we carry, the Networks that connect them, and the Applications that run on them. We call this connectivity’s DNA. With 6G, that DNA of interconnection is about to change fundamentally. ..."

Telecom History: From 1G Voices to 6G AI Agents - IEEE Spectrum "The path from 1G to 6G traces from dumb pipes to a nervous system"

SpaceX gets FCC OK for 7,500 more Starlink satellites

Good news?

"The Federal Communications Commission has approved SpaceX's request to launch another 7,500 Starlink satellites, bringing the total to 15,000. The expansion will allow Starlink to operate on five frequencies and offer direct-to-cell connectivity globally. SpaceX must launch half of the new satellites by December 2028 and the rest by December 2031."

IEEE-USA SmartBrief

SpaceX gets FCC approval to launch 7,500 more Starlink satellites

India to Launch Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communication System to Curb Accidents with Palki Sharma

Good news! It only alerts and does not override the human driver. Only new cars first. Motorcycles exempted. Security, hacking issues not resolved yet.

EU considers law to phase out Chinese Huawei and ZTE equipment from EU's telecom networks

The West is becoming more worried as to potential threats by China! But the EU seems to be slow to take measures.

"The EC had in 2020 recommended that member nations stop using tech from "high-risk" vendors like Huawei and ZTE, and now its vice president, Henna Virkkunen, is pushing to turn that recommendation into regulation ..."

"The European Commission is stepping up efforts to bolster the security of Europe’s telecommunications networks by urging member states to phase out equipment from vendors such as Chinese tech giants Huawei and ZTE from its 5G and next-gen networks, Bloomberg reported, citing anonymous sources.

The EC had in 2020 recommended that member nations stop using tech from “high-risk” vendors like Huawei and ZTE, and now its vice president, Henna Virkkunen, is pushing to turn that recommendation into regulation, Bloomberg reported. ..."

"The European Commission is exploring ways to force European Union member states to phase out Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp. from their telecommunications networks, according to people familiar with the matter.

Commission Vice President Henna Virkkunen wants to convert the European Commission’s 2020 recommendation to stop using high-risk vendors in mobile networks into a legal requirement ..."

Techcrunch newsletter

EU considers law to phase out Huawei and ZTE equipment from bloc’s telecom networks

EU Eyes Huawei Ban in Mobile Networks of Member Countries (behind paywall)

Phone location data of top EU officials for sale, report finds

Bad news! Who else might be using such data? Who else is being spied on? Can it happen to yourself?

"Journalists in Europe found it was “easy” to spy on top European Union officials using commercially obtained location histories sold by data brokers, despite the continent having some of the strongest data protection laws in the world. ..."

Phone location data of top EU officials for sale, report finds | TechCrunch

The 7 Phases of the Internet A map to where the Web goes next

Recommendable! One of the two authors, i.e. Vint Cerf, is also known as one of the pioneers/co-inventors of the Internet.

Caveat: I did not read the entire article.

"The Internet, born as an experiment meant to connect teams of researchers, has grown into a planetary-scale infrastructure that has reshaped society. Over the course of six decades, it has advanced through—by our count—three phases: first connecting computers, then mobile devices, and later all devices. But that’s just the start. Because just ahead comes new frontiers of connected intelligence and then, later, perception. Last, we suggest, represents a kind of global or ubiquitous connectedness, and finally connectedness even down to the quantum scale. ...

Through every phase, connectivity has been the unifying principle, although with every successive phase also comes new forms of connection. The story begins with connected packets of data across fixed networks of big machines. Then comes mobility, along with broadly connecting all manner of machines—not just mobile and fixed computing devices. Having already progressed through the first three Phases of the Internet (and having now entered the fourth), the world today has seen the steady expansion of human potential, while unlocking new industries, and reshaping how everyone connected to the Internet lives and works. ..."

History of Internet: IoT's Expanding Role - IEEE Spectrum

Nvidia Just Bet $1 Billion on Nokia. Here’s Why. with Palki Sharma

Good news! What an amazing comeback by Nvidia! Finnish, but not finished!

Starlink's global availability map

Impressive! The only terra incognitas are Afghanistan, Putin the Terrible's Russia, and China!

Credits: Human Progress weekly newsletter

 

Up to 50% of Satellite links found exposing unencrypted data, including phone calls and some military comms

Mistakes happen! I bet the enemies were not eavesdropping, because they did not know either! Or did they know and we didn't? 😊

What is not to like about data leaks? Just kidding!

"Security researchers have discovered that as many as half of all geostationary satellites in Earth’s orbit are carrying unencrypted sensitive consumer, corporate, and military information, making this data wide open to eavesdropping. ..."

"Summary

We pointed a commercial-off-the-shelf satellite dish at the sky and carried out the most comprehensive public study to date of geostationary satellite communication.

A shockingly large amount of sensitive traffic is being broadcast unencrypted, including critical infrastructure, internal corporate and government communications, private citizens’ voice calls and SMS, and consumer Internet traffic from in-flight wifi and mobile networks. This data can be passively observed by anyone with a few hundred dollars of consumer-grade hardware. There are thousands of geostationary satellite transponders globally, and data from a single transponder may be visible from an area as large as 40% of the surface of the earth. ..."

From the abstract:

"Geosynchronous (GEO) satellite links provide IP backhaul to remote critical infrastructure for utilities, telecom, government, military, and commercial users. To date, academic studies of GEO infrastructure have focused on a handful of satellites and specific use cases.

We perform the first broad scan of IP traffic on 39 GEO satellites across 25 distinct longitudes with 411 transponders using consumer grade equipment. We overcome the poor signal quality plaguing prior work and build the first general parser that can handle the diverse protocols in use by heterogeneous endpoints.

We found 50% of GEO links contained cleartext IP traffic; while link-layer encryption has been standard practice in satellite TV for decades, IP links typically lacked encryption at both the link and network layers. This gives us a unique view into the internal network security practices of these organizations. We observed unencrypted cellular backhaul traffic from several providers including cleartext call and text contents, job scheduling and industrial control systems for utility infrastructure, military asset tracking, inventory management for global retail stores, and in-flight wifi."

Satellites found exposing unencrypted data, including phone calls and some military comms | TechCrunch

Satellites Are Leaking the World’s Secrets: Calls, Texts, Military and Corporate Data "With just $800 in basic equipment, researchers found a stunning variety of data—including thousands of T-Mobile users’ calls and texts and even US military communications—sent by satellites unencrypted."

Eavesdropping on Internal Networks via Unencrypted Satellites

Don’t look up: There are sensitive internal links in the clear on GEO satellites

Optical fibre to revolutionise long-distance communication

Good news!

"UK photonics researchers have developed a new kind of hollow-core optical fibre that can transmit light signals about 45% further than current telecom fibres before needing a boost. ..."

From the abstract:

"A critical component of optical communications is the availability of a suitable waveguide technology for the transport of electromagnetic waves with low loss over a broad spectral range.

In the past four decades, despite extensive research, the attenuation and spectral bandwidth of silica-based optical fibres have remained relatively unchanged, with state-of-the-art fibres offering values of 0.14 dB km−1 and 26 THz below 0.2 dB km−1, respectively.

Here we report a microstructured optical waveguide with unprecedented transmission bandwidth and attenuation, with a measured loss of 0.091 dB km−1 at 1,550 nm that remains below 0.2 dB km−1 over a window of 66 THz. Instead of a traditional solid glass core, this innovative optical fibre features a core of air surrounded by a meticulously engineered glass microstructure to guide light. This approach not only reduces attenuation and other signal degradation phenomena, but it also increases transmission speeds by 45%. Furthermore, the approach theoretically supports further loss reductions and operation at wavelengths where broader bandwidth amplifiers exist, potentially heralding a new era in long-distance communications as well as remote delivery of laser beams."

Optical fibre to revolutionise long-distance communication

Novel hollow-core optical fiber transmits data 45% faster with record low loss

Broadband optical fibre with an attenuation lower than 0.1 decibel per kilometre

Fig. 2: Characterization of the fabricated fibre.

Going viral: How ideas, beliefs, and innovations spread in the digital age

Recommendable! Better explanations for the dynamics of spreading information.

"A new study ... introduces a mathematical model for “self-reinforcing cascades,” processes where the thing being spread, whether a belief, joke, or virus, evolves in real time and gains strength as it spreads. ...

“We were inspired in part by forest fires,” ... “Fires can grow stronger when burning through dense forest, and weaker when crossing open gaps. That same principle applies to information, jokes, or diseases. They can intensify or weaken depending on the conditions.”

The model is simple in theory: each time an idea spreads, it has a chance of increasing or decreasing in intensity. If it weakens too much or finds no receptive audience, it dies out. But if it improves, even slightly, it can keep going, triggering large-scale cascades under a wide range of conditions. ..."

From the abstract:

"Models of how things spread often assume that transmission mechanisms are fixed over time. However, social contagions—the spread of ideas, beliefs, innovations—can lose or gain in momentum as they spread: ideas can get reinforced, beliefs strengthened, products refined.

We study the impacts of such self-reinforcement mechanisms in cascade dynamics. We use different mathematical modeling techniques to capture the recursive, yet changing nature of the process.

We find a critical regime with a range of power-law cascade size distributions with nonuniversal scaling exponents.

This regime clashes with classic models, where criticality requires fine-tuning at a precise critical point. Self-reinforced cascades produce critical-like behavior over a wide range of parameters, which may help explain the ubiquity of power-law distributions in empirical social data."

Going viral: How ideas, beliefs, and innovations spread in the digital age | Santa Fe Institute

Self-Reinforcing Cascades: A Spreading Model for Beliefs or Products of Varying Intensity or Quality (open access)

Fig. 2.

Phase transitions of SRC and directed percolation on Poisson trees of average branching number ℓ = 3. 

Why Samsung, Google And Possibly Apple Are Investing In Folding Smartphones

Recommendable! Still too expensive and durability is an issue! I am not sure about usability either when it comes to switching between the phone and the unfolded tablet.

How to Get Fiber Optic Speeds Without the Fiber! By laser beams

Amazing stuff!

Electron 'spin' loss in spintronics key to ultra-low power computing

Good news!

"Scientists have found a way to improve the efficiency of spintronic devices which are a key foundation of next-generation computing such as ultra-low-power memory and neuromorphic chips.

The newly-discovered physical phenomenon allows magnetic materials to spontaneously change the direction of their internal magnetisation by harnessing the loss of electron ‘spin’ as a natural source of energy. ...

In the new method, current flows directly into the magnetic material instead. This causes spin to escape in one direction only, which acts on the magnetic material causing it to switch its magnetic orientation. ..."

"... A team of researchers has identified a new physical phenomenon that allows magnetic materials to spontaneously switch their internal magnetization direction without external stimuli. Magnetic materials are key to the next generation of information processing devices that store information or perform computations by changing the direction of their internal magnetization. For example, if the magnetization direction is upward, it is recognized as '1', and if it is downward, it is recognized as '0', and data can be stored or computed. ..."

From the abstract:

"Efficient control of magnetization in ferromagnets is crucial for high-performance spintronic devices. Magnons offer a promising route to achieve this objective with reduced Joule heating and minimized power consumption. While most research focuses on optimizing magnon transport with minimal dissipation, we present an unconventional approach that exploits magnon dissipation for magnetization control, rather than mitigating it.

By combining a single ferromagnetic metal with an antiferromagnetic insulator that breaks symmetry in spin transport across the layers while preserving the symmetry in charge transport, we realize considerable spin-orbit torques comparable to those found in non-magnetic metals, enough for magnetization switching.

Our systematic experiments and comprehensive analysis confirm that our findings are a result of magnonic spin dissipation, rather than external spin sources. These results provide insights into the experimentally challenging field of intrinsic spin currents in ferromagnets, and open up possibilities for developing energy-efficient devices based on magnon dissipation."

Electron 'spin' loss key to ultra-low power computing

"Turning spin loss into energy", developing a key technology for ultra-low power next-generation information devices "Natural loss of 'spin' harnessed as a source of energy, a new principle developed"

Magnetization switching driven by magnonic spin dissipation

Fig. 1: SAM transfer in HM/FM/Insulator and AFI/FM metal/Insulator. (Left, a conventional spintronic device structure. Right, the new method proposed in the study.)

India's Digital Revolution: From IITs to Global Tech Leadership with Palki Sharma

Recommendable!

The secret history of China’s most powerful company Huawei

Recommendable!

"How did a small Shenzhen-based manufacturer of telephone switches defy tough domestic and international competition to become a world leader in telecoms technology? And how did it manage to start producing its own 5G processors despite international sanctions specifically designed to prevent this from happening?

Telecoms equipment makers are notoriously publicity-shy. They guard their trade secrets jealously and manage their public images carefully. But even by the sector’s exacting standards, Huawei, currently the world’s largest manufacturer of telecommunications equipment, is exceptionally secretive. Its founder, Ren Zhengfei, studiously avoids the limelight, and media visits to the company’s huge campus in Dongguan in southern China are carefully curated and give away little.

In House of Huawei, Eva Dou lifts the veil of secrecy surrounding the tight-lipped company. Dou is a technology reporter for The Washington Post and spent seven years in China and Taiwan covering politics and technology for The Wall Street Journal. ...

Ren established Huawei in 1987 in the Shenzhen special economic zone to manufacture telephone switches for China’s burgeoning economy. Before establishing the company, he worked for the engineering corps of the armed forces. ...

Dou highlights two turning points. The shift from analogue to digital technology in the early 1990s allowed Huawei to expand production and begin supplying China’s state-owned enterprises. At that point, Ren made sure that his company was on the radar screen of the country’s top leaders.

The second turning point came a decade later, when Huawei went global.

As Huawei expanded, so did its symbiotic relationship with China’s party-state. The government helped to ensure the company’s success, while Huawei supported the expansion of state surveillance. Soon after Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, he initiated the Sharp Eyes urban surveillance program and blanketed China with security cameras. In response, Huawei developed its Safe City facial recognition technology, which is now used throughout China and has been bought by countries in Asia, Africa and even Europe.

China’s national intelligence law requires organisations and individuals to ‘support, assist and cooperate with state intelligence work’, a clause that is frequently cited to justify sanctions placed on Huawei. ...

For the past decade, Huawei has been caught in the crossfire of the technology war between the United States and China.

In 2018, Ren’s daughter, at the time Huawei’s chief financial officer, was detained in Canada at the request of the US. The US accused her of covering up Huawei’s sale of telecoms equipment to Iran in violation of US sanctions.

The following year, president Donald Trump declared a national emergency based on ‘vulnerabilities in information technology’, a clear reference to Huawei’s market dominance. ..."

Bookshelf: the secret history of China’s most powerful company | The Strategist

How China is Trying to Sabotage India’s Smartphone Manufacturing with Palki Sharma

Serious stuff! The superpower rivalry between China and India.

Oracle shares soared today

Larry Ellison's weath jumped $26 billion, he is now the 2nd richest man in the world according to Forbes.

Oracle's stock price rose almost $26 over the past five days.