Podcast: Play in new window | Embed
Tech News and Commentary
Dave and the team discuss Apple’s upcoming event, Apple’s car, Russian state media being dropped, movies and products being pulled out of Russia, a Ukranian company disabling their chargers in Russia, TikTok video length being extended again, Peacock’s terms and conditions and a recipe, three quarters of consumers trying augmented reality, physical keyboard Android phones die again, gaming’s benefits, Android’s flashlight brightness, and more.
Mimi in Atlanta, GA listens on AM9200 The Answer and asked: “What are your thoughts on Elon Musk’s statement about how many Starlink satellites have been sent to Ukraine and were they sent to the government, or to the people?”
Mimi, not many thoughts other than rapid deployment seems like a good and obvious use case for satellite internet since its designed to be used in areas where there is no infrastructure.
It was likely the real idea to monetize his infrastructure to begin with, since Musk largely lives off of government contracts. So this may have been a really convenient proof of concept to point out in an RFP to the US government in the future for him.
The equipment went out to the government. What was shown publicly was less than a truck full, which should be helpful to the government, but would be an insanely small number of devices to serve the population.
Before the war, Ukraine had a population of more than 40 million, supplying that population would be like supplying all of Texas and then feeling generous and supplying all of Georgia on top of that. There may never be enough Starlink devices to do something like that, since the connection they can provide is still inferior to wired internet and wireless 5G, so this was a relatively small shipment that should help to keep the government connected, not the general public.
An engineer based in Kyiv, tweeted that Starlink was working in Ukraine as of this past Monday evening with download speeds of 137 megabits per second.
Last week on the show, I talked about the islands in Tonga that were cut off from the Internet after a volcano erupted. Elon Musk also sent terminals there, free of charge, to keep that island connected while the undersea cable was repaired.
When you participate on the show – anytime 24/7 – and we HEAR you with any consumer tech question, comment, help for another listener, tech rage or just share your favorite App these days … you could win prizes.
Jabra: Elite 85t True Wireless Earbuds
BenjiLock: Fingerprint padlocks
Infinacore: Walleygrip Detachable Wallet, Grip and Stand for your smartphone
TurboTax: Online codes good for ANY of their products to help you file your income tax fast and easily.
Daan Tech: “Bob” – the ultra compact Dishwasher
All CALLERS — using the AUDIO option on our Free App or 1-800-899-INTO(4686) – automatically qualify to win prizes.
Audio archived for at least 6 months