Are the big 3 carriers teaming up to stop Starlink? It sure looks like it

As Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T prepare for their own satellite backup plan, we wonder what this means for Starlink's ambitions here.

Links 5/31/2026

Our strategic daily links: water slide, lunar staffing, hellish tennis, Cuban troubles, China's chips, Mideast horrors, Ukraine burning, vanishing privacy, Trumpishness, Musk world, hapless Democrats, immigration troubles, Mr. market, AI, and wretched excess

10 Sunday Reads

Avert your eyes! My Sunday morning look at incompetency, corruption and policy failures: • Let There Be Luce: The Electric Ferrari Is Finally Here: Wired’s first look at the Ferrari Luce — the EV the marque kept delaying. Performance numbers, sound design, an…

If Elon Musk merges SpaceX with Tesla he’ll create a $3.4 trillion behemoth—with zero profits

SpaceX Vow To Loft 1 Million AI Satellites Could Spark Doomsday Dive

Elon Musk’s plan to launch 1 million AI data center satellites into orbit starting in 2028 could spark a financial catastrophe, sending SpaceX into a high-speed nosedive.

US Exchanges Crash Prediction-Markets Party

Nasdaq and Cboe are introducing binary bets on financial market events, capitalizing on the success of Kalshi and Polymarket.

Elon Musk's SpaceX Cuts IPO Target To $1.8 Trillion: What's The Prediction Market Forecast?

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is targeting a valuation of at least $1.8 trillion in what may be the largest IPO ever, down from an earlier goal above $2 trillion...

After Blue Origin rocket explosion, NASA’s entire moon exploration program depends on SpaceX for now as Musk eyes blockbuster IPO soon

"Blue Origin’s inability to launch Blue Moon anytime soon is likely to put the company out of the running for Artemis III."

Tesla’s Next Act? Wall Street Begins Weighing a SpaceX Combination

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) has staged an impressive recovery since reaching a multi-month low earlier this spring. The electric vehicle maker has climbed more than ...

Waymo Is Fleetmogging Tesla in Texas

Even on it's home turf, Tesla's driverless car numbers are unimpressive.

Is SpaceX & Tesla 100-Gigawatt/Year US Solar System Production Plan Realistic?

Elon Musk says that he wants SpaceX and Tesla teams to work together to build 100 gigawatts of solar power manufacturing capacity in the US — cells and modules. And he wants to do that within three years. There’s a lot to consider here. Before we get into som…

Ebola shows how Trump’s health policies are going global — and coming home

Politicized public health agencies also make it harder to hold officials accountable

10 Weekend Reads

The weekend is here! Pour yourself a mug of Danish Blend coffee, grab a seat outside, and get ready for our longer-form weekend reads: • SpaceX: The AI IPO: SpaceX’s revenue in 2025 was $18.7 billion, which works out to a potential price-to-sales (P/S) ratio …

007 First Light is a triumphant return to video games for James Bond

Fans still waiting for James Bond to enter the post-Daniel Craig era could do much worse than this new video game, which is arguably the best Bond game since 1997's GoldenEye.

‘The moment infrastructure moves to orbit, that assumption disappears’: Layered access control, physical redundancy and rapid component replacement are major orbital challenges

Hyperscalers are considering sending AI compute into orbit, but experts warn it introduces severe operational risks that could lead to months-long outages.

SpaceX gets $4 billion contract to build missile-tracking ‘Golden Dome’ satellites

The Pentagon awarded SpaceX a $4.16 billion contract to build missile-tracking satellites for President Donald Trump's planned "Golden Dome" defense system, as reported earlier by Bloomberg. In an announcement on Friday, the US Space Force says the sensor-equ…

Tesla & SpaceX Merger Getting Real

Steve Hanley had an excellent article this week discussing how the SpaceX IPO may well be a boondoggle to bail out a couple of Elon Musk ventures and enrich a few friends. It’s honestly a bit shocking once you get into the details of the IPO. I think most of …

‘Catastrophic Governance Structure’ and Murky Financials Complicate SpaceX IPO

Elon Musk's unchallenged power is too risky.

Blue Origin Rocket Exploded Thursday Night During Hot-Fire Test

Spaceflight Now shared their video of the explosion, which the Orlando Sentinel describes as showing Blue Origin's rocket "become engulfed in flames. The fireball expands out and covers the entire launch pad as the fuselage of the rocket can be seen crumbling…

Why Everyone Hates AI Data Centers

The left-right coalition forming against AI

Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket explodes in massive fireball, imperiling NASA moon missions

The latest flight of the New Glenn rocket was meant to prepare Blue Origin for a series of NASA-funded lunar voyages. Instead it ended before it began

Jeff Bezos’ Space Rocket Just Exploded In The Biggest Fireball I’ve Ever Seen

The Blue Origin launch saw that scene from Succession and said 'hold my beer'

Nancy Pelosi backs candidate in race to succeed her and Blue Origin rocket explodes: Morning Rundown

Nancy Pelosi weighs in on the race to succeed her. A Blue Origin rocket explodes on the launchpad and shakes nearby houses in Florida.

Did Southern Poverty Law Center fund KKK? We unpacked the allegations

The U.S. government alleged the nonprofit group enabled extremists to commit crimes in a covert operation. The group said it informed the FBI.

In His “Radical Centralism” Essay, Tony Blair Is, As Always, Talking His Book

And that book was written by Larry Ellison.

Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket explodes on launchpad at Cape Canaveral

An uncrewed Blue Origin New Glenn rocket exploded on a Florida launchpad during a test on Thursday, in a major setback for Jeff Bezos’ space venture as it seeks to narrow the gap with Elon Musk's IPO-bound SpaceX.

Top analyst has harsh words for SpaceX debut: ‘We recommend that investors avoid this IPO’

Research firm CEO David Trainer says SpaceX's $1.75 trillion IPO valuation is mathematically indefensible

Blue Origin rocket explodes on the launch pad during an engine-firing test

A rocket belonging to Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin exploded during a test at the launch pad Thursday night, ahead of a satellite launch planned for next week.

Blue Origin’s New Glenn Rocket Explodes During Testing In Blow To SpaceX Rival

Blue Origin founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos said it was a ”very rough day” for the company, but it was too early to know the “root cause” of the incident.

“Disaster Donald” Trump: Technofascists and Know-Nothings

When Trump chose Vance as his running mate, champagne corks popped in Silicon Valley

Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket explodes on launchpad

The incident is the latest setback for Jeff Bezos’s space venture as it seeks to narrow the gap with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

Blue Origin rocket explodes during test, setback for bid to catch SpaceX

May 28 (Reuters) - A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket dramatically exploded on the launchpad during a test on Thursday, in a setback for Jeff Bezos’ space...

Games matter because games don't matter, says a philosopher

In bridge, a heart trick earns 30 points while a club trick earns 20, numbers that mean nothing outside of the game. That's the whole point, argues philosopher C. Thi Nguyen in his book The Score. Good games use an arbitrary scoring system as a means to an en…

Blue Origin rocket explosion rattles NASA’s mission to put humans back on the Moon

Failure will likely delay US space agency’s efforts to beat China to the lunar surface.

SpaceX's Starship V3 Can't Fly Again Until a 'Mishap' Is Addressed, Says FAA

The investigation is being led by SpaceX, but it needs approval from the FAA before the Starship can launch again.

Zohran Mamdani Trolls Elon Musk

Mayor Mamdani announced his new, cheekily named Commission on Government Efficiency — or COGE. He said it will be what Elon Musk’s DOGE “should’ve been.”

'Completely new'...

'Completely new'... (Second column, 3rd story, link) Related stories:SHAKE UP: Boss Bari Names Outsider to Lead '60 MINS'... Tech Journalist and Filmmaker Nick Bilton...

The $6 Billion Chinese Startup Trying to Build Hands for Every Robot

LinkerBot makes dexterous robotic hands for as little as $600. It wants to become the standard for humanoids and automated factories—and eventually replace human labor altogether.

Morris Day and Young MC nope out of Trump-linked festival

Continuing to bust moves, Young MC has joined Morris Day in walking away from Trump's big MAGA-palooza. The Trump-linked Freedom 250 festival, part of the planned Great American State Fair on the National Mall, is already shedding performers. However, after …

Amazon plans to make SpaceX's Grok models available on its flagship AI service

Amazon Web Services is in talks to add Grok models to AWS's Bedrock AI platform, expanding its AI offerings and reach.

Elon Musk Is Already Preparing to Evict Anthropic from SpaceX’s Data Center

Sounds like those CPUs are available to the highest bidder... unless Elon figures out how to make a successful AI model.

Elon Musk says SpaceX has only committed to a 180-day compute agreement with Anthropic

On Thursday, Musk wrote on X the deal between SpaceX and Anthropic is a "180 day lease."

MAGA’s civil war over immigration is over. Silicon Valley lost.

The Trump administration announced last Friday that US visa holders who want a green card must first return to their home countries and apply from there, “except in extraordinary circumstances.” On its face, this rule — which was officially promulgated in a m…

Mamdani announced New York City's answer to DOGE

Mayor Zohran Mamdani is launching his own government efficiency effort to cut red tape and reduce unnecessary spending in NYC.

Costco CEO Ron Vachris says tech is ‘elevating’ workers,’ not replacing them—as IBM and Delta bosses make the same bet on humans

As companies like Meta and Amazon use AI to justify headcount reductions, Costco is doubling down on $1.50 hot dogs and humans at the cash register.

The kingmakers of Makerfield: English town braces for crucial by-election

On June 18, voters will determine the fate of Andy Burnham, a possible contender to replace embattled PM Starmer.

This mutual fund lets you buy SpaceX stock before the IPO — but what are you actually getting?

The hype surrounding SpaceX and the scale of its ambitions will surely drive short-term demand for shares in the IPO.

Links 5/28/2026

Our daily links: corporations gain right to vote, CDC crowdsources ebola response, US drops charges against Israeli biolab property manager, and Brussels to ban AfD.

China’s secret weapon in AI race with US? Lots of cheap energy

China's abundant supply of cheap electricity is a key advantage in the rollout of data centres needed to run AI models.

The people who actually want AI to replace humanity

“I want AI to be a tool that allows human flourishing!” exclaimed Brad Carson, a former member of Congress. “There is an option out there where AI is just a tool for us.” This is a normal thing to say in most circles. But Carson was speaking at an invite-only…

Jensen Huang joins the Tsinghua University advisory board chaired by Tim Cook

The Nvidia CEO accepts a seat on Tsinghua’s School of Economics and Management board alongside Musk, Dell, Nadella, Zuckerberg, Dimon and Fink, days after travelling to China with Trump. Jensen Huang has accepted an invitation to join the advisory board of Ts…

News Emmys: ABC, Nat Geo Top 2026 Wins, Thanks to ‘World News Tonight’ and ‘Trafficked With Mariana van Zeller’

ABC News led the 47th annual News Emmys with eight wins, including the top prize for outstanding live news program — repeating last year’s victory for “ABC World News Tonight With David Muir.” But coming on strong was a Disney sibling: Nat Geo, which won seve…

This Sam Altman- And Peter Thiel-Backed Aviation Company Achieves Supersonic Flight

Hermeus aims to make planes for the U.S. military that travel over five times the speed of sound—and maybe even introduce the world to hypersonic commercial air travel.

Elon Musk Says America’s Kamikaze Drones Used the Wrong Starlink Subscription

SpaceX and the Pentagon reportedly argued over pricing for Starlink services used during the Iran war.

Here's How Much Bitcoin Elon Musk Would Control If SpaceX and Tesla Merge

UK Births drop for fourth straight year as costs and dread pile up

Last year was the quietest year for maternity wards in England and Wales since 1977, according to the BBC's reporting on the latest Office for National Statistics data. Fewer than 585,000 babies arrived in 2025, the fourth annual decline in a row. — Read the …

“Men Have An Expiration Date”: Henry Cavill’s Surprising New Look Sparks Divisive Reactions

“I couldn’t believe it when I saw it,” a netizen said about Henry Cavill.

Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra Becomes A Billionaire Amid Trillion-Dollar Memory Chipmaker Boom

Micron joined South Korean competitors Samsung and SK Hynix in the trillion-dollar club this month, minting a new billionaire.

I wrote a story about a California family regretting moving to Texas. The internet — and Texans — had thoughts.

Moving to Texas from California is a hot topic with Business Insider readers. Hundreds of our commenters debated the pros and cons of each state.

The Pope, Elon, and AI

Comparing simulation theory with traditional creation leads to deeper questions.

Elon Musk could become a top 5 corporate bitcoin holder if Tesla and SpaceX merge

CNBC reported Tuesday that Musk is discussing a merger between Tesla and SpaceX that would tie his tech empire closer together and instantly create the world’s fifth-largest corporate bitcoin treasury, worth $3.3 billion.

NASA’s Jared Isaacman unveiled the first moon base rovers and landers

At an event at NASA Headquarters event, space agency officials unveiled the first rovers and landers headed to the future site of its planned lunar south pole outpost

Could Musk Merge SpaceX And Tesla? Here’s What Analysts—And Betting Markets—Say

Wall Street has speculated whether the world’s richest person will consider a tie-up for his two most valuable companies.

The Vibecession Is Entirely Rational

Even if all-time lows in economic sentiment are just inequality-based vibes, inequality still had a big hand in the Great Depression

GMH Hotels: Airbnb Just Got Serious About Hotels

On this week's ⁠Good Morning Hospitality, A Skift Podcast⁠: Hotels Edition, ⁠Sarah Dandashy⁠ and ⁠Steve Turk⁠ break down a week where three big stories all pointed at the same shift: the distribution, loyalty, and infrastructure layers of hospitality are all …

Prediction: Elon Musk Will Become the World’s First Trillionaire on June 12th

7 Reasons Why Today’s World Feels More Like Idiocracy than Ever

The Trump Administration is doing its part to make Mike Judge's 2006 satire into reality. 7 Reasons Why Today’s World Feels More Like Idiocracy than Ever Liz Shannon Miller

The Download: keeping up with AI, and the future of IVF

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Stay on top of what’s going on in AI this summer Here at MIT Technology Review, we understand exactly how relentless the …

The Pope Is Now the World’s Most Famous Humanist

Leo XIV’s encyclical about artificial intelligence makes a strong argument in favor of human fallibility.

How to fix AI's branding problem, according to top marketers

AI companies are among the most distrusted brands. Marketers say AI leaders should tone down their public statements and borrow P&G's playbook.

The SpaceX IPO and Data Centers in Space

There isn't a financial model that justifies the SpaceX IPO, but data centers in space are plausible, and that might be enough.

Analysis-SpaceX's Starship test strengthens IPO case, though hurdles remain

By Gianluca Lo Nostro and Akash Sriram May 27 (Reuters) - SpaceX's upgraded Starship launch on Friday delivered enough progress to keep the momentum intact...

Elon Musk Hits Back At Tesla Brand Damage Critics, Reaffirms Model Y's Sales Dominance

SpaceX Starship Faces Herculean Tech Hurdles In Race To Moon Landing

Despite acing a flight test of its newest Starship capsule, SpaceX has to speed through an obstacle course of tech hurdles to win the race to land astronauts on the Moon.

A new Supreme Court opinion is terrible news for federal workers

Remember DOGE, the Elon Musk-led “government efficiency” project that spread chaos during President Donald Trump’s first few months back in office, fired tens of thousands of federal employees, and then vanished almost as abruptly as it began? If you didn’t l…

Trump Admits More White South African Refugees in Made-Up “Emergency”

President Trump is raising the U.S. refugee admission limit by 10,000 people—but only for white South Africans.A signed presidential determination from May 21 obtained by Reuters declared that the U.S. will be giving white South Africans, who are mostly still…

Tesla VP says Model S and X may be dead, but not buried: 'Never say never'

Tesla VP Lars Moravy left the door open for a Model S and Model X revival after the company retired the EVs from its lineup.

Pope Leo’s AI Warning Struck a Nerve With Some Tech Leaders

J.D. Vance found the “bits and pieces” he read to be “very profound,” a more complimentary view than other Trumpworld figures.

Anthony Scaramucci Says The 'Holy Trinity' Of SpaceX, OpenAI And Anthropic IPOs Could Become A Dangerous Market Warning Sign

Wall Street veteran Anthony Scaramucci is sounding the alarm on a potential market top, warning that the highly anticipated public debuts of SpaceX, OpenAI, ...

This is what happens when you defund Ebola prevention

Shortly after brandishing his infamous chainsaw on a conservative conference stage last February, Elon Musk attended a Cabinet meeting where, giggling slyly, he admitted to having “accidentally canceled” Ebola prevention in his haste to obliterate the US Agen…

4 Things To Know As OpenAI Eyes IPO

Anticipation is building for a potential OpenAI IPO. Discover the latest valuation trends and risks before the ChatGPT maker hits the market.

Tech titans mostly silent after Pope Leo’s warning about risks of AI

Pope Leo XIV’s sweeping warning about the dangers of artificial intelligence drew a largely muted response across the American technology world.

The most alarming parts of Elon Musk's SpaceX filing, ranked

SpaceX filing reveals Elon's business plan remains "all of civilization, plus ads" Elon Musk's newly public SpaceX filing reads less like a sober disclosure document and more like a hobbyist megalomaniac's manifesto. Beneath the rockets are ambitions to swall…

X is Cracking Down on Accounts That Rip Off the Work of Photographers and Other Creators

The social media platform X has announced it is cracking down on large accounts that rip off the work of smaller creators to game the revenue-sharing system. [Read More]

American Airlines Jumps Into Race To Offer Starlink Inflight Wi-Fi

With inflight WiFi now a must-have for many airline passengers, American Airlines will sign on to Starlink,

Why Wingers Get So Mad At Hollywood

This past week, multibillionaire and top Republican donor Elon Musk had a meltdown because director Christopher Nolan cast Black and transgender people as mythological characters in his adaptation of Homer’s “The Odyssey.” Musk was joined by other racist and …

Microsoft Should Be Thrown Out Of Magnificent 7

The Magnificent 7 are supposed to comprise the world’s hottest megacap companies. Their businesses will control the future. They are a mix of AI, search, the...

Boom Times For The Battery Energy Storage Market

This week’s Current Climate newsletter also looks at Tesla’s reliance on California and a deal to supply clean hydrogen, generated underground, for buses and trucks

Gulf's SpaceX investors could be set for windfall following IPO

SpaceX’s IPO filing last week didn’t disclose details about regional investors, but even a 1% holding is set to be worth around $15 billion.

The Download: puncturing the AI jobs panic

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. A reality check on the AI jobs hysteria Despite the growing hysteria over AI’s threat to white-collar jobs, there’s still…

Trump’s oozing influence in the Texas primary runoffs and U.S. revives strikes in Iran: Morning Rundown

The question of Trump’s GOP influence returns as Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Sen.

Elon Musk’s X cracks down on ‘content thieves’ exploiting creator revenue-sharing model

The move is part of X’s broader efforts to reduce payouts for aggregators, whose business model has often depended on rapidly repackaging other people's work for monetisable engagement.

Donald Trump Is Going Nuclear

1.At 27 years old, with a baby face and a receding hairline, Isaiah Taylor looks like nothing so much as a very large cherub. After dropping out of high school, he launched into entrepreneurship; he has described himself in his professional bio as a “self-tau…

Billionaire Investor Doerr Calls AI ‘Underhyped’

Despite three years of nonstop AI hype, the 74-year-old Silicon Valley legend says the public still doesn't grasp how big this is.

What smart people are saying about Pope Leo's letter on AI

Pope Leo XIV shared his first encyclical on Monday. The writings about AI sparked responses from tech leaders, politicians, and other big names.

The Coming Layoffs and the Revenge of the Measurers

AI is gutting the middle of the org chart first. The cuts, the inequality runaway, and why proactive UBI is the only way through the backlash.

Jensen Huang is really leaning into his street-food influencer era

Nvidia's CEO was spotted at a night market in Taiwan. There's now a list compiling all the foodie pit stops he makes.

Why the SpaceX IPO is the talk of Wall Street and beyond

Elon Musk's rocket company is expected to make the biggest public debut in history.

Orbital data centres, extraterrestrial energy: Detailing Musk’s ambitions with $1.75 bn SpaceX IPO

SpaceX’s proposed IPO could become the world’s biggest listing. Here are five key takeaways on AI ambitions, Starlink profits and Elon Musk’s control.