📡 T-Mobile’s $15 Starlink Texts, Musk’s Gov Takeover, China Targets Big Tech
Good morning. It’s Monday, February 10. Today we are covering:
T-Mobile to Charge $15 Per Month for Starlink Satellite Texting Feature
The US Government Is Not a Startup
China's Strategy in Trade War: Threaten U.S. Tech Companies
Trump's first 100 days: all the news impacting the tech industry
Roblox joins $27 million industry nonprofit to support online safety
Let’s dive in
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T-Mobile to Charge $15 Per Month for Starlink Satellite Texting Feature
By Kelcee Griffis via Bloomberg
T-Mobile will introduce a $15 per month fee for its Starlink-powered satellite texting service, following a free beta period running until July.
Customers of AT&T and Verizon will also have access to the service, provided their devices support digital SIM cards (eSIMs).
The beta sign-up is now open online, with T-Mobile unveiling the service in a high-profile Super Bowl advertisement.
𝕏: This is incredible. The best marketing spend of all time - free satellite phone service for any American on any carrier till July, what a genius move. This isn't just a phone thing, either - if you are an IOT hacker or maker, you can put a little 4G modem on anything! - Palmer Luckey (@PalmerLuckey)
The US Government Is Not a Startup
By Brian Barrett via WIRED
Elon Musk has taken de facto control of key U.S. government institutions, installing loyalists and applying a Silicon Valley-style approach to federal operations.
His team is aggressively pushing AI adoption, data access, and radical cost-cutting, including efforts to dismantle USAID and impose zero-based budgeting across agencies.
Critics warn that Musk’s moves mirror his Twitter takeover, stripping away safeguards and centralizing power, with potentially irreversible consequences for democracy.
𝕏: Musk will reinvent nothing at all, fix no problems, offer no solutions beyond those that further consolidate his own power and wealth. He will strip democracy down to the studs and rebuild it in the fractious image of his own companies. He will move fast. - Mikko Tuomi (@mustapipa)
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China's Strategy in Trade War: Threaten U.S. Tech Companies
By Liza Lin via Wall Street Journal
China is compiling a list of U.S. tech companies, including Google, Apple, and Broadcom, as potential targets for antitrust probes and regulatory actions.
The strategy aims to pressure President Trump’s administration by leveraging the influence of tech executives in U.S.-China trade negotiations.
Beijing's move is seen as a countermeasure to U.S. tariffs, positioning these investigations as bargaining chips in future trade talks.
𝕏: China’s Strategy in Trade War: Threaten U.S. Tech Companies—Preparing for Trump talks, Beijing starts probe of Google and keeps Apple and Broadcom in its sights - Jonathan Cheng (@JChengWSJ)
Trump's first 100 days: all the news impacting the tech industry
By Lauren Feiner via The Verge
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has gained sweeping access to U.S. financial systems, attempted to shut down agencies, and pushed an AI-driven overhaul of federal operations.
A federal judge blocked DOGE from accessing sensitive Treasury records, while lawsuits and protests mount over its role in dismantling regulatory agencies like the CFPB and NOAA.
President Trump’s administration is aggressively cutting environmental, diversity, and financial oversight programs, while Musk consolidates influence over key government functions.
Roblox joins $27 million industry nonprofit to support online safety
By Steven Melendez via Fast Company
Roblox, Google, OpenAI, and Discord have co-founded ROOST, a $27 million nonprofit focused on developing open-source tools for online safety and content moderation.
Roblox has contributed an AI-powered voice moderation tool that detects profanity, racism, bullying, and sexting, with plans to expand language support and release more safety tools in 2025.
The initiative aims to help smaller developers implement robust AI-driven safety measures, addressing challenges in moderating content for child safety and real-time communication.
Trending in AI
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