SpaceX’s Starlink is poised to revolutionize how we stay connected, as they’re venturing into the cosmic domain with its Direct to Cell satellite phone service. Scheduled for liftoff next year, the groundbreaking service promises seamless compatibility with your existing smartphones and, in the not-so-distant future, access to text, voice, and data services.
A dedicated page on the Starlink website outlines the grand vision, with Direct to Cell’s text messaging service set to debut in 2024, followed by the integration of voice and data capabilities in 2025. The prospect is nothing short of awe-inspiring, with Starlink envisioning “ubiquitous access to texting, calling, and browsing wherever you may be on land, lakes, or coastal waters.”
Furthermore, this innovative service will be pivotal in connecting many IoT (Internet of Things) devices, forging a bridge between technology and our daily lives. Starlink’s ambitious satellite communication venture first took flight last year in collaboration with T-Mobile US. Their initial goal was to establish coverage across the continental United States, Hawaii, parts of Alaska, Puerto Rico, and US territorial waters. Looking ahead, they plan to enlist global carriers as partners to expand their reach even further.
Today, their reciprocal global access partners list includes Rogers in Canada, Optus in Australia, One NZ in New Zealand, Salt in Switzerland, and KDDI in Japan. The Direct to Cell service is designed to seamlessly work with existing LTE phones, ensuring that no alterations to your phone hardware, firmware, or special applications are necessary for you to unlock access to text, voice, and data. While it remains uncertain whether “existing LTE phones” imply a 4G service, the prospect of 5G compatibility may be on the horizon.
Described as “a cellphone tower in space,” the service promises to integrate with partner networks much like a standard roaming agreement. This means that when you venture beyond the reach of your provider’s cell tower, you can seamlessly transition to the direct-to-cell service provided by your global partner network. As for the pricing details, Starlink has kept them under wraps for now.
Nevertheless, the world eagerly awaits the moment when this cosmic communication service will become a reality. Amidst the buzz surrounding satellite connectivity, driven in part by Apple’s satellite support in the iPhone 14, Starlink’s Direct to Cell venture is set to redefine the way we stay connected, both on Earth and beyond.
However, Starlink has its cosmic competitors and potential regulatory challenges. AT&T has raised concerns about Starlink operating services using T-Mobile’s spectrum, citing possible interference with its terrestrial cellphone services. It seems that the race to the stars is on, and the future of connectivity promises to be out of this world.
The world is currently facing a spectrum of environmental challenges, including climate change, pollution, and resource depletion. In response to these issues, many companies are now focusing on sustainability as a core part of their business strategy. Among these companies are several big tech firms leveraging their technological expertise and resources to create a more sustainable world. Here are the top 10 big tech companies that are leading the way in sustainability.
Google
Google has prioritised sustainability in its operations and has implemented various initiatives to reduce its environmental impact. In 2020, Google announced that it had eliminated its entire carbon legacy, meaning it has offset all of its emissions since its founding in 1998. The company has also committed to carbon-free by 2030 and pledged to use only carbon-free energy by 2030. The company has also invested in renewable energy, intending to reach 100% by 2030. The company has implemented various sustainable practices, including reducing waste and promoting circular economy principles.
Microsoft
Sustainability is a core value at Microsoft, and the company has made significant efforts to reduce its environmental impact and promote sustainable practices. In 2020, Microsoft announced its commitment to be carbon negative by 2030, meaning the company will remove more carbon from the atmosphere than it emits. Microsoft is also working to be water positive, meaning it will replenish more water than it consumes and has committed to zero waste goals. Additionally, Microsoft is investing in renewable energy and has pledged to use 100% renewable energy by 2025.
Dell
Dell has implemented various initiatives to reduce environmental impact by setting goals like achieving 100% renewable energy for their global electricity use by 2040 and using 100 million pounds of recycled content in their products by 2030. Dell also focuses on reducing greenhouse gas emissions in their operations and supply chain, promoting responsible recycling practices, and designing their products with sustainability in mind. They have also partnered with NGOs and other organisations to advance sustainability in their industry and promote social responsibility.
Amazon
Sustainability is a key priority for Amazon, and the company has made significant progress in reducing its environmental impact. Amazon has set ambitious goals to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2040 and to power its operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025. The company is also working to reduce waste and improve the sustainability of its products and packaging. Amazon has launched several initiatives such as the Climate Pledge Fund, which invests in sustainable technologies and services, and the Sustainable Energy Program, which provides funding for renewable energy projects.
Apple
Apple is committed to sustainability across its operations, from its products to its supply chain and beyond. The company has set ambitious goals, such as achieving net-zero carbon emissions across its entire value chain by 2040 and using only recycled or renewable materials in its products. Apple also works closely with its suppliers to improve its environmental practices and reduce its carbon footprint. Additionally, Apple has implemented various energy-efficient measures, such as powering its data centres with 100% renewable energy.
Tesla
Tesla has made sustainability a core part of its mission and business practices. The company’s primary objective is to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy by creating products that minimize the negative impact on the environment. Tesla’s electric vehicles are designed to be energy-efficient and emit zero emissions, reducing the carbon footprint of transportation. Moreover, Tesla’s solar products enable homeowners and businesses to generate electricity from renewable energy sources. Tesla also uses sustainable materials in their products, such as recycled materials in their battery cells and vegan leather in their car interiors.
IBM
IBM has a longstanding commitment to sustainability and has integrated it into its business strategy. The company has set goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, conserve water resources, and minimize waste. IBM has also incorporated sustainability into their products and services, offering solutions that enable clients to reduce their environmental impact. IBM has also invested in renewable energy, with over 40% of its electricity coming from renewable sources. The company’s sustainability efforts have earned recognition from organisations such as the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and the Carbon Disclosure Project.
HP
HP is committed to sustainability and has implemented various initiatives to reduce its environmental impact. One such initiative is the HP Sustainable Impact program, which aims to create a circular and low-carbon economy by designing products with recyclable materials, reducing waste and carbon emissions, and promoting responsible manufacturing practices. HP has also set ambitious goals, such as achieving 100% renewable electricity in their global operations by 2035 and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from their global operations and supply chain by 60% by 2025.
Cisco
Cisco is a company that recognises the importance of sustainability and has made significant efforts to reduce its environmental impact. They have set ambitious goals by 2025, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 60% from their global operations and supply chain, achieving 100% renewable energy for their global electricity usage, and implementing circular economy principles in their product designs. The company also prioritise social responsibility, focusing on ethical business practices and working to bridge the digital divide through initiatives such as its Networking Academy program, which provides free IT training to underserved communities worldwide.
Intel
Intel recognises the importance of sustainability and has taken significant steps to reduce its environmental impact. They have set ambitious goals by 2030, including achieving net positive water use, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 60%, and achieving zero waste to landfill across their global manufacturing operations. Intel has also implemented sustainable product design practices, such as reducing the size of its packaging and using more energy-efficient technologies in its products.
Data privacy has become a matter of grave concern in the modern world. on one hand, we have AI technologies getting challenged by governments around the world over data privacy concerns. On the other hand, we’ve got social media platform leaders like TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew getting grilled by Congress over the same data privacy issues. In today’s time, one can never be sure when your data can be compromised and misused leading to notorious cybercrimes including the leaking of sensitive data causing massive damage to one’s life. Now, a special report by Reuters has revealed Tesla employees privately shared highly invasive videos and images of users recorded by the customers’ car cameras.
Tesla’s Misuse of customer data
Recently, Reuters sat down for an interview with nine former employees of Tesla where it was revealed that passing around customer footage in one-on-one chats is a rather common occurrence in the company. One ex-employee of the company shared that the recordings usually caught Tesla customers in embarrassing situations, one of the videos showcased a man approaching a Tesla vehicle completely naked. Crashes and road rage incidents were also commonly shared amongst workers in the company.
One crash video from 2021 showed a Tesla hitting a child riding a bike at high speed. The ex-employee claimed that the child and bike could be seen flying in opposite directions after the hit in the video which spread “like wildfire” in the Tesla office in San Mateo, California. This is truly a disturbing development as Tesla has always been vocal about customer privacy being important to them.
Tesla states in its online Customer Privacy Note that the camera recordings done by its cars remain anonymous and not linked to the customers or their vehicles. Whereas, one of the ex-employee revealed that some of the recordings appeared to have been made when the cards were parked and turned off. Tesla has not yet shared an official response to all the detailed questions sent by Reuters based on this report.
Tesla has been under a lot of heat in recent days having fallen short of market expectations in quarterly deliveries and Elon Musk getting criticised for having too much on his plate with his recent Twitter takeover. The company lost 65% of its market value in 2022 which could be a matter of concern for any carmaker but continued to be the world’s most valuable automaker even after the loss. it is evident that Tesla needs to get its wind back by increasing sales at a time when demand is going down and it looks like the company might have found a solution!
Tesla global price cut
Tesla has cut down the prices of its cars in the US and Europe by as much as 20%. An extensive discounting effort has been undertaken in order to challenge its rivals and make up for the missed out delivery estimates for 2022. This move marks a monumental shift in Tesla’s strategy where new vehicle orders usually exceeded supply. This move comes after Musk had previously warned that a recession is right around the corner that could lower prices all around the market to sustain growth and keep profits low.
It was Elon himself who had acknowledged that the Tesla car prices had become ’embarrassingly high’ in recent years that could ultimately hurt demand. Tesla shares are currently down 0.9% after falling as low as 6.4% on Friday. Whereas, 2022 was the year when Tesla experienced its worst year since the company’s start. The downfall was blamed on China’s slowing growth and Musk’s undivided focus on getting Twitter on its feet.
As of now, Tesla has lowered prices across the USA, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. The company made several price cuts in Asia just last week. Analysts claim that the price cuts in Tesla vehicles will allow demand to go up and increase pressure on the rivals. It will be interesting to see how Tesla turns out to perform in 2023.
Who cares what you think about Elon Musk? You can say lots of things against him only to put him in the spot, but you can’t ignore the fact that he is endlessly innovative and acts as a case study for creative leadership. Randy Ottinger, Executive Vice President at Kotter International, once said, “Elon Musk is an inventor and builder wrapped into one, kind of like a combination of Benjamin Franklin and Steve Jobs, on steroids”. The CEO of Tesla is known for his risk-taking and dark-humoured mindset. As a child, Elon had a passion for science fiction books, and he was way too obsessed with space travel and rocket technology. You won’t believe it, but he wrote a computer program to calculate trajectories for rockets at the age of 12. Now, it’s time to enlighten your mind with leadership lessons.
Don’t follow the trends blindly
Elon Musk believes in staying open to new ideas, but he never follows the trend blindly. No wonder he is known for tackling the world’s biggest problems. When it comes to leadership or even a basic lifestyle, we should learn to question and challenge the trends. Remember, before you get into the details, first understand the fundamental principles of the subject.
Stay confident
If you have ever read a book on someone’s successful entrepreneurial journey, you must have noticed one common thing in there, they always leverage other people’s money to finance their projects. However, in the case of Elon Musk, he has such confidence in himself and his capabilities that he uses his own money to fund his projects.
Never stop reading and learning
Elon Musk is a serial entrepreneur who has created several billion-dollar companies based on his ideas and has sold and run a group of successful companies, but how? He can debate on anything and has a deep knowledge of the subject he is working on or messing up with. At the core, he is an avid reader, which makes him an effective leader.
Deal fiercely with the failure
When Tesla and SpaceX were on the verge of bankruptcy one day, Musk tweeted, “creating a rocket company has to be one of the dumbest and hardest ways to make money” but in reality, if he had not dared to follow his dreams, we would not have witnessed two of the most popular and recognizable companies in the world.
Elon is one hell of a brave person, especially when it comes to decision-making, and he believes in – fear is an emotion that keeps us from doing things that can help us achieve our goals. When SpaceX was a newbie company, he once said to his employees – “a failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.”
Learn to Say NO
No is not always a negative word, especially when things no longer serve your personal and organizational goals, you must say no.In 2017, Musk resigned from his post at the White House Advisory Council in the wake of Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Accord because he strongly supports sustainability and care for the environment.
Despite technological advances, we as human species have managed to travel only a little over 4 lakh kilometres to the dark side of our moon. Why have we not explored further? The answer is simple – The lack of powerful rockets capable of transporting humans and their bare necessities any further. We’ve been sling shooting satellites beyond immeasurable distances across our solar system’s circumference for years at this moment in time. Speaking of which, Elon Musk, his SpaceX organisation and their latest Starship in its third iteration powered by innovative new boosters might just be the tools required to make the human species an interplanetary species.
Elon Musk and SpaceX showcased their new plans with their newest Starship in Texas on 10th February 2022. This new Starship is 50m in height/length, 9m in diameter, has a propellant capacity of 1200t with a thrust capacity of 1500tf and a loading capacity of 100-150t based on the orbit trajectory. The Starship is SpaceX’s main vessel that shall transport humans, materials, tools and much more from planet Earth to destined planet Mars. This being the third generation Starship, it has improved from the ones shown two years ago and has larger dimensions and relatively powerful yet efficient boosters named Raptor V2.
This new propulsion system is said to be smaller, efficient, have fewer parts and produce more thrust power than its predecessor, Raptor V1. One of the critical components of the mix is their new Raptor engine configuration, which beautifully aligns 33 propulsion nozzles with achieving optimal thrust levels. There’s something unique about the launch and catch towers designed for Starship and the Super Heavy (yeah, that’s a name) booster vessel. The Starship vessel shall be thrust into the earth’s orbit by Super Heavy, a 69m long, 9m in diameter just as the Starship, has a propellant capacity of 3400t and a whopping thrust capacity of 7590tf. The Super Heavy booster can thrust one Starship into orbit, return and land on its pod, all in six minutes!
SpaceX plans to make and launch 50 of these Starships and Super Heavy thrusters before the end of 2022. Why so many, you ask? As Elon Musk explained on stage, the human race will eventually need to become an interplanetary species as the sun’s radiation destroys our solar system in the next million years. This is humanity’s first viable step towards carrying life beyond our planet and dwelling through the multi-verse. Elon Musk also spoke about the plan to colonise planet Mars. The new Starships’ ambitious production and life cycle will have SpaceX making one whole Starship each month. This is necessary as the Starships with payload will be refilled with fuel in Earth’s orbit by another fuel filling Starship. We are already fuelling flying jets and planes via other planes on a harsh gravitational pull, so doing this in space shall be relatively more straightforward or challenging considering the sheer size of the Starships.
Fuelling the Starships is necessary to carry the payload to Mars and back. Elon Musk claims that with time, they will be able to produce one Starship and its booster each month and bring that close to making each unit in about three days. Coupled with the announcements of making 7 Raptor V2 engines per week, SpaceX is all in to make Starship the vessel of transportation from Earth to Mars. While SpaceX waits for approvals from Federal Aviation Administration in the USA, the first orbital flight of the Starship could be seen as soon as the first half of 2022. Subsequently, the first trials of orbital fuel filling shall commence as soon as 2023-24. Being super optimistic on stage, Elon Musk announced that the boosters could be refilled and reused in less than an hour while the Starships can do the same in 6-8 hours. If managed well, we could see three Starship launches a day in the future of time.
The ISRU is working closely with SpaceX and scientists to plan this Mars invasion of humans powered by massive Starships. The first few Starships will have no humans and carry essential goods required to set up an infrastructure for human colonisation. Plus, the first people to land on Mars could be groups of crucial workers and experts who will build a habitable infrastructure on the red planet. That said, each Starship can be configured to take about 100 humans and a payload each flight. The first trip of Starship shall be reserved for artists worldwide to witness a round trip around the moon. It took us years to achieve these advancements in space travel. Elon Musk is confident that SpaceX’s Starship, Super Heavy boosters, launch and catch towers and the new Raptor V2 engines will propel humanity towards becoming a multi-planetary species. We sure hope this becomes real in our lifetimes.
The divorce of Elon Musk and technology is not possible. It is not easy to stop such a man. And, now this man has announced that he wants to bring a humanoid robot. This announcement is no less than a leap giant after excelling in the electric vehicle and satellite communication domain. The declaration seems to be a bit utopian for many. However, the sense of ‘but’ always comes. Let’s know more about this development. Take a sneak into this Exhibit blog.
How did this news come out?
In the latest Tesla AI event, Elon Musk presented the prototype of a humanoid robot. This robot can help people like you in your boring, repetitive, or dangerous tasks. With this, Elon Musk showed a PowerPoint presentation to showcase the functionalities of this bot. This humanoid robot is precisely a dancer. The height of this bot is 5 feet and 8 inches (somewhere around 1.7m), whereas its weight is 56 kg.
How does a humanoid robot work?
A bot has to be a proper mesh of hardware and software. It’s true. On the hardware front, you will need sensors, actuators, and other essential instruments to replace almost every crucial function of a normal human being (obviously, there will be no digestive system). On the software front, the codes must have a proper arrangement through which they can perform their niche smoothly. The software helps send signals between the master controller and that hardware equipment to work accordingly.
Applications of Robot
Trust me, but robots will gain their outreach in the future. You talk about any domain, and you will find them in the next few years. Especially in European countries, you may find that these robots are working in agricultural fields. Or if your relative who is physically challenged can get proper assistance in doing daily activities. The Tokyo Olympics has already paved the path of what a robot, along with technology, can do. Hence, the usage of robots will be countless for sure.
Final Remarks on the Tesla Bot
Bringing a proper humanoid robot with such a huge functionality within the next year is a bit difficult to digest. But is it possible to have such features in one bot? Honestly, as of now, from what we all have witnessed, it may be a bit of a tough task. Why? Check out the videos of robots used in the Olympics. You will know the reason. These robots have very limited errands, like translating a language is one of them. Hence, commenting on what Mr. Tusk is pretty looking like coming out in a virtual world.
The Bitcoin plunged 8% as Musk’s statements fueled reports of a total sell-off.
Following the tweet, bitcoin prices fell to $44,000, their lowest level since February 2021.
Bitcoin plummeted to a three-month low as investors liquidated cryptocurrencies in response to Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s remark that he is considering selling some of his bitcoin holdings or may have already done so.
Musk’s enthusiasm for bitcoin increased stock prices, so he has been stirring up the market since abandoning bitcoin in favor of Dogecoin, a one-time imitation. The price swings have surprised even the most seasoned traders. Recently, bitcoin sank more than 9% to $42185, its lowest level since February 8, while ether, a cryptocurrency linked to the Ethereum network, fell even farther to $3123.
Tesla consumers would be able to purchase the company’s electric automobiles using bitcoin, Musk stated in March. To demonstrate the cryptocurrency’s liquidity as a cash substitute, the firm purchased $1.5 billion in bitcoins and only liquidated 10% of its holdings a month later. Musk declared that Tesla would no longer accept bitcoin as a form of payment due to the transaction’s high energy consumption. He defended his actions too, claiming that Tesla had sold its own stock. It’s unclear whether he’s still checking purchases or simply reporting that he’s been criticized.
Tesla is planning to enter a multibillion-dollar sustainable credit market, according to sources, to capitalize on the Biden administration’s quest for new zero-emission objectives. Musk’s description of Dogecoin as a “hustle” has yet to fully recover, but he did raise the price last week by stating that he wanted to improve the currency’s performance.
Some are now giving up on an asset that has soared this year, with dogecoin increasing by only a small amount, ether expanding by more than fourfold, and bitcoin increasing by 45 percent.
I believe this is the case; I believe Tesla has kept the majority of its Bitcoin holdings and is not gaining from Musk’s statements. As far as I can see, he’s just interested in profiting from manipulating the price of Bitcoin — or Dogecoin, or Tesla shares, or any of the other assets whose prices he can influence with his tweets. Sure, he’ll do it for fun now and then, but not in a way that benefits his rational self-interest. I’m guessing what happened was pretty much what Musk said: He went into cryptocurrencies on the spur of the moment because it fit with his image of being fun, futuristic, and obnoxious, but then someone pointed out that it didn’t match with his image of being environmentally friendly and on a whim, he decided to take a break from Bitcoin for a while. And when Elon Musk decides on Twitter, he often sticks to it for hours, if not days. By next week, he’ll be tweeting things like, “We are building a gigantic battery in the desert to mine Bitcoin, Bitcoin is good again, you can use it to pay for Teslas,” and the price will skyrocket, and I’ll push the button that automatically generates this column once more.
Musk’s action may also signal that Teslas weren’t flying off the shelves as a result of taking Bitcoin payment and it’s unclear whether Tesla has sold any cars for Bitcoins. 2 I sincerely hope not.
I’m hoping Musk can influence the price of Bitcoin by saying that Tesla will or will not take Bitcoins for vehicles, without ever really accepting any Bitcoins for any cars. That has a certain purity to it: Bitcoin’s value is determined by Elon Musk’s attitude toward it, not by the reality of any shady commercial transactions in which Bitcoins are traded for automobiles. The source of value for Bitcoin — for everything — is mere closeness to Elon Musk, not its utility as a currency or economic significance.
The year 2014. A gimmick started floating – Acche din aayenge. Now, many may start a discourse about the same where it is, or it has arrived. But when it comes to technology, this Hindi idiom always takes a new writeup due to the advancement humanity is making with each lap. With the UK becoming the first country in the world to give a green signal to self-driving cars, the race has begun. And, with the race to better technology, you cannot keep Elon Musk away. Tesla has declared a full self-driving subscription beta model. With this Exhibit blog, get more details on this subject.
Steering Not in My Hands
Gimmicks and charming words have always attracted people. Indian media floated one a few days back – “Not in my name.” With driverless cars taking the center stage, you will find something like “Steering not in my hands” for sure. With $199 (around 14.8k INR) in a month, Tesla has announced that people who are craving a driverless car can start toying around the streets. Those who bought a Tesla car between 2016 and 2019 have to go through a hardware installation and update to ensure that they can witness such an experience too. For FSD chips and enjoying its features, Tesla has said they will give free hardware upgrades for hardware 2.0 and 5.0.
Future of Autonomous Vehicles
Suppose someone asks me what the future of autonomous vehicles is. In that case, I will say watch TheWire interview of Kerala’s Governor Arif Mohammad Khan, where he was asked about the future of Muslims. Now, please don’t tag me as a communitarian. Just use an analogy. What analogy? Well, the answer to the question is whatever is the future of AI, same as that for the future of autonomous vehicles/driverless cars. Yes, the way AI & mechatronics will take turns will determine how many driverless cars you will see on the road. The current advancement has already forecasted that there will be more than 55 million autonomous vehicles on the road by 2040.
Working Principle of Self-Driving Cars
The essential part of autonomous vehicles or self-driving cars is Computer Vision. Yeah, these cars will detect signals and check the proximity of objects near them. As per the dataset, the steering of these cars will take turns and move accordingly. The dataset will help to generate an algorithm for moving ahead and taking turns. Hence, machine learning and artificial intelligence will get more importance.
Major Concerns for Self-Driving Cars
The two-word answer is low reliability. Yeah, we are bringing this technology solely because they can reduce road accidents as a convention ratified in the Brasilia Declaration. But, still relying on a machine is a major concern that is creating hiccups for sovereign states to take any decision on self-driving cars.
