SpaceX has declared that it’s going to make Starlink Mobile a “major” mobile carrier. The Elon Musk-owned company has already deployed thousands of direct-to-cell satellites, but its next big challenge is building out its 5G network here on Earth.
As part of its plans to rival AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, SpaceX has inked a deal with Qualcomm, which will deploy its cellular technology across tens of thousands of 5G cell sites starting in 2027. SpaceX is also reportedly in talks to buy Boost Mobile, potentially allowing it to launch Starlink Mobile through the service. Another report suggests SpaceX may tap into 80,000 cell sites across the US to build out its network.
SpaceX’s big plans have garnered some reactions in the telecom industry. Tim Höttges, the CEO of T-Mobile’s parent company Deutsche Telekom, said he takes SpaceX’s plans “super serious” but that it could cost Musk more than $200 billion to pull off.
Follow along for the latest updates on Starlink’s major mobile carrier ambitions.
Security researchers found hundreds of servers hosting the penetration testing tool Artex exposed to the internet, allowing anyone access to the hacking tool.
Netflix isn't done with Hawkins, Indiana just yet. The streamer just announced a live-action spinoff of Stranger Things which is expected to debut in 2028. It's called Other Worlds: A Stranger Things Adventure.
There aren't a lot of details, but the show will be going back in time quite a bit. According to Netflix, Other Worlds is "a prequel set in the 1950s, before Stranger Things and before the stage play Stranger Things: The First Shadow." Franchise creators the Duffer brothers are back on board, and Stranger Things veteran Kate Trefry will serve as showrunner. British director Joe Wright is set to helm the first three episodes.
LONDON — Andy Burnham jets off to the latest global COP climate summit early next week. The last time he went to this annual meeting of the world’s climate diplomats, he didn’t like what he saw.
“I’m just back from two days at COP26 and officially worried about the state of the climate debate,” Burnham, then the mayor of Greater Manchester, wrote in 2021, after a trip to that year’s U.N. conference in Glasgow.
This year’s edition, COP31, kicks off in Antalya, Turkey next week, with a focus on protecting countries hit hardest by the impacts of global warming and setting goals for electrifying world economies.
Burnham will be there — now as British prime minister. And that little-noticed article, published five years ago in the Evening Standard newspaper, says plenty about his political instincts on climate change.
2021 was the high point of the U.K. consensus on net zero. But the then-future prime minister criticized the summit for giving a “pulpit” to billionaire Jeff Bezos (who had earlier that year “burnt more carbon in a trip to space than most people consume in a lifetime”) and took aim at protesters “with the time to glue themselves to roads … reprimanding ordinary people under work and time pressures for using their cars.”
Burnham backed climate action, he insisted. But with its technocratic focus on “percentages and far-off dates, with remarkably little reference to the struggles of ordinary families,” there was a danger COP would send the wrong message: “That the drive to net zero will mean cost and inconvenience for ordinary people.”
Several years and one big job change later, those views have not changed.
Interviews with more than a dozen advisers, government officials, pollsters and MPs around Burnham reveal a PM convinced of the dangers posed to Britain and the world by runaway global warming — yet whose first instinct, sometimes to the frustration of climate advocates, is to prioritize cost of living and energy security worries at home.
“I think Andy does get the big picture climate emergency, the urgency with which we need to act,” said Dale Vince, a clean energy entrepreneur and former New Age traveler who has advised Burnham on energy. But “millions of people in our country are asking: ‘How do I pay the bill?’”
Many politicians are “out of touch with that,” Vince argued. “Andy doesn’t forget it.”
Mr Pragmatic
Burnham has been putting that approach into practice since taking power in July.
Like his predecessor Keir Starmer, he believes the long-term solution to Britain’s cripplingly high energy costs is cutting dependence on expensive, foreign-controlled fossil fuels. But Burnham is also readier to drive down costs associated with the net-zero transition, many of which also end up on voters’ bills.
U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer John Healey, left, Burnham meet constituents at a Westminster community center on Oct. 28, 2026. | Pool photo by Richard Pohle via WPA/Getty Images
In last month’s budget, Burnham’s Chancellor John Healey announced a new mantra: “first and foremost cheaper energy.” Renewables projects like solar and wind farms must now show how they’ll bring down bills if they want to get government support. A subsidy pot for low-carbon electric heat pumps was cut by up to £2.5 billion. Healey has promised to overhaul how energy costs are paid via bills in the new year.
Most controversially, Burnham has presided over the decision by Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh to approve a new gas field in the North Sea, Jackdaw. Ministers argued more gas drilling off the Scottish coast would give a short-term boost to energy security, with some of its tax revenues routed into developing clean power.
A decision on the oilfield Rosebank, where climate-damaging emissions will be even higher, is expected by the end of the year.
There is a big difference, Burnham told MPs last month, between the “ideological” opposition of his anti-drilling Green Party rivals and his own “pragmatic approach.”
The team of rivals
Next week, Burnham will find out how that message plays on the global green stage.
He will be accompanied by Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, a prominent climate advocate. A Labour MP, granted anonymity to speak frankly, said Burnham’s choice of Miliband to run the Foreign Office — even as he lets Healey cut some green spending at home — was a deliberate “team of rivals” ploy to balance Labour’s progressive and centrist wings on climate.
“That’s the kind of the ideological fault line in the Cabinet, and it does run through climate, very much so,” the MP said.
Burnham’s visit to COP is expected to be a short one.
Those briefed on government planning expect him to attend for no more than a day. Emmanuel Macron, the French President, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz — both also facing a backlash against the cost of living at home — are skipping the summit entirely.
While in Antalya, Burnham should try to land his message that letting energy costs spiral higher and higher is the quickest way for countries to lose political support for climate action, say supporters of his agenda.
“Bringing bills down would help the climate cause more than any speech,” argued Sunny Hundal, a former adviser at Britain’s biggest energy supplier Octopus and now boss of the Cheap Clean Energy Alliance campaign group. Nonetheless, he added: “If Britain is to not become a cautionary tale for the rest of the world, it has to show that the path to cleaner energy is through cheaper energy.”
‘Betrayal’
The U.K. is seen by countries on the deadly frontline of climate change as a key ally in COP negotiations — particularly around weaning the world off fossil fuels.
Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket lifts off from Van Horn, Texas, carrying Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark Bezos, Oliver Daemen and Wally Funk on July 20, 2021. | Joe Raedle/Getty Images
That means Burnham’s North Sea policies might get a cool reception, said Mohamed Adow, director of the Nairobi-based climate and energy think tank Power Shift Africa.
“Jackdaw has certainly been noticed,” Adow said. “From Africa, it is deeply frustrating to see a wealthy country like Britain approve more fossil fuel production while asking developing countries to pursue a cleaner path. Decisions taken in London have consequences for people facing droughts and floods thousands of miles away.
“Andy Burnham should be under no illusion: approving Rosebank would be a betrayal of the communities he will hear from at COP31.”
Bill Esterson, a Labour MP and chair of the House of Commons Energy Security and Net Zero Committee, now expects Rosebank to get the go-ahead. Another Labour MP, the same quoted above, said Healey’s Treasury was “really pressuring” Fahnbulleh to approve the project because “it wants the tax revenue.”
Burnham’s decision to show off some climate consciousness by attending COP at all is, the same MP said, partly a move to placate Labour’s more green-minded backbenchers in advance of approving Rosebank.
“You get the feeling there’s political space being made for this shittier decision,” they said.
Esterson took a more generous view of Burnham’s agenda. “He recognizes the [climate] imperative, but he also recognizes the reality of taking people with [him]. I think that’s at the heart of his whole approach to being prime minister, actually.”
Political threats
Political rivals spy an opportunity.
“You can’t claim to be serious about climate leadership when you’re making it harder and more expensive for people to move away from fossil fuels,” said Pippa Heylings, energy security and net zero spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, attacking the “incoherence” of Burnham’s approach to climate.
Carla Denyer, a Green Party MP and former co-leader of her party, pointed to Jackdaw and the looming call on Rosebank. “The change Andy Burnham promised has so far failed to materialize when it comes to tackling the climate crisis,” she said.
Alienating voters worried about the climate carries political risks for Burnham, who has restored Labour’s lead in national opinion polls primarily by attracting Labour/Green swing voters, said polling analyst Steve Akehurst, director of Persuasion UK.
“None of the individual policy tweaks or changes to net zero are likely to matter on their own, but if they add up to an overall picture of backtracking on climate action it will present a big opportunity for [Green leader] Zack Polanski,” said Akehurst.
Taking climate “pragmatism” too far could alienate Labour’s existing voters, too. According to new Persuasion UK and YouGov polling shared with POLITICO, 22% of Labour’s 2024 voters list climate and environment in their top three priorities — but only 4% think Burnham does.
“It’s one of the few policy areas that Labour voters prioritise but don’t currently sense that the PM does,” Akehurst said.
But allies including Vince think Burnham’s strategy can head off a different political threat, this one coming from the right.
Heat pump subsidies, he argued, were only helping households that could already afford the additional costs of switching to clean heat. “Middle class subsidies is what we’re about at the moment in the pursuit of net zero, and I think it’s been a gift to Reform,” said Vince, referring to Nigel Farage’s right-wing party, which along with the Conservatives say they would scrap the U.K.’s 2050 net zero target.
“Icecaps and polar bears [are] all very well,” said Vince. “But when people are struggling to pay their energy bills — it’s not the primary thing that will persuade them.”
The head of T-Mobile's parent company is casting doubt on SpaceX's plans to make Starlink Mobile a "major" carrier in the US. During an earnings call on Thursday, Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Höttges says he takes the Elon Musk-owned company "super serious," but that it will cost at least $200 billion to pull off:
He [Musk] has now bought 76 megahertz of spectrum. By the way, we have 400. So if you now say he can buy the spectrum prospectively, do your math. These are kind of triple-digit billions which are needed to gain the spectrum position. If he has the money, go for it. Then he has to build a network. I can tell you, we have 85,000 tower …
I bought Charles Burns' Big Baby in 1986. RAW Books (run by Maus creator Art Spiegelman and New Yorker cover editor Françoise Mouly) published it as a hardbound book that resembles a kids' picture book. The interior pages are black-and-white comic book panels telling the story of a normal boy named Big Baby, who solves a neighborhood mystery. — Read the rest
Imagine coming home for the holidays, excited to spend quality time with your loving partner, only to be dumped just before Thanksgiving? This is such a common occurrence for many daters, especially college-aged students, that there’s an actual name for it: the turkey drop.
What Is the ‘Turkey Drop’ Dating Trend?
The “Turkey drop” is basically just a festive term for a breakup that occurs during Thanksgiving time. Like most dating trends, we can thank Gen Z (okay, and perhaps Millennials, too) for this one—though it was a common dating phenomenon far before it had this catchy title. And unfortunately, it doesn’t just impact college kids. With Thanksgiving and the holiday season adding pressure on even the most mature couples, it often triggers serious discussions and reconsiderations, which in turn often lead to separations.
“I am very used to my phone lighting up at this time of year because of trends like ‘the turkey drop,’” says Susan Trombetti, matchmaker and CEO of Exclusive Matchmaking. “The trend started with college freshmen. They head off to school still dating their high school sweetheart, then come home for Thanksgiving and realize they’re not the same person who left in August. So they end it before the pie comes out.”
Why Thanksgiving Is a Popular Breakup Holiday
Coming from experience, I’d say many couples feel overwhelmed and conflicted during the start of the holiday season, which is around Thanksgiving. Do you bring your partner home for turkey dinner with the fam, or are you not ready to take those next steps? Do you want to lock in for cuffing season, or does the thought of spending the winter snowed in together make your skin crawl? This season often triggers deep reflection, which can ultimately lead to breakups.
“The pressure is on; your auntie is asking if you are in a relationship, etc.,” Trombetti says. “Also, you are getting closer and closer to the new year. This is typically when many couples assess what they want for the future, and sometimes that means ending their current relationship.”
Additionally, for those away at college, they might return to their hometown lover with a new sense of identity and craving for freedom. Of course, they delay the breakup until Thanksgiving, which is typically the first chance they have to come home and talk in person.
Signs You’re About to Be ‘Turkey Dropped’ by Your Partner
No one wants to be broken up with during the holidays (or really any time of the year). A common sign someone is planning to end a relationship is increased distance and decreased effort. For example, maybe they’re answering your texts less and less, or perhaps they’re not including you in their holiday plans.
“This is typically the busiest time of the year,” Trombetti says. “If they are not mentioning plans for the holiday season, it may be a red flag.”
If you suspect your partner might drop you this Turkey Day, you can usually avoid being blindsided and humiliated by having an open, honest conversation.
“If you feel someone pulling away, that usually means something,” says Trombetti. “Trust your gut on this one. If they feel off, they probably are off.”
European Council President António Costa suggested narrowing a controversial business tax to only apply to large firms with a turnover exceeding €750 million per year, two EU diplomats briefed on the discussions told POLITICO.
Costa hopes these concessions will facilitate an overall agreement on new EU-wide levies, known as own resources, which have emerged as a major stumbling bloc in the ongoing negotiations.
The idea was mentioned in meetings, known as “confessionals,” between Costa’s head of cabinet Pedro Lourtie and EU governments Thursday, to test the waters on the most sensitive aspects in the negotiations.
Lourtie overhauled an unpopular corporate tax known as CORE — which charges a lump sum on companies’ revenues exceeding €100 million — that the European Commission proposed last year.
According to his proposal, the EU would charge a 0.05% levy, as opposed to a lump sum. It would also only apply to firms with an annual turnover of more than €750 million.
These changes are expected to soften opposition among a group of countries led by Germany that challenged CORE on the grounds that it undermines competitiveness and takes a toll on medium-sized enterprises.
Going further
But two diplomats fear these concessions will not be enough to muster support for the new levy. “I don’t think this is going to solve the problem on CORE,” one told POLITICO. They, like others in this story, were granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive negotiations.
France is pushing to introduce new taxes to reduce contributions to the EU budget.
In a concession to Paris, Costa’s team indicated that they won’t cut down on the total revenue projections from the Commission’s tax proposal from last year, which was expected to generate €65 billion annually.
To generate additional resources for the budget, Costa’s team also suggested increasing two largely uncontroversial taxes on non-collected plastic and electronic waste that flows directly to the bloc’s budget by levying an additional 25 cents on each kilo.
The diplomats also proposed raising the share of a carbon imports’ tax that flows to the EU cash pot to 100% from the current 75%, and exploring levies on crypto firms and national spectrum auctions.
In a further concession, Lourtie suggested phasing in two taxes on tobacco products and polluting firms, known as the Emissions Trading System, for countries that are overwhelmingly affected.
Confessional diplomacy
The bilaterals, which started Thursday and will continue until next Monday, are expected to pave the way for a budget deal by the end of 2026 — before next year’s elections in Poland, France and Italy threaten to derail the negotiations.
Costa will put forward a new budget negotiating document on Nov. 21 ahead of a special summit the following week, said the two diplomats.
During Thursday’s meetings, Costa’s team signaled that the budget would be cut further, and reductions might affect regional funding known as cohesion policy.
That would be a major setback for an alliance of Southern and Eastern European countries, known as the Friends of Cohesion.
Cuts to farmers’ subsidies were deemed less likely, said the two diplomats.
Microsoft is unveiling a new Xbox PC app that launches "up to 60 percent faster" than before, with an overhauled design to match new updates to Xbox Cloud Gaming on the web and smart TVs. Xbox Insiders will be able to start testing the updated Xbox PC app today, and the updated Xbox Cloud Gaming interface will start rolling out over the next few weeks.
Ever since Microsoft launched its Xbox Ally handheld devices last year, it was clear the Xbox PC app still needed a lot of work to feel more like an Xbox console experience on Windows. Microsoft has greatly simplified the app now, with a design that no longer feels like you're clicking a mous …
United has built a custom, native Spotify app for seatback displays, allowing passengers to log directly in to their personal accounts and stream their own libraries, playlists, and video podcasts while flying 35,000 feet in the air. The new integration is being powered by Starlink's satellite Wi-Fi, which is currently being installed throughout United's entire fleet.
The news marks a major shift in legacy in-flight entertainment. Gone are the days of stethoscope-style plastic tubes, armrest dials, and canned playlists. These older airplane systems were built on the assumption that flights had no internet, so all movies and music had to be …
PARIS — France’s National Assembly unanimously rejected the 2027 state budget bill Wednesday night, in a further sign that Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu will have a tough time getting through €43 billion in budget savings.
458 lawmakers from both Emmanuel Macron’s camp and the opposition voted against the first part of the text that deals with tax income. It had been extensively amended by various groups, resulting in a proposal no one was happy with. The second part of the text, which covers spending, was also struck down as a result. The government’s draft budget will now go directly to the Senate where it will be debated from Nov. 20.
The French lower chamber had already rejected the other leg of the 2027 budget, which covers state pensions and the health care system. It will now be discussed in the Senate.
With France’s economy stagnating, debt piling up and the risk of a financial crisis looming over the country, Lecornu’s government is under pressure to put French finances in order. It has pledged to bring down the deficit — the difference between how much the government spends and how much it brings in — to 5% of the gross domestic product next year.
Budget Minister David Amiel warned on Wednesday that, after the amendments, the version of the budget rejected that night would have brought the deficit to 5.9%.
With Lecornu lacking a majority in the lower chamber, the rejection was widely expected and increases the chances that the government will try to force the text through. As the April 2027 presidential election approaches, the government has repeatedly insisted that it aims to adopt the budget by the end of the year — something it failed to do with the two previous budgets.
The government could either use Article 49.3 of the Constitution again, a provision that allows it to bypass a parliamentary vote but exposes it to no-confidence motions. It could also adopt the budget through executive orders, an unprecedented option in France’s recent history.
X is introducing a new version of its web app that it says is much faster than before, and it's now rolling out the updated app "one country at a time" for signed-in users.
"Open a profile on X.com over a slow connection," principal engineer Yagiz Nizipli said in a blog post about the changes. "On the old web app, you'd stare at the X logo for more than 22 seconds before the first post appeared. On the new one, it shows up in 2.7." The post also goes into technical detail about how the updated app "replaces the three servers we used to run for people, search crawlers, and link previews with one."
Dream bigger, babe. | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images
One of the basic problems of spending too much time on social media is that you are cooking your brain by reading posts from a pack of attention-seeking lunatics. If your social media of choice is the site formerly known as Twitter, and it is your main source of contact with the outside world, you may delusionally throw away nearly $500 million dollars on midterm elections, just like Elon Musk.
In particular, $47 million of that money from Musk's America PAC was aimed at defeating Texas Democrat James Talarico, who trounced Musk's preferred Senate candidate, Ken Paxton, with 55 percent of the vote. Talarico even made Musk's influence a cent …
“See you later, alligator” takes on a whole new meaning with this gator-themed console from Xbox. An homage to Florida, home to many of the behemoth creatures, the console is waiting for a lucky gamer to grab it – being mindful of the teeth, of course, which already have an Xbox controller balanced between them.
Measuring five feet long from scaly snout to thrashing tail, the X-BITE looks so real that anyone unfamiliar with its origins could be forgiven for jumping on the phone to their local animal control. Gleaming green eyes, complete with X-shaped irises, peer out from the top of the shovel-shaped head, which is complete with two rows of bright white teeth. The Xbox controller perched between its jaws has tooth marks on it, perhaps evidence of an ill-advised fight on the part of the original owner attempting to keep it.
In the video on the Xbox website, the X-BITE is perched on its own stand, lifting it up in the air so that its clawed feet are poised as if in mid-swim. Or mid-charge, depending on the point of view. The silhouette of an Xbox Series X is visible in its stomach, stretching the green scales into a rectangular shape, the amber glow of the power button visible even through the gator’s thick skin.
Xbox Just Made a Giant Alligator-Shaped Series X Console, and You Can Win It for Free
Despite the fact that an alligator appeared to treat the console like an appetizer, the post on the Xbox news site makes it clear that the Xbox Series X within is entirely functional. All the player would need to do is press the button to turn it on. The alligator itself was crafted with care, designed by the same studio – John Nolan Studio – which is behind animatronics and other creatures for The Witcher. This unique console was built with a combination of 3D modeling and fabrication, along with sculpting.
For anyone interested in combining their love for gaming with a perennial conversation starter, Xbox is offering the Xbox Series X-BITE for free, as part of an online contest. Here’s the catch (no pun intended) – there’s only one. Interested gamers have three options to enter, though, including X, Instagram, or TikTok.
Whatever social media platform they choose, the directions are simple. After making sure to follow the @XBOX account, just share the sweepstakes post. Don’t forget to add the #XbiteSweepstakes hashtag to the post before it goes live.
It’s also important to note that the winner has 48 hours to claim their prize. “Miss the window,” according to the Xbox post, “and this gator makes a clean getaway.”
Built to play. Not to pet. Enter for a chance win!
Follow and repost with #XbiteSweepstakes for a chance to win the one-of-a-kind playable XBOX Series X-BITE.
I revealed yesterday that the new Xbox Nano controller supports a Wi-Fi connection directly to Xbox Cloud Gaming, and now Microsoft is making it official today. Two new Xbox previews will let players try out using a phone as a controller on smart TVs, as well as cloud connect on the Xbox Nano to connect directly to cloud servers.
"Instead of a Bluetooth connection to your TV, cloud connect uses your Wi-Fi to connect directly to the cloud server running your game," says the Xbox team. "That can help reduce input latency, so gameplay may feel more responsive."
Players in the US will be able to preview the new cloud connect option for the Xbo …
Members of the European Parliament are concerned that fundamental rights could suffer under plans to expand the mandate of EU border agency Frontex.
Last week, Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner presented plans for a sweeping overhaul of Frontex that would put it in charge of everything from strategic planning and pooling resources for cost-efficient returns to reintegration support — and also allow it to help non-EU countries with deportations from their territory.
On Wednesday, Brunner addressed MEPs on the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee about those plans.
While member state authorities would still take decisions on returns, the EU border agency will become “responsible for return-related support from the beginning to the end, from A to Z,” Brunner said.
Under the Commission plan, Frontex could also help deport people from EU countries to hubs in countries outside the bloc, and from those hubs to third countries, the commissioner confirmed.
Centrist and left-leaning lawmakers said they were worried that the expanded mandate and scope would come with larger fundamental rights pitfalls.
“How will we guarantee that Frontex will comply with EU law while they have to obey the laws of third countries, where there is a completely different legal framework in place?” the Greens’ Tineke Strik, a Dutch MEP, asked the commissioner. “I really think that this modality will clearly lead to the risk of more fundamental rights violations,” she added.
Socialists and Democrats MEP Murielle Laurent, from France, asked: “To what extent can Europe externalize its migration policy while also externalizing its human rights defense policy?” She warned that “a more powerful EU agency is also an agency that should have more careful oversight.”
Brunner insisted that Frontex already has to meet firm fundamental rights obligations, and that those remain in place under the Commission’s plans.
Frontex would only assist non-EU countries in returns under an international agreement that lays out fundamental rights safeguards, he said. The Parliament would have to sign off on any such agreement, he added.
Halo Infinite is offering players a surprising content update that may tempt some gamers back into the most recent installment in the franchise for some exciting action.
Halo Infinite Adds 10 Maps This Week
Things have been quiet on the Halo Infinite beat for quite a while, but the game isn’t dead yet. A surprise update arrived this week and delivers 10 new multiplayer maps to the game.
All 10 new maps were part of the Halo Fest Forge Contest that took place earlier this year, and they’ve specifically been added to a Halo Fest Showcase playlist.
Here is a full list of all the new maps players can access after downloading the latest update:
Abundance
Bits and Pieces
Cascade
Eulogy
Hierarch
Sanctum
Shade’s Promise
Sluff
Sojourn
Unconveyed
Players can dive into CTF: Arena, King of the Hill: Arena, Oddball: Arena and Slayer: Arena modes if they want to see any of the new maps in action.
Xbox hasn’t announced the next official installment in the Halo franchise yet, but the reorganization did move development of the next project to Activision, which will be responsible for producing the next mainline game for the franchise.
The remaining Halo Studios team has been scaled down and the remaining members are now responsible for community support and multiplayer maintenance on existing games like Halo Infinite.
Leadership at Xbox is trying to develop games for the tentpole franchises more frequently, so it will be very interesting to see how long it takes for Activision to get a Halo title off the ground and how different that project might look from the previous games in the series.
Be sure to check back soon for lots more Halo news and updates.
Halo Infinite is available now on PC and Xbox Series consoles.
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