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In Today’s Issue

What’s Happening On Earth?

Vendors see sizable opportunities beyond rural broadband - The rural broadband hype is dying down for equipment vendors. Vendors are eyeing opportunities in long-haul fiber and the data center. Vendors poured money into expanding manufacturing in the U.S., and more economic concerns lie ahead

My Take: At one point BEAD was thought to be a main driver of revenue for equipment vendors, especially those who retooled to support the BABA protocol. Now, as the hype simmers down, we see stuff like this - “Speaking on the company's Q4 earnings call, Adtran CEO Tom Stanton said plainly that the BEAD program is “not a big driver” for 2025 revenue” and compare it to great aspirations from late 2024 - Ciena eyes the treasure trove of BEAD money, gets into access business.

Will PE fill the gap? Something has to.

Laser Light Solutions Help Close the Digital Divide - What if mobile network operators or wireless internet service providers could utilize laser light beams instead of fiber cables for backhaul connections to cell sites or fixed wireless access base stations?

My Take: So, that’s 20Gbps over ~30Kms. I would imagine clear line of sight between the two end points, etc. Anyone have any case studies to share where other FSO solutions have been implemented?

Rural Broadband Expansion and the AI Opportunity - The current space and power challenges of urban data center operations present an opportunity for data center expansion in rural areas.

My Take: Yes, as long as they have the infrastructure to support their development. There’s also a lot of unused SP POP infrastructure that could also house development.

🇨🇦 Rogers, Telus, Bell Hit Hard as Ottawa Reshapes Spectrum Fees - The main goal is to make things fairer. Under the new rules, companies will pay using a tiered system, similar to how tax brackets work. Smaller amounts of spectrum will be charged at a lower rate, with higher fees kicking in only as a company owns more. This setup is meant to lighten the load on smaller regional carriers while pushing large telecoms like Rogers, Bell, and Telus to pay more.

My Take: Who do you think is complaining?

🇨🇦 Cable theft in Fredericton leaves some Bell Aliant customers without TV, internet - copper theft has accounted for more than 80 per cent of the theft and vandalism Bell Aliant's national network has experienced in recent years.

My Take: Desperate times, and all that.

🇨🇦 Bell’s DIY Pipe Wiring Leaves Live Wires Dangling in Alley - A Bell cable installation running between two Toronto homes is drawing criticism online after photos showed live electrical wires awkwardly encased in what appear to be plumbing pipes, hanging loosely above a narrow alley.

My Take: I posted this on LinkedIn. Consensus seemed to be that the hydro stack collapsed and has nothing to do with Bell. More non-fact checking.

FBA CEO defends rural fiber subsides at Connected America - The Fiber Broadband Association’s CEO was vocal against rhetoric questioning the feasibility of subsidizing rural fiber at Connected America.

My Take: That’s his job, isn’t it? — “We need to stop thinking of fiber as expensive and slow, and start thinking of it as essential infrastructure—because without it, rural communities are left behind.”

Why BEAD and "fiber first" doesn't make sense for the taxpayer. A visualization. - If StarLink is defined as an acceptable broadband delivery technology, BEAD is effectively DEAD because those address locations claimed currently by the states to be unserved/underserved are now actually served and not eligible for BEAD funding.

My Take: Nothing to add.

FANS Demonstration: Unlocking Open Access and New Business Models for Fiber Networks - The increasing demand for open access networks and wholesale network offerings has led to the need for sharing last-mile fiber networks among multiple Virtual Network Operators (VNOs). To address this, the Broadband Forum developed the TR-370 specification, which defines how a single access network owned by an infrastructure provider (InP) can be shared by multiple VNOs, a concept known as Fixed Access Network Sharing (FANS).

My Take: Seems technically complex. From what I understand, this helps solve the vendor specific or operator specific ONT issue, if that’s even an issue? Isn’t it easier for the NetCo to provide the ONT to terminate the access? Let the RSP sell service and now worry about the infrastructure, as long as the NetCo is managing the NetCo..

CityFibre acquires Connexin's full fibre infrastructure in strategic agreement - Strategic agreement includes built and work in progress fibre network assets, as well as new Project Gigabit contract. The agreement enables the expansion of CityFibre’s nationwide footprint by up to 185,000 premises. Connexin will extend its ISP and Smart Home services over the CityFibre network through a new nationwide wholesale agreement

My Take: Seems complementary?

AT&T eyes $5.5bn deal for Lumen’s broadband unit - Lumen, which is focusing its strategy on its enterprise services portfolio, has been seeking a buyer for its Mass Markets division, which serves consumer and small business customers, since late last year

Losing Lumen to AT&T could doom T-Mobile - T-Mobile has made clear its interest in fiber, mainly through its investments in Lumos and Metronet. And that's why AT&T's rumored play for Lumen could create trouble for T-Mobile.

My Take: Capacity, transport, time to market.. All things I’m sure T-Mobile is concerned with. I’d like to see Bell Canada scrape together another $5B and put in a competing bid.

Verizon and T-Mobile FWA speeds are actually increasing - T-Mobile's FWA median download speeds increased more than 50% last year, Ookla found, from around 135 Mbit/s in the fourth quarter of 2023 to about 205 Mbit/s in the fourth quarter of 2024. Verizon, which has more than 4.3 million FWA subscribers, saw its median download speed rise more than 12% from 132 Mbit/s in the fourth quarter of 2023 to 150 Mbit/s in the fourth quarter of 2024.

My Take: And they still keep the cost the same..

GFiber exec sour on fiber/wireless bundles - The same company operates both the Google Fi MVNO and the GFiber fiber provider. But a Google executive didn't seem keen to combine the two services into one converged bundle.

My Take: Performance, transparency and choice. Are bundles fading, with the focus on broadband-first?

🇨🇦 Bell Launches Security-as-a-Service (SECaaS) on Canadian Sovereign Cloud - Bell today announced the launch of its Security-as-a-Service (SECaaS) solution, hosted on its Canadian sovereign cloud. This innovative service provides public and private sector organizations with top-tier cybersecurity solutions while ensuring data remains within Canadian borders, adhering to local privacy and security regulations.

My Take: Good.

For Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung, there's nothing great about MAGA - Tariffs discharged by Trump like randomly fired bullets are making the world more unpredictable for Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung.

Tariffs and Broadband: Every Day is a New Day - The Trump administration’s plan to impose substantial tariffs on imports critical to ISPs, telecom companies, and all those in the broadband space, is likely to cause disruption, at least in the short-term. Proposed tariffs include a hefty 25% on aluminum and steel imports.

My Take: My American friends, he’s just making everything more expensive for everyone with non-existent outcomes that (no one wants) won’t even be realized until he’s gone.

Feinman: BEAD staffers ‘constantly concerned’ in current climate - Seemingly arbitrary decisions and reviews with seemingly pre-determined outcomes left Evan Feinman’s staff ‘constantly concerned,’ the former director of BEAD explained on Beyond the Cable.

My Take: Needs no comment. You all know what’s going on.

Nokia expands collection of broadband applications for Service Providers to monetize the connected home - Nokia Corteca Marketplace provides Communication Service Providers (CSPs) with access to the largest collection of value-added applications for broadband devices. CSPs can easily manage applications with Corteca via prpl lifecycle management (LCM) and TR-369 standard-based protocols. Developers and CSPs can use Nokia’s open-source Corteca Developer Toolkit to quickly develop new applications for home broadband devices.

My Take: Check out the Learn About section to see more about prpl LCM. Seems to be Nokia’s new platform of choice, which makes sense, if not for more than the resource management at the very least.

Bringing fiber to the next billion homes: Nokia automates fiber deployments with Broadband Easy - Nokia today announced the launch of Broadband Easy, a digital platform and set of services that help operators streamline and accelerate the process of deploying fiber. The digital platform gives operators full visibility and control of the entire fiber rollout process, while advanced automation and AI models help ensure design, installations, and budget of the project are optimized.    

My Take: Seems like it may be crossing into other SaaS territory?

Why Wi-Fi 7 Can Wait. Here’s The Smarter Investment that Actually Delivers ROI - many multifamily properties are feeling pressure to upgrade their infrastructure to support the new standard. They're worried about being left behind but also question whether an upgrade now is worth the investment. Will it matter to potential residents? Will it improve net operating income (NOI)? Will it provide a competitive advantage or raise the property's market value?

My Take: She has a point, for now. Also, remember that just because people are subscribing to higher-speed tiers, the data suggests they’re not using it, so why spend money upgrading the infrastructure today — especially where there is limited native support embedded in the devices?

🇨🇦 Bell’s gigabit capacity requirement could result in lower competitor sales: TekSavvy - TekSavvy is warning this month that a telco requirement to buy a minimum percentage of what it says is unnecessary capacity to get access to higher gigabit services on aggregated fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) networks will result in higher costs and lower sales.

My Take:  There do seem to be some inconsistencies. Do they do this on purpose?

Does fiber-to-the-prem really matter for AI and the edge? - It’s fairly obvious by now long-haul fiber and data center connectivity matter for AI innovation. But where do last mile fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) deployments factor in? 

My Take: Multi-modal, real-time applications will drive the longer term need. No need right now. And besides, all the processing will be done in space anyway ;)

MARKET PULSE REPORT - MARCH 2025 5G – A GAME OF TWO HALVES? - 5G deployments continue to expand, but the challenge of monetization remains. While over half of public networks have adopted 5G NSA, only 10% have moved to 5G SA, and 5G Advanced remains in its early stages. Despite significant investments, many operators are struggling to generate substantial revenue from 5G services.

My Take: Download the report. It has its bias, of course, but has lots of great info!

What’s Happening In Space?

What’s in Space This Week?

🇨🇦 Canadian governments rely on Starlink for critical services. Some are reconsidering - From a $200,000-per-year agreement with Newfoundland and Labrador’s Crown energy corporation to a contract with British Columbia that includes remote ambulance service and wildfire response, governments are dependent on Starlink for communications in far-flung parts of the country where there are few other options, The Canadian Press has found.

My Take: Well, there’s some new info. As for Government business, didn’t OneWeb do a deal with Shared Services Canada through Galaxy Broadband? Will it all move to Telesat’s Lightspeed constellation when it’s ready?

🇨🇦 WestJet launches Wi-Fi service powered by Elon Musk's Starlink - WestJet has launched an on-board Wi-Fi service powered by Starlink, the satellite internet technology made by Elon Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX, sparking a limited backlash from Canadians.

My Take: Maybe they can put an Audi logo on it, like people are doing with their Teslers. Or maybe it’ll allow customers to complain faster.

🇨🇦 Manitoba engineer helping to build alternative to Elon Musk’s Starlink - A University of Manitoba professor is a part of a team hard at work creating a Canadian satellite alternative to Elon Musk’s Starlink network.

My Take: What happened to fact checking? Anyway, HAPS, that’s what he’s talking about. Here’s an example - Photos: Flying solar blimp to bring high-speed internet to remote regions

🇨🇦 ‘Tectonic Shifts’ in Geopolitical Environment Drive Interest in Telesat Lightspeed, Goldberg Says - Recent fairly tectonic shifts in the geopolitical environment are making us even more bullish on sovereign national security requirements — requirements we always believed were significant — but now expect will provide an even stronger tailwind as countries increase their defense spending and look to diversify the allied governments and service providers they work with

My Take: Significant requirements that now have a solution to deliver.

Italy’s Starlink talks at ‘standstill’ amid Musk outrage, minister says - Discussions between Italy's far-right government and Elon Musk's Space X over a secure communications system for defense and diplomatic purposes have been suspended, Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said.

My Take: Old news?

Vietnam to allow SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service - Vietnam's government said on Wednesday it will allow SpaceX to launch its Starlink satellite internet service on a trial basis in the country.

My Take: Lose Italy, pick up Vietnam.. I’ve lost track.

Connect Everyone Coalition - Our mission: Deliver fast, affordable broadband to connect everyone, everywhere, by advocating for access to low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite technology.

My Take: Never heard of them. Looked them up. I guess their the space equivalent of the FBA?

Providers of satellite connectivity for defence-based unmanned aerial vehicles must diversify their solutions - Service providers must increase the flexibility and scope of their UAV service offerings to capture and increase the retail potential from this developing market.

My Take: Real-time connectivity and situational awareness. That’s the goal.

Multi-Orbit vs. Starlink: Is Disruption Coming for the Disruptor? - Following a series of mega-mergers, a new generation of satcom giants is emerging with tri-orbit capabilities, flexible architectures and an alphabet soup of Ka-, Ku-, C-, S- and X-band spectrum. The question is how incumbents can use this new phase of disruption to secure their place in a Starlink, NGSO-dominated future.

My Take: I suppose it depends on the application, although additional costs in space and ground control may not help the business case (?).

High Stakes in High Ground: Can Innovation and Defense Investment Help GEO Compete With LEO? - While perceived as outdated, Geostationary Orbit (GEO) is the cosmic high ground. Like the Union strongholds of Gettysburg, GEO represents critical territory, a sovereign domain in space. Anchored to a continuous coverage area, GEO satellites can provide continuous regional coverage in a cost-efficient communications regime.

My Take: Time and a place?

Why is China’s military so worried about Starlink? A Rand report has a warning. - US Space Force needs to prepare for provocation after claim that Chinese satellites practised ‘dogfight’ manoeuvres, report says

My Take: If they both have the ability to strike first, maybe they’ll just leave each other alone.

Space-Based Laser Links Are Taking Center Stage - As governments and companies build constellations with hundreds or even thousands of spacecraft, the use of optical communications technology using laser links is proliferating just as widely.

My Take: “Downloading 1 TB of data can take 4 hr. via X-band, 14 min. at 10 Gbps via optical communications and less than 2 min. at 100 Gbps optical, according to data provided by Cailabs.”.. Standards and interoperability will drive it home.

SpaceX Preps New Starlink Dishes, Including One for Gigabit Speeds - SpaceX is developing a new Starlink dish meant to offer gigabit internet to customers, a big boost from current download speeds, which are closer to 200Mbps. The dish was mentioned in a webinar for Starlink resellers, according to a person who watched the presentation.

My Take: I guess size does matter.

Google Spinoff Targets Musk Starlink Service But Is Amazon's Kuiper Only Real Threat? - The global broadband internet landscape may well have a new entrant market some day in Taara, spun off this month by Google-parent Alphabet. But Elon Musk's satellite service Starlink, part of SpaceX, holds a big lead as Taara seeks funding, Amazon.com ramps up its Kuiper satellite service and Europe's Eutelsat aims to benefit from geopolitical events.

My Take: Taara looks to be pretty interesting laser-based communication technology.

Direct To Device

Lynk and Turkcell Successfully Demonstrate Direct-to-Device Technology via Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellites in Türkiye - Ramu Potarazu, Chief Executive Officer of Lynk, said, “We are thrilled to add Türkiye to the growing list of countries where Lynk has showcased its patented and proven technology. Along with Turkcell, Lynk is committed to enhancing connectivity across rural areas in Türkiye, including in emergencies when terrestrial networks are temporarily inoperable.”

People in the UK could soon be able to make satellite calls from their everyday smartphones, under proposals announced by Ofcom today. - UK first country in Europe to move ahead with innovative plans for standard smartphones to make satellite calls. Ofcom proposals would enable mobile networks and satellite operators to connect customers from space. People and businesses in hard-to-reach areas to benefit most

See the full document - Enabling Satellite Direct to Device services in Mobile spectrum bands

UK phone users will be able to connect to Starlink and Amazon's Kuiper under new plans - UK smartphone users will be able to make phone calls and send messages from previous mobile blackspots under proposals from telecoms regulator Ofcom to approve the use of satellite signals.

Sateliot Closes €70 Million Series B Round with €10 Million from Hyperion to advance its satellite constellation - SSateliot has successfully closed its €70 million Series B funding round, strengthening its position as the world’s first 5G-IoT telecommunications operator from space. Leveraging a disruptive technological solution, Sateliot delivers global connectivity through a constellation of low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, enabling massive IoT services at a significantly lower cost than traditional satellite alternatives.

Breaking New Ground for Customers, the T-Mobile Way - nearly three years ago, we looked to the sky and decided to embark on a mission to end dead zones by turning the cell phone in every customer’s pocket into a satellite phone. A journey that we are happy to see so many other wireless providers now embarking on as well.

My Take: With all these initiatives underway, will the nooks and cranny of the globe be serviced with SMS and Voice before broadband? (with Samsung phones?)

Enabling AI

🇨🇦 Government of Canada finalizes investment to support Canadian-Born AI leader, Cohere - Government of Canada has finalized its investment of up to $240 million in Cohere Inc.’s $725 million project to bring domestic compute capacity to Canada and support the development and scaling of AI capabilities here at home.

My Take: Here’s the secret. Cohere is partnering with American cloud computing firm CoreWeave to build this facility. Its exact location has yet to be determined. There weren’t any Canadian companies to help? LIke Telus, or any other AI-based DC initiatives?

OpenAI’s Sora Is Plagued by Sexist, Racist, and Ableist Biases - Despite recent leaps forward in image quality, the biases found in videos generated by AI tools, like OpenAI’s Sora, are as conspicuous as ever. A WIRED investigation, which included a review of hundreds of AI-generated videos, has found that Sora’s model perpetuates sexist, racist, and ableist stereotypes in its results.

My Take: Oh, my. Wasn’t Elon part of a group offering to buy OpenAI for $90-something billion last month?

What Is MCP, and Why Is Everyone – Suddenly!– Talking About It? - everything you need to know about Model Context Protocol

My Take: Every day it’s something new 😉 Providing interactivity with LLMs enables even more applications.

Op-Ed: Sam Altman preaches AI, and telecom believes - Workers in the telecom industry are tapping AI more frequently. In the past couple of years, the practical use of AI has swiftly advanced from AI phone assistants in customer service departments to some pretty cool AI technologies in the field.

My Take: Network operations, support, planning, problem resolution.. and so on. Proactive and reactive solutions.

Operators are being naive about AI's impact on the workforce - The telecom industry is embracing AI, but next-gen AGI is a new beast to grapple with. AGI has the potential to not just augment human performance but replace it entirely. The logical conclusion is job displacement - even if operators aren't ready to admit it.

My Take: and learning stops, and people become ‘more stupider’. Look what GPS did to people.

Leave it to Manus - Manus is a general AI agent that bridges minds and actions: it doesn't just think, it delivers results. Manus excels at various tasks in work and life, getting everything done while you rest.

My Take: The demos are very cool. It’s a massive AI agent with intriguing outcomes.

Nvidia CEO predicts AI humanoid robots to transform manufacturing in less than 5 years - Nvidia NVDA.O CEO Jensen Huang believes humanoid robots are less than five years away from seeing wide use in manufacturing facilities.

My Take: Another reason that Trump’s tariff plan to bring auto manufacturing back to the US will fail to meet his vision and prosperity for Americans.

AI diagnoses major cancer with near perfect accuracy - One of Australia's most common gynaecological cancers could be detected sooner and more accurately thanks to a specialised Artificial Intelligence (AI) model, new research shows.

My Take: This is the stuff people are waiting for. Even if it’s a “false negative”, it drives inspection and early detection leading to better outcomes.

Why handing over total control to AI agents would be a huge mistake - When AI systems can control multiple sources simultaneously, the potential for harm explodes. We need to keep humans in the loop.

My Take: Yes, we need to keep humans in the loop, as long as the systems don’t lock out the humans.

OpenAI Claims Breakthrough in Image Creation for ChatGPT - OpenAI unveiled an updated version of its AI system GPT-4o that can generate more realistic images, the result of a year-long effort with human trainers.

My Take: There are some exceptional examples of what it can produce.

This isn’t your usual dubbing trick - The tool behind this is TrueSync, developed by a company called Flawless. Instead of swapping out voices like traditional dubbing, it adjusts the actors’ lip movement to match the English lines they recorded themselves.

My Take: Wait a minute - does that mean that all those 70’s Kung Fu movies will lose their charm?

Learn About

Understanding prpl Lifecycle Management (LCM): The App Store for Your Internet Router

Let’s talk about your home Wi-Fi router. You know, that box that gives you internet? Normally, updating its software is like getting a whole new brain transplant every time—risky, slow, and kinda annoying. But what if you could add new features to it as easily as downloading apps on your phone? That’s exactly what prpl Lifecycle Management (LCM) does. It’s like turning your router into a smartphone for internet services.

Breaking Down the Basics

prpl LCM is an open-source system that lets internet providers (like Comcast or Verizon) add, update, or remove apps on your home router without messing with the core system. Imagine your router runs on prplOS (a special operating system built for routers). Instead of one big chunk of software, prpl LCM splits everything into containers—think of these as tiny, isolated boxes. Each box holds a different app, like parental controls, a VPN, or a smart home hub.

How It Works: No More “All or Nothing” Updates

With old-school routers, updating one feature meant reinstalling the entire system (called “firmware”). If something went wrong, your whole internet could crash. prpl LCM fixes this by letting providers:

1. Add apps on demand: Need better Wi-Fi security? Download a container.

2. Update single features: Patch just the VPN app, not the whole router.

3. Remove bloatware: Delete unused apps to free up space.

Everything happens remotely, and your Netflix stream won’t even buffer during the process.

Resource Management: Sharing Without Fighting

You know how your phone slows down if too many apps run at once? prpl LCM prevents that on routers. Each container gets its own resource limits for memory and storage. It’s like giving every app a “slice” of the router’s power. If a new app needs more space, the system checks if there’s enough free memory before installing it. Operators can even adjust these limits remotely—like turning up the “juice” for a gaming optimizer app on weekends.

Lifecycle Steps: From Download to Delete

Let’s say your provider wants to add a parental control app:

1. Deploy: They send the app as a pre-packaged container to your router.

2. Run: The app works in its own bubble, separate from critical stuff like your Wi-Fi signal.

3. Update: When the app improves, only that container gets replaced—no full restart needed.

4. Remove: If you cancel the service, the app gets deleted cleanly, leaving other features untouched.

This “set it and forget it” approach means fewer crashes and faster upgrades.

Why It’s Better Than Old Firmware

Traditional routers are like LEGO sets glued together—you can’t change pieces without breaking everything. prpl LCM makes routers modular:

• No downtime: Apps install while you’re gaming.

• Mix and match: Use apps from different vendors.

• Future-proof: New tech (like 6G) plugs in easily.

Internet providers love this because they can test features on some users first (A/B testing) or roll back bad updates instantly.

Real-World Magic

Companies like Vodafone use prpl LCM to push out features 40% faster. Imagine your router getting a new “gaming mode” overnight because the provider decided gamers in your area need it. Nokia uses it to optimize Wi-Fi across different router brands, so your Netflix doesn’t buffer whether you have a Linksys or a Technicolor box.

The Bigger Picture

prpl LCM isn’t just about convenience—it’s about keeping up with the app-ification of everything. As homes get smarter (think Alexa, security cameras, VR), routers need to handle more jobs without becoming unstable. By treating apps like separate building blocks, prpl LCM keeps your internet experience smooth, customizable, and ready for whatever comes next.

So next time your router quietly updates, remember: there’s a whole app ecosystem working behind the scenes, thanks to prpl Lifecycle Management.

This and That!

BYD’s Winning Streak Isn’t Over - This week we’re looking at BYD’s path to electric-vehicle dominance.

My Take: 400km from a 5 minute charge, but they need expensive chargers… and they’re set to surpass Tesler on revenue.

A side-by-side comparison of 22 AI notetakers - Looking for the best AI notetakers for sales? We tested and compared 22 AI call recording tools to see which ones had the best out-of-the-box notes for sales teams.

My Take: I had never heard of Granola, well at least not the kind you don’t eat. It’s very good, as is the kind you eat.

Apple Watch Ultra 3 rumored to have two key connectivity improvements - Apple didn’t introduce a new generation of the Apple Watch Ultra last year. Instead, the company announced a new black titanium version for the current generation. This year, however, Apple Watch Ultra 3 will get some hardware upgrades – and that includes key improvements when it comes to connectivity.

My Take: Spoiler alert. 5G Redcap and Satellite connectivity. All in the palm of your hand, or on your wrist, or something. I wonder if it tells time?

A Vision for Rebuilding TikTok in America - Perplexity is singularly positioned to rebuild the TikTok algorithm without creating a monopoly, combining world-class technical capabilities with Little Tech independence.

My Take: Maybe they can call it TikToxity?

Here Are the Attack Plans That Trump’s Advisers Shared on Signal - On Monday, shortly after we published a story about a massive Trump-administration security breach, a reporter asked the secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, why he had shared plans about a forthcoming attack on Yemen on the Signal messaging app. He answered, “Nobody was texting war plans. And that’s all I have to say about that.”

My Take: Tools are only as good as the tools using them, I guess.

FCC Exploring Alternatives To Mitigate GPS Interference - As jamming and spoofing of global navigation satellite system signals continue to grow, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today launched an inquiry to explore commercial technologies that would provide an alternative source of position, navigation, and timing (PNT) data.

My Take: Perhaps something more controlled and less vulnerable?

Infographic Of The Week

My Take: It's probably more like misused tools.

This is more telling:

Podcast Recommendation

Ben and Guy break down the collapse of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and the dramatic feud between the DOGE and the U.S. Institute of Peace. Then, Dan Hendrycks, director of the Center for AI Safety, joins the show to talk about superintelligent AI, its internal value systems, and its potential ramifications for U.S. national security. Plus, the "Threat of the Week."

Listen Here!

Movie/Streaming Recommendation

IMDb: 8.4/10

JMDb: 8.5/10 (I didn’t like the ending or it would have been a solid 9)

"Adolescence" is a gripping psychological drama that serves as a stark warning about the perils of social media's influence on young minds. This four-part Netflix series, shot in a bold single-take style, follows the arrest and investigation of 13-year-old Jamie Miller for the murder of his classmate while delving deep into the dark undercurrents of online culture.

The show's strength lies in its unflinching exploration of complex themes: toxic masculinity, the insidious nature of incel ideology, and the fragility of adolescent psyches in the digital age. Owen Cooper delivers a chilling performance as Jamie, transforming from an innocent boy to an angry, aggressive teenager influenced by harmful online ideologies. Stephen Graham's portrayal of the distraught father is heart-wrenching, highlighting the generational disconnect in understanding modern youth culture.

Director Philip Barantini's continuous-shot technique creates an immersive, claustrophobic atmosphere that mirrors the characters' emotional turmoil and the relentless pressure of social media5. The series excels in examining how online culture and misguided ideologies can warp young minds, sparking meaningful conversations about smartphone use and the need for digital literacy.

"Adolescence" is a haunting, thought-provoking series that forces viewers to confront uncomfortable truths about modern youth culture and the potential dangers lurking in the digital world. It's a stark reminder of the challenges facing today's teenagers and the urgent need for open dialogues between parents and children about healthy online habits - and possibly mandated age-based restrictions on the use of social media.

Until Next Time

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