Elon Musk In Talks With Airlines To Offer Starlink Connectivity In-Flight

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, recently said that he was in talks with several airlines about the possibility of installing his space company’s Starlink internet service on planes. Musk confirmed his actions via his official Twitter account when asked if he had any plans on making the SpaceX service accessible as an in-flight service.

Musk’s original tweet was written in regards to the popular mobile game, Genshin Impact, and technically doesn’t bear any relevance to the Starlink topic.

For those of you who have been living under a rock, Starlink is an internet service under SpaceX, aimed at providing internet connectivity throughout the world via thousands of satellites in low Earth orbit. To date, the product’s landing page says that its data speeds vary between 50Mbps and 150Mbps, plus a latency between 20ms and 40ms in “most locations”. That said, Musk did promise that that speed will soon be increased to 300Mbps but gave no specific timeline as for when that will be. As for how its consumers are able to access the internet connection, consumers are sent a satellite dish that acts as the hub. Further, the company has been accepting deposits from interested Malaysians since February this year.

Musk doesn’t elaborate any further on how he intends to make the service a reality, but Starlink’s own vice president, Jonathan Hofeller did confirm that the company already has an “aviation product” in development. That said, the prospect of gaining access to speeds in excess of 150Mb/s would be a game changer, especially given how limited the current offer for in-flight internet connectivity is.

Elon Musk Claims New RDNA2-Powered Tesla Infotainment System On Par With PlayStation 5

Elon Musk, Bitcoin aficionado and CEO of Tesla, recently held the launch for his company’s latest car, the Model S Plaid. As you’d expect, the electric vehicle is loaded with the latest state-of-the-art technology on the current market, the most important piece of technology for us perhaps being its new and improved infotainment system.

Specifically, the Model S Plaid’s infotainment system is powered by AMD’s Navi 23, a GPU that was initially rumoured to make its debut with the parent company’s alleged Radeon RX 6600 GPU series. To that end, the launch marked the first time the GPU’s power was being demonstrated and during a non-AMD keynote to boot.

Details of Navi 23 is still scarce but from what we know, the GPU is expected to have up to 2048 Stream Processors and support up to 8GB GDDR6 graphic memory on both the RX 6600XT and RX 6600. As for its performance, Musk went as far as to say his car’s infotainment system was as powerful as a Sony PlayStation 5 (PS5).

That wasn’t an empty boast either; putting his money where his mouth is, Musk gave a live demonstration of his car’s Navi 23-powered infotainment system running Cyberpunk 2077 with the console’s 17-inch display as the output and at its maximum resolution of 2200 x 1300 pixels.

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin Challenges NASA Moon Lander Contract Given To Elon Musk’s SpaceX

Jeff Bezos-owned rocket company Blue Origin has lodged a formal complaint against the NASA moon lander contract that was awarded to Elon Musk’s SpaceX, eliciting a mischievous reply from Musk himself on Twitter.

According to Reuters, Blue Origin told the federal Government Accountability Office (GAO) that NASA had moved the goalposts for contract bidders at the last minute. Earlier this month, the US space agency awarded SpaceX a US$2.89 billion (~RM11.9 billion) contract to build a moon lander to ferry the next two American astronauts to the moon.

Blue Origin and defense contractor Dynetics Inc were also bidders for the contract, but ultimately lost out to Musk’s company. In an emailed statement, Blue Origin said NASA’s “decision eliminates opportunities for competition, significantly narrows the supply base, and not only delays, but also endangers America’s return to the moon.”

In response to the complaint, Musk, a billionaire known for his maverick behaviour, tweeted apparently about Blue Origin’s… inability to perform. Adding insult to injury, he later shared an altered picture of Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin’s moon lander, Blue Moon – with the space craft’s name vandalised.

Ultimately, it seems that cost was a decisive factor in NASA’s selection. According to the New York Times, Blue Origin wants the space agency to award the contract to two companies as it previously said it wanted to do. But the US Congress only gave the agency US$850 million (~RM3.5 billion) for the current fiscal year – a mere quarter of what it requested for developing lunar landers.

Elon Musk Says That Tesla Cars Are Now Payable By Bitcoin

Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced by a tweet that the company is now accepting vehicle purchases made with Bitcoin. On social media, the maverick entrepreneur has long been a passionate promoter of cryptocurrencies.

Accordingly, he declared that Bitcoin paid to Tesla would be retained as is and not converted to (traditional) fiat currency. When it comes to processing payments, he said “Tesla is using only internal and open source software, and operates Bitcoin nodes directly.”

Right now, only Tesla’s US customers are allowed to pay with the aforementioned cryptocurrency. Musk also noted that the (Bitcoin) payment option would be expanded outside the US sometime later this year. However, he didn’t provide further details.

Last month, Tesla bought US$1.5 billion (~RM6.2 billion) worth of bitcoin and indicated then that it planned to accept the cryptocurrency as payment for its cars. Now, unsurprisingly, the former’s fortunes may be irrevocably entwined with the latter.

According to CNBC, over the last 12 months, Tesla share prices rose from about US$100 (~RM413) to over US$600 (~RM2,478), while bitcoin jumped from about US$7,000 (~RM28,907) to over US$55,000 (~RM227,123).

In another Tesla-related news, Musk recently denied claims that cameras on Tesla cars were used to spy on the Chinese government. He said the company would “get shut down” if it used cars that way.

Elon Musk Rejects Claims That Tesla Cars Are Used For Spying On China

Tesla boss Elon Musk denied that the company’s cars, which come installed with cameras, are used for spying on the Chinese government or spying in general, Reuters and the BBC reported. His remarks, delivered to a major Chinese business forum via video link, come as the US government and US companies are increasingly accusing Beijing of cyber espionage.

Reuters earlier reported that China had banned Tesla vehicles from military facilities in a move reminiscent of US restrictions on Huawei. On notices about the new directive, the Chinese military apparently cited security concerns about the cameras installed on Tesla cars.

“There’s a very strong incentive for us to be very confidential with any information,” Musk said, according to Reuters. “If Tesla used cars to spy in China or anywhere, we will get shut down.”

According to BBC, he also questioned the point of spying. “Even if there was spying, what would the other country learn and would it actually matter?” Musk said.

Tesla made history in 2018 when it got approval for its Shanghai plant, making it the first foreign carmaker to have a wholly owned factory in China. Last year, the country contributed 30% of its total global car sales.

Unsurprisingly, Musk – a well-liked celebrity in China – called for greater mutual trust between China and the US. That’s probably a tall order, given that both countries are effectively engaged in what some would call as the “Second Cold War”.

In the meantime, Washington is ramping up restrictions on Chinese companies in the wake of a massive cyber breach blamed on China. And it looks like Beijing might be following suit.

Elon Musk Invites Vladimir Putin To Chat On Clubhouse; Russia Open To Idea

Billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk just asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to a chat on audio-based social app Clubhouse, and the Russian government isn’t ruling it out. The Kremlin is looking to hear more details of the proposed chat, however.

Musk, who is known (and arguably beloved) for his maverick moves, first tweeted in English at the official Twitter account of the Russian president, proposing a Clubhouse conversation. He then followed that up with a Russian tweet saying, “It would be a great honour to speak with you.”

Moscow’s response was non-committal, but crucially, not fully dismissive either. “In general, this is of course a very interesting proposal, but we need to understand what is meant, what is being proposed… first we need to check, then we will react,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, according to Reuters.

Peskov said the Russian president doesn’t use social media directly. Putin has been publicly critical of Western social media companies, and according to Time magazine, suggested that big tech threatened “legitimate democratic institutions.” Last year, he signed new laws apparently aimed at restricting access to US social media websites, Reuters reported.

As for the Clubhouse, the young app has been booming in part because of Musk. His popularity in China initially drove the app’s uptake in the country before it was blocked by authorities. Musk’s interview with Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev (a man at the heart of the Gamestop drama) went viral across the Internet, and he could be looking to do the same with Putin.