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The Washington Post reports that SpaceX has held discussions with EchoStar, parent company of Boost Mobile, about either buying Boost Mobile or gaining access to its wireless network. Boost's network capacity is leased from AT&T and T-Mobile, meaning any deal would require approval from those carriers, which have previously declined to grant SpaceX similar network access. No agreement has been finalized.
According to a Washington Post report, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk spoke directly with EchoStar chairman Charlie Ergen in October about buying Boost Mobile, which along with GenMobile serves roughly 7.5 million customers. The move follows SpaceX's $17 billion purchase of wireless spectrum from EchoStar last year and would add to its 2024 rollout of satellite connectivity for T-Mobile subscribers.
SpaceX is reportedly negotiating with EchoStar, either to acquire its Boost Mobile prepaid carrier outright or to secure a separate deal for network access, according to The Washington Post. Boost Mobile currently leases network capacity from AT&T and T-Mobile. The talks follow SpaceX's recent $8 billion deal to acquire 800MHz spectrum aimed at improving Starlink Mobile's indoor coverage.
Over Halloween weekend, Grok Bot users found their weekly usage limits suddenly maxed out even without heavy overnight use, with some reporting jumps from 50% to 100% usage. Elon Musk confirmed on X that the change was deliberate, saying the cost of running Grok Bot was 'unsustainably high relative to revenue.' He has not detailed how usage limits will work going forward.
A federal judge denied SpaceX's motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the NAACP over gas turbines powering xAI's Colossus 2 data center in Southaven, Mississippi. The court rejected xAI's claim that the 27 turbines qualify as exempt 'mobile sources,' ruling they remain subject to Clean Air Act permitting requirements. The NAACP, represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center and Earthjustice, alleges the turbines were installed without proper permits and emit harmful pollutants.
SpaceX has reportedly discussed a potential deal with Boost Mobile parent EchoStar that could involve acquiring the carrier or gaining access to its network, according to The Washington Post. Elon Musk reportedly discussed the arrangement with EchoStar chairman Charlie Ergen last month. Boost Mobile currently relies on T-Mobile and AT&T for network access, which may require their approval for any SpaceX deal to proceed.
The Air Force Research Laboratory tested Rocket Cargo capabilities by launching cargo pods inside a SpaceX Starfall capsule aboard a Falcon 9 rocket as part of the Bandwagon-5 rideshare mission from Cape Canaveral. The capsule, carrying supplies like MREs, water, batteries, and a SATCOM tracker, splashed down in the Pacific Ocean and was recovered for study of temperature, shock, and vibration effects during flight.
SpaceX's fully stacked Starship launch vehicle measures 407 feet, combining the 236.2-foot Super Heavy booster and the 170.6-foot Starship spacecraft. It is currently the tallest and most powerful rocket ever flown, generating 18.1 million pounds-force of liftoff thrust, up from the 16.7 million pounds-force recorded during its first full-stack launch in April 2023, when booster exhaust damaged the launch pad and scattered debris across 385 acres.
Cursor, the SpaceX-owned AI coding platform, found a backdoored version of Anthropic's Claude Code extension in its marketplace for about 11 hours on Thursday, downloaded by up to 5,000 users across Windows, macOS and Linux. Cursor temporarily closed the marketplace, said no other extensions were affected, and published remediation steps. Anthropic confirmed its own systems and official distribution channels were not compromised, saying an attacker used access to Cursor's marketplace to publish a tampered copy.
CNBC found that Microsoft, SpaceX, Meta, Tesla and IBM used the term 'Super Intelligence' or 'SI' instead of 'AI' in earnings-season filings and communications, following Trump's executive order and public push to replace the term in government documents. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella referenced a 'Super Intelligence era' in an annual letter, while one SpaceX filing used 'SI' 85 times.
Google confirmed its first Suncatcher prototype satellite, which carries a single Tensor Processing Unit and generates up to 1 kW of power, is online and communicating with ground engineers after launching this month on a SpaceX Falcon 9. Following roughly three weeks of subsystem checks, engineers sent the satellite its first prompt, having it run Google DeepMind's Gemma model to generate a haiku and report on orbital conditions; a Google spokesperson said the satellite is operating nominally.
Anthropic filed a 335-page S-1 prospectus on Monday ahead of its stock offering, including a founders' letter urging investors to see their purchase as more than transactional. The filing devotes 94 pages to risk factors, warning that AI models could behave unpredictably and cause catastrophic harm beyond what the insurance industry could cover, while also describing AI's potential to usher in an 'age of miracles.'