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Tech News
At a South Carolina rally, President Trump recounted a phone call in which he allegedly asked Google CEO Sundar Pichai to rename the Atlantic Ocean after himself or the U.S., with Pichai reportedly declining, citing the ocean's many bordering countries. Trump had previously said his administration was 'seriously' considering such a rename, following earlier moves to relabel the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Ontario.
President Trump spoke with Elon Musk about lifting speed caps currently placed on Starlink satellite internet service used in Ukraine, according to a report. The conversation touched on Ukraine's reliance on the Starlink network, which has faced restrictions affecting connection speeds for users there.
Calley Means, a senior advisor to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and co-author of the MAHA movement's policy framework, announced his resignation from the Trump administration on Thursday. He credited himself with advancing initiatives like dietary guideline reforms, removing soda from SNAP and banning food dyes, but gave no public reason for leaving.
At a South Carolina rally, President Trump said he had personally called Google CEO Sundar Pichai to ask whether Google Maps could rename the Atlantic Ocean after himself or 'America.' Trump claimed Pichai declined, reportedly saying oceans touch too many countries to rename, though Trump said he's still considering renaming the Pacific the 'American Ocean.'
Trump recounted a conversation with Google CEO Sundar Pichai in which he considered relabeling the Atlantic Ocean after America or himself, following Google's earlier renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America on Google Maps. Trump said Pichai pushed back, noting oceans border far too many countries for such a change, so Trump said he would drop the idea.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr posted on X warning broadcasters against airing polls he called fake, saying such coverage could violate rules against news distortion or broadcast hoaxes. He did not name any specific polls or broadcasters, but urged outlets to give viewers more context when covering polls.
A new opinion piece argues that Donald Trump's once-vaunted media savvy has eroded, citing his incoherent public appearances, the five-day tenure of press secretary Katie Zacharia after a botched briefing, and a low-profile Small Business Administration broadcast modeled on a reality-TV pitch competition. The SBA special featured business owners pitching to judges including Grant Cardone, Nicki Minaj, and Joe Gebbia in an apparent bid to mimic Trump's old Apprentice format.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Elon Musk, not the US military or President Trump, made the call to throttle Starshield's military-grade Starlink service used by Ukraine. The cap limited connectivity for hardware moving faster than 160 kph, degrading the performance of Ukrainian offensive and interceptor drones. Both Musk and Trump have denied Trump ordered the restriction, which followed public criticism from both men over Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr stated that broadcasters are barred under their federal license terms from engaging in 'news distortion' or 'broadcast hoaxes,' a warning issued as polling shows declining approval numbers for President Trump. Carr's comments raise the prospect of regulatory scrutiny over how networks report and frame polling data.
David Goodhart's 2017 book The Road to Somewhere divided Western societies into mobile, university-educated 'Anywheres' and rooted, less-educated 'Somewheres', arguing the latter's resentment drove Brexit and Trump's first election. The framework was widely adopted by academics, consultants and politicians. Commentary is now revisiting whether the balance of advantage between these two groups still holds.
The Instagram account for the 'No Kings' protest movement was suspended for about an hour during this past weekend's nationwide demonstrations, with admin access locked for several more hours. Some supporters suspected Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg deliberately silenced the account given his recent alignment with Trump, though commentators Will Robinson and Tim Chambers argue intent is beside the point.
President Trump posted on Truth Social that AI data center operators and hyperscalers will be required to generate their own electricity and share or sell surplus power back to local communities. He framed this as a way to offset rising electricity costs and other burdens these facilities impose on nearby residents.