Tag: texting’
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CES 2023: Move over, Apple, Android’s joining the satellite-based texting party
Owners of new Android phones will have a much easier time getting out of emergencies later this year.
At CES 2023, Qualcomm announced Snapdragon Satellite. It’s a new initiative by the mobile chip maker to bring satellite messaging to “next-generation premium Android smartphones,” per the press release. Qualcomm is partnering with Iridium, a company with a communications satellite array already in low orbit, on this project.
So, what does all of that actually mean? Basically, if you buy a new Android phone later this year (like a OnePlus 11 or Samsung Galaxy S23) that has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip inside of it, you’ll be able to send two-way text messages using satellites. If you’re out of cell coverage and need to communicate where you are to someone, this would theoretically come in handy.
Qualcomm’s presentation indicated that you’ll have to aim your phone at the sky while doing so, but unlike Apple’s Emergency SOS feature launched last year, it’s not limited entirely to emergencies and lets you do more than just contact 911. The company also said that this would offer global “pole-to-pole” coverage, so hopefully there aren’t a great deal of areas where this feature won’t work.
It’s no substitute for 5G, but for Android users, it’ll do in a pinch.
Pressuring Apple to Fix Texting, Google’s Android Will Force iPhone Users to Read Descriptions of Reaction Emojis
The updates are great if you’re an Android user. Google Messages’ new features include the ability to reply to individual messages, star them, and set reminders on texts. But these features and some other updates to Messages are RCS-enabled, meaning they’re not going to be very compatible with SMS, which is the texting standard that iMessage switches to when messaging someone without an iPhone. iPhones exchange messages using iMessage, Apple’s proprietary messaging system, but revert to SMS when texting an Android.
One feature that’s part of Google’s payback to Apple is that now, when Messages users react to an SMS text with an emoji, iPhone users will get a text saying the other person reacted to their text with a description of whatever emoji the person used. It’s similar to when iMessage users react to an SMS text, with the recipient getting a “so and so loved” message instead of seeing the heart emoji reaction…. In August, Android launched a page on its website calling Apple out for refusing “to adopt modern texting standards when people with iPhones and Android phones text each other.” The page has buttons that take users to Twitter to tweet at Apple to “stop breaking my texting experience. #GetTheMessage” with a link to Android’s page urging Apple to “fix texting.”
“We would much prefer that everybody adopts RCS which has the capability to support proper reactions,” Jan Jedrzejowicz, Google Messages product manager, said in a briefing before the Messages updates were announced. “But in the event that’s not possible or hasn’t happened yet, this feels like the next best thing.” Recently, Apple CEO Tim Cook said he doesn’t get a lot of feedback from iPhone users that Apple needs to fix messaging between iPhones and Androids. Apple doesn’t have much incentive to do so, either. In legal documents from a 2021 lawsuit between Epic Games and Apple, an Apple executive said “Moving iMessage to Android will hurt us more than help us.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Joe Rogan and Oprah’s bestie caught texting with Elon Musk over Twitter buy
Remember when Elon Musk was going to buy Twitter?
Earlier this year, Musk seemed intent on taking over the social media platform. He signed a legal agreement to acquire the company and everything! Some were skeptical that the billionaire was actually serious about taking over Twitter because he has a long history of talking a big game and then not actually following through with the delivery.
And, yes, those skeptics were correct as Elon Musk eventually pulled out of the deal and is now being sued by Twitter, which is looking to force Musk to honor his agreement and pay up.
But due to that very lawsuit, we now know that, at one point, Musk seemed pretty serious about actually buying Twitter. As part of the legal discovery process prior to the two parties meeting in court, the Tesla CEO’s texts about Twitter have been made public.
Among the fundraising texts from big tech founders trying to get in on the financials of the deal, like Oracle’s Larry Ellison and LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman, there are some really interesting messages. Let’s take a look at the “highlights.”
Credit: JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images
Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey wanted Musk to take over the company
Jack Dorsey has long been the face of Twitter, so it was a bit of a surprise when he announced he was stepping down as CEO in November 2021 and leaving the board of directors in May 2022.
But while he was still on Twitter’s board, Dorsey was messaging with Musk about acquiring Twitter and taking the company private. In response to a Musk tweet asking if a new platform was needed, Dorsey (or “jack jack,” which is how Musk saved his contact info) texted in March: “Yes, a new platform is needed. It can’t be a company. This is why I left.”
“I believe it must be an open source protocol, funded by a foundation of sorts that doesn’t own the protocol, only advances it. A bit like what Signal has done. It can’t have an advertising model,” Dorsey continued. “This isn’t complicated work, it just has to be done right so it’s resilient to what has happened to twitter.”
Dorsey explained that he’d be completely gone from the company in May when he stepped down from the board. After that, he intended to “do this work.”
Musk responded that he wanted to help, which is when Dorsey offered up this interesting nugget of information: Dorsey previously tried to get Musk on the board and when that failed, Dorsey wanted out of Twitter.
“I wanted to talk with you about it after I was all clear, because you care so much, get it’s (sic) importance, and could def help in immeasurable ways. Back when we had the activist come in, I tried my hardest to get you on our board, and our board said no. That’s about the time I decided I needed to work to leave, as hard as it was for me,” Dorsey texted.
Credit: Paul Yeung/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Musk wanted users to make crypto payments to prove they weren’t bots
Elon Musk claims that his main reason for backing out of the Twitter deal was due to all the bots and fake accounts on Twitter. While his public comments make it clear that he knew that was an issue to be dealt with, his private texts go deeper into what Musk was planning to do about it.
And what else would a rich tech mogul living in 2022 suggest to solve a problem? Blockchain, of course!
“I have an idea for a blockchain social media system that does both payments and short text messages/links like twitter,” Musk texted his brother Kimbal. “You have to pay a tiny amount to register your message on the chain, which will cut out the vast majority of spam and bots.”
That’s right, Elon wanted users to pay to verify their messages on the blockchain. Of course, many users would not have done that and then what? Is the suggestion that if they didn’t pay, they’d likely be fake? The idea doesn’t make any sense.
Credit: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images
Right-wingers saw an opportunity in Musk
One of Elon Musk’s major plays when he was interested in acquiring Twitter was turning it into a “free speech” platform. Basically, he didn’t like the company’s policies regarding content moderation. One example of that is Twitter’s decision to ban former president Donald Trump following the Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021. Musk has said he would reinstate Trump’s account if he ran Twitter.
And one of Musk’s phone contacts appears to bring Trump up. However, unlike others in the filings, this individual’s information is redacted.
“It will be a delicate game of letting right wingers back on Twitter and how to navigate that (especially the boss himself, if you’re up for that),” the sender texted to Musk, referencing conservative personalities who have been banned for violating Twitter’s rules.
The anonymous texter then offers up a suggestion for “someone who has a savvy cultural/political view to be the VP of actual enforcement.” That suggestion: “A Blake Masters type.”
Blake Masters, the former COO of right-wing tech VC Peter Thiel’s investment firm, is currently the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Arizona who has blamed gun violence on “Black people” and has floated beliefs that sound a lot like the far-right white supremacist conspiracy known as “The Great Replacement Theory.”
In other texts to Musk, some right-wing politicians and conservative figures explicitly wanted to get involved with Twitter under the Tesla CEO’s potential ownership.
“Haha even Governor DeSantis just called me just now with ideas how to help you and outraged at that board and saying the public is rooting for you,” texted Joe Lonsdale, another tech VC and Thiel associate. “Let me know if you or somebody on your side wants to chat with him.
Former congressman Justin Amash, a libertarian, asked to be introduced to Musk regarding the potential Twitter acquisition, according to a text from tech investor David Sacks.
“Why don’t you buy Twitter? We run it for you,” texted Mathias Dopfner, the CEO of the media conglomerate Axel Springer, who once emailed executives at his company asking they get together and pray for Trump’s re-election.
Credit: Mary Kouw/CBS via Getty Images
Celebs, tech execs embarrass themselves with over-the-top praise of Musk
Elon Musk is currently the richest person in the world, according to Forbes. So, naturally, some people feel the need to grovel a bit when interacting with him. But, some of the folks messaging with Musk clearly thought their texts would never see the light of day.
Angel investor Jason Calacanis reached out to Musk in hopes of apparently living out his dream of being Twitter CEO.
“Put me in the game coach!” texted Calacanis with a smiley face emoji. “Twitter CEO is my dream job. We should get Mr. Beast to create for Twitter…we need to win the next two generations.”
And that’s not the only unsolicited advice Calcanis offered. Earlier in the conversation, the angel investor suggested getting rid of a substantial number of Twitter employees.
“Day zero. Sharpen your blades boys,” Calacanis texted Musk. “2 day a week Office requirement = 20% voluntary departures.”
When Musk offered Calacanis a position as “strategic advisor if this works out,” Calacanis replied: “100%. Board member, advisor, whatever…you have my sword.”
Somehow, that wasn’t the most cringeworthy message.
“You are the hero Gotham needs – hell F’ing yes!” Riot Games founder Marc Merrill texted to Musk.
CBS host and Oprah BFF Gayle King texted Musk in early April asking for a sitdown interview.
“What do I need to do????” King asked. When news publicly broke about Musk’s offer to buy Twitter, King reached out via text message again to shoot her shot for an interview.
“This is as the kids of today say a ‘gangsta move,'” King said. “I don’t know how shareholders turn this down…like i said you are not like other kids in the class…”
And in what may be the least surprising texts out of all of them, podcaster Joe Rogan reached out to ask Musk, “Are you going to liberate Twitter from the censorship happy mob?”
Rogan proposed throwing Musk a big party if he did.
Lynk may beat Starlink and Apple to the punch as FCC approves its space-based texting
SpaceX and T-Mobile may have hogged the headlines with their flashy pre-announcement about Starlink connectivity last month, and Apple last week, but Lynk has been putting in the work and may very well steal their lunch with a satellite-to-phone connection that already works — with any device out there. In fact, they just got FCC […]
Lynk may beat Starlink and Apple to the punch as FCC approves its space-based texting by Devin Coldewey originally published on TechCrunch
The first phone maker to add satellite texting to its devices is… Huawei
Huawei has announced the Mate 50 series, a day ahead of Apple’s September event and with a feature that the iPhone 14 is expected to offer: the ability to send texts via satellite communication. The Mate 50 and Mate 50 Pro will be able to send short texts and utilize navigation thanks to China’s global BeiDou satellite network, allowing for communication in areas without cellular signal.
The flagship Mate 50 series includes 4G-only versions of the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chipset with 8GB of RAM. The 50 Pro comes with a slightly bigger 6.74-inch OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, while the Mate 50 offers a 6.7-inch, 90Hz OLED panel. Both include a 50-megapixel main rear camera with a variable aperture lens with stops from f/1.4 to…
Google Is Pressuring Apple to Fix Android-iPhone Texting (But It’s Complicated)
iMessage is one of the strongest selling points for the iPhone, but it falls back to using regular SMS when someone in the conversation doesn’t have an Apple device. Google wants Apple to fix the problem, but it’s not that simple.