this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2025
202 points (97.2% liked)

Technology

66687 readers
4554 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each other!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
  10. Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] ShellMonkey@lemmy.socdojo.com 54 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (3 children)

Yay, more space junk, and knowing Google they would abandon the whole thing a couple years in when it gets boring and leave them to rot.

Edit:not actually sat, which makes it weird to call a 'starlink competitor' then, but I don't write the headlines.

[–] sik0fewl@lemmy.ca -2 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

Completely destroying space and satellite communication might actually be for the best... maybe.

[–] Melvin_Ferd@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago

No even there it's ok

[–] T156@lemmy.world 3 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Not if you're in a place that relies on satellite infrastructure, such as places conventional telephony doesn't work in.

[–] sik0fewl@lemmy.ca 1 points 3 hours ago

I was just joking and thinking much more apopalytic than that.

[–] pelya@lemmy.world 36 points 16 hours ago (2 children)
  • They split off from Google.

  • They are not using satellites, they shine a lazer from one fixed tower to another, with range about 20 km.

[–] ShellMonkey@lemmy.socdojo.com 17 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

Ah, see that's where not reading is a problem. Just saw star link competitor and remembered something a recently about China looking to launch a similar system.

Odd they would phrase it as a 'starlink competitor' then though rather than 'a new ISP bid'. Wireless systems with directional antenna relays are not really new, not sure if any use laser particularly but the concept is essentially the same.

[–] joel_feila@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

Yeah back in 2005 I lived in a house that used that. We were on the very edge of it range so a strong gust of wind could knock the internet down.

[–] Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 7 points 16 hours ago

Still raking in the upvotes though! Reading is for suckers!

[–] Geodad@lemm.ee 4 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

That sounds similar to WiMax.

[–] pelya@lemmy.world 3 points 16 hours ago

Yup. Now we have long-range WiFi filling that niche.

[–] rtxn@lemmy.world 10 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (2 children)

At sufficiently low orbits, the satellites would simply deorbit themselves because of the atmospheric drag. Several Starlink sats have been lost this way.

[–] ShellMonkey@lemmy.socdojo.com 4 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

Yeah, more thinking the wasted time, resources, and emissions involved in building, launching, managing, and then whenever makes it down.

Take all that and make something useful instead, whatever happened to Google fiber being built out all over? More reliable, faster, doesn't involve sending piles of redundant satellites into space...

[–] popcap200@lemmy.ml 7 points 17 hours ago

Supposedly traditional ISP's have tons and tons of lawyers and filed every single step of the way to stop Google from intruding on their local monopolies.

[–] earphone843@sh.itjust.works 6 points 17 hours ago

I think the existing telecoms tied them up in mountains of legal bullshit.

[–] Damage@feddit.it 1 points 16 hours ago (3 children)

Wasn't starlink damaging the ozone layer as well?

[–] theneverfox@pawb.social 1 points 6 hours ago

It was more they're worried it would, because of the sheer scale of metallic satellites that would be burning up in the upper atmosphere

[–] rtxn@lemmy.world 2 points 16 hours ago

I don't know about the ozone layer specifically, but reentry turns the satellite into danger dust -- mostly metal oxides and burnt polymers. Ozone, being a very strong oxidizer, is the most likely to react with the hot debris, so it probably does damage the ozone layer, but I can't quantify the damage, or the released pollutants.

[–] Peppycito@sh.itjust.works 2 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

When they say "burn up on reentry" they don't mean disintegrate, they mean burn. It's exactly like throwing thousands of home entertainment systems in a fire except that the pollution is in the upper atmosphere where normal pollution doesn't reach.

[–] MelodiousFunk@slrpnk.net 2 points 10 hours ago

Perfectly Safe(c) until proven* otherwise!

- every polluter ever

*Hope you have good lawyers and deep pockets

[–] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 66 points 19 hours ago (3 children)

I guess that's better but honestly not by much.

See that guy between Bezos and Musk at the Trump inauguration? That's Sundar Pichai, Alphabet/Google CEO.

[–] WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world 42 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (2 children)

It's zero better. Every one and every thing that bends the knee to fascism is fascist, and should be treated the same.

[–] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 23 points 18 hours ago (3 children)

If I were forced to pick between the two I'd take the guy who is only a white supremacist when it's profitable over the guy who is a white supremacist every waking moment.

Call it 1% better, if that.

[–] singletona@lemmy.world 5 points 17 hours ago

Still a ratfucker, but ... not as high a priority target as the one activly throwing out nazi salutes.

[–] WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world 3 points 16 hours ago

Sure, for the list of executions at the Hague Musk should take priority, but you shouldn't buy products from any fascist. The difference between 99% fascist and 90% fascist is inconsequential.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Cheradenine@sh.itjust.works 6 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Zuck looks like he's glitching and needs a hard reset

That's his natural state.

[–] recall519@lemm.ee 1 points 15 hours ago

It's worse. Right now, people see the fascism in front of their eyes. They can choose to wake up or remain delusional. Before, it was masked and the average Joe wouldn't know better.

[–] lennee@lemm.ee 23 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (2 children)

ok cool, whos gonna buy that? Europe wants to be independent from US big tech, elon got the US gov by the balls and china surely has their own thing.

[–] drmoose@lemmy.world 3 points 15 hours ago

It's different tech that doesn't suffer from starlink's latency issues.

[–] CubitOom@infosec.pub 4 points 18 hours ago

Its not for people to buy. Companies like Google simply don't need to make profit anymore.

Its to show growth potential to investors. And when they inevitably cut the program, it will also show growth potential to investors since then it will be millions of dollars saved.

[–] etchinghillside@reddthat.com 16 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

Im very much open to replacing my Starlink - but this isn’t it. Land based lasers are just going to be attached to things called cell towers - and if I have one of those nearby… then I’d use cellular.

[–] woelkchen@lemmy.world 12 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

The tech sounds useful to bridge cell towers in rural areas among each other to skip satellites and laying cables.

Back when I was still in university, dormatories' internet was established using a similar tech to the main campus. It was great, except on snowy days. Then there was just no internet at all.

[–] tiredofsametab@fedia.io 1 points 3 hours ago

Might have been microwave link. We had those as part of our disaster recovery at a few places I worked.

[–] Fisch@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

That sounds like a major drawback. I guess it's still better than nothing tho. Did rain cause issues as well?

[–] woelkchen@lemmy.world 2 points 18 hours ago

I don't think so. Cannot remember that it did. Fog did though.

[–] drmoose@lemmy.world 4 points 15 hours ago

It's still longer distance than cellular and it can get even better. Cell towers will always win.

[–] TinyRhino@lemm.ee 11 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

At least it's not more low orbit space junk

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 2 points 18 hours ago

yeah I would do this if it worked over starlink provided it gave as good or better connection.

[–] stefenauris@pawb.social 7 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

Google/Alphabet keeping up the tradition of terrible product names I see

[–] Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 3 points 16 hours ago

Musk just pissed as he was going to name one of his kids this.

[–] adarza@lemmy.ca 4 points 18 hours ago

a two-minute scan of products for sale on amazon will tell you that society is to the point of mashing keyboards to string letters together to come up with company names. this at least has consonants and vowels arranged in an order that resembles a word.

[–] singletona@lemmy.world 6 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Yea no. This company might even sincerely want to do its own constillation yet I doubt that. This is just to give the optics of 'see! Musk isn't a monopoly!' along with 'see! we're not trump's puppets! We're fighting against President Musk!'

Same as their halfhearted attempts at laying fiber.

google laid fiber to make the others panic and impliment fiber

[–] CubitOom@infosec.pub 4 points 18 hours ago

Anything to avoid laying fiber.

[–] TimeSquirrel@kbin.melroy.org 2 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

How do you keep birds from landing on it and shitting up the lens and blocking the laser?

It's the law of outdoor infrastructure. If it's outside, and it's high up, it will get shat upon.

[–] Alekzzand3r@lemm.ee 2 points 16 hours ago

You put some bird spikes around the lens. Same thing that is done for windows in cities with pigeons.

[–] Pissmidget@lemmy.world 2 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

The picture of a dystopian future where feudal oligarchs are shooting down each others low orbit internet satellites in the furious competition for best coverage popped into my head.

Who are we casting as the satellite retrieval specialist with a penchant for bonsai trees living in an off grid log cabin?

[–] brucethemoose@lemmy.world 4 points 18 hours ago

Heh, that's a good future.

The one we're speeding towards is where they all collude, and all the service is shitty and the same (or worse) as its ever been. If its not just monopolized. That's why Night City is a relatively good place to live in CP2077: There's still competition.

[–] singletona@lemmy.world 2 points 17 hours ago

Not familiar with the current crop of actors, but Honestly I'd love william shatner and nicolas cage be in this one. Cage getting to go full tilt as the CEO who's put offensive lasers on his satilites marketing them as an anti kessler syndrome measure but really jsut wanting to fry competitors.

Shatner even has the bonus of having a REALLY nice ranch they could use for location shots of shatner's home as he's talked into helping train the group of loonies that are going up there.

load more comments
view more: next ›