The Affordable Car Is About to Go Extinct in the US
The US Space Force announced Friday it selected SpaceX, United Launch Alliance, and Blue Origin for $13.7 billion in contracts to deliver the Pentagon's most critical military to orbit into the early 2030s.
These missions will launch the government's heaviest national security satellites, like the National Reconnaissance Office's large bus-sized spy platforms, and deploy them into bespoke orbits. These types of launches often demand heavy-lift rockets with long-duration upper stages that can cruise through space for six or more hours.
The contracts awarded Friday are part of the next phase of the military's space launch program once dominated by United Launch Alliance, the 50-50 joint venture between legacy defense contractors Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
Β© SpaceX
Earlier this week, when it seemed as though TikTokΓ’ΒΒs fate in the US would actually be decided by April 5th, everyone Γ’ΒΒ from Amazon to the founder of OnlyFans Γ’ΒΒ was coming out of the woodwork to buy it.
As it turns out, none of them had a chance. And now, thanks to President Donald TrumpΓ’ΒΒs tariff war, no one may get to buy TikTok.Β
People familiar with the matter tell me that, despite all of the bids for the app, the White House was only seriously considering an Oracle-led consortium, which included many of ByteDanceΓ’ΒΒs biggest investors who were set to roll their stakes into a new, US entity.Β
The proposal, which would have licensed the appΓ’ΒΒs algorithm from China and shuffled some shareholder money around to make TikTok look more independent from ByteDance, was set to be announced before President Trump went nuclear on tariffs. As others have reported and IΓ’ΒΒve independently confirmed, his tariff announcement on Wednesday torched any immediate chance of the TikTok proposal being blessed by the Chinese government.Β
On Friday, less than an hour after Trump said he was pushing back the clock on banning TikTok by another 75 days to finish working out a deal, ByteDance …
If youβve been experiencing issues when trying to access some of Appleβs online services, itβs not just you. The App Store and other Apple services are facing an outage and are currently down for some users.
moreβ¦Elon Muskβs Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has infiltrated the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), an agency that has a say over resources Musk needs or could benefit from for some of his private sector business, The Verge has learned.Β
Three people who have been identified as DOGE staffers are listed in a public directory called βFinding People at the FCC.β Tarak Makecha, Jordan Wick, and Jacob Altik are all listed in the FCC directory, with email addresses associated with the agency. Each is listed under the office βOCH,β which in other agency documents refers to the Office of the Chairman.
Makecha is a finance executive who, according to LinkedIn, has most recently worked in a drone detection software company and previously worked at Tesla. Makecha has reportedly been involved through DOGE at OPM and the State Department. Wick is a former Waymo engineer whoβs reportedly been given access to systems at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Altik is a lawyer whoβs reportedly been involved at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).Β
Are you a current or former US federal government worker? Reach out securely and anonymously with tips from a non-work device to Lauren Feiner via Signal at laurenfeiner.64.
DOGE has recently expanded into other enforcement agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission, as The Verge reported earlier on Friday. The FCCβs authority over radio, TV, broadband, and satellite intersects with Muskβs businesses, like granting certain permissions for SpaceXβs Starlink operations. Its role as a regulator and enforcer also means it stores information on SpaceX and its competitors in order to make decisions. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has previously said that Musk would recuse himself from potential conflicts. The FCC did not immediately respond to a request for comment about what the DOGE staffersβ role will be at the agency or what restrictions there will be on their data access.
Ring founder Jamie Siminoff returned to Amazon this week, coming back to the company just about two years after he left, Bloomberg reports. Heβs now a vice president at the company, and he will be heading up the Ring, Blink, Amazon Key, and Sidewalk teams.Β
Siminoff is replacing Liz Hamren, who had taken over following Siminoffβs initial departure. Hamren and the team βhave done an awesome job driving the business, delivering strong results, and bringing a lot of delightful experiences to neighbors,β Siminoff says in an Amazon Q&A. He adds that the βAI transformation happening right nowβ is a βonce-in-a-generation opportunity.β
In the Q&A, Siminoff also says that he and Panos Panay, Amazonβs SVP of devices and services, have talked βa lotβ about βexperiences we can create with devices that are awesome on their own, but even better together. I think youβll continue to see a lot of that from us moving forward β helping customers stay safe, connected, and informed as part of a magical connected experience.β
The day after Siminoff originally left Amazon, Siminoff sold a new company, Honest Dayβs Work, to Latch, which he helped rebrand to Door.com. The company announced late last year that he would be moving into an advisory role in 2025.
Nice economy you have there, said President Donald TrumpΓ’ΒΒs administration. It would be a shame if something happened to it.
The something, announced earlier this week, is a set of globally applied tariffs that make no sense on their face. No sane economist would endorse this. Through a combination of stupidity, incompetence and sheer gangsterism, the Trump administration has decided to levy a series of taxes that encourage blatant corruption, entirely fail to encourage American manufacturing growth, and leave people and companies poorer. That is, assuming that the taxes come into play at all.
Γ’ΒΒThis is the craziest of the crazy things weΓ’ΒΒve seen thus far.Γ’ΒΒ
The central, persistent thing Trump seems to misunderstand about tariffs is that they are paid in the US by people in the US. A reasonable person might also remember that he tried them a few years ago in a trade war, to negative effect. We have, as a nation, shot ourselves in the dick. But donΓ’ΒΒt take my word for it! Here are some actual experts: