The United States has committed over $42.5 billion through the BEAD program to accelerate fiber deployment to unserved areas. South Korea now delivers fiber to about 89% of broadband subscribers, the highest share worldwide. India’s BharatNet project has extended fiber internet to over 214,000 villages, bringing Wi‑Fi connectivity to remote areas. In China, 95% of…
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A boy in the United States with three years of chronic pain was diagnosed by an AI chatbot with spina bifida occulta, later confirmed by a specialist. Microsoft’s AI Diagnostic Orchestrator (MAI-DxO) achieved an 85% correct diagnosis rate on nearly 300 challenging NEJM case studies, compared with 20% for 21 experienced physicians, while ordering 20%…
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India bans unlicensed satellite communication and navigation devices, including Thuraya and Iridium phones and Garmin InReach, under the Indian Telegraph Act (1885) and Wireless Telegraphy Act (1933), with penalties up to three years in prison or ₹5 million in fines, and limited DoT licensing for Inmarsat devices. The 2008 Mumbai attacks involved a Thuraya satellite…
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In 2024, global smartphone shipments reached 1.24 billion units, up 6.4% year over year, with revenues exceeding $500 billion. Premium smartphones (≥$600) accounted for about 25% of global unit sales in 2024, while ultra-premium (> $1,000) comprised around 40% of premium sales. In early 2025, Samsung and Apple together controlled about 40% of global smartphone…
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Starlink’s residential service delivers about 100–250 Mbps down and 10–20 Mbps up, with latency around 20–50 ms and a median near 45 ms as of mid‑2025. Starlink pricing is typically around $120 per month for standard residential service, with a $80 Lite tier in some regions, and it offers month‑to‑month service with a 30‑day trial.…
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1.7 billion adults lack access to formal banking, about 31% of all adults, and 55% of the unbanked are women. BitPesa, a crypto-powered remittance firm in sub-Saharan Africa, has cut transfer fees by up to 90% compared with traditional methods. In Kenya, the Red Cross and Grassroots Economics launched a blockchain-backed community currency, enabling 25…
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In mid-June 2025, India’s Department of Telecommunications granted Starlink a Global Mobile Personal Communications by Satellite (GMPCS) license, publicly confirmed by Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia. Starlink becomes the third GMPCS licensee in India after Eutelsat OneWeb and Reliance Jio’s satellite venture. Starlink operates a Low-Earth Orbit constellation at about 550 km altitude, and globally has…
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Sentinel-1 radar imaged the aftermath of Cyclone Idai in Mozambique in 2019 and revealed approximately 2,165 km² of flooding around the coastal city of Beira. Idai’s satellite flood maps pinpointed about 400,000 people stranded and helped allocate rescue resources. NOAA’s GOES weather satellites monitored Hurricane Dorian in 2019 as it approached the Bahamas, providing real-time…
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In late 2022, Apple launched Emergency SOS via satellite on the iPhone 14 series, enabling two-way emergency texting via Globalstar satellites. As of iOS 17 and later, iPhone 14/15 users in supported regions can share their location and send basic non-emergency texts via satellite, with two years of free service after activation before a paid…
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Syria has conducted annual nationwide internet shutdowns on high school exam days since 2016, with 2020–2025 patterns showing daily outages of roughly 3.5 to 5.5 hours during exam periods. Syria’s shutdowns use an asymmetric model that allows outbound traffic but blocks inbound responses, making the internet effectively unusable. In Syria, the 2023 exam season produced…
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