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Amazon has today announced it is merging with satellite internet provider Globalstar Inc. to bolster Leo, its Starlink rival. Globalstar isn't a household name but you do know its work, as it provides Apple's emergency satellite connectivity for compatible iPhones and Watches. In a statement, Amazon says the deal will grow Leo's space-based footprint and enable direct-to-device service for its burgeoning satellite network.
An interesting wrinkle is Apple owns 20 percent of Globalstar, which it bought for $1.5 billion in 2024, but that didn't get a mention. Instead, the release says Amazon and Apple have agreed Leo will "power satellite services for supported iPhone and Apple Watch models." And that this support will continue as Leo's network evolves, as well as collaborating "with Apple on future satellite services using Amazon Leo's expanded satellite network."
The release adds Leo's direct-to-device service won't start until 2028, and the deal itself isn't expected to close until 2027. That is, of course, unless Amazon doesn't placate the FCC into extending its deadline to get more satellites into orbit before July 2026. At present, the company needs to have 1,600 satellites in orbit by that deadline, but only expects to have around 700 actually up in the heavens and working by then.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/amazon-buys-the-satellite-internet-company-behind-apples-sos-system-130150744.html?src=rss
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Websites that act like a super-chatty colleague who just won't shut up and let you go when a conversation should be over are among the most annoying things on the internet. Google is now doing something about that scourge.
Picture the scene: you look up something on Google Search and — instead of relying on potentially hallucinating AI Overviews — you click through to an actual website for your information. But, when you try to leave the site by hitting the back button, your browser doesn't immediately take you back to the previous webpage. Instead, the website first displays an "oh, while you're here..." page that suggests other content in which you may be interested in checking out or just a bunch of ads.
This shady move that some traffic-hungry websites have adopted is called "back button hijacking." No one in their right mind likes it, and nor does Google.
Under a new policy that 9to5Google spotted, Google will treat back button hijacking as an "explicit violation of the 'malicious practices' of spam policies" alongside the likes of malware. As such, it may punish websites that engage in such practices by treating them as spam and downranking them in search results.
"Back button hijacking interferes with the browser's functionality, breaks the expected user journey and results in user frustration," Chris Nelson, from the Google Search Quality team, wrote in the
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