Tag: HighSpeed

Elon Musk’s space internet gives Native American tribe access to high-speed broadband for first time

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A remote Native American tribe is among the first users of Elon Musk’s Starlink space internet project after it connected to SpaceX’s constellation of satellites.



a sign on the side of a building

© Provided by The Independent


The Hoh Tribe in Washington State said Starlink’s high-speed broadband enabled remote learning and telehealth appointments during the coronavirus pandemic for the first time. 

“We’re very remote. The last eight years I felt like we’ve been paddling up river with a spoon and almost getting nowhere with getting internet to the reservation,” said Melvinjohn Ashue, vice chairman of the Hoh Tribe.

“It seemed like out of nowhere, SpaceX came up and just catapulted us into the 21st century.”

There are currently around 800 Starlink satellites in low-Earth orbit, offering internet connectivity to northern areas of the US and Canada. SpaceX eventually plans to launch tens of thousands more satellites to provide “near global coverage of the populated world by 2021”.

The Hoh Tribe were introduced to Starlink through the Washington State Department of Commerce, which sits within the current reach of the Starlink network.

It is one of several early testers of Starlink , with emergency responders in Washington State also recently using the network to set up a WiFi hotspot for residents of Malden after 80 per cent of the town was destroyed by wildfires.

The Hoh Tribe revealed that internet speeds prior to  Starlink ranged from between 0.3 and 0.7 megabits per second (Mbps) – a long way off the 100Mbps advertised by SpaceX.

Responding to a tweet from the

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Elon Musk says Starlink now has enough satellites in orbit to launch a public beta of its high-speed internet service

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  • Elon Musk said on Tuesday that SpaceX’s internet satellite project, Starlink, had launched enough satellites for its public beta.
  • Once the most recently launched satellites are in position, the company will roll out a “fairly wide public beta” in the northern US and southern Canada, Musk tweeted.
  • Starlink’s goal is to put a constellation of satellites into orbit that can beam high-speed internet to remote parts of Earth.

Elon Musk’s goal of beaming high-speed internet to remote parts of Earth using orbiting satellites just got a step closer to reality.

SpaceX on Tuesday launched a batch of 60 Starlink satellites, bringing the total number in orbit to more than 700, according to Ars Technica. Musk, SpaceX’s CEO, said this was enough for a public beta.

“Once these satellites reach their target position, we will be able to roll out a fairly wide public beta in northern US & hopefully southern Canada,” he tweeted after the launch.

This beta would include the Detroit metro area and Ann Arbor, Michigan, he said in response to a question.

“Other countries to follow as soon as we receive regulatory approval,” he added.

Musk did not say exactly when the satellites were expected to reach their “target position,” and Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told Ars Technica that they might not be in place until February.

Musk said in April that a public beta for the service would be up and running in the fall. He also said in May 2019 that a commercially viable “initial” version of Starlink’s service for the US would be possible with 400 satellites, while 800 would be enough for “significant” global coverage.

So it’s possible, as Ars Technica’s report noted, that the public beta will get underway

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1 out of 5 NY metro households have no high-speed internet. What does that mean for remote learning?

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For the past few weekdays, Crystal Berroa woke up in the morning not knowing how to help her two young daughters attend school remotely. 

Here’s how one family is using the library for online learning

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Berroa lives in a shelter in New York City and repeatedly tried to contact school officials to help her daughters log into remote learning classrooms on school-issued iPads.

So far, she hasn’t gotten anywhere.

”If one (iPad) connects and the other doesn’t, I’m screwed,” Berroa said. “There’s nothing I can do. Sometimes it doesn’t connect at all during the day. My daughter is a first grader. She’s learning how to read right now. And I have no idea what’s going on.”



a young boy sitting at a table: Trachelle Bivins and her 5-year-old son, Ondrae Florence, complete his school work together at Central Library of Rochester on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020. Ondrae would have attended school at School 23, part of the Rochester City School District, if the district had not moved to online learning.

© Georgie Silvarole/New York State Team
Trachelle Bivins and her 5-year-old son, Ondrae Florence, complete his school work together at Central Library of Rochester on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020. Ondrae would have attended school at School 23, part of the Rochester City School District, if the district had not moved to online learning.

Berroa’s family is one of thousands across New York who have struggled with the transition to remote learning because of internet access or connectivity issues in metropolitan areas.

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The problem is amplified this school year by the COVID-19 pandemic that forced New York’s largest school districts to start the fall semester online, often in the state’s poorest communities.

For the past five years, New York has focused on rural broadband, awarding grants to small internet providers to bring a stable connection to remote corners of New York. 

But even the largest cities have dead zones, with no major internet providers available. In areas where service is available, it may be unreliable or too expensive for some families to afford.

With many school districts conducting 

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ABB Enhances Portfolio of High-Speed Industrial Robots With Codian Acquisition

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Strategic buy builds on industry-leading food and beverage, pharmaceutical and logistics portfolio

ABB has acquired Codian Robotics B.V., a leading provider of delta robots, which are used primarily for high-precision pick and place applications. Codian Robotics’ offering includes a hygienic design line, ideal for hygiene-sensitive industries including food and beverage and pharmaceuticals. With the transaction, ABB is accelerating its engagement in the growing field of delta robots.

Codian Robotics is located in Ede, Netherlands and employs 20 people globally. The company will continue to serve its customers directly. The acquisition was signed and closed on October 1, 2020 and both parties agreed not to disclose any details regarding the purchase price.

“Our acquisition underscores our focus on breakthrough technology, helping our customers to fully realize the potential of automation and increase their flexibility in a rapidly changing business landscape,” said Sami Atiya, President of ABB Robotics & Discrete Automation. “Codian Robotics’ technologies and industry expertise are the perfect addition to our suite of food and beverage, pharmaceutical, service robotics and logistics solutions, while also supporting ABB’s machine-centric robotics offering.”

“Over the years, we have developed an extensive product portfolio. ABB’s impressive global presence and industry expertise will help us make our portfolio available globally. I am looking forward to working together to write the next chapter of our success story,” said Freek Hartman, Founder of Codian Robotics.

While today the majority of robots in the food and beverage industry are not designed for touching food, Codian Robotics’ portfolio includes a hygienic design that allows safe, open food processing.

“There is a strong need for pick and place robots that ensure high hygienic standards, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our food and beverage, pharmaceutical and logistics customers are particularly interested in the potential of automation, enabling supply chains to continue to

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