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SpaceX Starlink beta arrives in the UK, sets sights on rest of Europe and Australia
As of the first day of 2021, SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet beta program appears to have arrived in the United Kingdom in just one of numerous international debuts expected this year.
While not guaranteed to be the first outright, Reddit user OptiSport became the first confirmed Starlink beta customer outside of North America after receiving a beta kit (antenna dish, stand, and WiFi router) on or around January 1st. Beta invites began to roll out to those signed up at Starlink.com around mid-December, but OptiSport appears to be the first UK beta user to actually receive a Starlink user terminal.
According to others that received invites, SpaceX’s UK beta will kick off with pricing similar to the US and Canada, charging users £439 (+£54 shipping) for the dish and router and £89 per month for service. While the US – generally offering some of the slowest, most expensive internet in the developed world – is quite a different story, Starlink’s UK beta pricing unequivocally narrows its customer base to those simply unable to access the UK’s otherwise solid broadband infrastructure. Offering average download speeds of 100-150 Mbps, Starlink’s £89 UK offering can’t really stand with existing fiber, where the closest comparable mass-market option offers speeds of up to ~500 Mbps down for just £62 per month.
Still, as several /r/Starlink users and prospective UK beta applicants noted, those that fall outside of the UK’s wired infrastructure often find themselves stuck with expensive and inconsistent LTE/3G service or expensive, shoddy, and heavily constrained satellite offerings (£150/mo, 150GB data cap).
SpaceX’s Starlink beta UK rollout appears to be extremely cautious. At the moment, SpaceX appears to be shuffling a large portion of its active constellation, performing what is known as plane change maneuvers to modify where certain batches of satellites (known as planes) overfly the Earth.
Presumably meant to expand coverage and better distribute existing satellite capacity, there’s a chance that those plane change maneuvers – seemingly affecting almost 60% of all operational Starlink satellites – is harming network performance for those reliant upon some of those impacted planes. SpaceX did bluntly name the service as Starlink’s “Better Than Nothing Beta” but it’s still possible that the company has slowed beta rollouts during a period of engineered – but temporary – instability.
Regardless, SpaceX is currently hard at work seeking approvals to deliver Starlink internet services in more than a dozen other countries – each of which typically requires its own byzantine, unique, and nontransferable application process. Clear candidates for near-term Starlink service debuts include Greece (licensed, NET Q1 2021), Australia (partial license secured), and Germany (spectrum license secured, NET early 2021). Countries in the early stages of licensing include France, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Japan, the Philippines, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Colombia.
Ultimately, although countries with nationwide state-run censorship like Russia and China will pose major challenges, SpaceX’s goal is to offer Starlink internet to almost anyone on Earth.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s xAI gains first access to Saudi supercluster with 600k Nvidia GPUs
The facility will deploy roughly 600,000 Nvidia GPUs, making it one of the world’s most notable superclusters.
A Saudi-backed developer is moving forward with one of the world’s largest AI data centers, and Elon Musk’s xAI will be its first customer. The project, unveiled at the U.S.–Saudi Investment Forum in Washington, D.C., is being built by Humain, a company supported by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
The facility will deploy roughly 600,000 Nvidia GPUs, making it one of the world’s most notable superclusters.
xAI secures priority access
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang stated that the planned data center marks a major leap not just for the region but for the global AI ecosystem as a whole. Huang joked about the sheer capacity of the build, emphasizing how unusual it is for a startup to receive infrastructure of such magnitude. The facility is designed to deliver 500 megawatts of Nvidia GPU power, placing it among the world’s largest AI-focused installations, as noted in a Benzinga report.
“We worked together to get this company started and off the ground and just got an incredible customer with Elon. Could you imagine a startup company, approximately $0 billion in revenues, now going to build a data center for Elon? 500 megawatts is gigantic. This company is off the charts right away,” Huang said.
Global Chipmakers Join Multi-Vendor Buildout To Enhance Compute Diversity
While Nvidia GPUs serve as the backbone of the first phase, Humain is preparing a diversified hardware stack. AMD will supply its Instinct MI450 accelerators, which could draw up to 1 gigawatt of power by 2030 as deployments ramp. Qualcomm will also contribute AI200 and AI250 data center processors, accounting for an additional 200 megawatts of compute capacity. Cisco will support the networking and infrastructure layer, helping knit the multi-chip architecture together.
Apart from confirming that xAI will be the upcoming supercluster’s first customer, Musk also joked about the rapid scaling needed to train increasingly large AI models. He joked that a theoretical expansion one thousand times larger of the upcoming supercluster “would be 8 bazillion, trillion dollars,” highlighting the playful exaggeration he often brings to discussions around extreme compute demand.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk debunks pay package and lip reader claims in double takedown
Musk’s quick debunks highlighted once more that X is an ideal platform for directly countering misinformation.
Elon Musk recently took to X to debunk some misinformation about his 2025 CEO performance award, as well as some comments he made during Donald Trump’s banquet in honor of Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Musk’s quick debunks highlighted once more that X is an ideal platform for directly countering misinformation.
Musk’s pay package
Elon Musk’s 2025 CEO performance award was created as a path for him to gain a 25% stake in Tesla. It would also make him a trillionaire, provided that he manages to meet all of the performance award’s aggressive targets. This has not stopped critics from running with the apparent narrative that Musk will be getting the $1 trillion with utmost certainty, however.
This included the More Perfect Union account on X, which noted that “Elon Musk is set to make more than every U.S. elementary school teacher combined, according to the Washington Post.”
Musk responded to the pro-union amount’s post, highlighting that he has not earned any of his $2025 performance award so far. Musk also noted that those who believe he will be getting $1 trillion should invest in TSLA stock, as his compensation is tied to the company’s performance and growth. Investors who hold their TSLA until Musk achieves his full pay package would likely get notable returns.
Lip reader fail
Musk also debunked claims from the Daily Mail, which claimed that he made an “explosive” remark at Trump’s banquet for Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Citing observations from lip reader Nicola Hickling, the Mail claimed that Musk asked Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, “What is your opinion, is he a terrorist?” The publication also posted a video of Musk allegedly making the risqué comment on X.
Musk proceeded to correct the publication, stating that the lip reader’s observations were fake. Instead of asking the Pfizer CEO if the Saudi Prince was a terrorist, Musk noted that he was asking the executive about cancer medicine. “False, I was asking about upcoming cancer drugs,” Musk wrote in a response on X.
Musk’s comments resulted in numerous critical responses to the Mail’s video, with some X users joking that the lip reader who analyzed the clip should probably get a visual acuity test, or a better training course on lip reading at least.
News
Tesla Diner to transition to full-service restaurant as Chef heads for new venture
“I am leaving the Tesla Diner project to focus on the opening of Mish, my long-desired Jewish deli. Projects like Mish and the Tesla Diner require a sharpness of focus and attention, and my focus and attention is now squarely on Mish.”
Tesla Diner, the all-in-one Supercharging and dining experience located in Los Angeles, will transition to a full-service restaurant in January, staff said, as Chef Eric Greenspan said he would take on a new project.
A report from the Los Angeles Times says Greenspan confirmed through a text that he would leave the Diner and focus on the opening of his new Jewish deli, Mish.
Greenspan confirmed to the paper:
“I am leaving the Tesla Diner project to focus on the opening of Mish, my long-desired Jewish deli. Projects like Mish and the Tesla Diner require a sharpness of focus and attention, and my focus and attention is now squarely on Mish.”
Greenspan took on the job at the Tesla Diner and curated the menu back in March, focusing on locally-sourced ingredients and items that would play on various company products, like Cybertruck-shaped boxes that hold burgers.
Tesla Cybertruck leftovers are the main course at the Supercharger Diner
The Tesla Diner has operated as somewhat of a self-serve establishment, where Tesla owners can order directly from their vehicles through the center touchscreen. It was not exclusive to Tesla owners. Guests could also enter and order at a counter, and pick up their food, before sitting at a booth or table.
However, the report indicates Tesla is planning to push it toward a sit-down restaurant, full of waiters, waitresses, and servers, all of which will come to a table after you are seated, take your order, and serve your food.
It will be more of a full-featured restaurant experience moving forward, which is an interesting move from the company, but it also sounds as if it could be testing for an expansion.
We know that Tesla is already considering expanding locations, as it will be heading to new areas of the country. CEO Elon Musk has said that Tesla will be considering locations in Palo Alto near the company’s Engineering HQ, and in Austin, where its HQ and Gigafactory Texas are located.
Musk said that the Diner has been very successful in its first few months of operation.
Elon Musk’s xAI gains first access to Saudi supercluster with 600k Nvidia GPUs
Elon Musk debunks pay package and lip reader claims in double takedown
