Stories by Sarah Lee-Jones

[caption id="attachment_72934" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Tesla mobile app on a smartphone Tesla app. Credit: Tesla[/caption] Tesla app version 4.61.0 is rolling out with passkey sign-in, so Face ID or Touch ID can replace typing a password after a one-time setup under Security and Privacy. Passkeys keep a device-bound credential on the phone instead of a reusable...

[caption id="attachment_72926" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] United Starlink cabin connectivity. Credit: United / SpaceX[/caption] United Airlines is rolling Starlink Wi-Fi onto its Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner fleet, with the first equipped jet scheduled to enter passenger service Friday night, according to aviation reporter Ben Bearup. https://twitter.com/TheAviationBeat/status/2101120648693363025 That moves Starlink onto another United widebody type after the airline’s June...

[caption id="attachment_72908" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] FAA TFR graphic circulating for the McGregor, Texas airspace. Credit: FAA / aviation social posts[/caption] Tesla has a no-fly zone locked in over the McGregor area ahead of its October 1 Roadster reveal in Waco, according to a new FAA Temporary Flight Restriction and reservation-holder invites that already name the Texas...

[caption id="attachment_72519" align="aligncenter" width="958"] Tesla Cybercab. Credit: Tesla[/caption] Tesla’s Texas Robotaxi roster added nine more purpose-built Cybercabs on September 18, lifting the Cybercab count in state automated-vehicle records to 58, according to the latest Texas Department of Motor Vehicles sync mirrored on the public FSD Database tracker. The nine newest VINs all carry September 18...

[caption id="attachment_72760" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] SpaceX Falcon 9. Credit: SpaceX[/caption] SpaceX stock is set for a larger slice of the Nasdaq-100 this month, a float-driven rebalance that could force passive funds to buy billions of dollars of SPCX into Friday’s close. Pro forma data from Nasdaq’s Global Index Watch, cited by Bloomberg, points to a weighting...

[caption id="attachment_72883" align="aligncenter" width="957"] Tesla Optimus. Credit: Tesla[/caption] Aerial watcher Joe Tegtmeyer said on September 17 that steel at Tesla’s dedicated Optimus factory on the Giga Texas North Campus is now only about five column grids from the north perimeter beam, putting the main skeleton in its final stretch. https://twitter.com/JoeTegtmeyer/status/2100597451396719051 In the same update, Tegtmeyer...

Tesla’s Australia and New Zealand account on X said on September 18 that Full Self-Driving Supervised has logged more than 160 million km in its first year on local roads, framing that as about 4,000 laps around Earth. https://twitter.com/TeslaAUNZ/status/2100801179047583760 A follow-up post shared fleet safety results for the same anniversary window, September 17, 2025 through...

United Airlines is putting live NFL and college football broadcasts on Starlink-enabled seatback screens starting this week, under a new deal with DISH that runs through the Super Bowl in February. The airline said fans can watch games from ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, FS1, ESPN, ESPN2, NFL Network, and Thursday Night Football on Prime Video...

SpaceXAI’s Grok Bot can talk now, with the company rolling voice onto desktop and mobile over the next couple of days after the official Grok Bot account posted a short demo on September 17. In the post, Grok Bot put it plainly: “Grok Bot can talk now.” A follow-up said voice is rolling out on […]

Starship Flight 14 mission art. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX on Thursday, September 17, 2026, said it is now targeting Starship Flight 14 as early as Monday, September 28, pending regulatory approval, moving the attempt off the earlier NET Tuesday, September 22 window from Starbase. In an official post on X, the company wrote that it is...

Neuralink quietly posted a VOICE-trial clip on September 16 that shows participant Kenneth Shock, implanted in January 2026, producing audible speech from neural signals alone, including the words “I love you” to his wife as she reacts to hearing a familiar voice again. The company framed the moment simply as “A beautiful surprise.” On September...

Tesla owners are finding that Grok, the in-car AI from xAI, can open websites and articles in the cabin browser by voice instead of pecking at the touchscreen. https://twitter.com/DevinOlsenn/status/2100295649417933183 On September 16, Vancouver creator @DevinOlsenn posted a tip with video showing Grok bring up a page after a spoken request. He called it “super handy”...

Forum Mobility said on September 17, 2026 that it is breaking ground on four new California electric truck charging depots that will add 30 MW of heavy-duty capacity, with Tesla set to operate public Megacharging sites at three of those locations. The depots span Northern and Southern California and will offer Megawatt Charging System (MCS)...

Starlink said Starlink Mobile is now available in Panama with +Móvil, giving people messaging apps, maps, and SMS in places that previously had no cellphone signal. The official September 16 post quotes the local carrier’s own launch note and frames this as a direct-to-phone satellite link, not a new dish sale. https://twitter.com/Starlink/status/2100312938116718736 +Móvil is selling...

[caption id="attachment_72543" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] SpaceX Falcon 9 on a U.S. Space Force mission. Credit: SpaceX[/caption] The U.S. Space Force is handing SpaceX unusual room to shape one of its biggest new low-Earth orbit constellations, according to SpaceNews on September 16. For the roughly $2.3 billion Space Data Network Backbone, the service is setting coverage, capacity,...