Imagine never being without a cell signal again, anywhere, any time on the planet. 

That's exactly what AST SpaceMobile is working to achieve. Founded in the heart of Texas in 2017, this innovative company is developing the world's first global cellular broadband network that can connect directly to your everyday smartphone, no special equipment required. 

Its mission? To ensure that no matter where you are around the globe — from remote mountain ranges to isolated islands — you'll never be out of touch again.

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AST SpaceMobile made history in April 2023 by completing the first two-way phone call via space on an unmodified cell phone. This milestone was achieved using its low Earth orbit satellite, Blue Walker 3 (BW3), which was launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in September 2022.

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Since its inception, AST SpaceMobile has made remarkable technological advancements. In September 2023, it achieved a 14-Mbps data stream on the BW3 satellite. A year later, in September 2024, the company launched five additional satellites, BlueBird 1 through 5. The ultimate goal is to establish a constellation of 168 satellites, offering speeds up to 120 Mbps.

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AST SpaceMobile has forged strategic partnerships with major telecom players across the globe. In the United States, it has partnered with AT&T and Verizon. Internationally, it has teamed up with Bell Canada, Rakuten, Vodafone and other telecommunications providers. These partnerships potentially give about 2.8 billion people worldwide access to its satellite network.

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AST SpaceMobile's approach to satellite connectivity is uniquely innovative. It focuses solely on direct-to-cell service, distinguishing itself from other competitors. Its current BlueBird satellites unfold to approximately 700 square feet in space, with future satellites planned to be three times larger and offer ten times the data capacity. Impressively, 95% of its manufacturing process is completed in house in the United States.

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While both AST SpaceMobile and Elon Musk's Starlink aim to provide global connectivity, their approaches significantly differ. AST SpaceMobile is built for direct-to-cell service, requiring no special equipment for users.

Starlink, primarily a data-focused service, has only recently launched modified satellites for direct-to-cell capabilities. AST's focus on unmodified smartphones gives it a unique advantage in accessibility.

Despite the promising technology, the company faces several challenges. The brightness of satellites like BW3 could potentially interfere with astronomical observations. There are concerns about possible interference with radio-quiet zones used for scientific research. The increasing number of satellites also contributes to growing space debris concerns.

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As of January 2025, AST SpaceMobile has not yet announced specific pricing for its services. However, given its partnerships with major carriers like AT&T and Verizon, it's likely that the service will be offered as an add-on to existing cellular plans. The company aims to provide coverage to remote areas and eliminate dead zones, suggesting that pricing may be competitive to attract a wide user base.

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AST SpaceMobile's innovative approach to global connectivity has the potential to revolutionize how we stay connected, especially in remote areas. While challenges remain, the benefits of ubiquitous communication, particularly in emergency situations, are compelling. As the company continues to expand its satellite network and partnerships, we may soon see a world where being "out of range" is a thing of the past.

If universal satellite connectivity could solve one major communication challenge in your life, what would it be? Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/Contact

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Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has taken a satirical jab at President Donald Trump’s effort to rename the Gulf of Mexico and annex Greenland. 

A straight-faced Pritzker released a choreographed video on Friday, with fake camera shutter clicks going off in the background, where he asserts that he is renaming Lake Michigan to "Lake Illinois," poking fun at Trump’s recent executive order where he changed the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America.

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"The world's finest geographers, experts who study the Earth's natural environment, have concluded a decades-long council and determined that a great lake deserves to be named after a great state," Pritzker said. 

"So today, I'm issuing a proclamation declaring that hereinafter, Lake Michigan shall be known as Lake Illinois. The proclamation has been forwarded to Google to ensure the world's maps reflect this momentous change."

Trump signed Executive Order 14172 on his first day back in office which changed the name of the ocean basin. The order also renamed the highest peak in North America to "Mount McKinley," reversing the 2015 decision to call it by its centuries-old name Denali.

Google has said it will make Trump’s changes once the Department of the Interior updates the Geographic Names Information System. As of today, Google Maps still refers to it as the Gulf of Mexico.

In the video, Pritzker then switches his attention to Green Bay, a Wisconsin city near Lake Michigan. And just like how Trump vowed to take over Greenland from Denmark, Pritzker pledged to snap up Green Bay from The Badger State.  

"In addition, the recent announcement that to protect the homeland, the United States will be purchasing Greenland... Illinois will now be annexing Green Bay to protect itself against enemies, foreign and domestic," Pritzker said. 

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"I've also instructed my team to work diligently to prepare for an important announcement next week regarding the Mississippi River."

"God bless America and bear down," Pritzker said, a nod to Wisconsin’s Green Bay Packers, one of Chicago Bears' biggest rivals.

The video comes on the heels of a Justice Department lawsuit filed against the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago for allegedly interfering with federal immigration enforcement with its sanctuary polices.

The lawsuit claims that several state and local laws are designed to interfere with the federal government's enforcement of federal immigration law in violation of the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution.

Pritzker and Trump have also clashed over Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship, with Pritzker declaring the move unconstitutional. 

Trump's order, "Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship," asserts that the 14th Amendment of the Constitution does not automatically confer American citizenship to individuals who are born within the United States. 

They also feuded during Trump’s first term in office when Pritzker claimed the state only recovered a quarter of its requested personal protective equipment from the federal government.

A cache pit dating back about 1,000 years was discovered in Alaska last year, military officials recently revealed — providing a glimpse into the food storage methods of the past.

Archaeologists from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER), Northern Land Use Research Alaska and area tribal councils uncovered the birchbark-lined cache pit along Upper Cook Inlet in June, according to a Dec. 6 news release from the Alaska military complex where the discovery was made.

Cache pits are like root cellars. They were used to preserve fish, meat and berries, archaeologist Elizabeth Ortiz said. 

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"The caches were dug into well-drained soils and lined with birchbark and layers of grasses to preserve food and are rarely discovered intact," Ortiz said, according to the news release.

Initial radiocarbon dating revealed that the food storage pit was used about 1,000 years ago.

The pit was found along a trail well-known to have been used by the region's indigenous Dene people. 

It measured about 3½ deep, researchers said. 

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Dene, or Athabascan, is a language group stretching from the Alaska interior through Canada and into the American Southwest, according to the release. 

Athabascans, including Dena'ina and Ahtna people, are Dene speakers.

"This is the oldest known site on the east side of Upper Cook Inlet and further substantiates Dena'ina and Ahtna oral traditions that JBER and the surrounding area have been used for a very long time," archaeologist and JBER cultural resource manager Margan Grover said.

Most of the site was demolished by the military in 1942, Grover said. 

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Yet the pit and its intact birchbark lining was one of the few undisturbed features left at the Dene site.

Samples of the intact bark lining were used to test the age and contents of the pit. 

"Additional radiocarbon and stable isotope tests could yield new and significant information about the history of Upper Cook Inlet," Ortiz said. 

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"We are also testing to determine what types of food were stored in the cache."

Preliminary findings indicate the cache was used to store moose or caribou meat. 

"People came to this area in the spring and would stay through the summer to catch and preserve salmon," according to the release.

Grover called the discovery "an opportunity for people to understand who the Dene of Knik Arm are and how their ancestors lived on the land that is now JBER and Anchorage."

Some people may want to consider being a bit more … diplomatic.

That's the overall assessment of commenters on a viral Reddit thread after a man described the experience of going for a nature hike with his brother while on vacation in Arizona — then shared his blunt response to a question his brother asked him after their hike was done.

"I am a guy who, when I don't enjoy something, I'll tell you I don't," Reddit user "Ness_Lucas" wrote at the start of his post on the social media site a few days ago. 

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As of Sunday, the post had accumulated over 6,000 reactions.

He added, "But if I commit to something, I'll see it through to the end without complaining."

He said the issue "came to a head" when he was "on vacation with my older brother in Arizona, who wanted to do a lot of nature hikes."

Wrote the man on Reddit, "Nature hikes are fine. I don't mind them, but I do dislike walking up large hills."

He added, "Walking downhill is the easiest thing ever. It's like being nature's passenger princess. You just put your foot forward and let gravity do all the work."

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He went on, "Walking uphill, conversely, is very draining and leaves me sweaty."

He continued, "I don't make a point to complain about something when I do it, so when I was walking uphill, despite not liking it much, I held [a] basic conversation with my brother."

However, once the pair began to head back down, the man said his brother "asked me if I was having fun — and I said no."

He added, "Not because of any fault of my brother. I just didn't find the activity fun. Not even bad, just satisfactory."

Later, when the brother was driving the Reddit poster to the airport for his flight home, the man said his brother told him, "If I ask you if you're having fun, don't say 'no.'"

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Wrote the Redditor, "I understand that it can be demoralizing to hear someone's not having fun."

However, "I don't like it when people ask for my opinion and get upset when I give my honest answer," he said. 

"If I'm not having fun, I'll just say I'm not having fun."

Responders on the Reddit page known as "Am I the a--hole" had a field day with the post — rendering their general assessment that the man was indeed the "a--hole" for the way he replied to his family member. 

Wrote one commenter in the top-rated response, garnering some 21,000 reactions, "'It's been a fun day hanging with you, but, man, this hike is steep' [or] 'I'm looking forward to the downhill bit!' That's the sort of polite answer people are looking for."

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The same person added, "You acknowledge you're enjoying your brother's company, which was what he was looking for, but you can also acknowledge the hike is hard/difficult etc. It doesn't matter how much the activity sucks — people want to hear that you're enjoying their company."

Another individual put it this way, responding to the first commenter, "Exactly! It's a small social nicety that expresses that 'I'm happy to spend time with you, even if I don't enjoy the activity.'"

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Yet another person said pointedly, "You are perched on your self-anointed pedestal and expecting everyone to treat you like a little princess. Your brother probably regrets ever going on a hike with you. Sometimes in life you have to walk uphill to get to where you're going."

A different commenter let the Reddit poster off the hook but shared this suggestion: "Not everyone is into hiking. That's a personal choice. But a better option would be to talk with your brother and compromise on doing something you will BOTH enjoy."

Fox News Digital reached out to a psychologist for thoughts. 

Two men from Portland died searching for Sasquatch during Christmas week, according to officials.

Around 1 a.m. on Christmas Day, Skamania County Communications Center received a report from a family member of two people who were searching for Sasquatch and were missing after they had planned to return home on Dec. 24, according to the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO).

A "flock camera," also known as a license plate reader, located the men's car off of Oklahoma Road, near Willard, Washington, SCSO said.

Over three days, search and rescue resources, including more than 60 volunteers, canines, drones and ground search teams and a U.S. Coast Guard air asset searched for the men. 

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"After a grueling, three-day search over difficult terrain and harsh weather conditions, the 59-year-old male and 37-year-old-male, both from Portland, Oregon, who were reported missing/endangered were located, deceased, in a heavily wooded area of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest," the sheriff's office said on Facebook.

"Both deaths appear to be due to exposure, based on weather conditions and ill-preparedness," SCSO added.

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The sheriff's office thanked the volunteers who spent Christmas week searching for the men through "freezing temperatures, snow, high water levels, heavy rain, downfall, and heavily wooded terrain," allowing the men to be taken home to their family. 

"The Skamania County Sheriff’s Office extends our deepest sympathies and condolences to the families of the loved ones lost in this tragic incident," SCSO said.

The men's names were not released. 

Back in 2019, a Travel Channel blog post said Washington was the "world's most active region" for Sasquatch sightings. Of particular note were the Blue Mountains and Okanogan County, which the Travel Channel wrote is "the locale of one of the most aggressive Bigfoot encounters ever recorded."