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Emirates Airbus A380 Returns To Service With Starlink Wi-Fi
The first upgraded superjumbo re-enters service after a cabin refit as the airline pushes high-speed internet across its fleet.
Emirates has returned its first Airbus A380 fitted with Starlink satellite internet to service, upgrading onboard connectivity on its flagship aircraft.
The jet arrived back in Dubai this week after installation and certification work in the UK. Three antennas now sit on the aircraft, replacing older systems that struggled to support more than basic browsing.
The difference is reported to be huge. The new setup can deliver more than 2 Gbps of total bandwidth across the cabin, enough for passengers to stream, work, and stay online during long-haul flights. Access will be free in every cabin.
The shift reflects a broader interest in low-earth orbit networks. Starlink is currently the largest and most viable contender in this space, and is already changing expectations for inflight connectivity.
“Partnering with Starlink is another defining moment in our continuous commitment to ensuring our customers fly better,” said Tim Clark, President of Emirates Airlines. “We’re introducing the world’s fastest Wi-Fi, elevating what passengers can expect from inflight connectivity”.
Adapting the system to the double-decker Airbus A380 meant adding extra hardware. The aircraft carries more passengers than a 777 and requires an additional antenna and more access points to maintain stable coverage across both decks.
Emirates plans to scale quickly. Installations will now take place at its Dubai engineering base, with more A380s scheduled through 2026. The airline has already equipped 25 Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, with more than 650,000 passengers having used the service.
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The rollout is part of a broader upgrade cycle at Emirates. The carrier has been refitting cabins, adding Premium Economy, and overhauling inflight entertainment. More than 90 aircraft have already been refurbished.
For Gulf carriers, connectivity is becoming part of the core product.
Next steps for Emirates include live TV over Starlink, first on personal devices, then on seatback screens.
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At I/O 2026, Sundar Pichai Concedes AI Must Deliver Real Value
Gemini 3.5, a personal agent called Spark, agentic shopping, and Android XR eyewear are all aimed at making AI feel useful, not just impressive.
Google’s annual I/O developer conference (I/O 2026) has recently become a status update on the same question: can the company turn its AI spending into products people use every day? This year, chief executive Sundar Pichai described Google as being in a phase of hyper progress, while conceding this is the part of the cycle where people want to see real value in the products they use on a day-to-day basis.
The strategy on display was to push agents — AI systems that act on a user’s behalf — into nearly every Google product at once. Search now has an “intelligent search box” that returns generated explainer videos alongside links. Gmail, Docs, YouTube and Maps are gaining their own agent layers, including a Docs Live feature that turns spoken instructions into drafted text with citations.
Two new models, Gemini 3.5 and a cheaper Gemini 3.5 Flash, arrived the same day. Google says 900 million people now use Gemini, and that more than 50 billion images have been generated with it. The pricing tier names are likely to confuse buyers: a new AI Ultra plan launches at $100 a month, while the older Gemini AI Ultra drops from $250 to $200.
The flashier announcements were Gemini Omni, a video generator pitched as a more realistic answer to OpenAI’s discontinued Sora 2, and Gemini Spark, a personal agent that handles recurring tasks across a user’s Google account. A new universal shopping cart lets agents complete purchases across multiple retailers from inside Google itself, placing the company between the merchant and the buyer, and also owning the checkout.
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Google also confirmed its Android XR eyewear, built with Samsung and frames from Warby Parker and Gentle Monster. Audio-only glasses ship this autumn; a display-equipped version, which would superimpose live translations into the wearer’s field of view, is still in development. Both sets translate, however only the display version shows you the result.
What Pichai did not resolve is the bargain underneath all this. An agent is only useful to the degree it knows your calendar, your inbox, your shopping history and your physical surroundings. Google has now confirmed that, in time, the same context may carry advertising.
At I/O 2026, Sundar Pichai Concedes AI Must Deliver Real Value
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