News
SpaceX Pitches “Global Roaming” Internet To Starlink Waitlist
The company is offering the $200 per month plan to potential users in countries where Starlink’s service isn’t yet available.
Although Starlink’s constellation of small satellites is growing fast, regulatory approval is patchy in several large markets, including the Middle East and North Africa region. Reports are now emerging that SpaceX is readying a global roaming service to remedy the issue.
The company recently emailed people on the Starlink waitlist inviting them to try a new $200 per month package offering internet access “from almost anywhere on land in the world”.
NEWS: Starlink is testing a new "Global Roaming Service" for $200/mo, plus the standard $599 for Hardware. Will they offer this as an add-on for $65/mo like portability? @RealTeslaNorth @MarcusTuck3 https://t.co/c2vQhtOUL8 pic.twitter.com/kiLMsMkhDY
— Nathan Owens (@VirtuallyNathan) February 17, 2023
Potential customers will need a Starlink terminal to access the service, which may incur an import fee on top of the device’s $599 price, leading many to question the advantage over the existing $25 Portability Package offered to residential users.
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The answer seems to be found in SpaceX’s terms of service, which requires those who spend “an extended period of time” away from home to change their permanent address, with the $25 Portability Package intended as a strictly temporary plan for vacations and business trips.
News
LUVED Is A New Curated Preloved Marketplace For The UAE
Sellers keep 100 percent of every sale and AI can build a listing in five seconds — though the app’s smartest tools are still coming.
Secondhand shopping has become mainstream in the UAE, but the experience is still scattered across resale sites, social media and informal group chats. LUVED, a mobile-first marketplace that launched in Dubai this month, is betting it can pull that activity into one place — and that the thing buyers and sellers actually want is not more inventory, but trust.
The app trades in what it calls circular luxury: preloved fashion and lifestyle pieces across men’s, women’s and children’s categories, bought, sold or given away peer to peer. Its main pitch is economics, with sellers keeping 100 percent of every sale under a zero-commission, fast payout model, while buyers are promised vetted pieces at lower prices.
Where LUVED is staking its reputation is verification. Sellers pass a KYC check, and items run through a two-layer authentication system powered by Entrupy that pairs instant AI screening with human expert review for high-value pieces. Authenticity certificates travel with each item, payments sit in escrow, and a buyer-protection package the company calls The Safety Net adds a 48-hour return window and dispute resolution. Door-to-door logistics removes the in-person meetups that make most resale deals awkward.
An in-app assistant called Luvbot — offering selling insights and demand-based recommendations — is soon to be introduced to the platform. Other features include autofill and dynamic pricing that lets users build a listing in as little as five seconds from three photos, plus a swipe-based feed, story-style drops and in-app chat in English and Arabic. Finally, a gifting layer, Luved & Gifted, lets users pass items to others inside the app rather than sell them.
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“After moving to Dubai, I saw how difficult it was to sell or even give things away,” says founder and CEO Shaima Sibtain. The friction is real, and so is the competition. In resale, trust is won transaction by transaction — and that is the test LUVED has set itself.
The app is live on the App Store now, with Google Play to follow. The company also plans to expand across the region, which will be the real test for a marketplace staking everything on trust.
