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Emergency SOS via satellite on iPhone 14.

Apple

Apple is trying to give iPhone users a measure of safety even when they’re in a place without cell service.

On Tuesday, the company launched emergency SOS via satellite, which allows users to text emergency services when they’re off the grid, whether camping in the mountains or driving in a remote area at night. The service is available for iPhone 14 customers and is free for the first two years.

Sofia Pitt, CNBC

Apple announced the emergency feature in September, when it debuted the iPhone 14 lineup. To enable the service, Apple said last week it would spend $450 million with U.S. companies, with the majority of the money going to Globalstar, a Louisiana-based satellite operator.

It will work for all iPhone 14 users. They do so by pointing their phone to the sky and connecting to one of 24 Globalstar satellites in low Earth orbit.

Apple doesn’t want users testing the service out for non-emergences. The company offered me a demonstration last week so I could explain how to use it.

Using emergency SOS via satellite on iPhone 14

Emergency Text via Satellite.

Apple

Here’s how it works:

  1. In the event of an emergency, try calling 911. If you don’t have cell service, your phone will try to connect to another carrier’s tower. If that doesn’t work, an option to “Emergency Text via Satellite” will pop up.
  2. You can also go to iMessage to text 911 or SOS, then tap Emergency Services.
  3. An option will populate, allowing you to tap to report an emergency.
  4. Emergency questions will populate to help you best describe your situation. The first prompt will say “What’s the emergency?” You’ll then be able to select from options like “Car or vehicle issue,” or “sickness or injury.” Next you’ll be led through a series of more in-depth questions.
  5. You’ll be given the option to notify your emergency contacts to let them know you reached out to emergency services, along with your location and the nature of your emergency. You can also use the Find My app to share your location with friends and family via satellite.
  6. To connect to a satellite, your phone will ask you to point it towards the sky. As long as you have a clear view, you should be able to connect to a satellite, but it could take up to 15 seconds for your messages to go through. If you don’t have a clear view of the sky, because of trees or another obstruction, the texts may take a minute to go through. And because satellites orbit the earth quickly, you’ll have to move your phone slightly to stay connected throughout the conversation.
  7. Once you’ve connected to emergency services via satellite, they’ll immediately know your location and the nature of your emergency, but you’ll be asked a few more questions to help emergency personnel locate you and to come prepared.
  8. If you have your medical ID set up through your iPhone’s health settings, emergency services will be able to see important personal information, like what medications you’re taking and the names of your emergency contacts.

How to demo emergency SOS via satellite

Apple slowdown dent would come from flat-out lost iPhone sales, says D.A. Davidson's Tom Forte

Correction: The satellite SOS feature does not require a software update.

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Samsung building facility with 50,000 Nvidia GPUs to automate chip manufacturing

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Samsung building facility with 50,000 Nvidia GPUs to automate chip manufacturing

Jensen Huang, chief executive officer of Nvidia Corp., during the keynote address at the Nvidia GTC (GPU Technology Conference) in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025.

Kent Nishimura | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Korean semiconductor giant Samsung said on Thursday that it plans to buy and deploy a cluster of 50,000 Nvidia graphic processing units to improve its chip manufacturing for mobile devices and robots.

The 50,000 Nvidia GPUs will be used to create a facility Samsung is calling an “AI Megafactory.” Samsung didn’t provide details about when the facility would be built.

It’s the latest splashy partnership for Nvidia, whose chips remain essential for building and deploying advanced artificial intelligence.

The collaboration with Samsung comes after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on Tuesday announced in Washington, D.C., that Nvidia was selling collaborating with companies including Palantir, Eli Lilly, CrowdStrike and Uber.

Shortly after the speech, Huang was spotted in South Korea drinking beer with Samsung Chairman Lee Jae-yong and other business leaders, according to local media. Other Korean companies, including SK Group and Hyundai, are also deploying similar amounts of GPUs, Nvidia said.

“We’re working closely with the Korean government to support its ambitious leadership plans in AI,” Raymond Teh, Nvidia’s senior vice president of Asia-Pacific, said on a call with reporters on Wednesday.

The partnerships support Huang’s claim on Tuesday that Nvidia has a book of business that totals $500 billion from its current generation GPU, called Blackwell, in addition to its next-generation GPU, called Rubin.

The forecast helped boost Nvidia’s stock, making the company the first to reach a market cap of $5 trillion.

On Thursday, Nvidia representatives said they will work with Samsung to adapt the Korean company’s chipmaking lithography platform to work with Nvidia’s GPUs. That process will results in 20 times better performance for Samsung, the Nvidia representatives said. Samsung will also use Nvidia’s simulation software called Omniverse. Known for its mobile phones, Samsung also said it would use the Nvidia chips to run its own AI models for its devices.

In addition to being a partner and customer, Samsung is also a key supplier for Nvidia.

Samsung makes the kind of high-performance memory Nvidia uses in large quantities, alongside its AI chips, called high bandwidth memory. Samsung said it will work with Nvidia to tweak its fourth-generation HBM memory for use in AI chips.

WATCH: Night out in Seoul: Nvidia, Samsung, and Hyundai bosses bond over fried chicken and soju

Night out in Seoul: Nvidia, Samsung, and Hyundai bosses bond over fried chicken and soju

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Google to offer Gemini AI for free to over 500 million Jio users as global firms double down on India

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Google to offer Gemini AI for free to over 500 million Jio users as global firms double down on India

The Google AI Studio application is displayed on a mobile phone with Google in the background, in this photo illustration in Brussels, Belgium, on October 26, 2025.

Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Google will offer its Gemini AI service for free to over 500 million Reliance Jio users in India, as global artificial intelligence firms double down on acquiring customers in the country.

The U.S. tech giant revealed Thursday that it had signed a pact with Reliance Intelligence, a joint venture between Reliance Industries and Meta, to provide Google’s AI Pro plan, which includes Gemini 2.5 Pro, expanded access to NotebookLM for study and research, and 2 TB of cloud storage, among other things.

Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries, said his firm aims to make India “AI-empowered” through collaborations with strategic and long-term partners such as Google. Reliance Jio is India’s largest telecom services operator.

Google services, worth 35,100 rupees per user ($396), will have a staggered roll out with early access for 18- to 25-year-old users on unlimited Jio 5G plans for for 18 months. Eventually they will be made available for free to the company’s entire customer base.

“I’m excited for how this partnership will help expand access to AI across India,” said Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer of Google and Alphabet.

There are about 377 million Gen Zs in India, driving $860 billion in consumer spending in the country, and that is set to rise to $2 trillion by 2035, according to a report by the Boston Consulting Group.

India has the highest number of users globally across social media platforms such as Facebook (350 million-plus), Instagram (413.8 million), video app YouTube (over 467 million) while messaging app WhatsApp has over 500 million users, making it a key market for digital services.

In July, the second largest Indian telecom operator Bharti Airtel partnered with Perplexity to offer its 360 million customers free access to Perplexity Pro, which is priced at $200 per year globally.

Airtel and Perplexity followed this up with intensive campaigns on social media platforms, enlisting leading Indian influencers who posted reels promoting the use-cases for the free AI tool.

Indian telecom market is dominated by Jio and Airtel and partnerships with these telecom operators offer the opportunity for companies to expand the reach of apps and digital tools, making them available to a mass audience.

On Tuesday, OpenAI reportedly said it would make its ChatGPT Go plan free for users in India for a year, starting Nov. 4. The offer was launched in August for 399 rupees per month, and was among the most affordable subscription plans from OpenAI.

The company is rapidly expanding its presence in India, its second largest market, and plans to set up a 1 gigawatt data center in the country.

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Disney content to go dark on YouTubeTV after contract talks collapse

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Disney content to go dark on YouTubeTV after contract talks collapse

Photo illustration of the YouTube TV logo displayed on a smartphone, with the YouTube logo in the background.

Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Content from The Walt Disney Company, including channels like ABC and ESPN, was removed from Google‘s YouTube TV on Thursday after the two companies failed to renew a streaming contract. 

“Despite our best efforts, we have not been able to reach a fair deal, and starting today, Disney programming will not be available on YouTube TV,” the platform said in a statement Thursday.

More than 20 channels, including ABC and ESPN, and Disney content recordings would be removed from YouTube TV, the company said.

The two sides had been engaged in negotiations but were unable to reach a new distribution agreement before their existing contract expired Oct. 30 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time.

Disney did not immediately respond to a request for further comment. The mass media and entertainment conglomerate was the first to warn about the potential content removal last week.

In a Thursday statement on its official blog, YouTube argued Disney had “used the threat of a blackout on YouTube TV as a negotiating tactic to force deal terms that would raise prices on our customers,” and that Disney was now following through on that threat.

“We will not agree to terms that disadvantage our members while benefiting Disney’s own live TV products,” YouTube TV said in a post on its help center webpage. Disney’s live TV offerings include Hulu + Live TV and Fubo.

“We know how disruptive it is to lose channels you enjoy, and we’re committed to continuing to work with Disney to reach an agreement,” YouTube said in its statement, adding that if the content is unavailable for an extended period of time, the company will offer members a $20 credit. 

YouTube TV pays broadcasters to stream their channels and has been engaged in several tense negotiations over contract renewals in recent months.

Last month,  content was nearly removed from YouTube TV before the companies reached an agreement after a temporary extension, preventing shows like “Sunday Night Football” and “America’s Got Talent” from being pulled.

The recent clash between Disney and YouTube has an added twist, after YouTube hired former Disney distribution executive Justin Connolly earlier this year, prompting Disney to file a breach-of-contract lawsuit.

Connolly has recused himself from the discussions, CNBC previously reported, according to the people familiar with the process.

YouTube is the top U.S. media distributor by audience engagement, capturing over 13% of TV watch-time in July, according to Nielsen. It is also on track to be the biggest media company by revenue in 2025, beating Disney, analysts at MoffettNathanson told CNBC.

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC. Versant would become the new parent company of CNBC upon Comcast’s planned spinoff of Versant.

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