Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 8hAny other Google Calendar users now getting besieged with a new form of calendar-invite spam, where you're invited to listen to a voicemail or other saved recording? 040
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 11hSeeing who is seated closer to or farther from Trump is the 2020s version of seeing who had a spot closer to or farther from Brezhnev on the reviewing stand for military parades in Red Square. 0165
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 12hLove having DMARC on my personal domain fail for no discernable reason, resulting in Gmail rejecting messages sent from a personal Google Workspace account. (I *think* I fixed that by copy/pasting the right values from Google's support doc; at a minimum, my e-mails are taking longer to bounce.) 010
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 19hNASA getting an SR-71 back in flying condition after almost three decades seems like the biggest kind of aviation boondoggle, but also a really exciting one... this report from @thedewline.bsky.social raises more questions than it can possibly answer.aviationweek.comNASA Asked Several Former SR-71A Staffers To Help Secret Restart | Aviation WeekNearly 27 years after the final Blackbird flight, NASA quietly launched a project last summer to return an SR-71A to flight. 360
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 21hI'm sure that India Mobile Congress is a useful event, but whoever is doing PR for it has sent me 50 e-mails about it over the past 13 days. I don't get that many messages a day from most conferences that I'm actually registered to attend. 010
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 29/09/2026This evening's #transitadventure in Atlanta: MARTA to a robot bus to the Lee + White food hall by the Beltline trail (had a great dinner at Boxcar), then seeing a very shiny test train run through the West End station (the existing rolling stock is showing its age). 040
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 28/09/2026From one airport with a subway to downtown to another: Hello again, ATL! I'm here through Thursday for the cable industry's SCTE TechExpo (where I'm emceeing one stage for part of Tuesday, with the organizers comping lodging in return). 170
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 28/09/2026Heads-up if you're flying out of IAD today: The Aerotrain is only running on one of two tracks from the main terminal, so you have to wait longer than usual as trains to the B and A/C gates take turns. 140
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 28/09/2026FYI to Amex cardholders and Metro riders in the D.C. area: Check your offers to activate a $2 cash-back deal on tap-to-pay @wmata.com fares, good on up to five rides through Dec. 31. 172
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 28/09/2026The 14th launch of Starship has not been boring, that's for sure: Successful launch, then one of 33 booster engines out; booster splashing down under control and then (predictably) exploding; one of six second-stage engines shutting down on ascent; orbital insertion burn called off but now back on. 151
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 27/09/2026The Nationals' 2026 season is in the books with a 6-4 win over the Mets. Which means we have officially seen the last of the Nats Park signage for the defunct and disgraced cryptocurrency startup Terra. 2131
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 27/09/2026Don't ask me what possessed my wife and I to go to Nats Park to see baseball in this Dickensian weather. (Verdict on our starting pitcher after two innings: Herz so not good.) 170
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 26/09/2026Checking out a robotic convenience store during last weekend's visit to L.A. and buying a can of flavored fizzy water there yielded one perspective on the future of retail. Venhub's Q2 earnings filing offered a different perspective.pcmag.comI Stopped By This LA Convenience Store to Have a Robot Arm Hand Me a SnackVenHub's robotic store offers surprisingly cheap prices for snacks and sundries. 231
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 25/09/2026More on today's flight: shout-out to the United flight attendants who helped recover a Bluetooth headphone I fumbled below my seat*, first by looking themselves, then having a tech come on board after we landed to fish it out. * a complex biz-class seat, courtesy of a PlusPoints upgrade clearing. 160
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 25/09/2026Today's inflight viewing: @benmckenzie.bsky.social's Everyone Is Lying To You For Money. Highly amusing, especially (speaking as a regular Web Summit panel moderator) being reminded of what prominent placement crypto bros have gotten at tech events like that conference. 131
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 25/09/2026Since I finally slept almost all the way to 6 a.m. today, it's time to return to Eastern Time. Great spending a few days with you, people of #HumanX; thanks, Amsterdam. 🇳🇱 ✈️ 🇺🇸 030
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 25/09/2026I went through three passport e-gates at AMS to get to my "gate," aka door to a bus to my IAD-bound plane. One of those e-gates may have been a consequence of the Star Alliance lounge's location, but two would still be too many. Is "AMS" Dutch for "FRA"? 130
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 25/09/2026Can you think of any world leaders whom you would like to put on this train? 261
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 24/09/2026Five days later, Google's AI Overview now lists LAX's runways in the correct order. In a search when I'm signed into my account, it doesn't list mention their lengths and widths but does show those details in a signed-out search. 🤷♂️ 070
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 23/09/2026A story that should warm the hearts of copy editors everywhere: A failure to proofread a filing for a shell corporation set up to funnel illegal campaign contributions led to this corrupt scheme being exposed. (The part about Trump's DOJ quashing this investigation? Less heartwarming.)propublica.orgThe FBI Anti-Corruption Squad Was Circling Susan Collins — Until Trump Got in the WayAfter the FBI caught a defense contractor’s CEO making illegal campaign contributions, it sought to launch a sweeping political bribery probe involving Collins and others. Then the second Trump admini... 1166
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 23/09/2026Interesting pattern I've seen in more than one #HumanX panel: Speakers talk about the need for technological sovereignty for the EU and cite the experience of seeing Anthropic's Mythos model held from release--"a real wake-up call," one said--but then they don't say "Trump" or "the U.S." 132
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 23/09/2026This panel--also featuring Aikido co-founder Madeline Lawrence and Noma Security CISO Diana Kelley--was a lot of fun to moderate. It's great when your fellow speakers lock into "yes, and" mode. 010
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 23/09/2026Good morning from day one of the #HumanX conference in Amsterdam. The first panel I watched had CuspAI CTO Max Welling talking about how AI can accelerate materials-science research because it can "sift through this very, very large space of possible molecules" so much faster. 110
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 22/09/2026Add BRU to the list of airports where holding an EU passport can save an American a non-trivial amount of time. (I'm on this side of the Atlantic for the #HumanX AI conference in Amsterdam, where I'm moderating two panels; when I rearranged some flights, BRU + trains cost less than AMS.) 240
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 21/09/2026Welcome to U.N. General Assembly week in NYC, the chance for transit knowers everywhere to point and laugh at people whining on social media about their $150, 90-minute Uber from JFK. 250
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 20/09/2026In other LAX news, I just noticed this helpful little feature in the travel-details mode of United's app: a map showing where on the taxiway or ramp the inbound plane for your flight is at. 010
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 20/09/2026With LAX T5 demolished for a rebuild, the schlep to get from TBIT to T7 (look, I wanted to stop by the Star Alliance lounge before my flight) now requires a roundabout route through escalators, tunnels, and elevators and then a bus ride across the ramp. It's like I'm at FRA. 130
Reposted by Rob Pegoraro Jeff Foust @jfoust.bsky.social · 20/09/2026When you copy and paste the wrong line from ChatGPT: 0454
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 20/09/2026This would still leave the Potomac dangerously unguarded, so we're going to have to put some sharks with laser beams on their heads into the river (and hope the local crew teams don't make the sharks ill-tempered). 3131
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 20/09/2026I had no idea this year's Cranky Dorkfest would involve rocketry, but that's what just happened: a Falcon 9 launched from Vandenberg with yet another set of Starlink satellites, arcing over the LAX tower as a streak of light speeding into the evening sky. 190
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 19/09/2026Greetings from LAX, where #CrankyDorkfest is on. Two-word review: Airplanes! Yay! 1133
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 19/09/2026Based on these results, I strongly advise against any LAX-bound pilots relying on Google's AI Overview for navigation assistance to their assigned runway. 151
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 18/09/2026Should've known I'd run into @themiddleseatview.bsky.social at the LAX United Club--on the terrace overlooking the ramp between T7 and T8, of course. 040
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 18/09/2026The 757 is a great plane, but the 757-300 as flown by United is... not so great. No screens, glitchy and slow WiFi, and the power outlets are so old that they no longer hold a plug in place. (I forgot to bring a U.K. plug adapter, which can stay seated better in those outlets.) 460
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 18/09/2026A fitting start to my journey to LAX for #CrankyDorkfest: Metro to IAD synced up perfectly with the arrival of a plane landing on runway 19L. 090
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 18/09/2026Another interesting-EV sighting: My wife spotted a Waymo in Clarendon, with nobody in the driver’s seat. Her perspective didn’t allow enough of a view of the passenger seat up front to report if there was a safety observer there. 110
Reposted by Rob Pegoraro Martin Austermuhle @maustermuhle.bsky.social · 17/09/2026Interesting: In a new (legacy-building) letter to the D.C. Council, @mayorbowser.dc.gov says she's going to introduce bills to finalize some longstanding development projects in the city, including the Chevy Chase Civic Core, Poplar Point, Fletcher-Johnson, Georgetown Boathouse, etc. 2105
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 17/09/2026Saw one of Amazon's Rivian electric vans in downtown D.C. I didn't know they were in service anywhere in the District. 231
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 17/09/2026Passing a bill taxing heavier vehicles more *in New Hampshire* drives an electric truck through the political-unfeasibility argument against doing that elsewhere. 1388
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 16/09/2026This is where I'll be Saturday. See some of y'all there? 220
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 16/09/2026Remarkable similarities between what Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio advises Republican candidates to say about data centers and what El-Sayed said about them last night in the clip below. (Whether Fabrizio's client will take his advice is a separate question, one most likely answered with "no.")axios.comScoop: Trump pollster gives GOP a data center survival guideCandidates need to emphasize putting conditions on development, he says. 172
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 16/09/2026Per this report, this move by the County Board to de-Flock Arlington doesn't affect older traffic-safety cameras that only record license plates. (As a pedestrian and cyclist, I am okay with that. Location-specific enforcement of laws that too many drivers ignore != pervasive vehicle tracking.) 1171
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 15/09/2026For those of you who have installed macOS 27 Golden Gate: How much storage does Settings show Apple Intelligence taking up when you click the information button next to "macOS" under Settings:General:Storage? I'm looking at 21.7 GB on this Mac mini M1. 330
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 15/09/2026To my fellow self-employed types in the U.S., whom I trust already have their estimated taxes done: happy Quarterly Tax Awareness Day!irs.govEstimated tax | Internal Revenue ServiceFind answers to frequently asked questions on estimated tax. 141
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 15/09/2026I can't vouch for the accuracy of this for other states, but as a Virginia poll worker I can confirm it checks out here. (FYI about same-day registration: The provisional ballot you cast after that doesn't need further action from you as long as you didn't commit a felony by trying to "SDR" twice.) 151
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 15/09/2026What is it about tech companies that don't know how to defenestrate a CEO and keep the guy defenestrated?techcrunch.comAutomattic confirms Mullenweg has returned as CEO after attempted ouster by board | TechCrunchAutomattic says Mullenweg is back as "chairman and CEO of Automattic, with full support of the board." 261
Reposted by Rob Pegoraro Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 14/09/2026Apparently the commander of the International Space Station brought her dancing pants to space with her 1163139704
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 15/09/2026How long should I give macOS 27 to index my mail for the new "Expanded Search Results" to not be worse than what the old search could find? Or what Gmail's Web app surfaces in a few seconds? 240
Rob Pegoraro @robpegoraro.com · 14/09/2026It made me weirdly happy to be able to write about Clarus the dogcow some four decades after I would have first seen that Mac mascot in a page-setup dialog. #moofpcmag.comApple's New OSes Hide an Easter Egg That Old-School Mac Users Should AppreciateClarus the dogcow makes a reappearance in iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27. 0105
