Two Starlinks, Apple's Legal Move, CoreWeave Jitters

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Here's what's on deck today, Sunday, March 1, 2026... Two SpaceX Starlink launches bookend the day on both U.S. coasts. Apple officially hands the general counsel reins to a high-profile hire from Meta. Microsoft starts a month-long refresh of Secure Boot certificates that could affect Windows security posture. Apple turns up the dial on search ads in the App Store this Tuesday. And CoreWeave's debt-powered AI expansion keeps investors on edge, despite massive demand for compute. Let's get into it.

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We'll start on the launch pads.

SpaceX is targeting a pre-dawn West Coast liftoff for Starlink Group 17-23 from Vandenberg Space Force Base, with 25 Starlink V2 Mini satellites headed to a sun-synchronous orbit. The precise T-zero on the boards: 5:10:39 a.m. Eastern — 2:10:39 a.m. Pacific. Booster B1082 is aiming for its 20th flight, with a droneship landing on Of Course I Still Love You.

If you prefer your rockets with an evening glow, a second Falcon 9 is queued from Cape Canaveral for Starlink Group 10-41, carrying 29 satellites during a window that opens at 7:07 p.m. Eastern. Both missions keep SpaceX's relentless cadence building out Starlink's global coverage. Spaceflight Now has live coverage of the Vandenberg launch, and NASASpaceflight is tracking the Cape schedule and vehicle reuse stats — links in the show notes.

Quick context: these constellation flights are increasingly routine, but the metrics aren't. Twentieth-flight milestones for boosters — and multiple same-day operations — are the new normal that keep Starlink's capacity climbing without having to build a new first stage for every mission. If all goes to plan, expect two splashy landing videos — and another few dozen satellites added to the mesh by tomorrow morning. More from Space.com in the notes.

Over to Cupertino. Apple's top legal seat officially changes hands today. Jennifer Newstead — Meta's former chief legal officer and a onetime legal adviser at the U.S. State Department — assumes the role of Apple's general counsel on March 1 after a planned transition announced in December. She'll ultimately oversee both Legal and Government Affairs as Apple navigates an intense stretch of regulatory scrutiny, from EU Digital Markets Act compliance to App Store business model shifts. Apple's release sets today as the effective date. MacRumors and Reuters have the broader personnel picture — links in the notes.

Staying with platform security — a PSA for Windows admins and power users. Microsoft begins rolling out refreshed Secure Boot certificates this month for Windows 11 and Windows 10 ESU devices. Secure Boot dates back to 2011 as a way to block unsigned code from loading at boot; these updated certificates are meant to harden systems against evolving boot-level attacks. If you skip the update, Microsoft says your device can fall into a degraded security state that limits its ability to receive future boot-level protections. So... a quick trip to Windows Update is worth your time. Engadget has a good rundown — link in the notes.

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Back to Apple — this time for developers and marketers.

Starting Tuesday, March 3, Apple will insert additional ad placements deeper into App Store search results. Historically, sponsored results appeared at the very top; now, more ads will show further down the results page.

Apple points out that roughly 65% of App Store downloads originate from a search, so incremental placements can drive discovery — and ad spend. Developers are tracking this closely: more inventory can push up competition on high-value keywords and potentially change conversion math for both brand defense and user acquisition. Apple began notifying developers last month. If you manage budgets, pencil in a watch-and-adjust week starting Tuesday. Engadget has details in the notes.

Finally, the AI infrastructure story of the week.

CoreWeave's aggressive buildout of GPU-rich data centers is colliding with the realities of capital markets. Shares dropped after earnings on softer-than-hoped guidance and widening losses — even as revenue doubled year over year. Barron's put the move at roughly minus 15 percent into the weekend.

Zooming out, the financing model CoreWeave helped pioneer — large loans secured by high-end GPUs and long-term customer contracts — has gone mainstream across the AI arms race. The Financial Times notes yields that tempt lenders, but also worries about how quickly GPU assets can become obsolete. Reuters reports CoreWeave plans to double 2026 capital spending to as much as 35 billion dollars to chase demand. Net-net: demand for compute is still ferocious... but the cost of money — and the pace of hardware cycles — is forcing everyone from clouds to sovereigns to rethink balance sheets, risk, and refresh plans. Links in the notes.

Rapid-fire before we wrap: if you're in Europe and track compliance roadmaps, circle August 2, 2026 — when most high-risk AI obligations in the EU AI Act begin to apply. The Commission's official timeline is a handy reference as companies race to build sandboxes, documentation, and post-market monitoring ahead of the summer. Not news for today, per se — but the countdown is officially at five months. Link in the notes.

That's it for today's run. Two Starlink launches to watch, a pivotal legal leadership change at Apple, Windows Secure Boot hardening rolling out in March, App Store ads expanding on Tuesday, and CoreWeave's spend-now, earn-later strategy testing investor patience — even as AI demand soars. I'll keep an eye on the launches and on CoreWeave's financing chatter — expect updates as numbers and liftoff windows firm up. Have a great rest of your Sunday.

Thanks for listening and a quick disclaimer, this podcast was generated and curated by AI using my and my kids' cloned voices, if you want to know how I do it or want to do something similar, reach out to me at emad at ai news in 10 dot com that's ai news in one zero dot com. See you all tomorrow.