Welcome to the Tech Meme Right Home for Friday, December 20th, 2019. I'm Brian McCullough today.

Does Apple have a secret team to do an end run around telecom carriers.

Google buys a game studio, IAC buys care.

Ripple is an interesting raise, and of course the weekend long read suggestions.

Here's what you missed today in the world of tech.

It's been a while, but we have an honest to goodness Mark Germin Scoop Friday on our hands.

Sources are telling Germin in Bloomberg that Apple has a secret team of around 12 engineers

who are tasked with working on satellite tech and other related wireless tech in an effort to find ways to beam data directly to devices.

Forget about Wi-Fi, forget about 5G.

And this team hopes to have some form of productive results in as little as five years.

Quote,

Apple's work on communications satellites and next generation wireless technology means the aim is likely to beam data to a

user's device, potentially mitigating the dependence on wireless carriers or for linking

devices together without a traditional network.

Apple could also be exploring satellites for more precise location tracking for its devices,

enabling improved maps, and new features.

It's not clear if Apple intends to pursue the costly development of a satellite constellation

itself or simply harness on the ground equipment that would take data from existing satellites

and send it to mobile devices.

Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and Boeing are some of the biggest satellite makers,

and Apple Spokeswoman declined to comment.

The team is led by Michael Trella and John Fenwick, former aerospace engineers who helped lead

...