Lenovo Yoga Carbon laptop with Intel Tiger Lake leaked

Another day, another leak from Lenovo. Yesterday we learned the company is working on a previously unannounced dual-screen Lenovo Yoga computer. Now we have our first look at a new Lenovo Yoga Carbon laptop with a 13 inch display and support for &#8220…

Another day, another leak from Lenovo. Yesterday we learned the company is working on a previously unannounced dual-screen Lenovo Yoga computer. Now we have our first look at a new Lenovo Yoga Carbon laptop with a 13 inch display and support for “up to an 11th-gen Intel Core i7” processor. In other words, there’s a strong chance […]

SpaceX scrubs Friday launch attempt Starlink of satellites [Updated]

“The visor prevents light from reflecting off of the diffuse antennas.”

1:45pm ET Friday Update: SpaceX has scrubbed its Starlink launch attempt for Friday. No details of why were immediately available.

Original post: SpaceX is preparing for its 10th launch of Starlink satellites on Friday afternoon. The launch on board a Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida is scheduled for 4:18pm ET (20:18 UTC). The weather outlook for Friday's launch attempt is favorable.

On this 10th launch, it's worth stepping back to realize that, in addition to developing reusable rockets, two different Dragon spacecraft, and working on its ambitious Starship project, SpaceX has also built 600 satellites in the last couple of years. And these are not small CubeSats—each of the Starlink satellites weighs 260kg and has its own on-board propulsion system. This is a pretty remarkable new production capability.

Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments

The Kia Telluride is the most surprising SUV of the year

Kia’s biggest SUV can do it all, both off-road and on.

Let's get this out of the way: if you're in the market for a three-row SUV, you need to look long and hard at the Kia Telluride. It is legitimately the best three-row SUV I've driven since... ever. No wonder it won the 2020 World Car of the Year award.

When I first laid eyes on the Telluride at the 2019 Chicago Auto Show, my first reaction was "this doesn't look like a Kia." There are no quirky design aesthetics like the Kia Soul. Instead, the Korean automaker has gone for the classic SUV look, swapping out whimsy for gravitas. Instead of the cartoonishly large grille and tiny Kia badge of the Soul, the front of Kia's new flagship SUV has a more restrained-looking grille with "Telluride" spelled out in large block letters à la Range Rover. The Telluride exterior is all clean lines and gentle curves, with the B and C pillars blending into the windows and metal trim around the windows going from front to back.

Designed with the US market in mind, the Telluride starts at $33,690 for the LX trim. Priced at $46,860, our review model was a top-end Telluride SX with the $2,000 Prestige Package (heads-up display, Nappa leather trim, and heated/ventilated back seats) included. Fully loaded, it's an impressive beast of an SUV.

Read 11 remaining paragraphs | Comments

A massive Saharan dust plume is moving into the Southeast US

It’s bringing technicolor sunsets and suppressing tropical storms.

A couple looks at the sea as a vast cloud of Sahara dust is blanketing the city of Havana on June 24, 2020. (Photo by YAMIL LAGE/AFP via Getty Images)

Enlarge / A couple looks at the sea as a vast cloud of Sahara dust is blanketing the city of Havana on June 24, 2020. (Photo by YAMIL LAGE/AFP via Getty Images) (credit: Yamil Lage/AFP via Getty Images)

A hot desert wind is carrying a massive cloud of Saharan dust into the Southern United States this week. Dust plumes from the Sahara routinely blow westward across the Atlantic at this time of year, but this event is a doozy—by some measures, the biggest in decades. And a second plume appears to be forming about a week behind the big one.

Across the southeastern US, from the Gulf Coast to the Carolinas and potentially as far north as Indianapolis and Cincinnati, dust effects will likely be visible in the coming days. Trillions of dust grains will reflect sunlight in every direction, creating milky white skies. The dusty haze reflects some sunshine back to space, cooling the surface a bit where the plume is thickest.

Longer waves of red and orange light tend to penetrate the dusty haze, so sunrises and sunsets are likely to be especially beautiful. On the downside, where the plume mingles with showers or thunderstorms, downdrafts may carry desert dust to Earth’s surface. This will impair air quality and could trigger allergic reactions and asthma attacks. The more dust reaches an area, the more pronounced the effects will be.

Read 16 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Microsoft is closing all of its retail stores

Almost 11 years after opening its first bricks and mortar retail store, Microsoft had 83 stores around the world at the start of this year. Now the company says it’s closing them all and instead shift its focus to online sales through the existin…

Almost 11 years after opening its first bricks and mortar retail store, Microsoft had 83 stores around the world at the start of this year. Now the company says it’s closing them all and instead shift its focus to online sales through the existing Microsoft.com as well as the Microsoft Store apps for Windows and […]

What’s new in Windows 10 Build 2004

Improved Linux, Sandbox, and Cortana features dominate Build 2004’s changelist.

One upside of Windows 10 2004: You won't find old install CDs all over the office two decades from now.

Enlarge / One upside of Windows 10 2004: You won't find old install CDs all over the office two decades from now. (credit: Ramzi Haidar/AFP via Getty Images)

The Internet may have fun trying to guess the next natural feature of California or animal alliteration name for the other major operating systems, but Windows build naming conventions can be downright hard to parse. The latest officially released build was originally known as 20H1—meaning the first half of 2020. As it got closer to release status, it received its official build number: 2004, meaning April 2020. However, it didn't actually hit release status for another month, on May 27.

Maybe that's all indicative of what awaits users when they finally upgrade to Windows 10 2004; this is not Microsoft pumping out major changes like its debut of Windows 2000 roughly two decades ago. Still, a new Windows release is a new Windows release. So we recently spun up a fresh VM with a clean install of Build 2004 to take a look at its new features.

Edge, Installation size, Search, and Kaomoji

The very first thing we noticed after a fresh install of Build 2004 was Edge. To be specific, Legacy Edge. You'll still need to go out of your way to install the new and improved Chromium-based Edge, which we're going to keep calling "Edgium" until the legacy version finishes going away.

Read 36 remaining paragraphs | Comments

California set to ban all heavy diesel trucks and vans by 2045

Heavy-duty trucks are responsible for 70% of vehicle air pollution in the state.

A class-8 truck in the sunshine

Enlarge / This is the Volvo VRN Electric, the company's first electric class-8 truck. (credit: Volvo)

The days of diesel delivery trucks and vans in California are numbered. On Thursday, the state's Air Resources Board adopted a new rule that will phase out these most polluting of vehicles from the state over the next quarter-century. Beginning in 2024, OEMs that want to sell medium- and heavy-duty trucks in the state will have to ensure that some of those trucks are zero emissions vehicles (ZEVs). Over time, the percentage of those ZEV trucks has to increase, so that by 2045, any new truck sold in the state will be emission-free. Currently, CARB estimates that 2 million diesel trucks and vans are the cause of 70 percent of smog-causing pollution in the state.

"California is an innovation juggernaut that is going electric. We are showing the world that we can move goods, grow our economy, and finally dump dirty diesel," said Jared Blumenfeld, California’s secretary for Environmental Protection.

The new rule excludes light trucks (8,500lbs/3,855kg and under), so the new Ford F-150 doesn't count. But it does apply to pretty much anything bigger than that—class 2b (like a Ford F-250 for example) all the way through the biggest class 8 trucks and tractors. The mandate starts gently: in 2024, only 3 percent of class 2b and class 3 trucks, 7 percent of class 4 through 8 trucks, and 3 percent of class 7 and 8 tractors have to be emissions free. And in fact, for pickup trucks—ie trucks that came from the factory with a load bed rather than some other configuration—the class 2b-class 3 rule only kicks in during 2027.

Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Google makes some Android 11 features optional (not every phone will have them)

Android 11 is coming later this year, and it brings a bunch of new features for smartphones, tablets, and other devices. But it looks like there’s a good chance that not every device running Android 11 will have all of those new features. The fol…

Android 11 is coming later this year, and it brings a bunch of new features for smartphones, tablets, and other devices. But it looks like there’s a good chance that not every device running Android 11 will have all of those new features. The folks at xda-developers report that a couple of big features are […]