A surprisingly cloudy day on Mars

NASA’s Curiosity rover has been able to register something which, while unremarkable on Earth, is an interesting phenomenon for Mars — cloudy skies. The agency has shared images of “shining” clouds, able to form on a planet that has a relatively thin atmosphere. Nothing has been confirmed just yet, but they could be naturally formed dry-ice clouds, made of carbon dioxide.

Cloudy weather on Mars

Cloudy weather on Mars

It might not match the appeal of ancient megafloods or possible signs of life, but Curiosity continues to offer up new Mars insights, both above and below the surface of the red planet.

— Mat Smith

Sony and Tomy both helped with the design.

The Morning After

The Morning After

A little closer to home, Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has teamed up with Sony, Doshisha University and toy-maker Tomy on a ball-shaped transforming robot destined for the Moon. It will study lunar soil ahead of a crewed rover set to launch in 2029. Continue reading.

The company originally wanted to release the feature in May.

Apple’s podcast subscription service won’t be coming out this month, as previously scheduled. In an email to podcasters obtained by 9to5Mac, the company has announced it’s pushing back both the subscriptions and channels release date to June to ensure it’s “delivering the best experience for creators and listeners.” The “channels” feature will recommend groups of shows curated by creators, with extra descriptive text and artwork. Continue reading.

Pro-dealership laws have created an awkward situation for Tesla.

The Morning After

The Morning After

Tesla’s long-running battle with pro-dealership laws is about to get even weirder. Texas legislature is winding down its session on May 31st, without advancing a bill that lets Tesla sell directly to customers. This means the EV maker will likely have to ship cars from its upcoming Texas, Austin-area Gigafactory out of state before it can sell them to Texans. Continue reading.

Plus, there’s a new 5G M.2 laptop module coming.

Announced last night at Intel’s Computex keynote, its newest Core i7 chip will reach 5GHz on a single core, thanks to the company’s new Turbo Boost Max 3.0. Beyond hitting 5GHz, the new processors don’t pack in many surprises. The series still sports four cores and eight threads, and it features 96 Intel Xe graphics cores like its predecessor. Basically, it should offer a small upgrade to new PCs coming this fall.

Intel also announced its first 5G M.2 module, which was developed with MediaTek after Intel sold its 5G assets to Apple. Continue reading.

But wait, there’s more…

Apple TV 4K review: Finally, a Siri remote I don’t hate

Hitting the Books: Sci-fi strategies may be needed to stave off climate change

Ford’s electric F-150 range estimates are very conservative

WhatsApp won’t limit accounts for users who don’t accept its new privacy policy

New AI supercomputer will help create the largest-ever 3D map of the univer
se