April 2021
- China's Giant Radio Dish Opens Its Doors to the World
FAST, the world's largest single-dish radio telescope, now accepts observation proposals from scientists outside China.
- Xiaomi's Mi 11 Ultra Goes Global, and the Camera Bump Gets Absurd
Xiaomi's Mi 11 Ultra launches globally at $1,199 with a huge 1/1.12-inch main sensor, 5x periscope zoom, and a tiny screen on the back.
- 533 Million Facebook Accounts Just Leaked, and 'It's Old Data' Isn't the Comfort Facebook Thinks It Is
A scraped database of 533 million Facebook users' phone numbers and personal details surfaced free on a hacking forum, and Facebook is downplaying it.
- The Asteroid That Killed the Dinosaurs Also Built the Amazon
A new fossil pollen study argues the Chicxulub impact didn't just end the dinosaurs — it kicked off the transition to today's Amazon rainforest.
- The Chip Shortage Is Now a Gaming Hardware Problem
Nintendo trims Switch production targets and PS5/Xbox stock stays scarce as the global semiconductor shortage bites into gaming hardware.
- Python Ships 3.9.4 and 3.8.9: Boring Releases Are a Feature
The Python core team quietly shipped 3.9.4 and 3.8.9 maintenance releases, bundling security and bug fixes while 3.10 alpha work continues.
- Ingenuity Clears for Takeoff on Mars
Perseverance has dropped Ingenuity onto the Martian surface and driven clear, setting up the first powered flight attempt on another planet.
- Lenovo's Legion 2 Pro Wants to Be Your Controller and Your Phone
Lenovo launched the Legion 2 Pro gaming phone in China with a Snapdragon 888, notch-free pop-up camera, and side-mounted USB-C ports built for competitive mobile play.
- Google I/O Is Back — Virtually — May 18-20
Google confirmed I/O 2021 will run May 18-20 as a free, fully virtual event, a year after the pandemic scrapped the show entirely.
- Ingenuity's First Flight Slips After a Rotor Hiccup
A failed transition out of 'pre-flight' mode during a rotor spin test pushed Ingenuity's historic first Mars flight past its April 11 target.
- Nokia's New Phones Are Betting on Boring, and That's the Point
HMD Global's Nokia X20, X10, and G10 launch leans on long software support and recycled plastic rather than flashy specs.
- China Just Sent Big Tech a $2.78 Billion Message
China's antitrust regulator hit Alibaba with a record CN¥18.2 billion fine over its "choose one of two" merchant policy.
- The FDA and CDC Just Hit Pause on the J&J Vaccine
US health agencies recommend pausing Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine after six rare blood-clot cases surfaced among nearly 7 million doses.
- Sony's Xperia Event Shows It's Still Playing a Different Game
Sony's latest Xperia announcement doubles down on pro-camera features for a small enthusiast crowd instead of chasing Samsung and Apple on volume.
- Windows 10 Is Quietly Force-Upgrading You to Chromium Edge
Microsoft's April Patch Tuesday update is auto-replacing legacy EdgeHTML Edge with the Chromium-based browser on Windows 10 machines.
- mRNA Isn't Just a COVID Story Anymore
Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are already talking up flu, HIV, and cancer vaccines built on the same rapid mRNA platform.
- Capcom Drops a Free Resident Evil Village Demo
Capcom's time-limited Village demo lets PS5 and PS4 players explore Lady Dimitrescu's castle ahead of the May 7 launch.
- The GPT-3 App Store Nobody Officially Built
OpenAI's widening GPT-3 API access has spawned copywriting, chatbot, and code tools that look like early drafts of an AI pair programmer.
- Ingenuity Just Flew on Mars, and I'm Still Processing It
NASA's Ingenuity helicopter made the first powered, controlled flight on another planet, hovering above Jezero Crater for about 39 seconds.
- Apple's Spring Loaded Event: AirTag Finally Arrives, iMac Gets Colorful Again
Apple's Spring Loaded event brought AirTag trackers, a redesigned M1 iMac in seven colors, a new M1 iPad Pro, and podcast subscriptions.
- Why ARM Laptops Are Suddenly a Serious Idea
Six months after the M1, Apple has forced Qualcomm, Microsoft, and the whole PC industry to take ARM laptops seriously.
- MOXIE Just Made Oxygen on Mars, and That Changes the Math for Human Spaceflight
Perseverance's MOXIE instrument produced usable oxygen from Mars's CO2 atmosphere, a first step toward in-situ resource use on another planet.
- GPUs Are Still a Nightmare to Buy, and It's Not Getting Better Soon
RTX 30-series and RX 6000 cards remain scarce and 2-3x MSRP as chip shortages and crypto mining collide, with Nvidia warning the squeeze could last most of 2021.
- Crew-2 Docks With the ISS, and Commercial Crew Starts Looking Routine
SpaceX's Crew Dragon Endeavour docked with the ISS carrying an international Crew-2 team, a milestone that's starting to feel almost ordinary.
- Async-First Beats More Meetings
A year into remote work, teams are trading video-call fatigue for Notion docs, Slack huddles, and Loom clips instead of piling on more Zoom.
- Buying a PS5 Shouldn't Require a Bot
PS5 and Xbox Series X scalping has turned console launches into an arms race between bots and retailer checkout defenses.
- Ingenuity Keeps Pushing Its Mars Flight Envelope
Ingenuity's second and third Mars flights added altitude, sideways motion, and distance, extending its five-flight demo campaign.
- Epic v. Apple Goes to Trial Next Week, and the App Store's Rules Are on the Stand
As Epic Games v. Apple heads to a bench trial starting May 3, both sides are locked in a fight over the App Store's 30% cut and payment lock-in.
- China's Tiangong Station Gets Its First Piece: The Tianhe Module Is in Orbit
China launched the 22.5-ton Tianhe core module on a Long March 5B, kicking off roughly two years of assembly for its Tiangong space station.
- The New iMac Is Finally Real: Preorders Open Today
Apple opened preorders for the redesigned 24-inch M1 iMac, the first fanless, color-matched iMac since 2012, starting at $1,299.