The Morning After: Weekend Edition

Hey, good morning! You look fabulous.

Welcome to the weekend. We’ll recap this week’s news highlights, plus big stories from Friday like Project Loon-distributed internet going live in Puerto Rico.

Reconnect.Project Loon’s LTE balloons are floating over Puerto Rico

Former Google X Lab (and now Alphabet X innovation lab) resident Project Loon is getting its first use in the US, as it’s partnering with AT&T to provide service in Puerto Rico. As part of the restoration efforts, the high-flying balloons are launching from Nevada and floating over the island, all in hopes of beaming LTE to areas still without service a month after Hurricane Maria.

The first Cortana speaker sounds amazing.Harman Kardon Invoke review

The good news about this $199 smart speaker is that it sounds great, and Microsoft’s Cortana voice assistant is a natural addition. The bad news is that as a latecomer to the game, it has fewer music service integrations, and right now, Cortana isn’t as capable as competitors like Amazon’s Alexa.

You say replicant, we say repli-can.Bad Password: Apps and gadgets for the ‘Blade Runner’ future we didn’t ask for

This week, Violet Blue explains how technology can help make the best of our dystopian present — at least until Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling show up to fix things.

Watch the movie first.Designing the technology of ‘Blade Runner 2049’

Of course, if you prefer the distraction of a fictional Blade Runner universe, we have a few treats for you too. Take a walk with Territory Studios to find out how it established “the UI of a broken future” in Blade Runner 2049 — but mind the spoilers.

So long, wobbly fulcrum hinge. Hello, 15-inch beauty.Surface Book 2 hands-on

The Surface Book 2 sounds like it may fix all of the issues we had with the original model (as well as last year’s refresh). It has a stronger hinge, so no more screen-wobble as you’re typing, and it’s (predictably) more powerful than before. Microsoft also added a 15-inch model, making the Surface Book 2 even more of a competitor to Apple’s MacBook Pro line.

Define “partisan.”Does social media threaten the illusion of news neutrality?

As reporters become Twitter celebrities, newsrooms begin to adapt.

But wait, there’s more…

• Can an iPad Pro replace your PC?
• Pixel 2 and 2 XL review: Google’s best phones get even better
• Spotify’s RISE program will try to find future music superstars
• Severe ‘KRACK’ WiFi security flaw puts millions of devices at risk
• Sonos One review
• Blue Origin’s BE-4 rocket engine completes first hot-fire test

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