First Click: Google Pixel reviews, Mars landing, mystery Tesla announcement, and more in the week ahead

October 17th, 2016

14

This week we expect to see the first reviews for the “made by Google” Pixel and Pixel XL phones that begin shipping on Thursday. Pixel is well placed to fill the Android flagship void vacated by Samsung’s discontinued Galaxy Note 7. We’re looking forward to doing some real-world testing on the camera after Google made such a big deal out of its 89 DxOMark Mobile score, the highest ever on a smartphone. Pixel is also the first phone to feature the Google Assistant. And remember that Google’s $79 Daydream View VR headset will available for preorder on Thursday when you’re picking up that new Pixel.

Tuesday marks the start of Vanity Fair’s third annual New Establishment Summit. According the event’s website, "The summit brings titans of technology, politics, business, media, and the arts for inspiring conversations on the issues and innovations shaping the future." This year’s lineup of speakers includes Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Uber’s Travis Kalanick, Disney’s Bob Iger, Apple’s Eddie Cue, and Pixar’s John Lasseter to name just a few.

With any luck, Wednesday will see the ExoMars mission land the Schiaparelli module on the surface of Mars. Schiaparelli separated from the Trace Gas Orbiter on Sunday. Together, the two spacecraft are hoping to prove that life exists — or has existed — on the Red Planet.

Wednesday is also the day that Elon Musk is promising a Tesla announcement. Originally scheduled for today, Musk took to Twitter last night to say it would move to Wednesday because whatever is coming "needs a few more days of refinement."

Rumors are swirling of an Apple event scheduled for next week. If true we should see the press invites go out over the next few days for what’s expected to be a long overdue refresh of the company’s Macs, including the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and iMac. Bloomberg’s also saying to expect a new 5K monitor built in collaboration with LG.

Volvo’s parent company, Geely of China, will be launching its new Lynk & Co car brand on Thursday. According to Autoweek, lynk & Co will launch with both a sedan and SUV built upon the bones of Volvo’s compact modular architecture.

This week also marks the return of earnings season. On deck are Netflix and IBM on Monday, followed by Yahoo on Tuesday, eBay on Wednesday, and then Verizon and Microsoft on Thursday.

But that's all still to come. First, let's get caught up on the weekend that was.


  1. It is now a federal crime to bring a Galaxy Note 7 onto an airplane

    The Federal Aviation Administration officially banned Galaxy Note 7s from being brought onto airplanes earlier this week, and under a new Emergency Restriction / Prohibition Order, it’s now a...

  2. Musk delays Tesla 'product unveiling' to Wednesday

    Earlier this month, Elon Musk said that Tesla would be holding a "product unveiling" today, Monday October 17th. But late last night ET, Musk tweeted that the company was delaying the announcement...

  3. Donald Trump is calling SNL’s portrayal of him a ‘hit job’

    Donald Trump isn’t thrilled with Alec Baldwin’s portrayal of him in Saturday Night Live's cold open sketch last night, calling the show "boring and unfunny". Watched Saturday Night Live hit...

  4. This decade-old Korean game show GIF, explained

    The animated GIF is a wordless poem. Without the barrier of language, it expresses emotions, and visualizes in one looping series of frames what it would take the written word, well, at least a...

  5. How the changing weather affects our health

    Two months ago, I strained my neck. It’s better, but I now notice that every time it gets cold, I feel tingling all down my arm. I started joking that I had become one of those people who could...

  6. Samsung has a new high-end Chromebook with touchscreen and stylus coming soon

    Earlier this summer, rumors of a new Chromebook nicknamed ‘Kevin’ circulated around the web, and yesterday, ChromeUnboxed uncovered the yet-to-be-announced model through a series of retailer...

  7. This ping pong table plays music to the rhythm of your game

    Seattle-based designer Mark Wheeler embedded contact microphones on ping pong paddles, hid an Arduino in a retro radio, and designed an app, all to get a ping pong table to play music to the rhythm...

  8. The scariest movie this Halloween is a play called Delusion

    Director Jon Braver's vampire tale is a wonderful, waking nightmare

  9. Dan Sultan is a singing, 3D printed head in the music video for Magnetic

    Australian alt-rock singer Dan Sultan just released his latest single, "Magnetic". It was accompanied by a really cool music video: one that features an stop-motion film of a 3D printed bust of the...

  10. The ExoMars spacecraft will separate this morning, to prepare for a harrowing Mars landing

    After seven months of traveling to Mars, Europe and Russia's two ExoMars spacecraft are scheduled to separate from one another this morning — a crucial move just three days before they reach the...

Scratch of the day

Hummingbird Scratching Its Ass