The Morning After: Weekend Edition

Letter from the Editor

Apple may have scrapped its rumored March press event, but fortunately, we were able to count on Samsung for some good old-fashioned spectacle. Actually, by the company's standards, Wednesday's Galaxy S8 launch in New York was fairly tame: There was no orchestra onstage, and attendees looking for VR headsets underneath their seats were left empty-handed. Instead, we got the heavily leaked Galaxy S8 (and S8+), along with a healthy dose of humility -- yes, Samsung is still very sorry about those exploding Note 7s.

All told, the phones themselves look promising, with nearly bezel-less displays that make the devices easier to hold than their 5.8- and 6.2-inch screen sizes would have you believe. Samsung's face-recognizing personal assistant Bixby looks interesting too, though we're gonna call BS on the company's pitch that these devices represent a fresh form factor for phones -- they're still just boxes, guys. Oh, and can Samsung succeed where other companies have failed, and make phone-powered desktops a thing? Only time will tell, but suffice to say, we have some questions.

There was so much happening at Samsung's one-hour press event that you may have missed, well, lots of other things going on this week. Just a few hours before the Samsung event, the first reviews of Microsoft's upcoming Windows 10 Creators Update hit the internet. We're especially excited about built-in game streaming and some new Edge browser features, but you might end up downloading it just for Paint 3D.

Meanwhile, in more sobering news, Democrats pushed the issue of cybersecurity, and the Trump administration claimed coal can be a form of clean energy. Don't want to think about politics, hackers and smoke clouds as you kick off the weekend? Here, check out this video from our Rock Band VR review, and make sure you keep watching to the very end.

-- Dana Wollman, Executive Editor

SlowlyAndroid Wear 2.0 is rolling out to a few more devices

After a brief delay, the new version of Android for wearables is hitting more smartwatches. The Polar M600, Nixon Mission, Fossil Q Wander, Fossil Q Marshal and Michael Kors Access join the Fossil Q Founder, Casio Smart Outdoor Watch WSD-F10 and TAG Heuer Connected on the update list that so many other older devices will never join. Hopefully, your wristwear is on the list, though, because it looks like version 2.0 is worth the wait.

That's one way to fix the problemTwitter is changing its default profile pic

Twitter had the idea that new users would "hatch" into birds -- like its logo -- before sending tweets, so it made the default profile image an egg. Unfortunately, over the years, anonymous trolls have associated the egg with every kind of hate and filth you can imagine, and probably some you can't. Now Twitter is adjusting the head and shoulders of its default pic to be more inclusive and assigning a neutral gray color scheme to give them less prominence.

A special kind of crazyMeet bargain-store 'Iron Man'

UK inventor Richard Browning strapped six kerosene-powered microjets to his arms and took flight -- sort of. His suit flies low and slow, and while that may not quite meet the bar of a Marvel movie special effect, Browning claims it's safe.

Moore's Law will continueIntel: Our next chips will be a 'generation ahead' of Samsung

Intel's 10nm "Cannon Lake" chips have hit some delays, but it's still confident that when they arrive, it will outpace the competition from Samsung and TSMC. With "hyper scaling" that will allow for more transistors, it expects to produce CPUs with 25 percent faster performance than current Kaby Lake chips, and 45 percent lower power use.

It worksSpaceX stuck the landing with a reusable rocket

ICYMI, this week SpaceX proved its model works -- by launching and landing a previously-used orbital rocket booster. Relive the breakthrough right here.

But wait, there's more...

• Self-assembling wires could lead to faster processors

• The Engadget Podcast Ep 34: Intergalactic - All Samsung, all the time.

• Pornhub adds HTTPS to keep your kinks private

• Watch Samsung's Galaxy S8 event in under nine minutes

• Netflix nabs 'Archer' team for its first animated feature 'America: The Motion Picture'

• Blizzard's first eSports stadium opens just in time for Overwatch World Cup competition

The Morning After is a new daily newsletter from Engadget designed to help you fight off FOMO. Who knows what you'll miss if you don't subscribe.