Enlarge / Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga Gen 7 2-in-1. (credit: Scharon Harding)

The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga , now in its 7th iteration ( $1,870.03 MSRP as tested, as of writing), continues its modern take on the business-focused ThinkPad. It has the durability expected of a business machine, as well as smooth navigation underscored by a thoughtfully programmed keyboard fit for frequent typists, and, of course, that famous red nub.

However, the laptop doesn't necessarily outperform high-end consumer laptops, even some with slightly cheaper price tags. And similar to other ThinkPads we've tested, heat in its Best performance mode is so much of an issue that even light workloads will run the machine so warm that you won't want to touch it in certain areas.

ThinkPad styling

Part ThinkPad, part Yoga. (credit: Scharon Harding)

Naming tells you this machine is part Lenovo ThinkPad, part Lenovo Yoga, but the styling and tough build lean more toward the former. Yes, there's the same 360-degree hinge found on Lenovo Yoga 2-in-1s, as well as a modern, thin-and-light build in a dark gray that's more fun than the more traditional ThinkPad black. But the density and tough feel of the aluminum chassis combined with the deep keyboard, advanced trackpad, and famous red rubber nub all scream ThinkPad.

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Microsoft has stunned core parts of the security community with a decision to quietly reverse course and allow untrusted macros to be opened by default in Word and other Office applications.

In February, the software maker announced a major change it said it enacted to combat the growing scourge of ransomware and other malware attacks. Going forward, macros downloaded from the Internet would be disabled entirely by default. Whereas previously, Office provided alert banners that could be disregarded with the click of a button, the new warnings would provide no such way to enable the macros.

"We will continue to adjust our user experience for macros, as we’ve done here, to make it more difficult to trick users into running malicious code via social engineering while maintaining a path for legitimate macros to be enabled where appropriate via Trusted Publishers and/or Trusted Locations,” Microsoft Office Program Manager Tristan Davis wrote in explaining the reason for the move.

Enlarge / Starlink Maritime puts dual terminals on large boats. (credit: Starlink)

SpaceX yesterday announced a Starlink Maritime service that will bring satellite Internet service to large boats for $5,000 per month and an up-front hardware purchase of $10,000.

"From merchant vessels to oil rigs to premium yachts, Starlink Maritime allows you to connect from the most remote waters across the world, just like you would in the office or at home," the service's webpage says.

Starlink Maritime advertises download speeds of up to 350Mbps and the ability to "pause and un-pause service at any time" while being billed in one-month increments. There's also "secure fleet management" and remote monitoring to "manage your Starlink fleet from a single portal."

Enlarge (credit: Stephen Maturen / Stringer | Getty Images North America )

The same week that a federal judge sentenced ex-cop Derek Chauvin to more prison time for killing George Floyd, Arizona passed a law making it harder to record police by limiting how close bystanders can be while recording specified law enforcement activity. Chauvin was convicted in part because a recording showing his attack on Floyd at close proximity went viral. It was filmed by a teenager named Darnella Frazier while she was standing “a few feet away.”

The new Arizona law requires any bystanders recording police activity in the state to stand at a minimum of 8 feet away from the action. If bystanders move closer after police have warned them to back off, they risk being charged with a misdemeanor and incurring fines of up to $500 , jail time of up to 30 days , or probation of up to a year .

Sponsored by Republican state representative John Kavanagh, the law known as H.B. 2319 makes it illegal to record police at close range. In a USA Today op-ed , Kavanagh said it is important to leave this buffer for police to protect law enforcement from being assaulted by unruly bystanders. He said “there’s no reason” to come closer and predicted tragic outcomes for those who do, saying, “Such an approach is unreasonable, unnecessary, and unsafe, and should be made illegal.”

Enlarge (credit: Hubble Heritage Team )

On Friday, NASA continued to build the hype for next week's image release from the Webb Space Telescope by announcing the five objects that will be in the first cache of images. A few of the targets are exactly what you'd expect, given what scientists have said they want to use the telescope to image, while a couple have likely been chosen simply because they'll produce some fantastic visuals.

The target list also shows NASA's thoughts about how it can get informative data as quickly as possible. We'll give a little background on each of the targets below.

WASP-96 b: One of the most exciting features of Webb is its ability to analyze the composition of the atmospheres of exoplanets. When a planet passes between its host star and Earth, some of the star's light will pass through its atmosphere, allowing the materials in the atmosphere to absorb specific wavelengths in the star's light. This signal is tiny since only a small fraction of the star's light will pass through the atmosphere, so it will typically take months of observations to get a good signal.

Enlarge (credit: Scharon Harding)

Google is testing a method to boost the battery life of Chromebooks by changing how they work with the Chrome web browser. It's shaping up to be a potentially attractive update for users who leave a lot of tabs open on their Chromebooks.

Google Chrome currently cuts the CPU time and throttles the CPU load for any tab you haven't touched or looked at for five minutes. Google calls this " intensive throttling of JavaScript timer wake up, " and it's supposed to help conserve system battery life. The feature also makes the page wake up once every 60 seconds to check if you're actively using the tab again.

It seems Google is interested in pushing the idea even further, at least for Chromebook users. About Chromebooks this week spotted a new flag in Chrome OS 105, currently being tested in the dev channel, that changes this five-minute period to 10 seconds.

Enlarge / A license plate reader in California. (credit: Gado | Getty Images )

Since the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last month, America’s extensive surveillance state could soon be turned against those seeking abortions or providing abortion care .

Currently, nine states have almost entirely banned abortion, and more are expected to follow suit. Many Republican lawmakers in these states are discussing the possibility of preventing people from traveling across state lines to obtain an abortion. If such plans are enacted and withstand legal scrutiny, one of the key technologies that could be deployed to track people trying to cross state lines is automated license plate readers (ALPRs) . They’re employed heavily by police forces across the US, but they’re also used by private actors.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | SOPA Images )

Elon Musk is expected to take "drastic action" to get out of his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter, The Washington Post wrote yesterday in an article citing "three people familiar with the matter."

The anonymous sources seem to be from Musk's camp. "Musk's team has concluded it cannot verify Twitter's figures on spam accounts," and the Musk side's "doubts about the spam figures signal they believe they do not have enough information to evaluate Twitter's prospects as a business," the Post wrote. Musk's people have also reportedly "stopped engaging in certain discussions around funding for the $44 billion deal, including with a party named as a likely backer."

According to the Post, one of its sources said Musk's team is now "expected to take potentially drastic action. The person said it was likely a change in direction from Musk's team would come soon, though they did not say exactly what they thought that change would be."

(credit: Aurich Lawson)

It's been quite a while since we last put together a desktop PC-building guide, partly because trying to fight your way through bots and scalpers to pay twice the retail price for a graphics card was a miserable experience that we wouldn't want to inflict on anyone.

But even as 2022 has made most things more expensive, PC builders have lucked out. CPUs and motherboards are in stock and easy to buy, DDR4 memory is actually cheap, and you can head online to Amazon, Best Buy, or Newegg and find virtual shelves full of GPUs at prices that, while still somewhat inflated, would have seemed miraculous six months ago.

Overall PC demand is expected to fall quite a bit in the coming months, but if you've been waiting patiently to build your first desktop or replace an existing build, this is probably the best time to build a PC since mid-2020.