Microsoft is releasing a pair of new Surface devices today, both models that undercut last year's Surface Laptop and Surface Pro on price but also take a pretty big step down in specs. One of the devices is a new 12-inch Surface Pro tablet, which we've covered in more detail here. The other is a new 13-inch Surface Laptop, whose specs and price straddle the narrow gap between the current seventh-generation Surface Laptop and the original price of the aging Surface Laptop Go 3.
The new Surface Laptop starts at $899, and preorders open today. It will be available on May 20.
The new laptop shares many specs in common with last yearβs entry-level seventh-generation Surface Laptop, including an Arm-based Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus processor, 16GB of RAM, and support for Windows 11βs expanded Copilot+ capabilities. Itβs also smaller and lighter than the 13.8-inch Surface Laptop. But the CPU has eight cores instead of 10 or 12, the screen is smaller and lower resolution, and youβre more limited in your upgrade options; weβve outlined the key differences in the table below.
Β© Microsoft
Historian William Short watches and rates depictions of Viking combat in movies and TV shows.
He discusses Viking shield formations in "Vikings." He outlines brutal village raid tactics in "The Northman," starring Alexander SkarsgΓ₯rd, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Nicole Kidman. He breaks down how Vikings organized their troops in war in "How to Train Your Dragon," starring Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, and Jonah Hill; and "The Last Kingdom." He demonstrates how Vikings wielded their battle axes in "Vikings: Valhalla." He describes what Viking armor looked like in "Outlander," starring Jim Caviezel, Ron Perlman, and John Hurt. He explains how Vikings navigated and landed their ships in "The Long Ships," starring Sidney Poitier; and "Ironclad," starring Paul Giamatti, Kate Mara, and Brian Cox. He breaks down the distinct techniques used by archers in "Beowulf," starring Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, and Angelina Jolie. Finally, he analyzes how Vikings fought at sea in "The Vikings," starring Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis.
William Short is an independent scholar focusing on scientific research of all aspects of Viking history, particularly Viking combat. He is the manager of Hurstwic.
For a quarter-century, dating back to my time as a budding space enthusiast, I've watched with a keen eye each time people have ventured into space.
That's 162 human spaceflight missions since the beginning of 2000, ranging from Space Shuttle flights to Russian Soyuz missions, Chinese astronauts' first forays into orbit, and commercial expeditions on SpaceX's Dragon capsule. Yes, I'm also counting privately funded suborbital hops launched by Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic.
Last week, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin captured headlinesβthough not purely positiveβwith the launch of six women, including pop star Katy Perry, to an altitude of 66 miles (106 kilometers). The capsule returned to the ground 10 minutes and 21 seconds later. It was the first all-female flight to space since Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova's solo mission in 1963.
Β© Chun Wang via X
Liam Daniel/HBO
Warning: Spoilers ahead for seasons one and two of "House of the Dragon."
HBO was betting big on the success of "House of the Dragon" long before the season two finale.
The network renewed the Targaryen-centric "Game of Thrones" prequel for another round ahead of the second season premiere in June 2024, which featured the infamous "Blood and Cheese" murder. Francesca Orsi, HBO's head of drama, praised the team behind the hit fantasy series in the renewal announcement.
"George, Ryan, and the rest of our incredible executive producers, cast, and crew, have reached new heights with the phenomenal second season of 'House of the Dragon,'" Orsi said in a press release, referencing creator George R. R. Martin and showrunner Ryan Condal. "We are in awe of the dragon-sized effort the entire team has put into the creation of a spectacular season two, with a scope and scale that is only rivaled by its heart."
"We could not be more thrilled to continue the story of House Targaryen and watch this team burn bright again for season three," she added.
Eight episodes later, "House of the Dragon" ended its second season with a neat setup for the action that's still to come. Here's everything we know about what's coming next.
Theo Whiteman/HBO
Showrunner Ryan Condal previously told reporters that production on season three would begin in early 2025. During an interview with Entertainment Weekly in early March, Condal confirmed that production is underway in the UK.
"There's been no television show in history that ever said, 'We have too much money and too much time to make this,'" Condal said. "You're always making decisions as you go along as to, how are we going to use the resources we have right now to tell the best story we can possibly tell? But I appreciate everybody's patience."
"House of the Dragon" veterans Clare Kilner, Andrij Parekh, and Loni Peristere will return to direct the forthcoming eight-episode arc, per EW. They'll be joined by Nina Lopez-Corrado.
Although HBO has not announced an official release date for season three, these production details suggest that a 2026 release date is possible.
But don't worry β you'll have plenty of Westerosi drama to tide you over with "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms," another "Games of Thrones" spinoff focused on the niche characters Dunk and Egg, set to arrive in 2025.
Ollie Upton/HBO
We can't say for certain what the season three plot will entail, but there's at least one big battle on the horizon: the Battle of the Gullet.
While speaking to EW, Condal promised that season three would cover "four major events" from the source material, including the pivotal naval assault known as the Battle of the Gullet, which demands significant production resources. And to the fans who have been begging for more action, rest assured: Condal guaranteed plenty of bloodshed.
"In many ways, the Gullet has been on the minds of the production for about three years now and trying to figure out how we were going to mount it in a way that was both producible and exciting, thrilling," Condal told EW.
"I would like to think that this is probably the most complex sequence that's ever been done for television," he continued, "not necessarily the most expensive or the longest shoot or anything like that, but just based on the number of moving pieces, the amount of different disciplines, media that have to be blended together to achieve success because you're talking about sea and ships and dragons and action."
As for the other three "major events" that Condal promised, there are plenty of historic showdowns, character debuts, and deaths that we can predict will occur in season three based on what happens in "Fire and Blood," some of which have already been teased in the series. They include Rhaenyra taking back King's Landing, Alicent's youngest son Daeron Targaryen finally entering the narrative, and the prophesied demises of Daemon and Aemond. But "House of the Dragon" has started to make some bold adaptation choices βΒ so anything could be on the horizon.
"We're cresting that narrative parabola here and starting to come down into, if not the endgame, the midpoint and getting into the late Act 2 and moving onto the start of Act 3," Condal told EW. "Anybody that's read that book knows that the narrative gets bigger and grimmer as it goes along, and the show has to match that ambition as best it possibly can."
If you want a preview of what's ahead, though, you can pick up "Fire and Blood" yourself. You'll probably want to start somewhere in the chapter "The Dying of the Dragons: The Red Dragon and the Gold" to catch up on season two and read ahead for what may be to come.
Liam Daniel/HBO
A press release from HBO confirmed the show's big players β among them Emma D'Arcy (Rhaenyra Targaryen), Olivia Cooke (Alicent Hightower), Matt Smith (Daemon Targaryen), Steve Toussaint (Corlys Velaryon), Ewan Mitchell (Aemond Targaryen), Tom Glynn-Carney (Aegon Targaryen), Harry Collett (Jacaerys Velaryon), Bethany Antonia (Baela Targaryen), Phoebe Campbell (Rhaena Targaryen), Phia Saban (Helaena Targaryen), Sonoya Mizuno (Mysaria), Rhys Ifans (Otto Hightower), and Fabien Frankel (Ser Criston Cole) β will all return for season three.
As for newcomers, "Gladiator" star Tommy Flanagan has been cast as Ser Roderick Dustin, known as "Roddy the Ruin" in the book, while "A Complete Unknown" actor Dan Fogler will play Torrhen Manderly. Both characters are formidable knights from the North, where House Stark rules.
Farther south, James Norton will make his onscreen debut as Ormund Hightower, Alicent's cousin and Lord of Oldtown. The season two finale shows a glimpse of Ormund's army marching to counter Rhaenyra's forces β accompanied by Daeron and his dragon Tessarion.
Other casting decisions have yet to be publicized. Chief among them is Daeron himself, who was sent away at a young age to squire for Ormund at Oldtown.
Condal confirmed to EW that Daeron will show up soon, but declined to say who will play him.
"He's a big feature in the book, but if you read the book narrative sequentially, the material we've covered so far didn't really have a lot of call for Daeron in it, which is why we're getting to this now," Condal explained.
There's also the matter of Nettles, a character from "Fire and Blood" who claims the dragon Sheepstealer. In the season two finale of "House of the Dragon," Rhaena finally comes across what we presume is the dragon Sheepstealer βΒ but it remains to be seen if she successfully claims the dragon and takes over that storyline, or if Nettles will still appear.
Liam Daniel/HBO
Aegon, also known as Aegon the Elder to book readers, suffers near-fatal injuries during season two's battle at Rook's Rest, leaving him mostly immobile.
In the season two finale, Lord Larys Strong arranges for Aegon to covertly escape King's Landing in anticipation of Rhaenyra's imminent coup. Of all the finale's open-ended questions, Aegon's future seems most uncertain.
The details of Aegon's period of exile are similarly murky in "Fire and Blood" β but don't expect him to disappear from the screen. Condal confirmed that the disgraced king will continue to be "a big, big part of the show."
"He's kind of lost to history in the sense that nobody really knows what happened," Condal told EW. "We took that, as the writers, as a great opportunity to figure out. That was one of the great challenges of writing season two: figuring out something that would work and be satisfying, but also not cause ripple effects in the narrative and change where the other big pieces are going. Honestly, I think it's one of the best stories that we cracked this year."
In an interview with Business Insider, Glynn-Carney also teased a revenge-fueled journey for Aegon in season three.
"Even though his physicality has changed now, I don't particularly think for him, in terms of how unpredictable and how volatile he is β I don't think that's going to change at all," the actor said. "If anything, there will be more. So I'm really looking forward to getting back on season three, and taking him on this next chapter of his journey and really pushing the boundaries even more with him this time."
Ollie Upton / HBO
Nope! Condal has already confirmed that "House of the Dragon" will return for a fourth season, which will likely be its last, though HBO has yet to make a formal announcement to that effect.
A four-season arc has seemed like the plan for a while. George R.R. Martin said on his personal blog in October 2022 that he couldn't see "House of the Dragon" covering the entire Dance of the Dragons in fewer than four seasons.
"Is it four seasons? I don't think from where I sit at this point will be any less than four," HBO head of drama Francesca Orsi toldΒ DeadlineΒ in 2023. "But could be more. We'll see."
Palmer Haasch contributed to an earlier version of this story.
Four adventurers suited up and embarked on a first-of-a-kind trip to space Monday night, becoming the first humans to fly in polar orbit aboard a SpaceX crew capsule chartered by a Chinese-born cryptocurrency billionaire.
The private astronauts rocketed into orbit atop a Falcon 9 booster from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 9:46 pm EDT Monday (01:46 UTC Tuesday). Instead of heading to the northeast in pursuit of the International Space Station, the Falcon 9 and Dragon spacecraft departed Launch Complex 39A and arced to the southeast, then turned south on a flight path hugging Florida's east coast.
The unusual trajectory aligned the Falcon 9 with a perfectly polar orbit at an inclination of 90 degrees to the equator, bringing the four-person crew directly over the North or South Pole every 45 minutes.
Β© SpaceX
Three weeks ago, NASA revealed that a shipping container protecting a Cygnus spacecraft sustained "damage" while traveling to the launch site in Florida.
Built by Northrop Grumman, Cygnus is one of two Western spacecraft currently capable of delivering food, water, experiments, and other supplies to the International Space Station. This particular Cygnus mission, NG-22, had been scheduled for June. As part of its statement in early March, the space agency said it was evaluating the NG-22 Cygnus cargo supply mission along with Northrop.
On Wednesday, after a query from Ars Technica, the space agency acknowledged that the Cygnus spacecraft designated for NG-22 is too damaged to fly, at least in the nearterm.
Β© NASA
