Technologies

Aurora Borealis Watch: 15 States May Catch Glimpse of Northern Lights This Week

Northerners may want to stay up late Tuesday night — and some could luck out on Monday, too

It’s the height of the aurora borealis season, but the skies have been relatively calm lately, with only a few mild auroras over the last month. Get ready, though. The northern lights may light up the skies over parts of the US over the next couple of days, giving people in northern states a chance to marvel at rainbow skies.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Monday and Tuesday’s auroras are brought to Earth by a rather large X1.4-class solar flare that erupted from the sun late on March 29 and was caught on video by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. The flare came from region 4405 of the sun, an area known to be magnetically complex and highly active. The flare lasted for hours and peaked at 11:19 p.m. ET Sunday night.

The flare also launched a coronal mass ejection, a large burst of plasma that can create auroras, and that ejection should at least partially interact with Earth’s geomagnetic field. Any auroras from the solar storm likely won’t be too strong, but NOAA did issue an R3-level radio blackout. High-frequency radio communications were affected for about an hour, and navigation satellite signal quality was degraded for a while. This primarily affected Australia and Southern Asia, which were the sunlit parts of the world when the solar flare erupted.

Auroras this week

Monday’s aurora isn’t anything to write home about unless you’re in Alaska or Canada, although northern states like Montana, North Dakota, and Minnesota may see some action.

Tuesday’s aurora is forecasted to be more of a show, with 15 states potentially in line to see the northern lights. Some people in Washington state, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota and the northernmost reaches of Wisconsin should for sure see something. People who climb high enough and face north may see some northern lights on the horizon if they’re in Wyoming, South Dakota, Idaho, Iowa, Michigan, New York State, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. The 15th state is Alaska, which will have its usual outstanding view of the aurora across virtually the whole state.

Tips on seeing the aurora borealis

The method for viewing the northern lights varies depending on how far south you are. Residents in Alaska, Washington, Montana, Minnesota, North Dakota and the northern half of Wisconsin will have a much easier time than everyone else. All they’ll need to do is go outside, get away from lights, and look up. The aurora should be all over the sky, so it’s pretty easy to spot once you get away from city and suburban lights.

Viewing will be tougher for the other states listed. The aurora borealis should be at least partially visible along the northern horizon of those states, which means the key to seeing them is getting up as high as you can. The higher up you can get, the better your odds will be.

Technologies

Google’s Pixel 10A Is Coming to Japan With an Exclusive Blue Edition and Special Wallpaper

This model comes with creatively designed stickers and a special look for Pixel’s 10th anniversary.

Don’t be blue: Google is releasing an Isai blue edition of the Pixel 10A to celebrate the Android phone line’s 10th anniversary, setting it apart with its own sticker set, specialized wallpaper and custom icons. But it’ll only be available in Japan.

Announced Tuesday on the Google Japan blog, the Isai blue Pixel 10A has a dark blue look and includes bonus decorations designed in collaboration with Japan’s Heralbony art company. These include an exclusive bumper case and stickers for customization.

This edition of the Pixel 10A will arrive in Japan on May 20, following the April 14 release of the Pixel 10A in its original colors of lavender, berry, fog and obsidian. The Isai blue model costs 94,900 yen, which roughly translates to $595, and includes 256GB of storage.

This makes it slightly less expensive than the US model’s 256GB edition, but it comes with a number of fun extras at no additional cost.

Google’s creation of a country-specific model for Japan may also reflect strong sales in that market. In 2023, the IDC analytics firm (via 9to5Google) reported that the Pixel 7 series accounted for 10.7% of the country’s market share, a 527% increase from 2022.

Technologies

Can’t Wait for New Emoji? Here’s How to Create Your Own on iPhone

Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhones can create custom emoji in a few easy steps.

Apple brought new emoji to all iPhones when the company released iOS 26.4 on March 24. The new emoji include «🫍» orca, «🫪» distorted face and «🫈» hairy creature — or as we might normally call it, Sasquatch. According to Emojipedia, there are 3,953 emoji with more on the way, including a pickle. But there’s no emoji for a dog wearing pajamas, a plate with burgers and fries and many other things. But if you have Genmoji on your iPhone you can create these emoji and many more.

Apple released iOS 18.2 in 2024 and the company introduced its own emoji generator, called Genmoji, to Apple Intelligence-capable iPhones at that time. The Unicode Standard, a universal character encoding standard, is responsible for creating new emoji, and approved emoji are added to all devices once a year. With Genmoji, you don’t have to wait for new emoji to appear on your iPhone each year. You can just create them as you need them.

Read on to learn how to use Genmoji on iPhone to create your own custom emoji. Just note that only iPhones with Apple Intelligence, like the iPhone 17 lineup, can use Genmoji at this time.

Note: The new emoji may not display correctly for Apple users whose devices aren’t on a 26.4 software version.

How to make custom emoji

1. Open Messages and go into a chat.
2. Tap the plus (+) button next to your text box.
3. Tap Genmoji.

You can then type a description of an emoji into the text box near the bottom of your screen and tap the check mark on your keyboard to enter that description into Genmoji. You can also tap different suggestions and themes that are right above the text box. And with iOS 26 or later, you can also combine and use emoji to create others rather than describing a new emoji or using suggestions.

Your iPhone will generate a series of new emoji for you to pick from according to your description, and you can swipe through these new emoji. When you find the one you want, tap Add in the top right corner of your screen and the new emoji will be available to use as an emoji, tapback or a sticker. Now you don’t have to wait for the Unicode Standard to propose, create and bring new emoji to devices.

For more iOS news, here’s what to know about iOS 26.4 and iOS 26.3. You can also check out our iOS 26 cheat sheet for other tips and tricks.

Technologies

Save Over 20% on This Handy 10,000-mAh Anker Nano Power Bank

Keep your devices charged on the go with this Anker Nano power bank, now down to just $46.

We’ve just spotted the Anker Nano 45-watt portable power bank for just $46 at Amazon right now. This saves you $14 — a 23% discount on its list price. Though it’s $6 more than the lowest-ever price we saw during Black Friday, it’s still a solid discount when you take the rising cost of tech accessories into account. It also matches the lowest price we’ve seen in 2026. It comes in four colors: black, green, pink and white. They’re all on sale for the same price.

This Anker Nano portable charger weighs approximately 8.2 ounces and measures a compact 3.21×1.99×1.42 inches. Despite its small size, it has a retractable cable and supports fast charging in compatible Apple, Samsung, Google Pixel and other smartphones. It also has a large 10,000-mAh capacity and a smart display so you always know how much juice is left in your power bank.

The Nano can charge an iPhone 17 to up to 50% battery in an estimated 20 minutes, and is powerful enough to charge tablets and laptops. Need to charge your devices while charging your power bank? You can do so safely thanks to pass-through charging so you’ll never have to go without battery life.

We’ve also compiled a list of the best power banks for iPhones and for Android, in case this deal isn’t quite a fit for you.

Why this deal matters

If you travel, have a long commute time or are otherwise always on the go, a portable charger can help you keep your devices fully powered. This 45-watt Anker Nano power bank is compact, includes a loop that lets you keep track of it easily and has a built-in cable so you don’t have to keep up with extra cords. Amazon’s $14 discount makes this a solid deal for anyone looking for a compact power bank.