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How to watch the longest partial lunar eclipse of this century

Earth’s shadow will cover most of the moon Nov. 18-19, and it will take its sweet timing doing it.

It’s almost celestial showtime. There’s a partial lunar eclipse on tap for Nov. 18-19 and it’s notable for how long it will last. The Earth’s shadow will largely block the sun’s light from reaching the moon, tinging our lunar neighbor with darkness.

NASA statistics on lunar eclipses from 2001 through 2100 show this month’s partial eclipse will be the longest of the century with a duration of over 3 hours and 28 minutes. Compare that with the longest total eclipse of the century, which happened in 2018 and stretched for nearly an hour and 43 minutes.

The Holcomb Observatory in Indiana shared a handy graphic showing what to expect from the eclipse, which will cover most of the moon. «This will also be the longest partial lunar eclipse in 580 years,» the observatory tweeted.

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What a partial eclipse looks like

Lunar eclipses don’t have the same dramatic appearance as a solar eclipse where it looks like someone is carving a black hole out of the side of the sun.

During a lunar eclipse, the moon darkens and sometimes takes on a reddish color. For a partial eclipse, Earth’s shadow doesn’t completely cover the moon. Partial eclipses are still fantastic experiences.

«Partial lunar eclipses might not be quite as spectacular as total lunar eclipses — where the moon is completely covered in Earth’s shadow – but they occur more frequently,» NASA said in a skywatching update. «And that just means more opportunities to witness little changes in our solar system that sometimes occur right before our eyes.»

When to watch the lunar eclipse

The eclipse will be visible to a large area of the globe across the evening of Nov. 18 and into Nov. 19. Exact viewing times will depend on your location, but at least some of the eclipse will be visible in most of the Americas, Australia, and in parts of Europe and Asia. The US will be in a great position to catch the eclipse action.

Head over to Timeanddate.com and search for your location to get your times. If you want to watch the full process, you could be in for a long night. For example, the partial-eclipse phase will kick off at 12:18 a.m. MT on Nov. 19 for me in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and reach its maximum at about 2:02 a.m. I’ll probably aim to set an alarm for closer to maximum rather than stand out in the cold for hours.

How to watch the lunar eclipse from anywhere

You have online options for following the moon action. These video feeds are a good fallback if you encounter cloudy weather, or if you just don’t want to stay up late or get up early to watch the eclipse in person.

The Virtual Telescope Project will go live with coverage of the eclipse at 11 p.m. PT on Nov. 18 (7 a.m. UTC on Nov. 19). VTP is collaborating with astrophotographers from around the world along with offering live commentary from astrophysicist Gianluca Masi.

Timeanddate.com has arranged for its own livestream starting at 11 p.m. PT on Nov. 18.

Eclipses aren’t everyday occurrences on Earth, and they’re not always easily visible. While some viewers might have to contend with middle-of-the-night scheduling for this month’s celestial event, it’s worth taking a moment to marvel at how the moon, the sun and our planet are connected as residents of this solar system.

Technologies

Google’s New AI Features Are Trying to Make Data Entry a Thing of the Past

More Gemini AI features will come to Google Docs, Sheets and Slides.

The latest batch of Google updates to its workspace tools highlights AI’s promise to automate mundanity in the workplace. Google Docs, Slides, Sheets and Drive all have new AI-powered features, the company announced Tuesday. The one thing all these updates have in common? Gemini is using your files, emails and chats to give you relevant information, not random answers gleaned from the web.

These updates come as AI is playing a bigger role in our work lives, for better or worse. Agentic tools like Claude Cowork and coding assistants like Anthropic’s Claude Code and OpenAI’s Codex are more capable than chatbots and able to handle tasks announced independently. AI tools are also becoming more customized, with Google’s personalized intelligence rolling out across its platforms to help refine AI outputs to things that are relevant and useful for you. Google continues that trend with this new batch of Workspace updates.

New Gemini AI features in Google Workspace apps will cite their sources after each query. For example, if you ask Gemini in Google Docs to fill out an itinerary template, it will pull the information from your email, chats and files. The «sources» tab in the Gemini side panel will show you where it found the information it used, like your flight confirmation email and chats discussing dinner plans. Seeing where Gemini pulled its answers from is also how you’ll double-check Gemini’s work.

The most impressive new features are in Sheets, where AI can fill in the holes in your spreadsheets. You can describe what you want the AI to do with a simple prompt and avoid writing an exact formula. You can click on an empty cell, select the pop-up that says «Drag to fill with Gemini,» then highlight the cells you want Gemini to fill in. That deploys an AI agent to search the web to fill each cell with the necessary information.

For example, if you have a spreadsheet of the contact info for local companies, you can have Gemini search the web to fill in a the location, CEO and other publicly available information of each company. The tool aims to dramatically reduce the time needed for manual data entry. Gemini can also summarize, categorize and create charts with prompts alone.

You can also chat with Gemini in Sheets and have it scour your raw data to make custom reports and charts. No need for pivot tables if they confound you as much as they baffle me. One of the biggest uses of AI at work is helping create presentations.

In Google Slides, you can now tell Gemini in natural language what you want to appear on a slide, and it will create it, matching the style of your existing slides. You can also ask Gemini to edit your slides if you don’t want to waste time painstakingly moving design elements around the slide. The AI should fill the slides with relevant information based on your instructions and the work files it has access to, so you shouldn’t need to replace a bunch of filler text.

If you use Docs, Sheets and Slides through the Workspace account of your company, then you won’t be able to turn off AI features individually. The managing company is in control of AI access for users. Personal users can tweak their settings to limit Gemini. The new features are rolling out in beta now, in English only, to Google AI Ultra and Pro subscribers in the US, as well as some Google Workspace customers who are part of the Gemini Alpha testing program.

For more, check out the new cowork feature in Copilot and how to use Perplexity AI for deep research.

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Technologies

Nintendo Switches Lanes, Sues US Over Tariffs

Mario wants his money back.

Tariffs implemented by President Donald Trump were struck down by the Supreme Court last month. Companies that were subjected to those fees, such as FedEx and Dollar General, have since sued the federal government, and Nintendo wants a piece of the action. 

Nintendo filed a lawsuit against the federal government in the US Court of International Trade on Friday, as first spotted by Aftermath. The complaint seeks refunds of tariffs Nintendo paid, plus interest, and asks the court to declare the tariffs unlawful and stop the government from collecting them going forward. 

«Since February 1, 2025, President Trump has executed the unlawful Executive Orders, imposing tariffs on imports from a vast swath of countries,» Nintendo said in the complaint. 

When reached for comment, Nintendo of America confirmed the lawsuit. 

«We can confirm that we filed a request. We have nothing else to share on this topic,» Nintendo of America said in an emailed statement on Friday, March 6. 

It’s unclear how much Nintendo paid in tariffs, and it did not state an amount in the lawsuit. While the Switch 2 was priced at $450 when it launched last year, and has stayed at that amount, Nintendo did increase the price of the original Switch and accessories for both consoles. Microsoft and Sony also increased the prices of their hardware and accessories last year due to tariffs. 

The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. 

On Feb. 20, the Supreme Court ruled by a vote of 6 to 3 that the sweeping tariffs Trump instituted last year exceeded his executive powers. Following the ruling, on the same day, Trump announced a new set of tariffs of 10% on imported goods that would last for 150 days, starting Feb. 24. 

The decision on what to do with the collected tariffs — a reported $166 billion —  has been left to the US Court of International Trade. Judge Richard Eaton told the US Customs and Border Protection on Wednesday, March 4, to refund the importers that were forced to pay tariffs, which is more than 330,000. On Friday, the CBP said it couldn’t easily issue tariff refunds because its system requires duties to be recalculated and refunds processed entry by entry. This process would involve tens of millions of transactions. The agency said it’s updating its systems and could start providing refunds by late April. 

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Sony WF-1000XM6 vs. Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro Earbuds: A Photo Finish

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