Technologies

Don’t Miss Out on the Perfect Solar Eclipse Photo: Tips on Taking Pictures Today

Take these steps to minimize potential damage to your camera or phone lens, and get a great photo.

Today’s solar eclipse is the talk of the town. During its trip across North America, the total eclipse will hit parts of Mexico, a long diagonal stripe across the US and a stretch of eastern Canada. It’ll be quite the event, especially since the next total solar eclipse to hit North America won’t happen until August 2044.

Nearly half of the US population lives within a 200-mile drive of the event, giving many people a chance to catch a glimpse or a photo.

Remember, you must wear solar eclipse glasses if you’re looking up during the eclipse. While the sun will be completely hidden behind the moon for a few minutes, the rest of the eclipse will be just as harmful to human vision as it would be if you stared at the sun on any other day. So you’ll want to make sure that your solar glasses will protect your eyes while you watch.

You’ll want to protect your camera and its lenses, too, if you’re among the throngs who’ll be aiming a smartphone or DSLR at the sun in hopes of capturing that perfect image to share on social media of the last total solar eclipse in the US for the next 20 years.

Here are a few things to know before pointing your sensitive and expensive devices at the giant fireball in the sky.

Taking photos of the solar eclipse with a smartphone

A great many solar eclipse photos are likely to come from smartphones, given that just about everyone has one and that many are packed with very capable cameras.

First things first, you’ll want to pick up a solar filter. You don’t need anything fancy. You can buy little solar lenses that you can physically hold in front of your phone camera lens for a little over $10. In a pinch, you could use one of the lenses from a pair of paper solar eclipse glasses to achieve the same effect.

In general, your phone’s auto mode should take care of most of the heavy lifting. Phone makers have spent tons of time tuning the cameras to the appropriate settings to take the best possible picture. If you want to take matters into your own hands, you can always switch to manual mode — but do spend a bit of time before the eclipse familiarizing yourself with those settings.

A few other helpful tips:

Turn off your flash. Once totality hits, you’ll be taking pictures essentially at night and your flash isn’t going to help. Plus, it can annoy people around you.
Only use zoom if your phone is equipped with an optical zoom lens like the Galaxy S24 Ultra or the iPhone 15. Check your phone model to see if yours comes equipped with it. Using digital zoom will reduce resolution and make the image look blocky and unappealing.
Most modern smartphones feature a burst shot mode. The crown jewel of eclipse photography, the diamond ring, is only visible for a split-second and a burst shot mode will give you better odds of capturing it than if you try to time it yourself.
Practice. Taking good pictures of the sun is no easy task and you don’t want to spend the entire time fiddling with your smartphone camera settings.
Google also recommends bringing a portable battery bank. Camera use is a huge battery drain, and you may need some extra juice.

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Taking photos of the solar eclipse with a DSLR

Many of the rules for smartphone photography also apply if you plan on taking a DSLR or mirrorless camera to the event. The steps to get there are slightly different. Smartphones can use virtually any solar filter, but cameras require something that’ll fit on the end of your camera’s lens barrel since it’s very difficult to hold a filter while taking a picture with a regular camera.

You may think you need a UV filter for solar photography. In reality, you’ll want an ND (neutral density) filter. ND filters reduce the amount of light coming into the lens the same way solar eclipse glasses reduce the amount of light coming into your eyes. K&F Concepts has a good one designed specifically for celestial photography.

The next factor is size. Filters come in various sizes and the size you need depends on what lens you own. Check the barrel of your lens. You’ll want to find the ø symbol with a number next to it. That number is the millimeter size you need.

If your lens doesn’t have that measurement on it, you can find the measurements on the box the lens came in or on the manufacturer’s website. If you get an incorrectly sized filter, it won’t fit on your camera properly, so make sure you look before you leap since ND filters can get quite expensive.

Once you obtain a solar filter, the same general tips apply to a regular camera. Practice photographing the sun over the weekend before the eclipse so you can dial in your preferred settings. Use burst mode to capture the diamond ring, bring spare batteries, and make sure your equipment is in order before the event.

Camera owners may also want to consider bringing multiple lenses to get different types of pictures, and you should definitely bring a tripod if you’re planning on long exposure shots, or just for stability in general. (A remote shutter release helps as well.) If you’re comfortable with it, shooting in raw image format can also produce some amazing results after some editing.

Can I take photos of the solar eclipse without a filter?

Human eyes can be damaged in seconds when staring at the sun — and the same is true for eyes looking through an unprotected camera lens at the eclipse. Camera lenses themselves are a bit more resilient. They might be able to handle the occasional sun photograph, but the longer and more frequently the camera is pointed at the sun, the more likely it is that damage will occur.

This can happen in a variety of ways, including damage to the lens, camera internals and mounting hardware. Camera lenses are essentially fancy and expensive magnifying glasses, and anyone who used a standard magnifying glass to concentrate sunbeams as a kid already knows how dangerous it can be for things on the other side of the sunbeam.

You may be able to get away with the occasional snap of the sun with an unprotected camera without damage as long as it’s quick and it’s not a long-exposure shot (and you’re not looking directly at it yourself). However, given how expensive cameras, camera lenses and smartphones are, better to err on the side of caution and use a solar filter.

In addition to safety, the solar filter can also help you take more effective pictures of the sun. Cameras — especially smartphone cameras — often have a rough time with super bright lights like the sun. A solar filter will reduce the brightness so you’ll be able to get much cleaner pictures of the eclipse.

During the brief moment of totality, you might consider removing your solar filter. Everything will be so dark that it’ll be unnecessary, and it’ll help if you want a good shot of the corona. Just make sure to put it back on if you want photos as the eclipse wanes.

Don’t forget to actually watch the eclipse

This is the last total solar eclipse to run through North America until 2044. It’s a once-in-a-generation event, unless you plan on traveling to Russia in 2026 or Egypt in 2027. Remember to put the camera down at some point and enjoy the moment. A celestial event like this doesn’t happen every day.

While it is a singular event for us here on Earth, astronauts on the ISS will have three total opportunities to watch it.

If you live in the path of the solar eclipse, you’re also encouraged to leave pets indoors with lights on and shutters closed as the transition to nighttime in the middle of the day can cause stress to animals. And systems that run on solar power may experience significant impacts on solar generation, so that’s another thing to keep in mind.

Technologies

McDonald’s KPop Demon Hunter Meals Include Bright Purple Nugget Sauce

The Derpy McFlurry mixes popping boba pearls and berry sauce into a soft-serve dessert.

McDonald’s has seen success with themed combo meals, including its holiday Grinch Meal. Now, the fast-food chain is capitalizing on Netflix’s Oscar-winning animated film, KPop Demon Hunters, with new upcoming menu items and both a breakfast meal and a lunch/dinner offering. Let’s hope you like the color purple.

The HUNTR/X Meal, named for the K-pop girl group in the movie, is a 10-piece chicken McNuggets meal that includes a medium drink and three special menu items.

Ramyeon McShaker fries come with a small bag of soy, garlic, sesame and spice seasoning, along with regular McDonald’s french fries. You sprinkle the seasoning into the provided bag, dump in the fries, shake it all up and eat.

The meal includes two new sauces for the fries and nuggets. Hunter sauce is a sweet chili sauce mixing notes of chili, garlic and pepper. But my favorite item on this new menu is Demon sauce, a bold mustard sauce with some heat and a bold purple color. There’s just not enough dark purple food out there.

There’s also a new dessert, the Derpy McFlurry, which blends creamy vanilla soft serve with berry-flavored popping boba pearls, served with a swirl of wild berry sauce. McDonald’s named it for the supernatural feline, Derpy Tiger, from the movie.

If breakfast is your bag, the new morning meal is the Saja Boys Breakfast Meal, named for the movie’s boy band.

It includes a Spicy Saja McMuffin sandwich, which is a sausage McMuffin with egg and a spicy Saja sauce, hash browns and a small drink.

Both meals come with a photocard for one of the bands and a Derpy card. The Derpy card includes a QR code you can scan to unlock online content about the film.

The full KPop Demon Hunters menu should be available at participating McDonald’s beginning March 31.

The McDonald’s Grinch meal (and its accompanying patterned socks) sold out quickly, so KPop Demon Hunters fans may want to mark their calendars and nab a meal when they are released.

Technologies

Melania Trump Escorted by Talking Humanoid Robot at White House Tech Summit

The first lady shared the spotlight with the robot to promote the use of artificial intelligence in education.

An unexpected guest escorted Melania Trump at the Fostering the Future Together Global Coalition Summit on Wednesday: a Figure 03 humanoid robot.

During the event, the first lady pitched a future where AI-powered humanoid robots — presented as an idealized educator named «Plato» — provide students with personalized and instant access to human knowledge, including philosophy and art.

The Figure 03 robot is made by Silicon Valley-based robotics company Figure AI, which introduced its third-generation humanoid robot in October last year. The Figure 03 robot costs around $25,000, according to Forbes.

Figure 03 was designed for people to use in their homes, with demo videos showing it folding laundry, lifting eggs from a carton, using a washing machine and delivering drinks to its owners lounging by the pool. It was also shown in corporate use cases as a receptionist and a package deliverer. Using a proprietary AI engine called Helix, it can autonomously perform these tasks and respond to your voice commands.

The humanoid was seen walking slowly down the red carpet at the tech summit and then delivering opening remarks.

«I’m grateful to be part of this historic movement to empower children with technology and education,» the Figure 03 humanoid robot said. It then said «welcome» in various languages.

The first lady later said that AI-powered humanoid robots could exist in children’s homes as an aid to their education to «boost analytic skills and problem solving and adopt in real time to a student’s pace, prior knowledge and even emotional state.»

The two-day summit is hosting leaders from 45 nations and 28 technology organizations, and is intended to «empower children through education and technology,» according to a White House statement. Guests included representatives from tech giants such as Google, OpenAI, Microsoft and AI data analytics company Palantir.

The summit is part of the first lady’s Be Best: Fostering the Future initiative, which aims to help children learn using advanced technology. It was introduced in 2018 as an awareness campaign aimed at combating cyberbullying and helping children affected by the opioid crisis.

US Education Secretary Linda McMahon spoke about AI being one of the Department of Education’s main priorities on the first day of the summit.

«If we’re able to scale these resources effectively by investing in AI infrastructure and training, we can offer expert instructions across countless fields, to hire volumes of people at a fraction of the cost,» McMahon said Tuesday at a round table meeting.

According to McMahon, the Department of Education has already dedicated millions of dollars in grants to support the use of AI in schools.

The event follows criticism of the Trump administration’s 2025 executive order to dismantle the Department of Education. While the Department of Education hasn’t been officially abolished, it has undergone significant policy changes, funding cuts and workforce reductions.

The introduction of a humanoid robot at the summit sparked significant backlash among many who are wary of the technology’s role in the classroom. Critics took to social media to voice concerns that these machines could eventually replace teachers, stripping the education system of essential human connection, and leading to increased layoffs and cost-cutting.

On one Huffington Post Instagram post featuring the robot, commenters expressed deep skepticism, with one user sarcastically noting, «Nice, getting rid of educators in favor of a robot,» while another flatly rejected the concept, stating, «No, I don’t want to imagine a world with emotionless robots educating our children.»

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Technologies

Nintendo Dropped a Switch 2 Update With a New Mode You’ll Want to Turn On Immediately

This new feature is one of the best yet.

A new firmware update hit the Nintendo Switch 2 last week. Among the multitude of small changes is a new feature that will give Switch 1 games a notable upgrade.

Version 22.0.0 for the Switch 2 went live on March 16 and is available for download to the console. The big new feature in the update was Handheld Mode Boost, which will give Switch 1 games a visual upgrade when played on the Switch 2 in handheld mode.

[Nintendo Switch 2 System Update]
Version 22.0.0 adds «Handheld Mode Boost». This will make Switch 1 games think that they are in TV mode even when in handheld.
Games can run at higher resolutions in TV mode, taking better advantage of the Switch 2’s 1080p screen. pic.twitter.com/aXOKWosFAw

— OatmealDome (@OatmealDome) March 17, 2026

What does Handheld Mode Boost do?

Even though the Switch 2 supports backward compatibility with almost all Switch 1 games, there was an issue. The Switch 2 has a higher resolution screen: 1080p versus the older hardware’s 720p. When playing a Switch 1 game on a Switch 2 in handheld mode, the graphics looked blurry and jagged.

When enabled, Handheld Mode Boost makes a Switch 1 game act as if it’s docked, so it displays 1080p at 60 frames per second. This will give the visuals an immediate upgrade.

How do you enable Handheld Mode Boost?

Handheld Mode Boost has to be turned on to see the effect, and it takes a few steps:

Select Systems Settings from the Home menu
Select System
Select Nintendo Switch Software Handling
Enable Handheld Mode Boost

Is there a downside to enabling Handheld Mode Boost?

A user on Reddit tested the mode to see how it affects the Switch 2’s battery life. The test used Doom Eternal for the Switch 1 with and without Handheld Mode Boost. The test showed that the battery life decreased from 5 hours, 5 minutes to 3 hours, 43 minutes. That’s a 27% drop and should be taken into account when using Handheld Mode Boost.

How do I upgrade my Nintendo Switch 2?

If you have Software Auto-Updates enabled on your Switch 2, a pop-up window should come up whenever you start a game. If not, head to System Settings and choose to update the console from the menu.

What other features were added in version 22.0.0?

Handheld Mode Boost was the main star of the new firmware update, but there were a slew of other changes.

Changed the on-screen text and animations when you load a virtual game card in the HOME Menu.

Added the ability to save notes about friends on your Friend List. The note content is not displayed to friends.

Added the ability to invite friends to GameChat rooms you’re participating in. Some friends may not be able to be invited, such as supervised accounts.

Friends who haven’t finished GameChat’s initial setup can now be invited to GameChat. Some friends may not be able to be invited, such as supervised accounts or those who haven’t used a Nintendo Switch 2.

Added the ability to rewind 10 seconds/advance 10 seconds with the ZL and ZR Buttons when watching a full-screen video in News or Nintendo eShop.

Added the option to add the following data to «Automatic Uploads» from Album.

Text-to-Speech, under Accessibility, can now read the text in Album and during first-time setup.

Added the ability to see the breakdown of storage capacity by data type for the system memory and microSD Express card.

Added the ability to perform an audio test when «Linear PCM 5.1 Surround» is selected for TV Sound in Audio.

When Airplane Mode is activated, the previously set preferences for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or NFC while in airplane mode will be saved and applied.

Added the ability to individually enable or disable Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or NFC during Airplane Mode from the Quick Settings.

Added the ability to see a notification in the Nintendo Switch Parental Controls smart device application when the Parental Controls PIN is input successfully on the console. This can also be set up to be a push notification to your smart device.

General system stability improvements to enhance the user’s experience.