Technologies

Last Total Solar Eclipse for 20 Years Is Coming: How to See and Photograph It

It’s your last chance until 2044.

Get your eclipse glasses ready, Skygazers: the Great American Eclipse is on its way. On April 8, there’ll be a total eclipse over North America, the last one until 2044.

A total solar eclipse happens when the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, blocking the sun and turning an otherwise sunny day to darkness for a short period of time. Depending on the angle at which you’re viewing the eclipse, you may see the sun completely shrouded by the moon (called totality) or some variation of it. The more off-angle you are and the further you are from the path of the eclipse, the less likely you’ll be to see the totality.

The 2024 total solar eclipse will happen on Monday, April 8. The Great American Eclipse will reach the Mexican Pacific coast at 11:07 a.m. PT (2:07 p.m. ET), and then traverse the US in a northeasterly direction from Texas to Maine, and on into easternmost Canada. If you want a good look at it, but don’t live in the path of totality, you shouldn’t wait much longer to book accommodation and travel to a spot on the path.

Or how about booking a seat in the sky? Delta Airlines made headlines for offering a flight that allows you to see the entire path of totality. Its first eclipse flight, from Austin, Texas, to Detroit sold out quickly. But as of Monday, Delta has added a second flight from Dallas to Detroit, which also covers the path of totality. The airline also has five flights that will offer prime eclipse viewing.

Not everyone can get on one of those elusive eclipse-viewing flights. Here’s a look at other options to nab a chance to see this rare sight and what to know about it.

Total solar eclipse path

The eclipse will cross over the Pacific coast of Mexico and head northeast over mainland Mexico. The eclipse will then make its way over San Antonio at approximately 2:30 p.m. ET on April 8 and move through Texas, over the southeastern part of Oklahoma and northern Arkansas by 2:50 p.m. ET.

By 3 p.m. ET, the eclipse will be over southern Illinois, and just 5 minutes later, will be traveling over Indianapolis. Folks in northwestern Ohio will be treated to the eclipse by 3:15 p.m. ET, and it will then travel over Lake Erie and Buffalo, New York, by 3:20 p.m. ET. Over the next 10 minutes, the eclipse will be seen over northern New York state, then over Vermont. By 3:35 p.m. ET, the eclipse will work its way into Canada and off the Eastern coast of North America.

Best places to watch the Great American Eclipse

When evaluating the best places to watch this year’s total eclipse, you’ll first want to determine where you’ll have the best angle to see the totality. The farther off-angle you are — in other words, the farther north or south of the eclipse’s path — the less of an impact you can expect.

Therefore, if you want to have the best chance of experiencing the eclipse, you’ll want to be in its path. As of this writing, most of the cities in the eclipse’s path have some hotel availability, but recent reports have suggested that rooms are booking up. And as more rooms are booked, prices are going up.

So if you want to be in the eclipse’s path, and need a hotel to do it, move fast. And Delta’s eclipse-viewing flight from Dallas to Detroit has just four seats left at the time of publication.

Eclipse eye safety and photography

As with any solar eclipse, it’s critical you keep eye safety in mind.

During the eclipse, and especially during the periods before and after totality, don’t look directly at the sun without special eye protection. Also, be sure not to look at the sun through a camera (including the camera on your phone), binoculars, a telescope or any other viewing device. This could cause serious eye injury. Sunglasses aren’t enough to protect your eyes from damage.

If you want to view the eclipse, you’ll instead need solar viewing glasses that comply with the ISO 12312-2 safety standard. Anything that doesn’t meet that standard or greater won’t be dark enough to protect your eyes. Want to get them for free? If you’ve got a Warby Parker eyeglasses store nearby, the company is giving away free, ISO-certified solar eclipse glasses at all of its stores from April 1 until the eclipse, while supplies last.

If you don’t have eclipse viewing glasses handy, you can instead use indirect methods for viewing the eclipse, like a pinhole projector.

Read more: A Photographer’s Adventure With the Eclipse

In the event you want to take pictures of the eclipse, attach a certified solar filter to your camera. Doing so will protect your eyes and allow you to take photos while you view the eclipse through your lens.

There’s also a new app to help you both protect your eyes and take better photos of the eclipse on your phone. Solar Snap, designed by a former Hubble Space Telescope astronomer, comes with a Solar Snap camera filter that attaches to the back of an iPhone or Android phone, along with solar eclipse glasses for protecting your eyesight during the event. After you attach the filter to your phone, you can use the free Solar Snap Eclipse app to zoom in on the eclipse, adjust exposure and other camera settings, and ultimately take better shots of the eclipse.

2024 eclipse compared to 2017

The last total solar eclipse occurred in 2017, and many Americans had a great view. Although there are plenty of similarities between the 2017 total solar eclipse and the one coming April 8, there are a handful of differences. Mainly, the 2024 eclipse is going to cover more land and last longer.

The 2017 eclipse started over the northwest US and moved southeast. Additionally, that eclipse’s path was up to 71 miles wide, compared with a maximum width of 122 miles for this year’s eclipse. Perhaps most importantly, the moon completely covered the sun for just 2 minutes, 40 seconds in 2017. This year, maximum totality will last for nearly four-and-a-half minutes.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Wednesday, March 25

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for March 25.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? It’s not terribly tricky, but read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Instrument in bluegrass music
Answer: BANJO

6A clue: Publication with the headline «C.I.A. Realizes It’s Been Using Black Highlighters All These Years,» with «The»
Answer: ONION

7A clue: Cut-off point for cropped jeans
Answer: ANKLE

8A clue: Hilarious person
Answer: RIOT

9A clue: Place to hibernate
Answer: DEN

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: «Tens across the ___!»
Answer: BOARD

2D clue: 1982 film in which Carol Burnett played Miss Hannigan
Answer: ANNIE

3D clue: Japanese camera brand
Answer: NIKON

4D clue: Sudden shock
Answer: JOLT

5D clue: Final number in a countdown
Answer: ONE

Technologies

The BlackBerry-Esque Smartphone With a Full Keyboard Just Launched on Kickstarter

This Android smartphone with a tactile QWERTY keyboard has already raised over $2.1 million.

While today’s best phones are all glass touchscreens ripe for swiping, when nostalgia hits, all we want to do is get our fingers click-clacking on a BlackBerry’s tactile keyboard. Though BlackBerry discontinued its mobile line in 2016, phones with physical keyboards are making a comeback.

At Mobile World Congress 2026, CNET Mobile Managing Editor David Lumb got his hands on the Titan 2 Elite, an Android smartphone made by Chinese smartphone manufacturer Unihertz. It features a full backlit QWERTY keyboard that fits right in your pocket. On Tuesday, both the standard version and the Pro launched on Kickstarter, and have already exceeded the company’s $100,000 goal.

At the time of writing, over $2.1 million has been pledged by over 4,500 backers.

The Titan 2 Elite lets you customize its A-Z keyboard keys to create short- and long-press shortcuts that take you to different apps and assist with text editing. You can even use the keyboard to scroll and move your mouse, an upgrade from BlackBerry’s trackball. As for the red programmable side button, it can launch any app with one press.

To get your hands on an orange or black Titan 2 Elite, which is estimated to ship in June 2026, you have to pledge $396. This is discounted from the full price of $489 and is at least $403 cheaper than the iPhone 17. Shipping to the US is an extra $10.

For the Titan 2 Elite Pro, you have to pledge $486, plus shipping. Its full price is $579. The estimated delivery time is October 2026.

For both the standard and Pro phones, packages are available for couples, families (three devices), friends (five devices) and wholesale purchasers (10 devices).

The phones are currently in the process of being certified by Google, the FCC, the Conformité Européenne for EU Compliance, UK Conformity Assessed and Japan Approvals Institute for Telecommunications Equipment. These certifications are expected to be obtained by April, before trial and mass production occur in May.

The Elite vs. the Elite Pro

The Elite and Elite Pro differ only in power and storage. The standard Elite comes with a MediaTek Dimensity 7400 chip, while the Pro offers a Dimensity 8400. For storage, you get 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage with the standard, and 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage with the Pro.

Despite rising prices in the memory market caused by AI-driven demand, Unihertz decided to stick with 12GB of RAM. The company says that this is why the Titan 2 Elite costs more than previous Unihertz devices launched on Kickstarter.

Both the standard and Pro versions have a 4.03-inch AMOLED screen, a 50-megapixel rear camera, a 32-megapixel selfie camera, a 4,050-mAh battery, dual-band GPS, fingerprint and face unlocking, Bluetooth 6.0, global 5G coverage and support for two physical SIM cards and an eSIM. You can even swap one of your SIMs for a microSD card, giving you 2TB of extra storage.

Both the Elite and Elite Pro will ship with Android 16 OS, for which Unihertz will give five years of update support and security patches until 2031.

Technologies

A Historic Heat Dome Is Creeping Across the US. Here’s How to Prepare

After breaking heat records in 14 states, the heat wave pummeling the Southwest is moving eastward.

A massive heat wave has broken heat records in 14 states, including Arizona and California, reaching up to 112 degrees Fahrenheit in some areas. Now it’s creeping eastward, according to the National Weather Service.

The heat wave is continuing its journey through the Midwestern United States and is projected to affect anywhere from one-quarter to one-third of the 48 mainland states, National Weather Service meteorologist Gregg Gallina told The Associated Press. The highest temperatures recorded today are in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas — what the National Weather Service refers to as the Southern Rockies region. But the hot air is on the move.

The reason these high temperatures persist is the «heat dome» phenomenon, in which high pressure prevents hot air from rising, trapping it in a bubble above a region. As the dome of pressure moves, so too does the hot air — and right now, it’s barreling east.

The states that will be smothered by the heat dome in the coming days include those in the Southern and Central Plains regions. This means residents of Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska can expect to sweat as the heat blankets them on its eastbound journey.

What the heat dome means for climate change and our health

According to Climate Central, the US has experienced rising blackout rates over the past 20 years, largely due to weather-related issues and an aging electrical grid.

As of August 2025, the US Environmental Protection Agency states that heat is the leading weather-related cause of death in the US. The World Health Organization reports that between 2000 and 2019, about 489,000 heat-related deaths occurred each year.

Fortunately, humidity levels are not as high during a summer heat wave. As humidity can contribute to dehydration, body strain and breathing difficulties, lower humidity makes this heat dome somewhat less dangerous for workers in affected areas.

The World Weather Attribution, an initiative formed by international climate change researchers and climate scientists, determined that the heat dome would be «virtually impossible without human-induced climate change.»

In a world where weather events like these cease to be impossibilities, you’ll want to prepare for future heat waves properly. Here’s how to stay safe during the heat dome.

How to prepare for the heat dome before it hits your state

There’s nothing you can do to beat the heat outside, aside from following heat safety best practices. You’ll just need to stay hydrated, wear breathable, light-colored clothing and wait out the potentially dangerous heat dome, which is expected to dissipate by the end of next week when April begins. But you can do things to batten down the hatches before the sweltering heat reaches your home.

Even if you don’t have much prep time, a couple of small items can make your home safer (and far more comfortable). Cooling towels, portable fans and countertop ice makers are must-haves during a heat wave, especially if you aren’t looking to crank the thermostat down and spend a pretty penny.

Heat waves are also extremely costly due to the sheer amount of energy used — it’s expensive to stay cool. Depending on your living situation, though, you might want to invest in heat pump installation. These HVAC system additions are extremely energy efficient, which means you can keep more money in your pocket while beating the heat.

During the middle of the heat wave, when everyone has their AC running, there’s also the potential for an early brownout (a temporary drop in electrical voltage, causing lighting to dim) or even a blackout (a complete loss of power). It’s common to feel helpless during power outages, but you can get ahead of the curve by preparing a summer blackout kit with portable chargers and alternative light sources before the heat wave hits.

Even if the historic heat wave doesn’t hit your home, these tips will help you prepare as the summer season bears down on the US in a couple of months.