Technologies

Catch a Rare Planetary ‘Smiley Face’ in the Stars This Week: Here’s How

Look to the eastern sky late Thursday, and a clear horizon will show you this unusual, grinning planet alignment.

A rare celestial event on April 24-25 will give skygazers a creative way to see a smiley face in the early morning sky. Though it’s not exactly an emoji, this interesting grouping will show a crescent moon plus two rising planets, Venus and Saturn, close to the horizon. Together they’ll form a quirky sideways «smile» for watchful viewers, creating plenty of potential for amateur photographers with the right angles.

«Find Venus, Saturn, and the crescent moon gathered low in the east as dawn warms the morning sky. Mercury is also visible below them for those with a clear view to the horizon,» NASA said in this month’s skywatching tips.

This isn’t quite a lunar occultation, where the moon fully obscures the planets, but the event is very close to one. If you want the best chance of seeing this interesting convergence, you should head out before twilight.

When CNET reached out to Amateur Astronomer’s Association for advice, they let us know, «Thank you for reaching out! Stargazers all across the US will be able to see this conjunction in the early morning hours. They should look towards the eastern sky just before sunrise, local time. … All stargazers need is an open view of that eastern horizon and clear skies» The club also recommended using the Stellarium Web site as a tool to calculate the exact best time to view for your location.

When you’re ready, start with a few simple steps:

Go out while it’s still fully dark, well before dawn in your location.
Ensure you have a clear view of the eastern horizon (where the sun rises). Clouds or morning fog may obscure the event.
Find a higher spot with a clear view of the horizon. Nearby hills or mountains could hide the event, so the clearer, the better.
Find the moon’s crescent at the bottom of the horizon.
Look to the upper right of the crescent and watch for two bright lights to shine. You may think they’re stars, but they’re planets. Venus should be significantly brighter than Saturn, giving the smile a fun, lopsided look.
If you’re taking photos, wait until the brightening twilight has started to obscure nearby stars while the planets still remain easily visible.

The smiley face is part of Venus’ continual shift from an evening spectacle to a morning event throughout April. Mercury will also be making an appearance if you have a horizon view that includes especially low stars.

Technologies

iPhone Fold Will Be Creaseless and Cost $2,400, Report Says

Apple’s first foldable could be an expensive one.

The first foldable iPhone could be less than a year away, and reportedly, you won’t ever see a crease. You could, however, see a decent dent in your wallet.

According to a report by Chinese publication UDN, engineers have made «breakthroughs» in creating a «crease-free design» for the iPhone Fold, and the product cycle has now moved past the experimental stage to pre-mass production mode. The Fold reportedly could be launched in September 2026.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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But you’ll pay dearly for the iPhone‘s creaseless screen. Another report by Fubon Research says the iPhone Fold could cost as much as $2,399, which would make it the most expensive foldable phone on the market — higher than the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold, the Samsung Galaxy Flip 7, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, Motorola Razr Ultra and Motorola Razr, all which range between $700 and $2,000.

More from CNET: A Word of Warning to Apple About the Fold

The reported $2,400 price tag might pack a wallop, but so could the Fold’s possibly game-changing design quality. The market has steadily grown since the first foldable phone was launched in 2018, but no one has yet been able to make one that doesn’t show a crease after several folds. The OnePlus Open has the least visible crease of all the foldables — there’s even a subreddit extolling the virtues of its near-creaseless-ness. But a crease is still a crease.

‘No crease is a hard feat!’

Jessica Naziri, a content creator focused on tech made for women at TechSesh.co, says, «2026 is the year of foldables.»

«We’ve been begging our phones to behave like laptops, and this gets us a lot closer to that reality,» Naziri told CNET. «If Apple is doing it, you know it will be good. Between the iPhone Air and the upcoming foldable, it’s nice to finally see Apple trying new form factors.

Despite the high price, Naziri says consumers will still pony up.

«Obviously, the engineering feat is expected to come with a premium price tag, and people will find a way to save up and pay up,» she said.

Creaseless comes at a cost

The UDN report said that teams from Apple, NewRixing and Amphenol have been collaborating on key component bearings to avoid the iPhone Fold showing creases. Those teams have used high-strength hinge component technology made of liquid metal to improve folding durability, according to the report.

The inner screen is developed by Samsung Display, and the panel structure, material handling and lamination are designed by Apple, the report said. UDN also said that Taiwan-based Hon Hai Technology Group has created a production line where several dozen iPhone Fold devices will be initially manufactured for testing before mass production begins.

The advanced components and design work led to the hefty consumer cost, however. Fubon Research analyst Arthur Liao said the OLED panel, hinge and lightweight internals will help drive up the price of the iPhone Fold. He also said that RAM prices have risen 75% in the past year, and total material cost could go up between 5% and 7% in 2026 because of increased demand for chips, memory and storage.

Technologies

Fubo Loses NBCUniversal Channels, Putting Your NBA Games in Jeopardy

Sound the carriage dispute Klaxon: Some network programming has disappeared from the streaming service after content negotiations fell through.

If you’ve noticed your favorite show has recently gone missing from Fubo, it’s probably because an entire block of programming just disappeared from the site’s channel lineup.

The live TV streaming service is engaged in a carriage dispute with NBCUniversal, a media company whose subsidiaries include NBC News, Universal Studios, Peacock, Telemundo and Illumination, among other brands.

On Nov. 21, NBCUniversal pulled all of its networks from Fubo. This is an especially big deal for sports watchers on the streaming service, since the Fubo Sports subscription — which began earlier this year — depends on the licensing agreement with NBCUniversal. However, viewers can still access sports content on networks like ESPN, CBS and ABC.

Fubo released a statement on Tuesday, alleging the media giant is engaging in «discriminatory tactics» that are harming the streamer’s subscribers.

«NBCU is discriminating against Fubo and our subscribers,» the statement says. «They allowed YouTube TV and Amazon Prime to integrate Peacock directly into their channel store, but refused to give Fubo the same rights.»

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Fubo says NBCUniversal is trying to force a multiyear deal for certain channel packages under the media giant’s new spin-off media company, Versant, and that it’s trying to upcharge on the Fubo Sports subscription by adding «expensive, non-sports channels» into the agreement, increasing the cost.

According to NBCUniversal’s website, the Versant brands include CNBC, E!, MS Now, SyFy and USA, among other channels.

NBCUniversal did not respond to a request for comment.

Fubo says that it’s willing to move forward without NBCUniversal content if an agreement cannot be reached.

«Fubo is committed to bringing its subscribers a premium, competitively-priced live TV streaming experience with the content they love,» its statement concludes. «That includes multiple content options, including a sports-focused service, that can be accessed directly from the Fubo app.»

Fubo recently became an affiliate of The Walt Disney Company, following its merger with Hulu’s live TV platform in October. It’s unclear whether this merger affected content agreement negotiations with NBCUniversal. Fubo did not respond to a request for comment on this.

Technologies

Spotify Will Reportedly Get More Expensive in the US Next Year. Here’s What to Expect

The music streaming service will reportedly raise prices again after subscription rate hikes in other regions.

After announcing it is raising prices in regions including Europe, South Asia and Latin America, Spotify is reportedly about to increase prices again in the US.

The US is included in the latest Spotify price hike on its Premium services starting in early 2026, according to the Financial Times, which cited three sources familiar with the streaming music company’s dealings. For now, the least expensive Premium plans in the US start at $12, but the price hike would likely put it in line with the other regions where the Premium plan costs about $14 a month.

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Spotify also offers a Premium Family plan that covers six people in the same household for $20 and plans for students ($6 a month bundled with Hulu) and couples ($17 a month). Spotify also offers a Basic plan that does not include access to audiobooks for $11 a month. A representative for Spotify did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A steady increase

If the report is accurate, this would be the third price increase on Premium plans in the US since 2023. Before those hikes, Premium plans were $10, but Spotify raised its minimum price by $1 in 2023 then again in 2024.

Just this week, Spotify added the ability to seamlessly import playlists from other music services including Apple Music and Tidal.

Spotify has faced some controversy this year, including some music acts abandoning the platform and some customers canceling subscriptions over advertising for Homeland Security’s ICE program. CNET has a guide for canceling your Spotify subscription.

The company is the market leader among music streaming apps with about 32 percent market share as of the end of 2024.