The 5 Coolest News Stories Of The Week [May 15-21]

It's undoubtedly been a long news week. If you haven't been following the latest updates, we're here to get you caught up. There has been no shortage of developments in the tech, science, and automotive spaces, so here are the five coolest stories of the week. 

The biggest and most essential story of this week is the announcement of Apple's upcoming Live Captions feature for iPhones, iPads, and Mac computers. Move aside, "Pokemon GO" — this could very well be the killer AR app we've been waiting for. It sounds like Live Captions are designed to translate audio, FaceTime conversations, video meetings, and social media videos into readable text in real-time. It can also translate text into spoken word. Since it's supposedly part of an upcoming iOS update, it's expected to be compatible with the iPhone 14 Pro Max, which looks humongous, much like the iPhone 13 Pro Max that preceded it. This week gave us what could be our first look at the iPhone 14 Pro Max, thanks to a dummy unit based on leaked renders and specifications. 

The latest news from NASA indicates that its long-running space probe, Voyager 1, is currently on the outs. Since the spacecraft is 45 years old, the Voyager mission team is currently looking for ways to repair it, though project manager Suzanne Dodd has stated that the team anticipates challenges. That's not entirely surprising when you consider that Voyager 1 is currently making its way through interstellar space.

Honda recently revealed design sketches of both its upcoming 2024 Prologue EV SUV model and the new Honda dealerships that are expected to gradually be equipped with charging stations. That said, these are just previews, and the final designs could change by 2024. The company has also stated that the number of charging stations it ends up installing will scale to the sales volume that it achieves.

Rounding out our list of the week's coolest tech announcements, Tesla owners received some good news this week with the release of a new beta for Tesla's Full Self-Driving software. Build number v10.12 brings a number of upgrades to the Tesla turn-taking systems, which are expected to have an important impact on driver and passenger safety. Tesla vehicles should also now be better able to detect far-away objects. There you have it — if you missed this week's coolest news stories, you can officially consider yourself up to speed.