• Google will host a hardware reveal event on September 30th, but all of the devices leaked.
• We already know everything there is to know about the Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a (5G), and now retail boxes for the new Chromecast and the Nest Audio are showing up in the wild.
• Google’s unannounced Nest Audio actually appeared on Lowes.com for a short time in error.

We’re just days away from what should be Google’s biggest hardware event of 2020, and to the surprise of no one, all of the devices the company plans to announce already leaked. On Wednesday, we broke down the specs of Google’s Pixel 5 and showed you purported press renders of the phone. Then on Thursday morning, we covered another leak that gave us a detailed look at the Pixel 4a (5G). And now, two more devices have leaked in full...

• The iPhone 12 series will feature a new design, as well as several new hardware improvements, according to recent rumors.
• One of the notable iPhone 12 changes concerns the accessories that Apple will include with the new handsets.
• The iPhone 12 might not get a free charger or EarPods, but Apple will deliver a welcome upgrade to the charging cable, addressing durability issues that affected previous cables.

The upcoming iPhone 12 series will feature a brand new design — the first since the iPhone X’s arrival three years ago. The iPhone 12 will also be the first series of Apple smartphones to support 5G connectivity, and that might be part of the reason why a redesign is needed...

• President Donald Trump refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power once again this week when asked what he would do if he were to lose the 2020 election.
• Trump said “get rid of the ballots […] there won’t be a transfer, frankly, there will be a continuation.”
• Several Republican senators responded to Trump’s comments with statements of their own, including Mitch McConnell, Marco Rubio, and Mitt Romney.

Throughout his tenure as President of the United States, Donald Trump has repeatedly refrained from offering a clear and concise answer when asked about what he would do if he were to lose his reelection bid...

• The Perseverance rover is currently on route to Mars, and once it gets there it will have the ability to hunt for signs of life like no other rover before it.
• The rover is equipped with a special X-ray scanning tool that can identify the presence of chemical signatures on rocks.
• Finding signs of past life on Mars will be tricky, but Perseverance may be the key.

NASA successfully launched its Perseverance rover just in the nick of time. There were just days left in the launch window when NASA finally pushed the button, and the launch went off without a hitch, sending the rover and its Mars Helicopter companion to the Red Planet. It’ll still be a few months before they arrive, but in the meantime, it’s important to know what the rover will be doing once it gets to Mars.

One of its...

• The cybersecurity firm Avast has identified a new batch of sketchy iOS and Android apps that the firm says has been downloaded some 2.4 million times, in addition to garnering about $500,000 in revenue for their creators.
  
• The apps were promoted via accounts across TikTok and Instagram, which encouraged users to download them.
• These iOS and Android apps seem mostly to have been created to serve up ads.

Recently, a 12-year-old girl who lives in the Czech Republic thought something seemed a little fishy about a popular app she noticed was being talked about and circulating among TikTok users — so much so that she decided to tell someone about it...

• Disney will soon launch the second season of its acclaimed series The Mandalorian, but a new report offers a disturbing spoiler for the future of the series.
• Actor Pedro Pascal (Din Djarin) is supposedly unhappy with the showrunners’ decision to have the Mandalorian wear the mask at all times.
• After a series of disagreements, Pascal will reportedly step away from the series. He would play Djarin in the flesh, but only voice the character in the following seasons, which are reportedly in the making.

The second season of the first big Disney+ show is almost upon us. The Mandalorian will launch on October 30th, where it will probably continue to drag on the story, taking advantage of our affection for Baby Yoda...

• The latest coronavirus update we have thanks to data from Johns Hopkins University shows that new coronavirus infections are increasing again in almost half of the US.
  
• This trend is especially worrying public health officials like White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci.
• Dr. Fauci warned this week that the US needs to get its baseline number of new coronavirus cases per day down much more as we head into the fall and winter months.

Bank of America Securities Credit Strategist Hans Mikkelsen recently shared a coronavirus update in an analyst note that would no doubt make President Trump happy if he sees it, because it harkens back to a line the president has been using often in his public remarks.

Essentially, Mikkelsen says that it appears an increase in testing around the country...

• SpaceX tested the pressure capacity of one of its starship tanks the best way possible: by filling it up until it exploded.
• The planned explosion and failure helped SpaceX engineers better understand the limits of the hardware as they plan the next version.
• SpaceX’s Starship will eventually travel to Mars if everything works out as planned.

News of a SpaceX machine exploding isn’t typically good news. It’s happened in the past, and most of the time it was unexpected and accidental. Well, the company just blew up one of its Starship tanks, but this time it did so on purpose.

As Space.com reports, SpaceX was using the tank for a pressure test. The test was designed to determine the maximum pressure the tank could withstand...

• NASA’s plans to return humans to the Moon by 2024 will depend largely on whether it can secure funding from Congress.
• Right now, the space agency needs several billion more dollars to make the mission a reality.
• Without adequate funding, the mission will ultimately be delayed, and even if funding is achieved, technical hurdles could push the date back by years.

NASA has been very outspoken about its plans to get humans back to the Moon by 2024. Originally a mandate from the Trump administration, the goal of getting humans back on the lunar surface by 2024 has always been a long shot. NASA has made some great strides in its work toward that goal, but it’s still well short when it comes to money.

As Ars Technica reports, the space agency still doesn’t have the funding to begin the...

• Bill Gates believes the U.S. won’t be able to conquer the coronavirus pandemic for good until 2022.
• Gates, however, believes life in the U.S. will return to a state of normalcy during the summer of 2021
• Gates previously said that the coronavirus could end up killing millions worldwide as individuals in some countries have been able to access non-coronavirus related medical care.

Earlier this week, the cumulative number of coronavirus-related deaths in the U.S. surpassed 200,000. And though the death rate has slowed down slightly, some experts warn we might see a massive spike in new infections and deaths come November as a result of colder weather and the forthcoming flu season.

At this point, trying to predict when the U.S...