Volvo's electric vehicles to date have been offshoots of existing car platforms (yes, even the Polestar 2), but it's now ready to show just what it can do when it builds an EV from the ground up. The brand has unveiled a Concept Recharge design that shows the direction for the company's "pure" EV future — both in aesthetics and technology.

The Concept Recharge ditches the usual engine bay and tucks a large battery into a flat floor. That makes for more interior space, of course, but also leads to shorter overhangs, a lower hood and a slicker roof profile. This also gives Volvo an excuse to streamline its look — the Concept Recharge removes "all unnecessary elements" and looks more like a tall hatchback despite its SUV-like vantage point.

Volvo

The interior is equally stripped back and likened to a "Scandinavian living room." You'll still get plenty of technology, though, including a digital dash and a 15-inch infotainment touchscreen. Volvo's fondness for safety is in full view with a roof-mounted LiDAR sensor to collect environmental data and (eventually) enable autonomous driving features.

There's no mention of whether or not the Concept Recharge will evolve into a production car, or when you can expect the first EVs based on this formula. However, it's safe to presume that many of the design cues and basic technological ideas will reach cars you can actually buy. It's just a question of whether or not Volvo can compete against the many, many rivals planning from-scratch EVs in the next few years.

Renault has been sending signals that it wants to accelerate its EV plans, and it's now clear just how aggressive the firm will be. The French automaker now expects 65 percent of its lineup to be electrified by 2025 — potentially the "greenest" car mix in Europe, according to the company, and much better than an earlier 30 percent target. Its plans revolve around a lineup with 10 new electric cars, including the reborn 5, the 4ever (a modern Renault 4) and a Mégane EV.

Up to 90 percent of cars in Renault's brand stable (which includes Alpine and Dacia) should be electric by 2030.

The strategy hinges in part on making EVs more accessible. Renault is prepping a new platform (CMF-BEV) that should reduce costs by a third compared to the Zoe through an interchangeable battery, a "right-sized" 100kW powertrain and borrowed components from conventional cars. Renault is also focusing on more capable and affordable components, including more efficient nickel-manganese-cobalt batteries (with 20 percent more range versus alternatives) and an all-in-one powertrain that's roughly half as large as before while costing 30 percent less.

Renault is also hoping to cut the cost of recycling EV batteries to a third of its current levels by 2030, and have its Mobilize brand reuse batteries as stationary energy storage.

You'll have to wait a while for some of these cars. The Mégane arrives in 2022, and Alpine's "dream garage" will have to wait until 2024. Still, It's evident Renault wants to earn an eco-friendly reputation much sooner than originally expected.

Whether or not Renault will lead the pack is another matter. Volkswagen, for instance, hopes to be the worldwide leader in electric vehicles by 2025 "at the latest," and wants an all-electric European lineup by 2030. There's no guarantee rivals will meet their own goals, but Renault may have to tweak its plans again if it's going to stay ahead in a rapidly changing market.

Now that Virgin Orbit is comfortable carrying satellites into space, it's ready for you to tune in. The orbital delivery company is livestreaming a rocket launch for the first time, with an expected takeoff time around 9:50AM Eastern. The "Tubular Bells: Part One" mission will see the Cosmic Girl host aircraft deploy the LauncherOne rocket roughly an hour after lifting into the sky.

LauncherOne will have plenty to do during the flight, as Space.comnoted. It's carrying seven satellites for three countries, including the US (four cubesats for the Department of Defense Space Test Program), Poland (two vehicles for SatRevolution) and the Netherlands (a cubesat for the Royal Netherlands Air Force).

As before, Virgin Orbit's appeal is its flexibility and cost — organizations can put payloads into space more on their own terms, and potentially for less money than needed for a conventional launch. The company has had just two launches before now, though. In that light, a lot is riding on this mission — it should help prove that Virgin is ready to pick up the pace and compete against private spaceflight rivals like Rocket Lab and SpaceX.

Custom Google map data is supposed to help you document history or set up custom tours, but it's now being used as a political sword. Reuters has learned that Google took down two My Maps creations that listed names, photos and addresses for "hundreds" of Thai activists that allegedly oppose King Vajiralongkorn and the monarchy. Both maps violated company policies, Google said.

The creators, including royalist Songklod Chuhenchoopol, said the maps were intended both as "psychological" warfare (that is, intimidation) and to help report political dissent. The information was publicly available, Chuhenchoopol said, but that hasn't placated human rights campaigners — they see it as a doxxing campaign that could lead to violence against the people on the list.

The Thai government hasn't yet commented on Google's removal.

Google's removal might have come too late when the map received over 350,000 views. It does serve as a warning, though, and suggests that custom mapping tool developers will have to be vigilant going forward. It doesn't take much to turn this online convenience into a hit list.

Apple is once again releasing special edition Watch bands to mark the summer Olympics, but this time you won't have to travel to the games (not that you likely can) to get one. The company has launched an Apple Watch International Collection of 22 Sport Loops that should help you cheer your team as it chases medals in Tokyo. There's a US band (below), to no one's surprise, but you'll also find straps for countries as wide-ranging as Australia, Greece (it did start the Olympics, after all), Japan and South Africa.

No, you won't have to go to the trouble of creating a custom watch face. The packaging takes advantage of App Clips to help you download a matching Stripes face. You can also download them from Apple's website if there's another country you want to support.

Apple

The International Collection bands are available solely through Apple and sell for $49 in both 40mm and 44mm sizes. Apple characterizes them as "limited-edition," although it didn't say how long they'll be available (we've asked for clarification). It's safe to say you'll want to get yours quickly if you're interested. This is a rare chance to buy an official nation-themed Apple Watch band without having to pay a premium for one on an auction site.

As good as it is to read with your kids, you might not always be there when they want to open a book. Amazon thinks it can fill in that gap, though. It just rolled out a long-teased Reading Sidekick feature that uses an Echo Kids device to help your kids read aloud on their own time. Children just have to tell Alexa "let's read" to take turns reading supported books, whether they're digital or physical. Your young ones won't always have to wait for you, in other words.

You'll need a Kids+ subscription to use the Sidekick, although you'll at least have your choice of books. Over 700 titles will be available for kids aged 6 to 9, and Amazon is promising "hundreds more" every month.

Appropriately, Amazon is simultaneously rolling out Alexa Voice Profiles for Kids. Set them up for your children (as many as four) and they'll get parental controls, kid-appropriate responses as well personalized Alexa skills, games and media. Not everyone will have Voice Profiles for Kids right away, but they should be available to everyone by July 2nd.

Before you ask: yes, Amazon is aware that parents and teachers should be involved in reading whenever possible. It's not suggesting that you use a smart speaker as a substitute for reading at bedtime. Reading Sidekick is meant to fill in the gaps and encourage kids to read aloud more often — you don't have to worry quite so much if a business trip keeps you away from home.

Samsung is finally ready to show the first results of its Wear OS partnership with Google, and it will be very easy to get a front row seat. The company is livestreaming its Mobile World Congress event at 1:15PM Eastern, and you can watch through the Samsung YouTube channel (below) or the MWC website. You can, of course, expect plenty of in-depth coverage on Engadget.

The stream will focus on "reimagining smartwatches," so you can expect both a deeper look at the Samsung-influenced Wear OS and, possibly, new watch hardware. You'll also hear more about security improvements for a range of Galaxy devices. Just don't count on new phones — Samsung typically reserves its mid-year flagship launches for August.

Honda finally has a name for its first electric SUV, not to mention more precise timing. As Roadshownotes, the automaker has revealed that this EV people hauler (not pictured here) will be called the Prologue when it arrives in early 2024. You'll also see the promised Acura SUV sometime in calendar 2024, although that vaguer promise suggests this model will trail its more mainstream counterpart.

The company still isn't providing much detail about what the Prologue will entail, although it reiterated that both the Prologue and its Acura counterpart will run on GM's Ultium batteries. Don't expect that tie-up to last long, though, as Honda also promises EVs in the second half of the decade based on a new "e:Architecture."

The Prologue could be one of Honda's most important cars in recent memory. The company plans to shift completely to EVs by 2040, with 40 percent of major-market sales either using batteries or hydrogen fuel cells by 2030. If the brand is going to meet those goals, it needs to roll out broadly appealing EVs rather than relatively niche models like the Honda E compact. The Prologue will start that course and show just how well Honda can transition away from combustion engines.

It wouldn't be summer without another Plus chip from Qualcomm, and this year you're getting one slightly early. Qualcomm has introduced the Snapdragon 888 Plus, a souped-up version of (what else?) the base 888 from late last year. The 888 Plus includes the obligatory clock speed boost from a peak 2.86GHz to nearly 3GHz, but it also throws in an upgraded AI engine that promises more than a 20 percent performance boost for tasks like camera effects and noise cancellation.

You can otherwise expect the familiar Kryo 680 CPU architecture and Adreno 660 graphics. The X60 modem still tops out at 7.5Gbps, although that's not exactly an issue when even the fastest current 5G connections won't come close to taxing Qualcomm's hardware.

As with last year's 865 Plus, it's really all about the companies building the chip into their devices. Qualcomm already has a string of high-profile customers lined up for the Snapdragon 888 Plus, including ASUS' next ROG Phone, Honor's Magic 3, at least one Motorola device as well as handsets from Vivo and Xiaomi. We also wouldn't rule out phones from other major customers, such as Samsung's possible foldable phone updates.

The first phones using the Snapdragon 888 Plus are due to ship sometime in the third quarter of the year. The improvements won't have you regretting that ROG Phone 5 purchase (or any other 888-based phone, really), but they will ensure that Android phones in the back half of 2021 will use Qualcomm's absolute latest technology.

Honda is revealing more about its first EVs for the US — and not surprisingly, they'll be decidedly larger than the Honda E. US sales chief Dave Gardner told the AP and others that Honda would sell two electric SUVS in the US for the 2024 model year. While further details were unsurprisingly scarce, one model would sell through the upscale Acura badge. Both would have previously hinted-at GM electric technology underneath, although Honda would supply the rest.

You'll hear more about the SUVs later this year, Gardner said. He added that there would be hybrid versions of popular models, although he didn't name them. The company currently sells two dedicated hybrids, the Clarity and Insight, as well as partly electrified versions of the Accord and CR-V.

We wouldn't expect these models to look too much like the SUV E:concept from September 2020. The production version of that vehicle was headed to China, and its two-door coupe design likely wouldn't get much traction in North America.

Honda doesn't have much choice. With President Biden expected to bring back tougher emissions standards and otherwise make a push for electric cars, Honda could be in trouble if it doesn't lower its emissions averages with more EVs and hybrids. There's also the matter of competition. With Ford, GM and other rivals planning to electrify large parts of their lineups in the years ahead, Honda risks being left behind in the US (and abroad) if it sticks with combustion engines.