Technology

At WIRED's The Big Interview event, Bluesky CEO Jay Graber discussed the booming user numbers for the Twitter rival and why giving social media users more control is a recipe for success.

Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need clues.

What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Connections today (game #542) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• PAN
• PINE TREE
• LEAD
• CANDLE
• COMPASS
• LOOFAH
• TURNTABLE
• SHEPHERD
• ATLAS
• TOILETRIES
• ECHO
• GUIDE
• SEWING KIT
• HELEN
• DIRECT
• JOHNSON

NYT Connections today (game #542) - hint #1 - group hints

What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?

• Yellow: Follow
• Green: Get the point
• Blue: Ancient figures
• Purple: Bathroom slang

Need more clues?

We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…

NYT Connections today (game #542) - hint #2 - group answers

What are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?

• YELLOW: STEER
• GREEN: THINGS WITH NEEDLE/S
• BLUE: FIGURES IN GREEK MYTH
• PURPLE: STARTING WITH SYNONYMS FOR LAVATORY

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Connections today (game #542) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #542, are…

• YELLOW: STEER DIRECT, GUIDE, LEAD, SHEPHERD
• GREEN: THINGS WITH NEEDLE/S COMPASS, PINE TREE, SEWING KIT, TURNTABLE
• BLUE: FIGURES IN GREEK MYTH ATLAS, ECHO, HELEN, PAN
• PURPLE: STARTING WITH SYNONYMS FOR LAVATORY CANDLE, JOHNSON, LOOFAH, TOILETRIES

• My rating: Moderate
• My score: 2 mistakes

Hi, Johnny here, taking over Connections duties from Marc for a little while (he'll be back occasionally, I'm sure – and he's still looking after the daily Wordle today page, don't worry about that!).

Being a very easily LEAD person the Yellow group appeared before my eyes instantly. The same could not be said about the rest of today’s words, which – as is very often the case at close to midnight – appeared to be a random jumble of letters.

I attempted a second group that seemed to be about getting somewhere using very ancient tech – COMPASS, CANDLE, ATLAS and err ECHO which is nature’s GPS (if you’re in a cave or Alpine valley with someone who can yodel).

Getting this one wrong I used up another mistake guessing that CANDLE, SEWING KIT, LOOFAH, TOILETRIES were all presents you’d buy your Grandmother.

Then sense took hold and grasping at some threadbare knowledge of Greek mythology I bundled together ATLAS, HELEN and PAN and took a gamble on ECHO. This made finding THINGS WITH NEEDLE/S to be much easier, after which the final four revealed themselves, making me feel slightly defeated. Oh, dear Connections, you destroyer of souls...

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Tuesday, 3 December, game #541)

• YELLOW: SOPRANOS CARMELA, JUNIOR, MEADOW, TONY
• GREEN: FAMILIAL NICKNAMES CUZ, GRAMMY, MUMMY, POP
• BLUE: “SESAME STREET” CHARACTERS COOKIE, COUNT, OSCAR, SNUFFY
• PURPLE: NAMES THAT SOUND LIKE TWO LETTERS CECE, EDIE, EMMY, KATIE

What is NYT Connections?

NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.

On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.

It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.

It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.

Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

NYT Strands today (game #276) - hint #1 - today's theme What is the theme of today's NYT Strands?

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… I now pronounce you ...

NYT Strands today (game #276) - hint #2 - clue words

Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.

• RAIL
• TRADE
• DATE
• GRAIL
• RAVE
• FLEX

NYT Strands today (game #276) - hint #3 - spangram What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Where's that accent from?

NYT Strands today (game #276) - hint #4 - spangram position What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First: top, 4th column

Last: bottom, 2nd column

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

NYT Strands today (game #276) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #276, are…

• GRAVE
• ACUTE
• TILDE
• UMLAUT
• CEDILLA
• CIRCUMFLEX
• SPANGRAM: DIACRITICS

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 2 hints

Hi, Johnny here, taking over Strands duties from Marc (who'll still be looking after the daily Wordle today page, if that's also on your reading list).

Let's be honest, who didn't immediately think of weddings when they saw today's theme?

After a couple of hints, it became apparent that we were instead looking for the words for the dots, accents, and squiggles placed over letters to indicate how they should be pronounced – something which in our age of texting and group chats is vanishing – in English-speaking countries instead.

Unless, of course, you are a fan of heavy metal, where an UMLAUT is near-obligatory, whether it is required or not. Blue Öyster Cult were the first rock band to use this particular DIACRITIC, and they did so purely because they thought it looked good and added an air of the occult.

The use of unnecessary umlauts does lead to confusion, though. Mötley Crüe singer Vince Neil told Vanity Fair that they put umlauts in their name after drinking Löwenbräu but had no idea what it meant until they toured Germany many years later and were puzzled to hear the crowd chanting, "Mutley Cruh! Mutley Cruh!"

Vince's opinions on the cedilla are unknown.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Tuesday, 3 December, game #275)

• CANDLE
• LANTERN
• TORCH
• HEADLAMP
• FLASHLIGHT
• SPANGRAM: ILLUMINATION

What is NYT Strands?

Strands is the NYT's new word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now out of beta so is a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable and can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.

I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,000 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today – or scroll down further for the answers.

Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles, while Marc's Wordle today column covers the original viral word game.

SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.

Quordle today (game #1045) - hint #1 - Vowels How many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 5*.

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).

Quordle today (game #1045) - hint #2 - repeated letters Do any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 0.

Quordle today (game #1045) - hint #3 - uncommon letters Do the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

• Yes. One of Q, Z, X or J appears among today's Quordle answers.

Quordle today (game #1045) - hint #4 - starting letters (1) Do any of today's Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?

• The number of today's Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 2.

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #1045) - hint #5 - starting letters (2) What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• J

• G

• G

• C

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.

Quordle today (game #1045) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1045, are…

• JUDGE
• GIVER
• GNASH
• CLOAK

Hi, Johnny here, taking over Quordle duties from Marc (who'll still be looking after the daily Wordle today page, if you also play that game).

This is my first attempt at Quordle in a while and I’m not too displeased that I actually got there, but it was a struggle — even after I nailed my first word fairly quickly. For the newcomer, it’s multi-brained, plate-spinning stuff for sure.

In my defense, GNASH is not the first word that springs to mind, but once I’d deduced that the first two letters were GN, there were no other possibilities. A gnarly one for sure.

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Daily Sequence today (game #1045) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1045, are…

• MOOSE
• POSIT
• PLUCK
• STAKE

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1044, Tuesday 3 December: FUDGE, THICK, CRANK, STASH
• Quordle #1043, Monday 2 December: TROPE, HOVER, SAUNA, SHAPE
• Quordle #1042, Sunday 1 December: NAIVE, CIRCA, STEAD, MICRO
• Quordle #1041, Saturday 30 November: MAMMA, SNUCK, CRYPT, TAROT
• Quordle #1040, Friday 29 November: JOIST, DROOL, DUSKY, GLIDE
• Quordle #1039, Thursday 28 November: GRADE, WORRY, NOISE, DAISY
• Quordle #1038, Wednesday 27 November: HEART, ROGUE, INEPT, UTILE
• Quordle #1037, Tuesday 26 November: PRIED, FAINT, HURRY, WOOER
• Quordle #1036, Monday 25 November: NUDGE, SNOOP, SHACK, DRYLY
• Quordle #1035, Sunday 24 November: CLOTH, CLAMP, PETTY, CHEST
• Quordle #1034, Saturday 23 November: AVOID, PLANT, FILET, TWIRL
• Quordle #1033, Friday 22 November: CUTIE, ALOOF, ETUDE, SILLY
• Quordle #1032, Thursday 21 November: RABBI, EAGER, COUGH, BRASH
• Quordle #1031, Wednesday 20 November: MINTY, TOPAZ, BRUSH, LAPEL
• Quordle #1030, Tuesday 19 November: NINJA, PENCE, PAINT, FOIST
• Quordle #1029, Monday 18 November: ASCOT, BRINK, WEIRD, HOMER
• Quordle #1028, Sunday 17 November: STATE, BRAWN, SWORE, URBAN
• Quordle #1027, Saturday 16 November: NOTCH, BENCH, BUSED, FOUND
• Quordle #1026, Friday 15 November: PURER, TRUSS, TORCH, FORUM
• Quordle #1025, Thursday 14 November: EXALT, TASTE, CRONY, CLOUT

If you are old enough to remember the mysteries of the internet in the late 90s, you may recall the fun "I'm Feeling Lucky" button for Google's search engine that would take you directly to the first result of a search rather than the usual list. Three decades and a million sponsored links later, Google is looking to augment its Gemini AI assistant with a feature similar to one discovered in as-yet unreleased code by Android Authority. This time, the button will be a way of producing a random prompt.

Let fate decide what you should discuss with Gemini. Need a reminder to take your dry cleaning in? How about coming up with gift ideas for the holidays? All this and more will be unpredictably submitted to Gemini when you click on the I'm Feeling Lucky button. The button won't be alone under the text box. Gemini will offer a couple of other random suggestions each time you start a conversation, with the lucky button as a permanent fixture alongside them. Gemini actually had random suggestions of ideas on its homepage when it first debuted, but Google removed them a little while ago to streamline the app's look. The new look is minimalist but still offers random ideas.

It's not too different from the suggestions for conversation topics you see when opening an AI chatbot like ChatGPT or Perplexity. The difference is that you don't know what you'll get when you click on it. The button also has some nostalgia appeal thanks to its distinguished lineage in search engine history.

Lucky Gemini

Random prompts and the lucky button are about more than rosy memories of trusting the first search result to be what you wanted. Like its earlier iteration, the button and its accompanying random prompts help demonstrate what Gemini can do. Google wants people to use Gemini for everything. That's hard to sell if people don't know the useful or just fun ways to use the AI chatbot.

Reintroducing suggestions and giving them a twist with the lucky button helps Google educate users about Gemini and AI as a whole. It might be small in scale and somewhat piecemeal, but it could add up to plenty of loyal customers or positive word of mouth around Gemini.

Playing with random prompts could lead to users engaging with plenty of other upcoming Gemini features and abilities hinted at in future code. Google is planning a lot of upgrades to Gemini, from handling large amounts of code to a better memory for what you like, and even a role as a tour guide in your car.

You might also like

• Gemini will yada yada your Google Chat into a neat summary
• Google is making Gemini AI part of everything you do with your smartphone – here's how
• How to build your own customized Google Gemini AI chatbot

“I’m not trying to land on Mars,” Cost Plus Drugs founder Mark Cuban joked at WIRED’s The Big Interview event.

While foreign disinformation campaigns did try to sway voters in the US and elsewhere, artificial intelligence tools didn't play a big role.

Get the most life out of your batteries with the CNET expertly tested best alkaline batteries.

Whether you're looking to play Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 or enjoy other games the classic way, this joystick easily links up with your Xbox. And it's on sale now.

Zack Snyder says he still questions “the why” of the technology when it comes to some aspects of filmmaking, but can definitely see the perks.

Brilliantly realistic sound.

• Amazon CEO Andy Jassy speaks at AWS re:Invent 2024 opening keynote
• Jassy outlines Amazon AI work, and what it has learned
• Amazon priority is "technology that really matters for customers"

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has outlined some of the company's biggest challenges when it comes to using AI.

Speaking as part of a guest appearance in the opening keynote of AWS re:Invent 2024, Jassy highlighted the usefulness of "practical AI" in helping its customers.

Outlining multiple examples of how the ecommerce giant utilizes AI internally, Jassy also shared some key learnings from the company's experiences with the technology - as well as revealing its new Nova foundational models.

Andy Jassy and Amazon AI

"We have been using AI expansively across the company for the last 25 years," Jassy noted, "but the way we think about technology - and this goes for AI as well - is that we're not using it because we think it's cool, we're using it because we're trying to solve customer problems."

"That's why when we talk about AI, it's typically less to announced that we beat the best world-class chess player of the world - and more to allow you to have better recommendations, or to equip our pickers in our fulfilment centers...or for out Just Walk Out technology"

"We prioritize technology that we think is going to really matter for customers, and with the explosion of generative AI in the last couple of years, we've taken that same approach - there is a ton of innovation, but what we're trying to do is solve problems for you - what we think of as practical AI."

In his time on stage, Jassy highlighted a number of examples of Amazon's usage of generative AI, from customer service to creating pages for sellers, to inventory management.

Jassy also focused on Rufus, its generative AI chatbot, which is reportedly getting better and smarter at recommending products to customers across the world, and a focus on robotics - which is becoming much more important in its fulfilment centers, providing huge increases in efficiency and productivity.

But he noted this work is not without his challenges - even with the wealth of resources and knowledge Amazon possesses.

"It's actually quite difficult to build a really good generative AI application - you need a good model, but you also need to have the right guardrails, the right fluency of message, and you have to have the right UI."

"We keep learning the same lesson over and over and over again - there is never going to be one tool to rule the world."

"In AWS, we are going to give you the very best combination...as we always do."

You may also like

• AI reckons it can do all jobs, even those thought previously 'safe'
• We’ve listed the best AI writers around today
• Check out our roundup of the best productivity tools

The b-boy weighed in on the past, present, and future of his sport during WIRED’s The Big Interview event.

With 4 x antenna.

• In-memory processing hardware exists, but software is lacking
• Researchers created PyPIM to enable in-memory computation
• Python commands translated into memory-executable instructions

While processor speeds and memory storage capacities have surged in recent decades, overall computer performance remains constrained by data transfers, where the CPU must retrieve and process data from memory, creating a bottleneck.

Hardware technologies enabling some operations to run in-memory have been in development for some time, but software that allows computers to perform processing operations directly in RAM, bypassing the CPU, has not been properly addressed.

According to a report on Techxplore, researchers at Technion (the Israel Institute of Technology) have developed a solution.

The memory wall problem

"With some computations now handled by the memory, we need new software," explains Shahar Kvatinsky from the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Technion.

"This new software has to be based on new instructions that support in-memory computations. This new computation method is so different from the conventional one that it renders some of the existing building blocks of computer science unusable. Therefore, we need to write new code, which requires a lot of time and effort from software developers."

Kvatinsky has been exploring solutions to "the memory wall problem" - the bottleneck created by the use of different hardware components for computation - for years.

His research group, led by Ph.D. student Orian Leitersdorf in collaboration with researcher Ronny Ronen, has developed PyPIM (Python Processing-in-Memory), a platform that integrates in-memory computing with the popular programming language. PyPIM transforms high-level Python commands into machine-level instructions executed directly within the computer's memory.

The team at Technion believes this new platform will enable developers to write software for PIM computers with ease. Alongside PyPIM, the researchers have created a simulation tool to aid in hardware development and evaluate performance improvements compared to conventional computers.

The researchers' findings were recently showcased at the IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Microarchitecture in Austin, Texas, and a paper detailing their work has been made available on the arXiv preprint server.

You might also like

• Scientists inch closer to holy grail of memory breakthrough
• Samsung scientists are working on a new type of memory
• From AI boom to AI bottlenecks

Avoid bug bites with the best insect repellents -- all tested and approved by our experts.

An Argentine horror-fantasy film called The Witch Game is coming to theaters in the U.S. and UK, but the Spanish-language movie doesn't rely on subtitles or English speakers to voice the performances. Instead, AI tools will recreate the original actors' voices and have them speak English. It's a controversial move as it is an actual instance of the frequent warnings about AI taking people's jobs.

The Witch Game tells the story of a woman who gets a VR headset for her 18th birthday, which is capable of sending her to an eerie magical school in another world. Directly inspired by Harry Potter, The Witch Game is directed by rising horror star Fabian Forte.

The performers speak in Spanish for the film, which usually means for non-Spanish-speaking audiences, subtitles or voice actors hired to dub the movie. Instead, the English dialogue sounds like the original actors, dubbed into English using AI. The technology translates and synchronizes the characters' voices to mimic the original tone and emotion of the speech. On the one hand, it's a way to preserve the original performance. It's also cheaper, which makes global distribution of independent films more feasible.

And there's certainly demand for this kind of technology. Companies like Papercup, DeepDub, DubFormer, D-ID ElevenLabs, and other companies have all pioneered their own version of the same translate and re-dub tools. Most are still in early rollout or are aimed more at marketing and individually made videos. But there's a growing interest in what AI voices can do for films. That's one reason the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) went on strike recently and required certain guarantees from production companies before agreeing to a new contract.

AI dubbing

Voice actors understandably have been outspoken critics of AI dubbing. It removes opportunities for professionals who know how to evoke the right emotion and match the cadence of dialogue in other languages, even if they don't sound exactly like the original performers. That can be a good thing since AI can't do subtext, or play with complexities, let alone be spontaneous with adjusting line readings.

There are also questions of consent and compensation when using AI. Do the original actors get the right to refuse an AI voice clone? Do they get paid for each additional language their voice clone performs?

Some performers with real power in Hollywood have already taken a stand. Robert Downey Jr. promised litigation from beyond the grave should a studio deploy an AI clone of his voice or appearance. California has passed a law prohibiting the unauthorized use of AI clones, but who knows how that will impact cinema globally. On the other hand, James Earl Jones agreed to let Disney use his voice for future Darth Vader projects before his recent passing. His contract details how and when his AI voice clone may be used, but the template is there.

These questions may not apply to The Witch Game, as it is a relatively niche film made with a non-Hollywood budget looking for wider reach. However, should it prove to be a success, it's easy to imagine other indie filmmakers around the world making a similar decision.

You might also like

• Robert Downey Jr. vows there will never be a digital AI replica of him on-screen
• How you can get (AI versions of) Judy Garland or Burt Reynolds to read to you
• Why the passing of James Earl Jones doesn't mean you won't hear Darth Vader's voice again

With 50MP camera.

At WIRED’s The Big Interview event, the Figma cofounder said he’s “fascinated” by whether it’s possible to build a new company on the back of the tainted brand.

Intel Core i3-N305 8GB RAM.