Technology

• Instagram just rolled out some Valentine's Day easter eggs
• The launch includes an iOS exclusive Story sticker
• Plus you can theme DMs to the holiday, and give someone a nickname

You could say love is in the air as Valentine’s Day is tomorrow, February 14. Similar to some special easter eggs rolled out ahead of ringing in 2025, Instagram is getting in the spirit and spreading some love.

Between special effects for sharing ‘Notes,’ custom Story stickers, and outright themes for DMs, you can get in on some Valentine’s Day action whether or not you’re in a relationship. Though similar to the great debate of blue vs green bubbles, some of these limited-time features are exclusive to this with iOS.

Kicking things off is a special treat for Instagram’s ‘Notes’ feature, which basically acts as a status for your account. It’s a place to share a thought, a call to action, or a message of love for your followers if you’re in the Valentine’s spirit. Certain words or phrases like ‘pookie,’ ‘ily,’ or simply ‘vday’ will enable a special visual effect. Think of a cupid's arrow going through your note, a change in the color of the bubble, or hearts filling up your screen.

(Image credit: Instagram)

These are pretty fun, and Instagram’s dubbed these “Secret Phrases in Notes.” If you’re a fan of DMs (direct messages) or group chats, you can set the mood with three new themes: candy hearts, love, or sweethearts. If you feel like taking a potential move to the next level, you could slide into someone’s DMs with a theme. Results may vary, though.

Beyond themes, you can give another account on Instagram a custom nickname – think ‘bestie’ – and there are few new reaction types beyond just double tapping to love a message someone sent.

Arguably, what’s more exciting is the new features for Stories. For one, there are new font types and effects themed for Valentine’s Day. The best one, though, is exclusive to iOS. A limited edition, Valentine’s Day-themed vinyl record sticker for sharing music reads “My V-Day Jams.” If you scratch it, though, hearts will appear, and that’s just simply cute.

(Image credit: Instagram)

Much like other holiday-themed additions, Instagram’s latest feature drop for Valentine’s Day is rolling out globally and will be available through February 15, 2025. However, the new tapback reactions in DMs and the ability to give someone a nickname are here to stay, at least for now.

Let us know what you think of these in the comments below.

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• Seagate denies involvement in fraudulent HDD resales.
• Buyers can check Seagate HDD usage history using relevant tools.
• Retailers are offering some sort of compensation.

Seagate hard drives that were previously used in Chinese Chia cryptocurrency mining farms have been resold as new by unsuspecting retailers.

An investigation by Heise indicates large quantities of high-mileage drives have surfaced in the market, particularly in Europe, Australia, Thailand, and Japan.

These drives, often datacenter-grade Seagate Exos models, have been found with thousands of operational hours despite being marketed as brand new.

Chia farms and the flood of second-hand drives

At the peak of the cryptocurrency boom, mining operations required vast storage capacity, leading to a surge in demand for high-end HDDs. However, as the profitability of Chia mining declined, many farms shut down and sold their hardware. These hard drives were then repackaged and reintroduced into the market, deceiving customers.

Concerned buyers can verify the true usage history of their Seagate HDDs using special diagnostic tools. While SMART parameters can be reset to hide prior use, the FARM (field-accessible reliability metrics) values provide a more accurate record.

Users can check these values by running the command smartctl -l farm /dev/sda in Smartmontools version 7.4 or higher or by using Seagate’s own Seatools software to inspect the drive’s operational history.

Seagate has stated it only distributes genuine hard drives through official channel, and it suspects these used HDDs entered the secondary market before reaching consumers.

Nevertheless, It has also launched a full-scale investigation and has urged affected buyers to report any suspicious purchases to fraud@seagate.com.

Affected retailers are firefighting the issue, with Galaxus creating online help pages for affected customers, while Proshop is offering free returns and replacements. Alternate, a German retailer, denies prior knowledge of the issue but has encouraged customers to report used drives. Wortmann, on the other hand, insists on verifying HDDs before offering compensation.

Via TomsHardware

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Here are some hints — and the answers — for today's Strands puzzle, No. 348, for Feb. 14.

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• Zuckerberg reportedly pushed for AI implementation despite employee objections
• Employees allegedly discussed ways to conceal how the company acquired its AI training data
• Court filings suggest Meta took steps to unsuccessfully mask its AI training activities

Meta is facing a class-action lawsuit alleging copyright infringement and unfair competition over the training of its AI model, Llama.

According to court documents released by vx-underground, Meta allegedly downloaded nearly 82TB of pirated books from shadow libraries such as Anna’s Archive, Z-Library, and LibGen to train its AI systems.

Internal discussions reveal that some employees raised ethical concerns as early as 2022, with one researcher explicitly stating, “I don’t think we should use pirated material” while another said, “Using pirated material should be beyond our ethical threshold.”

Meta made efforts to avoid detection

Despite these concerns, Meta appears to have not only ploughed on and taken steps to avoid detection. In April 2023, an employee warned against using corporate IP addresses to access pirated content, while another said that “torrenting from a corporate laptop doesn’t feel right,” adding a laughing emoji.

There are also reports that Meta employees allegedly discussed ways to prevent Meta’s infrastructure from being directly linked to the downloads, raising questions about whether the company knowingly bypassed copyright laws.

In January 2023, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly attended a meeting where he pushed for AI implementation at the company despite internal objections.

Meta isn't alone in facing legal challenges over AI training. OpenAI has been sued multiple times for allegedly using copyrighted books without permission, including a case filed by The New York Times in December 2023.

Nvidia is also under legal scrutiny for training its NeMo model on nearly 200,000 books, and a former employee had disclosed that the company scraped over 426,000 hours of video daily for AI development.

And in case you missed it, OpenAI recently claimed that DeepSeek unlawfully obtained data from its models, highlighting the ongoing ethical and legal dilemmas surrounding AI training practices.

Via Tom's Hardware

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Here are some hints and the answer for Wordle No. 1,336 for Feb. 14.

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Thursday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Thursday, February 13 (game #613).

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 Connections hints.

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 #614) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• SURPRISE
• HUMOR
• SEE
• STRAIGHT
• BABY
• RATTLE
• BOO
• CREAK
• HISS
• BAE
• GOTCHA
• PAMPER
• SHED
• GUESS WHO
• INDULGE
• SLITHER

NYT Connections today (game #614) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• YELLOW: Too much affection 
• GREEN: Snakey behavior
• BLUE: They’re shook
• PURPLE: Geographical soundalikes

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 #614) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: MOLLYCODDLE 
• GREEN: THINGS A RATTLESNAKE DOES 
• BLUE: WORDS SAID TO AN UNSUSPECTING PERSON 
• PURPLE: HOMOPHONES OF BODIES OF WATER

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

NYT Connections today (game #614) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #614, are…

• YELLOW: MOLLYCODDLE BABY, HUMOR, INDULGE, PAMPER
• GREEN: THINGS A RATTLESNAKE DOES HISS, RATTLE, SHED, SLITHER
• BLUE: WORDS SAID TO AN UNSUSPECTING PERSON BOO, GOTCHA, GUESS WHO, SURPRISE
• PURPLE: HOMOPHONES OF BODIES OF WATER BAE, CREAK, SEE, STRAIGHT

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 2 mistakes

Just a couple of days after RATTLESNAKE appeared within the group SHAKE, RATTLE AND ROLL, the venomous vipers make another Connections appearance with a group of their own – THINGS A RATTLESNAKE DOES.

According to recent news reports, rattlesnakes are rattling a lot less than they used to. The reason for this is that snakes that live near to human populations no longer see us as a threat, so have no need to rattle. Cars, on the other hand, are a major threat but they are yet to be built with sensors alerting them to snakes in the road.

Meanwhile, I rattled through today’s puzzle, failing to get HOMOPHONES OF BODIES OF WATER, but rescued by my limited snake knowledge.

How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Thursday, 13 February, game #613)

• YELLOW: TEMPLATE BLUEPRINT, GUIDE, MODEL, MOLD
• GREEN: DEMONSTRATION, AS OF APPRECIATION EXPRESSION, GESTURE, SYMBOL, TOKEN
• BLUE: MODAL VERBS CAN, MIGHT, MUST, WILL
• PURPLE: __ TRIP EGO, GUILT, HEAD, POWER

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.

Looking for a different day?

A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Thursday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Thursday, February 13 (game #347).

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

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Will you be my valentine?

NYT Strands today (game #348) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• PIKE
• SPIKE
• SPOON
• SOON
• MOON
• BUNG

NYT Strands today (game #348) - hint #3 - spangram What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Lovey dovey words

NYT Strands today (game #348) - hint #4 - spangram position What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First side: left, 4th row

Last side: right, 4th row

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

NYT Strands today (game #348) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #348, are…

• DARLING
• ANGEL
• LOVEBUG
• HONEY
• POOKIE
• SNOOKUMS
• SPANGRAM: ENDEARMENT

• My rating: Moderate
• My score: 1 hint

Today’s puzzle was far more taxing than it should have been, thanks to the inclusion of a pair of rarely uttered terms of ENDEARMENT and a Spangram snake that started and ended in the middle. It looks so wrong.

It’s hard to imagine anyone calling their loved ones POOKIE or SNOOKUMS, both of which sound as if they are hangovers from a 1975 sitcom, likely to be uttered in a baby voice and preceded by the word “wittle”.

I’m just thankful Strands didn’t include Schmoopsie Poo or Sweetcheeks.

How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Thursday, 13 February, game #347)

• BIRTHDAY
• BABY
• WEDDING
• SYMPATHY
• CONGRATS
• LOVE
• SPANGRAM: GREETINGS

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.

Looking for a different day?

A new Quordle puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Thursday's puzzle instead then click here: Quordle hints and answers for Thursday, February 13 (game #1116).

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,100 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 #1117) - 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 #1117) - 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 2.

Quordle today (game #1117) - hint #3 - uncommon letters Do the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

• No. None of Q, Z, X or J appear among today's Quordle answers.

Quordle today (game #1117) - 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 0.

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 #1117) - hint #5 - starting letters (2) What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• M

• E

• T

• W

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

Quordle today (game #1117) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1117, are…

• MEDIA
• ELUDE
• THUMB
• WIDOW

The lesson I’m taking from today’s puzzle is to always try the obvious word ahead of an unlikely one. Opting for Exude before ELUDE put me on the edge, leaving me just one go to get my last word, WIDOW, with no margin for error.

It was one of those days though as I also made the wrong choice with Thump instead of THUMB. Sometimes magic happens, sometimes it’s torture. That’s Quordle, folks.

How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below.

Daily Sequence today (game #1117) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1117, are…

• LARGE
• SCION
• BOXER
• ALGAE

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1116, Thursday 13 February: SCALP, DWELL, AMPLE, TRUNK
• Quordle #1115, Wednesday 12 February: SHOOK, GRADE, POLAR, SEEDY
• Quordle #1114, Tuesday 11 February: HEAVY, CIRCA, PESKY, SCION
• Quordle #1113, Monday 10 February: TWIXT, FRESH, GUISE, TABBY
• Quordle #1112, Sunday 9 February: TAPIR, SHAKE, TOKEN, SEVEN
• Quordle #1111, Saturday 8 February: AFOOT, ALIKE, HUMUS, TOWEL
• Quordle #1110, Friday 7 February: PETAL, ABASE, AMONG, CORER
• Quordle #1109, Thursday 6 February: MADAM, SCAMP, FAUNA, TRACK
• Quordle #1108, Wednesday 5 February: SIXTH, VERVE, BLURB, CACTI
• Quordle #1107, Tuesday 4 February: BIRTH, DRAWN, MILKY, JOIST
• Quordle #1106, Monday 3 February: SLEET, TENSE, SEIZE, SCAMP
• Quordle #1105, Sunday 2 February: LOUSY, PENNE, CHUMP, SALVE
• Quordle #1104, Saturday 1 February: FACET, BLISS, FLUFF, FRANK
• Quordle #1103, Friday 31 January: PARER, SYNOD, BRAWN, BANJO
• Quordle #1102, Thursday 30 January: WEEDY, CHIRP, STALE, SUGAR
• Quordle #1101, Wednesday 29 January: CROWN, SCENE, AGILE, CRANK
• Quordle #1100, Tuesday 28 January: TOKEN, DAISY, INANE, PLIED
• Quordle #1099, Monday 27 January: ANGEL, GLOBE, MAYOR, BRAVE
• Quordle #1098, Sunday 26 January: WATER, ORBIT, BRIDE, TOUCH
• Quordle #1097, Saturday 25 January: GIVER, GROOM, GUSTO, MAKER

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• An IoT firm has suffered a major data breach, experts warn
• The leak exposed a Mars Hydro databse containing almost 2.7 billion records
• The records were primarily comprised of WiFi and network device information

Mars Hydro, a Chinese firm which produces a range of Internet of Things (IoT) devices such as LED lights and hydroponics equipment, has suffered a massive data breach after an unprotected database containing nearly 2.7 billion records was discovered online.

Security researcher Jeremiah Fowler identified the non-password protected database, which included WiFi network names, passwords, IP addresses, device numbers, and more.

Users of these products should be aware that there may be a risk of the details of their WiFi networks being compromised, and there could be national security implications if the information falls into the wrong hands. Although the researcher doesn’t suggest any personally identifiable information was exposed, users should still understand the risks, here’s what we know.

Vulnerable devices

Many of the products are controlled by internet connected devices (like smartphones), and information about these was included in the breach. It’s not yet clear whether the database is managed or owned directly by Mars Hydro and LG-LED SOLUTIONS, or whether this was run through a third party contractor.

There are privacy and device security concerns and, as Fowler points out, a previous report estimated that ‘57% of IoT devices were considered highly vulnerable, and 98% of data transmitted by these devices is unencrypted.'

“The hypothetical worst case scenario would be if this information was used for surveillance, man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks, mapping of networks and critical infrastructure, or other potential misuse” Fowler said.

Whilst there was no evidence of threat actors accessing the breached data, there is a concern that the information could be accessed by foreign governments and used for ‘surveillance or intelligence gathering’ purposes.

“I am not stating nor implying that these companies are engaged in any of these activities or that their users are at risk" Fowler continued.

"I am not claiming that just because an application was made in China or has Chinese ownership there is an imminent risk. I am only highlighting what data is collected and how it could be a potential security risk in the wrong hands.”

IoT devices have been targeted before, particularly by botnet attacks, which have risen 500%, and are an escalating issue. Known software flaws or easy to break passwords are found within a network. Once a device is compromised, this can lead to a botnet of compromised devices, which can be used to spread malware, launch DDoS attacks or infiltrate critical systems.

Data breach complications

In this dataset, the research describes seeing “a massive amount of exposed SSID names, passwords, MAC addresses, and user IP addresses that could potentially allow unauthorized remote access to the device's Wi-Fi network.”

This means the exposed credentials could theoretically allow an attacker to connect to the network and compromise other devices. Nokia recently reported IoT devices engaged in botnet-driven DDoS attacks have increased 500% over the past 18 months and now make up 40% of all DDoS traffic.

To mitigate the risks, admins should first be sure to immediately change any default passwords. The passwords the IoT tools come with are often shared across fleets of the same device - unchanged passwords might mean hackers already have access.

A strong, unique password is essential for any device, and we’ve put together a list of tips for creating a secure and safe password if you need any advice.

Another important consideration is strengthening your software. Patch management is crucial, integral to your vulnerability management program, and staying up to date gives you an extra layer of protection from zero-day exploitation.

Last but not least, be proactive. Complacency and weak backend safeguards are what hackers count on, so closely monitoring for suspicious behavior segmenting networks, and consolidating endpoint management with a unified console can all help keep you protected.

We’ve put together a guide for admins, if you want to see some more detailed advice.

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• Researcher finds a way to add invisible text to emojis
• It probably can't be used for malware...probably
• It could be used for watermarking or bypassing human moderation

A security researcher claims to have discovered a way to hide extra information inside emoji.

Paul Butler explained how he experimented with Unicode and came up with a method that exploits variation selectors (special characters designed to modify the appearance of text but which have no visible effect on most characters). By chaining the selectors together, he was able to encode invisible messages inside an emoji (or any other Unicode character).

Here is how it works: Unicode assigns variation selectors (U+FE00–U+FE0F and U+E0100–U+E01EF) to certain characters, usually to adjust stylistic presentation. However, these selectors can be used to store one byte of data each. Since a sequence of these selectors is preserved even when copy-pasting text, a person could embed a secret message inside an emoji without altering its visible appearance.

Smuggling data

It would seem that the method cannot be used to smuggle malware or malicious code, an application extension, or anything of sorts. However, it could be used to bypass human moderation, or watermark sensitive documents. With these invisible watermarks, an author could be able to track their work being copied and pasted throughout the internet, for example.

Discussing potential defensive measures, Butler said that AI could be of use. While some AI models, such as OpenAI's GPT and Google's Gemini, preserve variation selectors, they do not naturally attempt to decode hidden messages.

However, when paired with code interpreters, AI systems have successfully extracted secret messages within seconds. This suggests that automated detection tools could be developed to counteract potential abuse.

All things considered, this could be seen as an interesting quirk of Unicode. At this time, it’s highly unlikely someone could develop a malicious use for it.

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