Technology

Here are some hints and the answer for Wordle No. 1,229 for Oct. 30.

Here are some hints, and the answers, for the Oct. 30 Strands puzzle, No. 241.

Here are some hints — and the answers — for Connections No. 507 for Oct. 30.

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Oct. 30.

New Orleans has plenty of great internet options. Find the best providers for your budget, speed needs and more.

Apple has been dropping tons of new releases for its most popular product lines like the M4 iMac and M4 Mac mini this week, but one of the biggest surprises was the tech giant relaunching three of its most well-known peripherals — Magic Mouse, Magic Keyboard, and Magic Trackpad — now equipped with USB-Type C compatibility.

However, when looking at the list of Apple-branded accessories currently available, it all feels a bit…lacking.

Where are the webcams and the headsets? The mechanical keyboards? Gaming mice? These are major accessories that would target a sizable chunk of the Apple market.

For instance, Apple has been growing its gaming sector by not only bringing in more titles through studio collabs and ports, but has also made developing on Mac devices much more accessible. As such, launching peripherals meant for gamers would be a smart next step in that direction.

Apple could make it big with new peripherals

Webcams are perfect for gamers who stream, while many pro gamers use mechanical keyboards and gaming mice due to their superior specs. A headset is a no-brainer as well since most pros need enhanced audio.

But many of these peripherals can easily be repurposed for the wider non-gamer market. Webcams for those in need of better visual quality during conference calls. Mechanical keyboards are excellent for office workers who often type non-stop for hours on end, as the designs tend to be more ergonomic and longer-lasting. Gaming mice are also more ergonomic and easier to move due to their lighter weight.

As for headsets, Razer has proven you can release multi-purposed ones for gaming, productivity, and creative tasks like the Razer Barracuda Pro, to great effect. Simply combine a sleeker design, more comfortable earpads and headbands, and excellent audio quality to appeal to Apple buyers. A high-quality, wired headset would be especially useful for those who do video and audio editing, as air pods are insufficient for the level of precision required.

Another peripheral that could attract more of the creative market is a proper drawing tablet coupled with Apple’s stylus, similar to the popular third-party Wacom brand. Since one of the most widely known uses of Mac devices is for creative work like art and visual editing, an Apple tablet would be absolutely perfect.

Apple’s revitalization of its ‘Magic’ brand has put more eyes on its peripherals. As such, this is a golden opportunity for the tech giant to create more that can target a much wider market. A market that, to this day, has had to turn to third-party solutions to fill in the lack of accessory diversity.

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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 Wordle today, NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles.

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 #1010) - hint #1 - Vowels How many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 4*.

* 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 #1010) - 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 #1010) - 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 #1010) - 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 #1010) - hint #5 - starting letters (2) What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• S

• B

• B

• F

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

Quordle today (game #1010) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1010, are…

• SLOOP
• BRINE
• BROOD
• FLUID

Double-Os are the bane of my life. Well, my word-puzzle life, at least. They always give me a headache in Wordle and so it was today too, with SLOOP costing me a guess when I played SPOOL first. What I should have done was to have solved one of the 'easier' words first, but then again there was another OO lurking within BROOD, so maybe it wouldn't have made any difference. On the plus side, the B in that word gave me BRINE too, and FLUID was (I think) the only that fit by the time I got to it, so this was an eight day for me.

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

Daily Sequence today (game #1010) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1010, are…

• DEBIT
• THEFT
• TENSE
• RANCH

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1009, Tuesday 29 October: CLIFF, BURNT, SNAKY, POLYP
• Quordle #1008, Monday 28 October: MACAW, LIEGE, GOUGE, CARGO
• Quordle #1007, Sunday 27 October: STUNG, CLOUT, SOWER, BASIS
• Quordle #1006, Saturday 26 October: DUCHY, CANNY, BLOCK, SMART
• Quordle #1005, Friday 25 October: PRANK, EXIST, RUDDY, PICKY
• Quordle #1004, Thursday 24 October: DAIRY, RALLY, CURLY, LABEL
• Quordle #1003, Wednesday 23 October: DROSS, ANNEX, GRAVE, BROKE
• Quordle #1002, Tuesday 22 October: ADORE, SMITH, AFOOT, LUCID
• Quordle #1001, Monday 21 October: TREAD, NINTH, GRIEF, UNSET
• Quordle #1000, Sunday 20 October: CORAL, WHOSE, HEIST, SOAPY
• Quordle #999, Saturday 19 October: GUSTY, BROKE, ENJOY, HAZEL
• Quordle #998, Friday 18 October: PUPIL, MOCHA, EGRET, NATAL
• Quordle #997, Thursday 17 October: BUILD, BIRTH, LURCH, SASSY
• Quordle #996, Wednesday 16 October: EERIE, SMIRK, HUNCH, EMBED
• Quordle #995, Tuesday 15 October: UMBRA, BRIEF, GRAVY, TORUS
• Quordle #994, Monday 14 October: ROGUE, STORY, EMCEE, AUNTY
• Quordle #993, Sunday 13 October: UNFIT, NYMPH, THUMB, PUREE
• Quordle #992, Saturday 12 October: SAUCY, UNDUE, EGRET, HELLO
• Quordle #991, Friday 11 October: RINSE, ANIME, PUSHY, ZEBRA
• Quordle #990, Thursday 10 October: UNTIL, MARSH, METAL, WINDY

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 Wordle hints and answers, Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too.

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 #507) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• IDEA
• BOOM
• PACKING
• DOLLY
• SKATEBOARD
• GAFFER
• WAGON
• BEST BOY
• DUCT
• SPIKE
• ELECTRICAL
• STABLES
• RISE
• ROLLERBLADE
• KRONER
• SURGE

NYT Connections today (game #507) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• Yellow: Sharp increase
• Green: Round and round they go
• Blue: VHS is another
• Purple: Do you do your shopping at detail chairs?

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 #507) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: UPSWING
• GREEN: THINGS WITH WHEELS
• BLUE: KINDS OF TAPE
• PURPLE: RETAIL CHAINS WITH A LETTER CHANGED

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

NYT Connections today (game #507) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #507, are…

• YELLOW: UPSWING BOOM, RISE, SPIKE, SURGE
• GREEN: THINGS WITH WHEELS DOLLY, ROLLERBLADE, SKATEBOARD, WAGON
• BLUE: KINDS OF TAPE DUCT, ELECTRICAL, GAFFER, PACKING
• PURPLE: RETAIL CHAINS WITH A LETTER CHANGED BEST BOY, IDEA, KRONER, STABLES

• My rating: Moderate
• My score: 1 mistake

I was at a distinct disadvantage today compared to some people, because I don't live in the United States and have never heard of KROGER, and therefore didn't recognize that it was part of the RETAIL CHAINS WITH A LETTER CHANGED group, with its equivalent word being KRONER. If I had known that then maybe I'd have placed it with BEST BOY (BEST BUY), IDEA (IKEA) and STABLES (STAPLES) in what was undoubtedly a very tough purple group today.

The others were not exactly easy either, but I did solve them all after a fair bit of thought. Blue – KINDS OF TAPE – was the first I got and was arguably simpler than UPSWING (yellow). Green was somewhere in-between – I knew that ROLLERBLADE and SKATEBOARD probably went together, but initially put DOLLY with GAFFER, BEST BOY and BOOM as things that you get on a film set. This was wrong, but I persevered and got the connection eventually, without needing to worry about that dastardly purple.

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

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Tuesday, 29 October, game #506)

• YELLOW: IN PRISTINE CONDITION MINT, NEW, ORIGINAL, UNUSED
• GREEN: MEDICAL ROLES ATTENDING, FELLOW, INTERN, RESIDENT
• BLUE: SINGULAR NOUN IN A FAMOUS “JULIUS CAESAR” LINE COUNTRYMAN, EAR, FRIEND, ROMAN
• PURPLE: ___ SQUARE PERFECT, POCKET, TIMES, TOWN

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 Wordle today, NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games.

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

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… How sweet!

NYT Strands today (game #241) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• ROPE
• PORE
• STOP
• COAL
• LICE
• NEAR

NYT Strands today (game #241) - hint #3 - spangram What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Like a child in a…

NYT Strands today (game #241) - 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 #241) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #241, are…

• LICORICE
• LOLLIPOP
• TOFFEE
• CHOCOLATE
• GUMDROP
• SPANGRAM: CANDYSTORE

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

This was one of those days where the theme clue did most of the hard work and I merely needed to fill in the blanks. 'How sweet!' immediately suggested candy – especially with Halloween upon us – so I searched for that word and found the spangram, CANDYSTORE. After that it was a case of simply wracking my brains for obvious types of sweet – CHOCOLATE, TOFFEE, LOLLIPOP, LICORICE… all the classics were here, plus GUMDROPS, which don't belong in that company, frankly. But I'd still eat them, of course.

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

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Tuesday, 29 October, game #240)

• FRIEND
• PARTNER
• BESTIE
• COMPANION
• SIDEKICK
• SPANGRAM: TOGETHERNESS

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.

Arizona has high electricity bills and lots of sun. Are solar panels the answer?

X (formerly Twitter) Premium subscribers can now ask the Grok AI assistant to describe images, not just make them. The Elon Musk-owned company xAI unveiled a new feature for visual content analysis, giving it the ability to describe photos, diagrams, and other snapshots using the Grok-2 AI model which powers the AI chatbot and its Flux AI image creation.

The feature brings Grok to parity with ChatGPT, Gemini, and other rivals. If you subscribe to X's subscription plans, you can try it out now by clicking on a button in an image post within X and asking Grok questions about the image or just for a straight descriptive analysis.

In tandem with the new feature, Grok showed off a new benchmark called RealWorldQA that is supposed to show how well a model can describe a real-world image, including the space between objects. The company claims RealWorldQA shows Grok to be as good or better than its rivals at explaining images even though it's still in development. You can see an example below of how it works, shared on X by Elon Musk.

Grok now understands images, even explaining the meaning of a joke.This is an early version. It will rapidly improve. https://t.co/gQ5BBISVRcOctober 28, 2024

(Image credit: Grok) See and Grok

As the screenshot illustrates, Grok is capable of breaking down a complex multi-stage image and explaining what happens in it. It can then extrapolate the humor of the joke, though, as is almost always the case, explaining the joke makes it much less funny. Still, it's a sign that xAI is not done with putting out new features for Grok, especially multimodal tools. This could be a step toward Grok being able to explain audio and video content the same way it does with visuals.

One element not mentioned is how the visual analysis by Grok might portray the freewheeling image creation by the AI chatbot that seems to have little or no compunction about copyright issues. It's something that users making images of Mario faced when Nintendo's copyright infringement hunter Tracer went after them for infringement. Whether an AI image of Mario or any other intellectual property would be described as such or in more generic terms would be interesting to discover.

xAI's owner being who he is, there's also very obvious potential for the feature in other Musk-owned technology companies. Tesla's semi-autonomous driving would certainly benefit from being able to identify people and objects around it and how they are spaced apart. The same goes for the long-promised humanoid robots Tesla's had under development for the last few years.

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The company has about 250 million active weekly users.

The Infected mode is already live in Black Ops 6 and Nuketown will arrive on Nov. 1.

Having helped pioneered the global rollout of 5G networks with extensive infrastructure investments and technological breakthroughs that enabled the rapid deployment of high-speed, low-latency mobile services, China is now setting its sights on 6G.

China Mobile, in collaboration with Zhongguancun Pan-Institute of Information and Communications Technology, China Information Technology Mobile, and smartphone maker Vivo, has introduced a 6G baseband concept prototype system for the Sub7GHz frequency band.

As the world looks forward to an official launch of 6G in the coming years, China Mobile’s latest demonstration highlights the progress made in this developing field. The prototype system is part of China Mobile’s 6G "synaesthesia, computing, and intelligence fusion technology platform," reflecting a deep integration of sensory, computing, and communications technologies.

Powerful baseband capabilities – a step beyond 5G

China Mobile announced the 6G baseband concept prototype system for the Sub-7 GHz frequency band is a crucial component of its public testing device. This system aims to facilitate the deep integration of inter-sensory computing and intelligence, as well as the integration of terrestrial and celestial networks.

At the core of this new system is a strong baseband capability that is built on a cloud-based heterogeneous hardware architecture, with the system supporting a throughput of up to 100Gbps for container networks. This high throughput is combined with an ultra-short transmission time interval (TTI) processing capability of 125 microseconds (μs), allowing for faster data transmission and enhanced responsiveness.

The system’s architecture allows for a maximum interrupt response delay of less than 10μs, contributing to its flexibility and reconfigurability. It supports eight data streams and 128 digital channels, and the single-carrier bandwidth reaches 400MHz, enabling a real-time baseband throughput of up to 16.5Gbps.

These features position the system at the forefront of 6G development, meeting the stringent requirements for new technologies and service verifications, such as ultra-high-definition video and real-time data processing.

According to China Mobile, its new 6G baseband prototype is open and interoperable.

The system facilitates smooth integration between cloud-based heterogeneous hardware and terminal prototypes developed by Vivo, allowing for efficient connection from the base station to the terminal. This capability supports the transmission of advanced services such as 3D video, a likely hallmark of the 6G era.

This system’s open architecture encourages collaboration and verification of key 6G technologies with industry partners. Stakeholders can test and verify their 6G technologies in conjunction with China Mobile’s baseband prototype thereby creating an ecosystem around 6G development.

In addition to its baseband and openness capabilities, China Mobile’s 6G baseband prototype system demonstrates major expansion potential.

The system is designed to handle a wide range of frequency bands, thanks to its multi-band integrated universal fronthaul module. This module connects to the baseband unit (BBU) via an ultra-high-speed Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI) and supports the transmission of intermediate frequency signals ranging from 0 to 12GHz.

This flexible architecture allows the system to work with various radio frequency (RF) front ends, including those operating at medium and low frequencies, millimeter waves, visible light, and terahertz frequencies. The ability to handle multi-band signals not only enhances the system’s adaptability but also facilitates testing and verification of 6G components and baseband processing technologies across different frequency bands.

It is important to note that it takes about 10 years for a new communication network to roll out, therefore commercial 6G networks are not expected before 2030. Nevertheless, early advances such as this serve as a critical building block in the global race toward 6G.

Via MyDrivers

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Google is bringing its AI Overviews feature to more than 100 countries around the world, a massive expansion after initially becoming available just in the U.S. and later a half dozen other countries. AI Overviews, which employ Google's Gemini AI models to summarize answers to search queries, will now be available to more than a billion monthly users.

The paragraphs written by the AI Overviews feature are concise and include links to the sources used to compose them, usually articles from publications, business websites, or related sources. Google has claimed since they debuted that AI Overviews have led to increased engagement with diverse sources on the web.

Along with the geographic expansion, Google is also adding new language support to the service. Depending on where you are located and what language you use for Google Search, you'll see AI Overviews in either English, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Portuguese, or Spanish. The wider access based on location and language isn't the only upgrade for AI Overviews. Google has also unveiled a new link display to showcase the websites and content sources used to produce better AI summaries. The AI Overviews also now include right-hand link displays formatted for desktop and mobile devices. In them, you can see related content on websites, augmenting the in-line links within the AI Overview text.

“With AI Overviews in Search, it’s easier than ever for people to find the information they need and discover relevant sites across the web, which opens up more opportunities to connect with publishers, businesses, and creators.,” Google Vice President of Search Quality Srinivasan Venkatachary explained in a blog post. “Since launching in May and expanding beyond the U.S. in August, the feedback we’ve received for AI Overviews has been highly positive. People prefer using Search with AI Overviews, and they find their search results more helpful. So now, in our largest expansion yet, we’re launching AI Overviews in more than 100 countries and making them accessible in more languages — helping you search in a whole new way, no matter what questions are on your mind.”

Global AI Overviews

The global rollout makes it clear that the signs that Google was pulling back on AI Overviews were exaggerated. Though there was some speculation that Google was leery about promoting the feature after reports of incorrect and even dangerous answers, that's clearly no longer the case.

Google has even started testing advertisements within AI Overviews, at least for U.S. mobile users. These ads are labeled to differentiate them from standard search results but are aimed at encouraging users to look at and potentially buy products and services relevant to their search terms. Search is the heart of Google's business and remains so despite judicial battles over whether the company is violating anti-monopoly laws. If Google feels comfortable enough with AI Overviews to make it a global feature, the ads are almost certain to follow in its wake, with multilingual AI-generated links that will be seen by billions.

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Within hours of being freed from a low-security prison where he’d been serving time on contempt charges, the MAGA architect was rallying his troops on a Rumble stream.

The brand’s second model and first luxury SUV will start at $94,900 when orders open next month, with less expensive trims coming in 2025.

Get a $20 savings on a year of the streaming service.