Technology

Nations are more focused than ever on declining populations. Women, along with gender and sexual minorities, will see their rights come under fire.

The reference frames from which observers view quantum events can themselves have multiple possible locations at once—an insight with potentially major ramifications.

Don't play trial and error: Satisfy your body's vitamin and mineral needs with this expert-tested list of supplements.

Prepare for the summer with these breathable pajama sets for you and your partner.

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Dec. 29.

Here are some hints (and the answers) for Connections: Sports Edition No. 97 for Dec. 29.

Here are some hints -- and the answers -- for Connections No. 567 for Dec. 29.

Here are some hints -- and the answers -- for the Dec. 29 Strands puzzle, No. 301.

Here are some hints -- and the answer -- for Wordle No. 1,289 for Dec. 29.

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 #1070) - 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 #1070) - 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 #1070) - 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 #1070) - 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 #1070) - hint #5 - starting letters (2) What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• P

• S

• R

• E

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

Quordle today (game #1070) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #1070, are…

• PURER
• SPLAT
• RABID
• EMCEE

A tricky one today, with a triple-letter word EMCEE, which is the pronounced abbreviation to MC (short for master of ceremonies) and a sound word (SPLAT).

That said, PURER was the word I struggled over the most, as none of the words I could think of with a U and ending in ER were possible with the letters I had left. I always forget to try a repeat letter, but when I do it often leads to the solution and so it proved today.

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

Daily Sequence today (game #1070) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1070, are…

• FROST
• COPSE
• FOGGY
• SCARF

Quordle answers: The past 20

• Quordle #1069, Saturday 28 December: BUNCH, LABOR, TRIPE, BUNNY
• Quordle #1068, Friday 27 December: BRAWL, LYING, ORGAN, CRONY
• Quordle #1067, Thursday 26 December: TATTY, OVERT, FLOUR, SWEPT
• Quordle #1066, Wednesday 25 December: LIVER, CRIER, SHORE, MURKY
• Quordle #1065, Tuesday 24 December: TIPSY, SCALE, FLYER, VALVE
• Quordle #1064, Monday 23 December: SNAKE, SAVVY, ELBOW, TWEED
• Quordle #1063, Sunday 22 December: DOUBT, SLURP, PAPER, CIVIL
• Quordle #1062, Saturday 21 December: STRIP, BUDGE, SAPPY, SHELF
• Quordle #1061, Friday 20 December: PENAL, EAGLE, DILLY, QUITE
• Quordle #1060, Thursday 19 December: JEWEL, GNOME, TRAMP, IDLER
• Quordle #1059, Wednesday 18 December: LITHE, BIRTH, HUMID, ROBOT
• Quordle #1058, Tuesday 17 December: DOING, ENJOY, SNAKY, AMPLE
• Quordle #1057, Monday 16 December: HYDRO, CREAM, CHIDE, SLIME
• Quordle #1056, Sunday 15 December: DROVE, STILT, LINEN, GIANT
• Quordle #1055, Saturday 14 December: SPIEL, ONSET, TIGER, DITTO
• Quordle #1054, Friday 13 December: ERECT, REBAR, MOIST, IDIOM
• Quordle #1053, Thursday 12 December: MILKY, CRIER, STORK, DRIER
• Quordle #1052, Wednesday 11 December: BRIAR, NASAL, SHARD, FLUFF
• Quordle #1051, Tuesday 10 December: BEGAN, TRIAL, IDEAL, GUIDE
• Quordle #1050, Monday 9 December: TITAN, FORTE, SPEED, BRIAR

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

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Festival of Lights delights

NYT Strands today (game #301) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• STOKE
• DIAL
• BROKEN
• SLAG
• CALL
• LADS

NYT Strands today (game #301) - hint #3 - spangram What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Jewish feast

NYT Strands today (game #301) - hint #4 - spangram position What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First side: left, 4th row

Last side: 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 #301) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #301, are…

• KUGEL
• LATKES
• BRISKET
• CHALLAH
• APPLE SAUCE
• SPANGRAM: HANNUKAH FOODS

• My rating: Moderate
• My score: 1 hint

Sufganiyot is the biggest item left off this list of HANUKKAH FOODS – or rather, HANNUKAH FOODS, because the NYT spelled the holiday name in a different way from how it's general listed elsewhere. That said, it is one of those words with multiple spellings in general use, so maybe this is just another one I've not seen before.

Anyway, back to Sufganiyot. For me, doughnuts are a year-round indulgence. I’ve even got a loyalty card for a bakery chain that rewards me with a free weekly doughnut – such is my, a-hem, loyalty that I’ve not missed my freebie yet.

We will have to wait until 2027 for Christmas and the eight-day Jewish festival to closely coincide again, when it starts on Christmas Eve.

Meanwhile, Festivus – the festival for the rest of us – continues to be celebrated on December 23, with the annual “airing of grievances”. I’m unsure if Festivus celebrants eat doughnuts, but they really should.

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

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Saturday, 28 December, game #300)

• LAVENDER
• PATCHOULI
• CEDARWOOD
• EUCALYPTUS
• SPANGRAM: AROMATHERAPY

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.

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 #567) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• BEACH
• DATE
• LOCK
• CHERRY
• FUR
• MAROON
• TIME
• PAIR
• STRAND
• HEAD
• LOCATION
• BRICK
• DURATION
• YOU
• RUBY
• WISP

NYT Connections today (game #567) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• YELLOW: Roses are?
• GREEN: Meeting detail
• BLUE: Mane attraction
• PURPLE: Sounds leafy

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 #567) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: SHADES OF RED 
• GREEN: APPOINTMENT SPECIFICATIONS 
• BLUE: DIFFERENT AMOUNTS OF HAIR 
• PURPLE: TREE HOMOPHONES

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

NYT Connections today (game #567) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #567, are…

• YELLOW: SHADES OF RED BRICK, CHERRY, MAROON, RUBY
• GREEN: APPOINTMENT SPECIFICATIONS DATE, DURATION, LOCATION, TIME
• BLUE: DIFFERENT AMOUNTS OF HAIR HEAD, LOCK, STRAND, WISP
• PURPLE: TREE HOMOPHONES BEACH, FUR, PAIR, YOU

• My rating: Hard
• My score: 2 mistakes

I struggled today and really should have employed a bit more lateral thinking to make it a bit less time-consuming.

I spent far too long thinking BEACH, STRAND, and MAROON were linked to dumping someone and PAIR and LOCK had something to do with charging a phone before finally seeing the much more obvious SHADES OF RED and DIFFERENT AMOUNTS OF HEAD.

Our old friend the homophone also made an appearance with TREE HOMOPHONES. I think I’m going to have to have a permanent Post-it note reminding me to speak out words.

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Saturday, 28 December, game #566)

• YELLOW: "NOTHING TO IT!" EASY, NO SWEAT, PIECE OF CAKE, SURE THING
• GREEN: OBJECTS FROM GREEK MYTH AEGIS, APPLE OF DISCORD, GOLDEN FLEECE, PANDORA'S BOX
• BLUE: PROVERBIAL THINGS TO KICK CAN, HABIT, HORNETS' NEST, TIRES
• PURPLE: STARTING WITH POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS HERSHEY, HISTAMINE, ITSY, MINEFIELD

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.

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I used to own a lot of CDs. And by “a lot”, I mean a lot. Since I was a teenager in the late ‘90s a significant chunk of my disposable income went on music, but when Spotify launched in 2009 that began to slow down, until on July 29 2016 I ordered my final CD from Amazon (Drive Like Jehu’s self-titled album, if you’re interested).

I’ve been pretty much streaming-only ever since, and while I’ve purged a lot of CDs in recent years (mainly the albums I couldn't name a single song from without looking at the track-listing) there are a couple of hundred I can’t bring myself to get rid of.

Without a means to play any of them – I’d streamlined my hi-fi setup to include just a pair of Ruark MR1 Mk 2 speakers and an iFi Uno DAC connected to my disc-less MacBook Air when I moved out of London a few years ago – that seemed stupid.

But I spent a good chunk of my young adult life accumulating these shiny silver discs, some of which were acquired at gigs by obscure math-rock bands of the mid-2000s and certainly won’t be found on Spotify or Apple Music.

Even if they do now live in boxes under the stairs, existing as little more than a back-up archive to a hard drive full of ripped MP3s, they’re still part of my identity. And then one day the perfect solution dropped into my inbox.

What's in a name?

(Image credit: Future)

Try to buy a small, affordable CD player these days and you’ll mainly find cheap, plastic all-in-one systems made by companies called things like Pjlopj, Lvcdodvd and Gelielim (I actually made one of those up but I bet you don’t know which one).

Why was I choosing to listen to audibly inferior versions of stuff I’d spent so much time and money collecting?

In all honesty, the name FiiO isn’t much better, but the company at least has some recent pedigree when it comes to making hi-fi gear, with a number of its products earning five-star reviews right here on TechRadar. So news of its new $139 / £139 (around AU$275) DM13 CD player was music to my ears.

Here was a battery-powered CD player that’s barely any bigger than an old Sony Discman – not quite pocket-sized, but small enough to stash in a drawer when not in use – that has Bluetooth onboard so you can connect a pair of headphones, load up a copy of OK Computer and hit the streets like it’s 1997 all over again.

Mine arrived in the post just before Christmas, and its brushed metal chassis makes it vaguely reminiscent of Apple’s old Superdrive (RIP), particularly if you opt for the silver version. It can even convert CDs into MP3s if you hook it up to a computer.

I attempted to pair it with my Ruarks over Bluetooth but with its limited single-line display and very basic instruction manual, getting the two to talk to each other was like trying to change the clock on a microwave using only morse code.

Fortunately, it has standard aux and optical outputs as well, so I just dug out my box of miscellaneous cables (we’ve all got one) and went wired instead. I had created the perfect hi-fi setup for a millennial with limited space.

Don't look back in anger

(Image credit: Future) Top tips for CD revivalists

1. Check Ebay for CD bargains
A copy of Oasis’s debut album Definitely Maybe will set you back the best part of $35 / £30 on vinyl, but resellers such as Music Magpie (or Discogs in the US) have eBay shops where you can pick up a CD copy for far less. Try your local charity shops, too.

2. Only buy stuff you really love
If you start buying everything on CD you’ll quickly end up with a collection that’s hard to manage and you’ll be forced to purge some of it. Spotify and the other streaming services are the perfect tool for quality control, allowing you to try before you buy.

3. Keep your CDs out of the sun
My CD collection spent over a decade of its life by a window where it would catch the evening sun. As a result a good chunk has severely faded spines and partially bleached back covers, which bothers me from a sentimental perspective rather than a resale one. Try to look after yours better.

It’s not just because I’m a hoarder who can’t let go of the past that I’m planning to spend 2025 like it’s the height of Britpop all over again (and the Oasis reunion has nothing to do with it either).

Spotify’s refusal to increase its streaming quality has been bothering me for some time, but it was only when I was listening to some of those old MP3s that I realised just how noticeable it is. Why was I choosing to listen to audibly inferior versions of stuff I’d spent so much time and money collecting?

I also rarely listen to a full album from start to finish anymore, so rather than just switching to a different digital format I figured a CD player would be the perfect way to reconnect with music all over again.

I’m not the only one who’s plotting a physical-media renaissance. Sales of CDs rose 2% in 2023 and were up again 3.2% in the first half of 2024. That small upward trend is partially down to younger generations developing an interest in owning tangible formats but not having the disposable income to spend on vinyl (apparently it all goes on snozzberry vapes).

I get that. I bought a lot of my CDs for £7 or less in shops like Fopp or Rounder Records (another RIP) in Brighton, UK and the thought of spending over £20 on just one album back then would’ve horrified me. What if it was rubbish? (Which, considering a proportion of it was mid-noughties math-rock, was fairly likely.)

With people like me offloading hordes of old CDs there are bargains to be found – and while the format isn’t as indestructible as was once claimed, the discs are often in decent nick, even if the cases and liner notes aren’t.

You can connect a pair of headphones, load up a copy of OK Computer and hit the streets like it’s 1997 all over again.

I probably won’t ditch Spotify completely. As portable as the FiiO DM13 is – connecting a pair of Bluetooth headphones presented fewer issues and it does have skip protection – my pockets are only big enough for my iPhone 16 Pro. Streaming is also unbeatable when it comes to discovering new stuff, plus I don’t have space to add significantly to my existing CD collection. My bank balance wouldn’t thank me either.

But the contents of those boxes under the stairs is going to get a chance to shine again in 2025 – and it’s all down to another little black box with a silly name.

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• AWS is Netflix's only cloud computing platform
• But AWS is also part of Amazon, which owns Amazon Prime Video, a huge rival to Netflix
• Netflix engineers have been struggling to keep track of how much resources they use on AWS

Netflix, the world’s most popular streaming platform, may dominate home entertainment, but it’s struggling to manage one of its biggest operational challenges: cloud computing costs.

Despite its tech-forward image, Netflix has admitted it doesn’t fully know how much it spends on the cloud, an oversight made even more surprising given that its cloud provider, AWS, is part of Amazon - owner of Prime Video, one of Netflix’s largest competitors.

Relying on AWS for compute, storage, and networking, Netflix’s cloud infrastructure supports its global streaming service. Engineering teams use self-service tools to create and deploy applications, generating vast amounts of data. However, the complexity of this ecosystem makes it difficult for Netflix to understand exactly how resources are used and how costs accumulate.

Keeping its content flowing

The Platform Data Science Engineering (DSE) team at Netflix has taken on the task of untangling this problem. The team’s mission is to help the company’s engineers understand resource usage, efficiency, and associated costs.

Yet, as Netflix acknowledged in a recent blog post, its cloud cost management is still a work in progress.

To address the challenges it finds itself facing, Netflix has developed two tools: Foundational Platform Data (FPD) and Cloud Efficiency Analytics (CEA). FPD provides a centralized data layer with a standardized model, aggregating data from applications like Apache Spark. CEA builds on this by applying business logic to generate cost and ownership attribution, providing insights into efficiency and usage patterns.

The hurdles are significant. Netflix’s sprawling infrastructure includes services with multiple owners, varying cost heuristics, and multi-tenant platforms that complicate tracking.

Data delays and platform-specific customizations add a further layer of complexity. Regular audits and data transformations are necessary to maintain accuracy, but the company admits it has yet to achieve full visibility into its cloud spending.

Looking ahead, Netflix says it plans to expand its tools and incorporate predictive analytics and machine learning to optimize usage and detect cost anomalies.

While the company works to refine its approach, its situation highlights a striking irony: the world’s most popular streaming platform relies on its rival’s technology to deliver its own service, yet it is still figuring out the true cost of keeping its content flowing.

More from TechRadar Pro

• This is the best free streaming software available right now
• Netflix being weird? It could be your VPN
• AWS is making it easier for start-ups to use its cloud services

• Look out for a new Play something button
• It picks out a recommended video for you
• Some users are seeing the feature on Android

There's an awful lot to watch on YouTube – more than 500 hours of content are uploaded every single minute, according to the official stats – and it seems YouTube is testing a feature to help viewers who are a bit stuck as to what to load up next.

As per 9to5Google, you might soon see a Play something button pop up while you're using the latest version of YouTube for Android. Tap the button, and a selected video starts playing through the YouTube Shorts interface.

It's not clear how YouTube is picking the video that gets played, but presumably your YouTube listening history and your recommendations are involved somehow. You'll then get served more videos after the first clip has finished.

Although the feature uses the portrait Shorts interface, it seems regular YouTube videos can get played as well. However, it's not something that's gone live for every user, as Android Police reports – so you might not see it.

Too much choice

YouTube on a foldable phone (Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)

This is actually something YouTube has been testing for a while, though the interface has been tweaked a little along the way. It would now appear that at least some more users are seeing the feature too, if not everyone.

And it's a feature that makes sense too: YouTube doesn't want its users stuck on a browsing screen, not knowing which video to load up next and spending more time scrolling than viewing (or even switching to another app entirely).

While it may seem a bit random to have YouTube pick something for you to watch, remember the platform knows a lot about you and your preferences – it may even be better at choosing what to watch than you are.

We'll have to wait and see if this new idea rolls out to everyone, but YouTube has been pushing out tweaks and upgrades on a regular basis recently – including skipping parts of videos and (for premium users) smart downloads for YouTube Shorts.

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