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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 #490) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• CARGO
• BOULDER
• CLAW
• HAMMER
• ANVIL
• HORN
• CALIFORNIA
• COYOTE
• EGG
• STIRRUP
• DRUM
• TNT
• CAPRI
• HOOF
• HONOR
• NAIL

NYT Connections today (game #490) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• Yellow: Hard body part
• Green: Meep meep!
• Blue: You wear them
• Purple: blank [What a ball would do on a slope]

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 #490) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: MADE OF KERATIN
• GREEN: ROAD RUNNER CARTOON STAPLES
• BLUE: KINDS OF PANTS
• PURPLE: ___ ROLL

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

NYT Connections today (game #490) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #490, are…

• YELLOW: MADE OF KERATIN CLAW, HOOF, HORN, NAIL
• GREEN: ROAD RUNNER CARTOON STAPLES ANVIL, BOULDER, COYOTE, TNT
• BLUE: KINDS OF PANTS CAPRI, CARGO, HAMMER, STIRRUP
• PURPLE: ___ ROLL CALIFORNIA, DRUM, EGG, HONOR

• My rating: Moderate
• My score: 1 mistake

There are days when the NYT's difficulty ratings for Connections make no sense to me. Purple today is one of the 'blank' varieties, where you have to find the missing word that unites the four answers. These are typically the hardest, and always form (as far as I know) the purple group. But there's no way that today __ ROLL was tougher than the green ROAD RUNNER CARTOON STAPLES or blue KINDS OF PANTS group.

I solved them all, but only thanks to a love of Road Runner that dates back 40-odd years. I doubt everyone will be so lucky. And I would have had no chance of solving the blue group, because I've never heard of HAMMER PANTS or STIRRUP PANTS. Am I out of touch? Quite possibly…

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

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Saturday, 12 October, game #489)

• YELLOW: DRAPED ACCESSORIES SCARF, SHAWL, STOLE, WRAP
• GREEN: TOLERATE BEAR, STAND, SWALLOW, TAKE
• BLUE: BIRD ONOMATOPOEIA COO, GOBBLE, HONK, HOOT
• PURPLE: STARTS OF CELL PHONE MAKERS APP, GOO, MOTOR, SAM

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.

Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now nearly 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 #993) - hint #1 - Vowels How many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 3*.

* 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 #993) - 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 1.

Quordle today (game #993) - 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 #993) - 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 #993) - hint #5 - starting letters (2) What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• U

• N

• T

• P

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

Quordle today (game #993) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #993, are…

• UNFIT
• NYMPH
• THUMB
• PUREE

A combination of some uncommon (and uncommonly spelled) words and a relative dearth of vowels combine here to make this a tricky Quordle. On the latter point, NYMPH doesn't have any and THUMB only one, and while PUREE has three, the repeated Es rather counteract the fact that theoretically they might make it easier.

For my game, I was hampered a little by the fact that my three set start words, STARE, DOILY and PUNCH, don't contain F, M or B, meaning I needed to track them down too and required an extra guess beyond my minimum (which would be seven) in order to solve them all.

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

Daily Sequence today (game #993) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #993, are…

• BASIS
• HOTLY
• BOXER
• FROTH

Quordle answers: The past 20

• 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
• Quordle #989, Wednesday 9 October: TRIAL, HUSKY, DOWNY, TRADE
• Quordle #988, Tuesday 8 October: TROUT, HATER, BARGE, DOZEN
• Quordle #987, Monday 7 October: CAULK, HALVE, APING, HEATH
• Quordle #986, Sunday 6 October: FUDGE, TENOR, BEGAT, ROUSE
• Quordle #985, Saturday 5 October: ELECT, CROAK, FRISK, JAUNT
• Quordle #984, Friday 4 October: ELFIN, GRAIL, PATIO, RECAP
• Quordle #983, Thursday 3 October: TENTH, REMIT, CURVE, TOAST
• Quordle #982, Wednesday 2 October: ARGUE, CRANE, TOKEN, PRINT
• Quordle #981, Tuesday 1 October: FRILL, MADLY, GRANT, NYLON
• Quordle #980, Monday 30 September: CRUSH, TARDY, TEACH, STUMP
• Quordle #979, Sunday 29 September: SERIF, BORNE, WRITE, SLEEK
• Quordle #978, Saturday 28 September: BUSHY, CIVIC, SNOUT, EQUIP
• Quordle #977, Friday 27 September: GUEST, CHASM, ROOST, BASAL
• Quordle #976, Thursday 26 September: STAGE, VOGUE, CLUMP, HEATH
• Quordle #975, Wednesday 25 September: UMBRA, DADDY, GLAZE, PRANK
• Quordle #974, Tuesday 24 September: SPACE, INNER, SPAWN, BEGAT
• Quordle #973, Monday 23 September: GUILT, STERN, ANNEX, FIELD

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

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Time to get cozy

NYT Strands today (game #224) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• FAST
• SALE
• FISH
• FISHES
• DILL
• CRAG

NYT Strands today (game #224) - hint #3 - spangram What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Wrap up warm

NYT Strands today (game #224) - hint #4 - spangram position What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First: top, 3rd column

Last: bottom, 4th column

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

NYT Strands today (game #224) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #224, are…

• VEST
• SWEATER
• FLANNEL
• FLEECE
• CARDIGAN
• SCARF
• SPANGRAM: FALLFASHION

• My rating: Easy
• My score: 1 hint

I needed the near-obligatory one hint to get started today, with the theme clue of 'Time to get cozy' not giving me quite enough info to be able to work out that the answers were all examples of FALLFASHION as the spangram would have it.

Once I had that, it wasn't too bad, although my idea of fall fashion (autumn fashion where I am in the UK) is more t-shirt and hoodie than CARDIGAN, FLEECE or FLANNEL. But they were all relatively easy to find, and I doubt many people will struggle today.

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

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Saturday, 12 October, game #223)

• PORKY
• BUGS
• GRANNY
• DAFFY
• FOXY
• FOGHORN
• PETUNIA
• SPANGRAM: CHARACTERS

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.

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South Korean memory giant SK Hynix has announced it has begun the mass production of the world’s first 12-layer HBM3E, featuring a total memory capacity of 36GB, a huge increase from the previous 24GB capacity in the 8-layer configuration.

This new design was made possible by reducing the thickness of each DRAM chip by 40%, allowing more layers to be stacked while maintaining the same overall size. The company plans to start volume shipments by the end of 2024.

The HBM3E memory supports a bandwidth of 9600 MT/s, translating to an effective speed of 1.22 TB/s if used in an eight-stack configuration. The improvement makes it ideal for handling LLMs and AI workloads that require both speed and high capacity. The ability to process more data at faster rates enables AI models to run more efficiently.

Nvidia and AMD hardware

For advanced memory stacking, SK Hynix employs innovative packaging technologies, including Through Silicon Via (TSV) and the Mass Reflow Molded Underfill (MR-MUF) process. These methods are essential for maintaining the structural integrity and heat dissipation required for stable, high-performance operation in the new HBM3E. The improvements in heat dissipation performance are particularly important for maintaining reliability during intensive AI processing tasks.

In addition to its increased speed and capacity, the HBM3E is designed to offer enhanced stability, with SK Hynix’s proprietary packaging processes ensuring minimal warpage during stacking. The company’s MR-MUF technology allows for better management of internal pressure, reducing the chances of mechanical failures and ensuring long-term durability.

Early sampling for this 12-layer HBM3E product began in March 2024, with Nvidia’s Blackwell Ultra GPUs and AMD’s Instinct MI325X accelerators expected to be among the first to use this enhanced memory, taking advantage of up to 288GB of HBM3E to support complex AI computations. SK Hynix recently rejected a $374 million advanced payment from an unknown company to ensure it could provide Nvidia with enough HMB for its in-demand AI hardware.

“SK Hynix has once again broken through technological limits demonstrating our industry leadership in AI memory,” said Justin Kim, President (Head of AI Infra) at SK Hynix. “We will continue our position as the No.1 global AI memory provider as we steadily prepare next-generation memory products to overcome the challenges of the AI era.”

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• SK Hynix and Kioxia could build lucrative HBM chips for Nvidia and AMD
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Hiking gear is often specialized and personal, but that doesn't mean you can't find a great gift for the hiker in your life. We've done the hard work for you and rounded up the best gifts for hikers, based on years of personal hiking experience.

When we reviewed the Nvidia Shield TV Pro back in 2021, we said that it was the best streaming box on the market at the time. It's still a great streamer thanks to its flexibility and power, but it's been a little neglected. However, Nvidia has issued an update at last – the first such update since 2023. If you're encountering bugs or glitches that are taking the shine off your Shield, this new update should hopefully address them.

The new updates are detailed in a post on the Nvidia website, but the short version is that it enhances the Match Frame Rate, fixes a GeForce Now crash bug and addresses some irritating video and audio issues.

What's new in the Nvidia Shield TV update

As before, the system is based on Android 11 – and this update is a hotfix rather than a new version, so don't expect any new features.

Here's the list of the changes in this new update, the 9.1.1+ Hotfix:

• Match Frame Rate (beta) enhancement
• Resolves issue with SHIELD drive filling up
• Fixes the issue of No audio heard when headset is connected to controller and DAP is on
• Resolves issue of Geforce now crash after launch
• Ability to clear HDMI 1.4 flag via factory reset
• Fixed video distortion on "RGB 8-bit Rec.709" display mode
• Resolved USB HDD/Flash drive showing corrupted after hotplug
• NAS folder info shows 0 B and not the actual capacity
• Mounted storages aren't listed after upgrade
• Fixes occasional crashes in DRM apps

The support document also notes some important caveats. If you want to install Disney Plus from the Play store you'll need to do it before applying this update, as once installed you won't be able to add or update the Play store version of the app; the Hotfix isn't Google certified; and there's no way to reverse installation.

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Now that the iPhone 16 launch is behind us, we can start thinking about the iPhone 17 – and a fresh rumor suggests that the most expensive Pro Max model will be the only handset in the series making the jump to 12GB of RAM.

This comes from reliable tipsters Yeux1122 and @Jukanlosreve, and it's said to be "more likely" that the iPhone 17 Pro Max gets 12GB while the iPhone 17 Pro sticks to 8GB (which is what's inside all of the current 2024 models).

According to this leak, Samsung is hitting issues with its memory module production line, and that means there's not going to be enough components to fit inside the millions of iPhone 17 Pros Apple wants to order, as well as the iPhone 17 Pro Max phones.

This isn't a completely new rumor, either: well-respected analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has previously said that 12GB of RAM would be an iPhone 17 Pro Max exclusive, though he didn't go into detail about the reasoning behind it.

AI and RAM

Recently, I stated that the RAM in the iPhone 17 Pro lineup would be increased to 12GB. However, yeux1122 claims that only the iPhone 17 Pro Max will have 12GB of RAM. I intend to ‘speculate’ on the reason for this. 1/5https://t.co/45X3SVlrRJOctober 12, 2024

We're still quite a way out from the launch of the iPhone 17 range of course, which should turn up in September if Apple sticks to its usual schedule. It's always possible that plans will change between then and now.

However, we know that RAM – which gives devices thinking room – is important for powering Apple Intelligence, so it may be that the iPhone 17 Pro Max outperforms the other handsets in the series when it comes to AI tasks.

The 8GB of RAM across the board on the iPhone 16 phones is a brand new upgrade: you may remember that the iPhone 15 and the iPhone 15 Plus had 6GB of RAM on board, though the Pro models both have 8GB (and therefore support Apple Intelligence).

It's still early days for iPhone 17 rumors, but we've heard quite a few of them already – not least that the iPhone 16 Plus will be replaced by a new iPhone 17 Air when the time comes, which will apparently make use of a thinner form factor.

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We've just reviewed the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro and we're very impressed: they deliver great-sounding audio quality, top-notch ANC and a premium, though derivative, design. But there's always room for improvement, and there are often little irritations that only emerge after a product launch. Which is why Samsung has created a free software update just a few weeks after launch.

The update was spotted by Sammobile, which reported that according to Samsung's rather terse release notes the updates "improve the stability of the Bluetooth connection and sound". The update is also available for the non-Pro Buds 3.

How to get the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro software update

This is an over-the-air update so it should be available now: the firmware version is R530XXU0AXJ1 for the Buds 3 and R630XXU0AXJ1 for the Buds 3 Pro.

Whichever version of the Buds 3 you have, the installation process should be pretty painless and should happen automatically. If it doesn't, make sure your Buds are charged, open the Galaxy Wearable app on your phone, go to Earbuds Settings and look for Earbuds Software Update. You should now see an option to Download and Install. The update file is just over 7MB so it shouldn't take too long.

It'll be interesting to see if the promised audio changes to a pair we rank among the best wireless earbuds are noticeable: at our most nit-picky in our Buds 3 Pro review we said that the treble was perhaps a little too high compared to the bass, and the middle frequencies could be a little more prominent.

But if the update hasn't changed any of that it's no biggie: unlike the AirPods Pro 2, which the Buds 3 Pro share many similarities to, Samsung's buds enable you to adjust individual EQ bands to shape the sound to your own preference.

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