Technology

From thieves to spy cams, here's how to protect yourself and your stuff when you're choosing a short-term rental for vacation.

Intel has confirmed that the well-documented stability problems with its 13th and 14th-gen CPUs have been fully fixed.

As you may recall, Intel recently recapped the four mitigations (including three microcode updates) that have been applied to resolve these instability issues – the final one of which has only just started being deployed – and from the wording Team Blue used, it seemed as if this would be the end of the matter.

The thing is, Intel didn’t actually formally state that, even though the company made it seem clear enough that its investigation had been concluded.

If there was any doubt, though, Intel has clarified that the issue has indeed been definitively put to bed.

The Verge reports that Intel confirmed that the ‘Vmin shift instability’ was the root cause here (the tech site emphasizes it being the root cause, though there were other issues as noted), and spokesperson Thomas Hannaford said in no uncertain terms: “Yes, we’re confirming this is the cause and that it is fixed.”

(Image credit: Future / John Loeffler) Analysis: Remaining point of concern

It’s good to get confirmation that a full fix is in place for anyone worried about their Raptor Lake or Raptor Lake Refresh processor (Core i5 models and upwards are potentially affected).

If you buy a 13th or 14th-gen chip – and it should be noted we’re seeing some heavy discounts on the former now, as next-gen Arrow Lake CPUs are imminent – you just need to ensure that you update your BIOS to the latest version with all these Intel microcode updates packed within (including the most recent 0x12B update). That being the case, the CPU should not suffer from any kind of degradation or instability gremlins.

In the case of those who have had their affected 13th or 14th-gen processor for some time, the damage caused by the bugs here won’t be reversed by Intel’s patches – they are only mitigations to prevent any further degradation. So, if you’re experiencing any kind of instability or crashing on your PC, you should return your CPU and get a new one.

However, some folks may remain concerned about possible degradation under the hood which might not have been causing the PC to crash – meaning it’s effectively invisible wear and tear – but could still eventually result in a chip with a reduced lifespan, potentially.

Intel has, of course, extended the warranty on these chips to five years to help give CPU owners some further protection, but if something happens outside of that period, well, let’s say that could be pretty frustrating. You won’t know whether any fault pertains directly to these issues, of course, but that’ll be the nagging suspicion, no doubt. Not a pleasant thought.

You might also like

• Processor upgrade: how to choose the right CPU
• Best gaming CPU: 5 top processors reviewed and rated
• Here are the best cheap processor deals right now

Ahead of Prime Day, the 55-inch S90D OLED is down to its lowest price ever.

The iPhone SE 4 could well be the next iPhone we see from Apple – it's rumored to be breaking cover at the start of next year – and a well-placed industry source suggests it could borrow a specific component from the iPhone 14 that launched in 2022.

According to the usually reliable Ross Young, the iPhone SE 4 will use the same display as the iPhone 14: a 6.1-inch, 1170 x 2532 pixel, Super Retina XDR OLED screen. The current 3rd-gen iPhone SE (2022) sports a 4.7-inch LCD screen, so this would be a big upgrade.

If this comes to pass it would mean the iPhone SE 4 will be joining the modern era: it's set to be the first iPhone SE to ditch the home button and use Face ID instead of Touch ID. However, it will most likely use a display notch rather than the Dynamic Island.

What we almost certainly won't get with this phone is an always-on display option and support for the ProMotion variable refresh rate, which remains exclusive to the Pro and Pro Max models (though that might change with the iPhone 17).

Coming soon

Same display as iPhone 14. BOE and LGD are the suppliers. Panel shipments from October…October 6, 2024

This isn't actually a completely new rumor: for a while now, the talk has been that the iPhone SE 4 would resemble an iPhone 14, and it certainly saves Apple money if it can reuse components that have appeared on previous models.

At the moment you can actually still buy the iPhone 14 and the iPhone 14 Plus direct from Apple – yours for $599 / £599 / AU$1,049 and $699 / £699 / AU$1,249. You can expect the iPhone SE 4 to come in significantly less than that.

Earlier this week we heard rumors that the iPhone SE 4 is going to arrive with an A18 chip (matching the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus), better cameras (that are along the same lines as the iPhone 15), and a new 5G modem designed by Apple.

Some of the most reliable tipsters in the business are saying the iPhone SE 4 is going to show up early in 2025, so it shouldn't be too long before we know for sure what Apple has been working on – and whether it's worth a place on our best iPhones list.

You might also like

• Our full review of the iPhone 16
• The iPhone SE 4 could be an affordable iPhone 14
• These are the best phones you can buy

New York and Minnesota get Week 5 started today with the NFL's first international game of the season.

The audio brand might be ticking close to retirement age, but the innovators behind this private company have plenty more tricks up their sleeves, says CEO Lila Snyder.

At $500 off the usual price, this is one early holiday bargain you won't want to miss.

How have I only just found out that Netflix has quietly canceled the best zombie show Black Summer? Sadly, I'm not surprised, given just how many cancelations I've seen these days and how few people streamed it. But it still deserves the same praise as other creature features and I'm going to celebrate this fact by re-watching it.

Funnily enough, I discovered this news after writing about five shows canceled by Netflix in 2024 so far that you should still watch, so I'll be going back to update this – make sure to bookmark the article to find out what else makes the cut.

Black Summer debuted on the best streaming service back in 2019, with season 2 of the horror series following two years later. Any news of Black Summer's future went quiet until co-creator John Hyams tweeted in April 2023 that a third season wouldn't be happening. Since then, What's On Netflix has reported that Netflix officially canceled the Z-Nation spin-off, despite having an 87% Rotten Tomatoes score.

Unfortunately, the streaming giant is known to cancel much-loved shows and Black Summer is another one to end up on the scrap heap, with What's On Netflix citing low viewership figures as the reason for its axing.

It's a shame that Black Summer has completely flown under the radar compared to other undead shows like The Walking Dead and The Last of Us, considering it's frantic, heart-pounding action is probably one of the most realistic portrayals of how humans would react to a zombie apocalypse.

A Netflix gem now (un)dead and buried

Black Summer is a prequel spin-off to Z Nation, and takes places a few weeks after the start of a zombie apocalypse. It follows a group of strangers from all walks of life trying to survive and find their loved ones. This group consists of Rose (Jaime King), a mother trying to reunite with her daughter, Spears (Justin Chu Cary), a criminal posing as a soldier who saved Rose's life, and Sun (Christine Lee), a Korean woman who doesn’t speak English looking for her missing mother. During their endeavor, they meet other survivors as well as an abundance of zombies.

The characters are realistic in their desperate fight for survival, making it a convincing portrayal of what humans are capable of in terrifying life and death situations. The zombie genre often faces criticism about how people with no shooting experience can pick up a gun and miraculously hit a target while running or doing it one-handed – something that would be extremely hard for professionals to do let alone a normal person. However, this isn't the case in Black Summer. They can't shoot straight or effectively and struggle to land a successful head shot on a zombie a few feet in front of them.

They also make reckless decisions that will have you shouting at your screen, but where Black Summer impresses is with its camera work. The long one take sequences thrust you into the heart of the chaos, making you feel like you're experiencing the same turmoil unfold – I mean, that stadium scene is something else. I know some people don't like the 'running zombie' trope, and there's plenty of them in this best Netflix show, but it does help to evoke a sense of sheer terror from the watchers, just like the protagonists are going through.

It's sad to see this Netflix gem now buried after two seasons, but I can only hope that it will come back from the dead if another streamer picked it up. Now that there isn't a third season, fans won't get any answers to the season 2 cliffhanger, but don't let this stop you from watching this very good, but stressful series - and with Halloween around the corner, it's the perfect time to get stuck in.

You might also like

• I re-watched my favorite zombie movie World War Z on Netflix – here's why you should ignore its disappointing Rotten Tomatoes score
• Netflix is getting a new sci-fi slasher just in time for Halloween but the trailer for Time Cut is a lot like one of Prime Video’s best horror movies
• Netflix shares first images of new epic sci-fi movie The Electric State from the Russo brothers, and nobody's sure what to make of it

What do the integers have in common with the symmetries of a triangle? In the 19th century, mathematicians invented groups as an answer to this question.

Here are some hints, and the answers, for the Oct. 6 Strands puzzle, No. 217.

Here are some hints — and the answers — for Connections No. 483 for Oct. 6.

Here are some hints and the answer for Wordle No. 1,205 for Sunday, Oct. 6.

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Oct. 6

“Get everyone you know, and everyone you don't know, drag them to register to vote,” said Elon Musk at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. “If they don’t, this will be the last election. That’s my prediction.”

For a limited time only, you can get this highly rated 3D printer for only $299 ahead of the Prime Day sale.

Alexandria may not have the fastest internet options in the country, but there are still plenty of choices. Here are the best providers available.

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 #483) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• SHED
• CREAM
• RETREAT
• ABOUT
• COTTAGE
• LOGIN
• HOME
• SCRATCH
• KNEAD
• GOAT
• LEAVE
• STRING
• FLEE
• PURR
• CONTACT
• WITHDRAW

NYT Connections today (game #483) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• Yellow: Go away
• Green: Feline things
• Blue: Privacy is often another
• Purple: Blank [dairy food]

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 #483) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: TURN TAIL
• GREEN: THINGS CATS DO
• BLUE: PAGES ON A WEBSITE
• PURPLE: ___ CHEESE

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

NYT Connections today (game #483) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #483, are…

• YELLOW: TURN TAIL FLEE, LEAVE, RETREAT, WITHDRAW
• GREEN: THINGS CATS DO KNEAD, PURR, SCRATCH, SHED
• BLUE: PAGES ON A WEBSITE ABOUT, CONTACT, HOME, LOGIN
• PURPLE: ___ CHEESE COTTAGE, CREAM, GOAT, STRING

• My rating: Easy
• My score: Perfect

I like cats, I like cheese and I work on a website, so I was in a good place to solve today's Connections, which featured all three as groups. That said, it was the yellow TURN TAIL group with FLEE, LEAVE, RETREAT and WITHDRAW that I solved first, perhaps unsurprisingly given that it was pretty straightforward and consisted only of synonyms.

The others were technically more difficult. Green – THINGS CATS DO – did occur to me early on, on account of PURR and SCRATCH. KNEAD made sense too, but I couldn't find a fourth. I nearly guessed CREAM or STRING as things associated with cats, but they didn't quite fit with the other three. And then eventually I realized that SHED could be a verb, too, at which point it all fell into place.

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

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Saturday, 5 October, game #482)

• YELLOW: STEAK CUTS FILET, HANGER, SKIRT, T-BONE
• GREEN: KINDS OF UNDERWEAR BIKINI, G-STRING, HIPSTER, THONG
• BLUE: INVOLVED IN A DENTIST VISIT DRILL, SINK, TOOTHBRUSH, X-RAY
• PURPLE: BRANDS THAT HAVE BECOME GENERIC TERMS CHAPSTICK, JACUZZI, Q-TIP, XEROX

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

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Got any bleu cheese?

NYT Strands today (game #217) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• LATE
• GLADE
• BLADE
• NICK
• CHICK
• TOAST

NYT Strands today (game #217) - hint #3 - spangram What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Food in rows

NYT Strands today (game #217) - hint #4 - spangram position What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First: top, fourth column

Last: bottom, fifth column

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

NYT Strands today (game #217) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #217, are…

• BACON
• CHICKEN
• TOMATO
• VINAIGRETTE
• GREENS
• EGGS
• SPANGRAM: COBBSALAD

• My rating: Moderate
• My score: Perfect

I presume there might be a split between people in the US and those in the rest of the world here. Or maybe it's only me that had not really heard of a COBBSALAD and therefore struggled to solve this one. I was also very confused by the theme clue of 'Got any bleu cheese?', which made me think it was something French – because otherwise why is it spelled 'bleu' and not 'blue'. So the whole thing was a bit baffling.

I solved it in the end, but it was really just a case of trial and error. I spotted BACON early on, and CHICKEN too, so I realized it was a food-themed puzzle. The others took me a while to find, and getting the spangram was entirely based on there being nothing else it could be by the time that I got it. Not the most satisfying game for me – though if you know and like Cobb Salad (which to me sounds disgusting) then maybe you'll have been fine with it. Ho hum.

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

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Saturday 5 October, game #216)

• SHAM
• FAKE
• QUACK
• PHONY
• HOAK
• CHARLATAN
• HUMBUG
• SPANGRAM: THATSUNREAL

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 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 #986) - 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 #986) - 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 #986) - 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 #986) - 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 #986) - hint #5 - starting letters (2) What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• F

• T

• B

• R

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

Quordle today (game #986) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #986, are…

• FUDGE
• TENOR
• BEGAT
• ROUSE

The key to solving this Quordle, for me at least, was playing my unofficial fourth start word, BEFOG, which gave me the G I needed for FUDGE and BEGAT, and the B for that latter word too. But otherwise this was a straightforward day for the game. That said, both BEGAT and ROUSE are relatively uncommon words. BEGAT in particular is the kind of thing you might read in Shakespeare, but not exactly an everyday term – so well done if you solved it.

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

Daily Sequence today (game #986) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #986, are…

• PUNCH
• BROOK
• TWICE
• FIGHT

Quordle answers: The past 20

• 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
• Quordle #972, Sunday 22 September: ZESTY, MEATY, ALIVE, DRAWN
• Quordle #971, Saturday 21 September: VITAL, FRAIL, SPEAR, EERIE
• Quordle #970, Friday 20 September: ELIDE, DITTO, SHAWL, BONUS
• Quordle #969, Thursday 19 September: MARRY, OWING, DICEY, LUCKY
• Quordle #968, Wednesday 18 September: CEDAR, VENOM, MIGHT, MEDIC
• Quordle #967, Tuesday 17 September: ETHOS, COUNT, PRINT, THREE
• Quordle #966, Monday 16 September: ROUGE, SWAMP, FUGUE, UNDUE

Samsung’s mid-year Galaxy Unpacked launch for 2024 was a bit dull. The Galaxy Watch range didn’t see many improvements bar the introduction of the Ultra (which is really only intended for the most diehard fitness heads), and time was mostly devoted to the show stopping Galaxy Ring, an entirely new product category for the smartphone maker (one that I’m excited for in Australia, where it is still yet to launch). Combined with an extremely lukewarm year for the sixth generation Samsung foldables, the Galaxy Z Flip 6 arguably received the least love of all the new gadgets – but I’ve come to appreciate the phone for what it is beyond the obvious gimmick.

The Galaxy Z Flip 6 has existed in a weird space among Samsung’s premium phone lineup for some time now. Vertically foldable akin to trendsetting phones of the 2000s, the Z Flip’s only real drawcard is in the name – it’s fashion before function. The Galaxy Z Fold 6 makes a much better case for its existence, acting as a tablet-phone hybrid, albeit at a high price point.

Internally, the phone underperforms compared to similarly priced models in the flagship Galaxy S product range, with a dimmer and less detailed screen along with a smaller body. Its unimpressive cameras don’t do it any favors and its battery life is middling at best.

But I don’t really want to be too down on the Galaxy Z Flip 6, because it’s an aesthetics first device – and it aces that. In fact, it’s more fun than almost every other phone I’ve used this year. The flipping function makes for a fun fidget toy and the phone can be placed in a bunch of creative poses.

But as it turns out, my favorite aspect isn’t actually that it folds – it’s the narrow portrait orientation that the form factor creates.

But why is that cool?

(Image credit: Zachariah Kelly/TechRadar)

Perhaps it’s me admitting that smartphones are sort of blending together in my head, as they all share the same basic ‘big glass rectangle’ characteristic, but I’ve truly fallen in love with just how tall the screen of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 is.

The phone folds in on itself from top to bottom, and to avoid being too short for casual use in its folded form (where it's square-shaped and usable in a limited capacity via the screen on the back) it has a taller stature.

Let’s pull up the specs: the dimensions of the Galaxy Z Flip 6 are 165.1 x 71.9 x 6.9 mm (H x W x D), while the Samsung Galaxy S24 (the phone with which it shares the most DNA) has dimensions of 147 x 70.6 x 7.6 mm. The Z Flip 6 has a slightly narrower (and thinner) chassis, with thicker bezels that give the S24 a great screen-to-body ratio.

The 18mm taller screen on the Galaxy Z Flip 6 makes me wish we had more phones with zanier dimensions. That’s 18mm more for Google results to fill in Chrome, or for lines on a news article, or displaying more tweets, or for text in your messages, and while a lot of the extra space can be counteracted by the simple act of scrolling, I’ve been enjoying the longer display and the way content fills it from top to bottom.

Somehow it brings me back to the early iPhone years, when touchscreen phones were dramatically smaller and fake iPhone concept videos included completely absurd designs (particularly this one). It also takes me back to the early smartphone years when these gadgets were much more creatively designed, particularly models like the LG BL40.

Today you’re unlikely to find a smartphone smaller than six inches (excluding the 4.7 inch iPhone SE, which is likely to be defunct soon), with all dimensions getting a bump as the size goes up.

And that’s what we want, right? The uniformity of display dimensions across brands and manufacturers is informed by how we use the tech and the content we consume. It’s no coincidence that most streaming services cater content to a 16:9 aspect ratio with cinematic bars added in for a better viewing experience – it’s because smartphone use habits stem greatly from TV use.

Even more so than movies and TV shows, smartphones require display uniformity for the sake of app consistency. Some apps still have compatibility issues between tablet and smartphone versions, where on the tablet the app is scaled up to cater for the display size at the cost of image quality. If smartphone makers suddenly had to cater for vastly different aspect ratios from longer (or wider) smartphones, let alone simply bigger screens, the result would be greater pressure on developers and more unused dead space as developers try and hit the sweet spot of aspect ratios (letting the tops and bottoms of displays go to waste).

How far can a gimmick take the Z Flip 6?

(Image credit: Zachariah Kelly/TechRadar)

It’s at this point that it’s worth discussing the inevitable – can Samsung continue to make the cool, quirky, yet stylish little foldable interesting enough to buyers?

There’s always going to be the space for consumers wanting something a bit more aesthetically pleasing, but in the vertical folding space, Samsung’s now competing with cheaper (and arguably better looking) options from Motorola and other smaller brands. Comparative to the Z Flip 5, the Flip 6 was less a revision and more a re-release with some small changes made.

It’s also a clash with reality to try and position the Z Flip 6 as an upmarket device, which is likely why we heard rumors of a cheap Flip FE earlier this year. The Flip isn’t meant to be a performance phone and the constraints of the display present a considerable obstacle to positioning it that way. So why not go down market with the FE, then?

For now though, I’m pretty satisfied with having a long phone. The taller screen meshes so well with my smartphone habits that I can’t help but love it. The folding aspect is cool too, and I’ve found a bunch of great uses and situations for it, but I’ve fallen for the display in a way not intended.

You might also like...

• Read our full Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 review
• What are the differences between the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 and the Z Fold 6?
• An Apple foldable may arrive in 2026