Technology

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

• Today's NYT Strands theme is… I've got the music in me!

NYT Strands today (game #202) - hint #2 - clue words

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

• STUD
• DUNE
• ETCH
• RATE
• TARE
• STONE

NYT Strands today (game #202) - hint #3 - spangram What is a hint for today's spangram?

• Temple of music

NYT Strands today (game #202) - hint #4 - spangram position What are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?

First: left, 5th row

Last: right, 3rd row

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

NYT Strands today (game #202) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Strands, game #202, are…

• ARENA
• STADIUM
• NIGHTCLUB
• THEATER
• FESTIVAL
• SPANGRAM: CONCERTVENUE

• My rating: Moderate
• My score: 1 hint

I've marked this one as moderate simply because I couldn't get started without a hint; the theme clue of 'I've got the music in me!' seemed too obtuse, despite the fact that with hindsight it was really rather obvious. Once I asked for help and was given ARENA it all became much easier, and I ticked off the likes of STADIUM, NIGHTCLUB and THEATER with no issues.

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

Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Friday 20 September, game #201)

• RHYME
• VERSE
• METER
• STANZA
• SYNTAX
• DICTION
• SCANSION
• SPANGRAM: POETRY

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 #971) - 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 #971) - 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 #971) - 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 #971) - 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 #971) - hint #5 - starting letters (2) What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?

• V

• F

• S

• E

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

Quordle today (game #971) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle, game #971, are…

• VITAL
• FRAIL
• SPEAR
• EERIE

There aren't many words in Wordle (and therefore Quordle) that contain three of the same letter. My analysis of every Wordle answer shows that there are a mere 20 out of the original 2,309 solutions that contain a triple letter, and of those five have a trio of Es. EERIE is one of them, and it's a hard word to solve in this game. Fortunately, FRAIL, SPEAR and VITAL are not so bad, so assuming you didn't lose too many guesses on EERIE you should have been OK here.

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

Daily Sequence today (game #971) - the answers

(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #971, are…

• SEDAN
• BASTE
• VITAL
• CORER

Quordle answers: The past 20

• 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
• Quordle #965, Sunday 15 September: VILLA, SMOKE, BULKY, THRUM
• Quordle #964, Saturday 14 September: ESSAY, GENRE, WIMPY, CHUTE
• Quordle #963, Friday 13 September: LEANT, ORGAN, FILLY, PLAIT
• Quordle #962, Thursday 12 September: ARBOR, STARK, LEAVE, GOOFY
• Quordle #961, Wednesday 11 September: ROUGH, CACTI, SAVOY, ODDER
• Quordle #960, Tuesday 10 September: PLUMB, SEIZE, EARLY, ASSET
• Quordle #959, Monday 9 September: CHIRP, BEADY, THETA, MINUS
• Quordle #958, Sunday 8 September: TEASE, AGATE, PRIDE, PLATE
• Quordle #957, Saturday 7 September: LASSO, TILDE, BUNCH, PRONG
• Quordle #956, Friday 6 September: FARCE, WOOLY, LOCAL, NIGHT
• Quordle #955, Thursday 5 September: SNIDE, EGRET, AMONG, SHINY
• Quordle #954, Wednesday 4 September: POINT, WITTY, GAFFE, ABUSE
• Quordle #953, Tuesday 3 September: ATOLL, ANGER, OCEAN, SWEEP
• Quordle #952, Monday 2 September: HABIT, LODGE, PLAIN, DRIFT
• Quordle #951, Sunday 1 September: RABBI, CRAWL, GUPPY, BRAND

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 #468) - today's words

(Image credit: New York Times)

Today's NYT Connections words are…

• REAL
• MEDIUM
• IMPRESSIVE
• EXCLUSIVE
• NICE
• RARE
• AWFUL
• MYSTIC
• WAY
• WELL DONE
• BLOODY
• LIMITED
• ORACLE
• PROPS
• COLLECTIBLE
• PSYCHIC

NYT Connections today (game #468) - hint #1 - group hints

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

• Yellow: Future-gazer
• Green: Reason to want something
• Blue: Excellent!
• Purple: Very

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 #468) - hint #2 - group answers

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

• YELLOW: CLAIRVOYANT
• GREEN: SPECIAL EDITION ADJECTIVES
• BLUE: “GREAT JOB!”
• PURPLE: EXTREMELY

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

NYT Connections today (game #468) - the answers

(Image credit: New York Times)

The answers to today's Connections, game #468, are…

• YELLOW: CLAIRVOYANT MEDIUM, MYSTIC, ORACLE, PSYCHIC
• GREEN: SPECIAL EDITION ADJECTIVES COLLECTIBLE, EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED, RARE
• BLUE: “GREAT JOB!” IMPRESSIVE, NICE, PROPS, WELL DONE
• PURPLE: EXTREMELY AWFUL, BLOODY, REAL, WAY

• My rating: Easy
• My score: 1 mistake

This was a surprisingly easy Connections puzzle even by recent examples, although I still contrived to make one mistake. That was a silly one; I'm sure the misdirection was intended by the NYT, and I walked right into the trap. I'm talking, of course, about BLOODY, RARE, WELL DONE and MEDIUM – which could have been 'Ways to cook a steak'. But no, all four words actually belonged to alternative groups.

That quickly became apparent, when I looked again and realized that MEDIUM, MYSTIC, ORACLE and PSYCHIC were all words for a CLAIRVOYANT (yellow) and that COLLECTIBLE, EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED, RARE all formed a green group for SPECIAL EDITION ADJECTIVES.

That left blue and purple, and this time neither was too complicated. No 'blank something' type, no clever cryptic connections – simply a couple of groups, both of which were fairly obvious.

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

Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Friday, 20 September, game #467)

• YELLOW: PRESUME FIGURE, IMAGINE, SUSPECT, THINK
• GREEN: SOMEBODY CHARACTER, INDIVIDUAL, PARTY, PERSON
• BLUE: CHARACTERS IN “THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK," FAMILIARLY BOBA, CHEWY, EMPEROR, SOLO
• PURPLE: WORDS AFTER “KITTY” CAT, CORNER, HAWK, LITTER

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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A new AI-powered teddy bear might be the solution to storytime with your kids or an eerie robot attempting to usurp a parenting duty, depending on your point of view. Tech toy company Skyrocket hopes you'll see Poe the AI Story Bear as the former. The plush toy employs AI models from OpenAI to compose new stories based on ideas suggested by a child, which are then told by the bear in a friendly, but synthetic voice produced with ElevenLabs' AI speech creator. 

The customized stories are put together by the AI model using a wide range of options that a child can pick from the accompanying Poe AI Bear: Story Creator app. There are hundreds of curated options for story elements, and kids can pick a wide range of themes, characters, and locations for the story, even inserting themselves into it. If they like the resulting story, they can save it to listen to again or move on and try out other options next time. 

Because of the AI used to come up with the stories, there may be similarities based on the chosen icons in the app, but each story will ultimately be different even if the same options are chosen multiple times. There's only one AI voice included with Poe, but ElevenLabs' models give it context-aware emotional tones and otherwise mimic how a human speaks. Poe can tell stories in 30 languages, the ones built into the ElevenLabs model.

"Poe the AI Story Bear empowers kids with the ability to create amazing, personalized stories that they'll love listening to again and again," Skyrocket CEO Nelo Lucich explained. "It's always been a dream to have toys that come alive and now it's possible with AI. Poe the AI Story Bear embraces the positive aspects of AI technology and makes it accessible to all types of consumers from diverse backgrounds and languages and at a budget-friendly price point."

AI Toy Story

Of course, for a child's product, safety is going to be a major concern. To assuage worries, Skyrocket has designed Poe to only pull input from the app, so there are no cameras, microphones, or direct internet access, just Bluetooth to link to the mobile device. There are also stricter than usual safeguards on the content the AI model suggests for the story. That's also why the options for themes and characters are curated, limiting the chance of anything inappropriate inadvertently coming up.

The high-tech power of Poe is surprisingly affordable at $50. Skyrocket has ambitions to develop a whole line of toys with AI-powered features, but the real question is if parents will see Poe as their child's more talkative Buzz Lightyear or a sinister latter-day Furby.

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The EHF Champions League is the pinnacle of European club handball, offering plenty of fast-and-furious play. Featuring plenty of stars who graced the Paris 2024, read on to find out how to keep up with all EHF Champions League action wherever you are. 

• Just want to get watching? Watch on EHFTV (may require a VPN)

EHF Champions League live stream

Date: September 11, 2024 - July 15, 2025

Live stream: watch on EHFTV

Use NordVPN to watch from anywhere

The EHF Champions League group phase is underway. Defending champions Barça are in Group B along with Aalborg Håndbold, who they defeated in that final. Dinamo Bucuresti, Sporting CP and Paris Saint-Germain Handball are amongst the big names in Group A.

Barça boast Olympic gold medal-winning goalkeeper Emil Nielsen in their roster, while his legendary international teammate Henrik Møllgaard plays for Aalborg Håndbold. Salvador Salvador, the young captain of Sporting, is another top talent to watch out for. As for PSG, they feature some of the French talent that fell short at their home Games.

Read on to find out how you can watch all of the EHF Champions League action and handball live streams.

How to watch the EHF Champions League Handball live stream for FREE

Most of the EHF handball coverage is on EHFTV, which requires a paid subscription. 

However, if you're lucky enough to be in Germany, Austria or Switzerland you can catch some of the action for FREE.

DAZN and Pluto TV have a free-to-air handball channel in which a total of 50 games, including some from the EHF Champions League, will be shown. 

If you are from one of those countries but away when one of the games is on, you can use a VPN to access your usual service.

How to watch a EHF Champions League Handball live stream from anywhere

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How to watch EHF Champions League on EHFTV

The EHF has made it super easy to tune into the handball Champions League in most regions by showing live streams of all the EHF Champions League tournament games on its EHFTV streaming service.

All you need to do is register with EHFTV, buy a subscription and away you go. It costs €7.99 per month or $45.99 for the year.

If you have a subscription but can't access the service in the country you're in, you can use a VPN to watch as if you were at home.

EHFTV is easily accessible in many countries around the world. However, you may find yourself geo-blocked from EHFTV live streams when travelling abroad. If you'd like to access EHFTV, or any of your regular home streaming service as normal, then use a good VPN.

A good VPN can let you get around these digital borders legally, while also offering robust protection from cybercriminals and government snooping, making everyday tasks like online shopping and banking much safer.

Use NordVPN to live stream EHF Champions League 2024/25 from anywhere.

EHF Champions League 2024/25 groups

These are the groups for the 2024/25 EHF Champions League handball.

Group A

• Dinamo Bucuresti
• Füchse Berlin
• Sporting CP
• Paris Saint-Germain Handball
• Veszprém HC
• Orlen Wisla Plock
• Fredericia Håndbold Klub
• HC Eurofarm Pelister

Group B

• Barça
• Industria Kielce
• OTP Bank - PICK Szeged
• HC Zagreb
• Aalborg Håndbold
• HBC Nantes
• SC Magdeburg
• Kolstad Håndbold

EHF Champions League 2024/25 Schedule

• Group Phase: September 11, 2024 – March 6, 2025
• Play-offs: March 26, 2025 – April 3, 2025
• Quarter-finals: April 23, 2025 – May 1, 2025
• Semi-final: July 14, 2025
• Final: July 15, 2025

What is the EHF?

The European Handball Federation (EHF) is the umbrella organisation for all things European handball. Founded on 17 November 1991, it is headquartered in Vienna, Austria, and comprises 50 member federations and two associated federations (England and Scotland).

Can I watch EHF Champions League handball on my mobile?

Of course, EHF has an app through which you can access EHF TV and all the latest information about the competition.

One week into the US Coast Guard’s OceanGate hearings, witnesses have shed new light on key aspects of the company’s troubles leading up to the fateful implosion.

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A new start-up called Juice has announced a partnership with New York ride share and fast-charging operator Revel that could help take the pain out of using a public EV charging network thanks to smart cameras and machine learning.

Although vastly improved over recent years, topping up EV batteries via chargers found out in the wild remains a confusing and sometimes over-complicated task. 

Many require setting up a bespoke account, either through a browser or by downloading a smartphone app, despite the increased prevalence of tap-to-pay options.

Regardless, it’s still not the seamless experience that Tesla customers have long enjoyed on its Supercharger network. That process sees payment methods stored on account within the car’s infotainment system, which means the owner can enjoy simply plugging in, charging and driving away, safe in the knowledge that the bill and breakdown of costs will arrive every month.

Juice and Revel want to change all of that by creating what it calls 'Face ID for vehicles'. Harnessing the power of computer vision, which uses AI-driven smart cameras, the company wants EV charging stations to be able to recognize a vehicle, alongside its license plate, authenticate and then automatically debit the cost of a charging session to an associated account.

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

"Our goal is not to create a long experience where we’re forced to come in and download an app and use that app every single time," Paul Suhey, cofounder and chief operating officer at Revel told The Verge in a recent interview. "We’re just trying to make the experience as easy as possible."

Granted, the EV owner in question does have to scan an initial QR code to get signed up, and then allow permission for Juice to record some video footage of the vehicle via a smartphone camera. But from there it's simply a case of selecting a payment method and leaving the smartphone in the pocket when you pull up to a Revel stall.

Revel says it can then use existing security camera technology, alongside machine learning, that will recognize the EV and then automatically debit the account holder when the charging session is complete – removing a number of irritating sign-up and payment steps that currently plague much of the public network.

Analysis: Like Amazon Go for EV charging

(Image credit: Mercedes-Benz USA)

To all intents and purposes, the public charging network is still a bit of a mess. A lack of single service provider (Tesla not included) means that multiple accounts often have to be set up to cover any significant journey, despite the work carried out by numerous EV manufacturers to make the process more seamless.

Unlike paying for diesel or petrol, there are no cashiers at public charging stations and the software that runs them is often unreliable, glitchy or completely broken. 

The likes of Kia, Nissan, Polestar and BMW now all offer a subscription-style package, which sees the user set up an account (complete with billing information) and then use an RFID card that can be tapped (an app also works) at various chargers across a handful of networks, with owners receiving a final bill at the end of the month.

Similarly, Mercedes-Benz offers payment from within the car (Tesla-style) thanks to its Mercedes me Charge system, which will speak to more than 1.6 million charging points worldwide and automatically debit the user. 

These are all steps in the right direction, but the process remains riddled with problems, the main one being that not all public charging networks are included in any of these packages. There are simply too many to consolidate it all.

Juice has essentially created the Amazon Go of EV charging here, where AI-driven smart cameras automatically detect the user's activity and debits their account accordingly. But it still only works on the Revel network – or at least those that go on to adopt the technology.

During an EV owner’s lifetime, they will likely come across hundreds of different public charging providers, some more obscure than others, particularly if you start venturing off the beaten path. After all, if the vehicle is showing only four per cent battery remaining, the driver is going to head to whatever charging option is closest or most convenient.

Things are improving and a smaller handful of widespread service providers are now dominating the charging landscape, while more charging stalls now simply require a tap of a credit or debit card. 

But if electric vehicles stand any chance of hitting parity with their internal combustion engine siblings, all aspects of range anxiety need to be banished, and this includes the ability to charge anywhere at any time without additional payment steps or complications.

After all, when was the last time you planned a road trip with specific gas station stops?

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Vanilla Tempest, a ransomware group also known as Vice Society, has been seen deploying the INC ransomware strain for the first time to target the American healthcare sector.

This is according to cybersecurity researchers from Microsoft, who recently detailed their newest findings in an X thread.

In the thread, the company said Vanilla Tempest first receives hands-off from Gootloader infections by Storm-0494, before deploying different malware and software, including Supper, AnyDesk, MEGA, and others.

Vice Society

The group uses Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) for lateral movement, and Windows Management Instrumentation Provider Host to deploy the INC ransomware.

Unfortunately, Microsoft did not say which organizations Vanilla Tempest targeted, or how successful it was. Ransomware attacks against healthcare firms usually result in the leak of highly sensitive medical data, as well as potentially dizzying payouts.

Vanilla Tempest, or Vice Society, is a threat actor that’s been active since mid-2022. It usually targets education, healthcare, IT, and manufacturing sectors, and is known for frequently switching between different encryptors. While affiliates usually stick to one or two encryptors, Vanilla Tempest was observed using BlackCat, Quantum Locker, Zeppelin, Rhysida, and others.

In October 2022, Microsoft warned about Vanilla Tempest, saying it was known for swapping ransomware payloads as it targeted schools in the US. In some cases, Microsoft added, the group skips the encryption part altogether and just steals the data.

Some of its victims include the Swedish furniture powerhouse IKEA, as well as the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). IKEA fell prey in late November 2022, when its shops in Morocco and Kuwait were forced to shut parts of their infrastructure down. A few months earlier, LAUSD tried to negotiate with the group to keep the stolen sensitive data private, but the negotiations broke down.

"Unfortunately, as expected, data was recently released by a criminal organization,” LAUSD said soon after. “In partnership with law enforcement, our experts are analyzing the full extent of this data release.”

The identity of the hackers is unknown to this day.

Via The Hacker News

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